This morning I'm the first to wake up, poked by my anxieties over being a bad host. I lay there groggily scrolling through my phone until I hear Pascal stir.

"Morning," I say.

He reaches high above his head to stretch, and for some reason, I find my eyes gluing themselves to his midsection.

"G'mornin," he answers, folding up his blanket and setting it carefully beside his seat. He's surprisingly neat and courteous.

"You sleep good?"

"Slept pretty good. You guys have those rich people chairs."

"All this furniture is… so plush," I say with a yawn, "we uh… we have frozen waffles for breakfast, if you're hungry."

He hums and stands up, which I take as a sign that it's time I get up too, and I help him get a plate of waffles before starting on making my own.

As I'm pouring on the syrup, I see that Flick is still fast asleep in his little blanket nest, and I giggle, pointing a fork at him. "Musta been tired, huh?"

"I'm surprised his eyeliner stayed on. It looks cute on him." He says it so nonchalantly that I'm not sure if he's serious.

"You think he's cute?"

"Yeah. What, didn't you notice?"

Suddenly I feel like the weird one, and I chuckle as I try to explain myself. "I don't really look at guys that way, I guess. Do you… Do you have the hots for him?"

He grunts as I nudge him with my elbow. "Nah, just sayin' he's cute. You don't do that with girls? Like you aren't into them, but you still can tell?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. I do that a lot."

As I say that, I realize that I've done that with almost all of the girls I know. Like, most of them I just don't really feel that way about. Is that weird? Should I be liking more girls?

Unsure, and way too tired to ask more questions about it, I chase the thought away with waffles.

Mom and Dad come out a few minutes after we woke up, all dressed for the day and headed straight for the coffee machine.

"Oof, sorry guys. I forgot to make coffee," I apologize.

Mom pats my shoulder and kisses me on the cheek. "You're fine, hon. Do you two want some?"

"Sure," Pascal and I say in unison.

Breakfast is pretty lax this morning as we all prepare our own meals. We eat and enjoy each other's company until we're all awake and caffeine-filled. Still though, Flick hasn't even stirred.

"Think he's dead?" Pascal jokes, as he licks the syrup of his plate.

"No, but I wish I was so I didn't have to see that."

He squints at me as he continues, only this time slower to prove a point.

"You boys should play a prank or something," Dad butts in, "shaving cream in the hand or something like that."

I think about it for a second, how we could definitely draw on his face or something or snap an embarrassing photo, but they all sound kinda mean- certainly not stuff I'd wanna do to someone I'm just starting to be friends with.

"Nah, he probably needs the sleep," I decide.

Pascal hums in agreement. Dad goes to put on his reading glasses to flick through the newspaper, and Mom heads upstairs to her and Dad's room to finish her coffee.

Waving her goodbye, I clean up my blankets before sitting on the love seat, Pascal taking the seat on the opposite end, both of us content to watch the clouds floating over the island through the window.

After a few minutes of me scrolling through my phone, Flick rolls over to face both of us, his eyes half-lidded and grumpy.

"Morning sleeping beauty," I tease, turning my head to be on level with his.

He grumbles into his pillow, "hey..."

While he stretches and yawns his way into sitting up, I mix him a cup of coffee, which he accepts without a word, gulping it down way too fast for something so hot.

"Thanks," he gasps, wiping his face.

"Now drink some water too, you could use it," I insist.

The rest of the morning is slow-paced. All three of us are still a little groggy even after coffee. At some point, I pester Flick into actually eating some food, a bowl of yogurt, instead of just going all day on caffeine.

"Anyone got any plans today?" He asks, taking a bite.

I get a little anxious thinking about telling him that I'd rather have some alone time today, but Pascal saves me from it.

"Well, I gotta get some groceries for my place, so I'll be heading out for that pretty soon. After that I'll need me some chilling time."

"Nice, I'll be taking some leisure time myself later," Flick answers, "What about you, CJ?"

I scratch my chin as I think. "I'll probably call my best friend back home, maybe go for a swim later. All alone though, probably."

"Cheers to self-care time." Pascal raises an invisible glass to Flick's bowl of yogurt, making a clink sound. "Speaking of, social battery is almost empty, so imma head out. Thanks for this, CJ, for real."

"Yeah, thank you CJ. It's been a while since I last had friends I could do something like this with," Flick agrees, giving me a warm smile.

I blush a little. "Of course. Thank you guys for hanging with me. We'll do something like this again soon, probably."

We all make tentative plans to hang out all together again sometime soon, and I show them all to the door. Flick promises he'll get me my pajamas back later, but I tell him not to sweat it, and then it's just me and my parents alone in the house.

I let out a sigh and slump down in the reclining chair Pascal had slept in. Despite how fun all of this was, I'm still tired, and could definitely use some unwind time.

"Stealin' my chair?" I almost forgot Dad was here. He ruffles my hair from behind, and I chuckle.

"You want it back? I'll sleep anywhere."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Did you have a good time?"

I nod my head, resting it in my hand.

"I'm glad. You've always been such a social butterfly, fishbait. I knew you'd have friends here in no time flat."

"T-Thanks Pops," I mumble into my hand. He ruffles my hair again.

"I mean it! I just want you to know I'm proud of you, is all. We both are, all the time."

"Well now you've got me worried something's wrong."

"Oh no! Nothing's wrong, I just… I was just thinking about how proud I am of you- how I always have been, and I feel like I don't say it enough. I love you, buddy."

"I love you too, Dad."

He leans over and gives me an awkward back-hug, but I think it's sweet anyway.

"Well, I'm gonna go figure out my plans today with Mom," he says, pulling away, "we were thinking of finding a quiet spot on the beach and just having a day out that way. Swimming, fishing, tanning- all that stuff."

He walks into the kitchen and starts filling his and Mom's picnic basket with fruit and cheeses to snack on. "You're welcome to come, if you'd like."

I think about it for a second. On one hand, I'm tired, but on the other… I could probably find a chance to catch a quick nap on my beach towel.

"Yeah, sure, if you guys don't mind."

"Not at all! I'd love to have you with us."

Now that I actually have plans I have to prepare for, I head into my room, change out of my 'jammies, and throw on a pair of swim trunks and flip flops. I don't really tan with my thick brown fur, but hey, can't blame a dude for trying.

I grab one of our towel bags from the closet and toss in various beach things, like a bottle of sunblock, my water bottle, and a pair of headphones. With all my stuff in order, I put on my pair of sunglasses and wait in the mudroom for my parents.

In a few minutes, Mom steps out in her sundress and hat, and Dad follows in a floral button-up and cargo shorts.

"You guys look nice," I say with a smile.

"That's so sweet of you, CJ. You look nice too! I like your trunks." Mom pinches my cheek before heading first out the door.

Dad follows out after, lugging his fishing bag and picnic basket. I'm last out with my handbag, and I take the opportunity to make sure we're all locked up before I jog to catch up with them.

It's a little bit past noon by the time we find a slower part just off the east side of the island. It's a twenty minute walk, but the spot is definitely worth it. The water is nice and shallow, but there's a drop-off about waist-length out that Dad can cast a line into pretty easily.

I help throw down our towels while Mom finds the perfect spot for the sun umbrella. Pops takes the time to set out the food we packed, since it's about lunchtime, and once he's done, he sticks a sandwich in his mouth and starts stringing up a fishing pole.

"Excited to cast out?" I ask, reclining on my sea-blue beach towel.

"Uh-huh," he answers with his mouth full as he tips his hook with bait.

While Dad wades out, Mom props herself up on her towel next to me and flips open her book.

"How are you liking the trip so far?" She asks, half-turning to me.

I hum. "I like it here. It's really relaxing, and everyone here is so friendly. It's refreshing after all that time in the city."

"I agree. Your Dad and I ran into Mr. Nook the other day. He had very nice things to say about you. It was a very nice ego boost, as your mom," she jokes, squeezing my hand.

I chortle. "Unsurprising. I am a very cool fellow."

"Very true. Very true…" She turns back to her book, and I think the conversation is over, but instead she puts a bookmark in it and turns back to me.

"Well, I'm glad I got to meet Flick and Pascal. Such nice boys, I see why you get along with them so well. How did your paintings turn out? Dad put them away this morning before I woke up."

I had almost forgot about the paintings. "Oh! Yeah- Flick's turned out really nice. It looked so real, like it was a photo instead of a painting. And Pascal's was really pretty. He had painted like… I don't even know how to describe it, like an abstract collage of fish that he painted out of the sky's colors."

"I like that description," she says with a smile, "what about yours, pumpkin?"

All of a sudden I'm clamming up, and she rubs my shoulder.

"I'm sure it looked lovely! What did you paint?"

"Well," I start, "at first I had painted half of the sky, but by then… the sun had set, and I ran out of daylight, so I just washed over it with dark blue and flicked some white stars on it…"

"That sounds lovely! You made the best of a bad situation. That's what art is all about right? Finding the good in the bad."

"Yeah, guess you're right. Still, it didn't turn out how I had hoped…"

She pulls me to her side for a hug, and I lean my head on her shoulder. "That I can definitely understand, I'm sorry honeybear."

We sit like that for a little while as she goes back to reading her book. I just stare off into the water, letting the sea breeze wash over my thoughts. I see Dad soaked up to his mid-section in the water, his bobber a couple yards out, and he turns to wave at us.

I feel kinda embarrassed and baby-ish cuddling up to my mom like this in public, and I feel even more embarrassed that I'm letting my worry ruin what's otherwise a really sweet moment, so to distract myself I pull out my phone and flip to my camera.

I snap a few photos of the beach, a couple showing Dad, and I post them as a collage on my socials, with cute taglines about how pretty Ambersap is. I have a pretty sizable following, and normally I would post my catches, but I've yet to get back at that Mahimahi, so I've been posting vaca-photos instead.

A few of the photos are to my liking, so I send them to Cherry, and I see she's typing her response.

Cherry: The view there is so nice. I wish I was there :')

CJ: Me too! It would be so much more fun with you here.

CJ: Flick, Pascal and I had a sleepover last night. It made me miss back when we used to do that.

Cherry: How long ago was our last one? Like sophomore year, right?

CJ: Ohhhh yeah the one where we stayed up all night lol

CJ: That was the one where you made that braid of gummy worms I think.

Cherry: Nah, you're thinking of when we graduated middle school!

Cherry: Sophomore year was the one where Mitzi was there, and we all decided boxing was a good idea XD

CJ: OH YEAH

CJ: You guys started dating a little while after that too.

Cherry: She saw my right hook and couldn't resist me B)

CJ: Considering you dislocated my jaw with it, that's understandable. Mom was so confused lmao.

Cherry: I remember your Dad got a kick out of it though. He was always cool lol.

CJ: Yeah, he still is tbh.

I take a break from my phone to check in on Pops. It looks like he finally caught something, a sea bass, and I can also see from his expression that he's not all that jazzed about it. He lazily tosses it back out into the water.

"You wanna go fish with him?" Mom asks, "he won't ever ask you himself, but he's been looking forward to it ever since we got here."

I nod, giving my mom another squeeze before getting up and gathering up one of my Pops' poles, flicking up my sunglasses, and wading out to his side.

"Mind if I join you?" I ask, not waiting for an answer before casting out.

"Never mind at all, fishbait."

He reels in slowly in little bursts, moving just enough that it looks alive and edible to any fish out and about. I do the same, though with not nearly as many years of practice. I'm too quick with it.

Sometimes I find it hard to relate to Pops. He's a much more solitary man than I am, and he doesn't find interest in the modern, artsy stuff as much as I do. The one thing that remains totally timeless for the both of us is fishing. He and I can just sit like this for hours, watching the water, floating with the bobbers, and never feeling like anything needed to be said. Like the fish coming to the hook, if the words that need to be said are there, they come on their own.

It's been too long since last he and I just fished together like this, and that's partially my fault for being so busy. The conversation that used to come so easily is coming a little slower now. I think he feels it too.

"What's on your mind, fishbait?" He asks, letting his idle hand graze the surface of the water. It's like he can read my mind. I guess raising someone their whole life would let you do that.

"Nothin' much…" I lie. Really, there's always a lot on my mind- thoughts of school, my future, my friends that I'm missing… lots of stuff I forget is even there sometimes.

He turns his head a little, and I can feel him giving me a questioning look behind his sunglasses. "You sure?"

"Well…"

Really if there was one thing I wanted to level with him on- something I really wanted to address- it would be the question I had asked a few days earlier, when I called Cherry and Mitzi.

"… So you know how, like, some people choose to date people of the same… gender?" I fuss out. I can already feel my heart rate rising and disrupting my reeling rhythm.

He's silent for a moment, but then he laughs. "You mean gay people? Yeah, I've heard of 'em."

I find myself looking him over for any kind of response, but he's as calm as ever.

"How do you… How do you feel about them? Like the fact that they're gay."

He just shrugs. "Never really paid it any mind. It's like the color of your hair or the clothes you wear. Ain't anything there to have a problem with."

Relief opens my airways and I finally start breathing again.

"Something bring this up?" He asks, fully reeling in his line and not bothering to cast it out again.

"Sorta, I just… I never knew where you- and well Mom too- stood on that kinda stuff…"

"… I see." He bites the inside of his lip, thinking. "Well, your Mom and I never really talked about it around you because… I don't really know. I guess we weren't sure if it was appropriate to bring up around a kid. 'Course, now we know that it is, but back then you had everybody saying it would 'ruin your kids' or whatever. By the time you got to be older… well we just didn't wanna pressure you towards anything. We wanted you to figure that out however you felt was best, and that at some point you would bring it up yourself."

I cast out again, mostly relieved, but still a little confused. "You mean like… you thought I might be gay?"

"W-Well no, we didn't have any guesses. Lord knows we wouldn't be any good at telling for certain," he laughs, "but in case you were, we didn't wanna say the wrong thing and have you think that we wouldn't be okay with it."

"I guess I thought you might not be okay with it because you didn't say anything."

Pops looks off towards the horizon, tapping his finger on the handle of his fishing rod. He looks like he's deep in thought.

"N-Not that I'm gay or anything- Really, the reason I brought it up was because… well you know Cherry and Mitzi?" I start, trying to shift the topic away from myself, "they're a couple. We just didn't say anything cause-"

"-Oh, those two? We already know, sport." Pops gives me a reassuring squeeze of my shoulder. "Those two aren't all that good at hiding it anyhow," he says with a nyuk.

I chuckle, embarrassed with how big of a deal I was making all this out to be. To think, I could have had this conversation all that time ago…

"And… CJ, I'm sorry." He takes me by surprise, and I wait for his answer. "Your Mom and I probably should have brought this up sooner. I don't ever want you to feel like you have to-… like you have to hide things from us. I'm proud of you for being such a nice young man and talking to me about this for your friends. I'm sorry I didn't start the conversation first."

Thankfully, my sunglasses are able to hide the tears pearling around my eyes as I blink them back. I try to pretend like the sun just hit me in my eyes the wrong way.

"Thanks, Pops…"

"Always, buddy."

He ruffles my hair before resting his hand on my shoulder, looking me up and down.

"It's just hitting me how much you've grown. I'm proud of you, son."

"For growing tall? That's just genetics, Dad," I deflect with a joke.

"You know that's not what I mean, ya booger."

We both laugh our nyuk-nyuk laugh and go back to fishing like we were before. I don't feel anything else that needs to be said, nothing else swimming beneath the surface besides the fish themselves, so we spend our time just lazing away and waiting for bites.

I get a nap in sometime past one, and afterwards Mom suggests we walk the beach, which we all agree is a good idea. I feel like a little kid again, running ahead of my parents and kicking seashells while they walk hand-in-hand behind me. It's nice.

Just on the Northeast corner of the island, I see a familiar pair of Nooklets packing bucketfuls of sand. On a stone rise just off the beach, I see they've stacked up quite an impressive sand castle, with flags made of twigs and leaves, and details carved into the sides.

Laying back in a beach chair closer inland is Tom Nook, lounging around in his trunks and button-up. He watches his nephews amusedly.

"Howdy neighbor!" Pops hollers, grabbing Nook's attention.

"Afternoon!" He waves back.

I see the Nooklets look up from their work, and they hop quickly into the water to wash off the sand before running up to greet us.

"Enjoying the beach?" Nook asks, flicking up his sunglasses.

"Absolutely," Mom answers, "it's such a treat getting to walk along and see everyone going about their day. It really makes you feel like a part of the community."

"That makes me so happy to hear. You know, we've done a lot of work to get it to that point, you know-"

As the parents get to talking, I can see the Nooklets getting restless. They both look back and forth between their uncle and their sandcastle, as if looking away for two long would let it fall into the sea.

I squat down to their level. "Did you guys build that all by yourselves?"

They both look at me excitedly, their tails wagging.

"Yes!" One of them pipes up.

The other interjects, "we were just about to start making the- uh- the uh-…"

"Stables! For the seahorses."

I laugh. "That sounds like quite a lot of work. You wanna show me?"

They take both my hands and guide me over, each one ping-ponging back and forth explaining the logistics of their castle structure, and I can't help but be impressed by their creativity.

"So this is the place where they keep the sand dollars?" I ask, pointing to a courtyard they hidden away behind a wall of seashells and sand.

"No, that's where the merchants sell their seaweed and sea grapes," Timmy corrects me.

Tommy points my finger a little ways over, to a tower they sculpted with a foil tube. "This is where they store the sand dollars. It's the vault!"

"Ohhhh," I say, grinning, "I thought that was the dungeon."

"No!" They're both quick to correct me.

"Our kingdom has no bad guys, so we don't need one," Timmy explains patiently as his brother gives a sagely nod.

"Havin' fun, boys?" Pops asks from behind us.

The adults stood around watching us play as they talked. I could see Mom now with her phone pulled out snapping photos of us, and I give her a good smile and peace sign for a few of them.

"Yes!" The Nooklets answer, running up to their uncle.

"Boss boss boss!" Timmy pesters.

"Did you see all we made?" Tommy pries.

He gives a deep laugh as his nephews run metaphorical circles around him. "I did! You boys did a great job, very good!"

"Your Dad and I were thinking of heading back here," Mom tells me as she hikes her bag back up her arm, "do you wanna come with us honeybear?"

"CJ has to go?" Timmy asks, disappointed. They both look sadly down at their feet.

"Now now, you got to spend plenty of time with CJ. He has other things he has to attend to, and you'll be able to see him again." Tom gently rubs both of their heads in consolation.

"Sure thing, ma," I answer.

I stand up to leave, but I feel two pairs of stubby little arms wrap themselves around my legs.

"Goodbye CJ!" The Nooklets say in unison. Surprised, but happy to accept the hug, I crouch down to give them one proper.

We say our goodbyes, and we make the hike back home back the way we came. Halfway through I grab some of both of their bags to lessen their load, and when we get back to the house, I help them put everything away.

"Thanks for coming with us," Dad says as he helps me put away towels.

"Yeah, my pleasure, and uh… thanks for the talk, Pops."

"Anytime, anywhere, fishbait."

Even though I don't feel it needs to be asked, I find the question forming anyway. I decide to just go for it.

"Would you be okay with it if I was gay? Like- theoretically."

He chuckles, not hesitating at all. "Yep. You're quite the catch, CJ. I'm sure you'll find a real nice man or woman either way that I can embarrass you in front of."

That's such a good joke that I want to laugh, but I only faintly smile, a few tears forming at my eyes. Without another word, Pops pulls me in tight for a hug.

"I love you son."

"I love you too, Dad."