Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Malik
Had he packed for a weekend away or was he in the middle of moving?
Every inch of the trunk was filled with boxes and bags, but it seemed like organized chaos or some kind of three-dimensional puzzle. I was going to have questions when grown-up Alton was back but for the time being I focused on little Roo. “What do we need?”
I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d said all of it, but he gave me an adorable thinking face and frowned like he was pretending to be big. “Gotta have lots. Jammies and teeth and Bouncy’s brush and big clothes and Little clothes and my work. Gotta have work in case the people start talking.”
People as in characters?
Nope. We’d tackle that later too.
“Okay. Where do I start playing pack mule?” That got a giggle from him as he patted my chest and did his let me down wiggle. “Here we go.”
When he was on his feet, he pointed to the first bag. “Teeth.”
That seemed to mean the small black carry-on had his grown-up stuff in it because the next bag was Hello Kitty. “Jammies.”
The next bags seemed to be work related and my hands were full by the time we headed inside. “Alright, next decision. I have a guest room and I have a big bed in my room. Where do you want your stuff to go and where do you want to sleep?”
Alton looked at me like he thought I was stupid, which didn’t really answer my question. “My playroom.”
Still not quite enough information but I was glad he was still verbal and we’d put off bottle time.
“Okay. Lead the way.” I’d given him a tour after dinner, so he confidently led his mule through the house and into the guest room.
So…
“Toys. Jammies.” He took the Hello Kitty suitcase from me without causing an avalanche but it was close. Little Roo couldn’t carry anything but he could set his special bag down on the bed. “There.”
So this was the room for his toys? His Little stuff?
“Come, Daddy.” Going behind me, he nudged and steered me back into the hallway and toward my bedroom.
It seemed like grown-up clothes went in there, which made sense once I thought about it. “How about right here?”
My IQ went up in his estimation as I set the suitcase down on the bench at the end of the bed, but down again when I held up his work bag. “And this one?”
He frowned, clearly worried he’d somehow managed to get the stupid Daddy when we were being handed out by the fates. “Table.”
The kitchen table?
More steering and polite shoving had us back in the living room where he had me put his stuff on a small desk in the corner that my mother had said I had to have. “There we go. You’ve got a table.”
“Mine?” Little Roo perked up like I’d promised him the moon.
“Yes, yours.” Kissing his forehead got a giggle and he did a happy dance. “Are we all set?”
“Toons!” He tugged me excitedly toward the chair before abruptly changing direction. “Milk.”
Hmm.
It wasn’t technically late, but I was pretty sure I knew where his headspace would end up if I got out a bottle.
“Jammies first.” The fact that I only got a tiny sigh and pout as I brought us to a halt said I was right. “Then cuddles and a bottle and cartoons.”
And then Daddy would stop expecting him to respond with words.
“Bath?” Little Roo looked down at himself before doing his sniff test again. “Stink?”
“You don’t stink but how about a bubble bath to make sure you’re all clean?” Since he’d brought it up, I wasn’t going to shoot down the idea right off the bat. “We can do it in the morning if that’s what we decide.”
What were Little Roo’s thoughts on being naked in front of Daddy?
He did another cute round of sniffs before looking up at me and shrugging. “Bubbles.”
“Okay.” Lifting him up to get more giggles from him, I carried him back through the house and decided he was lighter than whatever he’d packed in his luggage. “Off we go to get a bath.”
With a truck stop being his last shower, it seemed like a good idea even if he didn’t technically stink. A bit of earthy man smell was not unpleasant but he’d played hard and could probably use the relaxing time.
“Oh.” As we passed the guestroom that was now Little Roo’s room, he made gimmie fingers and down wiggles. “Mine.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant the room or the stuff inside it, but either way I nodded. “Detour time.”
Getting his pajamas was a good idea, but with as much as he’d packed, I wasn’t sure what else we’d be grabbing. “What do we need? Jammies?”
Setting him down by the bed, I watched as he did a happy wiggle and opened his suitcase. Everything was neatly packed, I’d give him that, but it was stuffed with everything from toys to pajamas to… oh… diapers.
As he dug like a Little mole, he made an excited sound as he found his binkie. “Mine.”
Once he’d popped it in place, his gaze went fuzzy and his entire body relaxed. Oral fixation or had he just taught himself that binkie time meant relaxing time?
“That’s good.” Kissing the top of his head, I looked into his suitcase. “Which jammies do you want to wear?”
There seemed to be two pairs, but it didn’t take him long to pick out a set with ice cream cones all over them. “Perfect. Do we need undies or a diaper?”
That was where decision-making slowed down.
He rocked back and forth as he looked at his options and finally shrugged.
He’d have looked less questionable if he hadn’t been glancing between me and the suitcase like it held a bomb I was supposed to be defusing, but I could understand why he was nervous.
“Then Daddy picks.” I made an exaggerated thinking face and sighed. “I get to pick, so no teasing me. I get what I want since it’s my choice. I’m the Daddy.”
My performance earned a snicker from my audience, but I thought my acting was amazing as I laid out training pants and a diaper with teddy bears on the front. “Oh, this is hard. But I get to pick because it’s my turn.”
More giggles escaped Little Roo but as I shifted my hand back and forth over the two options, he nudged my arm toward the diaper. I frowned at him as I picked it up but he snickered again. “I picked it.”
He seemed to think that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard, but I pretended to be very serious as I gathered his goodies and him up into my arms. “I picked you too.”
Tickling him wasn’t the best option at the moment, but I kissed his neck and got more laughter out of him as he barely held on to the binkie. “Mine.”
He was still making happy sounds and snuggling against me as we got to my bathroom and I had to set him down again. “Okay, potty time. Do you need help?”
I was good either way and he shrugged.
Testing the waters?
Did he not care?
Was it another aspect of his Little side?
I hadn’t seen him quite this young yet without his bottle, so I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. But no matter his headspace, he’d been able to figure out what he was thinking and even exhausted he’d tried to manipulate me to get what he wanted.
“Daddy helps then.” Because Little Roo was just standing there like he was waiting for me to make a decision. “One second.”
Another head kiss and I quickly went into the bedroom to drop the jammies off on the bed, but I didn’t leave him for long. “I can see you. Don’t think you can be sneaky. There are no cookies in the bathroom.”
That got a snicker around the binkie.
“Or cupcakes.” It’d only been a very full tummy that kept him from asking for another one after dinner. “You’re just going to have to be patient for me.”
Considering he hadn’t moved a muscle, I didn’t think he’d have a problem with that but he found my ridiculous rambling funny. “And I’m back, so you can’t be sneaky.”
He could however just be giggly.
Daddy was clearly in charge of everything, so I kissed his cheek and quickly moved around the thankfully large space to start filling the tub. When the piles of bubbles were growing and Little Roo was doing another happy dance wiggle, I took him over to the toilet. “Potty time.”
Grown-up Alton had checked out completely because Little Roo leaned back against me and reached one arm up so he could pet the hair on my neck. “Such a good boy.”
For making how comfortable he was clear at the very least.
We definitely should’ve had more conversations before we’d gotten to this point but our date hadn’t turned out like I’d expected. He could make his feelings clear, though, and there wasn’t an ounce of worry as he rubbed his head against my chest and waited for me to fish his penis out of his pants.
I had a feeling I’d get a bigger reaction if I tried to make him pick between Oreos or a cupcake, so it felt like Little Roo had no feelings on naked things whatsoever.
So I took my cue from him and pushed his pants down just enough for me to free him from his briefs and aimed his soft cock toward the bowl. “Ready. Set. Go.”
Making a game of it got a giggle from him but that was the extent of his reaction as he obeyed the silly order.
Even giving it a shake and tucking him back in the blue briefs he was wearing didn’t get a reaction out of him, so I mirrored him and treated it as matter-of-factly as I could. “All done.”
By the time that I’d washed both our hands… which got a giggle from him probably because he hadn’t touched anything… the tub was ready and the way he was studying it said he was ready to jump in headfirst. “One second. You have clothes on, silly goose.”
He giggled as he patted my chest, so as I took his shirt off, I pretended to glare at him. “I’m not a goose. I’m too hairy.”
That had him cocking his head and he reached up to pet the hair on my neck. There was clearly a question of some sort running through his head, but I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. “Still not a bear but I have lots of hair.”
He giggled but shook his head and stroked it again.
So I was funny but that wasn’t it.
I kept up random chatter as I finished stripping him, but I didn’t get it right until he was naked and in the tub… still completely unconcerned about his lack of clothes. “Some people think it looks like fur but it’s hair.”
Bingo.
He sat up like we were in a cartoon and a light bulb had just gone off over his head.
“Yes. It’s hair because we’re an early branch off the human evolutionary tree and we don’t have an undercoat or any of the typical characteristics of animal fur.
There’s some debate, but scientists like to argue about everything because it makes them feel important. ”
After giving me a giggle, I got a knowing nod from my curious boy. I knew I’d answered his question when he piled up bubbles on his head and pretended it was a hat. “Your hat is sliding off, little Roo.”
We needed more bath toys for it to have been a lot of fun, but he enjoyed himself and piling up the bubbles in different ways. He also seemed to come up with different questions as I finally got out the soap and a washcloth.
He poked at my wet hand and gave me his curious face as he cocked his head. “Do you have a question about my hair getting wet?”
I was getting better at the question game because he nodded.
“In the past it was just air drying and things like diaries indicate we bathed less. We have less oils in our skin than humans so we don’t get greasy.” That was hilarious and I shook my head and smiled as he giggled. “Now we’ve got very nice hair dryers so it’s not a problem.”
He would need to be washed on a regular basis, though, for fun and hygiene. “We’re going to need toys and more bubble bath for you.”
That got excited nods as I lifted one arm to scrub his underarm so he wouldn’t have to keep sniffing himself and worrying.
“I’m going to need to make a list.” I kept up rambling conversational topics as I finished washing his chest and arms, but I had to work at not noticing just how naked he was as I washed lower. “I think I’m going to end up needing to add more desserts to my grocery list too.”
As he sat up on his knees, clearly realizing other bits needed to be cleaned too, I had to restart my mental reminders. “Tomorrow you’re going to have to show me your toys so I know what kinds you like.”
Don’t notice his beautiful body.
Don’t notice his beautiful body.
Don’t notice his beautiful body.
“Alright, all set.” And it was good timing because our bubbles were fading quickly. “I wonder if there’s a spelled object to make bubbles last longer.”
That was hilarious and he kept shaking with laughter as I got him out of the tub and wrapped in a towel.
What I hadn’t thought about was how big they’d be on Little Roo, but he thought that was funny too.
He was all smiles and happy-binkie sucking as I stretched him out on the bed, keeping him wrapped up as much as possible as I got his diaper ready.
“That’s a reasonable question.” Pretending to frown got more silly sounds from him. “Mages think about everything else. One in town is selling soap bars that never wear out. I don’t know how that works but it’s fishy.”
After another round of giggles, Little Roo brought his hands together and made them wiggle like a fish. “I’m glad you agree. Okay, bottoms up.”
I was coming to the conclusion that I was either the funniest guy he’d ever met of any species or he was getting tired again.
One nap wasn’t going to cut it, so we were going to have an early bedtime.
When the tapes were in place and he was more covered, I unwrapped the rest of my giggling burrito and got him into his jammies. He was very good until his pants were in place, but as soon as he was dressed, he sprang up and wrapped himself around me. “You’re not a Roo… you’re a monkey.”
He made silly monkey sounds and clung to me tighter as I hung up his towel, and he made it clear he wasn’t looking to be put down. Which said to me that I hadn’t pushed any boundaries because he was a very happy monkey as we headed back to the living room.
If he made it through the entire movie I’d by lottery tickets because it would be a miracle, but making sure he enjoyed our evening was much more important than how long it was, so I wasn’t worried either way.
“Time to cuddle and then we’ll get milk.”
Oh… our first yawn of the night… the countdown had begun.