Chapter 8

I wasn’t even going to try to tell him that I could walk.

Even though I could walk.

It probably wasn’t a good idea to let him start carrying me, but he was being so sweet and I kind of liked the way he’d just taken charge and decided it was time to get me cleaned up. I didn’t have to worry about what should happen next or how to move the evening along.

Those were the hardest part of dating sometimes and not having to worry about them was almost as wonderful as being filled and spanked.

Almost as good.

I hadn’t been planning on explaining that since it sounded ridiculous, but as Master set me down in my small bathroom, I realized he seemed to have noticed. One tentacle came up to pet my head and he had a studious expression on his face. “Your level of submissive engagement adjusted. Please explain.”

Submissive adjustment?

Oh.

“Um, well…” Shoot. He’d noticed.

Wondering if I could explain it without sounding stupid, I tried to sort through the options. “I liked how you took charge and decided I needed a shower.”

Okay, that hadn’t been too bad.

Master must’ve realized I wasn’t done because he waited patiently and kept petting my head. “Sometimes…sometimes when I’ve dated other humans, they don’t take charge of things like that and it makes me worry. I don’t know what to do next and I get stressed. That kind of ruins the scene.”

Deciding that hadn’t come out too badly, I let out a breath and stopped worrying obsessively over it. Master wasn’t looking stressed and nothing about his reactions said he was upset about hearing about my past dating failures.

After a few moments, he shifted and I got a hug. “It is a common trait for submissive humans to find decision-making to be stress inducing.”

He got it.

Relaxing into him, I nodded. “Yeah, I do really well at making decisions at work. Honest. I’m a good employee, but everything outside of that is hard.”

I didn’t want him to think I was useless, but dates and relationships weren’t the same as deciding what to work on next or how to handle a problem that’d come up. There were just some people that couldn’t understand the difference.

Master made a soft, almost thinking sound and tightened his hug. “You are a very proficient employee. The human mate Nicholas spoke highly of you.”

When?

Guessing the nosy bastard had been gossiping before I’d even decided to go to the dinner, I realized it wasn’t worth complaining about or questioning at the moment. “I’m glad.”

He was such a brat.

“I would ask that you remember I find happiness in making decisions.” Shifting his hold on me so I was looking up at him, Master looked serious as he stroked his limbs over me. “That is one area of happiness I am not confused on. My place on the ship required providing extensive decisions and it was not displeasing. My species is also…wired differently.”

Enunciating the phrase slowly like it was Greek instead of English, he looked proud of himself when he got it out. “I was explained that by a human.”

Yep, we were definitely built very differently.

“It is an odd expression that means I will not react the same way humans would.” He didn’t seem to mind explaining the obvious since I’d missed it. “I must restrain myself from making excessive decisions for humans.”

He gave a liquidy shrug that made me smile. “Most humans do not appear as if they are…confident decision-makers.”

We were all indecisive subs compared to them.

Yep, that shouldn’t have surprised me.

Frowning and looking adorably confused, he sighed. “Most are even non-decisive in grocery decision-making.”

We must’ve driven him nuts on a regular basis.

“That’s probably stressful since most of the time you can’t help.” I’d never be able to put myself in his shoes on that one, but I could tell from his expression how painful it was. “Most people don’t realize they’re stressing you out, though.”

And most didn’t understand how stressed they were making themselves.

Master sighed again. “I am filled with self-restraint.”

Yep.

“You don’t have to have self-restraint with me, though.” Ignoring how stupid that’d sounded and the red flags that were almost neon they were so bright, I kept going. “I like it when you make decisions for me.”

That was going to come back and bite me in the ass, but I couldn’t hold it in. He was so sad about not being able to help more people.

Limbs stroked over me more excitedly and it was almost like I could feel him getting lighter. “I am confident that is something that will make me happier, my Theo.”

I was an idiot…but I was an idiot with a very happy…boyfriend?

All I could do was snuggle against him and ignore the very logical points that popped up in the back of my head. I didn’t care that it could backfire. He was happy and I was getting lots of cuddles. I’d figure out how it would go wrong later.

Much later when future Theo would just roll his eyes and grumble about what an idiot past Theo had been.

“I’m glad, Master.” Yes, we’d just work on finding lots of ways he could make decisions for us.

It would be fine.

Yes, I could draw reasonable boundaries and tell him no if it came down to it.

Hopefully.

As long as he didn’t look sad.

After getting a kiss on the head and a few more snuggly hugs with wandering limbs that reminded me just how half-naked I was, Master relaxed his hold on me. “My first decision-making task is to let you know that you must be bathed.”

Definitely.

“Yes, Master.” My immediate agreement made him puff up with pleasure.

“Then you shall explain your physical sleeping preferences and nighttime relaxation rituals.” He said it so confidently I had a feeling he’d read that from some sort of manual. “Humans sleep in a variety of clothing and some even use sounds or music to be at ease.”

“I can do that.” Yes, that wouldn’t be hard. “I’ll tell you how I like to sleep.”

I managed to do that in a reasonable way most nights, but I wasn’t going to confess about the times I’d fallen asleep on the couch because going to bed was sometimes hard.

Nope.

I wasn’t going to confess those bad decisions unless I absolutely had to.

“Good boy, my human.” After giving me a pat on the head, his limbs went to work stripping me.

There wasn’t much to take off, just my shirt and my socks, but somehow removing those made me feel much more naked. He didn’t miss my shiver or the way my dick tried to puff up and his my human is doing something interesting look came back. “My Theo?”

Before he could figure out how to ask the question that was forming in his head, I just answered. “I liked being fully naked in front of you. It made me feel…”

Telling him I felt more naked wouldn’t make any sense, so I tried another way to describe it. “It made me feel more submissive. I think because you’re wearing clothes still, but I’m not sure why exactly.”

I wasn’t sure if that would confuse him but he made a quiet, understanding sound. “Humans often have emotions and desires that cannot be accurately explained or quantified. We will catalog the event and note repeat sensations moving forward. Data will provide us information. Do not worry. I will understand you.”

He looked entirely too passionate about understanding me.

Oh, my desire was going to be Master’s new project?

There was nothing logical to say to that without sounding paranoid, so I nodded. “Thank you, Master.”

More neon flags.

I was starting to see why Nicholas had talked about setting boundaries so many times.

Still looking pleased as punch, Master puffed up and reached for the shower nob. “You are welcome. I am highly adept at research-based decision-making. It was my specialty before I became a leader.”

Fuck.

I’d found a fucking scientist.

“What kind of research decision-making did you do?” That might not have been the right question to ask but it was the closest I could figure out as he steered me toward the shower and pulled back the curtain.

“Let me evaluate my word knowledge.” Looking adorably thoughtful, he helped me into the shower and closed the curtain just enough that we wouldn’t flood the room as he reached his tentacles inside of it.

As he turned me in the spray and wet me down, he made thinking sounds that were so cute I couldn’t help smiling.

“The human delight at water-based activities and play is fascinating. You are not…there is a word…aquatic?” He clearly thought I was happy because of the shower but I wasn’t sure telling him he was cute would come across right.

“That’s the right word.” Yep, vocabulary was a better topic. “I’m not sure why we like being in the water so much. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone try to explain that.”

“We shall study the topic.” Reaching for the shampoo, he took control of my body and tilted my head back.

It was the weirdest shower ever, but the way he controlled everything that was happening was doing crazy things to me. I wasn’t sure if it should’ve been pushing me toward subspace but it was. Master didn’t seem to question it, though. He just made pleased sounds as he went back to our original topic.

“I do not have the correct vocabulary to explain it in the right details, however, a close description would be to say I evaluated projects to determine which would be most useful.” He didn’t seem to mind not having the exact word that time.

“I know what you’re talking about.” I cleaned the office of the guy who did that for the university. “I think we call it different things depending on where the job is, like if it’s for the government or the university system. That’s an important job.”

Because scientists couldn’t always be trusted to logically know where the money should go.

Master puffed up again as he started massaging shampoo through my hair. “I am pleased to see that you understand.”

And he was pleased that I thought he was smart.

“You’re used to making lots of decisions for people.” Closing my eyes as I tried to keep my moans to a minimum, I ignored the shiver that raced through me. “I’m not sure if it’s logical but I think that makes me worry less about wanting you to make decisions for me.”

I wasn’t exactly a job but it kind of felt like his hobby was making decisions.

And I was definitely a hobby.

One that could take up a lot of his time if I played my cards right.

His thinking sound made me smile. “I’m glad to make you worry less. I am also realizing that decision-making is another activity that brings me happiness. You are very smart to help me with that, my Theo.”

Giggling between moans, I knew my reactions were probably confusing but I couldn’t help it. He was so cute and he was making me feel so good. “I…thank you, Master. I…I like helping.”

That shouldn’t have been so hard to get out, but I’d struggled.

Then I made the smart choice and stuck with moans.

Words were too hard to keep track of when he was caressing the conditioner through my hair. There just wasn’t another way to describe what he was doing to me and that was before another limb or three started rubbing bodywash over me.

My dick couldn’t seem to decide if it was supposed to be relaxing or getting excited, and my brain was having a similar debate about subspace. Master didn’t mind my confusion, though. Based on what seemed to be a laugh as he teased the head of my dick, he seemed to be enjoying it.

“Humans are delightful.” He gave the half-hard and confused toy a squeeze. “You have so many interesting features. You are curious and enjoy erotic pleasures. You even have a variety of foods to consume based on cultural regions.”

Hmm.

That was basically humans in a nutshell.

Stupidly horny.

Dangerously curious.

And we’d eat nearly anything as long as it seemed interesting.

When I looked at it from that perspective, I wondered how we hadn’t killed ourselves eating something stupid yet or just poking the wrong animal.

Humans should’ve never made it past the smart monkeys with tools stage of our development.

But as I moaned, I told myself I’d tell him about my weird thoughts later. I didn’t have quite enough working brain cells at the moment to do anything else. Master was killing them off one by one as he got me squeaky clean and I was down to just a handful of working cells when one tentacle slipped inside me.

And there they went.

And there I went.

My dick had decided it was going to play, after all.

“Master.” With anyone else, having fun in the tub would’ve been stupid, but when my legs went wobbly, Master wrapped one tentacle firmly around my waist.

It was helpful, which I appreciated since I didn’t want to die in the tub, but it was also sending more confusing signals to my dick.

He liked us being tied up.

I liked that he liked us being tied up.

Master liked that we were all enjoying ourselves too.

“You are very receptive, my submissive.” His voice was deeper or rougher somehow and that made everything even better. Between making Master happy and getting all kinds of happy myself, I was loving bath time.

This was definitely a do-again adventure.

“Let us make sure you are well-tended and ready for sleep.” The tentacle currently fucking me was pulsing and teasing my prostate like some kind of toy, making it clear what he meant by well-tended. “Humans require sufficient amounts of exercise to sleep soundly.”

I loved exercise.

I loved vibrating tentacles.

And I loved having a Master who was strong enough to keep me upright when the dry orgasm he sent rocketing through me tried to take my knees out.

Best first date ever.