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I knew that the idea of sex was something that could’ve happened tonight, it was still just an idea of it because I didn’t want to push it, and I didn’t want him to think I needed it to have a fulfilling relationship. The only thing that mattered to me was respect. The respect of him over what I liked, and my respect over what he liked.

It just so happened we both liked stealing glances, soft touches, and to play Daddy and little, Dominant and submissive. He was a natural caretaker, even before he knew what it was, he’d been protective over me, and now he knew what he was doing, it was done with much more purpose.

At the diner, we sat across from each other in one of the back tables. Privacy from prying eyes Lucy called it, even if she was constantly coming over to ask if we needed anything, or to ask about the game she hadn’t been able to attend.

We shared a strawberry shake, some fries, and Luke devoured a burger in what I could only assume was a world record.

“Are you sure you’re not hungry?” he asked.

I’d eaten already, add in a handful of fries, and a dose of brain freeze from the ice cream in the shake, and I was full. Not to mention, if we were going to have sex, I was not about to do it on a full stomach. “I’ll eat more of the fries.”

“Well, they’ve got cake back at the house as well. Probably not as nice as the one the other week,” he chuckled, taking my foot under the table and wrapping his feet around it. “I want you to stay over tonight as well. But you don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I was just thinking we could celebrate alone as well.”

Yeah. Sex was being brought up now. “As long as I get to see the stars.”

“I’m sure I could make you see stars.”

I burst into a giggle as my toes curled in my shoes. “That’s a big promise.”

He took my head and leaned in across the table. “Daddies are supposed to make big promises. Right?”

Nodding, he seemed to meet my face with the motion and plant his salty lips on mine. They were oddly delicious as I licked them afterwards.

“I’m nervous,” I admitted to him in a slight whisper. “I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring anything.”

He scoffed. “Listen, nobody could pressure me into anything,” he said, his leg still entangled with me beneath the table. “I promise you; I’m doing what I want, and what I know will make us both happy. And right now, I think dipping a french fry into the shake sounds delicious. What about you?”

Oh god. He had seen me at the start of semester, sitting alone across the other side of the diner when I dipped my fries into the shake. I shouldn’t have been too surprised; we’d made full eye contact for what seemed like a lifetime. “You remember?”

“I think we’ve been dating long enough for me to be honest,” he said. “At first, when I saw you, I kinda thought you were cute, and then when I saw you at the rink, I thought you might’ve been following me, which I should’ve said, because it might’ve explained why I came across hostile that first time we really interacted.”

My throat now drying out faster than a desert, I grabbed a fry and scooped some of the cream from the inside of the glass. I had kinda been stalking the team, not in the negative term, but more so watching them train was helping me to decide who I wanted on my fantasy team. And I hadn’t even known they would be in the diner that first day. “I—I—”

He took my free hand. “I know you weren’t,” he said. “I’m just saying, it’s something I thought, but then I saw you were probably just researching us. You’re committed to your craft, and speaking of, I hope you report on how hot I looked scoring the first point of the game.”

I chewed on the soggy fry for a moment, tasting the salt and sweet, letting both wash over me like I’d been recommended to. It was something I had to focus on to keep myself grounded and not fly off into an anxious spiral. It wasn’t the only reason I’d been watching them. I had a fan fiction I was writing, and I kept seeing signs for it everywhere I looked. Or maybe it was just how friendly they all were with each other. But I could’ve sworn I’d seen Liam squeezing one of the other player’s asses. I forgot the number jersey they wore, but Luke couldn’t have been the only—sexually fluid member of the team, and knowing my luck, it would be another player with an L name.

“You don’t have to really write about me super favorably,” Luke said. “But maybe if you just—”

“I don’t tell you how to play,” I said with a giggle. “So, you can’t tell me what to write. I need to have some integrity over my words.”

He pinched his lips shut and pretend to lock them. “I can’t get out of captain mode.”

“Or Daddy mode.” They were similar in a way, they both liked to be caretakers and commanders, telling people what to do and where to go, what plays to make. I didn’t mind it, but only when it was between the two of us. I didn’t want to be taken away from the team. It could’ve been worse, I could’ve been writing for the American football team, the Caldwell Caracals, they were insufferable with their egos.

“What’s going on in that head?” Luke said, his hand stroking up the length of my arm. “You get like a hazed overlook sometimes. I hope I’m not moving too quickly. This is—” He pushed his tongue between his teeth, so playful, I wanted my tongue to be between his teeth instead. “It’s all new for me, you know that. I’m happy to take charge, but I do need pointers from you when you can.”

He was doing a good job; he satisfied my needs as they arose. I couldn’t have asked for a better Daddy, except maybe older. All my previous Daddy flings had been older. There was no age on Daddy, just as I could regress into a little, he could grow into a Daddy when we were playing.

“I’m fine, it’s really nice to feel comfortable in all this open space and—eyes.” I could sense they were on us, more him than me, but still, us. “I think I’m ready to go,” I said. “But we have to stop by my place first.”

Luke kissed the back of my hand. “Of course, baby.”

All my roommates were at home, they were all in the midst of their own celebration. As I went to pack an overnight back, Luke was roped into celebrating with them, it was also a cause for his own celebration since he had just won the first game of the season.

My room had barely improved since being here. I’d wanted one of those machines that Luke had to project the night sky on my ceiling, but it was going to be out of my budget for a little while. I’d already spent far too much on new yarn from the craft store in town.

It would be the second overnight stay at the Icehouse, but the first I was preparing myself for. I liked the idea of having my own toothbrush at the ready, but my mind raced with all the other expectations of me there. I didn’t know if I was going to need to clear out beforehand, and I wasn’t taking my douche for that.

A knock came at the door before I could spiral and go into crisis mode. Luke entered my room with a glass in hand. He placed it on my bedside table and pulled a face.

“What’s that?” I asked, staring away from the teddies inside the overnight bag.

“I think it’s a White Claw, I told them I didn’t want it, but they insisted, so I said I was coming to check on you.”

“It’s not illegal for you to drink,” I said,

“I’ve never been a big drinker,” he said. “I’ve seen the first-hand effects of what can happen to people who get out of hand with drinking, so I rarely drink. I’ll take a wine at a fancy restaurant though, don’t get me wrong.”

I jumped up from my bed and wrapped my arms around him. “I don’t know what to pack.” I pressed my hand into his chest and inhaled him. “Where’s your duffle bag? Maybe I should just throw my things in there instead.”

“Oh no, that’s in the hallway, it’s got clothes that need washing in them,” he said. “I know you didn’t smell them in the diner, but trust me, you don’t want to add your clean clothes into that.”

Except, I kinda did. There was something naughty about the way he smelled when he was sweaty, his natural musk had me in a chokehold. “Fine, but I need help picking what to wear.”

“How about one of those cute onesies?” he nodded to the floordrobe; a pile of clean clothes I hadn’t sorted out yet. They were in desperate need of going into my closet, but if they went int there, I’d forget they were there. I had a real bad case of object permanence sometimes.

“Can you pick one out for me, please, Daddy?”

He gave my neck a little nuzzle, humming slightly to have the hairs on my nape stand at the ticklish vibrations. “Of course, baby.”

I sat on my bed again and watched as Luke went through my things, telling me how cute I’d look in the items he picked out. I knew I looked cute in all of them, but I couldn’t decide which ones he wanted to see me in. There were favorites among them because some had tails, hoods, and large pouches where I could store my yarn while I was crocheting, or better, all my stuffed crochet animals.

“This one!” he said, yanking a blue onesie, it was a dragon with a tail and ears. “You wanna be a dragon?”

“A good dragon,” I answered.

“Always a good dragon, but if you were a bad dragon, then—”

I giggled. “Bad dragon.”

He was confused and Daddy was adorable when he was confused. I liked to see it on his face sometimes, but only because it meant I got to teach him something. And tonight, I got to teach him about the wonderful world of sex toys, namely the fantasy ones on the website he’d said the name of.

“You have any of them?”

“No, no, no, they would rip me open.”

Daddy bit his lips. I didn’t know what that meant, but maybe he liked the idea. “I’d never let that happen to you. But I still want to see you in this one.” He threw it across to me, and I caught it like a professional, folding it in my arms and dunking it into the duffle bag.

We’d spent long enough in my room now, there was already question about when Luke was going to show up at the house. I still felt slightly awful for keeping him away from his party, but it was supposed to be a surprise, or there was going to be one there. He was sometimes hard to understand when he kept eye contact with me for so long, he could erase my memory it seemed.

The night was cool, but warm enough for us to walk up to the sports village where all the college team sport players lived after freshmen year. Daddy had my arm hooked around his and we kept a slow pace, mostly from the occasional stop to stare at the night sky where he would make up fake facts about the night.

“That constellation up there is shaped like a heart,” he said, directing my view and drawing with finger to show me the supposed heart. “Apparently, when you see it with your—boyfriend or girlfriend, it means you’ve got to kiss them, or else seven years bad luck.”

I’d never heard of that before, but I also wasn’t going to get seven years bad luck.

Swinging my duffle on my arm, nearly knocking myself out with the momentum of it, I kissed Luke hard on his lips. He steadied me, anchored in place with the heft of his own bag. He kissed me back, holding me still with both hands.

There was a moment of stillness and quiet. I had thought for a second, he might’ve said something else, but he didn’t, and we continued walking until we were at the Icehouse, where people were spilling out of the front door.

As soon as people noticed Luke, they raced inside where they prepared some form of celebration. And as we waited on the lawn, concerned with what it could be, one of the players waved us inside, telling Luke to come in alone.

At first, I was a little annoyed, but the moment Luke stepped over the threshold into the house, a large white cream pie smashed into his face. And everyone erupted into a frenzy of cheers and laughter.

Maybe they did like me, because they were nice enough to keep me from receiving a pie to the face. Luke turned to me and he was hit with another pie to the face. I didn’t get it, but it seemed to be all in good fun.