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Colin’s eyes began to widen, slowly opening after having slept through the entire night. He could feel the heat radiating from Jamie’s body, unable to tell if he was awake or not.
“Morning sleepyhead.” Jamie said, his morning growl clearly on show. So he was awake. Colin checked the clock. 9:27AM. He loved a good off-day lie in.
“Good morning to you too, Jay.” He couldn’t help but notice the tiredness in his own voice. He felt Jamie pepper kisses on his cheek, turning his head to kiss him properly.
After a few minutes of lazy kisses, Colin talked into it. “You know, if we let her sleep any longer she will be a nightmare tonight.”
“Ugh, fine, I’ll get her up, only because I love her to absolute bits.” Jamie jokingly retorted, giving one last final kiss before making his way out of the room and into Callie’s, Colin not two steps behind him.
Callie’s room was nothing short of a kid’s dream, walls covered in shelves of toys, what else to expect from a Richmond squad who treated her like nothing short of royalty?
Jamie made the way over to Callie’s toddler bed. She had only recently gotten used to it, and to say it was a challenge would be an understatement. Lots of late nights, with little to no sleep for either of them, but lots of cuddles in Dada and Papa’s bed each morning after she made her way between them through the night slightly made up for it.
“Wakey wakey, it’s time to get up, Callie Calypso!” Jamie whispered, opening her blinds slowly. Callie stirred, giving him a sleepy smile as she came to her senses. Jamie picked her up easily once she was alert, making their way down the hallway.
He followed them down the stairs singing baby shark (“dada’s one”, of course), Callie on Jamie’s hip, as they entered the kitchen. He could see Callie immediately shifting from his grasp, begging to be let down when barks began to fill their ears.
“Nala!” Giggles erupted from her soon after, with Nala out of her cage and giving Callie kisses all over her face, jumping as if she hadn’t seen the girl in weeks. She was the perfect size for Callie to give her hugs now, her new favourite part of their routine.
“Right Calico, what will it be for breakfast? Eggs or pancakes?”
“Pancakes! Pancakes!” She shouted in return. Colin proceeded to scoop her off of the floor, into his arms.
“Helicopter!” He let out, spinning her around, leaving the kitchen full of giggles and squeals.
“Right, how about me and you get dressed and Dada makes pancakes. Sound good Gwynnie?” She nodded vigorously in return.
“Right then, off we go.” They stopped to give Jamie a kiss on each cheek, as was their tradition now, before Colin took his chance to whisk Callie away from Nala, her labrador partner in crime.
— — — — —
They came back down ten minutes later, with Colin choosing to dress Callie in a pink tracksuit that was guaranteed to be a mess by the evening, practically vibrating with excitement for her pancakes and fruit.
As they were eating (for lack of a better word, Callie had gotten more pancake crumbs on the chair than in her mouth somehow.) Colin asked, “What hair are we thinking today Missie? Elsa hair or Anna Hair? ”
“Hmm, Anna hair. Dada’s hair too!” Colin made a mental note to wash her hands at the nearest possible opportunity, they were basically stained purple with blueberry juices.
“So Anna hair for you and Elsa hair for Dada? I can do that. Who will be first?”
Colin loved taking time to do Jamie’s hair, it was one of the first things that had Jamie gone for him during their dates those years ago, so it was obvious he enjoyed it too.
“Me first!”
“Right, let me get your plate then Gwynnie. Sit down and I’ll do your hair in a minute.” He grabbed the dishes, putting them in the dishwasher. Colin had to thank technology a lot these days, this house wouldn’t survive without a dishwasher. He turned to Jamie, “Go get dressed love, I’ll clean up”
Colin’s wrists now permanently housed a collection of flashy hair ties, some were sparkly, some pink, even a few with charms, perfect for doing Callie’s hair at any short notice. He had been doing his sister’s hair since he was a kid, so he was good at most styles. (They were impressive by Callie’s standards anyway, so that’s all that really matters.)
He watched Jamie’s eyes fall on his hands as they worked, hair intertwined in his fingers, eager for his own hair to be done. Colin could feel his expression soften into one of care and love as he kept going, knowing Jamie loved this as much as he did.
After a few minutes of swift plaiting, Callie’s hair was done and it was time to move on to Jamie’s. Callie found this the most entertaining spectacle that she had ever seen, as she always had, giggling and laughing like crazy as it was being done. Her favourite thing to do, causing fits of laughter for all of them, was flicking the short end of the plait around on the back of Jamie’s head, as if it was a spring toy, only made better by Jamie’s choice to supply his best “Boi-oi-oing!” sound effects as she did it.
“Dada!!!” She burst out.
“What?! I have a spring on the back of my head now?!” Jamie exclaimed.
— — — — —
“Right, who’s ready for Uncle Isaac’s? Callie?” Jamie asked eventually.
Isaac’s house had become the place for team hangouts since Callie was born, due to it having a cinema room, perfect for some of the most FIFA tournaments known to man, courtesy of Dani, and binging movies like there was no tomorrow. It also was home to the biggest garden of all of the team, even better for letting Callie play outside.
Loading Callie into the car always proved to be a struggle, even if she knew where they were going. Lots of tears, hugs, and breaks tended to occur, and Colin would be lying if he didn’t feel like he was going slightly insane at times. This journey was no different, although (thankfully) her tears simmered down to a light sniffle as she was reminded that Phoebe would be waiting for her at Isaac’s.
Phoebe couldn’t get enough of Callie, and it was clearly reciprocated. They would spend hours playing together when the team was hanging out, watching YouTube videos, playing with toys Callie had brought (would not leave the house without, risking MANY tantrums), or playing on the playset Isaac had gotten built at his house a few months back. Him and his wife Leah were waiting for their first baby to arrive, so preparations were well and truly underway.
Jamie drove them to Isaac’s, because as much as he loved Colin he did not love him enough to let him at the wheel. Colin understands.
— — — — —
Isaac was clearly waiting on them, as the door opened before they had even gotten out of the car.
“Yes boyo!” Colin shouted, followed by a turn to his right. “Right love, I’ll get her, you get her bag, sound good?”
“Yeah babe.” Jamie kissed his cheek and followed along.
Isaac shouted back, “Everyone’s already here bruv! We’ve got FIFA on in the cinema, Dani’s going berserk in there, and Phoebe has been waiting for your girl, I swear down she’s never looked so excited.”
The mention of Phoebe’s name had Callie squirming out of Colin’s hands, fully ready to run up the steps to Isaac’s house, even if each one was roughly half of her height.
Once getting to the door in one piece, with Callie still on his hip, Isaac gave both Colin and Jamie their signature handshakes, never forgetting to fistbump Callie as well, (comical “Whooosh!” sound effect included obviously, to the sheer joy of the girl).
“Fifi! How are ya?” Jamie started, not getting very far before Callie was in Phoebe’s arms, ready to play.
“Honestly amazing, I picked my GCSEs last week! And how is my favourite girl! What toys do you have with you today?” Phoebe asked in her funniest voice, eliciting an enormous laugh from Callie.
Colin could tell from Jamie’s face he still found it mad that Phoebe was nearly starting her GCSEs, he couldn’t help but laugh a bit before talking for him as his brain caught up.
“She’s got some Hot Wheels, two beanie babies and a bunch of Super Mario toys in here, bring her into the cinema room with us so she can sit at the back and knock yourselves out!” He told Phoebe. Phoebe was an angel with Callie, Colin could not get enough of her.
As the four of them walked in, the others decided to cheer at their arrival. Phoebe made Callie comfortable with her toys a few rows back, while Colin and Jamie made their way up to the rest of the team.
“Ay, mi amigos! You both look a lot less tired, Callie has been sleeping well then, yes?” Dani couldn’t help but ask.
“Yeah man, she’s finally got used to that new bed of hers, I swear I thought we were never gonna see the end of it.” Jamie answered, the relief clear in his voice.
“I don’t know how you both do it man, I can barely take care of myself, never mind a dog and a whole other human.” Bumbercatch added in.
“Neither do I honestly, it’s mad. I never actually pictured myself with a kid you know.” Colin admitted, before asking, “Gwynnie love, can you come say hi to everyone?”
He had clearly interrupted her during her best Bowser roar, but she was surprisingly more than happy to fist bump and high five everyone sat around the large screen. (Not for long however, as soon as fist bumps were over she had immediately darted back to where Phoebe was sat waiting.)
“Right, crack on with the FIFA then!” Jamie let out, to the eruption of cheers.
— — — — —
It had been a few rounds of their knockout style tournament, and the final four were Dani, Jamie, Moe, and Jan. He was cheering for Jamie every chance he got, but Dani was a menace at FIFA, tearing up his competition in every round before this. He had moved seats closer to Callie once he was beaten by Isaac, occasionally doing his best Princess Peach impression to amuse her while he watched on. The chaos around him in the cinema room was absurd, yet Colin wouldn’t change it for anything.