Chapter Text
Tamsy follows Arkha through his office door, undoing his bun to let his hair down freely as he sits down the chair in front of Arkha’s desk.
“What’s the matter, Tamsy?” Arkha asks, speaking first.
The cleaner smiles tightly, “hm? Nothing, boss. I’m just winding down after everything,” he says easily, fingers combing through his hair to untangle any knots.
The other sets an elbow on the desk and rests his chin on his hand, “oh? That’s good, it was pretty chaotic. Right after the mission was done and pests attacked too,” he replies, eyes still on Tamsy.
“That’s right. But the Raiders did cause a lot of work for us Cleaners,” Tamsy was now staring right back at Arkha.
His lips turned upwards ominously.
“They were trapped inside a trash beast, it was gigantic and killed many people with its crumbling,” he continued, “Guita said that it was defective, a failed attempt.” Arkha’s eyes sharpened.
Tamsy’s mouth began to curve upwards maniacally, he tried to hide his amusement behind his baggy sleeve, “she said that it was from the Raiders trying to make the Watchman Series!”
The man couldn’t hide his pure amusement from the thought of it.
By this point, Tamsy was too far into his own enjoyment of the concept. Arkha exhaled, “that’s quite the attempt.” He notes.
“Right? Who knows what they’re going to do next? Perhaps they have another trash beast lined up for us, that’ll really stump us and they’ll get to the Sphere and erase those good-for-nothing Sphereites.” He’s rambling, too absorbed in his excitement. It would definitely fuel Rudo’s rage and finally break his shell, break his mind.
As Tamsy thinks of how the massacre would play out in a hypothetical situation, Arkha frowns.
This is the real Tamsy, the one who’s more sadistic and cruel.
He lets out a breath, taking a short sip of his now lukewarm coffee, “you seem a bit frazzled.”
Tamsy looks at him, his smile instantly forming into something more neutral.
“You should rest. Take a few days off.” His voice firm.
Tamsy gets up without a word and lingers by the door, “thanks, boss. See you,” he smiles sweetly. Eyes crinkling as he bats his lashes.
“Goodnight, Tamsy.”
And the door shuts completely.
Arkha stares at the spot Tamsy just was, eyes dropping just a bit as he reflects on himself.
Is this truly for the best?
It’s only been a day since the Raiders’ attack, yet the base is still brimming with interesting things happening.
Such as, the Hellguard coming to their base.
Tamsy lingered outside the doorway, listening in on their conversation.
He’s mildly interested in the Hellguard, they’re whole purpose lies in suppressing criminals on the Ground and they’re ruthless for information. Even having prisons where prisoners experience absolute agonies during their time there.
Kyouka starts the conversation first, commenting on the recent weather.
It’s been shitty. Yeah.
Trash falling everywhere isn’t great or liked at all apart from those cultists who worship the trash, Tamsy rolls his eyes. Idiots.
Then Corvus chimes in, saying how the skies are never clear on the ground and that all we as people can only deal with it.
“..The will of something greater than us…Then the very act of fighting against it would be inexcusable.”
Hold up.
Something greater than us? Like God?
Tamsy shivers, he presses a hand to his mouth to try and suppress the grin his face wants to make.
Ha! This guy knows! He knows about God!
The blonde essentially quakes with excitement, knowing more and more about Corvus by the second.
If Corvus knows about God, then what else does he know about the Sphere? Does he know more than he lets on about the Watchman Series? Fuck… I just gotta know now..!
Tamsy leans closer to the door, not touching it, but closer to hear more.
“I’m here for the Sphereite.”
Nope. He’s mine to break.
Now, Tamsy’s previously good mood was ruined.
Corvus rejects her, reasoning that Rudo hasn’t committed any crimes and that he’s a part of the Cleaners.
Honestly, that serious tone, not folding under Kyouka’s pressure, and outsmarting her like that made Tamsy think of Arkha in bed.
Some days, he’ll act cold and dominant, using his words against him.
It genuinely turned him on. But when he’s soft and lets him take the reins, that’s also a turn on.
“Judge a man purely by his race and exert pressure on innocent civilians.”
Tamsy paused, and smiled spitefully.
That sentence resonated perfectly with the Sphere, with how they condemn and persecute criminals, creating a good vs bad mob mentality among the people, splitting them into divisions and punishing the ones who’re out of line, turning against a common enemy, where in fact it could be any of them the next day.
It’s funny how the same situation could’ve just happened here on the Ground.
Well, it kinda already has.
With the hostility or worship towards Sphereites and the Sphere.
The blonde hears footsteps shuffling and takes that as his queue to leave, he smiles and rollerskates his way through the building and out into town.
Afterall, today is another day off!
He visited Amo yesterday, simply standing in front of her cell as she screamed and begged to go outside.
It was a little amusing to see how often and quickly she changed attitudes, going from helpless to enraged to disillusioned to genuinely despaired.
He hummed as he skated to town, keeping a mental reminder to buy Semiu the latest issue of LL.
As he slid down the streets, he witnessed a man getting beat up in an alley, he didn’t do anything. Just smiling as he passed by. Then, he saw a shop that sold magazines, buying what Semiu needed.
However, right as he was about to turn the corner, he saw a cake shop with cakes in glass displays out in front.
Tamsy eyed a round white frosted cake with pink frosting on top for each slice.
“Cake..” Right, Amo wanted cake yesterday didn’t she?
It would be nice of me to get cake, right?
“Good idea.”
Roller skating into the outside area by the town, Tamsy made his way down the long flight of stairs, it was quite stuffy and gloomy. Maybe he should decorate the place.
Nah. I don’t really give a shit.
As he approaches Amo’s cell, he lets his hair down and sits down right in front of the bars.
He takes in the pathetic sight of her, chained up by the wrists as her clothes and hair are completely disheveled.
She gasps, “please let Amo go..” Her voice was rough, he looks up at her, and mulls it over.
“Mm, honestly, I’m just keeping an eye on things right now. So, you’ll have to stay here a bit longer, okay?” He says lightly, the girl keeps her head down in despair.
It’s filthy.
It’s gross.
This entire place stinks.
Amo’s hair is messy and her feet are cold.
Amo’s feet are cold! Where are Amo’s boots!?
Tamsy smiles, “I brought this as an apology, though.” He reaches into the bag he brought, taking out a single slice of cake he saw in the display case.
“This is what you were talking about, right? Cake?” His voice is soft with sympathy, selling the act of a kind kidnapper.
The girl lifts her head up at the mention of cake, looking absolutely famished as she hadn’t consumed anything but water for days, which Tamsy also brought for her!
He takes in that slight glimpse of hope in her eyes, savouring it for a second as he takes a fat bite into the slice.
He exaggerates the munching sounds, emphasizing his delight in the sweet treat, even eating every last crumb and licking his fingers.
An eerie, yet insane grin appeared on his face, “this tastes amazing!”
“I think I’ll have some tomorrow, too!” He exclaims, staring right at Amo’s angered face. She struggles against her chains and flails her legs around.
“Let Amo go! Let Amo go! LET AMO GO!” She screams, “YOU PERVERTED ASSHOLE! WHY DO YOU HAVE AMO HERE!? PLEASE LET AMO GO!! I’M HUNGRY! THIS PLACE STINKS! I WANT MY SHOES!!”
Tamsy doesn’t move, doesn’t even feel any sympathy for her.
He laughs, “ha! Don’t worry, brat. You won’t be here for too long,” he says cruelly, taking in her deranged state with uncaring eyes.
As Tamsy roller skates back to the base, he sees a figure in the distance.
It’s Arkha Corvus.
He’s leaning against one of the pillars with his arms crossed, a casual smile on his face as he opens his eyes to see Tamsy coming closer.
“Oh? Hi boss, waiting for me?” He teases, rolling to a slow stop in front of him.
The man keeps the same relaxed expression on his face, “hello Tamsy, I was waiting for you.”
The blonde chuckles airily, lifting his arm to reveal a bag hidden within his long sleeves, “that’s good, I bought you something I thought you’d like.” Arkha eyes the bag, scanning it and sees the shop logo on the bag.
It’s from that cake shop, “how thoughtful, let’s enjoy it inside, shall we?” He motions towards the front door, however the man is crouched on the ground, untying his laces.
“Just a second, it’s hard to walk in roller skates, I’d rather walk inside the base.” Tamsy says, untying his left skate first.
But then large hands cover his, “I got it, I’ll untie them for you,” Arkha says, fingers gently moving to carefully take off his roller skates and put on the blonde’s regular shoes.
Tamsy laughs lightly, “how gentlemanly of you, boss. I’m not a delicate maiden, you know.” He remarks, having his free hand hold onto his boss’ shoulder for support.
“I know,” Arkha replies, “but let me do this just this once,” his voice is bordering softness, it’s like he’s begging to have a quiet moment with Tamsy. The blonde stares at him, “alright, whatever you want.” He says quietly.
Once Arkha got both of his shoes on, he opened the door for Tamsy, letting him in first.
The blonde doesn’t thank him, simply walking in and seeing Semiu.
He approaches her desk and hands her the magazine, “here, Semiu, this is what you wanted right?” He asks, voice smooth.
She takes the magazine with both hands, “thanks Tamsy,” the receptionist already has the magazine open and is flipping through images of beautiful women in sophisticated, cute, and a bit scandalous clothing.
“You’re very welcome,” he smiles, and follows Arkha to his office.
Semiu glances up from the photos, looking at the two men from behind as she momentarily uses Eyes.
“Boss,” she calls out, the man turns his head and stops in his tracks, and so does Tamsy. “Don’t go overboard tonight, yeah? You still got paperwork to do,” she teases him a little, a smirk on her face as she glances between them.
Then she zeros in on Tamsy and another bag he’s been holding, “don’t have too much fun with that, you two.” With her cryptic wording, Arkha simply tilted his head in confusion and nodded.
“Don’t worry about us, Semiu. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go overboard,” Tamsy replies, ghosting his hand over Arkha’s to drag him into his office.
As the two men disappear down the hall, Semiu lets out a breath, wiping her glasses as she mumbles to herself.
“Well damn, Tamsy Caines, just who are you..?”
She goes back to her magazine, admiring the photos of beautiful women until a thought pops into her head.
I hope they’re using protection. Ion want any STDs in the base..
The door clicks shut as the two enter, Tamsy going straight to Arkha’s chair, setting the bags down on the desk, “here you are, open your gift.”
Arkha quirks a brow as he notices where Tamsy’s sitting, “that’s my seat, Tamsy.”
The blonde sets his chin on his intertwined fingers, tilting his head to the side a little, “not for now, you’re my guest, Arkha.” He replies, a dark undertone lingering within his words.
The larger man sighs and sits in the seat on the opposite side of the desk, taking the bag and taking what's inside out.
It’s a single slice of vanilla cake, with white and pink frosting on it.
“How kind of you, no fork?” He questions, seeing as the cake is enveloped by a single wrapping to prevent any frosting from sticking to your fingers.
Tamsy sets his arms down, fully resting his head on the desk as his hair falls onto his sides.
“No, you’re supposed to just take bites out of it.” Tamsy replies, eyeing Arkha.
He frowns, that's certainly one way to eat a cake.
The blonde lets out a small laugh, pulling a fork from his sleeve, “just kidding, of course there’s a fork. Who eats cake just with their mouth?” He hands the fork over and Arkha takes it.
Tamsy looks to the side, then mumbling something under his breath, “unless.. You want to eat another type of cake with your mouth…?”
“Huh? Sorry, what was that?” The blonde looks over at his boss, noticing how the cake wrapper is now empty with Arkha’s mouth full as it goes up and down to chew, leaving a bit of frosting at the corner of his lips.
He stares in disbelief. Did he seriously just eat that entire slice in like 5 seconds?
Tamsy laughs, “nothing boss,” the other squints his eyes at Tamsy. He leans in, swiping away at that smidge of frosting with his thumb as he brings it to his mouth to lick off.
Arkha simply watches him with a glint in his eyes.
“Really? Something about eating some type of cake..” He teases, a smirk forming on his face. Tamsy frowns and clicks his tongue, “nope,” popping the p, “wrong.”
Arkha chuckles, seeing Tamsy like this is a bit amusing to him.
He wonders if Tamsy also sees his reactions as such.
Maybe they are a lot more similar than he thought.
But then he notices the other bag, his attention shifts. “What’s in the other bag?” He asks, using the fork to point at the black bag, it’s small and has no logo on it.
Tamsy bats his lashes at him, smirking, fingers ghosting the handle as he hooks it on his pointer finger, waving it around.
“Why don’t you find out?” He replies, walking around the desk and dangling it in front of the other man.
Arkha raises an eyebrow, leaning in towards Tamsy as he uses one hand to cup the smaller man’s face, the blonde leans into the heat and closes the distance between them.
Swoop!
Suddenly, the slight weight on Tamsy’s finger is gone as Arkha snatched the bag while distracting him with a pseudo kiss.
The man grins victoriously and opens the bag, only to find nothing in it.
He frowns, “nothing?” He wonders out loud.
Then, the collar of his turtleneck is tugged hard and his head is whipped in Tamsy’s direction as their faces are close enough to feel each other’s breath.
The blonde places his other hand on Arkha’s shoulder, essentially caging the man.
“Got you,” he smirks, licking his lips. Arkha sucks in a breath, caught off guard. His eyes trail downwards from Tamsy’s lips to his neck, then to his… open shirt..?
Under his shirt he can see a white two piece lingerie with lace accents that hug his figure and contrast his scars, when Tamsy moves his hands to pull his pants down and straddle Arkha’s lap, he can see the matching garterbelt that he’s also wearing.
His eyes widen, hands instinctively going to settle at the man’s hips.
Arkha scans over Tamsy, really taking in the view. This is similar to what that lady wore in Semiu’s magazine..
When he moves the chair just a bit, his back facing the door with Tamsy still on his lap as he’s in line with the window, the sunlight shines off him beautifully.
Just like an angel.
Arkha stiffens, the word angel now has a completely different meaning. It’s used to refer to the person who can cross the border within the Cleaners now.
Fuck.
Thinking about work while trying to have sex is a major turn off.. He’s definitely gonna get pissed.
He shakes his head, “Tamsy, I’m not in the mood.” His hands grip the blonde’s waist, hoisting him up off his lap and onto his own two feet on the ground.
Tamsy stares at him dumbly, “what?”
The cleaner sighs, “I just.. Not now, you heard Semiu, I have paperwork to do.” He reasons, quite the pathetic reasoning honestly.
If you had a beautiful, willing, and eager long haired blonde with long lashes and lip piercings in your lap wearing lingerie, you would let him do whatever he wanted right?
Unfortunately, Arkha Corvus is a weak and cowardly man when it comes to the matters of the heart and body, especially when they’re at odds with each other.
Tamsy’s brows pinch together and the frown on his face is particularly nasty, “are you serious? I even put this shit on for you! I know you like this, I saw you looking at it with Semiu the other day.” He admitted.
“You saw that? Knew it looked familiar. Good eye, but I’m not in the mood Tamsy, even more so when you yell at me like this.” Arkha stressed, hand going up to his hairline to smooth out his locs.
The other clicked his tongue, “fine, who cares? I’ll play the neglected wife this time, and you can be the exhausted, intimacy-deprived husband. But you still owe me.” He snapped, putting on his robe back on properly and putting his blonde hair into a bun as he slammed the door behind him loudly, not caring if anyone else heard.
Arkha sighs heavily, he couldn’t even get a word out before Tamsy left.
Under his breath, he whispered to himself.
“How long are we going to do this..?”
It’s always just we fuck, then favour, we fuck, favour, we fuck, favour, fuck, favour. On repeat. And maybe somewhere in between, there’s a single moment of vulnerability, genuine conversation, or just silence that’s way too comfortable to acknowledge.
Fuck me.
On the other side of the door, Tamsy’s back is against it as he glares hard at the ground.
Fuck you, Arkha Corvus.
I feel like shit in this. I feel like shit in this.I feel like shit in this. I feel like shit in this.I feel like shit in this. I feel like shit in this.I feel like shit in this. I feel like shit in this.
The blonde exhales, he composes himself as best as he can and makes his way to his room to undress himself and slip into something more comfortable and less fitting.
Yeah. That’d be better.