The toddler giggled gleefully as he explored the mud of the shore. He splashed the dirt around with a stick but then froze when he noticed a frog. But it didn't hop away, just lied there on the mud.
"Mike! Mike!" He poked some mud on the older boy's nose to get his attention. "I found a dead frog."
The dark boy wiped the dirt off and crouched down to look closer. "I think it's hibernating."
"What?"
"Hibernate. It's sleeping through the winter. Like bears and hedgehogs."
"Really?" Adam inspected the animal for a while but it didn't move much or do practically nothing so he soon grew bored of it and went to play with the leaves instead. "I couldn't sleep through the winter. I like it." He slumped into a pile of dead leaves. "There's skating and sliding and a lot of snow and making the snow castle- We are doing the castle this year, aren't we?"
"Of course."
"I want to make a snow castle every year. Even when we're old and we live in this big old house, me, mom and you, and we make a reeeally big snow castle every year. And then we always go camping and we have a dog and a cat and five goldfish and…"
At this point Michael tuned out and returned to his search for interesting leaves but let Adam continue his happy babble on the background.
Adam fell on his back into a pile of leaves and stared up into a clear sky. "This is the part of fall I like. Not the rainy bit like last week."
Michael just nodded and sat down next to him.
"But winter is still better. Not so wet. We should build a snowman or something."
"We could make a castle on my backyard. And we could also go camping. But we need to negotiate about the pets."
Adam blinked up at him. "What?"
Michael shifted awkwardly. "I know it isn't so big or so old, but there would space for you and even your mom. I of course understand if you don't want-"
"Come here." Adam pulled him down into a kiss by collar. "Why don't we go to see where to fit my textbooks? My back is starting to become damp."