Daddy's Boy

by T C Heffer

  Jeremy is dumbfounded. "That's it? You could've told me over the phone."

  "We know, but no, that's not it. It's news I didn't feel right not telling you face-to-face."

  When Jess doesn't say any more but just grins at him, Jeremy huffs exasperatedly. "Well? What is it, then?"

  Suddenly, Pete jolts atop Jeremy's lap and he squeaks an excited, "Oh!"

  Jeremy transfers his attention to him. "What?"

  "Look."

  Following Pete's finger, Jeremy notices what he hadn't before. Jess has her free hand resting over her stomach. It's as flat as it's always been, but as realisation finally dawns, he suspects that it won't be flat for much longer.

  "You're pregnant?" he guesses, amazed.

  Jess nods enthusiastically, her eyes shining. "Yes!"

  Gently getting Pete off of his lap, Jeremy stands up and pulls Jess into his arms for a tight hug. "Congratulations," he murmurs earnestly.

  He knows just how long both she and James have wanted kids. They tried for over a decade without any success, and then after some tests, they found out that there were issues with Jess's fertility which meant that, if she ever got pregnant, it would be a miracle. It crushed her, understandably, but apparently they kept trying without telling him. He couldn't be happier for both of them, and he already can't wait to meet his little niece or nephew.

  After Jess ends the hug, Jeremy and James share a much more 'manly' embrace that basically consists of a simple pat to each other's backs, and then everyone returns to their seats.

  "So when are you due?" Pete enquires as he makes himself comfortable on Jeremy's lap again.

  "The beginning of June," Jess reveals.

  "That's so cool!"

  Jess laughs. "D'you like kids, then?"

  Pete nods. "I've never thought about having any of my own in the future, but I'd've loved to have had a baby brother or sister or something. That wasn't in the cards, though."

  "Why not?" Jess asks, frowning.

  "Jess," Jeremy warns.

  "No, I don't mind," Pete reassures, patting the top of Jeremy's head. "My mom died when I was eight."

  Jess's countenance becomes dismayed. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

  "I'm not gonna say it's okay, because it's not, but it was ten years ago. You don't need to be sorry."

  "Still…I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or anything."

  Pete shakes his head. "You didn't. Now come on, let's not bring the mood down. Let's talk babies. D'you two have names picked out yet?"

  This has Jeremy getting curious too. He listens intently to whatever Jess has to say next.

  The woman rubs her stomach through her sweater. "We've got two names in mind, one each for whichever it turns out to be." She meets Jeremy's gaze. "If it's a girl…we're going to name her Georgia after Mom, and if it's a boy, we'll call him Nate after Dad. It just felt right."

  Jeremy's eyes sting but he doesn't actually tear up. "They would've loved that." He sniffs and then shakes himself to cast off the emotion. He cracks a joke to keep things lighter. "Uncle Carl would've been very offended that you didn't choose his name, though."

  "He'd have to get over himself."

  "Fat chance. If Nina couldn't get him to do that, no one and nothing would."

  Pete looks between them. "Who's Nina?"

  "Uncle Carl's wife," Jeremy answers.

  "Oh."

  Jess giggles. "It's true. He always did have a big ego."

  For the next half hour, things continue in the same vein. Jeremy isn't even offended when Jess tells more stories from their childhood. Because they're all told from an older sister's perspective, he doesn't come out looking the best in any of them, but he gets the chance to retaliate by apprising Pete of Jess's exploits with her first boyfriend in excruciating detail. It's especially good when he gets to the part where she spent nearly a whole night in her boyfriend's car and got grounded for a month after their mother caught her sneaking back into the house early in the morning.

  "What can I say?" Jess says insouciantly. "I like sex and we lost track of time."

  Jeremy shakes his head in mock disgust. "Gross, Jess…"

  "Like you're one to talk." Jess winks at Pete. "And I'm sure you know that by now, don't you, Pete?"

  The teenager gapes at her. "Uhh…"

  "Relax, I'm just pulling your leg," Jess smirks. "So, when's dinner gonna be ready, baby bro? I'm eating for two now, so it better be soon."

  Jeremy gets the time from the clock on the wall and is surprised by how much has passed. "It should be any minute now," he responds. Come to think of it, he can smell the stew in the air too, and it makes his mouth water.

  Pete leaps to his feet. "I'll go check."

  A couple minutes later, Jeremy is back in the kitchen serving the stew out into four bowls while Pete gets some cutlery from one of the drawers and goes to set the dining table. He hears Pete laughing with Jess and James again and wonders why the hell he was so concerned when his sister and brother-in-law first showed up.

  Everything's going swimmingly, and he couldn't be gladder.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Jess and James take their leave. Jeremy offers to let them stay in one of his guest bedrooms, but they won't hear of it.

  "We already booked a hotel nearby," Jess says. "Besides, wouldn't wanna get in the way of…y'know."

  With another wink at Pete, Jess and James drive off, leaving them alone. Jeremy shuts and locks the door and then turns around to lean back against it. Pete remains with him in the foyer, seeming uncertain of what they should do now. Jeremy knows. He overheard something during dinner, after Jess asked Pete what his plans were for college next fall. When Pete hesitated and then didn't really have much of an answer to give at all, Jeremy could've smacked himself for not asking his boy that question himself before.

  Pete fidgets under Jeremy's scrutiny. "What's with the face?"

  "College," is Jeremy's short reply.

  Pete gulps. "Oh. That."

  "Yeah, that." Jeremy steps toward his boy. "You've really got no plans and haven't even applied anywhere?"

  Pete doesn't back away, but it's clear he wants to. "N-no," he stutters.

  "I'm disappointed."

  Pete's expression twists into one of horror. "You are?"

  "In you, yes, but mostly in myself," Jeremy explains, stopping when he reaches his boy. He cups Pete's cheeks in his hands. "Why haven't you applied anywhere yet?"

  The eighteen-year-old can't tear his gaze away from Jeremy's. "Because it's hard."

  When he doesn't elaborate any further, Jeremy pushes him. "How? We're not doing anything else until you've told me the full truth."

  "It's stressful! My grades are good, but I don't know what I wanna do. I've been putting it off, and then I ended up procrastinating on it for so long that I was too embarrassed to bring it up with anyone," he admits. His next words are so quiet that Jeremy almost doesn't hear them. "I just…got scared."

  "That's not acceptable, Pete," Jeremy chides him. "You could've come to me. Or before we met and solidified things between us, you could've gone to your Dad."

  "I know… It's just me being dumb, I guess."

  "No putting yourself down." Jeremy lowers his hands from his boy's face and brings him into his arms. "You're not dumb. You just made a mistake. We all make them from time to time."

  Pete shudders. "Are you still mad at me?" he whispers into Jeremy's neck.

  "I'm not mad, baby." Jeremy rubs his hands up and down Pete's back. "But you still have to be punished."

  Pete whimpers his disapproval but doesn't do more than that.

  "Since it's only the first time I'm having to punish you and you're usually so good, I'll go easy on you this time. Just don't take advantage of my kindness in the future, alright?"

  "I promise, Daddy…"

  "Okay."

  Jeremy keeps holding his boy while he thinks. Pete has to own up to his mistakes and grow from them, and it falls to Jeremy to mak
e sure he does. In a way, it also serves as a punishment for himself, at least this time, because he believes he failed by not asking Pete about his college plans—or lack thereof—any sooner.

  "Alright, I know what your punishment's going to be," Jeremy says. "Come with me, Pete."

  Jeremy leads the way back into the living room and comes to a stop in the corner, where the walls are bare and there's nothing of interest to look at or touch.

  "Really?" Pete pouts, catching on.

  "Yes. You're going to sit here in time out for thirty minutes and think about your actions." Jeremy points to the floor and doesn't speak again until Pete has reluctantly sat down there, facing the walls with his legs and arms crossed. "I hope this will teach you to communicate your struggles to me with more freedom, because you not doing that hinders my ability to do my job as your Daddy. As I said before, that's just not acceptable behaviour. It's not what good boys do. Do you understand?"

  Pete bows his head and his body language becomes less defensive. "Yes, Daddy."

  "Okay. I'll be back to get you when your time is up, and we'll move on. Tomorrow after school, we'll discuss your options for college together."

  It's tough to leave his boy alone there, but Jeremy forces himself to walk away because he's sure it's for the best.

  Pete has to learn.

  — CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO —

  - Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 -

  Pete doesn't think he's ever been so bored in his life. He's only been sitting in the corner for a few minutes at most, but to him it feels as if hours have passed—and that's not just him being dramatic. The passage of time is unbearably slow when you've got nothing to do, nothing to focus on at all. All Pete can look at are the smooth painted walls in front of him, and they get old quickly. He counts the few specks of dirt that are there several times over, attempts to make shapes or constellations out of them like they're stars in the sky, but they aren't enough.

  He shuts his eyes instead, getting lost in his imagination. He thinks of himself and Jeremy in all sorts of compromising positions, but every time he comes up with something good, Jeremy's disappointed face intrudes in the dirty fantasy and brings him crashing back down to reality. It always happens so fast that his dick doesn't even have a chance to reach half-mast, which fucking sucks. Initially, Pete is annoyed and grumbles to himself about how stupid this all is, but after a moment of introspection, he gets a wake-up call when he realises just what the previous intrusions were:

  They were manifestations of the guilt he feels for letting Jeremy down.

  Him putting off applying to any colleges is the whole reason he's sitting here. It's meant to be a punishment, and Pete has to hand it to Jeremy—it's not as dumb and childish as he thought it was when he first sat down. Well, it is childish, but then…isn't that the point? Plus, it's effective enough for Pete to hate it. He hates sitting in the corner alone, but the only person he can blame is himself. He was naughty, so Jeremy had to teach him a lesson. Pete is definitely learning it. He can hear Jeremy washing dishes in the kitchen and desperately wants to get up and grovel at his feet, but that's not how he'll get forgiveness. Staying in the corner and enduring his punishment is the only way to earn that.

  So that's what Pete does. With a sigh, he settles in for however much of the thirty minutes remains, just staring and pondering his mistakes. He doesn't attempt to lose himself in naughty thoughts anymore, because he doesn't deserve them right now. He can do that when his time is up.

  It's just a shame that it takes so freaking long for that to happen.

  When the noise in the kitchen finally stops and Pete detects Jeremy moving back into the living room, he's nearing the end of his rope. Mercifully, Jeremy's return apparently coincides with the end of Pete's time-out, because he approaches Pete, sits down behind him and requests that he turn around.

  "S'it over?" Pete asks quietly, anxiously meeting Jeremy's gaze.

  "Yes, baby," Jeremy confirms, taking Pete's hand and gently pulling him into his lap. "Did you learn your lesson about how you should talk to me?"

  Pete nods and tucks his chin over Jeremy's shoulder. "I won't keep anything from you again, Daddy."

  Jeremy hums and places a kiss to the side of Pete's neck, making him shiver. "There's my good boy."

  "So you forgive me?"

  "Yes, you're forgiven, Pete. Now we can move on with the slate wiped clean. I hated doing that to you. I much prefer holding you like this."

  Pete agrees. After a long time of forced solitude, he soaks up the contact like a sponge soaks up water. They sit there for a few minutes more, and while time still seems to pass slowly, Pete doesn't mind it now that he has his Daddy with him. Jeremy makes everything better, and Pete wouldn't complain if they stayed there forever. Unfortunately, the man has other plans, as Pete finds out when Jeremy moves one hand to Pete's ass to support him as he pushes himself to his feet, putting his big, sexy muscles to use. Surprised, the teenager clings to Jeremy tightly, wrapping his coltish legs around his waist.

  "Daddy!" he squawks, leaning back so that he can see the man's face again.

  Jeremy chuckles and pecks the tip of his nose. "C'mon, baby," he says, carrying Pete into the kitchen. "It's nearly bedtime, but we've got enough time left to do some shopping."

  Pete frowns and allows himself to be carried. "Shopping?"

  "For PJs for you, remember?"

  Pete bites his bottom lip when their conversation in bed comes back to him. "Oh. Yeah."

  "We'll pick out some nice ones for you to wear when you're here in the evenings. Won't that be good?"

  In the kitchen now, Pete shrugs as best he can before Jeremy brings him to the island and sits him down on a stool. "I guess."

  Jeremy takes the stool next to him and pulls a shiny MacBook Pro toward them. The screen is already filled by a Chrome window with several tabs open. "I did some research while you were at school today and found a few sites that have good options for you to choose from," he explains, shifting closer so that their thighs touch. "You can pick out as many as you want."

  Pete is overwhelmed as Jeremy begins scrolling down all the different specialised websites he found. There are dozens of listings for juvenile-looking pyjamas in adult sizes and a variety of colours, designs and fabrics. Like Jeremy suggested when he brought it up yesterday, Pete focuses at first on the simpler ones, the garments that are plain colours. Some are bright while others are more muted. He tells Jeremy to stop scrolling when he spots a listing that consists of a pair of long bottoms and a long-sleeved cotton shirt that looks soft and warm. Both articles of clothing are a deep blue, but the hems and waistband of the bottoms are red, as are the cuffs and collar of the shirt.

  "You like the look of this one, baby?" Jeremy enquires, genuinely curious.

  "I…I think so," Pete replies. He pictures himself wearing it, maybe cuddled up into Jeremy's side on the sofa with his teddy in his arms. It doesn't weird him out but instead sounds so damn relaxing.

  "Yeah, I like that one," Pete confirms.

  "I'll put it in the cart then, and we'll keep going."

  For the next few minutes, Pete picks out a few more pairs of pyjamas that are similar to the first set. Nothing too crazy. And then he sees them.

  "Wait!" he cries, clamping a hand around Jeremy's wrist as he goes to scroll right past another listing.

  Jeremy looks at him, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing," Pete denies as he loosens his grip. "It's just…that one." He points at the screen, at a set of baby-blue pyjamas that have little yellow ducks all over them.

  Jeremy's eyes widen in surprise. "They look very cute, but I was under the impression that you wanted to start out simple."

  "I did, but…"

  "It's alright." Jeremy kisses his temple. "You're allowed to change your mind, Pete. I have no problem adding those to the cart too."

  Pete presses his forehead against Jeremy's shoulder, hiding his face. "Thank you, Daddy."

  Once he f
eels up to it again, Pete and Jeremy resume looking through all the websites Jeremy found, and in the end Pete selects a total of seven sets of pyjamas. The one with the ducks is the most adventurous, the most obviously childlike, but they're also the ones that Pete most looks forward to trying out. He also doesn't fail to notice that seven is the perfect number for him to have pyjamas to change into every day of the week, almost like he was subconsciously planning for a future in which he moves in with his Daddy full-time. Just the idea of it makes him want to cry out of joy.

  You can have that, he consoles himself. Eventually.

  "Is that everything you want?" Jeremy asks him, fingers hovering over the trackpad.

  Pete nods. "Yeah, that's enough."

  "You did good," Jeremy compliments, going to the checkout on the three different websites Pete's selections are on. "You'll look adorable in all of them, I just know it."

  Jeremy's words make Pete all tingly inside, but the sensation fades as he watches the man put in his payment details. He makes a choked noise when he reads the totals.

  "That's expensive," Pete says. "I dunno how I feel about you spending so much money on something that's just for me."

  "It's not just for you, baby," Jeremy corrects, bumping their shoulders together. "It's for me too. To be honest, I can't wait to see you in all of these."

  "It's still so much money…"

  Jeremy shakes his head and finishes all three of the purchases before Pete can get another word in. "It is, but I have no problem with that. This money would just sit in my bank account otherwise, and you're worth spoiling a bit. Or a lot."

  "But what if I'm wrong?"

  "What do you mean?"

  Pete frowns and picks at the fabric of his chinos. "What if I don't end up liking it after all? Then it's just wasted money."

  Jeremy hums thoughtfully. "Yes and no. Yes, it would be a shame if it turns out it's not for you after all, but in my opinion, it's worth trying. No matter the outcome."

  "But—"

  "I'm serious, Pete." Jeremy gently takes Pete's chin and locks their gazes. "I want to do this for you."

  There's no way for Pete not to believe him wholeheartedly, not when Jeremy's eyes are so open and earnest. Jeremy hasn't lied to him before, so Pete trusts that he's telling the truth now and that Jeremy won't try to use any money spent on him against him in the future. Jeremy isn't that sort of man. He can be stern when he needs to be, as evidenced by him giving Pete a time out earlier, but most of him's all soft and gooey.