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He was all gone.

Master sighed. “We will continue to make the decisions for him until the pacifier is no longer in his mouth.”

Oh, I liked that.

“That is a practical decision, but I cannot tell if it is a reward for him or some kind of logical consequence.” Daddy made a thinky sound to make sure I knew he was doing his smarts.

“Both.” Master sounded serious but his bond was still doing happy things. “We will take good care of him either way, though.”

‘Cause I was their mate.

Me.

Yep.

Hiding made me really-really smart too.

Daddy sighed. “I will look for the appropriate clothing for him. Will you keep him…safe? Still?”

Master’s bond let me feel his giggles but his voice was boring because he liked being that way. “Yes. He cannot wander around like this.”

Oh.

Ups.

Master picked me up and that made Daddy grumble. He pouted with his sounds ‘cause he wanted picked-up cuddles too but his words were about Master being ridiculous. I heard him go to my room but Master took me on a walk before we sat down.

The weird chair.

It looked mostly like ours but the back was low like someone chopped off the top. “Come here, little ostrich.”

Master made me giggle but I was still hiding when I curled around him and gave him snuggles. It made him bigger happy and he started rubbing my back. “You’ve been a very good boy. You showed us your toys and your important stuff. You even showed us when it got too hard to talk.”

I hid.

I hid my mouth and then my face but my mates weren’t mad. They didn’t even tell me I was silly and being a shy grown-up wrong.

Master gave me snuggles and kissed my head over my shirt. “You knew the best way to send us signals that we should make the decisions.”

They were my mates…that was their job and they knew it. Daddy liked knowing everyone’s jobs, so I patted Master’s chest. His bond made more happies and I got another kiss. “I’m glad you liked it when we made decisions, but I want to make sure you understand that’s not something I’m used to. Our people have…have strongly reinforced equality.”

That…that sounded hard.

What if someone like Master needed to be more?

Him being more didn’t make me less…it made him my balance helper…when I went down he went up so the scales always balanced.

I made big thinky thoughts and tried to send Master proud-of-him stuff. He was working hard at new things and that could give him big feelings. Hugs. Hugs. Hugs. I wasn’t sure it worked until Master made a soft sound and I got another kiss. “Thank you, little Earthling.”

Yay. It worked.

Master gave me more cuddles and even made a tiny laugh as Daddy’s voice got louder and grumbled about Earth clothing. “He’s going to worry about helping you get ready later, but it’s a Daddy’s job to get you a bath and put your pajamas on.”

There were lots of parts of me that had lots of thoughts…some giggled…some worried…some were naughty…some were curious…I had too many parts.

Think.

Think.