Daddy's girl

4| Little

Kimberly's time after school was calm. Robert and herself watched two Disney movies together and ordered take out. She didn't eat lunch that day claiming she was too busy, so of course Robert made her eat up a big portion of Chinese food.

Robert rather enjoyed her company, she wasn't too boisterous, nor was she too quiet. She knew when to talk, but also knew when to leave the conversation die. Kim had a great relationship with both of the Mitchell brothers which made the time looking after her much easier. She was eternally grateful that she was left with people she trusted.

She thoroughly enjoyed Caiden's company, though sometimes he could be exhausting. Caiden often acted like an excited child, he was fun to be around but sometimes could wear you out just by talking your ear off. When he picked Kim up he insisted on going the long way home just so they could listen to music in his so-called race car. Once they did finally arrive home he sat with her for two hours until Robert got back, and continuously asked if she had any homework to do, and insisted on trying to help. He wanted to feel smart.

Then soon arrived another day when Kimberly was in school yet again, only that day Robert had off as did Caiden. The boys planned to go out for lunch, but first he wanted to finish reading his book.

Robert enjoyed reading, it was something him and Kimberly had in common. He felt it was an escape to whole new world, especially when you didn't wanna focus on the one you were in. It's  not that he didn't enjoy being around Kimberly,  it was that he possibly enjoyed it a bit too much.

Robert was never one for girlfriends. He never felt as if he found the right one for him. He didn't want to mindlessly date and end up with people he had no connection with. Sure he dated before, two girls, maybe three. but they were never special. At least not for him.

Truthfully, Robert had never spent much time with a girl alone, not any girl he wasn't already dating. what if he ended up catching feelings? It felt impossible considering the situation, thought he didn't want to know how Dale would react if he did. Dale was a course protective over his daughter, but his best friend's son? That was a whole other situation, not to mention the five year age gap.

Robert's worry was what if what people said was true? What if men and women couldn't just be friends? What if there was always something more underlying? Robert was a true romantic and believed that love wasn't forced, and wasn't just based on attraction, he believed it was the feeling of two hearts connecting on a spiritual level. But he couldn't help but worry maybe the realists were the ones that were right?

But then again, they had known each other for years and no feelings were shared, and it wasn't as if Kimberly would have felt anything for him, right? He was much older and she had a whole school of boys to pick from. His job was to simply take care of her until her Father returned,
And once he did, he was to be her friend once again.

Too many thoughts consumed his brain that he could no longer focus on, so he decided to close his book and place it in his drawer. Then a flash of yellow caught his eye. The binder full of tips that Kimberly's dad left him. Sure, he should have read it before but he was pretty confident that he knew Kimberly enough to know what she needed. He flipped through the page to see if there was anything he didn't already know. There was a page on privacy. Don't move her stuffed animals. Never stop her from seeking alone time. Don't search under her bed — that's her hiding space.

It was pretty straight forward, only three rules that he would have likely followed anyway. But now it was mentioned... under her bed. He had to take a look. Dale couldn't seriously expect to say such a thing and not expect Robert to go looking.

Robert stood from his seat and entered Kim's room without a second thought. He crouched down on the ground and scanned the underneath of her bed. It seemed to just be filled with drawings and craft things, but he soon found a colourful box she had seemingly made herself. With furrowed brows Robert reached for box and pulled it out. After lifting the lid he was met with a note. "Is this me? Then you can open." He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Cute.

Inside sat assorted pacifiers along with small figurines of unicorns and bunnies. Underneath there was a little pink book. Of course he had to take a look. It was filled with small drawings, notes to herself and starting at the back there were lines, though left with no date making it hard to configure when they were written.

She's a little.

Suddenly things began to piece together as memories flashed through Robert's mind.

"Are your mugs in here?" Robert questioned Dale so that he could make the two a cup of coffee.

Dale looked up and his eyes almost popped out of his head. "No! No no, not that one. To the left."

That same cupboard had a piece of tape along the opening with a note saying, 'don't open.' Robert presumed it was a broken shelf, not that he was hiding anything.

He closed the box and pushed it back underneath her bed before rushing down to the kitchen to take a look what was hiding in the cupboard. After removing the tape he opened the door to see there were sippy cups, plastic plates and all things a little would use for comfort.

Robert couldn't help no smile. Dale did that for her. How adorable. No one could deny how sweet it was for Dale to not only accept Kimberly for her coping mechanism, but also make her feel more normal with it.

There was a million times when Dale had been on the phone and cartoons played loudly, or when Robert and his family had knocked on the door before entering and Kim was running around in attempts to hide things, all while screaming as if that could stop them from seeing what was in her hands.

Funnily enough, it worked

Suddenly a deep pit of sadness sunk in Robert's stomach. She's scared to be herself around me.

It wasn't right for Kim to hide herself in her own home, so Robert had made it his plan to make her feel safe, and as if she could be much more herself around him.

Robert of course knew what littles were, whether they be kink related or trauma related — he presumed hers was trauma, no way her dad would know otherwise. He didn't judge either of the two, just thought a daughter wouldn't share such a thing with her father.

Robert could call himself a daddy. He enjoyed taking care of his girlfriends in the past, but they never quite liked it the way he did. He liked giving rules, to be obeyed and overall to have the final say, whereas They liked the independence, and didn't enjoy the handover of power. There was nothing wrong with that of course, it just meant that maybe they weren't as compatible as they may have originally thought.

Robert smiled once again. He just couldn't help it. She was a little. A gorgeous little girl.

❦

Can I self promo? I think so.

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Thanks petals xo
-k