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“You sure you don’t need help getting up the stairs?” Shiro asked.
“No,” Hoshi said with an indignant sniff.
“We’ve got this, Daddy.” Hikaru said with a determined expression.
The six year old twins held a tray laden with breakfast foods between them, standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up.
Shiro waited patiently behind them, holding a mug of coffee for the birthday girl and a mug of tea for himself.
The twins were silent, unmoving. Then—after apparently having a conversation in the nonverbal language the twins shared and more or less scared the adults in their life with—they simultaneously turned their heads towards Shiro, their expressions clear.
Shiro chuckled and set down the mugs on the counter. “Alright, I’ve got it. Hikaru, you carry Mommy’s coffee, and Hoshi, you carry my tea. But be careful and take the stairs one at a time.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Hoshi said as she and Hikaru lifted the tray slightly for Shiro to take.
“Thank you, Daddy,” Hikaru added, going over to grab a mug.
“Remember, it’s not a race!” Shiro quickly added. “We have the same goal of bringing Mommy her birthday breakfast. We’re in this together as a team.”
Hoshi was already on the first step and he heard her snort slightly. “Are we going to form Voltron, too, Daddy?”
Shiro chose not to respond to that and followed the twins up the stairs. They got to the master bedroom, and Shiro rapped a knuckle on the door, and Pidge called from within “Come in!”
Huh, Shiro thought. I thought she was still asleep. Hope we didn’t wake her.
Hoshi pushed open the door, revealing Pidge sitting on the edge of the bed. Pidge blinked in surprise and smiled. “What’s all this?” She asked with a laugh.
“Happy birthday, Mommy!” The twins said in unison, wide and proud grins on their faces. They quickly but carefully set down the hot drinks on the desk, then rushed towards Pidge, who stood up and dropped to her knees to embrace her children, giving them loud, smacking kisses on their cheeks that made them giggle.
“Oh, thank you so much! Did you two do this all by yourselves? No help from Daddy?”
“Nope!” Hoshi said smugly. “Not at all!”
“Well,” Hikaru admitted. “We did ask him to make your coffee. Because it’s a yucky adult drink that only adults know how to make.”
Pidge chuckled again at that. “Well, thank you all. Now, by the look of that tray, there’s no way I’m going to be able to eat all that on my own. You three willing to help me out there?”
“You’re the birthday girl,” Shiro said, setting the tray on the bed, leaning over to kiss Pidge on the top of the head. “We will do whatever you want.”
The family crawled into the bed, everyone partaking in the doughnuts and fruit and bacon.
Shiro let out a small, happy sigh as he surveyed his family. His arm around his beautiful wife, his wonderful children at his feet.
Shiro pressed another kiss to Pidge’s head. “Did we wake you this morning, love? I thought we were quiet enough.”
“No, you all were fine,” Pidge insisted. “I woke up on my own earlier. And great timing, too, because I was just starting to get hungry.”
Shiro was surprised to hear that. Pidge, waking up before nine o’clock on her day off without a child being the one to wake her? He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.
But what really surprised Shiro was the coffee getting cold on Pidge’s nightstand. She hadn’t touched it at all. “Katie? Did I make your coffee wrong?”
Pidge blinked in surprise, then let out a noise that was half-scoff and half-chuckle. “No, babe, unfortunately, you made my coffee exactly the way I like it.”
“Why is that unfortunate?” Shiro asked.
“Well, let’s just say I’m going to be abstaining from coffee for a little while.”
“Any particular reason?”
Pidge’s eyes gleamed as she looked up at him. “I found out something last week.”
“That’s cryptically vague.”
“Then let me elaborate,” Pidge said, shifting slightly, grinning. “Turns out, we have a little gift that’s left over from your birthday celebration last month. That, or was an early gift for my birthday. Or both. Whichever way you want to look at it.”
His birthday. When they had left the twins with Grandma and Grandpa Holt for the night, going out to dinner which turned into a very rushed affair so that they could get home and into this very bed…
Shiro blinked, once, twice, then his face split into a wide grin as he threw his arms around Pidge, pulling her in close, assaulting her with kisses as she laughed.
“Mommy? Daddy?” Hikaru said, his brow furrowed as he and his sister gave them weird looks. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve got a surprise for you, too,” Pidge said, grinning at the twins.
“But it’s your birthday, you get the surprises!” Hoshi protested.
“Well, this one surprised me, too, to some extent,” Pidge conceded. “In a few months, you two will have a new brother or sister.”
The twins eyes widened with delight.
“Really?” Hikaru exclaimed, bouncing excitedly. “Really really?”
“Yep, really really!” Pidge said with a laugh. She held out her arms. “Come here, family hug time, all five of us!”
The twins giggled and clamored into their parents arms.
Shiro pressed a kiss to Hoshi’s head, then Hikaru’s. Then he pressed a kiss to Katie’s lips. “Happy birthday, Katie.”
She smiled and kissed him back. “Thank you, Shiro, for helping make this the best birthday yet.”