Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Knightly
I wasn’t sure how later came so quickly, but in the future, I needed to buy him longer books.
“I saw that yawn.” Putting off bathtime any longer wouldn’t have been good for him though.
Between stressing about the barbeque, actually getting ready for it, and handling his family, his day had been incredibly long and I wasn’t even sure how long he’d been stressing over it. “I think it’s bubble time.”
He tucked his face into my neck like he was shy but he was fighting back giggles. “Daddy wants more books?”
Brat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Clearly I hadn’t been as subtle as I’d thought when it’d come to putting off bathtime just a bit. “You like book time and cuddles.”
“Book cuddles are the best.” Petting my chest, he shrugged. “Daddy likes books too.”
“Daddy is green about bathtime.” I wasn’t sure I should give myself that label yet, but it seemed like we’d skipped right over the getting to know each other phase of this relationship. “And you need to get cleaned up and into jammies.”
Making an exaggerated thinking sound, he sat up and shifted so he was almost beside me in the oversized chair. “Colors are important, Daddy.”
“You’re right.” Tapping his nose, I tried to push back the overthinking that was taking over the back of my mind. “Grown-up naked things would be red for me because I want to get to know you better first, but taking care of my Little is different.”
He shrugged. “Got to get to know the Little.”
Through playing and baths and that kind of stuff.
“You make a lot of sense.” I might’ve grumbled that out but he giggled and kissed my cheek. “Thank you.”
“Welcome, Daddy.” Singing green-green-green over and over, he climbed off the chair with exaggerated movements and held out his hand. “I’m a good helper.”
“You are.” I let him help me up, and kissed his head before going over to put the books we’d been reading back on the shelf. “What jammies should you wear after bathtime?”
My little firecracker didn’t seem to realize how many questions I should’ve asked before I’d been allowed to take care of him.
“Hmm…” Tapping his chin, he considered the question seriously before bouncing over to the small dresser by the closet like a bunny. “Hop. Hop. Hop.”
Did he have rabbit pajamas?
No.
“See?” Pulling open the second drawer, he pointed. “For bunnies.”
Carrots.
He had carrot pajamas with the orange veggies plastered all over white pants and a white T-shirt.
“My little firecracker, are all your jammies food?” His giggle said I was right. “I see pizza and ice cream and even muffins.”
How were there so many options?
“Yum. Yum. Yum.” Shoving the jammies at me, he gave me a beaming smile. “Hungry means shop.”
He only shopped when he was hungry?
“They’re very nice.” I wasn’t sure what else I was supposed to say because it wasn’t logical in the slightest. “You picked out good ones… and you even have veggies.”
He thought that was funnier than I’d expected, and in between bouts of laughter he opened the top drawer and pulled out orange undies that matched his pajamas. “Silly Daddy.”
It was time to take silly Daddy to the bathroom because he hopped us to the hallway where he’d set up his fun bathroom. From what I’d seen as we walked past his grown-up room, that had a bathroom as well, but this one was pure fun.
The walls might’ve been white but everything from the towels to the toothbrush holder was brightly colored.
“This is great.” But I could see why he hadn’t wanted his family to come upstairs. There was no way he’d be able to get away with this without a lot of questions. “You did such a good job decorating it.”
Looking even happier, he spread his arms wide. “Mine.”
“You did wonderful.” It was obvious he was proud of it. “It’s very clean too.”
Oh, he liked that.
His chest puffed out and his grin was ear to ear. “Hard work.”
“I can see.” Frowning, I made a thinking hum as I looked around. “But I can’t see bubble bath.”
Giggles spilled out as he pointed to the cabinet under the sink. “There.”
More food.
He had a dozen fruity scents so I crouched down and studied them closely. “I thought we’d do avocado bubble bath but you don’t have it. Oh well.”
Cute snickers escaping, he shook his head. “Yummy smells, Daddy.”
Shopping and food were definitely tied together, but I refused to ask questions as I picked out a strawberry bubble bath before straightening. “How about this one?”
“Yummy.” He tried to look serious as he rubbed his tummy but it wasn’t believable.
“We don’t eat bubbles.” Collapsing back against the sink, I played shocked and got giggles from him. “I’m going to have to watch you very carefully.”
He thought that was very funny too, probably because of my worries about seeing him naked.
“Silly goose.” Shaking my head, I released his hand and tried to keep up the serious routine. “Yummy bubbles aren’t funny.”
But Daddy clearly was because he didn’t stop laughing until I’d turned on the water. “Daddy’s funny.”
That was better than Daddy being a worrier, so I sighed and groaned and shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Daddy’s just trying to keep you from eating bubbles.”
His mischievous grin had me working to keep my straight face. “Brownies are for eating, Daddy.”
I should’ve known that was coming.
“Let me ask a question first.” He was smart and looked appropriately skeptical before straightening like a toy soldier. “Is your tummy food hungry or is your body brownie hungry?”
I knew enough that those were not the same thing.
He didn’t appreciate that based on the way his face scrunched up. “Sneaky Daddy.”
Possibly, but I poured the soap into the water and worked on getting everything ready while he thought of the answer. From my perspective he’d eaten enough dinner, but with the way I’d needed to watch his family I might’ve missed something.
Once the water was filling and the bubbles were growing, I focused back on Rhodes. “Hands up.”
There’d been plenty of time for him to change his mind and for me to decide I hadn’t changed my mind, so I got his shirt off quickly while his brain was still focused on brownies.
Pants distracted him slightly but then he poked his tummy and seemed to be having a mental conversation with it and tuned out that step in getting naked.
For some reason figuring out the answer was timed perfectly with his blue briefs coming off. Part of me wondered if that was to distract me, but I wasn’t going to question it. “Brownie hungry, Daddy.”
“Thank you for thinking about that.” I kissed his head as he stepped out of the undies that had fallen to the floor. “How about we do a small piece after bath and before you brush your teeth?”
Oh, that look.
“Excuse me.” I’d obviously misunderstood the plan based on how wide his eyes had gone, but it wasn’t hard to figure out where things had gone wrong. “Before I brush your teeth.”
His bright smile was adorable and completely designed to manipulate me. “Thank you, Daddy.”
I even got a cheek kiss.
He was good.
“You’re welcome.” Refusing to tackle the manipulation until I knew what to do about it, I focused on the tub and more practical things. “That looks like enough water and you have lots of bubbles and toys.”
They were even neatly piled in plastic baskets around the tub to make sure they could dry easily.
“Mine.” His delightfully greedy grin made him look a bit like that duck that swam through gold in those old cartoons, but I did my best to keep that thought off my face. “Toys.”
Had his brothers taken his stuff when he was a kid?
I was missing something but nodding and accepting it seemed like the best plan for the time being. “That’s right. Take my hand so you can be safe climbing in the tub.”
While I ignored the nakedness in the room.
Something about the whole situation made it easier to ignore than I was expecting, but I’d still never done anything like this before. The closest I’d come was seeing some of the Littles at a BDSM club I used to go to, but nothing compared to having my own adorable con artist.
“Bubbles.” Settling in the foam mountain, he scooped up an armful and showed them to me as I sat down on the closed toilet lid. “See?”
“I do and they smell good.” Leaning over, I sniffed his neck getting another giggle from him. “You smell like hamburgers.”
I was either a lot funnier than I thought or I’d just needed the right audience to appreciate me.
“Play first then clean.” His singsong tone made me smile but my favorite was the greedy smile coming back as he started picking through his baskets. “Animals? Boats?”
He had plenty of options, but picking out what to play with seemed to be even more fun than actually playing. It was almost like he was playing store owner or something like that before he started the regular game.
I was mostly just there for him to have an audience, so I let him play and just nodded seriously when he showed me the perfect fish and a fancy boat. Praise and attention were my primary job, so I did my best to fulfill the role I was given in our current game.
If other Daddies had the ability to turn their brains off, I was going to have to figure out how to do it, but I kept myself occupied by trying to decide what other toys I could get for him as a surprise and debating what to say if he tried to talk me into a sleepover.
The odds seemed to be about fifty-fifty as far as I could tell, so by the time the bubbles were fading and his yawns were back, I’d figured out my plan.
“I saw that yawn.” Shaking his head was automatic, but he paused as I picked up his washcloth. “Time to make you my strawberry boy and not my hamburger cutie.”
Being scrubbed was tempting for some reason but it seemed like it fell on the more caretaking side of things. “All clean?”
Looking around, he frowned at his fading bubbles and probably cooling water. “Oh.”
“Are you ready for your brownie?” Okay, so maybe I wasn’t going to complain about giving him another treat. It’d turned out to be a damned good bribe. “I guess I’ll eat it if you don’t want it.”
“I do. I eat.” Scooping up bubbles, he put them on his head. “Scrub.”
He was going to make a mess.
“I’ll help you get all clean.” I was starting to understand why Daddies scrubbed. Littles were too enthusiastic to keep water in the tub. “Then once you’ve got jammies on, we’ll get your brownie.”
Nodding, he got a second wind with the promise of another round of dessert. “Then teeth and bedtime.”
Calculation was sliding into his smile as he widened his eyes and tried to look as cute as possible. “Bedtime is ‘portant, Daddy.”
I was prepared this time… but he was good.
Running the soapy cloth over this chest, I nodded. “You’re right because if you go to bed on time then we can have breakfast tomorrow.”
Ha. Got him.
“Breakfast?” He blinked, clearly not expecting that response.
“I was thinking that if you went to bed like a good boy, I could come over in the morning and make you waffles.” He seemed like the type to find those more special than pancakes and I was glad when his eyes went wide again. “Would that be our third date?”
The distraction was too tempting so he started telling me about all the toppings that could go on the waffles. By the time that I’d cleaned him thoroughly without looking nervous over special bits, we’d decided that syrup was just fine this time but next time we’d do strawberries and whipped cream.
Someone had the biggest sweet tooth I’d ever seen.
“Come on, cutie. Time to get you dried off.” Putting the toys in the right baskets took forever, but I wasn’t going to be the idiot to tell the Little not to clean up his toys. “You did such a good job.”
“All done.” Waving his arms around almost took us both out but holding his hands kept us both safe as he stood. “Good helper, Daddy.”
Chuckling, I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
I took a chance and released his hands while I grabbed his towel. It was a tense five seconds but I had him wrapped up before he could crash into anything else. “There we go.”
Getting out of the tub was another worrisome step in our plan but we made it work with only a tiny slip. “Safe, Daddy.”
Bullshit… bubbles were dangerous.
“I’m glad.” I didn’t believe it but it made him happy to fake it. “Let’s get you dried off.”
“Then brownie, Daddy.” He barely got the words out before a yawn cut him off. “I… brownie, Daddy.”
He was very food motivated.
“That’s right and then waffles in the morning.” Running the towel over him, I took in the way his cock plumped up but mostly ignored it since that was what he seemed to be doing. “Then we’ll have to figure out what we want to play after breakfast.”
From what I remembered of his schedule he never left the house on Sundays, so it seemed like a safe plan.
“Oh. ’Toons, Daddy.” He yawned again as I hung the towel up. It seemed like he was going to say something else but he got distracted as I picked up his undies. “Orange, Daddy.”
“They match the carrots on your jammies.” I could remember food and matching accessories. “You’ll have to show me your other clothes tomorrow.”
The excitement in his voice every time he said shopping said there would be more clothes.
“Yay.” Thankfully, he was careful as he stepped into his undies. “Show, Daddy.”
Show?
“Are you going to do a fashion show for me?” Before he could answer, he looked down at the front of his underwear.
I’d tried to keep my touch careful but that didn’t work.
“No.” Shaking his head, he pulled out the front of his undies and fixed his penis, shifting it to the right. “See?”
Oh, I saw.
“I’ll get it right next time.” That didn’t seem to be much of an assumption with the way things were going.
“Daddy does good next time.” He kissed my cheek, probably to ease the sting of having to tell me that I’d gotten his dick position wrong.
“I’ll try.” Being a Daddy was weird. “Thank you for pointing out the problem.”
At least I knew he wouldn’t get frustrated without telling me what the problem was.
“Welcome.” Smiling proudly, he held up his hands. “Brownies.”
Yep, he was the most food-motivated person I’d ever met… and I was finally starting to understand the earlier panic about feeding everyone.
“Yes, cutie. Brownies and teeth and more cuddles before bed.”
Cuddles and food.
Were those the things all Littles needed to be happy or was this just a Rhodes thing?
I had questions… lots and lots of questions.