"C'mon kiddo we ain't got all day." Soul shouted as he crossed his arms, waiting for the water to warm up a bit so he could make a small pool in the tub. Usually Maka took the night shift when it came to bedtime and baths, but his wife was too sick from the change of temperature. One second she would be in the warmth of house and then back out to the ice,cold Nevada air.
He had warned her of staying bundled up, which case she did, but still the nasty cold leaving her with high fevers and non-stop sneezing. Soul will never questioned the way he managed to get her stay in bed until she got better. However, that left all the house chores to him, which he thought he managed very well, perhaps even better than Maka! But that was something that he would only gloat about in his mind.
Placing the drain stopper, he poured in some bubble bath liquid, as he stirred it around to get the bubbles to frost over the water. Soul let the water run a little more to keep the warm water at bay, but his patience was running thin, with how hard it was to get the kid into the shower.
'I'm letting her have a bloody bubble bath, the hell is she doing?'
"Charlotte Annaliese Evans if you don't get in this bathroom right now you're in deep trouble!" Soul shouted once more waiting for the small girl to come in to get in the bath.
he heard small footsteps against the floor and tapped his foot against the tile of the bathroom as he awaited her.
A small mesh of white hair appeared from behind the frame, and slowly a pair of wide velvet eyes followed shortly after. Velvet eyes followed shortly after, looking right up at Soul's identical ones. He could have sworn that he'd never be able to stay mad at this small version of him, even when he wanted to.
"Oi, get in here before the water gets cold. I don't want you to get sick like mama is." He hid the smile that was creeping on his face. He wanted so much to be stern with the small child, but it was difficult with how adorable she looked peeking in the room and looking all the way up at him.
"Are there bubbles?" The four year old squeaked.
He tried not to laugh. "Yes. Now come on, before I turn the water off and it gets cold."
"Okay daddy." She whispered a bit, trying to avoid getting in any more trouble.
Soul could have sworn that what came in was not a child, but a colorful painted, wild gremlin. There at least five different shades of pink paint on her dress and a blotch of green on her right cheek. Somehow, a feather managed to stick out from the back of her head , and there was glitter everywhere. There was no doubt that there must have been a trail of it in the hallway. The only thing that managed to survive the color war was the blue shirt she wore under her other things, because even her socks managed to get blue paint scars on them.
"Kid lets not go hardcore with the paint next time. After all, I'm pretty sure the paper is going to win the war for a couple of extra years." He smiled, kneeling down to her height and pulling the feather that was sticking out of her hair. She held her hands behind her back in embarrassment as she looked down to her small black shoes that were covered in green droplets.
"I just wanted to make something for mama to get better." She said quietly, making Soul's heart melt at the sad face she made at him. Despite having some of his special features, all he ever saw was a miniature version of his beloved wife. He kissed Charlotte's head before taking her little jumper dress off, and saw her sharp baby teeth exposed in a heartfelt smile.
"Heh, so what exactly did you do for mama little munchkin?" Soul asked as he continued to undress his little treasure, placing her in the warm tub as he tossed her clothes in the sink.
"It's a surprise papa, I can't tell you." She giggled as she hid underneath the bubbles from her papa.
"What the-? Where did my Charly go? I'm not done talking to her." Soul acted as he sat on the bathroom stool. He moved closer to the tub to get a better reach to where Charlotte was at.
"I'm right here, papa!" Charlotte jumped up getting Soul's shirt wet.
"Oh no! Charlotte got eaten by a vicious shark! My poor baby." Soul exclaimed.
Years ago he would have thought playing pretend was beyond being uncool. He would have died at the thought of being caught playing pretend with a kid. But over time he actually grew fond of playing make believe with Charlotte. Her crazy ideas always amazing him with just how creative she really was.
A smug smile appeared on her face as she went back down. She watched her papa as she circled around the tub like an actual shark would, before attacking once more.
"Rawwwr!" Charlotte jumped up again and opened her mouth to expose all her baby shark teeth, to scare her papa.
Soul merely laughed at her attempt to look scary, causing the little girl to pout at her papa. She sat down in the tub as soul began to scrub her head.
"You were supposed to be scared." she crossed her arms in defeat.
He snickered at the child. "Kid it takes more than just rawwr to scare your papa." Soul explained.
"You gotta give it your all, Charly, if you wanna be a big and scary shark like your dad."
"Can you show me papa? " Charlotte looked up at him.
"Okay kid, Shark 101 starts now." Soul said, pouring water on her head to take off the soap.
"First you need to look cool. Not cute. That just kills the point." He watched as Charlotte's wide eyes grew narrow and half-lidded.
It was sorta scary watching her look identical to him. "Second, you wanna flash your teeth." Showing her exactly what he meant, and watched her try his signature grin.
"Then lastly, you attack them by surprise!" He exposed his mouth to her before showering her with kisses and tickling her sides.
Charlotte began to squeal in excitement, splashing water everywhere, since Soul wouldn't stop attacking her.
Their laughter echoed in the bathroom as they tried to regain their breaths.
"That's how you become as scary as your cool dad." He stood up proudly.
Charlotte just giggled even more as saw some of the bath bubbles, stick on his head and around his face from the tickle fight they just had.
"Silly papa, you're not a scary shark, you're a silly shark." She pointed at his head.
He ran a hand over his head, messing up his bubble- head. The bubbles seeming to have the effect of turning his hair into a cow-lick, after he wiped it off.
Charlotte laugh even harder at his uncool appearance, her giggles slowly faded as she watch her father pouting while he tried to mess up his hair again.
"It's okay papa. No matter how silly you look, you will always be a cool shark to me."
Soul smiled, and felt his heart melt at the sight of his very own baby shark.
"Likewise kid, likewise."