Zero left his room, slamming the door with an aggravated growl in the process. The sudden solitude allowed the impending doom to barrel into Gadget’s gut at full force. His heart began working on overdrive at the thought of how horribly he’d be treated once the unstable jackal returned. ___________ Pierce parked his car in his designated garage, and strolled in through the entrance to the back of the manor with a spring in his step. He actually liked the bakery that the wolf had asked for cheesecake from, and had picked up some desserts for himself as well. Just as he turned the corner, the to-go bag flew out of his grasp with an unexpected force slamming into his jaw, knocking him back a few paces. “What the f-[i]oh[/i] shit-” He hadn’t thought that Zero would be back any time soon, but clearly he’d miscalculated. Both the wolf and Zero’s hormones clung to his boss’ body - Gadget had likely already been [i]reprimanded[/i], and now it was his turn for punishment. “You traitorous waste of oxygen!!” Pierce brought his arms up just in time for another punch to meet his forearms. Lance was the only one stronger than Zero, but it didn’t matter much because the leader was more skilled as a fighter anyways. He stumbled back to grant himself a second of situational assessment, but it didn’t do him much good when the older jackal wasn’t holding back on him. They all sparred here and there for fun/exercise/training, but this was absolutely [i]not[/i] sparring by any means. Pierce was unable to block the fist that had feinted to aim at his eye, knocking the wind out of his lungs as his stomach took a solid blow. He was on his back, hazy vision seeing their tall ceilings for only a moment before the view was obscured by the face of an enraged jackal. Zero had him pinned down in a second and was wallopping him in the face. “Dude I’m- ugh- sorry for real man-” He apologized between blows as he shielded his face haphazardly, but he already knew he’d have a black eye and some swelling later on. The long-haired mobian finally let up on the punches, instead slamming a hand against Pierce’s throat to put him in his place. “You’re fucking [i]not[/i] sorry!! You’re only sorry for getting your ass beat! Don’t touch my shit ever again, or you won’t be alive to lie about being sorry again! Fuck you.” Zero got up and skulked off without looking back, leaving his teammate splayed out on the floor, groaning in pain. He was used to pissing off their leader, but it was never to this extent. Pierce ran his fingers through medium length platinum strands, stressed and regretful. “[i]I really like that wolf, though… lame.[/i]Hopefully the boss man just ignores me for a few days and gets over it like usual.” He stood up with shaky limbs, hobbling over to his abandoned bag of food. “Least everything’s still good. I won’t be able to give it to wolf boy until tomorrow, though…” ____________ Sooner than Gadget would have liked, the door to Zero’s room burst open. He shrunk into himself at the jackal’s presence. “You will not whore yourself out to Pierce [i]ever. again.[/i] Are we clear?” “Never again, I promise… I’m sorry.” He really never should have agreed to sleep around with Pierce. It was for such a stupidly deviant reason, too. [i]I got exactly what I expected, it wasn’t worth it though… I thought it would be satisfying to see Zero get angry.[/i] The white-marked jackal unlocked the collar, freeing Gadget from the tied leash. “Get in the shower. I can’t believe I fucked you while you were still contaminated by my stupid skank of an underling.” With droopy ears and a limp tail, the wolf stood up to obey the command, shuffling into the bathroom with teary eyes. His whole body took a screenshot when his rump was slapped with an open palm. Gadget grew apprehensive when Zero followed him into the shower, but figured he should have expected it given what he’d just complained about. The ruby-furred canine was jostled around under the hot stream of water as he was roughly scrubbed down. He kept quiet even with the occasional snarky comment from the older canine, inconvenienced by Gadget’s ‘whoring around’. Gadget flinched with a yelp when a finger slid into his tail hole without warning. An annoyed growl in his ear silenced his protests. He tolerated the rough fingering as he was cleaned way too thoroughly down there, and continued to stand still while both canines were rinsed free of suds. The wolf was held tightly while they stood under the fur dryer, before being led back to his prison. Nothing but a quiet whine was heard when Zero restrained him in the same way once again. He’d heard Pierce get his soul beaten out of him - it was clear that once someone overstepped boundaries with the leader of this pack of jackals, he had no qualms with violent tendencies. Gadget silently hoped that Pierce would leave him alone after this - he’d be stupid not to. “I won’t be as trusting with signs of improving behaviour from you this time around. Tell me, have I misjudged you? I’d initially had the impression that you weren’t so sex-driven and desperate for validation… was I wrong?” The small wolf’s muzzle burned with shame. He hated that Zero kept calling him a whore, and wanted to argue that it wasn’t true, but he had been willingly sleeping with one of his housemates after all… “I’d never done it with anyone until that night with you at the club..” “Is that so?” Zero kept the smugness out of his tone; it was easy enough given how angry he was over the adulterous actions of his wolf. “It only took one taste of sex for you to need it so badly that you’d seek it from the nearest male?” Gadget grit his teeth in aggravation. There was literally nothing he could say that wouldn’t be twisted and used against him. “I.. I won’t do it ever again.” There was no point in trying to defend himself, or argue that it had never been his decision to be there in the first place; there were obviously a lot of things wrong with the man standing stone-faced in front of him. “Correction: you will do ‘it’ [b]only[/b] with me.” Just barely managing to hold in a shudder at the manipulative demand, the younger canine nodded in affirmation. His rebellious streak had died a quick death, and now he knew that it was in his best interest to focus his energy on escaping. ________________ Gadget spent the next week or so - he had no way of keeping track of time so he wasn’t entirely sure - confined to Zero’s master bedroom. This time around, he was given food in the jackal’s room instead of being brought down to eat with everyone else. He only had the collar removed when the jackal was present in the room. He’d made it a point to switch his bedroom access from keyed entry to code input, and insinuate to his squad that he wouldn’t tolerate another break-and-enter like he’d chosen to gloss over the first night he’d brought the wolf over. The crimson canine’s legs were twitchy from hardly moving around. He’d been a [i]good wolf[/i] just as Zero wanted, but he wasn’t sure how long the jackal planned on keeping to his word of not trusting him. He hoped it wasn’t much longer - the days were already blending into one with the monotony of this unauthorized house arrest. Crawling off of the large bed, he sat on the carpet and flopped onto his back, then scooched forward so that he could set his legs flush against the wall. [i]I should start dragging my butt across the carpet when I hear him come up the stairs, maybe he’ll think that I have worms and kick me out…[/i] He unfortunately didn’t have time for that, because the door swung open just as he’d settled his legs against the wall. “What is this?” “.. I’m just sitting..” The jackal kept his gaze on the weird position for a few moments, before sighing and stepping forward. He slid his palms onto either side of the red canine and hooked his thumbs underneath Gadget’s armpits, hoisting him back up to sit on his bottom. “Oh…” “We will be heading for the club this weekend, and of course you’ll be coming along.” Gadget turned around to face his captor, taking in his features. They didn’t look quite as hardened as they typically were - had the events that led to his re-imprisonment become water under the bridge? “Recount to me the things that occurred between you and Pierce. What were the circumstances behind them?” The wolf hadn’t expected that question, nor did he understand what the other canine was getting at. “Huh..? Uhm..-” “It had something to do with food, yes?” [i]Did him and Pierce talk it out or something?[/i] He’d hardly opened his mouth before Zero was talking over him, as if in a rush to get to a specific point in his confrontation. “Was he withholding food from you while I was away?” “...” [i]Something tells me that it’s safe to lie, just this once.[/i] “Yea.. if I had sex with him, I’d get food.” “I see. Due to recent events as well as time, I’ve been able to see things through your perspective. I forgive you for your actions, Gadget.” “I uhh. Um- I appreciate it.” [i]do I at least get a kiss before you use me every night now? I was never a cheater because we were never together, but whatever it takes to get some freedom around here I’ll roll with it! Pierce had to have thrown himself under the bus out of guilt…[/i] ___________earlier__________ It had been 9 days since Pierce had seen even a single hair off the red wolf, and he was starting to feel bad for the guy. He was the one that had coerced Gadget into spreading his legs in the first place, and he could bank on not pissing Zero off enough to get another beating if he were to ‘clarify’ that he’d done some underhanded things to make Gadget put out. Zero strode into the kitchen, giving Pierce a neutral glance as he skulked by. He’d always prided himself on how easily he was able to bounce back from events that set him back or pissed him off, but the ire he held for the red bandana-donning jackal still simmered in his fists. [i]Is this what it’s like having an exploitable weakness?[/i] To his surprise and annoyance, Pierce spoke up, stopping him just as he’d gathered his spoils and pivoted for the exit. “Yes?” The leader wasn’t in the mood to tolerate small talk with his squad mate. That was normally how they mended things after an argument in the past - duke it out with a fist fight and then move on. [i]Maybe I just need another round of pummeling Pierce’s face in to get the last of the rage out.[/i] “I just uh- yo, I feel bad about everything. I didn’t think you were serious about him- and I know it’s a shit excuse to bring up the way my sex life is like as if that makes a diff-” “I realize that you would not have considered how important Gadget is to me, and I don’t believe that you would have pursued him if you had. He knew damn well what kind of male you are, yet still chose to perk his ass out for you.” “It was a dick thing for me to do, still. I bullied him when you weren’t around, it wasn’t his fault in this at all.” Zero was a bit surprised to hear that- he didn’t see anything for Pierce to gain by telling the truth, let alone making anything up for Gadget’s sake. “Oh? What do you mean by ‘bully’?” “I took his food and gave him conditions to get it whenever you were gone. Don’t punish the guy for not wanting to miss meals, that’s on me.” It wasn’t a complete lie, after all. “... Is that so? Hm. I realize that Gadget is naive and impressionable, as well as unable to say no when he should. I’ll have to take it upon myself to instill some morals in him.” Pierce scrunched his nose up at the weird rationalizations, and the fact that Zero wasn’t even the slightest angry at him. It said a lot about how shallow the older jackal considered him to be… ___________present pov resume___________ Another night at the club, which meant that it had to be friday. Gadget sighed as he tried to tune out the loud thumping against every wall, floor and ceiling of the room he’d been stuffed into. He didn’t see a point to being brought here - Zero had not been popping in and out like he had the first weekend he’d dragged Gadget to this room. It was especially annoying having to hear the leader’s squad bringing women into the rooms on either side. He got up and jiggled at the knob, expecting nothing yet still feeling disappointment. Observing the metal bedpost, he peered underneath to see that the poles weren’t reamed on the inside, making it sharp… Gadget picked at the material until he found a weak enough piece to snap off. These rooms had the doorknob’s lock on the outside, and the deadbolt lock on the inside, meaning that the knob could be screwed off from the inside. The wolf, proud of his streak of intelligence, made quick work of the small screws and pried the knob off. The deadbolt, unable to be locked on the outside without using a key which Zero hadn’t bothered with, had been left open. He put the knob back in with its screws as fast as he could, hoping that no jackal would catch him during the time wasted. It would be worth it to have put it back in the event that he needed to lie and say it was left unlocked. Gadget darted out of the hall and into the top level’s lounging area, crouching behind a chair to make sure he wasn’t seen by any jackal. There was no one but himself, meaning that all of them were likely on the main floor somewhere. It was a huge club, so he was banking on not running into any big-eared mobians. So it came as a huge surprise that out of the whole expanse of the club, he by chance caught a glimpse of a pair of neon coloured mobians that he recognized all too well. Gadget almost cried out the names of his friends Corvin and Fuchsia, but stifled himself at the last moment when he realized it would be pointless with the volume of the music, and only risk calling attention to himself. For a moment, he thought they were just there to let loose and have some fun. After watching them for a bit longer, he picked up on their actions - they weren’t smiling at all, and compared to how much effort they’d put into their looks coming as a trio, they were completely underdressed this time around. His friends had to be looking for him. Their gazes wandered everywhere, not with the excited or carefree expressions they usually wore, but with worry and contempt. The crimson wolf skittered from chair to chair, before choosing what he hoped was a good moment to dash down the stairs. Unfortunately, he hadn’t accounted for the bouncer at the bottom of the stairs - he’d expected one to be at the top as it had been the time he’d met Zero. The stocky mobian stared at the retreating back of the wolf for a few moments, before snatching the radio off of his side and warning his co-workers of a suspicious male mobian on the main floor. Gadget weaved through the throngs of people, trying his hardest to pick out the features of his friends amongst the hundreds of others. It wasn’t easy when a lot of the crowd was taller. After what felt like an endless amount of redirections on the floor, he caught sight of Fuchsia’s obnoxious reflective bands that she’d always wear for her night runs. “H-HEy! Fuchsia! Corvin! He-” They caught his voice and looked in his direction just in time to see him, sans glasses, being pulled away by a bouncer. As the two were about to sprung forward and pursue their missing friend, their arms were arrested by security guards. Gadget wailed in anguish as all three younger mobians were separated when they’d been so close to reuniting. The ruffled wolf was pulled into the closest bar storage, then seconds later pinned up against the wall by shaky hands and an enraged heterochromatic gaze.