Raccoon-(mxm) (Rever series 6)

Raccoon Twenty-One

He hadn't expected.

His entire life for the past several weeks could be summed up with that one, simple sentence.

He'd intended to die to remove the burden of life from his shoulders, but he hadn't expected King to come along and pick him up in his arms.

He'd intended to leave his home quickly to keep from burdening him, but he hadn't expected to hear the young man's adorable thoughts about him.

He hadn't expected to get so involved with him, but now they were standing beside King's car at the local waterpark wearing brand new bathing suits and flip flops as the sweet guy knelt down and helped his daughter put some sunscreen on her smiling face.

They'd had his sweet Tili for two days now, and unfortunately, they'd have to give her back to Anne to send home tomorrow. His anxiety had been jumping all over the place since he'd gotten that text earlier that morning, but each time his mind began to struggle King took his hand, or elbow, or even slid a few fingers into the back pocket of his bathing suit and gave the fabric a gentle tug as a reminder that he was there for him.

His heart was currently beating in his throat as Tili, in her black pair of boy's swim trunks and hot pink bikini top pointed in excitement as they finally got to the front gates. King stepped in front of them and scanned their tickets on his phone, then let the guard check their bag of towels, sunscreen, and snacks.

"Daddy?"

Baron immediately turned his smile to his daughter as she settled her hand back on his shoulder.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

Her arms wrapped around his neck as she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Thank you for taking me to play today, and for reading and going for a walk with me yesterday. Dinner was really yummy, too!"

Those really aren't things a child should thank their parent for...

He nudged aside his upset as King walked back up to them, all smiles.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. I love reading with you and Mr. King likes going for walks, so he was happy to join us, too." 

She smiled wider.

"I really like Mr. King!"

Me too, sweetie.

They headed inside and easily found a spot right in the middle of the park on a large man-made beach. Lockers were available nearby, so they put their phones away, then settled on the towels King quickly laid out.

Baron then carefully got his daughter outfitted with some cute pink and blue blow-up water wings. She knew how to swim rather well for her age since he'd taken her to classes when she'd turned one, but that didn't mean that he would dare take a chance.

As he was finishing up, he caught King's shadow moving and looked up just in time to see the young man tug his soft gray shirt, that had Level Up printed on it, up and over his head.

His mouth was suddenly dry.

In the bright afternoon sun he could easily see some marks on the man's upper left arm from his accident long ago, but he quickly skimmed over those before taking in everything else.

He had the makings of abs starting and his body was decently toned, but not overly so. He was a gamer, not a gym bro, but his young metabolism was definitely shining through.

His own face warmed as he saw the band-aid that had been placed over the hickey he'd given him the other day. He would have loved to see him not covering it, but he would never tell him that. If he wanted to cover the mark, he most definitely could. Just the fact that he'd allowed him to put it there was more than enough to make Baron smile for days.