Fifty Darker Shades of EraserMic (Shades of EraserMic #2)

Under Foot

Hizashi was an adventurous person. He, like his husband, was willing to try something at least once before making a decision on whether he liked it or not. He liked to explore new things more readily than his husband. Understandable given how reserved his husband used to be. But that's what he liked about it. He liked to pick up a new idea or a new theory to bring home to his husband. To chatter away about it only to find himself in a debate with his husband. If anything, he could agree with Shouta's philosophy.

How did he know he didn't like something if he never tried it? That the worst thing he could do was not consider it. It was always in regard to smaller things in their life. Incorporating a new ingredient in a meal or a new pair of shoes different from his boots. Red over blue. Green over purple. It was always easy to sort through and try something new with Shouta. And given he'd always had a natural, overwhelming curiosity it merely made trying new things far easier for him. To go into a situation, open minded was easy.

It was always his goal. He'd never know more beyond surface level if that was all he judged. If that was all he saw. For God knows he's been in plenty of situations with his husband that panned out that way. To side eye something new at surface level before diving in to find it was far more complex than he realized. An example would be his husband's niche for pet play. His own interest in omorashi. While he had been far from taken aback to turn around that afternoon to his husband's pet play for the first time.

However, he couldn't say the same for Shouta. His husband had always brushed it off as no big deal but he knew that omorashi wasn't for his husband. Was something he judged on a surface level through it but once it was over? It had opened the doorway to bring up if he ever wanted it. Even BDSM could be viewed in that lighting. Something to judge on surface level and brand as dungeons, chains, whips and hidden agendas. That it was abuse that was hidden by the submissive saying it was good.

It was a world that was heavily judged by those that didn't understand it. Didn't want to try it. And he could accept that much. He knew trying it for the first time that it could go awful. It could go the absolute wrong way. He could even understand the stigmas around BDSM as a whole but he knew the reality of it. He loved it. It was something he had judged at a surface level for years. He'd always side eyed it with an interest when Nemuri first told him she was starting to get into it during their high school years.

He'd thought it was a phase given her hero costume but no. Oh no, she was serious about it. Offered him countless times to take him to a dungeon or to even show him a Wikipedia page to glance over. When he had pushed it off, she had given up easily with a dismal that had changed little between them. But now? Now he was in it, and he was in it deep with Shouta holding his hand the entire way. It never hurts to try new things. It never hurts to consider it. And that was a mentality he'd always been glad he had.

After all, it made their first challenge together easier. Simplistic. It was something that had been reinforced into reality for his husband to understand nothing he did would make him judge it. Judge him. There was a thing that they could do that would make him judge his husband. Nothing he could do that would make his husband judge him. To merely call something weird because it never meant they pointed those fingers at one another. Never saw the other in an awful light because of something they wanted.

And that was a mentality he was glad he shared with Shouta. Given how his husband's mother and stepfather were, he had to admit he was surprised by the personality Shouta had. The mentality he had to accept things either in depth or at face value. Always open minded. It was awing. He'd always been grateful for that trait between them. Something he hoped would press into Eri as she aged when it came to the world around her. With a future significant other. It was something that not everyone had.