"Mira". Luan was crouched, trying to shake the sleeping child awake.
For being so small, she had a lot of sleep in her. No wonder she had so much energy.
"Mira". He whispered again, getting a flutter of the eyelids and a soft groan.
"Wha?" She grumbled, trying to roll away from the hand that wouldn't let her sleep.
"You gotta get up. We're going out."
"Mng... outside?" She asked, looking up at him with blurry eyes.
"Yeah. We need something for breakfast. I'll let you pick something at the store if you get up now."
"Anything?" She whispered, eyes a little less tired at the prospect.
"As long as it's not something bad or too expensive, then sure. Anything you want. But you gotta get up right now."
"Ok!" She squealed, jumping up and stumbling towards the bathroom. Luan stared at her swaying form, trying to decide if he'd somehow been played just now. But as long as she came with him without making a fuss, he was mostly fine with a little loss.
After she was done with whatever six year old girls felt the need to accomplish in the bathroom, Luan took her to his black car. Black was a nice, common color, so no one should look twice at the vehicle. She shivered the whole way, clutching her arms in tight.
"I'm cold!" Mira whined, trying to steal the warmth from Luan's shirt while he still wore it.
"Just deal with it for now. I'll put the heater on, and we can get you a coat before we get food."
"And a dress? I need everybody to know I'm a princess when they see me." She tried to throw in the extra clothing without wasting a second.
"We'll see. Depends how good you are while we get food." Luan replied, hoping the maybe promise of looking like a princess would deter her from causing trouble. He could tell this child was a wild one, always wanting to play and create mischief.
Their first stop, as he'd said, was a clothing store. And Mira complained the entire way from the warm car to the warm building. The in-between was a bit chilly, but Luan wondered if all kids were this scared of being cold, or if that was just a princess thing.
The first thing Luan bought was a small pair of sunglasses, with a pink frame–courtesy of Mira.
"Why do I have to wear these inside?" She asked, fiddling with her new camouflage.
"Your eyes are a dead giveaway, princess. We can't have your papa finding us yet. That would be bad for me. You don't want me to die, right?" Luan figured, if she really pegged him as a motherly figure, she might hesitate when it came to running for help that would cause his death.
And boy did he hate playing into that notion.
"Papa wouldn't kill you! You're his new wife!"
Turns out, it backfired anyway. And now, he had a husband without even getting married, and a kid without giving birth. What a rollercoaster.
Luan sighed, brushing dark hair out of his eyes. There really was no arguing with insane people.
"Which coat do you want?" Might as well try to change the subject.
With an excited squeal, something that Mira exuded constantly, she took off running towards the small people's coats, all covered in colors and designs. Seems it was easier than he'd expected to distract a small child.
This time, he sighed in relief, leaning against a wall as he watched the pink framed eyes as they flitted from coat to coat, small hands running across every design. He didn't even want to know what she'd do when faced with dresses. Did this store even have dresses befitting a princess? Luan didn't know, he just hoped she wouldn't notice the difference.
After lots of searching, sighs and giggles interchanging frequently, Mira came back with a dark purple coat, a picture of a princess with long blonde hair stitched across the front.
Why did she even want a dress when she was going to be wearing a real princess? Insane indeed.
"That one?" Luan forced himself to ask her. She nodded vigorously, not seeming to notice or care about the disbelief in his eyes.
"Fine. Let's go get some food now. I'm starving."
With one step, he felt small hands yank his hand down with surprising force.
"What about my princess dress? I can't go to the food store looking like a peasant!" Honestly,
Luan didn't think the dress would help. Her hair was ratted everywhere, with slight red around the eyes from her stressful experiences of the previous evening. At least the glasses helped with her appearance. What she really needed was a good bath and brush. Like most princesses.
But he also knew that mentioning that would probably not help. So, he let out a huff instead, grabbing one of the tiny hands and leading her deeper into the store. Of course, she made a happy laugh burst from her tiny lips, teeth on full display as she followed him.
It took longer than he'd like to admit to find dresses for children. And the complaints from said child didn't help.
Luan had to admit, she definitely seemed pampered enough. Maybe her father did care. He wasn't sure yet, though. There was still time.
When they finally located the darn dress aisle, it looked like a rainbow had taken liberty to explode all over the entire thing. And Mira looked right at home.
Luan was starting to enjoy that beaming smile she had, just a little bit. The way her eyes reflected the colors, glowing behind her dark shades. How something so simple could make her the happiest thing in the world. Maybe children were okay.
Mira eventually came running over, a frilly dress swinging from her arms. What surprised Luan was the fact the dress wasn't really colorful. It was silver, shimmering under the lights.
"Silver?" He couldn't help but ask about it. From what he'd seen, Mira had a thing for the bright ones, wanting everyone that gazed at her princess splendor to go blind while they were at it.
Perhaps the silver would reflect more light, and get the job done faster.
"Yeah!" She smiles big at that, then gestured up to her eyes with her free hand.
"Now I have my papa's eyes here, and your eyes," She pointed at the dress in her hand, "here".
Luan was, unsurprisingly, speechless. Mira really had a way of just bulldozing past reality, and making things fit what she wanted.
"You have really pretty eyes, mommy."
If he'd had anything in his mouth, it would have been all over her. He'd have to settle for choking on his own spit.
"I'm not your mother, Mira. I can't take that kind of role in your life. Even if I thought I could, your father would never let me. Not after what I've done. So, you have to let this mother thing go, ok?" Luan was trying to get through to her. She would only make herself upset with this line of thinking.
"But I know papa. He would love you! Please?" Mira put her hands together, begging him to reconsider.
Luan sighed, tugging a hand through his hair as he looked at the pleading child.
"Let's just go get some food, okay?" He couldn't be thinking about this right now. The deal was about to go through any day now, having this added stress wasn't a good idea right now.
"Fineeee. But you can't make me forget just because you bought me things. You're still gonna be my mommy." It didn't sound very threatening with that small girl voice she had, but he definitely didn't want her to keep that promise.
Luan felt like he'd aged ten years in the time he's spent with this girl. Maybe some food would be more distracting. Seriously, all he ever did around her was try to keep her mind off insane topics.
With her supplies in tow, Luan dragged both of them to the checkout counter. The lady behind it smiled. When she noticed the little girl at his heels, He saw some genuine warmth seep into the practiced smile. Maybe she'd give him a deal.
"Hi, how can I help you two? Getting a little shopping done for your special princess?" Did everyone call little girls princesses? Maybe that's where this started.
"Yep. she insisted she had to look nice when shopping in public." Luan let a little truth slip out, the lady's kindness making him feel more at ease. Just a little.
The lady laughed at that, leaning closer like she was sharing a secret.
"Just like any lady, then. Now you know how to please them all, young man." She winked as she went back, scanning the two items with an efficiency that could only be born from experience.
Luan laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Mira just stood there, watching her things get rung up with a happy gleam behind her sunglasses.
That whole thing ended up delaying their breakfast shopping by two hours.
By this point, Luan was starving. Considering Mira was like a third of his size, he assumed she must be mostly wasted away by now.
And that's when he heard it: The smallest grumble from her tiny stomach.
Mira's face scrunched, a slight shade of red overtaking her cheeks as she looked down. Some black strands of hair shadowed her glasses, trying to hide the shame on her face. She was embarrassed. Luan had never seen her look anything other than sad or vibrantly happy.
For the first time he could remember, a real laugh fell out, grated and stilting. But he thought she was funny. Luan hadn't really laughed in a long time, so it felt awkward, and he didn't let it go for very long before cutting it off with the clearing of his throat.
What she had heard, though, was enough. Mira's head shot up, tiny fists clenched as she went to yell at him for laughing at her. Except, his mouth was tilted up, a slight peak of white teeth between his lips as he looked at her. She'd never seen him smile like that.
Without realizing, Mira's clenched fists fell, and she found herself hugging his legs with all the force she could muster. This had to be her mother.
Luan's eyes were wide, glancing around to make sure no one had taken too much interest in the display they made, before reaching down and scooping her up. She squeaked a little, but still clung tightly to him.
It was high time they got some food.