A/N: For fanfic50, prompt nine, innocence.
"Again!"
His father laughed between gasping for breath, hunched over with hands on his knees. "I can't, Ben."
"Again!"
His father rumpled the three-year-old's hair. "It takes a lot of effort to lift you into the air over and over again. Someday, when you're old like me, you'll understand. I'm just too tired."
Benjamin frowned. "But you're the strongest man in the world."
Another laugh burst from his father's mouth, but it was from a mouth parted in a frown. Benjamin didn't understand this: Weren't people who laughed supposed to smile? Weren't people who laughed happy?
"No, Benjamin. I'm not."