Severo grinned. “Let’s go play in the park. It’ll be fun. It’ll be cold, but fun.”
Despite himself, he couldn’t help but smile back. Damn…why was the Dweller’s smile so fucking infectious? He sighed. “Fine. After Skya’s nap, we’ll go to the park.”
“Yes!” Severo pumped his fist. “Hear that, Skya, we are going to the park!”
“GAH NAH!” Skya said with matched excitement, even though she obviously had no clue what they were talking about.
Tears in her eyes,Skya stared at Severo and Seri, looking for all intents and purposes betrayed and kidnapped.
Seri didn’t look much better as his baby rejected him trying to comfort her again. They likely didn’t need to change their faces, but…it was better to be safe than sorry.
“I don’t know if this is going to work. It didn’t last time.” Seri sighed. “It’s only been a month since then. Maybe she is still too young?”
Severo winced. “Let’s try a few more times, and if it doesn’t work, we will just make sure our faces stay covered. Skya, watch closely now, gummy bear.” He removed the shadow noses, mouths, brows, and eyes he’d added to himself and Seri. “See, it’s still us.”
Sniffling, her head tilted. He added them again. Her eyes went wide. He took them away again.
“AB BAH, BAH BAH!” Skya yelled fiercely, her face scrunching up as she waved her finger at him.
Ah…apparently, he was to blame again. Though, Severo supposed the blame wasn’t exactly misplaced.
“Ah ba!”Skya squealed, arms flailing as she started to bounce in her stroller on seeing the playground. She was currently dressed as a fuzzy penguin. Another outfit that had just ‘appeared’ in the laundry.
Seri giggled. “Aw, is my girl happy?” His breath came in visible puffs of air. It was cold out. Only thirty degrees. While it wasn’t a ‘wind blowing so hard you feel naked’ type of cold, it was still cold.
She squealed again, still bouncing.
This was her first time at a playground. He had always been too worried about being spotted before…and also she’d been too young. But Skya had seen them on the TV. He wasn’t sure how much she retained of what she watched, but she seemed excited to be there at least.
He eyed the playground. It appeared that the ground was heated but not the full park, just the playground equipment. Outside the graveled circle area that contained all the equipment, the snow remained. There were various different sized slides, swings for babies and older children, and a lot of other things that Skya was too young to play on.
“Thank the void,” Severo laughed, crouching down in front of Skya. “I thought she’d never stop ranting at me. Ready to play, gummy bear?” the Dweller asked her as he hit the release for the stroller and plucked her up.
She squealed again, wiggling. “Oh-Oh!”
“Oh-Oh indeed!” The man laughed. “What should we do first?”
“Well, your options are the slide and the swing. As she is too little for anything else.”
“Oh, but there is a sand box too!” The Dweller pointed to the far left.
He looked to where he was pointing and found that there was indeed a sandbox. Seri couldn’t tell what it was shaped like from here, but it was there…
Seri grimaced. “I really don’t want her first mouthful of sand to be whatever is in there.”
Severo made a choking sound before bursting into laughter. “Point taken.” The man suddenly spun, tucked Skya under his arm and yelled out, “To the swings,” as he ran off. Skya giggled loudly, even though she was being held like a football.
Shaking his head, Seri pushed the stroller forward, lifted it up on reaching the curb of the playground, and then dragged it to the nearest bench. Taking a seat, he was happy to find it was heated too. Though once he’d stepped on the gravel, the temp had changed by at least ten degrees. Which only made it forty, but that was still better than thirty.
Severo stared at the baby swing for a moment, before walking away and taking a seat on one of the big kid swings.
Seri’s brows rose—what was he…
His eyes widened when the man unzipped his coat, stuck Skya inside and zipped it up. With just her head free, the little penguin hood in place, Severo began to swing. As Skya’s happy laughter filled the playground, Seri couldn’t help but smile. His smile only got wider the longer he watched.
The man was ridiculous…but so good with her. Skya liked him. Well, she did when she wasn’t being grumpy about him switching their faces around. And Severo…didn’t just play with her. He changed her, he put her down for naps, he fed her… He bought her ridiculous outfits and toys… And the Dweller would get these dorky yet…adorable, child-like smiles on his face as he excitedly tried to show them what he’d got.
He frowned…‘adorable’? Seri’s heart started to speed up. The man was smiling now, laughing along with Skya.
