“I’ll do it,” Jacob promised again.
Finally, James looked up at him. Their gazes met. Jacob didn’t know what the expression on the boy’s face meant. “I have questions.”
Jacob shuffled closer. “About?” He didn’t want to misunderstand the situation.
“Everything!” James said as he waved the items in his hands around.
“I could.” This was a mistake and Jacob knew it. “I could try to help. To answer your questions. If you’d like.”
“I know Michael would be willing,” James told him.
Jacob had to agree.
“This isn’t something that I really want him to know about yet,” James said.
“I won’t say a word.” Jacob knew that it might be hard for James to trust. “I’d never out someone’s sexuality.”
“He knows I’m gay,” James replied. “He just doesn’t know that I’ve been thinking about playing…”
“Sexuality doesn’t only mean sexual orientation.” Jacob hoped James didn’t consider his words a lecture. “It’s a broad, multi-faceted term for being human. Encompassingour sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions, behaviors, desires, identities, and relationships, involving biological, psychological, emotional, and social dimensions, including sexual orientation, who you’redrawn to, and gender identity who you are, all of which are personal and can evolve over time.”
“I…” James shrugged. “Okay.”
“Sorry, that was a lot of information at once.” Jacob was also spouting out details that no one else wanted to know. He loved to learn but that didn’t mean that everyone else did too.
“We moved not long after we found out Michael identified as a little. He’d just started dating Finn and we hadn’t even known about Jackson until right before we left.”
“From what I’ve heard, it was a confusing time for everyone. They had issues to work through before they got together,” Jacob said.
“Yeah, then they were attacked at the club and Michael wasn’t really sharing much with us,” James supplied.
“They’ve been together over a year now,” Jacob pointed out.
“And Michael is more comfortable engaging his little side in front of us. In front of everyone, I should say. Still, not being there meant that we weren’t really a part of his world. This Christmas was the first time I really got to see it for myself. To be a part of it.”
“I bet Michael appreciated it. Being able to be his true self,” Jacob offered.
“I hope so. He left his cape here.” James held up the red cloth. “I put it on.”
Jacob smiled. He knew.
“It was fun acting like I could fly. I’d always loved the Avengers movies and—” James shrugged. “It was fun.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Jacob assured him.
“I just found out that one of my friends at the firehouse is a Daddy,” James shared.
Jacob tried not to show a reaction. Was this why the questions? Had James found a Daddy? A Daddy that wasn’t Jacob? “That’s…good.”
James snorted. “Caught me off guard. Especially with just spending Christmas with Michael, Daddy Finn, and his Bubbie, Jackson.”
“If this friend is interested in you—”
“No!” James held up his hand and winced. “Don’t even go there. Josh is just a friend. He’s not…I don’t see him like that.”
Jacob hated how much that relieved him.
“But he is another person that is in the lifestyle. I mean, what are the chances?”
