He pours himself a cup and takes a long sip, eyes slipping closed at the taste. It reminds him of the diner—Sheila’s—though he hasn’t actually had their coffee, given that he’s only been there twice with Mal, both times late at night.

He wonders if Mal likes coffee.

WHILE HE’S eating lunch a few hours later, to his surprise (and delight), Mal texts him again.

[MS] shibari class is gonna be on saturday the 8th at 6

[MS] that work for you?

Rowan sucks the juice from the tomato in his sandwich off his fingers, wipes his hands on his sweatpants, and swipes to his calendar app. That’s more than a month from now, meaning he and Mal will have several scenes before then. It should be enough time to get to know him a little better and for him to gain some more confidence as Mal’s Dom.

[RC] Yeah, that’s perfect

[RC] How long is it?

[MS] should be 2 hours

[MS] we can still scene if you’re up for it after

[RC] Yeah definitely

[RC] Probably not with rope though, I wanna be able to practice before we use it for real

[MS] yeah it’ll be better if you practice

[MS] i’ll bring some of mine to take home if you want

There’s a flutter in Rowan’s stomach that he blames on the copious amount of sriracha he’d squirted in his sandwich.

[RC] That would be great!

[RC] Thanks

Unsurprisingly, Mal doesn’t respond to Rowan’s text or the sunglasses emoji he tacks on, so he sends another text, this time determined to keep the conversation going.

[RC] Btw, is there anything you wanna do next time?

It takes Mal a few minutes to respond.

[MS] let’s use the beads i showed you

[MS] i’ll bring those and my cuffs too

[MS] and i wanna get you off with my mouth

The texts come one after the other, barely any time between them, each one like a punch to Rowan’s chest that nearly gets him hard again.

[RC] Ok. Any position you wanna be cuffed in?

[RC] And do you wanna be cuffed the whole time or just part of it? Like how long can you go for w/o being uncomfortable

[MS] behind my back

[MS] and i can go a while but let’s work up to that. probably use the beads first then cuff me for the rest

[RC] Got it

Rowan taps the side of his phone, debating sending his next text. Mal had said this was a two-way street—their Dom/sub relationship. And he knows that, but he still feels a bit weird asking for things he wants. So far everything they’ve done he’s enjoyed, and honestly he’d rather let Mal take the metaphorical reins while they’re still getting used to each other.

From the bit of research he’s done online so far, he knows that for some partners, their ultimate goal is to know exactly what the other wants and needs at any given moment, and to deliver that. Rowan doesn’t know how realistic that is for them, or for pairs in general, but the idea of getting to that level of comfort and trust with Mal makes him giddy.