Part 4 – Collar
Marco had excused himself to the bathroom, like he always did at that time. It had become part of him now, something that he did based on instinct. Walking over to the wall and placing his feet shoulder-width apart was all automatic now. Marco let his face rest on the cool tile, a smile coming across his face as Jay entered.
Jay looked at the boy in front of him, even at this distance he could see the bruise on Marco's neck; any other person would have missed it, but the taste of Marco's skin was still on his tongue and that made obvious to Jay. Today was different, he wasn't going to bang Marco threw the wall today, instead he tossed down a dark object, gesturing the smaller boy to get it.
Marco pealed himself off the wall to squat down next to the now recognizable object – a collar. As Marco reached for it, Jay threw a piece paper at him, and stalked out the bathroom. He looked up from the band of leather, confused, just as the door snapped shut. His gaze went to the crumpled piece of paper. After unfolding it, he found it had a date, a time, and directions to, well, somewhere, followed by very tiny letters say "wear it."
Marco bit his lip, a grin plastered on his face. Jay wanted to show him off, apparently, and Marco was okay with that. He looked back over at the "it," looking at it in more detail. To him it was beautiful, a simple piece of black leathered with rings hanging from it. The silver rings sparkled against the black, and the smell of leather was wonderful to him. Not once did he find it wrong that he had been told to wear it, by the closeted gay Jay of all people, but he just accepted it as it was.
He stuffed the note in his back pocket, and then looked down at the collar. Jay had ordered him to wear it, but did that mean now, at school? He slipped it around his, testing out how noticeable it would be, and partly just to see how it felt. The collar was heavy and thick around his neck, but it was also something he knew he'd have to get used to. It gave him a slight hint of comfort; he now knew even after the bruises faded, he would always have this as a symbol. It hid some of the bruises on his neck, which was bittersweet in its own way, but he was okay with that. It was worth the sacrifice.
Marco heard the door open and spun around to see Jimmy. "Is Ellie wearing off on you or something?"
He was a little confused, but then realized – the collar. Of course people would ask why he was wearing a collar. He quickly slipped it off, stuffing it in his pocket as best he could. He made a light laugh before attempting to come up with a valid explanation, "Um, no, it's just a joke, ya know?"
Jimmy just raised an eyebrow, "Not really, but whatever, man."
"Yeah, it's kind of an inside joke, I have no idea why I thought you would get it, um, later, man." That answered that question – no collar at school.