Page 53 of Just A Little Fling

“You gonna be my Daddy today.”

“I’ll be your Daddy today, tomorrow, and the day after that if you’ll let me.”

Nico giggled but stopped dragging his feet as we made our way to his house. After a few tries, he managed to give me the entry code. As usual, it was a little bit of a mess, but I could tell he had made some effort to keep it tidy. Within a few minutes, we had his clothes gathered and were ready to go back to my place.

“Do you have a stuffie you want to grab?”

Nico slowly shook his head. “I don’t gots a stuffie, Babbo.” Nico’s tone was downright mournful.

“Silly boy, you do have a stuffie. It’s at my house.”

Nico’s entire vibe shifted from morose to excited. “Babbo! You got me a stuffie? I see it?” Nico clutched his clothes close, grabbed my hand, and headed for the door.

I barely had time to close and lock the door before he was dragging me across the yard and back into my house.

“All right, you, let’s get you changed, have lunch, find your new stuffie, and then quiet time.”

“No, Babbo,” Nico pouted. “I want stuffie now, and no quiet time.”

Nico punctuated his demands with a stomped foot, crossed arms, and a surly expression. Absolutely not. I loved it when a boy pushed back, but there was a limit. And as it turned out, that limit was having a breakdown in his office. The last thing he needed was to be allowed a tantrum. Whether he recognized it or not, Nico needed time for his brain to catch up with his emotions. I couldn’t say for certain what had triggered him today, but obviously, something had, and his emotions had gotten away from him.

“Nico, stop sassing me. You’re not getting your stuffie until you’ve changed.”

His sullen expression was at odds with the tiredness in his eyes. In hindsight, I should have said he could hold it while he got changed, but that ship had already sailed. When all else failed, a little bribery did wonders. “Nico, I bet your stuffie is lonely. He’s been so excited to meet you, and now he’s not gonna get to because you’re not listening.”

“My stuffie excited?” Nico stopped scowling at me.

“Yeah, that’s what they said.”

Nico took a few moments to weigh his options before finally putting his hand back in mine. “I ready get changed.”

“Thank you for being a good boy, sunshine.”

Nico visibly relaxed at my praise, and we got on with it.

Once I had Nico in lounge pants and a T-shirt, we went back downstairs so I could start his lunch. Nico bounced around with barely contained excitement, waiting for his present. I installed him in the kitchen and made him wait at the breakfast table. When I returned with a box wrapped in brightly colored paper, Nico made gimme hands toward the box. I pretended to give it to him a few times before swiping it away. He laughed each time, but I didn’t push my luck, given his earlier stress.

“Have at it, Sweet Boy,” I said to Nico when I handed him the box.

That was all the invitation he needed to start ripping up paper to get to the box inside. Inside the box were his presents wrapped in tissue paper. He tore through that just as quickly, tossing it over his shoulder like confetti. When he reached the inside, his mouth formed anOin surprise.

“Babbo, I love it. She’s so pretty.” Nico gingerly lifted the plush sunflower in a pot. Bright yellow petals surrounded its happy face. He hugged it close to him and gave her a sweet kiss, then rubbed his cheek against the soft petals with a small smile. The tension I’d seen earlier around his eyes and the lines on the sides of his mouth seeped away as he played with the stuffie.

“I’m glad you like it, sweetheart. Are you ready for lunch now?”

Nico nodded happily and shoved the paper off the table onto the floor.

“Hey, that’s not how you pick up things.”

“Babbo, I play with my stuffie.”

“You can play with your stuffie without shoving trash on the floor. Please pick it up and put it in recycling where it belongs.”

Nico’s attempt at pouting was squashed when I gave him a raised eyebrow and a stern look.

“I clean.” Nico sighed dramatically, as if I’d asked him to sweep the bottom of the ocean. He was a drama llama, but I wanted him to be mine.

“What did you want for lunch again? I forgot,” I teased.

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