Chapter Eleven
Hal
I woke up early. The sun wasn’t in the sky yet, and August was sound asleep by my side. After last night, he deserved that sleep.
I slowly rolled out of bed, making sure I didn’t wake him. I grabbed my clothes from the floor then went to the bathroom to clean up. If I worked quietly enough, I’d be able to get the dishes done before he woke up.
The arrangement of his kitchen made cleaning simple. I had most of the dishes dried and put away when he padded in. He looked unimpressed by my act of service. Oops.
“I woke up, and you weren’t there.” He didn’t sound angry, but he wasn’t overjoyed by any stretch.
“I was doing the dishes.”
“I see that, but you didn’t need to.” He let out a long breath.
My goal had been to surprise him and make him smile. Goal not achieved.
“I know, but I was awake, and I wanted to surprise you.”
He held his arms out. I put the towel down and walked over and into his embrace.
“You need some sleep.” He kissed the top of my head. “It’s still not even six in the morning.”
I knew it was early, but I didn’t realize it was that early.
The two of us walked hand in hand back to the bedroom and climbed into bed. I snuggled in close, his arm wrapped around me, and let sleep take over. He hadn’t been wrong about me needing more sleep.
The next time I woke up, I checked the time. It was already ten, and he was gone. I sat up and stretched, feeling much more refreshed than I had been last time. My first awakening was likely fueled by nerves, as I hadn’t been refreshed.
I slipped on my jeans and, after a pit stop, went downstairs to find August in the kitchen. There was a bowl of batter on the counter, a waffle iron plugged in, and the scent of bacon filled the air.
“I thought we needed to sleep,” I said.
“We did. And then I decided you needed to eat.” He would not let me turn the tables, and, fair enough. It wasn’t as if he snuck out in the middle of the night the way I apparently had.
“I see how it is. You plan on spoiling me.”
“Ha, look at that,” he said. “You do see how it is.”
He crossed over, kissed my cheek, and then grabbed a pot holder from behind me.
“Why don’t you have a seat at the table and pick whichever spot you want? I’m going to take the bacon out of the oven.”
I’d never seen bacon cooked in the oven before, so I stuck around to watch him pull it out. Sure enough, it was an entire rack of crispy bacon settled in another pan, with all the grease dripping down. It looked absolutely delicious. I was going to have to give that a try sometime.
Then I went over to the table and saw exactly what he meant by deciding which spot I wanted.
There were three place settings. Two were identical, with the normal stuff: a glass dish, a fork, knife, and spoon, a coffee mug, and a juice glass.
It was a bit extra, probably because it was our first breakfast together, but nothing over the top.
On the other side of the table were the dishes I saw last night, the little ones covered in teddy bears and rainbows. The plastic was now off them, and they even had a matching sippy cup. They were adorable.
I instantly knew which one I wanted and gathered up the other dishes to put them away.
This wasn’t about me spending the day being little.
I didn’t have the clothes I preferred for when I was, and we really hadn’t discussed what that would look like for us.
This was more about us testing the waters, and I was there for that.
So was he, from the look in his eyes as I put the dishes away.
“What can I do now?” I asked.
He came over and pressed a kiss against my lips. “Now, good boys wait for their breakfast to be ready and don’t get underfoot.”
I kissed him back and then went to my seat.
Breakfast was delicious. How could it not be with homemade waffles and bacon?
What made it really special was how he cut my waffles into strips and provided a little cup of syrup for me to dip them in, how he filled my sippy cup, and how he wiped my face with a napkin.
They were very little things, but our conversation was big, talking about whether I wanted him to do each of those things at each step of the way.
“I like this,” I said, gathering up the plates. “I like how we used today to learn about each other.”
“I did, too. I liked last night, as well.”
My gaze hit the floor, and my ears burned. It was easy to get me bashful, apparently.
“I was thinking,” I said. “Next time, maybe I could be little at my place and be more immersed in little space? I have my toys, my clothes. It’s not as nice as your place, but what do you think?”
“I think that sounds wonderful.”
We spent the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon watching the movie we’d planned on watching last night.
We were snuggling together, enjoying the company with no pressure.
It was the perfect way to end our date, which all too soon had to come to an end.
It was laundry day, and unfortunately, if I missed it, I would not make it through the week with my work clothes.
Daddy insisted on driving me home, and I insisted on him dropping me off at the curb so he wouldn’t have to deal with parking. I hated saying goodbye to him, but I did. It was better to do it there than have to watch him walk away from my door.
We might have just been getting to know each other, but I was already in so deep. I wasn’t scared about it at all, which was surprising. It felt right. August was my person. I could only hope that I was his, too.