"Oh, and there's one more thing I almost forgot about," Judy said admittedly.

As soon as she mentioned this out loud, Noah Wilde, her and Nick's adopted son, came walking into the room. In the paws of the young fox kit was a large blue gift bag. He walked over to where his father was sitting at the table and placed it directly in front of him.

"Ta-da!" Noah said as he set it down, waving his paws in the air with a sense of excitement. "I picked this out just for you, Dad."

Nick grinned happily as he moved over the other things he had received for Father's Day this morning. One of these had been a new coffee mug, and the other one was a special card that was made by his son. While said card was simply a bright sheet of construction paper that had been decorated on the outside of it, it was better to him than the generic greeting cards that he saw in the store from time to time.

The vulpine glared over to the side at the card that remained open, looking at the doodle Noah made of the three of them holding paws. Seeing that crayon artwork on a sunny morning like this put a smile on his muzzle that nothing could take away.

His attention returned to the bag, and he reached in through the tissue paper and retrieved a wrapped-up present. He carefully opened the paper and revealed that his gift was a necktie. In comparison to the several ones he had with similar colors, dark indigo with red and blue stripes, this one was a bit different. Instead, this one was a cheery shade of yellow with pale green and white stripes.

"Nice," the tod said.

"Noah knows how much you love wearing your ties," Judy replied to the fox, "and when we were out shopping he said how he wanted to get his dad something new."

Nick smiled and nodded his head. Looking over at his son, he said, "I love the color of this one ya picked out, Noah. Can't wait to try this out."

The kit smiled back at his father, running out of the room temporarily before returning with something else in his grasp. Upon returning to the table, he held onto a tie that looked identical to the one he had just given his father, but in a size that was a bit smaller.

"Mom got me one that's just like yours, Dad," he said to him. "And check it out! I can tie mine all by myself."

His father watched him start to put his tie on for him. Noah draped it around his neck, then slowly went through each step he learned to do when tying it. He struggled with it a little bit but managed to make a nice horizontal knot.

"Good job, buddy," Nick complimented. "How'd you learn to tie a tie so perfectly?"

"I've watched you put yours on, Dad," Noah replied. "I tried to do what you do and figured it out with practice."

The tod at the table responded with a delighted chuckle. "Good job, buddy," he complimented. "It took me a lot longer to get that good at tying a tie when I was your age."

The fox kit, now wearing the tie, walked over to where his father was sitting with a wide and merry grin. He opened his arms up as wide as he possibly could and gave him the big hug. "Happy Father's Day, Dad," he wished.

And the smile on Nick's face only beamed brighter.

Author's Note: Happy Father's Day, everybody! :)

I know I originally said that the next few things I had planned were going to be short alternate universe stories, but I decided to break from those for a brief moment with it being the holiday. Those other stories of mine I plan to share with y'all as soon as I can.

This little story came to mind after reading that the most popular gift for Father's day was a necktie. Putting that fact about the holiday into consideration, I tried to come up with something around that idea and ended up writing this. It turned out to be a little bit on the shorter side, but I hope that you enjoyed it.

As always, your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated. Also, once again, I want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading these little stories of mine. It means a lot to me to know that y'all are enjoy them.

'Til next time, everyone! :)