Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

treinta y dos: toddler tantrums

The morning after, Venus slept in and Oscar layed right beside her, wide awake but feeling like Venus needed his comfort. Luis was dropped off earlier and it was the only time Venus was awake because she was explaining everything to her parents. Minutes after they left, she went back to sleep with Luis cuddled up in her arms.

"Papá, I hungry." Luis called out, pulled his head out of Venus' neck to look over his shoulder. He crawled out of his mom's grasp, somehow managing to not wake her up. "You make food?"

Oscar nodded and carefully slid out of bed before grabbing Luis and walking to the kitchen. "You want bacon, hombrecito?"

Luis nodded his head and stood on the counter while Oscar got everything from the fridge. When he turned around and the 3 year old was gone, he panicked until he saw him hugging Venus, who was no sitting at one of the chairs for the counter.

Taking his silence as a yes, Oscar started cooking while Venus and Luis had their moment. "Mamá said she wants ice cream." Luis lied, walking to the fridge before anyone could stop him. He started giggling as he stole the tub out of the freezer and ran down the hallway to his room.

Oscar looked from the hallway to Venus in confusion. "I wonder where he gets that from." He teased. Once the heat of the stove was turned down, he went to get Luis who was licking the ice cream out of the tub.

"No!" Luis cried out. Venus watched as Luis ran after Oscar, who now had the ice cream, and start hitting him once it was on the top shelf of the fridge. "I hate you!"

"Luis!" Said child looked to his mom before he started screaming and crying and ran to his room. "I'll be back." Venus told Oscar. She looked at his blank face and frowned. "He didn't mean it, cariño. He's just a mad baby." Oscar nodded and let Venus kiss him before she went to deal with Luis.

"I don't love you!" Luis yelled, throwing a teddy bear at Venus when she walked in. He sat back on his race car bed and pouted with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Papito, you can't tell people you hate them." Venus told the three year old, ignoring his glare as she sat in front of him.

"But he was mean." Luis pouted, him arms still crossed with a glare on his face.

"No, you're not supposed to have ice cream in the morning. And you don't be mean to tu papá." Luis stuck his tongue out quickly and went back to pouting. "Si no te detienes, voy a llevar a tu iPad." She told him sternly.

Luis' glare dropped quickly and he looked at Venus sadly. "I didn't mean to." He teared up, suddenly regretting his tantrum. "I wanted ice cream."

"Te disculpas a tu papá." Luis sniffed and wiped his tears while Venus hugged him. He nodded his head before jumping off his bed and slowly walking to the kitchen.

By the time Venus came out, Oscar was putting him in his chair and putting a plate in front of him. "He didn't have to say sorry, he's a baby."

"Yeah, but you looked butthurt, so I made him." Venus shrugged.

Oscar watched her and set down the spatula to turn to her. "You feel okay?" Once again, Venus shrugged. She stayed in place as Oscar walked up to her and hugged her tightly.

While Oscar was kissing her forehead, Venus was thinking about how she felt. She was sad because she lost a baby, confused because she didn't even know she was pregnant, and hurt because she hasn't taken her medication yet. She understood she broke Alejandra's nose in the heat of the moment, but was it necessary to nearly end her life? Without Lu, Venus was sure she would've been dead in the middle of the street.

"They found Alejandra's friends last night, but she's hiding somewhere." Oscar informed her. Venus nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist since she was starting to get cold in the sweatpants and tank top she had on.

"Mamá, papá, hurry. I'm hungry." Luis called out, turning around to look at the two hugging behind the kitchen counter. He was waiting for one of them to sit so he could start eating, but he became frustrated when no one came.

"We're coming." Venus told him, watching as he nodded his head after and turned back around with his hands in his lap.

Before Venus could walk off with her plate, Oscar gently pulled her back and kissed her for the first time that morning. "You didn't take your medicine." He pointed out, grabbing the orange pill bottle by the fridge and holding it to her.

"You worry too much."

"I just want you healthy."

× × ×

Venus stepped out of the car after Oscar closed the front of his flannel on her and was immediately greeted by the gang.

"Pobrecita." Pablo coo'd, squeezing the air out of Venus once Luis was put down. "Bitch, where's your bra?"

"I'm freeing the nipple." Venus responded, dropping her smile when he wrapped the flannel around her more. He brought her arms down and made the flannel stay in place so her chest wasn't out. "You guys don't know fashion." Venus stated, moving on to hug Sad Eyes.

"I thought you guys were staying at your house, Pluto?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to be depressed all day, so now I'm outside." Venus smiled, sitting on the porch and looking at the whole gang. "So," she dragged out, "how's life? Kill anyone recently?"

Some of the guys choked on their beer and everyone turned to look at Venus who was innocently sitting on the porch steps. "Could you be any louder?"

Venus smiled sheepishly and muttered a "sorry" while Oscar took a seat beside her. "Mamá!" Luis came running over from behind the couch, a yellow flower in hand while giggling. Luis stood between Venus' legs and showed her what he got before he put the small flower into her hair.

"See, they're cute until they start throwing up on you and asking for shit." One of the guys commented, watching as Luis kissed Venus' cheeked and ran off after patting Oscar's scalp. "You should shave his head."

"Hell no."