"I love you," I whisper. All of the buildup, the feelings and thoughts that led to those three words tumble out with them. I can feel one single tear slide from the corner of my eye.
His finger brushes against my temple, wiping the tear away. His answering smile is all I need, but then he dips his head and kisses my lips once more for just a second.
"I love you, too, Austin."
My eyes widen. I'm not expecting him to say the words back, but I can't push down the smile that splits my face. I'm sure thatRemi's face mirrors my own. I move my legs, grimacing just a bit at the feeling, and wrap my arms around Remi. He hugs me back, somehow maneuvering us so he's sitting down and I'm in his lap. I bury my face in the spot where his neck meets his shoulder and stay there, being held by the man that loves me.
"How about you get in the shower and I'll get breakfast started?"
The last thing I want to do is separate from Remi, but my legs are sticky and I don't particularly like the feeling. I stand up and Remi walks with me to the bathroom. I haven't had clothes on in almost twelve hours and it's been kind of nice. Remi turns the shower on for me, making sure it's the perfect temperature. We stand side-by-side to brush our teeth while the room fills with steam. It's warm and relaxing.
"Are you going to put some clothes on today?" Remi asks like it's a real possibility I'll go naked until we have to leave the house. "You don't have to right now, if you don't want to. I figured we could pack you a bag and you could stay at my place this week?"
"I'd love that," I say. I put my toothbrush back and turn to press my body against his. I tilt my head up at him and smile. "I love you."
"I love you too, baby." He squeezes my body in a warm hug before stepping away. His body is so damn sexy, the hair across his chest, his bare legs. I admire the view when he turns around to head toward the kitchen. He has a great ass. He looks over his shoulder and catches me staring. My face flushes with embarrassment at being caught staring. "Hurry up, okay?"
"Yes."
By the time I'm thoroughly scrubbed down and I dry my hair a bit, Remi has the bacon in the oven and a stack ofpancakes on the counter. My stomach rumbles at the smell wafting through the house. He takes his turn for a quick shower. I wait for him before eating. I walk around the living room, picking up a few toys that we left scattered around from last night. I love how much Remi plays with me. It's so much fun. The picture of Paul catches my eye and I reach up for it.
"Hey," I say lowly. I run my finger over his smiling face. I thought I was going to spend my life with Paul, grow old together, start a family of our own. He is my first love. I'll always love him. The feeling I have for Remi is much the same but also so different. "I hope you're okay with this. I didn't see it coming but he was there for me. He's so good to me, Paul. It's crazy to think but I love him. So much. I know you were always worried how I'd be if something happened. It's almost like you knew you'd be taken from me too soon. I promise that I'm happy. So, so happy."
Arms snake around me and Remi's chin rests on my shoulder. His fingers reach up and trace along the line on my chest and stomach. "He loved you so much, Austin. I know you know that. I know I won't ever replace him, but I'll make sure you always feel just as loved and as safe as you did with him."
I run my finger over Paul's face once more before putting the picture back and turning to face Remi. My arms wrap around his neck. "I know you will," I say. "I still miss him but I'm happy with us. Beyond happy."
"Let's eat some breakfast, shall we? We can pack up after and head to my house."
I smile and press my lips against Remi's chest. The soft hair tickles my nose but I kiss his skin repeatedly anyways. I can feel myself letting go of any worries, slipping a bit into a more playful side. The morning has been perfect and I want to soakup every second of it. When I finally pull back and look at Remi's face, he's smiling wide and his eyes are light. I can feel a giggle bubbling up and I don't fight it. I move my hands to cover my mouth. Remi pulls me into one more hug before we finally move from the spot.
"Can you feed me, Daddy?"
"Of course, sweetie. Let's try not to drop anything on your lap this time, though?"
My hands instinctively go to cover my cock. "Please no. That would be a sticky mess and I'd have to take another shower."
Remi laughs, moving to the kitchen while I sit at the table and wait. He always prepares our plates. I've tried to help but he just shoos me away so I let him do it without fuss. I like that he does it. Sometimes he feeds me, other times I'll feed myself, but either way, he's careful to keep my food separated.
"Do you want to do anything this weekend?" Remi asks between bites of both our plates. He takes a bite of his food and then cuts up a bite for me, alternating between. He blots the grease off a slice of bacon and hands it over to me. I hold it in both of my hands and nibble on it, giving him a minute to eat his food without interruption.
"I don't care," I say with a shrug. "Did you want to do something?"
"If it isn't too cold, I thought we could go to the Fall Festival tomorrow," Remi says. "It's supposed to have local music, games, food. Then, maybe, we could go back to the club? They have a Littles party on Tuesday for all the holidays. Arts and crafts, a meal. I got the email invite for it yesterday."
After our first night at the club, I had to sign a couple of papers to have my caregiver changed over to Remi in thesystem. It was bittersweet but necessary. We haven't been back, but another Littles themed night sounds good.
"I'd love to," I say with a smile. "To both of them. Do you know if anyone else is going to be at Littles' night?"
He finishes the last bite of food before taking both our empty plates and we move to the kitchen. "I think Rachel and Luke will be there and also Quinton and his Daddy. It's supposed to be a big party, so you might make some new friends as well."
Chapter Seventeen
Afterpancakesandafew more cuddles, we head to my house with two bags of Austin's things. One has clothes, adult and Little, and the other has toys. I have more than enough supplies at the house if he feels like regressing to his typical mindset or younger. I can tell the holiday season is weighing on him, but he's happy and we're both riding the cloud of a beautiful morning.
Sunday is cold, but not enough to deter us from getting dressed and heading to the festival around eleven. It's beautiful, with fall foliage colors everywhere. There are vendor booths lining the parking lot-turned-festival and the two surrounding streets. They are selling things from paintings to items for the different holidays coming up. One vendor even has custom knitted or crocheted items— I'm honestly not sure the difference between the two— and I can tell Austin wants to ask for a couple of the little figures. I sneak a twenty dollar bill to the vendor when Austin goes to the next one and get a pale pinkRabbit and a black and white penguin. They fit easily in my coat pocket so I don't worry about him seeing them.
We walk hand-in-hand to all the vendors before grabbing lunch from a food truck and finding a place to sit. The wind is starting to pick up a bit and I can see Austin's nose and cheeks getting red. He denies that he's too cold and wants to stay a bit longer. We stand with the crowd when the music starts. It's some garage band of a rag-tag group of guys. I am pleasantly surprised when they start playing and singing. They're good. Austin starts out pressed next to me to share the warmth, but after a few songs he's standing about a foot away and is dancing along with the crowd. He knows a lot of the songs that are played whereas I don't, but I enjoy watching him have fun.
