Page 25 of A Little Campfire Blues

Yeah, he was getting into that headspace the way he had the few times we’d played through video chat.

“I was never comfortable going to a club alone, so no daddy for me, just a bunch of random, mostly forgettable partners,” Ezzy explained. “I always wanted what we promised one another when we first figured out what the lifestyle was and where we fit into it. A Daddy for the three of us. Someone who’d love us collectively or individually, even if it has to be from a distance, at least in the beginning. I know we have shit to work out, but if someone clicks with us here, I’d love to spend time with them too and see where it takes us, so at least we know what it’s like and don’t have to keep wondering.”

“I’d like that too,” Axis said.

“Ditto,” I said. “It’s painfully obvious that despite time, distance, and the conversations we still haven’t had, we’re still on the same page about what we want and how we feel about one another. Ultimately, that’s the only thing that counts, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Axis said, cocking his head and staring up at me. “Does that mean we can spend time with Mackenzie if he stillwants to spend time with us, ‘cause he was super nice to me down by the lake?”

“What kind of nice?” Ezzy asked.

“Talkin’ not touchin’,” Axis explained, more into his little headspace than ever. “He didn’t try to touch even when we were sitting side by side on the rock; there was space between us.”

“Did he press to spend time with us?” I asked.

“Uh-uh,” he replied, shaking his head. “He just said he wanted to be my friend and that I could call him Mack and shouldn’t feel ‘timidated by him just ‘cause his band got further than mine ‘cause in the end, both bands failed, and that was okay ‘cause now we got to learn from it and figure out what we wanted to do next. I kinda wanted a hug after that, but then my tummy grumbled, and he walked me to get food so it would stop rumbling.”

“Did you ask if he was going fishing?” Ezzy asked.

“I forgot to.”

“That’s okay,” Ezzy said. “If he’s there and he comes over to us, I’d be okay with him joining us if you and Roman are.”

Instead of responding, Axis just stared up at me with the same pleading, puppy dog eyes that Ezzy had given him at the bonfire last night. He wasn’t the only one giving me sweet, hopeful eyes. Ezzy was too. With no logical reason to say no and absolutely no desire to, I gathered them in my arms and kissed the tops of their heads.

“If he stops to visit with us, it’s perfectly okay, but don’t either of you go running off trying to find him, okay? We don’t know how crowded it will be by the pond, and I don’t want to lose track of either of you.”

“We won’t,” they replied, practically in unison, both bouncing a little.

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

“We know,” they singsonged.

“I—I think I’d like to change into my Bluey outfit,” Axis said. “Do we have enough time?”

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I checked the time and nodded. “If we both hurry, I think we have time to change into something we’ll each enjoy wearing today.”

“Yay,” Axis cried, crushing the air out of me when he hugged me.

He didn’t rush for his closet, though; instead, he turned and hugged Ezzy, squealing as they broke into a happy little dance. He was a whirlwind of motion when he finally did head for his closet, and when he joined Ezzy and me in the living area of our cabin, he was dressed in Bluey dungarees that ended just below his knees, a dark blue Bluey top beneath it, one strap buckled, the other dangling from his shoulder. He’d changed his shoes too, into a pair of blue tennis shoes, but his socks had Bluey on them, and he’d tucked a little Bluey bandana into his back pocket and looped a hand sanitizer holder through one of the buttonholes on his dungarees, and yup, that had Bluey’s face on it too.

I knew it was his favorite cartoon; he’d had it on in the background during several conversations, and once I’d even caught sight of a Bluey coloring book lying on the coffee table beside a big box of crayons while he’d been propping up his phone. I was glad he’d changed his mind about wearing it. Our two weeks up here were supposed to be about getting to do the things we couldn’t normally do, for whatever reason, which was why I’d pulled on my protective pup T-shirt and added a wide, studded, leather belt to my jeans. Part of the reason I loved it was because it reminded me of a collar .

Attached to the two clips on the back were leashes, one for each of them to hold. For now they were doubled up and dangling to my knees, but when we weren’t fishing, I thought it would be a good way to keep us connected. I was serious whenI’d mentioned being worried about losing one of them at the fishing derby. While I might not have had much club time over the years, when I did visit one, I spent as much time as possible simply observing the littles and watching how their caretakers looked after them, guided them, and kept them from getting into too much trouble.

I’d also learned that littles loved bright, shiny things, were easily distracted even when you thought they were super fixated on something, and tended to wander at the slightest provocation, especially if they spotted something they wanted to get a closer look at. Keeping up with these two had never been much of a challenge for me, but a lot of that had been because they loved to play follow the leader, so where one went, the other usually was. Fortunately, the time we’d spent chatting over the years had allowed me to see that separation and the evolution of our tastes hadn’t changed them much in that regard.

Now to see if we could catch some fish…and the eye of the daddy who’d expressed so much interest in us last night because Axis and Ezzy weren’t the only ones curious to see more of him. It had pained me to turn down his offer, so much so that I’d still been kicking myself over it this morning.

At the last minute, before we headed out to Axis’ Jeep, I rushed back into my room to clip on the third leash I’d brought. Wishful thinking, I know, but if there was one thing coming to camp was supposed to be about, it was making our wishes come true.

Chapter Eleven

Ezzy

“I caught one; I caught one!” I declared, dancing so much my foot slipped and my toes got wet as I started reeling in my fish.

“Ohh, fishy, fishy!” Axis declared, several feet away and dancing now too as his bobber was yanked under.

---