Title: Marked

Author: Tsutsuji

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Pairing: Break/Liam

Rating: R or T

Warnings: marked skin/bruise fetish, implications of some off-screen physical abuse. Not beta'd

Word count: around 3600

Summary: Secrets have always kept Break and Liam at a distance, until now, but not all those secrets are Break's.

AN: Here's a case of me reading far too much into a single scene, and twisting it all out of proportion in the service of kink and my OTP. Apologies to fans of Rufus Barma; I know I might have committed a little bit of character assassination in the process. And actually the whole thing's pretty OOC and I'm not too sure about how it all came out, at all, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. *flails*

(minor edits & corrections made, 8/29/10

The meeting with Duke Rufus Barma had been every bit as unpleasant as Break had expected it would be, but it had also provided him with a few morsels of useful information. In fact, as he thought back over the fiasco later, he realized that it might have revealed just a little more than Duke Barma had intended. Returning Liam's coat gave him the opportunity to confirm that.

Liam didn't appear to be unhappy to see him when he answered the knock on his door the next day; at least his "why are you interrupting me I'm busy" frown was no worse than usual when he let Break inside. He was only in shirt sleeves but as neat as ever, buttoning his shirt collar even as he opened the door to a perfectly familiar visitor.

Break handed over the freshly laundered, carefully folded coat with a little bow and his most earnest grin. The extra formality only ruffled Liam, of course, and he hastily tried to brush off Break's gratitude.

"It's nothing, Xerxes," Liam muttered, his face a little flushed as he glanced away. "Just please have more of a care for yourself in the future, if you wouldn't mind!"

Hiding his concern behind scoldings, as usual, Break thought. Even after last night, that hadn't changed. He might even be expecting the usual teasing response to it, as if everything was going to go back to the way it had been between them for so long.

He stepped up into Liam's line of vision, catching the full force of that irritable gaze. Head tipped to the side, he carefully watched Liam's face when he reached out to touch the bandage over the cut on his forehead.

"You might have more of a care yourself, Liam," he said quietly.

Liam blinked in surprise and then jerked his head back, his face even redder than before.

"It's nothing," he said again, brushing Break's hand away. "Please don't think anything of it."

But that cut on Liam's forehead, and all that it might mean, was exactly what Break had been thinking about since the night before.

Liam turned away and reached for the waistcoat that was hung neatly on the chair by his equally neat desk. The private rooms were really little more than an extension of his office at Pandora. Liam had a tendency to work long hours, and Barma had provided him with this apartment near headquarters after he'd been found head down among stacks of papers on his desk there in the wee hours, or curled up somewhere deep in the archives. At least here he could rest without Pandora members stumbling over him at all hours, and he was still close enough to headquarters that he wouldn't miss anything that was going on, which meant, of course, that Barma would not miss any news of events there.

Before Liam could pick up the waistcoat and put it on, Break shifted so that he was directly in front of him again. He let the hand that Liam had pushed away from his face fall onto his upper arm instead, coaxing him to leave the garment where it was by holding his arm at his side.

Liam scowled at him and tried to pull his arm free, but Break caught his other arm in the same way and stood there facing him. He felt Liam breathe in sharply, saw him swallow, but for a moment he couldn't seem to look away from Break's face.

It was just what Break had been watching for, this flushed, fascinated little gaze that he was sure he'd seen before, even though it never lasted long. It had become increasingly difficult for him to ignore it and turn away, but the secrets engraved in his own skin had always prevented him from returning that look or even responding to it at all. He had not been sure, had not even really expected it to appear again after Duke Barma's revelation, but remembering the blow that Liam had taken from his master on his behalf, he had begun to hope it might not have been chased away quite so easily.

"Liam," he said. Even his voice, as softly as he'd spoken, seemed to make Liam jump. "It's really not nothing, is it? Not at all."

He held both of Liam's arms at his sides, firmly enough that Liam's slight tug against his grip was inconsequential, but lightly enough to let his fingers caress taught muscles and to feel the slight tremor of tension under his shirt sleeves.

"It doesn't - " Liam began. He stopped, swallowed again, and finally marshaled himself enough to get out a clipped response. "I don't know what you mean, Xerxes," he said.

This time, Break allowed himself to return that speculative glance with one of his own. This time, it was Liam who tried to pretend he didn't notice it, even when Break leaned up closer until he felt the nervous puff of breath on his lips.

"Xerxes," Liam said, still trying to scowl and to pull away.

"Hm, Liam?" Break replied. He kept his voice curious and playful, but he watched every twitch Liam made intently, absolutely serious under the facade, just in case he was wrong. But as soon as he'd hummed Liam's name, so close that Liam must have felt the vibration against his skin, he felt the tension drop suddenly, and Liam's eyes fluttered half closed in what Break was sure was relief.

It almost seemed impossible that they had never kissed before this moment. For all Break's teasing and playful clinging to Liam over the years, for all the care that Liam had tried to take of him no matter how much he resisted or brushed it aside, those layers of secrets that had been stripped away from him last night had always stood like a wall between them.

Some of them still remained.

Cautious at first, Break deepened the kiss when Liam didn't try to end it after the first few seconds of surprise. Liam sagged a little under his hands, his mouth melting open with a final whine of protest, then a deeper whimper of relief. Break let out a muffled, startled moan of his own when Liam touched him. He'd forgotten that Liam's hands were free to reach up and clutch at the front of Break's coat even though Break still held his upper arms pressed to his sides.

Break nearly sighed with relief himself. Liam had caught him when he'd collapsed, offered him his coat after his shirt had been shredded open, had chided him as gruffly as ever for making him worry, but he'd turned away from the sight of the seal. He had stepped in front of his master once, but he hadn't done so again when Oz and even Raven had jumped to his defense against Duke Barma later, after his bloody past as the Red-Eyed Ghost had been revealed.

But now, Liam slipped his hand inside Break's coat, and his fingers curled in the fabric of the shirt underneath, right over his heart, over the hidden seal.

Break shivered at the touch, even gasped a little before he could catch himself. No one had touched him there since the time he'd contracted with the White Knight; in fact he had avoided even his own touch on that marked skin as much as possible. He half expected the mark to burn again as it had every time it had etched more of its design into him. When Liam pressed his palm against it, accurately guessing where it lay hidden under his shirt, there was only a searing warmth that spread through Break's body, a heat that urged him to close the distance between them.

He let go of Liam's arms. He hoped that he didn't have to hold him in place like that any longer, because he needed both hands to undo that top button on Liam's shirt.

It was a little awkward at such close quarters, but he had it unbuttoned and had started to tug on the second one before Liam suddenly broke off the kiss and jerked backward out of reach. He caught Break's hand by the wrist, held it for a moment before pushing it away.

Break caught his breath and stepped back, disappointed, but not surprised when Liam's hand went to his collar and pulled it closed again. Liam turned away again with his head bowed, eyes winced shut behind the glasses that their kiss had pushed askew on his face. He didn't even bother to straighten them.

Break let him go and dropped his hands at his sides. Liam didn't look up to see the sour expression on his face as his suspicions seemed to be confirmed. That only made him more determined, more certain that he couldn't just leave things like this. He smiled grimly.

"I see!" he said. The lightness in his voice was so forced that Liam looked up, startled. Break beamed at him. "Of course, you wouldn't really want to touch an illegal contractor so intimately, would you, Liam?"

Liam's mouth fell half open, shocked. Then his brows locked into a scowl again, and he shoved his glasses back into place on his nose so that he could glare at Break through them properly.

"That's got absolutely nothing to do with you now!" he snapped. "I don't care ..."

He trailed off, and swallowed hard as Break deliberately pulled his shirt open. He had to hide his own wince of remembered pain as he brought the seal into full view. Liam's eyes fell on it as if he couldn't help himself, and then, his face red again, he turned his gaze away. His hands fell to his side, fists clenched so hard the knuckles stood out white on them.

"Why shouldn't it trouble you?" Break said, reasonably, smiling as broadly as he could. "It's not pleasant to look at it, is it?"

He moved around to Liam's side, opposite his averted gaze. Liam pursed his lips as if he wanted to say something but couldn't speak the words. He finally raised his head, turning toward Break with a pleading look, but now Break avoided his gaze entirely as he moved further around behind him.

"That is something from the past," Liam said, with a firm shake of his head. "It doesn't trouble me in the least! But," he said, and stopped again.

"But?" Break repeated. He stepped up closed behind Liam. "But you still don't wish to be intimate with me, even so, Liam?"

He saw Liam shake his head, saw that his eyes were closed again. "That's not true," he said, "I... want to. I have for years."

The admission came out in little more than a whisper. He shivered, but he didn't move away even when Break put one hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to press his lips into Liam's hair at the back of his head.

"Ah, but Liam," he murmured. He caressed the side of Liam's neck through his shirt collar with his fingertips, then down and across his back, fingers skating across the fabric. Liam shivered again, muscles twitching with tension. "It doesn't go away, even if it's out of sight, does it? Even if it's hidden? The past doesn't, and the marks it leaves on you don't."

He reached around and touched the bandaged cut on Liam's head. Liam caught his hand again, but he didn't push it away this time. He didn't try to stop Break when he slipped his other hand around to nudge the unbuttoned collar open from behind, so that he could caress the smooth skin of Liam's throat, and then let his fingers drift lower. He only hissed softly when Break's fingertips fluttered over a raised ridge of skin just below his collarbone.

The welt felt as if it was fresh, but the skin wasn't broken. Duke Barma's fan must have only struck through clothing, that time.

"All this time," he said as he stepped closer and let his hand drift lower on Liam's chest under his shirt. "I thought my secrets were the only thing keeping us apart."

He couldn't see Liam's face, but the younger man didn't say anything, and didn't do anything to stop him as he continued to pull his shirt open and pushed it slowly down off of his shoulders.

"But I thought about everything that we all heard and saw last night," Break continued. "And it occurred to me that, after all, I might not be the only one who was keeping something hidden from view."

Liam stood there, stiff and tense, while Break gradually exposed more of his body. He didn't move at all, except for the shivers that ran through him when Break uncovered another bruise lower on his chest, another welt on his shoulder, a half-healed cut over his shoulder blade. The faint, white lines of older cuts were barely visible on the fair skin of his back and his shoulders, but his breath still quickened when Break traced them with his fingers.

"I'm not the only one with secrets written on his skin. Am I, Liam?"

Break had been surprised, though not entirely shocked, when Liam had stood up between himself and his master. Only later, with the events and revelations of the evening turning over and over in his mind, had he remembered that Duke Barma's fan had not even been raised when Liam stepped between them. Liam had not blocked a blow meant for himself, but had stood and faced Barma calmly after it was dealt, as if he expected more to follow. As if he was entirely accustomed to receiving them.

"Xerxes," Liam said, half turning his head to the right without moving otherwise. Break still couldn't see his face or look into his eyes, he could only see the corner of Liam's mouth drawn back in a grim line. "This is not what it appears; you mustn't think that..."

"Of course not," Break said lightly, interrupting before he tried to offer some kind of apology for Duke Barma, or for himself. "It's nothing. Just as you said."

It wasn't such a strange thing, really. A dutiful servant, a highly eccentric master, the evidence of punishments received, or, much more likely in this case, of the master's fits of frustration or even his mere whim.

Break was relieved to see that none of the marks were terribly deep (because for one thing, Duke Barma was still too useful to kill, and Liam might not have appreciated the gesture anyway), but he wasn't really surprised about that, either. Liam was not so weak or foolish that he would stay in the service of a master who was truly cruel, even for the pride of serving one of the four Duke houses.

In fact, Break guessed that the cut on his head might be the hardest blow Duke Barma had ever landed on him, the unfortunate consequence of Liam's divided loyalties. Under the circumstances, it would not have been surprising to find that more and worse blows had been delivered later that night. He supposed he should feel guilty about that bandage on Liam's head, even so, but instead he felt strangely proud of Liam. The man might not be any kind of warrior, but Break had realized a long time ago that he was much stronger than he seemed. Possibly even stronger than Duke Barma himself realized.

Besides that, seeing all of Liam's strength and vulnerability exposed like this stirred other feelings in him, both emotional and physical. Only that most recent mark of Barma's fan was due to him, as far as he knew, but he felt a deep urge to claim them all.

With one hand still on the side of Liam's head, fingertips lightly pressed over the bandage, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the raised bruise near the top of Liam's shoulder. Liam breathed in sharply, then out again in a rush that had his name in it somewhere, but Break didn't think it was in pain. He was even more sure of it a moment later when he tongued the length of the welt; Liam let out a soft moan, and his hand came up to touch Break's face and tug at his hair.

He touched his lips to every one of the bruises that he could easily reach on Liam's back and explored the different textures with his tongue: the soft ridge of a welt, the rough pucker of a nearly-healed scar, the smooth expanse of unmarked skin. His fingertips traced other marks on Liam's chest that he could only feel for now. The skin felt hot under his tongue, and tasted of Liam's scent, so perfectly familiar. Liam's breath came more and more quickly every minute. His fingers threaded through the fine strands of hair that fell over Break's face, not so much guiding his touch as simply accepting it, until Break had bent out of reach behind his back. Then he dropped his hand down and clutched Break's thigh instead. That almost stopped Break's breath when it made him suddenly very aware of how aroused he was already

"Mm, Liam," Break murmured against his skin. "I wondered for years if I would ever get the chance to touch you like this, you know!"

"No," Liam said, with a quick shake of his head. His voice was firm but a little huskier than Break had ever heard it before, and he decided he liked the sound of it like that. "I didn't know. You're a damn tease, Xerxes, but I never thought you really meant it at all."

Break left off licking and kissing Liam's back, and wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Well, of course I couldn't let you think so," he sighed.

He pulled Liam back against his chest, skin to skin. When the mark of his seal rubbed against the cuts and bruises there, he hissed just as Liam had done with his first touch. His skin burned, but it was a sweet kind of pain that raced all through his body, hot and arousing, searing away the barriers these secrets had thrown up between them.

He moved closer and held on tighter, and nuzzled Liam's hair. Liam made a strangled sound and shifted his hips backward, increasing the contact and making Break's state of arousal all the more obvious. He turned his head and pressed his face against Break's on his blind side, so their mouths came together clumsily.

As soon as their lips touched, Liam let out another sound that was something between a sigh and a growl. Suddenly he shifted and turned inside Break's arms, pulling off his glasses and dropping them onto the desk in the same movement. Break chuckled with surprise and delight when Liam grabbed his head and pulled him into a deep and hungry kiss, and made it clear that he was every bit as aroused as Break was.

Break's breath caught again, pulled out of him in a gasp when Liam placed his hand over the seal, fingers curled as if to grasp it, claiming it the same way Break had wanted to claim all the marks on him. Liam's fingers traced the clock-like pattern, kneading into his flesh as if he couldn't get enough of touching it.

"Ah, well, then," Break said, with a breathless laugh. "I guess you really don't mind how it looks after all!"

"Why do you think I couldn't even look at it before?" Liam murmured. He pulled back from the kiss to stare down at the seal. "It's a part of you, Xerxes, after all."

Liam paused and looked him in the eye, then bent down and pressed his mouth to the marked skin, and seared a new pattern over it with his tongue.

The heat of Liam's mouth was as intense as the pain had ever been, a fire of pleasure so sharp and deep that Break nearly came on the spot. He threw his head back with a deep groan, eye wide open, staring upward at nothing. If he'd ever imagined it would feel this good to let someone touch him there, like that, he would have done this ages ago. Maybe he should be just a little grateful to Duke Barma for forcing him to reveal it after all.

But as soon as he thought that and remembered the cold weight of the others' stares on him when they saw it, he was certain that it could never feel like this with anyone else but Liam.

This time it was Liam who chuckled as he raised his head and nipped at Break's exposed throat. The sound of that deep laugh, the surprise of hearing it, and the feel of Liam's teeth marking him all went straight to Break's groin.

"Liam!" he gasped, clenching Liam's short hair in his fist as his legs threatened to give out. He managed a high-pitched, shaky laugh. "Shouldn't we, perhaps, move to some place more, ah, convenient? Your bed?"

Liam cut him off by sucking on his throat, so hard and so possessively that Break thought his blood would boil.

"My desk," Liam said, between nuzzling and nipping at Break's skin, "is much closer."

And soon after, Break nips Liam's pale skin and marks it with his teeth, and Liam's nails leave long red lines up Break's back, and Break's hand prints will show on Liam's thighs for days, and Liam's grip on Break's arm will still be visible the next time they're together. But the next time and every other time, they'll be more gentle with each other, because after this, the marks they leave on each other go far deeper than skin.

~~ end ~~

(So. er. Comments? The general idea for this came out of a conversation with Chrissy_Sky, and then I decided to try to make it work for one of my Kink Bingo squares - either "bites/bruises" on my first card or "body alteration/injury" on my second card. I'm really not too sure about how it turned out, so comments, complaints, concrit, all very much welcome. *hides*)