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"You can call me Barnaby when we're alone, if you'd like."[break][break]

The underboss had earned that level of intimacy from him, at the very least. And as they'd just demonstrated, he always had the option to slip back into formalities when desired.[break][break]

Once the belt slackened and he was released, BARNABY FINCH rubbed at both of his wrists, willing the pain to subside. With time it would fade along with the bruises, but the feeling of THEO BECKETT and the memory of their time together would be something he'd remember for a long while.[break][break]

"I don't, actually." He replied, responding to Theo's question with an appreciative smile.[break][break]

There were too many beautiful flowers in the world to choose only one.[break][break]

"But red roses are starting to grow on me."

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THEO BECKETT's reaction elicited a breathy laugh from BARNABY FINCH's lips. [break][break]

"Hard to please, aren't we?" Humor thrummed in his throat, creased laugh lines into the corners of his eyes. [break][break]

This was a gentler moment than he'd been expecting to have. Perhaps that was why some part of him didn't want to leave the warmth of Theo's embrace, either.[break][break]

"Next time." Barnaby assured, sealing the future invitation with a soft kiss to the other man's cheek before leaning upright. [break][break]

"My arms feel like they're about to slough off."[break][break]

He looked over his shoulder, seeking eye contact.[break][break]

"Release me?"

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To someone with as many responsibilities as BARNABY FINCH, time was a precious commodity he always found wanting.[break][break]

But for Felix Gallagher? He could always make room in his schedule.[break][break]

[break]

Luckily he'd been working in Sootopolis proper, so it didn't take too long to arrive at the — was this an abandoned office building? The facade was much dingier than he was expecting, as well the interior of the rink. [break][break]

Keeping his judgements to himself, Barnaby willed his mind to focus on what really mattered in the moment: Felix had actually asked him out on his personal time off. When was the last time that had happened? Forever, it felt like.[break][break]

"It's a little late in the season for ice skating, don't you think?" He called out across the rink, having already laced up his skates.[break][break]

Pushing himself off the wall to get initial momentum, he realized a second too late that he didn't really know how to... slow down...[break][break]

Eventually he reached the larger man and extended his arms out, bracing himself on Felix Gallagher's forearm to stop. If it wasn't obvious, BARNABY FINCH hadn't really skated that much before. He had natural balance, but the feeling of moving on two thin blades was a sensation he was still getting used to.[break][break]

"Whoops–! Ha... so, how've you been, Felix?" He asked through a small laugh, nose already starting to redden in the low temperature of the indoor rink.[break][break]

Though it was cold to the touch all around, BARNABY FINCH's voice was as warm as melted honey.

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After, they found themselves pressed into the crook of the couch.[break][break]

Skin flushed pink, chest heaving from the comedown, BARNABY FINCH looked as disheveled as he'd ever been beneath THEO BECKETT. Midnight hair clung to his neck where sweat had beaded at the nape and angry bruises were already showing beneath the belt restraining his wrists.[break][break]

"...so how did that compare to your thoughts?" Though their mutual efforts had left him somewhat breathless, Barnaby's voice retained its usual soft, teasing timbre. [break][break]

He asked the question through parted lips as they grazed against Theo's skin, near the vulnerable avenue where jaw met throat.

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BARNABY FINCH sank to his knees as directed, obedient now that he’d been tethered. The time for teasing and buildup had come to an end. He was ready to show THEO BECKETT exactly what had been on his mind the past week.[break][break]

Their gazes met, lustful and honest in their intentions, before Barnaby’s slid lower to meet what was at eye-level to him. Confined as Theo was by his boxer briefs, he pressed his lips against the fabric, soft in his first touch, before taking the bulk of him gently between his teeth. A dulled sensation, given the barrier between them.[break][break]

The admin’s eyes flashed up then, looking to gauge the other’s reactions. No matter Theo’s expression, however, he’d start to trail his tongue along, dampening cloth with slick wetness as he slowly licked all the way up to the underboss’ waistband.[break][break]

A quick tug with his mouth would free the other man.[break][break]

BARNABY FINCH then continued as he had been, now without fabric restraining the fulfillment of THEO BECKETT’s desires.

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"Mmm."[break][break]

The sound of leather rasping through belt loops sent a thrill of anticipation down BARNABY FINCH's spine. He had desires to satiate, too, and had faith that THEO BECKETT would play his part well.[break][break]

A little bit differently than imagined, however.[break][break]

"You were supposed to hit me with it."[break][break]

A crooning laugh slipped through parted lips, half-muffled against the cushions of the couch. [break][break]

"...but I like this too."[break][break]

Barnaby flexed his hands against the restraints, testing, acclimating. Bent over and pinned down as he was, there was little chance of escaping whatever THEO BECKETT had planned for him next.[break][break]

Not that he really wanted to escape. In fact, he found himself pressing into Theo where he loomed from behind, silently tempting escalation.

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The sound Lulu Flint referenced reverberated eerily off the crystalline walls around them.[break][break]

"Something to investigate once these two are dealt with." Admin Bee replied through comms, his attention still on Caleb Harcourt and his LOKIX. Much to his chagrin, the pesky insect was still alive even after taking the brunt of a Z-MOVE.[break][break]

Suddenly, Greyson Connors's voice rang out into the gloom. The idiocy of it brought a smile to BARNABY FINCH's lips, hidden behind his mask.[break][break]

"What can I say? I couldn't stay away after last time." Though his position was compromised, Barnaby still had the high ground. He remained where he was, taunting from on high — for now.[break][break]

"Looks like you brought a scruffy tagalong with you. He doesn't seem to be very good at his job, hm? All he's doing is flopping around on the ground."[break][break]

As if to emphasize his point, PORYGON-Z blasted a PSYBEAM their way.[break][break]













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Though she was but a mere imitation of the real thing, BARNABY FINCH relished the way Elisabeth Fiorelli burned before him.[break][break]

Firelight danced in his eyes, their cobalt blue depths overtaken by the blazing of magenta flames. Her screams of defeat and betrayal echoed through the dark expanse of MOLTRES' realm, sounding much like a dulcet aria to his ears. It was a beautiful thing.[break][break]

To see her succumb to his selfish desires.[break][break]

It had been almost cathartic, to speak his truth aloud. Too often Barnaby's schemes were relegated to the shadows, where he and he alone could puppeteer his plans into being. [break][break]

But here, MOLTRES made a gluttonous audience. It deigned to see the depths of this mortal's depravity.[break][break]

Behind BARNABY FINCH, another shadow emerged from the dark recesses of this liminal space.

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MOLTRES watched from above in a theater of its own making, perched in the gods to take in the show that unfolded below.[break][break]

Its predatory gaze was locked on BARNABY FINCH, the hunger in its eyes unmistakable. It was a ravenous creature, never sated, always on the hunt for more.[break][break]

Was that why it'd been roaming around Hoenn for months on end? Had it found what it was looking for?[break][break]

Or was it still seeking it here — in him?[break][break]

Barnaby wondered at MOLTRES' intentions for conjuring this shadow of Elisabeth Fiorelli. The shade attacked with neither fists nor force, but with scathing words, meant to test his resolve in this hellish plane. [break][break]

When a cold finger slid across his cheek, Barnaby's body stiffened and his own eyes leveled on the two sparks of magenta flames that composed this Elisa's face.[break][break]

[break]

"A tool to be used." [break][break]

There was no hesitance in his response. He had a feeling that lying here would serve no purpose, anyway.[break][break]

"As everyone is." She grabbed his chin, muttered thinly-veiled threats in that sultry voice he knew so well, yet BARNABY FINCH yanked himself out of her grip before continuing his reply.[break][break]

"To further my ambitions. To consolidate power. To solidify my control." [break][break]

From on high, a low, approving hiss rang out through the darkness.[break][break]

Suddenly, the miasma to Barnaby's right twisted and began forming into discernable shapes. A RING, a DAGGER, a COLLAR. Melded by shadow and offered to him by MOLTRES itself. [break][break]

Props to continue the show. He perused them briefly, weighing Elisabeth Fiorelli's words in his mind, before plucking the RING from where it floated in the gloom.[break][break]

"Elisabeth will not be allowed to fall into despair, let alone take me with her. She's yoked by the trust she has in me. She and the gods who claim her are bound to me."[break][break]

Reaching out to touch the approximation of flesh that was the shade's hand, Barnaby slid the shadowed band onto her left ring finger.[break][break]

"Her love is her greatest vulnerability. With it, I can do with her whatever I please."

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BARNABY FINCH's first memories of THEO BECKETT were ones of violence and submission. [break][break]

He'd remembered them foldly, here, in the quiet of his office upon receiving the glass-encased rose. In his reminiscence, those memories had morphed into something much more carnal.[break][break]

They were getting there. Theo just needed to take the final step.[break][break]

"If you want me to show you..." [break][break]

Barnaby's hand slid down from the other man's chest until it found purchase on cold leather.[break][break]

"...you'll need to use this."

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As maddening as it was to be driven to this position, BARNABY FINCH couldn't help the jolts of arousal that betrayed his more base desires. [break][break]

"How could I forget?" He muttered into the fabric he was so roughly pressed into, lips moving teasingly against the hard flesh at Caleb's hip. "You felt so good."[break][break]

Their roles were reversed now, but he knew the pleasure wouldn't be worse for it. They'd done this for twenty years, after all. Their bodies were innately attuned to one another.[break][break]

With that in mind, Caleb Harcourt was wrong. He didn't want the sort of coerced act that BARNABY FINCH had demanded of him within his prison cell.[break][break]

He wanted genuine affection. The sort that two lovers might give, wrapped up in a king's bedchamber. He'd asked for a return to a time long gone.[break][break]

And he would get it.[break][break]

Tugging at the ranger's waistband, Barnaby helped relieve the last of the pressure there, granting the other man much-needed relief. He'd trail tender kisses along Caleb's most sensitive areas — echoing acts from a more intimate memory — before giving in to their mutual desire.














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As her story unraveled, filling the quiet of BARNABY FINCH's bedroom, a simple peace settled over the two of them.[break][break]

Cuddled together as they were, Pepin still somehow found room to squeeze in between them (really, on top of them) while Elisabeth Fiorelli spoke, offering her a comforting paw and an encouraging squeak. Barnaby gave his EEVEE a few affectionate pats in return, but otherwise continued stroking Elisa's hair.[break][break]

When she'd said her piece and looked up at him with those beautiful, verdant eyes, Barnaby smiled back down at her. His expression was soft and disarming, meant to show how much he cherished her and her trust in him.[break][break]

"We've been through some tumultuous times, you and I." The past several years had been one calamity after the other with little reprieve.[break][break]

"And I regret that I can't always be by your side in moments of strife," When gods played tug-of-war with her body and mind, when other men made advances at her heart.[break][break]

"But," Barnaby paused to press a gentle kiss against her forehead. "The fact that we always find our way back to each other..."[break][break]

That you always come crawling back to me.[break][break]

"That you trust me as implicitly as you do, despite what you've been through..."[break][break]

That you're foolish enough to let yet another man manipulate you into subservience.[break][break]

"Shows how much we've come to rely on one another, hm?"[break][break]

Shows how much you've come to rely on me.[break][break]

Trust was a damning thing. To give it made one vulnerable. It wasn't something BARNABY FINCH ever relinquished easily. And now was no exception.[break][break]

But he'd take someone else's in a heartbeat. [break][break]

"It's been you and me for years, mon fleur. You've had my heart and my trust for a long time now."









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