return

It had been a really great day with Scottie, probably the unmitigatedly best day he'd had in a long time. So Caleb had hugs and support to spare for Katie, who was family, and what was today about except family? He told her to come over and sprawled on the couch with some HGTV show on just to zone out in front of while he waited. Scottie was asleep, so he told Katie to just let herself in, and by the time she got from the front door to the couch, his arms were wide open.

"Hey, Godzilla? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Scottie had been big into a certain city-destroying monster of late and, as a consolation for not being old enough to go see the new movie, Caleb had taken to helping her build sprawling cities in the living room for her to then demolish while making roaring noises. That's where he was sitting now as he called to her on her way back from the bathroom to her room.

"I didn't eat all the Oreos, some of them fell on the floor and I missed the five second rule so I had to throw them away," she answered immediately, like she'd been waiting to get caught.

"...there is nothing I believe about that, but we'll talk about that later. C'mere." He waited until she sat down on the floor with him, both of them idly turning pieces of the latest city over in their hands. "You know how I've met some new people recently, like Katie and Sam? Well there's someone else important to me, and not just in a friend way." Caleb paused, taking a deep breath. "I like him a lot, in a romantic way. He's my boyfriend, actually."

Scottie didn't even take a beat before replying, "Like Flynn Rider and Rapunzel?"

Caleb knew the reference was because they'd just watched Tangled again the day before, but he was a little perturbed by how well it fit. He wondered if Scottie had accurately pegged her father as the Rapunzel in that situation in more than just the likes-a-boy way. "Yeah, sure," he answered simply, giving her room to ask more questions if she wanted to, or just process.

He didn't see her follow-up coming. "Are you going to get married like they did?"

Caleb didn't recall them getting married at the end of the movie, as was typical in a lot of earlier Disney movies, but then he remembered the short sequel. Not that that was what he was supposed to take from the question. "I don't know. Maybe one day. People usually take a little longer to get married in real life than in movies. For now we just care about each other a lot and like spending time together."

Scottie took a moment to think about that, but eventually she nodded like that checked out. Caleb was once again glad for all the conversations they'd had about the difference between real and pretend.

"Is that okay with you? Do you have any questions?"

"Does that mean you like boys instead of girls?" she asked, winding a toy car through narrow 'streets'. It was more fun when the buildings were close enough to crash into each other and topple like dominos when she starting smashing.

"Well, some of the people I liked in the past were girls, and some were boys. But right now I like a boy, yes."

"When did you like those other people?"

Oh good, she decided to go in a direction that didn't require him to into identity politics or anything bigger than himself. "Back before I was your dad."

She was a logical kid, and could put two and two together pretty easily. "But you didn't get married to any of those people."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

Caleb took a minute to answer that one; some concepts were easier to simplify and explain than others. "Because not everything has to be forever. Like how you had some friends in preschool or kindergarten that you aren't friends with anymore."

"If you do get married, will I have to call him Dad too?"

Caleb knew one of the kids in her class had a step-dad and had been pushed into calling him Dad really early on, so it wasn't a ridiculous assumption on her part. It still made him want to sigh--more on that other kid's behalf than on his own. "Nope. No matter what happens, you can just call him by his name, which is Seth. And you don't have to call him anything until you're ready to meet him, okay?"

"Okay."

He paused to make sure she didn't have anything else to add before he continued, "And when you do meet him, it'll be like when you met Katie or met Sam. It'll be all of us hanging out like normal. And if you have a problem or you're uncomfortable, you can tell me and we'll leave."

"He's not gonna be my babysitter like Katie?"

Caleb shook his head. "Nah. Mostly it's gonna be me and him hanging out. Katie would probably get jealous anyway, if he was."

Scottie giggled. "Katie likes me better than you!"

He snorted and admitted, "Everyone with good taste does, Scooter."

She was clearly pleased by that, and for a few moments they both just played with the things in front of them silently. Then: "Do you want me to meet him?"

Caleb nodded and gave her a little smile. "Yeah, I do. But only when you're up for it."

"Could we go see Detective Pikachu if we invite him?"

He really should have expected to be outmaneuvered like that. "...Yeah, we probably could."

"Does he like Pokemon?" Scottie asked, tentatively excited.

"I don't know, but he can't know less about them than I do." Caleb basically only knew Pikachu and a handful of others, and only after repeated instruction from Scottie. He'd probably known more when he was younger and they'd first become popular, but he certainly didn't remember any specifics. "I bet he'd go with us even if he isn't a super Pokemon fan, though."

"Okay, we can do that then!"

"You got it, kiddo." It seemed like a win for everyone involved, so Caleb was going with it. "So about those Oreos..."

Sneaking Seth into the house after Scottie was asleep was not an ideal solution, but it was the best choice he had right now. Once he had another babysitter, he could schedule more nights away from home. Once Scottie knew about Seth and had been introduced to him, Caleb wouldn't have to hide him from her. Until then, this was really the only way to go--because of course just not seeing Seth wasn't an option.

Having successfully done it once already, letting Seth into the house and getting him quietly to the bedroom was, thankfully, far less nerve-wracking. Caleb was still over-cautious when closing the bedroom door, doing it far more quietly than he probably would any other time he was closing it after Scottie's bedtime, something he realized amusedly as he locked it behind them. (Scottie was pretty good about knocking rather barging through closed doors, but it wasn't a risk he was going to take when the fix was so easy.)

"Falling for me, huh?"

1. Do you happen to be free next Saturday? Like all day next Saturday? Because I have a very tempting offer from Seth but I've heard that you're not supposed to leave your almost-eight-year-old alone in the house for 12 hours with no supervision.

2. It occurs to me that I have no idea where your parents are or what your relationship with them is like, so I don't know if you have plans on Mother's Day, but you're welcome to chill with us.

3. Would you be up for doing a mural in Scottie's room? I would pay you, obviously. I was thinking of painting her room for her birthday and honestly a mural would be way cooler. She has a lot of great ideas in that head of hers, and I know you could pull them off way better than I ever could.

4. Feel free to tell me to stop trying to monopolize your life like any time here. I know you have way more interesting people to spend all your weekends on. Except the last weekend in May is Scottie's birthday party so you have to let me monopolize you then. Sorry, orders from the munchkin.