Sean's skin is a beautiful, intimidating canvas. Viggo remembers the first mark he put on it -- an accidental bruise on the front of Sean's hip. More bruises followed, and they graduated past bruises that happened by accident and into bruises that were very much on purpose. Later, when bruises weren't enough, Viggo learned how to cut.
He's been cutting Sean for a while, but Sean wants something more. I want something more real, Sean said recently. Bruises fade. Cuts heal.
Viggo makes two cuts meant to scar. Two cuts that meet at a forty-five-degree angle. A V on Sean's chest.