Page 37 of Tommy

“Unless you want to shower alone?”

He looked at me, staring right into my eyes. “If the offer to shower together is on the menu, I’m gonna take that one,” he said.

“I guess I can also show you my bathroom as well.” It wasn’t exactly something I had planned, but neither was having sex with him. But I was happy that we did. “But there’s some ground rules.”

“Yeah, one rule. I’m a just a little, so I get everything I want,” he offered up, pouting at me.

He might’ve been right about that rule. “Other than that, you can’t use too much of my shampoo. It’s hard to get up here,” I told him. It wasn’t a deal breaker of a rule, but it was a pain.

“Don’t worry, I—” he paused, and chewed on his bottom lip. “I left my stuff in the bathroom of the cabin. But it’s fine, because I liked that stuff in the other bathroom.”

“And another rule,” I said, just to see his reaction.

“Yeah?”

“You make sure you put something on that isn’t going to have you flying around on the floor,” I said. “I don’t want you getting hurt.” Not only because of the incoming storm and lack of resources out here. “Or falling into a split. Your legs have seen too much for one week.”

He laid his head back on my chest. “No more horse riding for me,” he said. “Unless we’re counting you as a horse. In which case, I’d ride again.”

Considering we had a couple more weeks together, I would’ve hoped he wanted to go again. “Good to know.” The entire guard of who I was had completely crumbled now. He’d seen me buck naked, there was no coming back from it. And I wouldn’t want to either. This raw connection I’d found with Tommy was just what I’d needed.

15. TOMMY

As much as it was something that was on my mind the moment I found out he was gay, it wasn’t something I was ever going to act on, at least not instigate. I was a little, and I had little needs, like a Daddy to call me agood boyand to take care of me with hot cocoa and meals, bubble baths and rubber duckies, and blanket forts, of course. All the things Hardin had already been doing for me.

We showered off the excitement and I got into a onesie with little gummy plastic bits on the feet that stopped me from slipping and sliding everywhere. Hardin got changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater, saying something about checking on the animals one final time before they felt the full effects of the storm. I volunteered to go with him, but he wanted me to stay safe in here where it was warm.

He was outside for about thirty minutes. Snow fell in large thick clumps, whipping at the window and sliding down to create tiny mounds. I watched and waited until he got back, covered in the snow. The wind howled the moment the door opened. His hat, however, still firmly planted on his head, and covered in a thin layer of snow.

“It’s gonna be a beast,” he said, holding two shovels. “Just in case we have to dig ourselves out in the morning.”

“Dig ourselves out?”

“Yeah. It happens from time, these storms are unforgiving,” he said. “But we’ve got enough fire wood to see us through until midday tomorrow, if we must.” He closed the door and locked it before pulling a small piece of wood from the baseboard on the ground in front of it.

“What about the animals?”

“I spread some extra feed for them,” he said. “It’s gonna be stressful for a few of them, but I’ve reinforced the doors with extra hay bales so they should be ok.”

I didn’t know much about taking care of animals. I only knew how to take care of soft, cuddly teddy bears, and I’d occasionally failed at that, spilling food and drink on them. “Well, do you want to come and share body heat with me so we don’t get cold?” I gestured to the fort which had gone through a little refresh after the mess we’d made, and some of the blankets over the top had come away.

“I’m gonna get out of these clothes first, but then I’ll come join you,” he said. “You need anything from me?”

“Well, I didn’t get that—”

“More cocoa, I’m on it,” he said, stripping out of his snow covered clothes. “I’m thinking soup later. Bread bowls, perhaps too.”

I wasn’t going to say no to being taken care of with homecooked meals. “Yummy.”

While Hardin changed, I retreated to the fort. I was surprised the dogs hadn’t been in here and tried chewing my teddies, but Hardin had them in his room on their dog beds. It was probably for the best. I had my crayons and coloring book at the ready. I was in such a happy headspace, and that hadn’t always been the case, even when I was in my little world.

Laid on my belly, kicking my feet around, I colored a page and whistled a tune. There were no words this time, but it was all about the teddy on the page. A teddy with a bow between its ears, it wore a long dress, and held a bouquet of flowers.

“Who’s that?” Hardin asked, startling me.

A sentence of garbled gibberish came out.

“Oh, I don’t know what this is.”

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