Work Text:
Charles took a deep breath as he ruffled his pillows behind his head and tried to get more comfortable, shifting on the bed restlessly. There were some nights, tonight being one of them, when Charles just couldn't get comfortable, no matter what he tried. Erik was soundly asleep beside him and Charles sent him a hollow glare when his husband snored loudly. How disrespectful, rubbing his easy sleep in Charles' face while he was stuck lying awake and miserable because of it.
Sighing again, Charles pushed himself onto his side and then flopped over Erik's chest.
His husband let out a snuffling snore, gasping as his body spasmed in shock while he woke up. Charles snickered against his skin, laying his arm over Erik's stomach and cuddling into his side. Erik raised his arm and let him scoot closer before he was even completely awake, his thoughts still syrupy-sweet and moving slowly. A wave of curiosity washed through their mind-link, pressed forward by Erik as he slowly rose into consciousness.
“I couldn't sleep,” Charles explained, running his hand up and down Erik's bare side familiarly.
Erik made a noise of protest and his voice was heavy with sleep as he asked, “Oh, so that means I'm not sleeping either?” though he still bussed a kiss to Charles' forehead as he grumbled.
“Well, I don't want to be awake alone,” Charles told him with an eye roll and an incredulous huff of breath.
A moment of silence and then Erik asked, “What time is it?” even as his fingers started carding through Charles’ hair, pulling a soft groan from his throat as he pushed his head into it and bled his pleasure into Erik's mind as his talented fingers started scratching over his scalp.
“Oh yes, I knew I married you for a reason,” Charles groaned, arching his back even closer and pressing himself bodily to Erik as he started massaging his scalp. Erik laughed, kissing his nose but thankfully not pausing the blissful movement of his fingers. His husband sent him a gentle wave of curiosity and Charles said, “Far too early to be awake alone, so thank you for joining me.”
Erik hummed, and then continued to massage Charles’ scalp with wonderfully talented fingers that were turning him to putty.
Sometime later Lorna's mind pinged his attention, and Charles focused on his baby girl and pulled himself from the trance-like state he'd been in to read his daughter's curiosity. Daddy, are you awake? she pushed at him, and Charles sent back a sense of agreement.
Less than a minute later, the door that connected their bedroom to their daughter's suite slowly swung open and Lorna came pattering into the room with her blanket dragging behind her. She peered around the door frame with half her face, looking incredibly too mischievous for this time of day, seeing as the sun hadn’t yet risen.
“You're both awake!” she called happily, before she began quickly skipping towards their bed. She hoped up onto the mattress before crawling over Erik’s body and settling herself directly between them, laying her blanket out over her legs as she cuddled close. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, shatz,” Erik murmured, and Charles watched as he brushed a kiss to their daughter’s forehead, and then smiling when he brushed one to Charles’ as well.
“What’re you doing awake at this time, sweetheart?” Charles asked quietly, rubbing her back gently.
“I had a bad dream,” Lorna admitted. Charles frowned, brushing through her mind and finding it nothing more than a simple bad dream about a faceless monster, something quite normal for her age. Still, he soothed over that part of her mind so that, hopefully, it wouldn’t bother her again.
“Well, I’m glad you came to us,” Charles told her, before whispering, “I was getting lonely with only Mr. Grumpy Head for company.”
“Hey!” Erik protested over the chorus of Lorna’s sweet giggling, pressing into Charles’ mind, Let’s see if I wake up and give you massages ever again.
Charles pouted, but before he could tease his husband back their daughter was shuffling around overtop of them. “Papa, I'm your favourite, right?” Lorna asked innocently, and Charles felt Erik narrow his eyes at her suspiciously through their mind-link.
“What do you want?” Erik asked haltingly, and Charles grinned at the nervous edge of his voice. Their daughter was nothing if not a troublemaker that delighted in causing mischief. From the mind-link Charles shared with her, he knew that she wasn’t planning anything too devious, but he kept that to himself.
“Well, I was thinking... we should make lebkuchen,” Lorna said innocently, curling her little legs up to press her toes against Charles’ stomach through the blanket still wrapped around him. He raised a hand to grab her ankle, holding onto her as she giggled.
“It's July,” Erik stated, as if the time of year had any bearing to their daughter wanting to bake cookies. It didn’t, of course, and their daughter made that very clear.
“Yes, Papa. It's July twenty-fifth, halfway to Chrismukkah, and they're my absolute favourite cookies, and since I'm your favourite daughter you should help me bake some so we can have some cookies.”
“You're my only daughter, schatz,” Erik pointed out, and Lorna parroted back with, “That doesn’t mean I’m not also your favourite, gosh.”
Charles laughed, brushing a kiss to Erik’s chest and then looking up at his husband’s face with the best pout he could manage while trying to smother down a laugh. He kissed the underside of Erik’s chin, giving it a teasing nip as he asked, “I think Lorna has a good idea. What do you say? A bit of early, Sunday morning baking?”
His support got a cheer from Lorna and a grumble from Erik, but Charles just smiled widely and kissed his husband while holding his baby girl. Whether or not they made cookies, Charles was already having an amazing morning simply from having his family with him.