Burning Desires

As promised, Reno took Vincent to the park, not only to have fun but perhaps learn the basic interactions between people. Reno dressed Vincent again in his black sweat shirt and sweat pants who kept pulling the fabric to his nose, inhaling it multiple times, loving the scent of his freshly washed clothes. Like usual, Vincent had protested going outside without his leash hooked to his collar, reminding Reno of the punishment that faced Vincent if he went outside without it. Clearly this whole ‘we’re doing things different’ wasn’t getting through Vincent’s head yet.

“Look, I’ll bring the leash with me, see?” Reno explained, showing Vincent’s leash to him before shoving it in his pocket. “But I want you to get use to going out without it.”

Vincent hesitated for a minute before finally nodding his head in agreement.

“Okay, let’s go.” Reno smiled grabbing Vincent’s hand and taking him out the door.

~~~~~

The trip to the park was short; it wasn’t too far from Reno’s house. The park was fairly big, with a short trail that goes around it as well as some swings and a children’s playground towards the center.

Vincent, who was hesitant moments before to head outside, was now running ahead of Reno, looking around with wide curious eyes like a child.

“Wanna swing?” Reno asked, catching up to Vincent.

“Hm?”

Reno pointed towards the swing set, motioning to Vincent to follow him. He seated Vincent on the swing and gave him a small push. Vincent cried out, clutching onto the chains for dear life, nearly falling off the swing by leaning forward. Reno caught him as he swung back, stopping Vincent before he actually did fall off.

“Oops… Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Reno apologized, putting his hands on Vincent’s which were still gripping onto the chain tightly, attempting to comfort him. “Just watch the other kids to see how it’s done.”

Vincent looked to his left, watching the young kids on the other swings, swinging back and forth with little effort.

“See how they extend their legs when they go forward? And then tuck them in when they swing back? Do that and you’ll go higher. Don’t worry about falling, you’re gripping onto these chains tight enough.” Reno extended his head over Vincent’s shoulder, giving a small smile. “Ready?”

Vincent said nothing but adjusted himself on his swing, hinting to Reno he was prepared to try again. He felt himself being pulled back and then a soft jerk forward, starting his swing. As he went forward he put his legs straight out and bringing them in as he went back, just like the kids were doing. It wasn’t long before Vincent was swinging high up into the air, clearly enjoying himself as he laughed happily.

“Master! This is fun! This is fun!” Vincent cried out happily.

Reno smiled. “That’s good.” He noted a slight awkwardness as the parents of the children nearby stared at the two of them, completely confused by a Vincent’s child-like behavior and a little taken back. Some looked at them in disgust and ushered their kids away. If only there was a way Reno could explain to everyone why Vincent acted like he did. He couldn’t say ‘oh… he’s a human pet, he doesn’t know any better’, that’s just silly. Human pets aren’t everywhere, heck the only existing ones are probably from that shop. Not only that but Reno was pretty sure human pets or slaves were taboo. But what could Reno say? No one would understand or believe the story behind Vincent, about the store Reno got them from. Most people, who saw those flyers where Reno had first learned about these pets, probably thought it was a hoax of some sort. And those that did go to check out the store were probably too fascinated by what they saw, they didn’t think about how wrong it was at the time, just like Reno did. Reno felt disgusted with himself falling for something like that. Then again, whenever he thought about it more, he just would tell himself that he gave Vincent a new, better home. It was almost as if he adopted Vincent who was abandoned by his parents or something.

Blue eyes blinked as Reno snapped back to reality nearly forgetting where he was. He shrugged off his thoughts for the time being. “So what do you –“ Reno looked over to the swing Vincent was on only to notice his friend was missing. He looked around frantically before he spotted the raven haired man walking along the trail. Reno ran over, grabbing Vincent’s arm causing him to jump. “Don’t wander off like that! Geez… gave me a heart attack.” He looked toward Vincent, who was silent, gaze to the ground. “Hey, its okay.” He reassured, not understanding what was wrong.

“If it isn’t Reno…”

Reno’s head snapped up and his eyes focused on the two people in front of them. The man he recognized as one of his classmates, Doug, who was the most loved football player and had a reputation of being a complete jackass. But it was who was standing next to him that caught his eye. He couldn’t believe it. She was also a pet. She had the notable collar around her neck and also looked towards the ground, avoiding eye contact just as Vincent was. She was dressed in the most revealing outfit he’d had ever seen which consisted of a tube top and a miniskirt, both seemed like they were a size too small on her. Reno didn’t find it a tad bit surprising.

“I never knew you were gay Lefay. That would explain your lack of interest in all the sluts at school.” Doug laughed, taking a huff of his cigarette.

Reno said nothing, glaring at him with anger in his eyes. He watched as Doug swung an arm around his pet, taking his cigarette from his lips with his other hand and smashing it against the girl’s bare shoulder. She winced from the pain, but remained silent.

“Don’t you think it’s neat that you can do anything to these guys? And they won’t fight back or question it? These women are completely hot and the sex is great.” He paused, taking a look at Vincent before quirking an eyebrow at Reno grinning. “Tell me Reno, how does it feel to fuck something with a dick hanging between its legs?”

“He’s not an ‘it’.” Reno spat back. “He’s a human being like the rest of them are.”

“Ohhhh, so you are gay.” Doug grinned. “Either that or you think feminine guys are women.” He unhooked the leash from his pet’s collar and shoved her forward towards Vincent. “Let’s see if this guy is manly enough to be called a guy.”

“What?” Reno knitted his eyebrows confused, noticing Vincent seemed a little nervous out of the corner of his eye.

“Don’tcha know? If two pets come in contact with each other, they’re suppose to fight, basically like a street brawl. It’s in that rule book.” Again, he shoved his pet forward. “Have at it!”

She paused a second before lifting her gaze and lunged at Vincent, who stepped back but was thrown off balance and fell to the ground on his back with the girl on top of him. She rapidly swung her arms around, aiming for Vincent’s head and chest. Vincent did his best to shield his face with his arms but they were jerked away by each blow.

Reno attempted to break up the two but before he could get to them, he was pulled back by the collar of his shirt and Doug wrapped his arm around Reno’s neck.

“What’cha think your doin’!? This is entertaining!” Doug snickered, tightening his arm around Reno’s neck as Reno tried to break free.

The red head winced as he looked on helplessly at the fight that was going on in front of him. Vincent was getting beaten to a pulp. He wasn’t even fighting back. He’s not fighting back. Why isn’t he fighting her off? “Dammit Doug, let me go!” Reno yelled, again attempting to break Doug’s hold on him. “They’ll kill each other!”

“That’s the point ain’t it? And it seems like your pet is more of a pansy than I thought he was!”

The two boys watched as Vincent and the girl continued to struggle. Vincent finally was able to throw the girl off and attempted to sit up. He was halfway to his feet before he was pounced on again by the girl who continued to wail her arms at him, scratching his face and hands and bruising his arms and upper body. This time Vincent was able to stay on his feet, despite the fact he felt dizzy from the punches to his head. He tried countless times to push her away but refused to give up so easily.

Doug laughed as Vincent continued to get battered by his pet, unconsciously loosing his hold on Reno. Reno felt his chance and elbowed Doug in his gut causing him to step back and completely freeing Reno from his grip. Reno gave him a grimacing look and right before he turned to the fight, he heard a loud crack. Both men paused before looking towards the two pets. Reno feared the worst.

What Reno saw surprised him and made him feel relieved at the same time. Vincent stood over the girl, in the ending pose of a punch that obviously met its mark. The girl was on the ground, hands covering her face as she cried out in pain.

Doug grinded his teeth together and shoved Reno out of the way and kneeled by his pets side. “What’id your fucking pansy man do to her?!”

Reno quickly regained his balance and grabbed Vincent, pulling him back and wrapping his arms protectively around the battered up man. He only looked on as Doug forcibly lifted his pet up, wrapping his arm around her waist and removed one of her hands from her face with this other hand revealing a bloody and purple nose. Doug turned to Reno, pointing an accusing finger at the two of them.

“You’ll pay for this Lefay!” With that, Doug whipped around and walked out of the park with his pet stumbling behind.

Reno sighed in relief. He turned to look at Vincent. He was pretty banged up, his nose was bleeding also, and had a huge gash under his left eye. “That was a good punch you gave her.” Reno smiled brining up his hand to inspect the wound. Reno barely touched it and Vincent winced, jerking away, tears welling up in his eyes.

“oww…” Vincent murmured, sobbing, obviously in pain.

“Sorry…” Reno took Vincent’s hand and brought it up to his nose, having him pinch it in an attempted to slow the bleeding. “Let’s go home and patch you up.”

~~~~~

Rude looked up in complete shock as Reno stepped through the door with a bloody Vincent. “Holy shit! What happened Reno?!” Rude asked coming over to help Reno take Vincent to the couch who by now was too dizzy to even stand. The both of them laid Vincent on the couch and surveyed the damage Vincent took. Rude quickly ran to the bathroom and returned with a first aid kit.

“Remember Doug? That bastard bought a pet too and forced his to fight with Vince.” Reno began, sitting next to Vincent, taking one of his arms and rolling up the sleeve, revealing a few bruises. “Vincent didn’t even fight back until he was able to stand up and gave her a blow to the side of the face.” Reno walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a cloth and soaked it in water before coming back to Vincent’s side and started cleaning off his face.

“He must’ve taken a beating.” Rude exclaimed, handing Reno another cloth. Reno took it and dabbed it in rubbing alcohol and tried wiping Vincent’s cut. Vincent’s eye’s shot open, becoming conscious for a brief moment to yell out in pain.

“Sshhh.” Reno shushed him, caressing his face with his other hand. “I know it hurts but bear with it for right now.”

Vincent continued to sob as Reno cleaned off his wounds, bandaging them as best as he could. Thankfully Vincent’s nose had stopped bleeding earlier and didn’t seem broken. The only major damage was the cut under Vincent’s left eye, which had already begun to swell, making it hard for Vincent to keep that eye open.

Reno came back from the fridge with a small bag of ice and carefully placed it on top of the wound. Vincent flinched slightly and looked up at Reno who gave him a reassuring smile. “Just keep that on there for a bit, alright?” Vincent managed a small smile back before closing his eyes. Reno grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair and covered Vincent, whose bloody shirt had been removed not long ago and was again in the wash. Reno thanked Rude who then went off to do his own business.

“Master…” Reno leaned over Vincent who opened his eyes again to look up at Reno.

“Hm?”

Vincent stayed silent, only gazing into blue eyes searching for the right words in his limited vocabulary to say what he wanted. But he couldn’t find them. He wanted to express gratitude, happiness towards Reno but didn’t know the words. “Master…” He said again, hoping Reno might be able to extract its meaning from his tone of voice and facial expression.

Blue eyes too searched within the red ones he watched. It was obvious to Reno that Vincent was at a lost for words about something. He wasn’t sure exactly what. “It’s okay.” Reno reassured, stroking Vincent’s hair. “You can tell me tomorrow. Your medication is kicking in, so get some rest.” Reno smiled before leaning closer to Vincent’s face until they were only inches apart. “Love you.” He leaned in and kissed Vincent’s forehead.

“Love… you…?” Vincent asked quietly.

His eyes returned to red ones. “You know what ‘like’ means?” Vincent nodded. “Well, ‘love’ is liking someone very much. You like that person so much that if they were to go away, you would be very sad. Of if they were hurt, you would be very sad.” Reno gave Vincent a brief smile before kissing him on the forehead again. “Go to sleep now.” Reno sat up and walked away, not noticing the hand that reached out for him.

Wait Master… Vincent’s hand dropped to his side. He didn’t have the energy or the might to get up or speak. He felt his eyelids get heavier as he drifted off to sleep, the memory of the kiss and Reno being so close to him in his mind. Love you… I love you…

That’s what he wanted to say.