Chapter Two

They didn’t go out for dinner.

They’d wasted enough time, Charlie though, enough days and weeks and months, not together, not seeing each other, not touching.

The two of them had talked, before and after the surgery, long days on a quiet ward, about how they’d have liked to learn their new bodies together.

And that hadn’t happened.

Instead he’d gone through recovery on his own. Well, not quite on his own. Mossie had given him some excellent advice, from their own experience, and the entire Stuffie Hospital London crew, as openly queer as they all were, had been beyond kind. They were his chosen family for a reason.

But it hadn’t been the same, not what he’d envisioned—what they both had envisioned together—and top surgery recovery had been long and hard.

And now that they’d found each other again, Charlie didn’t want to waste a single moment.

“You’re not going to wine and dine me?” teased Leon, leaning casually against the railings as Charlie left work that evening. “What if I had plans to wine and dine you?”

“Ditch them,” said Charlie. “I want to be Daddy’s plaything.”

Leon’s eyes had darkened then, and his hand had grabbed the top of Charlie’s belt and tugged him flush against him. “Oh yeah, Charlieboy?”

“Yeah,” said Charlie, who really didn’t quite know where all this heady confidence had come from. “You going to play with me, Daddy?”

“You fucking bet I am. Where?”

“My place,” said Charlie. “Just need to give your details to Susie first.”

As if summoned, his boss popped her head around the door and grinned. “I mean, technically I have all your details in Stuffie Hospital London’s computer system, but GDPR and all, so you can hand it over to me now.”

Leon looked slightly stunned, and Charlie had the slightest creeping fear that he might have messed it all up somehow, even if he knew that check ins were an important safety feature of any playdate, but when Leon’s face broke into a huge grin, his pulse started calming down from where it had ratcheted up.

“Ask away.”

Susie took his name, number, home address, work address, and car registration number before Charlie thought that she had enough to steal Leon’s identity and made her stop.

“I take the safety of my coworkers very seriously,” she said, putting on her Serious Face.

Susie’s serious face wasn’t very serious at all, but Isla was in the corridor, and the look that she gave Leon could have turned flame to ice.

Leon, however, just gave a cheerful wave. “No worries at all.”

“I have to call in an hour.”

“Every hour!” insisted Susie.

That might kill the mood a bit. “How about at six and then again at nine?”

She nodded, satisfied. “Fine. Acceptable. See you later, have fun, do all the things I wouldn’t do!”

“Your boss is…interesting,” said Leon.

“She’s a peach,” said Charlie. “Would do anything for any of us. Right, back to mine? It’s quickest by tube.”

Leon nodded towards a fairly shiny car. “I thought I’d drive.”

Charlie looked confused. “Is that yours?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Leon.

“You paid for Central London parking? Are you mad?”

Leon laughed, “Would you rather get the bus?”

“No no,” said Charlie. “Lead on! Be my Chauffeur Daddy, by all means.” That earned him a delicious frown.

“You’re going to pay for that remark later,” Leon’s low voice was almost a growl and it sent delicious shivers through Charlie’s body.

“Promises promises!” His words were light, but the anticipation built in his body. He couldn’t sit still in the passenger seat of the car, only pausing his wriggling when Leon leaned across him to clip his seatbelt into place. He got a whiff of whatever aftershave Leon was wearing and it was almost as alluring as the man himself.

As Leon drove, he asked questions, about how Charlie was, about life, about where they both were now, a year later.

“I remember some of the things we talked about before. Do you?”

Charlie couldn’t forget them. They were etched into his memory, seared into the very heart of him. “Uh huh.”

“Okay, so why don’t we opt in for this play session? You up for that, Charlieboy?”

“Sure. Shall I start?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Daddy kink?”

“Yes.” Leon didn’t say more than that single word, but his hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white.

“So you like it when I call you Daddy?”

“Charlie.” That was definitely a warning growl.

Charlie laughed, giddy with the wondrousness of it all, and then took a deep breath and recentred himself, because negotiating whilst drunk on desire wasn’t the most sensible of moves. “There are so many things that we could do, I kinda want to opt in on so many!”

Leon looked at him, a glance out of the corner of his eye as he drove, and he reached out with his hand and squeezed Charlie’s. “We’ve got all the time in the world, Charlieboy. Now that I’ve found you again, I’m not going to risk losing you. I want to be present with you. I want to kiss you. I want to make you feel. What will do that for you?”

“Rope,” said Charlie. “Rope and…maybe…orgasm control?”

“Control or denial?” asked Leon, somehow getting straight to the crux of the matter.

“Denial.” It should have felt scary, admitting to such a desire, but it didn’t. It felt…well, it felt downright freeing.

“Rope and denial it is then, Charlieboy. And you’re okay with kissing?”

Charlie’s voice caught in his throat. “Am I…? Leon, I’ve dreamt of kissing you for a whole year. I’ve dreamt of kissing the man I thought I’d lost. Yes, I’m okay with kissing.” His voice was wobbly, and when he looked at Leon, he saw a tear glinting in his eye.

The two of them had been through so much. Experienced so much. And now they had this second chance at this. It was a gift, and one that Charlie couldn’t wait to unwrap.