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The house was quiet.
Too quiet, Luka couldn’t help but think as the front door swung open and he paused just inside the entryway, a bag of groceries in his arms with another hanging off his elbow.
“Hello?” he called, taking another step inside, hooking the edge of the door on his heel, and closing it behind him. “Anybody home?”
The girls should be home from school. It wasn’t anywhere near the Twins’ naptime. Marinette was still on maternity leave, working remotely – and she hadn’t told him of any plans to leave when he’d headed off to the studio that morning. That was kind of why she had asked him to stop by the market on the way home, so she wouldn’t have to leave.
“Darning?” he called, a little louder, then grinned when he heard a harried shhhhhh come from the just up the hall. He moved up to the doorway and poked his head around to peek into the living room, where Marinette was set up in her favorite rocking chair – the one by the large window that overlooked the front garden – with Dewey sleeping against her chest. His grin grew, but she was glaring at him.
“I just got him down, Couffaine, and I swear to God if you wake him…” she hissed, but he just shook his head as he crossed the room and bent to press a kiss to her forehead. He had to shift the bags in his arms a little to successfully bend lower and kiss Dewey’s head, too, and she sucked in a breath when he leaned a bit heavier on the chair – but Dewey was fine. That kid could sleep through anything, in true Couffaine fashion.
“Easy,” he said, pecking another kiss against Marinette’s cheek before standing. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Upstairs. Terrorizing each other,” she sighed, dropping her head back against the chair. “He was hungry, so I asked Harm to watch the boys while I fed him. Mellie was coloring. It seemed safe enough.” He cocked an eyebrow, and she glared at him through bleary eyes. “…shut up. She’s fine.”
“Let me get this away and I’ll go check for myself,” he chuckled. “I’m sure Harmony’s fine, but I trust Mellie about as much as I trust Dingo.”
“She’s your daughter,” Marinette grumped. Luka put the bags down on the coffee table before returning to her side, tipping her chin up, and kissing her as deeply as he dared with a sleeping infant on her chest.
“Our daughter,” he breathed against her lips, and Marinette hummed with a tired smile as he kissed her again. “She may have my family’s chaotic spirit, but that creativity is one hundred percent you.”
“Flatterer,” she huffed. “Don’t think compliments will mean you’re getting lucky tonight.”
“No, that would be my irresistible charm and ability to make you –” he teased, his voice low, but then Dewey was squirming against her, and she shot him a Look and hissed at him to shoo! He chuckled, grabbed the bags, and headed for the kitchen.
He had the groceries away in short order, and it wasn’t long before he was jogging up the steps in search of their little chaos machines. He found Harmony in the boys’ room with Louie on her lap, reading a story. Neither noticed as he poked his head in, but Harmony did look up when he turned towards the girls’ room and found Melody standing outside with one hand holding the door shut, her stuffed snake in a stranglehold in the other with its tail underneath her feet.
Specifically, Harmony looked up when he jumped back, knocking the door open as his hand flew to his chest and a startled SHIT! left his lips. Harmony muttered swear jar while Louie giggled, but Melody was…he’d seen that face before. On her maman. Usually when he was in trouble.
It was almost as unsettling on his little songbird as the way she had just…appeared there. Glaring at him.
“What…what’cha doing, Songbird?” he asked. She puffed out her cheeks and dipped her head towards him.
“…Huey’s in time out,” she said, stomping her little foot on M. Snake’s tail. His eyebrows lifted as he looked at the door.
“…what?” he asked. He could hear little whimpers on the other side of the door, and his eyebrows rose as he looked back at Melody. “Mel. What happened?”
“Huey bited me,” she said, “sos I put him in time out.”
“…what?” he asked, blinking.
She huffed out a longsuffering sigh and held out her arm. Sure enough, there were little red teeth marks forming a half circle just above her wrist.
He blinked again.
“Huey bited me,” she said again. “And Maman said if he bited us again, he goes in time out. So I puts him in time out!”
“In…in your room,” Luka said, and she nodded.
“He saids M. Legsalot is scary, sos I put him with him,” she said, and Luka’s eyes shot open wide as the whimpers turned into outright screams.
…Legsalot had been…well. He had been Juleka’s idea, but Luka hadn’t fought her nearly hard enough for Marinette’s liking. And Harmony and Melody both thought the spider was really cool. How was he supposed to know Huey would be absolutely terrified of the thing?
It was why they kept the tarantula in the girls’ room. It was also why Huey hadn’t gone in there the entire month and a half they’d had him.
“Melodika!” Luka shouted, rushing to move her out of the way. “Let your brother out right now!”
“Papa, no! He’s in time out!” Melody whined, but Luka already had the door opened and had scooped the crying toddler up in his arms. He shushed him, whispering reassurances as he rubbed his back, and Melody rolled her eyes. Luka shot her a Look as she reached over and patted Huey’s shoulder, but she didn’t seem nearly as bothered by it as he thought she should be. “You gonna be nice now, ok?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Huey whimpered, snuggling closer to Luka, and Luka groaned as he pointed to the boys’ room.
“Melody, just…get in there. Let your sister read you a story. You are not in the clear yet,” he sighed. Melody frowned.
“…am I in time out now?” she asked. He groaned and nodded.
“You know what? Yes. Yes, you are. Get in there and think about what you did. No books. No toys. Harm, you can let her out in…oh, two books,” he called.
“Yes, Papa,” Harmony called back. Huey whimpered again, and Luka sighed as he rubbed his back.
“Go on, Melody,” he said. “I’m telling Maman about this.”
“Papa! Nooooo!” Melody whined, grabbing onto his pantleg as he stood. He lifted an eyebrow as Huey cuddled closer. “He bited us! He had to do time outs!”
“And you locked him in there with something he’s terrified of,” Luka said. “You deserve it, too, songbird. Now go.”
Melody grumbled the entire way, and once the door was closed he sighed and leaned back against the wall between the two rooms. He looked down at Huey as he continued to rub his back.
“You ok, little man?” he asked. Huey whimpered and shook his head.
“Maman,” he said. Luka sighed again and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” he said. “C’mon.”
He glanced back into the boys’ room as he passed, and he tried not to smirk when he saw Harmony had pulled two of the thicker books off the shelf. When he made it back to the living room, Marinette looked up with a baffled expression as he deposited Huey at her feet and reached for Dewey. Huey was climbing onto her lap and snuggling close before she could even ask what had happened.
“Like I said, darning,” he whispered, careful not to be loud enough to wake the baby, “that creativity is one hundred percent you.”
(Huey was fine, in the end. Once he’d gotten enough Maman Snuggles. Neither he nor Melody learned their lesson, though, as he was biting her again the next day and, that time, her solution was to chase him around the whole damn house with the spider’s cage.
…M. Legsalot had a new home by dinnertime. His nieces were better with spiders, anyway.)