"Come on buddy! You can do it!" Kouga held his arms out to the toddler, the boy standing awkwardly on the edge of the pool. Unlike the rest of the pups in his pack, his own son had developed a strange fear of water, and they'd spent every day of summer trying to convince him that the water was safe, but even Kouga's training as a lifeguard wasn't helping.

Daiki had been found abandoned in the mountains, latching onto the wolf prince's tail as soon as he'd determined that Kouga wasn't a threat. The only person he more attached to was—

"You gotta show him how to do it," Inuyasha said, dangling his feet in the water.

"I did!" Kouga replied, wading closer only to have Daiki move further away from him, waddling over to Inuyasha before climbing into his lap.

The hanyou ruffled his hair. "Whatsa matter, squirt? Daddy too scary?"

"Too scary," Daiki echoed.

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Kouga splashed his mate, catching Daiki in the process. He started to whimper, but Inuyasha just enthusiastically wiped his face.

"You're alright, see? Same as the bathtub!" The boy blinked, then looked at his hands before returning the favour, leaving wet hand marks on Inuyasha's face. "There you go!" He set Daiki down, letting him run back onto the grass.

"You're so much better at this than I am," Kouga said, resting his chin on his hands as he watched their son blow bubbles.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Kinda helps that the bastard has a litter of them already."

"Meaning Kags has yelled at you enough that some things actually stuck."

"Keh." Daiki soon returned to ask Inuyasha to blow bubbles for him, and he picked the boy up, sitting him on the edge of the pool as he got to his feet. "Hey, squirt, watch this." He motioned for Kouga to move back into the middle of the pool and assumed a diving position.

The wolf quickly caught on and held his hands up, pretending to coax his mate into the water. Inuyasha awkwardly jumped into his arms, making sure his head didn't go underwater. "See? No big deal." They repeated it a few more times, their son watching them intently before reaching his hands out to Kouga.

Blue eyes lit up, and he quickly kissed his mate before putting Daiki on his feet and stepping away. "Come on, jump to Daddy!"

Daiki kept reaching for him, small hands beckoning until he was able to grab Kouga's fingers, stumbling into the water. Kouga let out a short howl as he spun the boy around. "You did it!"

Inuyasha waded closer, grinning. "Great job, squirt! Daddy's not so scary now, is he?"

Kouga glared at him, playfully nipping at his nose as Daiki shook his head, splashing them both as he said, "Again!"