Chapter 18
Teddy
Oh…that looked messy…it was so exciting.
“You got paint.” I didn’t climb on Ruslan but I got closer. That was okay. He’d said so. “It sparkles.”
His Daddy groaned but mine snickered.
He’d been naughty.
I liked naughty.
“It’s so pretty.” Holding up the box, Ruslan, whose Daddy called him Russie, pouted as his Daddy shook his head, so we just ignored him and showed Gary.
Gary liked everything.
“That’s going to make fun pictures.” He made a thinking sound. “I wonder what else you need for fun pictures?”
Oh.
More.
That meant more.
Ruslan squeaked, so he knew it meant more too, but we were being good guests and taking turns and it was Angel’s turn.
He was grumpy.
Not mad-grumpy like Daddy had been but still grumpy.
I wasn’t sure why he was grumpy but he wasn’t mine so I didn’t have to worry about it. I just tugged on Daddy’s pants and he fixed it. “Alright, Angel’s turn.”
As Gary and Dante sorted through to find one for Angel, Ruslan leaned closer and whispered. “I think he likes being grumbly.”
“Me too.” People liked all kinds of stuff. “Do you know a sub who likes grumpy?”
Ruslan giggled. “He’s not a Smurf.”
Oh.
“You got blue paint.” That would make him a Smurf. “We could—”
Talk softer.
We could talk softer so Daddy wouldn’t glare and Gary wouldn’t giggle.
“Ruslan likes his paint.” I pointed to it. “He’s going to make a good picture later.”
Yes.
That was good.
“You’re smart.”
Ruslan wasn’t because he talked too loud.
Big smiles.
Ha.
Even Angel tried not to laugh.
Dante looked suspicious but he was too far away to hear our Smurf idea. “Do I want to know what you two are up to?”
“No.” Ruslan needed to learn better truths to tell his Daddy. Telling him the real one every time was dangerous. “Where’s Angel’s present? We didn’t lose it.”
He’d already opened mine.
He was the kind of grown-up who liked to set things on fire, so we got him grill stuff and special sauces to use when he set his meat on fire.
“I found it.” Dante pulled out a big flat box and handed it over to Angel. “Here you go.”
Did they get him a shirt for setting his meat on fire?
“If you got me a Christmas sweater again, we’re gonna have words.” Angel really liked being grumpy but he made Dante laugh. “Just saying it’s ugly doesn’t make up for it actually being ugly.”
Hmm.
Maybe he had reasons to be grumpy.
“Did your Daddy get him an ugly sweater?” I wasn’t sure if we should say sorry first or make him a picture.
“No.” Ruslan shook his head. “Promise.”
“Good.” Whew. “Did your Daddy need help picking out presents?”
Some people just weren’t good at stuff…that was okay…Dante did other stuff good.
Ruslan sighed big. “Yeah. But I was a good helper.”
Hey.
We made Angel smile again.
Dante huffed and puffed and glared but he didn’t do it as good as Daddy or Angel and he made Ruslan giggle. “It was funny.”
Angel’s eyes went round and round, so maybe he thought it was kind of funny?
“We’ll see if it’s funny this year or not.” Angel had a right to be suspicious but Ruslan was a good present giver, so I knew it’d be fine. He’d given me special packs of crayons that had people colors and sparkly colors and neon colors and everything. “What the fuck?”
Daddy hummed and Angel realized what he’d said. “Sorry. But it’s a fucking box.”
Hmm.
Yep, he could use naughty words for that.
“Is he supposed to color the box?” Ruslan shook his head but flopped back on the floor and groaned as I tried to figure out what they’d done. “I think something went wrong.”
Angel was trying not to laugh as Dante groaned. “Just open that box. It’s funny.”
Daddy might need to explain what that word meant.
Hmm.
“Daddy, I don’t like funny.” I needed a limit for that. “It’s my limit.”
Gary was shaking because he had the giggles and was trying to hide it, but Ruslan was making big Daddy kind of sighs. “Oh, Daddy.”
That was why littles needed to wrap the packages…we weren’t naughty.
Oops.
Another box.
Angel’s eyes were getting lots of exercise and Gary was laughing and laughing. “An envelope?”
Was he supposed to buy his own shirt?
“Open it.” It was Dante’s turn to roll his eyes. “You guys are so serious.”
Before I could decide if he was right or not, Angel opened the envelope and pulled out a small piece of paper. “Oh…thank you.”
Did he like the shirt store a lot?
“What did you get him?”
I was very confused.
Angel laughed and turned the paper around. “It’s a gift certificate for a butcher on the other side of town. Their meat is amazing.”
Oh.
“Have fun setting your meat on fire.”
Christmas made everybody giggly.
****
“You were naughty.” Daddy tried to look confused but his eyes were too happy. “I know it.”
He wanted to laugh but he frowned. “Me? I don’t know what you mean. Everyone loved our cake and the presents we picked out.”
He’d been sneaky.
“Did you help Gary pick out his presents?” Gary was naughty too. He’d gotten Ruslan glitter pens and glitter glue and glitter stickers and glitter paper.
I didn’t know they made glitter paper.
“Ruslan was very excited about that.” Daddy needed to work on looking less naughty when he was sneaky. “I think he felt very welcome with all the presents we picked out.”
That was what Dante said.
Over and over.
“Ruslan said his friend Jacki was going to love it too.” That’d made Dante groan and then he started moaning about how Professor Donaldson was going to kill them. “I don’t think he’s supposed to have glitter.”
“It’s not a limit his Daddy set up. The rule technically says he can’t buy glitter.” Daddy shrugged. “He didn’t and even Ruslan can say he didn’t buy it either.”
Oh.
“Daddy…” Shaking my head, I looked down at my presents. “We got nice presents but you made Gary naughty.”
Daddy scoffed. “He likes being naughty.”
Maybe.
But he looked more innocent than Daddy had.
“But we did pick out good presents. Even Angel loved the new spices and sauces we found for him.” Daddy hadn’t been naughty with that one.
“Why does he like grilling?” He liked it a lot.
“Um, I think mostly it’s because Gary keeps chasing him out of the kitchen, but Gary doesn’t like fire, so he can’t chase Angel away from the grill?
” Daddy shrugged like they were weird but it was okay.
People were just weird sometimes. “Angel kept telling Gary how to cook stuff and then Gary would chase him out with whatever he was using at the stove and it was a mess, so they agreed it was Gary’s kitchen. ”
They were weird.
“He has to share, Daddy.” That was the rules. “We have to share the kitchen.”
Everybody had to eat like everybody had to poop, so we had to share kitchens and bathrooms.
“He doesn’t like that and he ends up pouting and it was…” Daddy sighed as we went up to the house. “He’s not my sub, so I don’t have to make him behave.”
Daddy let Gary be naughty just because he got sad sometimes?
How could he be grumpy and a sucker?
“I’m not going to ask what that look is for.” Daddy glared, making me giggle. “I’m going to remember that you’re a very good boy and we had lots of fun.”
“Lots.” We still got more fun next week too. “And then you get your other presents next week and the regular Christmas.”
Daddy’s smile looked silly and naughty at the same time. “Next week is going to be even more fun.”
I crossed my fingers making Daddy laugh.
“Even if your mother is too excited to behave, we’re going to have lots of fun there too.” Daddy gave me a kiss and opened the door. “We’ll have more presents and more wonderful food and lots more time to do nothing but relax.”
Daddy liked that.
He’d worked hard and needed to recharge his energy.
Being low was probably why it’d been so easy for him to get so angry.
Low batteries were dangerous.
“We’ll do lots of relaxing, Daddy.” Oh, we could do more now. “Let’s…let’s have more cake and cuddle.”
That would be very relaxing.
Daddy chuckled as he closed the door. “I know you’re not hungry, but is there even a tiny bit of room in your tummy for more food?”
Hmm.
“Cake is relaxing.” But my tummy was kind of full. “But we could…we could kiss. That’s relaxing.”
Daddy liked kisses.
Yep.
He got a big, big smile as he took the rest of our cake to the kitchen. “I think that’s a very good plan.”
I was so smart.
“Then we can play toys. That will be relaxing too.” Ruslan got me cars and Gary got me a big mat that had a town on it. My new mat rolled up and I could hide it when I wanted to. He was smart. “You can have the race car. Ruslan said you’d like that one.”
He’d thought and thought and thought about all the presents.
“That’s going to be fun.” Daddy came back to me and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “We’re going to have to make sure we don’t relax too much and end up taking a nap. It’s too late for that.”
Oh…yes…not too relaxed.
I shrugged, making Daddy smile bigger. “Not too much. We’ll stay awake.”
Daddy pretended to look thinky and confused. “You think we could make kissing so exciting we don’t fall asleep?”
“We’ll try.” Yep. “We’ll try really hard.”
Ha.
Hard.
“Are we going to try big hard?” Daddy tried to look serious and frowny as he took my hand so we could go upstairs.
No big kissing on the couch just in case.
“Do you think we can wiggle enough to make sure we stay awake?” Pretending to yawn, he opened his mouth big like a fish. “I might be too tired to wiggle.”
“I can wiggle.”
I was good at wiggling.
I was good at kissing.
I was good at making Daddy happy too.
Yep.
Kissing and wiggling and then more cake.
We had a great plan.