the wrong note at the right time (buddie | explicit | 11k | bottom eddie week days 3+5 | ankle cage/objectification | eddie insists that he doesn't need buck. buck is desperate to prove him wrong.)
Buck finds it while idly browsing on his phone one evening, lying on the Diaz couch.
A picture of a mannequin foot, perched delicately. Over the curve of it, a thin weave of plastic, wrapped around the arch of the foot, open at the heel, stiff and unforgiving at the ankle, where it's locked with a small, golden lock.
It doesn't register at first, what it is, what it’s for. But something about it stops Buck from scrolling anyways, an ember of an image sparking in the back of his mind, a dangerous sort of interest. He taps on the picture, opening the text below.
Ankle cage, he reads. The words sink into him, one by one, sparks in his veins. On their toes. Awkward gait. Standing still is virtually impossible.
He blinks, and realizes that his fingers are trembling slightly over the screen, that he hasn’t blinked for a few moments, staring at the implement, at the implications tucked behind dry description. He doesn't-- it's just conceptually interesting, he tells himself. He's done plenty of scenes before, on both ends. Helplessness has never been his thing, when he's submitting. But he's always had a thing for being relied on, for seeing someone looking towards him for help, for something only he can give them. It's a rush, every time.
And these would absolutely make someone reliant on him, he thinks, the idea rushing through him, liquid heat. He imagines someone wearing them, legs trembling as they tried to stay upright. Maybe they'd fall, and Buck would have to hoist them back up. Maybe they would cling to him for every step. Maybe they'd get tired, and Buck would have to carry them in his arms, murmuring words equal parts filthy and comforting to his sweet, helpless thing as they looked at him with his big brown eyes--
Buck presses against the swell under his sweatpants, groaning at the flicker of an image, the edge of a forbidden thought. He manages to keep it at bay.
Still, he follows the link to the source image, downloads the instructions, falls asleep with an image of gold curling over tan skin slipping treacherously into his mind.
It's okay. Buck won't do anything about it. He never does.