The Gentle Giant

Laundry

Hazel's POV

I clap my hands in excitement, squealing with joy. "Good job!" Axel's dad praises me as I get into a kneeling position all by myself. "One more time. Just so we know it's not a fluke," he says excitedly.

I nod my head, forcing myself to stand on shaky legs. I'm exhausted from practicing for so long, but I can go from standing to kneeling all by myself.

I have to use my hands to stand from a kneeling position because it's much harder to get up than go down, but I'm still proud of myself.

I drop down into a kneeling position again. It isn't graceful at all, but I didn't fall over or hurt myself. "Good girl," Axel's father repeats, patting my head affectionately.

The laundry timer goes off and he looks down at me. "That's the laundry, come on," he says and I nod, crawling after him.

He slides the basket on the floor for me and I get up on my knees, grabbing onto the edge of the laundry machine and trying to pull myself up. It's much easier now, but I need to hold myself up as I lean over the machine to turn it off.

Axel's dad stays near, watching me to make sure I don't hurt myself. I drop down to the floor none to gracefully, simply happy I could get the timer myself. "Hazel," he scolds gently, not liking when I do that.

I giggle and he sighs, not scolding me anymore for the ungraceful movement. He gently kicks the laundry basket closer to me and I take it, putting it under the dryer door. I shimmy back against the wall, trying to open the door and not hit myself.

If I could stand I could do this way easier, but since I'm at the same height as the dryer door, I have to open it and crawl under the door, so that I can unload the clothes.

I smile happily once I get all their clothes out. I don't need him to stand there and watch me anymore. All I have to do is crawl back out and close the door, but he stands and watches me, waiting for me to completely finish.

I push the basket back over to him and grin up at him. He shakes his head at me and nods his head towards the living room. "You can do it," he says.

I frown, not liking when he makes me move the heavy laundry basket by myself.

He nudged the basket with his foot and I get the memo, shoving the basket out the laundry room door. He stands over me, waiting patiently as I alternate between shoving the basket down the hall and crawling.

By the time I finally have the basket in the living room, I'm panting. "You're doing such a good job, Hazel. Just finish up this load and I'll get the last one out of the dryer for you to fold, okay?"

I tiredly fold the rest of the laundry, my body heavy with exhaustion. I lay down on the sofa once I'm done and Axel's father comes back in, having pulled dinner out of the oven.

"No sleeping yet," he says and I whine. "If you sleep now you won't go to bed."

"That's okay," I say and he shakes his head no.

"I know you and Axel don't sleep together yet, but you will soon and he can't have you getting up in the middle of the night because you're not tired," he lightly scolds me.

"We aren't going to be sleeping together," I assure him.

"I know he hasn't been great and he's working on it, Hazel, but you're still his submissive. He feeds you and clothes you and takes care of you, doesn't he?" I nod. "Then you need to take care of him too and he needs you in his bed at night, Hazel."

I grumble, not liking that at all. I like having a bed to myself. It may not be a real bed, but it's comfy and I'm not cramped. I also don't have to worry about waking him up because of my nightmares.