We'll Be Alright

Ch 1 - Bath

(beware mentions of injury)
"Mmm."
"Good morning, baby," I whisper, pressing a kiss to Pica's forehead. Last night was rough, but nothing we haven't seen before. A mental breakdown here, a screaming fit there, followed by crying in the dark; a typical Monday.
"Pnnnncks," my boyfriend mumbles around the pacifier in his mouth. I pull it out gently, smiling.
"What was that? Use your words, hun."
"Wan' p'ncakes," he says sleepily.

"Oh, but I'm so warm!" I fake complain, dramatically draping myself over my side of the bed. The smaller boy scoots closer to me, following my body heat.
"Jojo! Wan' pancakes!" he whines, gripping my hoodie in his fists. I brush his hair out of his forehead with one hand and tap my chin with the other.
"What's the magic word, lil' prince?"
"Peeeeaz?" He scoots even closer, practically in my lap.

"Alright then, I suppose we'll order pancakes," I confirm, smiling at the excited wiggles I get in response. "But only for little boys who have showered!" Pica immediately jumps out of bed and sprints to the bathroom. "Don't forget a change of-" The door shuts. "Oh, well." I haul myself out of bed and trudge to the kitchen, setting on some coffee for myself and prepping a bottle of apple juice for Pica.

I'm waiting for the coffee to finish steeping when I hear a sharp thud, followed by a wail and a crash. I run to the bathroom and open the door to see a half-naked Pica on the floor, the curtain rod in the tub, and watered-down blood.
"Shit," I hiss.
"Dat's a no-no word," Pica reminds me, hiccuping.
"Honey, what happened? Are you okay?" I kneel at his side and inspect him for injuries, finding only a bitten lip and a bruise already forming on his chin.
"I fell," the little whines. "I's sorry!" I grab a washcloth from the counter and wipe the blood off his chin, sighing.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, sweet pea. It happens," I promise, tilting his face up to get at his jaw. He closes his eyes and leans into my touch, still shirtless and sopping wet. "Did you slip on the water?"
"Yeah," Pica grumbles, looking betrayed. "Da shower is mean to me."
"Why don't we have a bath, then?" I suggest, trying to hold back laughter at the expression on my boy's face. His eyes light up and his mouth stretches out in an excited shriek.
"Baf! Baf!" He cheers, pumping his arms up and down. I kiss his now-clean cheek and smile.

"There's a bottle of juice on the counter for you, bub," I tell him. "Why don't you go drink that while I clean up, and then you can get your toys and you can have a bath." Pica sniffs and nods, toddling out of the bathroom, wiping his eyes. I prop the shower curtain back up and towel off the surfaces in the vicinity. Pica re-enters the bathroom a few minutes later, bottle dangling from his mouth by the nub and arms full of bath toys.

"Jojo! Baf time!" He demands around the bottle. I laugh and take the toys from him, setting them down on the floor.
"Go get a change of clothes, hun," I remind him, turning on the water and filling the tub, drizzling in bubble-bath mix as the water level rises.
"Jojo!" Pica whines, his voice becoming increasingly more impatient as he tosses a hooded lion onesie at my head, the cloth catching on my horns. I turn around; in the time it took for him to get a change of clothes, he has stripped down to only his socks.
"We don't throw things at people's heads," I say, pretending to be stern. "Take off your socks and you can get in."

He wiggles out of his socks and gets in the tub, splashing in the bubbles and making quacking sounds when he pokes one of the rubber duckies floating in the soapy water. I wet his hair and lather it with shampoo while he babbles about the dream he had last night, smiling at his animated facial expressions, laughing when he gives himself a mustache made of the soap foam and dabs bubbles on my horns.

"Eyes closed," I tell him. He obliges and I rinse the shampoo out of his hair, the little giggling at the warm water coursing over his shoulders.
"All done, Jojo?" Pica peers up at me when I pull the plug and the water starts to drain.
"All done!" I pull him up and wrap him in a fluffy towel, setting him on the counter and using a smaller towel to dry his deep crimson hair. He looks like he's thinking hard- his brow is scrunched and he's biting his lip. "What's up, bug?"
"We still gettin' pancakes?"

A/N
aaaaaah love these two sm
y'all get chapter one and the prologue in the same day because i'm feeling nice