Chapter 2 #2
James’s arms immediately went up in the air. Jacob tugged James’s shirt up before quickly replacing it with another. As Jacob dealt with a squirming James, Luca glanced over at Josh.
Josh dropped onto his butt on the rug beside Luca.
“Thanks for the toys and stuff,” Luca said sincerely.
Before James had found age play, Luca had kept his little time to clubs and private time.
That had become more difficult when Dawson had moved into the spare bedroom of his apartment.
Well, until Dawson had found Luca’s pacifier and told him to stop hiding his interests.
Luca had been shocked but Dawson had merely shrugged and gone to watch a movie.
Then Josh had brought a book written by Luca’s favorite age play author into the coffee shop and Luca had another person he could share his interests with. Of course it was around the same time that James and Jacob started to get together and Luca had another little to play with.
“Of course.” Josh cleared his throat. “Dawson didn’t want to come?”
Luca wanted to roll his eyes. Instead he shook his head. Josh’s crush on their mutual friend was cute but Luca didn’t know when or if Dawson would ever be able to accept anyone in his life. He barely spoke to anyone other than Luca and rarely James.
“I…grabbed a few things that I thought he might like,” Josh said quietly. “Maybe you could take them to him?”
“You know he’s not little,” Luca pointed out.
“I know,” Josh said. “It’s just a few things that I thought he’d like. It’s not a big deal.”
It would be for Dawson. Dawson didn’t like when anyone bought him something. Not even Luca. If Luca ordered a pizza to share, Dawson would insist on paying for half.
“Sorry. It was a bad idea. I knew he wouldn’t be here,” Josh said before Luca could answer.
Luca rolled himself from the beanbag chair landing across Josh’s legs. He hugged the leg that he could reach. “I’m sorry. He’s just not ready.” Might never be ready.
“I know.” Josh patted the top of Luca’s head. “Now, what is this you’re wearing? That is not little clothes.”
He hadn’t been there long. As soon as Luca arrived for his playdate, Jacob had sat him and James down for their snack. Then Josh had arrived. “I haven’t changed yet.”
“Well,” Josh drawled. “Where is your bag?”
“Kitchen,” Luca told him.
“I’ll get it. Meet you back here.” Josh exited the room.
Luca turned to see James piling blankets on his Daddy’s lap as Jacob sat in the rocking chair in the corner. That was a lot of blankets. He wandered closer. “Whatcha doing?”
“Making Daddy warm,” James told him matter-of-factly.
Weird but that was pretty average for James and Jacob’s relationship. Okay, that wasn’t fair. Luca might be a little jealous. Jacob looked at James like he was Jacob’s entire world. Luca wanted someone to gaze at him that way.
Jacob gave James a sweet look. “That’s my good boy. You can go play with your friend. I’m fine here.”
“You sure, Daddy?” James asked.
“Yes, baby. Luca came over to play with you,” Jacob replied.
James hummed as he patted the stack of blankets. He kissed Jacob’s cheek before turning toward Luca. “Play?”
Luca nodded. “Uncle Josh went to get my bag.”
“And the presents I brought,” Josh announced, reentering the room.
James clapped as Josh set the bag in the middle of the floor.
Luca grabbed his little bag from Josh. He was a younger little than James but that just made playdates more fun for him. While James played with toys, Luca liked having someone there with him. The noise of another little close comforted the little inside Luca that hated to be alone.
Digging through the bags, Luca found the onesie that he’d packed for this playdate.
“That’s cute,” Josh said, joining him.
Luca grinned. “Baby shark…do…do…do…”
Josh grabbed the pullup from the bag as well. “Come on, let’s get you changed.”
Luca continued to sing, loudly and off key, as Josh led Luca to the bathroom. Josh was the only person that had ever helped Luca shed his adult persona and changed his outside to match his insides.
One of the reasons that Luca chose to wear pullups under his play clothes was because dressing like a little helped Luca reach the mindset where he could be the boy that he wanted to be.
A diaper would be nice but since Luca had never had a full-time Daddy of his own, Luca had gone with the easier pullups.
The first time that Josh had offered to help him Luca had been nervous.
It wasn’t just being naked in front of a friend.
Luca had a nice body and he knew it. Luca had just never trusted anyone to see him go from big to little.
He’d always done it on his own. Even when he had plans to meet up with a Daddy at a club Luca always got himself ready first. That was just better to keep his heart safe.
Josh had handled helping Luca slip into his little side like a pro. No weirdness or making things awkward. Josh really was the best uncle ever.
Luca entered the bathroom first but Josh was close on his heels.
“Let’s get you comfy then you can play with James,” Josh said calmly.
“K.” Luca turned so his back was to the mirror.
Setting the pullup on the counter, Josh took the onesie that Luca had brought with him.
“Anything in particular that you want to do today?” Josh asked while reaching for Luca’s T-shirt.
Luca shrugged. “Play?”
“Play what?” Josh questioned. He yanked Luca’s shirt off before unbuttoning Luca’s jeans. “Blocks? Cars?”
“Vroom! Vroom!” Luca told him. He could vroom his cars so fast!
“Cars it is then.” Josh bent to push Luca’s briefs down his legs.
With his Uncle Josh talking and coming up with things to play with, Luca didn’t even realize that he’d been undressed until he was placing one leg in his pullup. Just that easy Josh had helped Luca slip into being the boy of his heart.
“Let’s get you snapped up,” Josh said as he finished dressing Luca.
It was so hard to stand still! Luca wanted to play! With cars and maybe even James would want to race with him.
“I got something extra special for you,” Josh told him, giving Luca a pat on the shoulder.
“Prezzie?” Luca loved getting presents! Presents were awesome!
“Something extra special.” Josh winked.
“Yay!” Luca bounced around as Josh gathered his clothes. He didn’t need to wait though. Luca yanked open the door before racing out.
“No running!” Josh hollered after him.
Giggling, James slowed down a little. Just a little.
He didn’t want to get into trouble when there were new toys to play with.
Entering the playroom Luca found James already lost in building a city with colorful people and dragons.
Oh! Dragons were fun! They’d totally make Luca’s cars go faster. Air race!
He started forward only to trip over the bags that had been left in the middle of the floor.
“Easy there.” Josh caught Luca’s arm, keeping him upright.
“Toys!” Luca shouted excitedly.
“Shh,” James turned to hiss at him. “Daddy sleepy.”
“I’m fine, boy,” Jacob said from under his blanket pile. Although he was blinking sleepily at them. “You have fun. Don’t worry about me.”
James harrumphed before going back to playing.
Whatever. Luca dropped to his knees to rummage through the bags. He knew when he spotted the aquarium set that was for him. He pulled the box from the plastic and shoved it toward Josh. “Open, please.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Josh stuffed Luca’s old clothes back into his bag before squatting next to him and taking the box.
“Hurry!” Luca shook Josh’s arm. “Play!”
“What is it?” James asked while crawling closer to them.
Luca glanced over his shoulder. “Sharks!”
James snorted. “A surfer shouldn’t like sharks as much as you do.”
“I love sharks,” Luca told him seriously. “And sea turtles. And dolphins. Fishes, the pretty ones, the colorful ones, even the ones not so pretty.”
“Okay,” James drawled.
“And whales and seals and—”
“Stop!” James whined, falling into him. “You love all the sea creatures. You’re starting to sound like Scott.”
“Where Scott?” Luca asked. Hadn’t James said he invited his brother over? “He play?”
James shook his head. “He’s no fun. Says he is not little like us.”
“He could still play,” Luca pointed out. Playing was awesome!
“I know.” Pushing out his bottom lip, James pouted at him. “You tell him that.”
“I will!” Luca promised. He wasn’t as close to Scott as he was James, but Luca liked Scott. He was smart and funny. Scott hung around the coffee shop just as much as anyone else. He’d claim the table in the back and study for hours while James was on shift.
Luca really enjoyed Scott’s sharp wit and sarcasm. Those who didn’t know Scott well thought he was quiet and reserved. Luca had seen that while Scott was much different from his twin, James, he was a blast to hang out with.
“Okay,” Josh announced. “Here are your toys.” He passed over the open box.
“Yay!” Luca clapped.
“I play too!” James declared.
“I got something special for you too,” Josh replied. He dug through the bags until he came up with three smaller boxes.
“Dragons!” James squealed.
“Sparkly,” Luca pointed out. “Pretty.”
“Pretty dragons,” James agreed with a nod. “They extra powerful.”
“They need to look after my sea animals,” Luca determined. “Bad people are after them.”
“My army will help!” James shouted. He crawled back to his army men and started to drag them closer to where Luca was setting up his animals.
This was fun! Not just having new toys but having a friend to play with. And Josh might not be Luca’s Daddy but he was an amazing uncle and that was good enough. It was time that Luca was grateful for what he did have and stopped worrying about what was missing.
* * *
Brad
Bent over the laptop in front of him, Brad tried to keep his eyes from crossing. There was so much paperwork. Always so much paperwork. Whether it was for the city or federal government, the required paperwork that Brad had to deal with was just ridiculous.
“Coffee?” Cal Greene asked as he entered the kitchen.