“Awesome. What kind of track do you want to build?”
Being in Mikey’s headspace didn’t mean Phex was completely gone, and even as Mikey, Phex realized how smart Devlin was. He asked questions but let Phex—or Mikey—set the pace and lead the way. He wasn’t enforcing his will or putting his foot down but simply going along with what Mikey indicated.
Mikey looked around the room. “A really long one.”
“Okay. Do you have enough boosters?”
Daddy knew what he was doing, and a big smile broke through on Mikey’s face. “Lots of them.”
He dragged out the other bins, then dumped the two with all the track pieces on the floor. Messy, but so much more fun. He plopped his butt down on the floor, closing his eyes for a moment to take in the sensation of being Mikey. Everything was perfect: his clothes, his pull-ups, his toys…and the Daddy who was watching his every move.
“We need a couple of straight pieces to start with,” Mikey said, opening his eyes again. “And then the first loop-de-loop.”
“If we do the start on a little bridge, they’ll get high speed going down right away,” Daddy said. Boy, that was a brilliant idea.
Mikey built that bridge, then installed the booster that would give the cars a good starting speed. Daddy handed him the pieces for the loop-de-loop, and he built it, focusing completely on the job. After that came another straight stretch, then some curves and turns, and a high bridge. Going down would give the cars enough speed to do the next loop-de-loop. What if he built a booster right at the end and made them jump over a missing piece of track? Kinda like that bus did in the movieSpeed. Oh, that would be epic.
Daddy kept handing him pieces, asking the occasional question, and Mikey built. It took him an hour, but then he’d created a full track loop that covered half the room. He rubbed his hands. “Time to test it.”
Daddy grinned. “That’s the biggest, coolest track I’ve ever seen. What car will you test with?”
Mikey laughed. “A Porsche, of course.”
He knew exactly which one too. A silver Porsche 911, just like he had himself. He put it at the starting point, did a last check, then sent it off. He scrambled to his feet as he followed it. Itnavigated the loop-de-loops without issue, but would it manage to jump across the gap to the next track? He held his breath.
“Woot!” he cheered as the little car went flying and landed perfectly, picking right back up on the other side. “Did you see that, Daddy?”
“I did. That was epic, buddy.”
The Porsche completed its first round, and Mikey took it off the tracks. Would it work with a heavier car as well? “I want to do it again with a different car.”
“You need to drink something first.”
Mikey looked up. “But I really want to test it with a heavier car.”
“I’m sure you do, buddy, but you’ve played for an hour, and you need to drink something first. What would you like? Water? Apple juice?”
He blinked. “But, Daddy…”
“I think I was clear before when I said we’d play for an hour, Mikey.”
Oh, the stern tone he used made Mikey’s belly go all weak and fluttery. See? He was nice and kind, but he was also a real Daddy. Mikeylikedit. “Yes, Daddy. And I’d like apple juice, please.”
“Good boy. Now, show me where we can find something to drink for you.”
Mikey led him to the kitchen, where Daddy pointed at the breakfast bar for Mikey to sit down. He watched as Daddy opened all the cupboards, not embarrassed at all, it seemed, until he’d found Mikey’s plastic cups with Lightning McQueen on them. He loved that movie and must’ve seen it at least fifty times by now.Ka-chow!
Daddy put a cup with apple juice in front of Mikey. “Drink up, cutie.”
Hmm, funny, he hadn’t even realized it, but he really was thirsty. And hungry. “Daddy, can I have a snack as well?”
“You sure can.” Daddy grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, then found a knife in one of the drawers. He deftly cored the apple, then sliced it into bitesize pieces and put them in a little plastic bowl from Mikey’s cupboard.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome.”
Mikey sipped from his apple juice and ate his apple, his thoughts going in every direction. But they kept coming back to one thing: he really liked having a Daddy. Seeing Daddy in his kitchen, feeling being taken care of, hit all those needy spots deep inside him. He’d thought that he was done after the utter disaster with his previous Daddies, but this Daddy had made him change his mind.