#bind!au

Didn’t include the dialogue but that inspired this //

About two hours into the expo, Jimmy comes to check on Crockett. That’s early. Usually it’s between hours four and six that the artist or their assistant checks on him, if at all, unless he’s visibly distressed or asks someone for help. But it’s only been a couple hours, based on the clock just within Crockett’s vision, when Jimmy comes to hold a straw to his lips and offer him some fruit from the catering table. His voice is so soft when he asks how Crockett is feeling. 

“Okay,” he says, and is surprised to find his voice slightly hoarse. “It’s only been a couple hours, why’re you checking on me?”

Jimmy’s face pinches the way it usually does when his practices don’t line up with the industry standards Crockett is used to. “You’ve been in suspension bondage in public for two hours. Of course I’m going to check on you. This isn’t easy and if you’re hungry or thirsty, or you’re hurt, or you need out, I need to know that.”

The tears come without Crockett’s permission. He gets emotional, he knows, especially at expos when he feels most vulnerable- many artists had hated it, some had loved to watch him cry- and it’s hard to resist letting the feelings take over him when he’s so on display. 

But then Jimmy wipes his tears away with a calloused thumb and smiles a little. “It’s okay. Do you need out?”

“The expo is still going on for six more hours.”

“Doesn’t matter. Do you feel safe? Are you comfortable? Is anything sore or numb?”

The tears turn into full blown sobs, and the next thing Crockett knows, Jimmy has his pocket knife up and slowly cutting through the ropes that hold the suspension, one by one with his arms around Crockett so that he supports his weight when it falls. They go down to the floor and Jimmy calls over his assistant. 

“Find us somewhere quiet? The gallery show can continue, have them turn on the screens to repeat the photos and videos, and tell Connor I’ll make another appearance soon.”

She directs Jimmy to somewhere, Crockett can’t really tell because his face is buried in the warmth of his shoulder as he cries and cries and cries. It isn’t that he was hurt. It was that he was safe, he was loved, and Jimmy still made sure everything was okay and got him out when Crockett needed it but couldn’t put it into words for fear of the consequences.

"You should come to the expo," he says, his voice little more than a breath against the shell of Crockett's ear as he constructs a knot in the valley between his pecs. "I want you to hear what they say about you."

"My James, an exhibitionist? Who would have guessed?"

"I could gag you too."

Crockett rolls his shoulders before they're tied too much to shift. "Don't threaten me with a good time."

Summary: Crockett is a model, Jimmy is a shibari artist, and they work together for the first time.

WC: 1.9k

Today’s session is with a new artist, one he hasn’t worked with before- James Lanik. Crockett spent the night before looking through his work, which was every bit as complex and beautiful as his agent promised, and it leaves him with the distinct impression that at least seven of the eight hours he was booked for are going to be spent weaving those intricate designs around his body. He’ll probably have to ask his agent to send Ava to pick him up because he’ll be so relaxed by the end of it he can’t tell up from down. 

He’s almost excited when he enters the studio, ready to see what will become of him today. It’s clear that Lanik doesn’t take his work lightly, and puts so much time and detail into it that every photo seems to have new parts to it when Crockett reexamines them. He takes a sip of water just in case Lanik turns out to be the sort who forgets Crockett is a person who needs it. Some artists are like that. It’s not malicious, but in the process of art, it’s easy for him to become as much of an object as the rope around his body, and the bindings often mean he’s unable to lift the bottle to his mouth without help.

Keep Reading