Chapter 20

Grady

Little Alick around his friends and little-little Alick were almost two different people. And I'd gotten to see both already.

Best mate bond ever.

I knew he'd eventually remember to be worried, but for the time being, this young version of little Alick was happy and bouncy and used random phrases to explain things instead of anything that looked like a sentence.

He was so cute.

And utterly uninterested in naked things.

He hadn't noticed when I was getting him dressed or when he was helping me get ready for our jammie date.

I was hoping that would continue when I shifted us into our nighttime routine, but I had a few things to figure out first…sleeping arrangements and diapers just to start with. I had to figure them out quickly, though, because we'd gotten to the end of what seemed to be his favorite old Disney movie and the yawns were coming one after another.

As the credits started to roll, he snuggled closer on the couch. "Again?"

No.

"Come here first. I have a question for my baby boy." There didn't seem to be a thought about being too heavy for me as he climbed on my lap and snuggled close, resting his head on my shoulder. "Good boy."

My good boy whose thumb was slowly getting higher.

I might've waited too long.

"Alright, snuggle bug, where should Daddy sleep tonight. The trailer? The bed in the guest room? With his baby boy?"

I'd slept in the trailer on our first night together, but that'd literally been the day we'd first met. Mates were special, but I wasn't stupid enough to move in after the first date.

But he wasn't nearly big enough to leave alone.

Rubbing his thumb over his lips, Alick shrugged. "Bed."

Oh, that wasn't nearly enough of an answer. "Alick's big bed? The trailer big bed?"

"Camping?" Alick's one-word answer seemed to be a question, but after a second, I realized he'd been talking to himself. "No camping. Hmm."

Adorable.

And his thumb was sliding in and out between his lips as he grasped for more words. "Snuggle. Big bed?"

Had we actually made any progress?

Deciding we hadn't, I added more details to my answer, hoping it would help the situation. "Yes, I would like to snuggle and I would like to tuck you in and sleep beside you. Would you like to sleep by yourself or with Daddy?"

Narrowing down the options got me a better response.

"Yes. With Daddy." And the thumb went in all the way.

That seemed to be his indication that he was done being verbal and probably that he was done being fully awake because he quickly started to relax against me. Yep, Daddy had waited a bit too long for a few things.

But it was a learning curve and I wasn't going to beat myself up over it.

"No, no sleepies yet, silly boy." That got a laugh around his thumb and he pretended to snore, but neither of those things seemed like he was agreeing with me. "Ugh, Daddy should've done bedtime stuff earlier."

Making a mental note that physically taxing jobs required more sleep, I kissed his head and jostled him around a bit. "Hey, no closing your eyes. We have to brush your teeth and go potty."

All I got for a few seconds were more fake snores.

"Hmm, I guess you don't want Daddy to read you a book." Pretending to be very sad about that, I sighed and pouted. "I wanted to read you a book and give you a bottle."

The book seemed to be too tempting to ignore because he stopped the fake snoring and opened his eyes as he held up two fingers on his free hand. "Two?"

His mumbled word was clear enough that I knew what he was asking for, though there was no way he would make it through even one. But I had to push back because it was what I was supposed to do. He didn't want the truth. "Oh, I don't know. Are you going to be a good boy? Two books are a lot."

Making exaggerated thinking faces as I waited for him to decide, I wasn't surprised when he finally nodded and answered around his thumb. "Deal. Good boy."

Giving him a quick peck, I pointed toward the playroom. "Do you want to go pick them out while I get a bottle?"

His head bobbed up and down again, and he finally bounced off my lap, yawns forgotten as he hurried toward the playroom. Well, almost hurrying. He was going half the speed that he'd gone earlier when he'd raced us from the bathroom to the playroom and I knew that was another clue of how tired he was.

He mumbled something around his thumb, but it wasn't loud enough or clear enough for me to guess what he'd said. But given his propensity for talking to himself, he might not have meant it for me anyway, so I got up and headed for the kitchen.

A bottle of water felt like the best choice based on how tired he was, so I quickly got that together and followed the nerve-racking silence back to the playroom.

Yep, almost asleep on the floor.

Leaning against the bookshelf with his eyelids half-closed, he had two books in his hands but it looked like that'd taken all his energy. "Good boy. You found your books."

He jerked, eyes opening again, and he nodded as he looked down at his hands like he was surprised to see them there.

"Alright, uppies. Give me your hands, baby boy." Because I wasn't sure he would get off the floor otherwise. "That's right. Good boy."

And he was up.

And mostly steady.

And hadn't freaked out at the bottle.

But that might've been because he was blinking at it like he'd never seen one before.

Well, confusion wasn't a safeword and he wasn't pitching a fit, so I kept going like it was all perfectly reasonable. "Potty. Teeth. Cuddle. That's our plan, baby boy."

No response.

Was he actually awake?

I'd never met a dragon who sleepwalked but I'd heard about regular humans who did.

Fuck.

What did sleepwalking look like?

Frustrated that I didn't have time to look that up, I quickly grabbed a diaper out of the pretty basket they were hidden in and led him back to the big bedroom. Alick followed, eyes occasionally going down to his books but his thumb was firmly planted in his mouth and nothing else seemed to be registering for him.

Was getting that tired normal for humans?

Just an Alick thing?

"Let's put the books on the bed so they don't get wet." I was prepared for pushback on that but he let me take them out of his hands and set them on the bed, just staring at them like he was still confused. "Good boy."

Okay, a smile.

So some of what I was saying was registering and he still liked praise even if he was…tired.

Asleep?

A zombie?

"Potty and teeth and then we'll come back to the books." Setting his bottle and the diaper down on the books, I took him back to the bathroom in the hallway, which was unfortunately the only one in the house.

Based on how old it was, that made sense, but every time I looked at it, I wondered what he'd say to the idea of a small change to the house.

Would it be rude to suggest that we needed a second bathroom?

How long were mates supposed to wait before suggesting home renovations?

I knew not to rush him into the physical side, but no one ever mentioned old house-related issues. Someone should've mentioned that. Hell, no one had talked about anything outside of the emotional and physical side of a mate bond.

More practical advice would've been nice.

"There we go." Aiming him toward the toilet got me nothing.

Fuck.

Okay, when in doubt, fall back on limits lists.

His limits lists had been interestingly laid out and I had to think about it for a moment. The first scene list didn't seem to apply any longer because we were mates and we hadn't just met. Since it wasn't a hook-up and we weren't strangers any longer, that meant the mates and boyfriends list had to come into play along with the limits on his little side.

So I was good.

Right?

Letting him avoid talking about things that made him uncomfortable hadn't been my best call.

"Potty time." Making sure my voice didn't hold any questions or embarrassment, I brought him closer to the toilet and pushed the front of his pajama bottoms and training pants down. "Good boy. All ready."

We needed a better word for that, but after a second, he leaned back against me and figured out how to relax the right muscles while he was mostly asleep on his feet. There was no embarrassment on his part and my aim was spot on, so we were finished in record time and hadn't made a horrible mess.

We were amazing.

"Good boy." Giving his dick a shake and tucking him back in his clothes, l moved us to the sink where I washed his hands while he leaned into me and pretended to start snoring again. "Oh no, what will I do? Can I brush my baby boy's teeth while he sleeps?"

That got sleepy giggles from Alick and it was adorable, but it also let me know he was still tracking what was going on…so that meant he was awake, right?

I mentally debated that as I got his toothbrush ready, then gave up figuring it out as I stepped behind him and eased his thumb out of his mouth. "Open, please."

His eyes seemed to automatically close as his mouth opened.

Did they not work at the same time anymore?

"Good boy." That seemed to be the only reasonable response since actual questions were out. "Brush. Brush. Brush."

I wasn't going to claim a full two minutes, but I hit all the major spots and didn't gag him, so I was going to count it as a Daddy win.

"Spit." Getting the toothpaste out of his mouth was a bit harder than I'd anticipated, but after a few false starts, once he opened his eyes again, we made it work. "Good boy."

Yep, teeth were clean.

Water wasn't flooding the bathroom.

Hell, even his pajamas were still dry.

Yep, Daddy win number two.

"Okay, cuddle time." Kind of. We had one small thing to work on first, but I wasn't sure I needed to list it out. "You've been such a good boy."

He flashed me a sleepy smile as he shoved his thumb back in his mouth.

I just chuckled when that was all I got but I didn't need anything else. His happy contentment was the perfect response and made me feel just as good.

I just hoped it continued.

Keeping my fingers crossed, I took him back to the bedroom and did my best to discreetly grab the bottle and diaper to transfer them to the nightstand. After hopping him up on the bed, I leaned him back and picked up the books.

"Which one should we read first?" Putting the books in his free hand, I kept my voice even and curious as I took off his sleep pants as unobtrusively as I could. "The flower book or the gnome book?"

He had a lot of books with garden and nature themes, and I wasn't sure if that was deliberate on his part or just because his friends kept giving them to him.

He made thinking sounds as he studied the book but he was also going back to pretending to snore, so I was getting mixed signals from him. But the question gave him something else to focus on and I had him diapered and his pajama bottoms back on before he got tired of the game.

Perfect.

With visual evidence of the diaper hidden away, I peeked around the books and pointed to the one about the gnome. "That one. I'm curious. I need to know what the problem is."

Alick's giggle said he knew what the problem was with the grumpy gnome, but he wasn't volunteering the information. Giving him a teasing frown, I sat him up and then shifted him around so he was leaning against the headboard. "You know. That's sneaky. Now I have to find out."

Quiet but definitely mischievous giggles escaped around his thumb, but he shrugged like he had no idea what I was talking about. "Hmm, I'm not sure I believe that."

There were more giggles as I climbed up on the bed, but they quickly faded into a yawn when I picked him up and settled him between my legs. When his back was lying on my chest, I traded his thumb for the bottle and opened the book as he started to suck.

Diaper on. Panic off. Cuddles in play.

Daddy win number three.