Omg, “Making s'mores” with the beloved daughter, please?
“S’mores?”
“Yeah,” Leanna grins, clearly delighted at the blank looks she’s getting. “We’ve got all the ingredients, pretty sure.”
“That’s a question,” Ki-Ha murmurs. Across the room, he’s digging through the kitchen cupboards, a portable gas burner in one hand. “Why do we have the ingredients?”
“Skye smuggled them on board,” Leanna stretches her legs out, easily swats away the cushion Skylar throws at her. “Boy has a problem.”
“I do not! I just-”
“Don’t want to have teeth left by the time you’re my age-”
“As if I’m ever gonna be that old,” he retorts cheerfully, throwing another cushion. Leanna snags this one from the air with one hand, tucks it behind her back and sticks her tongue out at Skye, before turning her attention to you and Joia.
“What about you, sweetheart? Tell me you’ve had s’mores.”
“Um. I don’t think so?”
Leanna tuts, shaking her head as Ki-Ha joins your little circle, burner in one hand, what looks like a small gas tank and a coil of tubing in the other. You give it a dubious look.
“Is that safe?”
“It’s-” he pauses, glances at it. “No?”
“Oh. Good.”
Ki-Ha spares you a brief smile as he plugs it in, attaching the burner to the gas tank with practiced ease. “It’ll be fine. Here.”
He hands Joia a bag of marshmallows and what looks like a tuning fork - some kind of resonator, taken, you suspect, from part of the engine. You decide not to comment as she threads marshmallows onto it, and gives you a thoughtful look.
“How toasted do you like them?”
“It’s for you,” you tell her, shifting slightly as she leans against your side. Ki-Ha’s fiddling with the burner, shaking his pocket lighter as he starts it up. “As toasted as you like.”
She nods, settling in closer against your side. “...alright.”
Half an hour, and half a bag of burnt-to-a-crisp marshmallows later, you’re out of chocolate, and you think you might be dying. Skylar’s happily finishing the last of his s’mores, everyone else having succumbed to the sugar over the last few minutes. Joia’s almost asleep, dozing off with her head on your shoulder; Ki-Ha’s resting his head in Leanna’s lap, eyes closed, as she runs her hands through his hair.
“Did you enjoy them?” she grins at Joia, who blinks sleepily at her.
“They’re good. Um… does anyone have any water?”
Leanna snorts, sitting upright to look around. By the time she’s located a cup and filled it, Joia’s fast asleep, curled up against your side.
