Page 39 of Icebreaker
“Hey! Is that from our team store?” Ellie nodded enthusiastically. “It’s perfect, and it’ll go perfectly with the present I got you.” His eyes went wide and sparkled.
“Prezzie? For me?”
“Yep, I saw it on campus the other day, and I thought you’d give them a very good home.” I booped him on the nose, followed by a kiss, and added, “But no prezzies for you until you’re in your play clothes.” With some encouragement, Ellie scrambled to his feet. The best way to address the nappy issuewas to treat it as a foregone conclusion. I spied the pull-up style nappies in the tote and pulled one out.
“Daddy B, you gonna help me?”
“Yep, I am, baby boy.” I stripped him out of his clothes and worked hard to conceal my unsteady hands. In short order, I had his nappy on—with a silentatta boyfor myself for not getting overly distracted by the gorgeous cock and balls—followed by his overalls and hockey team mascot shirt.
“Prezzie now, please? Pretty please? Wit sugar?” Ellie’s silly pleading made me smile, and that settled my nerves. I could do this Daddy thing.
“Do you want your coloring and storybooks?” With his nod, I gathered them and moved them all out into the living room. Once I had him situated, I grabbed his present from the closet. I hadn’t even thought about wrapping paper until this very second, and I kicked myself when I pulled it off the shelf.
“I’m sorry about the crappy wrapping job,” I said as I handed him the craft paper bag.
“Is okay, Daddy B.” Ellie tore into the bagged present enthusiastically, as if I had done it up in elaborate wrapping paper. It took me a moment to realize he was doing it on purpose. When I saw him glance at me out of the corner of his eye, see my smile, and give a self-satisfied nod, I knew he was doing it for my benefit. I always knew Ellie was a sweetheart, but seeing him put that out on my behalf told me that everything we were doing so far was exactly right.
“Daddy B, Daddy B, Daddy B, look!” Ellie shouted as he lifted his new stuffie out of the now destroyed bag.
“Do you like him?” Rather than answering, Ellie hugged the stuffed Bigfoot dressed in a Lumberjack jersey close to his chest. He grabbed Peasebottom and introduced them to each other. I bent down to pick up some paper when I heard Ellie’s excited shout that he had found my surprise.
“Daddy B, he gots your name.”
I dropped the trash, ruffled Ellie’s hair instead, and said, “I wanted to give you something to keep you company while I was gone next weekend, and I saw him a few days ago when I stopped at the student union store. Now I’ll be able to sleep with you even when I’m not here.”
Ellie’s eyes took on a mischievous glint. “Daddy B, you bought yourself at the store?”
“Yes, I did, and I felt kinda silly doing it. I hope the clerk doesn’t know me.”
Ellie snorted at the need to get my ego in check, but then he returned to playing with his new stuffie. He introduced the newly named “Tater” to all his stuffies and carefully explained that he’d need to sleep on the bed since he was new and might be scared. I hoped that reasoning morphed into Ellie wanting me close by. A guy could dream.
“It’s close to bedtime, baby boy.” Ellie looked up expectantly from his coloring book. “I think we need to add a sticker to your chart for going to bed on time.”
We’d created an interchangeable chart that went under his newly made glitter frame. I suspected this was so he could have extra stickers regularly, but I didn’t mind. If earning stickers made Ellie happy, then I’d happily provide as many as he wanted.
“Yep, c’mere and you can pick one out for your chart.”
Ellie oohed and aahed over all of them all over again. We’d picked up some rainbow-themed ones, but most of them were dinosaurs, teddy bears, and punny ones. I was almost certain heput his hands on each one to give it the admiration he thought it deserved. He also made sure to saythank youat least a dozen times while he told me his favorites. It took him a minute, or five, but Ellie chose a few cat stickers for his first day. He tried to hide his yawns, but Ellie was beyond terrible at hiding anything.
“Baby boy, it’s definitely time for bed. We’ve both got a long day tomorrow.” Standing in the light of the stove, it felt otherworldly. “I’d really like it if you’d sleep with me tonight.”
“Only tonight?”
“Well, no, I’d prefer every night, but I didn’t want to push you into something you aren’t ready to do.” I pulled Ellie into my arms, and he snuggled in. I loved how much smaller he was than me because I got to feel like a goddamn caveman who was protecting my man from whatever lived near caves.
“I wanna sleep in your room, Daddy B.”
I smiled at him. He smiled at me. We stared at each other for a while before I dropped my head and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.
“That makes me happy, baby boy. You gonna let me tuck you in and read you a bedtime story?”
“You wanna?”
“Yeah, I want to.” I’d put a nappy on Ellie when I changed him into his little clothes, but he hadn’t used it. He’d said he sometimes forgot, but I knew today he’d tried to remember. “Do you sleep in a nappy?” Rather than answer, Ellie buried his beet-red face in my shoulder and shook his head. Clearly, I’d asked the wrong question. “Do you want to sleep in your nappy?”
“Is okay?”
“Bring it on, baby boy. I want all of you.”
