Page 32 of The Toymaker
Trig waved at him. “You can go back to cleaning.”
“I know they’re not real people,” said Riju.
“Sometimes, I kind of wonder because you talk to them a lot.”
“So? It helps.” Riju rolled his eyes. “They also listen better than you right now.”
Why couldn’t Trig simply stop nagging? Kit lifted bottles of massage oil to wipe underneath them. It wasn’t like Riju’s lack of eye contact was making the business fail or anything bad. Trig had interrupted him quite a few times as well as if Riju’s opinion didn’t count.
“I have a few friends even though we all work a lot, they have families, and we don’t get to see each other much anymore,” said Trig. “Life happens. Still, I go find someone to chat with at the tavern once in a while. When you’ve gone with me, you don’t look at anyone, and you barely speak. How would you make friends?”
“I don’t like the tavern. It stinks, and half of the people act stupid the more they drink, and the other half don’t even say sorry when they bump into you. You also get mad if I put my doll on the table, and you never let us eat outside when the weather is nice so we can avoid the nasty smell. I go there to spend time with you, and I don’t complain like you do about the fair. If you weren’t around, I’d never go to the tavern.”
“Either way, your quality of life would be better if you could improve on a few things.” Trig took Riju by the waist. “I couldn’t have done this when I first got you.”
“But now I know you’re not trying to trick me so you can lock me in the basement forever and use me as a sex slave.”
“This won’t hurt you either.”
“It does. Why won’t you listen to me?”
“I do listen to you,” said Trig, and Riju narrowed his eyes. Honestly, it didn’t sound like Trig truly was, not that Kit would dare say so.
“I feel like you’re trying to trick me.”
Trig rolled his eyes. “Do you care that people think it’s rude when another makes no eye contact?”
Riju shook his head. “No. Maybe expecting it is rude. Did you ever think of that?”
Trig sighed and hugged him. “You’ll practice all afternoon.”
Riju pouted as he sat at the counter. “I want to go downstairs and braid.”
“You’ll stay up here,” said Trig. “We’re not about to run out of whips any time soon.”
“I don’t want to be up here anymore.”
“You will, or maybe I’ll test out a new paddle on your ass, and you’ll still stay up here,” Trig said in a joking tone.
Why couldn’t Trig let go of this? Sure, Riju was stubborn, but he had a perfectly good reason to stand his ground, or at least Kit thought so. Perhaps too much eye contact was like too much touch. If the customers didn’t like the lack of it or his facial expression, why couldn’t they get over it? It wasn't like he was telling customers to fuck off.
Not once had Kit ever cared if someone didn’t look at him when speaking. It never even occurred to him.
Trig knelt by Riju. “We could leave Kit in here to watch the counter so we can go to my room, and I’ll suck your cock. Would that make you feel better before you practice?”
“I don’t want sex.”
“Fine. I have to go out in a bit, and I expect effort even when I'm not here.”
Riju pulled out his doll and hunched in the chair while he whispered to it with a huge scowl. When Trig went in the back, Kit spoke.
“Thirty, Master.”
Riju broke into a smile as he looked up. “Thirty, thirty, thirty. Kitty kit, kitty kit.”
Kit liked that too although maybe he was a little biased. “How about puppies, Master?”
“I like kitty or kit better.”
