A/N: Next bit. Huzzah. Enjoy.

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Reality was a distant thing, desensitized by the eternal dark.

At the moment his hands were sifting through the fine hair of his cat at home, and Kyle was sitting with the appreciative ginger tabby on his lap while he watched the television. The world was a close thing, but touch and sound varied, things occasionally becoming vary loud and then very quiet again. The television's images were distorted and incomprehensible and Kyle tried to make sense of them but couldn't. The hand he was stroking his cat with made a strange sound effect each time, much like someone ripping a strip of masking tape.

Stan ghosted by him, although he was not Stan anymore. Simply a shell of a person, unrecognizable. If Kyle had been shown a picture on a normal basis he would never have recognized him as he walked through the dark living room.

The off shade of grey on the walls made him stand and his cat tumbled to the floor, no longer a living thing but a stuffed animal. Kicking it aside, his voice rose loud above everything else.

"Who's here?"

Fingers crept around the corner of the door and slowly a few locks of blond stuck around the corner. Kyle watched, the person's face following at a snail pace. He stood for an eternity as the person stared at him, only those curled fingers and half of a visage visible. The eye was big, bright and blue, genetically fitting to someone with such fair hair.

Kyle drew away from it. He touched the walls, meaning to run through the house and using them as his guide through his world of grey. Around each corner the face emerged until Kyle came to a stop at the end of a hallway. The doors melted away. Eyes peered at him from awkward angles; blue, blue, blue. He touched his own lips self-consciously at his home's collapse, praying that something with black hair might emerge to rescue him from the plush dark carpets below. He huddled into a ball on the ground as his clothes peeled away like the wallpaper on the walls, his world turning to black.

He opened his eyes to dark dampness, bound and gagged, and wondered if he was still dreaming.

---

A week.

A whole week had passed since Kenny had gotten away with kidnapping the Jewish boy currently living in the comfort of the cistern. Already a profound change had come over the redhead and he was warming up to Kenny... the blond was happy with who Kyle was becoming. It was fantastic.

The redneck made his way out to the cistern with a plate of food for the man he had taken as a sex slave, pushing the door open once he got there and looking at Kyle with a bright smile on his face. The other man was tied up to the point where he couldn't leave the water tank but could move around within the confines of his rusty prison if he so desired.

Kyle blinked up as the leak of light eased into the cistern, pupils fully dilated from their present fit to the darkness he had grown accustom to living in.

Days had sloshed together, his time spent mostly sleeping if there was no one there to speak to, which was typically always except for the occasion that Kenny appeared to say hello. This had become something that Kyle had started to look forward to in contrast to the loneliness experienced within the painful darkness of his prison. His waking hours were spent crying quietly or making hopeful attempts at catching someone's attention for some company, though Kenny was his only visitor.

Stockholm Syndrome was already taking its exclusive effects.

Kenny spoke, his voice friendly enough as he gave Kyle the food. "Hey, Kyle, how're you feeling today?"

Shifting toward the blond as he entered with his day's rations, the red head eyed the platter with interest. He nibbled at his own thumbs, fully prepared for a meal but still not at enough of a trusting level to believe it was for himself too quickly. Kenny didn't like when Kyle was too direct, and the better way of doing things was becoming to just stay quiet about offerings until Kenny made them.

"Tired," he offered, moving closer to the blond involuntarily as he leaned up against him. He held his own arms, weight having dropped significantly since his first day. Bruises marred him all over, and he chilled from the cold, a cough on his breath suggesting some kind of coming illness, but he seemed indifferent all the same.

Taking his meal hesitantly at last, Kyle took a few bites with his closeness to Kenny maintained, glancing up at him nervously now and again and staring occasionally at the door as he ate with still-shaky limbs, something in the resemblance of Tweek Tweak on a good day.

"Kenny... will you take me outside today? You promised last time but then you were busy..." he asked, growing more comfortable with the other man by the moment as he nibbled on a bun calmly, staring around the stone fixture with a blandness to his gaze.

Kenny wrapped an arm around the redhead's shoulder lightly, fingers tracing a bruise on the other man's pale arm. He spoke, his voice soft as he kissed Kyle's cheek lightly. "I don't know if going outside is such a good idea, Kyle... I've got to tend to the fields and feed Lucky. Maybe some other day, honey."

He lifted a baby carrot off the plate and popped it into Kyle's mouth, kissing his forehead lightly as his hand rubbed over the other's creamy thigh. Kyle took the carrot between his lips, blinking and licking the chapped curves clean afterwards. He nodded a little bit in accordance to Kenny's words, looking mildly disappointed after a moment and pulling his knees up into a naked cocoon as he reviewed his captor's words, seeming newly unwilling to eat. Too mentally strained and fed so little it became difficult to in large amounts, but he thought nothing of it.

"Unless you want to take a bath today. Do you want to do that?"

Kyle's eyes brightened notably at the mention of a bath and he dropped his legs to the side slightly, leaning into the blond's touch with a slight desperation before he found his arms around Kenny finally in a more bold act then usual.

The blond knew what he was doing. He knew that every soft motion, every kind word, every single little gesture, was endearing Kyle to him. The redhead was falling in love with him all over again and Kenny fucking loved it. He loved the control he had over the other man.

Ken spoke, kissing Kyle again softly. "You should get some sleep if you're tired, though... I don't want you getting too sick. Then we can't play..."

"A bath sounds nice. I can sleep later," he reminded. "I'm not that tired, so... is that okay? I'll be awake for playtime, I promise," he breathed, more out of fear than out of dedication. If Kenny wanted to play, they played, whether Kyle wanted to or not, and Kyle was perpetually terrified of being non-consenting due to the rather violent results. There were two sides to his 'master', he'd analyzed; the side that treated him well if he was agreeable, and the side that was neglectful when he was feeling argumentative, and Kyle had come to like the previous side much more. There were just those simple rules; do what Kenny wants, don't run away from Kenny, don't backtalk to Kenny... and don't speak of anyone else but Kenny. And everything was okay.

He continued to curl against the blond, still holding onto him tightly, eyes flickering around their cavern with worry. "What time is it?"

Kenny smiled at the redhead, standing up and pulling Kyle with him, unhooking the leash the redhead was wearing from a hook on the ceiling. The length of chain was what kept the boy in the cistern; that and the fact that if Kyle so much as moved a foot off the property, a bullet was going through that gorgeous head faster than Kyle could run. Kyle was becoming so much more consenting, however, doing everything required of him with no hesitation in the least, and Kenny enjoyed it through and through. "It's around noon, honey. Don't worry; I'll push back playtime a little bit today. I don't want you to collapse. You'll be able to get a few hours of sleep."

Ken hooked his arms under Kyle's legs and back, holding the skinny man against him as he made his way across the property to the farmhouse. The sun was blinding and Kyle winced away from it, burying his face against Kenny's shoulder as he was carried across the lot. Pushing the door open with his hand and carrying the redhead upstairs, Kenny set Kyle on the counter and started running the tub, checking the heat of the water momentarily before lifting Kyle again and setting him in. Indoors was little of an improvement to Kyle's vision, and his eyes were still adjusting as he was lowered into the comfortable warmth of the bath tub.

Noon... noon was lunch time, typically. He stared around in the warmth of the bath tub, kind of disconcerted with the familiarity. There was something unsettling about his environment. Kenny tied the end of the leash to the shower curtain rod and sitting on the floor beside the bath, running his hand through Kyle's hair slowly.

"It's been a week, Ky," Kenny crooned, voice low and sweet. "A whole week! Can you believe that? You aren't gonna leave me, are you? You better not... You're never gonna leave me again, are you, Kyle? Because you love me, right? Right?"

Fatigue took Kyle over abruptly and he lost understanding as to why he was so exhausted. Feeling Kenny's hand through his hair drew a drunken stare from the red-head's eyes as Kenny's coos pressed in on his consciousness.

A week...

Kyle parted his lips slightly. A week. Seven days? That was all. He felt an eternity blow by him every time he was elapsed into darkness, expecting to wake up and for Kenny to wander in with a white beard far past his time. He hadn't seen his own reflection for a long time, and he abruptly desired to do so, but not now.

A few voices that weren't Kenny's spoke to him in the back of his mind in the form of memories as he continued to stare in the opposite direction before he finally turned to face the blond beside him. He stared into his eyes for a long time, captivated by the brightness of their blue. Stan had blue eyes, but they were dark blue. He remembered what Stan looked like better than himself; blankly he stared at Kenny before leaning his head against the blond and nodding, vision hazy with faint tears. He abruptly slipped under water to submerge himself fully before sitting up again to hide this fact, before turning back to Kenny again and pawing across the floor until he found the blonds hands.

Kyle nodded reassuringly at last to the previous array of questions, giving Kenny's hands a gentle squeeze and licking his dry lips slowly. "Thank you."

Kenny nodded, holding the other man before taking a bottle of shampoo and starting to wash his red hair slowly, meaningfully, without leaving a lock untouched. Such was Kenny's obsession; everything he did with Kyle had to be done with absolute precision, absolute care... the redhead deserved to be treated like he was a piece of art and not just some careless person, like Stan had been treating him...

Kenny washed the redhead's body next before rinsing him off and making him stand, towel-drying him slowly and taking full advantage of the situation. By taking away Kyle's means of taking care of himself, Kenny was establishing complete dominance over him. He was taking away everything that made the redhead human and instead leaving him totally dependant on Kenny.

The redneck finally finished drying him off and spoke, his voice the same soft coo. "You saw how bright the sun was, Kyle... you don't want to go outside and hurt your eyes, do you? You'll get sick..."

Kyle endured his wash and dry with little resistance, only hitching his shoulders with tension and some nervous expectancy as Kenny's cloth explored more personal regions. He felt his heart beating faster, trying to tell himself it was simply comfort but within him he began to panic. A piece of him realized that he would be going back into the dark soon, and this only increased his anxiety.

Hearing Kenny's words though, Kyle glanced up at the blond slowly. He made to reply when he abruptly caught his reflection in the mirror, and he faltered, staring at himself. He looked... well, not himself at all.

Scruffy. Thin. His hands shifted over his protruding ribs self consciously before he hung his head slowly, feeling disturbed and inadequate, only to peer up at Kenny's question.

"It was warm though..." He chilled effectively, moving closer to the blond for warmth as he peered around the bathroom. His damp hair was of no assistance to his dropping body temperature and he tried hard not to shiver. His eyes followed the leash up to the bathroom's curtain banister before back at Kenny. "Are you going to put me away again?"

Kenny bit the inside of his cheek, looking at the shaking redhead in front of him before unhooking the leash from the shower rod and sighing. "I guess I don't have to put you away right yet... we can sit out in the corn and play a game, okay? The sun will warm you up so you don't get sick. Maybe next time I'm in town I'll get you a blanket."

As the blond led Kyle down the stairs and into the daylight, Kyle proceeded to shield his eyes a bit from the sun, but the adjustment came soon enough. He began to look around with excited interest, recognizing his surroundings. He felt a chill run down his spine as he was lead along by the leash as his eyes wandered to the white-painted walls of the house -

- blood trickled down the wall in front of him as he cried, the glint of the pistol against his cheek -

- a deadened paranoia briefly taking his expression as he felt his pulse rise, fearful heat taking his body. He took a sharp breath through his nose as he trailed closely after Kenny with his leash tight and his mind fuzzy as they emerged through the corn field to Kenny's clearing.

The blond headed into the centre to find a spot in between the rows, pulling the redhead down beside him and smiling slightly, playing with a lock of Kyle's red hair lightly. "Let me give you a choice... you can play a game with me now, take a nap, and then have our regular playtime later, or take a nap now and then have playtime be a bit more... interesting later. Which is it?"

Ken watched for the other's response; any indication of hesitance would result in Kenny being not very nice to the other boy, and he didn't want to be all that mean at the moment. He just wanted to play.

Kyle stared at the blond attentively when his choice was provided, not swivelling his eyes away as he thought for a moment before blinking at his own conclusion. "Whatever will make you happier."

Kenny grinned at the other's decision; it was just what he wanted to hear. The blond leaned his forehead against Kyle's, kissing him lightly and pulling him into his lap. "Get some sleep in the sun and then we'll have some playtime later, Ky... I don't want you to hurt."

After all, Kenny took care of his pets. And that's all Kyle was, really; another pet, another person for him to abuse the hell out of and break down entirely.

He had broken Tweek in the past...

Now it was Kyle's turn to follow.