Chapter one
Cody –Peter Cottontail
The week before Easter.
Jump. Jump. Jump. Jumping around Daddy’s living room, too excited to contain myself. My best friend, Joey, was coming over to color the Easter eggs with me. Skyler was coming too, and that was nice, but Joey was the bestest. I met him at Afterglow, the fun, sexy club Daddy liked us to go to. They had a room just for littles to play where Joey and I hung out together.
Ding-dong.
“They’re here!” I ran through the living room.
“Cody Schroeder, settle down before you break something, like yourself.”
Uh-oh. He used my last name, better listen. “Sorry, Daddy. I’m just so ‘cited.”
“I know you are. Come on, let’s get the door.”
Joey was with his new Daddy, Vince, who used to drive racecars for a living. That was crazy. I never knew anyone likethat before. He was like famous, but they were always very low-key about it. I grabbed Joey in a big hug. “So glad you’re here. Let’s go color eggs.” Joey wore shorts and a cute T-shirt with a bunny on it, and he smelled fresh like soap and baby powder but with a subtle warmth behind that like amber, which was probably his cologne. His hair was done perfectly, since he was a total fashionista.
Daddy shook Daddy-Vince’s hand, and they followed us to the kitchen, where Daddy already had the coloring stuff laid out. Joey looked at everything. “This is gonna be so cool, but where’s the eggs?”
“I’ve got them.” Daddy pulled two dozen out of the fridge, but Vince put a basket with even more eggs in it on the kitchen island in front of us.
“Yay!” I clapped and bounced on my stool. “More eggies.”
Daddy fixed a cup of coffee and held it out in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest, watching us, and Daddy Vince was beside him, leaning against the counter. They were both nice-looking men, but my daddy was bigger with broad shoulders and the beginnings of a scruffy beard because he hadn’t shaved yet. His arms filled out and stretched the white T-shirt he wore. He winked at me when he caught me looking. “We should probably leave these guys to it.”
They walked out the back as I picked up an eggy and dropped it into the blue-colored cup. It smelled more like acidy vinegar than eggies. “Do you like blue, Joey? It’s your favorite, right?” I teased.
“No. Purple is my favorite. Duh.” He gave me a side eye because I already knew that. He always dyed his hair purple, and it was purple today. As if to prove his choice, he dipped his egg into the purple. “I haven’t done this in years. When I was a kid, my brother Tony and I would do them, then Mom and my auntiewould hide them for us. My cousins would sometimes play with us, but they were older.”
“I love playing hide the eggies.” I danced on my stool a little. “We need some tunes. Hang on.” I wiped my hands and turned my phone to my favorite playlist.
Joey hooted and wiggled around on his stool as he dip, dip, dipped his eggies.
After a while, Skyler and his daddy, Crow, showed up. Skyler wasn’t a little like me and Joey, but he still had a daddy and was mostly fun to hang out with. “Hey, guys.”
“Hi, Skyler.” I waved him over. “Want to color eggies with us?”
“Uh. No, thank you. But I have an idea.” He held up his phone. “I can take pictures and videos. I’m sure your daddies would love that.”
Joey held a hand in the air as he cheered. “Yay!” He always loved being in front of the camera. When he wasn’t being a little, he did a lot of social media marketing. It sounded like more fun than my job selling insurance.
We colored more eggies, acting silly. Since there were so many, Skyler eventually jumped in and did a few. Still, he was careful not to put his fingers in the dye cups, unlike me and Joey. Our fingers were multi-colored by the time we finished, with Joey’s being more purple and mine being more blue.
“Hey, Cody, why didn’t I know you were little when we went camping last year? I’m good friends with Danny, you know.” His friend Danny also worked for Drew and hung out with us at the club, and he was a little.
I shrugged a shoulder as I put another egg in the drying spot. “Guess I’m more private about it.”
“Makes sense. That was a crazy trip though, right?”
“Mmhmm…they’re doing something fun this year too.” Daddy’s company was putting on a big trip, which, apparently, they did every year for Pride.
“Oh? What’s happening?” Joey asked. Skyler would know because he worked at Daddy’s company, but Joey didn’t.
Skyler tapped on the counter. He didn’t look like a lawyer to me, but I’d never seen him dressed up. Today he wore jeans and a golf shirt. “Drew’s company always does fun things. Last year, it was a huge camping trip, complete with drag queens.”
“Drag queens? Camping?” Joey looked shocked.
