Chapter 7

Dean

"Do you want more coffee? Another croissant?" Joel looked sweet and like the TV version of a nineteen-fifties housewife as he got up from the table.

"I'm not easier to deal with when I'm full." He'd done this manipulation before, so I knew what he was up to.

The way he rolled his eyes said he didn't agree with me.

"I'm just being nice because it's the way I show you how important you are to me." Somehow all he'd learned from his mother's lectures on love languages was how to manipulate me with them. "And since Tate's way of showing me how important I am to him is to do naughty things with me, I didn't want anything to interrupt that."

Me.

He didn't want my drama to interrupt the naughty things he'd hoped Tate had planned. I could understand that.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." That didn't mean I had to admit it, though. "But thank you for breakfast, it was amazing and I'm pretty sure I'm Thanksgiving full."

That got a grin and a giggle out of him, and for some reason, reminded me that I was supposed to be more than his roommate.

What we were, I had no idea, but I was more, so I had to act more.

But I was awkward with more, so I decided to channel a milder version of Tate. I knew what he would do. He was straightforward and would do exactly what came to his mind, so as Joel walked past me, I grabbed him and pulled him down onto my lap.

His eyes went wide, and for a second, I thought I'd fucked up, but then he squealed and giggled. "Don't do that. You scared me."

After all the lectures he'd given me about safewords, I knew not to take a giggled denial at face value. "I don't know. You're my sub, so I'm pretty sure that means I get as many cuddles as I want."

Hmm.

My sub.

That didn't sound too weird.

"That's not what it means." Joel rolled his eyes but curled into me. "It means you get cuddles as long as I'm not at the stove, doing something dangerous, or busy with schoolwork."

"Yes, those are very good limits." And his list said I'd picked the right option when it came to giggled-out denials. "But you're not at the stove, you're not doing something dangerous, and you're not doing schoolwork."

Thankfully we'd picked a long weekend where none of us had anything we needed to do, so the real world wasn't going to intrude for quite a while.

Joel pretended to look shocked. "Oh, you're right. Well, I guess you get cuddles then."

He immediately curled tighter into me, resting his head against mine and letting out a sigh. "You are much happier when you're full."

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"And I'm much less worried after I had a chance to see how happy you are and how content Tate is." I was still worried, but it was at a low simmer. "I'm so comfortable, I'm not even going to tell you to put on clothes because I like seeing you in the briefs you picked out."

"My penis is covered, so I followed the rules." His immediate response said he was waiting for the other shoe to drop and I almost laughed.

"Yes, you protected your dick and you don't have much hair anywhere, so it's not like I can say you'll get pubes in my food." My ridiculous response made him giggle and me really think about what I'd said.

Turning to Tate who was trying not to laugh too, I gestured to our boy. "Didn't he have more body hair at one point? I know I'm the only one who expected everyone to wear clothes, but I would've sworn he had more hair."

Joel snickered and looked up at the ceiling…yep, he'd done something.

Tate cocked his head and sighed. "Alright, slut. Who told you that you didn't need body hair?"

God.

I was starting to hate the internet.

Looking back at us again, Joel shrugged and his expression said he didn't see the problem. "It was blocking the view of my penis when I tried taking good shots the first time. The nice people in my group said to shave it off and try again. So I did and it worked. And then I decided…why stop there?"

Lord.

Turning back to Tate, I frowned. "We need another rule."

Nodding, because there was no way around it, he leaned back in his chair. "Alright, first question, do you like the way you look or are you just keeping it up because you think you have to for the internet?"

Joel looked down the line of his body and pulled his briefs away from his body. "I look good like this."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh, sigh, or agree with him.

"That's good. Now, do you understand that we'd like to talk to you about making any changes to your body that the internet has suggested?" Tate always had the best ways of saying things.

"Yes." Joel smiled and gave me a cute cheek kiss. "I understand."

And he was ready to manipulate.

"I'm glad." Tate was barely holding back a grin. "But yes, you do look nice like this."

Pretending to look shy, Joel wiggled on my lap and seemed to be able to blush on command. "Aww, thank you, Sir."

How the fuck could he do that?

Tate finally laughed and shook his head. "Naughty boy."

"But I'm a smooth naughty boy." Clenching his ass cheeks, he giggled when I sucked in a breath. "Very smooth. My internet helper people said I was lucky it was fine to begin with and I don't get ingrown hairs or anything like that."

He was sharing way too many details with internet strangers.

"Am I the only one…concerned by how much he shares online?" Glancing between the two of them, I was pretty sure it was just me. "It's dangerous at the very least. Isn't it? And what happens if his first real job after college looks him up online and they find pictures of his dick and discussions on body hair?"

They both scrunched up their faces and slowly nodded. I didn't think Joel was going to agree with me, so I wasn't surprised when Tate spoke first. "You have a point. How about we spend some time later in incognito mode and search Joel online? You know, like a job would."

"Deal." It was the best I was going to get.

Besides, I was pretty sure there was a guy on campus who could fix stupid shit online as long as we could show him that we hadn't been being a dick online.

He had strict rules for assholes but was flexible with everyone else.

Our school had the strangest people, but a well-ranked business school, so that covered up a lot of weirdness.

"Perfect." Joel was still channeling all the cuteness he could muster because he clapped his hands and gave us a beaming smile. "I'm so glad we're communicating so well."

Somehow that sounded erotic to Tate because his smile went from cheeky to wicked in the blink of an eye. "I know a few other things we're communicating well about."

I was going to have to learn how to do that.

It wasn't something I was going to learn over breakfast, though, so I decided to stick to scene wingman since that seemed more my speed.

Whispering to Joel, I ran my hands softly over his thigh and back. "You know, Master Tate promised you fancy kisses."

Joel's shiver said I'd managed to get the right tone. "He…he did and he…he said he wanted me to help him orgasm too."

The fact that Tate was still naked said that was probably top on his to-do list.

"I'm also pretty sure he talked about spanking you too." I shrugged and gave a casual headshake. "We can't let him forget all the promises he made."

Because Joel was looking forward to them even if the sudden jump in relationship rules made me nervous.

Joel looked like he was fighting another shiver and was so tight nearly every muscle was clenched as he kissed my cheek. "We don't have to rush into anything, though. I'll be very happy just giving Tate an orgasm if that's what we decide. I'm sure we could find a lot of fun ways for him to use me."

His views on what was slow versus fast were really interesting.

And it was a good reminder that we didn't have to be at the same starting point.

"No, you can't let him go back on his promise if he's Master." Shrugging like there was nothing I could do about it, I caressed his thigh and squeezed it as high as I could before my nerves got in the way. "He owes you kisses and you want to be used."

I'd always thought the why do I have to wear clothes conversation would have the strangest sentences I'd ever have to say as his friend…it did not.

"He does." Looking genuinely excited now and not just playing pretend, he gave an eager wiggle. "Are you going to watch?"

Oh.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tate studying us, but he didn't seem like he was going to interrupt or fix the situation I'd just walked into.

Fuck.

I was going to have to be a grown-up…worse…logical and open.

"Um, first, let me ask if you would like an audience." Yes, that was a good place to start. Shit. Joel frowned. "That would help me figure out how to organize my thoughts and…and what I'm comfortable with."

And he was smiling again, so at least I'd done something cute.

"Alright, that makes sense." Maybe. Because he paused and gave me one of his channeling his mother looks as he raised an eyebrow. "But we're not going to do something that makes you uncomfortable just because it makes me horny."

We weren't?

I wasn't sure I was going to promise that, so I tried to talk around it. "But you smile so cute when you get your way. How can that not turn me on?"

Joel giggled, shaking his head at me. "Trying to distract me."

Maybe.

He let me, though, so I must've done something right. "Hmm, well, I like having both of you around. You're my people. So that's just how my mind thinks everything should happen. My friends online said that's fine, though."

Joel gave me a curious look and I had a feeling he was waiting for the next part of my internet safety lecture. When I just waited silently, because he already knew what I'd been going to say, he went back to smiling and wiggling. "I don't want just anyone to see me, so I'm not an exhibitionist in the classical sense."

There was a classical sense?

"But yes, I would like you to watch because it would make me happy on sexual and friendship levels." He paused, his face scrunching up in an exaggerated thinking face that might've been him being cute or might've been him doing his best to manipulate me. "And I think you'd worry less if you saw what we were doing?"

Fuck.

"You know…sometimes your smarts frustrate me." My slightly too honest reply got a snicker from him.

"Thank you." Giving me another peck on the cheek, he circled his hips to rub my cock and did his best to look adorable. "So, would you like to watch me get kissed and used, or would you like to go play a video game?"

Those were the weirdest options ever.

"You could put the good headphones on and go kill someone." Beaming like he thought I was the cutest thing ever, Joel patted my head. "You like doing that when you're frustrated."

My first reaction was to deny it…but he wasn't wrong.

"I'm not frustrated in the way you mean, but if you keep using your ass to play with my dick, we're going to need to have a conversation on a different kind of frustration." My dryly delivered comeback had Tate snickering and Joel giving me wide eyes.

"Oh, was I doing that?" He pouted and sighed. "I'm sorry, Sir."

Sir, huh?

"I'm glad to see that." It wasn't a strong response, but it was good enough that I didn't worry about how I sounded. "You wouldn't want to be punished right before you're supposed to play with Master Tate."

The naughty Master in question barely nodded, but Joel's sigh and the doe eyes he aimed at me said he thought I'd gotten it right too. "Yes, Sir."

It was obvious that he was considering poking at the punishment part, but Tate decided to save me from myself and from having to figure out what I'd do to punish the drama queen still wiggling on my lap. "Have you been trying to make Master Dean hard?"

Giving an exaggerated oops face like we were in a cartoon, Joel shrugged. "I was wiggly."

That seemed to be his way of saying yes without having to actually agree with Master Tate, and it got a sexy frown from Tate. "Would you like to rephrase your answer to something more honest?"

Somehow, Joel thought it was a brilliant idea to shake his head. "No."

At some point, his need to always do his own thing would give me an ulcer…now it just made me hard.