Minutes passed like they were hours, and days passed like they were seconds. The lack of a window and the constant naps were keeping Rex in a place where he couldn’t tell what time or even what day it was. He didn’t know if it was morning or night.

He knew that Tavi forced the bottle into his mouth three times a day, pinching his nose closed or holding his chin if he had to, and nothing he said could make his twin stop.

He knew that he was losing himself a little bit more at a time, haziness always seeming to cloud his thoughts and leave him unsure of how to act like himself — whoever that was these days.

He knew, too, that whenever Tavi changed his diaper or cleaned out his ass and efficiently scrubbed him down — with exacting care, every single time, and increasing confidence — it meant his brother’s fingers were going to curl around his cock.

Rex had finally started to accept that Tavi had taken away everything — his freedom, his ability to move and speak, his control of something as basic as a human need.

But that wasn’t all true, was it? He was the one suckling the new pacifier Tavi had gotten him without a word, the one that wasn’t part of a gag. It was something to do as he gazed up at the mobile above his head as he waited for the next time his brother came into the room.

There was no sense in screaming. He’d had this room, this house, designed to be soundproof, and he’d made it too much like a prison. He’d never thought it would be used against him. He’d only known that he’d been determined to protect his brother… but everything he’d done to protect Tavi was now being used to hold him captive.

It wasn’t a comfortable realization.

“All right,” Tavi finally said one day when he came into the room, flicking on the light. “We can’t keep doing this.”

Thank fuck. Tavi finally understood that this was untenable, especially for any length of time, and he was going to let him go. There was no other explanation, and it filled him with overwhelming amounts of relief and disappointment in turn. He didn’t know which was stronger, and he—

“You have to start moving around.”

Those words threatened to make his heart stop.

Moving around.

That wasn’t the same as starting to try to grovel.

Rex found himself chewing on the pacifier, and he turned his head to spit it out, saliva trailing from it across his chin until the thing settled onto the crib mattress beside him. “Fuck, Tavi—”

“Bad word, Rexy,” Tavi interrupted with a disapproving frown that made Rex squirm, “and it’s Daddy. Are you trying to get a spanking?”

He didn’t miss the way his brother’s eyes darkened at the thought, the way his tongue wet his lips. He squirmed, not sure what he thought about the idea that Tavi might be getting turned on at the idea of spanking him.

Then again, he’d never thought that any of this would turn Tavi on. He’d thought his twin would come around eventually, that he’d offer his own kisses instead of simply yielding to Rex’s. The submission had been good, but it had always lacked something…

Something that had started to awaken every time he called Tavi Daddy, no matter how bitterly he uttered the word.

“Daddy,” Rex said pointedly, like the word tasted bad.

“Yes?” Tavi asked.

Rex forced himself to jerk away from Tavi’s touch, and the hand that had been stroking his hair fell back to his twin’s side. “Do you really think you can do this forever?”

It was the first time he’d asked instead of just telling his brother he couldn’t, instead of just threatening him, and he watched as Tavi pursed his lips.

“No,” his twin finally said. Before the confusing mix of relief and disappointment could return, though, Tavi continued, “But I also know I can’t just stop now.” He offered a lopsided smile, a look Rex had always thought of as endearing before. “So I guess we’ll just have to see what comes next.”

From the way Tavi’s hand slid down to where his cock tented his diaper, Rex was pretty sure he knew the answer to that already.

Tavi surprised him by only giving him a pat and taking a step back. “What did you think would happen, Rex?” he asked, sounding far too reasonable. “I didn’t mean to knock you out,” he said, though Rex wasn’t sure whether he believed that. “I never want to really hurt you.”

“We could’ve talked about it,” Rex whined.

“Shh,” Tavi admonished, getting the pacifier and pressing it against Rex’s firmly closed lips. “You’re cranky because Daddy was late today,” he said in a tone so reassuring that Rex could almost believe it. “But we’ll have floor time and play time. Then while Daddy fixes supper, you can watch cartoons and take a nap.”

Rex shook his head. “Ta—"

Tavi shoved the pacifier past his lips.

Rex spat it out. “I’m not—”

Tavi looked evenly at him, sighing. “You’ve been liking your paci, baby boy.”

Paci.

There it was, yet another degrading term to drop him lower and lower until he didn’t know if he could surface again. Where was he? Where was Tavi? How could this possibly be the youngest two Mirza children interacting, both magicless and utterly lost?

Because he knew that if he was confused, Tavi was too.

“Your mouth was starting to get irritated from the straps,” Tavi said, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t want to have to strap it back in.” There was a dangerous note in his voice, something in his eyes despite Rex’s utter conviction that his brother was just as much at a loss as he was. “If I leave it out, will you be quiet?”

“No,” Rex said stubbornly. He wasn’t just going to be party to allowing his voice — ah, and so much more — to be stolen away from him.

“Can you at least accept for a few hours that things would be so much better if you just gave in?” Tavi countered.

No. Because only a few hours was still something, and it would lead him one step closer to the part of him that got hard every time Tavi changed his diaper and stroked him.

“Fine, whatever,” Rex muttered.

He was only curious to see what Tavi would do. That was all.

“Daddy,” Tavi prompted him.

“You do know that’s sick, right?” Rex snapped.

“Why?” Tavi asked, his voice taking on that too-reasonable tone once more. “I’m taking care of you. You’re my baby boy.” He sighed. “And it’s not like we ever called Dad Daddy or Mother Mommy. Those were too… affectionate.”

The bitterness in his twin’s tone caught him off guard, and he wasn’t sure why. He’d known that the relationship between Tavi and their parents had never exactly been stable. Their mother was more interested in power and names and having enough children to keep people from remembering what her real family name was — even before the Takeover, because the Mirza name commanded such respect. And their father… He had tried, in his own way, but it had always lacked something.

Rex tried to speak, but he couldn’t make the words come out even without the gag in place.

Tavi was right. It wasn’t like Rex was going to associate the word with their real father, though he could hardly say there weren’t incestuous overtones there when this was his twin.

But then, Rex had been the one to initiate that part, hadn’t he? Even though the family names crossed the globe, significant only for those who could trace their lineage, some chose to keep marriages in close family. Too many had been fooled, and the best way to counter that had been to marry cousins, to marry… brother and sister.

The witches’ world may not have thought too highly of intermarriage, but they certainly didn’t look down upon it when it was an opposite sex couple. It was too ingrained in their society, like it Rex once been for royalty.

He squeezed his eyes closed. “Please don’t make me do this, Tavi.”

“Tell me you don’t want it,” Tavi challenged him, surprising him by not demanding that he replace the name with Daddy once again. More than that, though, there was something vulnerable in his twin’s voice, like he truly was afraid.

And he damn well should be afraid! This was wrong on so many levels that he couldn’t even start to fathom it. Rex should’ve been the one taking care of Tavi, not the other way around.

So why didn’t the thought of doing this to Tavi get him hard? Oh, he wanted to. He wanted to make his baby brother pay for this. He might only be two minutes older, the first out of their mother’s womb, but he was still the older brother.

It was still his responsibility to take care of Tavi, not the other way around.

“You can’t, can you?” Tavi softened, touching his cheek.

Rex opened his eyes but didn’t look at his brother.

“You can’t tell me you don’t want it… because you do, and you know you do. You’re fighting it, but you know.” Tavi tapped Rex’s forehead. “In here, you know that this is right. Now tell Daddy you’ll behave for a few hours and mean it, and do it, and you’ll get a special treat.”

It said something about Rex’s state of mind that he wondered if that treat had anything to do with Tavi’s mouth around his cock.

“I got some different kinds of baby foods to try,” Tavi continued. If he could tell what Rex was thinking, he didn’t show it.

The idea of eating baby food should’ve repulsed him, but the thought of tasting something other than milk was an unbelievably tempting one. “I don’t want baby food.” Tavi quirked a brow, and Rex added reluctantly, “Daddy.”

“I also,” Tavi said, offering him a smile as though in praise for the use of the word, “got a little thing of rainbow sherbet.”

Sugar. He had no idea how long it had been since he’d had something other than milk, but he could almost taste the sweetness of the baby food and sherbet on his tongue. It would only be a few hours. He could handle that.

Couldn’t he?

“So,” Tavi said, “what do you think, Rexy? Can you be a good boy for me? You know I’m stronger and faster than you.”

The wave of revulsion at the idea of his brother drinking vampire blood to amplify his own strength was almost enough to cancel out his cravings.

Almost.

“What do I have to do?” Rex asked instead of recoiling when Tavi brushed his fingers through his hair.

“Take your enema like a good boy instead of fighting me,” Tavi said.

Oh hell no.

“No!” Rex replied immediately.

Tavi continued like he hadn’t even spoken. “With the toilet after so that I can bathe you in the nice clean tub. I even got you bath toys and some bubbles.” He ignored Rex’s roll of his eyes. “Let me wash your hair without complaining and put lotion all over you after your bath—”

Rex’s breath hitched at the thought of his brother’s hands sliding all over his skin.

“—then let go for a little bit,” Tavi said, more softly then. “Stretch your legs and move around—”

That sounded orgasmic all on its own.

“—and play with your toys or watch some cartoons until you get hungry.”

He could endure those things, though if he got the chance, he was still going to go for the door. After the bath. After eating something even remotely solid. “Okay,” he muttered.

“Okay what?” Tavi prompted him again.

“Okay, Daddy. I’ll try.”

Tavi opened the side doors of the crib-slash-cage, so much more smoothly than he had the first several times he’d used it. That in and of itself… He should’ve counted how many times that had happened. Then he might have been able to gain a semblance of time.

“How long has it been?” Rex asked when Tavi scooped him up into his arms. “Daddy.”

“That’s not something little boys need to know unless they’re in time-out or if it’s naptime,” Tavi said. “Never mind that I could tell you a different answer every day and you’d never know the difference.”

After everything that had happened, how could it surprise him that his twin might lie to him? He was silent as Tavi carried him into the bathroom, gently placing him down in the tub so that his ass was in the air like usual then removing the mittens from his hands. His knees pressed hard against the new brightly colored non-slip mat that he was sure hadn’t been there the last time.

“You said—”

“Hush,” Tavi said, his voice firm, something authoritative that made Rex’s cock start to rouse with interest despite himself. He removed the unused diaper and tossed it into the trash can.

He heard his brother moving around the bathroom, gathering the dreaded equipment Tavi used on him so often these days that he was starting to get used to it.

“I don’t want to get water everywhere. It’ll be quick today,” Tavi said, “I promise. Just to make sure you’re nice and clean.”

“No cramps?” Rex asked, his voice sounding tiny even to his own ears.

“I’ll do my best,” Tavi said, turning on the water and starting to adjust the temperature like he always did. “Just tell me if it starts to get uncomfortable, okay?” Like he really did care, like this was something they were doing willingly out of some shared kink instead of something he’d forced Rex into.

He mumbled some semblance of agreement, sucking in a breath as the little nozzle breached his ass and comfortably warm water begin to fill him. This really wasn’t a punishment, at least not yet. If his brother kept his word…

Even Rex had to admit that this had been inevitable, and it was better this way. He’d fight later. He could always just go with it and fight later, and he repeated those words to himself over and over.

“Daddy!” he whined when his stomach cramped the first time.

Tavi immediately stopped the flow of water, letting the plug stay in his ass. “There we go, little boy,” he said.

Immense relief swept over him when Tavi actually kept his word — something he’d never thought he’d have to wonder about either! — and stopped the water flow. It was still uncomfortable, but Tavi leaned down, and pressed feather-light kisses to his shoulder blades.

“Just for a minute,” he said against Rex’s skin. “Then up, then we get this out of you while I start your bath.”

Rex whimpered, but he stayed still until Tavi finally urged him up. Grateful as he was, he still hissed in a breath as the water felt like it was sloshing inside of him, and he didn’t fight Tavi when his twin set him down.

He was never going to stop being embarrassed at this part, but Tavi never treated him poorly over it. He just… did it, and that was that. He held it in when Tavi let the air out of the little plug, something that made his twin smile as he turned for the tub.

He focused on his brother instead of on his own bodily functions, watching as Tavi turned on the water and fussed over the temperature again. His brother even had this little duck thing he kept checking, and Rex realized it was some kind of toy that measured the temperature of the water too.

How deep in the role was Tavi?

How deep in the role are you?

He pushed away the uncomfortable thoughts as soon as he could, trying to rise when the scent of bubble bath filled the air and bubbles started to gather in the tub. His legs wouldn’t support him, and he sat heavily back down.

“Just hang on for a sec,” Tavi said, glancing at him with an inscrutable look. “I’ll get you in a minute.”

His legs weren’t working. Still. How was Tavi doing that? Rex felt almost like himself from the waist up, but his legs wouldn’t respond no matter how hard he tried.

True to his word, Tavi picked him up and set him down into the water, which was as comfortably warm as the enema had been. It was a little cold for his taste, but it could’ve been worse. It could’ve been one of the cold-water baths he’d given Tavi…

Shame made his cheeks fill with color, and he hurriedly stopped thinking about that. It was in the past, and Tavi wasn’t doing… those things. Much.

“There we go,” Tavi announced as he turned off the water, grabbing a basket of bath toys from nearby.

Rex looked dubiously at them then back up at Tavi. Was he really supposed to play with them?

“You don’t have to play if you don’t want to,” Tavi said, but he sounded… disappointed, in that dejected way he’d always gotten when he’d tried to make their mother a gift and she’d just smiled politely and set it aside never to look at again.

Rex sighed and picked up the toy boat, half-heartedly making it move through the water.

Tavi lit up, and Rex couldn’t say if he loved or hated his brother right then. The handsome face they both shared was so compelling to look at, and Rex stared at him before turning back to the toys.

His twin started to play with the toys with him, showing what each one could do, and Rex relaxed in the tub. He lost track of time, but the water was starting to get uncomfortably cool when Tavi announced that play time was over. A thrum of disappointment ran through him, but he wasn’t going to argue when there was the chance of moving around and food at the end of this.

Tavi picked up a soft rag and some baby shampoo, starting to carefully clean him. He was thorough, the cloth sliding over his shoulders, his arms, his chest… down to his legs and ankles, then back up. His twin spent so long cleaning his cock that Rex started to harden, and he bit his lip to keep from moaning. Before he could start tumbling over the edge, Tavi cleaned his ass instead before settling back onto his back legs.

“Now your hair,” Tavi said, his voice a little breathless.

One glance down showed that Tavi was having a similar problem, and Rex didn’t know how he felt about that.

There was still a part of him that was so stunned by Tavi’s behavior that he expected nastiness and loathing to come out in what he did. He braced himself to be… waterboarded, or whatever it was, but Tavi only took his time washing his hair with a shampoo that smelled like berries. The rinsing was as gentle as everything else.

If Tavi was going to be this sweet when he behaved, he was going to have a hard time starting an unwinnable battle over again.

Then again…

If he surrendered, this was the rest of his life, and he wasn’t sure he could handle that.