“Do I have to wear a suit?” Avery whined. Fancy parties usually meant that he had to dress up. And not the fun kind of dress up. The sucky, hot, uncomfortable kind of putting on a suit. Sometimes he even had to wear a tie!
“No, baby boy,” Jace said softly. “This is your party. You get to be comfortable. But you do need to be clean. And not smell like the dogs.”
Avery sniffed. “You always say that. I don’t think the dogs smell bad.”
“Not bad,” Jace said. “Just not the best.”
“Fine.” It wasn’t like Avery hated showers. They just weren’t as much fun as baths. Unless Daddy was in the shower with him. “Do you need to take a shower too tonight?”
Jace’s eyes sparkled along with his grin. “We’ll see.”
That wasn’t a no. Avery would work on convincing him. “Is there going to be cake?”
“Yes, there will be cake,” Jace said with a laugh.
Cake was good.
“And all my friends will be there?” Avery asked. He was shoveling bites of his breakfast in between his questions.
“Everyone will be there,” Jace assured him.
That was cool. Avery was looking forward to his party. He didn’t need a party—it had been Jace’s idea, and Clint had been happy to offer up one of the building at the camp. Avery had asked if the dogs could attend and eventually Clint had agreed as long as everyone swore that they wouldn’t feed any of them.
Avery had sent a very sternly written email to all his friends. They all promised and said they understood, which left Avery able to celebrate his graduation with a degree with the people that meant the most to him.
He finished his breakfast, thinking about what he needed to do for the half day that he was working. After the party Avery was on vacation for an entire week. A whole week!
Daddy said that vacations were important to recharge so that when Avery returned he would be refreshed and able to do even better work. Avery agreed to the vacation time and Jace had smiled so wide that Avery was glad he’d said yes.
Avery hoped for a week of being 24-7 of being little.
Admittedly Avery was probably little more than anyone that he knew. Even as seamlessly as he went from big to little and back, Avery was little more often than big. He used to worry that Jace would get tired of always having to take care of him. Jacehad proved over and over that their relationship was what they both wanted and needed.
His Daddy needed to be the caretaker. It was ingrained inside Jace just like being little was a part of Avery.
“What are you thinking about?” Jace asked.
Avery glanced up. “What?”
“You’re scraping your fork against your empty plate. What has you thinking so hard?”
“Oh!” Avery dropped his fork. “I was thinking about a vacation.”
“Were you?” Leaning back in his chair, Jace sipped his coffee. “You’ve barely mentioned it.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been busy, Daddy. Now I have time to think.”
Jace hummed.
That sounded…when Daddy sounded like that, he was up to something. “What?”
“What, what?” Jace asked.
“Daddy!” Avery wailed.
Jace set his mug down. “I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” Avery clapped his hands. Daddy surprises were the best. “What is it? What is it?”
