Taggart looked thoughtful and wistful. “I’ve never gotten to play in a wallow.”
“Then we will have to remedy that, if you would be okay with me digging a wallow back here?” Arlo asked.
“I-I’ve thought about putting a hot tub in, many times, but didn’t because it was just me and I’d have been sad sitting in it staring at the stars alone, making wishes that there was someone here with me.”
“Now your wishes have been answered,” Soren pointed out. “And we can sit in the hot tub together, if we have room for both.”
As Taggart looked around at that huge backyard, Arlo could see the wheels turning and the hope blooming once more in his eyes. “I would love to have both, and a space for a small garden, for Soren to plant the herbs and other plants he needs for the kitchen. I think a stone wall would make it feel nicer to be outhere without having to worry about clothes. I like to sunbathe in skin and in fur too, it would be awesome to do it without worrying about being seen.”
“I love to preen in the sun, both in skin and feathers,” Soren admitted shyly. “We could make it our own private oasis.”
“One private oasis coming up,” Arlo promised before turning his attention to Taggart again. “Does Daddy have permission to make any other security adjustments that might be needed?”
Taggart only seemed to need a moment to think about that before nodding. “Yes, please.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Yay,” they squealed before tackling him.
He was strong enough to catch and support them without being knocked on his ass, but only because he’d had time to brace himself and prepare for the impact of two mates who tried to climb him like a stripper pole. Soren ended up on his hip with his legs wrapped around his waist, while Taggart climbed him like the meerkat he was to wind up on his back, one leg hooked over Soren’s clasped ankles. He didn’t dare try to take a step, so he held steady and let them cling-hug him until they remembered their kite and finally returned to stick hunting.
Chuckling while thinking about how much he could get used to being thanked like that, Arlo reached out to the contractor who did all the work for the crash and asked him to schedule them for his next free slot, explaining what they needed in detail, including the hot tub and raised garden beds. Only after he was satisfied that the wheels were in motion, and his mates were headed back inside to finish constructing the kite, did he ponder where to take them to fly it.
Soren
“I can’t believe we made a kite out of a T-shirt, twine, thread, some sticks and an old sock,” Taggart said, awe in his voice as he stared up into the blue sky, with its wisps of streaky white clouds.
“Socks make awesome tails, especially colorful tube socks. By the time you cut them for the tail and some bows to make it pretty, you’ve created something unique that lasts longer than store-bought ones. The best part is that if the sticks break, we just remove them and add new ones,” Soren explained happily.
“This is so cool!” Taggart declared, holding tight to the spool of thin twine they were using for the string.
High over their heads, Arlington’s T-shirt kite flew proudly, its pretty sock tail dancing on the wind. Taggart looked as happy and free as the kite as it flew, all the sadness and fear having melted from his features, no longer making his face look pinched and tired.
Arlington stood several feet away, taking pictures of them that Taggart already planned to print out to add to the wall.
“I want us to have lots of adventures together,” Taggart said when they arrived. “And take pictures and frame them for the walls. They’re kinda bare.”
“I’m really good at making scrapbooks,” Soren offered. “I made lots of them of my family. I took some when I left, I couldn’t bear to leave all the memories behind, even if I don’t want to look at them yet.”
“You’ll have them for when you do,” Taggart told him as they held hands.
Making good memories to replace the bad was exactly what they were doing out here on their first adventure together.
“We have to make another, so we can both fly them,” Taggart suggested, his brow furrowing.
“Do you think we should make one for Daddy, too?” Soren asked. “Or maybe we should ask first, to see if he’d even want to fly kites with us.”
“He hears you just fine,” Arlington said, his booming voice rolling across the meadow to make it sound like he was right behind them. “And Daddy would love to fly kites with you, though he might have to replenish his wardrobe if you intend to make all the kites out of Daddy’s clothes.”
“We still have half a T-shirt,” Soren pointed out. “We only used the front for this one. We can always use the back for another.”
“But what will we use for the third?” Taggart asked eyeing up Arlington’s chest, while Soren switched his attention to study their mate.
“Hmmm,” Soren muttered, twirling a lock of hair around his finger. “Daddy’s jeans would probably be too heavy, even if we just cut the seat out…”
“I kinda like the way the seat of Daddy’s jeans hugs him,” Taggart whisper-shouted, his gaze having moved down to the jeans while their kite continued to flutter on the breeze.
Soren glanced up to see that it was steadily bobbing, before he went right back to studying their mate, excitement building in his belly. Soren got an idea that he thought would be simply wonderful when he imagined how pretty against the bright blue of the sky Arlington’s boxers of blue and white would look.
