#leo (oc)

Leo had not thought that Isha would wait till the next day to pierce his ears. After the..tooth incident, he would've assumed she would do it right then and there. He also never would’ve guessed she would take him out and about either. Isha had dressed him, laid out his clothes on his bed, like always, but provided him a large hoodie today. The house was always comfortably warm, because that woman wouldn’t wear a sweater to save her life, so it didn’t make sense until he came downstairs and saw her by the door.

“Cmon now, I haven’t got all day to dote on you”

When he was close enough, she pushed a pair of flip-flops towards him. At first it seemed like another example of her stupidity. But then he realized if he tried to run, these weren’t holding up. Better yet, they’d give away his location. Damn her. He slipped them on and grimaced as the little dog he had briefly seen showed up, summoned by Isha opening the door. 

“No, sweetheart, it’s okay. He can go. I’m gonna watch him veryyy well, baby”

He hated it was the same tone of voice she used with him.

It wasn’t until they were pulling up to the mall that he realized the hoodie was the cover for his collar. It also wasn’t until they were walking right up to a pastel and garish store that he recognized it. Claires. He was a grown man, wearing a collar, following Isha into a Claire's. The embarrassment hit him like a sledgehammer, and he stopped in his tracks. Isha turned to look at him, cocking her head and pouting mockingly at him. 

“What? Don’t wanna?”

She turned to go back to his side and hooked two fingers under his collar, guiding, more like dragging, him into the store and right to the bright pink stool. She chatted with the worker, explaining she was bringing her brother to pierce his ears. Honestly, Leo thought this might just be his way out. No way would the woman believe it, and no way would she not ask him something. 

“So just the ear pierce?”

The worker's voice was sluggish in a familiar way, and he remembered what it was like to work for too little money. He felt another wave of embarrassment at how used to the lavish life he had gotten. He was too lost in his own turmoil to notice the piercing gun being lined up until the worker counted

“Okay, on three”

He braced himself

“Oneee…tw-“

The gun punched through his ear, and he let out a humiliating yelp. Isha barely attempted to hide her grin. Leo saw it and knew she had told the worker to do that. He seethed, and it distracted him just enough that he didn’t notice the other ear being pierced before he heard the click and felt the stab through his ear again. He sucked in air through his teeth, grinding his teeth as the woman put cheap little studs into his ears. Gold with pink stones, no doubt also Isha's doing.

Once they were in the car, Isha reached over to brush his shaggy hair behind his ear. 

“Don’t you look pretty! My pretty little guy”

The day had been so confusing and jarring, and hell, the last few days had been full of pain. And Isha was resting her hand against his face so sweetly. Leo just couldn’t help how he leaned into her touch, wanting to pretend for a moment. The smile he got in return made the guilt worth it. It wasn't mocking or cruel bit looked genuine. Like she finally got what she wanted from him. The look made Leo think that maybe it'd be easier to just be docile, do what she wanted, instead of going back to barely scraping by. He wondered if they chose him for that reason, so that he wouldn't leave. Or if it was simply random and he was just such an awful person that he didnt want to leave. But that's not true, and Leo shut down that train of thought so that he wouldn't have to think about how he didnt make any attempt to escape. He was sure he could've, but the thought didn't even cross his mind, and now he was here in the car with Isha petting him. 

When they got back to the house, he let her lead him back into the house by his collar. In turn, when she sat down to work on her computer, she pulled his oversized dog bed over for him to kneel in while his head rested in her lap and he rested against her legs. Her nails scratched against his scalp, and with the pain in his jaw, he felt he could cry from how gentle she was with him

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