Chapter 19

Dean

Joel was either psychic or he and his mother had planned out how everything would go.

Introductions.

Brownie conversation.

Praise for making sure Joel didn't eat them all.

Living room.

Even dinner was going well and it hadn't been as bad as I'd feared.

So I let my guard down.

I was an idiot.

"Now, Joel has assured me that he's taking your needs into consideration, but it doesn't seem like you boys have been going on separate dates." Julia, Joel's mother, smiled and was probably trying to look motherly and reassuring but my brain started glitching.

Thankfully, before I could try to give her a response, Tate got her attention by setting his fork down and leaning back in his chair. "I think that's because we're still getting our feet under us with the whole relationship and we're used to doing everything together."

As I nodded, Joel sat straighter and chimed in too. "But we've been making sure to have times when it's just two of us together. Mostly that's just at the apartment, though. However, we've talked about dates and there's been no jealousy."

For some reason that had his parents turning to both of us and his father made a low thinking sound. "Jealousy is a reasonable emotion and not something to hide."

Was that him just being helpful or did he think we were jealous and hiding it?

"Joel's made sure we understand how important communication is." Shit. I'd answered. "I don't think we've had any spikes in jealousy or anything like that."

Relieved that I'd sounded reasonable and like a functioning Daddy, I wasn't prepared for Joel. "Even when I came in from class to see them having private time last week, I wasn't jealous. I was quiet and respectful as I waited to see if they still wanted privacy. They didn't, so I got cuddles too."

And?

What else was he going to say?

My heart didn't stop pounding until I realized that he wasn't going to tell them the kind of scene he'd walked in on.

"That's wonderful but emotions ebb and flow so you need to make sure you stay on top of your communication." Allen, Joel's father, seemed to take our responses at face value, but his mom seemed more suspicious.

She seemed to have a better grasp on how devious her son was.

"You weren't pushy, Joel? You didn't make them feel like they had to include you in their special time?" Raising one eyebrow, Julia watched her son carefully.

Yep, she knew his weak spots.

Joel flashed her a grin before shifting back to a very sweet smile. "I was quiet and didn't interrupt. I remembered my manners and made sure I wasn't being a pest. Right, Master?"

It wasn't the first time he'd done that, so no one blinked at how Joel referred to Tate.

Even me…because at some point I stopped twitching at stuff like that.

"You were polite and waited patiently at the door for me to let you know that you could come over. I have no complaints and I know Dean doesn't either." Tate tried answering for me but Joel's parents turned to me anyway.

"All good on my end too." How had I ended up in such an insane conversation? "He really is trying to keep your advice in mind and to think about what everyone needs."

Joel was pushy but not in ways that we'd complain about.

Especially not to his parents.

Wondering what else I could say that wouldn't end up with us talking about our sex life any more than we already had, I tried to keep my voice steady. "He would've found something else to do if we'd asked him to, but we were having our time in the living room, so we weren't thinking of long-term privacy."

I wasn't going to try to explain that my brain had been a fuzzy mess of need so thinking about Joel hadn't been as clear-cut as they seemed to think it would be.

"Yes." Joel looked pleased that he could tell his parents he'd behaved. "I made it very clear that their special time was important too."

He had.

Sometimes I didn't understand his logic but I got his point. Joel firmly believed his mother when she said we needed to keep all of our relationships healthy.

"I'm glad." Smiling at Joel, Julia looked like any happy mom…but regular happy mom stuff never came out of her mouth. "He was very focused on losing his virginity and exploring BDSM, and I didn't want that to override his common sense when it came to the relationship side of things."

She thought Joel had common sense?

That was so startling my brain couldn't hold on to the we're talking about sex panic that it knew it should have. "It's our job as his Doms to make sure we help him control his impulses. He doesn't have to do that on his own."

His mother exhaled softly and nodded slowly. "I told him that I wasn't surprised it was taking two partners to keep him in line."

Huh. I hadn't died.

Tate must've decided not to test that theory because he took over again. "We each bring different things to the table, so it works for us. And Joel is very good about explaining what he's thinking and feeling. You've done a wonderful job instilling good relationship habits in him."

Thankfully, the one thing they did like everyone else was to love being praised for how they raised their kid. Tate's amazing conversational turn had them going off on stories about how Joel was as a kid and all the things they'd talked about together.

It was mostly stress-free except for when Joel would roll his eyes and try not to smile as his mother recounted his antics. I was being careful still, but they didn't get weird again until dessert was finished and we were helping to clear the table.

"Joel says you rotate chores, but one thing I read is that there are subsections of submission where the sub takes on additional chores as part of his role." Allen had decided to try to kill me that time, but luckily, he seemed to understand that Tate was more confident about those kinds of conversations and had aimed the question at him. "Is that something you have planned for your relationship? We weren't sure how it might play out in situations like this."

They'd been wondering if we'd make Joel clear off the table because he was our sub?

Tate barely hesitated before he shook his head. "Nothing he's said at this point indicates he's interested in exploring a service kink of any kind. If he gets an interest in that we'll talk about it, but I don't think that will be a form of submission we delve into."

He really was just as good with parents as he'd said he was…even weird ones.

"Doing the dishes is not sexy or something that will ever make me submit." Joel didn't have any issue stating that fact as he took the leftover pasta back into the kitchen. "My bathtime with Daddy and being spanked by Tate are much more fun."

Both parents opened their mouths, but I knew what their frowns meant. "We do not plan on using corporal punishment. We've already had that discussion and are coming up with other options for times that his behavior needs to be corrected."

Still not dead.

"My hiney is for happy things not sad ones." Joel didn't stumble over that either. "I told you that they're taking very good care of me."

It was like we'd ended up in Oz, but the second scary one, not the first weird one with the bright colors and weird horses.

"Joel is not afraid to explain his views on topics like spankings and we've been working our way through several variations of limits lists." Tate realized I'd gotten to the end of how helpful I could be and took over again. "When we get to a topic we need to talk about more or research, we put that one on hold until we can come back to it."

There really was a good reason he was head Dom.

"Like the pain." Joel came back to the table, giving his mom a peck on the cheek as he walked past her. "He's not going to break my penis or anything. We've been talking about learning from some of the Doms in town. I think that math teacher that got on my nerves so badly is a sadist or something. Like literally. It makes so much sense."

Oh.

My brain was stuck on just how accurate that was but Tate laughed. "That wouldn't surprise me. The campus draws a variety of interesting people, staff and students."

Understatement of the year right there.

"I'm glad you're making educated decisions when it comes to Joel's penis." His mother said that with a straight face and even his dad nodded.

"They seem very resilient, but the research we've done said you have to be very careful." Allen finally managed to stump Tate but it only lasted a few seconds.

Before I could take a breath, or panic because I might have to take over the conversation, Tate blinked and he was back online. "I've seen the same research and I promise to take care of any delicate bits of his body."

I really hoped we were going to stop there but I never got my wish on that kind of stuff.

For god only knew what reason, Tate kept going. "Dean's more cautious about that kind of thing, so he's keeping us in check and making sure we're not rushing."

"It's not going to break if he smacks it harder." Joel's eye roll gave me a hint about why Tate had kept going.

"You honestly don't know that, so we're going to do some research and talk to a specialist." That was just logical.

Damn it.

That was why Tate had said it.

Joel's parents both nodded and smiled at us, but it was Joel's mom that chimed in again. "Young Doms can be just as impulsive as young subs. I'm glad you have a Daddy in the mix to make sure you keep things on a safe track."

For fuck's sake.

I was going to need a drink when we got home.

"Does that mean it's a Daddy's job to keep your relationship moving forward and clearly defining it, or in this case, would a Daddy's role be to take it slow and steady as you figure out the details on helping Joel figure out his inner pain slut ?" Looking pleased with himself as he glanced over at Joel, Allen sat straighter. "I remembered it this time."

Good god.

"Thank you." Joel was just as proud of him as his dad was. "It's not easy to remember."

They had to be trying to kill me.

Were we on some kind of weird reality show?

"We just weren't sure about how your role would affect those types of dynamics." Allen was doing his best to give me a heart attack, frowning as he asked the question and studied me like I should have all the answers. "We couldn't decide."

A big drink.

And a blow job.

And another brownie.

****

"You said he's fine but he doesn't look fine." Joel tried to wedge himself between the front seats again and his head just appeared. "Master, he's not fine. He's not even telling me to be safe or to sit back."

I didn't always do that.

Just sometimes.

"Tate parked the car before you'd started climbing up and you've had too much food to go too fast at anything." Joel's mother could cook and we'd all stuffed ourselves silly. "But to show you how fine I am, how about we go upstairs and get you a bubble bath?"

I was not ready to try to figure out how to explain my feelings to Joel.

In his mind, the dinner had gone great and his parents had approved of us. Shit. I really think they actually liked us. So yeah, he was not going to understand how exhausting they were. Having my own Joel was reasonable because I had Tate to help me manage him.

Having two other Joels was exhausting…and they didn't even belong to us so we couldn't handle them the same way.

Threatening to take away dessert or make him eat more carrots were not reasonable tactics.

"I like bubble baths." Announcing it like it was somehow a surprise, he gave me a beaming smile. "When we get a real place to live after college can we get one with a big tub? I want us to have a two-people tub even if we can't find a three-people tub."

Oh wow.

"Um, yeah, a two-person tub is probably a reasonable goal as long as we get good jobs and make sure we can afford a nice place. Cheap apartments do not come with two-person tubs." Glancing up at our building, I frowned. "Even apartments that aren't technically cheap don't come with two-person tubs."

Sighing, Joel curled into me as much as he could. "Yeah, you're right. They look nice but we can't shower together and the rooms aren't big enough for any of us to have a king-sized bed."

He wasn't wrong.

"That would be nice." There was no questioning that and I knew he heard my conviction because his smile got brighter and he wiggled closer, wedging himself between the seats even tighter. "If you get too stuck, you can't get in the tub."

Giggling, Joel ignored the logic. "Can we save our money to get a big house and have a fancy tub in it? When we get older, I mean. We don't have to get that for our first regular place together. We need to save up for that kind of house."

No reacting.

No questioning.

No assuming.

"We'll definitely need to save up for that kind of place but those big tubs are nice. What are they called? Garden tubs?" They had some kind of a name. "The ones without the jets."

Joel shrugged. "I don't know. But I can look."

Wiggling, he tried to inch backward and somehow kept making the situation worse. "I'll look…after…why is this so hard?"

"Because you're just amazing and the car resents that." Tate's illogical answer made Joel laugh so hard he managed to slip backward. "There you go."

He hadn't ended up on the floor, but it was close. "I'm safe. Thank you."

For what?

"Come on. Let's go upstairs and have a quiet night." It'd been a long day and I was exhausted. "Bubbles and toys?"

The more he thought about bubbles the less big he got. "Lots of bubbles? And toys? And you'll play with me too?"

"Yes, of course, lots. But I am not getting stuck in that tub, so I'll sit beside you on the floor." There was no way we'd be able to wedge ourselves in there and have room for toys. "My legs are too long."

Giggling, Joel nodded. "You're all kinds of long. We need a long bed and a long tub and tall stuff."

Tall stuff?

"I think that sounds like a good idea." Whatever tall stuff was, he seemed to think I needed it. I wasn't going to debate him on it, though, so as I opened the door, I changed the subject slightly. "What kind of jammies do you want to wear later?"

That had Joel nearly springing out of the car and his brain jumped on the new train of thought like it was a bullet train. "Oh, my superhero ones or maybe my truck jammies or the rocket ship is always fun. Which one do you like best?"

Before I'd shut the door and could answer, he jumped around a bit in the conversation. "Can I have my cage later? I want to be stuck after I have tub time and then we can cuddle and then you can tell me my cutie is adorable and we'll let it out to play."

I approved of the plan…but I hadn't expected him to detail it when we had an audience.

"People have cages too?"

Oops.

Bug guy was clearly more innocent than I'd expected, but his blushing companion wasn't, so hopefully he could explain that one.

I wasn't going to, and no matter how well Tate held in his laughter, I wasn't going to let him explain it either.

"No." Pointing at Joel, I caught him right before he opened his mouth. "Or we'll talk about your behavior."

Joel aimed wide eyes and a confused look in my direction. "Communication is very important which is why I should remind you that I'm your good boy."

Someone a few cars over snorted at that one, but I didn't even bother looking around for the culprit.

They were right but I didn't feel like having to admit it.