The soft click of the handcuffs signalled the beginning of Steven's vacation, and the hollow clang reverberating through the exposed pipes suggested that he wasn't particularly pleased with his travel agent. I tried to remain composed as I stood by the bathroom door, outside the laundry cubby, listening to my husband's wordless protestations as he tested the integrity of his metallic restraints. It was all entirely predictable. What exactly had he been expecting anyway, Cancun? The clamour became unbearably loud and some faint whimpering joined in the escalating chorus.
"That's enough of that," David commanded, his tone severe. Then it was quiet again, except for the faint sound of unsteady nasal breathing. Cupping my hands to my mouth in disbelief, I just pictured what exactly this scene looked like. I hadn't the heart to watch it directly, much less explain to Steven ahead of time the excruciating fate that was about to befall him. I knew it was going to be much harder for him, hearing it from the man he hated most in the world - but in the end it might be for the best. Like ripping off a bandaid.
David began to patiently explain Steven's itinerary for the next two weeks, and why it was important for him to understand why all of this was happening. Presumably he'd already pieced a lot of it together over the last few days, after his PTO request at work had been submitted and approved. But if he'd known the full extent of it, we'd never have gotten him chained up like this. All week he'd been pestering us for details. And all week we'd insisted it had to remain a surprise. His uneasiness had been rubbing off on me, to be honest. This was all David's idea, I had insisted to myself. Surely I can't be held responsible if it backfires? But upon seeing the stricken look on my husband's face as he carried the single mattress from his spare bedroom into the cubby, gears turning in his head, I remembered I had a crucial role to play in all this, to ensure it didn't end in tears.
"So you just hang tight here and I'll get those... Um...
Items
," David finished as he appeared from around the corner, snapping me out of my reverie. He looked nervous, and embarrassed. I hadn't seen him like that in a while, not since we first met. This whole plan was really going to test the mental resolve of all three of us. I embraced him.
"Told you you wouldn't be able to handle it," I whispered into his ear, teasing him. He flashed a mischievous smile and chuckled slightly.
"Just make sure he doesn't have a meltdown..." And he marched off to gather some things. Now it was my turn. I took a few deep breaths, mentally preparing myself for a very difficult one-way conversation with the other man I loved. I took the plunge and wheeled round the corner.
There he was. My husband, laying on a tiny cheap mattress, with his ankle handcuffed to some pipes attached to the laundry units. His legs were bowed slightly, since he was too tall to fit in here comfortably. His pastel-blue onesie had been unbuttoned, exposing his plastic chastity cage. Steven had successfully slipped the mittens on him and attached them to his collar, so at this point he was utterly helpless, and quiet too, with that perforated ball gag in place. There were tears in his eyes. I knelt down and placed a hand on his cheek.
"Don't worry baby, we're really going to look after you, ok? You don't need to worry about any-" I stopped. He was safewording. Well, safe-
sounding
. Three moans each in ascending pitch, that was the signal that we needed to stop. Further to that, he was staring me straight in the eyes, something he hadn't had the courage to do recently. And he was shivering all over. I'd anticipated this, I knew how to defuse this, how to avert a catastrophe. I quickly cupped his balls. He jolted. He hadn't received a tender touch to that region in some time.
"Hush, baby, shush shush shush ok?" He was quietly squirming now, as I gently kneaded him in my palm. "I hear you, ok? I hear you want to stop and if you safeword one more time we'll definitely stop, ok?" I looked down and saw his dick was poking through the little pee slot of his cage. I stretched a thumb over and gently brushed his foreskin. He squealed through his gag. "Theeere we go... You don't want to stop, do you? You know you need this. We talked about this," I spoke into his twitching eyes as I teased his throbbing member, "If we're all gonna stay together, you just need a little attitude adjustment..." We were both panting by now, totally caught up in the moment.
"Hope I'm not interrupting!" I jumped and spun around to see David standing there with the diaper gear. The final piece of the puzzle. Hurriedly, I turned back to hubby and started planting kisses on his forehead, distracting him from the unfolding nightmare. I grabbed his face with both hands and ensured that my face filled his entire field of view, because there was no need for him to see this happening, no need for pointless cruelty. I was praying he didn't safeword again, I honestly didn't know if I could have freed him anyway. The sickly exhilaration was overwhelming.
"Okay... Here goes," David said with trepidation, as he knelt down beside me and began his dark designs. Steven was staring at me and breathing heavily. We just needed to get through the next few minutes. I kept him occupied with hushed declarations of love and meaningless platitudes, anything to assuage his doubts. He instantly complied when David gruffly ordered him to raise his pelvis, and a little tear rolled down his cheek. I wiped it away and told him to be a big boy.
His work complete, David tapped me on the shoulder and we both rose to our feet. I was only able to look at my husband for a brief second before turning my attention to the ceiling in embarrassment. He hadn't met my gaze, he was just glassily staring into space. My boyfriend pulled me close and then slowly shut the door to the laundry cubby. We stood there in silence for a while and then retired to the living room.
David mercifully switched the TV on to generate some background noise and the two of us didn't exchange a word for the next half-hour. I twiddled my thumbs and quietly wondered if I was the worst person in the world. It was just the image of an innocent man, defenceless and vulnerable, restrained and disgraced in his own home, that was getting to me, burnt onto my retina, driving me up the wall. Eventually David broke the ice.
"You know, I think he's starting to warm to me."
I burst out laughing and he joined in. Then I stopped myself and groaned, remembering how easily sound travels in this apartment. David draped an arm around my shoulder.
"Don't think about it," he reassured me.
