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Elio turned to his siblings. “You’re sure you’re good with babysitting?”
Ava rolled her eyes, shaking her phone in front of him. “We’ll call if they wake up and need him. Take the truck and go.”
They all started toward the other campsite together, Calvin and Ava lugging two collapsible chairs, the cooler, and a couple games with them.
In whispers, they exchanged greetings, then James reviewed a few things about the kids they should know.
When he was done, he looked around, like he was still stunned, and ran his fingers through his hair. “God, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can’t decide whether this feels like involving my babysitters in my sordid affairs, or saying goodbye to my parents before my first high school dance.”
Calvin stifled a laugh. “Be home by midnight and use protection!”
James shook his head, eyes wide. “That is not what my parents would have said.”
Ava chimed in, “How about, give us all the juicy details later?”
James looked horrified. “Definitely not.” He ran his hand through his deliciously tousled hair again. “This is crazy!”
Elio went to his side, snaking his arm around his waist and whispering against his cheek. “No, Daddy. You make me crazy. This is a healthy adult decision to explore something you’re interested in while responsibly leaving your children with people you trust.”
James turned to him, pressing their foreheads together. “How do you always know what to say?”
Elio grinned. The pose was ridiculously cute. Very boyfriend-y, which he hadn’t been expecting at all. “Stick with me and you’ll learn all kinds of new things.” He stole a quick kiss, pleased when James didn’t want to pull back. This was very promising.
Calvin and Ava gave them some good-natured catcalls, but Elio led his prize away. He was such a warm, squishy armful in his sweatshirt, tentatively wrapping an arm around Elio in return.
“So, I was thinking,” Elio started, “that I’d like to drive us somewhere out of hearing range. If you feel comfortable with it, of course.”
James paused his steps, pulling Elio back, and then kept walking. “Yes, that makes sense. I suppose if you were a serial killer, I’d have seen the signs already.”
Elio chuckled and gave him a squeeze. So boyfriend-y. “No murdering tonight. Though I do have a few implements of torture you might like to try.”
That earned him a long pause before they started walking again. “Maybe?”
“We can start slow. I’ll tell you about everything while we drive, and if you try something once and don’t like it, we just put it back.”
“Okay, yeah.” James sounded more excited now. He was going to be such a delicious morsel to unwrap. “Hang on, why do you have these things with you?”
Elio threw back his head and laughed. They were almost to the truck, so he didn’t worry about the noise. “I was driving back from a kink party in the Poconos. It just happened to coincide with the family camping trip.”
“Wow. So you do this a lot.” James sounded both impressed and a little worried.
“I do. It’s something I enjoy, and it’s a good community.”
“But without… dating?”
“You mean, am I in or looking for a committed relationship? The answer is no to the first, and maybe on the second. If the right guy came along, I’d be open to it. But usually I just play.”
Elio rounded the passenger side of the pick-up truck, opened the door, and ushered James in. After gently closing the door, he walked around to his own side and hopped in.
“That was different,” James told him. “I’ve never… I guess I think of myself as the one who would hold the door open, not the other way around.”
Elio started the truck. “Welcome to gaytopia, where you get to make your own rules. Did you like it?” He turned to get a look at James’s shy grin.
“I think I did?”
Elio backed the truck up, then squeezed James’s knee. “Good. I like taking care of you, Daddy.”
“Why does hearing you say that make me want to…” James apparently couldn’t get the sentence out.
