Work Text:
“Oh hello Max, you’re up already,” Tom smiled as he entered his son’s bedroom to check on the little boy. The toddler was already standing in his cot waiting for someone to pick him up and cuddle with him which his Daddy would hopefully be only too happy to do. “Daddy,” Max mumbled at his father’s appearance and he stretched his arms out towards him.
“Come here, big boy,” the blonde man smiled widely, granting his son’s wish immediately as he picked him and and held him close. For a moment, he simply let Max snuggle up to him while he rubbed his back and quietly hummed a tune. Ben’s laughter could be heard from the garden where he and Paula were installing a garden hose and sprinkler.
“Did you sleep well, love?,” Tom smiled and let his hand run through Max’s hair. The little boy’s bright blue eyes still looked a bit tired when he raised his head but he smiled at his Daddy nonetheless when asked about his nap.
“Yes,” he mumbled, patting Tom’s cheek with his little hand and he laughed when his Daddy pretended to nibble on his chubby fingers.
“Well, then let’s get you changed and then we can go and play in the garden a little. Would you like that? Playing with me and Mummy and Sophie? And Ben is there, too,” Tom smiled lovingly while he changed Max’s nappy and clothes. Unlike some of his friends and colleagues, he didn’t mind neither nappy changing nor feeding times because above all, these moments gave him some more time with his children, some more opportunities to bond. Each time he learned more about them, saw the changes in their bodies, how quickly they grew and what bothered them. He took part in their daily life in every respect and in between shoots on far away locations - which he tried to limit as much as possible - he relished every second he could spend with both Max and Sophie as well as Emmy and Ben.
***
“Sophie, darling, why don’t you paint a picture on the paper instead of on your tummy, eh?,” Paula giggled while her daughter used her fair skin as the canvas for her newest artistic masterpiece. For a moment the toddler interrupted her artistic advances, though, and looked at her Mummy. Her skin was already covered in an array of colours which, mixed together, made for a rather interesting shade of greenish-brown but so far she had been happy with the results. What was her naked tummy for if not for drawing onto it?
She waited for any further comments from her mother but when none came, the little girl continued her masterpiece with unconditional concentration, her bottom lip sticking out a bit in the process.
Paula, exchanging amused glances with her husband, left her be while Max now tried out the tummy-painting-method himself, giggling quietly because the paintbrush tickled his skin.
“Daddy, could you help me with this? The tap seems to be stuck,” Ben was shouting through the garden and pressing a gentle kiss onto Paula’s temple, Tom got up to help his oldest son. He didn’t suspect the twelve-year-old to trick him so he wasn’t paying any attention at all to Ben directing the garden hose at him while he turned on the tap with ease.
“That seemed easy eno- hey, stop that!”
Ben laughed heartily when his dad was drenched within seconds and he didn’t waiver either when Tom, though laughing, started covering the few metres between them to gain power over the garden hose. Without much effort he took it out of his son’s hand and now it was Ben’s turn to get soaked, although, in the summer heat, it was a more than welcome refreshment.
The giggling and laughter of his two youngest children soon after attracted Tom’s attention and stark naked, though still covered in paint, Max and Sophie came running towards him.
“Oh hello you two. Do you want to join the fun?,” Tom smiled, turning the garden hose into a shower for his little ones. The toddlers screeched and laughed as they ran around their dad, the grass tickling their toes and the water washing off their paint.
A gentle smile on her lips, Paula watched her family play with the water when the front door was opened by their oldest child. Emmy, back from her playdate at her best friend’s house, stepped onto the patio soon after and greeted her mother with a kiss on the cheek. “Hey Mum,...oh dear, what’s going on here?,” she laughed, placing her non-waterproof bag safely inside the house.
“Oh you know...the usual,” the 30-year-old merely grinned before Max and Sophie’s laughter echoed through the garden once more.