Chapter 14

Tate

Weirdest fucking shopping trip ever…but finding a new translator for Joel had been helpful.

She'd just marched right up as Dean had wandered off to go look at TVs we'd never buy and had started asking Joel questions. He didn't mind being the center of attention since he was talking about his favorite things, his parents' weird relationship rules and us, so he'd chattered on for several minutes about everything he'd thought we'd already understood.

We hadn't.

Dean looked slightly exhausted as the lady who hadn't given her name finally left us to ourselves, but Joel was smiling and back to looking at the wall of games. "Which ones should we get?"

I was with Dean on the exhausted bit, but I liked how excited Joel had gotten. He was back to his perky self and it was much easier to handle. Part of me felt like ignoring the confusing relationship dynamics Joel associated with games and us, but a bigger part of me was trying to figure out what to say next.

Or ask?

There was something else I needed to say other than voting for the magic game or the card game, but Dean beat me to it.

He let out a breath and stepped closer to Joel, ignoring everything around us as he wrapped Joel up in his arms. "You can trust me with puzzles or game pieces and I promise to deal with game play in an appropriate manner. But you've got to work on explaining things better if it's obvious I don't understand what's going on."

Pouting, Joel sighed. "I could've done better. I just thought it was obvious."

"It wasn't, but I'll do my best to ask better questions next time." Huffing, Dean gave him a glare. "Ones that you can't talk around."

Yeah, he'd done that too.

Joel was really good at avoiding things he wasn't sure how to explain.

"I'm sorry." And since getting out of trouble involved looking cute, he kissed Dean's cheek and snuggled closer. "I'll be good."

No. He wouldn't.

Dean's chuckle said he realized that, though. "Come on. We've got to pick out games and I need more caffeine."

Oh yeah.

This had taken up way more energy than I'd expected, but I should've realized it would get slightly fucked up…and I should've asked more questions too.

Well, I should've asked more non-sex-related questions.

"Games. Coffee. Toys." Nearly bouncing, Joel gave us both kisses. "And we can even buy board games with lots of pieces. You can trust me too."

I was pretty sure he'd end up losing some of them or doing weird shit, but I didn't think he was talking about that, so I just nodded. We had enough on our plate without me bringing logic into the equation.

****

"So we've agreed on tailor measuring and general touch teasing from the proprietor as fine, as long as you guys are in charge and make it fun for me." Joel was lifting fingers as he listed off the top things he thought we needed to review. "No spankings or penetrating my bottom. Dean can just watch and look sexy and stern. He doesn't have to do anything if he doesn't want to."

When he started frowning at his fingers, Dean sighed from the back seat, but Joel didn't let that distract him. "I'm forgetting a finger."

We were going to look insane.

"How about you don't have to do anything you don't want to?" Dean's comment was technically accurate and important.

It didn't stop Joel from shaking his head, though. "No, it was something else."

Considering the meandering conversation we had on the drive over, I could understand getting confused. "Confirming that orgasms are okay for you?"

"No, but that's good to remember too." Joel was still looking at his fingers, raising one up and down like he was trying to decide if he was going to give me credit or not. "Was it about you guys having an orgasm or making a mess?"

We were at the point where all of his fingers were going up and down as I pulled into the parking lot.

"Did that ever come up in conversation?" Dean's eyes were slightly wide but he managed to keep his voice from going squeaky. "I don't remember that being discussed."

Me neither.

"This time we're going to keep our clothes on unless something really changes." I wasn't sure what that would be but with Joel it was always good to have a backup plan. "Us staying clothed will make it more erotic."

And it would keep things from going too far.

Besides, if Dean's eyes got any wider, they'd fall out.

"That's a good point." Putting his hands down for the moment, Joel sighed as I turned off the car and angled myself to see both of them more clearly. "Let's make a plan to do more me naked and you clothed activities and scenes."

Since it seemed like Dean and I were in agreement on that, especially based on how he reached down to adjust himself, I nodded. "Deal. We'll come up with some good options. That sounds hot as fuck."

Giggling, Joel wiggled and grinned, completely forgetting about his fingers for the moment. "Yes. It's going to be so much fun."

Whatever he thought we'd forgotten was something we'd gone over a thousand times already, so I wasn't worried about it as I unbuckled myself and gave both of them a stern expression. "We're here to have fun. We're here to get a cage for Joel. We're here to figure out if anything else makes us curious. We're here to explore. We're not here to feel weird about what we want or to feel guilty."

Joel and I turned around to look at Dean who rolled his eyes. "I know. I'm going to feel weird about it but that's mostly because I don't want to feel weird about it."

He was just as nuts as Joel was.

"It's okay to want to do naughty things to me and to want Tate to do naughty things to you." Joel just charged right in. "But we'll focus on me today, so you don't have to worry about getting attention you're not ready for."

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to respond, but Dean groaned and reached up to rub his face. "I don't think I'm ever going to be the type of anything who wants to be naughtied in front of others."

"That's okay." Joel unbuckled and nearly killed himself trying to climb into the back seat. He managed half his body before he somehow got stuck, but that was enough to give Dean a kiss. "I can be the only one who likes public-y kind of stuff. You'll like other things, so we'll still be very well-rounded."

Our sex life was not a healthy dinner.

The comparison must've gotten to Dean too because he grinned and finally stopped being dramatic. He even leaned forward and gave Joel a quick peck before he could start getting free of the seats. "It's going to be fine, and eventually, we'll figure out other stuff that's me focused."

Joel liked that idea but he was a bit too distracted to give it much attention. "I'm…you're so…shoot."

How had he managed to get himself that wedged?

"Shift to your side and slide out that way. You can't just keep using brute force." He wasn't strong enough or big enough for that.

"I think the seat is eating me. I'm stuck." He was just being dramatic and stubborn, so I simply reached out and turned his body myself. "That worked. Thank you."

I was pretty sure Joel was being honest and just ridiculous in general, but Dean's huff and rolled eyes said he was feeling a lot less nervous…so Joel might've been fucking with us.

Maybe?

Deciding to just move on, I pointed to the passenger door. "Out. Before you kill yourself with the seat belt."

Nodding like it was a perfectly reasonable worry, Joel gave the seat belt a serious look as he obeyed the order. "They're dangerous."

Only to him.

But we managed to get out of the car without him being trapped or strangled, so I counted it as a win. For the time being. Joel had a magical habit of walking into display cases and getting stuck on doorknobs, so I wasn't surprised when Dean came around the front of the car to take his hand. "Remember. Don't touch anything."

Sighing, Joel pouted. "But what if the dildo vibrates and has one of those push here buttons like the toys in Target?"

"I really hope they don't do that." Dean's brows pulled together and he sighed. "Alright, no touching unless it's a toy with a labeled button or object that you're considering asking us to use on you."

That had our little troublemaker's brains starting to whirl.

Joel's head cocked as Dean started leading him to the door and I could see him trying to work on ways to get around the order. "Sometimes you don't know you'll like it until you touch it."

"Then we don't touch it." Dean seemed stuck on that rule and it was probably for the best. I had a feeling Joel would've spent the entire time just picking up weird shit to torture Dean with, otherwise.

He'd have claimed Dean needed to be distracted and he might've been right, but Dean didn't seem to want to be tortured when we had an audience. So I did my best to save him for the time being. "If you see more interesting things we need to research, we'll look them up online later."

The hint of dirty research and weird videos had Joel perking up. "That's a good idea. I'll make a list of the things I'm curious about and we'll look them up together later. I'm sure we'll find some very helpful videos."

Dean was doing his best not to blush, but somehow the fight not to get embarrassed pushed him back to his Dom side. He gave Joel a sexy-as-fuck glare and stopped us just before we reached the door. "I'm going to remember whose day it is to clean the bathroom if you keep this up."

Oh.

Joel hated cleaning the bathroom.

He immediately aimed wide eyes at his Dom and gave him an adorable cheek kiss. "I'm excited to pick out fun things with you, Sir. Thank you for shopping with me. The board games are very special and I can't wait for my cage. I'm going to look so cute."

Dean scrunched up his face, knowing he was being played, but he let the brat do it anyway. "You're welcome and I'm glad we're board game special now."

Whatever the fuck that meant.

Joel managed not to look too pleased at having won and just gave Dean another cute cheek kiss on the other side, stretching up on his toes to look small and innocent. "Aww. You're such a good Master."

And he was such a good ass-kisser.

Dean just rolled his eyes and walked up to the doorway. I agreed with the play because there was nothing he could've said against such adorable manipulation.

"Just don't look so innocent in here that Derek thinks you're too young to play naughty games with." I didn't think it was a real worry based on our texts, but I wasn't going to take the chance.

"Oh." Joel groaned. "That's frustrating. I hadn't thought of that."

Dean was trying not to laugh but doing a terrible job of hiding his delight. "I'm going to find it really funny if your games backfire."

Huffing, Joel looked like he wanted to cross his arms over his chest as we climbed the stairs to the doorway. "That's just not fair. I'm cute like this and it's too hard to pretend to be gruff and boring."

Yep, every time he opened his mouth lately, I'd start realizing more and more why his dating had gone so badly.

"You're adorable." Derek must've been listening on the other side of the door because he was beaming as he whipped it open. "And now that I understand your dynamics a bit better, I'm not going to get confused."

He had customer service down to a T because Joel's eyes lit up. "I'm so glad. People get confused sometimes and it's frustrating."

Derek nodded like that made perfect sense as he stepped back and waved us inside. "I bet. Sometimes people are just easily confused, though. But you've got your Doms to help if something gets turned around today."

Joel reached back and took my hand, dragging us into the building and looking around with wide eyes. "They're great at explaining me to myself and to other people. Did you know being demi is a thing?"

Derek had a light-bulb-moment look to his expression before he got it under control and was back to smiling before Joel was focused on him again. "I'm so glad you figured that out. I always knew Tate was nice and smart, but it's good to see that he's taking good care of his sub."

Joel found my praise adorable and grinned even wider, but Dean flashed me a curious expression that had Derek trying not to laugh. "He is. He's even helping me get a cage today so I can look even cuter. We're going to explore humiliation play. I can't wait."

Derek was doing his best to smile without actually laughing, but he looked like he was one deep breath away from popping. Joel just had that effect on people, so I wasn't surprised or worried, because Joel was still bouncing with excitement and seemed to have decided that he liked Derek.

"That's going to be so much fun." Derek was mirroring Joel's energy and nearly bouncing himself. "So that's the kind of cage you want? Something to make you look even cuter?"

When Joel nodded and Dean and I mirrored him, Derek clapped his hands together. "That's a wonderful starting point. I'm glad you know what you want. My second question is timing. I think with what you're looking for a cage that's designed for short-term wear might be best. You're not going to class in it, right?"

That had Joel going very still and he not-so-subtly peeked back and forth at us before sighing. "No. They won't let me wear it all the time no matter how cute I look. They'll worry."

Damn right.

Derek was frowning and even nodded slowly like it was terribly sad, but I could see the sparkle in his eyes. "Well we don't want them to worry, but on the bright side, I'm sure you can find fun ways to ask to have it on or to earn wearing it."

And we found something else Joel found fascinating.

"Earning it. Oh, I can be very cute." Joel meant manipulative, but Derek's giggle said he realized that. "Yes, I think that's a wonderful plan."

Gesturing us to follow with a jerk of his head, Derek started inching his way deeper into the store. "Figuring out ways to get you soft enough to have them put the cage on can be fun too. Oh, and there's also figuring out ways that you can orgasm with the cage on. I think you'll enjoy that also."

"That really happens?" Joel released our hands and started following Derek like a puppy. "I read about that online but it seemed…it seemed like unreliable information."

Derek snickered and reached out to take Joel's hand. "I think that's usually discussed in blog-style writing and it always sounds like an old Penthouse letter or something. But it's something that happens and can be induced different ways. How much anal stimulation do you like?"

Joel thought that was a perfectly reasonable question to be asked and charged right on in answering. "I have toys that I like but real people haven't worked out as well."

Great.

Derek turned and gave us a curious look that was definitely a what the fuck kind of expression. Unfortunately, he was thinking we were the idiots who hadn't been able to figure out Joel's anus.

"It's not us. We've only been together since last night or maybe this morning." Dean shrugged as he tried to figure out when we actually became a thing. "He didn't realize he's demi and we were just roommates before."

I was nodding but Joel snorted. "We haven't been just roommates in years. I just didn't realize the importance of that."

Huh?

Nope.

I wasn't going to try to dissect what he was saying while we were in the middle of an adult toy store.

"Regardless of when we were more, we aren't the idiots who he's frustrated with." Not claiming that one. "We're working on helping him figure out what he likes."

That got a slow nod from Derek and I was quickly removed from sexual doghouse status. "We'll, I don't mind helping with that."

"Thank you." Joel gave him a bright smile that looked frighteningly innocent. "They're very good at dirty talk and hand jobs, and oh, I got to be a cockwarmer after breakfast. It was so much fun."

Clearly he wasn't going to have a problem finding things to talk about with Derek.

Now all we had to do was keep Dean alive and healthy while Joel shared all about his favorite parts about being a sub.