Chapter 6

Fraser

I'd really thought we'd have more time before we got to this part of getting to know each other but those morons at the diner just couldn't keep their mouths shut.

Paxton was wearing the most confused and offended expression, and I could see him trying to put the pieces together. It was obvious from his face that he couldn't see the picture that was forming, but that was only because his exposure to BDSM was less than zero.

It was reality TV less than zero.

"I'm going to answer this because I think whatever you're picturing will be worse than what it actually is, but I'm going to ask you to tell me your questions right off the bat and not hold them back." He was going to hold them back. "It doesn't matter if you think asking something would be rude or if the question seems stupid."

His response was to huff and fold his arms over his chest. "No."

I shrugged. "Okay, let's talk about something else then. How about I tell you why I'd like to spank you?"

His eyes went dragon-sized and he stared dumbfounded at me for a few seconds. "That's cheating. Now I have to know."

Oh well.

"It's not cheating. It's a healthy boundary when we're having a conversation." And I was the Daddy, so I couldn't cheat.

Everyone knew that because the Daddies around town kept saying it on repeat.

He made more adorable grumpy noises before glaring at me again. "Fine. I promise to ask my questions. Are you happy now?"

"Yes." Giving his pouty lips a kiss, I nodded. "I thoroughly enjoy getting my way."

He had no idea what to say to that based on how quiet he went. But it served our purpose because I needed to answer his question if he was going to promise to be good. "You've been talking to the Daddies. It's a type of Dominant that is focused on caretaking and they generally have a sub who likes playing and being…let's call it not quite as grown-up as other subs."

Paxton was breathing and blinking, but everything else went very still for several long moments. "I can see why you wanted me to ask my questions."

Well, he could speak too, so we were making progress.

"Thank you." Going back to rubbing his back, I waited while he finished processing the next chunk of data his brain had pulled up.

"The old men in the diner. They were trying to figure out what kind of…what type of person I'd be to a Daddy." Paxton paused and frowned. "How should that sentence have gone?"

Adorable.

"They were trying to figure out what type of little you were." I let him take that in for a moment before I continued. "Their interest in other people's personal lives is fairly recent, honest, and the only subs they talk to on a regular basis who will actually answer questions are the littles in town."

Paxton sighed. "I wish they would play more and talk less."

"Me too." But since they hadn't, we were stuck with confused old farts. "And that chattiness has made it so the locals have found a new hobby. I'm sorry they confused you."

Eyes going unfocused as he thought, Paxton seemed like he was walking through either the diner conversation or just what he knew in general, but either way I was patient and let him process. It didn't take long before he peeked over at me thoughtfully, but it took him a while before he was ready to go from studying me to talking again. "You're a Daddy."

His sentence was genuine, so I resisted the urge to be a smart-ass. "Yes. That's the part of the lifestyle I'm drawn to, but it's not all that I like in a relationship."

More silence.

"So what I think that was supposed to tell me is that you like being a Daddy but that's not your entire focus?" When I nodded, he kept watching me and let out a breath. "Okay, that explains the car thing and why you like making decisions."

Yep.

It wasn't really a question, though, so I waited for him to keep processing. "What do littles do?"

The smart-ass portion of my brain finally escaped.

"Play, eat, and drive their neighbors crazy?" I chuckled and shrugged when Paxton rolled his eyes. "Oh, what are they supposed to do? Well, generally speaking, they relax and play. They let their Daddies take care of them, and they get to recharge by having someone else make the decisions."

Paxton was thinking again but it wasn't as deep as it was before. He was wiggling and frowning as he sighed, and he even glared at me a few times. It was definitely progress, and I was glad he hadn't just marched out the door.

He hadn't even gotten off my lap, and he wasn't as worried about offending me as he had been before.

"Are all littles the same?" Paxton's question was interesting, but I couldn't tell if it was about himself or just gathering information.

"No." That wouldn't be enough for him, so I shifted to a longer answer for the quiz he was giving me. "There are a range of ages that they can find in that headspace. Just around town, I know that some of them are young and are bottles and diapers little and some are older. I've heard rumors of fascinating tea parties being held and there's a playgroup that meets over at the VFW Hall."

Paxton cocked his head and frowned. "People overshare entirely too much here. You should not know which of your neighbors wear diapers during playtime."

"I have to agree, but it's not my place to tell them to stop talking in the diner. It would make the rest of the town sad." They really didn't like that Alick's mate was on the more private side of things and kept telling them to mind their own business or snoop better.

"I don't think I care about that." Paxton sighed. " They're making me be rude ."

That seemed to be unacceptable in his eyes, so I tried to shift things in a different direction. "But at least you know everyone is open-minded."

It just happened to come with stupid questions and weird misunderstandings.

"What are horse people?" Paxton's slightly jarring question said I'd been right about him replaying the diner conversation. "Why are they running around in circles and getting orgasms? Don't they do anything else?"

How I managed to respond with a straight face, I'd never know.

"One form of submission is to role-play that someone is a pony or a puppy. There are probably a lot of other variations but those are the ones that I've met in person." Paxton's curious glance had me chuckling. "No, that's not my thing unless it's something you're curious about."

When he shook his head, I kissed his cheek. "Then we won't worry about that one. But I'm assuming someone in town found an interesting video online and extrapolated out what they thought was happening."

"Going in circles and orgasming." Paxton shook his head. "I don't want to do that. It sounds like a lot of work."

I agreed…and I thought his response was fascinating.

"But coloring or playing games or watching cartoons aren't hard work. They're easy and being little means Daddy has to make breakfast." That had him going still, but his expression was filled with curiosity that time.

"And the Daddy can't complain about making all the decisions?" His question gave me a peek into his dating past.

"Nope. It's literally in the job description." Paxton was starting to see the good side of being a little, so I kept teasing him with it. "They also can't complain about making other decisions or about having lots of comfort food for dinner or about how much their littles want to color."

"Hmm." Paxton shifted and his hands ended up on my arm that was stretched out over his lap. As he considered the new information, he started gently petting my arm without seeming to realize that he was sending tingly pleasure through me. "What do Daddies get? Littles get attention and food, but why do Daddies do it?"

Another good question.

"I'm going to answer this from my perspective, but in general I think a lot of Daddies would feel the same." When Paxton nodded, I kept going. "I like being in control. There are a lot of ways I could feed that need, but I like the caretaking aspects of having a sub that's little. I like how sweet and low stress it is. It's not a lifestyle that has lots of rules and I like how much of a sub's personality gets to shine through."

Still softly stroking my arm with his fingers, Paxton's brain was very focused on the new information and not on what he was doing. "I can see that. A lot of real-life stuff is stressful and having ways to decompress is important. Everybody needs a hobby."

"There are a lot of different ways in this lifestyle to relax and have fun, but this is the one that felt the most right to me." I wasn't sure what he was thinking but he made me smile when he gave me a side-eye that was slightly suspicious.

"Daddy, huh? Even when you're…even when I'd be…" Frowning, his expression shifted to frustration and I knew that was with himself for stumbling over the question.

That wasn't acceptable, so I kissed his frown. "No, new rule is that you don't get to be frustrated with yourself for tripping over a sentence."

Paxton pulled back and glared at me. "That's not reasonable. I should be able to get the question out and I'm pretty sure we have to talk about rules."

Was he saying that he wanted me to be his Daddy but that we had to talk about rules first?

Not sure, I just brushed off the specifics of that part for the time being. "Yes, that's right. We talk about the rules and we negotiate what's fair."

He'd gotten that part right, but there was still an aspect I needed to be clearer about before we continued. "But you're not very nice to yourself when you don't get something right the first time. You need to focus on being nicer to yourself or more understanding at the very least. So that's a topic we're going to come back to."

His sigh was filled with a lot of drama and a dash of little, but he didn't seem to notice. "We can come back to that. What about the rest?"

Oh yes, the rest.

"Were you trying to ask if I'd be Daddy during our adult time together or were you asking about how the title itself would shift depending on what we were doing?" He could've been asking about a lot of different things, but the way his cheeks pinked gave me a clue.

"I…both?" Licking his lips and swallowing, Paxton tried again. "I think both."

He was still radiating nervousness but there was a heat to it that time. He seemed to want more than just simple facts, so I made my touch firmer and let him see how sexy I thought he was as I answered his questions. "First, there is no right or wrong way to have this kind of relationship. Period. But let's play What If so I can show you some examples."

Paxton sucked in a breath but didn't give me any indicator I'd shifted things into territory he wasn't comfortable with. I gave him a few seconds, but when he just watched me, I continued my thorough explanation. "If I had you over my lap and I was spanking your bottom, I think it would make perfect sense that you'd call me Daddy when you begged to come."

His lips parted as his eyes got wider, but that was as far as his communication went.

"If we were kissing and you were straddling my lap, rubbing your cock against mine through our clothes, and you begged Daddy to let you come or to play with your cock, I don't see any problem with that either." His shiver said he'd be good with it too. "Even if you were feeling submissive and needy but not little, I can still be Daddy."

Licking his lips, Paxton swallowed. "It's…it's a title that can be multipurpose."

"That's right. There are a lot of words in English that have a variety of uses. Think of it as the fuck of the BDSM community. It's very flexible." Barely brushing my lips against his as he decided if he was going to laugh or frown at me, I shrugged. "Sometimes you might be shy and ask Daddy to give you cuddles, or sometimes you might be needy and beg for an orgasm or to be pounded into the mattress without calling me Daddy at all."

He blinked a few times and then something processed in his head because he shivered and his legs shifted. "It…it can be a title that changes with how the submissive is feeling. A more grown-up, rough dynamic might not fit with the title, but it's situationally dependent."

He was fucking adorable.

"Yes, I think that's a good way to describe it. Each couple just has to figure out what feels right to them. Sometimes it'll be teasing and flirty. Sometimes it'll be true submission and the sub will be little and just need to be taken care of." I didn't have an issue either way, but I knew it would take time for him to figure out what he was comfortable with.

"It's trial and error, cutie." Giving him another soft kiss, I smiled when he leaned in closer, clearly searching for more. "We play around and see what works for us. If something feels good, we keep it. If it feels off, we don't."

"Because." Paxton paused and licked his lips again, getting a slightly fuzzy-brained look on his face. "Because there's no right or wrong."

"Exactly." Massaging his thigh got a soft sigh from him and he shivered again as I caressed low on his back. "Let's play pretend and see how you react. Just to see what happens."

It took a few seconds for him to respond, but eventually his head cocked again. "Like…like an experiment. We propose a hypothesis and test for it."

"Exactly. Research is very important but so are hands-on experiments." Not wanting to push him too much, I waited for a few seconds to let his brain catch up before I continued. "I'm going to propose that you'd find calling me Daddy sexy in a grown-up but slightly submissive kind of way. So to test that, I'm going to suggest that you ask Daddy to kiss you or touch you. Whatever you're comfortable with for the experiment."

Paxton went still again but it didn't last long. "We…we need to see how I'd react."

Justification was an amazing quality.

"That's right. And you already know that I'm open to it either way, so there's nothing to be worried about." Nothing in his reaction showed that he'd tracked what I said, so I tried again. "Just being with you turns me on and having you ask to be kissed or touched would make me even harder. That means you don't have to worry about my reactions, right?"

That time the prompt had him nodding, but his brain still seemed to be far away. "Right. You…you're hard and you're turned on. Either way. Yes."

Well, he'd processed some of it.

"That's right." Shifting to making long strokes on his body, I didn't encroach into private areas, but I made sure he knew I was enjoying touching him. "Let's try our experiment but we're going to remember the word that stops everything."

His head bobbed a few times. "Because that's what everyone has been trained to do."

"That's right." Since it seemed like he'd remembered what the safeword was for and he hadn't objected to anything we'd talked about, I waited to see what he wanted and what he was ready to explore.

Paxton always needed a moment, so I wasn't worried when he watched me and his brain whirled around. But it didn't take him long to take the next step that time. It seemed like he was ready to get some answers to a few of the interesting questions bouncing around in his brain because he leaned closer to me and dropped his voice lower.

"Daddy?" Paxton paused after testing the word. "Daddy, would you kiss me again?"

It must've been better than he'd expected because he took in a slightly ragged breath as his pupils got wider again. "I've been a good boy, Daddy."

Sexy as fuck.

And a sweet request deserved to be rewarded.

"Yes, baby, you've been a very good boy for Daddy." And since we needed to finish our experiment, I brought one hand up to the back of his head and pulled him in for a long, slow kiss.