“Triple date night is so much fun!” Trevor squealed. “But I’m hungry. Can we go eat now?”
As soon as we ran up to our Daddy’s, my tummy grumbled. “Are you boys ready to eat?” Daddy asked. “Someone’s tummy says yes.”
“Yes!” The three of us cheered. We got to walk to the pizza place since it was in the same shopping center. “Holy moly.” The noise smacked you upside the head as soon as we opened the door.
“Holy moly indeed, Tae.” Daddy and I weren’t ones for large crowds and this place was packed. “Let’s order our food and hope a few bodies clear out quickly.” If they didn’t, we may not get a table ‘cause I didn’t see an empty one.
Our daddies gave us twenty dollars each for tokens while they waited in line.
“What game first?” Brandon asked as we looked around the game room.
“Skeeball if we can get one.” The games were just as taken as the tables were. “Ugh, hopefully they leave soon,” Trevor sighed. “Maybe we should’ve waited until later.”
It wasn’t nice, but I didn’t disagree with him.
We snagged an empty Skeeball lane and took turns playing on it until the others cleared up, then we raced just like we did on the slide. I pretty much only played the ticketed games, then I got prezzies to take home with me.
“Are you having fun, my love?” Daddy whispered in my ear. I swear, I jumped a foot. “Sorry, it’s so noisy I had to lean in so you could hear me.”
“I’m having fun but there are too many people here.”
“I know, and if you get overwhelmed, just tell Daddy and we’ll leave.” Daddy knew I didn’t people well and even though I wasn’t diagnosed, he believed I was neurodivergent just like him. We preferred to ‘people’in small doses and aside from Daddy’s music, calm and quiet settings we did best in. Probably explained why I’d never really had many friends until Trevor and Brandon came along. I’m just happy the bouncy place wasn’t packed like this, or date night might have ended early.
It had been a while since I’d had a panic attack, and I’d like to keep it that way, but this was getting to me.
“Tae, can you hear my voice?” I nodded. “Daddy found a corner booth. We’re gonna go sit for a while.” I nodded again and let Daddy lead me over there. He pulled me into the side that faced away from most of the crowd and wrapped his arms around me. I wish we were home. Daddy milky and the silence always calmed my brain down. “Take your time, don’t rush it. Your friends are playing with their daddies. Everyone is okay but my boy matters most.” Somehow Daddy always saw it in my eyes or maybe in the way I froze up. Either way, he knew what to do and how to get my heartbeat out of my ears.
“Da…” I started but the word froze.
“Ssshhh, everything is alright.” He was right, because I had Daddy by my side. One of a million reasons why I didn’t like to go anywhere without him. It had nothing to do with him controlling me and everything to do with him knowing what I’d need if anything happened. I closed my eyes, and with my head on his chest, I breathed in tune with his heartbeat.
Slowly, the humming in my brain and the noise in my ears went away. It was hard to explain, almost like an out of body calm came over me. I went with it and let it sweep me away while Daddy’s arms kept me safe. When I opened my eyes, our friends were all there and so was the food. I was so freaking embarrassed. What was wrong with me?
“There you are,” Daddy whispered and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “How do you feel?”
“Better. Thank you, Daddy.”
“You never have to thank me for taking care of you, Tae. You’re my world and never a problem. Understand?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Feel like eating?”
“Yes, please.” Daddy handed me my drink while he filled a plate for both of us. He even remembered to get the ranch dressing I liked here for my pizza. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
“Are you okay, Tae?” Trevor asked, it looked like he’d been crying.
“Yeah, are you?”
“Yeah, you scared us.”
Stupid anxiety, now I felt bad. “Sorry.”
“We put all our tickets together so we can get some of the same stuff, if you want to, that is,” Brandon asked.
“That sounds fun. Thank you.” I hoped they meant right after dinner. I really wanted to go home and cuddle with LJ and Stitch and drink Daddy milkies.
