Page 14 of Axel

‘This way, boy,’ Axel said, motioning across the street. ‘It’s time to hit Max’s and learn what a real pancake tastes like…’

‘Hey, I’ve tasted plenty of real good pancakes before,’ Arlo said, sassily raising an eyebrow. ‘It takes a lot to impress me.’

‘Well quit talking and keep up,’ Axel replied. ‘Because I know for sure you ain’t tasted anything like these before.’

With that, the two of them crossed the street and made their way inside Max’s place. As Axel held the door open for Arlo to enter, he was glad to see both Marshall and Dale were in the diner.

‘Boys, I’d like to introduce you to someone,’ Axel said, closing the diner door behind him and walking with Arlo over toward Marshall and Dale as they slurped their milkshakes in themiddle booth. ‘Boys, this is Arlo. Arlo, these are two young men who I think you might just like. I’m going to have a quick word with Max, and I’ll have his finest breakfast pancakes sent over ASAP.’

‘Thanks, Axel,’ Arlo replied, shyly taking a seat next to Dale and opposite Marshall.

Axel smiled and headed over toward the counter. While he would have loved to spend all of breakfast with Arlo, he figured that the boy would probably rather spend it with Marshall and Dale. After all, the two of them were fun-loving Littles and probably had a whole lot more in common with Arlo than he did.

Of course, the fact that Axel was now able to take his preferred seat at the counter and get some of Max’s strongest coffee down him was merely an added bonus…

‘Usual?’ Max asked, his broad smile and square jaw looking as perfect as ever.

‘Yup,’ Axel replied. ‘Surely you don’t even need to ask at this point?’

‘Normally, no,’ Max replied, setting to work on making Axel a triple espresso. ‘But you don’t show up with a cute as all hell boy every morning either. Who knows what you might want!’

‘Well, I’ll have a large stack of breakfast pancakes for the boy,’ Axel said. ‘With extra strawberries, extra syrup on the side, and… stick a few extra banana slices on there.’

‘You go it…Daddy,’ Max chuckled, knowing full well that any mention of the D-word would bring a frown of disapproval from Axel.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ Axel grumbled. ‘It’s not like that. He’s passing through town and needed some help. I’m only doing what any decent man would do. You know me. Relationships ain’t my thing. Not anymore.’

‘Times change, people move on,’ Max said, handing Axel his piping hot espresso. ‘Seriously man, I think you’re ready to try being a Daddy again. But… don’t take my word for it. Look at him. He’s already looking like he’s been friends with Marshall and Dale for years…’

Axel could see that Max wasn’t exaggerating.

As Axel turned on his stool and watched the three boys all giggling as they introduced their stuffies to one another, Axel felt his heart skip a beat. This wasn’t like him. In fact, Axel couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this.

Get a grip.

This isn’t a Daddy and boy thing.

It can’t be. It’s just not possible.

Fortunately for Axel, his attention was soon taken by the sight of Kipp walking into the diner. And before long, the three Daddies were planning their next hike together. It was all set to be three Daddies, three canine companions, and a whole lot of high intensity walking.

‘I can’t wait,’ Max said, fist-bumping with Axel and Kipp. ‘But we might need to drag Axel away from the new boy though…’

‘Ha!’ Kipp bellowed, briefly drawing the attention of his Little, Dale, along with Marshall and Arlo too.

Axel simply rolled his eyes and motioned for another coffee.

It was time to order some breakfast for himself and keep his mind off Arlo by planning precisely how he was going to kick both Max and Kipp’s asses when the hiking would inevitably get competitive – Axel might not have had a Little to call his own, but his competitive and naturally dominant Daddy streak could never be called into question!

After finishing his breakfast, Axel was more than happy to wait for Arlo to wrap up his own hangout with Marshall and Dale. But that being said, Axel couldn’t deny how happy he was when Arlo came over to him and said that he was ready to collect his tent.

And now the pair of them were back at Arlo’s campsite and in the midst of getting everything set up once more…

‘I think they’ve done a great job fixing the tent,’ Arlo said, smiling warmly as he impressed Axel with his tent erection skills. ‘I have to admit I was a little skeptical…’

‘I sensed you were,’ Axel chuckled. ‘But I’ve been taking all my outdoor equipment to that place for years. I’m still waiting for them to miss the spot. They’ll have the rest of your stuff ready by tomorrow.’

Arlo smiled and applied the finishing touches to the tent’s small overhanging rain cover at the entrance. Axel could see that Arlo took great pride in setting everything up correctly and he had to admit that he couldn’t have put the tent up better himself.

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