Page 27 of Culture and Curiosities (Blue Ridge Charm #1)

Toman

How was such a simple spell a surprise to him?

Did they not have the toys that went in circles over a baby to keep them occupied when a parent could not pick them up?

How did they entertain small children?

How did they entertain the dog creatures they had in their homes that seemed to function like small children?

My Wren sucked on his binkie faster as his wide eyes watched his toys bob in and out of the water and up through the bubbles.

The only thing coming through from our bond were what I thought were animal noises but I wasn’t sure what a monster with tentacles should sound like under water.

I’d made the monster move.

Great dragons above.

But my mate was happy and his smile made the swimming creature rising through the bubbles less troubling.

Something could not be frightening when it made my mate laugh…and the books Klynn seemed to read about the monsters probably meant the same.

If it could be considered a mate, it should not be troubling.

“Look at your large fish, my mate.” Wren was so distracted by the way it jumped out of the water and dived back in, he didn’t even take the time to correct me on what the sleek animal actually was. “He’s very fast.”

The spell was designed to mimic their natural movements based on my knowledge, but in this case, it seemed to base their movements on Wren’s knowledge through our bond. It was a very good thing because that was not how I would have displayed the tentacle creature.

Somehow it looked happy as it moved, which must’ve been my Wren’s influence.

The other animals were not as strange or confusing and their movements made sense based on the type of creatures we had in our oceans. Wren was enjoying himself as they swam and nothing in his reactions said they were moving wrong.

He squealed and sucked and wiggled as they raced around the tub, and seemed to like it best when they rose up to the top of the bubbles before diving deep again.

He would make an excited noise and push his hands into the bubbles to search for his creatures, all while making waves in the water from his movements.

It reminded me of the hurricane images I had seen on their news, so I was glad his excitement was contained to a small pool of water. Otherwise it would have gone everywhere, even without the appropriate spells to keep the room dry.

“Oh no, is he lost at sea?” I wasn’t sure what kind of game we should be playing with the toys, but it seemed like a reasonable option when one interesting animal went under the water. Its teeth indicated predator but Wren was still too distracted for any helpful words to come through our bond.

It seemed to be something called a shark, but from the knowledge the spell had given me from Wren, there were a variety of creatures that matched the toy. Why their world had so many predators I didn’t understand.

How had the people of Earth survived?

My questions had to wait, though, because games were much more interesting to my adorable mate. He seemed to have endless excitement for his toys, and if not for the spell, his water would have gone cold long before he was ready to be done.

Eventually even swimming tentacle creatures could not stop his yawns or the way his brain seemed to have decided it was done for the day. His mind was back to being filled with hums and random images from children’s cartoons and there was very little that was clear or grown-up.

Occasionally the tentacle creature seemed to need a human for romance because Wren’s mind was sorting through his toys for something called a Ken doll, but he had left that in Texas based on his frustration.

But when the sexual activity of monsters became his primary thoughts, I decided he was done with bathtime.

“Are you ready for a bottle?” Taking the assumptive role, I reached for a washcloth and performed a quick wipe down of my boy before unplugging the tub.

He liked to have a shower in the morning, so I wasn’t worried about actually cleaning him too much as I let the bubbles deflate and the water cool. “I think cuddles and cartoons may have been next on our plan.”

He would’ve needed to use words to actually argue with me, so all he gave me were pouts and sighs as the water escaped and I rinsed off his toys. He could’ve performed the fit I had seen others do, but thankfully he was too tired for that and seemed to want to cuddle.

That did not mean he had any desire to actually be helpful, though.

No, my mate was passive and pouting around his binkie as I dried him off and led him toward the bed. Talking about his toys and random subjects kept his attention from what I was doing until I had pajamas and what they called a diaper beside him.

The question mark images popped up again and he watched it closely, but nothing negative came through in his limited thoughts or feelings. “They are not hard to create, sweet boy.”

Or clean…which would come in handy on our trip.

“We are going to have to sit down with a mage who has children and ask what spells they use on a regular basis.” Many could also be adapted so that dragons with their innate magic could activate them, so I wasn’t sure how none had been passed down.

Wren giggled, sending me images of diapers with patterns on them and his regular toys bouncing around the floor.

Thankfully, he did not expect the same movements from his grown-up toys.

“Yes, we’ll find other ways to have fun and play.” Hmm. “Should diapers have pictures on them?”

His mind had supplied thoughts on diapers very early in our bonding but specific patterns had not been something he’d been thinking about.

He smiled.

And sucked on his binkie.

We were going to have to talk about him being helpful at a later date.

For the time being, I put him in the diaper that was thankfully very similar to ones on our world. Fastening it was different but a quick look on their internet had provided details for that. My other option had been to ask Klynn, so I was glad it had not come to that.

We hadn’t talked about that form of play, but his glares at Wren when my boy had been listing off fun topics to read about had been very impactful.

And I was quickly learning that anything that made him cranky was something he was curious about.

His Daddy was going to need to be a strong individual.

“Now let’s get your pajamas on.” I wasn’t as proficient at the spell to put clothes on, so I put them on manually, but it was a good time to touch my mate and connect with him physically. “I saw that yawn.”

They had stopped when he was getting out of the tub, but relaxing on the bed brought them back even stronger. He tried to shake his head and deny it, but a yawn caught him unprepared and he lost his binkie.

Yes, he was tired.

“Do you need a stuffed animal to sleep with?” That seemed to vary based on his mood, so I wasn’t surprised when he shook his head as he shoved the binkie back in his mouth. “Okay then. Climb up to the pillows and I’ll get your bottle.”

Hmm.

That look was back…and he grinned around his binkie again.

I performed the expressions of a Daddy who had lost a battle and sighed as I rolled my eyes. “Good boys get rewards, not naughty ones.”

His giggle said he understood the hint even though I tried to keep grown-up images out of my head. I wasn’t sure how much of his behavior was teasing and how much was serious, so I didn’t want to influence him either way.

His fast scramble to the top of the bed where he sat with his hands on his lap made me question how much influence I would have over him.

That did not look innocent no matter how hard he worked at his acting.

Some of that must’ve gotten through our bond because he giggled and widened his eyes to try to look more innocent. So as I walked over to the small refrigerator to get his milk and make his bottle, I lifted one eyebrow. “You need to practice more, my sweet boy.”

Who was also my naughty boy.

More giggles.

Shaking my head only made him find me or the situation funnier and he was still wiggling and smiling as I finished getting it ready and went back over to the bed. “I have a silly boy…or maybe he’s a silly monkey.”

Images of monkeys rolling around and the birds called geese who everyone seemed to be afraid of filled his mind as I sat down on the bed and pulled him onto my lap. “No geese. I know how angry they are.”

Even the woman we had originally used to learn English had known to be wary of the dangerous birds.

Earth was filled with the most ridiculous creatures.

“Come here. You’ll protect me from angry geese?” As he snuggled closer, Wren took the geese out of his mind and nodded. “Thank you. I will protect you from dinosaurs and you will protect me from angry birds.”

For some reason that made him laugh so hard he lost his binkie again. It wasn’t until he had his lips wrapped around the nipple of the bottle and he’d relaxed again that he sent me a picture of a game on his phone.

Ah.

Yes, I could see why that had been funny.

“Please warn me if the geese will explode.”

Nothing on Earth would surprise me, but his renewed giggles said I probably didn’t need to worry about bomb birds.

I couldn’t decide if it would be dangerous, messy, or just inconvenient but my wandering thoughts kept Wren smiling and filling our bond with happy feelings as his body slowly relaxed.

The bomb bird thoughts may have kept him awake but I thought it might’ve also been his teasing and the way he kept showing me my own erection.

He was relaxed, silly, and naughty…and thoroughly enjoying confusing me just enough to make me want to frown at him.

Penis.

Giggle.

Bomb bird.

Penis.

Giggle.

Bomb bird.

By the time he was finished with his bottle, his eyes were refusing to open but his mouth wasn’t done sucking. That became incredibly obvious when he sighed and rolled over so his head was resting on my lap.

My silly monkey then opened his mouth like a baby bird or one of his exploding ones, and whined.

He whined.

For my erection.

Littles needed to come with more instructions.