Chapter Fifteen

Weeks had passed since Elio asked me to be my little. A lot had changed since then, but also a lot stayed the same. All of it for the better.

Elio was a daddy—my daddy. He stepped into those shoes seamlessly. I loved it. He loved it. It was working out for us both, and wasn't that the sign of a good relationship?

I'd had more time to be little since he officially became mine. I loved that. But what I loved more was how I could let my little side shine through doing our normal everyday activities, especially when it came to my paci. It was no longer relegated to the times I was in full little gear. I even used it at bedtime more often than not. And best of all, Elio embraced it fully, understanding it was what I needed.

One thing that surprised me after we became "official" was the sense of security that came along with it. It probably sounded boring to have comfort in a relationship. People often thought they wanted excitement, a thrill as it were. And maybe some did, but not me.

He wanted me exactly the way I was, and I wanted him exactly the way he was.

The one thing I'd been so worried about—Elio being my landlord— not once had that been an issue of any kind whatsoever. I continued to pay my rent as per my lease, he continued to fix shit around my place as it broke, and we began to switch back and forth from my apartment to his. We had no rhyme or reason for our schedule. When we were at one place and getting sleepy, that became home base for the night. Sometimes it would be weeks at one place, and other times we switched more often.

It was nice in that we each had our own space, even if we practically lived together. One day, I wanted to get rid of the practically and just live together. But with everything so new, I wasn't in a rush for that. Had he been across town, that would be a different conversation. But for now, we didn't even need to go outside to get to each other's place. This worked just fine.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and, when I saw it was Elio, I immediately answered.

"Some guy's here with a package for you," Elio said. "Did you want me to bring it right up to you?"

I tapped on my phone, wanting to see what package it was to discover it was my back order here far sooner than they had thought it would be.

"I know what this is!" And I couldn't wait. "Can you tell them yes so they bring it here?" It was my dresser. Well, it would be—it was the pieces for my dresser.

A minute later, there was a knock on the door. When I answered it, I signed for the box. They set it on the living room floor. It had two-man warnings all over it. I'd been told it was heavy, and it was labeled heavy. Still, I kind of pooh-poohed the idea of it actually being heavy. I assumed the warning was akin to the labels on the soap-filled cleaning pads telling you the lemon one wasn't edible. I was wrong. Good thing I didn't need to hold it all at once and could slide out each individual piece as I needed it.

"Knock knock." Daddy rapped on the doorframe.

"Do you want to know what it is?"

"I don't know, want to know it's a dresser, or it will be a dresser," he teased. Stinker.

"We'll see how many times I have to take it apart and put it back together before it's right." I always managed to get them done, but it was trial and error for sure.

"And that is officially where you have me," Daddy said.

The two of us spent the next hour and a half putting the dresser together. The instructions were remarkably easy, and the cuts were precise, making the execution just as low stress. That didn't make the project stressless. On the contrary, Cat-terine saw to that.

A certain little fur baby, who shall remain unnamed to protect the not-so innocent, decided the bowls of screws and dowels were her playthings, and we spent just as much time finding a screw that was batted across the floor as we did assembling the thing. Could we have figured out a way to prevent her from getting to them? Absolutely. Did we like seeing her sad face when we tried to take things away from her? Categorically, no.

"This is much nicer than I thought it would be based on how many pieces there were." I ran my finger over the top.

"I think so, too." He opened and closed each drawer, making sure they slid on the tracks easily.

"Can you help me get it into my closet?"

"Why the closet? Don't you want access to it?"

"It's for my little clothes. I always kept those hidden away." And now that I thought about that, it was silly. This wasn't my office where people walked past my desk a bazillion times a day. This was my own home. There was no reason I couldn't leave it out.

"We can put it in the far-right corner of your bedroom. There's room there."

I hugged Elio. "Thank you. I needed someone to say that to me."

We moved the dresser and unpacked all my little clothes into it. Daddy had bought me some and, when I paired them with the ones from my tote, my dresser was mostly full.

"I didn't realize how many things I had," I noted.

"And you also have things at my place," he reminded me. I didn't have a ton over there—a couple of outfits was all. At least as far as clothing went. I did have toys, coloring books and crayons, and my panda dishes though. We had it set up where I could wake up and choose to be little in either place without the need to go back and forth. It was working out for us.

"Speaking of my place, did you want to come over and play today? We could try the new play dough set I got you."

I had to admit the offer was tempting.

"I so want to play," I said, really meaning it. "And I love play dough, but I had a different kind of play in mind."

"Oh, really? I could be persuaded. What are you thinking?"

I grabbed his hand. "Let's throw the garbage away and go get pancakes, eating them until we burst."

He broke into laughter.

"Things are not boring with you." He cupped my cheek. "They're not even close to boring. Heck, they might not be on the same continent. Even when we are ‘boring' by most standards, though, and when we just stay in, that's not boring, either."

"Daddy, is this a long-winded way of saying no pancakes?" I stuck my bottom lip out in a faux pout.

"Of course not. We can eat pancakes until tomorrow if you want."

"Good because we are going to need our energy." He nibbled on my bottom lip while I grabbed his ass. "Lots and lots of energy."