Captured Effortlessly (Ain't Nobody)

Chapter 1 - I Needed Someone

A/N: This was supposed to be a short one shot. It got out of hands a tiny bit...

After Train Me reached the end of its second cycle, I had a few ideas that I wanted to explore with these specific versions of Tin and Can. These ideas wouldn't fit the mood or the dynamic of the main story.
I thought I could easily contain these ideas and post them in a collection of one shots over time, when I can't focus on the longer stories. But then, it just got longer and longer.

This story came to be, because I don't expect Tin and Can of the "Train Me" universe to ever go out and interact with any parts of the BDSM scene. But I had this vision of Master Kirakorn both mesmerising and confusing people in the scene with his own approach. So I wanted to get him to interact with other people in that role. The club and the setting of this story has evolved from that starting point.

In this story, Can's asexuality is much more pronounced than in "Train Me". So, while there will be explicit scenes related to BDSM (and some mirrors and variations of what happens in "Train Me"), there will not be any smut in the completely traditional sense. (I might add a bonus at the end, if I feel like it - though it would be inside the boundaries that their relationship sets.)

The main focus on this story is Can/Tin - but I couldn't resist bringing in Techno and Kengkla, and attempt a bit of a fix-it of that mess. (It didn't end up getting discussed in the fic itself, but I personally think that their relationship as depicted here still isn't entirely healthy. And Can is probably a little bit blinded by the fact that Techno is his friend, and he actually knows it.)

The title as well as chapter titles were taken from this song (I wrote the story before I chose the song, but I was surprised how well it fit in the end):

"No, Pete, forget it."

With a frustrated sigh, Tin looked at his best friend's smiling face. How Pete could always just smile, no matter whether people were nice to him or not... Tin would never understand that.

But... he sighed again, it always got to him.

Calling Pete his best friend was only telling half the story. Pete was his only friend. And right now, Tin would really have liked the distraction of having a good meal and maybe a few drinks with Pete to unwind.

Tin had just worked through three days of tense negotiations with the only movie production company worth collaborating with in Thailand – a fact that they were very well aware of – and finally, he had succeeded in securing a deal that would allow him to greenlight his first two movie projects without risking bankruptcy.

He knew that if these movie projects succeeded, his company would soar to the top of the entertainment industry, supported by the dramas and the idol groups he already had on his portfolio. He was confident in these movies – and with the crucial collaboration deal he had now secured, they had a high chance of success.

Sometimes, he still caught himself scared shitless, though; of his decision to leave the Medthanan name and family behind and start his own company. If he failed, if that negotiation hadn't come through, he might have had to sell off some of the assets he had inherited.

Not that he would care about the real estate, losing the houses and apartments he hated would be a relief – but he wouldn't be able to show himself in polite society again after that.

People would all go "I told you so" on him. It wouldn't matter that his company was solidly positioned and well-funded in general. If he had to touch the cursed Medthanan assets to alleviate a temporary pressure, people would call him a failure and an embarrassment.

He had barely shut an eye in the last three nights, and just as he sat in front of Pete at the café, it felt like reality was slowly slipping away from him, like a movie he watched, not participated in.

And now, Pete... instead of just humouring him with a nice dinner and a bit of distraction, hopefully enough for Tin to find sleep afterwards, Pete had suggested he accompanied him to an event at "the club".

Tin sneered just at the thought of it, not caring whether Pete saw it.

It was bad enough that Pete had gotten involved with that middle-class guy, and had rejected Tin's offer to become his partner instead. No... Pete and his undeserving boyfriend had started frequenting a certain club – Tin knew just enough to know he didn't want to have anything to do with it.

He understood the significance of the chokers Pete wore around his neck now, all the time – barely concealed collars, symbols of submission.

"Please, Tin. You know I care about you and I want to help you unwind after your negotiation, but tonight is Master Kirakorn's demonstration. It is so rare that he does one. Ae and I have been going to the club for over a year and we have never even seen the Master in person. Everyone says he's a legend."

And there he went again, about the club and Masters and... Tin had a hard time understanding what it gave to Pete, getting his butt spanked for being a bad boy by his boyfriend or whatever they did, and even enjoying it, would you think of that.

He shuddered.

No... no way he would go to the club with Pete.

But... for some reason, becoming a sub or whatever it was called, had made Pete more confident and infinitely sassier than before – Tin couldn't understand how getting humiliated and tied up and spanked could increase your confidence, but then, there had always been parts of Pete that Tin just hadn't understood.

The point was... Pete was sassy now, and he had the nerve to negotiate with Tin after a hard business negotiation.

Tin couldn't go home and lie awake in his bed for another evening, until the sleeping pills would hopefully knock him out for the night, and everything would resume tomorrow, just the same stress, the same risks, the same employees who couldn't even follow simple orders... maybe Tin should send them to Pete's club instead. They could certainly learn a thing or two there, if Pete's stories were something to go by.

"Why should I spend my hard-earned free evening with you watching some guy calling himself Master and beat the shit out of gullible people like you? I thought your boyfriend was already your Master?"

"Ae isn't my Master, he's just my Dom, that's different."

"I don't care. I'm not going."