La Maison 5: Darkness (Complete: mxm BDSM)

Arc 2 Chapter 5.1

"So, you'll really be one of us then?"

Gabe hadn't met Dae before tonight, but he could already tell that the innocent face hid someone who reveled in getting into trouble. He couldn't tell, yet, whether that made him want to know him better, or run a mile.

"Dae," Ellis said – a sharp warning tone making both Dae and Gabe wince.

"It's okay Ellis. I know the learning curve on this is going to be huge, and I have no idea if things will trigger me, but I'll never find out if we tiptoe all the time. Besides, there's stuff I want to ask Owen."

He'd thought about it pretty heavily. It felt right to start something, and he was happy-ish it was Gray. The 'ish' wasn't because he felt in any way nervous about the man anymore, more because he was still worried about how that 'training' everyone kept going on about was going to impact Owen. Owen seemed almost excited about it though, so Gabe would keep taking point from him.

And even in this room – they'd taken over the den on the first floor and Suzu had retreated to his study – with people he barely knew, he felt comfortable. Part of it was because Ellis had told him, with their permission, some of the things the others had gone through. It meant Gabe didn't feel like a zoo exhibit. No-one stared or whispered because they understood that shit happens.

River had come too, so Gabe knew him and Ellis and Owen. But Dae was new, and there was a shy boy with spiked blue hair who'd introduced himself as Tim, and a stern guy as tall as Ellis called Nikki. Ellis said there were a lot more subs to meet at the club, but these were his best friends.

Ellis' phone pinged after he'd brought drinks in for everyone. Apparently, the Doms had discussed it and were allowing two drinks maximum. Dae had requested a Long Island Ice Tea and the others had just laughed. Honestly, Gabe still found that side of things strange – especially because Sawyer had obviously used power like that over him: controlling what he ate and drank every step of the way. He realized that was bad, so he didn't quite get why these guys accepted it so easily.

He decided he'd ask when Ellis came back, but he was distracted when he arrived, followed by Kaiya, who Gabe had met at the counselling thing Ellis had taken him to.

"I'm so glad you could come," Ellis was saying to Kaiya, who blushed hard when he saw all the faces turned to him.

"Thanks for inviting me." He practically whispered, and shuffled into a seat, shaking his head when Ellis offered him a drink, though Ellis thrust an iced bottle of beer into his hands anyway.

"We should play a drinking game." Not a huge surprise it was Dae who suggested, or that the others shook their heads unanimously.

"We aren't getting into trouble for you, Dae," Owen said. It was stern, but he had a soft smile and patted Dae's leg. "I'm sure you can find another way to be bratty."

"Besides," River added, "we're here so Gabe can ask us questions about the lifestyle, not so you can get smashed. And Dexter won't spank your ass if you get drunk, you know that. He'll probably just make you clean the apartment with a raging hangover as punishment."

Dae pouted but nodded, and River turned to Gabe. "So do you have questions yet?"

What a question. He had hundreds.

"Ellis showed me a website that had all the types of subs on it. There's a lot, so I was wondering if there were any other masochists at the club." He was wondering – hoping – there might be one among these potential new friends.

"There's a few," Ellis said.

"It isn't as simple as that, though," Owen added, and Gabe was beginning to understand that Owen was kind of the mom of the group. He seemed even more knowledgeable than Ellis, and he really cared about them all.