Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.
*
Chapter Sixteen
Colt is sitting up in bed staring at the ink on his arm. The skin around the ink is angry and red. Having slept in past noon again, he awoke to find a bandage on the inside of his forearm. After removing the bandage, he'd found the name 'Fiarri' tattooed on his skin in an elegant script.
What the hell?
His memories of last night are somewhat scattered. He vaguely remembers someone writing on him. He remembers Netflix and being unable to pick anything to watch. He remembers whiskey and pot and Marc's kisses.
But a tattoo?
"Hey." Marc enters the room with a tray of food. "Breakfast in bed? Sit back against the pillows."
Colt furiously shows Marc his arm.
"Sit back, baby." Marc says again.
"Marc. A tattoo?" Colt asks. "That's permanent."
"We're permanent."
Colt is so damn frustrated. He doesn't know how to argue with Marc. He doesn't know how to reason with the illogical. And Marc just stands there, looking as innocent as Marc Fiarri ever does, waiting him out.
Sighing, Colt sits back against the pillows and the headboard. Marc rests the tray across Colt's lap. On the plate is bacon, eggs and a bagel. There's a glass of orange juice as well.
Marc grabs something from his nightstand and climbs onto the bed with him. He takes Colt's arm and starts to smooth some kind of lotion over the tattoo. "You like it?"
"I got this last night?" Colt says, trying to stay calm. He woke up with a tattoo of Marc's last name prominently displayed on his forearm. He feels branded. "I don't remember... a tattoo."
"Yeah. Jacob came over and did it for you." Marc answers. "You liked it last night, Vanilla."
"I did?"
"Yeah. You kept staring at it and smiling."
Try as he might, Colt can't remember anything more than the abstract version of what happened last night. He keeps trying to put pieces together, but a lot of the night is just... missing.
"I think I was way too... everything last night."
"No such animal. Plus, I get another one of your firsts... first tattoo." Marc says, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Eat. I've gotta go get some shit done."
Colt looks down at the tray. This is the first time Marc has made any food for him. This is the first time in his life that anyone has made him breakfast, much less breakfast in bed. "You made me breakfast."
"Nevermind that it's past noon, but yeah... breakfast." Colt looks amused by him. "Just eat it and I'll see you tonight, yeah?"
"Thank you." Colt says, surprised enough by the gesture to feel himself calming down. "Yeah, I'll see you tonight."
Marc grabs his chin and turns him so that he can kiss him soundly on the lips. "Love you, Vanilla."
Colt stares after Marc and listens to the sounds of him leaving. He looks down at his arm, Marc's last name tattooed there. Did he really agree to this? Colt can't remember. He's never lost time like this before and it worries him that he has now. It worries him a lot.
His fingertips trace the elegant script and he whispers the name into the room. Now, more than ever, he feels like he belongs to Marc, like they're as permanent as the ink seeped into his skin. Maybe he did like the tattoo last night. Maybe it'll grow on him with time.
**
It takes most of the day for Colt to feel like he's kicked off the aftereffects of last night. Colt is starting to think about making dinner for Marc when there's a knock at the door. Colt answers it and finds Jacob there along with another man from that night at Amnesia.
"Hey, Colt." Jacob says. "Marco needs to come with us."
"He does? He didn't text or call me." Colt looks back into the house for his phone.
Jacob touches his arm and starts guiding him out of the house. "We don't have time. You have to come with us."
"I don't even have shoes on." Colt says, turning back to the house. "Just let me..."