Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Beneath Danny’s feet the inflatable surface of the castle bounced, and Blake was grinning like a loon, but the fun had drained right out of him. Lori giggled beside him, trying to crawl up the inflated slope, but Danny couldn’t make himself laugh anymore.
“I’m done bouncing,” he announced abruptly.
Blake, sprawled dramatically on his belly, blinked at him. “But we just got good at synchronized jumping!”
Danny didn’t even crack a smile and tried to look anywhere but at Easton and Kevin. “Let’s go color.”
Lori perked up. “I wanna draw a unicorn! With sunglasses!”
“Perfect,” Danny said, already crawling to the exit. “Come on.”
Although Blake grumbled a protest, he did follow along.
Danny didn’t even glance at Kevin as they passed him. Not when the boy looked up hopefully, not when Easton gave him a parting pat on the shoulder. The sight of their closeness made Danny’s stomach churn.
Inside his chest an ugly beast reared his head.
Danny pulled out a chair for Lori, gave her a handful of markers, and sat close enough that their knees brushed.
Slouching onto the small plastic chair, Danny’s knees jutted up awkwardly as he dropped a fistful of crayons onto the table with a clatter. Lori didn’t notice. She was already deep in some pink-and-purple glitter masterpiece, tongue poking out as she leaned over the paper.
He pressed his elbows to the edge of the table and let his chin sink into his hands. The paper beneath him blurred for a second, and he blinked fast, refusing to sniffle.
The table smelled like old glue and crayon wax, and the faintest whiff of someone’s sugary snack still clung to the air. Normally, this was the kind of cozy that made his shoulders loosen. Right now, it felt suffocating.
He drew a lopsided heart, then angrily scribbled it out.
Abandoning the drawing, he picked at a dried glue lump on the tabletop, his fingernail flaking it bit by bit, and watched Lori work.
“You’re really good at this.”
“I know,” she chirped.
Danny laughed at her confident almost haughty expression. “Will you make me a T-Rex next? A really mean one?”
Lori’s eyes sparkled. “With laser eyes?”
“Obviously.”
He praised every line she drew like it was museum-worthy, laughing with her, nodding at Blake’s occasional input. Anything to stay in this bubble and pretend everything outside didn’t matter. That Kevin didn’t exist.
But of course, ‘the Little With His Greedy Eyes On Daddy Easton’ showed up.
He wandered over, clutching a coloring book and a fistful of colored pencils. “Hey,” he said, shy smile in place. “Mind if I…”
Danny stood. Fast. Too fast. The plastic chair toppled over.
Kevin flinched. “I was just gonna…”
“We were finishing up,” Danny said tightly.
Blake looked up from his scribble war with Lori. “But we weren’t…”
Danny shot him a look, a sharp one, and Blake fell quiet.
Kevin’s expression crumpled. “Okay. Sorry. I didn’t mean…”
Danny walked away, ignoring the fallen chair, his friends calling his name. He needed space.
But Kevin followed.
Of course he followed.
“You don’t like me.” Kevin’s tone wasn’t accusing, just… resigned.
Danny whipped around. “You think I can’t see what you’re doing?”
Kevin blinked. “What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to worm your way in with him. My Daddy.”
A pause. Then something subtle shifted in Kevin’s posture. His spine straightened. His expression smoothed. That fluttery nervousness drained from his body like air leaving a balloon.
Gone was the bunny-hugging Little. In his place stood a composed man with sharp eyes and shoulders that suddenly looked a hell of a lot squarer. “I think we need to talk.”
Before Danny could sputter a comeback or even register his pulse jumping, Kevin leaned down toward Blake and Lori. “We’ll be right back, okay? Stay here and color. Lori, I want to see the best damn T-Rex of your life.”
Lori beamed. “With glitter?”
“Definitely with glitter.”
Kevin wrapped his fingers gently but firmly around Danny’s upper arm and steered him behind the inflatable structure. The canvas flapped faintly in the breeze created by their movements, and the far-off squeals of Littles playing muffled around them. It was secluded enough to sting.
Danny pulled back. “What the hell, man…”
“I’m straight.”
Danny blinked. “What?”
Kevin folded his arms across his chest and gave him a level stare. “I’m not looking for a Daddy. Especially not yours.”
“I didn’t…” But Danny’s cheeks burned. His stomach did a slow, nauseating somersault.
Kevin’s gaze didn’t waver. “And no one will stand a chance with Daddy Easton anyway.”
Danny’s lungs locked.
“Because,” Kevin continued, with an unshakable certainty that knocked the breath right out of him, “he’s head over heels for you.”
The world tilted. “Wh… what?”
Kevin raised a brow. “Have you talked to him? Told him how you feel?”
Danny took a step back. The rubber mats suddenly felt unsteady under his shoes. “How I feel?”
A faint smile touched Kevin’s lips. “You’re in love with him.”
Not a question. Not an accusation.
Just a quiet truth, dropped like a stone into a still lake.
Danny looked away. His throat thickened with something awful and soft. A thousand protests rose, but none made it past his lips. Instead, he stared at his feet, at the edge of a faded purple rubber tile. His fingers curled into his palms.
“So.” Kevin’s tone was gentle now. “How are you going to tell him? And when?”
Danny shook his head, more a reflex than anything useful. “I… I don’t know.”
Kevin’s tone softened even more. “Look, I get it. It’s hard. Especially when there’s a power dynamic. When you’re used to someone calling the shots, taking care of you, reading your moods like tea leaves…”
Danny laughed, but it came out as more of a shaky exhale.
“… it gets really easy to forget that they’re not mind readers.”
A pause stretched between them, filled with the sound of distant laughter and the swish of the air against the castle.
“You’ll have to tell him.” Kevin backed up a step. “Even if it’s scary. Even if your voice shakes. He deserves to know. And more than that… you deserve to say it.”
Kevin turned.
Something in Danny reached out. “Wait.”
Kevin paused.
Danny’s voice cracked. “I… I’m sorry.”
Kevin glanced over his shoulder, one brow raised.
“I was a brat. I was jealous and petty and I thought… I don’t even know what I thought. But thank you. For being decent. And honest.”
Kevin’s smile returned, smaller this time. He turned back to face Danny.
Danny hesitated. “Do you… do you know what you want?”
Kevin’s shoulders rose and fell, then he gave a slow nod. “I’m figuring it out. Every day I’m here, I learn more. I’m not ready yet, but… I think I’d like a Mommy someday.”
Danny blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Kevin said, almost shy now. “Someone strong and nurturing. Someone who sees through my nonsense and holds me accountable but lets me be soft too. I’ve never had that. Not really.”
Danny nodded slowly, his chest tightening with something he couldn’t quite name.
Then, before he could second-guess the impulse, he reached into his pocket.
His fingers closed around the smooth lapis lazuli stone.
He hadn’t let go of it since he’d been gifted the stone, not really.
Sometimes it lived in his pocket. Sometimes in the drawer by the bed. But he always knew where it was.
The weight of it felt different now. Lighter, maybe. Or maybe it was just time.
“I got this from Sam Denten,” he said, holding it out in his palm. “He told me it meant clarity and strength and… being here. He told me I was worth it. But I think you are too. And maybe even more ready than you believe.”
Kevin stared down at the stone, then back up at him.
His lips parted, but no sound came out at first. “Thanks,” he finally murmured, reverently closing his hand around the stone.
Kevin’s eyes flicked to him. For a beat, they just stood there, not quite friends but not quite strangers anymore either.
“Really, man, thanks.” Kevin rested his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “And good luck to you.” He gave Danny’s shoulder a light squeeze before letting go of him and turning around.
Then he walked off.
Danny stood behind the bounce house, the crinkle of laughter and squeaky rubber half-muffled by the hum in his ears.
Easton loved him.
Or at least… he wasn’t the only one feeling all twisted and full and scared.
Now how to tell Easton how he felt?