Page 83 of Baby Boy

“Yeah.” Mitch wiped his eyes. “I’m being stupid.”

“Hey!” Avery said seriously. “You shouldn’t talk like that about yourself.” He looked over his shoulder, but Jace hadn’t made it into the room yet. “You might get put in the corner.” Avery knew that because anytime he called himself stupid, Jace made him stand in the corner without his lily or stuffies until he could say ten nice things about himself. And it couldn’t be the same ten things he’d said the last time! It was so hard.

Mitch chuckled. “I know. It just took me by surprise.”

“Why?” Avery didn’t understand. If they were going to be friends, then Avery needed to understand. Avery wanted to be a good friend to Mitch. Jace believed that Avery could help Mitch embrace his boy side and Avery wanted to help someone. He wanted to be the person Mitch could talk to.

Mitch leaned over the mat and started to place his animals inside the aquarium. There were different tanks and Avery was relieved that Mitch didn’t mix his animals together. He thought the sharks should be on the other side of the nice animals. “I act like it’s no big deal that I don’t get to be a boy a lot, but it’s been bothering me more lately.”

Avery moved to lie on his stomach. “I know I’m new to this, but I don’t think I could handle it if I couldn’t be little as much as I am. It’s hard during the week when I’m trying to juggle work and school.”

“Exactly,” Mitch said. “I hate my job.” He spoke so quietly that Avery strained to hear him. Jace and Grant were still in the kitchen, so Avery pulled Mitch down beside him.

“You should quit,” Avery murmured.

Mitch barked out a laugh. “I wish I could.”

“Why can’t you?” Avery questioned. “You have some money saved, right?” It was probably rude to ask, but Mitch wore expensive suits and drove a BMW.

“It’s not about money,” Mitch said. “I have plenty of that. I work for the same firm as my father.”

Avery scrunched up his nose. Jace had told Avery that Mitch didn’t have a good relationship with his father. “Wouldn’t that be more of a reason to quit?”

Mitch snorted. “You’d think. But if I left, my father would never forgive me.”

“Oh.” Avery shrugged. “I never met my father, so I don’t know what to say to help. I just think you should do what makes you happy. I was sad for a really long time before Jace helped me.”

“Yeah?” Mitch asked as he set up the penguins in an empty shallow pool.

“I was miserable at the restaurant and I’ve been much happier since I quit. My stomach has stopped hurting all the time.”

Mitch nodded as if he understood while he rubbed his own belly. If he was as stressed as Jace said, then he probably did.

“But no matter what, if you need to play, you can come over here. I have tons of toys to play with,” Avery offered. “Even if you just want to watch television.”

“Thanks.” Mitch bumped his shoulder as Jace and Grant entered the living room.

Jace walked over and crouched behind Avery. Jace ran his hand down Avery’s back and Avery leaned into him.

“There’s drinks and snacks on the coffee table. You boys let us know if you need anything else.”

“K, Daddy,” Avery told him.

“Yeah, thanks,” Mitch added.

Jace kissed the top of his head before going over to the living room. Avery grabbed the extra bucket of animals and moved it between him and Mitch. Mitch laughed as he plucked out the turtle.

“My turtle wants to be friends with your bird,” he said.

“Okay!” Avery said then began to move the bird enclosure closer.

It was a lot more fun playing with someone than Avery had ever imagined. He liked it when Jace sat in the room and watched television or worked while he played but having someone appreciate his toys was awesome.

He hoped that Mitch found more time to be a boy and got to enjoy playing more often. Avery now knew how lucky he was that Jace had seen the potential in him. If it wasn’t for Jace, then Avery would still likely be struggling just to get through the week.

Avery still couldn’t believe the amount of money he had saved up. It seemed like the moment that Avery had accepted that he needed help and opened himself to Jace that everything in his life had turned right side up.

He didn’t have to struggle. Avery had people in his life who were more than willing, actually happy, to help him. It wasn’t just Jace. Cathy and the staff at the coffee shop also wanted to be there for him. He and Professor Byron had gone out for coffee a couple times on campus. At Jace’s urging, Avery found he felt good talking to someone who knew about the submissive side of him. Avery might not have any blood family left, but he had a family made up of his friends.

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