Winner's Kiss

Ben groaned in frustration at the empty Square, it having no choice but to listen. The day at work had not gone great, it seemed that nothing had even remotely gone his way. It had been one annoying thing after another, each time Ben swore he could feel his head tightening around his brain, causing a less than appreciated headache.

No matter, Ben thought. Some painkillers and a film with Callum and Lexi would pull him out of his dreary and frustrated mindset. Lola and Jay had gone away for the week since it was half-term, leaving Lexi in Ben's care. With the extra space in the Mitchell house, Callum had offered to temporarily move in to both mind Lexi whenever Ben had to go to work and spend more time with him in general.

As much as Ben knew Callum adored Lexi, and vice-versa, he felt it was unfair to saddle her on him whenever he had to go to work.

"My mum can look after her if you don't want to." Ben had told Callum many times.

"Don't be daft," was Callum's reply, every time his boyfriend informed him of this. "Of course I'll mind her, I'd love to."

After the third time of hearing Callum's protest, Ben finally accepted it and headed off to work on day one.

He came home during the first afternoon to find Lexi teaching Callum how to 'expertly draw and colour-in'. Ever since, Callum has been called a 'worthy apprentice' by Lexi, much to everyone's amusement.

On the second day, Ben had come home to his daughter showing Callum her latest dance moves. In typical Callum fashion, he was cheering her on, pretending to be both an announcer and judge for an elite dance competition. Lexi was having the time of her life; loud giggles could be heard for miles beyond the Square. It was a scene that melted Ben's heart so much so that he simply had to join in. Sitting himself down next to Callum, the pair voiced their encouragement for Lexi and gave her a solid 10 after every routine.

No one outside of the Mitchell house would know of the dance-off that followed between father and daughter, with Callum lovingly watching the whole thing.

So, for two days now, Lexi had been the one to teach or show Callum something. As Ben neared the house, keys at the ready, his mind turned to guess whatever the pair could've been up to that day. He felt a strange conflict arise in him when the possibility of Lexi showing Callum her skills with makeup crossed his mind. Of course, Ben had been at the suffering end of that before and he had looked 'beautiful' according to his daughter. Part of Ben hoped Lexi hadn't done the same to Callum in case it made him feel in any way uncomfortable (which he doubted) and yet the other part of him remained curious to see what his boyfriend would look like with a fashionable makeover from a 7-year-old girl.

Ben knew there was only one way to find out and turned the key to the door, his ears listening for any words or music that might give away what they were doing.

He could tell that they were in the lounge from the shouts of enthusiasm.

However, no Little Mix blasted through the walls, no sounds of Lexi tutoring Callum on how to draw, there was none of anything from the past two days.

Since the door to the lounge was closed, exactly what the pair were saying was slightly muffled. So, once Ben had removed his coat, he headed straight for the door and looked upon a scenario that he hadn't predicted earlier.

"...and here comes Lexi Pearce, round the corner and through the lava field like there's no tomorrow, but Callum Highway is catching up from behind! Looks like it's gonna be a fight for first place, folks!" Callum commentated enthusiastically from the sofa; Lexi was sat on the floor in front of him.

"Yeah right!" replied Lexi without turning away from the TV. "I'm gonna win!" she exclaimed with excitement radiating in her happy little voice.

"They're both on the last stretch, it's now or never, folks. Will Callum Highway make it or will Lexi Pearce become the champion once more?" the level of excitement in Callum's voice fluctuated with his body movements as whatever they were playing obviously required motion control.