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It's been a handful days since James dragged Andrew on a somewhat flustered foray into a shop for adults, and since then their bag of goods they got there has laid pretty undisturbed. There is after all plenty of distractions and things that need to get done, not to mentions places to explore.

This morning, however, they've got nothing planned, no real need to leave the room, and have already finished a light breakfast at their hotel room. James is dressed in shirt and slacks - partly out of habit - mostly so the staff could bring in the food earlier, but now there's a 'do not disturb' sign on their door.

Perhaps it's finally time to approach the subject again. Stretching a bit, James heads over to the closet and pulls out the bag, carrying it over to the table, and takes out the box of bondage equipment to examine it.

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For once, Andrew isn't occupied by children's morning telly. He hasn't bothered to put on anything nicer than a hoodie, or even to put anything on under it. He's curled up on the bed, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose and cup of tea perched on the nightstand. He's reading Ulysses, having finished The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat the night before.

It takes him a moment to look up and see what's got James moving around, and a moment longer before he recognizes the box. There's a rustling of pages as Andrew hurriedly turns his wide-eyed gaze back to his book.

James is honestly mostly testing to see if Andrew's going to say something. He's got his back turned to the bed, but after a moments and that cospicuous rustling, he figures Andrew's noticed.

James sets the vibrator and blindfold aside, into Andrew's line of vision - he's fairly sure Andrew never took a look at which they got, so perhaps it's comforting to see it's not such a scary thing. Or perhaps its mere existence is scary enough in itself, though hopefully in a good way. Either way is alright with James.

He starts unpacking the contents of the box, inspecting them carefully, making sure they're all in good condition. He even goes so far as to put on one of the wrist cuffs to test how it feels to have on, tugging at the strap to test the strength.

Andrew tries quite hard to go on reading. For all he knows, James is just looking through the box because he's bored and wants to check things over -- right, that's exactly what he's doing. It doesn't mean anything's going to happen.

He realizes around the time James tests the cuff that he's been on the same page this entire time. His eyes keep getting drawn to those toys he can see set to the side. James is bigger than the vibrator, he notes with relief. And he's had James in and that's been just fine, except James didn't vibrate, so that might not be so fine.

Giving up on the book, he sets it down and clears his throat. "Was there somewhere you wanted to go today?" he asks, voice high.

James smiles when he hears the pitch Andrew's voice has reached. James's voice, however, is perfectly calm and normal. "I figured we could stay in," he answers, the innocence in his voice almost convincing. He puts the cuffs back in the box, and turns back to Andrew. He's even more pleased to note, with the help of his heat vision, that since he last looked at Andrew a couple minutes ago, blood-flow seems to have increased to certain areas, though particularly his face. "What do you think?"

"Ah," says Andrew dumbly, trying to think of something to suggest. Nothing really good comes to mind, though -- nothing he can truly convince himself he wants to suggest in place of staying in. "If there's really nothing you'd like to see...?" he asks, though he ought to know better than to think James will pick it up and suggest something.

James smiles with fond amusement. "No, I think I'd rather stay in," he answers, walking over and sitting down on his side of the bed. "We've got a lot to talk about. Presuming you're still interested in trying this," he says, gesturing at the assortment on the table. He's passed the teasing now (at least for the moment), and would rather cut to the chase than dance around the subject, though his expression is mild. As much as he loves the teasing, he does want Andrew to be comfortable enough to actually talk about it openly. Or as openly as Andrew is capable of.

Andrew licks his lips nervously, then removes his brainy specs and sets them by his tea. "I, ah...yeah," he admits, unwilling to say it in an actual sentence. "I suppose I am."

Brow furrowing, he gives James a nudge with his foot. "But what's to talk about?"

"Well, it's not really something you can leave completely unspoken," James answers, shifting a bit to make himself comfortable against the propped up pillows, head turned towards Andrew. "First of all, we haven't actually even agreed on roles. Even if you'd like to try both, we'd have to choose one first. Would you rather be the dominant or submissive part?"

Why does James have to be so forthright about everything? Andrew's doing alright, though he's not entirely comfortable with where this is going, until James tosses out the words 'dominant' and 'submissive' as if he's asking whether Andrew would rather have soup or salad. That question makes him blush and his eyes widen.

He knows the answer, but he's embarrassed to say it. Instead, he asks evasively, "Don't you have a preference?"

James is actually trying to be considerate here, but sometimes it's best to use the actual words rather than assume everyone's on the same page. Hasn't James misunderstood enough euphemisms in his time for this to be obvious to Andrew? And given they're going to, you know, actually do it, isn't it easier to get slightly used to it right away? At least he's not making fun of Andrew for it.

"I'm good with either, though I think I'd prefer to tie you up," he answers honestly. "I got the impression that's what you wanted too?"

There are quite a few people Andrew has known -- or that the Doctor has known -- who he supposes would make fun of him for this. Wanting to be bound and ordered about isn't exactly the manliest thing one can aspire to. He's relieved to hear that James doesn't expect him to take on the other role -- at least not this time.

"It is," he agrees, ducking his head a little and wishing he had his book in his hands to use as a sort of shield behind which to hide. "That's...that's most of what interested me about the idea."

Thankfully, those people won't be in their bedroom, nor will they know about this at all. James certainly won't tell them. He isn't embarrassed about it himself - as he understands, it's a fairly common kink. If it weren't, they wouldn't have been able to stumble upon a store that sold things for such activities so openly. But he's long since learnt to be exceedingly private about these things for Andrew's sake.

"There we are then," he answers with a smile, reaching out to run his fingers soothingly through Andrew's hair. "And another thing that's important to cover, we should decide on safewords. I think we should go with the common and easy to remember. So we can say 'green' to mean everything's good and to continue. 'Yellow' to mean pause or slow down, even for something as simple as adjusting position. And 'red' to stop completely, and I'll untie you immediately. Does that sound alright?"

"Very Earth-culture," Andrew comments on the safewords, a smile playing on his lips. He nods, taking a moment to reiterate it quietly in his head in order to set it more firmly in his memory. "But you're not going to stop if I just say 'stop'?" he asks, brow furrowing. He's aware of safewords and what they're for, but he hasn't quite wrapped his head around the idea that he might say 'no' and mean 'yes.'

"Oh, I will - definitely while we're still getting the hang of things. But it's nice to have some definite phrases that we both know exactly what means," he answers, hand resting gently at the nape of Andrew's neck. "And I want you to be sure that I'm taking this seriously. That you feel safe. And I want you to be honest with me too, about how you feel about.. trying different things, or if something feels uncomfortable or wrong, or if there's something you'd like me to do. I don't want to push you into anything you don't want, and I want to make sure we do the things you do want. That we both want."

"What do you want to do?" asks Andrew, his own hands balled up in his lap. "Well, obviously there's the obvious -- the, ah, tying up -- but, well. Lots of ways to tie a person up." And not all of them are pleasant. He trusts James isn't going to do that, though; this isn't about immobilizing Andrew so he can't foil a nefarious plan of some sort. Mostly he trusts that. He hasn't had entirely positive experiences with being tied up, after all.

James withdraws his hand and considers the question thoughtfully, what exactly Andrew is asking, and how to phrase his thoughts. He has a feeling Andrew's afraid James might ask something he finds scary or weird, and he wants to reassure him.

"Well. More or less what we've already been doing, really," he answers. "I enjoy being responsible for your pleasure. I enjoy teasing you, and deciding exactly when and how you'll get that pleasure. I like... seeing you open and vulnerable while enjoying yourself, and being there for my enjoyment." He reaches out and takes Andrew's hand, trying to get him to relax a bit, though he does realise it's very difficult to do so while James is being so open.

"I like trying to get you to behave, and rewarding you when you do," he adds with a smile. "I don't really have any specific needs about how much or in what way you should be tied up - whatever's comfortable and excites you. Or intentionally uncomfortable, if that appeals to you," he continues, stroking Andrew's hand with his thumb. "What about you?"

As much as Andrew wants to turn away and hide forever from James's mortally embarrassing candor, he can't tear his gaze away from the other man's face as he speaks. There's a fluttery, thrilled feeling in his chest when James talks about controlling his pleasure and about -- about training him, almost, his brain supplies. The thought comes with the kind of exhilarated satisfaction he's always told himself he doesn't feel when such thoughts strike him.

"...Oh," he replies, realizing he's been asked a question -- and that his mouth has been open for a while now. He's been fairly sure that this can't be real; he knows James tries to do things he knows Andrew will enjoy, and the worry that James doesn't really have any interest in this beyond wanting to please him has been lurking in the back of his mind. He swallows, throat dry. "I didn't realize," he says, blushing. His blood flow is increasing to certain other areas as well, but he sits still, not ready to do anything about it yet.

"I like it when you take care of me," he says suddenly, the words coming out in a rush.

Andrew's not the only one turned on by this conversation, but that's probably a good sign. It's a nice way to warm up to actually trying some of these things out, though not until they've covered everything important.

The fact that Andrew's surprised and hadn't realised that James felt this way actually comes as a small surprise to James too. It's been obvious to himself, especially with how they relate to one another while having sex, but apparently not to Andrew. This is obviously why they should talk about these things.

James's smile widens when Andrew finally provides an answer. "I like that too," he answers, his voice soft. "You're mine, and I want you to be the happiest you can be. I know I can be a bit controlling, though I try not to be. But if me being controlling's something you like - in bed, I mean - then I'm happy to provide," he says, smile getting a little cheeky.

They have sex, it's enjoyable, and that's about how much Andrew has ~~allowed himself to think~~ thought about it. Thinking about the mechanics of the things he enjoys is hard enough; thinking about it in terms of how they relate to one another during the act is out of the question.

He can feel himself turning bright red. 'You're mine' is exactly what he wants to hear from James -- and yet it's making him horribly self-conscious at the same time. "You are, a bit," he agrees with a weak smile, giving James's hand a squeeze. "But, well -- I sort of knew that by the time you whisked me away to another planet."

"I would hope you had fair warning, yeah," James agrees, returning the smile. "Though you know, you're allowed to tell me if I go too far," he adds. "It's difficult for me to just instinctively know what's okay and what's not. And that goes for the sex, too." Really, it's part of the taking care of him. He's controlling, sure, but he can't just decide what's best for them without listening to how Andrew feels about it, because then he wouldn't really be taking care of him at all.

"I know," says Andrew, wanting to reassure him. He might not really know that, though, at least not on a conscious level where he'd actually say something to James about it. "And I've got safewords, now -- I'll just start shouting 'yellow' at you in the streets whenever I'm uncomfortable. Piece of cake."

James laughs at that, and leans over to kiss Andrew's shoulder. "You do that," he answers fondly. "And if we have a fight, you can just say 'red' and leave, and once it's okay, you come back and say 'green'? I can work with that. Clear signals. Like a traffic light." Funny how tense he himself was, worrying about how Andrew would deal with things. He only just realises now, when he feels most of it melt away.

"Exactly like that." And just like that, the tension is lifted -- Andrew's still overexcited and worried if he lets himself analyze too much, but this is too much like normal for him to be too upset or embarrassed. It's James's turn to have his hair stroked now. "We'd just better not switch to the Gandhn traffic system, or you'll have to try to work out what I mean when I say 'mauve' or 'teal,'" he grins.

"Yeah, best not," he answers, smiling with contentment, and letting his eyes flutter shut for a bit. As much as he enjoys caring for Andrew, it's very nice when he returns the favour too. "Let's stick with Earth standards, since Earth seems to have become a standard." While he loves traveling, it's nice to have a familiar place. His first real home was on Earth, with Andrew, and it's nice to come back to that. Even if they, or at least Andrew, will probably get bored of it again eventually. Then again, this variation of New York hasn't exactly proved boring so far.

"'s a good standard -- if we have to have one," agrees Andrew. He hangs back a moment, enjoying the look on James's face. He won't tell James, but the truth of the matter is that he's worried about what they'll do when this place gets too stale and he goes stir-crazy, because he knows he will. Travel, perhaps, but they'll have to topple a secret organization first in order to be able to do so. It's easier than life on the spaceship, at least, but on the spaceship they were at least going somewhere.

Rather than voice his concerns, he leans in to give James a kiss.

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