Boothill x SingleParent!Reader: Lassos and Lullabies Chpt. 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Boothill found himself looking forward to that Sunday. He didn’t have another job lined up for another couple weeks, so miraculously he had the time to help out. He was slightly disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to flirt with Y/N, but the thought of seeing Charlotte again made up for it.
He arrived at Y/N’s apartment at around two o’clock to find her scrambling. Her hair was messy, and she had a frazzled look in her eyes when she opened the door. Instantly her shoulders dropped in relief. “Boothill, thank God you’re here. I’m so so sorry to dump this on you right when you just got here, but Lottie was not very fond of the vegetable soup I made for lunch and I’ve really gotta get going now or I’m gonna be late. I managed to clean up the table and floor, but she desperately needs a bath.”
He gave her a good-natured smile. “Easy, easy, no need to be sorry. You head on out, I’ll take care of it.”
She let out a relieved sigh, her eyes shining with gratitude. “Thank you so much. I could seriously kiss you right now.”
He grinned wolfishly and tipped his hat at her. “From a pretty lady like you? I wouldn’t say no.”
Her cheeks flushed, but she cracked a smile. “Oh stop it. But seriously, thank you. Here’s the spare key.” She reached into her purse and fetched a keychain with a bright pink pompom on it, handing it to him. “I should be home around eight or nine tomorrow morning. Good luck!” And with that, she was out the door, leaving him alone with Charlotte.
“Hoo-boy, well lookee here,” he said, taking in the sight of Charlotte absolutely drenched in soup, little vegetable pieces sticking in her hair. “Your momma worked hard on that soup, y’know. Whatcha doing spillin’ it all over yerself for?”
She bounced in her highchair, clapping her hands excitedly. “Hat! Hat!”
He chuckled, kneeling down to her level. “Is that all I am to you, little missy? Tell you what, you take a bath without fussin’, and I’ll let you wear my hat again, okay?”
“Hat! Gow-boy hat!” She seemed to get even more excited at that idea, waving her chubby hands in the air towards him.
He laughed. Oh she was just precious. “Yer right, little lady, it is a cowboy hat. Now c’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.” He picked her up out of her highchair and set her down on the floor. She started to waddle down the hallway.
He grinned. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was one thing to draw a bath, it was another thing to get a squirmy toddler in it. He thought he was home free once he managed to wrangle her out of her clothes, but then she slipped out of his hold (still slippery with soup all over her) and made a mad dash around the apartment butt naked.
The sound of her little feet slapping against the hardwood and her delighted squeals rang through the apartment, followed by the much less endearing sound of Boothill’s metal boots clanking as he chased after her. Damn, he’d forgotten how fast little kids were. He stood with his arms and legs out like a goalie, cornering her in her bedroom. “End of the line, little lady.”
Usually when he said something like that, it struck fear into the hearts of his enemies (well, usually it was accompanied by a bullet between the eyes), but Charlotte just giggled.
He couldn’t help but crack a smile. “This a game to you, missy?”
She giggled louder. “Game!”
“Oh yeah, this is real fun for you, ain’t it?” And despite the situation, he couldn’t deny that he was having a bit of fun too.
She tried to dash around him, but he caught her right at the last second before she could get away, scooping her up in his arms to the tune of her excited little shrieks. He made sure to hold onto her tightly, so she didn’t wiggle away again. “Yer harder to catch than some ‘a my bounties, little lady.” He carried her off to the bathroom and finally, finally managed to get her in the bath. Once she was in, everything was peachy keen—she was too distracted by the bubbles and rubber duckies to try slipping away again. Water plus intricate circuitry usually didn’t mix well, but luckily he’d had his mechanic give him a waterproof coating after a job landed him on an island in the middle of an ocean, so as long as there were no exposed wires, he’d be fine.
His phone dinged right after he finished washing the shampoo out of her hair. He smiled as he saw who it was.
Hot Momma: Is everything okay? Did you get her to take her bath?
He snapped a quick photo of Charlotte in the bath putting suds on her rubber ducky’s head like a soapy crown. He sent it to Y/N with the message:
Doing fine and dandy. She ran from me a bit, but I managed to catch the little rascal.
A few seconds later she responded with nearly a dozen heart emojis. Precious! Pls send more pics when you can.
Will do. Aren’t you driving? Eyes on the road, dollface.
Haha you caught me. At a stoplight. Tell Lottie I miss her already!
He sent a thumbs up before tucking his phone back in his pocket and relating the message to Charlotte, who was far too absorbed in playing with her ducks to care.
He finished giving her her bath and helped her dry off and get dressed. She reached her arms up toward him, jumping up on her tip toes. “Gow-boy hat!”
Boothill chuckled, endeared by her pronunciation of ‘cowboy.’ “You still wanna wear my hat? I think our deal was you’d get to wear the hat if you took yer bath without fussin’.” He ruffled her still-damp hair, causing her to giggle. “Buuuut, I think I can make an exception for ya, just this once.” He took off his hat and placed it on her head, tipping the brim back so she could still see.
She jumped up and down, babbling happily. “Gow-boy, gow-boy!” She ran off out of the bathroom, laughing her little head off.
He smiled fondly, lazily following her with his hands in his pockets. “Where’re you runnin’ off to, little lady?” He peeked his head into her bedroom to find her playing with a stuffed horse, waving it up and down in the air like it was galloping.
She ran up to him with her plush horse, holding it up to him. “Pony! Gow-boy and pony!”
He kneeled down to her level, a wide grin on his face. “You like horses do ya, little missy? Yer on yer way to bein’ a bonafide cowboy already.”
“Play ponies! Ponies and gow-boys!” she chirped in her adorable little voice, waving the stuffed horse in front of him.
He chuckled, taking the pony from her. “Yes ma’am, ponies an’ cowboys it is.” He made a sound like a braying horse and shook the stuffed pony in the air, pretending it was rearing back on its hind legs.
Charlotte’s face broke out into a wide, toothy smile as she erupted into a torrent of giggles and squeals. Boothill wasn’t completely sure what a game of ponies and cowboys entailed, but Charlotte seemed to be satisfied with him just waving the pony in the air and making horse sounds.
After a while of playing, she reached her grabby hand up towards him again, the other adjusting his hat on her head that kept falling in her face. “Up! Up!”
He complied, easily hooking his hands under her legs and scooping her up into a piggyback carry. He carried her around the apartment, stomping around and neighing. The sound of her laughter in his ears made his chest feel full in a way it hadn’t since he’d lost his daughter. He could practically feel his circuits and servos thrumming with warm energy.
Even though Charlotte reminded him a lot of his daughter, he was beginning to notice a few key differences. Firstly, while his daughter had been more of the rough and tumble type of kid, Charlotte was a bit of a girly-girl. Along with playing cowboys, she wanted to play dress-up and have a tea party with all her stuffed animals (most of which were horses, he noticed). She asked him to braid her hair, though not in so many words, and he did his best to make sure her beautiful curls didn’t get caught in his mechanical joints. He was pretty proud with how it turned out, despite him being so out of practice. She seemed pleased with it too, swinging her head around and watching her two long braids swish to and fro.
Another difference was that Charlotte was picky. He supposed he got lucky with his little girl—for all her orneriness, she ate whatever you put in front of her. Charlotte not so much. He should’ve been prepared for a battle at dinnertime, what with the soup incident at lunch, but he didn’t expect to get pelted with dino nuggies.
He begged and pleaded and bargained with her, even offered to let her wear his hat again, but for the life of him he could not get her to eat her dinner. He didn’t want to bother Y/N with something that he should be able to easily handle on his own, especially not when she was at a work conference, but he was starting to run out of options.
Then he got an idea. “Hey little missy, do you wanna play a game?”
“Game! Game!” she cheered, bouncing in her highchair.
He grinned. “Yeah ya do. Here’s what we’re gonna play—we’re gonna play another cowboy game. Y’know cowboys got a lotta animals, doncha?”
She perked right up at the mention of cowboys. “Gow-boys! Naminals!”
He bit back a laugh. Gosh darn it, she was just too cute. “Yeah lotsa naminals. Well this cowboy—” He pointed a thumb towards himself. “Has got a lotta dinosaurs.” He pointed down towards the dino nuggies that were still on her plate instead of halfway across the room. “An’ yer trap right there is their pen. Can ya help me get all my dinos back in their pen?”
She clapped and squeezed, suddenly excited at the prospect of eating her dinner.
It was all smooth sailing from there. All he had to do was make some silly noises as he pretended to wrangle the dino nuggets and she ate them with no complaints. He’d always been told growing up that you shouldn’t play with your food, but surely he could make an exception for this case.
Soon after dinner it was time to put her down for bed. Boothill had to admit, he was pretty worn out from the day, and he could’ve used a nap himself. Charlotte didn’t seem to agree with him, however. He sighed, running his hand down his face in exasperation. “C’mon, Lottie, we’ve been playin’ all day. Aren’tcha even a little tired?”
She shook her head defiantly. “No! No bedtime!”
Well this was a pickle. He’d never raise his voice at a child, not in a million years, but he couldn’t deny he was starting to get frustrated. He wracked his brain, trying to think of things that helped put his little one to sleep when she was being fussy. Then it hit him. When Y/N gave him her tour of the apartment, he noticed an old acoustic guitar sitting on a stand in the back of her bedroom. Surely she wouldn’t mind if he borrowed it for a spell.
He'd given up playing long ago, but it felt like only yesterday when he started tuning the pegs. It sounded a little tinny when he plucked the strings, the sound reverberating through his metal hands, but he could live with it. He’d sworn he’d never play again on that fateful day all those years ago, but if it helped Lottie sleep… he could make another exception for her, just this once.
She looked up at him curiously as he sat down on the couch, idly stumming the guitar. Even if he didn’t have many muscles left to remember with, his hands still easily fell into place picking an old song that Nick used to play for him when he was a tot. Charlotte climbed up onto the couch and sat on his lap. She blinked up at him with big, owlish eyes as she listened to the music, and a smile formed on his lips. Well, he’d gotten her to sit still, that was an accomplishment if nothing else.
Charlotte leaned back against him, her head resting on his chest. She closed her eyes, and he continued to play.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of the door opening and closing caused Boothill’s eyes to blink open. The guitar hung loosely from his hand, propped up against the couch, his other arm curled around Charlotte’s sleeping form. He let go of the guitar and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, finding Y/N standing in front of him with a warm smile on her face. “Y/N…?” he mumbled, voice still raspy from sleep. One quick glance out the window revealed it was still dark out. “Thought ya weren’t gonna be back till mornin’…”
“I wasn’t supposed to be,” she whispered as she set her purse down on the table, careful not to wake up Charlotte. “But I couldn’t spend the night away from her, even if I knew you were watching her.” Her eyes flicked down to where Charlotte was huddled up against him, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her gaze softened as she looked back up at him. “I see now I shouldn’t have worried.” She approached, lightly stroking Charlotte’s hair. “Thank you for watching her, Boothill. I know it’s late, feel free to spend the rest of the night if you’d like.”
He was about to mumble out something about not wanting to impose, but the feeling of her soft lips brushing against his cheek shut him up real quick. She gently picked up Charlotte and carried her off to her room, leaving him dumbfounded, his face burning red.
Sleeping on the couch never felt quite so good.
snowghoul
vaporwave
2087
discoholicmusic
kianamaiart
dededos
romaincrisis
janainaart
