35

Tom felt weird seeing Scarlett. He nodded and muttered a half-hearted hello before following Adrian to his tiny bedroom.

He felt both nervous and excited as Adrian closed the door and locked it behind them, wondering what he'd be forced to do this time.

'Whatever it is, it's worth it,' Tom reasoned.

He had come to terms with the fact he was never going to get out of the platinum league on Day of Dragons. It wasn't that he was bad or under-geared, he just couldn't find a teammate good enough to boost him on his journey to Diamond. He didn't think it would ever happen... until he met Adrian.

Adrian logged on and played his character, boosted by his champion ranked friend, playing his 5 daily games, and winning every single one with ease. In return, all Tom had to do was follow Adrian's orders—orders that he found weird, bordering on creepy.

The first time, Adrian had asked for a foot massage and had laughed at Tom's insistence that this was a foreplay act.

"People are allowed to touch each other without it being sexual," Adrian had pointed out, using massage parlours and sports massages as an example.

Tom guessed the guy was slightly into him, had some weird fetish or wanted to make him feel humiliated. Either way, he'd obliged, and the reward had made it worth the effort.

The next time he'd forced Tom to do push-ups for the entire time he was there. Again, he concluded that Adrian was attracted to him, despite him insisting it wasn't anything to do with being 'gay.'

Having a decent amount of upper body strength, Tom had been able to do a hundred or so push-ups before his muscles started to shake and pucker under his weight. He'd ended up flat on his stomach, drenched in sweat and begging for a break. His muscles still ached now, he realised as he stretched and cricked his neck.

"Today we are going to do something a little more... exciting," Adrian said and grinned.

Tom smiled a humourless grin in return, dreading to think what he meant by this.

"Since I'm going to push you into the diamond league today, I expect you to do something for me, right?" Adrian pressed.

Tom nodded. "Of course. Anything."

Once his character was in the Diamond league, he would have access to a whole new set of gear—gear that was even better than the heroic raiding gear his friends had.

'It's going to blow their minds when they see me,' he thought. There was one girl, in particular, who he wished to impress—a gorgeous and flirty guildmate who didn't know he had a 'real life' girlfriend. She was special to him, even though he only spoke to her over the internet. More special than the stupid girl he was currently sleeping with.

"Here." Adrian passed him a couple of cigarette lighters. "I want you to hold down the flame for twenty seconds then hold it into your skin for twenty seconds. Make the burns wherever you like, but I suggest the lower back so you can hide them under your trousers."

Adrian stared at the see-through purple and green lighters as the words sank in.

'Burns plural?' he questioned. 'How many does he expect me to do?'

"Start now and keep doing it until I say you can stop," Adrian said as if reading his mind.

Tom fumbled with the lighter, igniting it and counting to twenty before lifting his shirt and pulling down his trousers.

"Ah," he let out a sharp hiss as the metal of the lighter seared his flesh. The pain shocked him more than it should have. It was hot metal. How was it not going to hurt?

Adrian chuckled lightly and told him to alternate the lighters so they didn't become too hot to handle.

He didn't want to do another after feeling the first burn mark sting, but as he watched Adrian play for him, he couldn't just turn around and say no.

"Is there not something else I can do?" Tom asked, his voice whiny and pleading.

"No, get on with it," Adrian ordered. "Or I quit."

Tom obeyed, turning the purpled lighter over in his hand before lighting it and counting again. This time he let out a moan of pain, which seemed to please his tormenter.

He wanted to ask why. Why did Adrian wish to see him in pain and self-mutilating?

'Do I really want to know?' Tom wondered as he picked up the green lighter and repeated the painful process. As he added more of the angry red marks the surrounding skin became blotchy. The whole area burned like crazy, making him wonder if it was better to pick a new spot of skin and spread them out.

'I don't want this all over my body,' he realised. Tom took a lot of pride in his appearance. He knew he looked good naked and that girls appreciated his figure. Maybe Adrian was jealous of him. It was either that, or he genuinely enjoyed seeing other people in pain.

When the pain got so bad his hands were shaking and he could barely spin the flint wheel he turned to Adrian.

"Please... it really fucking hurts," he cried, feeling tears prick the back of his eyes. “Please, man.”

"Aww," Adrian cooed with false sympathy. "Beg like a dog and I'll let you stop."

Tom wasn't exactly sure when he meant, never having had a dog to beg for anything. His Mum claimed to hate dogs for the exact reason they were always whining and pestering for food, yet—rather conversely—she was always overjoyed to see a puppy in the street.

He crouched on his knees and raised his hands like paws, face filled with a mixture of confusion and pain.

"Make the whining sound," Adrian demanded, looking down at him with a smirk.

As Tom did his best whiny dog impression Adrian's smirk twisted into a satisfied smile. Then he leaned over and grabbed a jar of co-op 59p salt from the windowsill.

"Put this on the burn," he said.

"Isn't that going to hurt?" Tom asked, eyes widening in horror.

"Yes." Adrian laughed at his expression. "But it will also stop it from blistering up."

Tom poured some of the salt into his palm and took a deep breath before leaning to the side and patting the salt-covered hand over the burns.

The pain was so unbearable he forgot all about the game. Panting in short breaths, he got up and walked in circles, bend over and trying to do anything to ease the searing agony in his side.

"When can I take this off?" he asked.

"When you leave," Adrian replied. "And you can leave now if you like. I just won your fifth match."

"Oh my God, thank you!" Tom squealed, seeing the achievement pop up on his screen, forgetting about the pain for a fraction of a second.

"Go on," Adrian said. "Go sort yourself out."

He didn't say goodbye, just shoved him from his bedroom and left him to find his own way out. It wasn't as if he hadn't been in this house before. He'd visited a lot when dating Scarlett.

On his way out the house was clear, so he decided to grab some of the paper towels from the worktop and soak them in water to wipe the awful salt from the burns.

He had his trousers pulled down when Scarlett emerged from the living room, frowning.

"What the hell?" she asked as he yanked up his trousers in a panic, chafing the burn. The wet paper towels fell to the floor with a splat as she stared in horror.

"S-sorry," he muttered, exiting the kitchen as fast as humanly possible.