#now to finish the next chapter of TBWTBH

[starwitness42]

Two Can Play at This Game

A little sequel to Conversations Over an Inflatable Swimming Pool. Hope you guys like it!

~*~

Two can play at this game.

Six weeks ago, Aaron bought a pool. Granted, the pool has brought a lot of joy to their little family in such a short space of time, but watching the children scream their heads off in excitement day in and day out has gotten Robert thinking. 

Two can play at this game. 

He knows what they would want most of all. Aaron’s been whispering about dogs in the children’s ears since birth like some sort of Shakespearean poison. But Robert can’t bring himself to let up on that one. 

Dogs are messy. Dogs are expensive. And dogs are a lot of work - work that would inevitably fall on Robert’s shoulders because his children are too young to do it and Aaron…

Well, Aaron is Aaron, isn’t he? He talks a good game, but Robert knows that if he allowed it, Aaron would live in a pile of filth with a diet of only crisps and beer to sustain him in his garbage kingdom. 

He does his research because anything worth having is also worth researching. And in the end, there seems to be only one logical conclusion: 

A rabbit. 

Their village is surrounded by farms, so it isn’t difficult to find one. What is difficult is finding the right one. That takes Robert to six farms where he looks at over three dozen rabbits before he spots the one he’s been looking for hiding in the corner of the pen. 

It looks like she’s reading, her head so close to the ground, her overly long ears hiding her from others. It looks like she’s hunkered down reading a good book, and Robert knows instantly that she’s the rabbit for him. 

Aaron would probably pick the one losing its mind on the other side of the pen, jumping on every brother and sister it can find. But Aaron sometimes can be an idiot. 

I chose you, didn’t I? Aaron would say if he heard Robert thinking that particular thought. And really, he’d probably be right. 

He tries to think of the best way to present his gift. Does he just walk into the Mill with it tucked under his arm like a parcel? Does he let her loose in the back garden while the kids are out playing? But in the end, all his planning comes for naught when he steps through the door and the perfect opportunity presents itself. 

All three of them are on the sofa. Aaron is flat on his back with a child under each arm like sacks of potatoes. And each one of them is more passed out than the last. 

He walks up to them slowly, making sure his shoes don’t squeak on the wood floor. His heart beating just as fast as that of the little bunny in his hands as he holds it out and sets it gently on Aaron’s chest. 

It sniffs around Aaron’s chest for a bit, likely looking for stray scraps of food, a smart idea where Aaron is concerned. And then she moves towards his face slowly… slowly…

Aaron’s eyes open sleepily once the bunny’s nose reaches his chin, full consciousness returning to him eventually when the rabbit is quite literally sitting on his face. 

Robert couldn’t ask for anything better. 

“Em, Robert?” Aaron asks, his eyes still trained on the bunny but his peripheral sharp enough to spot Robert standing a short distance away, smiling like a mental patient. 

“Yes, dear?” he replies sarkily. 

“Why is there a rabbit sitting on my face?” 

“Technically, I think it’s a bunny at this age,” he says unhelpfully, just because he knows it’ll get a rise out of Aaron. But all Aaron does is nod gently, careful not to dislodge the bunny, and say, “Fine, why is there a bunny on my face?” 

Robert is about to explain his machinations, but the kids take this time to rouse from their slumber, their eyes opening as wide as saucers when they see their new pet nibbling at their daddy’s beard. 

“Bunny!” Annalisa squeals, followed quickly by a Seb-shaped echo as the pair of them begin to pet the as yet unnamed bunny. And quite simply, Robert has never felt so proud in his entire life. 

“She’s so pretty!” Annalisa adds while Aaron continues to lie there with confusion painted on his face. 

“She looks like someone poured brown ink on a white rabbit,” he says, careful not to let his tone show his reluctance. 

Robert just smiles proudly and replies, “It’s called broken butterfly agouti.”

“Gazuntite,” Aaron supplies. 

“I wanna name her!” Annalisa shouts as she pulls the bunny finally off of Aaron and into her own arms. 

“Well, I was thinking we could call her Desdemona. Desi for short,” Robert offers. And immediately both kids shriek “Desi!” as loud as they can. 

“It’s from Shakespeare,” Robert tries to explain to Aaron as he continues to just lie on his back and stare at Robert in a way that Robert can’t quite place. 

“I know. Isn’t she the one that was brutally murdered, though?” 

“How do you know that?” Robert asks, appalled. 

He winks at Robert, smiles the devilish grin Robert knows so well before saying, “I do listen to you, you know… sometimes, anyway.” 

Robert would kiss him right now if the kids weren’t bouncing all over him, passing the bunny… sorry, passing Desi back and forth like a baton. 

That night, as they lie tucked in bed together, wrapped around one another like pretzels, Robert asks softly, “I did good, didn’t I?” 

“Well it isn’t a dog,” Aaron teases, getting a smack on his bum in retaliation. “But I reckon the kids are already over the moon.”

“And you?” Robert asks. 

Aaron turns in his arms so that they’re facing one another when he replies, “Only one thing I’m over the moon about, and I’m lookin’ right at ‘im.” 

Robert does kiss Aaron then, just like he’d wanted to, before falling asleep thinking about how they’re a family of five now, not just four. 

Or, well, six if you count the pool.