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Brandon waved the hand that Lake wasn’t clinging to. “They’re almost done anyway.”

“Don’t make me send you both inside,” Dane called.

“But there are toys inside!” Brandon yelled back. “Is that really a threat?”

“There are also corners inside,” Dane warned.

Lake slapped his hand over Brandon’s mouth. “We’ll be good.” Not that Lake was worried about being sent to the corner by Dane. There were rules set up for them since their dynamicwas different than what most people would consider a friend group.

Not weird different but a comforting difference that Lake needed.

It was no secret that Lake didn’t have a Daddy and until recently, like a few days, never expected to ever have a Daddy. Eric, Dane, and Remi all stood in as surrogates for him. Lake still had limits even with his friends. He wasn’t a brat and rarely needed correction but when he did, Lake preferred a more gentle approach.

“I know you will be,” Dane said. He narrowed his eyes at his boy. “Brandon better remember that I have the next few days off with him.”

Brandon’s eyes widened and he nodded.

Lake removed his hand.

“We’ll be good.” Brandon repeated what Lake had said.

“Let me finish up with Maverick and I might have a treat inside for the two of you. You can stay, Lake? You have the night off?” Dane asked.

“I can stay,” Lake replied. He hadn’t had any grand plans so this was great. Dom and Remi were at work. Dom would be home first and he knew to check over at the other house if Lake wasn’t home.

“We’re gonna go play!” Brandon announced as he climbed to his feet.

Lake scrambled up with him.

“Good idea. That should keep you out of trouble,” Dane said.

“So, we can still have our treat?” Brandon questioned with a fake innocent smile. He was really laying in on thick in Lake’s opinion.

“No makeup or Play-Doh,” Dane ordered.

Brandon sighed. “But, Daddy!”

“And absolutely no glitter. If I see any glitter, you will sleep in the corner.”

“Fine.” Brandon grabbed Lake’s hand and began dragging him into the house.

Lake followed along, knowing that Brandon would already have a plan forming. When they were little, Lake preferred to let the other boys decide on what they were going to do. Maybe it was because Lake was just so glad to be included in little time.

The house was nice and cool. Lake hadn’t even realized how hot it had been sitting in the sun.

Brandon led him into the kitchen where he grabbed two juice boxes from the fridge. Lake gratefully took his organic apple juice then followed Brandon down the hall to the basement door.

“No running down the steps,” Brandon whispered. “Daddy will know.”

His friend was already regressing. “Okay, I won’t,” Lake promised.

“I fell last week and Daddy got mad,” Brandon shared.

“You didn’t tell me that.” Lake stepped carefully from one stair to another. He didn’t want to get his friend in trouble.

“It’s embarrassing but Daddy carried me around for the rest of the day, so it wasn’t that bad.”

Lake had never and would never be carried around. Not like the other boys. He was as tall as the Daddies and outweighed most of them. Most of the time he struggled with the difference between him and his friends. Lake wished he was a smaller guy. That he wasn’t naturally tall and big boned. Many nights he cried himself to sleep just wishing he was different.