Broken Doll

She watched him from the corner of her eye as he rooted through her bathroom, looking for god-knows-what. Kayla had taken more than a couple baths in her lifetime, but right now, the whole process felt strange and unknown. It was funny how something so familiar could be changed with a shift in circumstances. Except it wasn't funny at all. Finally, he came back with a loofah in his hand, and...

Hey...

God damn it, he wasn't...!

He was.

Preston cupped his hands, gathering up a small mountain of bubbles, and plopped it on her head like a cap. She grit her teeth, closing her eye as a bit of soap water dribbled down the side of her face, electricity snapping out like snakes. Currents flashed over the surface of the water, just for a heartbeat. "Are you a fucking child?!" she snapped, and despite the hot flash of pain, managed to lift her good arm just enough to send a splash of water up at him over the rim of the tub. Electrified droplets went flicking out from her fingertips as she let her hand fall back into the water, ever so slightly nudging her head as if to shake the bubbles off. They just rolled down in clumps over the side of her head, and she had to sputter as a bit of foam trickled down her face. I can't fucking believe you. He really was a little brat at heart.

Despite her harsh attitude, and the sudden onslaught of electicity bouncing off the walls and running right at him, Preston still couldn't help but snicker - if not outright laugh. He only flinched from the sudden splash of water that came flying at him, raising his arm instinctively to protect his face from getting wet. He hadn't expected that. He hadn't expected her to move at all, really.

Unfortunately for her, the rippling currents didn't do much to destroy the foam. If anything, it just seemed to make them bigger, and make a good number of them take to the air. One particularly big bubble flew between them. Preston stuck a finger out, small sparks of electricity flitting around his hand. The bubble went fleeing away from his touch the first time, but the second time it fell, he managed to catch it on his finger, his gifting changing the bubble to strange abnormal colors. "What the hell kind of question is that?" He asked in a dull, mocking tone, reaching over and sticking the bubble in her face and drawing his hand back. It stuck to the tip of her nose. Holding back another laugh or dumb comment, he turned the other way, reaching to turn the water off.

It was one thing to get stripped naked and thrown in a bath, it was another to get toyed with like she was Preston's rubber duck. She shook her head feebly side to side, sending water sloshing up at the rim of the tub, but that was about all she could do. Her half-healed cuts stung under the lathered surface of the water, but right now, she hardly noticed. Bubbles formed in the swirling suds, inflating at the touch of her electricity and rising like balloons toward the ceiling. One landed on Preston's finger, drawn like a magnet, and the electric touch made it flash and shift with a hundred different colors. Purples, blues, whites, greens. Lights danced along the walls, refracted, and then he seemed to push it forward. She couldn't avoid it, and when he pulled his finger back, the bubble was still there, clinging to her nose.

Kayla couldn't even form the words. She just let out a frustrated groan, pursing her lips to blow the bubble away. It detached from her skin, growing, warping, and then without a sound, it popped. She clenched her eyes shut against the small spray and wrinkled her up her face. The soap stung at her eyes. "Ow...!"

God, this was pathetic.

"Asshole!"

Her cursing didn't seem to phase him much. He drew his arm back, lazily hiding his face away and the low laughs under his breath before moving forward to help her again. Pres pooled away at a small spot in the bathtub, whisking away the bubbles and getting cleaning his hand off in clean water. "Yeah, yeah..." He muttered in a sing-song tone, lightly wiping clear the soap from her forehead and away from her eyes. "Lighten up, Girl."

Preston picked up the small, white loofah, dipping it underneath the water and bringing her arm up with his other hand, just enough to where he could start slowly scrubbing away. He hadn't been in the hospital all too long, he'd thought, but it was grossly amazing how much dirt and dead skin could cling to a person in such a sterile, uptight place. The Autumn wanted to avoid looking at her wounds and scars, as much as he didn't want too - in fact a small part of him wanted to forget about them if he could, but it wasn't like he could with the work he was doing. "Maybe stick a little closer to home-base from now on," he said quietly, "And lay off the smokes... Bad for your lungs and shit..."

Kayla could only bite back a growl as he lazily wiped the soap off her face and out of her eyes. Fuck... Lighten up? How could she lighten up like this? Was that his idea of cheering her up? Like everything would be sunshine and daisies for him if the tables were turned... He was the one splashing water around like a six year old. There was a flint of heat in her insides, a bitter mixed drink of electricity, embarrassment, and anger, but she could only grumble curses under her breath as he pulled away. One day he'd piss off the wrong girl and, like it or not, she'd be the one pushing him around in a wheelchair. Then maybe he'd regret abusing his butler role. But right now, there wasn't anything else she could do but lie back and deal with it.

She watched him in silence as he dipped the loofah into the bubbles, soaking it in soap and water, before bringing it to the skin of her upper arm. Kayla just grit her teeth, almost flinching as he brought it up to her and began to scrub away. There was the occasional hot flash of pain, but she just ignored it, swallowing any noise that threatened to pass her lips. It was best just to focus on the water. Even with the lather covering the surface of the tub, she couldn't help but be glad for the towels draped around her, but that still didn't cover her enough. Scars, welts, marks, cuts and scrapes, new and old.

His words might as well have been a smack in the face.

There was a sudden tension in the air, an invisible pressure that pushed down on her. She ground her teeth, fighting the storm of emotions that passed over her face, icy in her silence. For half a heartbeat, she could feel the cigarettes pressing into her skin. Finally, she spoke. "I don't fucking smoke." Even if she didn't say it out loud, the message was a loud and firm 'shut up.' Kayla never looked him in the eye. "I told you not to look at me."

The silence was quick to fall down on them both like a heavy weight. As terrible and awkward as it was, he would have been lying if he'd said that he'd hadn't seen it coming. The look on her face was the only thing to him that had made it all the worse. He'd seen many petty or angry looks thrown his way from her, but this one had to take the cake. He had never seen her look so, well, cold.

Still, despite every bit of common sense he had of the situation, he found himself talking on. Preston got up and unto his knees, placing her arm gingerly back into the tub water and reaching over, drawing her other arm up and beginning to scrub away at it as he did the other. "Then how...?" He muttered under his breath as the damp, thin fabric brushed over the many scars on her upper arm. He bit back a sigh. This was bullshit. He didn't sign up for this. He'd met a crazy chick once who had a kink for getting wounds like that, but he highly doubted they were quite the same thing.

Whatever, it wasn't his problem, right? He huffed, trying to get around to manuvier around the water without falling in. "On the bright side, we'll probably only have to do this once." He offered blandly.

Then how...? Then how? Wasn't he fucking smart enough not to push the issue? She didn't answer. No, she refused to even acknowledge that he'd asked anything, just stared forward as her arm sunk back into the water and he reached over to wash the other one. They were scars. That's all he needed to know. Ugly old scars and cuts. The rest wasn't his business. At the least, he could just pretend they weren't there, like she tried to do. There were a hundred things she could've snapped at him, but she just grit her teeth, clenching her jaw until she thought her teeth might shatter from the force. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up...

Luckily, he seemed to get the hint, moving on in that bland droning voice of his. She refused to reply to that too.

How the hell on could someone possibly ever end up as stubborn as she was, he wondered, quietly scrubbing the dirt off the back of her hand. She stayed quiet, so he did as well, contemplating what her deal was as he worked, pausing only when he'd reached another wound or an ugly patch of black, yellow, and blue.

She mentioned having a sister, didn't she? Did the girl have the same kind of stupid adrenaline drive? And all the scars that came with it? Preston tried to imagine his own little sister in this situation. The thought sickened him even more.

Once he'd finished the other arm, he set it back into the water and leaned back, sitting on his heels, chewing at his cheek. It was easier to avoid seeing anything with the bubbles to cover most her body, but it would be a little trickier for him to know full well what he was doing while he worked. Oh well.

He held back an almost wistful sigh, taking the loofah and pressed it against her shoulders, moving it to her neck, and over her collarbone. It was hard to imagine the tension becoming any thicker at that point, but it but it did, and he paused once he felt his fingers brush against the towel, still hiding under the cover of white cloud

He was strongly considering his options, holding down the urge to mutter some dumb ass joke and shooting Kayla another look, watching for her reaction.

She tried to hide inside herself, let her mind go blank and get lost in her own head, but the thick silence just drove her more crazy than anything. After that, she'd gotten her wish. He'd shut up, and a thick suffocating silence filled the bathroom, beating along to the methodical plip of water from the dripping faucet. There was the occasional spark, the occasional ripple of water when he dragged the loofah over a sore spot, but that was it. Was it better this way? This was what she wanted, but after a couple of minutes, after all the emotions faded away, a part of her wished that they'd just go back to stupid Pokémon jokes. Staring at this ceiling reminded her too much of the infirmary.

Couldn't she have taken this bath with her shirt on?

Even in a situation like this, maybe things would still feel a bit more normal that way. But now things were too intimate, too personal, too serious. It was like someone reading your diary. A violation, like he'd stepped over some kind of boundary.

Kayla was broken out of her thoughts by the sensation of the loofah edging up her neck, and falling back down to wipe over her collarbone, and down a bit more, his fingers brushing at the fringes of the towel just under the water's surface. She took in a quiet breath, stiffening up under his touch, and looked up at him from the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to speak, but all her half-formed words choked in her throat, and after what could've been a minute or an hour, she let her body relax and seeped deeper into the warm water, averting her eyes. A breath escaped her lips. She hadn't realized she'd been holding it in.

Electricity crackled around her head.

What could she even say?

Fuck. She didn't even know what came next. Wouldn't that be good enough? Did they have to keep doing this? The towel clung to her body like a heavy dress, and you could catch warped glimpses of it through patches in the foam. What now?

She didn't know.

What else was there to do? Even if neither of them particularly liked it, he couldn't get away with just completely ignoring her entire torso. It was filthy like the rest of her, even underneath the cover of bubbles and towel. He watched as she let out a heavy sigh, staring in the complete other direction. At least she wasn't trying to fight it, or shoot him another dirty look, like he'd been completely expecting.

He set the loofah at the edge of the tub, reaching again into the warm water, reaching in and placing his hand on the top of the towel. The young man couldn't feel a thing other than the soaked fabric until he'd started to rub away at all the dirt. Luckily, he was a professional about it, keeping a straight face the entire time as he cleaned her chest - even up until the moment he finished. "I knew it," he murmured under his breath. 'B-cup...'

His hand moved downward towards her stomach soon after, not knowing about the harsh wound on her stomach and pushing the cloth harder than he should have been, accidentally pushing bubbles up against her face in the process.

She knew what was coming next, but she still didn't know what to expect. The towel, her only shield between his hands and her skin, was wrapped and plastered around her body from her upper thighs to just below her arms, barely covering her. Kayla wanted to be glad, but did he even think it through before he dumped her in the tub with this on? He didn't need to take it off now, did he? She focused on the ceiling. Her head was swimming... It already felt like they'd both been in this bathroom for hours, and they weren't even close to being done with this stupid shit.

Kayla stiffened up, watching Preston out of the corner of her eye as he set the loofah down and eventually reached out into the water...

...!

His fingers brushed over the wet fabric and he started to knead and rub her through the towel. Kayla took in a sharp breath, clenching her teeth to keep herself from speaking out, trying to resist the urge to close her eyes so she didn't have to watch this. Fuck. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. This was stupid. Did he really have to do this? She jolted every time he touched... well, you know where, sometimes literally, sparks rippling out over the water.

Before long, even if it felt like an eternity or two had passed by the time he'd finished, he'd started to move down toward her belly button.

A sudden push knocked the wind out of her. Sharp pains stabbed out across her body like a web of knives, and her near-silence was broken with a gasp and a quick spasm of pain. It'd just been a simple motion, but it felt like getting jabbed by a battering ram. Kayla broke into a fit of coughs that racked her body, specks of red flecking the foam pushed up around her shoulders.

In the end, it'd only been a few seconds. The coughing subsided, and with her eyes clenched shut, she seemed to sink deeper into the water, a few ragged breaths escaping her lips. Fuck... There was a dull, throbbing ache spread across her stomach, where her bruises were.

Were they done yet?

Even if it didn't last longer than a few seconds, it was enough to freak Preston right the fuck out. For a moment, he thought he might had to drag her out of the water, or jump in, and perform CPR... or the heimlich? Or fucking something. "Shit," He eyed the specks of blood that stained the pure bubbles afloat on the water. It may have not been a lot, but it was still enough for him to keep him on his toes. "Are you alright?" Obviously, messing with her stomach was an extremely shitty idea, whatever. He should've figured that.

He'd had enough of this loofah-ing bull though, and he figured she was tired of it as well. Whatever dirt was left on her skin had probably been taken care of the soap and warm water. There was just one thing left to do after that, and thankfully it wouldn't take too long. The Autumn turned to grab her shampoo and a small plastic cup, dipping the later into the water. Her hair was already mostly soaked from sinking deeper into the tub, he just needed to get the top wet. And he did so before grabbing the shampoo again and beginning to massage it into her scalp.

It was quiet again while he worked, until he decided to finally speak up again. "How about I cut you a deal?"

She hated that look in his eyes. I'm not going to die in a bathtub... Did he have to pretend to worry so much? Kayla could hear the pity in his voice, sending a flint of heat into her insides. After a few seconds of wheezing, collecting her breath and pulling herself together, she swallowed the blood in her throat and gave a weak nod, biting back a wince of pain. "I'm fine," she breathed through clenched teeth, eyes focused on the patch of wall above the faucet. Was he just going to get this over with or not? She thought she could see lights dancing in the corner of her vision.

Instead of moving back to her stomach or legs, or picking back up the loofah, he reached out for the shampoo. Maybe he was as tired of this as her. That was what she'd like to think, but no, he just thought she was too fragile to continue. Kayla clenched her eyes shut as he dumped the soapy water over her head, only opening them again when she felt his fingers move through her hair and over her head. After awhile, she let them droop close again and did her best to relax.

The sound of his voice broke her out of her trance. She'd been half-asleep. Kayla looked up at him, the best she could from her position, staring at him through unfocused brown eyes. "And what's that...?" A deal? That wasn't what she was expecting, but nothing about this night surprised her at this point. What kind of deal could either of them make right now?

As the last of the shampoo turned to a lather, he picked up the plastic cup again, holding his hand to her eyebrows to keep any of the soap from running into her eyes and washing the bubbles out one scoop of water at a time. He looked thoughtful for a moment, as if he were thinking over his own words carefully before he said them himself. "Of course you are," he muttered, holding back a small scoff. Several broken bones, open wounds, numerous scars, and bruises to the point she couldn't even sit up on her own. Why wouldn't she be any less than fine?

Preston reached over, grabbing the conditioner and beginning to smooth it through her hair, pausing every now and then and peering at the many split ends, then moving on. "You tell me how you got that bitch of bruise on your stomach," He started, stating the offer far too casually. "And I won't put you in that for the night." Hanging off the edge of the sink, where it was hard to notice before, was a long, pink floral nightgown - borrowed from one of their absentee roommates that he'd snuck in prior.

The bubbles, the lather, the way he rubbed and kneaded at her head. She tried to show her displeasure in a scowl, but in this environment, it just came across as a bad joke. This was fucking degrading, and the longer it went on, the more she questioned if it really was that necessary after all... But it was too late for that. There wasn't any quitting now. Kayla had to sit through whatever else he wanted to put her through, and then they'd go to bed, and then it'd all be over. Until the next time, anyways. How long would they be doing this?

She hurt all over.

Pain pulsed through her with every moment, a throbbing ache across her entire body. Just breathing was a struggle. She let herself sink into the feeling, trying not to flinch every time he ran his fingers through a tangle or pulled at her hair. Tiny sparks appeared wherever they made skin contact. Kayla couldn't help but feel sick as she waited for his answer. She didn't like where this was going.

His 'offer' almost made her choke. A ripple of electricity split the air, darkening the room for just a moment with the intensity of the light. The lightbulb flickered in response as sizzling blue currents spread across the water. Did he have that ugly fucking thing ready beforehand? Black fury took over her limbs. The indignation was so palpable she could've shook. She wasn't a fucking puppet he could play with and threaten, and just because she was like this... Did he think he had some fucking control over her? That he could fucking scare her with something stupid like that?

She hated that smug self-assured cockiness in the way he spoke, the way he moved.

On another night, she probably would've dismissed it as a joke, but all the agitation and pain was too fresh and raw to play around with the subject of what happened.

For once, she didn't flip out or thrash in the water or scream at him. She just wrenched herself away from his hands, sniffing to bite back the pain from the sudden movement, and glared at him. Lightning crackled around her head, a low droning buzz filling the air. Kayla's brown eyes had turned to glowing copper discs in the shift of light. "Do you think you can fucking blackmail me?" Her voice barely cracked a whisper, but somehow, that was more threatening than her tantrums or rages.