𝐑 𝐔 𝐎𝐊, j. | discontinued

五

── ✱ ⵌ 𖤐 𝐉𝐀𝐇𝐒𝐄𝐇

❝ 𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝙵𝙸𝚂𝙷, 𝚃𝚆𝙾 𝙵𝙸𝚂𝙷, 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙳𝙸𝙳𝙽'𝚃 𝙷𝙰𝚅𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝙻𝙸𝙴 𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝚂𝙷𝙸𝚃 ❞

"Did you eat all of your lunch?" I asked Xiorra. It was Monday afternoon and we'd just gotten home from me picking her up from school. She was asking me to fix her some red beans and rice.

"Yes, but I like when you cook me stuff," she said honestly. Then she pouted and clasped her hands together, looking up at me with her best puppy dog face. "Please?" she begged.

"Of course I will, you don't have to beg. I'll never not cook for you, that's what dads are for." I took her backpack off of her and put it on top of the bar, then picked her up and sat her on top of one of the barstools. "Do you have homework?"

"Yeah, reading. I have to read to you," she said, unzipping her backpack and pulling out a Dr. Seuss book. "See? Green eggs and ham."

"Okay baby, that sounds fun," I told her. "That's your only homework?"

"Mhm," she replied, nodding her head exaggeratedly.

"Okay, get the nail polish and stuff together then. You can paint my nails while the food's cooking and after we eat, you can read to me. Deal?"

"Deal!" she squealed, hopping down from the barstool.

"Be careful, please."

"I'm getting the nail polish ready!" she yelled as she zoomed up the stairs. I smiled and shook my head.

Once the food was prepared and cooking on low, I made my way upstairs to Xiorra's room.

Her room was any little girl's dream. A bubblegum pink wall with soft pink bean bags, and a twin bed covered in a unicorn themed duvet. She had many stuffed animals strewn across her bed—I was trying to get her in the habit of making up her bed and organizing her stuffed animals neatly—and there were some on the carpeted floor. She had a small Princess Belle table that she sometimes did homework on, ate snacks at, but it was most commonly used to paint my nails.

On the table, she had a bunch of nail bottles clumped together, some open and messy and some brand new, which I assumed Lucy had bought for her while she was over there. There was nail art, like rhinestones and glitter, and nail polish remover just in case she messed up.

She sat in the small chair on one side of the table. She beamed when she saw me come in, and hastily waved me over. "Hurry, hurry!" she said, as if she was in distress.

"I'm right here," I laughed, "I'm not going anywhere."

I sat across from her and put my hands in front of her so she could do what she wanted with them. Lucy and I both agreed that we should keep her exposure to the fumes and chemicals to a minimum, so we didn't buy her nail polish that was too expensive because that's where the chemicals were strongest. We also made sure to buy weak nail polish remover so that the fumes wouldn't be too strong for her to inhale while she used it.

Xiorra hummed and put her finger on her chin, to signify that she was thinking. She looked between my nails and the nail polish bottles for a while before grabbing a pastel blue and pastel pink.