Chapter Text
The move to Miami had been a necessity, but even so, Leo had a hard time forgiving himself from pulling his children out of their home in Spain and plopping them into the hot, humid, greenhouse that is Florida. In the end, however, he knew that it would be for the best. Work for him had dried up in Spain and it seemed that the industry he worked for had made a major shift for the better in America. Plus he would be slightly closer to his parents back home in Argentina and it wasn’t like he had any friends left in Spain anyways.
He had only been in Florida for a week and he had spent most of that time trying to justify the move to himself.
His boys had been supportive and understanding - well, as supportive and understanding as young children could be. Thiago, his oldest, had been an incredible help during the move, assisting in taking care of his two younger brothers and ensuring that Leo had some freedom to deal with all the paperwork.
He had been a single father since the beginning, choosing to have all of his children via surrogates, and it still never ceased to surprise him how many boxes he had to tick to keep his family together.
His two youngest had also done their best to be as self-sufficient as possible during the move. And while the boxes had still been piled up and the brand new furniture was still wrapped in plastic wrap, Leo had been oh-so grateful for them to do what they could to take care of themselves.
But then that first night where the move had been nearly done - all that was left to unpack was the set of China his mother had bought him so many years ago - Leo was unable to keep himself from sobbing. He felt so…so guilty that he had made his children care for themselves when they shouldn’t have had to. He knew that he couldn’t do anything to repent for neglecting his children, but he did what he could to make up for it.
He took a month off work, telling his new company that he needed some time to settle in and the kids situated before he felt comfortable going back to work. Thankfully they had been understanding and allowed him the time off. He had spent that month glued to his boys’ sides and was able to take them to see the more beautiful parts of Florida.
And that had been good. But then it came time to go back to work and with school not starting for another month and a half, Leo didn’t feel comfortable leaving his children home alone all day.
That’s what led Leo to be standing here, in front of the bright blue double doors of a house that someone had modified into a daycare. He had been recommended this place by one of his new coworkers who said that the price was hefty, but it was worth every cent. Leo sure as hell hoped so, he hated putting the care of his children into a stranger’s hands enough, he didn’t want to have to live with the idea that he had made the wrong choice.
Thiago squeezes his hand and Leo glances down at his eldest son. He smiles at him. “Nervous, niño?” Thiago shrugs, but squeezes Leo’s hand again. In his arms, Ciro squirms, making a sound that Leo knows means he wants to be let down. But, Leo is about to hand him off for the next nine hours and he can’t help but be a little bit selfish and hold his youngest for a little bit longer.
They’re only standing there for thirty seconds before the doors open, but it feels like a century to Leo. The woman that opens the doors smiles so brightly at them that Leo feels like he’s being pushed back by her presence.
“You must be Mr. Messi,” she says in accented English.
Leo can only nod stupidly.
She waits for him to speak, but when he says nothing, she looks around at the boys. “You must be Thiago,” she says to the tallest boy. “And you must be Mateo.” She gives them both a polite little wave. “I put out a box of LEGOs for you boys if you’d like to go play with them; they’re just in this first room.”
Mateo gasps in excited surprise and then bolts away from his father, running past the woman in search of the promised building blocks. Thiago looks up at his dad, eyes shining with excitement and silently asking for permission to run in after Mateo.
“Go, mi hijo, you’re good to go play. I’ll see you when I pick you up tonight.” When Thiago doesn’t go right away, Leo lets go of his son’s hand and gives him a gentle push towards the open doors. “Go on, Thiago, have fun.”
With that, Thiago carefully runs past the woman in search of his younger brother.
“I’ve found that boys sure do love their LEGOs,” the woman says, this time in Spanish. He’s grateful for her changing languages, glad to not have to keep up in his non-native tongue any longer. “How about you, little one? Do you want to go play?” When she takes a step closer to Leo and Ciro, the latter tucks his face into his father’s neck and whines.
It seems that his earlier desire to be put down has now shifted to never wanting to let go of his father again. “Come now, mi hijo, go play with your brothers.”
“No!”
The woman frowns, but only for a moment before she perks up and smiles. “Hmm, Ciro, do you know how to play football?” Ciro lifts his head off Leo’s chest and nods. “You do?! How cool! I have no clue how to play football, do you think you could show me today?”
Ciro looks between the woman and his father, then nods again.
She claps her hands together softly. “Amazing! There’s a ball out back, shall we go start now?”
Ciro scrambles to get out of his father’s arms and as soon as he’s on the ground he’s running through the home with reckless abandon, determined to find the backyard all by himself.
Now that Leo can’t see any of his boys, his chest starts to tighten. Sweat starts to drip down his neck, chilling his spine, and his hands start to shake uncontrollably. He misses his boys already and it’s only been seconds, he can’t fathom how he’s going to get through the entire day without being near them.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Messi.” The woman says, breaking him out of his stupor.
“Oh, yes, it’s nice to meet you as well…”
“Antonela,” she doesn’t wait and grabs his hand to shake it. If she notices how clammy he is she’s kind enough to not mention it. “Would you like to tour the house real quick before you get on your way? Your boys are the only ones I have scheduled to be here today so they’ll have the whole house to themselves.” She laughs and Leo isn’t sure why but it makes him blush.
“Sure,” he says, voice cracking as he speaks. “I’d love a tour.”
“This way, Mr. Messi.”
As he steps into the home he says, “Just Leo is fine.”
“Leo,” she repeats. “Very nice name.”
He isn’t sure what to say, not a lot of people compliment him for anything other than his work ethic, so instead he just fumbles around the words ‘thank you’. Antonela seems to find this funny, calling him very cute as she shuts and locks the door behind them.
“Okay, Leo ,” she smirks at him. “The tour begins this way…”
She shows him the entire house, except the upstairs where her personal living area was, and the whole time he can only think of how bad of a job he’s been doing as a parent. Not only was there an abundance of toys available for the children (of all varieties too, including more ‘educational’ toys), but the whole place was child-proofed.
They end the tour in the backyard, watching the boys - once the prospect of playing football came about the LEGOs were promptly left behind - try to nutmeg one another or tackle each other to the ground. The backyard is about as large as Leo’s new one, with a huge patch of grass followed up by a large pool that was fenced off.
Antonela sees him staring at the pool and says, “Can they swim?”
“Ciro still needs to wear his floaties.” Leo glances at his watch. If he doesn’t leave soon he’ll be late.
“Any food allergies?”
“No,” Leo mutters, cringing when Mateo slams into Thiago hard enough to make the older boy stumble. “Mateo, niño, be careful!” He gnaws on his cheek. His watch has become heavier by the second. “No allergies, but Thiago hasn’t been good about eating his vegetables lately so don’t let him fool you.”
Antonela giggles. “Ah yes, well I can promise you it’s not my first time dealing with something like that.” She walks back to the door that leads into the home. “Shall I walk you out?”
He wants to say no. To tell her that he couldn’t possibly leave his children alone after they’ve been glued at the hip for so long, but then he checks his watch. His company had been more than understanding with him needing that first month off, he didn’t want to risk getting on their bad side by being late the first day back.
He follows Antonela back through the house and it feels like he’s wearing concrete boots. When they get back to the front doors she gives him a knowing look. He’s sure that he’s not the first parent she’s dealt with that feels guilty about leaving their children with her.
She hands him a business card. “Here’s my cell phone number and the home phone number. If you want to check in at any point of the day just call, I’ll always be available.” He takes the card from her gently. It’s thick cardstock and dyed a soft cream color. Her name is written in large font on the front and surrounded by simple but cute looking flowers. He flips it over and on the back the home phone number is printed, but her personal cell phone number has been handwritten on.
Antonela opens the door for him and firmly, but not unkindly, pushes him out of the home. “Have a good day at work, Leo, I’ll see you when you stop by this evening to pick up the kids.”
He swallows the lump in his throat. “Thank you, Ms. Roccuzzo.”