𝓛𝓔: 𝓛𝓮𝓰𝓪𝓬𝓲𝓮𝓼 [BxM] 16+✔️

⟨53⟩

Bronxville, NY
Ryojin's apartment
bedroom
________________________

"S-sir, you don't have to carry me, I can walk. I'm okay." Landon said as his fingers traced the tattoo on the back of Ryojin's neck, as the brunet bridal style carried him.

Ryojin simply looked down at him before setting Landon down onto his feet right in front of the bed.

"Lay down. We need to talk." Ryojin ordered in a low voice, he wasn't as confident as he usually was.

Instead he seemed almost hesitant; which wildly surprised the 18-year-old, who slowly climbed onto the red-covered bed.

But Landon had accidentally sat down and quickly shot back up with a wince, Right, no sitting. I should lay on my side.
And so he did.

Ryojin sat on the side of the bed, with his back to Landon but he turned his head to face him.

"We shouldn't practice BDSM anymore." Ryojin started but quickly paused, which gave Landon a chance to input.

"W-what? Why?" the teen asked, furrowing his eyebrows but widening his eyes in surprise.

Ryojin sighed and softly laid a hand on Landon's leg, "Not everything, at least, especially punishments. You can't handle them." he calmly answered Landon's question.

But the redhead replied with more, "What makes you think I can't handle it? I haven't said the safeword, and it's not like I'm tearing or anything; I think I'm handling it." he defended.

Despite the pain, Landon partially enjoyed the feeling of Ryojin slapping his rear.

"Handling it?" Ryojin repeated, his voice going scarily lower, "The first times I punished you with my hand and you cried. I used the crop just now- you went into shock, and didn't respond to me for 10 minutes." he pointed out, sounding quite angry.

But it wasn't at Landon, but himself.
"I don't know what you consider 'handling it' but I consider your reactions as not being able to handle it." Ryojin firmly stated before taking a deep breath and calming down.

Ryojin shifted on the bed and leaned over Landon, softly placing his hand on Landon's cheek, "I care about you so much Cookie, I can't put you through this for my own amusement."

Landon frowned, "Isn't that the whole point of sadism? You find pleasure in my pain, that's the whole point." he quickly pointed out.

"That might be, but I'm not a sociopath, I won't watch the person I love suffer and continue to hurt them." Ryojin replied from his heart, not taking into consideration what he'd just said.

But Landon caught it and quickly froze, "L-love...?" he asked in a whisper, yet because of how close they were Ryojin heard perfectly.

Ryojin remembered how Landon had said he had trust issues when it came to romantic affection because of Andrew.
How he had a hard time believing someone could care for him like that, because Andrew had said he did yet hurt him anyway.

"It's true. You don't have to accept it, and I understand if it takes you a while to believe it. But I do love you, Landon." Ryojin responded before bending down and softly pecking Landon's lips.

Landon nodded, He's lying, right? I need to talk to Ace.
"I-...love you too." he replied instinctively, although he didn't mean it.

a few hours later,
New Rochelle, NY
Liegth Mansion
______________________

"Hey Ace, are you free?" Landon asked once he finally found Ace in the living room, laying his head on Light's shoulder.

Ace sat up and nodded, "Of course, what's wrong?" he questioned once he saw Landon had a sad expression on.

Landon walked over and slowly sat down on the couch, wincing under his breath from the still-occuring pain.

"How can you tell when someone's gaslighting you?" the teen asked.
He felt Ryojin must've been manipulating him, trying to convince him it was okay to not believe him; just so Landon would feel guilted into believing.

"I'm not sure, I don't think anyone's done that to me." Ace shook his head with a confused frown.

But Light sighed, "It's kind of hard to tell in the moment but when you look back at it, you'll see it. It depends on the person but normally there's two kinds of gaslighting: sad and angry."

"In my experience, sad is the most common. Saying things like: 'its fine if you don't want to, I just thought it would be nice' to trick you into doing something." he continued calmly, staring at nothing in particular in the room.

"But angry, it's more effective and toxic. Things like: 'I'll kill myself if you don't do what I want.' or 'Maybe you're bored of me, now you're looking around for someone else.' and that kind of stuff." Light said before looking over at Landon who was very surprised.

"Why do you ask? Is someone hurting you again? Is it Ryojin Kim?" Light then laid out a list of questions as if he was planning some unlawful things should Landon's answer be yes.

Landon shook his head, "No, I'm not being hurt-" well not nonconsensually at least, "I just wanted to be able to tell, so I could be more aware." he lied.

Where Landon had a shocked reaction to Light expertly listing ways of gaslighting, Ace just sympathetically rubbed his husband's shoulder in comfort.

"If someone was hurting you, especially Ryojin, you would tell us right?" Ace asked, looking over at the teen.

Landon nodded before sighing, "How are you feeling dad?" he decided to quickly change the topic.

Light smiled warmly, "Having a cast hurts, but Acey's been here to keep me company so it's good." he interlocked his fingers with the blond.

Landon smiled at the sight, his parents truly loved each other.
"Hey, you guys never told me your love story. How you got together and all that." he pointed out.

Ace looked over at Light before slightly laughing, "You tell him. I refuse." he silently chuckled.

Light rolled his eyes at his lover before responding, "It's a bit of a rated r story, but I'll try to pg it for your sake." he sighed.

"It was April of 2019..."

Vote and Comment!
bc it's very important to be aware of whether someone is manipulating you or not

stay safe guys🤍