Rabbit's Feet

7

"Hey... Hey... Wake up," James was whispering as he softly shook someone. It was the afternoon, but this person likes to sleep for longer than an hour or two. James shook them a little harder with a sharp, "Hey." The body shifted and popped out a head full of messy, curly, dark brown hair that is greasy for a few days. The head wobbles as he's turned to James, eyes barely open.

A small and tired, "what," from young one-year-old Peter. James chuckled but transitioned into a sigh.

"Hey, Bun-Bun," James softly and warmly said. Peter lowered his head so that he's resting, but still faced to James. His fingers curled as he fairly quickly falls back to sleep. "Time to rise and shine." Peter didn't respond and just sighed big through his nose. James repeated himself, "time to rise and shine." Moving Peter's head around so he wakes up again. He grunts and whines and stretches his arms out but falls back to sleep once again.

James rolls his eyes and gets up to go to the bathroom, drawing a bath of warm water. Threw in some bath toys to bait Peter. James goes back to Peter and sits him up, taking his shirt and pants off. Peter whined and begged not to take a bath in his toddler babbling. James awed and said, "Too bad, you smell awful."

James picked Peter up into his arms and made his way to the bathroom, Peter pouting and grumbling under his breath.Closed the door and let Peter down to get rid of his diaper. Places the upset toddler into the bath, but he saw his toys and perked up a bit. He did stop his happy look when he remembered what happened last time he took a bath. His bottom lip stick out and he grumbled again here and there, but still played with his toys.

James got a cup and scooped up some water. "Close your eyes." Peter closed them tight, scared. James poured the water onto his hair, but his hair was too thick for only one cup. So poured two more cups onto his head until it was completely wet. He turned off the water when it got to the right height.

"Are your eyes still closed?" James asked. Peter did one big nod with his stuck out bottom lip. "Alright, but keep them close, the shampoo is coming," Peter whined, he hates shampoo, especially when it got in his eyes last time, crying loud and upset for 3 minutes after the bath. Always pouts when he sees the baby shampoo.

James did it differently this time. He put shampoo on a washcloth and started to scrub at Peter's thick hair. Peter's hands gripped onto his bath toys like he's getting his nipple pierced. His lip was sucked in and his face all twisted like he's going to explode. James went deep into Peter's hair, trying to get every inch of dirt and grease.

When Peter heard the water being scooped by the bath cup, he got more scared and braced for disaster. The water came down and ran through the hair, washing out some shampoo. A few more cups to completely rinse off the shampoo.

"Okay, all done," James says warmly before getting body soap.

Peter opened his eyes and sighed, he survived unharmed. He smiled and played with his toys, splashing. James continued with washing Peter's body, underarms, chest, back, legs, etc. It was hard since Peter splashed so much. Got James' shirt partly wet and some water on his pants.

"Keep the water in the tub!" James scold. Peter pouted again and splashed much less, but he got his smile back when he made his submarine dive. Babbling some commands for his crew and narration for this cruel world he's portraying.

Later, the bath was drained and Peter was anxious about the cold hitting his wet skin. Hands out and fingers grasping the air with his puppy dog eyes and pouty lips. "Ease, mama," Peter mumbled his whine.

James chuckled and pulled Peter out of the tub and unto the bathroom mat. A warm and dry towel hoodie wrap around Peter, a little too big for him. James stares at Peter for a bit, Peter looks at his towel and back up to James, a little smile to shine. James smiles back and kisses his nose. James stands up and picks Peter up to walk him over back to their room.

James closed the door behind him and sat Peter down on the bed. James went through Peter's drawers to find something to put on Peter. James was picking between two but decided on an orange bunny onesie. He went back to Peter and put a beanie on him. Dries Peter off and fits the outfit on Peter, smiling on how it looks.

"There, all dressed up," James says with a smile. Peter kicked his feet to play with the slightly oversized feet on the onesie. James chuckled and kissed Peter's feet, always makes the one-year-old giggle. "I wish for a good tomorrow," James says before kissing Peter's foot again. James rubbed the top of Peter's head with a chuckle.

Sat him on the floor with his toys and goes to his computer to check on a few things.Peter did swing some figures around but stopped to think. James very often kisses Peter's foot to make a wish, he's not sure if it comes true but this still seems magical to Peter. He looked at his feet. Magical? His own two feet?

Peter grabbed his foot and babbled, "ish... Ish... Dada." He planted his face on his foot and made a smooch sound. Brought his head back up and looked around. He pouts, maybe it doesn't work.

A knock on the door. "Come in," James says.

"Yo, James,' Aleks says as he walks in. They talk for a bit, Peter starts at Aleks and then looks at his own feet again. Did it work? Peter pushed himself up to stand up and waddles over to the two, two tiny hands gripping on Aleks' pants as he looks up.

"Ah-ah."

"Oh hey, Peter. Nice outfit." Aleks smiles and pats Peter's head before continuing the conversation with James. Peter hugs Aleks leg until Aleks had to pull him off so he can go leave to do something else.

"Ah-ah!" Peter yells and waddles just a little faster. Aleks stops and giggles, let Peter hug his leg again.

"Hm? What you want, Cottontail?" Peter looks up and whines. "What?"

"Ah-ah..." Peter mumbles but then says, "Dada."

Aleks grew red and pulls Peter off as he shakes his head. "Um, no no no, not your Dada." Peter pouts and whines.

"Dada!" Peter keeps coming back to cling to Aleks' leg and Aleks had to keep pulling him off. He looked up and saw James just watching with his wrist under his chin but the rest of his hand covering his mouth. When they saw each other, James chuckled and waited for Aleks to talk first. Eyebrows jerk up to suggest that Aleks says something.

"What? I-I got nothing to say other than, no." James shrugs with a smile.

"Alright," he doesn't sound convinced.

Ten years later

"Buuuut... You said yes when he popped the question," Peter said, pointing at James.

"Yeah, surprisingly." James rolled his eyes. "I said yes because he kept coming after me and bothering me for-fucking-ever," James says. He looks over at Aleks, who was not happy about that statement. James chuckled.

"That's a lie. I never bothered you."

"No? What about the constant texts and phone calls? You were basically smothering me."

"I did not bombard you with messages. You usually text me first anyway." That last part made James laugh.

"Bullshit! I specifically remember your thirsty texting me first and sometimes at night, mind you."

"No!'

"Yes! You would text me, 'hey you up?' and it's like fucking 3 am." James laughs again. "We just go on about random shit that doesn't matter at the end."

Aleks and James go back and forth about this, it eventually brought some other topics in like "James being mean for no reason."

It even on and on until Peter decided to head to his room. Closed the door behind him and threw himself to lay down on his bed. Pulled out his phone to respond to some texts and play some mobile game that he logs into now and again. He kept thinking about the story that James told. He brought those two together, if not, shoehorned some chemistry between them until they said fuck it. The very desperate wingman. Peter looked at his feet and smiled, wiggled them a little like he proud.

"Lucky as rabbit's feet."

Thank you to all that stuck with me or at least enjoyed some of my stories. Means a lot.