13. Arlo

Chapter 13

Arlo

Arlo was having a great time at Marshall's house.

After watching the movie together, Arlo and his Little friends decided to build a rocket ship out of pillows and go on a space adventure with their stuffies. Arlo, Marshall, and Dale were building a great bond, and it reminded Arlo of the times when he would take leave from the military and visit Little clubs and see friendship groups playing togther and pine for something like that for himself.

‘Come on, let's see if we can see some Space Daddies,' Arlo said, squealing with delight as he crawled across Marshall's playroom and picked up a pair of toy binoculars. ‘These a super-strength and can see across the galaxy!'

‘Hey, I thought you only had eyes for Mr. Big Tree Daddy!' Marshall giggled, rolling backward and kicking his feet in the air in delight.

‘I do, and that's who I'm looking out for!' Arlo replied, imagining what Axel would look like in an astronaut suit that had special cut-outs for his butt and his big Daddy dick. ‘And he'll be the hottest thing in space. Even including the sun.'

‘ Naaaaw , you've got it bad for Axel, don't you,' Dale said. ‘It's so sweet. I think you two are perfect together.'

‘Me too,' Marshall added, the three Littles now crawling across the playroom as they made believe that they were floating across the Milky Way. ‘You know me and Max kinda have something going on. I don't know if it's like you and Axel. Or Dale and Kipp. But… we have fun.'

‘Tell me more!' Dale giggled.

‘And me, I want to know all the deets,' Arlo added, excited to be part of the discussion.

‘I can't say too much other than Max's been giving me a mix of good times and butt-warming times!

The three Littles fell about laughing with one another. Marshall went on to describe in more detail they punishments and pleasure that he had been receiving at Max's hands and Arlo listened in awe as Marshall described one especially tough punishment that involved two ping pong bats, a butt plug, and a big, hard banana.

‘Guys, this is so much fun,' Arlo said, the conversation settling down as the three Littles decided to cuddle up together and watch a movie on the playroom projector screen. ‘To be honest, I never thought I would get to experience anything like this. I kinda thought that my life as a Little would be just me. And Sass, of course. But mainly just me.'

‘Don't ever worry about that again,' Dale answered, a warm smile on his face. ‘You've got us now. I'm thinking a big group snuggle is what's needed. Come on, Littles assemble.'

With that, the three boys snuggled even closer and sat back with bottles of warm milk clutched between their hands as The Lion King began to play on the projector. Arlo felt a warm sensation come over his body and he realized that he might just be living the life that he'd always wanted but never realized was actually possible.

I love my friends.

They're the best.

And maybe I love my Daddy too…

The following morning, Arlo and his Little friends were up nice and early. Despite the fact that they had all fallen asleep around halfway through the movie, their sleeping bags and plentiful supply of fluffy cushions had kept them comfy and cozy all night long.

Marshall had a shift to get to a The Hot Plate, so the plan was that all three of the boys would head over there and grab an early breakfast. Marshall was pretty sure that Max would let him grab a bagel and some peanut butter before his shift started.

‘It's such a nice morning,' Arlo mused as the three friends walked hand in hand down the Eagle Ridge strip. ‘And everyone's so happy to be up and living their lives. '

‘I think someone's excited about meeting up with their Daddy…' Marshall said, rolling his eyes and playfully nudging Arlo. ‘Will you and Axel be eating something else after breakfast too?'

‘Hey!' Arlo blushed, unable to suppress a laugh as he continued to walk. ‘Keep an eye on your messages, I'll let you know later.'

Arlo smiled and the three friends entered The Hot Plate one after the other.

‘I'm guessing three breakfast bagels?' Max asked, polishing a tall milkshake glass with his favorite black cloth. ‘And three OJs to go with them?'

‘Yes please, Max,' Marshall said, his usual sass nowhere to be seen as he blushed.

‘You got it,' Max replied, proceeding to get busy with the bagel toaster and fresh orange juice machine.

The three friends took their seat in one of the booths that had a view out onto the Eagle Ridge strip. With the morning sun showing no signs of going anywhere soon, it was shaping up to be another nice day.

Speaking of which, Arlo was keen to speak to Axel and find out what they would be doing. Arlo was eagerly looking forward to going out with Axel and Laser on another job – so much so that he didn't have the patience to wait for him to arrive and decided to send a message to hurry him along …

Arlo: Hey Daddy. Are you nearly here yet? Please tell me where we're working this morning. Will I be able to climb a tree? Maybe use the safety ropes? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease let me! Pwetty-pwetty-pwetty Pleeeeeease! LOL! XoXoXoXoXo

AXEL: Look up, baby boy, and I'll tell you myself. Daddy XoXo.

‘Yay! Daddy!' Arlo called out, delighted to see his Daddy standing tall in the doorway.

Before Arlo had a chance to get up and greet Axel, he was already over at his booth and leaning over to give him a sumptuous kiss on the lips. Arlo felt a bolt of lightning shoot through his body as his and Axel's lips locked together for what must only have been a few moments but felt like a special moment frozen in time.

‘Missed you old Daddy, huh?' Axel chuckled, breaking away from the kiss and running his finger down Arlo's rosy-red cheek.

‘Kinda. Maybe. A little… whatever ,' Arlo replied, doing a terrible job of trying to convince Axel that he wasn't ecstatic to see him.

‘You're smart, young man, but you're not a great liar,' Axel laughed, playfully wagging his finger. ‘I take it that Max has your breakfast on the way? And OJ?'

‘Yup, he's got us three covered,' Arlo replied.

‘ Hmmm . I guess I'll leave you three boys to it,' Axel replied, casting his eye over Dale and Marshall. ‘Have fun. And get ready for… some climbing. And yes, you can use the safety ropes to really get high today. I'll teach you everything you need to know.'

‘Yes!' Arlo exclaimed. ‘Thank you, Daddy.'

‘But before anything, I need to hit the bathroom and then get my triple espresso locked and loaded from Max,' Axel said. ‘We've got some Daddy things to discuss, so I might be a while. Cool?'

‘Cool,' Arlo replied, blushing once more as he and Axel held eye contact with one another.

With that, Axel headed over to the bathroom and disappeared behind the metallic red door. Arlo was left with his two Little buddies and it wasn't long before the three of them were gossiping and spilling the tea on all their favorite Daddy fantasies. It might have been early in the day, but Arlo was already getting excited for what him and Axel would get up to at bedtime, and if it involved some of Axel's climbing ropes and harnesses, then all the better!

With Marshall now behind the counter and working his shift, and Dale having headed over to Beau's Books to join Nick's morning book club, Arlo was happily sitting by himself and making a note in his journal…

Today I feel… happy.

Today I'd like… to learn something new .

Tonight I want to… Hehehe – I'm not writing that down here!

Tomorrow I wish I could… tell Axel how much he means to me and him say it back.

Arlo smiled and placed his writing pen back in the little loop at the side of his journal. Keeping a journal was something that Arlo had done for quite some time. There was something freeing about sitting down and writing out his thoughts and feelings. The act of putting his hopes and fears on paper felt liberating and always left Arlo feeling even better in the aftermath of each entry.

Although he rarely wrote long entries or anything overly complex, Arlo had truly grown to see the value of the practice since he tentatively first picked up his pen and jotted his feelings down on a scrap of old paper. And with the big ARLO'S JOURNAL – KEEP OUT! scrawled across the front cover, it felt like a place of sanctuary where he could really open up and let it all out.

It was only during the worst of the bullying in the military where Arlo stopped purely out of fear of having his journal stolen and exposed. In fact, this was something that Arlo had regretted ever since and was now glad to be back to his daily entries and frequent artistic scribbles too.

Axel was in a meeting with Max in the back office so wouldn't be back for a few minutes yet. With this in mind, Arlo decided to start drawing a picture of his Daddy. But it wasn't going to be just any picture. He might not have been Picasso, but Arlo was a good enough sketcher to be able to draw a pretty good naked body… and this one was going to be clambering up a tree.

The very thought of a nude Axel scaling a big, strong tree was enough to get Arlo excited and he blushed even as he drew his first pencil outline on the page, taking care of course to make sure that no eagle eyed observers were looking over his shoulder!

Gotta keep the legs nice and big.

And make sure I get Daddy's shoulders right.

And his… big, hard, Daddy cock too…

Arlo shyly covered the journal as old Mr. Willows walked past with his morning latte. The last thing that Arlo wanted was to make the kindly senior citizen spill his coffee.

However just as Arlo was about to get back to work on his erotic doodle, he happened to look up from his paper and felt his stomach spin and twist inside him.

‘It… can't be…,' Arlo whispered. ‘Not here… not now… why?'

Arlo slumped in his booth in an attempt to avoid detection. And despite almost being too scared to peek once more, Arlo summoned the courage to look out beyond the booth – and it wasn't good news either.

The two people who had just entered the diner were none other than the two main bullies who made Arlo's life a misery in the military. It was Harper and Kray. The pair of them looked as mean and full of venom as always. Some people were just horrible by nature, and Arlo was sure that this very much applied to his two former tormentors .

I don't get it.

They must be here for me.

But… why?

Arlo's mind was racing at a thousand miles per hour. But just the sight of Harper and Kray was enough to put Arlo into fight or flight mode. He knew he had to run. There was no other option. Arlo figured that if Harper and Kray were here, they must have been sent either by the military to intimidate him, or even worse – they might have come of their own accord to do something bad to him.

‘I have to get out of here,' Arlo mumbled, grabbing his backpack and checking that Sass was safely tucked inside. ‘They can't know where I am. Not now. Not ever.'

With that, Arlo slipped out of the booth and sneaked out of the diner's side door.

It was time to move and move fast.

Before he knew what was happening, Arlo had stolen an unlocked bicycle and was pedaling as fast as he could – and the truth was that he didn't know whether he might have been cycling out of Eagle Ridge and Axel's life for good…