Little Lux

4

8th October, 2022 - Los Angeles, California

"Lulu can pass me da red pleaseee?" August says, looking up from his colouring sheet.

So far, Lux's first official day here was going just okay. There hadn't been any more tears since the diaper incident this morning - something that Vincent and Sebastian were happy about and they had managed to make it all the way to 11:37am without any more issues.

Lux and August were currently sat on the floor of the lounge, working on some color-by-numer sheets whilst the 2 men are sat on the sofa, relaxing whilst also keeping an eye on them.

Lux looks over at August, picking up the red crayon passing it to him so that he could colour in all the number 2 areas.

She glances at his colouring sheet, noticing the differences. Hers was neat, making sure the colours stay within the lines and are in the correct places. August, on the other hand, coloured messy. He didn't stay within the lines at all and had even used the wrong colour in some areas.

"You missed a bit there." she murmured, pointing to a little corner on his sheet that he'd skipped over.

August just shrugged, looking up with a lopsided smile. "S'not havta be perfect, Lulu. S'pose to be fun!"

Lux just stays silent. She doesn't want to be doing this stupid colouring activity anyways. It was babies. Something that she was not. The soft carpet under her knees, the smell of crayons, the quiet hum of the fan in the lounge was something that she should have left behind a long time ago.

Sebastian breaks the silence, noticing Lux's unease. "You're doing great, sweetheart," His voice was gentle, careful, as if he was talking to someone far younger than her actual age.

Lux feels her cheeks grow warm. It was weird having someone speak to her in this way. So soft and patient, like he genuinely cared about her.

Then Vincent, her "papa," as he insisted she call him, chimed in from the other end of the couch. "You know, Lux, if you want to take a break, that's okay too. We can do something else if you're getting bored."

Lux just stays silent. She wasn't used to people asking her what she wanted. Back home, her days had always been structured, controlled, with no room for questions.

Before she could say anything, August jumped in, his eyes wide with excitement. "Ooooh, can we have snacks? Like the animal ones, Papa?"

"A snackbreak, hm? I think we can make that happen."

August smiles, excitedly hopping to his feet in a flash leaving his crayon rolling across the carpet, forgotten. She watched as he follows Vincent into the kitchen before glancing back at her own colouring. A meticulous work-in-progress.

"Go ahead baby." Sebastian encourages. "You can take a break too, if you want."

She put down her crayon carefully, making sure it didn't roll away like August's, and stood up, feeling strangely shy under their watchful eyes. Lux followed August into the kitchen, where he was already bouncing in front of the cupboard, excitedly pointing out the animal-shaped snacks.