Febuwhump Day 24 - I'm Doing This Because I Care About You
From The Queen of Lies:
“Baden,” Bree said, her heart pounding although she did not know why it protested so at the invitation, “I want to go home. Please. Now.”
But Baden said, “Once I am convinced of your good health, Breanna.”
“I’m not hurt,” she said, pulling away from the door. “You heard what Dr. Gysborne said. The cut is healing. Please. Let’s go home.”
He jolted her forward with an impatient sigh. “Come along.” As they crossed the threshold, the wind began to howl outside, and the rain began to fall in a violent barrage once again. “This is for your own good.”
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BTHB: This is For Your Own Good
For Liam and Delilah, “This is for Your Own Good” from @badthingshappenbingo! Huge thank to @brutal-nemesis for the request :)
Requests are open! Filled means it’s finished, open means requested. Hearts are Liam and Delilah, lightning bolts are for Freddy and T, and stars are for August.
Tagging fairytale friends - @whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump, @lonesome–hunter, @diyalogues, @deluxewhump, @hearse-song, @pumpkin-spice-whump, @whumpy-writings, @warm-my-whumpee-heart
CW: male whumpee, female whumper, creepy whumper, forced labor, long term captivity, thinking about death, threats, digging own grave (maybe) (I won’t tell you yet if that’s what he’s doing sorry), big whumpee/little whumper dynamics
Above Liam, Delilah sighs, an utterly disgusted sound. The crackle of the Taser fills the air, and Liam squeezes his eyes shut, bracing for the flood of electricity, the pain. Instead, Liam would swear he hears her pause and think about it.
Then she grunts. “Take off the stupid blindfold.”
Not wanting to give her an instant to change her mind, Liam sits up fast and scrapes his fingernails across his cheeks trying to get under the blindfold cutting into his face. “Thank you!” he remembers to tell her, voice fervent, but she just snorts. He nearly draws blood in his eagerness, and when the blindfold finally does slide off, the world around him is too bright. Hissing, squinting, Liam waits, still on hands and knees, for his eyes to adjust. He’s just turned his face toward Delilah when she thrusts her hand out at him, and there’s a shovel in it.
Mouth falling open, Liam gazes mutely up at Delilah. Yet again, she’s dressed in a floral sundress, and he can see the goosebumps standing out on her pale legs. The cornflower blue fabric billows around her motionless body, and it’s eerie seeing the fabric shift and move while she stands so statue-still. Her tiny, little white hand makes the shovel look huge and brutal.
“What…” Liam swallows hard. “What’s that…”
He knows what it’s for. Liam knows.
“Dig,” she tells him, voice toneless. Climbing to his feet, Liam takes the shovel and then just stares for a moment.
It’s still wintry enough in this part of the world that the trees are all bare. They stretch away on every side. The undergrowth is brown, the ground beneath Liam brown, and the sky above, nothing but gray. Is this where his corpse is going to rot? Is this where his bones are going to return to the earth? Liam has never thought about where he’d like his body to lie, but this barren stretch of ground is so impersonal. So far away from everything and everyone he loves.
Behind him, Delilah clears her throat impatiently. The Taser is out in her hand, pointing toward Liam. He wonders briefly if he could get the best of her with the shovel maybe – but he has no idea where he is, and no shoes on. He hasn’t eaten properly in weeks. She has the Taser, and she’s so…small, standing there. Could he really bring down a shovel on her head?
“Dig.”
And Liam does. The work warms him up fast, and he starts to sweat as he buries the head of the shovel and draws it back down. A few inches down, the soil still crunches with frost. His muscles tremble long before he’s used to, and the amount of strength he’s lost makes Liam grimace. This frail, skinny, body hardly feels like his own. Maybe that’s the real reason Delilah is getting rid of him, he thinks, grinning darkly to himself. Without the muscles, he’s probably not very good-looking, anymore.
The smile slides off his face quickly. The idea that he’s digging his own grave – that he’ll never see his mom again, or Katie, or any of his friends. He’ll never eat another cheeseburger, or get drunk, or go for a good long run. His hands start to shake around the handle of the shovel. His breath catches. He doesn’t want to die. The apathy that held him down just a few minutes ago has gone, leaving the familiar, stubborn, desperate will to live that has animated him all these months. He doesn’t want to die. Liam doesn’t want to die.
It takes hours, and more than a few times, Liam stops to heave air into his exhausted lungs, or to stretch, or to rest his aching arms and back. Blisters rise on his palms, and then they burst. Above and behind him, Delilah is silent, watchful. Every time he looks up, he sees the Taser still in her hand. A few times, he tries to start a conversation, but she says nothing in return – except once.
It’s not a real attempt at making conversation. It’s more of an accident when he lets the question slip. Liam is taking a break, wiping sweat from his brow, and leaning heavily on the shovel. His back aches and his hands hurt and even though he knows the answer, he mutters the question in a despairing tone. “Why are you doing this?”
Above him, Delilah lets out a sound that’s almost a laugh. “It’s for you, darling. It’s for your own good.”
Mouth dry, Liam searches for words. “What…” He swallows. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you trust me?” Delilah’s voice is light.
No. “Yes, I…of course I trust you.”
“Good. Keep digging.”
The words are on Liam’s tongue. Are you going to kill me? For a long moment, he hangs there, in the seconds before speaking.
Then, wordless, he picks up the shovel. The smooth, sanded wood of the handle feels like sandpaper against Liam’s blistered hands. His shoulders and back ignite with fiery ache as he bends to the work once more. In the end, he doesn’t ask. It’s not because he’s afraid to, more because he knows that whatever the answer might be, there’s not a damn thing that he can do about it.
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This is For Your Own Good - Chapter 20: Epilogue
The final chapter -
The shop bell rang, drawing Aziraphale out from the back. He wasn’t paying attention, smiling to himself. He couldn’t have said about what. It had become familiar. Smiling. His chest expanded, contracted. Easy.
He looked up.
Gabriel. Michael. Sandalphon. Uriel.
A razor sharp line, blocking the door.
continue reading on ao3
or start from chapter one
thank you for joining me on this
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