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Caine had just arrived home and pulled off his red coat. He was taking off his tie when a little girl with blue and black hair bounced up towards him.
”Caine! I have a surprise for you!” She giggled, twirling around excitedly.
The red-head ruffled Bubble’s hair. “Oh really now?”
”Yes really!” She grinned. One thing that Caine secretly found endearing about Bubble was that frenzied looking toothy grin of hers. Everyone else seemed to jump when she grinned but he found it quite cute.
”Do I follow you?” Caine asked, tilting his head to the side.
Bubble looked around for a split second. “Uhh… stay here until I call ya!”
She quickly ran off, leaving the red-head in the entryway. Caine sighed as he unbuttoned the first two buttons of his dress shirt. Sure, he liked dressing up fancy, but why did fancy equal uncomfortable?
”Caine! Come to the living room!” Bubble shouted loudly. For such a small girl she could be really loud.
Caine sat down on the floor as he watched the bubbly little girl run around and set up her stage. It was really just a bunch of boxes with a blanket draped over to act as the curtain.
Bubble handed Caine a flashlight. “Turn this on when I tell ya too!”
”Alright..?”
Bubble giggled before going behind the blanket and turning on a flashlight that was with her. It projected her shadowy silhouette onto the curtain. Caine couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the girl start doing silly poses while being the announcer. “Welcome to Magic Shows with Bubble!”
Caine started clapping.
”Okay, can ya turn on the light?” Bubble whispered from behind the curtain. Caine flipped the switch and Bubble bursted out from the curtains, wearing Caine’s tophat and holding his cane. Caine gasped in surprise, a smile on his face. Wait, how did she get those things without him noticing?
”Wow! I wonder what show we’re gonna have tonight!” Caine exclaimed.
”Hopefully this won’t be your last show.” Bubble giggled. Caine gave an uneasy look but still kept the smile. “Today, I will be preforming some magic tricks for you! Will anyone in the audience like to participate?”
Caine was hesitant to volunteer even though he was the only one that was watching. He didn’t know what she was going to do. He sighed as he stood up, not wanting to see Bubble sad. “Alright, I’ll go.”
”Yay!” Bubble squealed in glee. “Please stand right here.”
Caine went to the spot she pointed at. “Now what?”
She handed him an apple. “Put this on ya head!”
Caine did that too.
Bubble took a few steps back before pulling out a rock, about the size of the apple itself, from behind her. She wound her arm back, closed one of her eyes, and stuck her tongue out to focus. “Hold still…”
”Wait what?!”
Bubble launched the rock right into Caine’s chest, making a dull ‘thud’ as it fell to the floor. Caine crumpled to the floor, his hand on his chest. “That’s… gonna bruise.” He groaned. He could see Bubble run and kneel by his side, wide eyed in shock.
”Caine! Are you alright!” Bubble exclaimed loudly with wide eyes.
”No- you just threw a freaking rock at me.” The red-head groaned.
”I’ll go get an ice pack!” Bubble shouted before sprinting to the kitchen, still smiling for some reason. Caine remained on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Why was she here in the first place? She wasn’t even his kid. She just appeared at his house one day and-.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a chair being dragged in the kitchen. “Bubble? Bubble, what are you doing?”
”I’m too short to reach the freezer!” She shouted back. “I needa chair!”
”Bubble wait!” Caine exclaimed as he staggered up and ran to the kitchen. He was too late. Bubble had toppled the dining table over and there was fruits lying everywhere. Bubble was on the floor with an ice pack and the freezer door wide open. The red-head slipped on an orange and fell on the floor once again.
”I got the ice pack!” Bubble shouted, waving the blue thing around. She seemed oblivious to the chaos around her.
”That’s… great.” Caine grumbled as his head dropped to the floor. Now he was going to have to clean up his kitchen.
Bubble crawled over to him and placed the ice pack on his chest. He could already feel a bruise starting to form under his shirt. After a few moments of silence, Bubble spoke up. “Are you okay?”
”Not really.” Caine replied bluntly.
”Oh.” Bubble sat by his side, unsure how else to react.
”Can you…” Caine didn’t know if he could trust her with cleaning up the kitchen. “Can you put all the fruits back into that bowl for me?”
”Yea!” Bubble nodded with a grin before getting up and running around. Caine sighed in relief as she did it all without causing something else to go wrong. He slowly propped himself up and was sitting on the floor, his back pressed to the wall. He still held the ice-pack to his chest.
”Ah… Good job Bubble.” Caine chuckled tiredly as he ruffled the girl’s blue and black hair. Bubble giggled before sitting next to him, a blue freezie pop in her hand. Caine raised an eyebrow. “W-where did you get that freezie pop?”
”From the freezer!”
”Wha- how?”
”I grabbed it out with the ice-pack. I got hungry.” She mumbled as she had some of the frozen treat in her mouth already.
”O…kay.” Caine said slowly. He felt himself being poked by something cold. He looked down to see Bubble offering a red freezie pop.
”I got another one for ya!” The girl waved the frozen treat around.
Caine shook his head in disbelief as he took to red frozen treat. “Thanks Bubble.”
Bubble giggled happily as she scooted closed to the red-head, leaning her head by his arm.
The two sat on the floor in the somewhat clean kitchen, silently eating freezie pops together.