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Cartwright was of course the last one they found, the most difficult slow horse. Duffy barely had any interest in the others, not caring in what order they were escorted into the Park one by one. No, he was on a mission to find the most troublesome one, and what a gift the universe had presented him with after Comms thought they caught a whiff of him in some back end port at the very edge of London.
So, no, you're not that smart, not that bright, Cartwright, he thought, spying a half-hidden head with fluffy, light hair. “All right,” he called, “let’s see you,” and River jumped, then turned towards Duffy. And - fuck.
“Well. You never had an awkward stage, did you, sunshine? I mean, of course you didn’t.” Of course he’d spent his teenage years walking around with that face. All of his other little buddies had looked like regular awkward kids, but not golden boy River. River looked like the wettest fucking dream you could imagine.
“You don’t have to make it any weirder,” River said, sulky, peeking out from behind the shipping containers. His voice was almost the same, just a little softer and lighter. His face, though - it was like being glared at by a bunny, or a stuffed animal. This was going to be good.
Duffy kept his voice as bored and businesslike as possible. “All right, come on out. I’m just bringing you in, I’ve got no reason to hurt you.” You dumb bitch. Cartwright came out cautiously, staying out of Duffy’s reach. He had been tall already at this age but lanky with it, and maybe only recently tall, body probably still tender with growing pains. He had the hunched shoulders of someone trying not to intimidate people with his height, and the rest of him hadn't filled out at all. He was shivering a little from cold and nerves and watching Duffy with big round wary eyes, looking like he might bolt like a fawn at any minute. That was what he looked like, too, with the long ungainly limbs and giant eyes, one of the especially stupid deer that would run right in front of a car with no sense of danger. His hair hadn’t lost that childhood blond yet, face still a little rounded out with puppy fat, and already Duffy had never wanted anything in his life the way he wanted to put his dick in this kid.
Duffy said, “Did your parents keep you under house arrest at this age? Oh sorry, your grandparents.” Cartwright rolled his eyes. “Fucking hell, the amount of trouble you must have caused.”
“You mean, by getting attention from old perverts?” River snapped, folding his arms like he could hide his body from the scrutiny. “So what happens now?”
“I’m going to take you back to the Park, put you in a holding cell with your friends, and let someone smarter than you or me figure out what happened to you. The rest of them have been there since this morning.” River sighed, clearly irritated at the thought of being penned in at the Park like a mischievous pup.
“Before that, though,” Duffy said, gently, and smiled. Cartwright looked over at him. “Well. You know what happens before that, right?”
Cartwright's face was so expressive that Duffy could practically hear his thoughts, trying to understand what kind of threat this was: there's no way, it couldn’t be that. The thing was, he didn’t particularly want to fuck grown-up River, and he thought River knew that too. Sure, he wanted to hurt him, to humiliate him, but that was different than actually holding him down and getting inside him while he kicked and wriggled. This little doll, though - Duffy tilted his head. “Tell you what, Cartwright, you can try and fight me if you want. I won’t get you in trouble. Have at it.”
River paused for a moment, taking in whatever he saw in Duffy’s expression. And then - obviously smarter than he looked - he ran.
Duffy gave him a few steps and then fucking body-slammed him to the ground, River crumpling like a paper doll under him. He could feel the kid’s scared rabbit heart beating as Duffy laid himself over his back. Duffy was already hard and he could tell the exact moment that River felt it against his thigh because he froze up completely, brain clearly going offline with fear for a second, and then he was thrashing as hard as he could, a panicky little animal trying to get out of a trap, hopelessly. Duffy pressed himself harder against River’s back, nuzzled at his scalp, breathing him in.
“No,” Cartwright gasped, as Duffy easily started to nudge his thighs apart, “no, come on, you don’t want to do this - “
“You don’t want me to do this, little boy,” Duffy said, stroking the back of River’s neck, the soft skin at the nape right under where his hair was the shortest. The tag of his shirt was sticking out. He wrapped his hand around to lightly grip River’s skinny throat, and River snuffled like the scared kid he was. “What I want, though -” he found River’s belt buckle with his other hand and started to work on it - “that’s different.”
River squirmed as Duffy pressed his erection against him, a sad little whimper leaving his lips. The smell of him; his soft hair, the way he clearly wanted to fight but knew there was no hope was spurring Duffy on, moving to unzip River’s jeans, expose him, get inside him. He dug his elbows into River’s skinny arms, mesmerised by the fragility of this River, a boy he recognised but didn't know at all.
“This won't take long, sweetheart,” he promised, kissing his neck with faux gentleness as he reached down, teasing at River’s hole, “might be a tight fit though.” River’s broken gasps, tearful and panicked, made his cock even harder, wetter. He leaned his elbows into River’s arms harder, keeping him facedown. River might have been little, but he was struggling hard and it would be easier to keep him under control this way, at least for now. As if he’d heard the thought, River threw his head backwards and almost caught him in the nose. Duffy put a hand on the back of River’s head and shoved him down to the concrete floor, hard enough to hold him down but not hard enough to really mess up that perfect face, because maybe later he’d get to enjoy looking him right in the eyes.
He wanted to make River suck on his fingers, but knew he’d bite anything put in his mouth right now no matter what Duffy threatened him with. He spit into his hand a couple times instead, then reached back between River’s legs. “I was going to ask if you were still a virgin at this age,” he murmured, “but let’s see,” and the way River yelled in pain as Duffy first got a finger into him was so sweet that it almost made up for the years of having to listen to his stupid mouth until now.
“That’s what I thought,” Duffy said, grinning, River trying to kick out at him as Duffy sat back against his legs. “Cartwright. River. Fucking relax, you’re making this harder than it needs to be.” He was so tight that it was almost impossible to get a second finger into him, and tensing up even more in pain and fear. “I mean, harder for you. It’s going to feel good for me either way, kid, just trying to be a gentleman here.” He mouthed at River’s neck again. “You can’t win,” and fuck, did it feel good to tell him that and know it was true, stroking inside him, “shhh, there’s a good boy. Just let me have you.”
Cartwright rested his head on his arms for a moment, tense and shaking, and this was probably about as relaxed as he was going to get. Duffy had done enough to not tear him in half, maybe. He said, voice trembling, “You know, I won’t always be this easy to hold down,” because of course he still fucking had something to say, “you try this when I’m back to normal and we'll see what happens.”
Duffy smirked, mouth against River’s hair. “I would,” he said, “but I like you better like this,” and then he forced his cock up into River.
River’s whole body arced up under him, almost convulsing in pain, silent only because his breath had been knocked out of him. Duffy grabbed hard at those narrow little boy hips, imagining River tracing the bruises later, and pulled out, slowly by necessity, just enough to push back in.
Try as he might, River couldn’t keep silent forever, not as Duffy forced him open for what had to be the very first time. The fact Cartwright was trying desperately to stop himself from whimpering made Duffy’s balls tingle, huffing with effort as he felt River stretch around him unwillingly. That first little whine of displeasure was golden - Duffy could tell he would be jerking it to that sound, the feel of River’s pretty hair against his mouth and the tight hold River had on his cock for the rest of his life.
This wasn’t going to last long, with the grip River’s body had on him. There wasn’t enough lube to get any real glide going, but the squeeze was enough; River fit him like a fucking glove. Later, maybe, if there was time, he’d go again and make River like it.
Under him, River gasped out a nasty little sound that was almost a laugh. “So this is what you’re into?” He was still trying to elbow Duffy off. “Bet you’ve,” he paused for a second, “done this to someone else before, right? Does it feel good?”
Duffy loved that the kid was trying to appeal to some kind of moral code, still thinking he was a hero and everyone else should be too. He said softly, right against River’s ear, “It feels fucking incredible, Cartwright,” and that was it, enough to get him there. God, it felt good to empty himself inside River's young body, made even better from the way he could just about see River’s furious, devastated face.
“How's that feel, baby?”
River hissed like an abused alley cat, committed to giving Duffy nothing when in fact he had given Duffy everything.
One Day Later
They’d stashed all the grown-up slow horses in some sort of recovery area, and now they were being herded to what Duffy could only imagine would be the interrogation session of a lifetime. When Duffy looked in, Cartwright was looking down at his phone, probably thinking it was still Lamb at the door. He said, "Did they give you the rest of our stuff - " and then looked up and saw Duffy leaning against the doorframe, watching him.
Duffy kind of expected River to lunge at him, and he probably would have loved to, but just like with his kid self, his face told Duffy everything he needed to know; at least for those few seconds, he was frozen up in fear. “Don’t flatter yourself, Cartwright,” Duffy said, amused, looking River up and down slowly and thoroughly, “you’re nothing special now,” and he could just tell some part of River felt a little hurt.
“I told you -”
“You told me what?” Duffy mocked, “that you'd fuck me up once you're a big boy again? Come on then, champ.”
There was a cough behind them; it really was Lamb this time. A slippery fucker, Duffy didn't fancy his chances against him. He could put the old man down - surely even a brisk walk from Barbican station to Slough House would give him a heart attack - but Duffy could concede Lamb would always beat him in a mind game.
River didn’t do shit, anyway. He stared at Duffy with those same eyes, betrayed, terrified, rageful.
“Let's get out of here, Cartwright. Stinks of wet dog.” Lamb began to leave, meaning River had no choice not to follow, unless he wanted to be alone with Duffy, which clearly he did not. He followed his boss, fury obvious in his face as he sidled past Duffy, who stayed where he was so River would have to squeeze past him.
“Meant that, you know,” Duffy whispered, hand light on River’s arm, Lamb just out of earshot, “you were fuckable then. Not now. How long’s it been, huh, since you got fucked? Until me? Years, I bet.”
River looked lost for words - another vision for the wank bank. They were interrupted by another hacking cough, Lamb finally stopping ahead to look at them, eyes narrow as he stared at Duffy.
“Have a beautiful day, gents,” Duffy called out, watching Cartwright move towards Lamb slowly. He wondered if River was limping a little, carrying a memory from their encounter.
Duffy waited for River to look back, knowing he would. When he did, Duffy winked, like he and River had a little secret.