2. Elias

Chapter 2

Elias

Every member in the room was wondering if I'd suddenly been possessed by a demon, and unfortunately several assholes were staring at Milo.

He couldn't help being adorable or having the strangest friend in the world, so I wasn't going to let him feel uncomfortable because of the idiots who'd already made me uncomfortable.

"You can't say things like that." Milo was trying to sound stern but his blush and the bashful tone in his voice made it impossible. "I'll get ideas."

Trying not to laugh, I whispered again and didn't bother trying to hide the desire in my voice. "I'm very curious about your ideas, but if you're too shy to tell me, I'm sure Dally will help me."

Because he was an oversharer with a severe lack of common sense.

It was no wonder Victor had wandered off with him, but my choices in friends and my choices in lovers were very different.

Milo groaned with his eyes closed as I straightened. "He'll tell, though."

"Yes, I realized that." My response got another dramatic sound from the cutie, but he finally opened his eyes, so I rewarded him. "But if you do your best to talk to me and let me get to know you, I promise not to ask Dally invasive questions about you."

He perked up for about three seconds before reality came crashing back into his mind. "But all you have to do is walk up to him and look curious and he'll start talking."

I'd realized that too.

"But I won't ask invasive questions, so it won't be my fault." Thoroughly appreciating the loophole in that logic just as much as I would've enjoyed finding one at work, I grinned. "I think I like Dally."

Milo rolled his eyes. "Everyone likes Dally."

Even his redneck family…which was incredibly confusing considering I didn't think my own fairly conservative family liked me very much.

"He has a certain charm." Glancing around the room, I found him and Victor deep in conversation with several longtime members. Dally's dramatic hand gestures made me laugh. "But he's not as charming as a certain blushing little."

And the blush was back.

"Really?" His skeptical tone and the earnest look on his face made it clear he wasn't fishing for compliments.

"Yes." It seemed like time for some honesty on my part. "I've never been a Daddy in a relationship like that, but I've been a more traditional Dom, and I've thought very logically about exploring that part of the lifestyle."

When the logical part didn't offend Milo, I kept going. "However, when I'm left to make my own introductions, I make the littles nervous. After one slightly frustrating trip to a BDSM club with a little night, I pulled back from that idea."

"You weren't scary tonight even if you were frowning." Milo's sweet answer made me smile.

"Your friend's openness and Victor's ridiculous behavior broke the ice and bridged the gap for me." Otherwise, I'd have probably just stood there frowning. "I've been told I have a very stern resting bitch face."

Milo was doing his best not to smile, but his straight face looked painful to maintain. "Now that I know what's behind the frown, it won't bother me. And…and I don't mind that you've never been a Daddy as long as we can figure out things we have in common."

Hmm.

To tease or not to tease?

"I think Dally already pointed out at least one thing we've got in common." Teasing turned out to be more fun than I'd imagined. It earned me a deeper blush and a shocked face that would've fit on any cartoon show I'd ever seen. "Yes, I think we have at least one point in common."

Milo was bouncing between shocked and scandalized, but his slight wiggle back and forth looked like he was trying to make very subtle adjustments to his erection. "I…"

Was going to grab his dick if he wasn't more careful.

"Hands off." Keeping my voice quiet since people were still watching us too closely, I tightened my grip on his hand and chuckled as his eyes went even wider. "Good boy. You know what I meant."

A slow nod was all I got from him, but it didn't look like his blush would ever fade. "Alright, let's find a drink and look at the appetizers they set out, and then we'll find a place to sit. How does that sound?"

Having an easier question to answer had some of the color in his cheeks fading and his brain engaged again. "Yes, Sir. Thank you."

It wasn't much but it was approval and a full sentence, so I was going to claim it as a win. "Good boy. I approve of your manners."

And I'd gotten the blush back.

After a quiet groan, he gave me the cutest glare and pout. "You're doing that on purpose."

"Yes, and it still hasn't gotten boring yet, so don't be surprised when I keep doing it for a while." That got me another sigh and he rolled his eyes, but he followed me as I led him into the room and started working our way around the side over toward the buffet.

Once we started to move, we were much less interesting, and for the most part, everyone went back to their conversations. Milo must've felt more at ease because he started swinging our hands back and forth just enough to give me a peek at his little side.

"Alright, do you need a big snack or a small one?" I'd taken a guess at approaching the situation from a Daddy point of view and was happy when his hand swung wider and his head cocked into a very adorable thinking position.

"A big one. I didn't have a snack earlier because my tummy was feeling yucky." The way his face scrunched up implied yucky equaled nervous.

"It's feeling better now?" I appreciated his nod and felt my own nerves receding. "I'm glad."

Under other circumstances I wouldn't have continued with that line of questioning, but there was nothing typical about Milo. "Were you nervous about meeting the men in the group?"

Based on what Dally had said, I wasn't surprised when Milo shrugged. "Kinda?"

"I think most of the men in here are nervous about meeting people." My response had him giving me a curious side-eye. "Honest. They're all different than most of the people in their regular life and they're looking for people who'll like them and understand them."

"Like being little or something like that." Nodding slowly, he looked thoughtful still but his fingers started wiggling against mine like he was tapping out some kind of song in his head. "Sometimes when people worry, they're not nice."

Ahh.

"I can understand that but I don't think you have to worry about that anymore. You've got me to talk to and you know Victor. Even if you decide you don't want to hang out with me any longer, he'd have fun talking to you and it looks like Dally knows everyone."

That got a giggle from Milo. "He always knows people and no one ever hates him. It's magic."

I wouldn't have described it that way but the end result was the same. "No matter how he does it, I think it means he'll have people to introduce you to."

"But you want to talk to me?" Milo gave me another slightly nervous look but smiled when I nodded.

"Yes. Big you. Little you. Naughty you." The last one had his giggle sounding slightly wicked, but he clamped his lips together once we got to the food. "Here we go. What looks good?"

The spread was varied and everything looked great this week. The last time I'd come it'd been half-assed at best, so it was nice to see the new catering company doing better. "What about the meatballs?"

That got a giggle from Milo like the word was dirty but he nodded. "Yes, please."

After working our way down the table and piling up a plate with a variety of fun things to eat, Milo and I made our way over to the corner of the room, claiming a small bistro table that had enough privacy around it to make both of us happy. "Will you guard our food? I'm going to go get some water for me and some juice for you."

Once he'd started talking, little Milo had been a helpful wealth of information about what he liked to eat and drink.

"Yes." Sitting straighter but somehow looking younger, Milo put on a serious face. "I'll protect it."

"Thank you." Resisting the urge to kiss his cheek, I did my best to stay on topic. "I'll get some silverware too."

I wasn't sure if Milo was an eat with his hands little or not, but he didn't seem little enough at the moment to be at that point. Besides, no matter what he wanted, I wasn't going to eat the meatballs with my fingers under any circumstances.

He was cute but not that cute.

The juice selection was limited, but thankfully someone was a lush and had decided on adding orange juice to the options so that people could get drunk. Because of course that was a good idea when people were talking about embarrassing topics.

"Juice. Water." The water had come bottled, so I tucked two of those between my arm and my chest. "No alcohol for littles or bigs that aren't comfortable enough to share yet."

I was not going to get him tipsy just to get to know him, no matter what Dally had suggested. If he was that nervous, we'd just go more slowly. I hadn't met anyone else lately I wanted to get to know, so taking my time with Milo would not be a problem.

"Perfect." With silverware in my other hand, I turned to head back to the table only to stop in my tracks. "Fuck it all."

Some people were just royal assholes.

An idiot with a three-digit name and a two-digit IQ was standing over Milo, wearing a smirk that made me want to do something ungentlemanly. Jeppy had some kind of crazy family name and was either a third or a fourth, but I could never remember and I really didn't care. He was a pain in the ass and had the IQ of a potato.

Hell, his grandfather was the only one in the family with any brains and he wasn't even directly related to Jeppy. The rumor mill had some interesting explanations about why nearly everyone after his grandfather was a moron but I was too polite to repeat them.

I was, however, smart enough not to do business with any of them…or date them, in Jeppy's case.

Just because we'd ended up with the same biological condition didn't mean we had anything else in common. Hell, the man wasn't even kinky, much less a sub, and he was beyond stupid if he thought I'd bottom for him.

The fact that he'd made sure I knew he topped made it clear we weren't compatible. That was not a conversation I had with anyone the first time we were introduced socially.

"He needs someone stronger than you, cupcake. He's not going to fall for that wide-eyed, innocent routine." Jeppy didn't hear me coming and he didn't realize that Milo's wide eyes were because he was scared of the crazy man in front of him. "It's played out. Besides, everyone knows he's here to network and not look for some kind of milk bunny."

Huh?

I must've looked as confused as I felt because when Milo finally noticed me coming up behind Jeppy, he almost smiled.

"Men as boring as he is aren't looking for guys like you." Jeppy just kept going, putting his foot in his mouth even more. "Don't suck up to him. He's smart enough to know his limitations."

"What he is is sexy and smart and sweet because he remembered to get me the right drink." Finally snapping out of his shock, Milo transformed into a badass socialite and somehow managed to look down at Jeppy. "You're wearing too much cologne. Could you please step back? It's cheap."

Oh, he was good.

Jeppy was gaping like a fish and nearly fell as he stumbled back.

Milo pretended not to notice and gave me a bright but completely manufactured smile. "Thank you. You're sweet for taking such good care of me."

His playing up how wonderful I was made my day, but Jeppy probably wasn't too far off about my regular personality.

"Any time. It's not often I meet someone so special here." Setting down his juice and the waters, I took my time arranging everything before pretending to notice Jeppy.

I frowned and made an exaggerated surprised expression as I shifted to look back at him. "Yes?"

When he just stood there with his mouth open, I glanced around the room. "If you'll excuse us?"

There had to be someone else he could torment and his brain must've realized that because he whipped around and stomped off before I could decide if I was going to say something even ruder.

Milo's snarky, high-end drama queen expression faded and he deflated back in his chair. "He was bad crazy. Not good crazy like Dally."

No one was like Dally.

"I would have to agree." Sitting across from Milo, I wasn't sure the right way to break the ice, so I decided to just say the first thing that popped into my head. "Do you happen to know what a milk bunny is?"

Milo turned into the one gaping at me before he burst out laughing and reached for his juice with two hands, which told me something about where his headspace was going again. "It's like a badge bunny but for men…men who…the members here."

Ah.

"That's what I was assuming but I didn't realize that was a thing." It might've explained the crazy amount of turnover at the last few meetings I'd attended. "I have to admit I'm old enough that it being a kink people are actively looking for still surprises me."

Milo blinked and it took me a few seconds to realize how that might've sounded.

"I wasn't trying to say anything derogatory." I had to fix the situation I'd created. Fuck. "When I was younger, it was considered something shameful at the very least and a medical oddity at best. My family had the money to try to fix me, so that affected how I saw it as well."

His wince said he understood some of what I'd gone through. "That's…I'm sorry."

Shrugging, I brushed off the memories. "They finally realized there was nothing safe that could be done and I learned to hide it. People are more accepting now than they used to be, but it's not something that I ever saw as…as something that people would prefer in a partner."

Trying not to smile, Milo swallowed. "That's a good way to describe it."

Chuckling, because he was just adorable, I shrugged. "First impressions shouldn't be crass."

And his giggle finally escaped.

"Victor dragged me to join the social side of the Lactin Brotherhood about a year ago, though I've been a member for years. It's been hit or miss finding people that I've enjoyed talking to, and most of the men who've approached me have been…aggressively interested in one thing." It'd actually been overwhelming, which hadn't helped my ability to get to know them.

Which had just reinforced what people thought of as my stern and boring demeanor.

"Then we're lucky that Dally was ridiculous." Looking more at ease and with a cheeky smile on his face, Milo shrugged. "And that I'm interested in you because you're a sexy Daddy…the other stuff is just a happy bonus."

Yes, we were very lucky indeed.