The Very Heart of Me: Prologue
Title: The Very Heart Of Me
Fandom: BtVS
Characters/Pairing: In this part, Giles/Ethan
Rating: This part, PG-13
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They're not mine, not yet. But they will be, once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Warnings/Squicks: None
Story Index: Here
Summary: Clenching his fists until his knuckles whitened, Giles thought about the thrashing he was about to deal out. Ripper's mouth lit up into a smile that promised pain. Knowing Ethan was waiting in the back room, Ripper tore the curtains aside. He didn't expect what he found: Ethan, bound to the wall, all but his head so completely covered in ropes that not even an inch of skin showed below his neck. Even with all his magic, if Ripper had chosen to thrash him, Ethan wouldn't have been able to escape without a beating.
Notes:
Working title comes from the song “If You Leave Me Now” by Chicago: “If you leave me now, you'll take away the very heart of me”.
Written for a prompt over at Ultimate Xander. Prompt: Xander/Ethan. Ethan thinks Giles is grooming Xander to replace him so he determines to beat Giles to it and take Xander as his own. Bonus points if you get voyeur!Giles in the picture.
Based on my initial outline, this will stay Giles/Ethan with Xander on the side but it will fulfill the rest of the prompt.
The door opened with a cheerful jingle as it struck the hanging bell. Giles stood in the doorway eying the detritus left behind when the stock had been removed: hangers scattered here and there; a mannequin devoid of clothes had fallen by a bare display case; empty boxes and tissue paper. Past all that, by the curtains separating the front room from the rear, was a different type of rubble. As Giles stepped into the room, to get a closer look, he felt a tingle of magic.
Striding over to the back of the store, Giles took it all in. In an almost neat pile, were the shards of the statue that he had smashed the previous evening. Ethan's robes were folded carefully and placed next to the pile. A half mask lay atop the robes.
Clenching his fists until his knuckles whitened, Giles thought about the thrashing he was about to deal out. Ripper's mouth lit up into a smile that promised pain. Knowing Ethan was waiting in the back room, Ripper tore the curtains aside. He didn't expect what he found: Ethan, bound to the wall, all but his head so completely covered in ropes that not even an inch of skin showed below his neck. Even with all his magic, if Ripper had chosen to thrash him, Ethan wouldn't have been able to escape without a beating.
Ethan's eyes never left the floor but, by the slow smirk that played across his lips, he knew Ethan was aware of his presence. Giles was furious. Did he think this was all some sort of a game? “You think this will save you?” Giles gestured at the web Ethan had woven around himself. “After you nearly got my Slayer killed? She's my responsibility Ethan.”
As Ethan looked up, Giles saw that his eyes were, unexpectedly, filled with remorse. “Forgive me?”
With Ethan's face in full view, Giles realized that his smile wasn't the superior smirk he'd thought but a mask; Ethan's way of hiding his nervousness. “I thought you left your mask out there,” Giles offered with a nod back towards the front room.
“I tried, dear heart.”
Giles waited to see if Ethan would say anything more. Damn him, he thought, pulling out a knife to cut the ropes with. If he'd said anything else, if he'd tried to explain himself at all...
Thank you, my love. Thank you. Thank you, ran through Ethan's mind all the long while it took Rupert, he knew the difference and this definitely was Rupert and not Ripper, to cut him down. While he could have freed himself in a minute, using his magics, he wouldn't. Not without permission. Ethan hadn't been sure Rupert/Ripper would take him back and he wasn't about to do anything to mess it up now that he had.
When enough of the ropes had been cut, Giles realized that Ethan couldn't stand on his own. Moving close in, Giles told him to release the rest of the ropes. Ethan fell into his arms.
Sitting them both down onto the cold, cement floor, Giles brushed his fingers across Ethan's bruised torso. “Not broken, is it?”
“Of course not,” Ethan replied with a wince. “You're too good.”
“If I were good, you wouldn't be bruised,” Giles said.
“Not good, the best.” At Giles' raised eyebrow, Ethan added, “Good enough not to break my ribs.”
“I don't suppose you have clothes around here someplace,” Giles asked.
“You used to prefer me naked,” Ethan moued.
Glancing back towards where the altar had been and where geometric patterns were still painted on the floor, Giles answered, “Not here.”
“In the desk drawer,” Ethan sighed as he started to raise himself up.
Holding his lover closely, Giles let Ripper out to play and kissed Ethan thoroughly before allowing him to get dressed.