Page 22 of Wishes and Research

“They were trying to figure out what type of little you were.” I let him take that in for a moment before I continued. “Their interest in other people’s personal lives is fairly recent, honest, and the only subs they talk to on a regular basis who will actually answer questions are the littles in town.”

Paxton sighed. “I wish they would play more and talk less.”

“Me too.” But since they hadn’t, we were stuck with confused old farts. “And that chattiness has made it so the locals have found a new hobby. I’m sorry they confused you.”

Eyes going unfocused as he thought, Paxton seemed like he was walking through either the diner conversation or just what he knew in general, but either way I was patient and let him process. It didn’t take long before he peeked over at me thoughtfully, but it took him a while before he was ready to go from studying me to talking again. “You’re a Daddy.”

His sentence was genuine, so I resisted the urge to be a smart-ass. “Yes. That’s the part of the lifestyle I’m drawn to, but it’s not all that I like in a relationship.”

More silence.

“So what I think that was supposed to tell me is that you like being a Daddy but that’s not your entire focus?” When I nodded, he kept watching me and let out a breath. “Okay, that explains the car thing and why you like making decisions.”

Yep.

It wasn’t really a question, though, so I waited for him to keep processing. “What do littles do?”

The smart-ass portion of my brain finally escaped.

“Play, eat, and drive their neighbors crazy?” I chuckled and shrugged when Paxton rolled his eyes. “Oh, what are they supposed to do? Well, generally speaking, they relax and play. They let their Daddies take care of them, and they get to recharge by having someone else make the decisions.”

Paxton was thinking again but it wasn’t as deep as it was before. He was wiggling and frowning as he sighed, and he even glared at me a few times. It was definitely progress, and I was glad he hadn’t just marched out the door.

He hadn’t even gotten off my lap, and he wasn’t as worried about offending me as he had been before.

“Are all littles the same?” Paxton’s question was interesting, but I couldn’t tell if it was about himself or just gathering information.

“No.” That wouldn’t be enough for him, so I shifted to a longer answer for the quiz he was giving me. “There are a range of ages that they can find in that headspace. Just around town, I know that some of them are young and are bottles and diapers little and some are older. I’ve heard rumors of fascinating tea parties being held and there’s a playgroup that meets over at the VFW Hall.”

Paxton cocked his head and frowned. “People overshare entirely too much here. You should not know which of your neighbors wear diapers during playtime.”

“I have to agree, but it’s not my place to tell them to stop talking in the diner. It would make the rest of the town sad.” They really didn’t like that Alick’s mate was on the more private side of things and kept telling them to mind their own business or snoop better.

“I don’t think I care about that.” Paxton sighed. “They’re making me be rude.”

That seemed to be unacceptable in his eyes, so I tried to shift things in a different direction. “But at least you know everyone is open-minded.”

It just happened to come with stupid questions and weird misunderstandings.

“What are horse people?” Paxton’s slightly jarring question said I’d been right about him replaying the diner conversation. “Why are they running around in circles and getting orgasms? Don’t they do anything else?”

How I managed to respond with a straight face, I’d never know.

“One form of submission is to role-play that someone is a pony or a puppy. There are probably a lot of other variations but those are the ones that I’ve met in person.” Paxton’s curious glance had me chuckling. “No, that’s not my thing unless it’s something you’re curious about.”

When he shook his head, I kissed his cheek. “Then we won’t worry about that one. But I’m assuming someone in town found an interesting video online and extrapolated out what they thought was happening.”

“Going in circles and orgasming.” Paxton shook his head. “I don’t want to do that. It sounds like a lot of work.”

I agreed…and I thought his response was fascinating.

“But coloring or playing games or watching cartoons aren’t hard work. They’re easy and being little means Daddy has to make breakfast.” That had him going still, but his expression was filled with curiosity that time.

“And the Daddy can’t complain about making all the decisions?” His question gave me a peek into his dating past.

“Nope. It’s literally in the job description.” Paxton was starting to see the good side of being a little, so I kept teasing him with it. “They also can’t complain about making other decisions or about having lots of comfort food for dinner or about how much their littles want to color.”

“Hmm.” Paxton shifted and his hands ended up on my arm that was stretched out over his lap. As he considered the new information, he started gently petting my arm without seeming to realize that he was sending tingly pleasure through me. “What do Daddies get? Littles get attention and food, but why do Daddies do it?”

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