And beyond that was—holy shit.
A big room that had all sorts of furniture and equipment built or modified for very specific purposes. And there were a couple dozen people using said equipment and furniture. People bound to benches and spanked, tethered to St. Andrew’s crosses and flogged or whipped, a person laid out on a padded table while it looked like—fuck, were they beingelectrocuted?
"She's fine, princess. It’s a violet wand and it’s one of Flutter’s favorites, promise. Do you hear her giggling?”
It was a little hard to make out through the murmur of conversation and yelps and cries and everything else, but yeah. If she focused in that direction…
She turned her head to look up at her daddy, perplexed. “Does it tickle?”
Arthur shrugged. “Apparently Flutter thinks so. I’ve tried it before and it seemed more prickly to me. Does it look like something you’d like to try? I’m sure Riggs would be happy to show you if you want.”
At first, Saoirse thought no, definitely not. But the more she looked at it, the more fascinated she was. Couldn’t stop watching.
She rolled her lips between her teeth. “Maybe.”
“Alright, my curious little kitten,” he said indulgently and then planted a kiss on top of her head. “After Hudson shows us around and if they’re not in the middle of a scene we’ll go see if you can give it a try. And speaking of, here comes Hudson. You’ll like him, all the littles do.”
Chapter Three
Hudson had given them a tour of Hive and Arthur was glad he’d suggested it since there were things he hadn’t known or had forgotten even after being a member there for fifteen years. Also, while Saoirse had been shy with Hudson when he first introduced the bear of a man, she’d quickly warmed to him, perhaps sensing he was more teddybear than grizzly bear, which was accurate.
She’d also gotten a quick demo of the violet wand from Riggs and Flutter, and tried it out herself. Just on her arm, but the way her eyes had widened and her pretty pink lips parted… Arthur had felt the blood surging toward his cock when she looked like she was on her way to subspace. Yeah, he was probably going to have to invest in a kit. And get a tutorial or two from Riggs because it seemed his little princess was a fan.
And now it was time to show her one of the things he’d brought her here for. Though it delighted him that she was curious about other things at the club. She’d clung to him like a limpet at first, but now she was still holding his hand but not hiding behind him. She liked it here. Felt comfortable here. Good, he did too.
Arthur led her over to the nursery, and watched her face closely. It would be fine if she wanted to save the age play for while they were at home, just the two of them. He knew it could be intensely vulnerable for littles to show that side of themselves, even when they were with other littles and their caretakers. But having community could be nice too, and he wanted that for Saoirse.
Yes, she had some friends around town who she could go out with but he didn’t think she’d be able to talk to them about kink. Hell, he knew some of them had been kind of crap about her being with him at all. They didn’t even know he diapered her, fed her from bottles, spanked her bottom when she was naughty. There would be zero approval or support from that quarter.
When he opened the door to the nursery and they crossed the threshold, his princess’s face lit up, and she was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. Those bright blue eyes and spots of pink high on her cheeks—she was like a cherub. His own little angel sent straight from the heavens. By a very convoluted route, of course. But she was here and they were together and she was going to be his wife in a month and everything was right in the world.
There were maybe ten people in the nursery: one little boy getting a new diaper on the changing table from his mommy, two little girls in braids standing up in the crib being scolded by their mommy and told they needed a time out, and at the craft table there were two more little girls coloring, their daddies standing nearby and chatting, Sable and Jethro among them. Good, that would make Saoirse happy.
“Can—can I color, Daddy?”
“Of course you may,” he said, loving the way Saoirse asked so sweetly. “Did you see Sable? Remember she goes by Posey here.”
Saoirse looked over to the table and smiled when she recognized Sable. They had become good friends with the Del Bosques although they mostly went out and did grown-up things or had each other over for dinner at home, never playtime.
“Do you want me to walk you over?”
“Is it silly for me to say yes? I could do it my own, but…”
Saoirse huffed a sigh and looked at the floor.
Arthur squeezed her hand and she blinked those pretty blue eyes back to him.
“I know you’re a very confident and competent young lady. It can be intimidating to be in a new place with new people, especially when you’re little. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I’m here to protect you and take care of you and give you anything you need. It’s easy peasy for Daddy to bring you over so don’t fret. No worries allowed,” he said, and tapped her on the nose with a fingertip which never failed to make her giggle and it didn’t this time.
Saoirse half-hid behind him as they walked over to the low coloring table and…he loved it. Not her being nervous, although that was adorable. He loved that she trusted him to protect her, to take her worries seriously and not brush her off, to ask for help when she needed or simply wanted it. He loved everything about her.
“Good evening, girls. It’s nice to see you, Posey, and you’re Twyla, right?”
The redhead nodded. Gunnar and his little Twyla were newer members, but he’d liked the school teacher and his redheaded little when he’d met them here before.
“New friend, new friend, yes!” Twyla said, bouncing in her seat. “Ian just brought us new sticker books, wanna play? They have glitter. That’s my daddy. You can call him Gunnar or Mr. Fox. Hi Mr. Arthur, thanks for bringing us a new friend. You can sit next to me.”
Twyla kept chattering and Saoirse slowly crept out from behind him, eventually eying the yellow chair with the sun painted on the seat that Twyla had invited her to sit in. Posey smiled at her encouragingly which was so sweet of her—she knew what it was like to be nervous in a public play space.