Page 38 of Lucky Sucker

“Well, let me let you in on a little secret, we have an overstock of toothbrushes,” I told him. “Listen, they keep this house stocked up, so anything you need, I’ve got for you. I’m a good caretaker.” I winked at him. I needed to show that I’d been paying attention to his needs, and to the way of life he wanted to live. “But if you want to go home, I will drive you in the caddy, or walk you, if you think that’s safer.”

Before nuzzling his face into my neck, I caught him smiling the biggest smile. “Yeah, obviously, I want to stay over.”

“And you’ve even got your teddy,” I whispered in his ear.

More popcorn was thrown our way until we got up and left the den with their voices teasing us for being a couple. It wasn’t done maliciously, at least not in my opinion. Those three, I could trust, at least, I hoped I could trust them.

Across the floors of the team house there were several bathrooms, there had to be considering how many people lived there, and how frequently we all showered.

I showed Wren the overstock of toothbrushes in their packaging, handing him one and showing him to the selection of toothpastes, some were for sensitive teeth, others for whitening. It was of the house’s opinion that if you left your toothpaste in a bathroom, you were offering it up for free use.

In the bathroom closest to my room, I grabbed my electric toothbrush and one of the incredibly minty toothpastes. If I was sharing a bed with Wren, I wanted to make sure my mouth was only going to smell of mint.

“What about this one?” Wren grabbed a pink tube.

“That one is strawberry,” I said. “It cleans, but it kinda tastes like medicine.”

He licked his lips. “Why does that sound really good though?”

“Use it. I think it’s still full.”

I was still getting used to what Wren wanted from me in this dynamic, but from my brief research, I saw that a lot of it was just making sure your partner was cared for, in all ways. And Wren was a little, which meant he had a childlike wonder to him that also needed taking care of, and so I tried my best.

Bedtime was a several step routine from some of the blogs I’d read, and I didn’t want to ask Wren in case it pulled him out of the feeling. “Ok, and now let’s wash our faces,” I said. “I use this wash and then this moisturizer, it’s good.”

He took the bottle and scanned the back. “I’ve seen the ads for these, this is expensive.”

“Well, not really, like fifteen bucks,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s kinda expensive. The stuff I get it usually a couple bucks most,” he said. “But I’ll ty yours.” As he spoke, I got those fruity notes from the toothpaste, lingering on his tongue, it was fresh. I wanted to taste him in a way I’d never tasted anyone before, nor had I wanted to in the past.

This wasn’t the first time I was going to have someone in my bed, but it was the first time I was sharing my bed with someone I was sure I felt a four-letter word beginning with L. But I wasn’t going to label it just yet, I knew falling hard and fast was a real thing, but I never thought it would happen to me.

In my bedroom, Wren, who had never had any problem with throwing himself on my bed and testing out the mattress, was now standing by the bed, swaying his hips from side to side, waiting for an invite it seemed.

“Which side do you want to sleep on?” I asked.

“I usually starfish,” he giggled.

“You can still do that, as long as I get to cuddle you.”

“And will you put the stars on the ceiling like you said you could.”

I was surprised he remembered that. “Is that why you agreed to stay?”

“It was one of the reasons.” He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the head of his teddy under his chin. “You were obviously the other reason.”

“Which reason weighed the most?” I grabbed the remote for the projector in my room and turned it on. “I hope it was still me.”

He hummed and laid on the bed, already prepared to look at the ceiling.

After turning the lights off, I laid beside him on the bed, the projector illuminating my ceiling with its menu screen. I scrolled through the applications pre-installed and found thevoyage into spaceapp. It was better than the first time I’d used it, not because they’d updated it, but because of the company.

We laid on the bed together, staring at the ceiling in awe of all the colors and detail, slowly zooming into the galaxy of stars and revealing large blooming suns and constellations. Within looking away, I grabbed Wren’s hand and squeezed it.

“Whoa. I need one of these.”

“I could stare at this forever with you.”

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