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Clifford's the best friend anyone could know. He’s the greatest dog ever, I really think so. Clifford's so loyal, he's there when you call.
“Don’t call me that.”
Chris rolled his eyes (he seemed to be doing that a lot recently) and shrugged. “What’s the big deal? You’re literally bi.”
“Yeah, but don’t call me Buck the Big Red Bisexual. That’s weird. I’m your dad.” Buck threw a pack of peanuts, an applesauce and a baggie full of crackers into the snack compartment in Chris’ backpack. These days, Chris used money to buy lunch, but if he didn’t like what they were serving, it meant he went without food. Buck had started packing some snacks for him in the front pocket of his backpack so that his son would eat. He was already packing snacks for Eddie’s lunch and his lunch so it was no big deal. He threw repeats of all the food into his lunchbox and Eddie’s lunchbox (one that was shaped like a Minecraft bee, and another that was Bluey themed).
Just then, Eddie walked into the room and bent down to press a soft kiss to the brown curls on Chris’ head. The curls that neither of them could place, not on Shannon's side, not on Eddie’s, but only on Buck’s. Sometimes Buck forgot that Chris didn’t actually have his blood in his veins.
“Morning, Dad.” Chris tapped Eddie on the back of his hand, morse code for ‘I love you’, and Eddie grinned as he poured the last of the coffee Buck had brewed that morning into his mug. Eddie pressed a kiss to Buck’s cheek, hand brushing against his waist, the skin under his old, ratty LAFD t-shirt.
“What? You’re not gonna call him some homosexual name too?” Buck asked as he picked up a granola bar from the snack box they always kept in the pantry next to the cereal and handed it to Eddie. Eddie’s mouth pressed into a line, lacking context, but Chris just chuckled under his breath.
“Sorry, Clifford, I’ll change it.” He turned back to Eddie. “Hi, Emily.”
Buck threw one of the grapes he’d been running under the tap at Chris and rolled his eyes as the boy evaded the flying fruit. Eddie took a sip of his coffee, gagged, and then grabbed the half-and-half from the fridge. He took another sip and smiled before he pointed at the ground and said, “one of you better pick that up.”
Buck grabbed it and stuck his tongue out at Chris. God, he was so totally good at this parent thing. Eddie gave him a look though and he slipped his tongue back into his mouth with a playful expression on his face.
“Chris, when someone asks you to stop calling them something, you should listen, ok? And Buck, when someone doesn’t listen when you ask them to stop something, don’t throw grapes at them.” He was using his stern adult voice, the one he always used when someone was in trouble and Buck’s mouth sank into a frown. So did Chris’.
“Hug each other and apologize.”
“I’m sorry, Chris.” Buck whispered, wrapping his arms around Chris, and Chris nodded against his shoulder.
“I love you too, Clifford.”
Buck’s eyes flickered to Eddie’s and his eyebrows dipped in the middle. Eddie just covered his mouth with some fingers to stifle his smile. “At least he’s coping?”
Clifford’s so much fun, hе's a friend to us all. I love Clifford, the big red dog.