I'm still face-planted on the grass, hiding like a creep as I watch the scene in front of me.

My girl has my helmet on and red oven mitts on her hands, holding a baseball bat. She's drowning in one of my black shirts and screaming with disturbing aggression as she launches at a line of empty beer bottles, which are on a patio table under the lemon tree.

Some rock band is blasting through her unicorn speakers. She smashes a bottle and growls like a cub from Lion King.

Celia; on the other hand, is almost naked.

She's wearing sunglasses and my favorite black shirt with a red-inked Harley-Davidson on it. Her bare legs flex as she braces into a squat then twists her upper half, causing my shirt to ride up her thighs, reaching just below her ass. Then she gracefully bends one leg, standing on her tip-toes as she swings forward her bat, and I realize we don't even have baseball bats.

Ari cheers as Celia smashes a bottle and bounces up and down. She definitely doesn't have a bra on. What is wrong with this lunatic?

Before I can conjure up a response to my own question, I'm on my feet on my way to them.

Celia is the first to notice, because she drops the bat and runs behind Ariana, putting her hands on her shoulders.

"Hey daddy!" Ari waves at me, standing there like an alien with my tinted black helmet on.

Afraid that I won't be able to control my voice, I clench my jaw instead and bend down as soon as I reach her, picking her up.

I brace her under my arm as she grunts with my each step, taking her inside the house without acknowledging Celia.

"Did you see how I was smashing those bottles? Cool, eh?" Ari asks as I set her down on the dining table and take off her helmet. Her hair is wild and she greets me with a delighted, breathless smile. "Did you? Did you? Did you see?"

I breathe through my nose harshly and take her oven mitts off, inspecting her arms for any glass pieces or cuts. Then do the same with her boots, sighing in relief when I find none.

Yeah, but the backyard is all fucked up now.

"Wait, I need to show you something else, too!" Ari pushes me away and jumps off the table, scurrying into the kitchen. She looks over her shoulder at me with a toothy grin. "Come on!"

"Not now, Ari." My tone is gravelly and I frown for not matching her enthusiasm. She's just a kid. It's not her fault. "I'll be back in a minute."

Without waiting for a reply, I step out of the house and march where Celia is still standing, the sunglasses now on her head. She stays rooted with a sheepish expression, arms around herself.

"What... the fuck?" My upper lip curls as I stop before her, keeping my voice down.

"I... I know it looks bad—"

"Looks bad? You had a seven-year-old smashing beer bottles. What if she hurt herself?"

"W-we were being careful—"

"There's no such a thing as being careful with breaking glass. You just don't fucking do it. You know the neighbor was about to call the cops?"

"Chanel?" She scowls. "That cunt's son buried a live puppy last week!"

"I don't give a fuck what others do. Don't mess with my kid." God knows what could've happened if the cops showed up and saw what I allow. What if they took her away from me?

"Excuse me?" She steps towards me, eyes aflame. "I should be the one angry. I got a front-row orientation of welcome to hell after you left! Why didn't you tell me how she gets?"

"That's... true."

"She destroyed the whole kitchen! Pots, containers, cups— everything was on the ground! Knives, forks, spoons! Barefoot too! Then she opened all the food items from the fridge and dumped them on top of it all!"

I straighten up as she yells. "I'm... I'm sorry."

She stills and creases her forehead as if I'm speaking a different language.

"So what'd you do?" I ask her after a moment, making her scoff with a devilish smile.

"What did I do? I did the same to her room."

"What?"

"Yeah! I went to her room and threw all her clothes and toys on the floor. And I sang to myself while doing it."

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, I hummed. 'WAP' lyrics aren't appropriate for a child—"

"Why'd you trash my baby's room?"

She shrugs. "To teach her the pain of getting your own property destroyed." She breaks eye contact when I stare speechlessly. "She clearly had a problem with me, but didn't know how to cope with it. I tried to reason at first, but it didn't work."

"And acting like her did?"

"It caught her off guard..."

"Okay..." I scowl, not following her logic.

Then I notice how flushed her cheeks are and how she can't meet my eyes. I look down at her arms still wrapped around herself in my shirt and step back, rubbing my neck.

"Sorry... let's go inside." I mutter and she sighs in relief, rushing past me inside.

"Thank you." She whispers before walking ahead and I look away to not stare at her ass.

As soon as she steps inside the house, Ari runs up and throws her arms around her waist.

"You're back!" She looks up at Celia with a smitten grin while I gape.

Ari never likes her babysitters.

Fuck, is Celia even a babysitter?

No, I think I adopted an overpriced wild-child.

But I've never seen Ari so open after Vivien...

"I need to put some clothes on..." Celia pries Ari's hands away and rushes to the couch where her overalls are.

"I'll be in the kitchen!" I say loudly and get out of sight so she can get dressed in peace.

Ari runs into the kitchen and my eyes fall on her arms, noticing now that they're covered in drawings.

"Damn it..." I mutter under my breath, grabbing one of her hands. "What is this, Ari? Why'd you do this? You know it takes hours to take off and gets your skin all sensitive."

Ari whimpers and tries to free her arm. "Let go!"

"No. Answer me. You promised me you'd stop. Why'd you do that?"

"You're so mean, dad!" She yells, eyes a-gleam with hurt. "How come Celia didn't mind it?"

Celia appears into the kitchen, back in her red shirt and overalls as she quietly peeks behind the silver fridge.

"You." I pin her with a stern look, curling my finger at her to come close. I'm slightly surprised when she does, but get distracted again when I see her arms also covered in drawings of animals and flowers, and some weird portrait that looks like Shrek.

"See, Celia's got them too," Ari says.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." I throw an exasperated palm at Celia. "Celia's different. She's missing a few braincells."

"Excuse me?" She warns, making me almost smirk at her.

"Why were you wearing my shirt?"

"Oh..." She presses her lips to not smile, looking sideways. "That..."

"She got naked." Ariana informs.

"Hm?" I blink at her a couple of times, certain that she's confusing something.

"No." Celia crosses her arms, tilting her head at Ari. "You got naked first."

"In what... situation...." I cover my mouth with my fist, folding my arms. "Would you think it's okay to do that?" I stare at her. Maybe she has a mental disorder? Yeah... yeah. She must.

"Ari, can I talk to your dad alone?" she asks my kid who happily listens and skips to her room.

"What have you done to her?" I stare after her. Oh my God, what if she drugged my kid?

"Not much..." She scowls like I'm being weird and turns on her heel to the open front door.

"Where are you going?" I follow, making her pause by the doorframe and look over her shoulder.

"Home. You're here."

"So? I paid you for the whole day, I just came early."

She slowly turns to face me fully. "You want me to stay? I thought you're mad."

"I am. Completely mad. If you ever do something like this again I'll kill you. But I also want to know what you did to my kid."

"Wow, that's a... convincing argument." She licks her bottom lip, nodding as she looks away. "I'm so tempted, yeah. To leave or to die?" She points at the gate behind her. "I think I'll leave."

As she takes a step away, I catch her small wrist in my hand, causing her to stop.

She twists her head at me coldly then looks down at my hand, not saying a word.

The sun hits the side of her face, making her brown hair shine and her pale skin glow. Then with a hypnotic pace, she lifts her inky lashes up and points her calm, hazel eyes, staring at me with confident, uncompromising intelligence, slowly raising a sharp eyebrow.

I release her wrist like I just touched a hot stove, the effects of her soft skin still lingering in my palm.

"Why do you have Shrek on your arm?" I ask dryly, staring at the weird face.

"It's not Shrek. It's you."

I snap my eyes up at hers, which are now dancing with humor.

"Don't blame me, this is how Ari sees you. I think you're cuter than that." She pulls her bottom lip in her mouth, making me furrow my eyebrows. She better not be flirting with me.

"What happened after you trashed her room? How'd you end up outside?" How'd you end up in my fucking shirt without a bra on?

Celia sighs. "Why don't you just ask her?"

"Because I'm asking you."

She motions around us. "Can we at least go inside?"

"No." I smile. "You're going to stay outside and clean everything with me."

~A/N~
Hope everyone had a great weekend! Are we team Gio or Celia at the moment? Curious hehe.