Work Text:
“Are you sure you don’t wanna dress up?” Clarke asked as Lexa walked into the living room in a white t-shirt that read Error 404: Costume not found. “Even Nightblood’s dressed up.” She told her wife with a quirked eyebrow, talking about their husky.
“Khaleesi, I do not do costumes.” Lexa responded with a straight face, referring to Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen costume. Lexa had done her braids, for some reason Clarke was pretty useless at them, and Lexa was quite the opposite. Originally, Clarke was perfectly fine with settling with a wig because Daenerys’ braids were a little too complex; but Lexa had offered to do it instead so that was that. “The babies look adorable.” Lexa started. “The dog looks insanely cute.” She added. “And you look absolutely beautiful.” That one earned a smile from Clarke. “But it’s not my thing.”
Clarke only nodded at her; that was true, all the years the two of them had been together, Lexa hadn’t dressed up for a single holiday. Minus Christmas sweaters, Clarke was a little persistent during the holidays. “The kids look really cute right?” She asked Lexa with a huge smile, the two of them walking towards the nursery to get the babies before heading out.
It was the twins’ first Halloween, so Clarke and Lexa were really excited to take them out trick or treating. So it was all a little too exciting; they had both realized it would be a little too cold and maybe also uncomfortable for the babies to be costumes, so they had settled for onesies instead. Aden was Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and Madi was a pink dinosaur with purple spikes on her back. Lexa thought she was melting when the onesies had come in, she had no idea how much cuter it would be when they were actually on the kids. She was a puddle actually; when she was dressing Aden, Lexa was a puddle and couldn’t get over how incredibly cute he looked. And it only got worse when she saw Madi as a little dinosaur.
“Are we ready to go?” Clarke cooed at the babies, they were in the nursery, in their cribs, wide-awake and waiting for their moms. “Who’s ready for their first time trick or treating?”
“Although you’re not going to be having any candy,” Lexa added, mimicking Clarke’s soft tone as she went up to pick up their daughter, and Clarke made her way to their son.
“Oh come on, they’re almost a year old.” Clarke rolled her eyes, picking up Aden from his crib, “They can have a little candy.”
Lexa almost glared at Clarke, picking up Madi as she followed Clarke out of the room, “No they can’t,” She replied disapprovingly, the two of them making their way downstairs into the living room before being joined by their dog as they walked up to the stroller.
“They can.” Clarke smiled, setting Aden down and waiting for Lexa to strap him in. “A little bit won’t hurt, nothing too sugary. Maybe just chocolate. Or a lollipop.”
“Fine,” Lexa gave in, she was usually the stricter one, Clarke more easy going – but she knew by the time the kids were around four to five years old, she’d be giving in to anything and everything they asked for. “So do you want the stroller or the dog?” Lexa asked her – it was a twin stroller that could be split into two for when they were out all together, Clarke could take one and Lexa could take the other.
“I’ll take the kids.” Clarke answered. “They’re the ones going out for candy and you don’t even have a costume to take them up to a door.”
They were out for no more than a couple of hours; they both loved Halloween, they loved the candy, and the weather, and all the decorations, and all the other kids in their costumes. There was one thing Lexa wasn’t particularly excited about though, the spiders, she was terrified of them but there was no way she was going to admit it – Clarke knew, of course she knew. Severed limbs were Clarke’s thing, she didn’t like them, wasn’t too fond of them, they were just gross and unnecessary – which Lexa found funny because Clarke was a doctor. So far, the babies didn’t have anything that scared them, they were happy the whole time, even the really intense decorations on some of the houses didn’t make them flinch. The dog though…Nightblood seemed to have something against clowns, he barked at every single one they came across all night.
By the time they got home, Aden was more tired than Madi, he was yawning and wanting go to sleep. Madi on the other hand was wide-awake, she had a candy in her hand, still in it’s wrapper, trying to get it out. They seemed to have had a good night, they were happy the entire time they were out and Lexa probably took a picture at least every other minute if not every 10 seconds.
“Alright go get changed,” Lexa said as she locked the door behind her, “I’m going to put Aden to bed.” She said to Clarke, walking further into the apartment with the dog still on his leash. “I don’t think Madi wants to go to bed straight away.”
Clarke nodded at her, Aden usually got tired quicker than his sister, he’d probably had more sugar than her all night though. “I’m gonna swap out Madi’s candy with a wrapper for a lollypop.” She added as Lexa walked up to the stroller and unbuckled Aden’s seat belt before getting him out. “She’s been trying to get it out of that wrapper for about a block.”
“Okay, go ahead, this is the last one for the night though.” Lexa nodded, picking up their sleepy boy before walking towards the stairs with him. “But don’t let her stay up too late.”
“Mmm hmm.” Clarke nodded, leaning down to get Madi out of the stroller and walking up to the living room. Nightblood was in tow, his leash dragging across the floor as he followed Clarke and Madi because Lexa hadn’t taken it off. “Give me a minute bud,” She said to the dog, setting Madi down in her bouncer. “Let me take care of Madi first then I’ll get you out of your leash and harness.”
He seemed to understand what Clarke was saying and only took a seat patiently next to Madi’s bouncer. She walked back to the stroller, getting the trick or treat basket that was hanging on the handle by a carabiner. Looking through it, Clarke found a lollypop and made her way back to her daughter who was still fussing with the candy wrapper. “Here baby,” She said, trying to pry the other candy out of her hand. “Take this one instead.” She gave Madi a small smile, swapping out the wrapped candy for the unwrapped one. “Goes in your mouth.” Clarke guided her hand towards her mouth, shaking her head a little as Madi finally licked it.
She finally turned to the patient dog, leaning down to take off his leash, his harness, and then his costume which was just a police dog vest. Nightblood seemed to be happy to be finally out of it, licking Clarke’s hand to say thank you. “Okay, keep an eye on Madi, I’m gonna get changed.”
He did a good job at that, he was pretty reliable and Clarke knew Madi was safe for a few minutes in the living room while she went upstairs to get changed. She did turn the TV on though, something to keep Madi entertained but it seemed like she was more occupied with the candy in her hand. Clarke shook her head slightly, Madi was going to be all sticky by the time she was bored of it and Clarke would have to clean her up. She just hoped Madi wouldn’t ruin the cute dinosaur onesie.
Her first stop after getting changed – which took longer than she thought it would, those braids were a nightmare to undo – was the nursery to check up on her wife and son. “Hey,” Clarke whispered, tip toeing into the room to where Lexa was standing over the crib with Aden’s bottle.
It was a cute little – not that little – room, the walls were mostly white with polka dots on them. They decided to just go with the entire rainbow instead of picking pink or blue or both for the polka dots and surprisingly, it wasn’t as bright as they’d feared it would be. There were toys just…everywhere, soft animals piled into a corner, there were more than either of the kids would need in their lifetime honestly – Clarke and Lexa went a little overboard. Their cribs were the same, a dark hardwood, pretty simple yet beautiful – Lexa chose them because to Clarke, they all looked the same really. Other than the soft stuffed animals – which actually had it’s own place – the other toys were just all over the place. They were 11 months now, well almost 12 really, there first birthday was in two weeks now.
And the older they got, the more toys that seemed to end up in this room – and the living room, and the kitchen, their bedroom…sometimes even the bathroom, god just so many toys everywhere. There was a little more furniture in there, one chest of drawers for both their clothes, that would not last very long. There was also a changing table, probably the least useful thing they bought because changing them was…a trip, and they would not stay still – half the time they were crawling on the floor while one their moms tried to change their diaper. That was about it originally but they’d added an armchair about a month or so after the twins were born – they used it quiet a lot, Lexa has even fallen asleep in it a handful of times.
“He’s out cold.” Lexa responded, smiling at their sleeping son before turning to look at her wife. “He had a very long night.”
“His sister’s still wide awake and chatting with the dog.” Clarke rolled her eyes, going up behind Lexa and wrapping her arms around her waist. “I think they liked their first time out trick or treating.”
“They did.” Lexa agreed. “Is Madi downstairs?” Clarke only nodded. “God, is she never tired?”
“She gets that from you.” Clarke said, not missing a beat.
“Biologically, she gets nothing from me.” Lexa said lightly, rolling her eyes at Clarke. “So, do you wanna go downstairs, eat our kids’ candy and watch TV?”
“Yes,” Clarke nodded, moving away and taking Lexa’s hand before tugging at it. “I call dibs on the peanut butter cups.”
Lexa frowned visibly, “That’s not fair.”
“Okay, I’ll make you a deal.” Clarke said as they walked out, making their way towards the stairs. “You can have half the peanut butter cups if you put Madi to bed.”
Lexa let out a small laugh, “No way.” She shook her head, “I did it last night, it’s your turn.” Madi was a little difficult to put to sleep, it took her forever and going to sleep was her least favorite thing. If you’d let her, she’d stay up all night, just her and Nightblood, she could keep herself entertained with the dog.
“I think we’re doing alright with the whole parenting thing.” Clarke said as they walked into the living room and Lexa motioned Nightblood to go upstairs – to Aden – with her hand.
“Yeah, we are.” Lexa agreed, stepping up to Madi and picking her up, “Someone’s all sticky.” She said to the little girl in her arms. “Is that mommy’s fault?” Lexa took her up to the couch, Madi dropping the lollypop as she made happy noises at her mom. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
It took about two hours, maybe a little more before the three of them were on the couch with their daughter finally asleep. Madi was cleaned up and changed into her pajamas, and asleep on top of Lexa. This was probably the easiest way to put her to sleep – Lexa in front of the TV, half lying on the couch with Madi on her. She got bored after a bit because she couldn’t do much when she was on Lexa, and this was her favorite position to be in, it didn’t even work with Clarke and that’s what surprised the two of them the most. Clarke figured it was because Madi felt safer with Lexa than with anyone else, she was definitely better behaved around her this mom than the other.
“How do you do that?” Clarke asked quietly, watching Madi with a look of awe. “How do you put her to sleep without all the crying and screaming and death glares?”
Lexa let out a small quiet laugh, trying not to wake Madi up. “She’s 11 months old, she can’t give you a death glare.”
“She can, it’s better than your’s.” Clarke argued. “She’s just better with you.” She added after a moment, “Aden’s good with both of us but Madi’s picky and she’s just better with you.”
“She is, isn’t she?” Lexa asked, paying more attention to the two girls on the couch with her than the TV screen. “I love you guys.” She told her a little absentmindedly. “You and Madi and Aden…” Lexa told her, “Nightblood too, of course.” She let out a long slow breath, “I love you all so much.”