Fic: The First Collar - Author's Notes

[xanthefic]

Title: The First Collar
Author: Xanthe
Fandom: NCIS
Genre: Slash
Pairing: Gibbs/DiNozzo
Categories: Angst, romance, AU, BDSM, hurt/comfort
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: This story features lifestyle BDSM, D/s powerplay, and spanking. There are some scenes of sexual cruelty and non-con.
Wordcount: 95,000
Status: The story is complete and is not a work in progress
Posting: As this story is long, I’ll post three instalments a day over four days, starting on Tuesday 16th March. I will post the entire story to my site at www.xanthe.org on the final day, Friday 19th March.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: These characters belong to DPB, CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.
Many thanks to: tejas and annieb1955 for beta. And to nikitariddick, flyingnorth, bluespirit_star and Haggy for audiencing. I am enormously grateful to you all for your kindness, support, feedback, constructive criticism and help. All mistakes are mine. A big thank you also to colleendetroit for giving me permission to use her fantastic graphic, to blackchaps for asking her to make it, and to bluespirit_star for adding the perfect lettering.

Summary: Gibbs is a top with a desperate need to atone for his past mistakes and a habit of collaring the members of his team. Tony is a sub who distrusts all tops and has never yet agreed to wear any top’s collar, not even in play. Sparks fly when they meet for the first time – but will Gibbs be able to protect Tony from a past that is rapidly catching up with him, and will Tony ever trust Gibbs enough to wear his collar?



This story is set in my BDSM universe. It takes place five years before the events depicted in Hiding in Plain Sight . You don't have to have read Hiding in Plain Sight to understand The First Collar. This story is set entirely in NCIS and deals exclusively with the Tony/Gibbs relationship; how they first met, how Gibbs first came to collar Tony, and why he needed it and accepted it. It is the first of my BDSM universe stories to be set on Earth.

Spelling and Grammar
I use UK English spelling throughout my stories, so if you see an extra ‘u’ floating around, or an ’s’ instead of a ‘z’ that’s why. I also prefer to use an extra ‘s’ to denote possession after a name ending in ‘s’ – e.g: Gibbs’s rather than Gibbs’. This is personal preference – both are grammatically correct.

The BDSM Universe
The premise of this universe is that everyone is bisexual and BDSM relationships are the norm – there is genetic hardwiring for both bisexuality and BDSM. Most people identify as either dominant or submissive and this is their choice. They usually discover their orientation at puberty and most experiment to be sure. Some know their orientation much younger, but this is unusual. There is no value judgement in being either one - dominants aren't superior to submissives and both can hold positions of power in society. Switches exist but are much rarer.

When couples get serious about each other, the dominant might ask if they can collar the submissive, and the couple might start eating from the same plate - a significant ritual in this universe called 'sharing a plate'. When they get married, the top receives a gift of a marriage belt, and that is why marriage is sometimes referred to colloquially as 'buckling the belt'.

Some people like bondage, others like pain play, or are into power play, and some have an appetite for more extreme thrills. These nuances are referred to as a person’s ‘dynamic’. It is common for a top courting a sub to place their hand around the sub’s wrist and get a feel for whether their dynamics fit. A sub who enjoys pain play, for example, wouldn’t fit so well with a top whose main focus is bondage and vice versa.

Some people don't identify as dominant or submissive, and they are called 'non-dynamic'. Some people aren't bisexual, and they are called 'monosexual'. People talk about sex much more easily in this universe than in our own, are comfortable with public nudity, and have a different set of sexual standards.

Corporal punishment is used in the workplace, and is a significant part of the legal system. Tops are subject to the same judicial and workplace rules as subs and can be punished in the same way. Subs can hand out punishments too. Being a sub or top does not have any impact on your ability to do your job, or how you handle yourself in your everyday life, any more than our own sexual preferences do. If a collared sub gets into trouble then his or her top can volunteer to take the punishment on their behalf.

I did have to change one small detail in the BDSM-verse. When I first wrote General & Dr Shepherd I had no idea I’d ever expand on the idea, or actually set stories in the BDSM-verse rather than have them crossover into ours, or write the BDSM-verse in fandoms other than SGA! So I’ve had to alter one tiny detail from G&DS which proved unworkable once writing the story in a law enforcement setting back on Earth. That detail was the use of prisons as a punishment for crime. Legal corporal punishment is still a cornerstone in this society for dealing with workplace screw-ups and law-breaking, but prisons also exist.

My inspiration for this society was my own experiences on the BDSM scene, meeting people in 24/7 D/s relationships. I wondered what it would be like if such a thing was the norm, and that is how I originally came up with the idea for General & Dr Sheppard.

Things to bear in mind about this universe
It’s a fantasy. I’m not making a case for such a universe being better or worse than our own. I’m not even saying this is what a BDSM/bisexual universe would be like if such a thing existed. This is just the way I wanted to write this universe.

These stories are primarily intended to be romantic and escapist in tone. The entire universe is, and is intended to be, a fantasy, requiring a willing suspension of disbelief.

In the interests of story flow and accessibility I don’t concentrate a great deal on instruction into the finer points of lifestyle BDSM or differentiate between different styles of BDSM particularly. These stories are not a how-to guide. If you want to understand more about lifestyle BDSM, please do your own research at sites like www.bondage.com.

The people in this universe have been shaped by a different kind of society, so while I keep them broadly in character, insofar as I see those characters, they are not the same as the characters we know from the shows. The universe is an AU. Not all the events in canon universe have happened in the same way in this universe, or have happened at all.

This universe will not be to everyone's taste. It seems absolutely fine to me that some people won’t like it - they should therefore not read these stories. I’m really just having a lot of fun with this universe and hope people read the stories in that spirit.

Other Stories in the BDSM Universe

Hiding in Plain Sight
Coming Home
General & Dr Sheppard

Comments

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