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Surprise	By : tsutsuji Category: +M to R > Pandora Hearts Views: 1111 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Pandora Hearts and I'm not making any money for writing this.

Chapter List
- 1-Surprise
- 2-2
- 1
- 2
Title: Surprise chapter 2 (of 3, I think)

Author: Tsutsuji

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Pairing: Liam/Break

Rating: bumping it up to R just to be safe

Warnings: suggestive yaoi stuff, mentions of off-screen violence and CHARACTER DEATHS. Takes place after Yura's party, but is AU in the sense that, even though we know Mochizuki-sensei is capable of darn near anything, this certainly isn't the way things are going to go. Not beta'd.

Word count: around 3700.

AN: Yeah, it's continued. Blame Their_Kingdom. XD Or blame Break; he absolutely insisted that all this needed to be explained. :

Summary:

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Surprise, Chapter 2

"Well, now," Break said softly after he got some of his breath back, "this is something of a surprise."

Several surprises, in fact. When he'd said farewell to the Rainsworth ladies and listened to their carriage drive off into the night, he certainly had not expected to end up like this three days later: sprawled out all limp and sated on the floor of his room, with Liam curled up around him from behind after practically fucking him through the wall. In fact, he'd fully expected that at least one of them would be dead by now.

However, once you got used to the idea that efficient, proper, likeable Liam Lunettes was really a cold-blooded assassin, Break supposed there weren't many impossible things left to believe. He had a much better idea now of how Gilbert must have felt when he found out about Kevin Regnard, a mind-cramping combination of why didn't I know this? and how could this possibly be the same person I thought I knew? careening back and forth through his mind ever since his suspicions had been confirmed. And overriding both of those extremes, the unavoidable fact that he still cared for Liam, still wanted him, so much so that the idea of becoming some kind of "servant" to the Lunettes house was not nearly as appalling as it probably should be. Not appalling at all, in fact. After all, Liam really had always enjoyed being on top, and it wasn't as if Break had ever objected.

Unfortunately, there were a few little details still to be dealt with on his side of things, too, before that could happen. Depending on how those turned out, one of them might still end up dead.

At the moment, though, Liam felt warm and comfortable and familiar against his back, with his arms and legs curled around Break from behind. Break remembered previous occasions where he'd found this rather possessive position endearing, just as Liam's enthusiasm for being on top during sex had always seemed rather amusing. It all looked quite a bit different now.

Every other time, he would have been the one still half dressed, and he would have had Liam as nearly naked as the urgency of the moment allowed. In this case, it was his own clothes that had been hastily pulled off and flung across the floor, partly by his own doing. Liam was still mostly dressed, only his coat and shoes and his glasses removed, his shirt unbuttoned and his perfectly creased trousers only down around his hips as far as absolutely necessary. It made Break feel unusually exposed and slightly vulnerable by comparison, which of course was not coincidental at all.

He was sure he could feel Liam smiling against the back of his neck. And, just like the way Liam held him and their reversed state of undress, that self-satisfied, post-orgasmic smile held meanings it never had before - or perhaps it had, only he'd never guessed.

He remembered quite clearly the expression he'd seen through his limited vision on Liam's face the night of Duke Barma's death. Of course, no one had questioned the fact that Liam had been the one to find his master's body lying on the floor of his study, blood soaking into the carpet under him, his throat slashed clean across by his own deadly harisen. Afterward, Break had admired how Liam had gone about making all the necessary arrangements, taking care of all the details of Duke Barma's estate with his usual efficiency. If he'd been shaken by the sudden, violent death of the master he'd served so faithfully for so many years, he hadn't let it show. Considering some of the things Liam had gone through for Barma's sake, Break couldn't bring himself to regret the crazy old Duke's death very much at all.

In spite of his own feelings on the matter, Break had been as uncertain as he'd ever been about anything when he'd brought Liam to his bed the next night. Liam had hesitated only for a moment, giving him a sharp look before falling onto him hungrily. Now he remembered how Liam had fucked him harder than he ever had before, almost silently, or at least without words; there had only been the sounds of harsh breathing against the back of his neck, the slap of skin against skin, and the bed rattling under them.

He also remembered how Liam had turned away from him afterward, and Break had curled up against his back, holding off his own exhaustion as long as he could in case Liam needed to talk, needed anything at all from him. Now he wondered if Liam had only turned away to hide a face smiling with satisfaction, the same expression that he wore now and didn't bother to hide at all, so obvious that Break didn't even need sight to detect it.

That made him wonder just how many of the other recently assassinated nobles Liam himself had killed.

For the moment, at least, Break was perfectly willing to allow him that pleased expression, the half-closed eyes and little smile that he could almost see when Liam raised himself up on his elbow and leaned over him. Liam kissed him lightly and then let his fingers wander over Break's lips. Just like everything else about this moment, that familiar touch was not as innocent as it had always seemed. Break tensed and narrowed his eye even before Liam asked the question he'd been expecting all along.

"Say, Xerxes," he said casually. "Do you know where Miss Sharon and the Duchess have gone?"

Ah, Break thought, there it was: that other little detail that would decide if he would have to kill Liam after all.

Duke Barma, Zai Vessalius, and all of the true-blooded Nightrays had been murdered, and the remains of the Baskervilles had been found so brutally slaughtered that they could hardly be identified, before Break had finally convinced Lady Sheryl to take her household and go into hiding. He'd already told her his suspicion that the killer was targeting the holders of the Keys to each door to the Abyss, and that the Baskerville and Nightray doors were likely already under their control. The Vessalius door was probably lost as well. Oscar and Ada had been abducted shortly after the murders began; Oz and the others held out hope that they could escape with their lives, but if Oscar had tried to trade the Vessalius Key for Ada's life, Break was almost certain both of them were dead as well.

When he'd pointed out that the assassins could easily use the same technique to gain control of the Rainsworth Key, Lady Sheryl had finally agreed to take her family and run. But before they left, he'd also convinced her that, even safely hidden away in exile, she might still be too obvious a target.

"Give the Key to the Rainsworth door to someone you trust, someone outside of the Rainsworth house entirely. Don't tell anyone else who has it, not even me," he'd said.

Now he supposed he had that to add to his long list of regrets. Miss Sharon had come to him just minutes before they left and pleaded to be allowed to stay and help him hunt for the killer, and when he flatly refused, she'd turned to scolding him instead.

"Well then, Brother Xerx, you are not to allow yourself to be killed!" she said imperiously, in a voice that threatened bodily harm to him if he didn't comply. "And please, keep Liam safe as well!"

He was startled by the desperation in her voice, but he told himself it was perfectly reasonable for her to worry about one of her oldest friends when other dear friends had already been lost.

"I'm sure Liam can look after himself," he said and smiled reassuringly. "Besides, he's not likely to be a target of this assassin, is he? I'm sure they're only after the members of the Duke houses, those who've contracted with the chains who guard the gates to the Abyss, and the ones who hold the Keys to the doors themselves."

Sharon clasped her hand to her mouth, muffling her little cry of distress.

"Ah," he said softly, understanding what she was trying not to say. "Lady Sheryl entrusted the Key to him, didn't she?"

"Oh," she cried, grabbing his hands and squeezing them. Even without seeing her face, he could tell that she was trying not to cry. "I know you said not to tell you, but it's better if you know so you can protect him, isn't it? Please don't let anything happen to Liam, Xerxes. And not to you, either. Promise me that you'll both be safe!"

He'd taken her fretful hands in his and kissed them, and hoped she wouldn't notice that he'd let her leave without speaking that promise. At the time, he'd been fairly certain he wouldn't be able to keep it.

The day after they left, Gilbert Nightray and Oz Vessalius had been found dead on the grounds of Pandora, both killed with Gilbert's own gun. There was no sign of Jack Vessalius, or B-Rabbit, or Alice. Once again, Liam had been the one to find them.

With all the other Duke houses decimated, that left the Rainsworths as one of the few "details" Liam had mentioned earlier. Even if he and his brothers held the keys to all five doors to the Abyss and had somehow gained control of their guardian Chains and maybe even of B-Rabbit, the Rainsworths were the only remaining Duke house that could possibly stand in their way.

Break smiled up at the grey shadow of Liam's face hovering above him, so close that he could just make out his disarming smile.

"You certainly know how to ruin the mood, Liam!" he said cheerfully. "But I'd be a fool to reveal that to the person who killed Duke Barma and the Vessalius and Nightray heirs, wouldn't I?"

He should have learned from their earlier struggle that Liam was much quicker and stronger than he was now. Almost before he'd gotten the words out, Liam had slammed him onto his back and rolled over on top of him, pinning him to the floor. The breath he'd barely recovered was knocked out of him again.

Liam's face was so close that Break could make out his features, but he didn't really need to; the impatient little sigh told him that a familiar scowl had appeared on his face, the same one he used to put on whenever Break got in the way of his work.

"That is exactly the wrong answer, Xerxes," he snapped irritably. "Come now, I know you're a much better liar than that! In fact," he continued, and Break could hear the scowl become a grim smile, "we both know you're an even better liar than I am. So listen carefully, and I'll ask you again: do you know where Duchess Rainsworth and the rest of her household have gone?"

Break stared up at him. He wished he could look into those brown eyes more clearly, but it was the quiet tension he heard in Liam's voice and felt in the body pinning him down that made him pay much closer attention to the question this time.

Liam hadn't asked him where the Rainsworth women were, only if he knew.

"Nope," he answered cheerfully after a moment, answering the right question this time. "I'm afraid I have no idea where the Duchess and the princess and Lady Shelly have gone! They didn't tell me their plans. I didn't even hear them drive off, so I couldn't even tell you which direction they went in."

He was, indeed, a very good liar.

Liam relaxed his grip a little, and Break felt him nod briefly, as if he was far more satisfied with this answer. His heart pounded under Liam's weight on his chest as one of his more encouraging suspicions gained ground: it might not be a coincidence that Rainsworth was the only Duke house the assassins hadn't touched. A pair of masked attackers had invaded the mansion the night after the ladies departed, but they had turned tail and run almost before he could draw his sword on them. It was a feeble assassination attempt at best, and suspiciously late.

Added to Liam's carefully worded question just now, that was at least enough reason to still be lying here under him instead of sacrificing even his own life to kill him. Whether the Rainsworths had escaped death because of a soft spot in Liam's heart or only because he knew Break would never cooperate with him otherwise, it didn't really matter to the result.

"Hm," Liam said. The scowl was still there in his voice, but he let go of Break's shoulders and let him breathe again. "I think we're going to need to work on that answer of yours a little more, Xerxes."

Break wasn't sure if that meant Liam didn't believe him and still planned to find out where they were, or if he simply wasn't convincing enough when he said he didn't know. Liam didn't make it any clearer when he reached down and stroked his thigh again, and then lowered his head and gently pulled Break's nipple between his lips. All that served to prove was that Liam knew his responses terribly well.

Before he let his breath get completely away from him again, he needed to find out which of those possibilities was true.

"Ah, perhaps before we go any further, Liam, you should ask any other questions I won't have the answer for, hm?"

He wasn't sure if Liam was paying any attention now, though. He seemed more interested in trying to tease him back to a state of arousal, which Break allowed, though a little warily. He didn't resist when Liam pushed his legs apart and wedged himself in between them, or when he sucked and licked places on Break's skin that he well knew to be sensitive in the most pleasant way. All except one place that Liam hadn't ever touched before, at least not like this. He leaned back a little and ran his fingertip over Break's chest, following the pattern of the illegal contractor's seal. Break tried to resist the urge to squirm out from under his hand. Liam knew he didn't like to be touched there.

Liam hummed in a way that might have been a warning not to move, or it might have only been thoughtful, as if that indelible mark of Break's past was suddenly fascinating. Finally he spoke, idly, as if a thought had only occurred to him as he was studying the seal, unrelated to Break's question entirely.

"How did Kevin Regnard manage to return alive from the Abyss, I wonder?" he mused. "Could that mean it's possible to make some kind of deal with the Will of the Abyss? That would be very... useful, wouldn't it, if someone could go into the Abyss and speak to her?"

A chill speared through Break, as if cold chains were suddenly twisted around his chest, making it hard to breathe. He had only ever told them all that he had offered anything he had, everything he had, to the Will of the Abyss if she would change the past for him. He hadn't revealed that she had actually asked something of him in return.

He had barely survived one trip through the realm of the white Alice. If he were forced to face her again, and with that task unfulfilled, there was not likely to be anything left of his sanity, or even his life.

Liam was absolutely correct: unfinished tasks aside, he really was not at all ready to die just yet. He forced a smile and a little shrug, but his own voice sounded flat and unconvincing when he answered.

"I have no idea why that happened. Considering the arbitrary nature of the Abyss, why should there be any rhyme or reason to it?"

Even with his nearly ruined sight, he could see the smile spread across Liam's face. Break held himself still with an effort when Liam touched his lips to the seal, then to the corner of his mouth, and then moved up to brush the hair out of his face, away from his eyes. He couldn't stop himself from flinching when Liam's fingertip circled the rim of his missing eye.

His left arm was pinned behind Liam's body, and when he tried to reach up with his right to push him away and cover his face again, Liam grabbed his wrist and held it to the floor by his head. Break didn't fight that grip, but he did try to turn his head away, and shuddered when warm lips fluttered over his hollow eyesocket.

"That's good," Liam said softly. The puff of warm breath and the flick of a wet tongue on the lid of his missing eye made Break shiver. "I'm glad to hear that there wasn't a reason, Xerxes. Because if my brother thought there was, he might take it into his head to use one of the doors we control now to send you back to the Abyss ...just because he can, you know...."

Break stopped even shuddering, his remaining eye wide open and staring upward, but with his dim sight there was nothing to block out the memory of blinding white and pain and madness.

Even as weak as he'd become he was still quick, but Liam was quicker and stronger. Before Break could twist out of reach or throw him off, the younger man clamped him down to the floor with his hands and his whole body. Break strained against him a few seconds longer, but this time he didn't try to turn his head away, only closed his eye when tongue and lips fluttered over the empty eye socket again. With a satisfied murmur, Liam kissed the closed lid of his good eye gently, and then kissed his mouth, not gently at all.

Liam moved on top of him, grinding their hips together. He was getting hard again already. Break knew it shouldn't feel as good as it did with the horror of that threat still ringing in his hears like insane laughter, but his body responded to the familiar touches, the welcome heat and weight of Liam's body.

A whimper escaped from his throat before he could stop it, not a sound of pain or protest but of arousal, as he gave in and accepted the bruising kiss as well as the warning. Liam cupped the side of his face, his thumb prodding Break's chin up to hold him in place, and kissed him with a hungry little whine, just as if he really wanted him.

When he seemed satisfied that Break wouldn't try to slip out of his reach again, Liam released his mouth and the arm that he'd pinned to the floor. With another of those exasperated little sighs of his, he pulled back just enough to speak softly, with his lips next to Break's cheek.

"Don't give him any excuse to do it, Xerxes. Please don't let all my efforts to keep you go to waste."

Break barely hesitated for a moment before he nodded, rubbing his cheek against Liam's. That was all the answer he cared to give, but he felt Liam smile just the same. Liam knew him better than anyone, perhaps better than he'd even realized after all this time. If this was the only reason the Rainsworths were still alive, it was enough for him. He didn't have enough of a conscience left to be concerned about any of the others.

He certainly didn't regret sending the ladies away or lying to Miss Sharon even when he knew he might never see her again, but he wished, briefly, that he could have had a chance to explain. When Liam and his brothers made themselves known and it became clear who had betrayed them all, they would see that Break was with them, and he would never be able to tell them that it was to protect them.

Ah, but then again, when Liam's teeth grazed his throat, and he spread his legs and arched up against him and felt the sharp, heated breath against his skin in response, he couldn't really tell himself that keeping them alive was the only reason.

Liam ground and twisted on top of him, nipped at his throat and then at his lips teasingly, until Break let out an impatient growl and snagged his fingers through Liam's hair to try to pull him down for a proper kiss. Liam chuckled, annoyingly, and pushed himself up on his hands, slipping out of Break's reach.

"That's enough now, Xerxes!" he said gruffly, as if this was just one of those many times Break had appeared unexpectedly in his office to distract him from his paperwork. He leaned back and reached for the glasses that he'd left on a nearby chair. Break saw the glint of light off the lenses through his hazy vision, and he could easily imagine Liam's scowl as he pushed them into place on his nose.

"Ah, Liam?" Break said. He cautiously pushed himself up onto one elbow.

Liam made a smirking sound and stood up suddenly. Break was startled when something fell on top of him a second later, until he realized it was only his own shirt.

"Get dressed, Xerxes," Liam said. "It's time to go. My brothers are waiting for us."

... to be continued....
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