✨ Oneshots ✨

An Actor's Life For Me // pt. 2 - Hardzello (platonic)

Thank you to @86_b4by for the request ! This is a second part to the previous chapter. Ben now has a fictional daughter, and Joe's daughter is 4-years-old. 

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2021

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"Daddy, wake up! The sun is awake!" Sophie said, lightly shaking Joe on his shoulders to get him up.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake now.." Joe muttered sleepily and sat up.

He stretched and yawned as he got out of bed, while Sophie eagerly led her father to the kitchen.

"I think you have too much energy, Sophie. Such an early bird." Joe chuckled as he poured some cereal with almond milk for the both of them and made some coffee for himself.

-

"Thank you! also, why do you always drink that stuff?" The girl pointed at the coffee machine.

"Because it gives me the energy that you have, almost. It helps me stay awake."

Sophie nodded and started to eat breakfast, wrinkling her nose up at the smell of the caffeinated beverage.

"It doesn't smell very good, does it taste yummy?" She wondered.

"To me, it tastes good. But I put a little bit of sugar in it so it's not so strong." Joe answered.

---

After they finished breakfast, both of them got dressed and now were sitting on the sofa, cuddling. Joe was checking his text messages, which were from Ben.

"Daddy, what are we doing today?"

"Well, Ben is coming ov—" he got interrupted by a loud cheer, and he laughed slightly.

It had been over two years since they'd seen Ben, since he lived in England, and Sophie adored hanging out with him.

"You didn't let me finish, silly goose!" Joe tickled his daughter, earning a giggle.

-

"Sorry, go ahead!" Sophie replied, her face pink from laughter.

"Ok. When Ben comes, he has a daughter that is a little younger than you." Joe told her, speaking faster so he wouldn't have to repeat it.

"Yay! What's her name?" Sophie asked with excitement. 

"I don't know yet. He only just told me he was going to be in town, and that he'd bring her." Joe said, getting up to tidy the room.

Sophie saw what her dad was doing, and she helped tidy as well, thinking about what her friend would be like.

----

FIVE minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Joe answered it, surprised to see Rami.

"Hey, man. I wasn't expecting you. What's up?" Joe asked. 

"BEN!" Sophie shouted and ran from her bedroom to the door, then froze. She frowned, but was polite anyway. "Oh, sorry, thought you were.." 

-

"Ben, I know. Sorry to arrive unannounced, I forgot my phone here the other day. How are you?" Rami explained, crouching down to Sophie's level. 

"I'm good! Estoy bien, gracias!" Sophie giggled. "Oh, I know where that is!" The little girl exclaimed, running to Joe's bedroom and picking up a phone. 

"I didn't know she spoke Spanish, when did she learn?" Rami asked curiously. 

"Oh, well, she learns it at school, mostly. But I thought it'd be good since we live in L.A.. I also may have mentioned you speak it too." Joe replied, as Sophie came back, then returned the phone to her dad's friend.

"Muchas gracias, Sophie! Well, I must be on my way now. Adíos." Rami said, as the other two said 'see you later' to him.

---

Only TEN minutes later, there was another knock on the door.

This time, Joe opened it again, and Sophie stayed quiet until she saw the blond-haired actor, holding a little girl with blonde hair and green eyes just like him in his arms.

"Hello, Ben!" Sophie greeted happily. 

"Hi, Sophie! This is my daughter, Evelyn. She's 2-years-old." Ben said with a smile.

-

"Wow, ¡preciosa! How beautiful! She's almost identical to you, buddy." Joe commented with a grin. 

"Does that mean I'm beautiful?" Ben teased with a laugh.

Joe blushed a little, and just chuckled.

"She also may be a bit shy, she hasn't interacted with many people." Ben added.

-

"How about we go to the park? That could be fun." Ben suggested, and Sophie cheered with joy.

"Yeah, we'll just get our shoes on, then we can go." Joe agreed, watching as his child ran to get her shoes. 

After grabbing a few things like sunglasses and keys, the four of them headed to the park.

---

"Look how beautiful it is today! And nobody else is here." Joe pointed out, telling Sophie she could go play on the playground equipment. 

Ben set Evelyn down so she could go with Sophie, but she hesitated.

"It's okay, baby. She likes the playground just like you." Ben said softly. 

"Yesh.." Evelyn thought about it, then walked over to play.

-

"Hi, Evelyn! I'm Sophie! Wanna play?" The girl introduced herself. 

Evelyn nodded and followed slowly behind, and Sophie tried to teach Evelyn to climb the small rock wall.

Ben glanced over and was about to tell Sophie off for doing something dangerous, but Joe stopped him and spoke. 

"Look, she's holding Evelyn by the back, so she won't fall. It's all right." 

-

"Oh. That's quite impressive, actually.." Ben agreed.

"Good job, girls! You two are so strong and brave!" Joe cheered them on from afar with a smile.

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Word count: 810