Work Text:
“Kids! Dinner!”
There's a thud, a laugh and hurried footsteps dashing their way from the bedrooms and down the stairs
Sam turned off the stove, gathering plates and placing them around the table quickly before the kids arrived, he turned around to get a couple of cups and when he looked back the twins were already sitting down at the opposite sides of the table (to Sam’s request to avoid any food fights of course) ((He spent almost a month trying to get the tomato sauce stains off the carpet))
He pulled out the chair at the other end next to the kids, glancing around the room. The majority of families had this small dining rooms, dining tables suited for two maybe three, but he has four mouths to feed every night. His dining table is the kitchen table, but it has been set up with five plates on each end, cups and napkins.
Quackity came running down the stairs along with the youngest of the family which seemed to be having the time of his life hanging from his brother’s back, clearly enjoying the piggyback ride.
Sam looked at the kids as they sat down, Tommy clearly struggling to get on his chair “Quackity, how many times have I told you to not run down the stairs?” he asked in a lighthearted tone, helping Tommy up his chair
Quackity smiled sheepishly “Sorry Dad, won't do it again”
“I call bs!” The twins chimed in at the same time, making the table break into a fit of giggles and laughs.
Sam slapped his hand on his forehead, trying to suppress a laugh as he whirled back around to the stove, grabbing the casserole by the handles and returning to the table, setting it in front of him.
Hannah leaned on her seat, attempting to look at what was inside the casserole with curious eyes “what are we having?”
Boomer followed lead, leaning on his chair as well “Please tell me is lasagna dad, please please”
Quackity scrunched up his nose at Boomer “Lasagna is bad, it's all gooey and weird” he shuddered
Boomer seemed to take personal offence at what his brother said, as he gasped dramatically and pointed his fork at him “How dare you! Lasagna is the most delicious thing in this world!”
“More delicious than bugs?” Hannah asked with a teasing tone
Boomer narrowed his eyes at his twin, brining the fork down “I mean- if I had to choose-”
“No!” the youngest whined, looking at his big brother with big round eyes, this ones threatening to start to water any second now “No eating bugs!”
Sam pointed the kitchen clamps at Boomer, eyes giving him the “Don't make Tommy cry” look, before using the same clamps to scoop out spaghetti from the casserole and start giving the respective proportions to the kids
Hannah slumped against her seat, a pout on her face “Spaghetti? Really?”
Quackity rolled his eyes “All you want to eat are those weird sandwiches”
“They are called Subways Quacki-”
“Don’t care, didn't ask”
Hannah frowned “You can’t say that, I'm older than you”
Quackity opened his mouth to argue back but Hannah interrupted, looking at Sam while batting her eyelashes “Daddy, can we have subway for dinner?”
Sam laughed “But we’re having spaghetti already Hannah”
“But that thing is weird!”
Sam giggled “That’s right, spaghetti is kinda weird-” he offered a plastic fork to the youngest “-pretty red if you ask me” he gave the respective silver forks to his sons and placed the last one in front of Hannah’s plate “-but it is also kinda yummy, right Tommy?”
Tommy perked up at the mention of his name and nodded furiously, he somehow had tomato sauce spread on his chin already, Sam grabbed a napkin and cleaned it off
“To be fair” Boomer mumbled “Tommy literally eats mud, he has no standards whatsoever”
“Don't call our Tommy uncultured” Sam said with a serious tone but a smile on his face, Boomer giggled “You might be eating regular spaghetti but to Tommy, this might as well be caviar”
“I'm not eating spaghetti” Hannah mumbled, sticking her tongue out to her dad
Quackity took his fork and stabbed half of the pile of spaghetti on his plate “Don't cry when dad gets revenge on you and makes you eat this thing for lunch tomorrow as well” he threatened, before shoving the spaghetti into his mouth, making small chewing noises “So… Tasty!” he exclaimed, making everyone laugh except for Hannah, who was sending her brother death glares.
Quackity continued to try and choke down the spaghetti while the twins were busy making speculations over how gross it was, how nasty the sauce was, just some general spaghetti hate.
On the other hand, Tommy was struggling to get the spaghetti on the fork, he would push the fork down, wait for a bit and try to fish spaghetti from the pile with his fork, struggling as to whether the spaghetti was gonna stick to the fork or not.
This went on for a couple of more seconds until Tommy decided he had enough as he put the plastic fork down and used his hands instead, grabbing a huge chunk of spaghetti with his right hand and bringing it to his mouth
“Aren’t you adorable?” Sam cooed, smiling at his youngest child as he saw him trying as hard as he could to transfer the spaghetti from his hand to his mouth.
The twins seemed to stop whatever conversation they were having as they placed their attention on Tommy, Boomer watching the whole scene with disgust while Hannah watched in some sort of amusement
Quackity laughed at Tommy before he continued to eat his spaghetti in the traditional way “Isn’t he so cute?” he asked sarcastically, grinning to the others at the table “He looks like he murdered someone with that much sauce on his hands”
“He kinda did, he murdered the spaghetti” Hannah said, as if it were obvious
Bommer gasped “Doesn’t that make ALL of us murderers?!”
Hannah giggled, making Tommy look at her and giggle back, making Hannah giggle further, this infectious situation spread quicker than the common cold and the next thing everyone knew, everyone was laughing and giggling.
“Oh god, look at them” Quackity huffed, pretending as if he hadn't been laughing some seconds ago “Laughing after they murdered a family!”
Tommy seemed unbothered as he took a huge bite out of his fist, smiling as he chewed on the spaghetti as if this was the best spaghetti he had ever had.
“Spaghetti noodles have families?” Boomer asked
Hannah frowned, whispering at Tommy “Don’t listen to them Tommy” she pinched his cheek “You tried so hard to eat spaghetti like a big boy, you deserve a cookie!” she said in a higher pitch, just for Tommy to giggle again.
Sam couldn't help himself from laughing at his daughter’s acting “Don’t think you fool me Hannah, you just want cookies as well”
Hannah pouted and looked at Sam with big doe eyes “Nope, i just think Tommy deserves a cookie for his hard effort, and i deserve cookies as well for putting up with them” Hannah pointed at her twin and at Quackity before continuing “Come on dad! Cookies!” she said as she tried to hypnotize her dad into doing as told
“Alright, alright. Give those hypnotizing eyes of yours to Tommy now” Sam said with a chuckle as he got off his chair, grabbing the plates off the table and placing them on the dishwasher.
Hannah quickly turned to Tommy as her father went to grab the cookies, she placed both of her hands on his cheeks “Such pretty eyes, Tommy!” she said, making Tommy giggle. She grabbed a napkin and cleaned some of the tomato sauce off his chin and lips “Such a pretty little boy!” she exclaimed, booping the youngest in the nose once she was done
Boomer leaned on his chair, giving Hannah a teasing look “Oh please Hannah! Make it more obvious who your favorite sibling is!”
She rolled her eyes at her brother before planting a kiss on Tommy’s cheek "Tommy- my favorite little boy ever!" she exclaimed, the youngest smiling at the gesture and puffing out his cheeks
Boomer was about to respond to Hannah, but Sam held up a box of cookies, Tommy wiggled on his seat, trying to grab the box
“Cookie!” Tommy exclaimed, sticking out his arm
Sam laughed at Tommy’s antics, squinting his eyes at him as he opened the box “You’ll get your cookie in a second” he teased
Tommy gave his dad a fierce glare, not in the mood for his teasing, he lowered his arm and crossed his arms in front of his chest
“Hey, hey hey, cookie now!” Hannah exclaimed at Sam, causing the man to smile “Alright, alright, now” Sam took out a cookie for each sibling
“Thank you!” the siblings exclaimed in unison, causing for them to explode in a fit of giggles
Sam took out some napkins and cleaned Tommy’s hands one by one, the kid was still sitting on his chair, reluctant to get up, eating his cookie. “Wouldn’t you like to get up?” Sam finally asked, looking at the youngest with a smile
Tommy shook his head and bit on his cookie, making tiny crunching noises
“Do you want me to carry you?”
Tommy shook his head again and looked up, his eyes staring at Quackity from across the table
“You want Quackity to carry you?” Sam asked, chuckling “Don’t you want me to carry you?” he tried again, much to the disappointment of Tommy, who was still looking at his older brother from across the table
“No, I want Quackity!” Tommy eventually exclaimed, making everyone laugh a little “Why do you always want Quackity to carry you? Why never me?” Sam asked, curious
“Quackity” the toddler explained, of course.
“I think he is saying im simply more fun dad” Quackity smirked
Tommy looked at his older brother again, making grabby hands towards him
Sam laughed at Tommy “You know what son? I’m not surprised you picked Quackity, he is far more fun than me, so I guess you’re right, you should always want Quackity to carry you!”
Tommy smiled, satisfied with his answer and went back to doing grabby hands at Quackity, who just rolled his eyes, getting off his seat and heading to pick up him up
“I'm not always carrying you” he warned, poking Tommy’s cheek with his index finger
Tommy blew raspberry and Quackity poked him again before picking the kid up in arms and running off the living room, the both of them starting to giggle and chat their way towards the backyard
Sam was taking out some plates and some cups when he noticed Hannah approaching him “Hannah?” he asked, confused as he thought she would’ve followed Quackity and Tommy outside
“Thank you for dinner!” she smiled, wrapping her arms around Sam’s stomach “I love you, Dad”
“I love you too, princess” Sam totally did not tear up as he returned the hug, nope.
“You’re the best princess in the world” he whispered, tickling Hannah’s side, causing her to giggle “Why don’t you go play with Boomer? I'm sure he wants to play with you outside”
Hannah’s eyes lit up “That's right! We are playing bedwars!” she exclaimed, giving Sam another quick hug before rushing out to where Tommy and Quackity were playing outside “Boomer! Get the swords!”
(Foam swords, of course)
Sam smiled, watching the kids he loved with his whole heart from the door, he could hear Hannah asking Boomer to get the swords for their game, and could hear Tommy and Quackity running around the backyard laughing.
Sam couldn’t help but think of how blessed he is to have these four little kids in his life.