Page 41 of Their Little Helper

“Nothing.” Daddy shrugged. “Some people just don’t make good decisions.”

“I kept…Dally safe.” Names. Names were important in public. “We’re fine.”

Papa let out a breath and nodded, probably telling himself he couldn’t yell at Daddy in public. “Thank you for taking care of him. He’s…easily distracted.”

That was a nice way of putting it.

“Nothing happened.” Daddy was confident he could handle the situation, but I was glad he hadn’t needed to. “And now we’re getting lunch.”

Yes, that would be a good distraction and then they could talk without Papa trying to wring Daddy’s neck.

“On our date.” Daddy perked up, smiling as he wiggled in the slightly too small chairs. “Not just lunch.”

Papa rolled his eyes again but I could see him trying to hide his pleased smile. He liked that Daddy was excited about our date. “Yes, our date.”

They were just loud enough that a few people glanced in our direction but they either looked confused or like they wanted to smile, so it wasn’t too overwhelming. I even managed not to blush as I focused back on my dates.

Two.

I really had two men taking me out on a date.

Together.

Two men who wanted to take care of me and didn’t even care that sometimes I just couldn’t get words out.

“Now, I think I need to remind Dally that this is a date, so we’re going to be getting to know each other and figuring out practical things.” Papa glared at Daddy who’d rolled his eyes. “You were staking out space in my house for when you move in and I don’t know what anyone does for a living.”

Papa seemed more frustrated about the lack of basic knowledge than Dally trying to move in with him.

Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

“You have the space for all of us and you said you’re within walking distance of your work. It just makes sense. We both know you’re not going to want to move.” Dally said the craziest things with utter confidence. “There’s no reason to make things difficult on your house manager either.”

Oh, we couldn’t make him pack up Papa’s whole house without a very good reason. “We don’t want to make too much work for him, right?”

That just sounded mean.

Papa sighed, clearly understanding he’d lost whatever debate they were having. “You’re right. It only makes sense to move you into my place, but this is going fast even for a gay relationship. I demand information before someone stakes out a place for their favorite chair in the house.”

Not his house?

Wasthehouse a step towardourhouse?

Dally’s smile said so and that he thought he’d won. “I think that is very fair.”

So he was going to win graciously?

“What kind of information would you like to know?” Daddy seemed to understand that Papa was uncomfortable and looked like he was trying to help. I wasn’t sure how long it would last but I hoped it would be long enough for Papa to stop feeling overwhelmed.

Did we need to remind Papa that he could safeword?

Hmm.

“P—” Shoot. “Um, Santos?”

Daddy was right…that was weird.

Papa seemed to think so too based on his smile. “Yes?”

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