Page 47 of Myths and Shifts

Well, we’d at least gotten back to someone getting clean.

“That’s a wonderful start.” We’d see what happened, though. “Do you need to go potty?”

Again, it was something we’d touched on but his nonchalant approach hadn’t given me a lot to work with. He said he was fine with me helping or exploring that kind of play, but he hadn’t given signs of having a strong response.

It’d been more him wondering what I wanted as his mate and his Daddy.

Which at the time had confused me, but as I got to know his little side more, I was starting to understand. Little Merritt had firmer views on toys and food than he did on nakedness and naughty. He was silly about it if it came up, but for the most part, he bounced from one type of fun to another.

And getting a shower together was just another type of fun.

“Yes.” As his head popped out of the shirt he’d put on that morning so we could rush to the bakery before the meeting, he smiled. “Do you?”

“Yes.” I was just as nonchalant about it as he was, which said I needed to stop questioning fate when it came to our mating. “Do you have car shirts or anything like that?”

“No.” His face scrunched up. “Yes. One.”

Then he shrugged like he had no idea where it was or maybe just trying to indicate it wasn’t that important.

“Would you like us to find some for you once we have more space for your toys and stuff?” I had no idea what we’d be doing once we got the portal nonsense handled, but a top priority was making sure we had everything he needed.

“Yes.” Standing straighter, he did a happy wiggle as I reached for his pants. “I have one. But everyone shows up.”

His family needed to learn boundaries and I completely understood why he hadn’t fought the urge to come find me. “Well, no matter where we end up, we’re going to have privacy and a lock on our door. You’ll be able to run around naked with just a binkie if you want to and no one but us will know.”

Merritt looked like I’d told him Christmas was tomorrow and I had a truck full of presents for him. “Privacy and naked and toys.”

Clearly, those were the most important things in life.

“Yes, and that means we can play however you want and whenever it fits in our schedule without worrying about anyone else.” My family knew better than to just show up after a surprising incident with great-grammy. “And if necessary, we’ll build a wall around it with a gate and everything.”

Back to snickering, Merritt nodded as I crouched down to help him out of his pants. “I want a fort. Oh, a castle. Yes. We need a castle, Daddy.”

Interesting.

“Then we will need more privacy for that and a bit of magic to help with the budget.” And to live in an area where I could bribe the local building inspector not to ask too many questions. “You, my little mage, are incredible at fixing things and finding spells, but what do you know about building?”

Resting his hands on my shoulders, Merritt looked down at me and shrugged. “I can build your leg if you break it. That’s not hard.”

But building a house was?

“Then how about we look for someone to help us learn the right spells to change what we want about our future house.” I didn’t mind a castle but we needed some directions first. “I’ve helped build a log cabin once and a few basic barn-type structures.”

It couldn’t be too much harder, right?

“Just nothing with air conditioning and indoor plumbing, so that’s where we’ll need some help.” If Merritt wouldn’t tent camp, there was no way he was living in a house without a toilet.

Yep.

Scrunching his face up, Merritt didn’t even seem to notice when I stripped off his briefs. “No camping. My castle needs lights and potties and a microwave and a big freezer for nuggets and fries and pizza and ice cream and—”

He could’ve gone on forever, so I didn’t feel bad about cutting him off. “Yes, I think a big freezer is a good idea. But hold on tight and lift up your feet.”

Quickly stripping off the last of his clothes and moving everything neatly up to the bench, I stood and kissed his cheek. “What else should our castle have?”

He seemed thoroughly entertained with that topic, so I encouraged it as I helped him slip his shower shoes on and led him over to the toilet. “I need a playroom and Daddy needs an office and I need a big kitchen and big windows and pretty stuff outside the window.”

It was an interesting list but most of it seemed easy to handle. “An office would be very helpful and I think a playroom is a good idea.”

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