This fic features a lot of very heavy and questionably consensual kink in essentially a full-blown erotic fantasy world with every aspect of it revolving around different fetishes. If this warning isn't music to your ears then it's probably time to back out. Otherwise, enjoy.

I highly suggest you read it over at ao3: /works/15281859

Also, this is not a porn-without-plot story, though that's not to say there won't be porn. It'll take a couple of chapters to ramp up, but once it does, keep the warning in mind, especially the bold text because if you proceed anyway, it's not my responsibility to click the red X in the top right.

Rachel's life at Blackwell had a lot of ups and downs over the years. Apart from school and drama and her evershifting interests, her will to feel alive and her neverending ambitions, there was a person at the center of everything – Chloe Price.

At first, they were simple friends. That quickly escalated into something more – close friends, best friends, and even lovers. After Max's departure to Seattle, after David turned up in her life, after everything went crashing down onto her shoulders, Chloe found her salvation in Rachel's loyal companionship – and Rachel, in turn, found her own meaning in being Chloe's center and support.

For a while, they thought that they had everything figured out. They'll live together, they'll be together, they will escape to LA together – no matter what. They practically expected to be assigned to each other at maturity, and the only remaining question was about who is going to become the sub. They even had a lot of playfights over that – Rachel always tried to boss her around, but Chloe always found a way to rebel and mess with her somehow. So even when Rachel was effectively in charge of things, it never really felt like she truly was, because in some way it was always because Chloe let her. That was just their endless dynamic.

They were giddy, happy times.

But every good time eventually comes to an end. Chloe was the first to turn 18, and they had another half a year until Rachel did. Normally, the reveal happens for most people within a month after their 18th birthday. Chloe's… was not an exception.

It was crushing at the time that Chloe was paired up with someone else, and someone they barely knew at that – some girl called Megan Weaver that didn't even go to Blackwell. It felt as random as it could have been, but at least Chloe's role made perfect sense.

Showgirl. Which was, essentially, a submissive exhibitionist. Really, the role suited her perfectly – Chloe was all about showing herself off, all about looking rebellious and unconventional, sexy and hot, and independent from… almost everyone. The role did not infringe on that independence whatsoever. She was free to be herself, and the main fetish of her dom, Megan, was to watch and direct the sexy shows she required Chloe to perform for her. Striptease kind of stuff with kinky toys or light bondage. Though she didn't even need to be with her to do it – they've done it through Skype sometimes, which only highlighted the sheer amount of freedom Chloe had as a sub. She could be anywhere in the world without severing the bond. Of course though, Megan exerted some strict control – for example, Chloe wasn't allowed to cum without Megan watching. Megan also had some additions to Chloe's punk-rock look – her nipples were pierced, and so was her clit, and bellybutton, and she always wore a spiky collar now.

And honestly, Chloe was very surprised to like her thing with Megan as much as she did. Maybe she shouldn't have been – the assignments, by nature, are one's path to happiness. Whatever mechanism is behind them, it simply knows better than anyone. That's something Chloe eventually came to realize on practice. Rachel… didn't. The fact that she didn't get matched with Chloe in the way they literally dreamed of for years felt like some sort of a mistake. Can the system make mistakes? Not as far as everyone thought, but it's not like people didn't doubt it either, and for good reasons, like this one. At the time, it didn't seem like Rachel could be happy with anyone else. But of course, she didn't know.

As a result of the Megan thing, fortunately, Rachel and Chloe's relationship didn't end up falling apart – it only ended up regressing, until they simply were best friends again. They still had plans to leave and be together, just not as lovers now. It was hard to accept, especially at first when they had to work through both Megan and the fact that it meant that Rachel would also receive someone else. But the eventual outcome – that they'll be happy without being lovers - was something they both had to accept, simply because of how the writings were supposed to work.

Eventually, Rachel's 18th birthday rolled around. Without Chloe, there was really no doubt in her or anyone's mind that Rachel will become a dom. She was the very responsible kind of person that usually got that role. In terms of fetishes, she wasn't sure exactly what kind of sub she was going to get, and what she even wanted herself – seemingly, it was everything, so she sure spent the first month after the birthday excitedly guessing and checking her wrist all the time.

But nothing happened. A month had passed, two, three, six, a year. She was a few months into 19, and still nothing appeared on her wrist. While not impossible, that was quite rare. Though Rachel was more inclined to think of it as some sort of divine malfunction. Maybe whatever cosmic sorting system was at play here just messed up by not giving her Chloe, and now Rachel had no one else to get.

Though at that point, did it really matter? Rachel stopped guessing and hoping a while ago. She had enough freedom to be herself, to strive for her interests, and Chloe wasn't leaving her no matter what.

Things were probably alright.

Then there was Max.

Max… was another story. Her departure to Seattle didn't just fuck Chloe up – it fucked her up as well. She felt guilty, but she couldn't bring herself to stay in touch. And without Chloe her life kind of declined into a box, from which she barely got out to interact with the rest of the world. There were some acquaintances, someone she might even call a friend with a tiny struggle, but other than that – she was depressed about it, and it was hard to enjoy things, or feel like she deserved to enjoy them when her mind always reminded her of that piece of guilt sitting at the back of it.

A lot of thinking went into their past relationship. What Max meant to Chloe, how she literally meant the world to her…

But there was little to be done in Max's mind about that. At one point she decided to delve into her interests fully – Photography mainly – to at least distract herself from this. And that eventually bore fruit, perhaps ironically, because winning a scholarship at Blackwell meant that Max was going back to Arcadia Bay.

To Chloe.

So, 4 years later, Max was back, and she was back to the middle of Chloe and Rachel's relationship. Chloe turned out to be relatively fine, and even if it took a hurtful conversation or two, having Rachel's support helped her through a lot, which in turn helped Max to put at least some of her guilt behind. A lot remained, but at least she was back, and Chloe didn't refuse her, and Rachel was nice to hang around.

Over the following year, Max was still acting much like she was still in Seattle though. Pretty shut-in, mostly hanging out with only a couple of people other than Chloe and Rachel. Her and Rachel became friends pretty quickly, actually. In Rachel's head, if Chloe was okay with Max despite what she did, then she was okay with Max as well. The same mechanism worked in Max's mind towards Rachel. And that mechanism ended up gradually increasing their closeness too – they were both incredibly important to Chloe, which made them both significantly important to each other.

And, there was the model–photographer relationship brewing too. They even had a couple of photoshoots. Rachel found Max cute and fun, and surprisingly skilled, and Max quietly found Rachel absolutely amazing – in fact, she was sort of an inspiration for some of her photography.

Life was better. Max was there this time to support Chloe with their Megan thing, and ended up helping Rachel through it as well. The guilt, while still present and sometimes resurfacing whenever Chloe cracked a joke about her life and whatnot, or when Rachel talked about their risky shenanigans, remained mostly on the background of things.

The foreground included, apart from Chloe and Rachel, her studies and interests, and interestingly, Max finally started thinking about kink too. Well, it was hard not to in a place like Blackwell – it was prestigious not only because of their exclusive art programs, but also because of their unique sub training courses and state of the art facilities.

It wasn't hard to guess which Max will be, and she was already mistaken a couple of times for a sub at Blackwell. Being a sub was okay with her. Though most of her time was spent quietly hoping for a dom she could very easily very tightly bond with, rather than for a specific fetish Max wanted to live herself. It was… a strange realization after all these years, but she wanted someone to depend on her. Just like Chloe did all those years ago. Perhaps, that would be her way to make up for what she did. She didn't know. What she did know though, was that she felt guilty for thinking that.

A year in Arcadia Bay, and Max was 18 at the end of September. At least she wouldn't have to wonder for much longer after that.