When you work as a teacher, you find that your arrival time for social engagements falls into one of two categories; delayed due to work, or painfully early due to hard-learned habit.

On this occasion, Susan was painfully early; Alec, already at the bar, was only there ahead of her because he worked so nearby and lived far enough out that it hadn't been worth his while to go home between times. His jacket was on the stool beside him at the bar, his tie stuffed into one trouser pocket with a length hanging out down his own stool, and his shirt far more rumpled than an office worker's shirt should get in a day's wear, though that was probably all it had had.

He was nursing a pint of beer and staring ruefully at his own reflection in the mirror that lined the bar. A plate beside the pint held a three-decker burger laden with salad, bacon, mushrooms, and dripping with mozzarella cheese, and a basket beside it held fries and onion rings, with a small pot of some creamy dip between him and the basket.

Susan settled onto the stool his jacket was holding empty and helped herself to an onion ring. “Dude,” she said in greeting, dunked it, and bit into it. Her eyes widened. “Is this calamari?”

He brushed crumbs from his hands with a brisk motion, set the pint down, and exhaled. “Shitty day,” he said, not looking at her. “I decided to destress via comfort eating.”

“Sounds like you,” she agreed. “I might join you.”

“Your day wasn't much better, huh?”

“Oh... I don't know. Might be worse.”

He acknowledged the fairness of this with a wave of his hand. “Want to talk about it?”

“Um... Yeah, probably. In a minute.” She turned to the barmaid as she materialised seemingly out of nowhere. “Large glass of the house white,” she said, “and bring me a menu and an actual wine list.”

The barmaid nodded, turning to hustle away with the order. Sue pulled out her wallet from her bag, produced a note, folded it over and held it loosely in her hand.

“Anyway,” Sue said, “I've been dealing with-”

Alec interrupted her, cut across her, but she didn't catch what he said.

She blinked. Her wineglass was resting on the bar in front of her, droplets beading on the outside, the wine still chilled to perfection, next to a small pile of change.

Suddenly, the frustrations of the day didn't matter anymore. They just didn't matter in the least; still there, sure, but they weren't weighing on her at all.

“-some incredibly dumb BS from the Head,” she continued. She picked up her glass, took a sip, and looked at Alec thoughtfully. He promptly hid as much of his reaction as possible in a big bite of his burger, but the smirk was enough.

“You probably told me not to notice, but you did something, didn't you?”

“It seemed like the right thing to do,” he said, amused and cocksure rather than sheepish.

“We're in public, Alec,” she chided. “And it's been a long time.”

“Yeah, I know.” He nodded. “Sorry.”

“Enh. It's alright.” She paused, feeling an odd need to apologise for something herself. “Just too much had changed,” she said. “I'm sorry.”

“Continuity error.” He nodded. “I know.”

They smiled at each other, both a little embarrassed, and turned back to their drinks.

**

Five years earlier...

It was three a.m. Sue was the only person in the computer lab at university.

Her friends list on MSN was almost empty, but Alec was online. She knew that he slept, but he always seemed to be up far too late, surfacing just in time for lectures, relying entirely on the natural energy reserves of the student.

The box of Pro Plus in the room where she'd spent much of the night working on an art exhibit stood as testimony to her own nighttime fuel. But then, creation took more energy than analysis.

SuePerstar: So why are you still up, anyway?

AH1991: I'm always up at times like this. What are you doing up?

AH1991: No, wait

AH1991: Been working on your art, missed the last bus home

AH1991: Right?

SuePerstar: Basically. Just killing time til I can head home and sleep somewhere I won't be woken by security

AH1991: Well, that sucks

SuePerstar: I've run out of webcomics...

AH1991: Yeah, I get that

SuePerstar: So what are you doing? What's keeping you awake?

AH1991: You really don't wanna know.

SuePerstar: I do NOW.

AH1991: Balls. Yeah, shoulda thought that through.

SuePerstar: You didn't, though.

Sue grinned, picturing the look of frustration on her friend's face. The tip of her tongue poked out between her teeth. Fun was in the air.

AH1991: What's it going to take for you to drop this?

SuePerstar: Oh goddess are you embarrassed?

AH1991: Look, c'mon. It's 3AM, I'm not thinking so fast. Cut me some slack.

SuePerstar: See, now I have to know.

AH1991: It's kinda private.

In the privacy of the lab Sue giggled. She decided to give it two more pushes, then let him know he was off the hook.

SuePerstar: But I wanna know!

AH1991: …

Sue's fingers were moving to type one last follow up, but the screen told her that Alec was typing. She waited.

AH1991: I think I just hypnotised a girl.

Sue's eyes went wide. Despite the lateness of the hour, suddenly she was entirely awake.

SuePerstar: You think you did?

AH1991: Online, I mean. She's in America.

SuePerstar: Why were you trying?

AH1991: It's kind of a thing for me.

SuePerstar: Like, a sex thing?

There was a longish pause. Sue was just about to type an apology and see if she could change the subject when, again, Alec started typing.

AH1991: Kinda? I guess I grew up kinky.

AH1991: Don't laugh but I blame Totally Spies.

Sue laughed.

SuePerstar: The kids' cartoon? The kids' cartoon for girls?

AH1991: The show with cute teenage girls who got brainwashed every week!

Put like that, it definitely made some sense.

SuePerstar: Are you brainwashing this girl?

AH1991: No!

AH1991: Nothing like that

AH1991: Look, I'm not the only one who has this kink, alright? If you search for it you'll find loads

Privately, Sue doubted that.

AH1991: She's interested too. We met on a forum for it, and I decided to try, and she said OK.

SuePerstar: So how come you don't know if it worked?

AH1991: All I know for sure is now I have a topless photo of her and I can't work out if I should've asked or not.

Sue bit her lip. Her thighs had clenched together just at the idea in that sentence, and she wasn't sure she was comfortable with that reaction.

SuePerstar: TMI, dude.

AH1991: Maybe. I guess? Sorry.

SuePerstar: Why would she send you a topless photo if she wasn't hypnotised?

AH1991: She really likes the idea of being controlled. She might be roleplaying it.

SuePerstar: In that case, does it matter?

AH1991: Not when I'm talking to her. But I'd like to know if I can, you know?

Her lips were suddenly dry.

**

“So, go on then,” Sue said as she thumbed through the menu, “What was so shitty about your day?”

Alec held up a finger, characteristic of him when he wanted to speak but his mouth was full. He dug in his pocket for his phone while still chewing, unlocking it with the usual practised finesse and scrolling through options, before passing it across to her. The screen displayed a message feed.

HELEN: So by the way, we're done. I want you moved out before I get back from the conference.

ME: ??

HELEN: It's my house. My dog. We both know I'll get to keep it.

Sue glanced at Alec's hand. For the first time it registered that his wedding ring wasn't in evidence.

ME: What did I do? Or didn't I do?

HELEN: I can do better. I'm exploring other options.

“Oh, dude, shit...” Sue said sympathetically.

“It's been going badly for a while,” he said, taking the phone back with one hand and lifting his pint for a drink with the other. “Not going to pretend it's not screwing me up, but... I've been kind of expecting it.”

“You sure you're in the mood for a party?”

“I am one hundred per cent in the mood to not think about this until tomorrow.” Alec's smile was unusually thin, but Sue knew him, by now, well enough to smile, nod, and move on.

“Well, here's to new beginnings.” She lifted her wine, clinking her glass against his. He smiled more genuinely.

“Thanks,” he said. “I'm going to leave bringing this up with everyone til tomorrow, rather than trample Sophie's party. You know?”

She nodded. Alec always had an excuse not to show his emotions, and they always made sense, even though they were never anything but made up, and even though anyone who knew him could still always tell.

“I thought you two were trying the hypnosis thing?”

He nodded. “Yeah. She seemed to be enjoying it. No complaints after any session. Didn't use a safe word. It was working, for a while, but she kind of... well, I don't even know.”

“At least you know she wasn't faking it.”

He eyed her sideways, an odd expression on his face.

**

SuePerstar: Entertain me.

AH1991: …

AH1991: ^starjumps with pompoms^

SuePerstar: It's a start.

AH1991: It's one in the morning. Miss the bus?

SuePerstar: Got what I wanted to get done tonight finished faster than I expected.

SuePerstar: Not fast enough, though!

AH1991: So am I going to have you sat here poking me all night?

SuePerstar: You're the only one who's up and online these days, since Dan started dating.

AH1991: So I'm single AND I get bugged? Great.

SuePerstar: Hey, you've got all those topless photos to cheer you up, right? :P

AH1991: I should never have told you that.

SuePerstar: Once you told me you'd hypnotised a girl it all just spilled out.

AH1991; Yeah... I guess I was kinda worried.

SuePerstar: How about now?

AH1991: Why so interested in my love life?

SuePerstar: Oh, so it's a love life now?

AH1991: …

AH1991: I should never talk to you past midnight.

SuePerstar: But then you'd miss out so hard.

AH1991: True

SuePerstar: So are you still pretending to hypnotise her?

AH1991; 'Pretending'?

SuePerstar: You said you had no proof, right?

AH1991: Yeah, that situation has changed.

SuePerstar: Alec's got a girlfriend, Alec's got a giiiiirlfriiiend...

AH1991: …

SuePerstar: What?

AH1991: Bad.

Sue grinned.

SuePerstar: Oh, yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?

There was no reply for a quite a while. Sue had tabbed back to her browser and was checking her email when the MSN listing on the taskbar flashed orange with a message. She tabbed back.

AH1991: Picture me sitting there with you, in front of you.

She blinked, wondering what that had to do with anything. Another message popped up beneath it barely more than a heartbeat later.

AH1991: Look into my eyes

He was still typing. Her eyes tracked back and forth over the words as she wondered what the hell he was playing at, but an image of his laughing brown eyes came easily to mind, as easily as if he were sat in the next row, turned around on his chair, chatting with her.

AH1991: Look deep into my eyes

Ho-ly shit. Her mouth opened into a wide O of astonishment, staring at the screen, as a flush came to her cheeks, one she was glad he couldn't see. He'd stopped typing, probably waiting for a response of some kind.

Alec was never serious. Always sarcastic. If she let herself treat this as a possibility, he'd deliver a punchline. But... she didn't want him to just STOP...

SuePerstar: O...kay...

AH1991: You cannot look away from my eyes. My deep brown eyes. Look still deeper into my eyes.

Her mouth was dry again, and hadn't closed much from her initial surprise. She licked her lips slowly, staring at the words, seeing those eyes. Easy to do, she'd seen them filled with amusement or mischief so many times, and she knew him well enough to know there was a good chance that's how he'd look right this second.

AH1991: Gaze into my eyes. Deeper and deeper into my eyes. You do not want to do anything but gaze into my eyes.

All the sentences were pretty much ones she'd heard from the hypnosis storylines in one cheesy TV show or another. They were cliché. Worn out. Most of them were probably TVTropes page names.

And yet she felt sure they were having an effect.

AH1991: Gaze deeper and deeper into my deep brown eyes. You cannot do anything except look into my calm brown eyes. Feel yourself slip deeper and deeper. You can lose yourself in my eyes.

He just kept typing, and she kept reading, but somehow she was only barely aware of the screen. Maybe it was all in her own mind? Maybe she just wanted to see where he'd take this. The text seemed to appear in her mind in his voice now.

AH1991: You are being drawn deeper and deeper into my eyes now. As you feel yourself drawn deeper you find that my will becomes more and more important, that my words can take control

AH1991: You can feel your own will pushed out of you by my own. Sinking deeper and deeper, pulled further and further into my will, and as you sink, as you are pulled, your own will ebbs away.

He had to be typing as fast as he possibly could. Her heart was thundering in her ears, though his voice came through smoothly as she heard what she read. Her breathing, on the other hand, had become slow, deep, and regular. She squirmed slightly in her seat, but otherwise did not move.

AH1991: You are losing yourself in my eyes.

AH1991: You are losing yourself completely in my eyes.

AH1991: As you lose yourself you become aware that you have no will left to resist.

AH1991: There is only my will.

AH1991: There are only my eyes.

AH1991: You have lost all will of your own.

AH1991: You have lost all resistance to my will.

The little voice in the back of her mind that had warned of a prank was still there, just quietly, telling her to brace for the punchline.

AH1991: You are lost within my deep brown eyes.

AH1991: You are ready to obey my will.

AH1991: If you obey my will respond by typing 'I obey Master'.

AH1991: Reread what you have typed, then press Enter.

Here it comes, part of her insisted. It's a joke. Don't give him the laugh. But part of her was arguing that she should play along for now, and a third part noticed that her fingers were already moving on the keyboard without her involvement. Her eyes played over her message before her middle finger struck the Enter key and sent it.

SuePerstar: I obey Master

It was out there, now, where he could read it. She felt a growing dampness between her thighs, clenching them together and rocking on her chair, enjoying the sensation, even as part of her waited for the dismissal.

AH1991: Good girl.

That wasn't a punchline. That was praise. Sue's lips smoothed into a wide smile. A light came on behind her glazed, vacant eyes.

AH1991: I think you may need proof you were actually under.

AH1991: You're in the computer lab by the art block, aren't you?

SuePerstar: yes

AH1991: Is anyone else there?

SuePerstar: no

AH1991: Has anyone left in the last few minutes, and are there any bags or jackets showing where someone might want to come back?

She tore her gaze from his eyes buried in the screen to check.

SuePerstar: no

AH1991: Take off your bra and leave it just above the keyboard. Tell me you have done so with the phrase “I obey Master.”

Again, her hands were moving before she noticed. She realised her nipples were hard against the fabric, feeling a pleasant jolt as the padding seemed almost to stroke against them on first loosening.

She dared not look down in case the wetness she felt had become a stain.

The bra was set down where it should be.

SuePerstar: I obey Master.

**

Sue gave the barmaid her own food order; steak, seasonal vegetables, some garlic bread on the side to graze at. “Split a bottle with me?” she asked Alec.

“Go on then,” he chuckled. “I'll save you from yourself.”

She added a Bordeaux to the order and passed the menus back to the barmaid, who sauntered off, smiling amusedly – at what, Sue had to wonder.

“Could never have come somewhere like this on a student budget,” she remarked.

He laughed. “Yeah, too right. The food's not much better. But it's enough better to make a difference.”

There was a brief interlude while the bottle of wine was delivered. Alec took the opportunity to tackle the second half of his pint; as the barmaid made her way away, Sue said “I didn't realise you'd left any triggers in,” and Alec spluttered a good chunk of what was left over his shirt in embarrassed overreaction.

**

So. Last night, she'd been hypnotised.

Walking home from the bus stop at a little after six a.m. to finally get some sleep, Sue played that over in her head – as much as she remembered, anyway. That felt like most of it, but it was hard to be sure.

He'd said goodnight and left her to her own devices a couple of hours ago, and she'd hurried back to the art block so she could lock herself in a toilet cubicle somewhere she wouldn't be overheard.

The intervening time had been a strange mix of experimentation, curiosity, euphoria, and frustration. Alec wasn't as adventurous as he might be, and evidently he still felt he'd flown too close to the sun demanding a picture from that American girl. So while being controlled like that had turned out to be the absolute delight some instinct within her had known that it would, she kept feeling like he might go further, while he probed for a limit, then drew back despite finding none.

She had a trigger, now, and she'd persuaded him to try changing how she thought about something, spending a good half an hour convinced that art had no redeeming value and that she was a chemistry student, no matter how he tried to dissuade her. She was glad when her own opinions were restored, but there seemed the gem of something there...

Neither of them were sure whether she had a Master now or if that was just something she was calling him. Neither of them were sure where this might go.

So even with all the uncertainty, she was feeling more than a little optimistic.

Back in her room, she turned to face the mirror, carefully composed her features into her best approximation of her expression under trance, snapped a photo with a phone and sent it to him.

It seemed fun, and a good way of getting her point across, and it let her wonder if there'd actually been a suggestion making her do it.

**

“You remember when we agreed to stop?” Alec asked, dabbing at his spill with a napkin. Sue nodded.

“I did the cleanup, and we erased all those triggers, and all that, and...” He sighs. “I only remembered afterwards, there was another one.

“By the time I worked it out, you were seeing... fuck. The guy with the 80s hair. And I was with Helen. So it would've been really, really awkward to get it erased, and only I could use it. Tell you the truth, I figured it wouldn't work any more.”

Sue nodded. “Kind of a big thing to forget.”

“Yeah, 'fraid so. Sorry. What it was was, I had one trigger that was set up just for situations where you were having a bad time and I wanted to help. You know how you have that thing where you react to hypnosis like Pavlov's fetishist?”

Sue glanced around the bar hurriedly, checking that nobody was in earshot, then nodded slightly. It was true, after all; she'd been known to perk up at a hypnosis sequence on TV, so long as it was better than average.

“Yeah. I built this one to not trip that switch, so I only used it when it was definitely an outside-sexytimes context.

“And when I was taking that stuff out...”

“...you were thinking sexytimes context.”

“Exactly.”

She sighed. “I guess you get points for not using it. I'd have liked to know, though.”

Alec nodded. “I made a lot of dumb calls in the early days with Helen.”

“You make a lot of dumb calls, dude.”

“Says the woman who allowed me inside her head.”

He grinned, that slightly smug grin of his. She looked back at him sternly for a couple of seconds before giving in and laughing. “Alright, alright.”

“Had a lot to learn back then,” he says. “I apologise.”

“But do you know what for?” she asked, in stock recital of a long-running formula.

He made a great show of considering carefully as he finished off his burger.

“Well,” he said. “Let's begin with the stuff that I'm not apologetic for. That'll be easier...”

**

AH1991: You're online early.

SuePerstar: It's just not happening tonight.

AH1991: That sucks.

SuePerstar: Yeah.

SuePerstar: Checking my emails then getting the bus. Time away from it will help me clear my head, I think.

AH1991: Sink, Sleep, Submit, Sue

SuePerstar: yes Master

AH1991: Good girl.

AH1991: When you wake, you will check your emails, continuing to chat to me as if nothing has happened, and go to the bus. You will stay on one stop longer and will walk from there to my flat, where you will knock and drop into trance.

AH1991: You will only realise what is happening if you notice anything out of the ordinary.

AH1991: Do you understand?

SuePerstar: yes Master

AH1991: Good girl.

AH1991: Waking up in three

AH1991: Two

AH1991: One

AH1991: Wake

Sue blinked. There was text in the chatbox that she couldn't quite read, which meant that either Alec had told her to forget something or she'd decided to. She glanced at the clock in the bottom right; she hadn't been under long.

Whatever he'd done, she could figure it out later. If she wasn't supposed to remember it then that was probably fine.

SuePerstar: So no company for you tonight. :P

AH1991: I'll manage.

SuePerstar: Oh, your American girl?

AH1991: She's not around so much these days. Think she found someone she prefers, from what she's said.

SuePerstar: That's a shame.

AH1991: Enh, it could be worse.

SuePerstar: Well, I'm going to have to love you and leave you, dude. Bus is in five. Bye!

AH1991: See you.

**

The others had arrived, and the celebration had gotten up to full swing. Things had gone pretty well, their friend could now officially say he'd had a proper birthday party that year, and everyone had drunk far more than they should, Sue and Alec's head start having lasted only so long.

It was taxis home for everyone, and Sue was one of the last to leave – by deliberate choice. She gave the taxi driver the address and settled back, replaying as best she could in her mind how she had felt and thought back when control was exerted over her by a hypnotist on a regular basis.

When she arrived, she paid the cabbie, got out, and took a moment to arrange her features in as blank and hypnotised an expression as she could, just as she had one early morning five years ago.

She went up to the door and knocked.

Alec took a few moments to answer the door. As he did, Sue allowed herself to wonder, for the fun of it, whether he'd set this up, planted this inside her.

As the door opened, she intoned “Hello, Master.”

Alec looked at her for a long moment. His eyes were smiling before it spread to his lips.

Sue prompted him. “You sent for one last night of fun in her bedroom, Master?”

Alec's smile became a broad grin. “Come in,” he said.

“I obey, Master,” she answered as she stepped in.

Alec said something she didn't catch.

She blinked.

She was climbing the stairs, following him, her hands tied together on the end of a leash he was carrying. The leash was bright red and had a nick in the leather just by the buckle that bound her hands. It was one another partner had used with her; obviously the version fetched by her mind, but for all that it was mental, it felt real enough, and she could and did happily ignore its origins, simply becoming a leashed woman being drawn up the stairs.

It seemed like Master was... more willing to push... than he had been. Had she made a mistake?

Wait. Hang on. His name was Master.

No, Master.

...Damn.

Her thighs squeezed together hard enough to make walking tricky. That let the leash grow tighter, and she almost stumbled, but she maintained her balance in the end.

She was led into a master bedroom that was well decorated and expensively furnished – and obviously neglected. Much of the floor was discarded clothes, male and female alike, and it didn't feel particularly happy; someone had spent a lot of money on the assumption a lot of time would be spent in this room, and it hadn't been lately.

Master held his hand out over the leash that bound her wrists and snapped his fingers. The clasp unfastened and the leash fell away, vanishing before it hit the floor. Doll let her arms drift back to her sides in contentment.

He settled onto the bed. Doll half-posed, half-stood, watching him. Her name wasn't normally Doll, but for the life of her, that was the only name she could remember, and it really did seem right.

Master smiled as he looked her over. “Top,” he said, and Doll needed no further instruction, gripping the fabric of her T-shirt at the waist and pulling it off over her head, arms once again falling to her sides, T-shirt held loosely in a couple of fingers. Doll felt much better not wearing her T-shirt than she had done with it on. It wasn't RIGHT. Not for Doll.

(How much else had Master added? She'd expanded her own kinky repertoire, of course. Had she told him some favourites? Was he using those to key her further? Or did she just like imagining that he might have?)

“Jeans,” he added. The T-shirt fell to the floor as her hands began to move. The belt unbuckled, the button undid, and the zip came down. She wriggled clear, finding that somewhere in her trance she'd slipped off shoes and socks.

Doll came back upright as the jeans hit the ground with the usual crump of fabric. Just bra and panties. They weren't special – and Master deserved special on an occasion like this – but they were what was RIGHT, and she sighed contentedly. He could see her as he wanted, and Doll knew she would soon be played with.

With a grin, he beckoned her over to him. She moved forward, rolling her hips, as seductive and sensual as she should be, and began to crawl up the bed toward him. She could feel her smile grow to match his as she came to a halt, her hands either side of his waist, her knees just slightly splayed around his legs.

“Closer,” he breathed, and, a little disappointed yet happy to obey, she planted her hands further up and leaned forward, halting with her face a couple of inches from his, her body almost touching his along the line.

She smiled expectantly, and so did Master. “Kiss me,” he said, after a moment to register it, Doll leaned in even closer, her mouth opening hungrily to meet his, her body pressing warm and welcoming against his.

His hands came up around her, one at the small of her back, holding her close, the other, tentatively at first, twining into her hair, cradling her head to him, controlling the kiss. Doll felt Master stir against her, and shivered happily.

This was going to be good. She ached to tug at his shirt, throw it aside, to tear off his pants and impale herself on him.

But Master had to order that first; there was only so much she felt she had the flexibility to do to encourage him. She pressed against him harder, working her hips, grinding against the hardness in his pants and feeling it respond even more as she kiss went on.

It was him who finally broke the kiss, but then it somewhat had to be. He tilted his head back, just a little, for a better view of her, grinning happily. Her own expression, she knew, would be as euphoric.

She knew it would go fast from here. She knew Master didn't have it in him to be patient and savour. Right now, she was OK with that.

Doll knew she'd made the right choice that night. She didn't know if it had been her idea or hypnotic prompting, but she didn't truly care.

Kneeling over him, she felt his hands on her breasts, through the cups of her bra, exploring, revisiting old friends. He reached behind her and undid the clasp, then hooked a finger between her breasts and pulled down, drawing the garment down her arms and away from her. Silently, she lifted her arms out of it in turn, allowing him to pull it from his chest where it fell and throw it toward where her shirt and jeans were.

“Shirt,” he said softly.

“I obey, Master,” she answered after a heartbeat, She shifted slightly, sitting back on her thighs, taking the opportunity to let her sex rest firmly on the mound of his erection, hands steadily, slowly, undoing the buttons of his shirt, fingertips and nails giving a teasing caress to each new inch of unveiled skin.

She'd admit, if he asked, that she was goading him, pushing him to step into a higher gear, but though his breathing became ragged he didn't move on but instead let her finish the task she'd begun.

As she finished the main trail, she started to move toward his cuffs, but saw that some time over the evening those had been undone, so she simply sad back again, a vision for him to gaze upward at, damply excited above him.

“Trousers,” Master instructed, his voice a little firmer than a stammer. She climbed off him, settling to one side, and unbuckled his belt in a practiced one-handed style she'd picked up sometime after they parted ways. She knew the reaction it always got from the men who experienced it, and she wasn't disappointed this time.

He arced his hips slightly as Doll began to work his trousers down his legs, “accidentally” taking his underwear with them. If he noticed her overstepping her bounds in such a way, he made no comment, though at that moment Doll only had eyes for the cock she'd unveiled, her hands continuing the task she'd been given only because when you had a Master, you completed the given tasks.

His trousers joined hers on the floor. Unbidden but eager, Doll settled down on the bed beside Master, resting on an elbow, lying full-length alongside him. His arm came around her, fingertip stroking at her arm as he held her loosely.

Doll smiled up at him, awaiting further instruction. In so many ways she'd already pushed this as far as she felt she could.

“Panties,” he said with a grin. She smiled; the arm that wasn't helping support her reached down and, as she pushed her hip off the mattress, her finger hooked her panties, thighs parting slightly to let her peel them away. She pivoted slightly, bringing her lower leg up to slip the panties from off it, and then raised her other leg above him, letting the panties dangle from it with a grin.

Master grinned in turn. “I want you to mount me,” he said, after a moment's hesitation. Doll sighed happily, feeling the compulsion wash over her.

“I obey, Master,” she said, and in one fluid motion she kicked her panties off her foot, scissored that leg over to be straddling him again, and took hold of him in her hand, ready to guide him into her. His breath caught in his throat as her fingers lightly closed around him.

A part of Doll that had a little more awareness than the rest seemed to have been reduced to wondered how long things had truly been going badly with Helen. That part of her saw a man who'd probably have pushed for this, though Doll saw only a Master to be respected and obeyed – and obey she did, guiding him in then sliding down on him, already so wet and ready from anticipation alone.

He reached out, cupping a buttock in each hand, and began to buck his hips, slowly and gently at first but, as she rocked back on top of him, the two found a shared rhythm, and each led the other to up the pace and the intensity, the speed and the fury both mounting steadily.

They drove each other to heights they hadn't had together before, both of them more aware now of what they wanted and needed, both of them working together without words to get it, helped by the fact that Doll's overriding need and source of pleasure was the pleasure of Master. How illicit it was made it all the better, and the room was filled with needs for a while, before with cries of satisfaction from both, the needs turned to delight.

Doll slid from him, but Sue hit the pillow next to him to sleep.

**

The start of their third year, and Sue was back in town a week or so early. So was Alec; Sue, however, still had her rented house to herself, and she'd discussed possibilities with Alec a number of times over the course of the summer.

At least she thought she had. Sometimes her memory of this was... fuzzy. How much of what she decided was actually her decision wasn't something she was sure of and, honestly, she preferred it that way.

The day after she returned she rose earlier than usual, despite chatting with Alec on MSN late into the night, and dressed and re-tidied the house.

At around ten am, she happened to catch sight of herself in the mirror properly.

Lacy green panties and garter belt. Stockings in almost the same shade. A loose, flowing and transparent green babydoll.

She'd bought this set as a surprise for Alec. But it was hardly the right outfit for tidying up, or for -

Was that the doorbell?

Sue flushed crimson. She couldn't wear this to answer the door... could she?

The answer, she found as her shaking hand turned the doorhandle, was 'yes, and wasn't I going to grab a dressing gown first?'

Alec was on the doorstep, and he gave a low whistle as he saw her.

“Wow,” he said. “You said you had something special, but I didn't realise it was anything like that.”

He stepped in, and she fell back a pace to let him through. Closing the door after him, she asked “I said something?”

Alec glanced over his shoulder and nodded with a slight smirk. “Sometimes we have discussions that we decide you shouldn't remember.”

Sue shivered at the idea, unsure whether her reaction was fear or excitement, but leaning toward excitement. “I don't remember much under trance...”

“Oh, I know. Sometimes you forget other things, too. Usually when you give me an idea I really like but I want to surprise you with it.”

“Was this one of those?”

“Only partly.” He turned to her. “I figured we were going to spend a chunk of this week in each other's houses anyway, so why not have a special day to kick it off?”

He grinned. “We're going to order some Chinese in tonight. You actually bought some extra treats for lunch today.”

Sue blinked, and remembered that the empty space in the fridge wasn't empty. “Yes, that's right, I...”

He snapped his fingers, interrupting her answer and her thoughts. “Yes what?”

“Yes Master.”

**

Mornings were always trickier, Sue reflected. But it was kind of a nice change, on a Saturday with Alec, to have him be the one making breakfast. The two of them lounged on the sofas eating heartily, drinking tea, and flipping disinterestedly through the TV channels. Stains could happen, Alec had remarked; he had to be gone Monday morning, anyway.

He'd spent most of the previous day at work trawling flat hunt sites and had a few viewings lined up. “Tomorrow's for moving out,” he said. “Dumping some boxes with Jack, then getting a hotel for a few nights.”

“Well, maybe it's for the best.”

“Yeah. Well, I think so. We're neither of us who we were when we got together. It happens sometimes, I guess.”

Sue nodded.

“And last night helped,” he added. “A lot. Thanks.”

“I won't say 'anytime'.” She grinned. “But you're welcome.”

He nodded.

“One night only,” she warned.

“Like we agreed,” he said, “Only once in her bedroom.”

Fleetingly, Sue wondered at the phrasing there, and then it was gone. “Good.”

They smiled at one another.

“And you've removed that trigger?”

“No more with the non-erotic trance trigger,” he agreed. Sue had another brief flicker of curiosity about phrasing, swiftly stamped out.

“When did we agree this, anyway?” she asked.

“After you got here,” he said. “Sometimes we have discussions we decide you shouldn't remember.”

“I've liked it that way,” she agreed. “There's something about being only mostly certain I signed up for a thing of my own free will.”

Alec nodded.

Sue started to say something else, and Alec interrupted. She didn't quite catch what he said.

Sue blinked.