Chapter Text
There is tension as he slips through the cracks of understanding. Not that the cracks are big, by any means, but still: he slips through them, digging his hands through the gravel and prying the walls apart til they crumble around him. To peer through the holes of the theory presented to him.
All metaphorical, of course.
Because quite literally, his hands are tied, and his tongue cries crosses over the gag lodged into the very back of his mouth, nearing his throat. The edge of the table cuts into his belly deep, and with each breath he takes, it is a sore reminder that he’s there.
Wherever there is.
Felix twists his hands around in the cuffs, skillfully padded with a tight seam, excellent craftsmanship keeping him lodged onto the horse. He can wiggle his toes and toss his feet left and right, shimmy his hips a bit, tug on his cuffs—but that’s about it, other than keeping his head raised. But even then, he finds comfort sinking his head into the leather headrest, resting his chin down and biting down on the leather gag each time he’s struck.
Felix isn’t sure why, he just knows he’s there.
A hand kneads his ass, startling him out of his desperate dehydrated thoughts, daydreams that dilly dally in the air around him. The rough palm drags him right back, sliding its way down the arch of his back towards his tender thighs.
“You’re all pretty and pink down here.”
The man’s voice brings no surprise to him whatsoever; he’s been speaking for a while now. Hours? Could it be hours that he’s been stuck here? Or simply days? It’s probably only been a few since he woke up, after all.
“Maybe, I can paint you something red. Would you like that, Jinnie?”
Felix doesn’t know who Hyunjin is: and neither does this man, for he’s convinced Felix is Hyunjin, someone he’s never met, convinced that Felix knows exactly what this is for and why he’s earned it. Only he doesn’t, and he’s terrified of the man that lashes a leather strap down onto the table below, right between where his legs are spread. An intimidation tactic that makes Felix gurgle out a tiny response.
“Shhh,” the man grabs his ass now, spreading him wide as he struggles, wiggling his hips to get away. He lands a hard smack on his ripening flesh, disapproval in his voice. “Cmon, Jinnie. All you have to do is tell me where you hid it. That’s not so hard, is it?”
Felix has no idea what it is or where it could be, but nothing he’s said has helped his case and the man refuses to believe the truth, not as he pleads and cries until his throat is raw and his voice horse.
This time, the next lash lands on Felix’s ass and he yelps, bucking his hips against the table. It burns like nothing he’s ever felt before. And sure, he’s never been spanked before but something tells him this is highly different than anything he could’ve gotten from a one night stand, or even a dedicated partner. No, this isn’t a spanking, but a beating . The leather of the strap bites into his skin and tears away any composure he might have, gnawing on the redness of his flesh. It’s like the flame eats away at the welts and Felix can't help but press his face down against the headrest and breathes out shakily, tears welling up in his eyes. He feels the gag unfastening over his head and tugging it out makes him gag violently, but there’s nothing in his stomach to even spit up.
“There we go,” the man combs his fingers through Felix’s hair. “How about it, now? Huh?”
Felix pants. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about–please, please , I don’t know what you’re talking ab”--
“You’re a pretty good actor,” the man compliments him, “but c’mon. All you have to do is say three little words, tell me where it is. It’s located . . . ? Where?”
The man grabs his face, fingers smushing his cheeks together like a chipmunk, and Felix drools all over his chin, the spit dripping down onto the man’s fingers. But he doesn’t move. Instead, he stays put, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry , I don’t know .”
The man grips him tighter and Felix squirms, trying to pry his jaw out of the grip. It hurts, like this, but he can’t pull his upper half up because he’s cuffed.
“C’mon, pretty.” The man whispers into his ear and Felix sobs, terrified, his hands shaking as his stomach rolls around like marbles inside of him.
“I’m not Hyunjin–I don’t, I don’t know ”--
The man lets go of his face, pressing his head back down into the headrest. “Okay then. Have it your way.”
“I’m not !” Felix screams, tears flowing freely down his face as the man goes back over to grab something else off of the wall, another hanging instrument and Felix can finally see him fully now. He’s handsome, but not very tall, with a strong jaw and a long, slender nose, wavy blonde hair tugged back by clips, dressed in all black. He’s strong looking, which makes sense: Felix’s ass is smarting something raw and he tries to pull against his restraints, determined to get away.
“Please don’t hurt me, please, I don’t know anything”--
The man grabs one of the thinnest looking canes there, turning to him and smiling a reassuringly smile, his teeth white and stellar. “Of course, honey.”
It’s sarcasm. Felix hangs his head in shame, stuttering as he breathes in as the man circles him like fresh prey, ready to pounce. He taps the cane down across his legs in little pitter-patter movements, tapping his unmarked skin upwards inch by inch until it meets marked skin and Felix tugs on his handcuffs, hyperventilating now.
“Stop, stop, please ”--
“I’d love to stop, Jinnie. But that depends on you, doesn’t it? All you have to do is tell me where you put the flashdrive, honey.”
Flashdrive? That’s what he’s after? What the fuck would a flashdrive have to do with him? What was on it? Some secret criminal deed of whatever this man has done? Or, what the people he’s working for have done? He certainly isn’t alone in this, Felix knows that much, from their car ride here to this little shed. But he’s not sure what else he can say to at least get the truth across.
Maybe he should lie. Maybe he should give some obscure location to it and they would let him go, or stop torturing him for a while at least. But if he did, wouldn’t they just wait for them to find it? And by admitting that he is in fact Hyunjin, when he’s not, would only make them kill him faster. He’s stuck. He doesn’t know what to do, but he does know he doesn’t want to die.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Felix cries again when he feels the cane resting against his thighs, and the man places a hand on his legs, massaging it gently.
“That depends on you.”
Felix shakes his head again. What had he ever done to deserve this? He holds his breath when the cane smacks lightly against his thighs, mapping out the pathway to take, and he screams when he feels the whipping pain of it against the smallest tender bits of his sit spots.
“Fuck!”
He groans, tugging at the handcuffs desperately, thrashing around against the leather that binds him to the table. His ass bounces along with the kiss of the cane and he shifts left to right to at least give the man a moving target, fighting his way to loosen the retraints.
“ Please, please stop ”--
The swish of the cane is something so distinct that he’ll never forget, the wind that it produces kissing the skin of his lower backside as it glides against his unprotected thighs and he heaves heavy tears, throat scratchy as he blubbers out incoherent pleas. It feels like something is slicing into skin, like splinters, and he can’t help but lose all control of his body as it goes numb, hysterically mumbling in English as the stranger continues his apparent torture.
“Such a shame, honey. You could just tell me, and it’ll all stop.” The man grips one cheek in his hand, smacking his ass lazily a few times before replacing it with the cane. Felix’s legs shake with the terror of this continuing. What if he whips him to bloody bits? What if he breaks skin? What if he never stops ? Will he die like this? Will this man kill him?
Felix mourns, body jerking with each stroke as he feels the welts raise, skin blistering over. The man holds him by the small of his back, ignoring the begging and the swears.
The phone rings.
It’s the same ringtone as before, the little chime that vibrates along with the phone, and the man is quick to pick it up, holding the cane up right over Felix’s back.
“Hello?”
Felix can’t hear what’s going on on the other side but it sure is something, because the man just listens and gives a few confirming grunts.
“Are you sure?”
He goes to rub a hand on Felix’s back as he listens, speaking low.
“Then who do I have? Who have I been”--
Silence, because he’s cut off, and the man just sighs, massaging Felix’s back thoughtfully with his knuckles. Felix can’t hear much over the sound of his own crying, and the jostling of the cuffs, but the man just says a quick goodbye, scrolling through his phone as he steps out in front of Felix.
“You’re not Hyunjin.”
Felix doesn’t hear him at first, spitting out the snot that runs down his nose into his mouth, and he coughs as the man brushes his bangs back off of his forehead.
“You’re not Hyunjin, are you, little one?” The man coos at him. “They really messed up, didn’t they?”
Felix just cries in relief. Thank god. They finally got whoever it was and, hopefully, they could let him go now. He wouldn’t tell anyone a thing. He would simply pretend it never happened. No hard feelings, no revenge, no police, nothing. Just secrets. He wouldn’t say a thing.
“That’s too bad. You’re cute.” The man just chuckles, ruffling his hair. He picks the cane back up and Felix frowns as he takes a few slow steps back. “But you’re here now, so we might as well finish this, huh?”
“W-Wh”--
“I think I’ll keep you. I’ve grown attached to you over the last few hours, you know? And why throw away a pretty pet?” The man lines the cane up with his bottom again and Felix sucks in air, trying to will himself to argue. He’s so scared that one wrong word will end his life, or his ass. Or rather, the skin covering it.
“I–I’m no”--
“Hyunjin, no. But you are Lee Yongbok, aren’t you?” The man smacks the cane gently across the blistering welts that line his ass. “That’s a cute name. I like that. I think you’ll stay here with me now. Would you like that, Lee Yongbok? To be my pretty little thing?”
Felix shakes his head in exasperation. “I–I won’t tell anyone, no one, no police, I p-promise . . . please, please let me go, please, I w”--
“Nope.”
The man chuckles, stuffing the gag back into his mouth and patting the side of his head.
“Now, where were we?”
Felix can feel his heart threatening to beat out of his chest now, each thwack of the cane becoming number and number across his ass as he pleads for mercy.
“I think I’ll definitely keep you. You’re cute like this, with your ass in the air, begging for me to take care of you. Huh? You like that, Yongbok?” The man teases him as he digs his toes into the table, trying to press up against the binds. “Eager for the cane?”
Felix murmurs behind the gag, trying to get his attention, but the man isn’t as focused on his responses as he is with reigning terror down along Felix’s bare bottom.
“I think I should have you like this every morning, and leave you here for the maid to come clean up. I think that would be nice. You should be grateful to have such an important role in the economy of this country. The happier I am, the better business will be.”
Felix doesn’t know what that's supposed to mean, but only confirms the subtle suspicions he had that this man was a criminal. None of it makes sense and the only thing on his mind right now is the pain ringing throughout his body as he starts to lose the struggle for autonomy now, and simply lies there, taking his caning in full. He moans in pain behind the gag, nightmares running through his mind of what this man could do to him.
Would do to him.