this to be perfectly reasonable.
I was going to owe Destin good Christmas presents for years to thank him for it.
Shoving the binkie back in my mouth so I didn’t say anything else ridiculous, I walked over toward the stools to sit down. It was much better than the table because I got to see him work. Leon had other plans, though.
Before I could sit down, he looked over again. “Do you have a sippy cup or anything like that in your room?”
I nodded and waited.
“Okay, go get them out of your room and you can use them for breakfast.” Then he turned back to the pantry and started digging out flour and whatever magical ingredients made pancakes.
If he hadn’t been fazed by the idea of diapers, I wasn’t going to worry about my cups and stuff. Hurrying back to my room, I dug them out from underneath the bed and went back out to the kitchen. Leon looked at my box as I set it on the counter and nodded. “Very good. You sit down and I’ll get you a glass of milk once I clean these up.”
I’d washed them before and there was only a little bit of dust under the bed, but arguing would have meant taking out my binkie and that hadn’t gone so well last time. Leaving it in was a much safer option, so I sat down and watched as the batter came together in seconds.
I couldn’t remember any of my foster parents or my aunt using several types of flour to make pancakes, but I wasn’t going to question him. The waffles had been so good I didn’t care what healthy ingredients he’d snuck in.
Before I had a chance to get bored, he had the first pancakes forming and was pouring milk into my newly scrubbed sippy cup. As soon as he set it down in front of me, he reached for my binkie and Barry. He slipped the binkie out of my mouth before I could even realize what he was doing and started taking both of them to the couch like it was all perfectly reasonable.
Destin was right.
Leon was bossy and a Daddy.
But I wasn’t going to point that out and risk losing my new kink-blind Daddy. If he wanted to run my life all while playing ostrich about his behavior, that was fine with me. I wanted a Daddy more than a roommate anyway, so it was perfect.
****
“But I don’t want to clean my room.” I flopped back down on the floor, frowning. “You said that was a Friday chore, but this is Sunday.”
I wasn’t sure why I was complaining, because he was right, but I just couldn’t help myself. A small logical part of my brain said maybe I was testing my limits, but I still thought I shouldn’t have to clean it.
It wasn’t Friday.
“Chore chart says Friday.” I folded my arms and huffed, pouting.
Leon stretched his legs out in front of the couch and simply watched me. He wasn’t angry, but I could see his brain whirling as he stared. When I just stayed there stretched out on the floor, he sat forward.
“I saw how dusty your room is. I’m fairly certain it hasn’t been vacuumed since you moved in. There’s no way it will wait until Friday.” His expression said he knew he was right and he was just waiting for me to acknowledge it.
“But it’s not Friday.” I’d already done my Sunday chores.
“Is your room dirty?” He raised one eyebrow when I pouted.
“Maybe.” It wasn’t that bad, though.
It wasn’t like I could write my name in the dust yet…I knew that because I’d tried and I hadn’t been able to read it clearly.
“Do you really want to have a dirty room all week while you study? We decided on Friday being clean-your-room day because you said you wanted to be able to relax on the weekend.”
I didn’t want him to have a good point.
“But it’s not Friday.” All my Sunday chores were done.
Leaning back again, Leon seemed to relax. “I think we need to talk more about expectations and rules.”
Expectations?
Rules?
I had a feeling that meant I was going to have to clean my room.
“Like what?” Sitting up, I grabbed Barry again and folded my legs in front of me.
“From our conversations, you seem to want someone to help you make grown-up decisions when it’s necessary.” When he raised one eyebrow again, I nodded, ignoring the way my face started to heat up.
Did he realize he was kind