Pet 2

“Hello Sladde” the man said with a smile.

“Hello sir” Kianne said with a bow.

The man was taller than Kianne, with spikey brown hair and sparkling greenish-yellow eyes contrasting Kianne’s black, shoulder length hair and black-blue eyes shadowed by bangs. He was thicker than Kianne, who was a very thin and frail-looking Pet indeed, and he wore darkly-colored clothes of a nobleman. But he had a friendly smile… odd thing for a noble to have.

“So what’s your first name, Pet?” the man asked, linking his arm through Kianne’s and walking out of the pick-up room.

“Kianne, sir”

“Kai- neigh” the man sounded out Kianne’s name.

“Yes sir”

“How do you spell that?”

“Like ‘Dianne,’ only with a K instead of a D.”

“So shouldn’t it be pronounced Kai- Anne then?”

Kianne shrugged

“Heh, you really are as mellow as you looked”

“Yes, sir”

“Oh! I should tell you my name, huh? I’m Jared Iceheart, son of a nobleman”

“Master Iceheart” Kianne said

“Eh, Master Jared. You can call my father Master Iceheart.”

“Yes, Master Jared.”

Jared smiled at Kianne, who regarded the smile with uncaring eyes before allowing a small smile of his own to creep forward.

Master Jared seemed nice.

A man opened a car door for Jared and he hopped in, followed by Kianne who thanked the valet. Jared smiled at Kianne in a playful manner, not his sparkling friendly way, and laced his arm around Kianne’s bare back to rest on his hip. Kianne stiffened visibly, and gripped the bottom hem of his shorts tightly.

“This is what he bought me for.” Kianne reminded himself “I have to play along…”

After a few deep breaths Kianne forced himself to relax and lean- slightly- into his master. Jared smiled wider and reached his far arm across his own person to rest on Kianne’s closest hand. Kianne unclenched that fingers and forced his wrist to rotate so that the two of them were holding hands. His breath was coming out in quiet shudders, but for all his efforts he could not calm them.

“So obedient~” Jared cooed, his mouth brushing against Kianne’s ear. Kianne shuddered and closed his eyes tightly. He desperately wanted to recoil.

“Where’d that mellow attitude go?” Jared teased before biting down gently on Kianne’s ear. Kianne flinched, his far leg jerked away, and his free hand clawed at the fabric of the seat. His breath was no longer shuddering gently, but was tight and heavy.

“… heh” Jared chuckled. He then removed his face from such close vicinity and placed his far hand back on his lap, but the arm around Kianne’s back that ended on his hip remained in place.

“You’re certainly obedient, I’ll give you that. Most people would’ve smacked me for that and I never would’ve gotten so far.”
Kianne tried to calm down his breath. So that was just some sort of test then? Master Jared was just seeing his reactions?

“I… am at your service, sir…” Kianne said uncertainly. Jared laughed again and pulled Kianne a little closer, sort of half-hugging him in a way.

“Definitely worth more than $10,000”

Kianne didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t.

“You’re really red-faced, you know that?” Jared said, brushing cold fingers against Kianne’s cheekbone.

Kianne lifted fingers to touch his own cheek, and he was, indeed, very warm in the face.

But then, who wouldn’t be in his situation!?

“Heh” Jared turned and used both arms to hug Kianne around the waist, Kianne’s arms flailing uselessly for a startled moment before settling awkwardly back in his lap.

The car then stopped and the valet opened the door on Jared’s side. Jared kissed Kianne’s cheek before releasing the warm vise and stepping outside. Kianne followed, breathing deep and still blushing

“Thank you” he mumbled at the valet, who waited patiently to close the door behind him. The man smiled at him

Jared gripped him by the hand and walked into a spacious, massive, huge (no, like, seriously, this thing was bigger than Godzilla) mansion. Kianne tried to remember if he had ever learned about the Icehearts…  yes, they were… they dominated the textiles! Right, the Icehearts reigned over textiles, which would explain why their son could purchase a Pet at such a high price. Textiles were a huge, huge, huge investment with a payback that was tenfold. Heck, how come Kianne hadn’t made the connection right when Master Jared had said his name??? Perhaps he really was more nervous than even he thought… But if Master Jared was an Iceheart, this probably wasn’t even the main mansion. This might’ve been his own place, with the family mansion elsewhere and only occupied by his parents.

But Kianne didn’t know for sure yet. It would probably be best not to try and make assumptions.

“Welcome to my home, Kianne. Is it okay if I just call you Kai?”

“Yes, sir”

“Great! Welcome to my home, Kai. I live here on my own- well, okay, I have my hired staff- but other than that I mean my family all live elsewhere.”

So Kai had been right.

The mansion was massive. How the heck was Kai supposed to find his way around this place??? At first, he tried to maintain a sense of direction, but after who knew how many hallways and stairways he gave up. He simply held onto Jared’s hand and let him lead Kai where he pleased. They passed a few other workers on their journey into the labyrinth, all of whom greeted them with a pleasant “Hello Master Jared” and all to whom he replied with a pleasant greeting of his own. Kai gripped Jared’s hand a tiny bit firmer with every person they passed. Perhaps he would be used for purposes that were less than appealing to him, but Kai had been bought by a kind master.
And by a nobleman too, figure that.

Their destination was- as Kai had feared and known- a bedroom. His grip on Jared’s hand subconsciously tightened; he was afraid and didn’t want whatever came next.

“So, Kai, you know how some people never outgrow stuffed animals? Typically females”

Kai nodded, unsure where this was going. He didn’t see any stuffed animals in the room…

“Well, seeing as I am so, so, so RIDICULOUSLY</i> rich, I have decided to purchase a living, breathing, human stuffed animal” Jared caressed Kai’s chin with the words and smiled.

“U-Uh, - Me?” Kai blustered over his words. Wait, so he was some human teddy bear..? This wasn’t really making 100% sense.

“Right~ I get lonely and touchy-feely, but all the gay guys I know are only interested in sex, so I have decided that hey- I’m rich enough, why not just by a human to hug the stuffing out of and not have to worry about that? But that’s fairly… well… weird, so I was looking for someone mellow enough to handle my crazy. Lookit who I found~” He smiled even more playfully and released Kai’s hand, slipping it back behind his waist once again and pulling their hips together. “I might be a swindler and a crook, but I’m no rapist, so you can quit worrying about that.”

So…

“Sir, are you saying that I am just here for you to get huggy with?”

“Right. To put it this way: ‘teddy bears can’t hug back, but sometimes they’re all you have.’ Well, I bought a teddy bear that can hug back.”

Kai blinked wide eyes, and then resumed his expressionless staring. He… this was… okay. Just okay. Alright then. So be it!

Besides, it was Kai’s laid-back-ness that had gotten Jared interested in him in the first place, right? So he should continue with that.

“Oh, and speaking of my crazy! I am a minor Opheliac. It’s not continuous, but I get fits here and there so it’s impossible to medicate.”

“… Sir, I don’t know what an Opheliac is.”

“An Opheliac is someone who descends into self-destructive madness. So do me a favor, if you ever see me ramming my head into a wall or clawing at my own skin, go get someone, will you? I don’t get fits often, but when I do I get them really, really bad and will try to kill myself if I’m allowed to go on for too long.”

Kai swallowed. That sounded really dangerous.

“But it’s entirely self-harm, so I won’t ever hurt you, okay?” Jared reassured Kai with a gentle smile and a tug around Kai’s waist.

“How would I get you to stop, sir?” Kai asked in a quiet whisper.

“Oh, you won’t. I don’t expect you to do anything other than going and getting help. I don’t think you’re really capable of pinning and calming me down. Just run wherever and get someone to help. Hopefully you’ll never be stuck dealing with that, though. I got the majority of my fits when I was a kid, and they‘ve been few and far between ever since. I’m just warning you in case."

“Yes sir.”