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It was a chilly night in the Nest of District K. , the clock’s hands well past 10PM. There, a woman and a small girl sat in the Liu association’s South Section 4 headquarters’ Director’s office. The child was doodling on a sheet of paper, with the blonde woman fawning over her work.
“Oh, sweetie~! They’re gonna love it, don’t you worry your pretty little head over it!” she leans in closer, inspecting the girl’s drawing, nodding in approval before ruffling her rose-colored hair. “...And if they don’t, well, auntie Rodya will punch some sense into them!”
At that, the girl looks up, scandalized. “Auntie! You can’t punch Papa and Baba!”
“Oh no, darling, haha! I’m not really gonna punch your papas, see~ It was a… figure of speech…”
The girl didn’t seem convinced, squinting her eyes at the older woman with a harrumph.
“What’s with that look?!” the blonde faux-whines. “Ooh… My niece is so untrustworthy of me…! She hates her auntie! She hates her!” She exaggeratedly fakes a faint, drawing the young child’s attention to her. She knows the other loves her over the top offense act, and she loves indulging her sweet niece.
“Nooo! I didn’t say that!” the girl giggles, putting down the crayon she was using to run over to her auntie. “I love auntie Rodya!” sitting on the older woman’s belly, she taps the laying woman’s temple. At that, the woman opens one of her eyes, looking over the little child.
“Hmm… I don’t know… I’m not convinced.” She then closes her eye and puts her tongue out, in mock-death, to which the girl giggles in delight. “Since Yuri doesn’t love me, I’m now dead.”
“Nooooooo!” The little girl keeps giggling. “I really do love auntie Rodya!”
“Really?”
“Yes! Really really!”
“...More than anything in the world…?”
The girl laughs. “Ehehe, yeppers!”
Upon hearing this, the older woman sits up with her arms outstretched. “Oh!! A miracle has happened! Yuri’s love has resurrected Auntie Rodya…!” She then hugs the little one, standing up and spinning her around, the child laughing all the while. Eventually, she carefully puts the girl back down on the ground, who returns to her drawing immediately. She has been working on it since the early hours of the night.
Suddenly, the girl stops scratching away at the paper with her black crayon to bashfully look at her aunt. “Do you… You really think they will like it?” Her innocent eyes were full of doubt.
“Oh, honey… When haven’t they liked anything you’ve ever done?” She scoots over to Yuri to pat down her long hair, carding her fingers through her healthy and thick locks of hair. Her hair reminded the older woman of her father’s long inky black hair, especially since they both had the same tied-up style. She fondly smiled to herself at that. “Of course they’re gonna love it.”
“It’s just really special. Um.” The girl shuffles away from her aunt’s touch, reaching for the expensive crayon box Rodya gifted to her. “I wanna add more butterflies, cuz they’re pretty. But I don’t know what color…”
“Huhu, red is always a good color~” She picks up the red crayon, handing it to the girl. “I mean, it’s one of the primary colors, right?” With a wink, she knew she’d sold the girl on the idea.
And she proved her right, the girl snatching up the red crayon and immediately getting to work on sketching a butterfly next to a crude rendition of her Baba. Rodion watched over her, lips tugged into a rare genuine smile.
It was nearly 1am when the doors to the office suddenly swung open.
“Director bud, we really need to have a talk about these missions you’re sending us on-”
“PAPA! BABA!”
The short man didn’t have time to complain to his boss as he was tackled by a blur of pink. Next to him, Hong Lu hovered over their child awaiting his turn. He did not have to wait much, as Yuri immediately tackled him next.
“Hello, my YuYu~” The taller man hoisted the little girl up, kissing her forehead tenderly. He then tilts her slightly so her shorter dad can reach and plant a kiss on her cheek, delighting their child. Flushed as pink as her hair, she quickly kisses them back before wiggling out of her father’s grasp, picking up the drawing she’d been working on.
“Papa, Baba, look: I drew this for you! Auntie Rodya helped a bit with the colors.” She proudly displayed her work to both her fathers, a toothy smile gracing her face. In the sheet of paper, there was a shoddy drawing of the two men holding the girl’s hand, enveloped by butterflies of various colors. They were standing on green pastures, the sky a pretty sunset color, a quite crude gradation of orange-to-purple. The figure meant to represent Hong Lu was comically taller than the rest of them. “It’s us on a field with butterflies, I put them in because I think they’re very pretty bugs and, um, I know Papa doesn’t like bugs but I thought… I thought, that maybe if it’s a pretty bug, like a butterfly-”
She doesn’t get to finish her rambling as Gregor draws her into a crushing hug, kissing the top of her head. “It’s beautiful, little bud.” He rocks her slightly, then gently lets go to pluck the drawing from her hands to hand it to his husband. “Lu… You see this?”
“Yes… It’s so pretty. Our little YuYu might even become a renowned artist~” Despite being worded like his usual empty compliments, Hong Lu means every word he says. “We must add this to our wall of drawings, I say.”
“We should, shouldn’t we? How about we get some pretty butterfly pins for it as well, hmm?” The older man effortlessly scoops the little girl off the ground, sitting her up in his arms comfortably. “But that can wait for tomorrow. It’s really late, and someone’s gotta go to bed now.”
“Mmmm…” As if on cue, she begins to doze off slightly, head bumping against her dad’s chest.
With a fond sigh, both men observe their daughter drift off into half-slumber in her dad’s arms. Hong Lu plants a kiss onto the top of her head lightly, so as to not wake her.
“Look at her…” Gregor mutters, his heart full of love. Love, for both her and his husband, who helped bring her into this world. It had been eight years since they’d been together and Yuri had been born. Hong Lu often said Gregor’d changed his life for the better, and he could say the same thing to him. He now had a loving, handsome husband and a smart, beautiful daughter. He’d never imagined himself as a family man, but he’d been proven wrong and would never give up his little family for anything.
“Gregor~ We should get going home.” Hong Lu interrupted his reminiscing.
“Mmh- Oh, yeah… We should, shouldn’t we?” He glances at the now sleeping Yuri, her mouth slightly open and drooling. “Gotta put our kleine to sleep properly…”
Just as they entered, they turn to leave, yet Hong Lu stays behind for a beat more than Gregor. He turns his attention towards the woman that’s been suspiciously silent ever since Gregor mentioned the mission they’d been sent on.
“Oh, Rodya~ We’ll be talking about that… Mission against forty men you sent us against tomorrow, yes?”
And with a wink promising trouble, he was trailing off behind his beloved husband and child.
Oh, Rodya was screwed.