Quid Pro Quo: There Will Be Blood Fic
Author: Bitterfig
Fandom: There Will Be Blood
Title: Quid Pro Quo
Pairing: Daniel Plainview/Eli Sunday
Summary: Daniel and Eli spend a pleasant morning exploiting each other’s weakness.
Beta-Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 2625
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Sexual content including highly dubious consent. Violence, delirium tremors, impotency, halitosis, mutual manipulation, inappropriate religious imagery and general nastiness.
Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator.


 

Quid Pro Quo

 

At first, the shaking didn’t start till he’d woken up but after a while it got to be so the shaking was what woke him up.  A trembling in his body that wouldn’t stop until he’d gulped down enough liquor to make his body obey him.  Then he could get up, make coffee, put his boots on and go out into the field.  He’d take a drink every few hours, just enough to hold the tremors at bay.  In a week he’d be back to himself until the next bender. 

That morning when the shakes woke him up he reached for the bottle he kept beside him. 

It wasn’t where he had left it.  

It was in the hands of Eli Sunday who stood over him smiling beatifically. 

“O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; Thy kingdom is departed from thee.  And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”

“Don’t quote to me from the book of Daniel, you ass,” Plainview snarled. 

“That’s hardly an appropriate way to address your Pastor, Daniel.  I’d hate to think that your baptism was just a show you put on to get what you wanted.”

“Why does anyone do anything, except to get what they want?”

“You’re a proud and scornful man, Daniel Plainview.  Look where your pride has gotten you.  You’ve built yourself an empire but here you are – lying in squalor, reeking of foulest sin.” 

Glaring, Plainview swung his legs over the edge of the bed and managed to sit up.  He made a grab for the bottle but Eli evaded him easily.

“You want something, or you wouldn’t be here.”  Plainview snarled.  “What do you want?”

“I only want what’s best for you Daniel, for you and for your boy.  Where is he right now?  Do you have any idea?”

“How should I know?  H.W. is a young man, thirteen years old.  He comes and goes as he pleases.  If it’s daylight he’s out in the fields, working on the rigs, probably with your sister trailing along behind him.”

“Do you know where your son slept last night?”

Daniel had no memory of the night before or much of the past few days.  It happened like this sometimes.  A few days blur then being woken up by the shaking.  It didn’t happen often, no more than a few times a year, every couple of months, every few weeks. 

It was none of Eli Sunday’s concern. 

He looked to his son’s cot.  It was stripped bare, a neglected air about it.  Wherever H.W. Plainview had slept the night before, it had not been under his father’s roof.

“Well?”  Eli prodded.  “Can you tell me?”

“No I can’t.  I assume you’ve come here to tell me.” 

“Your son has been sleeping in the shed behind my parents’ house.  Mary’s made him a bed there.”

“Why would he do that?”  Plainview asked, shaking his head.  “Why would he go to you people when he has a place here?”    

“He’s afraid of you, Daniel.”  Eli said in a calm, condescending tone that made Daniel want to crack his head open.  “Your son is afraid of you.”

“No.  You don’t know that.”

“You’re a drunkard and a bully, Daniel.  You rail at him for his affliction; you won’t learn how to communicate with him.  He’s told Mary that you get confused, that you scream and cry and hold him so tight he can’t breathe…”

“The girl told you that?  She’s a liar.”

“My sister doesn’t tell tales.”

“Why wouldn’t she?  She’s seen all that it’s brought you, lying and making believe.”

“Don’t try to distract me by attacking my faith.  I won’t have this conversation with you now, Daniel.  We need to talk about your son.  He can’t stay with you, not as you are.  You’re going to hurt him.”

By a great effort of will, Plainview rose shakily to his feet.  Eli’s composure fell away the moment the other man was towering over him and he drew back, eyes wide with alarm.

“I would never hurt H.W.  I have never laid a hand on that boy, never beaten him and I never will.  Can your fool of a father say that about his brats?”

“Look at yourself, Daniel.  You have fallen.  You are under the Devil’s power.  Do you really think you’re fit to raise that boy?  Several of my parishioners would be more than willing to take him in….” 

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?  You’d love to take H.W. into your fold and poison him against me….”

“You have poisoned your own well.”

“You have no claim to H.W. I’m his father.”

“It’s interesting you say that, Daniel.  I recently made some inquiries on H.W.’s behalf and I wasn’t able to find any sort of record of you having ever had a wife or a child.  It must be just some sort of an oversight.  I’m sure you have some proof of paternity, a copy of the boy’s birth certificate…”

“You son of a bitch.  Don’t you threaten me, you little viper.  Don’t ever threaten me with my son.  You made me say I abandoned that boy.  Now you’re saying I’m not fit to keep him with me?  How dare you.  I let you have your moment of triumph.  I got down on my knees to your damned God.  Wasn’t that enough for you?”

“My concern is with H.W.’s wellbeing and with your immortal soul.  This is not about your pride, Daniel, or mine.”

“This has never been about anything else…” 

Abruptly, the cabin was rocked by the roar of an explosion.

“What’s that?”  Plainview yelled. 

“It’s only the crags being blasted to make way for your precious pipeline….” Eli began but Plainview, who had been weak with tremors, seemed to return to full strength.  He sprang into motion, throwing himself on Eli sending them both sprawling on the floor. 

Eli’s first reaction was pure terror and he screamed and struggled to get away but Plainview held him fast, covering Eli’s body with his own, hands clamped over Eli’s ears. 

“What are you doing, Daniel,” Eli whined.  “Get off of me.” 

Plainview wasn’t listening.  His eyes were glazed and distant.  Still holding Eli immobile, Plainview frantically stroked his hair.   

“I’ll protect you, H.W.  Nothing is going to hurt you.  I won’t let anything hurt you,” Plainview whispered feverishly, his addled brain mistaking past for present.  Realizing this, Eli stopped fighting.  He surrendered to Plainview’s crushing embrace, closing his eyes.

For long minutes they lay there on the cabin floor, Plainview’s mutterings the only sound, finally fading away as Plainview realized that something was wrong.  The person he held so ferociously wasn’t who he had thought, wasn’t his child.

“You’re not my boy,” Plainview said, tightening his grip threateningly.  Eli took a strangled breath. 

Eli still had the bottle of whiskey clutched to his chest.  Plainview pried it out of his hands and drank deeply.  He gave the alcohol a moment to sink in and steady him then without getting off Eli he pushed the boy onto his back, pinning his hands to the floor.

“You’re not my boy,” he repeated.  “Why did you let me do this?  Why aren’t you wiggling and squealing like a piglet?  Compassion?  I don’t think you have an ounce of it in you.  Do you like this?  You do, you’re not even trying to deny it.  You like being under a man this way.  Do you want to be my little boy, Eli?  Is this what old Abel used to do after he beat you senseless?”  His voice became high, mocking as he roughly petted Eli.  “I don’t like to hurt you but you forced my hand, son.  Spare the rod and spoil the child.  You be good from now on, be my good boy.  My good little boy.”

He grabbed Eli’s cheeks viciously, squeezing them together.

“You should see your face.  You’ve gone as flushed and dopey as a lovesick schoolgirl.  You’re practically swooning.  You do like this.”  He forced his thigh between Eli’s legs.  Eli whimpered as it met with the hard swell of his erection.  “You like it very much.  Is this why you've been nipping at my heels all this time?  I thought it was just you didn't have any sense."

"It isn't like that.  I came here for your sake, yours and H.W.'s.  I do God's work..."

"If God sent you on a holy mission to blackmail me, he picked the wrong messenger.  You and I both sell our lies and have nothing but contempt for the fools who buy them.  We’re cut from the same cloth but you’ll never beat me because you believe the pious fairy tales you spin for the idiots.  You believe your own lies.  You can’t admit what you are so you'll never be as strong as I am."    

Plainview trailed his oil-blackened hand over Eli's face, tracing the boy's lips.  They parted at the pressure; almost against his will Eli opened his mouth to Plainview's fingers.  Plainview roughly jerked his leg, still wedged against Eli's crotch.  Eli let out a groan somewhere between pleasure and pain. 

“Let me go, Daniel.  Let me go and we'll forget everything that's passed between us today."

"You threatened to take my son from me.”   

"Don’t do anything rash, Daniel.”

Plainview smiled horribly and Eli’s eyes widened in panic.

“No need to piss yourself, boy, I’m not going to hurt you.  I’m not going to do anything to you that you don’t want – provided we can come to an agreement regarding my boy.”  He ran his fingernails down Eli’s neck, tore open the collar of his shirt.  Eli shivered at the touch, scared to death by his own desires to say nothing of Plainview’s menace.  Scared to death but terribly, overpoweringly excited. 

His breath came in panting gasps as Plainview’s mauling hands worked their way over his chest, narrow and hairless like a little boy’s.  His own skin felt too soft, too tender against the roughness of Plainview’s calloused fingers.  His ribs heaved frantically as he twisted under Plainview’s weight, not sure if he wanted more or if he wanted to get away. 

Then Plainview slammed his mouth against Eli’s.  The taste of alcohol and rot was enough to make Eli gag but Plainview didn’t let him up.  He forced his tongue down the boy’s throat in crude thrusts as his hands mauled Eli’s spindly chest.  Eli’s ribs heaved frantically under the oil man’s calloused palms but his own hands tightened around Plainview’s shoulders and he rubbed himself against the leg still pressed hard between his own.

“Tell me what I want to hear, Eli,” Plainview hissed as he unfastened Eli’s pants, pushed them down.       

“Daniel… ”

Plainview groped him jarringly, setting off gasps with each jerk. 

“I have you, you know I have you.  Tell me what I want to hear and I‘ll give you what you want.  Admit that H.W. is my property.  Give me your word that you’ll leave him to me.”  His wet fingers began circling Eli’s asshole, coaxing their way inside.

“What are you doing?  Don’t do that…”  Eli began but his protests dissolved into wordless moans as Plainview’s fingers opened him up, moved inside him.  His whole body convulsed and he clung desperately to Plainview. 

“Tell me what I want to hear.” 

“Please…”

“Tell me what I want to hear.”

“H.W. is your property,” Eli managed to gasp.  “H.W. is your property and I leave him to you.”

“Give me your word.”

“I swear.  I swear on the holy Bible.  I leave him to you.”

“Good boy.  You’re a good boy, Eli.  My good boy.”  Plainview nuzzled heavily against him, one hand relentlessly stroking Eli’s cock as the other thrust inside him.  “You’re a good little sunbeam.  Jesus wants you for a sunbeam, Eli, to shine, shine shine.”

Eli didn’t answer except to quiver and buck at Plainview’s touch.  The careful control he maintained, even when supposedly possessed of the Holy Spirit, had dissolved.  Lips parted, eyes screwed shut he had surrendered, given himself over to his own ecstatic hell. 

Plainview almost envied Eli his abandon.  He himself was unmoved.  It had been a very long time since sexual contact had aroused anything in him other than revulsion.  Angrily he jerked and thrust till Eli shuddered and came in his hand.  He wiped the semen-wet palm over Eli’s face, grinding it against his mouth.  Eli caught the heel of the hand between his teeth.  Plainview pushed him away and staggered to his feet. 

Looking down at Eli still sprawled on the floor, clothes undone, gasping for breath, Plainview felt a rush of triumph that made his head reel. 

 "I'd advise you to get one of the idiots in your flock to service you on a regular basis," he said with scornful jovialness.  "Then you won’t be quite so eager to turn over your advantages to anyone willing to lay a hand on you.  Now get out of here and stay away from me.”

“You can’t make me disappear by humiliating me.  I won’t be dismissed, Daniel.”

“I dismissed you the day I laid eyes on you.  Why don’t you stay away from Little Boston entirely?  What do you care about the goats and quails and your sister’s friends?  You’ve moved on to greater things so why not shake the dust off your shoes?  After all, you don’t want folks finding out what you are.” 

“What I am?  What about you?  You did this to me.”  Eli whined as he got to his feet, pulling on his clothes.

“There are very few people remaining who have any doubts about what I am,” Plainview said.  “I put on my show; told my lies, got the land I wanted.  I don’t have to pretend any more.  I don’t have to hide the fact that I loathe them all.” 

“Not all of them, Daniel,” Eli said quietly.  “Not your son.”

“You swore, you swore on the Bible…”

“You think you’ve won, Daniel but you haven’t.”  Eli said with a smug serenity.  “We’re even, you and I.  You’ve seen me in my weakness but I’ve seen yours.  Will you uproot the only love you have ever known because it makes you frail?  Will you harden your heart against your son?  What will you be then?”

It was the truth and it was the last thing Plainview could take from Eli Sunday. 

Blinding anger came over him.  He grabbed Eli by the throat wanting to crush the life out of him, smash his face in, break him into pieces, and tear him apart.  He was sick with this want. 

Sick, but he couldn’t.  He still had H.W. to think of.  Much as he despised it he was still a human being. 

Somehow he managed to let go of the fragile neck he longed to snap.  He shoved Eli aside and made it out the door before he vomited. 

“Only God can take away your rage, Daniel.  Only God can bring you peace.”  Eli said, brushing by him.

“Your piety is even more disgusting than your wantonness,” Plainview choked. 

“I admit that I have strayed from the path of righteousness but of what I have done or allowed to be done to me I am the agent of the Lord.  I will not be dismissed."

"Then you'd better pray the Lord protects you because if you don't leave me alone I won't be responsible for what I do to you."