“Then I want to be Spider-Girl,” Omari called.
“I found it!” Mikal announced, pulling the costume from the rack and holding it up. He was surprised that she’d chosen to be Hellcat, as she was a hero before Mikal’s time. Though he noticed she read the older comics too. He was even more surprised that the store had the costume. “Kodi, will you add some red afro-puffs on my birthday to go with the costume?”
“You aren’t going to wear the mask?” Kodi asked, and Mikal shook her head. “Okay, I’ll do your hair like that.”
“Alynn, do you know who you want to be?” Jalen asked, and Rohan turned to his niece, who was leafing through the costumes.
“Invisible Woman, but I can’t find it in my size,” she responded with a pout.
“Let’s go see if they have some in the back,” Jalen replied, holding her hand out to Alynn.
“I’ll choose your costume for you while you’re gone,” Mikal told her, looking through the racks, and Jalen threw an okay over her shoulder.
“Rohan,” Nathan called, getting his attention. “Who are you going to be?”
“That’s a good question. You want to help me look?” Nathan nodded happily.
“Oh, me too!” Omari exclaimed. “I’m good at helping with things.”
“Then I’m sure I’ll have a great costume.”
Both girls grabbed one of his hands and led him over to another rack, and the three of them looked through it. He honestly hadn’t thought about who he would dress up as, so he had no problem with their choosing for him.
Several minutes later, Jalen came back with a smiling Alynn, who held an Invisible Woman costume in her hand. The twins were still looking for his costume.
“Jae, I found the perfect costume for you. You can go as Storm,” Mikal told her. She then turned to Rohan. “Which means you should go as Wolverine. Yes, I know they weren’t a thing. At least, if they were, I haven’t gotten to it. I’m not super far into the series yet, but I think they would have been great together. It’ll be kind of chilly, but you both can wear the official X-Men costume.”
“Yep!” Omari agreed.
“That’ll be good!” Nathan nodded along, but he was sure neither of them really understood.
“Now for Kodi and Landon,” Mikal stated, tapping her chin.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kodi told her. “I’m going as Gamora.”
“Black Panther minus the mask,” Landon informed her.
“Okay, everyone who still needs costumes, grab them, and make sure they’re the right sizes. Then we can go get some lunch,” Jalen said.
They’d had lunch and were currently at the park. They’d been there for a little over half an hour. The younger girls hadtalked Jalen into going, even though it was chilly out. She’d agreed under the condition that they all understood they would stay an hour, an hour and a half tops.
Rohan had just finished pushing the youngest four on the merry-go-round, and they were now bounding over to the slide, as he went to the table Jalen was seated on top of. Kodi had walked off somewhere to talk on the phone, and Landon was sitting on top of the dome, drawing.
“Are you okay, baby?” he asked as he sat on top of the table, turning towards her.
“I am,” she replied with a smile.
“We can leave if you want to.”
“Did the girls wear you out already?” she teased.
He poked her in the side, causing her to giggle. The wind picked up, and Jalen shrank into herself slightly.
Shrugging out of his jacket, Rohan placed it over her shoulders. He held on to one side while she pushed her arms through it. She was wearing a sweater, but he knew that with the wind now picking up, she might be chilly.
They sat watching the girls take turns on the slide before they called Jalen over, asking her to push them on the swings. Rohan watched her go over, propping his arms on his legs.
He watched her as she pushed Nathan on the swing, as the little girl giggled at how high she was going. The sun was shining on Jalen’s cocoa skin while she smiled at the six-year-old, and he couldn’t help but be captivated. Hell, everything about her had captivated him since the moment he’d seen her. He felt a presence approaching and looked over at Kodi. The teenager took a seat beside him, and the two were quiet for a moment until she broke the silence.
