Chapter 18

Joel

"I still think you should've let me taste-test a few more pieces. We didn't make sure the insides and the corner pieces were done." Everyone knew those parts cooked at different rates.

Dean didn't seem to understand how helpful I was being because he rolled his eyes. "You already had plenty. If you keep taste-testing, you'll eat them all before your parents see that we have manners."

"Why would they care if you have manners or not?" Dean worried about crazy things. "You take care of me and I'm special. That's what counts."

For some reason, I had to keep reminding him about that over and over. He understood it but he kept forgetting how important it was when he looked for other things to worry about. "Why would manners be more important than that?"

And they both stopped.

For goodness' sake.

We were never going to get to my parents' house if we couldn't even make it to the car.

"We're going to talk as we drive." Shaking his head, Dean started walking again. "Don't distract me with anything else until Tate is behind the wheel and I can worry while sitting. Being late will make me even more insane."

Well, at least he knew he wasn't acting normally.

"Alright." I could be patient and quiet for a couple of minutes, so I clamped my lips together and just kept going down the stairs, not even letting the neighbors distract me when the two weird ones who probably had names tried to say hello.

I waved, though.

So I hadn't been rude.

But when we were finally sitting in the car, Dean in the front passenger seat so Tate could pat his head while he was driving and tell Dean everything was fine, I let out a Dean sigh to let him know I was ready.

For something.

Tate chuckled for some reason, but he didn't seem worried as Dean leaned his head back and mirrored my sigh. "It's going to be fine."

Yep, he even squeezed Dean's shoulder.

"I know." Dean said he knew but he wasn't acting like it. "I just like knowing what to expect in these kinds of situations and I have no idea what to expect."

Hmm.

"We'll make introductions and you'll show my mother your brownies. I'll tell her that you made sure I didn't eat too many and end up too full before dinner. She'll like that and smile. Then they'll bring you into the living room and we'll talk for a few minutes. Then she'll say dinner is ready and we'll go sit down." I thought that was all pretty normal but maybe not.

"Then when we're eating, I'll tell her we're doing great and she'll ask about how you think it's going because she knows I'm kind of greedy when it comes to attention. Then we'll talk and eat and leave." Wiggling forward since the car wasn't moving yet, I squished my way through the seats and kissed Dean's cheek.

"That's it, huh?" Dean's smile peeked out and he leaned his head so he was touching me and Tate. "It'll be fine. You're right."

Yep.

"My parents already want to like you because you're special to me. We bought board games and you're my Daddy. They want to like you. They just haven't met you enough, so we're going to fix that." They hadn't known we'd end up being special together, so they hadn't put in that kind of effort.

Getting to know people was hard and there'd been no reason for them to get to know Dean and Tate before.

Dean smiled but then his face tightened again. "You're going to tell them I'm a great Daddy, aren't you?"

It was a weird question, so I thought it might be one of those things that I just didn't get.

"Yes." I was honest but I made sure to look cute as I gave him another kiss on the cheek. "They're really proud of you for figuring out that part of yourself and for how you take care of me. I'm really proud of you too, Daddy."

Smile.

Frown.

Sigh.

Smile.

Frown.

Sigh.

"Master Tate?" Leaning toward Tate, I decided looking cute might be a good idea still. "Is Daddy okay?"

"Yes." Tate kissed my head, sounding very confident and Mastery. "Our families just don't talk about that kind of stuff, so it's going to take him a while to get used to it."

That didn't make any sense at all.

"But families are supposed to love you and help you grow up to find your special person, or in our case, people. If you can't talk to them about sex and Daddies and restraints and important stuff like that, how can they help you?" It just wasn't logical.

Oops.

Tate went still too.

Okay, he cocked his head.

Now a deep breath.

Well, at least he wasn't as broken as Daddy.

Telling myself I had to be patient, I just waited and waited, looking back and forth and hoping they fixed themselves in the next couple of minutes so we wouldn't be late.

I was going to have to tell my mother she'd been right when she'd said to leave extra time for them to have worries.

They had worries.

And thinkies.

And lots of deep breaths.

"Okay." Tate fixed himself. Being patient was amazing. "I understand where you're coming from and I can see where you're right. That is what family is supposed to do. It's just not what our families think about when it comes to helping us get ready for partners. Your way of looking at it is incredibly logical, though, and actually helpful in the long run."

Knowing they realized how smart we were as a family made me smile, but I'd have been happier if Daddy would do more than breathe. "Thank you for realizing that."

"You're welcome." Tate gave me a quick kiss before he winked and glanced at Daddy. "Let's fix your Daddy."

"Wonderful." I was starving and I needed more brownies.

And noodles.

And bacon and veggies.

And the cheddary biscuits she said she was going to make me.

Ugh, I was just making my tummy rumble.

Tate heard it and chuckled, but he ignored it because there was nothing we could do about it. "Alright, you sit back and I'll fix Dean."

"Deal." Slithering back into my seat, I showed him how confident I was about his abilities by buckling my seat belt and being quiet.

I was an amazing partner.

"They know all the weird stuff and still want to meet us." Tate was very confident about where to start to fix Daddy, but I wasn't sure why it was stressful, so I just watched. "They think all these conversations are reasonable and healthy. They really just want to get to know their son's partners and to get to know us more because we weren't special enough to get to know before."

He wasn't wrong, but somehow, he made it sound rude.

Daddy's stress started to deflate, though, so maybe it hadn't been bad manners?

"Nothing Joel's said makes me think that any of this is weird to them." Tate paused and smiled for some reason. "This isn't like us going to our parents and trying to explain the basics."

Daddy huffed and probably rolled his eyes, making Tate laugh as he kept working on fixing Daddy. "Hell, they're pleased that I'm starting to figure out how to give him the right kind of pain and they want to make sure we're all getting our needs met."

"You're right." Taking a big deep breath, Daddy sat straighter in his seat. "They're excited to get to know us and nothing is going to be a surprise."

We'd said all this over and over, so I just nodded along and stayed quiet.

"Nothing is going to be a surprise to them." Tate's grin was naughty, so I had a feeling Daddy had done something silly. "Yep.

Now they were both being silly, but I was amazing still and was very patient.

"Thank you." Daddy leaned over and gave Tate a quick kiss. "I'm fine now. Promise."

Tate snorted, not believing it either. "Try again."

He was so cute when he was all Dommy.

Even Daddy knew it because he huffed. "Alright. I'm close enough to fine that I wasn't lying, but I'm still unreasonably nervous."

Master liked that answer better because he nodded and reached out to play with Daddy's ear. "Thank you. Is there anything else you want to say?"

Daddy wanted to say no, but after a dramatic exhale, he tried again. "Thank you for helping me to feel better about it and I promise to let you know if my worries start to get the better of me."

That sounded like something my dad would've said. Dean was so cute and such a Daddy. But Daddies worried, so I knew why he didn't like having so much new stuff going on.

"You're welcome, and you'd better let me know or I will not be fit to live with." Master was frowning but he sounded like my mother.

I was smart and didn't smile, though, because that always made her nuts.

"I understand." Daddy was trying not to laugh and not doing a very good job of hiding it. He liked living dangerously sometimes. "It'll be fine."

Hopefully.

Master rolled his eyes but must've thought it was slightly believable because he went back to focusing on the car and we actually left the parking lot before Daddy's worries started to come back.

Turning his head, he frowned at me. "The brownies tasted fine, didn't they?"

"They were wonderful." But even I knew we weren't worrying about the brownies. "Daddy?"

Hoping I wasn't going to make the situation worse, I waited until he shifted in his seat so he could see me better. "Yes, baby boy?"

"What's the worst thing that could happen even if it's awkward and my parents don't like you?" When he just blinked, I tried again. "What's the worst reasonable thing that could happen at dinner? You can't say aliens attacking or anything like that."

Or my point would never work.

There was nothing I could do against aliens…they wouldn't care that I was cute and smart.

Scrunching up his face, Daddy was silent while Tate drove, but he didn't look away and he didn't tell me I was being ridiculous. It took him miles and miles to figure out an answer, but I was patient and didn't even wiggle.

When he finally answered, he looked like he needed a hug. "I think the worst thing is that if they didn't like us and you decided that you didn't want to be my partner anymore because of it. Family is important to you and I want them to like us."

That was something I could fix…at least I thought so, but Dean was at the top-tier Daddy level for worriers and that was hard to compete with.

"Families are like a Venn diagram with me in the middle where it overlaps. I'll have a circle with my parents in it and a circle with you guys in it. Maybe you'll make another one because each of you needs your own circles. I don't know." Diagrams were hard.

Tate was crafty, though, so I knew he could help if I needed it. "I'll have to figure out how the picture looks, but there's lots of space for us to overlap even if you and my parents don't get along. But I'm not trying to find a relationship that makes them happy. My mother made sure I knew that. She also said that she might not even like whoever I find because her dad always hated mine."

I still didn't understand that, but it was okay because only she had to understand why she loved him.

"So you're not trying to make them like you to keep me. I already belong to you, so there's no takebacks on that one." I was not going to start from scratch just because my mother didn't understand why having a Daddy was amazing.

Not that I thought it would be a problem.

She thought the idea of me having a Master and a Daddy was very practical.

"I think the worst thing that can happen is that you and my father don't get along and that makes the holidays awkward. It's not likely at all because you're very cute and treat me very well, but if something like that happens, we'll figure out how to make Thanksgiving work." It couldn't be too hard.

Worst-case scenario was that we didn't let them sit next to each other and I kept being a brat to make sure Daddy's attention was always on me.

That wouldn't be hard at all.

"So you're just worried about not getting good desserts at Thanksgiving, huh?" Daddy tried to keep a straight face as he teased me but he couldn't do it and his eyes kept wanting to smile.

"Yes." It was the answer he wanted to hear and made him laugh. "Because you'll make a dessert and my mother will make a dessert and then I get twice as much pie."

I didn't see a downside to it.

Daddy just needed to think in terms of desserts and Christmas presents and everything would be fine.