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Waking up thirsty is the worst ever.
Nimona hated it, but her Papa assured her that it’s okay, because everyone gets parched at night, and Papa or Daddy will be there to pour a cup of water for her if she ever needed.
But Nimona was 5 years old now, so that meant she could grab her own water if she wanted to. She could be inte-... indi-..... intendantpendent, like Papa and Daddy!
Quietly Nimona opened the door to her room.
Papa and Daddy didn’t always like her going downstairs herself, especially not when she was going to the kitchen cuz she couldn't really reach the counter tops cuz, like the kid in her class that she bit once told her: “You’re a lot smaller than the others.” She’d been a little self-conscious about that since then, but her Daddy said after that there was nothing wrong with being smaller than the other kids, it just meant that she was at shin kicking height is all.
Papa didn’t really like that lesson, but he didn’t disagree with it either.
Nimona giggled behind her hand, remembering how that kid yelped when she went for the shin after being called puny.
She didn’t know what it meant, but he said it with an ugly face, so he got kicked and he deserved it!
As Nimona made their way downstairs she noticed how the lights at the bottom of the staircase were on, which was weird because it isn’t supposed to be. That meant that either someone forgot to turn it off, they were being robbed by some of the dumbest bad guys ever, or...
When the pinkish-red head made it to halfway down the stairs she peaked a look down at the bottom towards where the lights were on above the eating place.
There Nimona saw her Papa who looked really really tired clicking away at his laptop surrounded by piles of paper and many cups of Coffee.
Uh oh.
Daddy’s not gonna be happy about that.
-
Ambrosius was fast asleep, all comfortable and warm in his bed. He wasn’t wearing his facemask this night because someone insisted that a certain little Toothie friend needed it to rest easier because he’d been having nightmares, which was alright Ambrosius supposed.
Nightmares are a pest to deal with, and who was he to deny a little shark plushy a quiet night of peaceful sleep.
Now, usually Ambrosius was a very heavy sleeper, or well, he used to be at least. Nowadays he’s still fairly a heavy sleeper, especially when there wasn’t an alarm going off. He'd slept through a storm once, literally, and didn't even rise when Ballister carried him downstairs. He found it a little funny after, but his man had been horribly frightened about that fact.
But there would be times, like now, where something or someone pulled him from the realm of dreams or darkness.
Slowly the blonde turned over to face his side of the bed. However, as he did so, he felt this invisible, prickling pressure on the skin of his face, like someone was standing in front of him. Confusedly he squinted his eyes open and was met with the strange redish-pinkish-brown eyes of his daughter staring straight into his own. He jolted awake with a short gasp before realizing who it was and sighed.
“Nimona.” He yawned, rubbing his face. “What’s wrong, Little Shark.”
His little shark then pointed to the wide-open door of the bedroom.
It took him a moment to understand what she was trying to say, but then he reached behind him at the other side of the bed and after not feeling another body that should be lying dead asleep next to him he sat up fully to look beside him, growling silently when he saw no one there.
Careful of his knee and hip, he silently got off the bed.
He didn’t feel like he needed his cane, thank gods, but when Nimona lifted her hands to him asking to be grabbed he relented, picking the little gremlin up. Ambrosius set her on his hip while he grabbed his cane, quietly making his way downstairs.
The moment he was far enough at the bottom of the staircase to look into the living area he saw him.
His husband.
Typing away at his keyboard at gods damned 3:30 AM in the morning.
Before he could even say anything though, like calling his love an idiot for playing with his health like this and dragging him upstairs, he felt a light tug on his hair and turned to see Nimona signing for him to stay calm.
After taking a deep breath and patting his chest with Nimona copying him, he gave her a nod and continued down the steps.
The other man didn’t even notice him, so it was quite easy for him to just lean over and whisper in his ear:
“Whatcha doin’?”
Ballister nearly fell out of his seat in a fright.
He whipped his head around quickly and Ambrosius raised a brow at the clear signs of sleep deprivation on his lover’s face while Nimona giggled at his bewildered stare.
“What are you two doing up this early?” He asked, and Ambrosius couldn’t choose if he wanted to kiss away his worried brow or hit him upside the head with his cane for asking such a hypocritical question.
He ultimately didn't do either. Instead he chose to place his cane against one of the dining chairs to put a hand on his hip while he gave his husband a look.
Nimona, who had stopped giggling, attempted to copy him and shot Ballister her own little mock glare.
Ballister looked back and forth between them, nervously fidgeting in his chair.
“I, uhm, I just had a few things I needed to finish up-”
“i JuSt HaD a FeW tHiNgS i NeEdEd To FiNiSh Up- Ballister Blackheart don’t you dare try any of that with me!”
He was thankful for all Ballister did for them, of course he was, but he was not about to let the love of his life risk his health for a draft he was probably over thinking even though he had the whole thing ready before the deadline was even set.
“You know better than to be up this late, you’ve been doing this for days now and I swear if you hurt yourself doing this again- so you’d have better get your ass upstairs right now before I kick it up there myself.” He scolded with a low voice, never really raising it as there was still this quiet peace around them he didn’t want to break, as Nimona wagged her little pointer finger in her Papa’s face.
“Yeeeaaaah.” Nimona taunted sassily.
“Don’t copycat that at school, okay? Daddy’ll eat soap later for it.”
“Okay Daddy.”
“Why are you awake, little shark?” Ambrosius finally asked while Ballister used his cane to help himself up before giving it back to the blonde. Nimona motioned then that she was thirsty, which would make sense. It’s one of the only reasons she’d be up this late.
“I’ll get her a cup-” Ballister tried, but shrunk back at Ambrosius glare before he could even step foot in the kitchen.
“No, you’re going to bed,” he told him, steering the ravenette towards the staircase with his cane, “and that arm of yours better be off by the time I get up there.”
After making sure Ballister actually did as he was told the other two made their way to the kitchen. Ambrosius put his cane aside and tried setting Nimona down so he could more easily grab her a drink, but she had stubbornly held on despite how the drowsiness of sleep seemed to finally be hitting her, laughing squeakily at his endeavors to put her on the floor, or at least the countertop.
“Fine.” He relented, and Nimona cheered for her little victory.
It wasn’t so hard pouring the cup of water with one hand, but Nimona was getting heavier and Ambrosius wasn’t sure how long he had before he wouldn’t be able to pick her up anymore.
He stopped for a second at that thought.
He adjusted his hold onto his kid and decided that that was not something he wanted to be thinking about right now.
The blonde offered his little pinkish-red head the cup, which she took with sleepy little hands. However, it seems those hands are more awake now because she pushes the cup away immediately, telling him she wanted her sharky cup instead with a pout and Ambrosius sighed again.
“Ah yes, the sharky cup, please excuse my terrible retention of it your majesty.” He jokingly bowed, tilting her down with him which got him a laugh.
Totally worth the back pain later.
Taking the cup from her little hands he set it to the side, then reached up into the cupboard to grab the pink arts and crafts shark cup one of his old stage friends made for Nimona’s second birthday.
He poured the water originally in the glass cup into Nimona’s cup but was denied once again when he tried to give it to her because she wanted new water. So, Ambrosius simply poured the water back in the glass and poured now, refreshingly cool water into the pink cup.
This time the little gremlin took it happily, allowing Ambrosius to grab the other cup and have a drink with his little shark.
They both smecked at the crisp taste of the water.
Ambrosius took his and Nimona’s cup, setting them carefully into the sink. He took hold of his cane and headed back upstairs. As they made it back to the rooms, they found Ballister half awake, eyes blinking rapidly every now and then, waiting for them by Nimona’s room. Ambrosius huffed at his man, but Ballister turned to his right side, showing that he had taken his arm off, so hey pick and choose your battles at least this is a compromise of a sort.
Both dads tiredly entered their child’s room, the two men whispering to each other as their little shark seemed to have dozed off on the journey back. At the sight of a bed, Ambrosius remembered how absolutely exhausted he was, and he couldn’t wait to get back to his own.
He tried to put Nimona onto her bed, Ballister standing on the other side with her blanket at the ready, but the stubborn little thing just wouldn’t let go. He thought for a second that maybe she was awake and playing one of her games, but nope, she was absolutely gone from this world for the time being...
Nah, this ain’t a battle he’s fighting or winning tonight.
Rather than prying her arms off, or waking Nimona up and asking her to let go, Ambrosius proceeded to simply plop down onto the shark shaped bed with a slightly pained groan. He made sure not to crush the kid, but eventually made himself comfortable enough on the mattress while using one of the many plushies as a pillow and closed his eyes.
After a second of silence he felt the bed on the other side dip.
“Ah, so it’s one of those nights?”
He opened his eyes only a bit, as much as possible at least to watch husband climb into the bed with them. It wasn’t the smallest fit, but he could tell that Ballister was staying as much near the edge as he could in order to make more room for him and Nimona.
Gods, he loved him.
As soon as he was in the bed his love draped the blanket over the three of them, making sure Nimona wasn’t being suffocated. Ambrosius watched it all with a fondness in his heart that he knows he’ll always hold for this man, despite the times he makes him mad or sick with worry.
Immediately after Nimona let go of him, turning enough to be able to latch onto Ballister now, who gazed down at her with exasperated adoration.
Ambrosius reached over, caressing the side of his lover’s face.
Ballister turned his eyes to him.
He was beautiful, this Ambrosius knew, with the way his eyes reflected the bit of light there was in the room like the stars in the dark night sky, and the way the stubble and hair on his face framed his features so handsomely. But seeing him now, lying here beside him with their daughter, their little shark peacefully snoozed between them....
How had he gotten this lucky in life?
Ballister’s hand came to rest on his own, and he turned his head just so to be able to place a soft kiss on the other’s palm.
Serenely the two lovers, and fathers, fell into a lovely dream. Hands contently clasped and intertwined, protectively set over the smaller one between them, huddled up together on a shark shaped bed, surrounded by stars that glowed in the dark, assuring that the shadows outside wouldn’t harm them.
So yeah, waking up thirsty is the worst, like, ever...
But going back to sleep right after? Refreshed and content?
Well, I guess it isn’t so bad after all.