Chapter 5

(Cooper)

Will this be the last time we play together?

“Whoa, everything is Safari themed!” Zachy declared as they pulled up in front of the miniature golf course Cooper had been meaning to check out since he’d seen one of their ads pop up between his Monday night sitcoms.

“Yup. Thirty-two holes, challenging obstacles, and a frozen yogurt hut located in the heart of the course.”

“Ohhh yum, I love frozen yogurt, especially with boba beads on top.”

“Those are pretty awesome, aren’t they?”

“Uh-huh,” Zachy replied. “What’s your favorite flavor? Mine are mango and strawberry. I love kiwi-watermelon too. And pineapple-lime! Okay so I guess maybe I love all the flavors individually and together.

Cooper chucked at his enthusiasm, his bright smile never failing to light up Cooper’s day.

“Strawberry is my favorite,” Cooper admitted. “I’ve never been adventurous enough to try the rest of them, I’m afraid. I guess I’m a bit boring that way. Once I find something I like I tend to stick with it.”

“But how do you know you won’t like one of the others just as much?”

“I don’t. Which is sad, I know. Maybe one day I’ll give them a shot.”

“I wanna try everything,” Zachy declared.

“Hopefully not all in one night or you’ll wind up with a massive tummy ache, which isn’t how you want to end the night, is it?”

“If it’s better than havin’ ta have the talk I do,” Zachy muttered.

“Zachy, I’ve already told you that it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“Then why can’t we just have it now, so I don’t have to spend the rest of the evening wondering if you took me to do something fun to soften the blow when you break up with me at the end of the night?”

“Why would you think I planned to break up with you?”

“’cause I’m not a good boy and you want one you’re not always having to chase after or track down,” Zachy said, parroting back the words Cooper had said to him in the car on Saturday night. “It’s okay if that’s what you wanna do, but you really don’t have to waste your money taking me to play mini golf first. You could have told me at my apartment. In fact, I kinda wish you had. I’m gonna cry and I don’t want you or anyone else to see that.”

It was such an honest admission it caught Cooper flat-footed and unable to think up a single response.

No. He hadn’t brought Zachy here to break up with him. He’d thought about it, then decided to try one more thing to salvage the relationship between them.

“What I wanted to talk to you about was club nights and events,” Cooper explained. “I don’t think we should attend them anymore. That’s where you get in the most trouble. So, what if we eliminated the issue all together? When we go out like this, we always have fun, don’t we? So, let’s focus on doing adult things together instead of trying to figure out a dynamic that clearly isn’t working for us.”

“B-but I like being little,” Zacky stammered, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Can I still do it when it’s just us?”

“I think that would be too tempting, don’t you?” Cooper said as he stared down into the heartbroken eyes of his boy…boyfriend.

Damn, he was going to struggle with it too, but if it meant they could stay together and build on the relationship they’d discussed for months before Cooper had moved out here, he was willing to give it his all.

“I-I guess,” Zachy said, hanging his head and kicking at the dust. “I still get to be little one more time at the Wet n’ Wild event, so I guess it’ll be okay.”

“We talked about that, Zachy,” Cooper reminded him, hearing the harshness creeping into his voice and was instantly frustrated. “I didn’t get tickets, and I won’t, so don’t mention it again.”

“But Mr. Gage has tickets, and he wants to take me,” Zachy explained. “You don’t have to go or watch me or anything.”

“Who the fuck is Mr. Gage?”

“He works at my job, and he did the demo that you got upset with me for watching the other night.”

“I didn’t get upset with you for watching the demo, I got upset with you for not coming back from the bathroom when you promised that I could trust you and let you go on your own.”

“And I would have come straight back just as soon as he was done. It was so cool. I thought maybe I could learn some fun stuff for us to do together.”

“I just wish you’d learn to control your impulses,” Cooper grumbled as they headed to pay their entry fee and collect their equipment.

Zachy said nothing, he just chose a bright yellow ball, since yellow was apparently his color of the week, as was evident by the yellow t-shirt he was wearing, a cross-eyed, sideways, frazzled looking smiley face adoring the front of his. There were three different smiley face patches sewed on his jeans, including on the left rear pocket Cooper couldn’t stop staring at. Every time Zachy moved it looked like the face was winking at him. There were smiley faces on the tops of his Vans too, Xs through the eyes like they’d expired. Even big, he gave off adorable little skater boy vibes that always left Cooper wanting to ruffle his hair and kiss him on the forehead before sending him off to try another trick.

If only he’d learn to follow instructions and not make Cooper look like the most incompetent Daddy in the room.

Zachy was shockingly quiet as they played their first few holes, leaving Cooper to wonder if he was sulking or just processing what they’d discussed. He was an extremely attentive player though, which shocked Cooper a little as he watched Zachy study the different paths in the rhino obstacle and finally opt to aim for the hole right at the tip of a horn. He made it too and did a squirmy little dance before flashing Cooper a grin.

It took Cooper three shots to reach the other side of the obstacle, only for his ball to plop right in the shallow water of the creek beside it, where several smaller rhinos languished. Zachy had already completed the hole, having managed to knock his ball across the bridge, then sink it in a hole right beneath one of the birds that rode around on the rhino’s backs.

“I thought you said you’d never been to this course before?” Cooper asked as Zachy retrieved the ball Cooper accidentally sent spinning over the edge of the green and onto the gravel covered area between holes.

“I haven’t,” Zachy said. “But I do play a lot of mini golf. Like a lot-lot. I just never made it out here since no buses come this way.”

“I can see where that would be an issue,” Cooper said. “Does that mean you never come out to the bay at all?”

“No, I love coming to the bay,” Zachy said. “But that usually involves packing a picnic and coming with Tabitha or George, only they’ve both been busy with work stuff lately.”

“Yeah, I get that. Things have picked up around my office too. Still, we’ll have to plan something when spring rolls around. As it is, it’s getting a little chilly to be out here. In a few more weeks they’ll be shut down for the season.

“Then I’m glad we came today,” Zachy said. “This place is fantastic. Holy shit…is that a waterfall?”

“Language, and yeah, check it out, it’s glowing.”

Bright neon green illuminated Zachy’s face as they stood on the gravel, cold water spraying their faces and hitting the tops of their shoes as they watched the cascade of color changing water churning over fake plastic rocks.

Cooper slid an arm around him and Zachy cuddled against his side and sighed contently.

“I know you’ve got the Wet n’ Wild event on Sunday, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to do something fun with me on Saturday,” Cooper said, figuring this was the perfect time to tell Zachy about the tickets he had picked up. “The Imaginary Friends Expo is going on all day. You can dress as your favorite character or make your own costume and go dressed as your imaginary friend. They are going to have characters signing autographs and little skits to watch. Then afterwards I thought we could have dinner and walk along the waterfront if you aren’t ready to go home yet. I’m guessing you have to be up and out the door early for Sunday.”

“Not too early, ‘cause it doesn’t start until ten, but Mr. Gage said we’re gonna stop for pastries first.”

“I hope you told him that you can’t have coffee.”

“He knows,” Zachy assured him, “Everyone at work knows not to give me caffeine.”

“I bet. Dare I ask what kind of calamity you wrought before they figured that out.”

Zachy’s shoulders slumped, and he shuffled from one foot to the other before muttering, “I just did everything way too fast, so I kept having to do it again until I’d slowed down enough. By then I just wanted to nap so the rest of the day dragged on forever and it all sucked.”

“I can only imagine,” Cooper said, giving him a little squeeze. “Are you ready for frozen yogurt?”

First one shoulder went up, then Zachy half smiled and squirmed a little before shaking his head.

“Not really,” he said as he glanced over his shoulder to where the yogurt hut sat with a small line leading up to the window. “I’d rather play a few more holes first.”

“Yeah, okay, we can do that,” Cooper said as Zachy backed out of his embrace and tried to smile, but it just looked like a grimace and lacked the usual brightness that lit up his face. “You didn’t answer my question though. About whether you wanted to go to the Expo with me or not.”

“I can’t,” Zachy replied. “I’m working.”

“Oh. I guess I should have asked before I bought the tickets,” Cooper muttered,

“You can take someone else if you want, so you don’t waste them.”

“Or I could wait for you to get off work and pick you up then?”

“It’s okay, I never know when we’re gonna be done. I don’t want you to waste your time waiting.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to say that he really wouldn’t mind if it meant that they got to spend more time together, but Zachy hadn’t appeared the least bit interested in going, so Cooper nodded and left it alone.

Maybe someone at work would want them, or at least, one of them. Cooper could always use the other and check it out, because it had interested him, and he’d loved the last cosplay event he’d attended. He’d really thought dressing up and getting to play pretend all day would be right up Zachy’s alley, only now Cooper was left to wonder if the reason Zachy had immediately jumped to the assumption that Cooper was about to break up with him was because Zachy had been giving thought to ending things between them and just didn’t know how to break it to him. It was a somber and a reminder of just how fragile their relationship had become. As they walked to the next hole, Cooper was left to wonder if this was the last game they’d ever play together and realized he truly didn’t want it to be.