Page 10 of Hiding From Laughter

Micha

He was adorable when he grumbled and the binkie just made it even better.

Oh, he had a cloudy look on his face and was making frustrated sounds as he turned his hands over to study the restraints, but his cute hard-on wiggle was impossible to miss.

“Alright, let’s get your mitts in place and then we’re going to have fun.”

He didn’t seem to believe me about that part, but he was sucking away on his quiet toy and didn’t put up any fuss as I brought the straps of the gloves around his back and buckled them together.

They’d release quickly in an emergency, but they were sturdy enough for him to wiggle and tug on them if he wanted to pout and pitch a fit. He wouldn’t be able to help himself and he’d do it at some point. What I wasn’t sure was how he’d react to feeling even more helpless in that situation.

Aroused?

Submissive?

Little?

A mix of all three?

Knowing Ashton, it was probably something else I hadn’t thought of, but that was part of the fun of exploring something new with him.

“My cutie.”

Yep, he’d already started moving his arms back and forth. At most he could move them about a foot away from his body, and that was one arm at a time. But he seemed more curious than frustrated, so I wasn’t worried. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you with anything you need.”

He pouted.

He grumbled.

He sucked.

He wiggled his hips.

Yep. He liked the new mitts.

And I liked all of it.

He was adorable and had taken to the binkie like a duck to water. Not having to talk was probably his favorite part of all of it, but I was hoping he’d thoroughly enjoy a few other pieces as well once he’d relaxed into it.

His brain was still working a bit too fast and a bit too grown-up to really sink into the scene, but he was calm and liked his clothes. I was going to count everything as a win so far and just see where the rest took us.

“Alright.”

Another forehead kiss got more grumbling, but he leaned closer and glared at me until he got cheek kisses too. “I’m going to release your arms as you walk down the stairs but we’ll give you happy hands once we’re back downstairs again.”

Safety first even if he was adorable.

Yep.

Adorable.

He pulled his hands against his chest and huffed. “How upset will I get if you fall down the stairs?”

One long sigh around the binkie had him offering up his hands, looking a bit like an adorable T-Rex.

“Good boy.”

More kisses, grumbling, and a bit of safety got us to the bottom of the stairs safely, but I made sure to secure him again as soon as we reached the first floor. “Perfect.”

If he thought about it carefully, he’d be able to do a lot of things, but he was never careful and rarely thought anything through. He’d find a fun way to brat and be pouty, but he wasn’t going to put a lot of effort into doing things for himself.

“You’re going to sit at the table and play while I finish up dinner.”

He’d actually come home at a reasonable time, so it wasn’t already cold or been hanging around in the slow cooker for entirely too long. “I made you mac-n-cheese.”

The good kind that needed to be finished in the oven…his favorite.

Oh yes.

His eyes lit up and he waved his fingers at me in a gimmie kind of gesture. But that binkie was still in place, so I didn’t expect any kind of verbal response aside from happy noises. “My boy is excited.”

Kissing his cheeks again, I picked him up and held him tightly as he wrapped his legs around me. “Good boy. Playtime and then we’ll have a bottle and dinner.”

Ashton went very quiet for a moment before he rested his head on my shoulder and sighed. The binkie stayed firmly in place, so I patted his bottom as I took him to the kitchen. “I think you’re going to like your new presents.”

An excited inhale escaped before he could hide how curious he was.

“I know.”

Kissing his head, I set him down in the kitchen and gave him a beaming smile. “You like presents.”

Knickknacks.

Flowers.

Goodies.

He loved all kinds of gifts…small, big, or completely random and ridiculous. It’d taken me a while to figure out what he liked, but seeing his eyes light up was fun.

This might turn out to be something I needed to work on to get right, but I was pretty sure I’d started strong.

Ashton wasn’t so sure about that, but he seemed willing to humor me and even leaned into me and tucked himself under my shoulder as I led him to the table. “I just have a few things to get dinner ready and then we’ll have special time together.”

His expression could best be described as skeptical, but I’d seen it a lot over the past few years, so I wasn’t worried. He even sighed as he sat down and pretended to be frustrated that he couldn’t rest his elbows on the table.

“One second.”

Kissing the top of his head, I ignored the adorable sound effects and went over to the pantry.

I’d hidden some of his goodies behind some veggie crisp things I’d bought at the store that I knew he’d never eat and the rest in the junk cabinet that he kept saying he was going to clean out. His drama came back as he saw me get all the fun new stuff and I couldn’t help guessing what his thoughts were.

Dramatic yes…but blaming himself was always a good guess and he’d probably have questionable logic about why he had to play along in the scene.

But when I set the coloring books and crayons down, he sucked in a breath and went still as his eyes got wider. “I think you forgot that I had a half day.”

Occasionally there were good reasons to work for the school district.

Being able to randomly drive over to the zoo was one such reason.

“I got you the big cats coloring book and the one with the monkeys and apes and all those guys.”

Next on my list was the one based around the small aquarium that they had, but his quiet roar said I’d made good choices.

Ashton took turns imagining being the cat and being stalked and eaten by one of the cats, so it didn’t surprise me when he hunched over and started flipping through the pages. His restrained hands made it harder but he didn’t seem to notice much.

“And here are your crayons.”

It was the biggest box of oversized crayons that I could find. It wasn’t one of the huge boxes the smaller ones came in, but I’d done my best. “If you make me a picture, we can put it up on the fridge.”

That had his head cocking, but he was too focused on carefully figuring out how to pick up the crayons I’d spread out on the table to overthink it. Still, giving him a push seemed like a good idea. “I would love to have a reminder about how much I enjoy my helpless boy.”

Oh, that sigh.

I was going to get my picture.

I didn’t bother trying to hide my happy dance as I went over to the oven and turned it on, mostly because he liked knowing he made me excited and I liked the sounds it got me. Huffs and sighs and even a whine as he gave up trying to pretend that he didn’t like coloring.

But no matter what nonsense he was telling himself, I was in control, so he was going to color. The Micha is in control bit was going to be playing over and over in his head, but if it helped him to try something new, I was okay with a bit of manipulation.

“I might’ve gotten another surprise while I was there, but I’m going to show you that later.”

His fascination with those poop-shaped chocolates had not been as subtle as he seemed to think. “I like surprising my sweet, helpless boy.”

Well, technically my grumbly, diapered, slightly dramatic restrained boy.

His muffled gripes said he’d gotten that part too, though.

The new toy helped keep most of his thoughts internal but it wasn’t blocking the cute noises he made. He kept trying to sound like he didn’t appreciate my teasing, but he continued coloring and even wiggling in his seat to rub himself against the diaper.

He was the king of mixed signals…or maybe prince in this case.

He was also very focused and seemed to find some kind of headspace as he colored because he was fully engrossed in his lion picture when I finally came back over to the table with his bottle. Dinner was finishing up in the oven, so we had a few minutes to cuddle if he wanted to switch gears.

It took him a few more seconds of carefully coloring, mitt-covered fist wrapped around the green crayon, before he leaned into me, though. I took that as a good sign and kissed his head. “That looks beautiful.”

The first bits he’d done were almost grown-up perfect, everything in the lines and careful, but as he’d continued, it was less structured and felt more carefree. “I like the trees over here and that lion in the back looks lazy.”

He snickered and made a soft roar around the binkie. “I think you’d be a lazy lion too.”

Pretending to get offended, he huffed and wiggled, trying to square his shoulders and look tough. It just looked adorable, but I pretended to shiver. “Scary lion.”

That got a giggle out of him before he blinked, probably realizing he’d shifted a bit too far away from being the grown-up he claimed to be. “My happy lion too.”

Ignoring his second-guessing seemed to be the best decision, so I nodded toward the coloring book. “How about we finish this after dinner when we watch some cartoons? I want to cuddle with you now.”

It wasn’t exactly an order, but I was a softy when it came to him. He knew it too. One whine and some puppy dog eyes and he could’ve changed my mind, but he was still for a moment before he shrugged, trying to look like it didn’t matter what we did.

I was in charge after all.

“Good boy.”

One more peck, that time on his nose, and I stood, taking his hand and the bottle. “I think couch cuddles.”

He’d have room to stretch out, depending on how he wanted to snuggle up for his bottle. At the moment, he just seemed to be doing his best to ignore the bottle. It wouldn’t make it disappear, but if it made him feel better that was okay with me.

It wouldn’t change anything because it wasn’t anywhere close to a safeword.

He even curled into me easily as I sat down and pulled him onto my lap. “There we go.”

Moving him into a more inclined position, I braced him with my arm and one of the pillows against the arm of the couch and brought the bottle to his lips. My exaggerated frown got a snicker from him. “This won’t work.”

Sighing, I glared at the binkie. “You can’t talk even if I take it out. No cheating.”

Part of him wanted to take that as a challenge, but a quick switch popping out the binkie and in the bottle kept him from having to decide if he wanted to be a pain in the ass or not. “Good boy.”

I wasn’t sure if his good behavior was because he didn’t know what he’d say or if he actually liked cuddling up and getting his bottle, but he closed his eyes and relaxed as he sucked down his milk. “I’m so glad you’re trying to make me happy. I’m glad I get to reward you later.”

He gave a tiny wiggle, snuggling tighter against me and sucking faster to show me what a good boy he was. It was clearly a bid for more information, so I played along. “I can’t tell you too much or you’ll guess my first reward. But you’re going to like it.”

Even with the mitts on where I had to feed him.

“That’s the reward you’ve already earned from being such a good boy.”

Kissing the top of his head, I nuzzled against him as he continued to suck on his bottle. “You made me so happy when you were coloring, but I’m sure you already saw how happy I was.”

Maybe…he’d been very focused on his picture.

“And you made me very happy by looking so cute.”

He really did look adorable and we were definitely getting a few more onesies. Ashton didn’t seem to mind them and I thought the way they pushed the diaper tighter against his body gave him a fun reason to wiggle. “Lots of happies for me, so lots of rewards for you.”

Yep, I wasn’t going to let him forget the direct connection between relaxing into the little headspace and getting rewards.

It wasn’t a bribe if it was for his own good.

“The more happies…the more rewards.”

Ashton’s little wiggle said he loved that logic even if the grown-up part of him knew I was manipulating him. “Silly rewards. Yummy rewards. Tickly rewards.”

His blush said he was imagining some adult kinds of silly things, or maybe just how our first tickling scene had ended, and he made me wonder what was going through his head. “There are lots of ways I can have special fun with my boy.”

And he had an open-minded caretaker Dom who didn’t have too many preconceived notions about how little time should look.

If Ashton never fully got into that headspace, it would be understandable. But whatever he was thinking was happy and relaxed and he was having fun being so helpless. All that indicated a scene we could do again, especially if I reinforced it with positive associations.

“Bubble baths can end in special fun.”

What else? “Bottle time can end in special fun.”

He’d already experienced that one so I chuckled when he shivered. “Yes, that can be a lot of fun.”

“Naptimes can start with special fun.”

We’d have to try that over the weekend to see if it helped him get more sleep. Ashton seemed to think running on fumes was perfectly reasonable and he hadn’t gotten a lot of recharge time over the last couple of weeks.

Getting him to sit still on his own was hard unless there was a book involved, but he’d been so distracted he hadn’t started reading anything new lately either.

“So far getting you dressed up and having bottle time have been my favorite, but we’ll have to see what happens when it’s time to get into pajamas later.”

Ashton’s happy sound as he sucked said he approved of that plan. “I should probably find some enjoyable ways to help you relax…if you’re a good boy, of course.”

And to make sure there wasn’t a miscommunication on that part, I shifted the bottle so I could hold it with my chin for a moment and gave the front of his diaper a pat. “Good boys get good rewards.”

Yes, positive reinforcement was going to be an important part of our new special time together.