Page 14 of Hiding From Laughter

Micha

He was going to drown because watching me eat chocolate poop was hilarious.

“On your bottom, please.”

Good grief. If I had to explain to the paramedics why he was naked and had drowned in the bubbles, he’d kill me. “We’ll share, but only if you sit.”

Otherwise he’d fall again.

Poop was not that funny.

But maybe my drama was?

Ugh.

Okay, I could see why it was slightly humorous.

“Thank you.”

When he was sitting and dramatically bracing his hands against the side of the tub like we were in the middle of an earthquake, I rolled my eyes but fed us both another chocolate. “Good boy.”

His snickers were louder without the binkie in his mouth, but he didn’t lose the adorable headspace he’d found. He also didn’t talk except to make yummy noises and giggle. If his little side was nonverbal, it would make sense that he hadn’t found it before.

Especially when he’d never seen that kind of little before.

Even when he didn’t use words to talk he was very expressive, so it might’ve been keeping him bigger. The way it seemed to help his brain slow down to just focusing on one thing at a time had helped too. At the moment, there were only enough thoughts to laugh at poop and hold on to his toys.

“That’s huge. What? No. I don’t want to know.”

There were about five different shapes of poop from what I could see and I had no desire to figure out which one I’d just shoved in my mouth. “See? You’re sharing.”

My doing it was better than his bubble-covered fingers helping and that spoon jabbing my cheek.

He was a rough little helper.

But he was a happy little helper.

I had a feeling the sharing was funny but was also related to the good boy topic because he’d been rabidly intent on getting chocolate in my mouth too.

Thankfully, the package was only so big and we worked our way through the poop sooner than he liked.

“All done.”

His dramatic slump was accompanied by a sigh and adorable frown. Even getting his binkie back didn’t help the situation. “We’re going to plan another trip to the zoo so we can pick up more.”

Big or little, he’d love the zoo and it would be a fun day trip for us.

His enthusiastic head bob and the way he grabbed a few more of the bubbly-shaped plastic animals to hoard said he approved.

“We can do a picnic or eat dino nuggets at that restaurant in the back.”

He’d probably always wanted to do that but he’d never asked so I hadn’t pushed.

I should’ve pushed.

That was my biggest takeaway from all of our recent discoveries.

His eyes went wide and he started sucking faster on his binkie. Surprise was written all over his face and I was pretty sure I understood the reason.

“Anyone can eat nuggets. I might have to get two orders, though.”

I looked down at myself and frowned. “I don’t think one will fill me up. I might need a large order of tater tots and a slushy too.”

And then a snack later.

They weren’t labeled as kids’ meals but they also weren’t built for guys like me. Ashton realized that right off the bat too based on how he giggled around his binkie. “But there are lots of goodies to fill us up, right?”

And since I’d already promised him several of his favorites, his head bobbed excitedly and he did a happy wiggle.

“I think we’ve got a good plan then.”

Leaning over the side of the tub, I kissed his cheek. “We’re going to have fun.”

Fun that would, hopefully, lead us to a good conversation.

Eventually.

With the way Ashton liked to bury his head in the sand and avoid issues that made him uncomfortable, I wasn’t sure how long that would take. But I’d learned it was okay to push, so I was going to remember that and not let his nervousness affect me.

I was a good caretaker and I was going to remember that.

Even if it made both of us squirm.

But for the time being, it seemed like he thought we had everything worked out because he scooped up bubbles and more toys and shoved a pile of both at me.

Sharing was important, huh?

“Do good boys share?”

I almost laughed when he nodded. “I thought so. You’re very good.”

And I was going to have to start making notes about everything I’d promised him.

Chocolates and bathtub toys had been just the tip of the iceberg, so my first new rule as his Daddy was to start writing bribes down.

“You’ve shared and ate your dinner and colored and used your diaper.”

Mentioning that one had him scrunching up his face but he nodded after a moment. “That made you a very good boy.”

Making sure he understood all of those activities put him in the good boy category seemed important. Ashton had had plenty of time to hide from what he was curious about, so it was time to help him get used to talking about them.

Or at least hearing me talk about them.

“My good boy.”

Kissing his cheek put me in range of being bubbled and I ended up covered in them. “Hey.”

The ones on my head started sliding down making me feel like Santa with oversized sideburns. When they ended up trailing down my shirt, I groaned and got more giggles from Ashton. “I’m glad you’re having fun.”

Stripping off my damp shirt got more giggles from him and was probably a strategic error on my part because I ended up with bubbles on my chest too.

“I’m not sure I needed decorations.”

My dry response had him snorting around his binkie and his shoulders shook with laughter. “Oh, it’s funny, huh?”

Reaching into the tub, I braced him with one arm and tickled him with my other hand. “I’ll show you funny.”

He’d already used his diaper so it wasn’t about pushing him, but he loved being tickled no matter the reason. He laughed so much, his binkie ended up in the tub. “Oopsie.”

Pausing tickle time as he sagged back into my arm and pouted, I went fishing. “I have more quiet toys. But we’ll find this one. It’s not the bottom of the ocean.”

Hmm.

Well, it wasn’t a binkie but it was a cute fish.

“Not the quiet toy but a cute fish.”

Giving his fish a little wiggle, I pushed it up through the bubbles and found my prize. “Got it.”

Ashton’s giggles came back as he made gimmie fingers at his binkie. My expression probably didn’t help the situation. “No. You need a clean one.”

I wasn’t going to debate the logic of it considering where his mouth had been on a regular basis, but in my head it was insane. Ashton seemed to think it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard and just kept snickering as I rolled my eyes. “If you can be a good boy, I’ll go get a clean one.”

We probably had very different definitions of good boy, especially in the tub, but he looked fairly sincere as he nodded. Hoping that meant he’d be careful and wouldn’t drown, I got up and nearly sprinted to the shelf with his other little goodies on it.

“I’m coming. You’d better be good.”

Or I’d do something…what I didn’t know. “Are you being a good boy?”

Maybe.

He was fishing.

And giggling.

And his fish was having a good time.

Well, I had promised a variety of rewards.

“You caught the fish.”

His wicked snicker was quickly muffled by his new quiet toy, but that didn’t stop him from waving his fish at me. “It’s a big one.”

That was hilarious too and encouraged him to hold his fish tighter.

“I think your fish needs to be washed, though.”

There were lots of bits that needed to be washed, but since it’d be the most fun, it seemed like the right place to start. “I get to wash since I’m in charge.”

He was happy to delegate that task and laid back in the tub, sending a tidal wave of water crashing through his tub animals’ ecosystem. “Tsunami. Be careful.”

Ashton’s giggles sent another dangerous wave through his world but it was saved as focusing on his fish became more important than being a world-destroying monster. “He’s a very happy fish.”

I was the funniest person Ashton had ever met.

I was also very generous with the soap and ended up with a wonderfully slippery hand to clean his fish. “You’re going to have a very happy and very clean fish.”

More adorable sounds spilled out of him as he scrunched up his face and closed his eyes. Ashton was soaking up every touch, but it was wonderfully funny because no matter how hard he tried, giggles still escaped.

That didn’t seem to distract his fish, though.

No. It was happy to have attention too.

“Good boys get good rewards.”

The slightly singsong tone had him trying not to laugh, but I tightened my grip and started to move faster, making sure he knew he could enjoy his reward. “You’ve been a very good boy for me.”

Some grumbling and stomping notwithstanding.

But since he’d been little at the time and had been following all the orders I’d given him, he had a case for that still being considered good too. He’d just been exploring another aspect of his little side, the dramatic brat side.

“You’ve been so cute and so loving too.”

Making a pleased sound as his hips started thrusting up against my hand, I moved my fist counter to his movement and got a moan instead that time. “You snuggled me and gave me kisses and you’ve been so good at following my orders.”

Especially the ones that he liked.

“I’ve been so proud of you.”

Going faster, I stroked my thumb over the head of his cock with every stroke and I could feel him getting closer to his orgasm. “You’ve been making me so happy and made me feel so loved.”

As his muscles tensed and he scrunched his face up tighter, his suction on the binkie made it sound like it’d pop any second.

“Yes, that’s my good boy. My cuddly boy. My special boy.”

As his cock throbbed in my hand, I focused right under the head and he cried out, nearly losing his binkie again as his orgasm fired through him. His quiet toy muffled most of his sounds, but he shook and rocked into my fist, chasing every drop of pleasure until he went boneless in the tub.

And there was finally a yawn.

He always had to run himself into the ground before he let his body rest, so I knew I had to take advantage of his weakened state to make sure he got to bed at a decent hour. “My good boy. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

His half-hearted nod came with another yawn and a confused look, like he wasn’t sure when he’d gotten so tired. But with the binkie in, he couldn’t tell me everything else he wanted to do or come up with a dozen seemingly valid excuses why he had to stay up.

They were always very creative and he generally had to read one more chapter, but all I got was whiny grumbles when he had to sit up and a pout when I started rinsing all the bubbles off of him. “Bubbles and jammies don’t mix. You’ll get soggy. And wrinkly. And you might mold.”

There was a valiant attempt made to laugh, but his body wasn’t cooperating and another yawn came instead. “Oops. Those keep escaping.”

I got a smile but he was too busy making sure his binkie didn’t fall out to laugh.

“Sit up on your knees for me.”

The soapy bubbles had cleaned a lot of him, but I got the most important parts and made a mental note to shove him into the shower in the morning. “Good boy. Okay, all clean.”

For the most part.

The complete lack of protest showed I was right, but I made a mental note for us to do an earlier bathtime routine on Saturday to give him more time to play. A nap in the afternoon might help too, so I started rearranging things in my head as I rinsed the last of the bubbles off my confused cutie.

“You’re going to hold my hands as you stand up. If you’re careful, I’ll read you a book.”

Finding something little Ashton and big Ashton could both enjoy was harder than I’d expected, but I’d found a few books where cute little animals went on adventures, and those seemed like good places to start.

Ashton went still as the offer of a book finally hit him, then nodded as excitedly as he could as he pressed his lips together around the binkie. Watching him fight his yawns was almost as cute as the yawns themselves, but I managed not to smile too much as we got him steady on his feet.

He was beyond exhausted, but it felt like we’d made a huge step in the right direction. As I wrapped him in his towel, I hoped it would be enough to push us into some easier conversations and him into a more relaxed headspace, but knowing Ashton I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

I was going to plan, though.

I was going to plan and plot and make a few phone calls on my lunch break.

It was time to help my boy open his eyes a bit.