A/N: Sebastian wants to be collared. He wants the world to know that Kurt owns him. He wants something permanent. He wants his Dom to be proud. And Kurt, his heart breaking a little where Sebastian is concerned, wants to give his beautiful boy what he wants. But a collar isn't entirely practical considering Sebastian goes to a private school…with uniforms. So, they come to a compromise.
Sebastian's thrilled.
Hunter finds out, and is really not amused.
(A/N: There's a lot new to this chapter. The more the story goes, the more we see Sebastian's submissive side emerge, but it's only there for Kurt. We see a pretty thorough perspective on the subject of collars and their alternatives. We see Kurt's perspective on Sebastian in general beginning to change a bit, too.)
Sebastian brings a hand up to his neck and runs a finger underneath the collar Kurt makes him wear when they go to the club. It's buckled a little tight, the rigid edge digging into his skin a bit, but Sebastian kind of likes it that way. He likes the mark it leaves, that he gets to look at later on, a red line like a choker around his neck, concealed smartly beneath the collar of his uniform dress shirt. Kurt had explained to Sebastian early on that when he wears this collar - made of thick, stiff black leather, with the letters KH embossed in gold in the center - it means hands off! He is not to be touched or played with by anyone else, though, no one at Kurt's club would ever dream of touching Sebastian without Kurt's permission. But for those dominants who are new to Kurt's particular kinky dream palace and its various understood rules, when Sebastian wears that collar, everyone knows that he belongs to Kurt.
Belongs to Kurt. Sebastian loves the sound of that, anytime he hears it. When he crawls through the club on his hands and knees to get to his Master and he hears someone hiss, "Don't touch! That one belongs to Kurt," or when they sit together at a gathering of Doms and subs, with Sebastian obediently at Kurt's feet, and Kurt pulls on the collar, saying silently to anyone nearby, "This one's mine," it makes Sebastian weak.
Excited, aroused, and sickeningly weak.
Sitting at Kurt's feet, with no reason to think, just obey; no decisions to make, letting Kurt decide everything; has become Sebastian's place of peace. He can let the stress of school bleed away, the pressure of standardized testing, AP testing, exit exam testing, testing testing, and all the other bullshit that goes hand in hand with being a high school senior, preparing for the vague and ubiquitous future. He can narrow his focus entirely to Kurt's hand in his hair, Kurt's outside thigh where Sebastian rests his temple, and the occasional tug up when Kurt wordlessly commands the use of his sub's mouth for either a kiss or a blow, and Sebastian simply gives it without question.
This is only a fraction of what ownership has come to mean to Sebastian, and the collar around his neck represents that. But this particular collar that Kurt puts on Sebastian is temporary. When Sebastian leaves Kurt's house after a weekend together, Kurt takes the collar off, and the minute it leaves Sebastian's skin, he feels bereft, empty. Sebastian has seen other couples at Kurt's club, with Dom and sub, Master and slave, Caregiver and little, wearing matching collars or rings, inscribed somewhere with their chosen titles, indicating not only that the sub in the pair is owned, but that the two belong with one another.
Sebastian's certain that Kurt will never consent to belonging to anyone, not after what happened between him and Blaine. But Sebastian doesn't need that for now. What he needs is something permanent. Something that belongs to only the two of them. He wants the world to know that he belongs to Kurt, even if it's only the world Sebastian inhabits on the weekends, the one that acknowledges that things like collars are important, that they have meaning.
It's part of Sebastian's life now. Part of who he is, and he's proud of it.
He wants Kurt to be proud of him, too.
Sebastian approaches Kurt boldly, locking eyes for a split-second before selecting which form of worship fits with the chosen conversation.
"So…when do I get a collar, Master?" Sebastian asks, rolling onto his Dom's body and placing kisses down his chest. He lowers his eyes and bows his head the way Kurt enjoys seeing his beautiful boy, which he calls Sebastian more and more over the nickname preppy when they're together in private, especially during sex.
Kurt chuckles around the end of his cigarette, causing the lit end to bounce. He plucks it from between his lips and rests it against the edge of his ashtray so as not to shower himself with ash. "What do you know about collars, preppy?"
"I know that they're a sign of ownership," Sebastian says, his tongue circling Kurt's nipple while Kurt hums contentedly beneath him. "A sign of loyalty and devotion."
"Then you also know that they're not given out lightly," Kurt says, stern, but also intrigued by Sebastian's interest. What started out as playing between them months ago has turned into something deeper; Kurt can't deny that. But a collar? That's quite a leap. For some people, it's the ultimate leap, tantamount to marriage. Kurt doesn't think Sebastian knows that entirely, or he might not have asked. But whatever it would mean to the two of them, it seems like eight dozen steps farther than Kurt ever imagined Sebastian taking this.
"I do, Master," Sebastian says. "Nor do I imagine that they should be accepted lightly, either."
"This is true," Kurt agrees, watching Sebastian reach his hip and roll his tongue over it, planting lazy deep kisses on the soft skin of his groin in between. "Hmm…and you would accept a collar from me if I gave you one, beautiful?"
"I would, Master," Sebastian says, moving his trail of kisses along Kurt's thigh to whisper against his cock, brushing his lips down its length, caressing with barely there strokes of his tongue. "I want to be yours, Master. Only yours."
"You know" – Kurt moans, bending his knees up and spreading his legs, wishing to God his sub had chosen a different time to talk about this since it was turning into a bittersweet subject for Kurt, more than he thought it would be – "you don't have to have a collar to be mine. You're mine, my one and only…until you leave."
"A-and…and after I leave, Master?" Sebastian asks quickly, taking Kurt into his mouth to cover for the way his voice wavers.
"Well, I guess that's…kinda up to you," Kurt says, not sure that he has an answer to that. Anyone else, he'd say yay or nay…mostly nay. He's never collared a sub before, not the way Sebastian wants to be collared. Kurt's never had a relationship with a sub like the one he has with Sebastian. He's never cared for someone as much, never enjoyed someone the way he enjoys Sebastian, and not just his body. He enjoys spending time with him, hanging out together, talking, laughing, fucking. It didn't take Kurt too long to realize that Sebastian leaving would carve something out of him, but he consistently forced himself to believe that it didn't mean as much to Sebastian, despite the evidence to the contrary. But Sebastian's so young. He couldn't possibly understand.
The way Kurt didn't completely understand when he went through this step with Blaine.
But Sebastian is such a different person than he and Blaine ever were. Kurt always chides Sebastian for being such a teenager, but in many ways, he's more an adult, more centered, more grounded, with more determination and sense of self than anyone Kurt's ever met.
Sebastian pulls away from his Master's cock. "I want to be yours, Master," Sebastian repeats with a hint more conviction. He doesn't know how else to say it. There doesn't seem to be any other way that's more clear than this. "It doesn't matter where I am."
"Even when you're away at college, in New York, with handsome men throwing themselves at your feet? Because it's going to happen, beautiful. I can see the future," Kurt kids, covering up a niggling bit of his own insecurity. He hates that he thinks of that sometimes - Sebastian getting to New York, being around kids similar to himself, with the same drive to succeed, the same determination to conquer the world, coming from the same privilege but more down-to-earth than those Dalton Academy fucks he's around now, and realizing what a moldy old man Kurt really is.
"Even when I'm at college missing you, Master," Sebastian says, climbing up the mattress to lay his body over Kurt's, to rest his head on Kurt's chest and talk over his heart, "I'll consider myself yours, and only yours."
Kurt swallows hard. It's a sweet thing to hear. It's exactly what he wanted to hear. Kurt knows the danger of hearing what you want to hear. He's usually much smarter, more cynical about remarks like that, quick to cut them down. But this one he lets wedge itself inside his heart and stay there, with everything else Sebastian means to him.
"Well, just so you know, it doesn't have to be an actual collar," Kurt explains, running his fingertips over the uncovered skin of Sebastian's neck above the leather, the idea growing on him too much to discourage it. "It can be something that represents you being collared - a bracelet, a chain, even a brand - which would probably be better considering I don't think Dalton would appreciate you wearing a big old leather collar at school."
Kurt chuckles, imagining Sebastian in his Dalton uniform with a thick leather and spiked collar wrapped around his neck, Kurt's initials emblazoned in the center in big, red rhinestones. Sebastian smiles. He has to admit, as he pictures his own variation in his head, it's a special look.
His brow furrows as he goes over the other options Kurt mentioned.
"A brand, Master?" Sebastian asks, looking up at his Dom with an eyebrow raised. "What's a brand?"
"It is what it sounds like, preppy," Kurt says, taking Sebastian's hand, grabbing his cigarette out of the ashtray, and putting it out in the callouses that line his palm.
Sebastian doesn't flinch. He realizes Kurt did it as a demonstration, not a punishment.
"You mean…like cattle? Do people really do that, Master?" Sebastian asks as Kurt kisses the spot he burned. Sebastian's eyes sweep over Kurt's skin, looking for a mark he might have missed. He's never seen a person with a brand before.
"Well, yeah," Kurt says, putting the crushed butt of his clove back in the ashtray, and the ashtray on the table beside his bed. "I don't have one," he comments, noticing how Sebastian's eyes continue their skim of Kurt's arms and chest. "It's mostly for committed couples. It's more permanent than a piece of jewelry. It's a mark of true devotion."
Kurt stares into Sebastian's eyes - darkening green eyes that look more resolute every second they lock with Kurt's. Kurt smiles slowly, giddy, and for a second, he has to look away.
"Get out with that shit, preppy!" he laughs, smacking Sebastian lightly on the arm. "Are you serious? Would you do that?"
"Yes, Master," Sebastian says. "I would."
Sebastian kisses Kurt hard and Kurt lets him, smiling against his sub's mouth, for once, without a single comeback he can think of.
It's the memory of that kiss that leaps to Sebastian's mind as Hunter glares at him, his fingers hovering closer than Sebastian likes to the mark on his shoulder, the intricate half-sun, half-moon, wrapped up in a double band of metal chains brand that Kurt had specially designed, specially ordered, and gifted him with that past weekend.
"This has gone too far, Sebastian!" Hunter roars, yanking back the collar of Sebastian's shirt. "What the fuck is this?"
Sebastian doesn't know how Hunter saw it. Sebastian's locker is three rows away and several down from anyone else's. He'd moved it in an effort to keep his private life to himself, and no one made it a point to switch lockers to be close to him. He didn't peg Hunter for a lurker. Sebastian's gym locker used to be next to Hunter's, but the more Kurt marks him up, the more difficult it gets to hide the bruises, and Sebastian doesn't want anyone else to see them. Not because he particular cares what they'll think, but because those marks are sacred. They're badges of ownership as far as Sebastian's concerned, and no one at school deserves to set eyes on them.
Sebastian doesn't need Nosy Nellies trying to start trouble for him.
Like Hunter.
Besides, the students and teachers wouldn't understand, and Sebastian's not interested in explaining it. Being Kurt's sub, going to his club, staying at his house – they're all Sebastian's sanctuary, and he's not about to share that.
"I said what the fuck did that freak do to you, Bas?" Hunter hisses, repeating his question a second time, pissed that he has to.
"I've already told you that what I do on my time is none of your fucking business!" Sebastian growls, wrenching the collar of his shirt out of Hunter's hand and covering the brand. "So lay the fuck off!"
"This isn't some dumb fetish anymore," Hunter says while Sebastian tries to ignore him, something he finds himself having to do a lot lately. "That's just…that's insane! I mean, what were you thinking? You just let him burn you? How much of a whipped little pussy are you?"
Sebastian figures he should say something to that, but it really doesn't matter. Hunter's opinion doesn't matter, but it would be nice if he kept it to his fucking self. Sebastian focuses on shoving the rest of his gear into his bag because if he doesn't, if one hand becomes free, he'll be slugging Hunter in his stupid, fucking, inbred, fake tan face.
Sebastian grabs his book bag and storms off, blazer open, tie undone, dress shirt still askew, definitely out of uniform, but he doesn't care. Let somebody write him up. He's almost out of there anyway.
"We're not done talking about this!" Hunter calls after him.
"Jesus Christ!" Sebastian groans. "When are you going to realize that yes, we are? I'm not talking about this with you…ever."
"You're only making this worse for yourself!" Hunter insists. "I told you before…"
Sebastian doesn't let him finish. Before he turns the corner and walks out of the locker room, he raises a hand and flips Hunter off.
Sebastian has had it with Hunter, had it with his prying. What the fuck did it matter to him what Sebastian did anyway? It's not like they were really even friends. They never were. Hunter's big on competition and appearance. He likes associating with people that he thinks will be good for his social standing. Was Sebastian ever really that? If so, he can't remember when that happened.
Hunter has a huge hard-on for the Big Brother mentality, and when he puts his mind to something as adamantly as he has put it to this, meddling in Sebastian's life, there's usually a reason. Sebastian needs to find out what that reason is before Hunter does something out of line.
Before he messes with him too much. Before he tries to mess with Kurt.
But not right now.
Right now Sebastian needs to get in his Porsche and get back to his Dom. If there's one person in the world who can straighten things out for him, make things clear in his mind again, it's Kurt.