The long march home was tense and Adam had to resist the urge to try and run, because walking with Vas-Tin only two steps behind him the entire way was intensely unsettling. What made it even worse was the fact that the speakers that dotted the fields were blaring the funeral march, which had Adam swinging between crying quietly to himself and laughing because it was just so ridiculous. The locals knew that he had long been torn between wanting to stay here and wanting to go down to Zerric to get some, so he knew it was in good spirits, but boy…

It really made him aware of how badly he was going to miss this place and the people.

But now he could mourn, he supposed.

He could mourn dragging himself down to the bar after work and being dotted on by the owner for looking like an old boyfriend she had. He could mourn getting together with the town to watch a film together every five rotations, mourn the sense of community. He could mourn the future he had been planning, mourn having his family over from the city, seeing in person as his nieces grew up.

He had given it his all, so he could confidently say that. He could sleep just fine knowing that this was how it was meant to be.

But still.

Adam rubbed at the back of his neck, pushing the sweat there away before he reached down and took the bottom of his shirt to lift it and rub the sweat and dirt off his face. When Vas-Tin sneeze behind him he slowly looked over his shoulders, watching him as they continued walking.

Vas-Tin look quite pleased with himself, at least that was what Adam gathered when the larger man wasn’t rubbing at his face.

“Which way did you think I was going to go?” Adam asked then, turning back forward as he eyed his home in the near distance.

“I did not think you would leave your hiding place until I drove you out of it, and that you were going to try and run back over to that trap you had dug, knowing that there was a chance I’d fall in.” Vas-Tin said smoothly, his voice low – he sniffled, “I did not expect you to fake me out.”

“I didn’t expect you to map out the entire fucking town, man. I knew you were a good tracker, but shit.” He rubbed at his chin as he came to his fence, opening it to stand aside and let Vas-Tin pass as well. As the hunter went past him, Adam looked up to where the point B markers were on the fence and he shook his head at them.

Damn.

He should have run.

Adam licked his lips and closed his gate, locking it before he went to where Vas-Tin was waiting a few steps further down the path, walking past him to continue toward his house.

“So what’s the plan?” He drawled as they neared, “We heading back down immediately, or do I have time to pack and call my sister?”

“We’ll stay a rotation here.”

So that meant roughly thirty-six hours. Adam bobbed his head as he opened his door, stepping back to let Vas-Tin pass before he closed the door and locked it. He eyed the other, watching as he sniffled and rubbed at his face again. “Do you want to...take a shower?”

Vas-Tin turned to face him, tilting his head to seemingly listen. “You’ve accepted your fate?”

Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah?” The hunter frowned. “A-are you monitoring my heart rater or something?”

Vas-Tin straightened then, his face screwing up as he sniffled again. “I expected more resistance.”

“Nah.” Adam sighed. “Sorry if it sucks the fun out of it for you, but I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and while I’m going to really miss my home, I’ve, uh, accepted my fate, as you put it.” Adam licked his lips and moved to walk deeper into his home, going to the bathroom door between the bedrooms to turn on the light and go to the shower and turn it on. “If you don’t want to take a shower, I am!” He called as he started to pull his shirt up over his head.

Vas-Tin grabbed him by the back of his shirt then and Adam stumbled back, his arms caught up over his head as he was suddenly released and hit the wall with his back, sliding down it to sit on the floor as he pulled his shirt back down to stare up at the hunter that stood over him. “You will sit there while I shower,” Vas-Tin said lowly.

Adam blinked and slid further down the wall, tempted to stretch his legs out and trip the other.

But he wouldn’t, because he wanted things to get off on a good foot.

Being a pet.

Being someone's property.

He scowled and crossed his arms over his chest and sighed through his nose, watching as Vas-Tin walked forward and seemed to figure out the space quickly with a few swings of his hands and taps of his fingers against the wall. And that was it. He apparently knew the layout of the shower because he was reaching for knobs to start it up and start rinsing off his face.

The Zerric were so weird. He didn’t know how they could function without their sight. When he was a kid, there was a game called Playing Zerric where everyone would be blindfolded and navigate whatever obstacle course they could make out of what they found. The instructors hated it because everyone either got hurt, dirty, or both, and it was largely forbidden to do on school grounds.

But it had given Adam a lot of respect for the Zerric, because anyone that could not only live completely blind, but do so without making a complete jackass out of themselves...that was impressive.

The water turned off suddenly and Adam moved to sit up against the wall, watching Vas-Tin shake out his long dark hair like a dog before he smoothed it back against his head, pressing the water out of his as he turned his ear toward Adam.

“Still here,” Adam said with a smile that the other couldn’t see.

He watched Vas-Tin lift his chin, his lips pulling into a little smirk as he stepped out of the shower, his clothing soaked and clinging to his body as he took the three steps to Adam and reached down to take hold of his upper arms and pulled him to his feet. “Time to give me what I won, human,” Vas-Tin said lowly, his voice almost a purr as he pressed Adam against the bathroom wall, “I want to touch my trophy and feel what I now possess.”

Adam smiled to himself. “Maybe I should shower first?”

“Maybe you should show me somewhere you can be comfortable instead,” Vas-tin said lowly as he pulled Adam away from the wall, “My patience is wearing thin.”

Adam laughed a little. “Whatever you say, Master Vas-Tin,” He said quietly as he slid away from the larger man so stand walking backward out of the bathroom, Vas-Tin keeping close to him, toe to toe as he moved. “So is it Master, or Vas-Tin?”

“It’s whatever you want it to be.” Vas-Tin said smoothly as he reached forward to hold the tip of his finger directly over Adam’s heart, keeping it there as the human walked back into his bedroom, “As long as you do as I say, you will have many freedoms. Choosing what you call me is one of them.”

“You’re going to regret that,” Adam laughed, stopping when the back of his legs hit his bed. “We’ve arrived at our destination,” Adam said with a sigh, toeing off his running shoes to kick them back under his bed frame. “This bed is the most comfortable on the whole moon – it took me forever to save up for it but I finally got it when my sister was here with me, so…” He knitted his brow. He’d never have his sister back over again.

He blinked at that as he looked around his bedroom in silence.

His bedroom was the most ‘Adam’ of all the rooms, the one room that pretty much holding everything important to him. What little he had of his parents, and their parents before him. Some things from his childhood. He frowned at the pins on display he got for beating each of the hunts and frowned.

He’d put so much time and effort into building up his life here...

And he’d never see it again, or add on to it.

Ever.

Adam frowned harder, tears prickling at his eye as he eyed his room, maybe for the last time. While his attention was occupied by the board on the wall with the pictures of his sister and her daughters, the one he would always fold up and put into his bag when he went down to Zerric in case he didn’t return, Vas-Tin came over and grabbed onto the bottom of his shirt to roughly pull it up and over Adam’s head, dropping it before he firmly took hold of Adam’s ribs to feel them expand under his large fingers as Adam inhaled slowly.

“You’re upset,” Vas-Tin mumbled as he felt Adam’s stuttered breathing, leaning forward to trace his nose up Adam’s throat and inhale his scent. “What’s changed?”

“I lost,” Adam said, his face scrunching up as he looked over the head of his new master. “Don’t you get upset when you lose?”

“I don’t often lose.” Vas-Tin pushed Adam back then and Adam hit his mattress with enough force that he bounced a little before settling.

Adam scowled and crawled back up his bed while the other male rested his knees on the end of the bed, feeling the movement of the mattress as Adam moved to the top. “Well, this is the first time I’ve ever lost, so.” He said as he laid against the pillow, scowling now.

Vas-Tin hummed at this, “Then I’ll make sure to make it is a loss worth remembering.” Adam sputtered at this, sniffling miserably because - FUCK! He had lost. “Tears aren’t going to save you, human,” Vas-Tin mumbled as he ripped down the zipper of his soaked top, peeling it off of his pale, broad chest to toss it aside.

“No shit, man!” Adam cried out angrily, “But I can fucking cry if I want to!” He grabs the pillow from above him to hit the victor square in the face, the hunter not reacting in the least. “It took me my entire fucking life to build this home up, and now I have to leave it all behind!”

Vas-Tin bent forward to plant his hands on the bed and slid forward to loom over Adam, staring down at him with his unseeing eyes and a calm look of understanding. “You can build up my home as you please.” He said lowly, his tone soft.

It wouldn’t be the same, Adam thought as he glared up at him, but kept his biting words to himself. He knew the hunter was trying to be nice and he wasn’t about to spit into the face of the person that now owned him. Instead, he deflated and looked away to stare at the shelf that held his box of story ideas to tell the locals when the night cycle came.

And he had actually...thought he might regret staying here because it wasn’t exciting enough for him.

Adam turned his head away to look at the wall, closing his eyes to focus on the feeling of Vas-Tin’s long, hot fingers groping along his body, his fingertips dancing along Adam’s flesh like he was trying to memorize every dip and swell. He shivered as he felt the other male brush his lips downward, grazing along his throat, his collar bone, and his down the center of his chest, inhaling slowly as he went to breathe Adam’s scent in.

When the other leaned down and placed a hot, wet kiss to Adam’s belly button, dragging his tongue around and making the muscles there twitch and spasm, Adam looked down to the top of Vas-Tin’s head, his gaze flickering between the other’s large hands as they continued in their slow exploration south.

Adam sighed and lifted his gaze to stare at the ceiling.

So this was his life now.

Something for a Zerric hunter to get to play around with whenever he pleased, fuck whenever he wanted. His body no longer belonged to him. Instead, it was just a fuck toy for some alien. He had psyched himself up for this, but now that it was happening…