You Set My Heart Aflutter (Dad/Tavros)

"I don't mind, really I don't, if you want to." Robert smiled. "Mr. Egbert seems too formal, especially since you're living here"

"Well, when you put it that way, um, okay. 'Dad' it is then," Tavros beamed, finishing up on his lasagna and thoughtlessly gnawing on the fork in the corner of his mouth, eyeing his slice of pie. That was a whole lot of pie. He looked over at Mr. Egbert Dad, as if asking permission to proceed to dessert.

Robert smiled and nodded, gesturing with his hand to go ahead. He was still halfway through his own lasagna, but he didn't mind if Tavros got to his dessert first.

Tavros's smile broadened and he hastily switched the plates around so that his pie slice was in front of him, looking as delicious as ever. He really didn't mind the silence between them as he dug in, the only sounds being the silent scraping of forks on plates and closed-mouth chewing for a while. He loved every bit of the first few bites, but as he got deeper into the pie, his stomach gradually began to protest, reminding him how very little room was left in there. His consumption slowed down until he finally set his fork on his plate, one-fourth of his pie remaining uneaten.

"Are you full?" Robert asked politely, having moved on to his pie slice after finishing his dinner.

Tavros nodded, frowning glumly at the left over pie on his plate. If only he had a few more inches of room in his stomach, he might try fitting the last of his slice of pie in there. "Yeah, but I think I'll save this, for later," he smiled faintly, picking up his dinner plate and setting it on his lap with his knife and fork placed on top of it, wheeling back from the table to put his dishes away. He at least wanted to be a little helpful, especially since Dad seemed to go out of his way a whole lot lately just to make sure Tavros's life was a little easier.

"Alright, You can save it if you'd like. There is still plenty of pie left though, if you'd like." Robert smiled. "Just let me know when you'd like to see my birds."

"Maybe when you're, uh, finished eating?" Tavros replied, reaching up and setting the dishes in the sink. He ran the faucet water over them to loosen the traces of lasagna sauce off, making sure that they were good and rinsed before putting them away in the dish washer. He came back for his pie, picking it up and placing it on his lap as he looked over at the human, asking, "Um, do you know where the plastic wrap is?"

"Just set it on the counter and I'll take care of it" Robert smiled. He set aside his empty plate and slid his slice of pie in front of him. "Just give me a moment for my pie and we'll go see the birds"

Tavros placed his pie on the counter and wheeled back to the dining table, halting at Dad's side and offering a hand towards his emptied dinner plate. "Um, here, let me take care of that for you," he insisted, not quite able to grab the dish without rudely reaching over the older man's dessert.

"You've done more than enough" Robert assured him with a smile, not handing him the plate. "I assure you, you don't need to do anything for me, I'll do it in a moment"

Tavros's hand retreated back to his armrest, wishing Dad would have just let him take the plate instead busting out more of his uncanny niceties. He had just wanted to return the favor, especially since the man had carried him around twice that day for the sake of being more than accommodating and then some. "Oh... okay, I'll go, um, read something then," he mumbled, backing down from the subject and wheeling in reverse to move away from the table.

"Alright, I'll be done in just a minute" Robert smiled. "I promise. And if you're interested, there's a box of John's old zoobooks in the den. I got them out of the closet to see if you wanted them"

"You mean your room or the living room?" Tavros asked, confused by the term 'den'.

"The room with the piano" Robert corrected gently. "That is the den. Sometimes I forget you don't know all the different names that we have for rooms." He smiled warmly.

Tavros bopped himself on the forehead, feeling silly that he couldn't remember what that term meant. "Alright, enjoy your pie," he smiled, wheeling into the room Dad specified. He had to look around for a bit to find the box, only to realize that it was right on top of a round, mini stand. Derp. He reached up and slid the box forward, tugging it onto his lap and grimacing slightly at the weight of it. John sure collected a lot of these. He pulled out the one about dolphins and porpoises and began reading, 'ooh'ing at the detailed photographs of the sea mammals.

Robert finished up his pie and cleaned up dinner, putting the rest and Tavros's pie in the fridge, humming cheerfully all the while. When he was done, he made his way to the den with a smile. "Alright, are you ready?" He asked.

Tavros looked up at Dad from the magazine and nodded, closing it and putting it back in the box. "Yup! Ready whenever you are," he answered, hoisting the box off his lap and placing it back where he found it.

"Alright, I'll meet you in my room with swimming trunks" Robert smiled. "The birds will be so pleased, I didn't let them join me this morning."

Tavros suddenly became very bashful when Dad reminded him about how the birds hadn't washed with him in the shower, his face heating up at the thought of the older man showering. He knew he needed a bath, especially after working with animals all day, but he was still just a little uncomfortable with the idea of bathing in front of Dad. "Oh, right, I should go, um, grab some pajamas to change into," he replied, wheeling around the older man towards the stairs.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get them for you while you're playing with the birds" Robert grinned. "I'm sure you don't want me in there watching you the whole time"

"Eheh, yeah, that would be, pretty weird," Tavros giggled awkwardly, wheeling away from the stairs and instead over to Dad's room. "But are you sure they'll be alright, washing with a stranger? I don't want to, um, scare them away or anything."

"If I trust you, they'll be fine. They were fine meeting you last night, so I'm sure that they won't have a problem so long as I'm there at first." Robert smiled, opening the door for Tavros.

Tavros wheeled inside, stopping momentarily in front of the bird cage before moving aside so that Dad could let them out. "This is, um, really nice of you, doing all of this for me," he muttered, looking down at his hands and fiddling around with them.

The birds regarded Tavros regarded quietly, not even making a noise when Robert walked past the cage to his dresser and pulled out a pair of swimming trunks for Tavros. "Would you like me to leave a moment for you to change?" he asked