Page 60 of Love Lessons

For a quick scene… sure. She could try out some age play. It seemed relatively harmless.

She managed to pull off a smirk, moving back into the role of educator. Been reading a lot?

He gushed, not at all concerned about revealing his newness and excitement. Oh my god. I’ve been reading everything. Thank you for sending me all of those links, by the way. You really picked some good sites and they’ve helped me figure out a lot of things.

Thanks. I mean, I didn’t write them, I just compiled them. Lena fought off another blush. She was used to compliments from other people. Why did it feel so different when Dustin was saying it?

You still did a good job.

OK, so maybe she was blushing a bit. She took a bite of curry to give herself a moment. Dustin ran his foot along her leg and that helped ground her, too.

Alright, time to put herself back in control of things. Right. Age play. It can look a lot of different ways, which is pretty much the motto of BDSM. After risk-aware and consensual, of course. And it can really be about any age, like someone who’s twenty acting like their fifty counts too. Are you asking about caregiver/little play, though? CGL?

Sure, he nodded. Tell me about that.

The way I liked to think of it, she continued, is that in other D/s relationships the sub is usually serving the Dom in some way. But in CGL the caregiver is usually nurturing and taking care of the little. The caregivers usually set up structure, punishment, and rewards for their littles, too. The caregivers might be called Daddy, Mommy, or any other adult name like Teacher or Uncle or whatever. And the littles might regress to any age from infancy to the teen years. People can move between different roles, though, and might be different ages at different times.

Thank you. That’s about as much as I’d figured out from the websites, but… how does someone know if they’re a Daddy?

Lena was about to launch into an explanation, a combination of basic information from the newbie websites and a few things she’d picked up from other kinksters, but that wasn’t what Dustin was actually asking her for.

In fact, this explained so much. She should have seen it sooner.

Being a Daddy was in everything he did. The laundry and homework last month had been about structure. The cuddling on the couch was about nurture. Game night with friends had been about helping her to realize her potential. And making her wait until the next day to come, a memory that still made her get embarrassingly hard, was all about control. He hadn’t given her a system of punishment and rewards, but he’d definitely let her feel the consequences of some of her decisions. Just thinking about it made that squirmy, needy feeling race through her.

It explained all of the texts, too. The way that he kept up with all of her projects and remembered the things that were important to her. The way that he made her feel like she was important. He’d even reminded her to get enough sleep, which always made her feel sort of melty inside. Total Daddy.

His amused but strict reactions to her rebellions and flirtation now made so much sense, too. He was looking for someone to guide and take care of. She wasn’t sure if what he really wanted was age play or if it was just a Daddy thing, but there was no doubt that it was there.

Figuring out Dustin’s kinks, though, meant rethinking some of her own behaviors. She must have been responding to his signals without even realizing it. Which was why she was acting like such an inexplicable brat around him.

But that meant… did she want a Daddy?

Having a Daddy meant a lot of, well, dependence. You had to really know that your Daddy would always be there for you to give up all that control. But wasn’t that, maybe, what she’d been testing all this time?

She’d called guys Daddy before in a scene. It was, like, one of those kinky things that she’d always thought was for other people, but she didn’t mind doing if it made someone happy. It didn’t really do anything for her personally.

But that was entirely different from having a Daddy.

She looked Dustin over. His features were unremarkable, but he shone to Lena, tinted by her need and affection and submission. He was gorgeous because of the dominance that he carried inside him.

His piercing, dark eyes that could pin her in place or soften when she pleased him. His coiled body, with those strong arms that always held her so tightly. His hands that could tease her into ecstasy or tell her to finish her dinner before eating dessert.

He continued eating his dinner, as though he hadn’t just taken everything she knew and shaken it upside down. He was watching her with close attention, but without trying to make her nervous. Lena felt his foot pressing lightly against her ankle, letting her know that he was there. Because he was a Daddy.

She knew he’d asked her a question, but her mind couldn’t settle enough to answer. Was this what she wanted? She’d sure found it hot enough when he used all of that Daddy magic on her before.

And how would it be different if she was supposed to be a little? She couldn’t see herself running around in pigtails. There was something there, though. Something just out of touch. Something that she had to acknowledge that she wanted a lot more of.

Or, God, maybe that wasn’t even what he was asking about anyway. She couldn’t even remember the question. Sorry, got distracted, she signed with false confidence. What did you ask?

An indulgent smile formed on his lips. He probably knew exactly what was going on in her head. He could read her entirely too easily. How does a Daddy take care of his sweet girl?

OK, yeah. So this wasn’t just an idle question. Lena felt her heart pounding like it would break free of her ribs. Could she be his sweet girl? Would he be her Daddy if she wasn’t his sweet girl? How was she supposed to negotiate these things?

For now, she just tried to respond normally. He, um, gives her things. There, that was pretty safe. And he’s in charge. Also generic enough. Nothing different from many other D/s relationships really.

Dustin seemed to be waiting for something more. He trapped her feet between his own, giving her a little extra measure of safety.