ToppyTippers
Duck
Part I
Tink
Tink
Lately Tink had to hide too many things from Percy. He didn't like hiding things, and he especially didn't like doing all the lying he had been, because Percy deserved better. So of course, every time he kept secrets or lied when Percy asked if he was okay, guilt ripped through him more painfully than a knife. But some secrets needed to be kept. Some things Percy couldn't know.
The aforementioned best friend was snuggled up warmly against Tink's side on a raggedy couch as they watched a movie on the old tv in Neverland's den. A few of the other lost boys spotted the room with their presence too - Curly on the bean bag chair in the corner, Nibs lying on his stomach way too close to the tv screen - but they faded far in the background when Percy was lying so close Tink could hear the other boys heart beating and feel the warm hand resting on his side.
It was suffocating, actually.
Now normally, Tink would welcome all the closeness he could get. The frequent, innocent physical contact that Percy was pleased to provide was way more satisfying than it should be for a normal friendship. But with the secrets, Tink didn't feel like he deserved it.
And when he glanced away from the movie for only a second, and caught a glimpse of a shadowed figure in the corner, he couldn't bear to let it go on.
He pulled himself away from Percy and sat up on the couch, running a hand through messy blonde hair as he looked for the figure he'd seen. It was gone, of course, because it wasn't real at all.
I just need some air, he signed dismissively at Percy, who was looking at him in bewildered surprise. Percy shrugged, scrunching his lips like he did when he was disappointed but not in the mood to fight about it.
Tink bolted from the room, before Percy could make him feel anymore guilty. It's for your own good, he thought when he was a safe distance away from his friend. No, Percy didn't need to know that Tink had been seeing things that weren't there, hearing things that weren't real. Or, more specifically, hearing and seeing one of Percy's most hated people ever.
Alone in the tunnels, Tink caught just a wisp of his image again. He could tell it was Kato's skinny frame even under the dim lights and the bright blue eyes that shone through everything verified it was true. Kato's half lidded eyes stared at Tink, even while the rest of him dissipated in a smoky haze. The eyes or the smile always went last. Tink wiped a hand over his eyes, a soundless groan rumbling in him as he turned around and went the other way. Why was it Kato? Of everything his brain could conjure up to haunt him day after day, why was it Kato? And why was it always so...creepily inviting?
Obviously because something was wrong with him. Why else would he hear Kato whispering things that he secretly wanted only Percy to say to him? Or feel hands lightly teasing his hips, neck, arms, or anywhere to make him shiver. Sometimes it was so good that it became really difficult to hide how much his body loved a little attention.
Even though it wasn't really getting any. It wasn't real. It was all in his messed up head.
Tink shook his head as he made his way towards his own little safe haven in Neverland, a little train car with a wooden workbench Percy had bought for him for their 'birthday' (really bought for him with money), and some stuff he'd been tinkering with lately. He felt safe there, and even if his mind was the cause of all of this embarrassing and horrible Kato business, then he could at least get it working on something else and hopefully get rid of these visions.
When he got there, he leaned against the table, head down as he closed his eyes and tried only to think of the task ahead of him.
The little purr in his ear and lick of hot air on his neck really made that difficult. He tried, and tried, squinting his eyes closed in concentration. But it got worse. Phantom hands across his stomach, up his chest, over his shoulders. Like he was being touched all over, and his body wanted more no matter how much his mind told him no, it wasn't right.
He turned around, as if he was going to fight off the intrusion despite how it made his body feel warm and wanting. He expected there to be no one because there was never anyone there when he suddenly wanted to confront his hallucinations. Instead he was met with the full bodied apparition of Kato, still slightly transparent but definitely there.
Tink didn't even have a chance to breathe before his lips were covered by Kato's own, and the other's hands still raked sensual lines across Tink's body. He stepped back just slightly, and the back of his legs met the desk behind him. He almost tripped, but an arm snaked around his back and a hand slipped into his back pocket. Another drew up his waist, under his shirt, to caress his side.
Tink closed his eyes. God. It felt so good. Between the warmth pushing at his lips and the soft and seducing touch all over him, he couldn't help but let himself be taken in by it. Only moments earlier he'd been cuddled up with Percy, wanting his friend to do exactly this. If only it was Percy who was doing it now.
Part II
Percy
Percy
Percy set his jaw, took a deep breath, and prepared himself for one tough conversation.
He’d always known what his boys were up to when he wasn’t looking. He’d seen the browser history on the shared desktop, he’d seen the magazines hidden under cots and in nooks around Neverland, and he’d even seen a couple of them together. But he ignored it. He would turn away so he could pretend that everything was the same as it was six or seven years ago because it was easier than coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t a kid anymore – that most of them weren’t – and with that came certain…urges.
Percy was around twenty years old now, so he was deeply familiar with how they felt and the kind of thoughts they might have had. Of course, he’d been curious in the past, but he’d been fighting it so long that he rarely gave in to those feelings. Rarely…except for the couple of times he needed to relieve the pressure that built up inside of him. But then he was back to the denial he needed to convince himself he wasn’t getting old and that he was still a little boy who could play forever.
His denial had come to end the minute he’d seen a heinous betrayal right before his eyes. No more could he ignore what was going on under his nose, nor his own feelings.
’Percy? You look serious.’
Percy stared into the eyes of his best friend, his partner in crime, and the only family he ever knew. It hurt to look at him when he looked back at Percy with perfect innocence, though Percy knew he was dripping with guilt. Percy could see it, but much like Percy had been ignoring the actions of his boys around Neverland, Tink was ignoring his own indecency. ”That’s because we need to talk about something,” he stated plainly.
’What’s wrong, what happened?’ Tink asked, instinctively stepping towards Percy to comfort him.
Percy stepped away and turned his head. He couldn’t read Tink’s lips or see his hand gestures now but he knew that Tink was beginning to get that this was about him.
”You’ve been hiding things from me, that’s what’s wrong,” he said, then spared a look at the blonde to see the reaction.
A million expressions crossed Tink’s face at once, and Percy could read all of them. Most of all, he was dominated by shame and he suddenly couldn’t meet Percy’s eyes because he figured out what Percy knew. Percy stayed quiet and unusually calm considering Tink had wordlessly confessed to his crime.
’…you saw?’
The real confession. It was harder to hear Tink really admit it, and Percy could feel his heart contract. A thick pain spread through his chest in a way that he’d only felt once before: when he’d seen Tink and Kato together last night.
Percy and Tink had been watching tv on the couch. It was a pretty standard night for them, and they were pretty much stocked up from recent heists so there was nothing for them to plan or scope out. Percy had actually been really content lying against Tink’s side, soaking up the ball of light and warmth that was his best friend. But then Tink started getting a little squirrely, and dismissed himself from the room without any explanation at all. Percy had been disappointed, but didn’t make a habit of forbidding Tink from doing what he wanted.
It felt like a long time before Percy went after him, but it might have been only five minutes. It was out of a concern more than anything else, because this wasn’t the first time Tink had been acting a little fidgety and strange. He’d checked a few of Tink’s regular haunts first before heading to Tink’s train car – the one where he kept his little projects. Percy could very clearly remember stopping on the tracks outside of the open door, stunned when he’d seen what was happening inside.
Tink never saw Percy. The blonde’s eyes were closed as Kato kissed him, and he was leaning against the workbench Percy had bought him for their birthday. One of Kato’s hands was in Tink’s back pocket, and the other was missing under Tink’s shirt.
Percy had clenched his jaw and turned away, a sick feeling in his stomach and that stabbing, heavy chest pain washed through him. He was angrier than he’d ever been, and he’d almost barged in and done something awful to the both of them.
But then he realized that it wasn’t just anger he was feeling.
Tink
Tink had never meant to betray Percy.
At the time, he’d thought he was going crazy because Kato was everywhere he turned smiling through wisps of smoke and touching him with ghost-like fingers. But that night the phantom had become real and Kato was there pressed against him. He knew it was wrong to give in, but he’d been aching for the attention that Percy wouldn’t give him, and in his mind, it wasn’t Kato doing those things to him. Tink had been taken over by the fantasy and…hormones? Or just straight stupidity?
It didn’t matter what he was thinking, because he’d let Kato linger too long and get too far. He’d been torturing himself ever since, wondering what Percy would do or say if he ever found out the truth.
Now Percy knew, and it felt so much worse than Tink thought it would be.
”What was Kato doing in Neverland, Tink?” Percy asked, his voice laced with an anger that had never been directed at Tink before. It dug into him, every one of Percy’ words pulling out more regret and shame. ”Did you invite him here?
Tink’s lips quivered. ’No, of course not! I don’t know how he got here, I wouldn’t do that to you, Percy!’
”But you’ll kiss him and let him paw at you. And God knows what happened after I left,” Percy hissed.
Tink stepped towards him not giving him a chance to step away this time. Tink’s fingers gripped into Percy’s sleeves. ’It’s not what you think, nothing else happened. I pushed him away, I ran.’
It was true. Even in the thick of it Tink had snapped out of the fantasy and pushed Kato across the room. It was then that he’d really found out that Kato was real, because his back had slammed against the wall and made the whole train car shake. Then he’d looked up at Tink with a devious smile, laughed, and disappeared as mysteriously as he’d come. Tink still couldn’t find an explanation for it, nothing besides magic. But if he said that would Percy ever believe him?
Tink locked eyes with Percy, trying to convey how desperately sorry he was for what had happened. Percy was quiet again, and Tink knew that this was an opportunity.
’He’s been stalking me, Percy. I really don’t know how he got into Neverland without us knowing-‘
Well he did know, but it was crazy.
’-and I swear I didn’t want him to kiss me!’
Percy’s head drooped, and his uneven breathing was a sign that the boy was at war with himself. ”It sure looked like you did.” The anger in his voice hadn’t lessened.
It was then that Tink realized that though he couldn’t tell Percy the whole truth about Kato, there was one other way he could convince Percy that he'd never meant for this to happen. No matter what happened now, their friendship had already been altered, and if Tink didn’t say something now he faced losing Percy altogether.
’I was thinking of you.’
There. It was out.
Percy
In five words, Tink had managed to change Percy’s mood entirely. The anger twisting his face and furrowing his brow softened and slackened into a look of pure shock, and the tension in his body started to relax. It was as if the anger had been knocked right out of him with a single blow.
”What…what are you saying?” he croaked, the ache in his chest remaining but changing entirely. He couldn’t figure out what it meant, couldn’t figure out what he was feeling exactly.
’I’m saying…I wanted you instead of him. I want you. Like that. It’s all I think about when you’re near me.’
The memory replayed for him now in an entirely different light, with himself replacing Kato. He imagined it now as though he was the one who’s fingers were tracing up Tink’s flawless skin, and sliding into the back of his jeans. And…kissing him.
And then he thought of the other emotion that he’d been feeling when he’d come across Tink and Kato that night: jealousy. Because he wanted to touch Tink like that too.
’Percy…please say something…’ Tink begged him.
He didn’t say anything. Instead he bowed his head the small space to press his lips to Tink’s. Both his hands came up to the sides of Tink’s face, pulling him forward to meet the rough kiss. Tink didn’t seem to mind, because it wasn’t even a couple seconds before he was kissing Percy back, hand grasping at the front of Percy’s shirt to close the gap between their bodies.
Percy had never really kissed anyone before. Well, that wasn’t entirely true; he and Kizzy had kissed but that was unexpected and unrequited from his end. Better put, he’d never had a real kiss before, like the kind they show in movies where there were tongues mashing and the couple frantically tried to rip each other’s clothes off.
But this was one of those. Percy didn’t have a clue what he was doing, only that it felt good when Tink’s tongue brushed against his bottom lip making him gasp a little at the unexpected sensation. Tink apparently took that as an invitation for more, but Percy had to pull away to get some air. Plus, he was pretty sure that this was going to turn into one of those clothing ripping scenes if he didn’t. Not that it would be a bad thing…just…he had to say something first.
Tink panted, chest heaving against Percy’s as his blue eyes focused on Percy’s lips with pure hunger.
”I was jealous, he admitted, running a hand through Tink’s hair to draw his attention to his eyes. ”I was jealous because I wanted you like that too. I just never wanted to ruin what we had.”
’Me neither.’ Tink smiled, then reached up to kiss Percy again, with more ferocity than he thought Tink had in that little body of his. Percy didn't have much resistance left in him, but managed to pull away and bury his face in Tink's shoulder. After a few kisses in the crook of his neck, Tink's head rolled to the side, giving him easier access there.
”Now we can have something better, right?” he whispered after another doting n** at the tender flesh, and lifted his head to meet Tink's eyes again.
'Much better.'
