Chapter 13

Dean

Tate was explaining it because Joel knew he usually didn't make sense?

Tate was explaining it because he was the only all-the-time Dom?

No. I didn't want to know.

"Joel is going to jump in at any point if I'm wrong about this, but generally speaking, I think he likes the idea of being played with like that only because we're with him. That's what makes it actually erotic enough for him to want to do. Without us…let's call it breathing the fantasy to life…he'd just walk into the store, buy a cage, and walk out slightly confused about why the guy wanted to flirt with him."

The way Joel's eyebrows went up said he thought that would be confusing and probably awkward. "He'd want to flirt with me by myself? Why would someone do that?"

Huh?

"Does he not know he's sexy to people other than us or is this a why would the guy flirt with a stranger thing?" I probably shouldn't have asked but it came out anyway.

Tate laughed. "Um, both?"

Somehow, Joel managed to look offended. "I know I'm cute but he's not supposed to want to do stuff. I'm a very pretty painting in the Louvre but he doesn't get to touch me unless my Doms are there to make it sexy."

He honestly seemed to think that was a reasonable response, so I nodded and treated it like it was normal. "Okay."

Huffing and looking slightly frustrated with me, for fuck knew what reason, Joel gave a curt nod. "Good. So we're all on the same page? You're going to control the situation. I get to be used to do naughty things and I get a cage?"

Glancing between us, his brain jumped again. "And I'm fine with you showing my penis because it's cute and I need an appropriately sized cage to make it even cuter."

Wow.

Tate's brain was really good at keeping up, though. "What about orgasms? Am I allowed to tell him we're trying to make you look tiny? Am I allowed to use non-traditional words for your body parts? What about spankings?"

For fuck's sake.

How did they do this so quickly?

"Am I allowed to ask what his designation is? Is he just into toys or is he a Dom or a sub?" Joel frowned but it was more thoughtful than frustrated. "Would that be impolite to ask?"

"No." Tate seemed very sure of that. "He's open about his sexuality. He's in a serious relationship with another guy. He's into toys and the lifestyle. I think he's a switch, but he mostly just likes to tease and fuck with his customers."

They knew the weirdest people.

And I was never going to get tired of pointing that out.

"I like orgasms. That's fine." Joel said it like he was listing off dinner ideas that he liked and even started counting things he needed to remember on his fingers. "And I think I look cute messy. I like the words we've used for body parts so far. Oh, and I think I'm going to keep spankings between us for the time being."

Frowning down at his fingers, Joel sighed. "I'm missing something."

"Um, calling you little." I glanced down at his lap. "Down…your penis, I mean."

As I gave myself a talk about using the right words for body parts, Joel perked up and gave me another manipulative kiss that I liked too much to call him out on. "You remembered. I was worried that you were too worried to be keeping track of the conversation."

That was actually a reasonable fear.

"No, I'm not zoning out or getting overwhelmed." Not yet anyway. "And…and I'll do my best to tell you if we get to that point."

Joel's cute pat to my head was the nicest bullshit call anyone had ever given me. "Yes, you try."

Yep, he didn't believe me at all and Tate's snicker said he was in agreement…and that he thought we were cute.

They were both brats.

"Yes, I'm good with the words and descriptions we've been using for my penis. I'm going to vote for those being alright with Tate's interesting acquaintance as long as he understands were being happily humiliating and not the mean kind." Joel shrugged. "He needs to understand our goals if he's going to be helpful, no matter if he plays along."

That was a good point, but it didn't mean I couldn't worry about it.

"What…what about him touching you?" When they both looked at me and cocked their heads, I knew I had to explain what I meant. "If he…I don't know how cages work, but if they're like clothes, he might need to measure you to see if stuff fits right."

I hadn't thought that was stupid but I felt a lot better when they both ended up with light-bulb-over-their-head expressions.

Joel was bouncing his head from side to side, obviously trying to look adorable as he thought about it, but he was thinking about it.

Tate was more subtle but his eyes were shifting between the two of us. "How do you feel about that?"

Shit.

"Um, I haven't thought about that enough to be honest. It was the first worry that popped into my head that seemed rational." I'd done a pretty good job of keeping the irrational ones under control. "I'm not sure? Is that an answer?"

It didn't seem like one, but they both nodded.

"Of course." Joel gave me another kiss, one that wasn't quite so manipulative. "You figured out a question but we might need time to answer it."

Okay, that was good.

"What are you guys feeling?" They were never feeling the same things I was, so I wasn't surprised when they started trading weird looks again. "Honest. What were your first thoughts?"

I was a worrier but I wasn't stupid.

"I have to admit that part of it sounds sexy as long as I'm in control." Tate shrugged as Joel giggled. "Yeah, it's the control thing for me with that one and it being someone I know. I'm not dragging Joel to a sketchy bar where everyone's going to want to grab his dick, but in a more private setting that I control…I can see being okay with that."

Joel was trying to look too cute to be that innocent, so I just raised one eyebrow and tried to channel Tate. "And you? You're too naughty to be completely against it."

And that got more wicked giggles from him.

"As long as you and Tate are in charge and it's not my fault." He raised his hands in a very what can I do kind of way. "I like the idea of turning you guys on, but I think that's where the fun would come into it for me."

That actually made a lot of sense to me, and I found myself nodding. "I can understand that. You know us more and your fantasies are going to involve us."

"Yes." Giving a little wiggle, he sat straighter and must've clenched his cheeks based on how Tate groaned. "They involve you guys."

Just us, probably.

"The idea of you showing me off is fun." Joel gave a happy dance that had Tate nearly rolling his eyes. "I might be an exhibitionist where you're concerned, but you don't have to worry about me wandering off to get attention somewhere else."

Because that was way too hard for him.

A tiny part of me pointed out how that'd come across but I knew what he'd meant. It really was too difficult for him to date other people and be happy. At the beginning of the relationship, everyone went faster than he did. There was never the warmup time that he needed before he could get to the good parts.

But he didn't have to worry about that with us.

"I…I really don't need to safeword about the showing you off part." I wasn't sure I was the one who could lead us into the scene or shenanigans or whatever we were going to call it, but I wouldn't call a halt to it unless it went way too far. "And I will make sure I'm clear about where my boundaries turn out to be."

That earned me a beaming smile from Joel. "Communication is so important, but you have to promise to be just as open when we pick out board games."

And I was back to being confused.

I wasn't even sure where to begin but he bounced up from Tate's lap before I could find a starting point. "I'm going to get a shower. We need to be clean before we can buy games and sex toys. No dirty penises in the fun stores."

Did that mean he'd have let us go out with cum-covered dicks to other places?

What were the limits on that?

How was I even supposed to figure out the questions for that?

Joel was cute but he was exhausting sometimes.

****

How was he so exhausting?

And confusing.

It was board games, not personality quizzes or premarital counseling.

"Are you sure you're comfortable with that? It's got a lot of pieces." Joel was looking at me with a serious concerned expression as he slowly asked the confusing question.

I thought that meant I should slide the magic game back on the shelf, but as I carefully did that, he sighed.

For fuck's sake.

Even the old lady who'd been looking at the Trivial Pursuit game for the last five minutes just to be able to eavesdrop better seemed confused with the new turn.

I didn't blame her for watching the circus, though…I'd have probably done the same thing if the situation was reversed.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring the way Joel was shaking his head like our conversation had taken a turn for the worst, I looked over at Tate. "I don't understand what's going on and I'm getting overwhelmed."

Our nosy neighbor started nodding, which made me feel better in a weird sort of way. "I'm communicating that, though."

Yes, communication was important.

"That means I'm doing a good job of something because half the sentences Joel says have the word communication in them." His mother must've said that a lot growing up. "So I'm claiming good status even though I'm going to go wander around and look at TVs we can't afford for a few minutes."

Or maybe video games?

Hell, they had a book section…I could wander around there and look at stupid stuff I didn't want to read.

Tate's gaze was jumping between us and I almost felt bad for leaving him with Joel, but I was tired of being questioned like we were in a therapist's office and I was doing everything wrong. "I can see why you're frustrated."

I hoped so, but I didn't care at that point. We'd been trying to find a game for nearly twenty minutes and Joel's questions were just getting more and more confusing.

"I think that's a good idea." Tate definitely seemed to understand dealing with Joel in situations like this was his job as the Dom in the household because he didn't question the need to take over. "You go walk around and come back in just a couple of minutes. Okay?"

Nodding, I took another deep breath. "I think…I think this is a yellow for me."

My new nosy friend paused and then started nodding again too, so I had a feeling her reading material was more interesting than I'd expected. "I'll be right back."

Joel looked confused but not angry as I turned and wandered away…not ran, just wandered. "Um, did he…was he…we can really safeword for relationship stuff and not just things like spankings?"

"Yes, dear." Our watcher seemed to take that as the cue to step in. "Safewords are for anything in a special relationship like the one you have with your…your friends."

Good fucking grief.

"Now, let's figure out where this went wrong so we can explain it to your tall friend when he's taken a few deep breathes." Since our new nana had things under control, I just headed down a random toy aisle and over to the electronics.

We didn't need a new TV because we hardly watched the one we had, but they were big and shiny and were a good distraction for a couple of minutes until the pounding in my head started to recede. The headache hadn't gotten noticeable until we'd hit the Monopoly is a big commitment level in the crazy, but by the time that I'd walked away, my head was vibrating.

I was starting to really understand why I'd never thought of trying to do shit with Joel on my own.

He was too confusing.

But that was what we had Tate for.

He was amazing and I was probably going to owe him an apology blow job later, but for the time being, I just took a few more deep breathes and worked the stress out of my shoulders before finding the courage to head back to the guys…and our new friend.

Yep, she was still there.

"That didn't take long, dear." She was smiling proudly as I came back. "I'm proud of you for communicating how stressed you were and using your safeword, and your partners are proud of you too, aren't you?"

Her question had Joel and Tate both nodding in unison, and I wasn't sure if I should be laughing or shaking my head.

"Thank you." I decided on being polite, which made her happy and the guys smile. "I wasn't sure if I made the right decision, but I'm feeling better now."

"You did." She looked like she wanted to reach out and pat my head, but she kept her hands to herself as she smiled even bigger. "You did a very good job of explaining what the problem was and you even told them where you were going so you didn't worry them. You boys are doing a great job."

Weirdest Target run ever.

"Thank you, ma'am." Being polite got me another smile and more weird information from the old lady who looked like she could be a thousand.

"Now, your board game friend here should've explained the connection between the game and his relationship with people." That was obvious, but I liked that she was concise, so I didn't say anything stupid. "In his mind, something with a lot of pieces means that if there's a separation down the line you have to worry about someone stealing a piece and making it unusable. Think taking puzzle pieces or your favorite Monopoly miniature."

Oh.

"There's also a connection between long-playing games and the amount of time and trust you're investing in a person." That explained some of his weird looks, so I just kept nodding as I wondered if we could take her home. "And the stress level that the game can induce versus where you're at in a relationship."

Joel was the new overthinker in the group.

"Evidently you're a worrier and that's made him unsure about what level of board game your relationship is at." The woman paused and gave us all firm looks that time. "But if you're submitting to someone and are trusting them enough to have a special relationship, that should mean they're important enough to play any board game."

Frowning, she shook her head. "Do not let someone spank you if you can't trust them to board game with you."

With that lecture complete, she nodded and reached out to pat my hand. "You'll be fine. I'm still very proud of you for safewording, dear. Now, pick out some games and go have fun."

Giving us a little wave that was completely at odds with the naughty grin on her face, she walked back over to her cart and started on her way again. She was mumbling something about being helpful and remembering duct tape as she headed off like she'd done her good deed for the day.

Target wasn't supposed to be this exciting and I was pretty sure I was going to blame it on Joel.