Work Text:
Baz
Today has been a nightmare. My boss decided to be a total wanker and make me rewrite all my reports. I had to stay for an extra two hours. My bones ache and my brain is foggy. Being a responsible adult with a job really sucks sometimes. I told Snow to order in since I wouldn’t be home to make dinner. All I want to do is eat some disgustingly greasy take out food, then maybe that ice cream sitting in the freezer for desert. A dream come true.
I walk in through the front door of our apartment. I violently kick off my oxfords and drop my briefcase on the ground with a thud.
“I’m home!’ I announce. There’s a faint smell of tomato in the air. Snow must’ve ordered pasta or pizza. Both sound good right now.
Little feet pad down the hallway closer and closer. Tasha nearly slides into the wall with her fuzzy princess socks. She runs up to me with big happy 5 year old smile. My mood immediately improves.
“Hi Papa,” she says.
“Hello, Tasha,” I reply, ruffling her curly black hair.
She lifts up her arms. “Can I have a hug?”
My arms are tired beyond belief, but who can say no to that freckle covered face? I sigh and pick her up in a big swooshing spin. I can lift her over my head even at her age (vampire strength has it’s benefits.) She squeals and giggles gleefully, little feet kicking in delight. When I slow, she wraps her arms around my neck. I rest her on my hip and hug her fiercely.
I remember the idea of being a parent scaring me when I was younger. How could a monster like me care for a child? But when I see the way Tasha looks at me, I realise she doesn’t care what I am. All she sees is her Papa.
“How was your day, little puff?” I say.
“It was great! Ms. Taylor gave me a gold star for reading.”
“Oh that’s wonderful. Good job, sweetie. You’ve been working hard at that.”
She puts her hands on her hips and smiles smugly. (Snow says she gets the pompousness from me.) “I have. Soon I’ll be reading all your grown up books.”
I tickle her stomach, making her writhe and giggle. “I bet you will, love. You certainly did very well today. I think you deserve an extra slice of pizza.”
Her face scrunches up in childish confusion. “What pizza?”
“Well, from the sauce smell I assume your Daddy got us pizza. Hopefully it’s at least the mildly good stuff.”
“Oh, that reminds me. Daddy said you aren’t allowed in the kitchen.”
My heart stops. I stare at her very seriously. “Tasha, why am I not allowed in the kitchen?”
“Because Daddy destroyed it. But he said that I’m not supposed to tell you that.”
“Natasha Penelope Snow-Pitch, you are a rotten rat!” Snow’s loud voice carries down the hall with ease.
Tasha frowns and leans in closer to me. “What’s a rotten rat?”
“It’s nothing, sweetie. Daddy’s being silly. Now go play with your toys.”
She smiles brightly. “Okay!”
She slides down out of my embrace and is off like a little rocket. With calm but brisk pace, I walk to our kitchen. I freeze wide eyed in the doorway. Destroyed is an... apt description.
There’s about ten different pots out, all filthy with various substances. The counter is covered in dirty cooking utensils and different foods and spices. Spaghetti covered in tomato sauce clings to the wall. Baby Ebb is just playing with his blocks in the corner, blissfully unaware of the destruction around him. (He's as oblivious as his Daddy.) Snow stands in the centre of the room like the eye of a hurricane. He looks just as tired as me, tomato sauce on his face and in his hair. Crowley, I think there’s even some on his wings.
“Good evening, love,” I say as calmly as possible. “Did the Tasmanian Devil come to visit?”
Snow scowls slightly. “Our daughter is a betrayer. She gets it from your side.”
“Yes, Bunce.” I receive a steely blue glare. “But I’m very glad she did tell me. What in Merlin’s name happened here?”
He groans and rubs his forehead, getting more sauce on it. “I got your text, and decided to try to make fancy all homemade spaghetti. You know, to surprise you. But I’ve never done it before. And uh... I probably should’ve read the recipe more closely.”
“You are terrible at following instructions.”
“I know.” He sighs heavily. “I’m sorry, darling. I wanted to make you a nice meal after such a stressful day. But all I’ve done is make more stress. Ugh, I’m a disaster.”
Two long strides later, I’m standing right in front of him. With one finger, I knock up his chin so we’re eye to eye.
“Yes, you are certainly a mess, Simon Snow,” I say quietly.
He frowns (it’s scary how similar his is to Tasha’s). “Gee, thanks, I-”
“Shut up, I’m not done yet.” He closes his mouth. “You are a mess. But you’re a wonderful, kind, thoughtful mess. Who I am proud to call my husband and father to our children.”
His face turns more red than the tomato sauce. “Oh. You should’ve lead with that, you jerk.”
I chuckle and lean forward to lightly kiss him. We both smile between every press of lips. I trail my mouth over to kiss the sauce off his cheek. He laughs heartily, throwing his arms around my neck. I playfully peck every tomato splattered part of his face. It’s like we’re careless teenagers all over again. I hold his lower back and press him to me. He’s comfortably warm like always. How lucky I am to be able to know that. With one head tilt, he crushes his mouth against mine. I groan and hold him tighter. He runs a hand through my hair. My stress melts under his lips.
“Ew! Daddy and Papa are snogging!”
We both pull away and sigh. I turn to see a little girl standing in the doorway, her tongue sticking out very far.
“And where did you learn that word, Tasha?” I say flatly.
“From school.”
Snow leans in close my ear. “I think we need to have a talk with our daughter about appropriate language.”
“Agreed.” I scan the disaster zone that was once a kitchen. “There is no way we can eat in here. How about we order a pizza and camp out in front of the TV?”
“Yeah!” Tasha throws her arm up for effect.
I turn to Simon with a half smile. “Tasha seems to approve of my plan.”
Snow rolls his eyes like their two footballs in a tumble dryer. “Of course she does. She’s five. Pizza and telly are her two favourite words.”
“Well what do you think?”
“Well,” he sighs, observing his destruction, “I don’t think we have any other choice.”
“There’s the sensible man I married.” I pat his cheek.
His eyes narrow at me. “You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been mocking you since we were 11 years old, Snow. Keep up.”
He frowns again. But with one peck from me it turns into a soft smile. We reluctantly pull away from each other. I realise there’s a sauce stain on my shirt now.
“I think I need to go change before the rest of my clothing is desecrated.”
“And I will order the food! But...” Snow walks over to Ebb and scoops him up. “While you’re getting changed, I think someone else needs a change too.”
Snow holds our 1 year old in front of me like he’s a teddy bear. Ebb gurgles and grabs my tie, immediately sticking it in his dirty baby mouth. (Having nice clothing and young children is absolutely impossible.) I sigh and take him in my arms.
“Very well. C'mon Ebenezer, let's both get cleaned up.”
Ebb coos and keeps gumming my tie. Tasha runs over to Snow and starts tugging on his trouser leg. “Daddy, can we get a pizza with pepperoni? And sausage? And olives?”
Snow scoops her up this time, resting her on his hip. They walk off towards the undestroyed living room. “You, my darling, have the weirdest taste buds.”
I chuckle as I move in the opposite direction. Ebb has now abandoned my tie and chosen instead to gnaw on my collar. Over my years as a parent, I’ve realised many things. One being that no matter how bad your day may have been, it's impossible to stay cross when your adorable child is trying to eat your shirt. Today is no exception.
“And then,” I say, “with their magic combined, the two princes defeated the dragon, sending it back home. The great castle was saved!”
Tasha squeals and claps her hands. I sit on the edge of her bed, bouncing a giggling Ebb on one knee. She leans forward with wide eyes. “What happened to the princes after?”
I just look at Tasha's sweet innocent face for a moment. Someday, I'll tell her and Ebb the hard parts of this story. What happened to both their namesakes, why I drink “tomato juice” all the time, and why Snow has wings and a tail. But for now, they don’t need to know all that. I'll save those stories for when they can understand them better.
“Well, by working together, the princes realised they had more in common than they thought. They became friends, and eventually fell in love.”
“Like Anna and Kristoff?”
I sigh under my breath. Currently everything for Tasha is somehow related to Frozen. I slightly regret showing her that movie. “Yes. Just like Anna and Kristoff.”
“Did they live happily ever after?”
I smile at her softly. “Yes, most certainly.”
She grins. “Good. I like happy endings.”
I cup her face, running a thumb over her cheek. Damn right I got my happy ending. I’m looking at it. “Me too, sweetheart, me too.” I stand up, practically looming over her small bed. “Now, it's time for this little princess to go to bed.”
“I’m not tired,” she literally yawns. She’s adorable in her stubbornness.
“Well, you can just put your head down. You don’t have to sleep. That's up to you.”
“Okay.” She lays down, snuggling into her blue pillow.
I kneel next to Tasha, brushing some stray hairs out of her face. She’s already almost asleep. (Tiredness always wins out over stubbornness.) I kiss her forehead. “Goodnight, little puff. Love you lots.”
She smiles, humming happily under her breath. “Love you too, Papa.”
I turn off the light as I leave, sneaking one last look before I shut the door.
Ebb’s crib is in our room. Partially because our London apartment isn’t huge, and mostly because he has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night in need of feeding. I lay him down. With his own big yawn, he stretches out and falls asleep. I pray to Merlin and Morgana he’ll stay that way for at least a few hours.
As I’m reading the Times, I hear the characteristic thumping of a dragon man trudging down the hall. He arrives at our door triumphantly, hands on his hips and grin nearly splitting his face in two. There’s still spaghetti remains on his hands and face.
“It is done!” he shouts.
“Snow!” I hiss. “Erratically sleeping baby, remember?”
He looks at the crib, expression immediately falling. “Oh right. Sorry.”
I shake my head with a chuckle. “Come here, you big idiot.”
Snow crawls up onto our bed and I open my arms, wrapping them around his shoulders. He holds my torso and snuggles into the crook of my neck. His warmth makes me sigh happily under my breath.
“You know I could’ve helped with the kitchen,” I whisper.
He shakes his head, hair tickling my skin. “We always tell Tasha she has to clean up her own messes. And I think parents are supposed to practice what they preach. Besides, I wanted to impress you. The kitchen is sparkling like always.”
I look down at him with one raised eyebrow. “Snow, we have two small children. That kitchen hasn’t ‘sparkled’ in five years.”
He sighs and nods. “Okay true. But it’s mostly sparkling now.”
“Good job, darling.” I kiss his head. He holds me tighter, nuzzling against my shirt.
“So your boss was a jerk today, huh?” he mumbles into the material.
I grumble slightly. “M-hm. Selfish jackass made me rewrite four reports. The wanker doesn’t seem to understand we have lives outside of work.”
“I’m sorry, love.”
“No need to apologize. It’s not your fault I work for an asshole.”
“No.” He pulls away to look right at me. His blue eyes are round and caring, but his mouth is a determined thin line. “I mean that you had a shit day and I made it even more stressful. I’m truly sorry about that.” He looks to the side, obviously embarrassed.
I sigh and turn his head to face me. “Simon, I meant what I said earlier. What you tried to do was lovely. You’re an incredibly thoughtful person. You just messed up a bit. We all do sometimes.” I tap our foreheads together. “You didn’t add to my stress at all, love. Seeing you and Tasha and Ebb always makes me feel better. No matter what.”
Snow smiles and closes the small distance between us. I can feel the love behind his kiss, which I gladly reciprocate. If I could stay here forever, I’d be in heaven.
He hugs me again, squeezing me tight. “How did I get someone as amazing as you?”
I shrug. “Hm. Good question. I think you seduced me with all that raucous snoring and ravenous scone eating.”
He gapes at me with his mouth hanging open. “I do not snore!”
“I’ve slept near or next to you for over two decades, Snow. You snore.”
He pouts like our daughter when she doesn’t get ice cream. “Well, your nose whistles.”
I pull him back to me. He doesn’t resist. “Then I guess we’re made for each other.”
“Duh.” He nuzzles closer. His tail wraps around my leg protectively. “Like you always say, we match.”
“That we do.”
We silently hold each other, contentment hanging in the air. He’s right, we do match. And we’ve created an amazing life together. It’s the kind of calm, domestic, easy life I never thought I’d get. Neither of us did, really. We just bask in the wonderful reality of it all.
“I should take a shower,” Snow says quietly. “I smell like oregano and spaghetti.”
“No,” I grumble. “I’m never letting you go. Till death do us part.”
“I don’t think that’s what that means.”
“Too bad. You’re never leaving this bed again.”
I roll him onto his back and use my legs to pin him down. “Hey!”
I shut him up easily with a bruising kiss. He groans and arches up towards me. I grip his shoulders tightly. Strong fingers weave into my hair. His wings stretch out beside us. My head is swimming. And... it feels wet.
I pull away and feel my hair. My fingers come back red and goopy with tomato sauce. Snow smiles sheepishly.
“Well, I told you I needed a shower.”
“That you did.” I release his torso and stand next to him with my hands on my hip “And now we both do. Your kitchen disaster is contagious.”
He stretches out with his thin arms behind his head. “You can go first, if you like.”
“I was thinking we could, save on water?” I dance two fingers up his thigh.
Snow nods vigorously. “Good plan. Gotta save the environment and all.”
My arms fall limp at my side. Sometimes I cannot believe him. Age has not improved his ability to pick up on subtlety at all. I just keep staring at him blankly until he looks over.
“What?” He says.
I raise an eyebrow. The realisation slowly dawns on him, his eyes widening and his dumb perfect mouth falling open.
“Oooh. You're trying to be sexy.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Yes, you lovable moron. Crowley you are thick sometimes.”
He kneels on the mattress and tosses his arms lazily around my neck. With one flash of that gorgeous Simon Snow patent smile, my heart stutters out of control.
“You love me,” he whispers playfully.
I sigh, running my hands up and down his stomach. “That I do. Despite your thick headedness.”
“And I love you despite your smugness. Fair is fair.”
He leans in to kiss me, but I pull back, almost making him fall over. His arms flail about wildly. Luckily those wings are good for balancing. Snow stares daggers at me.
“You’re such an arsehole,” he grumbles.
“And you married me anyways. Now,” I saunter towards the door with a swing in my hips, “I’m still a bit stressed from today. Care to fix that, Snow?”
I walk down the hall without looking back. But I don’t need to. I can hear Snow’s fast, incredibly eager feet following me.
Afterwards, we lay silently in darkness on our bed. There’s no sound except for our breathing and Ebb’s, (still sleeping, thank Merlin). Snow is on his stomach. His wings lay flat on his bare back in total relaxation. I hold his left hand, touch lingering over the gold ring on his finger. He chuckles under his breath.
“Checking to make sure it’s still there?” he mumbles.
“Nope. Just admiring it.”
“Hm, understandable. It’s very pretty. So’s your’s.”
“Of course. I picked them.”
Snow sighs and throws his arm over me, pulling us closer. I press a feather light kiss to his band, making him giggle. He takes my hand and intertwines our fingers over my stomach. He touches my wedding ring, spinning it slowly.
“I love you, Baz,” he whispers sleepily.
I squeeze his hand and play with his soft curls. “I love you too, Simon.”
He smiles as he drifts off into slumber. I can hear our son and daughter both sleeping peacefully. And I know now more than ever, no matter how tough the day to day can get, this life has all I could ever ask for.