“You can ask me more questions if you want,” he says. “Also, please make sure you’re drinking the water.”
I nod, reaching for the water on the coffee table. I take a couple of gulps before setting it back down. Brandt smiles. “I’m okay for now. I’m just enjoying the calm here. At my place, it’s usually my dad watching TV way too loud in the living room or my brother blasting his music or video games. We share a wall so I can hear just about everything.”
“I get that every now and then with the apartment above, but for the most part it’s calm like this.” Brandt turns to face me. “After being at the hospital for ten plus hours, I like my quiet.”
“This isn’t a bad place to live,” I say. “I’m going to look at an apartment Saturday. From the pictures, it’s similar to this one but about ten minutes in the other direction of Shade Grown.”
“You’re moving out?”
“Moving back out,” I correct. “I was living with Amir for a year, but then he went off to college and I ended up staying here. I couldn’t afford the rent so I moved back home. I want to get my own place again.”
I can see the hesitance on his face. He wants to say something, but he’s holding back. I wait for him to continue. He lowers the volume on the TV after a moment.
“Were you and Amir together?” That’s not what I was expecting to hear. It catches me off guard and I laugh.
“Oh god, no. We’re just good friends. Not like that, ever.” I shake my head. Just the thought of being with Amir like that is comical to me.
“Oh, so… Your ex was someone I didn't know then?”
“Yes,” I say. I guess we’re having this conversation. “He was a friend of a friend I met. We were only together for a couple months. Just broke up on Monday, actually.” I drop my hands to my lap and nod, mostly to myself. I’m still coming to terms with it. It’s been a lot this week.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly. His hand is on my ankle, the closest part of me to him. “Are you okay with that?”
“I’ll deal,” I say with a shrug. “It was for the best. I wasn’t what he was looking for. Not with everything going on. I’m pretty sure I freaked him out when I got sick that time and then I kept having to cancel plans.”
“That wasn’t your fault though.” I hold up a hand to stop him.
“Honestly, Brandt, it’s fine. I liked him, but it wasn’t like I loved him or anything. I’ll survive.”
His hand disappears from my foot and he reaches for his drink. I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs with each gulp. Hefinishes it off before recapping it and laying it on the empty plate.
“Would it be in bad taste for me to ask you out then?”
I choke on air at the question. I was not expecting that. There has to be some legality to that, doesn’t there? “What?”
Brandt shrugs like it isn’t a big deal. “I thought you were with Amir at first so I didn’t say anything, then you were sick and I was working at the hospital where you would come in so the ethics were against it. Now, I’ve decided I’m too invested in you as a person to be on your care team. I like you, Tyler. I’d like to get to know you more. If you want that too.”
I don’t know what to say. How would that look if I went right back to dating someone else? I mean, not that we would be dating, but hanging out?
“There’s something else that you should know about me, before you decide if you really want to go on a date.”
Brandt waits silently. I don’t know how to say it, or how to explain the lifestyle. If Brandt isn’t kinky in that way, or at all, this might just push him away.
“My ex, uh… He was part of a lifestyle that I’ve grown to love. Nothing scary or illegal, but niche. He’s… a Daddy and I was his Boy. I am a Boy, a Little, to be exact.”
“And a Little is…?” Brandt doesn’t seem put off by it, but I can tell he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.
“It’s considered a kink,” I explain. I roll the water bottle between my palms for something to do while I say this. I’m still new to this, of course, but what I’ve experienced so far I’ve liked. “It’s also called age regression. I like to slip into a younger mindset sometimes and be taken care of. I like having my meals made, someone else to dress me, to make the harder day-to-day decisions, and so on.”
“And that’s what a… Daddy does?”
I nod. “I know it isn’t for everyone and I totally get it if that puts you off. It’s a part of me, though, so I figured you should know now instead of later.”
Chapter Four
Little.
Daddy.
