This Love

Easter Sunday

He had to admit Angela was entertaining at this age. She was constantly moving, singing along with the songs and finding little things to entertain herself in between. One of them was playing with his wallet chain, running it between her fingers, enjoying the little skull details of the chain links.  He let her do so without issue, happy she was distracted and behaving.

After church, there was an egg hunt for the kids. Angela and Lino ran hand in hand into the hoard of children vying for the multi colored eggs while the adults hung back, over seeing it all. Happy watched Angela like a hawk and was shocked to see the way she and Lino were working in tandem. They found the eggs together, taking turns as they went. Lino was as close as Angela was going to get to having a sibling, and Happy was pleased to see how well they treated each other. He was thankful the kid had someone her age to play with. Hanging out with a bunch of tattooed men all the time wasn't the best for fostering social skills.

"Forgot how long church is," Kozik said with a groan. He stretched his back with a satisfying pop. "Kid's having' fun though."

Happy nodded in agreement; he swore they'd added portions to church. He never remembered it being so damn long. "Likes the game more than the candy," he muttered, loosening his tie and pulling it over his head. He stuffed it into his pocket with a sigh.

Lino and Angela came running at them, their baskets overfilled with plastic eggs. "You guys watch these. We're going to play on the playground!" Angela exclaimed, handing her basket to Kozik.

Lino warily handed his to Happy; the kid was always just a little afraid of him. "Thank you, Mr. Happy."

"C'mon Lee," Angela said, grabbing him and dragging him towards the playground.

"Mr. Happy?" Kozik questioned, chuckling to himself.

Happy smirked; ever since he'd known the kid, he'd always addressed him as such. No one ever corrected him. "Polite kid. Ma's raisin' him right. Ain't gonna mess that shit up."

"Fair enough," Koz conceded with a nod of his head. He reached into Angela's basket, popping open one of eggs in Angela's basket and dumping all the jelly beans into his mouth. "Cute kid."

He nodded, grabbing one of Lino's eggs and eating a chocolate candy he'd found inside. "They get along well."

He bullshitted with Kozik for awhile, not really paying attention to Angela and Lino. The kids were on the playground and could handle themselves. At least, that's what he thought until Lino came running over shouting, "Mr. Happy! Mr. Happy!" he stopped in front of them. "Mr. Happy! We were runnin' and Angie fell down, and then she ran away to the bathroom and then when I went inside she almost kicked me when I tried to go under, but I got away!"

Happy followed Lino towards the women's bathroom, Kozik hot on his heels. Koz stopped at the door, turning to stand guard while he and Lino went inside. Thankfully, there were only two stalls and no one else seemed to be in the other one. "Kid?" he asked, tapping on the door where he could see her little feet.

He heard her sniffle. "I'm okay! Go away!" she called, though her voice shook as she said it.

"No. Open the door," he replied, wondering how he could open the door.

"No!" she said stubbornly.

He sighed, noticing the other side of the lock had a little slot in it. He grabbed his wallet, pulling out his credit card and using it to twist the lock from the other side. The door opened before Angela got a chance to slam it shut on him. "What's goin' on, kid?"

Angela wiped at the tear stains on her face, still sniffling. "I tripped and tore my tights and my dress is dirty and Tia's gonna kill me," she replied, more tears spilling down her cheeks. (Aunt)

He looked down to see her tight was torn over her knee, blood soaking through some of it. Her palms were bleeding too, but she was more concerned about the dirty dress and torn tights. "You okay?"

She nodded, her lower lip trembling a bit. "It h-hurts, but I-I'm okay.'

"All right. Ma's not gonna kill ya. Don't worry," he promised, walking her out of the bathroom.

Kozik looked her over, his eyes wide. "What happened?"

"Skinned her knee," he said, nodding towards her legs. "You got bandaids in your saddlebag?"

"Yeah, let's get you fixed up, kiddo," he said, swooping her up in to his arms. He carried her over to the parking lot, sitting her on top of his bike seat. "All right, Angie-pie. Let's see what we got."

Happy and Lino stood by why Kozik studied Angela's knee, turning it left and right while making humming noises. Angela giggled at his seriousness. "Doesn't look too bad," he stated, nodding towards Lino. "What'd ya think, buddy? Should we chop it off?"

Lino, sensing he wasn't serious, giggled too. "No, Mr. Kozik," he said, peering at Angela's knee. "I think she needs a big band-aid!"

"Think you're right, dude," he said, going to his saddle-bag and grabbing a small first aid kit. "Let's see what I got."

Kozik found a big bandage and some antibacterial ointment. It was an ugly tan bandage that was definitely meant for a grown man, not a small kid. Angela frowned at the ugly look of it. Happy smirked, spotting a permanent marker in the perfectly organized saddle bag. He grabbed it, uncapping it and taking Angela's small ankle into his hand. He propped her foot against his thigh and gestured to it. "What do you want on it?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "You pick," she said, her dark eyes bright with excitement. "Something pretty."

He nodded; he knew exactly what she'd like. Carefully, he sketched out a flower in the center, tribal lines extending on either side of it instead of leaves. Angela sat perfectly still the entire time in a way that made him think she was going to do well when he eventually tattooed her.

"That's so cool, Mr. Happy!" Lino exclaimed with a big grin.

Happy nodded, glancing up at his little cousin for her approval. "Good?"

Angela gave him a big, gap-toothed smile as she nodded excitedly. She leaned forward, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. "So good, Hap! Thank you!"

He nodded, turning his head to kiss her cheek before putting her on her feet. He missed her hair gently.  "Don't worry about Ma. Shit goes down, I got your back."

She smiled, hugging his legs and thanking Kozik before she grabbed Lino's hand. The two ran away, already laughing together about something or other. Kozik chuckled as he gathered up the band aid wrapper and closed up his first aid kit. "Your Ma's still gonna be pissed, huh?" he asked with a frown.

Happy considered it for a moment. His Ma would be mad, but he wasn't lying when he said he had his cousin's back. She was a kid. Kids fell down and got dirty, especially Angela whose favorite thing lately was to climb up and jump off things; anything to get her adrenaline up. He'd had to  stop her a few times from trying to scale the tree in front of their house and jump from it to their roof. "She might be, but I ain't gonna let the kid get in trouble for that shit. Didn't do it on purpose. She's seven and can't sit still. Shit like that's gonna happen."

Kozik nodded in agreement. "Gotta get keep smaller band aids handy for her and some colored Sharpies. Can't imagine she'd love that Barbie band aid shit. Guessin' only a Happy original piece of art is gonna be acceptable from now on."

Happy nodded. He'd draw on any band aid the kid had. Anything to make her happy. That was all he wanted for her. "Damn straight."

~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~

The ending's a bit rushed, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post! 🤣

As always, let me know what you think!!! Or if you have any requests or anything you'd like to read!
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