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“No I don’t.” He nodded towards the mug of hot purple. “Drink up, you don’t want it to get cold.”
Mossie obeyed without even thinking about it. It felt…right, and his answering smile made them glow.
“How long will it take for Giraffe to be repaired?”
“Probably a few days, though I will fast track him for you.”
A few days? Mossie’s pulse raced and their breathing shallowed. They tried to hide their response, but clearly did a terrible job as Daniel put his own mug down, and took their free hand in his.
“Is that a bit scary, Mossie?”
They nodded, words stolen away for a moment. They hadn’t slept without Giraffe in years. Even when they’d dated people who didn’t know that they were a Little, they’d slipped Giraffe under their pillow at night. It was the longest relationship they’d had that wasn’t marred by queerphobia. Technically their relationship with their parents, and with their school friends was longer, but those relationships were damaged beyond repair, to the point where they’d cut those people out of their life.
Giraffe was their constant. He’d been there when they’d woken up from top surgery. He’d been there when they’d been made homeless. He’d been there through everything and the idea of having to spend a night without him…
The tears were back, to their embarrassment. At least when it had first happened it was clear that they were in the middle of a panic attack. Now they were just being a little bit pathetic.
Daniel took Mossie’s mug from their hands and put it on the table next to his. “Mossie, may I help you self-regulate?”
“Yes.” The word whispered, but he heard.
“Okay,” he wrapped each of their wrists in his fingers, and held on tight. The pressure anchored them, and Mossie felt a less lost, as if he was anchoring them. “What I want you to do is follow my instructions. Breathe in for four.”
They breathed in for four.
“Hold for four.”
They held their breath for four.
“Let it out for four.”
They breathed out for four.
“And hold for four.”
They held for four. And then repeated the process, with his words anchoring them in place as they did so.
When they finally stopped, Mossie looked up and met sea-green eyes.
Daniel smiled. “You okay there Little one?”
“Yes, Daddy,” they said.
“I am so sorry,” Mossie repeated for what must have been the sixth time. “I spoke without thinking. You were so nice and calming and I just…”
“It’s fine,” said Daniel, and he actually looked kind of touched. “Genuinely, it’s been a long time since someone called me Daddy and I’d forgotten how much I like it.” He reached up a hand to tap where his heart sat in his chest. “It kinda got me here.”
Mossie blushed. “I got all panicky and you reacted the way my Caregiver would and I—”
“Your Caregiver?”
Were they mistaken or did he look disappointed? “No no, as in if I had a Caregiver, that’s the way that they would have reacted.”
“And I did call you Little one,” Daniel pointed out.
“Youdid,” that was a relief. “Actually yeah, why am I apologising? This is all your fault.”
They laughed up at him and he laughed back, but his gaze dropped to their lips and they curled their toes in their shoes. Gods they wanted him to kiss them. Thought that he might have actually done so if one of the other restoration specialists hadn’t chosen precisely that moment to walk through the door.
