Jerome ruffled his son's, Fredrick, messy, brown hair. The small human looked up at his Baccian dad with big, blueish-grey eyes. He was six, and they adopted him only a month ago. He wasn't used to living in a castle. He was also terrified of all the Baccas. He'd been in an orphanage his whole life. He'd never even heard of the Baccas. They were kept secret from most children. He usually hid behind Mitch, who didn't mind.

"Everything alright?" Jerome asked, crouching so that he was eye level with the boy. Fredrick replied with a small nod. He tended to stay silent.

"Where's daddy?" Jerome asked. To keep things not confusing, Mitch was "daddy" while Jerome was just "dad". Fredrick shrugged, his eyes locked on the ground.

"Want to come find him with me?" Jerome held out his paw to him. Fredrick stared at the furred paw for a few seconds. Hesitantly, he held Jerome's hand. The Bacca smiled at the boy as they both began walking.

"I want you to be comfortable here. If you want anything, don't be scared to ask." Jerome said. Fredrick said nothing, just kept walking. "Mitch and I, we, love you. Very much."

The silence continued. Jerome was a little heart broken. His son never talked to him. Not unless Mitch was around, and even so, It'd be only one word. He knew his son was scared. He wanted to prove that he wasn't scary. But Jerome towered feet over the six year old. And his menacing teeth and claws didn't help.

Jerome decided to check the garden, a place Mitch often disappeared to. However, he wasn't there. Instead, he was by the front gate of the castle, talking to commoners. Since the wedding, humans and Baccas began to accept each other. Many humans moved into the Kingdom while Baccas moved to villages. It really put a smile on Mitch's face to see other Baccian/human couples.

Baccas still knew very little about humans, just as humans knew little about Baccas. It wasn't rare for Mitch to talk to Baccas and learn about them. He also happily answered any questions they had for him.

Jerome quietly walked behind Mitch, before pulling him into a hug and kissing him. Mitch became instantly flustered.

"Jerome! Not now!" He hissed. Jerome chuckled. A few feet behind Jerome stood Fredrick. Mitch smiled upon seeing him. "Freddy! Come here!" Mitch called. It didn't take long for Fredrick to be hiding behind Mitch's leg.

"Why, if it isn't the Prince!" A Bacca exclaimed.

"He's so precious!" Another said.

Fredrick squirmed and moved his body so that he was mostly invisible. Mitch took noticed and ended his small meet-and-greet. The castle gates where closed, leaving the three alone in the court yard.

Mitch lightly detangled his son from his leg. He bent down so that they were eye to eye. He smiled warmly, and it helped calm Fredrick down.

"Fredrick, I want you to know that Baccas aren't scary. They're like big teddy bears! They're really soft, too." Mitch stood up and walked over to Jerome. He began petting him. Slowly, Fredrick moved over and lightly put his small hand on Jerome. The little boy smiled.

"Dad is really soft." He giggled.

"And sometimes if you give him hugs, his fur will tickle you!" Mitch threw his arms around Jerome, hugging him lightly. Fredrick mimicked his Daddy.

"You want to be tickled? Then here comes the tickle monster!" Jerome began lightly prodding and tickling his son. Fredrick fell to the ground in a fit of laughs and giggles.

"Jeromeeee," Mitch whined. "You're going to get his clothes all dirty!" Jerome listened to his husband and helped Fredrick up. "C'mon, lets go get some lunch."

"A new human-Baccian school finished building today. It's not far away from here, and I was thinking we enroll Fredrick into it." Jerome said, laying in the King-sized bed.

"I'm don't know..." Mitch frowned. He stood in front of the bed, waiting for his husband to move so that there was room for him.

"Why not? The best way from him to learn if through experience."

"We have the best teachers here for him. Plus, he's safe here. We don't have to worry about anyone picking on him, or judging him. And you know how he his around new people. I just think it's better for him to stay here."

"How about we leave it up to him? We send him to the school for a week, and if something happens, or if he doesn't like it, we can take him out." Jerome suggest. Mitch paused in thought.

"Alright, seems fair enough," Mitch said. "Now move over, I'm tired and you're taking up too much space."

Jerome chuckled, and rolled over, giving Mitch plenty of space. The human climbed into the bed, snuggling up next to his husband.

"By the way, I have to go to Aelston tomorrow. I'll probably be gone most of the day. Will you be alright by yourself?" Jerome said.

"Leaving again? Yesterday you went to Faysea and didn't come back till it was dark." Mitch pouted.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to set up connections and trades. I'll be home before you know it." Jerome replied. "And maybe I'll have a little present waiting for you in bed." He whispered. Mitch blushed at the thought of the last present Jerome had for him in bed. Before Mitch could respond, Jerome turned the light out and fell asleep. Mitch followed in suit.

"School can be really fun, Freddy. You get to meet a lot of new people and make so many friends." Mitch explained. They stood in front of the brick building. Many kids exited there rides and entered the school, ready to learn. Sadly, Jerome couldn't be there to see his son off on his first day of school. He had to stay at the Kingdom to have a meeting.

"But I have friends." Fredrick said, looking up at Mitch.

"The butlers and maids don't count." Mitch told him. Fredrick frowned, but said nothing. "You'll be fine. They day will be over before you know it, and I'll be waiting right here for you when you get done."

"Okay.." Fredrick mumbled.

"Have a good day, I love you." Mitch hugged the young boy. He felt the boy's arms lightly wrap themselves around him.

"I love you, too, Daddy." Fredrick scurried off into the school, leaving Mitch alone.

Just as promised, Mitch was waiting for Fredrick. The young boy came running out of the school with a huge smile on his face. In his hand was a piece of paper.

"Daddy! You were right! I made so many friends!" The boy yelled. Mitch couldn't help but smile at his son's happiness. "And look! I drew something for you and Dad!" He waved the paper around before holding it still. It was a, albeit bad, drawing of the three of them, Jerome, Mitch, and Fredrick. Jerome was a smudge of brown with a crown, Mitch was a scribble on red with a smiley face, and Fredrick was a yellow stick figure.

"I see you're an artist!" Mitch laughed. "I'll be sure to hang this somewhere. Now, lets go home. Dad is waiting." Fredrick nodded, and they both got into the carriage that brought them there.

"We have plans to have roads connecting each village, along with places to stop in between." Jerome explained. They were eating. Fredrick had already shared his story about his first day of school. Jerome and Mitch had agreed to keep him in, as discussed . "We also want to set up Baccian only villages. It's hard for some to just live with humans after living without them for centuries."

"That sounds great." Mitch said, shoving a piece of chicken into his mouth.

"I have a question." Fredrick piped up. Mitch 'hm?' to signal him to continue. "All the other kids in school have a mommy. Why don't I?" He asked.

Both Mitch and Jerome feared this question. Even so, they had prepared an answered in advance.

"Some people like girls. Some people like boys. Daddy and I are boys, and we really like each other. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just how some people are." Jerome explained.

"Oh ok. I have one more question." Fredrick said.

"What's that?" Mitch asked.

"Where do babies come from?"


And so ends the short but sweet Prince's Pet. In the end, Jerome married Mitch, and now they're both Kings with their Prince-son, Fredrick. I hope you all enjoyed! I really apologized that this was so short. I never really planned out the story like I should have. I'll be sure to do things differently whenever I write a new story. Until then, Thank you all for reading and have a good rest of the day.