Texas was tired after a long day of work on the farm, so he decided to take a nap in the middle of an empty garden plot he had been playing in. He woke up to Spain carrying him inside.
"You need a bath águilito, you're covered in dirt," Spain said.
"Nooooooooo," Texas whined sleepily.
"You'd rather I hose you off?" Spain asked.
"Mhm," Texas said.
"No, no... You are way too smelly," Spain said.
"Smellier than the animals?" Texas asked. Spain nodded.
"Yeah, especially after you gave all of them hugs and pets, and you didn't even wash your hands," Spain said. Texas made one of those kid noises kids make when they don't know how to respond yet still want to input their feelings on the matter. Spain took Texas to the bathroom, and after a bit of explaining that the cat that was watching them from the bathroom window probably didn't want to join, Texas was in the bath playing with little bath toys like ducks and those fancy watering can things that I thought were really cool for no reason. Man, I miss when cleaning myself doubled as playtime.
"Whose cat is that?" Texas asked, looking up at the black cat staring at him from the window.
"I'm not sure, he just wanders around the farm... he's good at pest control at least," Spain said.
"What's hims name?" Texas asked.
"Oh, I haven't named him... what should his name be?" Spain asked.
"Hmmm... Pebbles," Texas said. Spain nodded.
"Good name," Spain said, pouring water over Texas's head leading him to feel utmost betrayal and disgust. Texas coughed dramatically despite no water actually getting in his mouth, and shoved Spain's hand away from him. Spain sighed. "Aguilito, I need to wash off the shampoo-,"
"No! it'll get in my eyes and it'll hurt!" Texas exclaimed.
"Keep them closed," Spain said.
"But it'll get in my mouth and It'll taste bad!" Texas exclaimed.
"I'll be careful ok? It won't get in your face," Spain said, brushing Texas's hair back, but Texas smacked his hand.
"I don't wanna!" Texas exclaimed. Spain hummed in thought, before taking out his phone. He showed Texas a video of an American football game, where a team America had coached in his free time for funsies had just won a game, so of course they had to dunk gatorade on him. Texas was watching the video, giggling.
"Why's dad's hair so funny?" Texas asked.
"This was the eighties, that hair was cool back then," Spain said. Texas giggled some more. "C'mon, don't you want a victory shower?" Spain asked. Texas nodded enthusiastically, and Spain dunked water on his head. "Woosh!" Spain exclaimed, as Texas laughed.
After his bath, Spain helped him get dressed in pajamas and agreed to let him help cook dinner.
"Can you mix this for me, águilito?" Spain asked, handing Texas a bowl and spoon. Texas nodded and started mixing all fancy-like, trying to copy how his gramma looked while baking cookies.
"Why do you call me águilito?" Texas asked.
"I used to call your papá mi águila, so it made sense you'd be mi águilito. And I think I heard your grandpa call your dad 'Little Eaglet' before," Spain said. Texas smiled, feeling special because of his cool nickname. Texas was mixing stuff masterfully, while Spain was just focused on cutting vegetables.
"Abuelo? How'd you lose your eye?" Texas asked. Spain paused, and it was a long enough pause to make Texas feel like he made an oopsie.
"Don't worry about it, mi vida, it was just a small accident," Spain said, eyes still on the cutting board.
"Oh... ok," Texas said, however, he was still very curious. "Can you open it? Or is it gone forever?" Texas asked.
"I don't want to talk about it amor, just focus on dinner," Spain said.
"But-," Texas started, before Spain aggressively dropped his knife onto the kitchen counter with a loud clang, and looked over to give Texas a serious glare.
"Stop," Spain said sternly. Texas shrunk in place, his grip on the spoon getting tighter, and he felt a bit scared despite knowing Spain didn't mean any harm. Spain looked back at his task. The quiet taps of the knife against the cutting board was the only sound in the small, echoing kitchen.
Texas tried to continue stirring like nothing happened. He heard Spain's breathing quiver, which he tried to ignore, but suddenly Spain let out a pained gasp. Texas turned around and saw Spain had accidentally cut his finger. Texas immediately rushed to his room and grabbed his suitcase. His dad always told him to have bandaids on him, because you never know if you'll need them. Texas grabbed his favorite ones that had little birds on them, and ran back to his Abuelo, who was sitting down at the dinner table, staring at his finger in jarred silence. Texas grabbed his hand and carefully wrapped a bandage around his finger, and then gave it a lil kiss.
"Papá says the kiss makes the badness go away," Texas said sweetly, smiling brightly. Spain stared at him for a moment, before the tears welled up in his eye flowed out, and he held Texas in a tight hug.
"Eres precioso, mi vida.... No dejaré que este mundo cruel te haga daño.... te quiero, águilito,"