He was beyond frustrated at me, so it wasn’t the right time to tell him how cute he was.
But he was really cute.
Oh, that foot twitched again.
“I just grab what’s on sale that doesn’t drive me crazy.” Soap scents had gotten weird lately and I wasn’t going to apologize about that. “I don’t like overly fruity soaps because I don’t want to smell like pomegranates or lemons. I don’t buy Ragu because it’s watery and tastes weird. Those are my limits.”
“You’ve got four of the same soap scents. I saw them in the closet. You like that one.” His entire body twitched that time. “And you always buy the same pasta sauce. You’ve gone to the store on two short trips since we’ve been seeing each other and you bought the sauce both times.”
“I ended up at the store twice in one week and it was still on sale when I went back.” I’d forgotten a few random things on my first trip so had to go again. “That does not mean I love it.”
“The world doesn’t revolve around me.” He finally lost control and stomped his foot as he crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not practical and demanding people live my way isn’t appropriate.”
I wanted to shake some of his foster parents.
At least a half dozen of them.
“My life does revolve around you, brat.” That seemed to have his brain coming to a halt because his foot went down slowly instead of slamming onto the very fancy floors of my new grocery store.
I was going to pay through the nose for the aesthetics but their fruits and vegetables were top-notch.
“I—” My boy’s brain stopped at that and couldn’t seem to restart.
“One more time. I am your Master.” It really wasn’t the place for this conversation but thankfully we had the aisle to ourselves for the moment. “That means unless I say otherwise, my life revolves around you.”
He blinked a few times but that was it.
“It serves no purpose for you to be needlessly stressed about simple things I can change.” He was going to explain why he was being so stubborn about this once he wasn’t being so stubborn. “If you asked me to change the dish soap that would be harder. I really like that one. It’s objectively the best. But you’re important to me, so if you had an issue with it, I’d figure out a way to handle it.”
There were always options but it seemed like too many people had told Ferris his needs didn’t matter.
“We buy the same soap.” Slowly coming back to life, he swallowed. “You’re right. It cleans the best.”
“See?” Shrugging, I relaxed my stance but didn’t move away from him yet. “There are lots of things we already agree on. The one thing we can’t seem to agree on is that I want my house to feel like home to you, so we need to adjust a few things.”
That was just proving to be harder than I’d expected.
“I don’t know what to say.” His admission felt like it was moving in the right direction.
“Then accept that this isn’t up to you.” Period. “I’ve made the decision that you are going to point out your products as we work through the list. If there is a conflict, I will handle it. You are going to make me happy by being relaxed in my home.”
It was the strangest fight I’d ever had with anyone I was dating.
“Yes, Master.” Something like a shiver seemed to race through him, but he got it under control before I could decide how he was feeling. “I’m sorry.”
“You can prove that to me by being helpful during the rest of our trip and following the rule.” I was hoping he could do that so I’d know what to buy going forward, but we’d see. “And be forewarned, this is going on the list.”
“Ugh.” His body jerked like he wanted to throw his arms around and stomp again, but he barely held it back. “Fine. I’ll do better.”
Such a cute drama queen.
“Show me. Don’t just tell me.” We’d see how open he could be about his preferences before we had to figure out another way to handle it.
“Yes, Master.” Looking dejected, he finally pointed to the pasta sauce. “That one. It’s not too runny or too chunky and it always tastes the same. I don’t know why but some of the brands taste different depending on when I buy them.”
Picking up two jars, I nodded as I thought about his reasoning.
“They might be made at several different factories. I’ve run into that with a few products over the years and it’s annoying.” It shouldn’t take a genius to make stuff the same every time but some companies couldn’t seem to manage that.
