Chapter 6
Bastian
I was missing something because I wasn’t sure how I’d ended up coloring with Orlando while we watched a movie I was enjoying more than I’d expected. “He needs a spanking.”
My dryly delivered comment got another snicker from Orlando who was thoroughly enjoying his little headspace. “I’m not naughty. Nope. Terrence says spankings are treats. But I don’t need corner time. The naughty car can get corner time.”
Terrence was a menace.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready to meet him or not, but I knew I couldn’t put it off. He had entirely too much influence over Orlando, so the top thing on my to-do list was going to be finding a new little friend for Orlando to play with.
Someone who was a better influence at the very least.
“A lot of subs of all sorts think spankings are treats, but yes, I think corner time would be a better way to correct naughty behavior.” We were ending up having the strangest conversations, but I was the one who’d told him he could ask anything.
He’d taken me up on my word.
We’d talked about everything from what shaped sandwiches littles liked best to our current one about spankings…one that I’d accidentally started…but in my defense, I’d never realized how naughty this silly car was.
“How do subs know if they’re going to like spankings?” Orlando was leaning over his picture, shifting his focus between the cars he was coloring and the movie on TV. I didn’t seem to be terribly interesting, but he admired my ability to answer questions. “They hurt.”
Technically yes.
“They don’t have to big hurt unless that’s what a sub likes.” Explaining that sounded odd, though. “Sometimes a sub or little likes the idea of spankings and likes to be teased, so they only get light spankings that are mostly playing pretend.”
For some reason that made him giggle. “You’re good at playing pretend.”
I was definitely missing something.
“Thank you.” His snickers said I was right, but asking felt wrong and like I was admitting defeat. “Other subs like real spankings because being bent over their Daddy’s or Dom’s lap makes them feel squirmy and good naughty.”
His giggle that time was lighter and less of an evil villain tone. “Good naughty.”
Rolling my eyes got more silly sounds from him, proving he was actually watching me, but I didn’t let it derail me from giving him a reasonable answer.
He needed information to make good decisions and he needed to know I would keep my promise.
“But their spanks can be light or firmer. It’s not just to hurt them, though.
It’s to make them happy by the end because some brains are fun and they think spankings make people very happy. ”
That was a good word for being aroused, right?
“Happy.” His adorably naughty giggles said he knew what I’d meant. “I’d want happy spanks.”
Ask?
Not ask?
Lord. Life had gotten a lot more difficult very quickly.
“Have you ever been happy spanked?” I knew some of what he hadn’t done but I wasn’t sure what he’d left out. The way he’d worded it made it sound like he’d never been spanked, but making assumptions about that might not be a good idea.
Not that it was really any of my business.
“Nope.” Bobbing his head back and forth as the background music of the movie got louder, Orlando didn’t seem nervous about answering. “Terrence said lots of subs like it, so I’m going to try it. I have to find a nice Daddy first. I promised not to do anything I don’t want to.”
He’d learned that lesson well, but I had a feeling someone should’ve given him that lecture a lot earlier. Clearly his birds and the bees lecture had left out some information on consent.
“That’s right.” Reinforcing the lesson seemed like a good idea too. Just in case. “There are a lot of things we might be curious about but we don’t have to do them unless we want to and unless we trust the person we’re with.”
Being pushy didn’t mean they got what they wanted.
“And just because someone else like a Daddy or a Dom wants to do something doesn’t mean you have to do it.
” Yes, we were going to keep coming back to that.
Orlando was a bit too much of a people pleaser for his own good…
or his own safety. “And just because we try something once doesn’t mean we have to do it again. ”
“Because sometimes we don’t like stuff.” Still wiggling and coloring, Orlando hummed softly with the TV as he wiggled his bottom side to side. “What do you don’t like?”
Good grief.
“I don’t like being tied up. I tried it one time to learn how to do it safely, but I don’t like it and I didn’t do it again.” Understatement of the year right there. “So that’s something I don’t do.”
I understood other people could enjoy it but that wasn’t something I was willing to do to a sub. Orlando made a soft, thinking sound and nodded like it made sense. “Does holding a good boy down make bad feelings?”
“No.” How much was answering questions and how much was oversharing? “There are a lot of ways a sub could escape that kind of situation, but being restrained with something like a rope is different.”
Maybe?
It was different in my reactions so that was all I was counting.
“Like when the big cousins tie you up playing cops and robbers and forget you.” Orlando sighed. “That makes big feelings too.”
His family was ridiculous.
They’d forgotten him?
How had I never heard that story?
“Yes, that can make big feelings.” Did he have big feelings? “And sometimes big feels aren’t logical, but they’re very important.”
Thankfully that got another nod from him and didn’t seem like something he had a problem processing.
“That’s why we have limits for little stuff and big stuff and that’s why subs are supposed to have lots of opinions.” I knew what was coming before he’d even finished his breath. “Terrence said so.”
How could someone be so annoying and so right at the same time?
“That’s correct.” Saying that shouldn’t have been painful but it definitely made me feel dramatic. “We can have lots of different kinds of limits, and it’s always important to explain them when you’re talking to a Daddy or a Dom.”
I really hoped he remembered that.
He nodded again, but I wasn’t sure what he was thinking.
Thankfully this side of Orlando didn’t have a problem telling me exactly what was on his mind.
“Yep, we tell our safewords and our limits, and Terrence told his friend if the Dom didn’t understand how to remember limits, we make him regret it. ”
The way Orlando jerked his knee sent shivers through me.
Who was Terrence’s friend and why was he dating such dickheads?
“Yes. At the very least that’s why we meet new people in public first and we don’t let them send us flowers and chocolate and toys until we know they’re safe.” My grumbling got a giggle from Orlando and there wasn’t a worry in sight.
I had plenty for us both, so I wasn’t going to let his lack of them be an issue.
“Terrence wants to bring his friend to meet the rest of the family. I think they’re kind of scary but Terrence is really smart.
” Orlando clearly wanted to question his smart new friend’s logic about that one but he was too polite for that.
“You’re nice but you’re going to be my helper.
Terrence’s friend is going to have to find someone else. ”
Could I laugh at how possessive he sounded?
Not sure, I took it seriously as I made sure he knew I was his helper. “We’ll find him someone else. You’ve got a big family.”
At least a handful were functional and single, so it might not be as hard as Orlando was imagining.
“Yes. He gets someone else.” As his gaze went back to the movie, he forgot his picture for the moment. “Terrence can pick out someone for him. That’s not my job. Nope. He’s not my friend. He’s Terrence’s friend. You’re my special person, though, so he can’t have you.”
Before I could agree with him, because I wasn’t going to tie myself that close to Terrence for any reason, Orlando managed to tear himself away from the car’s bad behavior to finally focus on me. “He can’t have you. You’re mine.”
He was going to be unreasonably stubborn about that…and make a scene if we weren’t careful…it was going to be like those Pokémon cards all over again.
Wait.
Oh.
“Yes. I’m yours.” Refusing to question exactly what I was promising, I tried not to make it too ridiculous. “I’m your special helper and I will not do any Daddy kind of things or special friend kind of things with Terrence’s friend.”
Was that too broad or just broad enough?
“I wouldn’t date him to save him from your mother or Enzo’s…that’s just you, Trippy.” The childish nickname slipped out, making him giggle. “You’re still a trip, but you’re my trip.”
After a stupid round of insane teasing from his family when he was younger, he’d asked me what his name meant. I was a bit of a teenage prick at the time, so I’d told him he was a trip…mostly because he was kind of annoying at that age and I’d just seen the reference in an old movie.
I’d quickly followed up by explaining that it was a place people went to go on vacation because it’d been the only reference I’d known, but Trippy had somehow stuck. I had to admit, though, he was still a trip but nothing about his current headspace made me think of him as an actual kid.
When had he grown up so much?
He wanted a Daddy?
He wanted to be spanked?
Pushing those thoughts out of my head, because the images they were creating were problematic, I glanced toward the movie again hoping it would distract him.
It didn’t.
“I’m the only one who gets kisses too.” Still frowning at me in a very un-Orlando-like way, he was taking the strange conversation very seriously. “Holding hands too.”
This fake dating situation was getting a bit out of hand.
“That’s right.”
At some point I was going to have to put some limits on it.
“I’m just there for you, Trippy.” I wasn’t sure he was going to let me distract him with anything else, so I did my best to steer the conversation in a slightly less intense direction. “When should we do our first date?”
Lord.
His family made me have the strangest conversations…I wasn’t sure I could complain, though, because they’d been doing it since I’d moved in next door to them as a teenager.
Thankfully, my distraction worked this time and his gruff frown disappeared as he looked down at his picture. “Two more pictures? Three? Oh. Do I get dessert?”
Was I going on a date with little Orlando or big Orlando?
“If you’re hungry for dessert after dinner then we can talk about it.” A treat wouldn’t hurt him, but his friend associated Daddies with healthy food, so I shrugged. “Maybe we can share one? That will look like a good date.”
And no matter where we ended up, his family would hear about it one way or another.
The only reasonable goal seemed to be to try to keep the date looking as vanilla as possible, so going out with a grown-up Orlando should probably be our aim.
“Oh.” Leaning over the table on his elbows, he wiggled his bottom as the coloring and movie were forgotten. “We can be like Lady and the Tramp.”
Was that a good idea?
“Your mother might not like us doing that in public.” At the very least she’d end up with weird questions. Orlando’s frown said he didn’t like that answer. Shit. “But how about I feed you the first bite? That’s very…very dating too.”
Was I allowed to say romantic when it wasn’t supposed to be real?
“Yes.” Orlando didn’t seem to mind the trade-off either way and gave me a beaming smile. “And you can order for me. Dates and Doms both can do that.”
Technically yes.
“As long as that would make you happy.” I wasn’t going to drive him insane just to put on a show for his nosy family. “Would—”
His wicked grin and naughty snicker had me pausing mid-sentence, but I had to admit it took me a few seconds to realize what I’d said.
“Not that kind of happy, Trippy.” As I sighed dramatically, it got even more giggles from the naughty boy. “Regular happy or we’ll get kicked out of the restaurant.”
And possibly arrested.
His delight over my word choice said he wasn’t thinking about the practical side of that kind of happy. “You’re naughty.”
“Me?” I huffed and blustered as I pretended to frown at him. “I’m boring. You’re the naughty one giggling over happy talk.”
Little Trippy found that hilarious and laughed so hard he nearly fell over. “Happy talk.”
Was thinking of happy talk with me that ridiculous or was my drama that funny?
Nope…I wasn’t even going to go down that rabbit trail…the answers might be too frustrating.