A/N: so, a scene already seen in 'Colors', from Xander's point of view, which is actually really fun to do. However, there are a bunch of characters who, if you haven't read the previous stories, will make you go 'huh, who the heck is that?'. Usually, I try to make it so you don't have to have read other stories, and it was only when I was re-drafting that I realized how many there were, and didn't want to add a bunch of exposition. So if you're confused about how the characters relate to each other, drop a comment about the one you're stuck on and I'll explain in more detail.

Xander was so proud of his boy, wearing the new leather shorts and a blue harness that he'd picked for him earlier that week. He looked sexy, standing tall, brave despite the slight concern he was masking.

"You're going to do great, Angel."

"I'm- I'm not sure, Sir. I don't really know what I'm doing."

Xander had a moment of guilt that he hadn't started Timothy's training yet. He really should have, regardless of the fact that the club saw plenty of first timers. Most had at least some pointers before they entered the Lounge, before they were witnessed by all those Dominants. He'd done nothing formal yet with Timothy, too nervous about scaring him with the intensity of it. Also, selfishly, wanting to keep his boy just a little innocent about the lifestyle, to get to see that look of pleasure on his face when he learned something new, which was part of why he'd been drip-feeding it to him.

Oh well, it was too late. Timothy was so excited, with his main course of nerves, wanting to show Xander what he could do, that he could be a good boy – and yes, he had noticed that being his good boy had almost as much of a positive impact on his Angel as being his slut did. But he was looking forward to this, so there was no way Xander would backtrack about going to the club. He'd just keep an eye out, and get him introduced to some good subs as quickly as possible.

"You ready, Angel?"

Timothy lifted his chin. "Yes, Sir."

"Can I connect this to your harness?"

Xander lifted a blue leather leash, the match to the harness.

"Uh..."

"Just so I can have you close to me. Keep you safe."

"Do I- do I have to crawl?"

Xander barked out an unexpected laugh. "Christ, no, Angel. It's not a dog lead. I mean, well...some people are into puppy play, sure, but not me. Not that I wouldn't quite like to see you on your hands and knees for me," he mused, getting all sorts of new ideas.

But soothing Timothy's uncertainty took priority over having deliciously perverted thoughts.

"It's a mark of, well, ownership, I suppose. No one will bother you while you're wearing it, even if I'm not with you, because they'll know that you're with someone."

Timothy smiled at that, clearly liking the idea, sparking an even more possessive pang in Xander's chest.

So, they walked into the Lounge with Xander firmly holding the leash, greeting Mike on the door. He hadn't been for a while, but the bouncer was too much of a professional to say anything, just nodding and welcoming Timothy when Xander introduced them, Mike telling him to go to the door and find him if he ever got separated and he was worried.

As they walked further into the club, Xander was so proud of his Angel, trying to hide his worries behind a straight back and knowing eyes. He saw Gray by the bar, with Owen, which was perfect. A nice easy first introduction.

Xander hugged Gray, patting his back before looking properly at him. He looked tired; probably working too hard, as usual. And his love life was a mess recently while he refused to admit he was crazy for Owen, who was standing by his side, his usual demure self.

"Timothy, this is Master Gray, say hello."

"Hello Master Gray."

Xander watched, poised for judgement. Gray looked at Timothy for a long moment, and then turned to Xander with a raised eyebrow.

"So...where'd you meet him?"

"He was my student."

He didn't see any need to be anything but honest. Timothy was in his twenties, so it wasn't as though there was anything creepy around their ages, even if the university definitely frowned on relationships between faculty and students. But Gray didn't seem impressed, and it reminded Xander that the boy was kind of young looking for his age.

"It's okay, he was a senior."

Timothy leaned forward, a smile forming.

"It's okay, I only took the class to get into Xander's pants."

That was the first he had heard of it – and Timothy had told him he'd chosen the class because his best friend had asked. But the cheeky smirk seemed fake, and Xander wondered if this was him trying to be confident, here in this environment where he was utterly out of his depth.

Gray looked unimpressed, and poor Timothy seemed to sink into himself, even as Gray asked, "How are you liking it in there?"

The words sounded joking, but his expression was anything but, his dark eyes glowering. Timothy shuttered, blinking hard before lifting his chin.

"We've done some fun stuff. This is okay," he gestured around the busy room with a shrug, "I don't mind clubs, and I only wear this much anyway."

Xander knew he was fronting. Timothy did mind regular clubs, he'd told him. He found them loud and disorienting. In fact, he had needed to assure him that La Maison was nothing like a normal club, in the Lounge, to settle his nerves.

Surprisingly, because he was the type to see everything, Gray missed the subtle uncertainty in Timothy's response, and leaned in vampirically.

"If you've only done fun stuff he hasn't even started with you yet. Come tell me after you've been punished for your behavior this evening."

Xander wanted to growl at Gray, to rip into him for making his boy feel so unwelcome. It hadn't been what he'd expected, and it really wasn't like him, which was Xander's excuse for not coming up with anything before he'd been dragged away, leaving Timothy wide eyed with Owen.

He berated Gray anyway, frustrated that the evening wasn't as smooth as he'd expected. Timothy was fucking adorable, and so what if he didn't know all the right moves yet? It wasn't his fault (no, it was Xander's fault, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that).

"What are you doing bringing a non-sub in here, who isn't even willing to pretend?"

"You're wrong, Gray, he is a sub. He just isn't used to...the requirements."

Xander wasn't sure if admitting he hadn't done a lick of training before bringing Timothy to the club would set Gray off even more. The guy was having a real, unexpected, bee in his bonnet about the situation, and Xander knew just how well respected he was in the club. If Gray started mouthing off to the others, it wouldn't do him or Timothy any good.

Gray wasn't done though, pushing for details, which Xander was happy to provide. He was damn proud of Timothy's skills, and his responsiveness to what he'd been put through.

"He's wearing an expander plug right now that he begged me to insert in him, and earlier he came spontaneously with his hands tied behind his back while I deep-throated him. He just needs training."

Finally. That changed the judgmental look on Gray's face to one of begrudging admiration. It was universal, the pleasure and pride of finding a natural submissive, even if they all looked different. Timothy's eagerness to be wrecked couldn't be compared to Owen's sweetness, or Dae's wonderful brattiness (wonderful to Dex, anyway; Xander wouldn't deal with it), or River's calm, or Nikolai's control, but each one was born for it, in their own way and to their own level.

Then Gray said exactly what Xander was scared of. "You'll have to train him up though – hard. He's going to be tougher than Dae, and that's saying something. I suspect he'll fight you every step of the way, and you'll have to be careful not to break him. You should get advice from Frankie and Dexter, they know the best ways to deal with the difficult ones. And it will be up to you to make sure he isn't a bad influence on the others."

It was an unfair judgement to suggest he would be a bad influence, though it reminded Xander there was so much work to do. But, Timothy seemed comfortable with certain aspects – obviously giving up control sexually was a big, and vital, one for Xander – but was entirely naive about some of the other aspects. And, yeah, the more confidence the boy got from knowing he was safe and cared for, the more Xander saw signs that could be dangerous, if Timothy made a decision to push back.

When they went back the two boys were giggling together, and Timothy looked a lot more relaxed, to Xander's relief.

"I'm pleased to see you getting along with Owen, Timothy, he's very important to us," Xander suggested, thinking of what a good influence Owen always was on the subs around him.

"Have you...?"

Timothy was pink with embarrassment, so Xander saved him from having to say anything more, "I've scened with him, yes. He is an excellent submissive. You could do worse than accept his advice on how to behave, both during scenes and out of them."

That should have settled Timothy, knowing his Dom was looking out for his wellbeing, but he pouted instead, to Xander's confusion.

Xander was feeling increasingly unsettled, and could almost feel Timothy vibrating with tension, so was thankful when Gray invited Owen into the VIP area, as they seemed to be getting along. But then Owen knelt by Gray, and the others appeared, and Ellis, Nikolai and Dae were all kneeling too, which made it hard to introduce them.

"Will you kneel for me, like they are?" Xander whispered, too conscious that Timothy didn't even know how.

He responded shakily, his pretty eyes welling up, "Why do you get to sit in a regular chair though?"

Xander was thrown. Even more so by how much he could feel his control slipping. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He wanted to save it. Wanted the others to see just how perfect his Angel was.

"Don't argue with me, Timothy. We discussed this. You agreed to come into the club and try to show the appropriate behaviors, yet you've barely shown one since you got here, despite being surrounded by many others showing a textbook example. I'm going to have to punish you for this."

Xander knew it was the wrong thing, as soon as it was out of his mouth, though he'd only said it out of desperation. They hadn't really discussed anything, other than Xander's hope that Timothy would follow the lead of the submissives they saw, and Timothy's promise to try.

Xander was half expecting Timothy to cry, wincing as he waited for that delicate face to fall into distress. He wasn't ready for his eyes to widen before going hard with fury.

"What? You're going to spank me like a naughty little boy? With or without the huge fucking plug that's in my ass? And for the millionth time, it's fucking Tim, not Timothy."

Then he did cry, desperately, his small frame shaking as he was led away by Ellis and Owen, followed by the others, in Dae's case shooting venomous glances at Xander.

He wanted to follow, but was stopped by Gray's hand on his arm, and Chase leaning forward.

"He's delightful."

"Are you being fucking sarcastic?" Xander hissed.

"No! Jeez. He is. All cute and needy and emotional. He'll be perfect for you to look after."

Xander pulled away from Gray's arm, guilty that Chase had hit the fucking nail on the head so easily in a way that Xander hadn't even admitted to himself.

Gray interrupted the whirling thoughts, direct as ever.

"Xander, I try to avoid doing this without a lot more time and information, but you know your boy's got something going on, right? Has he told you?"

What? That was new, and Xander screwed his face up, utterly confused about what Gray was getting at.

"I can't diagnose yet, but unofficially I'm going to go with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It seems the most likely and he's exhibited several symptoms of impulsive behavior and restlessness. And I have a feeling there's something going on with his upbringing too, that could make what you're doing more dangerous-,"

That was what had hit Xander.  when he'd spoken so out of turn. Timothy...damn, Tim had only gone off when he had threatened to punish him, and that had been the first time he'd done it in any kind of seriousness. What it might suggest terrified Xander.

"You think he was abused?"

All he could think was that Tim had never spoken about his family. All Xander knew was that he'd done college fully off his own hard work. He was trying to think whether there'd been any other indicators he'd missed, anything else that made him a terrible Dom right now.

"If I'm right about the ADHD, he may be undiagnosed. His family might not have coped well with his behaviors..."

Gray looked guilty too, though Xander couldn't think why. He'd been with Tim for weeks, and he hadn't even been able to get his fucking name right. Gray had meet him less than thirty minutes earlier and had already pinned down two major potential diagnoses.

"I'm guessing you haven't had reason to punish him yet?" Gray suggested softly.

Xander shrugged. "I'm trying to introduce him slowly to the lifestyle. I didn't want to freak him out."

Xander could do without François the Wonder-Dom butting in. "He seems pretty freaked out to me anyway. Sometimes, when you're trying to introduce someone who hasn't considered the lifestyle by themselves, it can be a good idea to open with punishment. That way you get to gauge their reaction. If they can't cope, maybe it isn't for them."

It didn't help that Xander knew it wasn't completely wrong. Maybe if he'd have spanked Tim that first day in his office, they could have got to the bottom of things sooner. He wouldn't have turned away from him, no way, but they could have worked through it. Now, he'd traumatized his perfect Angel, and he felt sick at it.

Gray got it, he could tell. "You're already pretty invested in this kid, aren't you?"

"I feel different when I'm with him to how I've felt about any sub in the past."

"Well, you might both have some learning to do. Let's go see if we can save this thing you're so excited about."

A/N: it's getting harder and harder to stay in past tense. I keep slipping into present, so sorry if I missed any.

What was interesting about this, is that Gray came across as such a dick when it was in Xander's pov. It happened naturally, but it was a really interesting comparison between what people's intentions are, and what they actually say out loud.

I do wonder how he might have come across if I'd done it in Tim's pov 🤣