Pressure
1,370 words | CW: Strangulation, Mentions of Torture
Mica was not the type of man to be fueled by sexual desire. His work kept him busy. Stuck forever in a cycle of slaughtering hogs and men. Wake. Eat. Kill. Sleep. It was all he knew. A routine he had practiced since his youth. He was not immune from the occasional burn of intimate musings, but they were easily snuffed out by his own hand.
Over the years, he found that any relationship that wasn't transactional had little to no appeal. Watching the Delaney boys bicker with their wives was exhausting. It often reminded him of his own mother and father—stuck in a loveless marriage.
But as he straddled Ryker, rope tightly strung around his neck, he felt a hungry spark of desire light up in his brain.
It had been almost two weeks since the youngest Delaney had arrived. At this point, it was clear that the missus wasn’t really looking for information. Instead, she often watched on with a hint of amusement as the men kicked Ryker around. Sometimes stubbing her cigarette out on his legs or arms. She’d already marked his back with the signature three dots within the first week.
Ryker had been particularly defiant on that day—spitting at her boots and laughing every time he got hit. At some point, he managed to slip out of the ropes (poorly tied by an intoxicated Cyrus the previous evening), and bolted. Cyrus started after him, but Mrs. Delaney grabbed him by the collar.
“He won’t get far. Mica, bring him back.”
She was right. Ryker hobbled helplessly towards the first fence, tripping over his own legs like a newborn fawn. Screaming as if the neighbors didn't live over ten miles away. Mica caught him in just a few strides. Grabbing him by the ankles, he dragged the defenseless man back towards the barn. He kicked and screamed the whole time—desperately digging his fingers into the dirt.
There was no slipping from the Delaney’s hold. Mica had learned that the hard way early on. He’d taken his beating with the tail end of a whip. Left to bake in the sun for a day and night before he was pardoned for his crime. The fact that Ryker and Rhett managed to slip away from the ranch all those years ago was an anomaly. Luck, if one believed in that kinda thing. Though it appeared that luck had an expiration date.
“Hogtie him,” Mrs. Delaney said, handing Mica a coil of rope. “Feel free to rough him up a little more while you're at it.” She finished off her cigarette, flicking it towards Ryker. It nearly hit his face, bouncing off the dirt next to his ear. She looked almost bored as she walked away, Cyrus in tow.
Mica peered down at Ryker. It wasn’t the first time he’d tied him up, and it wouldn’t be the last. But Ryker liked to make it a chore. Squirming and biting. Kicking his legs and throwing fists. Sometimes Mica would take the hits, letting Ryker wear himself out before finally tying him up to a chair or to the gates of the horse pens. As predicted, he started to squirm as soon as Mica knelt next to him—digging his filthy nails into Mica’s forearms.
“Please, Mica! I-I don’t know anything! I swear. You have to believe me. J-Just let me—I won’t tell anyone! Please! I can’t stay out here another night–”
It was unlike Ryker to beg. Cry, sure. But beg? Mica knocked his hands away. Trying to grab for his wrists, but the guy was surprisingly slippery.
“Mica, please! You know me–” Suddenly, he felt a yank on the rope, quickly followed by a strike to the jaw. Mica blinked, stunned for a second.
While most assumed the butcher was not capable of feeling emotion, he was often challenged with the sharp edge of annoyance. Sometimes even a little rage. He felt both then—straddling Ryker and putting his full weight on the smaller man. It was easy to pry the rope from those trembling fingers before looping it around his neck and tightly pulling the two ends in opposite directions. Ryker’s hands immediately flew up. Scratching wildly at his skin as he tried to get purchase of the rope.
The spark happened then. Like a bolt of electricity crawling down Mica’s spine. He let up for just a moment. Easing the tension around Ryker’s thin neck. Ryker spluttered and coughed. “Mica! Wait-” he wheezed. Mica pulled again. Tighter this time. Watching the rope dig into the skin.
Pretty.
It was an odd thought. A concept he knew only by word and not in practice. But as he slowly tightened his hold, he found that he did find Ryker’s eyes pretty—the teal stark against the dark bruising from the previous day’s beatings. He liked the slope of his nose and how his lips parted. Desperately trying to pull in air.
Ryker grit his teeth. He kicked and thrashed. Face turning bright red before starting to purple. Mica held until Ryker’s hits grew weak and his eyes rolled back. Heels barely pushing into the dirt. When he finally released, the rope slid free of his hands—a heat flooding his ears at the sound of Ryker’s starved inhale for oxygen.
It followed Mica for the next few days. That desperate moan. The soft whimpers laced between coughs. Ryker’s face wet with tears as he begged.
Oh, how he fucking begged.
Mica could picture himself wrapping his bulky hands around Ryker’s throat—pressing his thumbs against his Adam’s apple. How far would he push him? Just to the brink? Flirting with the edge of death?
No.
It would be too easy to crush the life out of him. Mica liked how Ryker hopelessly clawed. How he wiggled between his thighs. He wanted to hear that gasp over and over again. See the tears filling his eyes. Kicking and biting. He’d have to be careful not to overdo it. Just enough pressure to scare him. To keep him writhing with life.
It wasn’t long before the fantasy started to evolve. He could hook him up for a bit. Poke and prod at him with one of the cattle rods—the electrical current making his body twist and tense. See just how many times he could handle the current dancing through his muscles. Back arching and legs kicking.
Maybe he could even mark him. Leave his brand scorched into his flesh. Or perhaps even use one of his knives to carve something small and delicate. Hidden away. A secret for just the two of them.
What other things could coax a sound like that from him?
Mica peered out his bedroom window. The barn looked ominous against the night sky. Shrouded in darkness—except for the sporadic flash of yellow coming from an overhead lamp. The light spilled just slightly into the interior. If Mica squinted, he could just barely make out the soles of Ryker’s feet lying in the dirt.
He found himself walking down the narrow corridor of the house, softly passing Mrs. Delaney’s room and down the staircase. His boots were still sitting outside on the back porch—mucked from the rainstorm early that morning.
Mica stepped into the barn, peering down at the curled body. They left him uncovered; shirtless and arms pinioned with fresh blue twine. Somebody had torn off his bandages. The stitching on what was left of his pinky were partially ripped out. Frankly, his whole hand looked mangled. As if someone had stomped on it a few times. Ryker’s eyes fluttered. He let out a wheezy chuckle.
“Yer a sight for sore eyes.”
Mica found himself hesitating for a moment. Watching Ryker relax further into the muck. They had really laid into him. Cheek and jaw dark and swollen. Welts across his chest and arms. He almost looked defeated. Eyes closed. Shivering. He coughed before trying to curl tighter into himself.
“I really don’t know where Rhett is. Haven’t for a long time.” He let out another raspy breath. “What does it matter anyway? The money is gone. The guns. Everything–” Ryker kept muttering. His voice growing softer and more slurred. It wasn’t long until his breathing slowed. Rattling but steady.
Mica felt his mouth go dry. Impulse had driven him here. That hot, needy burn. Had he intended to do something with Ryker? Act out on the dark thoughts swimming in his head?
And for the first time in a long time, Mica felt fear.
┬┴┬┴┤(・_├┬┴┬┴| writing tag: @demondamage @burntcoffeewhump @suspicious-whumping-egg @yet-another-heathen
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Chat my ear off, do it :gun:
going to assume this is abt the au i've been mentioning lol
so basically i do think that if King found Vic first (which is admittedly a little while back i'd imagine, you don't really just immediately become head of a company that kills animators and artists in a year-long span or whatever) it would have gone very differently.
like, let's say that Vic crash-landed in the outernet about a year--maybe 2-- before king sees the avm short, assuming that it was playing around the time of its release. which is apparently 8-9 years ago. ridiculous btw why is time allowed to pass like that.
obv when King sees this ill-adjusted hollowhead who probably barely even talks, considering their situation, and who also looks like they're stressed out by the mere presence of their surroundings he's not exactly going to leave them there to go through whatever the hell they'd go through out here
which it's also worth mentioning that the most infamous hollowheads are-- again-- Chosen and Dark, which would not be great for Vic when starting out since a lot of people would have suspicions about them based off of that
so basically King just takes them in and lets them stay in his house while they kind of just get adjusted to life in the outernet
when the original AVM happens and King puts up a wanted poster, Vic notices SC and decides they need to talk to whoever this stranger is, so they tell King that they'll help him since they both have something they can earn from finding these people. ofc they still need Purple's help to find them so it's basically just. bonus child
it would make it a little longer and victim WOULD still threaten people probably and also try to wreak a little more havoc on Alan's computer but mostly the same with a little more Silly Antics
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