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It was hardly 7 AM, a lovely, job free morning, Peter's arm and leg slung half over Egon's body to prevent him from wiggling away to tend to his mushrooms (seriously Spengs, they're fungi, they can wait to be fed), when the pitter-pattering of tiny feet broke the silence. An intruder.
Peter didn't force himself into full awakening until he could feel the extra weight tugging the mattress and the soft, high pitched grunts of a toddler trying to scale a bed taller than she was. It was a valiant effort, but she was still just too little to climb up without risking a fall. If she fell.. he wouldn't know what to do with himself. So he let out a yawn, rolled over, and gently slipped his hands underneath the little girl's armpits, heaving her up onto the bed and pulling her safely to his chest.
"Hey, ankle biter, what's the rush?" He murmured, quiet in the early morning so as not to wake up Egon, or any of the others for that matter. "You're young, you're supposed to take the extra hours of sleep while you can still get them." His words were teasing, but his voice was soft, and he brushed a hand through the platinum blonde curls he was so fond of touching, that reminded him so much of her father. "We've got all day to have fun. Promise. And you know your pops won't be happy if he finds out you aren't sticking to your sleep schedule."
Of course, she had to speak up in return. Her parents were both stubborn as anything, so she was too, tiny, chubby hands coming to rest on Peter's cheeks to force him to look at her. "Daddy," Her voice was as quiet as his, but resolute, incredibly serious in an endearing way. "Papa's w'ong. Don'need s'eep." Well, her argument was airtight. No getting through this one. Forest green eyes settled, unfocused, on Peter, a charming pout gracing the rosy face adorably.
Peter put on his own pout of concentration, nodding very seriously. "You raise a good point, princess. But you need sleep. We just don't have to tell him about this one, okay?" He pressed a kiss to the curly head, smiling at the sweet smell of the strawberry shampoo Egon couldn’t resist using. That sweet tooth of his extended to all things, clearly.
“..tell me what?” Egon’s deep voice rumbled smoothly into the morning air, deeper still with sleep still on the edges of his mind. He’d been slowly waking since his treasure entered the room, but he’d finally pulled himself out of the fog of sleep enough to think.
“About how gorgeous you are,” Peter teased, rolling again with his daughter held to his chest and stifling her giggles against the fabric of his shirt. “But really, it’s for us to know and you not to worry about. Father-daughter classified,” He said with a smile, leaning in and brushing the tip of a curl out of Egon’s face so he could kiss him properly, sliding a hand away from the girl’s back so he could rest it on his husband’s hip. The toddler in his arms took the initiative to free herself, however, transferring herself to the grasp of her papa, who welcomed her readily.
“I see my little experiment isn’t sleeping,” Egon murmured clinically, pressing his own kiss to the crown of her head. “Is this what we’re not telling me?”
” Shh,” Emphatically, the little blonde ball of excitement pressed her finger to her lips, thoroughly shushing her father. “Don’ tell papa.” At that, he raised a brow, blinking skeptically down at his biggest reason for living.
“Of course,” He responded, rather than scold her for her stubborn attitude. After all, what good would scolding do her? She was too little yet to properly grasp the importance of a lecture, and it would just upset her. “How silly of me.” The urge overtook him before he could stop it, and his hands snuck up the back of her nightgown, tickling up her back and causing her to shriek delightedly, trapped in by his large hands. Ray and Winston were surely woken up now, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The sound of his daughter’s laughter was too sweet. “Little girls who don’t sleep get visited by the tickle monster.” His tone was light as his nimble fingers brushed her skin and caused his favorite sound, a smile tugging at his lips.
From the sidelines, Peter watched this interaction for a while, but when the squealing threatened to become screaming, he pulled his girl away from her menace of a father, proclaiming that he’d rescued the fair princess from the evil tickle monster (and he was never going to get her back). And when Egon, fingers flexing, crowded in to tickle him instead, he found himself falling a little bit more in love.