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The Southern part of Italy was as beautiful in reality as it had looked in the pictures they had checked together. The little beach belonging to their hotel was especially picturesque as it stretched out vast and infinite beneath a brilliant blue sky. The sunlight danced on the runty waves, turning the surface of the sea seemingly into a sparkling mass of gold. On land, the heated sand was almost golden, too, but it felt like a hot carpet without protective footwear. Not even the shadows of the many colourful umbrellas helped much to cool it down—and the shore was basically dotted with them. At least they created little patches of shade where people and animals alike flocked in to escape the relentless sunbeams for a while.
It was not only Qui-Gon who moaned unhappily when he wiped the sweat from his brow. Basically, everybody was struggling with the extreme temperatures. Some people lay completely still with their faces covered with hats or books as if not moving at all alone would cool them down. Others sat unhappily on their towels and fanned themselves in the fruitless attempt to create some coolness by chasing around hot air. Some of the visitors groaned and sighed while they wondered if the hot water would actually help to refresh their bodies or if staying in the shadows was a better way to escape the blazing afternoon sun.
“If the weather doesn’t cool down anytime soon, I’ll abduct both of you and carry you off to some ski resort or something," Obi-Wan half-heartedly joked and wiped the sweat from his husband’s forehead.
Qui-Gon nodded and tilted his head to lean into the touch. "Actually, getting abducted never sounded more irresistible than this very moment. Another hour out here at the beach and I may look like a grilled tomato."
“Not only you, my love. Do remind me quickly, though: Who wanted to spend our holidays at the sea during the summer season?”
The bigger man of the two put his hands on his sides and huffed. “Darling, I originally wanted to go hiking in the mountains.”
“Which would have been so much worse! So very, very much worse in this heat!”
“In the mountains the air is way chillier, you know.”
“Hey, do not start quarrelling again!” Little Cal quickly grabbed one of his adoptive parents’ hands respectively. "Can we, please, just go somewhere else? It's really way too hot out here!"
Obi-Wan looked down at the child and smiled with his heart growing a little. Forgotten were the times when he had not wanted to welcome another little intruder into the small family that he had built with Qui-Gon. "How about some ice cream at that cute parlour then? Would that cheer my lovely men up?"
The boy's face lit up with joy when he heard this proposal. "Yes! Can we, daddy?" He smiled up at Qui-Gon and jumped from one foot to the other. “Can we really?”
“Well, it would cool us down slightly, would it not?” the oldest of the three approved of the idea. “I just wonder if they will have one that I can eat as well.”
His husband cast Qui-Gon a mischievous look and proposed: “Well, if you really can’t eat any of the flavours to be had at the parlour, Cal will get his cold treat now, and after we’ve brought him to the playroom, you will get a very hot treat, my love.”
Ah, the joy of the childcare that upscale hotels offered! Obi-Wan bit his lip and winked, and Qui-Gon may have blushed if his face had not been dangerously red from the hot sunbeams already.
“I don’t get it,” Cal stated the obvious and frowned in confusion, too. “Why?"
Obi-Wan looked down at him a little awkwardly himself now. "Why what, dear?"
"Why would daddy want something hot?" The little one rolled his eyes like his question was clear as day—which it was indeed. "It's at least forty degrees, dad! Drinking something hot is crazy! Wouldn't daddy rather have an ‘adults’ drink’ with many, many ice cubes?"
“Well… You see…” Obi-Wan pressed his lips together, desperately trying not to burst out laughing.
"And why does he have to wait until we're back at the hotel?" Cal continued, the look on the boy’s face almost being one of offense now. "I really don’t get it! Why would you make daddy wait until you two are back at the hotel? There are so many bars out here! He could have a drink now! Why make daddy wait for so long when the two of us are getting ice cream right away?"
God, he loved this kid so much!
Qui-Gon squeezed the small hand, clearly moved by the little one’s worry about his wellbeing. He still almost lost his battle to keep a straight face.
"Let's just say," Obi-Wan replied after a short moment of making up the proper answer, "it's a very special delight that you should not enjoy outside of your room. Like… there are games that are so bright that you can hardly play them outsight because you don’t recognize much on the screen, right? Therefore, you enjoy them most when you play them in a darkened room. It’s something like this."
Cal frowned even more but he considered this explanation carefully.
"It’s still weird," he eventually said with a shrug. "If it's that good, they should sell it at the beach as well."
This time Obi-Wan could not hold back his laughter, and Qui-Gon did blush violently, leaving their son completely puzzled once more.
“Adults are so strange!”
“We are, kid,” Qui-Gon agreed with a nod and another gentle squeeze of the small hand in his. “We really are.”