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"No kisses," Kimberly giggled, burying her slightly damp nose into the soft fur of their new but very much loved puppy. Beside her, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a small pile of treats in his hand, Jackson rolled his eyes. At eight, he was getting too old and cool to want to spend every other weekend home with his dads, but his smile was almost as enraptured as the first time he'd held (a toddler appropriate) guitar in his hands.
"Dad," Jackson complained, stroking his free hand through the red fur of the setter puppy. "He's not doing it."
Hawk, sprawled on his chair after his own efforts to teach the puppy how to give them his paw had proved fruitless, reached out and ruffled his son's hair.
"He's only a puppy, little star," he reminded him gently. "You weren't doing tricks when you were a baby." Well, not unless Hawk counted Jackson's uncanny trick of knowing exactly when Hawk was about to drift off before crying.
"He doesn't do any tricks now either," Kimberly muttered, her voice fortunately muffled enough by Lucky's fur that Jackson didn't hear her.
Hawk sent a mildly reproving glance at his daughter, smiling back at Jackson before his far too perceptive baby boy realised he'd missed something. "You just have to be patient with him."
"Like Papa says we have to be when you're working and we want to play?" Jackson checked, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Hawk for clarification.
No matter how much he wanted to, Hawk did not refute the implication that he was a workaholic. Instead, he sighed and nodded. "Exactly." Hawk did shoot a slightly annoyed look at Tim (who he was certain had snickered softly, the traitor).
"You just need to keep trying, munchkins," Tim called, absorbed in one of the thick tomes he's carried home from the library yesterday. "You nearly have it."
Buoyed by Tim's confidence, Jackson held out his palm again. "Paw, Lucky," he encouraged, tone cajoling. "Paw!"
Lucky turned his big brown eyes on Jackson, licking his cheek from jaw to temple. Jackson's laugh filled Hawk's ears. Wiping off the puppy's slobbery affection with the sleeve of his shirt, Jackson tried again. He held up the pile of treats in his hand, then put his free palm out. "Paw!"
Lucky tilted his head, lifted one of his too-big-for-his-body paws, and pounced on Jackson. The excited puppy's tail wagged furiously, puppy kisses licked all over Jackson and then Kimberly's giggling cheeks.
Hawk's own cheeks soon hurt from smiling, his children's happiness infectious. He watched - carefully, always - as Jackson and Kimberly half cuddled, half play wrestling with the puppy. An energetic blur of motion. In all the kerfuffle (a word Hawk seldom used but remembered his mother employing with great efficiency), Lucky snaffled up the treats that had fallen to the floor, his little fluffy body vibrating with energy.
Hawk saw it coming before it did, used to the sugar high energy of his two babies and now the boundless energy of their (to use Frankie's teasing term to Tim) new fur baby.
Lucky's nails clicked and skidded on the hardwood floor, the puppy zooming out of the living room with a flurry of excited barks. Kimberly and Jackson shared a grin, their expressions of twin mischief. Hawk closed his eyes a beat, hoping they'd reconsider, but when he opened his eyes, all he saw were the twin blurs of the children racing after Lucky, their calls and laughter floating back into the living room.
"No running in the house," Hawk called after the three of them. He fully expected to be ignored of course, just as he had ignored his own mother as a child, tearing through the house with nary a care in the world. Hawk shook his head, turning to Tim. "You could help, you know?"
His Skippy looked up from his book, an easy smile on his lips. "You have it all in hand, my love," he replied, turning the page slowly. He looked stunning as ever, laid out along the couch, sunlight streaming through the windows onto him, hair lit with a golden halo. Hawk's angel brought to life.
Any other weekend, Hawk would go to him, press kisses to his lips, until Tim set aside his book and paid attention to Hawk instead. But this was one of their weekends with their children. And, Hawk remembered Tim's enticing promises when they were first discussing maybe getting a puppy one day. You'll hardly have to do anything, Hawk and I'll train him and take him for walks. I promise, you'll hardly notice he's here.
Hawk loved Tim, more than anything else in the world (other than Jackson and Kimberly, of course), but sometimes his love did have the tendency to get lost in his book and forget that anything else was going on. It wasn't that Hawk didn't understand - he had that problem himself, except about his work - but this was family time. The years were flying by far too fast, and Hawk didn't want either of them to look back and wished they'd had more time. And, Hawk wasn't about to have Tim lying there looking like temptation incarnate when there was nothing he could do about it.
"Kids!" Hawk called, pitching his voice to carry. "Papa wants to play too!"
Tim closed his book, swinging up off the couch with a grace Hawk appreciated. "I do?" Tim whispered, moving into Hawk's space as Hawk moved into his.
They had a few moments yet, the excitable barking sounding like it was nearer to the backyard then the front of the house.
Hawk reeled Tim in by the front of his red and blue plaid shirt, watching Tim's beautiful eyes flutter shut in anticipation. Their lips met in a soft, sweet kiss. Nothing hurried about it, just love and intimacy born from years together. Tim leaned into his chest, any playful irritation long since gone. The only thing that mattered was this. Just the two of them snatching a moment together before the inevitable.
Running footsteps and a noise of childish annoyance broke the moment, Hawk and Tim looking down to see their children beside them.
"No kisses," Jackson decreed, scrunching his face up. "Come play with us, Papa!"
"Yes!" Kimberly cheered, bouncing around them with energy she'd hopefully burn off before they had to attempt to tackle bed time. "Come play with us, Daddy! Papa!"
Tim picked a giggling Kimberly up, letting Hawk swing Jackson over his shoulder. Lucky bounced around their feet, one of his many balls clutched in Jackson's hand.
Hawk bounced Jackson playfully on his shoulder, setting him gently down on the grass once they were out in the sunshine. "Throw the ball for him, Jax," Hawk said, resting his hand on Jackson's shoulder.
His son grinned up at him, launching the ball clear across the yard with Lucky in hot pursuit.
"At least he's got fetch down," Tim murmured, Kimberly crouching down to accept the ball. "Maybe tomorrow he'll get paw."
Hawk hummed, watching his love get drawn into chasing the ball alongside Jackson and Lucky. "Maybe," he agreed to himself. But it didn't matter. Lucky already had his entire family wrapped around his paw.