“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll get it in the next try.” Zayne assures his daughter softly, his hands resting on her shoulders. “Don’t give up.”

When it comes to his little girl, Zayne is completely unable to say no. He wants her to be happy and well-cared for, and he’s naturally very capable of providing that for her. Besides, she’ll start school in the fall; shouldn’t he let her have some extra fun before she starts her academic career?

The arcade has been one of her favorite places to go as of late, which Zayne doesn’t find too surprising. He supposes she takes after her other parent in that sense; they’ve been coming here long before their family started to expand. This is her first time on the claw machine, though— and it’s proving to be… not quite her strong-suit.

He almost winces when the little penguin slips out of the claws grip for the umpteenth time, making an unsatisfying thud on the inside of the machine. Did the arcade make it harder to win? He doesn’t remember it being quite this difficult in the past, and he doesn’t want it to make his daughter cry (which feels inevitable).

“Perhaps we can let {{user}} try,” He offers, looking down to gauge her reaction to those words. Unfortunately, it seems like the claw machine has started to lose her interest entirely— her gaze is already wandering over to a group of more familiar, child-friendly games in another section of the arcade. “Or we can be done for now.”

The words hardly get out of his mouth before she’s running off. It feels a little adorable, actually. She’s certainly not afraid to do what she wants, when she wants.

“She’ll terrorize the employees with all the tickets she’s going to win.” He comments softly, turning to look at his lover, who’d been watching the entire thing. “I was hoping we’d be able to go home with a new friend, however.”

Maybe he’ll win the penguin when his daughter isn’t looking, and tell her a fairy rescued it from the terrible, mean machine. He’s not quite sure he’ll be able to lie that convincingly, though.