Tying the knot

Home is where the hurt is: Part 1

In terms of tie whump, I can offer something close to tie fluff

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Okay, not waking up with Zayne in his bed was a small blessing in the morning, but having him sit casually at the kitchen table wasn’t really doing wonders for Jay’s morning moods either.

He was sure Zayne was just waiting for him to leave so he could get into bed. You aren’t being sneaky about it, man. Luckily, this wasn’t an everyday occurrence – at least not while he was aware of it – but this thing with ‘Zayne’s house’ being demolished really razed his sense of safety and privacy to the ground as well. Mornings used to be the one time he didn’t have to be on the alert. Used to be.

Now he just got to stay on his toes for the entire goddamn day.

Joy.

He glared at Zayne through the open door. The nuisance leered back.

With a sigh, Jay just focused on getting dressed and getting out the door.

But when he grabbed his tie and popped his collar up, Zayne popped up too.

He jumped up from his chair. “Let me help.”

“No.” Handing him a noose? Hell no.

But Zayne just walked up to him, holding out his hand. “Come on.”

“What, you know how?” Jay asked, skeptical and still looking for an excuse; he really didn’t want to hand it over.

“I watched a YouTube vid.”

“For me? You really shouldn’t have.” Because this obsession now got kinda creepy. He was way too enthusiastic about this. Zayne already kept him on a leash with it, literally. Jay knew he fucking liked it. Whenever he wore his tie Zayne found a reason to pull him in close by it. Even when he didn’t really do anything, he couldn’t help running his fingers over it, slowly creeping up towards his throat, the threat always there, or just gripping it tight to hold him close and letting it slip out of his palm again. Jay pretty much started avoiding wearing one in order to avoid such close encounters.

Yet now Zayne’d found a new way of playing around with it to the point where he’d watch a tutorial. Probably a perfect How-to-creep-Jay-out vid.

“It’s that or I can tighten it around your throat without elaborate knots.”

“What a gentle way to say strangle.” But Jay relented and handed him his tie. Before things turned… ungentle.

Zayne draped the fabric around Jay’s neck, pulling him in a little closer by the ends. He tipped Jay’s chin up with barely a touch of a crooked finger, caught his eyes and fondly smiled down on him.

Jay’s stomach tightened at the close proximity and the open access to his throat.

Come on, just get this over with, he thought as Zayne kept fidgeting, the smooth material sliding back and forth over the collar of his neck as Zayne tried to decide on the length of the ends.

But besides that, nothing really happened yet. He just heard the soft shwishing sounds of the fabric being pulled back and forth and Jay was sure his collar was about to catch on fire because of all the friction with Zayne’s hemming and hawing.

“Are you stalling?”

“Do I make you uncomfortable?” Zayne shot back in a soft murmur, still focused on his task.

Both were true and both men avoided answering. Yes, Jay was uncomfortable and yes, Zayne was already quite lost at the first step.

He twisted the ends of fabric over each other, left and right, up and down, Jay’s brow furrowing deeper with each attempt.

Until Jay brought his hands up with a sigh, closed them around Zayne’s and guided them in the right direction.

“Wide over narrow,” he said, guiding him through the motion. He could already see the end results if Zayne were to succumb to impatience here – wide over narrow or whatever and just fucking pull – and helping him could avoid that and bring this awkwardness to an end sooner.

“Oh yeah.” Zayne lit up a little and with the first step correctly done, it triggered the memory for the next steps. Nothing too fancy, thank god. Jay’d almost worried he’d watched the most difficult vid and that he was going to end up with half a rose or something.

Zayne glanced up, keeping a mischievous eye contact as he slowly pulled the wide end through his knot and tightened it. And, to Jay’s surprise, he stopped and merely pressed it snugly against his throat.

“There,” he said with a sly smile, and folded Jay’s collar down. “Don’t say I never do anything nice for you.”

Jay checked himself in the mirror. The knot was a little thin – he adjusted it carefully – but overall, a good first try. “Not bad,” he admitted, but refused to further spell out his thanks. This really shouldn’t be a recurring thing. He picked up his jacket, before Zayne would get any other ideas and hold it up for him to dress him, and shrugged it on.

“Busy day?” Zayne asked sweetly.

“Kinda,” Jay said absentmindedly as he roamed about the flat checking to see if he had everything.

“Well…”

Jay’s eyes snapped up at the dangerous tone.

“I’ll make sure you can relax tonight,” Zayne continued, now standing behind him and softly turning him around.

“By staying away?” Jay tried without hope.

Zayne’s finger buried itself under the knot of Jay’s tie, but didn’t pull it loose, not after his hard work. He just hooked it, knuckles resting against Jay’s throat, keeping him close.

“No, no,” he cooed and Jay was sure he could feel him swallow hard. “It’s such a rare occasion for you to wear this lately,” he pulled lightly at the tie, “figure I should make use of it. And, you know, I’ll let you return this favour.”

His fist curled, knuckles pressing harder against Jay’s windpipe as a prelude for the evening. “You will not take this off. That’d be rude.”

He pulled back with a grin as Jay tried to nod and shake his head at the same time.

And Jay scurried out of the flat, his tie weighing him down for the rest of the day like a chain around his neck.

-

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