Work Text:
“C’mon, Mari!”
Alejandro momentarily stops vigorously scrubbing down his kitchen counter as he hears his youngest daughter’s voice and two little sets of footsteps running towards him.
He looks up to find Sophie rearing around the corner leading into the kitchen, Maria following close behind her. The youngest girl spots him and her eyes widen, looking back at her sister saying, “I told you he’d be here!”.
They then climb onto the stools that sit near the open counter, Maria momentarily slipping on one of the rungs before regaining her balance and plopping herself down on the plush seat.
Sophie’s still little enough that she has to sit on her feet to fully reach the counter top.
Alejandro smiles before addressing his two daughters.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of basking in the presence of you two beautiful young ladies?” he says, leaning on the hand that had the cleaning rag in it, placing his other one on his hip.
Maria speaks up after she’s settled into the chair with: “Can you play games with us, Papi?”.
She places her elbows onto the counter, intertwining her fingers in a ‘please?’ motion and a hopeful expression on her face.
“Yeah, pleeeease?” Sophie voices Maria’s unspoken plea, jumping a bit in the stool she’s sitting on. Well, the best she can while she’s sitting on her feet.
“Sophie, sit still while you’re on the stool, mija”, Alejandro sets the rag he was using on the spout to the sink, then looks to his youngest, causing Sophie to realize her mistake. She nods vigorously, adjusting her posture and making a point to sit perfectly still, placing her hands on her lap.
“So, can you play with us then?” Maria asks, a smile on her face.
As he looks over to the curly haired girl, out of the corner of his eye, Alejandro can see his smallest daughter start lightly bouncing in place, clearly not being able to contain her excitement.
Kids, what can you do with ‘em?
Alejandro was preparing to respond with his usual ‘Sorry, I can’t right now’ spiel before getting an idea. He turns around to look at the clock on the microwave to see that it was only about 8:30 am.
Sure, he had work that needed to be done, but he didn’t technically need to get started on it until around 9:00.
But his girls didn’t know that.
Alejandro got a wicked grin on his face before turning back around to his daughters.
“Ahh, sadly, I don’t have time for games, I’m working today” Alejandro says, a fake look of sympathy on his face. Of course, the young girls don’t pick up on the fact that both the tone in his voice or the false look on his face are falsely sympathetic. Both girl’s faces fall slightly, Maria looking down at her lap while frowning.
Alejandro smirks, seeing his little plan had worked out.
He grabbed both the girls’ attention again when he held up his finger and suddenly said: “Wait a minute, I just have to go downstairs for something real quick”.
Both girls’ faces turn from sadness to confusion, seeing as they were already in the downstairs part of their house. Before they got the chance to question it though, Alejandro pushed his finger forward as if he was pressing a button, making a little ‘doot’ sound before slowly sinking to the floor behind the counter where the girls could no longer see him.
Both girl’s faces light up before they burst out with laughter, causing Alejandro to smile even wider at his achievement. He leans against the cupboards underneath the counter and looks down to see a pair of his husband’s flip-flops near the cupboards under the sink, causing him to have yet another genius idea. Really, he’s just full of ‘em!
Alejandro grabbed one of the black shoes before slowly rising, looking up to see both of his girls attempting to look over the counter to try and find him.
He rose up all the way, handing the flip-flop to Sophie, asking, “Hey, is this yours?”
Both girls sparked up with small giggles, Sophie reaching out to grab the shoe from her father and placing it in her lap.
“Yeah, play the elevator game!” She chimes up, slightly bouncing in her seat again. Maria nods furiously, then looks back to her dad, a big toothy smile taking up her face.
Alejandro throws up his hands with a grin on his face, “I don’t know what to tell you girls”, he says, “I’ve got work to do today”.
He then presses his pretend elevator button again with another little ‘doot’, then slowly sinking behind the counter yet again. Both girls spark up with laughter once more, Maria placing her arms and head on the counter top while her shoulders tremble.
When Alejandro crouches down all the way again, he hears their little hands slap on top of the porcelain counter top, presumably lifting themselves up again to try and catch a glimpse of him.
He locates his husband’s other flip flop then grabs it, before making his way back up. He grunts as he feels his knees start to strain from the constant movement.
Damn, he wasn’t getting that old, was he?
He straightens up then exclaims; “Man, I found another one!” He looks at Maria then holds out the sandal to her. “I’ve got no clue where they keep coming from!”.
The young girl giggles lightly as Sophie full on belly laughs, causing her to hiccup slightly. Maria takes the flip flop in her hands, then holds onto it in her lap, much like Sophie currently was.
“Again, again!” Sophie says through her deafening laughter.
Alejandro playfully rolls his eyes and tsk’s, putting his hands on his hips.
“I told you two, I’ve got a lot of work to do!”.
He pauses momentarily, reaching out to, you guessed it, push the “elevator” button.
“I just can’t play the elevator game!” He states, very matter of factly, as he’s actively bending back down underneath the girls’ lines of sights. He then winces as his knees start aching, causing him to fall down all the way, plopping onto the cold tile with a small ‘omph’.
Damn, he really was getting that old…
Both girls laugh before Maria chimes in with, “You are playing it!”
Alejandro breathes out a small laugh through his nose, leaning his head back against the cupboards with a small smile and listening to the sound of his girls’ laughter.
He thought to himself that, if he ever got the chance to hear angels, they would sound exactly like this. Like them.