Work Text:
Sunday 16 June 213 - 0730
Three small children still dressed in their pyjamas stood in the kitchen staring at the counter. The boy with light brown hair looked over at his siblings, “So, how do we make coffee? Which one is the coffee?
“Sis, is this what he does in the morning?” asked the blonde.
The small girl with dark brown hair shrugged and pointed to the light brown haired boy, “Odin, just push the chair to the counter. I know what tin is the coffee”
Odin walked over to the kitchen table and started pushing the chair to the counter that Serena had pointed to.
The blonde haired boy looked over at her, “But what if he wakes up?”
Laughing the girl said, “Ernest, daddy is asleep. I poked his arm and he said in his pillow maybe ‘go away’ while doing this”, she stood there and imitated a slight swatting motion.
“Ok, but is this ok?”
“Uncle Duo said it would be an awesome idea”, Odin said while climbing onto the chair at the counter where a black 12 cup drip coffee maker sat. He turned to his sister who had come over with another chair, “Do we know what to do?”
Serena climbed onto the other chair by the sink, “I’ve watched him make coffee”.
“Ok, so which one?”
“The green one”, said the girl in a tone of ‘you really asked me that?’
“ALL OF THEM ARE GREEN SERENA!”, Odin looked over at her glaring.
The only response he gets is her glaring back at him with an oddly familiar expression pointing to the green container next to the coffee maker, “THAT ONE!”
“Ok miss smarty pants, how much do we put in?” asked Odin with an attitude.
“Fill it. Daddy usually fills the thing”
“Ok!” Odin then proceeds to dump coffee into the basket, coffee falls out onto the counter and part of the floor.
“Doesn’t he usually put a paper in it?” Ernest asked.
Serena shrugs, “Maybe.”
“Well, I didn’t put one in. Oops.” Odin said like he did something wrong.
Ernest shrugged, “I’m sure it’s ok. I don’t think they need the paper anyway.”
Serena reached over and turned the faucet on and started filling a cup.
“Why’re you doing that?” Odin asked when she shoved the cup in his face.
“It’s a drink. Daddy puts water in. I think he fills it,” She watched as Odin grabbed the cup and starts pouring the water in a sloppy manner spilling water onto the counter and himself.
The two of them keep going back and forth filling a cup and the coffee maker. Ernest grabbed a third chair and pushed it to the counter, grabbed the bag of bread, a couple of slices, put them in the toaster, and pushed the lever down to start toasting the bread. Afterwards, he turned the dial up to 6. He looked over when he noticed his brother and sister stop what they were doing and looked at him. “What? I know he likes toast.”
“Oh. Good idea,” Serena said as she went back and filled a cup up once more for Odin. “Ok, now since it’s full, push the button and coffee will cook”, she said when she grabbed the empty cup from Odin.
0800- Upstairs.
Heero reached over and started grabbing stuff off his nightstand until he had his phone. Looking up he checked the time on the phone. “Huh? It’s 8 already?”
He sat up and looked over and noticed his bed was empty except for a calico cat who stood up when she noticed he moved. “This is strange, they left me alone. I actually got what I wanted today? Sleep in?” He grabbed his glasses from his nightstand, put them on, and got out of the bed.
He started walking towards the bedroom door and grabbed a black tank top he had on the floor by his laundry hamper. He stopped while putting it on, “Wait… I smell coffee. This doesn’t have a timer.”
Something falls in the kitchen and he heard one of the kids yelling at the other, the calico cat ran past him. While running down to the kitchen, he almost trips over the cats who just decided to exercise their rights as cats and plop right in the middle of the hallway between the stairs to the kitchen.
Once in the kitchen, he stopped. Surveying the carnage of his kitchen, he looked and saw the three kids he so lovingly calls his minions standing there, with a mess all around. Noticing coffee grounds on the counter, water dripping off the counter. Odin had water splashed on him and his pyjamas with dinos on it, Ernest holding a jar of raspberry jam, some smeared on his Paw Patrol pyjama shirt, Serena with water splashed on her Hello Kitty shirt and pants. He looked over to the counter and saw burnt toast. Then surveyed back to the kids who stood there staring at him smiling. He looked right at the kids confused and asked, “Umm. What happened here?”
All three of them stood there smiling and then yelled at the same time, “Happy Father’s Day!!!”
He took a deep breath and while trying not to either cringe or laugh in response to the toddlers looking so proud of themselves despite the current conditions of the kitchen Heero clearly remembers having cleaned and made spotless after the kids went to bed the night before. “Thank you?” was all he was able to muster at that moment.
“We made you coffee and breakfast!” Ernest yelled in excitement.
“I can see that… and you have jam on your shirt.”
Externally, the 34-year-old former pilot seemed cautiously happy to try not to worry the kids who worked so hard for their surprise. Internally, he was screaming, ‘Oh my fucking god this kitchen was clean! Now I have to clean this again! AND get them cleaned up!’
Odin cautiously walked over noticing his father looking like he was fighting back some form of emotion. “Are you ok daddy?”
Heero stood there and looked right at his son, shook his head, “Yeah, just… very surprised.”
He started walking past the kids to the coffee pot to see what they ended up doing. He starts contemplating dumping the coffee out until he notices all 3 of them staring at him like they expect him to drink it. Sighing he grabs his coffee cup from the dish strainer and pours what he hopes is a cup of coffee he won’t hate. He knows better. This is a triad of children who are the age of 4 and a half. He hopes his only source of sanity that is not life-threatening has not been ruined, but at least it’s the colour he likes it, dark.
The second he takes a sip of the coffee, he immediately regrets his decision of being a good parent and ingesting something they know he likes and so proudly made for him. The inside of his mouth is instantly greeted by a whole mass of coffee grounds. As he tries to swallow, he realised this was a failure and finds himself over the sink hacking.
Ernest looks over at his brother, “GOOD JOB ODIN! YOU KILLED HIM!”
“IT WASN’T MY IDEA!”
Heero reached over to the dish strainer next to him and grabbed a cup and put water in it to try to get the coffee grounds down and the taste of coffee much more bitter than he likes out of his mouth. Doesn’t realise the kids behind him are now arguing blaming each other for the attempted murder of their father. Still not noticing his kids behind him, he looks into the basket of the coffee maker and notices that it looks like one of them had filled it to the top without a filter.
The sound of one of the boys yelling, “OW WHY DID YOU SHOVE ME!?” snapped him out of his daze of realising that he doesn’t get his normal time of quietly sipping coffee before he gets greeted by the sound of yelling. He turned around and saw his sons standing in front of each other. Right as Odin goes to push Ernest, he reached out and gently grabbed Odin’s arm to pull him away from his brother.
Heero looked at both of them, “I don’t care who had the idea. Don’t hit your brother”
Odin yelled, “BUT HE STARTED IT!”
Heero took a deep breath and looked at him, “I don’t care who started it, I’m the one who finishes it.”
“Are we in trouble?” asked Serena who had moved to the kitchen table.
“No. Well… If your brothers kept fighting yes?”
Ernest points to his sister, “It was all her idea!”
“Why are you blaming me?! Uncle Duo told me to do it!”
“Why am I not surprised it was Duo. It’s always him giving you ideas.” Heero said as he looked behind him at the counter he now had to clean up and the coffee maker he had to clean out.
“Can we have pancakes for breakfast?” asked Ernest.
Heero, remembering the hell he has gone through previously with the blonde boy and pancakes, and the fact this would mean more things to clean quickly responds, “No. You guys will get the french toast sticks.”
“But I want pancakes!” whined Ernest.
“No. I’m not cleaning more dishes. You’re getting french toast sticks. Go to the living room, I’ll bring the food out. I have to clean.”
“Can we help?” Odin asked while looking up at him.
“No please. I would rather clean it myself.”
As they realised they won’t be able to help, the three give up and walk into the living room leaving their father to stand there staring at his task ahead.
1345
The three kids were running around outside in the backyard playing hide and go seek while their father; who finally was able to at least have a cup of coffee that was not 90% grounds, 10% water, sat on the back deck typing something on his laptop. He looked up when he heard the back door open, the sound of a very loud and energetic child come running outside, and the sound of his equally loud father come outside. “Hey! Happy Father’s Day to my favourite brother in law/partner!”
Heero looked up, “Oh. It’s you.”
“Damn, why are you so gloomy this afternoon? Didn’t the kids do something for you?!”
Heero laughed, “Oh, they did. They made the one thing I do in the morning that isn’t a threat to my life be a painful experience. All I wanted was a quiet morning, wake up, make coffee, sit here for a bit before they came screaming downstairs.”
Duo looked at him confused, “What do you mean?”
“They let me sleep in. But, they decided to try to make me breakfast for Father’s Day. First thing I put in my mouth today was a whole mouthful of coffee grounds that were soaked in water. I choked on coffee grounds Duo. I can see choking on my own saliva first thing in the morning, or coughing because I was an idiot. But not coffee grounds. Instead of a cigarette possibly killing me first thing in the morning, fucking coffee grounds did.”
“Damn, and all Duo whined about was Jr putting Fruity Pebbles in his scrambled eggs because ‘Daddy will like the pretty colours’ this morning,” said the woman who walked out behind Duo.
“You’re kidding? I would have much rather have had that. They made it up to me by giving me the cards they made at school on Friday.”
“Hey! When I think of having scrambled eggs served to me by my awesome son and amazing wife, I don’t think of eating fruity pebble infused scrambled eggs!” Duo responded.
Heero stared right at Duo while he reached over to grab his cup of coffee giving him the typical glare. “Why the hell are you here disturbing my peaceful day off?”
“What? I’m not allowed to come over and spend time with you. It’s a Sunday.”
“Get to the damn point Duo”, Heero responded flatly.
“Oh! We have something for you!” Ayame called out.
Both Duo and Heero looked up when Duo’s wife ran in the house. She came back out with a bag from Bed Bath and Beyond and set it on the table in front of Heero.
“The hell? Ayame, the hell did you guys get me?”
“Just open the damn bag Heero,” Duo shoved it closer to him.
Heero grabbed the bag before Duo shoved it off the table and opened the bag to pull out a box with a Keurig. He looked up at Duo and then over to Ayame. “Why?”
“Well, you said your other one broke and you never had a chance to go replace it yet, so we figured we’d get you a new one since we know you won’t bother to”
“Well, yeah. Getting a new coffee maker that costs over $100 is not on my top 10 important things to do list” Heero responded while he pulled the box out of the bag. “Thanks. This will come in handy.”
Duo sat on the couch next to the chair Heero was in, “Well, maybe since they’re so interested in making you coffee in the morning, you can show them how to use this and they won’t screw it up.”
1915
Heero walked back into the living room with a cup of tea and sat on the couch behind where the kids were sitting on the floor at the coffee table eating cut up slices of apples. Odin looked up at him from the floor.
“We’re sorry,” said the small child in a bummed out voice.
Heero looked at the three of them who had turned to look up at him and asked, “For what?”
“Breaking the coffee pot,” Ernest replied.
Serena, while climbing up on the couch to sit next to him, continued what seemed to be this apology the kids came up with, “For ruining your coffee and almost killing you.”
Heero looked at each of them a little confused and slightly chuckled.
“One, you did not break the coffee maker. Uncle Duo and Aunt Ayame bought me a new coffee maker like the one I had before. Two, you didn’t ruin my coffee. It’s ok, you tried. And three, I’m hard to kill… trust me, many people have tried.”
The three kids looked at their father slightly confused. The small girl looked up at him, “What do you mean by that Daddy?”
“Umm… You’ll find out one day.” Heero quickly answered her question. Before he could change the subject, Ernest opened his mouth to ask something. But Odin blurted out, “So we didn’t ruin Father’s Day?” before the blonde could say anything.
“Yeah cause we made a big mess and you had to clean,” added Ernest.
“And we didn’t get you anything, just made things hard.” Serena continued sadly.
He looked over at his daughter who was looking up at him, instantly regretting his decision of looking at her, her dark blue eyes full of emotion… and pending tears. Sighing, he reached over and gently picked her up and pulled her onto his lap. Smoothing her hair he looked at the boys staring at him. “You guys are kids, you’re going to make messes. What’s important is that you tried to do something for me that you know I’d like, and you made me the cards at school which were really nice.”
Serena looked up at him from where she was sitting on his lap and had her head resting on his shoulder, “So, we don’t have to get you anything?”
“No, your existence in my life is enough of a gift for me.”
“So, we’re the better gifts?” asked Odin while he shoved an apple slice into his mouth.
Heero looked over at Odin, “Well yes. You’re my kids. You make me happy.”
“So, can we make your coffee for you every day?” asked Ernest as he climbed onto the couch on the left side of Heero.
“No. I love you, but no. That is one thing I’m good doing myself. Maybe when you’re older you can” Heero responded shaking his head.
“But why not?!” pleaded the blonde boy.
“As much as I love you guys, I kind of need my coffee to be made the way I like it, and be something I drink, not eat.”
He looked over at the cable box sitting on the tv stand and noticed it was reading ‘19:45’. “It’s almost 8 already?”
The moment he said that Heero is greeted by 2 moans of “nooooooooo” coming from the toddlers near him.
“Guys, you know bedtime is at 8. You have school in the morning.”
Ernest, attempting to bargain with his father, “But if we stay up, we can help you clean.”
“No.”
“Why not?” asked Odin.
“One, I make the rules, bedtime is at 8. Two, I have an essay to finish for one of my classes for school that is due at midnight. Three, you’re children, you need sleep. So, let’s get you guys to bed.”
The two boys give up their attempt to make their father allow them to stay awake, start walking to the stairway to go upstairs to get ready for bed. Heero looked down and noticed that Serena had long passed out with her head resting just below his left shoulder like she did when she was an infant.
Standing up, in a way to try not to disturb her, he thinks to himself how much she hasn’t changed and that apparently takes after him even more than he realised considering her ability to just fall asleep sitting up.
Once upstairs, he is greeted by the sounds of his sons yelling at each other from their bathroom because one of them is taking too much toothpaste, or they’re hogging the sink. Shaking his head with a slight smile, he gets Serena into her bed and tucked in with her favourite stuffed cats near her.
Walking to his sons’ bathroom to try to get them to stop trying to kill each other with their toothbrushes, he quietly says to himself, “I may not have chosen this path in life, but I don’t think I’d want it any other way now.” That is… Until he gets a toothbrush thrown in the direction he’s in.