A/N Sparkle Cadet is seven at the beginning of this fic, so she's a little more immature than she is in the show. Also, her name is Aaliyah!
"Daddy! Daddy, come look!"
Ryan barely had time to take off his shoes before Aaliyah called for him.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." He said, loosening his tie and taking his locs out of their ponytail.
"Come faster! We have to show you something!" She ran into the hallway and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the kitchen island.
Standing at the stove was Treyvon, his husband, stirring a pot of what smelled like stew. Ryan pulled away from Aaliyah for a moment. Coming up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his chin on his shoulder.
"Welcome home, babe. How was work?" Treyvon said.
"Nothing special. Eloise broke the coffee machine."
Treyvon chuckled. "You need to cut back on caffeine anyways."
"Daddy! Hurry!" Aaliyah came running back, grabbing at his arm. "I need to show you!"
"Alright, I guess we're leaving your Pops to cook dinner all by himself?"
Aaliyah didn't hesitate at all. "Yep!" They made their way to the living room.
Despite it being weeks since the holiday, their Christmas tree still stood in the corner, covered with tinsel and ornaments. It was supposed to have come down the weekend after, but there was a work emergency and Treyvon had to finish a commission. The coffee table was covered in drawings. Pink and blue splattered across the pages with stickers stuck anywhere there was a blank spot. Ryan could make out several recognizable figures. Himself and his husband, for starters, and various magical girls that Aaliyah loved. The drawing that Aaliyah raised to show him, however, was another familiar figure. It was Aaliyah in a dress surrounded by stars and hearts. The page was absolutely saturated with pink and purple, and glitter glue even accented parts of it.
"This is Sparkle Cadet! She's the champion of good feelings and positivity!" Aaliyah smiled in anticipation, waiting for Ryan's response.
"Oh! She's very pretty, but also familiar. Almost as if I know her from somewhere…" He scratched his chin, feeling the stubble growing in.
Aaliyah giggled and leaned in, cupping her hand around his ear. "It's me! I'm Sparkle Cadet! But you can't tell anyone, it's a secret."
"Not even Pops?"
"He already knows. But you two are the only ones, no one else can know."
"I'm honored to be trusted with such an important secret." He curled his right hand into a fist and placed it over his heart, bowing slightly. Aaliyah giggled some more.
"Hey," Treyvon called out from the kitchen. "Do I get to eat this all myself or are you two coming?" Aaliyah scurried to the kitchen with Ryan hot on her heels.
Then, almost a year later, Ryan remembered the drawing. It had been on their fridge at that house until they moved, and somehow ended up in the thanksgiving decorations. A few moves later, when the decorations got unpacked, Ryan found it again.
"Hey, babe, come look at this." He called to his husband.
Treyvon came over from the other side of the room and knelt next to Ryan. "Oh! This is what she was making yesterday."
"What?"
Treyvon's eyes twinkled. "I found her trying to make her own dress pattern the other day and it looked awfully similar to this." He gestured at the drawing and snuggled next to Ryan.
"Well she does take after her father." Ryan lightly elbowed Treyvon.
"You act like you're not the one who got her into those shows in the first place."
"And you act like you didn't make me a Sailor Moon cosplay as a gift for our first anniversary." Ryan could still remember how silky the fabric felt when he first put it on. "The only bad thing about that gift is that I can't wear it anymore."
"Says who?" Treyvon said.
"Babe, I've gotten pregnant and started T since then."
"Fair point." Treyvon settled his head on Ryan's shoulder for a moment before jolting upright again. "I just had an idea."
"What?"
"We've been trying to think of a Christmas present for Aaliyah, right?"
Christmas morning started at seven am sharp when Aaliyah came bounding into their bedroom, decked out in her reindeer pajamas and Santa slippers, singing carols at the top of her lungs.
"Hey sweetie…" Treyvon said, laying an arm across his face.
"Merry Christmas!" Aaliyah climbed up onto their bed and started tugging at Treyvon's arm. "Hurry up, Santa left a big box for you!"
"Mmm… did he now?"
Ryan chuckled and sat up. "We'll be down in a little bit, okay? I need to brush my teeth." Aaliyah pouted, but climbed off the bed.
"I'll wait downstairs." She said. "But brush them fast!" Aaliyah scampered off and left her dads alone.
"I want to sleep…" Treyvon mumbled.
"Come on, todays going to be great. Plus, I got you something special." Ryan teased. He walked to their bathroom.
"Better than what I got you last year?" Treyvon's smug voice carried all the way
"Oh be quiet." Ryan laughed, fond memories surfacing.
When they finally emerged from their bedroom, Aaliyah was sitting on the couch, curled under a blanket and staring intently at the presents under the tree. The presents had three different kinds of wrapping paper. Aaliyah's gifts had pink and purple polka dots, Ryan's had a cute forest scene on a navy backdrop, and Treyvon's were a deep red. They didn't have a fireplace in this apartment, so their stockings had been laid out on the coffee table last night. Now they sat full, candy-canes poking over the top.
"You ready?" Treyvon said. Aaliyah sprung up, tossing the blanket to the side.
"Yes!"
The morning was spent drowning in wrapping paper. Presents large and small from family far and near were unwrapped. Treyvon got teary eyed at the new sewing machine from Ryan, and Ryan started crying (though he would deny it later on) when he unwrapped the Sailor Moon cosplay that Treyvon had altered to fit him again. But the star of the show was the large box that Aaliyah left for last. It was long and relatively flat, with a shining white bow atop it. When she finally pulled it out, the wrapping paper barely stayed on for a moment. The box itself was wrapped and yards of fabric came bursting out. Sparkling pinks and purples covered the floor. Aaliyah looked back at her dads, slightly confused.
"Was this supposed to be for Pops?"
Treyvon laughed. "No, we got these for you. There's a certain dress that you've been going on about for a while," Aaliyah's eyes lit up. "And we thought you might want to help make it yourself."
"Merry Christmas." Ryan added. Aaliyah barely wasted a moment, running over to her dads and hugging them both.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Whoa, a little too tight there kiddo." Ryan said, feeling her arms cut into his rib cage.
"Sorry." She backed off. "Can we start on it today?" Her fingers tapped against each other quickly, and Ryan couldn't help but smile.
"Well that's not really my territory… babe?"
"Hmmm…" Treyvon stroked his beard, pretending to think long and hard about it. "Do we have any other plans today?"
"Nope!" Aaliyah said.
"Well, I guess we could start." Treyvon smiled as he said it, just as excited for this as Aaliyah was.
Aaliyah squealed and went to gather up the fabric. "Come on, let's go."
"You don't want to eat breakfast first?" Ryan said.
"Nope!" She started walking out of the room, barely able to see over the pile of fabric in her arms. Treyvon giggled before leaning over and planting a kiss on his husbands cheek.
"Let's not keep her waiting."