Chapter 2
(Cooper)
Why can’t he just settle down?
“Daddy!”
Zachy squealed it, crashing into him the moment he got the door open and saw Cooper standing there.
His boy was an enthusiastic hugger, so Cooper squeezed him tight and pressed a kiss to the top of his head the moment Zachy loosened the hold he had on him.
Zachy had dressed in a simple pair of shorts and a T-shirt. The baseball cap covering the long blond hair he’d braided had a duck face emblazoned on the bill, and the back of Zachy’s shorts had a duck tail on them. A whole look then and easy to get him out of if he made a mess of himself.
“Did you remember to pack a spare outfit?” Cooper asked as he eyed the backpack Zacky had slung over one shoulder. Pins with different sayings and cartoon characters covered so much of the damned thing it was difficult to tell what color it was.
Zachy took it everywhere with him when he was little, something that had caused a minor meltdown two weeks before when Cooper had accidentally left it on his bed before he and Zachy had headed to Velvet Illusions.
The boy had been such a fidgety brat at the club that night that Cooper had canceled the sleepover he’d had planned and driven him home before midnight, only for Zachy to call him sobbing and begging him to bring his bag over, which he’d absolutely refused to do until after he’d had his morning cup of coffee.
Zachy hadn’t met him at the door that morning with a hug, he’d pouted and immediately hugged the bag to him the moment Cooper passed it over. Ever since then Zachy wouldn’t even allow him to carry it for him when they went out.
“I gots everything,” Zachy said, his soft voice partially obscured by the thumb he’d shoved in his mouth. Big blue eyes peered at him from beneath the cap, so Cooper inclined his head, and Zachy stepped out into the hall with him.
“Please tell me you plan to be a good boy for Daddy tonight?” Cooper said as they got situated in his car.
It was half question and half plea, since he never knew which Zachy he’d be taking out. The quiet but squirmy one that only tested his patience a little, or zig zagging out of control Zachy who couldn’t seem to refrain from poking his nose into everything.
So far, it seemed like they’d left that version back on the kink cruise, where Cooper had been at his wits end and inches away from ending things with his boy before Zachy had finally pulled it together and started listening to him, mostly.
“I’ll be the bestest boy, I promise,” Zachy said. “Cross my heart I swear!”
“I’ll settle for you just being as polite and well-mannered as the rest of the boys.”
“I tryin’.”
“You are. I just wish you’d try a little harder to follow the simple instructions I give you.”
“I know, Daddy. No touchin’, no runnin’ around, no paintin’ nuthin’, no goin’ ta the art room without soupy-vision, no playin’ tug of war with toys and no buggin’ you with a bunch of questions.”
“That’s right,” Cooper said. “But you forgot no wandering off, no getting into arguments with any of the other littles and no daring anyone to do anything or doing anything anyone dares you to do.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“I know you are, but sorry gets old after a while,” Cooper explained. “I need you to do better.”
“I will Daddy.”
“We’ll see,” Cooper groaned, wondering several times over the course of the drive why he still tried to take Zachy to Velvet Illusions in the first place.
In the beginning, it had been with the hope that Zachy would pick up on how the other littles acted and learn to follow suit, but now he was beginning to wonder if that hadn’t been too much to hope for. Maybe his initial assessment had been the right one, when he’d dreamed Zachy the wrong little for him. Only he couldn’t quite discount the feelings he’d developed for the young man who’d enticed him to move halfway across the country and awakened some seriously protective instincts in him the few times Zachy’s reckless behaviors had gotten him hurt.
“Did you have a good week?” Zachy asked, the curious enthusiasm another reminder of what he’d be losing if he cast Zachy aside for a more well-behaved little.
“Was just another typical,” Cooper shrugged. “Nothing good or bad about it.”
Zachy always asked about his day and loved hearing stories about the projects he was working on, even when some of the buildings he was designing felt like the most boring, uninspired thing he ever created. To Zachy, Cooper’s job was awesome because the renderings reminded him of the blueprints in Lego boxes, and little Zachy loved to build things.
He also loved to crash trains, trucks, and even large dinosaur stuffed animals into them, making all the smashing and crumbling noises he could dream up as he tore the buildings down.
Loud.
That was certainly a good adjective for Zachy, only today he looked sad too. Cooper almost asked him about it, then decided against it since all Zachy ever did in response to such questions was plaster a fake smile on his face and claim that everything was awesome.
Liar.
Only it was easier for Cooper to call him out on his misbehaviors then pry any sort of truth out of him. Zachy just stared at him with his bottom lip poking out and his eyes filling with liquid like Cooper was the most monstrous, cruel, evil, mean Daddy in the whole wide world just for bringing up something that was clearly bothering him.
The parking lot was mostly full already. Those who arrived late would be parking on the street tonight, and around the corner too, since it was demo night and there were several different Doms coming in to give workshops. There was a Shabari one he’d been considering, only one glance over at Zachy and Cooper wondered if it would be worthless with as squirmy as Zachy got. Would he be able to sit still long enough for Cooper to get the knots right or would it prove to be yet another source of frustration between them?
Zachy hopped out of the car as soon as Cooper killed the engine, but at least he waited by the bumper for Cooper who really should have remembered to take his hand before they went in because inside was pure chaos.
There must only be one person behind the desk then.
Cooper barely fit into the room, and that was with the door propped half open against his back because Zachy had stopped short of running into anyone and now stood twitching, gaze bouncing from person to person like a bunny trying to decide which way to hop.
He was just about to bark out a stern warning to not even think about it when Zachy glanced over his shoulder and met Cooper’s gaze, smiled and scooched backward until his backside was molded against Cooper’s front where he stayed until they’d properly checked in.
Okay. Good. He’d done well about not spotting one of the other littles and tearing off to talk to them, leaving Cooper with no choice but to leave the line and go get him, then go all the way back to the end of the line with an unhappy Zachy in tow. Now to find a good spot to get Zachy situated so he could observe the other littles playing.
Scanning the area along the edges of the playroom, Cooper found an unoccupied space all the way across the room for the door, so there was no chance of Zachy spotting something when it opened and deciding he wanted to creep off and investigate.
“Alright Zachy, Park your butt right here and remember what I told you.”
“Not ta move a single inch.”
“That’s right. You can do that for me, can’t you?”
“Uh-huh, Daddy.”
“Perfect,” Cooper said, giving him a kiss on the forehead before leaving him there with the contents of his backpack to amuse himself with if he got bored.
Cooper hoped he’d watch the others and learn something though and was pleased when Zachy just clutched the bag to his chest while he sucked away on his binky.
“I was beginning to wonder if you’d make it,” Hank commented when Cooper stepped over to the group of Daddies and Mamas who occupied the corner to the right of the door.
“He promised to be good, so I decided to take another stab at it.”
“Think you’ll let him join the others tonight?” Mama Mimzy asked as she cast a fond glance over to where her little, Kayla, was playing with Hank’s boy, Ryu, the two of them pressed shoulder to shoulder as they worked on putting together a treehouse. Several wobbly, egg-shaped characters awaited the completion of their home, while the pair giggled and kept on adding pieces.
“If he behaves himself, maybe,” Cooper said as he watched Zachy double over and stretch out his neck so he could get a better look at what the two littles were creating. “It’s entirely up to him.”
Sometimes it’s hard for them to resist the excitement,” Mama Mimzy said. “Especially when they’re new at being little.”
“Zachy’s had months to work on it.”
“You mean months sitting on the sidelines watching,” Donovan pointed out as he studied Cooper’s boy now too. “It’s not the same thing.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d had to chase him all over that damned cruise ship,” Cooper grumbled, beginning to regret joining them since the trio had a bad habit of giving advice he didn’t ask for. Well, Hank didn’t, but that didn’t stop Cooper from feeling judged whenever the man glanced between him and Zachy.
“Maybe he’ll do better at the Wet n’ Wild at Paradise Park event.,” Mama Mimzy suggested.
“What the hell is that?”
“Adults only and every ride and water activity you can imagine. Velvet Illusions buys out the park every year to put it on, so make sure you stop by the office to get your tickets. You and your boy won’t want to miss out on that one and it’s all outdoors. The littles exhaust themselves after a few hours and spend the rest of the day floating around the lazy river or making sandcastles on the little beach beside the bumper boats.”
“Sounds like a good time.”
“It really is,” Donovan said. “Just with all of your boy’s fair skin, you’ll want to remember to bring plenty of sunscreen and maybe a hat like the one he’s wearing. Even at this time of year the sun is still bright enough to burn him.”
Cooper nodded, because it did sound like fun, and he’d seen firsthand on the ship how much Zachy loved playing in and around the water. He’d fallen asleep on a floaty in the lazy river twice, once waking himself when he’d rolled off his float and fallen in, drenching himself and the stuffy Cooper had warned him against taking on the raft with him.
“I’ll keep that in mind if we decide to do it,” Cooper said.
“Don’t wait until the last minute, those tickets tend to sell out fast, especially in the last few days leading up to the event.”
“Good to know,” Cooper said, deciding to wait and see how the night went before he made up his mind one way or the other.
A little tug on the leg of his chaps drew his attention down to where Zachy sat by his boot, pacifier still working back and forth between his lips.
“Is there a reason you moved from where I put you?” Cooper asked.
Zachy nodded solemnly and pulled the pacifier out of his mouth.
“I gotta go potty.”
“Didn’t I remind you to go before I picked you up?” Cooper asked.
Zacky nodded, binky back in his mouth while he twisted the hem of his shirt and rocked a little.
“Uh-huh, but I had juice.”
Sighing, Cooper pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course you did. Do you remember where the bathroom is?”
Zachy nodded, paci back to moving at a steady pace, the same way Zachy liked to suck him when he was giving head.
“Okay, good, you can go ahead and go then, just remember to come right back, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“Thank you for coming to let me know and not just taking off on your own,” Cooper added as Zachy started to crawl away.
Zachy smiled a big, bright smile, clearly pleased with himself before he waved and crawled the rest of the way to the door.
“Awe. What a little cutie,” Mama Mimzy murmured as Cooper watched him go.
Snorting, Cooper just shook his head. “Don’t let appearances fool you.”