Page 9 of Mouth to Mouth

“More toys!” James shouted as he whirled around with one arm out of his dirty shirt.

“Nope!” Jacob caught James’s arm. “Arms up.”

“But, Daddy,” James whined.

“Arms up,” Jacob repeated. “Or you could spend some time in the corner.”

James’s arms immediately went up in the air. Jacob tugged James’s shirt up before quickly replacing it with another. As Jacob dealt with a squirming James, Luca glanced over at Josh.

Josh dropped onto his butt on the rug beside Luca.

“Thanks for the toys and stuff,” Luca said sincerely. Before James had found age play, Luca had kept his little time to clubs and private time. That had become more difficult when Dawson had moved into the spare bedroom of his apartment. Well, until Dawson had found Luca’s pacifier and told him to stop hiding his interests. Luca had been shocked but Dawson had merely shrugged and gone to watch a movie.

Then Josh had brought a book written by Luca’s favorite age play author into the coffee shop and Luca had another person he could share his interests with. Of course it was around the same time that James and Jacob started to get together and Luca had another little to play with.

“Of course.” Josh cleared his throat. “Dawson didn’t want to come?”

Luca wanted to roll his eyes. Instead he shook his head. Josh’s crush on their mutual friend was cute but Luca didn’t know when or if Dawson would ever be able to accept anyone in his life. He barely spoke to anyone other than Luca and rarely James.

“I…grabbed a few things that I thought he might like,” Josh said quietly. “Maybe you could take them to him?”

“You know he’s not little,” Luca pointed out.

“I know,” Josh said. “It’s just a few things that I thought he’d like. It’s not a big deal.”

It would be for Dawson. Dawson didn’t like when anyone bought him something. Not even Luca. If Luca ordered a pizza to share, Dawson would insist on paying for half.

“Sorry. It was a bad idea. I knew he wouldn’t be here,” Josh said before Luca could answer.

Luca rolled himself from the beanbag chair landing across Josh’s legs. He hugged the leg that he could reach. “I’m sorry. He’s just not ready.” Might never be ready.

“I know.” Josh patted the top of Luca’s head. “Now, what is this you’re wearing? That is not little clothes.”

He hadn’t been there long. As soon as Luca arrived for his playdate, Jacob had sat him and James down for their snack. Then Josh had arrived. “I haven’t changed yet.”

“Well,” Josh drawled. “Where is your bag?”

“Kitchen,” Luca told him.

“I’ll get it. Meet you back here.” Josh exited the room.

Luca turned to see James piling blankets on his Daddy’s lap as Jacob sat in the rocking chair in the corner. That was a lot of blankets. He wandered closer. “Whatcha doing?”

“Making Daddy warm,” James told him matter-of-factly.

Weird but that was pretty average for James and Jacob’s relationship. Okay, that wasn’t fair. Luca might be a little jealous. Jacob looked at James like he was Jacob’s entire world. Luca wanted someone to gaze at him that way.

Jacob gave James a sweet look. “That’s my good boy. You can go play with your friend. I’m fine here.”

“You sure, Daddy?” James asked.

“Yes, baby. Luca came over to play with you,” Jacob replied.

James hummed as he patted the stack of blankets. He kissed Jacob’s cheek before turning toward Luca. “Play?”

Luca nodded. “Uncle Josh went to get my bag.”

“And the presents I brought,” Josh announced, reentering the room.