Be in the playroom at exactly ten. We want you on your knees in front of the bed, facing away from the door. Don't bother putting any extra clothes on. You'll lose them anyway.

I gulp, reading the note they shoved under my door again.

It's now fifteen minutes before the clock hits ten. I've got fifteen minutes to prepare and get down there.

I try to swallow down my nerves as best as I can. That's not much, but enough to think clearly. I need to brush my teeth. I'm also thirsty all of a sudden. Oh fuck.

Taking a deep breath in, I nod to myself and do exactly what I need to do. With five minutes spare, I leave my room and go down the stairs. None of them are here.

I unclench my fists and walk to the playroom. God, is this really happening? I guess it is. I just hope they'll start easy for me to keep up.

When I get in the room, it's dark in here. I blink against the darkness until I see the edges of the bed and the faint figures of the other things in the room.

I can't find the switch. I walk through the room again, feel against the walls, but there's no switch. Hearing footsteps down the hall, I run to the place in front of the bed and kneel down. I keep my hands on my back and my eyes on the floor, feeling my cheeks heat and my chest rise rapidly as the door opens.

Then the light switches on, giving me the opportunity to at least let me see what's happening in the room. I slump a little, glancing at them in the corner of my eye. They're circling me like lions would do around a wounded prey.

"Just on time. Well done, little one," Ada praises me, and I feel my cheeks heat as I avert my eyes even more. "You're lucky you know how to follow orders."

I faintly nod, silently waiting what's gonna happen next. I'm hoping for some time to take this all in, but damn well know they're intense as fuck.

"Aaron," Aiden grunts, and I immediately look up at his face. It's like his voice makes my body function without any second thought. "Stand up and sit on the bed. We're gonna talk rules first."

Relieved, I nod. I sit down on the edge of the bed, blushing shyly. Micah sits down next to me, taking one of my hands in his, while the others sit down around us. He cocks his head to the side. "Tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

I give a small shrug. "Just nervous," I blurt, fumbling with the hem of my hoodie again. Micah stops my hands, once again. "You sure that's all?"

I nod, still waiting. When they're just waiting, like me, I start rambling in nervousness. "So- um- I'm, like, not a virgin, if you're wondering, so, um, there's that. Oh! And, um, Aiden said there was, like, a safe word? Maybe we should- um- discuss that first? Because I know I'm about to be, like, really screwed up—not that way! I'm a man, so not that way!—but you know what I mean, right? Oh God, someone please stop me—"

One peck of Ada on my mouth and I sigh in relief. At least I'm shut up now.

She untangles from me, leaving me frowning. But she hugs me from behind, and my scowl is gone. Aiden asks for my attention with a grunt, so I look at him with my eyes wide. Fuck. This is really starting.

"First of all, there are a few rules when we're going to play in here. Are you listening?" I nod as an answer, but the way he raises an eyebrow, I guess that's not enough. "Yes, I'm listening," I croak out, cringing at the way my voice cracks. They don't react to it though, so maybe it wasn't that obvious.

"Rule one. Always answer verbally when you're asked a question. Nodding isn't enough, it can easily be a flinch. Understand?"

I'm tempted to nod again, but change it into a, "Yep", which satisfies him.

"Rule two. We're working with both the traffic light system and a safe word. I'll explain it in a second," he adds, probably seeing me frowning in confusion. "The traffic light system works like this: when we ask your color, you respond with green, orange or red."

Ada starts talking. "Green means you're absolutely good to go, orange means you need a second to breathe—which we will give you—and in other cases, red would mean absolutely stop. Though, we use it differently. In here, red means you're not okay with what we're doing and you need us to move on to something different. Your safe word will be used to stop everything completely."

Oh. That actually seems really comfortable. So I give a small smile.

Micah takes over now, almost giving me a whiplash from turning my neck this much. "The third rule is a simple one, more for us than you, but it comes in handy knowing. Imagine you call your safe word today, we won't fuck or even stimulate you tomorrow. The day after? Sure. But we know you'll need a day to recover or take a breath, so we added this."

I smile wider, relaxing more with each rule. I actually like that, they've listened to what I told them and that gives me a great feeling.

"Rule four," Seb adds, "is also more an agreement between us, but it concerns you. After every playtime, you get aftercare. That's a standard. Won't change. But if Aiden went rougher on you than the rest of us, by example, he'll do extra aftercare. The same with me, Ada or Micah. We'll immediately do the basic aftercare after you call your safe word or we decide it's done, but after that, the extra aftercare will be given. Each time."

I blush, feeling like I'm actually cared for here.

"Do you have anything to add, boy?" Aiden asks. I bite my lip, trying to search in my blank mind as they're all staring at me, dangerously close. "N-not that I can think of."

Aiden gives an approved nod. "If you do come around with anything, don't hesitate to tell us, okay?" I bite my lip, nodding, "Okay."

Stopping her attack on my neck, Ada lefts her lips to talk. "Let's talk about addressing us."

I blink, but listen to whatever they'll tell me. Seb speaks up. "If we ask you something, you'll answer with, by example, yes sir."

I frown, turning to look at Ada. "You're not a sir." She smirks. "So, little one, what do you propose, then?"

Blushing furiously by her nickname, I stutter out, "M-maybe ma'am? Isn't that—" "That's right. It is the equivalent, and you are allowed to use it, but I prefer miss."

My jaw drops. "Oh my God, sicko! That's why you became a teacher! So everyone calls you miss!" I gasp again. She laughs. "Oh no, baby, you're making me look really bad right now. I promise it's not like that."

I scoff. "Sure."

She raises an eyebrow, making me quickly retreat that scoff. "I-I had to clear my nose- a cold and all . . ." I mumble. Micah hums, "Sure."

"Oh!" I jump up, remembering something. "Um, last time with Micah- you had a flogger? Eh, but the burns on my back aren't healed yet so, maybe, wait with that?"

They all start smirking, making me swallow in fear of the unknown. Anticipation floods through my veins, having me shudder at the images in my head of them doing sexual things to me.

And I think, even if it doesn't work out in the end and we get hurt, they'll be wounds I don't want to heal from.