To the Bone

This is my kiriban for merci on Y!Gallery for the 15,351th view. Her prompts were as follows:

Character: Giovanni (bonus points for putting Badou in there :P)
Prompts: rain, sunny summer day, diary

I'd like it if it could be some sort of happy ending (I was going to put joy in as a prompt), but knowing Giovanni, I understand if the muse leads you towards something sadder.

(I picked these because of the day it has been today. It was raining hard earlier, but it's all sunny and bright now with birds chirping in the background.)

And smut is always good.

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Giovanni walked past the guards by being 20 feet up, toes on a ledge a squirrel would have had qualms about and fingers gently gliding along the ceiling. He didn’t have much leverage, but he didn’t need much.

He turned the corner and a short distance later he simply slid his feet off the edge of the ledge, caught the ledge with his fingertips long enough to stop the velocity of his fall, before letting go and falling again.

There were no ominous cracks when he hit the pavement, though one ankle bent at an angle it shouldn’t have. He limped three steps on it as it straightened and healed.

He walked up the dark subway tunnels, sliding through the hidden doors with ease. Even with his sunglasses, the way was clear, and he enjoyed the cool quiet. As he neared the surface he started hearing sounds: the hiss of the rain, a tree in the wind, the wind chime, and the whoosh of traffic. As he mounted the stairs, he heard and then saw the patter of rain on the glass cover for the station entrance. For a moment, he stood on the top of the stairs, watching the rain bounce.

The wind bit to the bone with the humidity behind it. The upper world was always so cold.

"Just my luck," he said with a smile.

Then he walked out into the rain.

The coolness of the drops hit his hands, his face, and splashed against the curved surface of his sunglass lenses. He felt fewer, bigger drops splashing onto his scalp. Gradually his hair and clothing dampened, but he put his hands in his pockets and walked.

The rush of water through the gutters made him stop for a moment and watch. People ran by with their heads down under hoods, umbrellas, or hats. None of them gave him more than a glance and those that looked simply went faster.

He came across a small square with a wall that doubled as a sort of fountain. Water ran down the mottled, corrugated surface in waves. All the buildings about the square were black or gray stone, concrete, and glass; a monochrome reflection of reflections, except for a ragged flag of bright red that hovered over something that flashed pink.

Giovanni frowned in curiosity. He moved closer.

It was Haine’s… he’d called him a partner. He walked closer and saw the skinny red-head, wet hair plastered flat to his head, poring over a bright pink book with a gold clasp and lock hanging loose under the pages.

"Is that yours?" Giovanni asked.

The skinny red-head reacted as if he’d been shot. He leapt up in a scramble that made his feet slide on the wet concrete, and he ended up on his butt.

"Ow."

Giovanni sauntered over and grabbed the book. He jumped up on the railing about the fountain, and balanced lightly on the metal strip as the red-head came up and jumped for the book. "No no… I want to see… Hmmm… the Carselino's daughter's diary, huh? Woah, with names and places, and things her dad's done... nice."

The slender man pushed hard at Giovanni. "Give it back, it’s my meal ticket!"

He held it above his head and smiled angelically. "What’s your name?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"You’re with Haine Rammsteiner, aren’t you?"

The single eye, framed by the two wet strips of black leather opened wider, and then the lashes lowered. "He’s my partner."

Giovanni laughed softly and tapped the book. "Partner in stealing journals?"

"Give that back!"

"Give me your name."

The one eye rolled in exasperation. "Badou Nails. Happy?"

"Never. But that’ll do." Giovanni handed the book back, and watched as Badou ran away.

Five men came out of the shadows after him.

"Idiot," he said under his breath and followed.

It was when the idiot stopped to read again that they closed in. Giovanni watched, with a tilted head, as they took their first shot. Badou reacted just as quickly and thoroughly as then Giovanni had first spoken up, and he was scrambling up a nearby apartment building as fast as a squirrel.

For the fun of it, Giovanni shot the last two mafia boys from behind.

That made the other three and Badou look.

Badou turned and kept climbing. Giovanni laughed. The other three got their guns up and fired. Pain bloomed as Giovanni’s left leg snapped when a bullet hit the bone, but even as he fell, he got three shots off. That was all he needed.

Minutes later, his leg allowed him to stand up again. There was no use chasing the skinny red-head, he was long gone.

Three minutes later he heard gunfire headed towards him.

He frowned and waited.

Sure enough, it was Badou, running in fine form: arms and legs pumping like a champion athlete. Now there were a dozen after him....

"Save me!" Badou yelled as he came close.

"I'm not Haine!" Giovanni said and the satisfaction at being able to say that at all made him grin.

"Fuck me!" Badou screamed as he went past.

Giovanni blinked, but by that time Badou had run out of easy hearing distance and he was in no mood to yell. Instead, he glanced around. A dumpster sat along the wall of the building he leaned against. It would provide cover against people running past the wall, even as the wall provided cover from the majority of the crowd coming after Badou.

Even with his abilities, he knew the advantages of cover, and against more than a dozen, it'd be best to take as many as possible out to start.

So he took advantage of the cover, and he took a good, wide stance, both hands supporting each other with just one weapon. He fired as each head came into view. Simple, effective, brutal enough that after the first five kills, no more heads showed up.

He sighed, reloaded, and waited.

The distinctively suppressed cough and bolt cycling of a pair of Ingram MAC-10's came back from the direction Badou had run.

"Shit, that's sloppy," Giovanni muttered under his breath. The MAC-10, with its small size and high rate of fire was nearly impossible to control; but as he saw Badou run back in, wide open to the shots hailing about him, he realized that the slender man had no desire to control a damned thing.

"No wonder Haine partnered with him, the fun come to him," he muttered under his breath and slid out from the cover of the dumpster and toward the edge of the wall. He veered away from the corner to get a better visual angle, and the carnage on the other side took him to his knees as it triggered memories of those blood-filled "playrooms" of his childhood.

For a moment, he was painted in blood, the walls covered in gore, the moans of the dying slid up into the treble range of children died under the claws and teeth of monsters or killed themselves in horror. In his head, a monster came at him. His hands came up.

The present snapped back. His hands were in position with the reassuring weight of his guns solid in each grip. In short controlled bursts, he took out the men that were too distracted by Badou's crazy-man routine to even notice him.

The rain still poured down, washing the bright blood down through the gutters.

He holstered his weapons and ran his hand through his blond hair, squeezing the water out onto the soaked back of his suit coat. Now it didn't drip as much onto the lenses of his protective glasses. He walked toward Badou, who was standing quietly in the midst of the pile of bodies, vainly trying to shield a lighter from the rain as he attempted to light a cigarette he'd taken from a pack on one of the dead men.

The slender man had a loose, wild grin on his face. "That was some trip, huh?"

Giovanni shrugged, and then asked, "Did you mean it?"

One red eyebrow went up. "Sure. You helped."

Giovanni shook his head. "You don't have to..."

A slender hand, shockingly warm against the cold of the rain slid against the skin of his cheek, a finger tip probed gently at the band holding his glasses tight to his face, and slid into his hair. He was glad for the glasses as his eyes closed.

He smelled the smoke before warm lips lightly touched against his own. He stood there, bemused as Badou kissed him, slow and sweet, tasting of water rain and cigarette smoke, smelling of gunsmoke and blood.

"You kiss like Haine does. You've never kissed before, have you?"

Stung by the comparison, Giovanni retorted, "Have too!"

He thought to himself how hard can it be? Then he pressed his lips against Badou and bashed their noses together uncomfortably.

"Angle your head, lover boy," Badou said, suiting actions to words.

This time Giovanni thought enough to press back, the combination of vulnerability and sensation was odd but pleasant. The heat of Badou's body radiated through the thin, soaked shirt against Giovanni's hands, and he clumsily wrapped his arms around the other to pull him closer. He started fumbling at the fastenings to Badou's shirt.

"Woah, woah there."

"Oh. I thought you said..."

Badou laughed and shook his head, splattering Giovanni with water. "Yeah... we'll do that, but not here." He took Giovanni's hand. "You Rammsteiners are all alike, so cold you can fuck in a pile of dead bodies."

Giovanni spun on his heel and walked away.

A hand touched his right shoulder. He spun to his left, right arm going up to catch the wrist attached to that hand, and he pulled down hard, even as he knelt down on his left knee, right knee up to break Badou's back. But at the last instant he used his left arm and hand to catch the slender man even as he dropped that deadly right knee. Badou was just human; he'd break and not get up again.

Giovanni growled, "I am different than Haine. You can go fuck yourself."

Then he dropped Badou, letting him roll away, and then got up to head blindly back in the direction of the subway station.

But that damned stupid hand touched his shoulder again. He stopped as much because the tears inside his damned sunglasses were obscuring his vision as much as the rain drops from the outside.

"What," he bit out.

"This way. It'll just be a little more comfortable and we won't get caught with the fresh bodies is all. Nearly no one ever comes here."

That warm hand wrapped around his, and Giovanni let it guide him in his blindness. It wasn't far. The rustling of leaves made him tilt his head up to get a look. Badou had found a small park with lots of statues. No, on a long second look, he realized it was a graveyard. White and grey stones, a hedgerow all around, and a few huge trees with huge, gnarled trunks stood amid the quiet stones, the broken-winged angels, and sadly drowned bouquets left at their feet.

"You have a thing about dead bodies?" Giovanni asked.

Badou chuckled. "It was close. It's dry under this tree, and the stones and bushes provide cover from the street. I've been caught out a few too many times, and I've learned a few things. I don't want you to know where I live, in case you come hunting Haine. But it's nice here."

It was dry under the big oak tree. The softness of the old, dried leaves from the fall before surprised Giovanni nearly as much as the sounds of the rain and wind through the leaf canopy above them.

"It's beautiful here."

"Quiet, too. Nearly no one comes to visit." Badou took off his long coat. He spread it over the dry, rustling leaves, and then turned back toward him. "Come on, I don't bite unless asked to."

Giovanni hesitated, and he watched Badou's one eye look him up and down. It was odd realizing that he knew exactly what to do in hundreds of different fighting situations, but he had no idea where to even put his hands when Badou tilted his head again and started to kiss him. Small, gentle, soft kisses that slowly lengthened as Badou's hands undid the buttons of his double-breasted coat, and then pulled his shirt from his pants and slid up past the waistband of his perfectly tailored trousers. The weight of the loaded holsters stayed under his arms.

He found himself shivering as warm skin actually touched his skin.

"Feel good?"

He nodded, unable to find words at the fear and hunger that roared through him. Touch meant pain, but this felt so good. Calloused hands wrapped around his lower back, pulled him close, and a soft wet touch, hot against his skin, slid up along his jaw. His own hands automatically went around Badou’s neck, but he stopped them from tightening, just enough to quiet the cold snake winding up his spine at the implied threat.

Badou swallowed under Giovanni’s hands, the motion making his own breath catch a little. "Kinky, hm?"

"No. Just frightened," Giovanni said lowly.

"Ah... I’ll move slow." Badou swallowed again, his pulse fluttering like a butterfly's wings against the grip Giovanni had on his throat. Giovanni felt those clever, slender hands working at his belt, opening the hook and buttons, and sliding open the zipper.

Slow shivers work down through Giovanni’s body. "I don’t know if I can do this."

"Part of the territory," Badou answered, spreading his hands and sliding them down along Giovanni’s belly down to his hips. Giovanni shocked himself by moaning at how good the frictions felt against his damp skin. "Right… looks like you’re a quick learner."

Giovanni pulled in a shaking breath, not sure how much of it was from the aftermath of the fight and how much was simply from being touched. He managed a chuckle. "Always was."

Badou pulled on him gently, and since Giovanni could see where they were going, he relaxed and followed as Badou went backwards toward his coat. Badou then took off his shoes, skinned out of his wet jeans, and then started peeling down Giovanni’s trousers. Giovanni’s hands tightened their hold for just an instant. Badou stopped and was very still.

Giovanni sighed and forced his hands to Badou’s shoulders, gripped there. He used the support to toe one shoe off, and then he reached down and pulled off the sock, which he dropped into the shoe. He did the other, as Badou stood there.

"You’ve done this with Haine," observed Giovanni dryly.

Badou simply shrugged and nodded. "I move slow with him, too."

He knelt and pulled the damp material from Giovanni's legs. Giovanni gasped at how cold the air was and how exposed he felt, even with the brush, trees, and stones about them. Badou started by rubbing warmth into Giovanni's legs, and then Giovanni felt the hot, wet heat of Badou's tongue against the head of his cock. His grip tightened on Badou's shoulders as he choked out, "Oh shit."

The insistent motion of Badou's mouth, licking, and then a sucking as a warm hand pulled and squeezed against the root of his cock, sent sensations rocketing through his body and did what Giovanni had thought was impossible: it brought his cock to full attention. The touches fed a hunger so deep he shuddered with each one. When the slender man stopped, Giovanni groaned as he moved back on the spread coat and pulled Giovanni down onto his knees between Badou's spread legs.

Giovanni slid his hands along Badou's legs.

"Fuck your hands are cold," Badou yelped.

Giovanni leaned forward and took the surprisingly soft skin over the head of Badou's cock into his mouth and tentatively licked, lapped at the gradually tightening skin. A smooth, hardening tip rose from the wrinkled folds, and he slid the tip of his tongue against the slit, wrapping one of his hands about the base of Badou's cock as much to control the slender man's motions as for his own support.

He tasted salty, musky, and strange. Slender hands moved into his hair, sending shivers of need down his spine, and he heard Badou say softly, "Well, look at you..."

Giovanni, greatly daring, slid that hardening, filling shaft deeper into his mouth, and was rewarded by a yelp and a low moan. The sight of the sliding of whipcord muscles against slender bone made Giovanni try to swallow around that heat. The swallowing elicited an even more heartfelt groan.

"Christ. You're good at that... but wait... this was supposed to be for you...." Slender hands pulled at his hair. "Come on, let go..."

Giovanni shivered at that the tensioning of his hair. The feeling was a new one and he liked it. He reluctantly came off Badou's shaft, and gave the tip one last lick, only to see Badou looking at him.

"Are you gonna take your sunglasses off?"

Giovanni shook his head. "No. I've had them shot off, but that's about it. My eyes don't do well in sunshine."

Badou laughed as the rain splashed all about them. "I don't think you're going to have to worry about that now."

Giovanni shrugged. "Are you going to stop if I leave them on?"

Badou hesitated. Then he answered, "Nah, but it'd be easier if I could see your eyes."

Giovanni sighed and then reached back to undo the fastener for his glasses. The latch clicked open, and reflexively, he closed his eyes before the goggles came off. When he opened them, he saw Badou watching him steadily. There was no flinch, no warding off, not even a twitch of the eyes away from the red of his eyes.

"There now, was that so hard?"

Haine, again, had paved the way. Giovanni shrugged, and put his glasses in an inside pocket. He had no other place to keep them safe. Badou reached up and traced the indentations where the glasses had been and Giovanni felt ridiculously exposed as Badou's gaze actually met his.

He felt odd knowing he felt more exposed at losing his glasses than at losing his pants.

He touched the knot of his tie and thought for a moment about loosening it, but his hand fell away from exposing his throat and that damned collar. Badou just nodded and turned away, busy looking for something in the inside pockets of the coat he was sitting on. He pulled a small bottle out of a pocket, along with a fistful of tissues and a foil packet for a condom.

"Always prepared, huh?"

Badou simply snorted. "You don't want to know."

Given how Badou had reacted to his need for the high collar, Giovanni stayed silent. He really didn't want or need to know why Badou carried those things.

Badou flicked open the squirt cap and got a little of the gel on his fingertips. He matter-of-factly reached down and slid a finger into his anus with a small indrawn breath. He quickly added more digits and on three his breathing got a little shaky. "Okay... ready when you are." He used his clean hand to flip the condom packet in Giovanni's direction.

Giovanni caught it out of mid-air, and it took a little while to get it open and figure out which side rolled. He gave himself a few good strokes as he rolled it on, and watched Badou as the slender man relaxed and started pumping his fingers into himself.

"Mmm...." Badou sighed, pulled his fingers out of himself, and wiped his hand off before motioning him closer.

Giovanni obediently moved. Badou smirked, lay back, put both knees up near his shoulders, and not quite knowing what else to do, Giovanni set the tip of his erection against the offered entrance. He felt it when the slender man's muscles relaxed and let him in.

At first, the heat surprised him the most, then it was the tightness of the ring that allowed him in. The embrace of Badou's insides touched all the surfaces of his cock. Giovanni had only ever jerked himself off and compared to that, being inside Badou was astonishing. He groaned, eyes closing, at the sliding friction of those warm walls all around him. He grabbed anything he could to just push further into that tightness.

When he felt Badou's hands on him as well, pulling him closer as best he could, he fought off all the echoes of grappling against someone; but being the one pushing deep into the gasping body below him helped immensely in fighting off the ravening dogs of his own trained-in fear. The soft sounds below him, made at each heave of his own trembling body, were unlike anything he'd ever heard.

The willingness of the body beneath his made his throat thicken even as his own muscles tightened and his rhythm grew ragged. As fast as that, he came hard, an orgasm that shook the breath from him and left him feeling boneless.

He collapsed on Badou, his weight on the backs of Badou's thighs. He shivered panting, as warm hands and arms wrapped about him. He felt like he wanted to rest forever in that gentle embrace.

"What... what about you?" he whispered.

"I saw you get hit in the leg," was the quiet answer. "You got right back up again. You really are like Haine, aren't you?"

Giovanni sighed against freckled skin, tired enough to finally give up on that fight. "Mm hm."

Fingers threaded into his hair again. He shifted and groaned softly as he slipped free and heard a soft sigh below him as well as those bony legs moved into a more comfortable position to either side of him. An emotion welled through him, and he managed to move up onto his elbows only to find Badou's one eye searching his face. The light shifted, grew, and Giovanni realized that the rain had stopped.

"What's your name?" Badou asked gently. "You've got mine. I don't know yours."

Giovanni looked away from Badou as he levered himself back up onto his knees, freeing the slender man from his weight.

"It doesn't matter," he muttered looking for the tissues. He used some to clean himself off. "I'm a damned Rammsteiner, only I haven't slipped the leash."

"You're here."

He shrugged. "And I have to hurry back, after my little outing." He found and put his clothing and shoes back on as Badou worked on his as well.

When they finished, Badou shrugged his coat back on, and the sunlight broke through the cloud cover. Giovanni winced and fished his glasses back out of the inner pocket to his coat.

"Just a second," Badou said softly. He walked up to him and looked into his eyes one last time. He grinned a crooked grin, and nodded as Giovanni slipped his glasses back on again. "Thanks."

Giovanni nodded, suddenly shy. "Thank you, too." He bowed his head. "If I get loose again, can I see you?"

"Sure thing, blondie. Next time you don't even have to take a bullet for me." Badou's tone was light, but when Giovanni looked up, he found a look on Badou's face that was strangely tender, almost sad.

He slid his hand along Badou's jaw, cradled it for a moment and then tilted his head to kiss Badou slow and sweet, mimicking Badou's pressure and motions precisely. He felt the sigh, and broke the kiss to grin. "Next time, I'll earn it the normal way."

Giovanni walked off into the sunlight. The warmth outside echoed the odd feeling he had inside. He tasted his happiness carefully as he strode along the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. As rare as the sunlight that now shone upon him, he savored both his feelings and the light from behind the safety of his glasses, as he headed back to the subway station entrance, his way back down into the dark.