Page 23 of A Little Campfire Blues (Pride Camp 2025 #10)

Chapter Twenty

Mackenzie

Between the snacks I’d packed, and the dinner buffet served lakeside by the camp’s kitchen staff, my boys were stuffed. Axis let out a burp so loud it echoed, making Ezzy giggle and Ro crack an eye open and woof at the sound.

“”scuse me,” Axis said, pressing a hand to his lips and giggling too.

“You’re excused,” I said. “That was a big one. I hope you left room for brownies later.

“Always room for brownies, Daddy.”

I nodded at that because he was absolutely right.

Somehow, there was always room for brownies, especially if they were topped with ice cream, which was the dessert we’d been promised tonight.

Axis had spent the whole afternoon and evening in his little space, alternating between curling up with Roman, which was what he was doing now, and cuddling with me.

Ezzy was against my side right, sprawled out with one of my arms tugged around them as we stared at the reflection of the moon shimmering on the surface of the lake.

“Can we camp with you even after we leave here?” Ezzy asked.

“Of course you can,” I replied. “It would be fun to do a camping weekend.”

“With tents and air mattresses and s’mores and everything?” Ezzy asked.

“And everything,” I told them, leaning to press a kiss to their forehead.

“We’ll even cook all our meals over the campfire, collect rocks on our hikes, make blueberry pancakes in the morning, and tie hammocks between the trees so we can laze around in them and see the clouds drift over the treetops. ”

“Arf, arf, arf,” Ro barked, wiggling closer and pulling Axis right along with him.

The pair curled up on my other side, just as music rolled in echoing waves over the lake.

“I think it’s almost show time,” I declared as a member of the kitchen staff carried over a tray laden with bowls of ice cream topped with warm brownie bits.

“Dessert time!” Ezzy replied, clapping as they wiggled to sit up.

“Take your time; don’t gobble,” I warned them when they grasped the spoon and brought a heaping mound to their mouth much too big to fit. “You wouldn’t wanna get sick and miss the show.”

“No, Daddy, I don’t wanna do that,” they said and shook some of the ice cream and brownie bits off their spoon.

At least out here they could run around if they got a case of the zoomies when the sugar hit, though something told me they’d be too busy staring wide-eyed at the sky to do more than squirm once the fireworks started.

While Axis had sat up to eat, Roman leaned over his bowl, lapping at the ice cream in between plucking pieces of brownie out of his bowl with his teeth.

He too had spent the bulk of the day in his pup headspace, and I was glad for it.

Once he’d started to realize that I was more than capable of managing the three of them while they’d played, he’d been more than happy to enjoy himself while still watching over them as a good pup should.

When he’d noticed that Axis was no longer enthusiastically playing with the other littles, he’d nudged at him to try and get him moving towards the shore, then woofed for me until I’d waded back in and brought my tired and slightly sunburned boy in to rest.

He'd perked right up once we’d gotten some fruit and water in him, but I hadn’t let him go back in until after he’d napped beside Ezzy on the blanket and gotten more sunscreen slathered on.

I was glad I’d remembered aloe gel when I’d packed my backpack for the day.

I’d smoothed some of that on his skin the moment swim time was over and made sure his shoulders weren’t blistered anywhere.

Tomorrow would definitely be an indoor day, maybe in the art room, unless we decided to spend it lounging around the cabin. He’d be hurting if he got too much more sun exposure, especially across the tops of his shoulders and the bridge of his nose.

“Yummy!” Ezzy declared, half their bowl gone already.

So much for slowing down. I just hoped they didn’t wind up with a tummy ache.

The first brilliant burst of green fireworks elicited a coo from Axis, who let go of his spoon to watch. Roman barked, while several nearby littles cheered. Ezzy squirmed to the beat of the music, still steadily decimating their bowl, while Axis pushed his aside and turned towards me.

“Daddy, I can’t finish; my tummy is too stuffed to eat it all.”

“That’s alright, Firefly,” I said. “Pass it here, and I’ll put it off to the side in case you want more later.”

“I won’t, daddy, I ate all the brownie bits,” he declared as he passed me a bowl that was nothing but ice cream soup after he’d stirred through it to get at all the brownie chunks.

Chuckling, I set it back on the tray and wrapped an arm around him as he settled in to watch the fireworks display play out.

With a hiss and a crackle, purple and silver erupted overhead, making him clap and wiggle happily.

Color after color followed, as the pauses between them grew shorter.

Roman barked at them all, while Ezzy jumped to their feet and started skipping around our blanket.

“Boom, boom, boom,” they squealed, giggling. “I’m doing a firework dance!”

“Firework dance!” Axis declared, wiggling away from me to join them.

They were soon followed by Roman, who crawled behind them, barking, shaking his butt, and occasionally sitting back on his haunches to howl up at the colors overhead.

I looked on as Ezzy shook their tush, Axis swiveled his hips, and Roman howled up a storm, the trio having so much fun that other littles and pets joined in, and soon they had a conga line of firework dancers parading past the other blankets and towels laid out along the shore of the lake.

At least they’d tire themselves out, hopefully, I thought as I yawned, the exuberance of the day catching up to me, even as I finished my dessert.

I was beyond the age where sugar revved me up.

All a full belly did these days was try to lull me into a food coma, which I couldn’t give in to, since we still had showers and story time to attend to once the fireworks show was over.

As far as camping trips went, this was the best idea I’d ever given in to.

And to think I’d been a bit hesitant about coming here and seeing what pride camp was all about.

The finale was a riot of colors and explosions, with wiggly little butts dancing up and down the shore as they screeched, leapt, and pointed at all the colors.

A collective awe went up when the final traces faded from the sky and nothing else followed it.

Slowly, the gaggle of littles and pets began to disperse as they slowly returned to their blankets.

My trio came trudging back, dragging sandy feet.

Axis yawned, then popped his binky back in his mouth before flopping down on the blanket and pressing his face against my thigh.

“Tired, Daddy,” he muttered around the binky, which bobbed and fell from his mouth as he yawned again. Thankfully, he had it clipped to his T-shirt so it didn’t land on the sandy blanket, but it was definitely time to start packing up so I could get them back to the cabin.

“Arf!” Roman said, nudging Axis’s side with his shoulder as he slid in behind him and looked like he was about to settle in for a nap.

Yup, definitely time to go.

“Daddy, it feels like there’s a milkshake in my belly,” Ezzy said, rubbing it as they stood on the edge of the blanket. “My tummy isn’t happy about that.”

Oh boy.

“I’m sure all of your jumping around and wiggle-butt dancing didn’t help it any,” I told them as I held out my hand to them.

They came and sat in my lap so I could rub it for them.

I hoped I could get it settled before they were forced to rush for one of the nearby trashcans.

Sighing, they rested their head on my shoulder, and I held them while around us, others continued conversations or began packing up to head back to their cabins.

While I’d have loved for us to do the same thing, it would probably be easier to wait for the rush to be over, because the parking area was about to get crazy as everyone tried to leave at the same time.

“Now don’t go falling asleep on me,” I cautioned them as I continued to rub Ezzy’s belly. “If you do, we’ll all have to sleep out here and let the mosquitos have us for supper.”

“No itchy bugs,” he murmured.

“Then no falling asleep on Daddy.”

“Okie,” he groaned, then let out several small burps that had me worried for a moment. “Ohh, nice.”

Phew.

No wearing ice cream and brownie bits for me, at least not at the moment.

A soft snore soon clued me in that at least one of my other boys hadn’t been listening when I’d said no falling asleep .

With Ezzy in my arms, I couldn’t see which one it was.

I could only hope they didn’t slip too deeply into slumber, or waking them was going to be a bitch.

Soon only a handful of scattered groups remained along the shore, as even the kitchen crew had called it a night and headed in.

“How’s your tummy feeling now?” I asked as they let out another series of little burps.

“Much, much better, Daddy.”

“Good,” I said, running my fingers through their hair. “I think it’s time to head back to the cabin then, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh,” they said, following it up with a yawn as they tried to burrow against me.

“Okay then, you’ve got to get up and help Daddy wake Axis and Roman.”

“Wake up!” they screeched, nearly deafening me.

Axis jerked, fingers digging into my thigh a little while Roman huffed, grumbled, and sat up, growling at them.

Ezzy stuck their tongue out in response and reached out to boop Roman on the nose, only to jerk their finger back when Roman playfully snapped at them.

“We’re up!” Axis grumbled, hair plastered to his cheek as he sat up and pouted at Ezzy. “And you’re loud.”

“Daddy said to help.”