One Step Forward (CleverFox)

[LadyLoki]

The Rehabilitation Center towered up over the sidewalks of the city alongside the other skyscrapers that made up the skyline. It had beautiful white walls that were untouched by any graffiti, with a glass revolving door that had couples constantly walking in and out. The building was supposed to be a safe haven, where abused submissives could be matched with a dom more suited to their needs. Whenever a case came in, the Center would run the stats and pull out the most suitable match to send the submissive home with.

The walls were lined with happy sayings and success stories, grinning doms and simpering submissives. There was no end to smiling faces. It was honestly a little unnerving. Dr. Lucas Phillips had been called in from his work right after he’d gotten off his last shift. The chipper woman has informed him they needed an emergency placement. The little black dot on his wrist designated his denomination as a dominant, and the man was sitting in the plush chairs in the waiting room as the receptionist came up to him with a bright smile.

“Your new submissive should be along shortly. Have you filled out the paperwork?” She asked happily, and Lucas handed it back to her with an uneasy smile of his own.

“Yes…can I ask what was so desperate that I had to be called right out of work?” Lucas asked, and she smiled wider.

“Just a very important case Dr. Phillips, that’s all. One of our worse ones, poor dear.” She sighed, clasping her breast. “He’s in one of the holding rooms. He should be here soon.”

Lucas nodded slowly, settling back in the chair as his eyes shifted back over to the door. He’d seen people leaving and entering all day, so that was really the only place that someone could come from.

[CleverFox]

The building was filled with smiling faces and nineteen year old Nikolai Karetnikov wanted to tear down every one of them even though he hadn't acted on those desires. As far as he was concerned it was all a lie, happiness like that didn't exist. All of them, the happy, smiling faces that lined the walls in those picture frames, were just acting.

Playing the part that was required of them.

Nikolai had been more or less dumped in this place when he was no longer of any use to his dominant, far too broken to be 'fun' anymore. The slender young man had blonde hair that was longish and partially pulled back into a half ponytail with the rest of his hair left loose and icy blue eyes that were reminiscent of the eyes of a soldier that had seen one battle too many.

Currently he was curled up in the corner of a room, sort of muttering to himself, and when someone came to fetch him, saying that his new dom was there to pick him up Nikolai refused to budge. He didn't verbally protest but he did refuse to get to his feet, not really wanting any part of this.

The attendant heaved a sigh and then went out to the room where he knew the chosen dominant was waiting. "I'm sorry sir... we're having a little bit of trouble with your new submissive, he seems unwilling to come out to meet you."

Even as he said this he waited to see if the man was going to have anything to say about that, wondering if Lucas would try to help or if he would simply tell them to bring Nikolai to him. Which they could do, he was waif thin and could be picked up fairly easily, but the attendant hadn't gone that route.

At least not initially.

[LadyLoki]

Lucas glanced upward when the attendant came up to him, before his brow arched upward when he heard what the other man had to say. Jesus Christ, what had happened to this sub? “That’s all right…I can imagine that this isn’t the best environment for a first meeting.” The doctor said, standing up and letting out a sigh. “I’m allowed to go back there, right?”

Hell, technically this sub had just become his property, more or less.

The helpful front desk woman spoke up with a cheerful smile. “Why of course! We encourage the doms to go back and talk to the more skittish little dears.” She chimed in, and Lucas almost cringed at the saccharine tone. He nodded his thanks at the answer, before stepping up to the door that least into the facility. The woman buzzed him in, and Lucas began heading down the white hallway.

He was supposed to get his sub’s file sent to him once they left together…kind of a way to ensure doms didn’t see a hard case and then run for the hills. Lucas had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he stopped at the room that had been pointed out to him. He stepped inside after knocking, and promptly froze.

This was just a kid, for heaven’s sake. Lucas wasn’t that old, fresh out in his first job at the age of twenty-six. The doctor swore that if he tried, he could snap the blonde like a toothpick. Lucas stayed by the door, figuring it was best not to approach right away.

“Um…hi? My name is Lucas. I’m your assigned match.” He said as gently as he possibly could. “They said you didn’t want to come out.” Lucas added, running a hand through his hair nervously. “I’m not going to force you or anything!” He said quickly, holding up his hands in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture.

“I…I’m not going to hurt you.”

[CleverFox]

When the attendant left the room that he was in Nikolai thought that he had won this little battle of wills and he went back to curling up in the corner and muttering to himself. He was still doing that when there was a knock and then the door once again opened. That was enough to get his attention because the people that worked here never knocked, he had learned that in the short time that he'd been a resident.

His icy blue eyes shifted toward the door and he watched as the stranger stepped in.

His gaze only lingered for a moment before shifting away again.

Nikolai fidgeted as the man spoke and said that they had been assigned together, the blonde having already guessed as much when he learned that the new arrival wasn't one of the facility's employees. That didn't mean that he was happy about the situation however and he just shook his head slightly.

"Go away..." he said in a voice that was devoid of emotion, Nikolai not making eye contact even as he said this. He had learned that making eye contact was dangerous, his previous dom hadn't liked it for some reason so now it was just habit to stare at the floor as he spoke to people.

[LadyLoki]

Lucas blinked at the voice that came out of the little blonde. He expected tears, fear, something…not emptiness. “Yeah…about that, pretty sure they’re not going to let me leave without you coming along.” He said, since that was the truth. Now that they had his signature, it wasn’t like he could just break the contract without having to through several legal loopholes. The blonde wouldn’t even look at him, and Lucas was beginning to wonder just how bad the abuse had been.

“So…I’d really appreciate it if you would come with me…I’m really not going to hurt you. I won’t even touch you if you don’t want me to.”

It’s completely against all the rules of what he’s supposed to do, but Lucas figures touching might be really bad.

Doms were supposed to be tactile, especially with nervous and abused subs. Lucas always thought touch could be triggering, especially in cases of PTSD and trauma. “I bet coming with me is better than having all these creepy smiles staring down at you at the very least.” He tried again, sitting on the floor so he didn’t seem quite so threatening at his full height.

The chatter was partly to be comforting, and partly to calm himself down. Lucas felt like he was so far out of his depth right now, and he could see the attendants peering in through the window. They were probably just waiting for him to lose his patients and order them to drug the kid into compliance. “What’s your name?”

[CleverFox]

Were he braver then Nikolai might have told the man that he was stuck if the people wouldn't let him leave without the little blonde but he wasn't quite sure what this man was capable of so he wasn't brave enough to do it. So instead he just kept his thoughts to himself and continued to stare at the floor, his right hand absently rising to grip at a lock of his blonde hair. For the moment he didn't do anything other than grasp it though that could change.

He kept his gaze focused on the floor as the man continued to speak, Nikolai not quite sure how this was going to work either.

The youth just made a face when Lucas mentioned the faces that were staring at him, Nikolai thinking about all of the lies that this place was plastered full of. He didn't comment on it however and instead just shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Ko..." he started to give his nickname, the pet name that his uncle had given to him, but then he changed his mind. "Nikolai..." He started to add something else but then once again changed his mind and fell silent, the waif tugging at his blonde hair at this point rather than just holding onto it as he had been doing before.

[LadyLoki]

At least now he knew the blonde’s name. Lucas was going to take that as a step in the right direction, but his eyes creased in concern when Nikolai began tugging on his hair. “It’s nice to meet you, Nikolai. Like I said, I’m Lucas. You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ or anything, okay? I don’t want you to be afraid of me, I’m not going to touch you or do anything until you say it’s okay.” Lucas said again, scooting a little closer but still keeping a decent enough distance away.

He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair once again as he thought about what to do. Lucas wasn’t going to let them drug Nikolai, no way in hell.

“I know you hate these creepy faces as much as I do, and I really want to get out of here. I’ll sit here with you until you’re ready to go, but I promise that my apartment is a lot nicer than this place.” He offered, hoping to at least convince the kid to come a little closer.

The attendants are whispering outside, probably criticizing his patience and willingness to give in to the sub sitting across from him. “I guess this place doesn’t do much good, does it?” Lucas asked conversationally, leaning back against the wall and glancing back towards Nikolai with a patient expression. “I never liked it here, but it’s mandatory for doms who are doctors.”

[CleverFox]

Nikolai wasn't quite sure what kind of trap this was but he was certain that it was a trap of some sort when Lucas told him that he didn't have to call the man sir. That was something that pretty much all doms required in his experience so the fact that the man was telling him that he didn't have to was a red flag to the little blonde. He didn't point that out however and instead just continued to tug at his hair.

Occasionally he would give one tug that was more violent than the others but for the most part he was just pulling on it with steady pressure.

His icy blue eyes actually did shift up to the man for the briefest of moments when Lucas mentioned just how helpful this place was but he averted them quickly. "...there's no help..." he murmured with a shake of his head, once again pulling at his hair.

At this point the door opened and one of the attendants stepped inside, the man brandishing a syringe in his hand. "Would you like some help? This one has been beyond difficult from the beginning..." the man spoke up, seemingly not concerned with talking about Nikolai as if he weren't even there even though he was coherent and could hear and see everything.

The teenager stiffened at the sight of the syringe and tried to press himself farther against the wall.

Which was of course impossible as he was already crammed as far into the corner as he could get.

[LadyLoki]

Lucas tried to offer the little blonde a small smile once Nikolai actually looked at him, but that was broken pretty much as soon as the attendant stepped inside with a syringe. His temper flared briefly, but Lucas figured that losing his cool was not a great first impression. “No, thank you. That’s not going to be necessary. It’s understandable that Nikolai is scared. It’s not like we’ve met before. I prefer not to use drugs, thank you.”

He can already imagine the grumbling about ‘new-age doms’ and his passiveness. Still, Lucas is definitely not going to drug Nikolai like an animal.

“So…” Lucas stood back up to his full height, towering over the attendant. “I would appreciate it if you would leave me and my sub alone for a little while longer.” He continued, steel entering his tone as he pointedly stands in between Nikolai and the attendant.

“I think we’re getting closer to being able to leave. Right, Nikolai?” Lucas asked, glancing back toward the blonde with a questioning expression. He wanted to get the teenager out of here and as far away as possible at this point. “I think I can handle it from here.” Lucas smiled, before essentially shooing the attendant out of the room and returning his focus to Nikolai.

“I can’t stall them forever, Nikolai…please, I promise it’s going to be okay. I’m not going to touch you and neither are they.”

It was his last ditch effort, to make sure that both of them got out of there without anyone needing to be shot up with drugs.

[CleverFox]

As soon as the attendant made his appearance with the syringe Nikolai was certain that he was going to end up drugged out of his mind and carted out of this place. So he attempted to press himself against the point where the two walls came together while at the same time tugging on his long hair. He was somewhat surprised when Lucas actually declined the 'help' that was being offered in the form of the medication.

That was not something that he had been expecting.

Because accepting would make Lucas' life easier and yet the man was declining.

Nikolai once again risked a look to the man once it was just the two of them and Lucas spoke to him again. The fact that he had no choice in this was something that the broken and defeated sub was aware of and he was thinking at this point that the only thing debatable was just how this was all going to come to pass.

Either he cooperated or he was drugged, those were the options.

The end result would be the same either way.

Nikolai was also thinking that he was going to be tossed back into a situation that was just like the one that he'd come out of and that was a terrifying thought. So much so that the blond was desperately looking for an 'out'. He thought he had one in mind and after a moment he slowly and somewhat shakily rose to his feet.