Work Text:
Vivien was perfect. Her parents had three other times to get it right, but they had gotten it right with her.
Vivien liked the morning. It was the best time of day. Apparently it was her first word. Out loud and with her antennae. Not many people understood her when she used her antennae. Other people were stupid. Her parents could be stupid. Like not paying attention to her.
She pointed at the door and squeaked. Kitty did as she demanded and opened the door. Good. Kitty was always good. Kitty did what Vivien wanted.
Toddling into the room, she heard them laughing. Laughing without her. Vivien was offended. As was her right. She squeaked.
“Oh, Vivi! You’re awake!”
Papi groaned. “Ah, fuck… Kitty, take her out of the room.”
“She came all this way!” Mami reached out toward her. Vivien should make mami come to her. She squeaked.
“She does that all the time! Val, you are not holding her while I fuck you!”
“What if you hold her while I fuck you?”
Whatever that all meant, it wasn’t about her. Vivien squeaked.
Groaning, papi adjusted the blankets around his waist before coming over to pick her up. It had taken him long enough. She squeaked as he pressed his forehead against hers.
“You are the troublemaker.”
“Wonder where she gets it from,” mami said.
“Yeah. I wonder.”
“Papa!” They were talking about her now. She could tell, because with her antennae up against papi’s, she could feel how it was all about her.
As it was supposed to be. She squeaked happily and papi smiled. Because she was perfect and he knew it.
It was loads of fun to join mami for work. Everyone there did what mami wanted. They were supposed to get Vivien everything she wanted too. Even if mami told her to be quiet often.
“Shh.”
Vivien squeaked, because she wasn’t done talking. Mami put a pacifier in her mouth. It tasted of honey and static. Vivien sucked away at it and stared at the sparkling lights at the end of it.
“And action!”
Mami spent a lot of time watching people do things. And telling people to do things. Vivien wanted to do the same, but the people here were idiots and didn’t understand her.
She had favourite people at mami’s work. One was Auntie Angie. He talked to Vivien like he talked to everyone else. Even if he was still too stupid to understand Vivien in return. Still, he was the person she spent the most time with other than mami at mami’s work. The other was Travis. Vivien liked him because he was fun to bite.
Mami often told her no biting, but he didn’t tell her not to bite the feathers. It was best to grab them first with her mouth, but if she had something in her mouth already, she had four hands to grab with.
“Grhk!”
Mami glared at Travis, because now was quiet time. It was why Vivien had a pacifier in her mouth. Travis was stupid. If Vivien couldn’t talk: no one could. Except for the people mami was watching.
They were having sex and Vivien thought that was boring. The people at the cameras were funny though. Sometimes she threw things at them. Mami usually caught whatever she threw before it left her hand.
Right now she had a feather though. Vivien spat out the pacifier and put the feather in her mouth.
It was better when it wasn’t quiet time, but quiet time wasn’t too bad either.
There wasn’t quiet time as often when she went with papi to work. Papi spent a lot of time talking. Other people did too. Vivien talked as well, and papi made sure everyone else shut up when she did. She loved going to work with papi because of it.
But, better than work, was the morning. Papi was the one in the morning to take her outside to watch the morning. The shades of red as they changed. How everything went from spots of lights to just light. It was something called the sun which brought her this light. There were other things about it, but Vivien didn’t know. All she knew was it was the most beautiful sight in the world.
Like her, it was perfect.
She used to just watch it, but then it made her want to dance. It took a while to make papi understand. He wasn’t as stupid as everyone else, but he still didn’t know how to communicate. But he got it eventually. Mami probably told him. Vivien had known how to say it with her antennae. Mami taught her the words.
“Morning dance!”
“Morning dance,” papi agreed. She stood on the balcony table and held his claws to dance with him.
Papi wasn’t a bad dancer. Vivien decided she’d keep him. They could watch the morning and dance.
Eventually, he would bring her back inside. It was sad to go away from the morning, but as papi took her to mami, she didn’t mind. He used to set her right on mami’s chest, but now he would set her on the bed and she had to crawl up to his ruff. It was nice and comfy there.
But if mami took too long to wake up, it was Vivien’s job to wake him up. She crawled up to his face and slapped him. It usually took several slaps.
And usually Vivien got a hand in her face.
She squeaked loudly. Mami groaned, but would get up.
Mami missed out on the best part of mornings.
Tía liked to restrict Vivien. Vivien would be upset about it, but the restrictions were always so pretty that she couldn’t be too upset. She preferred it when tía would use her hands for it, but most of the time tía snapped her fingers and everything was there.
Snapping fingers was fascinating. Vivien couldn’t figure out how it was done. When she put her fingers together, they didn’t do that. Then again, she didn’t think she had ever seen papi do it. Tía did it and papi did it, but not mami. Was that an imperfection? Probably not, because Vivien couldn’t do it.
She wanted to though. Vivien smacked her hands together, but it didn’t do the same thing.
“Stop fidgeting.”
Vivien squeaked and smiled at tía. She loved tía’s voice. Even though tía never said anything that made sense and didn’t understand Vivien at all, Vivien loved her. She made pretty things and she made papi and mami happy.
Most importantly, she made Vivien happy. That made her Vivien’s.
Tía also took care of Vivien’s fur. How tía knew how to do so when she didn’t have any, Vivien had no idea. Sometimes tía took care of mami’s fur too, but mami’s fur wasn’t the same as Vivien’s.
“Vivi, don’t make me tie you down.”
Vivien squeaked to show her appreciation and wiggled. She would have danced, but tía was working, so Vivien would sit and wiggle instead.
“I swear to fuck, Vivien.”
“Don’t fucking swear at my daughter.”
“I’ll swear when I want, Vox! At least I’m not tying her up!”
In the end, Vivien’s hair was perfect and she was wearing colours like the morning. Not the morning like she saw in real life, but the videos of the morning papi would put on for her with a lot more orange. Vivien liked orange. Orange was her favourite colour.
Vivien squeaked. Tía patted her head.
“Not the worst dress up we’ve had.”
“Tí!”
Tía smiled. But it wasn’t talking, so Vivien continued to squeak until tía stopped smiling and started talking again.
Vivien never knew who she would spend most of her day with when she woke up, but she knew she would see everyone at one point. Everyone in the morning, everyone in the evening. But always papi and mami in the morning. And papi would take her to see the sunrise.
Sometimes it rained in the morning, but the morning was still perfect. Much like Vivien. He would hold her in his arms, cradled against his chest, and Vivien would stare out from under the overhang at the overcast morning. Because rain never stopped the morning, so the rain would never stop Vivien.
She squeaked happily. Papi kissed the top of her head.
“Morning!” Vivien said.
“Yeah,” papi said. “Good morning.”