"Oh, I also like blushing, blushing is very cute.  Can't believe I forgot to mention that."

He starts stammering something but other people start walking into the room and he turns away and tries to pretend he's not blushing.

It doesn't really work.

Lewis is sort of concerned!  He hopes he didn't make this poor sub uncomfortable or anything.

(He's also sort of guilty-proud that he managed to provoke this kind of reaction).

"So, uh, what usually happens at these meetings?"

"U-um," he says, looking at Lewis again. "They usually, um, decide on a discussion topic in advance and we talk about it. Or sometimes we share stories. Or organize events."

"Cool," he says. "So is there a topic for today?"

"It's this semiquarter's first meeting, we usually do the story-sharing thing then."

"Cool, so it won't be hard for me to catch up."

"Yeah."

A few more students start arriving and, after making sure there don't seem to be any latecomers, Allie—the girl who greeted Lewis at the door—walks in and closes it.

Oh hey things are starting!

He wonders if it will be necessary for him to Share A Story. He totally has one--he got mistaken for a sub like immediately after arriving here--but that's sort of embarrassing so he's sort of hoping he can skip that part.

They arrange themselves in a circle and Allie starts, "So, hi, everyone! Since we have new members here, we should do a round of introductions, and tell everyone something about ourselves. My name's Allie, I'm a switch and a psion. When I was a kid I wanted to be a mage, but I love being a psion now that I am one."

"I'm Robbie, I'm a sub and a psion. I've never kissed anyone," says a blushing red-haired freckled sub.

"I'm Leanna, I'm a sub and a mage. I don't actually like dogs or cats, and when I live by myself I'm gonna have a pet rabbit."

("Heathen!" calls a boy who hasn't introduced himself, and a girl punches him lightly, grinning.)

"I'm William, I'm a sub and a mage," says the boy who'd been flirting with Lewis. "I'm allergic to cats and rabbits so I can't live with Leanna."

She flashes him a grin when he says that.

"My name's Lewis, I'm a dom and a mage.  Uh, when I'm done with school I want to do medical mage stuff."

The other kids introduce, too. The boy who called Leanna a heathen is a switch named Michael, and the girl who punched him is a sub called Natalie. In addition to them there's a sub girl called Montana, a switch girl called Kylie, a sub boy called James, and a sub girl called Heather. "So! I wanna know how you all spent your breaks, but before that I think Lewis should tell us more about himself. And I think he deserves a round of applause for being a dom who's willing to come to this meeting, we haven't had one since Aubrey graduated."

The other kids clap.

"Uh.  Thanks," says Lewis.  He looks a little bit pleased with himself.  But only a little bit. 

They only clap for a couple more seconds then look at him expectantly.

"Uh," he says, "hi.  I'm Lewis.  I'm from Florida.  Most people I know back home aren't really big on subs' rights, and, like, I'm a dom, and I've always known I'm a dom, so I've never really been to something like this.  I'm here now because, uh, there's a lot of amazing subs in my life, and I want to learn more about what doms like me can do to help with how subs are treated and stuff."  He tries to think of something else to say, and then says, jokingly,  "Also because this seemed like a good place to meet cute subs."

...there's a bit of an awkward silence after he says that last thing, but Allie quickly breaks it with a, "Well, it's really good of you to show up, and we hope you learn a lot here! Welcome, Lewis!"

Everyone repeats the "Welcome, Lewis" line, some less enthusiastically than others.

"Thanks!" he says.

...he is, uh, pretty sure he did something wrong here and not sure what it was.  This is a pretty normal state of affairs for Lewis, so it doesn't faze him too much.

"So, I know everyone else here, but Michael, this is your first meeting, did Natalie finally get through to you?"

"I just didn't have anything better to do." Natalie punches him again and he grins. "And yeah sure she convinced me of the merits of coming."

"So why don't you start with a story, then?" Allie encourages.

"Sure," he shrugs. "So last year I had a dom called Monica—" Natalie grimaces. "Come on, she wasn't that bad!" ("Was too," Lewis catches James muttering.) "Anyway, she took me to this restaurant and that was the first time I had a dom so I was kinda acting all subby and stuff—had a collar and all—and the waitress insisted on getting my orders from her instead of me. Like even after I called her out on it she just apologized and started looking at me for my orders but then she'd wait until Monica confirmed everything. That was crappy, I didn't tip."

"Now come on that's a bit harsh—" starts Kylie but Allie interrupts with, "We can talk about tipping later. I'm sorry you had to go through that, Michael."

He shrugs. "She was just an asshole."

Lewis...sort of figured that subs liked that.  Or, well, the sorts of subs who wore collars to restaurants liked that, anyway.  

(Subs are confusing).

"Did your dom stand up for you or anything?" he asks

Michael gives him a look and Kylie opens her mouth but Allie says, "While it's more likely she would have been heard, it should not have been necessary in the first place; if a sub gives their dom permission to order for them then this is easy to see, but assuming a priori that that's the case is harmful and erases subs' autonomy, especially when the sub explicitly requests to be heard. Think about it this way—imagine someone kept asking your parents about your preferences instead of you, and ignoring what you said. That would be pretty annoying at first, right? And if it kept up it would also feel pretty hurtful and invalidating, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah.  That'd be bad," says Lewis.  "And I didn't really get that before.  But I guess what I'm saying is...if something like that happens to you, your dom shouldn't have to stand up for you, because people should just listen to you.  But your dom should stand up for you anyway, or they're a shit person and a shit dom.  You know?"

"Hold that thought," says Allie. "We'll talk about that after everyone's told their story, but I like the way you think."

Lutan holds that thought but also looks maybe slightly pleased with himself.

There are a couple more stories about microaggressions in a similar vein, and then it's Lewis' turn.

"So, uh, one time I was having lunch with this cute, uh, switch—that wasn't the weird part, I'm totally cool with switches—and she was treating me really weird, not even bad, just weird."  He scratches his neck a little and looks at the floor.  "Like, she was looking at me in a way that felt kind of…" good "weird," he finishes lamely, aware that he's repeating himself but unable to find the right words to describe what he felt like during that conversation.  "And then she asked me why I kept my hair short, and I said because I was a dom.  Turns out, she thought I was a sub the whole time."  He makes a bit of a face.  "Like, that isn't what you want to hear from a cute...switch on your first day here, you know?  So that's my story."