he keeps scratching at his head, trying to make a mental note of sam's birthday so he absolutely positively doesn't forget. and he won't, really, because when the time comes he'll have to do something so ridiculously romantic, it'll make sam swoon. and maybe go a bit red in the face. payback. 

at the question, however, knox looks down at the bags in his hand and shifts. "i usually just wore whatever my assistant went and got me." and then he shrugs. "don't worry about it. like i said, whatever doesn't fit, i'll just bring back. but odds are it'll end up fitting eventually." 

he also, unsurprisingly, owns owned a decent amount of belts. 

perhaps he's a bit too hasty in changing the subject, but he had a funny thought - "did your mom intentionally do that? fuck 9 months prior so you'd have a spooky birthday?"

samuel carter

☉

sam doesn't notice the change in subject. his question was answered, he was just curious, and so the shift in conversation is seamless. because sam's a pure soul who didn't intend to make knox self-reflect so tremendously.

but the idea of his mother, and 'fuck', made sam's face scrunch. it wasn't as if knox was being disrespectful, he was just talking, but it didn't settle well with sam. he didn't comment, knox wasn't being facetious, and sam understood it was his own personal respect for his mother that found offense in the words, not the words themselves.

"i've never really thought about the month of my conception. it was april." he did the quick math, unlike me who just spent about a solid minute playing math with my apple calendar. "but i don't think it was on purpose, no."

knox prescott

sam does not appreciate discussing his mother's sex life. not that knox particularly wants to talk about it, but he finds it kind of funny. because people fuck. and they do it all kinds of different ways, with all different types of people and things and - mkay. just like we're going to in t minus however long getting the lube takes. 

"mm, april makes sense though. all the flowers budding and blooming - really sensual stuff there." he tries not to laugh, and fails spectacularly. 

shopping bags swinging at his hips, he tries to look up the type of shop they need on his phone. and, surprisingly, fortree has a...decent supply of shops. more than one for such a folkish town. crunchy people do be like that sometimes though. 

he tracks the route with his phone, which proves fairly unhelpful, given the varying heights of the city, with all its ladders and ropes. 

"february, by the way - not that you seem very interested. the 24th." 

he points up at a treehouse and says, "i think that's it. are you mentally prepared to go in, sunshine?" 

samuel carter

☉

"february?"

sam questioned the information, the date, february twenty-fourth, and then furrowed his brows in confusion. what did that date matter? why would he be interested in--

oh. oh birthday. oh he should have asked about the birthday. OH.

frowning, he shrugs his shoulders, thinking back on how to make up for not asking. he decides to tell the truth.

"i didn't realize i was supposed to ask about your birthday, i'm sorry." then he peers at the shop and arches his eyebrows. "ah, a sex store."

like it's no big deal. like he spotted a fucking coin in the road.

"why would i be uncomfortable in there?"

knox prescott

"what?" he says, bewildered. "you weren't 'supposed' to ask anything. i'm just giving you shit for not asking." obviously. okay, he's still a little hurt, but he can't hold it against sam. because it is sam, after all. at this point, he's well aware that casual conversation and social norms aren't exactly his forte. 

which hits him yet again when sam drops, ah, a sex store, like he'd just seen a piece of bread and gone ah, a bread. knox loses his mind and has to cling to the ladder he'd started to climb as all of the air leaves his body. 

he hugs one of the wooden planks and looks down at sam, tears of laughter in his eyes. "y'know, maybe i should've rephrased. i don't think i'm mentally prepared to go in." he finally controls his laughter and manages to climb the rest of the way up.

when he reaches the top, he holds out a hand to help sam up, and then opens the door for him. 

samuel carter

☉

the laughter doesn't make sense to him, but it's contagious. it has sam smiling, watching knox as he laughs, memorizing the way his face moves and how it sounds. the tears mean it's a good laugh, so sam just lets the moment pass.

by the time he's finished, knox is offering a hand down for sam and sam takes it, but doesn't rely on it. instead, he just keeps hold of it while they walk toward the store. he doesn't mind going inside. he's curious, really.

"i've researched the subject--" sex, he means. "online quite a bit. to understand references and because my mother told me the 'birds and the bees' story with very little detail."

'well, when um, when a pe...pen... ummmmmmmmm...'

and then she just never finished her thought, getting distracted by work.

"i know a bit, but i don't know what sort of sex you like specifically." so he looks to knox and smiles, excitment in his eyes. "so this trip will be far more helpful than anything i've researched, or that has been explained to me."

knox prescott

"quite a bit for references, huh?" i know a bit. knox appreciates his excitement and is even enamoured by it, but there's a superiority he can't shake (that he desperately wants to, but can't). he wants to say oh, don't worry about me because this is sam's first time. and fuck if it's not going to be the exact opposite of what had happened last night. 

he shrugs his shoulders as they walk through the doors. they're greeted by a guy behind the service desk, who idly reads a magazine about...home cooking? he waves as they enter and tells them to ask for help if they need anything. 

knox waves at some inflatables, at some rubber pieces they certainly won't be needing because three's just a party at that point. "i never saw the point of going all out. and also stuff for myself is just eh. but hey, if you see something you're interested in, i'll probably be game." 

he watches sam curiously as he heads to the section they need. he doesn't browse. he knows his brand. so he grabs a couple of bottles and then looks wryly at sam. 

"anything catch your interest, sweetheart?"

samuel carter

☉

the world he entered when they walked through that door was a world of questions. he would point and ask what things were used for, but most could be easily assumed. it didn't take much imagination to get a gist of what was offered by design alone.

as the bottles are snagged, sam watches knox' body language. he's trying to figure out why knox doesn't want sam to know more about him. he wants to know more about sam, but he doesn't seem to want to let sam know about him.

not fair.

the name said has sam looking oddly at knox. sweetheart? unlike before, he catches on this time. knox leaves him opportunity to do so. a shrug.

"i'm not a fan of sweetheart. i like how you say my name too, y'know."

my knox; my sam.

"as for things that i like, i like you. as long as i have you, i'll have fun."

what comes out of his mouth is truth, no frilly words, no lines. he's just speaking his mind, his honest thoughts. he's not being polite, just being himself. around knox, it's easy--it's so easy.

knox prescott

not a fan. noted. sad, really, because knox actually sort of liked it. because underneath that frosty exterior, sam really is incredibly sweet. sweet enough to make him coffee nearly every morning just to please him. sweet enough to care for him while tackling all of his other work duties. 

knox can't help but roll his eyes. "except when you're with me and i'm a dumbass and close the door on you." 

he has pointedly ignored the section with its leather and nylon; he'd spied some duct tape earlier as well and managed to hide it with a nudge of his foot and a box containing some fluffy pink handcuffs. 

he looks down at the bottles in his hand and then purses his lips. "mmm, c'mere." brushing sam's shoulder as he passes, he walks back over to the rubber aisle and points at a section of the merch.

"might want to grab one of these actually. the bead ones. they'll help with, ah, you know." he makes the universal symbol for 'ok' and then draws his fingers back to make the hole bigger.

his cheeks redden again.

samuel carter

☉

sam had wanted to tell knox that he didn't mind the texts that came of that night, the first date, then--

but he's pulled over to a section filled with rubber 'toys' and he isn't entirely sure what to do with his eyes. so he looks at knox, because rubber molds of those aren't nearly as interesting and knox' very flesh and blood version of those. then his eyes drag back up to knox' eyes and his finger, looking to what he was pointing.

"i purchasedddd...." sam trails off, moving to take a few boxes. "some of these, actually." plugs, not beads. "because i wasn't sure exactly which you preferred, taking or giving, so i got these in case i needed to prepare. are the beads better?"

it's like he's asking if he should do a tablespoon or teaspoon of baking powder in a recipe.

knox prescott

what? "excuse me, you did what?" and this is the first knox is hearing about this? and here's sam, offering up several boxes saying he's already bought them, that they were somewhere in the very room he and knox have been sharing for the past couple of weeks. 

he blinks, tries to reset his brain. "no. i mean, i like them more personally, but not for what you - we need." he frowns, brows furrowing. 

"i've never...i can't believe..." he sighs. "okay." he's never been here before. he's never talked about it in broad fucking daylight, stood around in a shop and talked to a 'significant other' as though they were picking out curtains. 

it's not sexy. it's awkward and it's plain, but it's not, because it's also making him think of sam with those, using those, and talking like that about him. 

"okay," he says again and takes the boxes to put them back. "new plan: we get what we came here for and teleport back so we can rip each other's clothes off and i can be back in my element, as it were."

samuel carter

☉

most people's elements were based on when they were born. for knox, february twenty-fourth, that'd be water. which felt like a given. for sam, it's air. but knox is acting like...

"your element is privacy?" that's right people, he has jokes. and it wouldn't have been clear that it was a joke if it wasn't for the small little smirk that passed his lips before he leaned forward and gave knox a kiss.

because they were in a sex store, and he knew knox was thinking about it, and knox looked awkward and nervous. breaking the kiss, he took a few steps back, fucking winked, and turned to head toward the counter with the lube he'd swiped from knox.

hopefully knox would be held speechless long enough to--

sam stopped in the aisle he'd entered on the way to the counter and stared. cuffs? whips? he saw a music video like this, didn't he?

"people use this sort of stuff for sex?"

knox prescott

now his brain's gone and run away from him. because he's thinking of sam with those boxes in his hand, by himself, looking down at them, testing which ones work. and he's thinking of how it looks and what it feels like and his cheeks are getting hotter and his fingers are running through his hair and it's getting to the point where they need to leave now. 

no one wants to be that guy with a hard-on in the middle of an adult store. 

but sam delivers the final blow with that kiss and with that fucking smirk and the way he sashays away because he knows how spellbound knox is by him. he follows him like he's following a trail of pixie dust - head in the clouds, more than just a little smitten.

and then reality bubbles back up when he nearly trips into sam. his arms come around his waist and he deftly twists his hips away from sam before he can realize what's poking him. 

he bites his lip when he looks at the array of items, trying his best to smother his intrigue (and the pleasurable memories that flash at sam's question). 

"mhm. this and a whole lot more, but most places don't have the crazy shit. there are specialty stores for that." he pokes sam in the side. "don't think you're getting away with doing that to me," he mumbles, but his eyes are light. teasing. 

he wants to pull sam away in case any of this terrifies him.

samuel carter

☉