Chapter Text
He never expected himself to be back here, on this block. The bright neon lights of the bar he spent so much of his early years at shine as bright as ever. Maybe too bright now, he thinks, but that might be his age speaking. He rubs his chin, the stubble still there. All night he had been debating whether to shave it all off, but no. No, he likes his face this way. It makes him look cooler. He laughs in himself, the youth probably wouldn’t think so.
Nearing the bar he starts to hear the familiar soft beats of music and the murmur of many people talking and for a moment he thinks about turning around. With a hand on the doorknob he takes a deep breath and pushes it open.
The huge wave of nostalgia overwhelms him when he steps in and he freezes for a moment, eyes scanning the space. A lot has changed, as he had expected, but the décor. He smiles. The leather cuffs are still there, hanging where they threw them all those years ago.
At first view, this was a normal bar. Dancing people with drinks in their hand, music that is just a bit too loud to have a normal conversation, and walls filled with rows of liquor bottles. Even the few boys in leather dancing on the bar don’t raise as much suspicion as one would think.
Kody laughs to himself. His first time here he was just as unassuming as anyone else walking into the bar expecting a nice drink and a dance with a pretty man. Pretty men he found, along with a lot of other things he wasn’t actually looking for. They were good years until he came around. Kody shudders. That’s not why he was here. He was here to have fun and-.“Kody!”
A tall woman with long grey hair makes a beeline for Kody, who is still standing there, lost in thought. Her curvy body covered in straps of leather and black dress pants, classy yet incredibly sexy. “Miss Merlot!” Kody laughs in surprise, not expecting his oldest friend to be here. “You have gotten even more beautiful since I last seen you!”.
Ms. Merlot was better known as Diana, divorce lawyer by day, dominatrix by night. Kody had met her that first day. She had taken his hand and set him down at the bar where they talked for hours. Eventually Diana taught him the ropes, quite literally. She was twenty years his senior, yet they connected better than he had with anyone.
“Kody,” she says again, softer now. “I’ve missed you.” Her hand goes through his hair, eyes running over his tired looking face, drinking in his changed appearance. “You look... well enough, I guess. Come, have a drink with me in my office.”
They walk there together, in silence. It’s been quite a few years since they’d seen each other but there’s no heaviness or awkwardness. Diana gets the door and Kody gets the glasses (thank the leather gods that those hadn’t changed hiding places). She turns on the lights by bumping into the switch with her hips, he makes sure the door is locked. It’s not that they’re up to no good, it’s just that sometimes the best conversations are held behind closed doors.
~~~
“I’m better now but it was bad. Real bad.” he admits. They’re a few drinks in, not anywhere near drunk, but relaxed. Diana had these big cognac leather chairs placed in her office years ago. They had had a lot of conversations here, from when Kody was still learning to struggles with certain “doms” that would come in thinking they owned the place. Their last conversation had been a hard one, where Kody had to share the news that his long time partner and master had decided that he no longer wanted to share any part of him.
“He stalked me for a while. Found every place I moved to, managed to sabotage jobs... did you know he got me arrested?” Kody leans back, his head resting against the cool leather. He feels exhausted even thinking about all the things *he* did. Sipping her whisky, Diana just nods. The story had been published by several newspapers due to the status of Kody’s ex-partner. A small town politician working to make it into the big leagues. He probably would have made it if he wasn’t a fucking idiot that knew when to stop. He was arrested, finally, last spring. Kody had done a good job documenting the abuse. At first the pictures had been because the bruises looked nice and he wanted to remember them (or that’s what he kept telling himself), but later on he realized he needed this proof if he ever wanted to escape. Seven years was a long time to be alienated from your family and friends.
Kody smiles sadly at his friend. She had been patiently listening, nodding along but she had been right from the start. Kody is sure she’s just waiting for the opportunity to say “I told you so” but she never does. That’s what friends do, even after nine years. “I’m sorry for not listening. I know you probably just want to laugh at just how right you were.”
She had been right. A few months before Kody and Ronan had started dating she had eyed the man up and down and said “He looks like one of those wannabe politicians with control issues. He’s going to end up in a lawsuit before he can even make it.”. A dominatrix had to be a good judge of character after all. Kody just wishes she had been wrong this one time.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Kody. You know I’m always happy to be right,” a wink shows him she’s kidding, “but I’m more thankful that you’re safe and back in one piece. I’ve missed my friend.”
Diana stands up and holds out her arm. “Now, please allow me to give you a tour of the place. I’ve made a lot of improvements over the past decade.”
The two of them walk around the bar, Diana pointing out the improvements and changes that had been made over the years. It’s clear just how much work she has put in making the bar a better and safer (and more fun) place. The former private dance floor had been turned into an event room, with small podiums for demonstrations or public scenes. The playrooms now look more luxurious and are filled with much better equipment.
~~~
Kody smirks, testing the very new leather cuffs. When he came here tonight, he had absolutely no intention of getting physical with anything more than a rum and coke or a glass of whisky but here he was.
When Diana and Kody walked back into the bar area, Kody had spotted a ridiculously tall and broad shouldered man entering the establishment. Wearing a black button up and charcoal grey slacks, sleeves rolled up to show off his tattooed forearms. The man caught Kody staring and had given him a small wink before taking place in a booth.
After the tour and another round of drinks at the bar, Kody had decided he would just introduce himself. Maybe make a new friend. He had kissed Diana on the cheek bidding her farewell before making his way to the handsome stranger’s booth, old fashioned in hand.
~~~
If Kody had known that friendly conversation would lead to this, he’d have done it way sooner. A small moan escapes him when the cane lands just beneath his left buttock again. Hard enough to sting but not enough to do damage, his tall stranger knows what he’s doing. A dark chuckle sounds from behind him. “I thought I told you to be silent, pet. You wouldn’t want to disobey me now, would you?”
Kody shakes his head, eyes wide. He wants to protest but talking would result in punishment. Not that he would particularly mind that... Just maybe not on his first day back into the scene.
Balancing on his toes Kody is currently standing in the middle of the playroom, wrists safely secured to the leather cuffs hanging from the ceiling. His clothes are neatly folded on a chair next to the door, just like the other man’s dress shirt. His pants are still on, though undone due to a somewhat rushed blowjob. Dominique, his name is. It suits him. Sweet, stern, and charming. A little too charming, seeing Kody’s unexpected predicament.
Dominique circles Kody, eyeing him like a lion looks at his prey. The way his muscles are straining to keep as still as possible, the way he bites his lip, the way his skin reacts to the cane... Dom growls, dropping the cane and pushing his body flush against the smaller man. Fingers dig into Kody’s bruised skin, the fabric of Dom’s pants rough against his ass. “What a good boy you are, you’re doing so well, sweetheart. Are you okay to keep going?”
Kody nods feverishly, squeezing his eyes closed, trying to hide the reaction to the other man’s praise. It had been years since he had heard those words. He wants to hear more of them, he needs to hear more. None of this goes unnoticed by Dom, who’s keeping a watchful eye on him. “I need you to use your words, sweet boy. What do you need?”
“I- more? Please? I can’t, I don’t know. I...” Kody starts to get lost. For a moment he’s back in the basement, chained up for days, covered in bruises. Sadistic touches. Pain. Hours of begging only to be left there hanging on the wall. Alone.
Panic starts to take over Kody’s body as his closed eyes won’t open and breathing starts to get hard. Suddenly the security of the leather cuffs is gone and they’re cold and painful and the delicious bruising of the cane is now the aftermath of a beating. “Beans,” he whimpers. “Beans, beans bea-”
Dominique has the other man down and out of the cuffs within seconds. The naked man is quietly sobbing, curled up as small as he can be. Heart-breaking, Dominique thinks to himself as he gathers Kody up in his arms and takes him to the bed. There he covers him up with one of the warm blankets provided and they sit there. The big dominant shushing and rubbing the smaller man’s back. Telling him he’s safe. Everything will be okay, he promises.
~~~
They spend half an hour like that, while Kody slowly comes back to reality. He’s absolutely embarrassed, even though they had discussed the possibility of this happening beforehand. Talking about possible triggers outside of their preferences and limits was something that he learnt early on but he never understood just how important it is. “I’m so sorry,” he mumbles while he hides his face in Dominique’s chest. Dominique’s big – no, huge – hand stops rubbing his back and takes a hold of his hair as he pulls Kody’s head up away from its hiding place. The big man looks at him, face concerned but hard. “There is absolutely no reason for you to apologize. You used your safeword like a good boy and we stopped what we were doing immediately.”
A kiss is placed on his cheek, then his jaw, and then his neck. Kody shudders in want but that feeling is immediately replaced by shame. He doesn’t deserve to feel lust, not after having just disappointed his mast- dom. “I just feel like I’ve ruined your night...”
“You’ve not ruined anything, Kody, I promise. And if you’re okay with doing some more, then I’d like that too. But no pressure, sweetheart. We go at your pace.”
It takes a bit longer for Kody to completely calm down and lean more into Dominique’s touch. By then the realization sets in that he is still very, very naked and he can still feel his dom’s semi hard penis pressing against his butt. With a shy glance back he carefully starts to move and create friction, hoping the other man will pick up on it. Dom nibbles on Kody’s neck and smiles as a small moan escapes the smaller man. “Seems like your dick is ready to go. Is that all it takes, a few nibbles from a shirtless guy with some muscles?”
Kody’s mind blanks for a minute he lets out a shuddering breath. “Yes please I'm sorry please please... fuck me?”