Work Text:
“Incoming!”
A snowball sailed right past Erik, splattering on the wall nearby. Raven ran over. She at least had the decency to look contrite. He gave her a withering look, adjusting his hold on the steaming mugs in his hands.
“Sorry about that, Erik - did anything spill?”
“No, thankfully. But watch where you’re throwing those things, huh?” She held up her hands, the picture of innocence.
“Wasn’t me, I swear. That one was all Wanda.”
Erik looked over to where his children were playing. Wanda was giggling and gathering more ammunition while her twin, a blur of white and blue, pelted his older brother with snowball after snowball. Well, sometimes. Needs to work on his aim, Erik thought. Almost on cue, at that exact instant, a snowball hit David square in the face. He fell backwards as if wounded, but Erik could hear him laughing even from his spot on the stoop. Someone was missing though…
“Lorna?”
Raven said nothing, but shifted uncomfortably. Erik sighed. That usually only meant one thing.
“And where’s Alex?”
Raven coughed.
“Auntie Raven!” Wanda called out. She was pouting. “Pietro keeps trampling my snow piles!”
“Whoops, gotta go!” Raven took off towards the snow melee. Erik didn’t need to be a mind reader to hear her mental sigh of relief. He rolled his eyes and started walking.
The ground was mostly powdered snow, not too hard to walk in, but he still kept his steps small. After the tumble he took a couple days earlier (“Charles, I think I broke my arse,” he had said, hoping for sympathy. “Talk to me when you’ve birthed four children,” the love of his life had replied, not even looking up from the paper he was writing), Erik didn’t trust the treads on his allegedly snow-ready boots.
Charles sat on a bench a few feet away. There was a book beside him, and when Erik stepped inside to whip up some hot cocoa, Charles had been reading it. Now he was watching their children, smiling. It was the twins’ first real snow, that they were big enough to play in at least, and they were both determined to miss as little of it as possible. He looked over at Erik as he approached.
“Welcome back, dear.”
“For you.” Erik handed him one of the steamy mugs. He bent down and gave Charles a quick kiss for good measure. His husband chuckled softly.
“Hmm. Not sure which one I like more.”
“You haven’t even tasted your drink yet,” Erik said. He smirked, an expression Charles knew well. But there were more important matters at hand.
“Sit down, Erik. Watch the children with me.”
Erik wiped off the bench a bit with his free hand and did so. He sipped at his cocoa and winced - a bit too hot yet.
“I couldn’t help but notice there are only three of them here, my love.” He said. Wanda had moved on from the snowball war and was trying to roll enough snow to make her first snowman. David finally managed to catch his little brother and was wrestling him down into a flurry that somehow hadn’t yet been trampled.
“Mm-hm,” Charles intoned. He took a small sip of cocoa. “Lorna’s watching Alex train.” At Erik’s sigh, he turned towards him. “Oh Erik, don’t worry so much. She’s still young.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Erik grumbled.
“Well don’t be. Alex has been a perfectly respectful gentleman around her.”
“He had better be.”
Charles gave him a serious look. “Do you really think so little of him? Of either of them?”
Erik met his gaze, a bit taken aback. “Of course not, Charles. You know that. It’s just that-”
Charles took Erik’s free hand in his own, entwining their fingers.
“It’s just that you’re her Papa, and she’s your firstborn.”
Erik let out a shuddering breath and nodded. After a moment, he said, “But you’re right, Charles. It’s probably just a crush.” Under his breath, he added, “still hope she grows out of it though.”
Having heard him perfectly, Charles gave his hand a brief squeeze. “I’m going to remember you saying that later, dear.”
“Good, because I know I’ll forget.” Being over protective is in my blood, he thought, knowing Charles heard it just as clearly as if he had said it aloud. He gave his husband a small, apologetic smile.
“Papa! Daddy!”
Wanda ran over to them. Her hat had fallen off some time ago, but her ear muffs still held firm. Charles reached out and adjusted them, fixing an imperfection only a mother could see.
“What is it, flower?”
“My snowman!” She pointed towards a roughly Wanda-sized mound of snow. It was more lump than man, had no less than five stick arms, and a haphazard line of stones for a mouth.
“It’s the best snowman I’ve ever seen,” Erik said, and meant it. She jumped up and hugged him, giggling. He held her close, and maybe just a tad too tightly, but she didn’t notice.
“You getting hungry yet?” Charles asked. She let go of her father and shook her head. “It’s almost lunchtime, Wanda darling. And I know for a fact that there’s more than enough hot soup inside waiting for you and Pietro.”
“Please, just a few more minutes?” She begged, giving him her best wide-eyed, sad expression, complete with an adorable little pout.
Charles only smiled back. “Can you still feel all your fingers and toes okay? Be honest, now.” He said with a slight warning edge, tapping his temple.
“Yes, Daddy.” Wanda wiggled her tiny extremities to demonstrate, losing her puppy-dog look for an instant before carefully schooling her face back into a frown. She added a bit of a lip wobble for extra dramatic effect. Erik had to bite his inner cheek to keep from chuckling, just from how hard she was trying, and how little her performance actually moved Charles.
The other man made a show of sighing indulgently. “A few more, but that’s it.”
Their youngest daughter squealed with childish glee and ran back into the yard. She crashed into Raven’s legs and almost sent her Aunt to the ground. They were giggling, as if they were both still little girls, though only one of them was these days.
“Someday they’re going to realize that those looks don’t actually work on you.” Erik murmured.
“Oh I know.” Charles gave Erik a smirk of his own. “That’s when they’ll start trying it on you.” The sudden flurry of panicked realization from the other man made him laugh. Erik being something of a pushover where his daughters were concerned was the worst kept secret in the world.
Charles took another, deeper sip of the cooling drink in his mug, then shifted to rest his head on Erik’s shoulder. His husband pressed a kiss to his snow-speckled hair and wrapped an arm around him. They sat there huddled together as their little family played and made memories in the snow.
Perfection, Erik thought, and felt a warm wave of agreement from the man he loved.