Chapter Seven #2
Yes. Jacob picked up his cup to sip at his tea. He’d buy the light and have it overnighted. It would be no problem getting it installed while James was working the next day.
As he continued to sip his tea, the sound of a motorcycle approaching had him smiling.
The boy was almost home for the night.
Jacob felt much better when he knew the boy was settled in for the night.
He slept better knowing that at least for a few hours, James was tucked in and safe.
James worked a very important but dangerous job.
James’s passion for being a firefighter was obvious when the boy spoke about his part-time position.
As hard as James had worked to get where he was, he was also still learning what being a firefighter entailed. Jacob wouldn’t be forgetting how pale and out of it James had looked on New Year’s Eve. There would be more bad nights. Rough shifts. Death.
If Jacob could protect James from all of that, he would. Instead, he had to step back and be the support for the boy.
He smiled as James pulled the motorcycle into his normal parking space. The engine continued to rumble as James removed his helmet.
The boy glanced over toward Jacob’s house.
Did James know that Jacob was watching?
James turned off the bike but continued to sit on it.
Dread filled him. Why wasn’t James moving? Climbing off the bike? Getting into the warm apartment?
Jacob was pleased the boy had been wearing his helmet and the familiar leather jacket was on but James sat staring toward his house.
He set the mug down even as he rushed to the back door.
Jacob yanked the door open and crossed the yard in less than a minute.
Need to check on James drove him forward.
“James?” Jacob called as he approached. He stopped beside the bike, barely able to keep from touching the boy.
James blinked slowly. He moved his gaze from the house to settle on Jacob. “I was just thinking about you,” James told him. His voice had that same lost tone that Jacob had heard on New Years Eve.
“Oh, baby,” Jacob said softly. “Bad shift?”
“There was a fire,” James said. “We got everyone out in time.”
“That’s good,” Jacob replied carefully.
“But where will they go?” James whispered. “There was a young woman. She had twin boys. Her husband died a couple months ago. Where will she go now? It’s not fair.”
His sweet boy had such a kind heart. “There will be assistance for her.” Jacob donated to several charities in the city for that very reason. To help his community. They had good programs in place even if the housing market would make it difficult for the young woman to start over.
“She cried,” James shared. “She and the twins were safe but pictures, her husband’s things, it’s all gone.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” Jacob placed his hand on James’s leg.
“Can…can I come over to your house?” James asked low enough that Jacob had to strain to hear.
“Of course you can,” Jacob assured him. “That would make me very happy.” He was worried.
“It would?”
Lifting the hand not on James’s leg, Jacob cupped his face. “Do you need a friend or maybe a…Daddy? No pressure but I want to give you what you need.”
“No one will know but us?” James stared into Jacob’s eyes.
“No one has to know anything. Not until you’re ready,” Jacob assured him. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing.” Jacob didn’t want James to think regression was a dirty little secret. “But it will always be your choice who you tell.”
James swallowed hard but he leaned his cheek against Jacob’s palm. “I’m tired. I don’t want to think anymore. I just want to…be.”
“Let me take care of everything for you,” Jacob requested. He wouldn’t go full Daddy on James. Instead, he would concentrate on that support that he’d just been thinking about.
“Please.” James closed his eyes. “Please.”
* * * * *
James
He’d been thinking about Jacob’s offer and then Jacob was there like James had summoned him out of thin air.
James leaned his cheek against the palm Jacob had on his face. Jacob’s hand was warm, rough, but it felt good to be touched.
“Let’s get inside,” Jacob told him. He helped James throw a leg over the motorcycle where he sat.
James’s feet barely touched the ground before Jacob had an arm wrapped around him.
James allowed Jacob to take most of his weight.
To lean against the strong body nearly wrapped around him.
James tried to always be the strong one.
It was important that no one saw him as weak.
Jacob wasn’t like everyone else. He respected James.
At least that was what he’d been telling James for days.
In every text message that they exchanged.
Their relationship had undergone a radical change in the past three days.
Instead of texting his brothers and friends when it was slow at the fire-house or when he was bored, James was texting Jacob all day and night.
And Jacob didn’t seem to mind. He replied quickly, always answering whatever silly or serious question James came up with.
Jacob even sent articles from online and a link to a very good blog written by a little who’d been searching for a Daddy for a very long time.
The boy had found his Daddy and shared their intimate details of their relationship.
It was like reading an engaging television show and James was hooked.
He even had his notifications on so he knew when the little posted again.
And Liam Groves books? Those were so fun to read.
Sexy. And James knew why Luca was obsessed.
“Here we are,” Jacob said quietly. “Into the warm house.”
They’d somehow made it across the yard and were walking into Jacob’s house while James had been lost in thought. The back door led directly into the spacious kitchen. It was the only room in the house that James had previously seen.
“Would you like a shower or to change clothes?” Jacob asked.
James looked down at what he was wearing. He couldn’t even remember. Jeans, T-shirt, and jacket. He sniffed himself. James had showered at the station. It was hard to get the scent of a fire all the way out though. “Do I stink?”
“No, sweetheart,” Jacob replied kindly. “I just didn’t know if it would help you relax.”
“Tired,” James told him. It seemed like a lot of effort when he didn’t have any energy left.
“No problem,” Jacob told him. “I’ll get you settled on the couch with some cartoons and grab you some clothes.”
“Cartoons?” Should he complain about that? He often put on cartoons when he wasn’t in the mood to pay close attention to what was on.
“Something silly that you can listen to in case you want to close your eyes,” Jacob replied.
That made James smile. He was relieved that Jacob wasn’t pushing him to act like a little. That he could just relax. They’d discussed James’s regressing—that was mostly all they talked about—James just couldn’t think about that when he was so exhausted. “Cool.”
Jacob led him down the hall with an arm still around his waist.
They reached the living room where the gleaming hardwood floor turned into thick gray carpet. James froze. “Should I take off my shoes?”
“I got it,” Jacob told him. “You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
He relaxed. Those were like magic words. “Okay.” He’d trust that Jacob would tell him what James needed to do.
Jacob helped him settle into the corner of the large plush dark gray couch. The same color as the carpet. Actually, looking around, James found that the entire room was done in three different shades of gray. The color was soothing.
And the room was homey. Had a coziness that James hadn’t expected.
There were two tall bookcases that book-ended the huge screen mounted to the wall.
There were also a ton of blankets and pillows.
Like, more blankets than James had ever seen.
On chairs, the end of the couch, the back of the couch. Even a stack on the floor.
Kneeling in front of him, Jacob reached for James’s feet and removed his black boots and thick socks. James stared down at his professor. He knew almost nothing about Jacob. Like the man’s obsession with blankets.
Jacob set his shoes and socks off to the side before he rose to grab the colorful blanket folded on the back of the couch. Jacob placed the blanket over his lap and James pulled it up to his shoulders. Oh, soft!
“I’m going to get you some sweatpants to lounge in. They’ll be more comfortable than those jeans.”
James nodded.
“I’ll be right back,” Jacob vowed.
As Jacob left the room, James pulled the blanket to his nose.
While he might not smell bad, the soft blanket’s scent was comforting.
Jacob must use a much more expensive product than they did.
It would make sense and James wondered how he could fix it where he might get a load of laundry done.
Laundry was a Daddy thing, wasn’t it? It might be worth playing at being a little to get his laundry done.
Not that James considered regression a game or anything. No, he was taking the conversations with Jacob seriously. He still wasn’t convinced that he was little. The more research he did, the deeper he went, James saw that there really was more than one way to explore age regression.
If James went ahead with exploring with Jacob, then he already knew that he would regress older than Michael.
He wasn’t the only little that wasn’t interested in abdl.
Although James did understand how that would help a boy get into the right headspace.
There were other options as well. Training pants or even thick cotton underwear.
James was leaving those decisions for later.
Technically he hadn’t shared with Jacob how close he was to asking for help exploring. Except, he kind of had. That night. While sitting on his bike. He’d asked Jacob to take care of him.
“Are you still doing okay?” Jacob asked as he returned.