"...And so that's why it's called Orion's belt, see? Because the three stars make up a line to form, well, a belt. Do you see it?"
"Um...no...it just looks like stars to me, papa."
"...Well, can't be helped. Maybe it'll be easier for you to see when you're older, huh?"
Charlie hummed his mixture of agreement and confusion, and he shuffled a little closer to his dad, cuddling up against his side. John breathed a sigh and put an arm around him to help keep him warm as he looked up at the sky above them. He had taken his son, Charlie, out hiking outside the city so that they could sit under the starts for a night or two. It was the weekend, so it was the perfect time to do so before Charlie had school on Monday. They sat right at the top of a cliff, their tents deeper into the trees behind them to they didn't fall off the edge of the cliff...but in that moment, the two of them were snuggled up on a few blankets not too far from the edge, with the view of their glittering city beneath them and the stars above.
"Mm...papa."
"What's up, champ?"
"Why can't we see the stars at home, but we can see them here?"
"Well..." John pursed his lips, trying to find the words that would best explain it to an 8-year-old. "All those street lights are too bright, so the stars hide when they're near the city."
"They're scared?"
"Kind of. It's more like...the lights are so bright that we can't look past them to the stars."
"It doesn't look that bright..." Charlie was struggling to understand, and all John could do was sigh. He wasn't much of a teacher, at least not when it came to academics. The otter groaned and stroked the top of the Dalmatian's head, who looked up to him with his wide, innocent eyes and then further up into the sky above.
"So what's that made out of?" Charlie was asking a lot of questions tonight, but to John that just made their bond closer-- to be confident to ask those questions was good. John followed his line of sight and blinked up at the moon. A grin crossed the otter's face; this, he could answer.
"Rock," he explained. "Just like what's beneath our feet, buddy."
"But it's in the sky?" Charlie frowned and a smirk crossed John's face.
"So, it's like..." The otter shifted and stretched his arms out in front of him. "There's this biiig glowing thing right in the middle of our galaxy...we call that the sun. That's what shines during the day."
"Uh-huh."
"So we orbit the sun-- imagine there's a long, long line of train tracks. Our planet, Earth, where we are now...it follows that train track around and around. You get me?"
"Uh-huh..." It was really hard to tell if he was, but John continued regardless.
"So imagine then that the moon has it's own set of little train tracks, but instead of going around the sun, it goes around us. Do you understand?"
Charlie stared up at him for a moment and John looked down in turn, the pair of them only illuminated by the electric lantern that John had brought with them on their little hiking trip. After a moment, Charlie shook his head, his eyes wide and his lips slightly parted in what John fondly refers to as 'his son's blank face'. A snort escaped the otter's lips, and his amusement brightens Charlie's face immediately. His eyes twinkle in the moonlight with a captured innocence that John could ingrain in his memory forever...and he just might.
"Trust me when I say it's hard to explain," John said through his chuckling, before he paused. "...Buddy, you're shivering. You cold?"
"A-A little." Charlie admitted. John didn't blame him-- a light breeze had just swept through the trees around them. John adjusted and hugged the boy closer, then thought of a better idea. He tugged him upwards onto his lap, pressing the cub up close to his chest. Charlie sat sideways on to him and cuddled up to his broad, athletic chest, tucking his legs in. John made a fuss to making sure the blankets covered the boy in his entirety before he curled his arms around him beneath them, cradling him close. Charlie laid his head against John's collarbone and closed his eyes...the boy must be sleepy. It's late, after all, and he's only 8...John won't hold it against him if he falls asleep there. Quite the opposite, even-- it'd be one of the greatest privileges.
"Papa..."
"What's up, Charlie?"
"...I'm glad you're my papa."
John bit his lip and suppressed a grin, sniffle, and chuckle all at once. It came out as a rather weird noise, something akin to a squeak, and after a moment of awkward silence, the Dalmatian's shoulders began to shake with a repressed giggle. He eventually couldn't hold it any more and he laughed loud, his tone boyish and childlike. John stared down at him for a moment, his heart hammering in his chest, and he tightened his arms around the boy, squeezing him tight.
"You've made me the happiest man in the world, champ."
"I love you, papa."
"I love you too, bud."
John breathed a shaky sigh and raised his head, staring out over the sparkling city beyond as Charlie cosied himself up a little more to the otter's chest, situating himself against that warmth and frantically beating heart. John found himself staring out to the expanse of buildings for quite some time, and when he finally tore his eyes away and managed to compose himself, the Dalmatian was already fast asleep, having peacefully drifted off to sleep in his arms.
He couldn't bare to move and simply sat there, cradling the joy of his life in his arms until dawn.
