A Missed Opportunity

25

He laughs at the staticky sound that barks through the speaker in my hand when he guesses and presses a button. "Copycat!" He shouts louder than he needs to into his.

Kiara sighs, smiling to herself too as we both listen to his staticky voice come over mine. It's loud and I have to remind myself to mess with the volume when I get home. For now though, I lift it to my lips. "Maybe it'll work better if you go in the room." I suggest, whispering into the radio.

He doesn't answer me over the radio, quickly spinning around to bolt into the other room. As grown up as he's liked to keep acting lately, he is still a little kid. Amused and fascinated beyond understanding by the smallest things. I'd kill to be that way again—even for a little while. And sometimes, playing with him, I really do feel like it. I'm half afraid to ask Kiara if she feels the same way sometimes.

Kiara hums to herself while my walkie talkie starts beeping at us, alerting us that Cameron is trying all the buttons. "Hungry?" She asks in a gentle tone. Without looking at me for an answer, she gets up and already starts walking towards the kitchen.

Before I follow her, I lean into my walkie talkie. "Nut, you should inform agent Taffy about your upgrade before we get started on our new missions. Over." I tell him. I chuckle at the affirmative huff he gives me over the call, ending it with a sharp Over. I hook the walkie talkie onto the outside part of my back pocket as I get up off the couch to quickly follow Kiara, deciding I've bought us some time with that.

Kiara's already scouring the cupboards for snacks or something. It's a little past for dinner time, but I guess neither of them are hungry enough to start that full meal just yet. Kiara's dooming herself with a snack right now. She doesn't seem to care. "Fruit snacks?" She offers once she finds a single pack.

I smile, slowing my steps to an eventual stop in the doorway. "That's all right. You go ahead." I nod her direction. She smiles wider and lowers her heels to the ground before shutting the little door, having gotten that from a top shelf she probably hides all the goods from. "Got a stash?" I curiously ask as I come further into the room with her. She hums and nods up to it, daring me to take a look up there.

It's not hard to tell she puts her things up there because neither of them can reach—not comfortably anyway. I on the other hand, get a nice good view of the unorganized mess of sweet candies and treats that were probably the last in the bottom of the box. "Leave the Scooby Snack." She requests as she pops a red gummy into her mouth.

"You know you've got, like, four in here, right?"

She gasps at that and steps forward to lift herself up on her tiptoes, lifting her chin as much as she can to see. "Score!" She beams. "You mind?" She gestures to the cupboard.

"It's gonna cost you."

"Such a man," She grumbles under her breath, rolling her eyes. "What?" She coaxes impatiently. She tries reaching up there herself for it to hopefully slip this process, but those ones are pushed in the very far back. She doesn't stand a chance.

I laugh at the effort she puts in for a couple of graham crackers shaped like dog treats. "Ah, I'll figure it out." I shrug her off as I reach in to grab one of them, pushing the rest a little closer so she'll be able to reach them later. They, surprisingly, don't have a step stool in their house. They need one.

Kiara huffs at her unpaid debt, but she's too excited to have those snacks to care for long. So much so even, that she hands off her unfinished fruit snacks to me. It does nothing to pay her debt, but I smile and accept them anyway. "Thanks." She smiles down at the little bag in her hands while she desperately tries to rip it open.