Page 15 of Soothing Little Sylmen

He held out his pinky. I leaned forward, locking mine with his, then gave a firm nod as if to echo his words.

Deal.

Chapter Eight

Gael

I was overjoyed at my boy’s excitement. He was receptive, more so than I’d thought he would be. The language barrier between us was nothing. He was open. His expressions told me everything I needed to know. What couldn’t be communicated via that method was easily said via text. Part of me wanted to speak with him more about sign language options. He had been shocked when I showed him the signal for Daddy, and he’d already used it freely.

It didn’t appear like he was against learning sign language. More that he hadn’t been given the encouragement to. Something inside me suspected my boy wanted to be the littlest of Littles, and sign language would help with that.

I had friends who got married and had babies who taught them sign language to communicate before the baby could even speak. It was fascinating to watch, and that information had stuck with me.

With the plan in place, I led my boy back to the library. Amelia was talking with a Little—a young girl with bright pink hair and wearing a very frilly tutu. She swung side to side as the two spoke softly. I navigated my boy past them and down toward the book section.

“You’re going to pick out five titles this time,” I told him, holding my hand up to show the number.

He gave a small pout but nodded anyway. I knew if I didn’t put a limit, we’d be back to having massive stacks with us. While I didn’t mind, I knew Amelia would probably give me some side-eye for it. Besides, if we lost one—heaven forbid—I didn’t want to have to deal with whatever the process was to get things sorted out.

I stood to the side as my boy looked through the selections. Amelia hadn’t had a chance to reshelve what we’d already looked through, so there was no chance of him getting a duplicate.

While he looked, I observed him. I noted his body language and how he took the time to read each spine, and if he couldn’t tell what the book was, he would pull it out to look at it more carefully.

Once he reached five he turned to me, a smile on his face and the stack in hand. I took them from him, tucking them under one arm as I led him back to the front.

The young girl Amelia had been helping was gone now. My friend quirked a brow at me but didn’t say anything. She simply took the items from me and began the routine of checking them out. We were given the rundown on the process and what we needed to do when we were done. I listened intently in case my boy was already regressing in his mind. I needed to be the one in charge, the one making sure things were done properly. Once Amelia felt I knew my part, she handed the books to me and wished us well.

We left the library again and took off toward his room. When we reached the main area where we would need to turn, I paused and thought about what I knew from my research and discussion with Master Derek. The Littles’ Wing was perfect for my boy to go explore and play. He would get to be around other Littles and see what he did and didn’t like. The downside was that it was specifically for Littles, meaning I couldn’t really go in there with him. So instead of following the original plan, I turned him to face me.

“Baby, this area is only for Littles, which means I’ll have to drop you off once you decide on which room you’d like to explore. Do you want me to take you straight there, or do you want to go to your room and be alone together? I am good either way. I can hold the books until you’re done playing, and then we can have dinner and go back.”

Sylmen pondered over the words for a few moments. He even closed his eyes for a second like he was arguing with himself. He was so fucking adorable. The minute he blinked his eyes open; I knew what he would want. Instead of pulling out his phone, he pointed to the sign beside us that said Littles’ Wing.

“All right, sweet boy. I’m proud of you for being brave. I know this is different.”

He smiled shyly, dipping his head. I pressed a kiss to his forehead—just a peck, a quick movement so as not to overwhelm him. While I loved the idea of basking in him, I also wanted to be the Daddy he needed, which meant taking my time with him. I didn’t need to rush anything. Forcing myself upon him on the first full day we had together would only lead to disaster.

We navigated through the halls toward the Littles’ Wing. The wooden floors of the main resort shifted into a stark white marble tile. It was beautiful and welcoming. I could see how Littles would be attracted to the space.

There was a glass trophy case in the hallway. My boy stopped to look into it, his eyes wide as he saw that the trophies were for different Littles. I looked with him, noting there were some for art projects and even for drawing. Sylmen tapped against the glass in front of one of the trophies and smiled as he pulled out his phone.

Lori didn’t tell me Blake was an artist, but he has to be pretty good to win a trophy!

I read the message and though I didn’t know who either Lori or Blake were, it was evident that my boy did. His pride was cute, and I had a feeling my boy was going to attempt to earn something of his own. If they didn’t award him one, I would create something myself. Maybe a “bestest boy in the world” note. I knew Rawhide couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to the other Littles, but I could do it for him since he was allowing me to fulfill this role.

We moved down the hall, passing the different areas. There was a nursery which had a sign with Caterpillar Room outside of it. Through the window we could see Littles sitting in oversized highchairs, and others lying down, their bottoms diapered as they wiggled and played. These were the babies of the bunch. I noticed Sylmen’s eyes tracking them a bit longer, like he was curious but didn’t want to stop me.

We passed them and moved toward the next section, which was for the Butterflies. These were older Littles. I could see them feeding themselves, and even though some had on pull-ups, I sensed this was a group that only needed some supervision, not full-time care. Sylmen didn’t pay as much attention there, so I kept moving things along.

When we reached the section of the area that had lockers lining the walls and numbered doors, I knew we were in the bigger Littles’ and Middles’ classes. We peeked our heads inside, noticing some rooms were empty and others had groups going on with teachers talking. One appeared to be discussing the BDSM lifestyle. Another was going over math problems and discussing how to balance a budget. Sylmen didn’t appear interested in any of those either.

When we reached a point in the hall that felt somewhat secluded, I pulled him aside. I dropped down so we were face to face and whispered to him. “Baby, I need to know where you would like to go.”

He chewed on his bottom lip, his hands wringing together. I smiled at him softly, wanting to let him know that whatever he said was okay. When he didn’t move to pull out his phone or point in any direction, I decided to take the lead.

“How about we do this? What if we meet in the middle? You could go into the Butterfly Room. That way you’re not full-blown baby, since it is your first day and that might overwhelm you. But you’re also not in one of these classrooms, which I think might be a bit more intense. How does that sound?”

His shoulders dropped instantly and he nodded quickly. I pressed another quick kiss to his forehead, and he sighed like it was making him happy too. I made a mental note to keep the motion up.