Little Yellowjacket

“Do they have cartoons there?”

"No. It's lotsa animal documentaries."

#yolojacket

“What d’ya say we put on some cartoons, too? There are superhero ones.” He grabbed for the television remote, keeping one arm around her.

"I like Animal Planet."

#yolojacket

He grinned, wrapping an arm around her while he held his own drink in the other hand. “That’s because I made it with love.”

Valerie returned his grin with a smile, and happily leaned into him. For a moment, she could almost forget the terrible circumstances under which she met her father.

#yolojacket

“Oh right. One sec.” He hopped over to get the hot chocolate in mugs and hand one to her.

Once the mug was handed to her, Valerie eagerly blew on the drink before taking a sip. The feeling of the warm liquid spreading through her body was far better than she remembered. "Mm! It's good."

He grinned, puffing up from the praise.

"Is the hot chocolate ready?"

"Right." He crossed his arms importantly. "Nine."

"Perfect."

"Well… nine thirty, then."

"No! Nine." she giggled.

"At nine o’clock." Yellowjacket nodded importantly. "On the dot."

"Aw, but that's early." Valerie pouted playfully.

I am on a roll. I got this parenting thing. “And I’ll make you got to bed at like. when kids go to bed.”

"9 o'clock." She said, whispering in a way that implied he could take credit for coming up with the time.

He grinned, pleased by the praise. “And I’ll… make you go to school and do homework?”

Valerie tried to playfully frown, but failed and couldn't stop smiling at him. "Yep!"

"Oh. Well, then. No cake for dinner every night. I’ll make real food for you."

"Better." she said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Of course. Anything you want."

"No!" She said, playfully scrunching her nose. "If you're going to take care of me you gotta make sure I eat good!"

He gave her a gentle squeeze of a hug. “And I’m gonna take care of you.”

"Can we have cake for dinner every night, then?"

Yellowjacket showed her into the kitchen and started boiling water for hot chocolate, then pulled out two mugs. They both had wasps on them, insignias for sports teams, actually, since he had trouble finding yellowjacket-themed mugs elsewhere. “Things are gonna be okay, Val. I promise.”

"I know. I'm with you." she replied, leaning into him a bit.

His face fell a little as she faltered. Oh, yeah. That. “Well. You can sleep with me in my bed, then.” He offered her an encouraging smile. “Now. How about hot chocolate and some cartoons?”

"That sounds awesome." Valerie replied, doing her best to stuff down any emotions whatsoever. Though, she was ten years old, and by no means a master of the craft. It still showed in her pace, and the way that her face fell ever so slightly, even if she tried to keep a happy expression.

His apartment wasn’t much since Yellowjacket hadn’t actually been living there very long. It had the basics and it was clean, though, and there were bits of black and yellow decorations that he’d collected. “Well, here we are.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I only have one bed…”

"That's fine." she replied, taking a few exploratory steps forward. "I usually sleep-" there was an awkward pause as her expression faltered for the shortest moment "slept with Mom, anyway."