Taylor slipped her key into the lock with a sigh. This had been one of those days that told her early on “I am going to try you”, and just kept going from there. She was exhausted, and so very relieved to be able to finally get home and rest.

The pink-colored light filtering through the curtains of her front window told her that Vic was still awake, probably watching anime or something. They had just started a new one. She wished she could spend more time curled up on the couch with them instead of at stupid adult work.

The pink-colored light, however, did not prepare her for the sight that greeted her upon entering.

Dropping her keys on the table – or was it on the floor? she couldn’t recall – she found her partner sitting cross-legged on the couch, their back slouched deeply into the cushions. Their expression was one of utter blankness. Headphones on, thoughts gone. Completely zonked.

Taylor’s head turned. Their television was displaying an enormous pink and black spiral, spinning. It was a particularly intricate specimen, blending and merging together like molasses in a slow, steady churn.

She looked back at Vic. Their eyes were glued to the screen, half-lidded and foggy, blinking occasionally. They showed no recognition of having noticed her presence…or anything aside from the spiral. She noticed a small trickle of drool, dripping from their slightly parted lips. They looked so very…open.

Oh love. she thought. Left yourself as a present for me after a long day, did you? How do you always know?

Smirking, she waved her hand in front of her partner’s dazed face. No reaction, not that it surprised her. They were completely focused on the spiral.

Hmmm. I wonder what you’re watching, she thought. Picking up her partner’s phone, one touch of their limp hand unlocked it for her. She found the file they were casting. The latest by a creator they both loved.

The file description confirmed her suspicions : this was a doozy. There was mention of fractionation, mindlessness, references to submission…all with a permissive wakeup, which explained the state she found them in. Vic’s tranced-out mind loved to stay that way a while longer. The file was safe, of course; it was simply intense enough to have her in the deepest of trances in just a few minutes.

She gently lifted the headset from her partner’s ears and set them on the table. She lifted their chin, tilting her face to look at her head-on. Empty eyes stared back at her, no longer captured by the images on the screen.

“Can you hear me, love?”

“I am so hypnotized right now” was their only response.

“Yes, I can certainly see that. Looks like you have been for a while, too.”

“I am so hypnotized right now.” Vic’s mind was on autopilot, repeating her last instruction without thought. She looked so deliciously vacant, in a state of bliss that Taylor knew all too well. Unexpectedly, she found herself feeling a tiny bit jealous. She and Vic did switch back and forth between them, but it had been a long while since she’d had a good trance.

Searching her partner’s face and body for signs of exhaustion, Taylor pondered her options. Blanket consent was a thing in their relationship, but she wanted to make sure they both enjoyed this opportunity. She knew Vic well enough to know that they had planned for her to find them like this, and trusted her to behave respectfully and safely. She wanted to honor that trust.

“I am so hypnotized right now,” they droned again. Their eyes had gone back to the spiral on the screen, even with their chin still resting in her hand.

Taylor knelt down on the living room carpet, settling in front of her hypnotized partner, and took their hands in hers. Vic was now gazing blankly over her and into the TV. The pink lightning in the otherwise unlit living room washed over her in waves, ebbing and flowing with steady rhythm.

“Do you want us to play, love? Tell me.” Taylor asked, gently squeezing her partner’s hands for emphasis. Vic’s empty eyes drifted down to hold her gaze.

“I am so hypnotized right now.” They spoke with the same empty tone as before, but their new relative position gave it a subtly different quality. Their glistening eyes stared into her own, reflecting the spiral’s glare. Inviting her in.

Taylor’s mind skipped a beat, catching on the words. Sticky mantra. I can use that.

Shifting to a more comfortable cross-legged position, she looked at her partner with intent. “Okay, Vic. Repeat after me. I am so hypnotized right now.”

“I am so hypnotized right now” her partner replied, brainlessly as ever. Still, suggestion followed. She continued on.

“I am so hypnotized right now” She adjusted her tone to match theirs, her mind reflexively going for a mirror neuron thing.

“I am so hypnotized right now.” Vic was now fully staring down at her, the spiral long forgotten by both of them.

“I am so hypnotized right now.” Taylor focused.

“I am so hypnotized right now.” Vic intoned.

“I am so hypnotized right now.” She could only see her partners’ eyes, and the constant pulse of pink light.

“I am so hypnotized right now.”

“I am so hypnotized right now.”

“I am so hypnotized right now.”

Taylor let out a tiny, almost inaudible moan as she slipped under blissfully.

I am so hypnotized right now.

I am so hypnotized right now.

I am so hypnotized right now.