"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.

"Why isn't it?"

"There's very few absolutes in what we do. There's one sub at the club who chooses to live full time as a slave, and is masochistic. He's given full control of his autonomy to his Master, who's also his husband. Then there's another sub who is actually more into pain than him but isn't into power exchange at all outside of a scene. You could consider each preference as on a spectrum, and you can be anywhere on the spectrum for each aspect. It's why negotiation and agreement are so important."

"A lot of subs who wouldn't consider themselves masochists still like mild pain," Nikki offered in a thick but soft Eastern European accent. "Spanking, ropes, rough sex. You see?"

"But you all do some of the same things, right? So the only drinking what you're given permission to drink thing?"

"That's more down to the fact that our Doms are all best friends," Owen admitted. "They have a lot of the same attitudes as each other. Some of the subs at the club don't have limits like that, and some are even stricter."

"And, actually, Mat does a lot of the controlling things outside of scenes because I want him to, not strictly because he has a need for it," River said.

Gabe remembered Mateo as incredibly relaxed and perpetually cheerful, so that didn't surprise him much.

"Can I say-" River paused, glancing at Ellis, who nodded. "You seem different."

Gabe shrugged. "I am feeling a lot better. Not as many nightmares."

"That's what I mean. It's that kind of response. You used to be so shy and withdrawn. You were always friendly, too, but you seem really open now. You seem confident in a way you didn't before."

"Are you worried the pod people have taken him?" Dae asked, leaning forward with a wicked grin.

Gabe laughed. "It's funny you say that. I can't be sure, but a lot of my memories are muted and feel different, almost like it's stuff that happened to someone else and I was just there as a bystander. And when I think about those memories, well I was being controlled a lot and I think it was subduing my personality. So now I'm letting loose a bit and being more true to who I am, and it's coming naturally because it's like the conditioning was just lifted in one go when I forgot all of it."

"I wish I had that," Kaiya whispered, and maybe he thought he'd said it quiet enough not to be heard, because his eyes went very wide when he realized everyone was looking at him.

"How are you doing Kaiya?" Ellis asked.

"Great. Yeah, just fine."

"I'm sorry John fucked you over that way."

Kaiya just went pink again, but Gabe noticed that Tim and Dae both looked confused too, so it wasn't just him that didn't know what was going on. Though he remembered something about Kaiya's Dom breaking things off.

"I- We aren't here for me. This is for Gabe."

"Maybe," Gabe conceded, "but I'd rather people who needed help got it. If you're willing to talk about it?"

"Yeah, maybe I should. I've been staying with a girl I used to work with, sleeping on her couch. I need to sort myself out. Maybe you can give me advice."

Kaiya still spoke quietly enough that people had to strain to hear, but they were leaning forward, letting him tell his story.

"I met John online. In a forum. And we got on really well. He'd Dom me from here, while I was in the Philippines. I didn't have that much there. I don't find it easy to make friends. I had a good job, but I was alone, and I felt like there was nothing else. So when he found me a position in his company and organized my specialty visa I thought it was meant to be. And it was fine for a year. But then he met someone else. And I think I could have lived with that, except he made sure my employer fired me and he kicked me out."

Ellis looked furious. "What a shit! I only knew he'd cheated, because Suzu was so mad at him. What will you do?"

"Go back to the Philippines I guess. They had to give me three months' notice, but I only have a month left on my visa."

"Do you want to stay?"

"If it was possible to do it legally I would."

Gabe let out a squeak when he looked up and saw Laurent standing in the doorway, his friend Aloiki standing close behind him with a large hand on his shoulder. They'd clearly heard Kaiya's story, and Aloiki looked pensive. Laurent looked angry.

"And my brother allows such treatment of subs, does he?"

Kaiya made a meeping noise, as Ellis stood, straightening his body and glaring up at Laurent. Gabe knew it could descend into something Ellis would end up regretting, so he stood too, though with far less aggression, placing a hand on Ellis' arm. He heard the air Ellis let out and saw the brief, thankful smile.

"No, Laurent. Suzu doesn't know the extent of it. I'm sure he won't take kindly to John when he discovers what he actually did."

"Good. That's disgusting treatment of someone who relies on him."

Gabe wondered how much Laurent knew of his circumstances, and just how angry he'd be if he did know. He felt a little ashamed of not hating the thought of Laurent becoming so virulently livid on his behalf.

Kaiya had shrunk into himself, and Gabe was grateful to see that Tim had moved next to him, the blue-haired boy quietly soothing him. Ellis saw it too, and smiled warmly at the two of them, managing to only harden his gaze a small amount when he turned back to Laurent.

"If you're hanging around and hoping Suzu will let you join the club, you should meet these guys, so you know they're all off limits."

"What? How did you-?"

"Yeah, you scream Dom, man. Boys, put your hand up if you couldn't tell Laurent was a Dom."

No one did, but Gabe suspected it was more about showing solidarity to Ellis than making that judgment. Gabe had guessed – or hoped – it was the case, but the others were meeting him for the first time tonight, whereas Gabe had had countless antagonistic run ins with him.

Laurent had apparently not finished his forceful play, though, as he looked appraisingly at Kaiya before looking right into Ellis' eyes.

"You should offer to let him stay here while you help him sort it out."

A/N: teeny note, sorry it's a day late. But as a thank you for patience while I go mad writing competition entries (I got to the shortlist for ONC. Sadly no further, but the story was *insane*, so that's fair), the next chapter will follow within a few minutes.

To my lovely regulars, who always vote (and I adore you for it), please don't forget this time, in the rush to press 'next' (I see it happen a lot with double updates)