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"Aaaand that's it!" Francis declared as he strapped his small daughter, Michelle, to her car seat. "We're ready to go!" And they were: all three kids were in the car (finally), all well as all of their luggage and a few snacks.
"Bloody hell, finally," Arthur muttered, panting a bit heavily. He'd been in charge of getting their oldest son, Alfred, situated, which was not an easy task—both parents could admit that, since Alfred was their most hyper, defiant child.
Francis turned to his husband and cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to drive the first half, cher?"
"I'm sure," Arthur replied immediately, firmly.
"Okay, okay."
And with that, the duo hopped into their respective seats, and Arthur started up the car. They were going on a road trip to see Arthur's older brother, who lived sixteen hours away—so, to say the least, they had a long trip ahead of them.
Not even a half-hour on the road and the couple were already bickering about something rather petty. Arthur wanted to play rock and punk music while on the road, while Francis wanted to listen to his typical classical. "I'm the one who's driving; I should decide what music we should play," Arthur said stubbornly, switching the radio back to the rock station.
Francis made a tsk-tsk noise. "Oh, c'mon—no one here besides you likes that heavy rock garbage."
Arthur scowled, his hands gripping the steering wheel even tighter as he tried to keep his focus on the road. "First of all," he began, "it's not garbage. Second, the kids enjoy it."
Francis, skeptical, turned his head to see just how true this was. Matthew, for one, was fast asleep already, his head dangling out of his car seat; Michelle had her head bent down and her hands cupped over her ears. Alfred seemed to be the only one 'enjoying' the music; he was bobbing his head up and down lightly to the beat.
"Arthur, two out of the three of our kids seem to hate it," Francis said, turning back to his husband.
Arthur grunted. "Well, I don't know what to say then," he answered, a bit quietly.
Francis paused for a few minutes. "Well," he finally said, "how about we just turn the radio to a station neither of us listens to." He leaned his hand forward and did so, landing on a country music station.
Francis actually found the song playing quite good and catchy, and began to hum and snap along to the lyrics. Arthur stayed stoic, just focusing on his driving. Francis eventually started singing along to the cheesy lyrics about girls and red trucks and farms and bumped Arthur's shoulder as he danced along, trying to get the Brit to join in, or at least smile.
Arthur glanced at his husband out of the corner of his eye and, sure enough, Francis saw a small grin and eventually a chuckle crack through.
"Dance with me, cher, dance!" Francis urged.
Arthur continued to chuckle, and finally he relented, shaking his hips a little as he drove off an exit.
"Hey!" Francis exclaimed excitedly, laughing and patting Arthur's shoulder.
"This song is quite catchy," the green-eyed man admitted.
"Nice dancing music, oui?" Francis added.
"I love you, frog," Arthur said then, a bit suddenly.
Francis perked up at that, his eyes growing a bit softer. "I love you too, cher." He leaned forward to kiss the man, who gladly accepted.
In the back seat, little Alfred and Michelle (and Matthew, who was just waking up, rubbing at his small eyes) watched this interaction between their parents with wide-eyed curiosity. Their dads were definitely a unique couple, that was for sure. "Um," Alfred started, not knowing exactly how to get their attention, but willing to try, "Daddy?"
No response—the two men just continued to sing and giggle together.
Alfred tried again. "Daddy? Papa?"
"What is it, Alfred?" Arthur finally responded, almost robotically.
"Can we get McDonald's?"
"No—Wendy's," Alfred heard Matthew grumble from the opposite end of the backseat. Even in his half-asleep state, he was still willing to argue with his older brother.
Another minute of giddy giggling. "Sure, sure Alfred," Arthur replied nonchalantly and almost subconsciously.
Alfred gasped in both surprise and delight, grinning from ear to ear. If his parents acting like this was enough to get him McDonald's, then they should definitely be like this more often.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that the country station cut to advertisements and Arthur had realized what he'd actually told his son; though, he couldn't back out at that point, so he, rather unwillingly, drove to a McDonald's.
There was at least one very happy camper on the way there.