Chapter 14
Agent Murphy
“Is it cuddle time, bathtime, or story time?” I had no idea if his routine here was the same as I’d expect on Earth, but he was yawning and clearly ready to start winding down. Teaching me how to play and making dinner for us had been a lot of work.
“Hmm…” He made thinking sounds and tapped his chin before looking down at himself. “Bubble bath time.”
Sounded good to me.
Wait.
“You have bubble bath here?” They had soap…well, something that was close enough to our soap to call it that, but it was always in small cake form and asking if they had liquid soap had made everyone look at me like I was a talking dinosaur who’d just knocked on the main gate.
Klynn’s snicker said he was feeling very proud of himself.
“I snuck it.” Throwing his arms around me, he hid against my shoulder and laughed. “I did it. And I got it. And I was so smart.”
I was missing context and at least half the story.
“That’s amazing. How did you get bubble bath, silly boy?” Doing something sneaky was clearly the answer, but I waited for him to stop giggling.
“I went to the Walmart place. By myself, Daddy.” His giggly tone said he was amazingly proud of himself too. “I did it. I bought stuff by myself.”
How?
“You were amazing.” Praise first and question for felonies second. “Was it scary?”
Walmart could be stressful for anyone, but Klynn being a dragon and an alien and not very comfortable with people would make it even more challenging.
“People were everywhere, Daddy.” He was a bit wide-eyed as he pulled back and straightened. “It was like the ants pouring out of the little mounds if you accidentally step on them.”
Yeah, I’d felt like that a time or two as well.
“But you did it.” And hopefully without incident. “So you bought bubble bath, tater tots, and nuggets. What else did you get?”
Did he have new toys hidden away somewhere?
Leaning closer, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “I got chocolate but don’t tell or we’ll have to share. We don’t have that here.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“I promise not to tell.” But how did he get it? Lorne had said something about trading him for the ereader but even their Walmart wouldn’t put up with that level of nonsense, would it?
Who was I kidding?
They’d have definitely done it.
“Did you trade them for the goodies?” Had he wanted more things and just couldn’t afford the trade?
“No. I traded Lorne for more money. He’s helpful and nice if you have sparkly stuff. Sparkles are his hoard.” Klynn shrugged. “Everyone knows that, so I don’t have to hide it.”
Okay, yeah, everyone did seem to know that because of some story with watches and hidden cameras that didn’t make any sense at all.
“What kind of sparkly things did you trade with Lorne?” I thought I knew the answer, but I had to ask anyway.
“Diamonds.” Klynn gave me a pleased-with-himself grin. “We got lots and he loves them.”
Good grief.
“Lots, huh?” His excited nod said he wasn’t exaggerating. “I’m glad you found something good to trade them for.”
We were going to have to be careful not to upset the Earth’s diamond market.
“They just kind of fall out of the ground.” Klynn shook his head like it was ridiculous. “But we brought all kinds of stuff we guessed might be smart. Those worked best.”
I had questions…lots of questions.
“Did you get anything else with your money?” An unsupervised little with diamond-level money should’ve been dangerous in Walmart.
“No.” His dramatic pout said he had a lot of big feelings about that. “There was too much stuff.”
Ah, decision paralysis.
“That’s okay. We’ll go back another time and do a bigger shopping trip.” I said it without really thinking but Klynn’s head cocked in a clear signal to the slightly confusing human in the room. “It’ll be a fun thing to do on vacation?”
He giggled.
“Earth people are so funny.”
At some point he was going to call me out on my nonsense, but I still hadn’t gotten my date yet.
“We are.” And this funny Earthling would grow up eventually. “But you’re very good at taking care of your Earth person.”
And he seemed to like taking care of me, so really, I was doing both of us a favor.
“Next time you can help me pick.” He expertly moved us past my issue and changed the subject. “I like blocks. The boys in my stories have them. But they have other stuff.”
Americans especially were the masters of creating too many toys, so I could understand how he’d gotten overwhelmed.
“How about we look at different kinds of building sets? Not just the regular LEGO ones but sets that will make castles like yours.” He’d done an amazing job with the project and I was curious to see what other kind of building he’d like. “They’re not magic, though.”
Hmm.
“Unless someone can make them magic?” Wait. “Oh, privacy. Um, what if I asked one of the mages who are a Daddy on the other side of the portal for help with that?”
Would that be enough to fix the privacy issue?
We weren’t talking about little stuff with people on this side of the portal but what about the other side?
Klynn didn’t seem to know right off the bat but his human-looking thinking face said he wasn’t too upset. He’d have gone blank and possibly lost his little headspace if I’d fucked up too much. “Maybe. But I don’t know the Daddies.”
I could fix that.
“I have to go back to Earth to talk to my boss.” We both knew that coming through the portal, so I wasn’t surprised when little Klynn gave me an adorably serious nod. “I’m also going to need to talk to the local council and whoever else decided to hang around so they know all the gossip first.”
His snicker was still the cutest sound I’d ever heard. “They’re naughty and nosy.”
My groan got more sweet sounds from him but eventually I nodded. “They really are. So I know I won’t be able to avoid them for long.”
Something shifted in his expression so he looked at least slightly worried but he didn’t make me wait long to hear what the problem was. “Do I have to go to the meetings, Daddy?”
“No.” Kissing his nose again, I shook my head. “If you want to sometimes you can, but it’s my job to deal with them. Your job when we’re on that side of the gate is to read books and come up with questions to ask me about Earth or about BDSM or Earth relationships.”
His relief was obvious even before he collapsed against me in adorable drama. “Thank you, Daddy. I’ll…I’ll learn how to take care of you on Earth too. I’ll cook and clean stuff. I can do that.”
My first response was to tell him he didn’t have to cook for me, but that would’ve been completely the wrong thing to say to a little with a caretaking and praise kink…
or some kind of “do a good job” kink. I might need to figure out the right wording for that one, but Klynn would need ways of helping or he’d feel terrible.
“Thank you.” Kissing the side of his head, I hugged him tighter. “I’m not always very good at that, so I would be glad for the help.”
The sigh he let out said he wasn’t surprised by that admission. “You’re a restaurant human, aren’t you? Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Takeout. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Oops, forgot to eat.”
“Maybe…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit that, though. “But I’m a very smart Daddy and will do what I’m told when it comes to being home for dinner and not letting meetings get out of hand.”
“I read about meeting and restaurant humans.” Klynn sounded like he would’ve made a disapproving sound and shaken his head if he’d been from Earth. “I’m going to take good care of you. Don’t worry.”
Clearly my workaholic days were over.
“Thank you.” Giving him one more kiss, I made a quiet frustrated noise. “Now, where is this bubble bath you were hiding from me?”
That got more giggles and had him nearly bouncing back he was so excited. “Come see. I got a smelly one. Littles like those.”
Hmm.
“You’re allowed to like whatever you want.
” I tried not to look too serious as he dragged me to the bathroom, but his side-eye said I hadn’t been subtle.
“All the littles in the books and in real life like different things, but you’re right, a lot of them probably like smelly bubble bath, but it’s okay if you don’t. ”
Nodding seriously, he gave me a cute frown as we got to the bathroom. “Yes. I’m supposed to be picky. I won’t forget.”
Good grief.
Was he trying not to laugh?
Was he fucking with me?
“I thought that was something you’d remember very well.” Ha. There it was. “Sneaky boy.”
A quiet giggle snuck out as he broke. “You’re so funny, Daddy. I’d be picky. Ha. I tease so good.”
“You tease very good.” And he thoroughly enjoyed it too. “I’m going to have to watch you close so I don’t get fooled.”
His attempt at wide-eyed innocence said I was going to have to watch him very closely. “Silly Daddy. I’m your good boy.”
Most of the time.
“What was I thinking?” I shook my head and sighed. “I’m so silly.”
And I could be sneaky too.
“Bathtime, Daddy.” Klynn understood the value of a strategic distraction and used it perfectly. “I’ll show you how to do it.”
Good because he had what I would call a shower and I had no idea how he was going to contain the bubbles, much less enough water for a bath.
Magic.
And that infernal metal panel in nearly every fucking room.
“See?” Klynn pressed his hand to it and scrunched his face up like he’d probably read about in a book. “We just have to think-think-think.”
I was going to have to actually buy him those cartoons.
Fucking hell.
The weird plastic-looking shit that even the tub was made of started shifting and slowly rising up out of the floor until he had a reasonably sized square tub that was perfect for one little to take a bubble bath.
When it’d stopped moving, Klynn frowned at it.
“It’s not big enough for a Daddy too. My books have bigger tubs. ”
Magic seemed to be able to fix anything on their world, so I wasn’t worried about that part. But getting a new tub meant having to tell a stranger that he needed a tub for two.
So, yeah.
“I’m going to like sitting next to you and talking to you while you play with the bubbles.” Hmm. “I think I heard Wren telling another little that his Daddy can make the bubbles do stuff. I think his Daddy made a castle. That’s cheating.”
Giggling, Klynn nodded and seemed to forget about the whole two-person tub issue as he started filling the tub with water from a long slot that appeared with the new configuration. “Mages cheat. It’s what they do. Kenzie said so.”
I wasn’t sure if I could laugh at that or not, but it was funny and probably true. “They’re sneaky. So Toman being half mage means we need to watch out for him.”
Giving me a very solemn expression, Klynn sighed as he waved his hand over a section of the wall and a fucking shelf appeared. “We’re smart. We’re careful.”
I loved how confident he was in our abilities not to get accidentally cheated by a naughty mage. “We’re very smart.”
His Daddy wasn’t smart enough to find all the storage, though. Klynn might just be slightly overconfident too…and I was definitely a bit stubborn sometimes…so we’d see how smart we were overall.
“We’re smart enough to know that even here bubble baths mean clothes off.” The sonic, almost space-age version of the shower was nice, but water and bubbles were different.
Thankfully, Klynn nodded as he put the soap back and another giggle escaped as his arms came up. “Naked time.”
The age-old signal was clear and had me reaching for his shirt before I thought about it. “Then what do we do? We play bubbles and get you all clean…but then what?”
Klynn gave me an excited wiggle as his shirt came up over his head. “Story time, Daddy. Then bed cuddles.”
And those were different than couch cuddles.
“Perfect.”
As long as I understood what he’d been saying in his mini-lesson earlier.
Couch cuddles had rubs on his bottom and pats and touches that I would’ve seen as possessive and intimate.
There hadn’t been anything overly sexual, though.
But it sounded like to my fascinating little, bed cuddles increased the intimacy to include kisses and at the very least rubbing against each other.
“But you’re going to remember safewords and that Daddy wants to hear all your opinions on how bed cuddles go, right?” Klynn’s faint smile gave me the impression he thought I was cute but worrying over nothing, but he nodded and did his best to look adorably serious again.
“Yes, Daddy.” The cheek kiss he gave me as I reached for his pants left me wondering what he was thinking but it wasn’t the time to quiz him. “You’re going to remember too. Colors are important.”
“That’s right.” I gave him a cheek kiss that time, focusing on his animated expression that I loved because I knew I was the only one who’d ever see it. “They’re important for both of us.”
Klynn’s decisive nod came with a completely manufactured frown and a pat on my head. “And we can use our colors over anything, right?”
What had I done?
“Yes.” I tried to sound just as confident as he did as I took his hand so he could step out of his clothes, but the way he sighed said I was missing something. “I promise I’m green.”
That didn’t help.
Somehow he looked even more suspicious.
Was he going to tell me what I’d done?
“Do you want me to hide my penis?” Klynn rubbed my head like I was a cute dog. “It’s okay if we don’t do naked yet.”
Good grief.
Clearly he didn’t need me to be careful of his privacy.
As I wondered what messages I’d accidentally sent my boy, I glanced down his beautiful body. “You have a very nice penis, baby.”
Kissing his cheek felt right but might’ve sent more conflicting signals to him. “I was just worried that you might not be ready for me to notice your body.”
“Oh.” He didn’t seem to have thought of that option. “You’re a good Daddy.”
But possibly a silly one?