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You were woken up by the sound of metal crashing onto the ground.
Stretching your arms over your head, you turned your head to look at the sleeping figure beside you. With the blanket only covering the lower half of his body, Kuroo had opted to cuddle your white covers in his arms instead of using it to shield his bare torso from the morning chill. In spite of the noise and your sudden movement, the rise and fall of Kuroo’s chest maintained its steady rhythm —his body showing no indication of waking up any time soon. You leaned down to leave a kiss on his forehead, your hands lightly tracing the muscles in his arms, and treaded over to the bathroom to start the day.
Feeling more refreshed, it was time to check up on the source of the morning wake-up call. As you slowly made your way over to the kitchen, you heard another clatter, followed by a small “oops”. They’ve certainly started early, you thought as you turned around the corner.
“Hmm?” You hummed as you peaked into the kitchen from the door frame. “What are you two little gremlins up to so early in the morning?” Identical faces turned around with giant smiles, showing obvious excitement that their mother had woken up to join them in the kitchen.
“We’re baking cookies for Father’s Day!” Yuuki exclaimed, sticking out his chest proudly as he continued stirring the flour in the bowl he was clutching onto.
“But we can’t seem to cream the butter like the video...” Yuuma said with a small frown, passing the tablet he was holding over into your hands to show you. “Yuuki says we should just stir harder with the fork, but I don’t think it’s working,” he continued with a small pout.
You let out a small chuckle and smoothed out Yuuma’s hair. Despite the two being identical twins, Yuuki seemed to be the carbon copy of Kuroo, inheriting everything from the untameable mop of hair that seemingly defied gravity to the clever and scheming personality that Kuroo was well known for by those he was close to. Yuuma on the other hand seemed to have inherited some of your characteristics despite outwardly still looking every bit like Kuroo. He was the calmer and more reasonable of the pair, and while not as clever or sneaky as Yuuki, always tried his best in everything that he did. To add on, his hair was much more tameable. It followed the laws of gravity, thankfully.
“Why do you think it’s not working then?” You asked as you walked up to the kitchen island to inspect their work. Your suspicions were confirmed when you reached out to touch the block of butter sitting in the bowl. They must have just taken it out of the freezer.
“It’s because Yuuma’s weak!”
“Yuuki!” You chastised, shooting him a disappointed look. “Don’t be so mean to your brother!”
“That’s what Daddy said,” Yuuki protested, turning around to stick his tongue out at his twin. “You can’t even spike a volleyball!”
“It’s better than not being able to receive the ball properly,” Yuuma retorted, refusing to back down against his brother. “He said you’re worse than me overall,” he added, which led to Yuuki grabbing his brother by the collar.
“Hah?” He snarled, glaring into identical golden feline-like eyes. “Wanna say that again?”
You could feel the incoming arrival of a headache as you tried to separate the pair. You had plenty of experience dealing with arguments thanks to Kuroo and Yaku’s constant bickering, but, perhaps it was because they were twins, Yuuki and Yuuma seemed to dial it up a notch further. You shuddered at the thought of how the Miya twins that your husband always complained about when Bokuto was around must have been like when they were kids.
“The two of you still haven’t answered my question,” you reminded them, gesturing over at the solid block of butter still sitting on the table. “Now, Daddy stayed up pretty late last night, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stay asleep forever, so you better figure out how to fix this before he wakes up.”
Yuuki pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Can’t you just tell us, Mama?” He pleaded, looking up at you from below with the most convincing puppy eyes he could muster. Again, carbon copy of Kuroo. Yuuki knew exactly which buttons to press to get you to yield.
“Is it because it hasn’t reached the melting point yet?” Yuuma piped up from the side, his golden eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed deep in thought.
“You remember what the melting point is?” You asked, turning over with a soft smile to face your son. Yuuma nodded excitedly and ran over to retrieve one of the books from the bookshelf in the den.
“Daddy went over it with us!” He said, returning to the kitchen as he flipped open the book to find the page, shoving it in front of your face with excited hands when he found the section he was looking for.
“Oh! It’s because there’s not enough energy for the molecules to move around!” Yuuki chimed in as he ran over to take a look at the book himself, his face brightening when he noticed your nod of approval.
“Ding ding,” you sang as you reached out to ruffle the two’s heads. “That’s right, there’s not enough energy. So, what should we do?” Yuuki and Yuuma both shot up their hands at the same time, excitedly squealing to be chosen to answer.
“How about we try out that twin telepathy,” you suggested with a chuckle as you gestured at the space between the two.
“We add heat!” The twins yelled out in unison before immediately covering their mouths with their hands, alternating between silence and “sshhhh, you’re going to wake up Daddy!” as they gestured at the other to quiet down.
“Give that a try then,” you laughed, gently pushing the twins back to the counter and taking the book from Yuuma’s hands to return it back to its rightful spot.
As you slotted the book back into its spot between the two giant encyclopedias, you felt the beginnings of a smile tug at the edge of your lips. With work keeping the both of you busy most of the time, it was the little moments like this with the twins that swelled your heart up with love and happiness. The walls of the den were lined with bookcases —a small portion filled with books and journals belonging to you and Kuroo, and the remaining spaces all filled with books and comics for the twins ranging from topics like the deep ocean to stories of bravery in the fantastical realms of the magical. Since turning eight last summer, Kuroo had insisted that the two of you start tutoring the twins in chemistry once a week, resulting in the growing pile of textbooks lying around the floor.
You sat down on the sofa as you recounted the conversation the two of you had shared when Kuroo had brought up the idea. “Chemistry is the glue holding together science, and the principles can be used in so many other ways!” He had reasoned when you asked if it was too early. “Besides, I hope they find someone just like the way their parents found each other.”
You would probably have to say you lucked out and won whatever lottery was responsible for pairing you together with Kuroo and being blessed with the twins, because the two had inherited their parents’ love for the sciences. Weekly tutoring sessions quickly turned into weekly bonding sessions where you were not only able to deepen the bonds you shared, but also able to share the love of chemistry that had brought you and Kuroo together with your beloved sons.
Taking a look at the clock, you figured that the twins would have been just about done with the dough and would have started to line the sheets with unbaked cookies by now. You carefully made your way over to the kitchen once more, careful not to step on the creaky floorboards as to not draw the attention of Yuuki and Yuuma, and to not wake your husband who was still deeply sound asleep in the bedroom.
Leaning your head against the edge of the doorframe, you closely watched the twins silently work in near-perfect unison on their present for their dad. Yuuki and Yuuma certainly argued a lot and never amounted to much progress whenever that was the case, but on the rare occasion that they did get along, the two always seemed to be able to work together in perfect unison in complete silence.
No wonder Kuroo wanted them to be a spiker-setter pair, you thought to yourself.
Unbeknownst to you, a pair of arms from behind had reached out and found themselves encircled around your waist, and the familiar scent of clean laundry soon filled the air around you. You turned your face to the side and placed a soft kiss onto Kuroo’s forehead, whose head had found its home nuzzled lazily in the crook of your neck.
“Good morning, love,” you whispered as you looked back over at the bickering twins. Kuroo groaned tiredly in response, and settled for a lazy peck on your neck from his spot on your shoulders instead.
“Did we wake you up?” You asked, eyes still fixated on the twins. The two had now started arguing about which shapes to cut the cookies out into, with Yuuki insisting on circles “because it’s the shape of volleyballs”, and Yuuma insisting on using the fish-shaped cookie cutter “because Daddy loves grilled fish”. You felt Kuroo nod from his spot and lightly laughed.
“They’re baking cookies for the number one dad in the world,” you explained as you turned around to look at your husband. Looks like he put on a shirt, you thought as you mindlessly tugged at the article of clothing. He unwillingly stood back up, and gave a small smile when his eyes met yours.
“Where’s my present then?” He teased as he leaned in to press his lips against yours. “I already gave it to you last night, didn’t I?” You responded when you pulled back, giving him a knowing smile.
“Hey,” Kuroo said as he pressed his pointer against your lips. “Don’t let the kids hear that. Not appropriate language in the household.” You gave him a light smack on the arm and rolled your eyes. “I’m thinking for our future too, you know," he protested. "Wouldn’t want a parent teacher conference about your sons talking about you-know-what just yet, now do we?”
You giggled in response as you shook your head. “You win this time,” you conceded as you wrapped your arms around his waist to pull him into a hug.
“Don’t I always?” Kuroo whispered back coyly as he rested his chin on your head. “I love you, you know.”
“I know,” you grinned as you leaned against Kuroo’s strong chest. “We all love you too,” you continued as you looked up into his eyes. “Happy Father’s Day, Tetsu,” you breathed as you tiptoed on your feet to lock your lips with his again, the lingering taste of the spearmint of his toothpaste on his tongue.
“Should we…” Kuroo muttered in-between breaths as he looked into your eyes, “go back to bed so that the twins can surprise me properly then?” You gave him a quizzical look, and Kuroo started to drag you back into the bedroom with him. “I’m going to claim my present and prize from you first,” he purred, looking back at you to shoot you a wink.