“Discussed what exactly?” Josh pushed.
“He offered to be my Daddy. To help me explore. But he hasn’t…we kissed once. It was New Year’s Eve. I was kind of in shock and he helped me inside. He was so wonderful and somehow I ended up on his lap kissing him.” He just sort of word vomited all of that.
Josh sighed. “I knew I should have followed you home.”
“That’s not the point,” James pointed out. “And would have totally ruined the kiss!”
“What happened after this kiss?”
“I freaked out and kicked him out of my apartment,” James confessed.
“Smooth.” Josh looked disappointed.
“Then I tried to make him an apology cake,” James shared. If he was going to confess everything he might as well get it over with. “And made a mess out of it. But he showed up and we fixed it. He touched me a lot that day.”
“Which you liked,” Josh commented.
“Until he gave me a superhero action figure ad I freaked out and yelled at him. He ran away from me,” James admitted.
“You are really bad at this.” Josh didn’t even look like he was teasing.
“I know this!” James threw his hand in the air. “Help me!”
Josh nodded. “I know exactly what you need to do.”
“You do?” James bounced.
“You need to listen to me. Are you listening?”
“Yes. Yes.” Could he get the answer he needed? This easily?
“What if you don’t like my answer?” Josh questioned.
“Just tell me!” James demanded.
Josh slipped off the bench and crouched in front of James. He grabbed James’s hands in his and squeezed. “You talk to him. Communicate what you want. What you need. Like a grown-up.”
James groaned. “I hate you.”
“And yet you know I’m right.” Josh squeezed his hands again.
“Fine.” James rolled his eyes. “I know you’re right.”
“Want to get a workout in?” Josh asked. He released James’s hand and stood.
“Yes!” Training. James could lose himself in training. Anything but thinking about the conversation that he didn’t want to have but knew that he needed to. Sometimes being an adult sucked.
* * * * *
Jacob
He grinned down at his phone. James was finished with his shift and had asked if he could come to Jacob’s house instead of going home. Jacob replied quickly before rushing into the kitchen. Making a small snack and having it ready for the boy was just the perfect start to their evening.
Luckily Jacob had made a trip to the grocery store earlier once James had left for his shift at the fire station. He’d picked up snacks that should appeal to James’s little persona. He’d also stopped in a department store to pick up some fun and comfortable clothes for the boy. Just a few outfits since Jacob thought James might eventually want to pick out his own clothes later. James was on the older side of a little but below a middle from Jacob’s perspective.
The clothes were laid out on the guest bed, freshly washed and dried. All ready for the sweet boy.
Jacob hadn’t missed the way that James had tugged at his jeans the prior night.
