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“Okay, once Mark gets back, our next story is a wholesome thread that, surprisingly, started a fight. Chat, how are we doing?”
III is uncharacteristically still. His favorite podcast’s livestream chat scrolls on the TV as he twists the hairdresser’s cape around his fingers. Behind him, Vessel carves an intricate shape into III’s freshly shorn and bleached undercut. Beside him, IV’s mixing several bowls of hair dye, checking the color against Vessel’s reference images. “This look about right?” he asks. Smearing lines of color on a spare sheet of paper.
Vessel shuts the clippers off and peers over III’s shoulder. “Love it,” he says. “The blue’s perfect, and that red should work really well. Take just a tiny bit and mix it into some pink, and I’ll have a good highlight color, and then the deeper red right out of the pot can be the shadow color.” He turns the clippers back on and starts shaping the last petal of the flower design.
The hotel room door clicks and opens. II heaves a massive sigh and lets the door swing shut behind him. “Sounds like you needed that,” III says as II drops onto the couch next to him, his damp hair still smelling like chlorine.
“Pool’s got a hot tub. Enough said,” says II. “Are we still making an art project of you, Pretty Boy?”
Vessel feels III’s impulse to nod through the bond and holds him still by the entire top of his head. “Do not ,” he mutters. III giggles as Vessel adds spines to the ends of the petals. “And to answer your question, yes. We’re making him extra pretty for you.”
“He’s already damn pretty, that’s why he’s my Pretty Boy,” says II. Slipping a hand under the cape to squeeze III’s hand.
III squeezes II’s hand back, then pulls it from under the cape, up to kiss it. If II’s hand by his face hides some of the light blush blooming across his cheeks, that’s just a happy accident. “It’s actually for when we meet up with the book people,” he says. “Ves and I thought it would be cool if I had some art from it in my undercut, so I can just…” Instead of finishing the sentence out loud, he broadcasts an image in the bond of himself pulling his hair up to reveal the flower, bright red against deep blue.
“Speaking of, I think we’re ready for the color,” says Vessel. He snaps a photo of the back of III’s head on his phone and passes it to III. “Look good?”
“Looks great,” says III. “Can’t wait to see it finished.”
Pride fills the bond as Vessel takes his phone back, beaming. “Then bring me the dyes, IV. And the gloves.”
IV sets the mixing bowls down on a little table next to Vessel, then runs a hand up the switch’s back. Vessel slings an arm around him and kisses the side of IV’s head. “Such a good, helpful boy you’ve been, IV, thank you,” Vessel murmurs. “And may Sleep guide my hands that none of this dye gets on the furniture.” He snaps the wristbands of the gloves as he puts them on. A cool, wet sensation starts to spread across one section of III’s head.
His task for Vessel complete, IV slips away to settle down kneeling in front of II and III. Just in time for the podcast to regain its second host.
“And we are back,” says Tori. “Mark, you wanna do the honors?”
“Thank you, dear,” he says. “So this next thread is titled Rituals and Tokens, and it’s a Dom writing about, well, I’ll just read it. He says, I’m the Dom of three darling boys.”
Five pairs of eyes lock onto II, whose own eyes look ready to pop out of his head. A thrill rushes from II’s end of the bond. It actually feels a lot like the way III tends to feel when he hits the point of “bratted too close to the sun.” Which he is dangerously close to doing right now in mentally calling that out, so he’d better just go back to his podcast and take the others with him.
The host keeps reading, and the aforementioned Darling Boys turn back to the stream. Vessel watching the podcast with two sets of eyes while keeping II in the third pair’s periphery. “ We’ve been away on business - together, thankfully - and being out of our usual environment got me thinking about something. Little things that you never would’ve expected end up meaning so much. Like for us, for example, it’s Ferris wheels and penguins. ”
Yep, that’s absolutely II.
Mark keeps reading: “I was just thinking about it on a date we went on recently, about how you end up with these things that other people wouldn’t think twice about, but that mean the world to you. Seeing our newest partner get to experience our rituals and tokens of love made it clear how perfect we all are together.” (IV makes a delighted noise and snuggles close to II.) “Anyway, now I’m curious, if we’ve got Ferris wheels and penguins, what do you and your partners have?”
An outpouring of love rushes down the bond and crashes around II. Vessel leans around III to kiss the top of II’s head.
II reaches up to scratch Vessel’s head as he leans around to kiss III and IV. His mouth curls into a fond smile and his cheeks go pink. His eyes even water a little. But he knows what’s coming, and his gaze remains fixed on the podcast.
Tori wiggles in her seat, hands on her cheeks framing a soft smile. “That’s so sweet!”
“And to be fair, there’s a couple dozen comments of people giving their own examples of what OP’s talking about,” says Mark. “But the top upvoted comment is a skeptic saying, Christ, this sub is going so soft. Miss me with this sappy bullshit. There’s no way your subs are that perfect. ” (IV scoffs in offense.) “OP corrects him and says, One sub, two switches. Skeptic goes, Even more proof this is a lie! No two switches would behave with a sub in the mix , and OP goes, My three are angels. Sounds like a you problem .”
III’s not sure if what he’s hearing is the low warning growl from Vessel’s end of the bond, or if it’s the creak of plastic as the other switch’s hand grips too tight on the dye-covered paintbrush. “Yeah, I want to kill that commenter too, but you’re gonna break the brush, Ves,” he says out loud, without looking up from the livestream chat window on his phone.
“Right,” says Vessel. His end of the bond still simmering with offense on II’s behalf as he brushes dye into III’s hair.
Mark and Tori continue discussing II’s post. Rattling through the debate in the skeptic’s comment thread. Eventually making it to II asking the mods to lock the post the next morning, and starting to discuss the debate.
“Before I hit send on this,” III says, mostly to II, “First of all, this is their patron bonus episode, so it’s staying sort of among friends. And second, I’m not on any of my band accounts and what I say in this chat will not be linked back to Sleep Token.”
“Does that mean you’re going to say something out of pocket?” says IV.
III shoots him a wicked little grin. “Yes, very.”
On the screen, Tori lets out an excited yelp. “Oh my god, look in the chat - hi, long time listener, first time caller. Then in all caps, OP OF THAT THREAD IS MY DOM .” Mark quirks an eyebrow as Tori keeps reading. “ I have a lot to say about those comments, can I DM you guys? ”
“As long as your partners are okay with it, go for it, I’ll keep an eye out for you,” says Mark.
There’s tension in the bond as III looks around the room. As IV and Vessel both nod. As III’s gaze settles on II. “It’s more about what the commenters said than it is about us,” says III.
“No personal details,” II says tersely. “I already feel like I said too much on the post.”
“I’ll keep it vague,” III says, squeezing II’s hand instead of nodding like he wants to.
“And as long as you can keep still while you write it,” Vessel adds.
“I can keep still,” III says as he starts to type his comment. “I just have to have something to focus on. And right now, I’m focused on dragging that dickhead that called our Dom a liar.”
“Yeah, get ‘em,” IV laughs.
The four of them sit mostly quiet, watching the podcasters as they read what the chat has to say.
Until Mark speaks up again. “Our friend in the chat just DMed us, and chat, you're not ready for this. He's one of the two switches, and he says, First of all, to that first dickhead, where did my Dom ever mention our behaviour? No one behaves 100% of the time, and you know that’s not even what he meant by perfect, so your argument is invalid.
And second of all, how dare all of those commenters tell someone they don’t even know he’s lying about his own experience with his own partners who they also don’t even know? If you knew us, you’d know what we’ve all been through and just how much work it took to get to where we are. Fuck off with your assumptions, which, by the way, says a lot more about how you view people than it does about the people you’re talking about.
If you don’t think his love of us is genuine? That’s a depressing level of cynicism, I hope you get well soon. If you don’t think we’re perfect? Get on our level and put in the work we put into being perfect together, maybe one day you’ll get there. And if you don’t think you can handle us? Skill issue. Middle finger, heart, middle finger . ”
The room bursts into laughter and III beams with pride. IV wheezes “skill issue,” and tumbles forward. Landing on his side and shaking with laughter. Vessel catches II’s hand as it moves towards the back of III’s head. “Wet dye,” he calls out. So instead of scratching III’s head, II reaches for III’s phone.
The stream’s chat window moves at lightning speed. Emojis and gifs depict microphones dropping. Tori’s doubled over in laughter but pointing at their DMs. “He says hold on, my Dom wants my phone, ” she says trying to catch her breath.
Moments later, Mark sees II’s message come in and reads it aloud. “ OP here, that was my brat. He’s right about the cynicism, it’s sad as hell. He’s also absolutely perfect, and my other two boys and I adore him with all of our hearts. ”
III pulls II and IV towards him for a hug. Vessel leans in to hug him too. Unwittingly brushing his cheek against a damp spot on the back of III’s head. The realization flashes through the bond, and the others laugh as Vessel grumbles, “Fucking shit, wet dye!”