Work Text:
Rio wakes up at her normal weekday time of 6:00am. She has never been one to sleep in and she would rather not let her body get out of sync for just a few days when she needs to be right back on a normal schedule next week anyway.
She doesn’t mind the alone time though. She leans over and kisses Agatha’s cheek before getting up and starting her day. Unlike a normal Friday though, she doesn’t rush to change out of her pajamas. She just heads downstairs to start a cup of coffee.
She had just sat down on the couch with her cup and her phone, prepared to do her morning social media scroll, when she hears footsteps coming down the stairs.
“Mornin’ mami.” Nicky. He also didn’t sleep in unless he was sick or it was summer break. Agatha pretended to hate it, claiming that it was enough the Nicky looked just like Rio, but he acted like her too. In reality, their similarities could not have been more endearing to her.
“Morning baby. You’re up early.” He situated himself right up into her arm, as if trying to crawl inside her skin and go back to sleep.
“Felt like a school day. Couldn’t go back to sleep and I knew you’d be up.”
“Makes sense. Do you want to snuggle for a bit until Mama wakes up? We can watch animal planet?”
“Can we watch that old show you were telling me about? Like Wild Kratts?”
“Zoboomafoo?”
Nicky nodded his head and Rio nodded back. “Sure, I can probably find it on YouTube or something.” She turned the smart tv on and put on the correct channel. In no time, both mother and son were focused on the episode.
They finished one full episode and about got about halfway through another before they heard the bedroom door open. Slow feet trudged down the stairs and a mere grunt was heard as a greeting.
“Mama’s up and awake.” Nicky didn’t lift his head from Rios chest. He felt more than heard his mami chuckle in response.
“She might be up, but I’m not convinced she’s awake.”
“it’s ‘cause i’m not yet.” Agatha shuffled into the living room with a full coffee in hand, leaned down to give both her wife and son a kiss on the head before sitting on the other side of Nicky on the couch. “Let me drink this and then I might be.”
Rio turned the tv off and turned towards Agatha. “I hope so because our day is full and I want to get started sooner rather than later.”
“ugh, I know. I don’t even see the point. Most places don’t even have good Black Friday deals anymore anyway.”
“Agatha, it’s not about that. It’s just getting out and seeing what there is. Plus, you know that I want to go to the Lego store.”
Nicky untucks himself from his position to look at Rio. “The Lego store? We’re going to go to the Lego store? Really!? Mama said that we had to go out and see all the crazy people that didn’t have lives, but that doesn’t really sound like the Lego store.”
Agatha shamelessly laughs at Rios offended expression and continues to drink her coffee.
“Agatha! Nicky, yes, we are going to the Lego store. Today is called Black Friday and it used to be a day where stores would have these massive sales to put their sales in the black, which means they are selling a lot. It isn’t crazy like it used to be, but it can still be fun.”
“Whatever. We are going to the Lego store, and I get to not go to school, but instead I can hang out with my Mami and Mama. That’s always a good day for me.”
They didn’t leave nearly as early as Rio had planned, but they were out and about so she decided to focus on the positives.
“Hey babe, can we stop at that coffee shop you like?”
“You mean the coffee shop that you like that you have me stop at every time I take you to work?” Rio knew this song and dance by heart, just like she knew that she would stop there. She had actually known that this would happen and allocated time for it. She just liked seeing how far Agatha would take this bit.
“What do you mean the one I like? What are you talking about? You literally have stopped there every time you take me to work!” Agatha couldn’t even continue without smiling. Her wife knew her so well. They were already pulling into the drive through.
“Mami! Can I get something too?” Nicky poked his head between the front seats, looking between his moms for an answer.
Before Rio can deny him, Agatha gives a nod and pleads his case for him. “Come on Rio! This is a fun family outing! A little sugary drink won’t hurt him! Come on, just look at his cute little face. Nicky, give her the puppy eyes.” Nicky dutifully tuns to Rio with a begging look in his eyes and a lip even an elephant could trip over.
While Agatha and Nicky were happily drinking their drinks, Rio turned into the parking lot of their first stop.
“What do we need from Ikea? Are you finally going to let me get a loft bed?!” Nicky slurped down the rest of his ‘coffee’ and bounced in his seat from excitement.
Agatha laughed into her straw. “Bold to assume that you are still going to be getting one of those. Especially after Aunt Wanda told Mami all about how Billy fell off of theirs and he broke his arm. I appreciate the attempt though. You really are my kid” They parked and Agatha got out to help Nicky out.
“Yeah but, Billy broke his arm because him and Tommy were playing the Wizard of Oz and Tommy was being the wicked witch too hard and pushed him off the top. I wouldn’t do that because I don’t even have a brother to do that with. Or sister. I’m not picky. Just saying.” He held Agatha’s hand and was reaching for Rio’s while crossing the parking lot.
Both moms laughed. “Buddy, you do realize you aren’t really helping your case here. Final answer: you cannot get a loft bed for a number of reasons. One of which is they are unnecessary and two is that they are not the safest.” They were inside the showroom and Rio could tell that Agatha was about to do one of her favorite things here. “Okay Agatha, tell me and Nicky what is going on inside this little kitchen area here.”
The two of them used to come to Ikea a lot when they were dating and freshly married. It was a nice time to just hang out together and come up with ideas to decorate their future house. Agatha had become obsessed with the various set ups that were around the showroom displaying different furniture in action. She would come up with these detailed stories about the people that lived in them and the secrets they were hiding. This set was a small, cramped kitchen overlooking what seemed to be the nighttime of a bustling city.
“Young couple. Dating, but living together. She wants to get married, but he wants to save money first. She is getting tired of waiting. He is working late at some stupid accounting firm that his dad got him, and she is secretly having dinner with an ex-boyfriend from college.”
“Mama, why can’t they just be happy? Like you and Mami?”
“That is a great question Agatha, why can’t they just be happy and hopelessly in love like us.” Both Rio and Nicky are giggling at Agatha, who is currently bowing from her performance.
“Because…. because it just wouldn’t be as entertaining and it’s my fake scenario! I’ll make the next one cute and sweet.” Agatha turned to keep going throughout the showroom with a twirl.
Towards the end of the rooms, they made it to the children’s section. There was a bedroom set up with dinosaur bedding and a cute little reading nook. “Oh, here’s a good one! Okay, a little boy lives in this room, and he has not one cool mom, but two of the coolest moms ever. He gets to read books all the time and even gets to stay up late sometimes and watch shark week with his mami.” Agatha is crouched down, having picked up the shark stuffed animal from the bed and was slowly walking it towards Nicky, who was nearly doubled over laughing.
“That sounds like me!! Mama, is it me?”
“I don’t know…that kid seems really cool. I don’t know if you’re cool enough. Plus, I remember that kid having two really cool moms. Do you have two cool moms?” Rio chimed in, picking Nicky up and putting him on her back.
“Yes!!”
“Well then, if it sounds like a duck and walks like a duck, then I guess it is you.” Agatha goes to tickle her son’s belly and the whole trio is cracking up. Other customers shoot them odd looks, but they are too happy to notice.
“Alright, why don’t we get out of here. Where to next?” Agatha follows the other two from the section and out of the store.
“Listen. Our only plan here is to go to the Lego store, okay? No side quests, no random excursions. Lego store. That’s it.” They were parked outside of the main mall entrance and Rio was giving them a pep talk. None of the three of them liked the mall and if it wasn’t for it having the only Lego store in the state, they would never go. Rio and Nicky both disliked crowds and Nicky especially didn’t do well in particularly loud spaces. Agatha simply felt like the general population lost nearly all of their braincells before walking in and thus preferred shopping online.
Agatha saluted her before climbing out of the car. “Sir yes sir. In and out, with absolutely no smiling allowed.”
Nicky giggled before taking her hand. “Mama, I don’t really think that Mami will be able to look at all the Lego sets without smiling.”
“You are so right Nicky. Guess that means we should just go back home then and order them online. Which is what I suggested originally and still don’t understand why it was vetoed.” Agatha pretended to turn around and turned right into Rio, who was giving her a very deadpan expression.
“We’re going and you’ll like it. I don’t have any sets to do right now, and my fingers are itching to get started on one. It’s honestly cheaper to just take the time to go in a buy them instead of paying for shipping and still having to wait a week to get them.” Rio led the group to the small store and got right to work looking at the different sets.
She ended up getting the natural history museum set and Nicky followed in a similar suit buy successfully begging for the Jurassic World t-rex set. For as much as Agatha verbally complains about the two of them and the Legos, she loves the evenings where her two favorite people work side by side to finish a set while she reads her books.
Once they left the store, with Rio carrying both bags and Agatha holding Nicky’s hand, the two adults could tell that their son was quickly losing steam.
“Mama, Mami, can we please stop for lunch? I’m starving.”
Both Agatha and Rio tended to forget eating lunch most days. It wouldn’t be until one of them got too grouchy to function, Agatha, or until their hands started shaking, Rio, to realize what their body needed and eat. Once they had Nicky, they were forced to listen to do better because they had a growing boy that definitely needed to eat.
“Of course, baby. Do we want to try the food court? We are close by it.” Agatha immediately felt bad for not thinking about how her son would be hungry after a bit but was also happy that he felt comfortable telling them without getting angry.
They turned towards the food court and were taken aback by the sheer amount of people in lines and sitting at the tables. “On the other hand, Rio, you did say the Lego store was our only place to go here. Why don’t we leave and go to that burger place down the road?” Rio could only nod in agreement while turning back towards the entrance.
It was a fairly quiet car ride to the fast-food place and only after the trio sat down after ordering did Rio let out a slight laugh. “You know, it’s funny that you called this the burger place. Knowing full well that we were all three going to get chicken tenders.”
This was not the first time the family had gone here for lunch, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last either. Every time however, they have all three gotten the same thing: the chicken tender meal. The only variation between the three was that they all got different dipping sauces. Nicky always got ketchup, Rio liked hers with barbeque sauce, and Agatha chose honey mustard.
“You guys will be happy to note that there is only one more stop planned.” Rio had originally planned on being out all day, going to multiple stores and even going to see the new animal movie in theaters, but Wanda asked to take Nicky with the twins and Rio really wanted to get home to start on the museum. “The record store.”
Agatha’s face lit up. She loved going to the record store. Between Rio’s love for physical media and Agatha’s love for going against the status quo (streaming), the two had amassed quite the vinyl collection.
“That’s the place with the big cd things, right? The ones you guys won’t let me touch.” Nicky had half a chicken tender in his mouth and ketchup across his nose. He couldn’t be cuter if he tried.
Rio went to wipe off his nose with a napkin. “First, smaller bites buddy, no one is taking your food from you. Second, yes, but they aren’t big CDs. They play music, but you have to use a record player and if you touch them, it could mess them up. They can be hard to replace so that’s why only Mama or I can touch them.”
“But Mama dropped one the other week and she can still touch them!”
Rio shot her wife a surprised look and Agatha gave a halfhearted glare to Nicky. “Whose side are you on anyway?” She snaked her hand across the table and took two of his French fries in retaliation.
The record shop was basically empty when they got there, much to everyone’s delight. That meant that they were able to spread out without worrying about other people. Rio liked starting at the A’s, while Agatha just hopped around to whatever her eye saw. Nicky just flowed from one parent to the other.
Rio wasn’t looking for anything in particular but liked to see if there were vinyl’s that she recognized but didn’t already own. She made it up until the G’s before stopping and pulling out a vinyl. She decided to surprise Agatha with it and purchase it before she continued looking.
Agatha didn’t have a plan for looking for records but stopped whenever something caught her eye. She already grabbed one that Rio had been looking for and was hoping to find another one.
“Mama! Look! It’s the one you broke, remember?” Nicky was holding up a Bangles greatest hits vinyl. Rio came over to him, holding her purchase in a bag and grabbed the album from his hands.
“Really Agatha, this is the one you broke? You are so lucky that they had it here.”
“Hey! It’s not my fault that your son wanted something fun to listen to! Did you want me to deny him the joy of knowing about manic Mondays?” Agatha didn’t even look over to them while responding, choosing to focus on the section that she was looking at.
Rio dropped the subject and walked over to her wife, who was quick to hide the album se found. “Are you ready to check out?”
“Yeah, let’s go. Tell you what, I found something for you, and I’ll even buy the Bangles album again. As a treat.”
“See, that would hold more weight if we didn’t share a bank account and if you weren’t the reason it needs to be replaced anyway. But, sure, whatever you need to tell yourself.” They were at the checkout and Agatha made Rio at least turn around so that she couldn’t see what vinyl she got.
They made it back to the car and both women held their respective vinyls behind their backs. “Okay, since I found mine first, I’ll show you the one I got and then you can show me the one you got.”
Agatha agreed and shut her eyes to prepare. “Open!” In Rio’s hands was Agatha’s guilty pleasure, the Conan Gray Superache album.
“Score! I’ve been looking for that one! I saw it everywhere and then suddenly; I couldn’t find it at all.” Rio laid it down in Agatha’s lap since her hands were occupied. “Alright, your turn. Shut those eyes.”
Rio shut her eyes and then covered her eyes with her hands for extra coverage. “Boo!”
Rio opened her eyes. “Peanuts!” Agatha handed over the record and Rio immediately set out on opening it. “It even has Snoopy! Thank you so much babe!”
“I’d say we came out pretty even on this one, but you’re very welcome. Now, let’s hit the road and go home.”
The ride home was quiet. Agatha was looking through her new record and Nicky was staring out the window half asleep.
“Guys! I know where we are, we’re about to pass that new pet store that Aunt Alice told me about. Can we please stop? Please?” Nicky was wide awake now. “I was so good today, and I just want to go inside and look. I won’t even ask to get anything.”
His moms shared a look with each other. How could they say no to that. “You know what, that sounds like a great way to end our shopping day.” Rio moved over to the turn lane in order to go to the strip where the pet store was.
Once inside, they split up. Agatha and Nicky head straight towards the adoptable cats, while Rio heads over to see the spiders and snakes. When they had just moved in together, Rio had tried to have Agatha on board with getting a pet tarantula, but Agatha firmly denied every time. She eventually stopped asking once she realized that it was never going to happen. Some people just can’t handle knowing something fuzzy with eight legs lived in the same house as them.
After she looked at all of the animals in the section, she decide to rejoin her family. That’s when she saw them. There were three cages, each with two bunnies inside. There were three grey bunnies, two black ones, and then a white one with brown spots. Rio was obsessed. She needed to show Agatha. Bunnies were her wife’s favorite animal, and she knew that she would be sleeping on the couch if Agatha found out these were there and Rio didn’t show her.
She left the animals and wandered until she found the duo. “Agatha, I found the cutest thing, and you have to come look right now.” She turned the brunettes’ body to the correct direction and started guiding her along, with Nicky trialing alongside them.
“Bunnies!” Nicky went up to the cages and started talking to the rabbits.
Agatha doesn’t say anything, but Rio can tell she is in awe. She walks up to the cage housing the spotted one and falls in love. “He is gorgeous.” Agatha starts doing a pro and con list in her head before she can become more attached than she already is. Money wouldn’t be an issue because both women had fairly well-paying jobs and there was plenty of space for him to roam without feeling cramped. The only downside she could think of was Rio possibly saying no since they told Nicky they wouldn’t buy anything. Surely her wife would understand the change in plans.
Agatha looked up to lock eyes with her wife and Rio gave her a look that said she already knew. “Hey Nicky, look at the bunny by Mama. Isn’t he cute?”
“So cute! He looks kinda like that stuffed bunny I had a few years ago that we lost.” Agatha and Rio locked eyes again and the bunny’s fate was sealed.
“Yeah, he does. Hey, how would you feel if he came home with us?”
“Are you guys being for real life right now?”
“So for real life baby.” Agatha answered while Rio went to find an employee. “What should we name him?”
Scratchy! Like my stuffy!”
Rio came back with an employee in tow. The woman grabbed a travel carrier and gently put Scratchy inside of it. After handing it to Agatha, she turned back to Rio. “All set! If you want to go around an get anything you might need for your new friend, I’ll be ready to ring you up at the front!”
They thanked her and Agatha got started gathering the necessary supplies. “So, let’s see. Obviously, food, a crate, a little water bottle, and…is there anything else?”
She turned around to look at her entourage and saw Nicky holding up a small pet witch costume and Rio holing a box of enrichment toys. “Fine, grab those too. Seeing as we came here with the intention of buying nothing, what’s a few extra things.”
“Mama, I love the way you think.”
“Why thank you Nicky. I gotta say, thank you for having us stop here.”
The real drive home was full of an air of excitement. Nicky was in his own world in the backseat, having a one-sided conversation with Scratchy. “I’m going to call you Señor Scratchy because mami speaks Spanish sometimes and I think Señor sounds cooler than Mr.”
Meanwhile, Agatha and Rio are talking about the day.
“You know, in terms of Black Friday, today wasn’t really all that successful. I mean, did we buy anything on sale?” Agatha was running back through the purchases made today and couldn’t think of anything.
“I think that maybe we got a free small Lego set with our purchase, but I wouldn’t say that is a ‘sale’ and it also wouldn’t’ be specific to today. But that wasn’t the point of today anyway.”
“Rio. You wanted to come out on Black Friday specifically and you are telling me that having sales didn’t matter?”
“No, because it wasn’t about getting a good deal. I really wanted to be out and about seeing all the different people also participating today. I found it fascinating. More importantly though, I wanted to do all that while with my two favorite people in the world.”
Agatha twisted her lips to the side because that was actually very sweet and very much something that Rio would do. “Well, it turned out great. You got Legos, I got a bunny, and we even replaced the Bangles album that mysteriously broke.”
Nicky turns his attention from the rabbit to his mothers. “This was a great day! I got a new dino set and we got a pet! I didn’t even have to beg for it! This is great! We should do this every year!”
“Well, maybe without a new pet every year. I think that would get a bit excessive. Unless…” Rio pulled up to a red light and looked over to Agatha.
“No Rio. We are not getting a tarantula.”
“Well, worth a shot. There’s always next year.”