[MS] half of it fuckin leaked out on the way home

Or like that.

[RC] Can’t decide if that’s hot or gross

Really, Rowan knows which, but Mal changes the subject to something a little more heartfelt.

[MS] thanks btw

[MS] for the gift. and for comin. it was fun

[RC] I’m glad you like it. And I had fun too

[RC] Your friends are all crazy lmao

[MS] yeah but i’m stuck with em

Rowan hears the fondness in Mal’s words as if the man were speaking them aloud.

[RC] Gonna be hard to top tonight for your 30th though

[MS] i’m sure we’ll find a way red

Despite his exhaustion, it takes Rowan a full hour to fall asleep, eyelids flickering with threads of shimmering gold and white lace.

Chapter 9: Red and Green

ROWAN CAN’T get last night out of his head: Mal’s birthday. The opening up and sharing, yeah. The grinding and the near-choking with Mal’s necklace, definitely. The risky fuck in the bathroom, most of all. He knows they crossed a line by fucking like that. Keeps telling himself that, but somehow it still doesn’t seem like it was a bad idea.

Only… he can’t get over how Mal reacted when Rowan had asked him for his safewords. He’d seemed… surprised? While everything else is becoming grainy and hazy, Rowan remembers that moment clear as crystal. Mal’s hands had fumbled on Rowan’s zipper, and his voice before he answered hadn’t been as steady as Rowan would normally require from a typical scene.

All that leads him to believe that Mal was expecting a normal hookup and not a Dom/sub scene. And while their fucking was closer to the former, they still had that aspect of power imbalance; the thing that they both crave and seek out from one another week after week. So Rowan didn’t do anything wrong, right?

What was he supposed to do? Not ask about it and have Mal think that if something went wrong, he didn’t have a say in stopping? Even as the thought crosses Rowan’s mind, he knows it’s not true. Mal would say if something bothered him or if he didn’t like something. Would probably put a dent in Rowan’s face with those knuckle tats, honestly. If there’s one thing he’s learned about Mal in the time they’ve spent together, it’s that he’s a scrappy fucker with a razor-sharp tongue and the muscles to put his money where his mouth is.

He’s never heard Mal safeword before—not even a yellow—so truth be told, he doesn’t know how he would actually react in that scenario.