A/N: nearly there. I really want to get onto the comfort part of the whole hurt/comfort so will post the last couple of Arc 1 chapters over the next couple of days. However, these last two chapters are the climax of arc 1, so they are the worst of it. Therefore, an actual trigger warning for this chapter for sexual assault. 

Sawyer hadn't told him anything more by the time they got home, though he instructed him to shower his filth off him and go to the playroom.

He knelt, his head down, keeping his breathing calm when Sawyer entered. It didn't do any good to get silly about taking his punishments. It only made them worse.

"You enjoyed yourself tonight. Showing everyone in the club what a desperate, needy whore you are. Coming in your pants like that. Christ."

Gabriel was red with shame but, as usual, he couldn't prevent the warm coil inside him. The one that made the humiliation ten times as bad because he knew, above everything else, that he shouldn't be enjoying the words Sawyer was saying as much as he was – as his body was.

"But you can't just do that. You know you don't own your pleasure. I do. So you'll be punished. But I think I want to make your punishment fitting. Plus, you will be reminded that you're mine to do anything I want to with. Anything at all."

Sawyer's voice was a low threat. He was dangerous this way; when he was truly showing off how much power he had over Gabriel. But Gabriel had already learned that his only real option was to take it. For so many reasons: his own needs, his own desire to do the right thing and take the punishment his behavior had earned, his own desperation. But Sawyer's too. Sawyer's needs, and the current of loneliness that Gabriel could see, regardless of how well he hid it. Gabriel had just enough self-preservation to know that mentioning it would be a truly bad idea, but he made himself aware, and he adapted to Sawyer's needs.

Gabriel was nervous of this punishment. He had several marks on his back that hadn't healed yet. But he'd take whatever his Master saw fit. And if he'd allow himself to feel some pleasure before the pain took over, that was for himself. Sawyer might think he had everything, but Gabriel was still able to keep small parts to himself. Sawyer didn't need yet more ammunition.

"Climb on the bench," Sawyer instructed, and Gabriel crawled over and positioned himself, not even flinching now when his wrists and thighs were tied tightly to the piece of furniture. He couldn't move, he knew that, but he still wriggled out of habit, and because he knew Sawyer expected it.

The nerves were probably why Sawyer had no difficulty in sliding his limp cock into the spiked cage. He allowed that it felt strange that his emotions about the cage made him sure he was calmer about what was to come, locked away like that.

He did suck in air when a blindfold soothed over his eyes, blocking the dim light of the room. There was a thumb pressing against his jaw then, and his mouth reflexively opened and was filled. He felt the straps being tightened around his head and explored with his tongue, relieved that it was a ball gag rather than a ring. Sawyer stroked his cheek for a moment – a soothing motion as he guided Gabriel's head to lay against the bench.

"Relax. This is happening. Don't fight it, or your next punishment will be a lot worse."

That made Gabriel truly nervous, finally. Sawyer didn't usually warn him; just expected him to take what he was given. If he felt the need to actually remind Gabriel that his only choice was to get through it, that wasn't exactly a good sign.

He felt Sawyer's hand on his back, running exploratory fingers along his sensitive flesh, and he waited for a rough strike. He did receive a slap, though it wasn't hard; barely made him jump – that or the several firmer ones that followed.

Gabriel's head always got a little fuzzy when he was being struck, and it took him more than a few moments to realize he could hear voices in the room. He didn't want anyone to see his punishment, and tried fruitlessly to wriggle out of the bonds that he knew weren't about to get any more gentle. There was a different strike then – not a hand. Probably a crop – the single tiny stinging square moving around his ass and thighs, even a couple against the exposed pads of his feet.

Then a new sensation, and he thought it was a flogger, though it was interspersed with something that felt like a paddle. He could still hear the murmur of voices, but no words, and he knew it was partly because of his own distracted ears, but also because the voices were low. They didn't want to be heard by him, that much was clear.

The feeling of something slick at his entrance made him wriggle again, in confusion. Sawyer liked to hurt him during his punishments, but he didn't use toys on him. He'd said he needed all his focus to make sure he was giving Gabriel enough pain for it to be considered a punishment, what with him being such a desperate whore for pain.

So something warm and slick being pushed into him was a new sensation in a situation like this, and he didn't know how he felt about it, here, in front of these people. But he had no way of escaping. No way of even suggesting he didn't want it, other than gagged murmurs that he knew would be ignored. He thought again about what Jules had mentioned about safewords. He didn't know what it meant, though he could make a rough guess. He didn't have one though.

The probing became more insistent, and he realized it was a slick finger pushing into him. He hoped it was Sawyer, with the voices getting a little more rowdy, but he suspected it wasn't. Not just because it felt thicker than Sawyer's elegant finger, but because he knew Sawyer would love to see him shamed, and having fingers enter him from someone he didn't know was pretty high on his mental list of humiliating things. He'd guarantee Sawyer was already fully aware of that, despite that they'd ever discussed it.

He could take it though, and the fingers – three now – inside him actually felt good. Really good. It made his head clear for a moment, and he could hear Master Matthew's voice.

"Damn Sawyer, he feels good. So tight."

One of the others laughed. "Just because you keep your own boy sloppy with how much you fuck him."

Matthew seemed to take it in good humor, laughing back. "Well, if you had someone who moved their hips like Jules does, you'd be buried in him twenty-four seven too."

One of the others again: "I'm surprised Sawyer can keep out of this one. The way his hips went in the club. He's got some talents."

"He's not for that," that was Sawyer, his voice contemptuous, and Gabriel tried to shrink away, until he continued with a sneer in his tone: "He's too special for such base demands."

Gabriel's head swooped at that, though he apparently wasn't the only one confused by the contradiction.

"So, uh, what's this?"

"Oh," Sawyer laughed darkly, "this is different. This is a punishment."

"What did he do?" That was Matthew again, sounding increasingly confused, but continuing to work his fingers, deep but tenderly stroking and stretching Gabriel's insides.

Sawyer didn't respond for a minute, and Gabriel guessed he was deciding how much to reveal. It made him feel better, knowing it wasn't just him who Sawyer treated as less; as not deserving.

He finally said, "Details aren't important. It's my decision."

"But," Matthew sounded uncertain, and his fingers stilled, "he agreed to this, right? He knows what his punishment is?"

"I'm sure he's worked it out by now," one of the others laughed and the other joined in, but Matthew's fingers left his body, and he wiped slick off on Gabriel's hip.

"Yeah, man, I'm- like, I'm not really into doing something like this without his consent. I'm just gonna..."

The other two tried to get him to stay, though Sawyer was conspicuously silent, but Gabriel heard the distant slam of the door moments later. There was soon a new hand on him, again not Sawyer's – too heavy and rough.

"I think the pussy worked him over enough. He's ready. Any rules?"

"I've suspected for a while he doesn't really have what it takes to be a real Dom," Sawyer said in a supercilious tone. "You aren't allowed to mark him up. That's my job. Use a condom. Other than that you can be as rough as you want. I expect him to feel his punishment for a few days."

Gabriel gulped as well as he could behind the overlarge ball gag, cool drool rolling off his chin. At least no one would be using his mouth. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to disassociate from that. The rest was easy. Easier than when he did it when Master went too hard with the whip, and he had to send himself away so the pain didn't become too overwhelming.

This wasn't even painful. A little unpleasant, sure, as whoever was going first slammed in with a total disregard for pace or comfort, but a nasty burn and a sharp pain in his stomach was really the least of what Gabriel was able to cope with. He was even able to mentally step back and find it objectively interesting that the burn wasn't arousing him.

Obviously, Sawyer didn't do this. The most he penetrated Gabriel with was the occasional plug or dildo, and it was the, possibly only, thing that he took great care with; always being careful to make sure Gabriel was ready. Even though it didn't happen often, Gabriel loved it. He felt worshipped in those all too brief moments.

Now, the worst moment was the one that forced him back into his own head, his mind unable to stay distant. Of course that would happen when whoever it was came, swelling hot and intimate inside him. He'd barely pulled fully out before the other one was there, even more brutal, making comments about sloppy seconds, despite the condoms, that had Gabriel blushing despite himself.

The first one made some more lewd comments, but Gabriel noticed that Sawyer still didn't join in. He couldn't see, of course, but he thought he could sense Sawyer over to the side, by the bed, watching silently. The other two made up for it, acting like they were in a locker room or something with their lewd comments. Gabriel thought they maybe even high fived each other as they began the second round.

By the time he was being fucked for the fourth time, Gabriel was thankful Matthew had chosen to leave. The rawness inside him was getting worse and his knees and wrists were sore from being held in position. He couldn't fight it though. Even if he wasn't gagged, he didn't get to choose what happened to his body. It was Master's choice to make decisions about. And he wanted to see Gabriel humiliated. If he revealed just how much he hated it...it wasn't about not letting Sawyer have his pleasure – take his pleasure from Gabriel's body in whatever form he saw fit – but if he knew just how bad it was, this might happen more often. Gabriel could cope with one time, but he didn't want it to become a regular thing.

Finally, the man pulled out, slapping Gabriel's butt hard as he popped free.

"That's enough," Sawyer announced, closer than Gabriel had realized.

The two grumbled for a minute, but it only took a low "Out!" from Sawyer and Gabriel could hear them scurrying to get their clothes on.

They shouted goodbyes, trying to sound casual, but Gabriel could hear – maybe because of the blindfold giving him focus – the tremble in their voices. It made him feel better. It was alright that Sawyer scared him a little. Sometimes. Because he scared them, too, and they were his friends, not just his whore, like Gabriel.

When they were alone in the apartment, Gabriel felt a more gentle, tender hand at his back, stroking down his aching spine.

"Let's get you sorted out."

A/N: no, you aren't missing it if you're wondering - Gabe has been conditioned - he wouldn't even call that assault, but it definitely was, on top of being horrendous BDSM etiquette from everyone concerned