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hoodharlow · 2 years

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Nico’s Berry First Birthday

part 1

AN: idk what to say lol. This was supposed to be posted MONTHS ago and I never did lol. Gif from @calmfolklore from this gifset

Requested? No

Warnings: sad dad!Cal and mentions of abandonment, Mitchy Collins ruining our baby's birthday

Word Count: 3.1k words

“Nico, c’mon, go with grandma I’m not going to be long.” Calum said, trying to pry off his now one year old daughter.

But she wouldn’t budge. She tightened her grip around his neck, nearly choking him. He tried everything, even tickling her. But that only annoyed her, and the last thing he wanted to do was get her upset on her birthday. On the other hand he didn’t want to bring her to the interviews he had to do. One thing he learned from last week’s promo was that even Nico can get annoyed with watching Encanto ten times in a row. He also doesn’t want Nico anywhere near James Cordon because he knew that James would annoy his kid and ruin her mood for the rest of the day.

“Bring the little demon, we’re already late.” Ashton called from the driveway gate.

“Ah!” Nico frowned when she heard Ashton call her a demon. She leaned over and smacked the top of his head.

Calum rolled his eyes. “Shit like that is why she doesn’t like you mate.” He told Ashton as he unlocked the car to get Nico in. He buckled her in and whispered to her, “You know he doesn’t mean it.”

The one year old looked up at the sun roof, annoyed. It was her version of rolling her eyes since she hadn’t mastered her eye rolls yet. For Calum’s sake he hoped she didn’t until she was at least fifty.

He turned to his mom. “We’ll be back in a few. Think you can hold down the fort?” He asked her.

“Of course, darlin'." Joy said.

“I left a list of all the people that are gonna come by. If anything happens or something gets mixed up just call me. I also left—”

“Just go. We’ll be fine.”

Calum nodded and gave Joy a side hug. He rounded over to the driver’s side. He opened the gate and back out of the gate. He waved to his mom as he followed Micheal’s car to James’ studio. They lucked out and were able to push back recording because the guests had something else to do in the evening.

For which Calum was grateful because after the band’s appearance, they had to do another interview, and after that interview he had to rush home to get him and Nico ready for her birthday party. Though he silently cursed at the band’s management for getting them interviews on Nico’s birthday.

A familiar olive green Jeep was parked in the studio.

It was Alexis Ximena’s.

Calum rested his head on the steering wheel when he parked next to Michael. He wasn’t ready to see her. Last night ended on an awkward note. When they decided to take things to her bedroom, they didn’t go as far as they hoped. Dr. Manny walked in on them while Calum’s face was buried in between Alexis Ximena’s thighs. It was the most awkward moment of his life. And to make matters worse Dr. Manny was carrying Nico. Not only did his daughter’s pediatrician see him doing things with HIS daughter, but Calum managed to traumatize his own daughter.

Ashton knocked on his window, making him look up. He tapped his wrist, as if he had a watch, motioning Calum to hurry up. Calum flipped him off and begrudgingly got out of the car. He unbuckled Nico and handed her to Ashton, so he could get her things from the trunk.

They both shared an uncomfortable look, but Nico allowed Ashton to hold her. They watched Calum grab the stroller and place everything the one year old could need, stuffing it in the bottom basket of the stroller. Ashton passed Nico back to him so he could buckle her in her stroller.

He draped her blanket over the stroller, blocking the bright sun for Nico. He pushed the stroller and followed Ashton where Michael and Luke were. A backstage crew member approached them and guided them to their greenroom.

Calum had never been so happy to see goldfish snacks. He grabbed all of the packets and some of the snacks provided and stuffed them in Nico’s backpack because he didn’t pack any for her since she was supposed to stay with his parents and Mali. He also grabbed a few water bottles in case she got thirsty.

He unfastened Nico from her stroller and sat her down next to him. He dug in her backpack, thankful that he had packed her an extra pair of shoes because they left without putting on shoes on her. He pulled out a pair of white Nike Cortez with a pink swish that matched her pink Nike tracksuit.

“You have some fucking nerve showing you’re face here.” Calum heard Michael say.

He looked over his shoulder and found Alexis Ximena standing at the entrance wide eyed and confused.

“What did I do?” She asked, surprised.

“You were in The Batman!” Michael exclaimed.

“I never said I wasn’t.”

“But you never said you were.”

Alexis Ximena rolled her eyes and pushed past him, making her way to Nico. The one year excitedly made grabby hands at her. Alexis Ximena picked her up and kissed her cheeks.

“Happy birthday!” she sang to her. She turned to Calum. “Why is your daughter dressed like Ruth Rose?”

“Who?” He asked, taking Nico back in his arms because she took her shoe off.

“From the ‘A-Z Mysteries’, she’s one of the main characters and she always wore monochromatic outfits.” she explained.

Calum furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, not knowing what she was talking about.

“Forget it.” she waved him off. She looked down at Nico and giggled. “She took her other shoe off.”

Calum shook his head, “you’ve got to be shitting me Nico.”

By 2pm, Nico’s party was in full swing. Calum felt proud that the party came out pretty nicely. He had gone all out with strawberry decorations as it was Nico’s favorite fruit. From strawberry balloon arches to strawberry based desserts. There was a taquero stationed next to the makeshift bar and dessert table. Michael was in the backyard manning the DJ booth playing various genres of kids songs.

“No,” Calum told Nico sternly, pushing the fresas con crema out of her reach.

The one year old frowned. Nico bent sideways trying to get off her high chair. But she couldn’t. Out of anger, she leaned forward and swiped the plate of tacos Calum got for them to share on the ground. She clapped happily when Duke trotted over and ate the food. She stopped then looked at him, making pleading eyes and gesturing to the cup of fresas con crema.

"No." He repeated. He got up from the stool next to her and went to grab a beer.

"Has she eaten?" Joy asked him as she fixed the gift table when he passed her.

"No," he sighed. "She's being a little shit."

"Take one to know one, darling." She said nonchalantly.

"Oi!" He blinked at her, surprised at her comment.

"When you were her age all you wanted to eat was fairy bread and Tiny Teddies."

"Well you did make the best fairy bread."

“I’m aware.” She smiled proudly. She looked around, making sure no one was close.

Calum knew that look. She was about to have a serious talk with him or she was going to interrogate him about something Mali told her.

Her smile softened,“Mali mentioned Alexis was coming.”

Calum blinked in surprise, remembering when Aaliyah introduced them almost two years ago when they were at FireFight Australia. “You remember Alex?”

“Of course I do. She’s a nice girl. She was in Sydney a few months back and I ran into her and she invited me to lunch. So how serious is it?"

The doorbell rang before he could answer her.

"I'll get it." He announced, rushing over to the front door.

Calum got nervous hoping it was Alexis Ximena. He walked inside and did a quick u-turn to the kitchen and took the fresas con crema cup away in case Nico tried to make someone give her the cup. He quickly checked himself in the mirror by the front door. He smiled brightly when he opened the door but quickly dropped his smile when he saw it was just Ashton and Marina.

"Oh it's you." He said, stepping aside to let them in.

"Hello to you too." Ashton grumbled.

"Where's the birthday girl?" Marina asked Calum.

"In the kitchen." he answered

He took the present Marina had in her hand and led her and Ashton to the kitchen. Nico sat sadly on her high chair, but she smiled brightly at Marina. She made grabby hands at her.

“Hi birthday girl.” Marina said softly. She approached Nico and let her touch her growing belly. She giggled when Nico’s eyes widened when the baby kicked her hand. “The baby says happy birthday too.”

He eyed Marina's belly and felt nauseous. It was a reminder of what he missed. It was a part of Nico that he never got to see or experience since he never saw Loli pregnant. He never got to see Nico through the ultrasound or hear her heartbeat or feel her kick Loli's belly. It was almost a whole year that he missed. Part of him wished he could turn back time and be there for Loli, for his daughter, but it was impossible. At least he got to see her now and he wouldn't give that up.

Calum wandered out to the yard and got more food before joining his parents, Mali, Luke, and Elijah were. He fell into conversation, nodding along to whatever they were talking about while he ate. He would look over to the kitchen where Marina had.

"¡Feliz Cumple!" He heard Alexis Ximena tell Nico.

Before he could even turn around to head back inside, Luke pushed past him. He rolled his eyes as his best friend went over to greet Aaliyah's family as if he was the host of the party. He awkwardly waited for Luke to finish greeting Aaliyah’s family when he heard Nico’s giggles. He looked behind him and saw Alexis Ximena showing her a stuffed crocodile.

Nico kicked her feet excitedly as Alexis Ximena made the stuffed crocodile dance on the table of Nico’s high chair. Calum blinked in surprise hearing her speak a nearly perfect Australian accent as she talked to Nico. He smiled to himself when his one year old took the stuffed crocodile and hugged it tightly.

“Ah!” Nico motioned to Alexis Ximena to give her the cup of fresas con crema.

“No, Nico.” Calum said, grabbing the cup. “You haven’t eaten.”

Nico frowned and pushed the crocodile on the ground.

“Nico!” he said sternly, but in a hush tone so he wouldn’t draw attention to them.

Alexis Ximena picked up the stuffed crocodile and handed it back to Nico. She stood up giving Calum a chance to take her in. She was obviously overdressed, dressed to the nines in a short black dress and tall platform heels. She had a good three inches on him in those heels.

“Why is she dressed like Strawberry Shortcake?” She asked him, gesturing to Nico who babbled to her crocodile.

“She’s not dressed like cake?”

“No,” she shook her head. “The cartoon.”

“There’s a cartoon about cake?”

“No menso, hold on.” She pulled out her phone and quickly typed. “You have the worst wi—oh it loaded. Here.” She showed him her phone screen.

There were images of a cartoon little girl dressed in a strawberry hat, denim overalls with a striped pink and white long sleeve under and yellow shoes. Calum looked over to Nico and she wore almost the same thing except, “Nico’s wearing a bucket hat and a denim dress. Not to mention, she has gold Vans. Obviously it’s not the same. Maybe they copied Nico.”

“The show came out in 2003.”

“Oh, good to know they support the LGBTQ community.”

“You’re a fucking smart ass. You and that mouth of yours are a deadly weapon.”

“You would know.” Calum smirked at her.

Clearly flustered, Alexis Ximena announced. “I’m going to get food.”

She turned on her heel almost immediately and went out into the backyard to get in line for food. After she went up where Aaliyah was and greeted Fiona and Marina. They all looked at her with knowing grins.

“What?”

“What?” the three said in unison.

“What was that back there?” Fiona asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Where’s Ethan? You usually use him as an excuse to hang out with Michael.” Alexis Ximena smiled innocently.

“Isn’t that what you did with Nico?” Marina asked before dipping her taco in consomé.

Alexis Ximena turned to Aaliyah. “You told them?!”

“Of course I did.” Aaliyah said “Now don’t say anything about sitting on Cal’s face because your future mother in law is walking over.”

“I wasn’t si— Hi Mrs. Hood!”

***

Calum looked around for Alexis Ximena. He overheard Aaliyah tell Luke that she had a work dinner and he hoped that he hadn’t missed her before she left. He was also keeping an eye on Mitchy, who showed up tipsy and crashed Nico’s birthday party.

To say that Mitchy was Nico’s least favorite person was an understatement. The one year old would rather spend the day getting shots than be near him which was why Calum didn’t invite him to the party.

“You didn’t bring Nico a present.” Calum heard Ethan tell Mitchy.

“And what are you the fucking present police?” The grown man snapped at Ethan as he grabbed a beer from the cooler.

“Butthead.” Ethan muttered before grabbing a juicebox.

Calum sighed and walked over to Mitchy. “Mate, you can’t talk to a kid like that.”

“He’s a fucking dick!”

“He’s two!” He snapped, swiping his face in frustration. “This is why I didn’t invite you. You’re ruining my kid’s party. Nico doesn’t even like you.”

“What are you talking about? Nora likes me. Just watch,” Mitchy walked over to Alexis Ximena who was building a puzzle with Nico. “Ayo Nora!”

Mitchy staggered towards them with Calum calling him to stop. He pulled Nico away from Alexis Ximena and tried to pick her up, but he stumbled and fell, nearly falling on top of the one year old.

Calum couldn’t process anything other than Nico’s arms around his legs. She wailed. He picked her up, “Get him out of my fucking house.” he angrily told Luke and Ashton before ducking inside.

He brought them to the living room and sat on the one person couch. He rubbed Nico’s back, trying to calm her down as she cried inconsolably. He held her close, apologizing for not kicking Mitchy out sooner. He heard footsteps approaching them.

“Cal, I’m so sorry.” Alexis Ximena began sitting on the coffee table across from them. “I was caught off guard and next thing I knew that guy was on the ground and Nico ran to you. I should have been more vigilant. This is my—”

“Alex, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Calum said, wiping a few stray tears off Nico’s cheeks. He maneuvered her so she sat facing Alexis Ximena.

“I guess but I really do feel bad. I should have been quicker or… I don’t know. I could have done something.”

“You should have picked up a tree and swung it at him like in that show where you had a little brother who did that.”

“You watched Gone?”

“Yeah a while ago Aaliyah made us watch it. But Nico saw a banner of it and recognized you when I was looking for Sesame Street on HBO Max. So we started watching it.”

“Sure,” Alexis Ximena nodded, playfully rolling her eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked around them. “Where’s Nico?”

Calum cursed and jumped from the couch. Nico’s giggles and Duke’s yips were heard from the study. Him and Alexis Ximena followed the sound and found Nico waddling toward Duke, who was behind the doggy door. She giggled and clapped her hands.

Calum’s hand found Alexis Ximena’s. “She’s walking.” He whispered, almost laughing. A few tears rolled down his cheeks. “My baby is walking.”

Due to their height difference, Alexis Ximena couldn't lean into him, but Calum wrapped his arm around her back as she placed her arm over his shoulders. They stood quietly watching Nico with Duke, but they were soon interrupted by Alexis Ximena’s phone.

“Shit” she said, pulling away from him to rummage through her bag. She pulled it out and answered.

Nico finally realized it wasn’t just her and Duke, so she motioned Calum to play with them. He sat down next to the door frame and reached for a soft ball for her to toss to Duke.

Calum watched Alexis Ximena pace around with an annoyed expression on her face as she listened to whoever was on the other end. She bid them goodbye and sighed frustratedly, shoving her phone back in her bag.

“Everything alright?” Calum asked, handing the ball to Nico, who went to hand it to Alexis Ximena.

“My realtor just called me to say that none of the places I was looking into allowed dogs. If they did, they would have to weigh less than forty pounds. Bernie weighs one-fifteen.” She said, sitting next to him.

“You know I was joking yesterday when I teased you about living with Dr. Manny.”

“I know, I’ve been looking for a place for a while now. Especially with now that Bernie is huge. We don’t fit with my dad. So I'm looking for a place so me and Aaliyah can finally live together like we planned our senior year when I booked ‘Gone.’”

“Or you could move in with us.” He offered. “Our dogs get along, my house is pretty big so you wouldn’t have to worry about Bernie feeling like he has no space.”

“I can’t accept,” she said, shaking her head. “Nico’s grandparents live next door. What would they think about someone that’s not their daughter around their granddaughter.”

“Me letting them near Nico is just a courtesy. Legally speaking, they’re not her grandparents.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Loli dropped off Nico, she signed off any right she had, including her parents claiming her as their grandkid. But I’m not an arsehole, so I let her parents see Nico. Sometimes they watch her when I go run an errand, but Loli is completely out of the picture, especially after what went down a few months back.”

“Oh…”

“So you have nothing to worry about.”

Alexis Ximena nodded. She sat quietly and watched Nico and Calum. She did like spending time with them. Yesterday gave her hope for her and Calum, but she knew better than to get her hopes up. Even more if she was going to live with them.

“Fine, but I’m going to need two rooms.”

“Why two?”

“Where do you think my clothes and shoes are gonna go?”

Taglist: @f-mu @calumscalm @karajaynetoday @wastelandcth @cherryxcreme @ashtonsunflower @calpops @idontneedanyone @findingliam-o @5-secondsofcolor @mulletcal @polycashton @sunshinebabycal-deactivated2021 @another-lonely-heart @fckingpernico @2fangirl4u @suchalonelysunflower @hoodhoran @aquarius-hood1996 @in-superbloom

Special guests: @twilightmomentswithyou @sensitivecth

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