Sex in C Major

They didn't go into the exchange itself, but a little piercing studio just around the corner. It was dark and dingy, brightened only by the shimmering displays of jewellery.

The shop assistant nodded to Daz like they were old friends.

"Just go up. Stu's on his lunch break."

'Up' was up a flight of narrow stairs and onto a tiny landing. There were three rooms, and Stefan was shooed into one of them. It was almost bare the window was tiny, with bars like a prison cell, and a long chair not unlike a tattooist's dominated the room, covered in a wide roll of paper.

"Are you making me get a piercing?"

"Yes," Daz said, closing the door behind him.

A knot of fear formed in Stefan's gut.

"No."

"What?"

"No. Please."

"Either you safeword, or you shut up. Pick one."

"If it'll complicate things if I ever get surgery," Stefan begged. "Please, I don't want to throw that away."

"Why the hell would it complicate your surgery?"

"They they use that, to form the base of the shaft-"

Daz laughed. "Stefan. You're getting your ear pierced. Not your cock. Jesus."

The rush of relief was intense. The rush of embarrassment was more so.

"...Oh."

"Nutter."

Stefan felt heat flooding his face.

"Um."

"You'll see. I know the guy here. Got something made for you. Hop up on the table."

Stefan toed off his shoes, and slid up onto the paper-covered leather. He fidgeted, unsure. He'd never had a piercing before, or a tattoo. Would Daz want him to be tattooed one day as well? He couldn't imagine it would hurt more than some of their games—or the punishment-but there was still a nervousness that Stefan couldn't shake.

"What if I don't like it?" he asked.

"Tough."

"What if what if it makes my dysphoria worse?"

Daz's face eased slightly.

"It won't."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me. It's not an earring. And if it does, we take it out, and your ear heals over."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Stefan relaxed a little as he heard boots coming up the stairs, and slipped his fingers into Daz's when the door opened and a tall man with a red beard and an array of tattoos wandered in, carrying a tray. He grunted at Daz; Daz grunted back. Then the top of Stefan's ear was being scrubbed. A spraying sound and an intense feeling of cold pinched it tight, then-

"Fuck!"

The pain was sharp and intense. He felt the drag of metal through the shell of his ear. Felt it pull the torn flesh, like the first cock he'd felt inside his arse. The second puncture was unexpected, and somehow worse, like the loss of his virginity all over again, and then hot hands were moving it, tweaking it, pulling—

Gone.

Stefan breathed shakily, and opened his eyes.

"Is it finished?"

"Yep," Daz said. "Industrial piercing."

The piercer held out a mirror from the tray, and Stefan gingerly took it. His left ear throbbed, and he turned his head to look-and stopped.

A silver bar had been punched through the shell of his ear. Two gleaming balls held it locked into place, one at the top of his ear and the other down the side. The angle was sharp. And when Stefan carefully took the lobe and pulled his ear forward to see the balls, a tiny Y was etched onto the lower one. A D on the top one.

Daz. And Yannis.

Tiny.

Almost invisible.

Almost.

"Like it?"

Something seized tight around Stefan's chest. He could hardly breathe, and stared with shimmering eyes at the tiny letters.

Theirs.

God, he was theirs.

"Yes," Stefan breathed.

"Leave it in six months," the piercer said, taking the mirror back. "Chris on the desk will give you a care leaflet." His gaze slid to Daz. "Are you paying, or is he?"

Stefan shivered.

He.

He glanced at Daz, and found his master staring right back.

Stefan's throat went dry.

"That depends. Stefan? You want to bend over for Stu now, or me later?"

Stefan's cock swelled. The throbbing of his abused ear was suddenly overwhelmed by the pulse in his jeans. Are you paying, or is he.

He.

"Both," he whispered. "Sir."

Stu reached out and turned over the lock on the closed door.

Clunk. 46

"What the hell is that?"

Stefan looked up from his breakfast in confusion.

Daz just barked a laugh.

"I got his ear pierced. Look, it has our initials on it."

Stefan stiffened as the ear was pulled. It had bled over the sheets in the night, and was very tender-but comfortingly so. Like his thigh cuff, it felt like a reminder of his place in the-their-world.