Chapter Text
~Freyr~
Freyr held Jonah’s hand as the plane began to land, knowing just how scared Jonah was of flying. He hid it well, he had to appear calm for Ruben and his staff whenever they flew him anywhere, but Freyr knew Jonah better than to be fooled by a false calm.
“Do you think…” Jonah began, swallowing before he could finish. “That we actually will get a chance at being normal?”
“No,” Freyr said. “We’ll always be former pets. Perhaps they can undo the surgery but Horizon didn’t offer so perhaps not.”
“We get to work normal jobs,” the pet on Jonah’s other side remarked, meddling with her long red hair. “Have our own apartments. No longer be called names. Fuck the masters.”
“Isn’t the point that we don’t?” Jonah asked, sharing a smile with Willow. They’d been getting on well on the flight, a chance to actually make friends, although for safety they were to be separated into small groups once they left the plane. They had been two of ten who had been put on a flight to Vancouver, he and Jonah would be kept together, the others split into two other couples and a group of four. He wasn’t sure which group Willow was part of, perhaps with the other three women who didn’t seem close to anybody else.
“That’s the point, I could drink to that!” Willow said with a big smile. Freyr smiled at the pair, wishing he could be so relaxed. He couldn’t see a future where they got to be normal, just one where things could be better than what they were.
Sure enough, when they deboarded the plane, a small crowd were waiting for them, media representatives wanting to ask questions, though the one with the camera was being escorted away from the terminal before the lens had even been removed.
“No photos, former slaves are to be treated as in witness protection!” one of Horizon’s leaders called out, his words respected enough to keep cameras out of sight. The military were here, the Canadian government taking the side of the pets and taking measures to keep them safe.
“Hey!” a reporter called out, catching Freyr’s attention. “How does it feel, being free of a monster?”
“Liberating!” Jonah answered for him.
“You were on TV!” the reporter exclaimed, but before she could say any more Horizon were hurrying them away from where the media representatives who had gathered. They’d released the promos then. He had watched Jonah film his, refusing to film one of his own. It wasn’t that he disagreed with every reason Jonah gave for wanting to leave, he just didn’t have the same level of trust in how Horizon would use the footage. He had wanted to stop Jonah. The footage would make things far worse for him should they get caught, but the whole point was that they were free men now. He would not forbid or order Jonah to do anything because he certainly wouldn’t take kindly if Jonah tried to control him.
“I’m a star.” Jonah said in a perfect mockery of one of their dance instructors.
“Perhaps, and I’m the new moon,” Freyr said. “You can’t see me right now but I’m there.”
“I can see you just fine!” Jonah declared with a smile.
“Only because I want you to.” Freyr said. They fell quiet as they continued to walk, all the stares putting them on edge. They were used to being admired but this wasn’t admiration. Heath had called them freaks and right now he felt that perhaps he might just be one. He was relieved when they were escorted into a waiting car, just the two of them, the driver and one of the Horizon soldiers who had travelled with them.
“We have an apartment waiting for the two of you,” the Horizon man said, turning around from his position in the front to smile at them. “Two bedrooms, a balcony, nice view of the river.”
“Sounds wonderful!” Jonah said with a smile of his own.
“The first month’s rent is paid for but after that you’ll need to figure things out,” the man continued. “Have you looked through the job options?”
“I think I want to become a chef,” Jonah said. “I’ll take the pot washer job.”
“Good choice!” the man said, eyes now on Freyr as he was expected to make a choice. The jobs on offer didn’t seem appealing to him at all. The kind of work that paid low wages and people did it out of desperation not enjoyment. Nothing had really stood out to him but he had to make a decision.
“I guess retail?” Freyr decided. “I don’t suppose there’s anything with books?”
“I’ll find out for you.” The Horizon man said, seeming relieved that they had made a decision. It was just to give them a start, Freyr reminded himself, surely Jonah had the right attitude. One job could lead to another and it was generous they were being offered anything at all.
“Are we spoilt or is this place a dump?” Jonah asked once they were finally alone. The Horizon man, Carl, would be coming to check up on them on Monday but until then they had thirty-six hours to rest and get used to their new living situation.
“Both,” Freyr said. “I guess we need to figure out who gets to sleep in the bigger bedroom.”
“Aren’t we sharing?” Jonah asked, looking a little hurt at the suggestion that they weren’t.
“I guess nobody can tell us not to,” Freyr said. “I’ve not shared a bedroom since the dormitory.”
“But you have shared a bed,” Jonah pointed out. “A bigger bed but still.”
“It is a double bed,” Freyr said, agreeing to Jonah’s request to share it He approached the balcony in hopes this would be more to his liking and sighed as he realised there was barely enough for the two of them to stand upon it and the so called ‘river view’ translated to a rather ugly view of an urban landscape with the briefest glimpse of a river in the distance. “There’s a river.”
“Yes,” Jonah said. “Guess what!”
“What?” Freyr asked, surprised to see how happy Jonah was.
“I’m going to watch TV because I want to!” Jonah exclaimed, rushing to the living room where a TV that looked rather small to Freyr waited for him. He pondered on that reaction, knowing the TV was about the same size as the one he had been used to as a child. They had been spoilt, grown used to luxury and he was struggling because of it. He wished he could be more like Jonah. Trusting Horizon and the Canadian government to keep them safe. Happy to indulge in the liberties they had been given.
“If we had true freedom, we could go on a walk.” Freyr realised but he sat down beside Jonah and watched as he flicked through the channels, quickly finding that all channels showed a set of Horizon propaganda videos.
“It’s mine!” Jonah exclaimed as his own face came onto the TV. Freyr smiled at that, admiring the real Jonah beside him as he grew excited by his newly found fame. His interview was impactful and in Freyr’s eyes more honest than the others. Most of the former pets came across as angry and hurt, which they were, but Jonah had a little more balance. He spoke of good things along with the bad and to Freyr that made it feel more real. Perhaps he felt that way because Jonah’s reality was so close to his own?
“My favourite star,” Freyr said, picking up a folder that had been left on the coffee table and finding it full of guides to help them adjust to this new life. They’d have to set up bank accounts, purchase clothes beyond the few that Horizon had provided them, fill their kitchen with more than a couple of days of food. “Do you really want to be a chef?”
“Maybe?” Jonah said. “Pot washer seemed the only job with a future. I do like to eat.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Freyr agreed with him, glancing up as the Horizon segment was interrupted by a very different set of propaganda. He recognised the kitsune on sight, knowing immediately what this was. “They got the love-struck pets to counter Horizon’s message.”
“Yuki,” Jonah said with a sigh. “He’s as obsessed with Nico as Oliver is with Ruben.”
“They’re in love with their captors.” Freyr had to agree. He could hear that affection in Yuki’s voice, the older pet describing a life similar to what their own had been with all the bias of a pet who believed exactly what he had been told.
“Besides, my future was almost certainly going to be working in my parents’ restaurant,” Yuki said, in the same dismissive tone masters spoke of their pet’s alternative options had they not been chosen for the pet program. “Stressing over a job that barely pays the bills and for what? I wouldn’t have been happy.”
“Brainwashed.” Jonah muttered, picking up the remote but stopping when Yuki was replaced with Oliver. “And here’s another one.”
“Ruben is pretty close to the source of the pet trade,” Freyr admitted. “It does make sense that he would be chosen.”
“Is it wrong to say part of me hates him?” Jonah wondered.
“A small part of me dislikes him as well.” Freyr admitted, frowning as Oliver gave an account of the two times Horizon had tried to kidnap him. He was midway through beginning to cry false tears when Horizon broke the enemy transmission and their own propaganda began to play again.
“I think perhaps we should try a walk,” Jonah decided as he turned the TV off. “Doesn’t look like the two groups are going to let anybody watch anything fun right now.”
“Yeah,” Freyr said, glancing at the front door and finding himself hesitating. “We can just walk out.”
“Ride free cowboy!” Jonah said with a grin.
“Ride free.” Freyr agreed, glad he had left his shoes on as Jonah wasn’t giving him chance to think about the significance of leaving the apartment together like this. The last time he had walked anywhere alone hadn’t ended well but he wasn’t technically alone. It was ok to leave, right?
Bracing himself for trouble, he stepped into the hallway and found nobody was there. Just Jonah, who was locking the door behind them with one of the two keys they had been given. Nervously he glanced around, finding nothing to fear but unable to let go of that feeling of unease that only grew worse as they headed outside.
“Where are all the people?” Jonah asked as he looked around and spotted only a young mother and her small child heading towards a park. “Isn’t this a city?”
“Yes,” Freyr confirmed. “But it’s a mostly residential street in the middle of the work day. I doubt we’ll see many people.”
“I wonder.” Jonah said, leading them down an alleyway to the road. They must have exited through the back of the building as the front seemed far more like what a city should be like.
“There’s a corner shop, if we wanted to buy anything to celebrate?” Freyr said, having just a little money but surely enough to buy a few treats.
“Convenience store,” Jonah corrected. “We’re in… well Canada but they use the same term as America. I think?”
“Correct but blondie here is almost right,” a man smoking a little further up the road remarked. “We do say corner store. You’re escaped pets, aren’t you?”
“I prefer to say liberated!” Jonah said, with a smile that had made him an appealing pet to have around. The old man gave them both a once over, seeing something that must have made him suspicious.
“Your slaver a man or woman?” the man asked, before spitting on the ground and muttering some curses about those who traded in flesh.
“A man,” Jonah said, glancing at Freyr when he didn’t answer. He’d gone nervous and shy, which wasn’t like him, but out here the rules were different and he no longer knew what was right and wrong. “Pretty boy all grown up.”
“You liked his company?” the old man asked. “Or would you say you preferred his?”
“If you mean sex, what’s not to like?” Jonah joked but the man had got the answer he wanted and was muttering curses and slurs as he walked away. It took Freyr a little too long to realise the man had issues with them both being men. Morality could be a strange thing. Ruben was a monster who bought and mutilated boys, yet he had never shown even a hint of homophobia, racism or sexism. This man knew that slavery was wrong and yet was a bigot. Could a person truly be fully good or bad?
“Ignore him, let’s have our walk and then go to the shop.” Freyr said, leading Jonah in the opposite direction. They both glanced wishfully at a coffee shop but the encounter with the man had them too nervous to enter. In the end they didn’t walk far before turning back and entering the small corner shop, convenience store, to have a browse. Shopping was something he rarely did and when he had the rare chance to choose something it had always been online. What it must be like to go into a clothes shop and browse like he was doing now. He vowed when he got the confidence, and his first pay cheque, he would be going to do just that.
“There’s some books over there.” Jonah said, indicating to a small stand. “Some romance and things.”
“I guess I can tell you now,” Freyr confessed. “I read the books to study history, not because I liked the sex.”
“Well yeah, but you still chose romance over fantasy, which arguably has more historical descriptions.” Jonah commented.
“Hey!” a teenage girl said, hurrying over. “I’m Elena and do I have the solution for you. One word: Romantasy!”
“A blend of both?” Freyr asked, forcing himself to break through his fear so that he could talk about books with this girl. She smiled at his response.
“Yeah! I can give you some suggestions, though you won’t find them here. Let me write them down!” Elena said, pulling out a bright orange note book and an equally bright orange fluffy pen and began writing away. A few minutes later she was ripping out the page and handed it over to him, blushing slightly. “A few are a little spicy but if you’ve been reading romance, it’ll be fine.”
“Spicy?” Freyr repeated.
“Yeah, spicy.” Elena said with a wink. “Is it true that the slavers used you for such things?”
“Elena!” another woman cried out, looking just enough like Elena that she was almost certainly her older sister. “You can’t ask people that! Don’t answer her! She’s too young!”
“I’m seventeen!” Elena protested. “I was making a friend.”
“Sure, a friend.” Her sister said. “You’re losing your head over hot men again.”
“Am not!” Elena exclaimed, bright red in embarrassment.
“Here,” Jonah said handing Freyr a book. “Let’s go pay?”
“Sure.” Freyr said, feeling overwhelmed and guessing Jonah did to. He bought the book and the few treats he had selected, finding he had already used half his money to do so, and then waited just long enough for Jonah before they hurried back outside. The old man from before was heading in their direction so they darted back down the alleyway, glad to be back in their apartment a minute later. “That was eventful.”
“Problem with a city is it’s full of people,” Jonah agreed. “Homophobic old men and lusty teenage girls who flirt with men far too old for her.”
“She wasn’t flirting!” Freyr protested.
“Then why has she put hearts over every I?” Jonah said, indicating the paper Freyr still held.
“It’s how teenage girls write!” he protested, though he wasn’t entirely sure on that. “Besides, who cares if she was flirting. I didn’t flirt back.”
“No, you didn’t.” Jonah said with a smile.
“Would you have been jealous?” Freyr asked.
“Honestly, probably not,” Jonah admitted. “Flirting was how we survived and I’m used to seeing you behave that way. Being open and honest, showing your intelligence, that’s when I know you’re letting the real you shine through.
“I guess we didn’t have the most normal romantic life,” Freyr admitted. “I don’t think I know how.”
“I’d argue we know more than you think,” Jonah said, wrapping his arms around Freyr in a tight embrace. “You’re the big reader of romance novels. Tell me, what do you think our friendship is most like?”
“We’re close and…” Freyr began, growing embarrassed to explain more. In telling Jonah how he really felt about their friendship he was confessing his feelings and he wasn’t sure he was ready to do so.
“Do you think it’d be ok if I kissed you?” Jonah asked. Freyr couldn’t find the words to answer this question either so rather than say anything he brought his lips onto Jonah’s and gave his answer that way. They would never force each other to do anything but he wasn’t making Jonah kiss him and there wouldn’t be anything bad that might happen if they stopped.
He didn’t want to stop, he wanted more and Jonah wasn’t showing any signs he wanted the kiss to end. It was good that they were kissing, bad that he couldn’t figure out how to move things forward. He had always just followed the lead of other men, he didn’t know how to bring things forward on his own.
“I’m sorry, I think I know how our abusers felt right now,” Jonah said, pulling away from Freyr and taking a few steps back. “If we kiss anymore, I may just have you in our bed and that would be bad.”
“You want to own me?” Freyr asked, relieved when Jonah shook his head. “You want to ravish me?”
“Ravish you?” Jonah asked. “Is that from one of your novels?”
“Perhaps,” Freyr admitted. “In the novels the couples do engage in activities like our master engaged with us. Kind of.”
“Kind of?” Jonah asked.
“It was mostly men and women.” Freyr admitted. “But the point is when they both wanted it, then it was fine to do so. Unless it was scandalous or somebody was married or there were other reasons not to engage. They were mostly historical. I don’t think such things matter. Certainly we have no desire to protect our virginity and that seemed to be the women not the men and…”
“Shut up,” Jonah stopped him. “You’re nervous.”
“Of what?” Freyr asked, eyes locked on Jonah’s as the other man approached.
“I would very much like to ravish you and I think you want the same,” Jonah explained. “You’re the smart one. Any reason why we shouldn’t?”
“No,” Freyr said, kissing Jonah again before he realised there was one reason why they shouldn’t go to bed together. “Actually, we don’t have lube.”
“That’s ok, we don’t need lube for what I have planned.” Jonah said, taking Freyr’s hand and leading him to the bedroom. As it was, they didn’t need lube when using hands and mouths on one another. In fact, without lube, it felt more intimate and a lot more fun. Sex without a master involved was wonderful. If only he’d been able to try it earlier.