Archive of Our Own ^beta

It wasn't the usual way he woke up in the morning, something was different. He felt nauseous and a slight headache was bothering him as well. Also, when had he gone to bed? He couldn't remember.

“Taiga?”

The voice had been there before he could tell, but he had felt too tired to react to it, even on the several shaking on his shoulder. “Taiga, please wake up.”

The worry in the other one's voice made Taiga put a bit more effort in opening his eyes and he finally succeeded. With a low groan he turned on his back, realizing immediately that this was not his bed.

“Thanks God you are finally awake.”

“Hokuto?”

The one in question just nodded, but he could see the same confusion on the latter's face he was feeling.

“Where are we?”

“I've no idea. I can't remember what happened yesterday after we left the NHK hall. When I woke up we were both in here, but you didn't wake up for such a long time that I got seriously worried.”

Carefully Hokuto helped him up into a sitting position and Taiga started analyzing his surroundings.

A room, not bigger than a usual one room apartment. The ground and walls were raw grey stone as if it was a still not finished building. There were no windows, but two doors. One was a heavy metal door, the other one seemed like a normal room door, but both with an electronic lock.

One single light was on the ceiling, but with a gasp Taiga realized that four cameras were placed on the ceiling in each corner. There was also a huge monitor next to the door with a metal plate underneath it.

“What the hell is this?”

“I checked the doors already, but as expected they are locked,” Hokuto explained. When Taiga looked up at him he realized that the latter was staring at his neck instead of looking up at him.

“What?” A bit scared Taiga moved his hands up and his question got answered when his hands came across something around his neck.

“What is this?” Slowly panic rose inside him as he realized that he was wearing something like a metal collar, but looking at Hokuto he was wearing nothing. Both were still in their usual clothes after leaving the rehearsal with the only difference that whoever had brought them here had taken their shoes away.

“Calm down, who knows what it is or what it can do,” Hokuto tried to sooth him as Taiga started pulling on it with all his might.

“That's why I want it gone!” Taiga almost yelled back and Hokuto reached out for the other one's hands to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself.

“Then let me try. At least I can see what I'm doing.”

Hokuto's fingers were slightly shaking as he analyzed the collar, but couldn't find any way to open it. Even pulling on it or trying to break it didn't work. With a sigh he sat back and shook his head.

“Sorry, I can't open it.”

Taiga didn't reply anything on that, but scanned the room once more before he got up on unsteady feet.

Hokuto watched him as he went through the same routine as Hokuto did before. Checking the doors, analyzing the screen and metal plate.

“Let’s try to open this!” Taiga said, pointing at the metal plate under the screen which seemed to be like a small door, so maybe they could somehow open it. Instead of replying Hokuto got up and they both tried pulling on it, but they couldn't move it.

“Do you think someone is watching us right now?” Hokuto whispered and Taiga peered up at the cameras. “Maybe that person would respond if we talked to him?”

It could work indeed, but would it even matter? Whoever had brought them here was definitely some kind of freak. So what would happen if they tried reasoning with him?

“Maybe we should wait a bit longer and see if he talks to us first?”

The suggestion made Hokuto nod and they both sat back on the ground. For now they could do nothing but wait.

***

It was hard to tell how much time had passed. They had taken turns to rest for some time, but there was still no contact from the person after which felt like almost a whole day.

Taiga bit his lip as he shifted a bit uncomfortable. “What do you think is behind that door?”

The question startled Hokuto a bit, but another look at Taiga made clear what he hoped for.

“Do you think he wants us to actually talk to him first?” Hokuto asked.

That possibility was there, wasn't it?

“Shall we try?” Taiga asked a bit hesitant, but Hokuto nodded. With a deep breath Taiga stood up and faced one of the cameras.

“Are you going to tell us why you brought us here?”

Starting with a neutral question was maybe the safer choice, but unfortunately there was no reply.

“Who are you?” Hokuto tried this time as he got up as well and faced another camera. Again, no reaction.

Taiga let out a sigh, but tried to stay calm.

“What is behind that door?” Taiga asked directly this time. After all the metal door was definitely the exit so there was no need to ask. When there was still no reaction Taiga got a bit angry. Did he really want them to beg for answers?

“Please let us know what is behind that door.”

Hokuto was faster with his reply and Taiga turned to him with wide eyes as he saw that the younger one had bowed a bit to the front.

“Are you serious?”

“You've a better idea?”

When Taiga still didn't move, Hokuto made a movement with his hand down on which Taiga rolled his eyes, but what other choice did they have?

Slowly Taiga bowed towards the camera in front of him with gritted teeth. “Please let us know what is behind that door.” Five seconds, ten seconds, almost a minute passed in silence and then the screen next to them lit up and letters appeared on it with a loud sound as if it was an old typewriter instead of a screen. Both of them jumped back in surprise and needed a moment to calm down again.

“Why?”

Hokuto read the word out loud.

“Just that? What does he mean?” Taiga asked annoyed.

“Maybe why we want to know what is behind that door?”

Once more Taiga's anger level rose through that. That person really wanted to play all the psycho games with them.

“Are you going to tell him?” Hokuto asked on Taiga's silence. And fact was that if he didn't want this to get even more embarrassing he actually should, but a high pride was what held him back for several minutes.

With an annoyed look and his arms crossed to his chest Taiga faced the camera again. “I need to go to the toilet. So if there is a bathroom behind that door would you open it for me?”

Both boys looked at the screen until new words appeared with the same annoying sound.

“What's with that attitude?” Taiga read the words with a raised eyebrow.

“What's with your attitude you freak? You brought us here in the first place! What's wrong with you?” Taiga yelled as he couldn't control his anger anymore.

“Taiga, stop!” Hokuto tried to calm him down, but Taiga ignored him and faced the camera once more with an outstretched arm. “Why don't you show up yourself if you want something? Come in here you coward so that I can beat some sense into you!”

“Seriously, are you out of your mind?” Hokuto yelled this time and grabbed Taiga by the shoulder to turn him around to face him.

“Do you think he will just let us go if we play by his rules?” Taiga shot back before he dashed towards the monitor and punched it. “Let me break all your toys then you've to show up in person if you want something.”

Taiga lunged out for another punch, but it never reached the screen. First he couldn't even explain where the pain was coming from and what exactly forced him on his knees with a scream. The pain lasted long enough for Hokuto to shout out for him and take him by the shoulders to make sure he wouldn't collapse.

“What happened?” Hokuto asked in a shaking voice, the shock about Taiga's scream written all over his face. With shaking hands Taiga pointed up at his collar on which Hokuto's eyes grew wide in an even bigger shock.

“He can hurt you with it?”

“It just gave me a quite heavy electric shock,” Taiga let out between heavy breathes.

Hokuto's thoughts started racing after hearing that and he shot up to face one of the cameras again.

“Please don't hurt him! We will do as you say.”

“What? No, Hokuto! We are not!” Taiga let out stubborn, because he wasn't ready to give up this easily. Unfortunately that reply gave him another painful shock through the collar and this time he bent to the front, clenching his fists on the ground.

“Please, stop it!” Hokuto shouted and luckily this time Taiga didn't interfere.

After a moment of silence in which Taiga could recover from the pain, the screen lit up again.

“Apologize,” Hokuto read it on which Taiga let out an annoyed chuckle.

“Such an asshole.”

This time Hokuto was down next to him immediately and put his hand over his mouth with a warning expression. “Would you finally shut up? You are the one getting hurt, so how come I'm the one who tries to reason with him and not you? He can't hurt me as far as we know.”

Taiga slashed the other one's hand away and gave him a death glare. “Then why don't you try and rip the stupid cameras from the ceiling? As you said he can't hurt you, so he won't stop you.”

There he had a point, didn't he? But was it worth the risk? Hokuto hesitated for a moment before he got up again and went to one of the cameras.

“Just try it,” Taiga said impatiently and Hokuto dared to reach out for the cable of the camera. Before he could pull on it though there was another scream from Taiga and it lasted way longer than before. Taiga curled up on the ground until the pain was suddenly gone again.

Hokuto had frozen in his position and he felt like the biggest idiot. He should have seen this coming. Just because he couldn't hurt Hokuto, didn't mean he wouldn't hurt Taiga if he did something stupid.

With fast steps Hokuto moved away from the camera and kept looking towards the screen with a lost expression.

“We are sorry for disobeying your orders. Please forgive us.”

This time there was no complain heard from Taiga. The boy has turned on his back with his eyes closed. New words appeared on the screen fast this time.

“Not you,” Hokuto read on which Taiga opened his eyes. The rage he felt before was slowly replaced by fear, because he had no clue how much pain this stupid collar could cause him in case he wouldn't obey.

It took Taiga a while to make it back on his feet and Hokuto looked at him with a worried expression, but didn't interfere as Taiga faced the camera again. Slowly he bowed to the front, making sure that his face wasn't visible anymore, because as much as he wanted the punishments to stop he knew that his expression would still show how much he hated what he was doing.

“I'm sorry for talking back like this. I won't do it again. Please open the door for us.”

To both their surprise the lock of the smaller door was heard next and the screen showed two new words.

“Good boy,” Taiga read it out in a low voice and it took him a lot of effort to not freak on the spot.

“Thank you,” Hokuto hurried to say and Taiga also voiced out the same to make sure the door wouldn't close again.

Luckily they really found a bathroom behind the door. It was just a toilet without a sink or anything else, but it was better than nothing and the fact that there was another camera in that room didn’t even surprise them.

***

It was maybe end of the second day when they wondered if it was time to beg for something else. Hokuto dared to try this time.

“Could you please give us something to drink and also some food?”

There was a long silence this time, maybe he wasn't watching at the moment? That would actually give them a chance to destroy the cameras after all, but somehow just the thought of trying made Taiga's stomach turn.

After Hokuto had sat down for a while once more the usual noise of letters appearing on the screen was heard.

“Just if I get something in return.” Hokuto read it. “What do you want in return?”

There was nothing they could actually give him so they already guessed that he would keep playing his weird games with them instead.

The next letters made both of them look at the screen in confusion.

“A kiss…” Taiga read it before looking at Hokuto. “Does he mean between us?”

“Well, I doubt he'll show up here just to get a kiss from either of us?”

“Freak,” Taiga hissed, but he made sure not to say it too loud and luckily no pain filled his body this time.

“Ehm, so what do we do?” Hokuto asked a bit hesitant and Taiga also kept silent to think about this weird request.

“Well, if that's all he wants in exchange,” Taiga let out eventually. It wasn't like this request hurt his pride in any way. It would indeed make him feel a bit uncomfortable and he knew Hokuto was anything but okay with it either, but what other choice did they have if they didn't want to starve to death?

“Now we know at least why he put so many cameras in the room,” Hokuto said with a shiver. Just the thought of how far he could take this game made both of them feel nauseous.

“How big are the chances that the others will find us before we starve?” Taiga asked while knowing the answer already. They had been out for quite some time so who knew how far away that person had brought them?

“Maybe it's better to try and stay as strong as possible for now?”

Hokuto had a point, because in case that person would actually show up in front of them they might have a chance to break free themselves.

It felt kind of awkward as they both stepped closer at the same time and Taiga hawked before stopping right in front of the other one. “Let's try and make this look as natural as possible, so he won't get mad.”

Why did it feel like he was scared of a punishment if Hokuto did something stupid? Until now it had been always his own fault, but knowing that it would be always him to get punished he felt a bit uncomfortable out of a sudden.

It was nothing more than acting and they both could do it pretty well, so they finally dared to move. It wasn't like they could discuss the kiss before, because that would actually give away how played it was. So first they kept it as harmless as possible. Lips barely touching, but Hokuto put his hand on Taiga's upper arm as if he wanted to remind him of his own words. That move made Taiga tilt his head a bit and just for a brief moment he opened his mouth to trap Hokuto's bottom lips for a moment. He wasn't sure if Hokuto was looking at him, because he had shut his eyes to make himself relax. Nevertheless he pulled away first before he could tense too much. Hokuto didn't complain and slowly both looked at the monitor on the sound which would remain in their memory as a cruel reminder if they ever made it out.

“You call that a kiss?”

Taiga was ready to protest, but to their surprise the metal plate moved upwards and revealed a small space behind it in which two bottles of water, but unfortunately no food were placed.

“Great, we could have also drunk from the toilet in this case.”

“Taiga!” Hokuto warned him harshly and Taiga bit his lip, but once more he was left without a punishment. Hokuto took the water bottles before the small space behind the metal plate could be closed again. After handing one bottle to Taiga the plate moved down and the screen went black again.

“Does that mean if we want food we have to show him a better kiss?” Hokuto asked after he couldn't help it but gulp half of the water down in one go.

A growl was Taiga's reply as he drank as well, feeling completely helpless and still so outraged about the whole situation. Not knowing how they ended up here, why this person did this to them and if they would make it out somehow made him lose his confidence about even trying anything stupid for the time being.

***

It didn't take long for them to give up on enduring the time without food and keeping quiet could eventually even backfire.

“Are you watching? Because we really would like some food,” Taiga let out almost challenging while he stood up, slowly followed by Hokuto.

The letters appeared fast this time.

“Add something entertaining,” was what Taiga read and he looked at Hokuto with a confused expression. “What?”

Hokuto didn't seem that confused and suddenly there were new words.

“Hokuto, show him.” Taiga read again. “You know what he means?”

“Maybe he is good at analyzing people's expression? For now let's just do it.”

“But what?”

“If I told you it would ruin his game, right?”

It was hard to explain how Hokuto could keep that calm and analyze everything while his look told how close he was to actually getting a breakdown. After all they were still not sure how dangerous this game could become.

Without a warning Hokuto stepped forward and pushed Taiga against the wall. The older one wanted to complain, but Hokuto shook his head before he leant next to his head. “Just play along.”

That was definitely the wisest choice, but Taiga didn't like it to be left in the dark. When Hokuto grabbed his chin and lifted his head up Taiga let out a gasp, but it was swallowed by Hokuto's kiss and this time there was no hesitation in the latter's movement. Knowing that messing up would cost them their food and also might end in a punishment for Taiga he seemed to have switched completely into professional acting mode.

Taiga played along and let the latter deepen the kiss as he licked with his tongue over his bottom lip. At some point they finally pulled apart, this time both a bit out of breath and they kept staring at each other almost apologizing.

“Entertaining enough?” Hokuto asked as he stepped back in front of the screen.

No reply showed up.

Minutes passed without anything happening and still they tried to stay calm, Taiga playing nervously with his metal collar.

“He won't punish you,” Hokuto soothed him as he sat down next to him.

“We don't know what will trigger something, so who knows if he just sets it off for fun at some point.” The fear was clearly heard in his voice and he flinched a bit when Hokuto suddenly grabbed his hand.

“I'll try and hold you back in case you try something stupid again. But you've to do the same for me if I run out of patience. I don't want to be at fault for you getting hurt.”

It was Hokuto's sensible side which made the boy look a lot more vulnerable and it surprised Taiga that he hadn't cried until now, because he easily got emotional.

Slowly Taiga dropped with his head on Hokuto's shoulder and the boy squeezed his hand in response. Some time passed in silence like this until a new message appeared and made them jolt.

“Good show.”

Suddenly the metal plate opened and they both crawled over to take the carton out of it. When they looked what was inside they both formed a brief smile.

“Seems like my idea was good?” Hokuto teased.

“Then let's hope we can keep him entertained like this until someone gets us out.”

They had gotten quite a lot of food and also new water, so maybe two or three days wouldn't be a problem. But would he leave them alone for that long?

***

One day they had heard nothing from him and soon they feared that he would lock the toilet again to make them beg for it once more, but that also didn't happen. They kept sleeping on the cold and hard floor so it was quite uncomfortable, but getting a futon or pillow wasn't worth begging. At least until the next day.

They had started using each other's legs to sleep on and it was Taiga's turn to sleep while the latter rested with his back on the wall. When he woke up he saw his own breath forming a small white cloud in front of him.

“What the…” with a quick move he was up in a sitting position. His body was already shaking maybe that was what had woken him up. “Hokuto, wake up!”

The latter opened his eyes with a groan, but then he moved his hands up to his arms immediately. “Why is it so cold out of a sudden?”

“He's playing a new game,” Taiga concluded before he stood up.

Hokuto had still been wearing a light jacket from the rehearsal, while Taiga had decided to leave in just his shirt, which was to his disadvantage now.

The temperature kept dropping rapidly and soon both were shivering nonstop.

“Guess he wants another round of begging,” Taiga said before he faced one of the cameras. “Shall we ask for you to raise the temperature again or shall we ask for jackets and blankets instead?”

“Taiga,” Hokuto warned him immediately, because again he was playing with the fire.

A message appeared on his question, saying: You want something new then you have to give me something old!

“Eh? So in case we want new clothes, you want ours?” Hokuto concluded immediately.

“Then please just raise the temperature instead. What do you want for that?”

Taiga's question resulted in a new message.

“Let me consider it for later,” Taiga read and could barely bite back a snappy comment.

“If we ask you for two winter jackets, what do you want in exchange?”

The next words to show up on screen made Taiga's tries to stay calm go to waste immediately.

“You're such a pervert bastard! You want my clothes? Come and get them you freak!”

Hokuto was too slow to react because the message had made him freeze for a moment too long to stop Taiga from freaking out.

Give me all of Taiga's clothes in exchange had been written and no matter if he wanted to do so after calming down, for now he had to deal with the consequences of his rudeness.

Hokuto dashed towards him before it even happened. Taiga's eyes had widened in shock as he realized too late what he had done, but before Hokuto could reach him he sank to the ground with another scream.

Hokuto hoped for it to be over as soon as the last time, but it was different than before. Taiga kept screaming, his body jolting under the pain and Hokuto didn't dare to touch him.

“PLEASE STOP! WE ARE SORRY! PLEASE LET HIM APOLOGIZE!”

When the pain finally stopped Taiga turned on his stomach, his breathes coming out erratic between some coughs.

“Taiga, calm down. Please, apologize. I can't watch this any longer,” Hokuto begged him, tears shining in his eyes. His mental pain seemed to be even with Taiga's physical one. “Please, hurry.”

As much as Taiga actually wanted to hurry he needed a moment longer to calm down. Not just had the shock been longer this time, but also stronger. Not that he would tell Hokuto or the boy would freak even more.

With his body shaking nonstop he sat up on his knees and bent a bit to the front. The cold made his teeth chatter and his words came out so unclear that he wasn't sure if he could even understand him.

“I'm sorry.”

Another message made Taiga jolt and he didn't even dare to look up. Hokuto put his hand on his back and drew slow circles to make him calm down.

“What does it say?”

“I'm waiting.”

Of course, what else. It took Taiga a lot of effort to hide his sobs which he didn't want to be heard by that freak. After he had calmed down a bit he slowly got up on unsteady feet. Hokuto moved with him to make sure he was okay, but when Taiga made him let go and pulled his shirt over his head, Hokuto was close to getting a breakdown this time.

The metal plate opened without anything being behind it and Taiga handed Hokuto his shirt with shaking hands. “Put it in.”

A bit reluctant Hokuto did as he was told, just to come back to take Taiga's pants this time. The third time a put Taiga's underwear in as well and the plate shut.

Silence filled the room and Hokuto kept looking at the screen, like he wasn't just waiting for a reply, but also forced himself to not look at Taiga, knowing that he was feeling uncomfortable enough.

The temperature seemed to drop even more over the next minutes, making Hokuto shake bitterly as well, but there was no message and the plate wouldn't open either.

Minutes turned to hours and Hokuto had to sit down, almost curling up as he couldn't fight against the cold anymore. It was the sound behind him which finally made him swirl around and he saw Taiga on the ground, barely conscious. He still kept himself up in a sitting position, but his whole body was shaking violently. His lips had an unnatural blue color and his eyes seemed empty.

Without knowing what else to do Hokuto faced the camera instead of approaching him, because he didn't want to risk another punishment.

“Am I allowed to give him my jacket?”

Finally a reply, so that person was still watching, but obviously enjoying Taiga's suffering too much to give them their promised jackets for now. The message: No. But you're allowed to touch him.

That was all he needed to know and he dashed back, falling on his knees next to the older one and pulled him into his arms.

Taiga would have crawled inside his jacket if he could, but for now he just put his arms around the other one's body and buried his face on the latter's chest while Hokuto moved his hands nonstop over his back to somehow warm up his body.

“What did we do to deserve this?” Taiga was heard with a whisper and the fear and pain in his voice made Hokuto pull him into a way too tight hug for a moment.

“We did nothing. Taiga, we are not at fault for this. Just hold on a bit longer and we can go back.”

“They won't find us.”

“Don't say that,” Hokuto let out with a sob. Slowly he reached his limits as well and he kept trying to keep the other one warm while swallowing one sob after the other.

“Please…”

There was no way Taiga could even let out a whole sentence anymore, but at least that one word seemed to have been heard, because finally the plate opened revealing two long winter coats.

Hokuto dashed over to get them and put both of them around Taiga for now. He knew that he risked a punishment, but Taiga's condition had turned to critical already. He was barely conscious and he wouldn't let him die. Luck seemed to be on their side as no punishment followed.

After Taiga's body stopped shaking at least a bit, Hokuto dared to take one of the jackets for himself. Keeping Taiga in a tight hug he rested back at the wall. The boy had fallen asleep in his arms and for now he could just try and gather some strength as well.

***

The sound of new letters appearing on the screen made them both jolt after they had both fallen asleep. Intuitively Hokuto closed his arms even tighter around Taiga as the older one curled up against his chest. Even though the words themselves couldn’t hurt them Taiga didn’t even dare to look up anymore.

“What does it say?” He asked in a shaking and hoarse voice, which was a result from all the hours they had been forced to stay in this way too cold room and of course the temperature hadn’t changed until now, after all that person wouldn’t do them any favor without getting something in return.

“Good morning.”

Hokuto’s words startled him for a moment until he dared to look up as well and the message was really as simple as this.

When there was no new message they both exchanged a worried look before they faced one of the cameras and let out a good morning as well. The fear of a new punishment had made them extremely cautious each time they feared that person could get angry at them.

Soon a new message appeared on their words and as much as they wanted to reply no, there was no way Hokuto would actually let Taiga suffer for even longer.

“Yes, please raise the temperature again,” Hokuto replied on the question on the screen and Taiga didn’t complain.

“Give me the jackets back,” Taiga read the next message and of course that made him close it around his upper body protectively. He wouldn’t give him his clothes back, would he? There was no way he would do anything else than taking this game to another level and making a step back was definitely not part of his plan.

“I leave the decision to you,” Hokuto let out in a low voice and as much as Taiga didn’t want to give in to this request he knew that sooner or later they would lose to the cold even with their coats. Slowly he stood up and approached the metal plate which opened immediately and without giving himself the chance to change his mind he took the coat off and shoved it into the opening. Hokuto hurried to do the same so that the temperature would rise as soon as possible, after all Taiga was once more without clothes.

Luckily the temperature rose quite fast and it took at least one of their worries away. The problem was that they had run out of food and water once more, which left them no choice, but beg for it once more.

Before any of them could ask though, a new message appeared.

“If you give me something old, I give you something new.”

Hokuto knew what that person was aiming for, but what other chance did they have. With a sigh he got out of his jacket, but out of a sudden Taiga was next to him and grabbed his arm.

“Don’t. We don’t need anything at the moment.”

“Don’t be stupid. Even if it’s not now, sooner or later we would need to ask him for water and food again.”

“Then let it be later.”

Taiga’s stubborn behavior made Hokuto blink at him in confusion. “Why?”

No reply. Taiga bit his lip and looked to the ground, which made Hokuto raise an eyebrow at him. Could the boy seriously worry for him? And that after everything that happened to him already? He was the one with the electrocuting collar and also the one without clothes and here he didn’t want Hokuto to share the same suffering?

Hokuto took Taiga’s hand away from his wrist to squeeze it with a gentle touch on which the latter looked up at him again. “I am really grateful that you worry for me and also impressed that you can actually think of someone else while being the one in the worst situation here, but let me make sure that we will get at least something to drink?”

The nod coming from Taiga was more than reluctant, but nevertheless he didn’t stop Hokuto as the boy stripped out of his clothes and put them all in the once more empty space behind the plate.

The tension in the room had reached its peak, both of them trying to avoid looking at each other until the box finally opened again.

“What? That’s all?” Taiga let out in shock as there were a lot of water bottles, but nothing else. No food at all.

“Let me make sure that we will get at least something to drink,” Hokuto read the words on the screen. “Damn it, I shouldn’t have said that,” Hokuto scolded himself, but they took the water bottles out in a hurry nevertheless and then silence followed between them. Minutes, hours, they couldn’t tell how much time had passed. At some point Taiga had vanished for an unnatural long time to the toilet and it made clear exactly how awkward they felt around each other being that exposed.

To his obvious own surprise it was Hokuto’s condition which got worse first after they endured a long time without food. When he tried to get up once he fell down again and no matter how much they tried to actually stay on distance it made Taiga rush over to him immediately.

“Are you okay?”

“All good, just a bit dizzy,” Hokuto tried to play it down, but Taiga felt extremely exhausted as well so he knew that it was far from okay.

They didn’t even need to ask, because seconds later the screen lit up asking if they wanted some food.

“What do you want in exchange?” Taiga asked even though he really didn’t want to know. How far could that person take this game and for how long were they able to endure it?

Instead of a message the box opened again and Taiga crawled towards it and then he gasped.

“What is it?” Hokuto asked from the wall he was leaning on.

“A knife” Taiga let out with wide eyes, but when he wanted to reach out for it a loud sound followed by a red cross on the screen appeared, making him jolt and crawl back. “You put it in there, so why am I not allowed to take it?”

The next message: Not you!

It made Hokuto move carefully towards the box, because what else could they do but try for now. They didn’t even know what the knife was for. With shaking hands he took the knife and crawled back until he sat next to Taiga.

“One cut, one meal,” Hokuto read in shock as the next letters appeared. “So wait, each time we want something to eat we need to cut ourselves?”

It actually didn’t sound too bad after all as long as didn’t have to stab it into their bodies, they would be fine, right? Hokuto brought the knife down to his own underarm, but again the red cross and loud sound was heard and he almost let the knife fall before a new message lit up.

“One cut, on Taiga’s face from Hokuto,” Taiga read this time while Hokuto had frozen to the spot.

“I am not going to do that,” Hokuto protested right away. “I can cut my own face instead. Does it even matter?”

But it indeed mattered to that person, because another sound and red cross followed, showing him that he was definitely not satisfied with that.

“Can’t I just cut myself?” Taiga tried, but the reply was the same.

With a sigh Taiga shifted his position and sat towards Hokuto, but the latter shook his head right away. “Forget it I am not going to hurt you.”

“Do we have another choice? You don’t have to slash it with all your might over my face. Just open a small cut. We will see if it’s enough.”

“And if not? Then I have to cut you again and again. Forget it!”

Instead of continuing their discussion Hokuto jumped up and approached one of the cameras. “Make me do something else. I don’t care what. I can hurt myself if you want or I can also do another ridiculous request of yours, but I won’t hurt him!”

It was the first time that Hokuto had run out of patience and as much as Taiga somehow felt grateful he also knew what his outburst would bring before it even happened. Five seconds in silence, ten seconds...and then the pain filled his body like a hot iron burning his skin. With a scream Taiga fell to the front and Hokuto shouted his name, but then there was the sound again, the red cross and it made Hokuto even angrier. “This is not a child’s game you freaking asshole! For what reason are you doing this to us?”

They had been at this point already when Taiga had been the outraged one, but it was just a matter of time for both of them to break under the pressure after all. The cross didn’t stop Hokuto from moving forward once more on which Taiga screamed out again and the sound of the cross appearing was louder this time, actually making Hokuto halt with his hand clenching around the knife until he could feel his fingers getting numb.

The cross vanished and a message appeared: Cut him!

“No,” Hokuto replied stubborn.

“Hokuto…” Taiga let out pleading, but the rest of his words were swallowed by another scream as the pain returned even worse than before. He could still hear Hokuto shouting at the cameras and the monitor, the sound of the cross appearing on it several times and definitely more messages telling him what to do, but the pain wouldn’t stop and soon all Taiga could hear was his blood rushing through his veins, a heavy nausea building up inside his body as he got ready to faint.

“PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME DO THIS!”

The despair in Hokuto’s voice was obvious, but it also caused even more damage than an actual cut would do in the end.

“HOKUTO, MAKE HIM STOP!” Taiga shouted back, even though he couldn’t even tell where Hokuto was standing anymore. His vision had gone blurry through tears of pain filling his eyes. His body kept shaking violently, his hands clenching around the collar while the shocks got more and more painful with every passing second. “HOKUTO!”

With an outraged scream Hokuto was suddenly right next to him and then the knife was on his skin, leaving a long cut right under his right eye. Compared to the pain of the electric shocks it had been indeed nothing at all, but Hokuto had turned completely pale as if he had done the worst thing ever. He let the knife drop and stumbled backwards until he fell to the ground. With a scream he buried his hands in his hair and curled up. But Taiga couldn’t bother with his emotions at the moment, because when the shocks had finally stopped he turned away and crawled over to the next corner on shaking legs before his body crumbled and he had to throw up.

***

Hours passed again until Hokuto finally dared to touch the food they had received, but Taiga hadn't moved at all. Without uttering a single word he was resting at one of the wall, his face buried on his knees.

“Taiga?” Hokuto's voice sounded scary to himself as he could hear a weird kind of fear in it. There was no reaction from the older one and so Hokuto fell silent again.

It was when he was sure that almost a whole day in silence had passed that he moved and took the rest of the food, shifting a bit closer to the other one. “You need to eat something.”

No reaction.

First he thought about just putting the food down and leave him alone for a while. Maybe he would eat if he locked himself in the toilet. But everything that happened before was still bothering him a lot, making him unable to calm down and each time he looked at the knife which that person hadn't taken away from then yet, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

“Taiga, please,” Hokuto tried again and put his hand on the latter's shoulder. To his surprise it got slashed away immediately and Taiga peered up at him with such a hateful glare that Hokuto automatically sat back a bit. There was no need to ask him what was wrong, because exactly that hate was what Hokuto was so afraid of seeing. “I'm sorry.”

That was definitely not enough for Taiga to forgive him that easily, but what else could he say?

“If your stomach is still upset let's keep the food for later, but as soon as you can you should-”

“You've seriously no clue how much pain you caused me,” Taiga interrupted in a low voice and the younger one fell silent immediately. The cut on his upper cheek had already stopped bleeding so that was obviously not what he meant. Of course he didn't and all Hokuto could do was swallow a sob before he bowed a bit to the front. “I didn't want you to get hurt, but- but I also didn't want to be the one doing it.”

A mocking chuckle was the reply to his try to explain himself. “So instead of causing me some minimal pain with a knife, you let me suffer for several minutes. You let that freak do the work for you.”

“Please don't say that again! He hurts you on purpose. I didn't want to hurt you, I still don't want to! What if he requests something even more painful next time?”

“Then you will let me suffer the pain of the collar once more to feel at ease.”

It felt so wrong to hear those words and Hokuto kept shaking his head, his breathes coming out shorter as he failed in hiding some sobs. It hurt how he couldn't blame Taiga for his reaction, but also wanted him to understand how he had been pushed over the abyss through this. How scared he was that if he dared to hurt a friend that he would do even crueler things just to get what he needed.

“Taiga, please don't do this…” Hokuto whispered, but begging had been obviously the wrong thing to do as Taiga jumped up and kicked the box with the food away before he faced Hokuto with a death glare.

“Don't do this? What shall I not do? Asking you to make him stop torturing me? Fine, refuse from now on and enjoy my suffering!”

“No, Taiga-”

“SHUT IT, I’VE ENOUGH!”

Somehow Hokuto felt kind of relieved that Taiga stormed off to the toilet instead of hitting him, because he seemed pretty close to doing it.

With nothing else to do Hokuto gather the food which was now all over the floor. Without another word he put the box right next to the toilet door before he went to a corner and curled up. What was happening to them? First they had tried so hard to protect each other and while Hokuto still wanted to do so this freak's game made it hard for him to actually succeed without Taiga thinking that he did the opposite.

***

Hokuto had fallen asleep for quite a long time and with a brief smile he realized that the box with the food was gone. But Taiga didn't enter the room for the following hours and as he finally did his mood seemed not to have changed. The exhaustion and pain of the last days was getting the best of him, not to forget that they still didn't get used to being naked all the time.

There was no new message for what felt like almost several days and it made things even worse. They had no food and also no water left anymore, leaving them with nothing at all for such a long time that they did nothing else but lying curled up most of the time.

Taiga was too afraid of a punishment to ask for anything and Hokuto didn't want to be part of another game in which he had to hurt Taiga, so they kept enduring their growing pain.

It was when Taiga fainted out of a sudden after trying to get up that Hokuto rushed over to him.

“Please…” he suddenly whimpered as he sat next to Taiga and looked up at one of the cameras. “Please, let us go…”

Of course there was no reply to that and silence followed once more until Taiga finally regained consciousness.

Hokuto wanted to ask how he was feeling, but the sound of a new message interrupted him.

“Any request?” He read the message.

“No, thank you.” Taiga let out in a weak voice while remaining on the ground. His voice sounded almost mocking, but Hokuto wouldn't even try to calm him down.

“Tell me your request,” Hokuto voiced out the next message on which Taiga flicked his tongue, but curled up on the same time. “I said no!”

It started with a whine, but even as exhausted as he was he couldn't hold back another scream as the familiar pain filled his body.

Hokuto started crying without being able to keep a strong front this time. He wanted to take those punishments away from him, but that was something which would just work in case the next request wouldn't end in an unsolvable task.

“What do you want for food and water?” Hokuto yelled and luckily Taiga's scream stopped, but once again the boy was close to fainting.

“Another cut.’

This time Hokuto didn't hesitate as much as the first time to get closer to the knife, but then suddenly the cross appeared and he crawled back.

“So what?” Taiga hissed at the screen before a new message appeared: Taiga's turn to cut!

It scared Hokuto more than anything had ever scared him in his life as Taiga crawled towards the knife. There was so much despair in his eyes and still something that made Hokuto shift back as the boy grabbed the knife. By now both of them couldn't even stand up properly anymore and still Taiga seemed to have gained some strength to the sudden task.

“Tell me where.” Taiga let out and looked at the screen as the answer appeared: on his neck!

No hesitation! There was nothing calm about the way Taiga crawled back towards Hokuto and in fear the boy backed off towards the wall.

“Taiga, please calm down first!”

“I'm calm and now hold still or do you want to run away so that he can punish me instead? You enjoy it so much to see me suffer?”

Taiga had obviously reached his limits and no logic would work for him, but that was what scared Hokuto so much. No matter if he said he was calm, his look said something completely different. His hand was shaking violently as he raised the knife and Hokuto grabbed his wrist before he could move closer.

“Please realize what you are doing! Remember the cut under your eye, it was small and harmless. There is no reason for us to get violent with each other.”

“Are you begging for mercy?”

“Taiga for God's sake, listen to yourself!”

In an attempt to get the knife from the boy Hokuto pushed him backwards, but Taiga started struggling right away, taking the knife in his other hand with a fast movement.

“STOP IT!” Hokuto shouted as he somehow tried to tackle Taiga to the ground and keep a tight grip on both of his arms. The boy struggled a lot even though his exhaustion would definitely force him to stop soon. The same applied for Hokuto, so the question was who would give up first, but Taiga's rage made him fight back with all his might and he kicked Hokuto away and the boy let out a cough as he rested on his knees for a moment.

“Just hold still!” Taiga hissed as he almost jumped on Hokuto, which showed that he indeed wasn't in control of himself anymore. He tried to stab Hokuto instead of just cutting him so Hokuto finally put all caution behind and grabbed Taiga by the hair, throwing him to the ground.

“Give me the knife!”

“NO! YOU JUST WANT TO SEE ME SUFFER!” Taiga roared as he once more succeeded to get up and this time he slashed wild around him, cutting Hokuto two times on the arm before he almost collapsed to the back. “This time it's your turn to suffer!”

When Hokuto realized that he had ended up wishing for Taiga's collar to actually hurt him so that he would stop he froze in shock. Was he also going crazy now? Was he actually wishing to hurt Taiga as well?

Taiga dashed forward with an outraged scream, but all Hokuto did was staring at him. There was no way he could keep fighting back if he ended up the same way as Taiga through it.

It was actually Taiga who looked shocked out of a sudden when he realized that he hadn't been stopped. With full force he had ran forward with the knife and now he was looking up at Hokuto who was resting against the wall with his eyes closed. Slowly he opened his eyes and the shock he saw in Taiga's eyes made him sigh in relief.

“Are you finally back with me?”

Taiga choked as he tried to voice anything out and then he finally stepped back, lifting his blood stained hands in front of his face. The knife was still stuck in Hokuto's lower body, but the boy remained in a standing potion for as long as he could, even though he started sliding down the wall with his back slowly.

“No...no, no...what did I do…”

Hokuto's decision to not fight back had indeed worked, but the price had been huge. Letting Taiga lose it completely had taken away the veil of rage which was blinding him, but now he couldn't deal with what he had done and the same as Hokuto before after he had cut Taiga he let out a scream and fell to his knees. His hands clenching in his hair, turning most of the strands red. His eyes suddenly seemed empty as he gave Hokuto another desperate look.

“I'm sorry…” with that he collapsed unconsciously to the ground and Hokuto slid down to the floor as well, his breathes heavy and erratic.

“I hope you enjoyed the show,” Hokuto said mockingly towards the screen. He could just hope that whatever would happen from now on that the others would somehow find Taiga in time before he could lose it again. With a mocking smile towards one of the cameras Hokuto closed his eyes and fell to the side.

***

There was a mental blank Hokuto was sure of that when he regained consciousness. Unfortunately it hadn’t been long enough to bring him out of this room or at least not for good, because something was different. He remembered the pain of the knife in his lower body, but it wasn’t that painful anymore, but how could that be?

Without daring to look at it Hokuto moved his hand slowly to his wound and he flinched a bit when his fingers touched something hard around it. Slowly he dared to let his eyes wander from the ceiling to his stomach and there were several stitches on his wound.

“What...when?” He whispered to himself. That explained at least why he felt like there was a mental blank somehow. So he had been out of this room or at least someone had been in, right? Because Taiga couldn’t have done this even if he had the equipment...Taiga…

On the thought of the older one Hokuto tensed a little bit and slowly he moved his head to the side. He was lying in the middle of the room still with no clothes covering him, while he spotted Taiga curled up in a corner, his chin on his knees, with his arms hugging his legs tightly. He was looking back at Hokuto with teary eyes, but he seemed close to another mental breakdown and when he realized that Hokuto was looking back at him he bit his lip and buried his face on his knees.

First Hokuto wanted to say something, but somehow he couldn’t find any words. Would Taiga even reply if he asked what happened? Did he actually hope that Taiga was mentally stable enough to apologize and finally try to find a way out of this mess together with him?

Once more Hokuto closed his eyes and tried to sort his thoughts and if possible to fill the blank spaces in his mind.

Unfortunately even though he had fallen asleep once more he couldn’t remember anything at all when he woke up again. What woke him up though was a growing pain around his wound and he let out a groan when he moved a bit, but he didn’t actually dare to sit up or role on the side. How long had the wound been sewed up? Had he been gone for hours or days? He could ask Taiga, but…

One look to the corner showed that he should maybe still wait a bit longer, because the latter seemed not with him at all. Completely lost in his own word of regret and despair he swayed forth and back a bit in his position.

A look through the room showed Hokuto that the knife was at least gone, but unfortunately also all the water. Taiga didn’t even seem to care anymore, but Hokuto needed something else even more urgent, so even though he knew this could end in another catastrophe he finally took a deep breath and turned to look at Taiga.

“Taiga,” he said carefully and the latter flinched a bit and didn’t dare to look up at him. “As you can maybe imagine this wound hurts and I’d like to ask for some medicine. I hope you are okay with that?”

First there was no reaction before there was a slow, almost invisible nod from Taiga. Hokuto could see how Taiga’s body was slightly shaking and hear how he tried to suppress a sob. How much did he fear another punishment? And how much did he fear to lose control again? This time they both had to make sure not to fail.

“Could I please get some medicine against the pain?” Hokuto finally dared to ask and the letters appeared on the screen as if the person had just waited for him to ask. Taiga jolted on the sound of the letters appearing and curled up even more.

“You will need help to take them,” Hokuto read and while he couldn’t deny that it was actually true if he didn’t want to crawl over to the plate to get the medicine if he got any, he also knew that this meant he would involve Taiga in his games once more. The next message to appear made Hokuto stare at it in confusion for a while longer before he looked over at Taiga, but the latter wasn’t even looking at the screen.

The message didn’t make any sense to Hokuto, but maybe it did to Taiga? Unfortunately it made him feel a bit nervous, because he couldn’t tell at all if something good or bad would happen the moment he would read the message out loud. On the other hand he had no other choice and why would that person safe his life if he took it right after? With another deep breath he calmed down and finally read the message out loud.

“Taiga, you are allowed to move.”

It took maybe half a minute for Taiga to even realize what he had just heard and slowly he lifted his head, scanning the message as if he wanted to make sure that he had really understood right.

On shaking legs he got up and approached the screen first as if he had indeed not walked around for hours, maybe longer.

“Taiga, what is going on? What is this about?” Hokuto finally dared to ask as he couldn’t hold back all his questions anymore. Too much seemed to have happened without his knowledge.

What surprised him the most though was when Taiga finally seemed to have caught up to reality and dropped on his knees right next to him. His look had completely changed now, there was nothing empty in it anymore, some weird relief and determination was visible in it before he leant down and gave Hokuto a brief kiss on the forehead.

“I’d love to hug you, but I know it would hurt a lot so this has to be enough for now.”

“Thank you...I guess,” Hokuto stuttered before he tried to catch up with the situation. “I mean, are you okay? Like really okay?”

“I am at least aware of what I am doing at the moment and what consequences any mistakes could have. Hokuto, I am so sorry for this, I am- I don’t even know what happened, how I could- What I did…” suddenly Taiga clenched his hands on the ground before he looked down with a defeated look. “I will never be able to apologize for this. I thought I’ve lost you for good. I am so sorry, so sorry…”

Some sobs mixed with his repeating apologizes and Hokuto would have loved to actually hug him now as well, because this was the Taiga he knew. He was at least for now really back to his senses and that was the only important part. Before Hokuto could actually start scolding him for apologizing this much the plate opened without a warning, revealing a glass of water and a small bag with a few capsules.

The new message on the screen: your reward for giving me such a touching scene

None of them actually commented on that message, they had indeed gotten more careful with their snappy replies. So Taiga just took everything out and helped Hokuto take his medicine.

“Let’s fight together and not against each other to get out, okay?” Hokuto asked after he took the medicine and Taiga nodded immediately. He had shifted a bit to the wall and helped Hokuto to move a bit as well so that he could rest with his head on the latter’s legs. While Taiga played with his curly black strands he could feel how the medicine actually made him feel tired again.

“No matter what, this time I will fight for you and definitely not against you!”

Hokuto wanted to reply that he should also fight for himself, but his eyes fell shut before he could say anything.

***

When Hokuto woke up again he felt a lot better thanks to the painkillers, but when he shifted a bit he realized that he was lying flat on the ground which made him open his eyes immediately. But the one he was looking for was right next to him, which made him calm down. Maybe he had slept so long through the medicine that it got uncomfortable for Taiga so in the end he had lay down next to him instead. It was so weird to have him lying right in front of him with their faces just a few inches apart. Ending up in this mess together had made them bond a bit first and then it had teared every tiny bit of trust apart, at least that was what he had thought, because he didn’t mind Taiga that close. He didn’t mind sleeping while he was awake. Somehow the boy seemed to have gotten a grip and as much as his memory still gave him unpleasant shivers he couldn’t keep Taiga on distance.

“You were struggling so much after what you have done. I am happy you somehow overcame it,” Hokuto whispered and on his words the screen suddenly lit up.

Not wanting to wake the other one up he sat up slowly and took a look, but there was no new message, instead there was a player opening and Hokuto realized that it was the picture of one on the cameras in their room.

When the movie started playing he could see Taiga lying on the ground, but he wasn’t in the room, but the knife still was, so this was the footage of what had happened after Hokuto had been taken out the room? But why would that person show it to him?

There was a clock running on the bottom as well and it seemed like the video was cut at some parts, because it suddenly jumped almost an hour to the front. The reason for that was clearly because Taiga didn’t wake up over that whole time, but Hokuto saw him finally regaining consciousness.

The camera showed the screen as well so Hokuto could see if there were messages and he could hear Taiga cough as he sat up on his knees, but the volume was too low to wake the latter up and that was definitely for the best. Somehow Hokuto doubted that Taiga wanted him to see this.

First there wasn’t much happening and Taiga seemed to need some time to remember what had happened, but soon he jumped up, checking the toilet then even the locked metal door.

“Where is he?” Taiga let out towards the screen, but no reply appeared. Taiga kept yelling at the screen, but nothing happened.

Another time jump and several hours had passed. Taiga was pacing up and down the room, obviously extremely distressed through his own actions.

“Please tell me if he still alive,” Taiga was heard in a calmer voice this time, but once more nothing…

A few hours were cut out again, now almost a whole day had passed. Taiga didn’t seem to have received any food or water over the whole time and also no contact was coming over the screen.

“I killed him…” Taiga’s whisper was heard all of a sudden. He was sitting in a corner curled up the same way as Hokuto had found him before. “This is all my fault...I killed him….”

A low chuckle which actually gave Hokuto the creeps was heard next and Taiga lifted his head with a creepy smile before he suddenly got up and walked through the room. Hokuto gasped when he realized that the knife was his goal and even though he knew that Taiga was still with him so nothing could have happened to him he felt the urge to shout out to him and stop him.

“I hope you are satisfied now,” Taiga spoke, obviously addressing the person behind everything. “Now let me give you a grand finale.”

Without any hesitation Taiga grabbed the knife from the ground and pointed it at himself. Before he could move though the red cross appeared on the screen and together with it Taiga started screaming, falling to the side, his body jolting so violent that Hokuto had flinched as well. So that collar had been able to hurt Taiga even more as it did until now. Taiga curled up after he had let the knife drop, but even though the pain had obviously almost made him faint he didn’t seem scared this time. He turned on his back and started laughing.

“What do you want? You want to keep me here all on my own until I go crazy? Sorry, but I guess I've reached that point already! ”

Again no reply, but Taiga didn’t dare to touch the knife again. Another time jump, over two days had passed and it made Hokuto wonder how that person had actually managed to keep Hokuto unconscious over such a long time or had he been awake, but couldn’t remember?

It was a scream from Taiga which made him focus on the screen again. The boy seemed to have woken up from a nightmare. He seemed extremely disturbed by his surroundings all of a sudden. He didn’t even try to ask any questions or beg for water or food. One time jump after the other was shown and Taiga seemed to lose it more and more until he randomly started screaming and punching and kicking the walls, always repeating that he was at fault for everything that had happened.

Hokuto almost jumped up when Taiga fainted, even though he knew he couldn’t reach into the screen and it was a happening from the past, after all Taiga was lying next to him.

“Please give him back to me…” Taiga whispered as he regained consciousness. Four whole days had passed with him alone in the room and it was a miracle to Hokuto how he had been still alive, because somehow he doubted that he had gotten water in the parts he didn’t see and taking a closer look at Taiga now showed that the boy was indeed in an extreme bad shape and Hokuto wanted to hit himself for not noticing earlier. After all they had gotten at least a bit of water earlier, but Taiga had let Hokuto drink it all together with his medicine.

A message, finally: Why?

One of the questions which had made Taiga so angry at the beginning.

“Because I need him,” Taiga replied immediately. “I can’t go on without him. He protected me and saved me and I couldn’t do the same for him. I want to protect him this time and...and I- I need to apologize.” His last words were mixed with sobs and he let his tears run free as he kept staring at the screen with a begging expression.

The metal plate moved without a warning and revealed a glass with just  bit of water in it, but somehow Hokuto doubted it was just normal water.

“Drink this and I give you a surprise. You’re not allowed to show your reaction to that surprise until I tell you that you are allowed to move.”

So that was why Taiga had been curled up in the corner at first. How hard had it been on him? Hokuto guessed that the water had some sleeping powder mixed in it so that Taiga would fall asleep for the time Hokuto had been brought back to the room. But when Taiga had woken up, Hokuto had been still asleep and he wasn’t allowed to move. Getting all those information about what had happened to Taiga over the last days made a huge wave of emotions crush on him. He wasn’t angry or disappointed. Maybe it was the sympathy which was taking the biggest part in his emotional mess.

Taiga took the water out and drank it before one more message appeared on screen: In return for this surprise I want you to remember one thing:

Before the rest of the message appeared the screen went black and Hokuto gasped, because had this been a coincidence or on purpose? But then he heard a groan from Taiga next to him and the boy slowly opened his eyes.

“You’re awake again, how are you feeling?” Taiga asked immediately as he sat up and it took Hokuto a great effort to not yell back at him that this should be his question.

“The painkillers are helping a lot, but if you don’t mind should we maybe ask for water and food?”

It wasn’t just Taiga who felt like he wanted to protect Hokuto after what he had done, but also Hokuto feeling the same now that he knew what Taiga had gone through over the last days. But instead of telling him he figured that it was maybe easier for the boy to not know about it for now.

“I guess that is a good idea, after all you need to make sure that your wound heals properly.”

Healing...for what reason? Were they really going to get out at some point? Shouldn’t they just stop asking for anything and accept their faith? But on the other hand it would make Taiga suffer first and Hokuto didn’t want to let that happen again. And even though Taiga was definitely ready to collapse he pretended that he was alright and that they should beg for water for Hokuto’s sake. It would have made him angry at some point, but not anymore. They had finally left that anger and madness behind them.

“Please tell us what you want for water and food,” Hokuto addressed one of the cameras and both waited impatiently for a message.

It appeared and was luckily not involving anything that could hurt them, at least not the same way as before. But it was definitely not an easy request, especially in their exhausted condition.

“Take it further than a kiss,” Taiga read and silence filled the room for several minutes.

 “How far?” Hokuto dared to ask.

The reply: Depends on how much water and food you want in return.

The hesitation between them was obvious to both of them, but while Taiga seemed just unsure about if he was even allowed to make such a step after what he had done, Hokuto caught himself thinking about completely irrelevant things. Because this wasn’t going to be some fun one night stand, it was about their survival and still he knew already that there was no way they could actually “enjoy” this, after all they were extremely exhausted, thirsty and not to forget dirty after all those weeks in this cell.

It was when he looked up at Taiga again that he felt a really unpleasant sting through his own hesitation. The boy’s eyes were directed to the floor and he had one hand nervously on the metal collar.

It was like a switch, something clicking inside of Hokuto’s mind and he reached out for the other one’s collar and Taiga gasped when Hokuto pulled him closer on it.

“I won’t let him hurt you again!”

It sounded so demanding and it carried not just his worries, but also all his hurt. Before Taiga could even react to his sudden actions Hokuto had eliminated the space between them and pulled Taiga into a rough kiss.

It wasn’t like he wanted to get over with everything as fast as possible, but somehow a slow pace might have him hesitate again and he wouldn’t allow himself that. Luckily Taiga had switched into the same off mode immediately, almost melting into the kiss, giving Hokuto full control over it.

Just when Hokuto wanted to sit up more and push the latter to the ground he realized that he wasn’t capable of what he wanted to do and with a pained groan he sank a bit lower. Taiga reacted immediately and copied Hokuto’s move, pushing the latter down instead and sitting on top of him, making sure not to hurt his wound.

“Leave the work to me,” he whispered against his lips before they shared another deep kiss. Their body contact indeed felt everything than pleasant, but that was definitely their smallest worry for now. The only thing that mattered to them now was that they were finally able to trust each other once more and that even with such an extreme request.

Taiga backed off a bit hesitant when he wasn’t sure how entertaining that freak actually wanted them to act, but there was no actual way to make this a long entertaining foreplay if they didn’t want to collapse before they did anything at all.

Hokuto stopped him as he shifted a bit lower and wanted to change his position. “Are you sure?”

The question wasn’t about what he was doing, but if he was able to manage it in his state, but Taiga nodded.

“You said you won’t let him hurt me again, well let me make sure that you won’t hurt yourself while doing so.”

It was weird to feel his own mouth corners move upwards. Realizing that he was smiling gave Hokuto a weird tingling feeling. It felt like he hadn’t been able to show such a smile to someone in an eternity and Taiga shared his excited feeling. He wasn’t smiling back, but Hokuto could read it in his eyes when his look changed.

Distracted by Taiga taking Hokuto in his hand and giving it a few slow strokes, Hokuto closed his eyes for a moment and he tried to keep his breathing pace slow to not make his wound hurt again. He knew how unpleasant it actually must be for Taiga to take this part in their request, but he was sure that if he tried to move too much or even spread his legs the pain of the wound would make it impossible for him to move.

It was a weird satisfaction filling his body after they had barely been in any physical contact at all for weeks. When Taiga finally moved again and lowered himself on the other one’s erection Hokuto moved his hands up to Taiga’s hips to help him to move as slow and careful as possible. No preparation, nothing to make it easier for them, it was definitely the worst sex they would ever have, but also the most important one.

“Take it slow,” Hokuto said as Taiga let out a long breath, trying to adjust, but it was obviously hard. He didn’t move at all for several minutes and Hokuto could feel how he tensed instead of relax. Not knowing how else to help him a bit he pulled Taiga down to give him another kiss. He moved as careful as possible, giving Taiga all the necessary breaks and time to shift his weight.

With heavy breathes they parted from their next kiss and Taiga finally dared to move a bit, but he still kept it slow, his lips still touching the other one’s.

“Should this actually feel wrong?”

The sudden question startled Hokuto a bit and he just looked up at him instead of replying. “I mean this is what we have to do, right? It’s not like it’s what we want to do, so- I wonder if this feels wrong to you?”

This time his intentions got a bit clearer, but Hokuto wasn’t in the slightest annoyed by the latter’s thoughts. Taiga’s look had turned a bit insecure as he wasn’t sure what Hokuto was thinking about his sudden weird question, but then Hokuto cupped his face and pulled him down into another brief kiss.

“It is indeed something we have to do to save each other, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it just to be with you even when our lives don’t depend on it.”

This time there was finally a brief, almost invisible smile on Taiga’s lips, but it was still overshadowed by so much fear, sorrow and also his disappointment in himself for letting himself get driven to a corner that easily.

“I am sorry I hurt you. I don’t know how to make up for it…”

Hokuto shook his head immediately and placed a kiss on his forehead before he rocked his hips up a little bit, almost as if he wanted to scold the latter for apologizing again. Luckily Taiga had finally relaxed enough to move along and meet Hokuto’s rhythm.

“Make up for it now then,” he whispered before he bit Taiga into the lower lip and the boy finally dared to rock his hips forward more on which Hokuto pulled back and closed his eyes. It didn’t actually hurt his wound baldy, but it was still somehow an irritating feeling, but he tried to make himself forget about it for now and Taiga was good in distracting him as his hands moved teasingly up and down in cheekbones while he fell into a quicker rhythm on top of him.

Hokuto kept staring at him as he sat up to be able to move better and Hokuto found his own hands first exploring Taiga’s way too pale skin on his stomach before they moved lower and finally helped Taiga out a bit more as well, so that he could find release as soon as possible, so that no one of them would actually really collapse before they were done.

It was way harder as they thought to actually reach their climax after all it weren’t the easiest circumstances to get aroused in the first place. Talking about their feelings in between had made things a bit more relaxed, but definitely still not easier.

Hokuto had to catch Taiga as he collapsed to the front as he reached his climax just a bit after Hokuto, but couldn’t hold himself in a sitting position any longer.

Hokuto shifted a bit and closed his arms around Taiga who rested with the side of his head on the latter’s chest with closed eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“If you mean my wound then yes.”

That reply made Taiga shift a bit to be able to look up at the latter. “Do you mean something else is not okay?”

“Does anything of this feels okay to you?”

First Taiga’s look turned to a bit confused and then even almost insecure as he interpreted it the wrong way, but Hokuto luckily realized it and placed a short kiss on his hair. “You know I don’t mean this, I told you it doesn’t feel wrong!”

“But the rest does,” Taiga finally understood and both their looks darkened a bit. Trapped in a room, forced to beg for survival, getting ridiculous tasks and having to endure punishments, nothing felt okay about their situation, nothing except for them being finally able to support each other through this hardship!

“No matter how not okay this gets, I will make sure not to make a wrong choice this time,” Taiga promised and Hokuto closed his arms around his shoulders and put his chin on the older one’s hair before he replied. Why was there still this tiny bit of fear? This annoying insecurity which made Hokuto look away and make sure that Taiga wouldn’t see his expression? He wanted to trust his words so badly, but all he could was trying!

“Then I’ll trust you this time!”

***

Day after day, food, water...more begging, more physical contact. It had become like a routine, but instead of getting easier it got more complicated. They both slowly reached their limits, physically and mentally, but to make sure that Taiga wouldn’t get punished again they kept going no matter the request.

It was when Taiga got a breakdown at some point that Hokuto felt the need of rescuing them out of this mess somehow. Even without the punishments the pressure seemed too much and Hokuto didn’t feel any more stable than the older one. And after several hours of trying to come up with any kind of escape plan or fight strategy it hit him like lightning, an idea so simple that it could never work, but what if it did? Would it have huge consequences if it didn’t? Silence should be the only thing coming as a reply if his idea turned out as stupid as it sounded in his head.

“I want to try and ask for something we didn’t ask for yet,” Hokuto addressed Taiga who had been unable to rest for some days. He was extremely exhausted by now, but instead of sleeping it was more a continuing fainting which forced him to sleep in between. He didn’t even ask what Hokuto was up to, but just nodded.

They didn’t feel uncomfortable around each other at all anymore, but they still sat apart most of the time, mostly because their physical contact had almost reached the state of disgusting. Maybe they should have actually asked for something to clean themselves, but even such a simple request had somehow turned extremely unimportant over the time.

Hokuto sat closer to the toilet while Taiga was sitting next to the screen. When Hokuto turned towards one of the cameras he felt how his heartbeat got faster. What if it failed? What if they were doomed to spend months, maybe years in this room? He shook his head and let out a long breath before he finally dared to ask the question they should have asked at the very first moment they found themselves trapped in this room.

“Would you please open the exit door for us?”

Taiga’s eyes widened in complete shock on that question. It wasn’t quite clear if he felt extremely stupid for not coming up with the same question earlier or if he thought of the question itself as stupid. An extremely unpleasant tension filled the room while they were both looking at the screen and then there it was, a reply! They hadn’t been ignored, which meant that there was indeed the chance to open that door!

“Why?” Hokuto read the typical question and he looked at Taiga who seemed ready for another breakdown out of a sudden. Hokuto got ready to get over to him to make sure he could keep it together, but before he moved Taiga seemed to be able to collect himself on his own before he replied first.

“We want to go home! We can’t live in a room like this for our whole lives. There is no meaning in keeping us here if the only thing you do is watching us die in the end.”

When there was no new message after Taiga’s reply Hokuto sorted his thoughts before he dared to reply as well.

“We want to go back to our families and to our friends. There is a life waiting outside this room! A life we might have to change at some parts, but we won’t get the chance to do so if we can’t get out.”

Hokuto made sure to choose his words more careful than Taiga to not make that person angry and as expected the next message lead towards the typical direction: a new task!

“What would you give for getting out?” Taiga read the message. “We have nothing to give anymore.”

“Then give something up,” Hokuto read the new message and it gave him some unpleasant shivers already. What was that person up to? The request was huge after all, they wanted to leave, they wanted out. What price would they need to pay?

First the plate moved and then another message appeared, but time had stopped for both of them. Like frozen in time they both first looked at the item behind the plate, then at the message at the screen.

Not again! Hokuto had stopped breathing for what felt like an eternity. His whole body felt like paralyzed while he kept staring at the message: One goes, one stays!

But the one staying would stay forever, one look at the gun in the box behind the plate made that obvious.

Hokuto didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to look away from the message, because he feared what he would see in Taiga’s eyes. What if they could just stay calm and discuss this? They wouldn’t need to do this, right? They could just stay and come up with another plan, but what was about a punishment? Was that possibility there? Would he force them to choose and kill one?

When his fear and panic got the best of him he finally moved his eyes towards Taiga and everything happened in literally the blink of an eye. Taiga had been staring back at him and the moment their eyes met the boy was up on his feet. His direction was clear and his movement fast. Hokuto screamed at his body to move as well, but his goal was towards the opposite direction. While Taiga had hurried towards the gun, Hokuto tried to reach the bathroom.

“STOP!”

Why did he even listen? Stopping meant that he would get shot sooner or later, but still his feet stood still now, but he didn’t dare to turn around. He didn’t want to see the same insane look in Taiga’s eyes than before. Had he really been that broken already? Had the time not changed anything? Had he failed in reaching him in the end?

“Don’t move,” Taiga warned in a steady voice, but Hokuto didn’t intend to move anyway. Instead he could feel how tears started burning in his eyes. Fear and disappointment taking over him.

“So we are back to this,” Hokuto let out in a shaking voice.

“Seems like it,” Taiga replied calmly. “What’s on your mind right now?”

“Does it even matter?”

“Yes it does,” Taiga let out almost stubborn. “Tell me what you think right now?”

“That I have been too late.”

“For what?”

“To rescue you. That I have failed right at the start to protect you and that I have to deal with the consequences now.”

Had he imagined the small chuckle? It didn’t sound in any way mocking, but he still didn’t dare to move.

“You let him hurt me, you couldn’t even understand in what pain I was,” Taiga explained and it gave Hokuto some unpleasant stings, remembering how stupid he had been to refuse hurting Taiga while he was hurting him through that way more. “But then you got hurt instead of me. You took the pain instead of me and protected me from new punishments.”

“And still it wasn’t enough…” Hokuto whispered as his voice got unsteady and mixed with some sobs as he couldn’t hold back his tears anymore.

“Do you give yourself the fault?”

Hokuto just nodded, no steady words leaving his mouth anymore.

“You said you were too late, that you weren’t enough. With no word you said that I did something bad. You didn’t make it my fault and that…”

The next sound was the hammer of the gun getting pulled back and Hokuto’s sobs got even louder. He could feel how his knees were about to give up, while he wished for it to be finally over. “...was the most stupid and still most amazing thing you could have done.”

This time he could hear how Taiga’s voice also got a bit unsteady and he took a deep breath before he spoke again. His voice was so calm, almost soothing.

“As promised I will protect you this time!”

Everything connected in the tenth of a second and still Hokuto couldn’t move. He missed the chance to swirl around and shout out for the other one.

“Thank you for trusting me!”

The sound of the shot made Hokuto fall to his knees with a desperate scream and he buried his face on the ground with his hands over his head. He didn’t need to look, he knew what had happened and now there was no doubt anymore: it was indeed his fault!

Thank you for trusting me Taiga had said and here Hokuto felt like the biggest coward. It took him a felt eternity to be able to move again and his tears wouldn’t stop to run free no matter how much he tried to get a grip.

A new sound made him jolt and even though he still hadn’t turned around he guessed that it was the lock of the door.

“I am sorry...If I had indeed trusted you, then maybe- maybe you wouldn’t have had to protect me!”

On unsteady legs Hokuto finally got up, when he turned around he didn’t dare to look down. He didn’t want to see. Instead his look fell on the screen where the player from before had opened and showed the last scene of the time when Taiga had been alone in the room. Finally he could see the last message Taiga had seen on the screen: In return for this surprise I want you to remember one thing: You promised to protect him this time!

Had Taiga’s decision been because of that message? Had that person been in his mind to that extend already to be able to control him with words alone? Or had it been really a move out of personal feelings? Regret and guilt, maybe even deeper feelings he had developed over the time which had led to his final decision? Hokuto would never get an answer.

The picture disappeared and a final message showed up:

room 3

player 1: winner

player 2: game over

With a still blurry vision through his tears Hokuto made his way towards the door and with shaking hands he tried to open it and it indeed moved.

He took another deep breath, but he still couldn’t look, but he also couldn’t remain. Taiga had chosen him, so at least he had to accept the boy’s choice and move on.

The corridor he stepped in was quite dark and with a shocked expression he realized that there were a lot of other heavy metal doors down the corridor. All of them showed a red light on top of the door. When he turned to look over their door the light had turned yellow.

Their room showed the number 3 and the corridor showed a dead end right next to the room next to him so he slowly walked down the corridor with unsteady steps.

When he had passed room 12 he jolted and crouched down in panic as he heard another shot. There was a moment of silence before he heard the same clicking noise of a door opening than before. When he dared to look up again he found the door of room No. 14 slightly open and a blue light above the door before he heard steps.

The door got pushed open by a boy who had his back turned towards Hokuto. The boy was naked as well, but he was wearing the same metal collar as Taiga and then Hokuto realized who it was.

“Reo?”

On the sound of his name the boy turned towards him and the insane smile Hokuto saw on his face gave him the creeps.

Reo lifted up the gun he was carrying and showed it proudly as if it was his most precious possessing.

“Player 1: game over!”

ALTERNATE ENDING 

Day after day, food, water...more begging, more physical contact. It had become like a routine, but instead of getting easier it got more complicated. They both slowly reached their limits, physically and mentally, but to make sure that Taiga wouldn’t get punished again they kept going no matter the request.

It was when Taiga got a breakdown at some point that Hokuto felt the need of rescuing them out of this mess somehow. Even without the punishments the pressure seemed too much and Hokuto didn’t feel any more stable than the older one. And after several hours of trying to come up with any kind of escape plan or fight strategy it hit him like lightning, an idea so simple that it could never work, but what if it did? Would it have huge consequences if it didn’t? Silence should be the only thing coming as a reply if his idea turned out as stupid as it sounded in his head.

“I want to try and ask for something we didn’t ask for yet,” Hokuto addressed Taiga who had been unable to rest for some days. He was extremely exhausted by now, but instead of sleeping it was more a continuing fainting which forced him to sleep in between. He didn’t even ask what Hokuto was up to, but just nodded.

They didn’t feel uncomfortable around each other at all anymore, but they still sat apart most of the time, mostly because their physical contact had almost reached the state of disgusting. Maybe they should have actually asked for something to clean themselves, but even such a simple request had somehow turned extremely unimportant over the time.

Hokuto sat closer to the toilet while Taiga was sitting next to the screen. When Hokuto turned towards one of the cameras he felt how his heartbeat got faster. What if it failed? What if they were doomed to spend months, maybe years in this room? He shook his head and let out a long breath before he finally dared to ask the question they should have asked at the very first moment they found themselves trapped in this room.

“Would you please open then exit door for us?”

Taiga’s eyes widened in complete shock on that question. It wasn’t quite clear if he felt extremely stupid for not coming up with the same question earlier or if he thought of the question itself as stupid. An extremely unpleasant tension filled them room while they were both looking at the screen and then there it was, a reply! They hadn’t been ignored, which meant that there was indeed the chance to open that door!

“Why?” Hokuto read the typical question and he looked at Taiga who seemed ready for another breakdown out of a sudden. Hokuto got ready to get over to him to make sure he could keep it together, but before he moved Taiga seemed to be able to collect himself on his own before he replied first.

“We want to go home! We can’t live in a room like this for our whole lives. There is no meaning in keeping us here if the only thing you do is watching us die in the end.”

When there was no new message after Taiga’s reply Hokuto sorted his thoughts before he dared to reply as well.

“We want to go back to our families and to our friends. There is a life waiting outside this room! A life we might have to change at some parts, but we won’t get the chance to do so if we can’t get out.”

Hokuto made sure to choose his words more careful than Taiga to not make that person angry and as expected the next message lead towards the typical direction: a new task!

“What would you give for getting out?” Taiga read the message. “We have nothing to give anymore.”

“Then give something up,” Hokuto read the new message and it gave him some unpleasant shivers already. What was that person up to? The request was huge after all, they wanted to leave, they wanted out. What price would they need to pay?

First the plate moved and then another message appeared, but time had stopped for both of them. Like frozen in time they both first looked at the item behind the plate, then at the message at the screen.

Not again! Hokuto had stopped breathing for what felt like an eternity. His whole body felt like paralyzed while he kept staring at the message: One goes, one stays!

But the one staying would stay forever, one look at the gun in the box behind the plate made that obvious.

Hokuto didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to look away from the message, because he feared what he would see in Taiga’s eyes. What if they could just stay calm and discuss this? They wouldn’t need to do this, right? They could just stay and come up with another plan, but what was about a punishment? Was that possibility there? Would he force them to choose and kill one?

When his fear and panic got the best of him he finally moved his eyes towards Taiga and everything happened in literally the blink of an eye. Taiga had been staring back at him and the moment their eyes met the boy was up on his feet. His direction was clear and his movement fast. Hokuto screamed at his body to move as well, but his goal was towards the opposite direction. While Taiga had hurried towards the gun, Hokuto tried to reach the bathroom.

“STOP!”

Why did he even listen? Stopping meant that he would get shot sooner or later, but still his feet stood still now, but he didn’t dare to turn around. He didn’t want to see the same insane look in Taiga’s eyes than before. Had he really been that broken already? Had the time not changed anything? Had he failed in reaching him in the end?

“Don’t move,” Taiga warned in a steady voice, but Hokuto didn’t intend to move anyway. Instead he could feel how tears started burning in his eyes. Fear and disappointment taking over him.

“So we are back to this,” Hokuto let out in a shaking voice.

“Seems like it,” Taiga replied calmly. “What’s on your mind right now?”

“Does it even matter?”

“Yes it does,” Taiga let out almost stubborn. “Tell me what you think right now?”

“That I have been too late.”

“For what?”

“To rescue you. That I have failed right at the start to protect you and that I have to deal with the consequences now.”

Had he imagined the small chuckle? It didn’t sound in any way mocking, but he still didn’t dare to move.

“You let him hurt me, you couldn’t even understand in what pain I was,” Taiga explained and it gave Hokuto some unpleasant stings, remembering how stupid he had been to refuse hurting Taiga while he was hurting him through that way more. “But then you got hurt instead of me. You took the pain instead of me and protected me from new punishments.”

“And still it wasn’t enough…” Hokuto whispered as his voice got unsteady and mixed with some sobs as he couldn’t hold back his tears anymore.

“Do you give yourself the fault?”

Hokuto just nodded, no steady words leaving his mouth anymore.

“You said you were too late, that you weren’t enough. With no word you said that I did something bad. You didn’t make it my fault and that…”

The next sound was the hammer of the gun getting pulled back and Hokuto’s sobs got even louder. He could feel how his knees were about to give up, while he wished for it to be finally over. “...was the most stupid and still most amazing thing you could have done.”

This time he could hear how Taiga’s voice also got a bit unsteady and he took a deep breath before he spoke again. His voice was so calm, almost soothing.

“As promised I will protect you this time!”

Everything connected in the tenth of a second and Hokuto swirled around, but even though he had gotten ready to dash forward and shout at the other one to stop he froze on the spot as he looked at the other one.

Tears were streaming down Taiga’s face nonstop and it was a miracle to Hokuto how he had been able to keep his voice that calm and steady. He looked so broken, so fragile and still he didn’t seem like someone who had given up. It was a weird kind of pride he could see in the other one’s eyes, something that made clear that he needed to take this step to make up for what he had done before. For the mistake of falling into darkness and to find back into the light he had to pay a price way too high to be acceptable for Hokuto, but Taiga had made up his mind and he gave the latter a calm smile, regardless the endless tears.

“Thank you for trusting me!”

Hokuto couldn’t even remember if his scream had included any logical words, but he had found himself on the ground right away, despair taking over him before he could even realize what exactly had happened.

Horrified, broken, ready to dive into madness that was how Hokuto would have felt if what had been about to happen would have happened! But Taiga was still standing, his tears still not stopping. The only thing that had changed after he had pulled the trigger was his expression. First it was just a mix of panic and shock, but then slowly realization seemed to take over before his hand started shaking violently and he let the gun drop before his knees gave up and he crumbled to the ground with an almost empty expression.

Hokuto had crawled forward without even realizing when he had started moving. When he reached Taiga and pulled him into a desperate hug, the latter suddenly started crying even more, a mix of loud sobs and screams echoing through the whole room.

“It’s okay! It’s over! Taiga, you’re alive!”

Hokuto needed to shout the words at the other one over and over again to make him calm down. The relief Hokuto was feeling needed several minutes to finally reach Taiga as well.

“Taiga, look at me! The gun was empty! You are still with me!”

The boy’s eyes still remained kind of empty even when he was finally able to calm down a bit. Hokuto dared to release him a bit out of his hug and took his face in his hands before he tried to form a brief smile, but his lips were shaking too much to hold it for long, his tears making his vision too blurry to clearly see the other one.

“I hate you for this choice,” Hokuto let out between his sobs and finally Taiga’s eyes focused on the latter’s face. It was the apologizing shine he could see, the weird pride of having been able to do such a step which made Hokuto lean in to give Taiga a passionate kiss. Taiga had his eyes closed when he backed off, but he seemed a bit more relaxed than before and his tears were finally drying on his cheeks. “And I will also love you forever for this choice!” Hokuto added in a low voice on which Taiga opened his eyes again.

The clicking sound of the door unlocking couldn’t get their attention no matter how much they wanted to get out.

Hokuto’s eyes were not leaving Taiga’s face, especially as the older one finally formed an almost invisible smile, his tears ready to flow over once more as he let his forehead slowly drop against Hokuto’s.

“Then I hope until forever ends I won’t give you another reason to mistrust me again.”

After Taiga’s words the screen lit up and a message appeared, but just for a bit longer they didn’t want to move, they didn’t want to look. To win a game breaks were needed after all.

The message:

Congratulations!

Stage 1: Clear

Please continue to Stage 2