It took Dean a second to register what it was Dempsey was going on about. One step forward and two steps back. "Not what I meant," he chuckled quietly, shaking his head a little. He had to wonder why Dempsey kept going there. How could he make it any clearer that he really was not worried about Dempsey not being interested pushing those buttons?

"I meant around seeing other people, like when I'm gone. Or setting aside a specific, dedicated time between us that should come first." Like when Dean first came back from work travel. Dean was trying to think of things that he might want, but still hadn't had enough time to really think about. It was a strange sort of thing to put words to and he was sure things would come up that neither of them would anticipate (like today), but they could establish some sort of foundation for having those discussions in the future.

With two trains of thought trying to take precedence in his brain, Dean couldn't help but to worry that he'd accidentally set Dempsey up to think that he was discontented with their current activities. He tried to catch Dempsey's eye; he wanted to make it as clear as possible. "I absolutely do not want you pushing out of your comfort zone if it's just because it's what you think I want." That was not how this worked, not in his brain.