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Stephen and Tony sit together on the bed, a pair of stone bracelets—one a warm amber color, the other a cool green—resting on the bedspread between them. The amber bracelet gives the mind of the wearer entirely into the control of whoever bears the green bracelet.
Tony had been horrified that such a relic existed, and Stephen had had to explain, awkwardly, that they hadn’t been made for punishment or imprisonment, but as a sex toy. Of course, then curiosity had taken over, and the bracelets soon featured regularly in their bedroom, but always, always with Stephen wearing the amber.
Tonight, Tony picks up the amber bracelet, turning it over and over in his hands.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Stephen asks.
Maybe the question ought to be annoying, after two weeks negotiating every detail of this scene, but Tony just feels reassured. “Yeah,” he says. “I do. You are so beautiful when we’re using these.” He doesn’t mean visually, but the mental/emotional connection is impossible to describe. “I want to know what it’s like from the other side.”
“Okay.” Stephen puts on the green bracelet. They’re well protected, here in the Sanctum, but they agreed right from the beginning that the controller should be set before the other ever puts themself under the influence. “Whenever you’re ready. Nothing will happen that we haven’t already discussed.”
Tony nods, takes a long, steadying breath, and slips the amber bracelet onto his wrist.
Immediately, he can feel Stephen’s mind cradling his own. It’s infinitely gentle, nothing like the way he’s been seized in the past, and somehow warm. Tender. Relax, that touch says, I’ll take care of everything. Under Stephen’s control, the hectic pace of Tony’s thoughts calms for the first time he can remember.
And it’s good.