Chapter Text
The sunlight had just begun to peek through the blinds when Bobby stirred. He blinked slowly, half-asleep, and turned over to face his wife. Athena was still asleep, one hand curled under her cheek, the other resting across the comforter. Her curls were splayed across the pillow, peaceful and perfect.
He smiled.
They didn’t get mornings like this often. Quiet ones. No alarms. No work calls. No emergencies. Just them.
Or so he thought.
Thud.
Bobby sat up just in time to hear the door burst open, followed by the unmistakable sound of four-year-old feet slapping against hardwood floors.
"DAAAADYYYY!"
"MOOMMYYY!!"
Bobby barely had a chance to brace himself before two small bodies launched into the air and landed on the bed with twin giggles and a bounce that nearly knocked the breath out of him.
"Ooof—Mason!" Bobby groaned, catching his son mid-jump before he could go full WWE on his ribs. "Careful, buddy!"
Mason didn’t care. He was already climbing over his father like he was Mount Everest.
"I waked up first!" Mason announced, his dark curls a tangled mess, pajama top on backward. "Then I say, ‘Maddie, wake up! It’s sunshine o’clock!’
"Yeah! I say okay!" Madison giggled, climbing up on the other side of the bed and flopping directly onto Athena’s arm. "We ran super-duper fast!"
Athena groaned softly, face still buried in the pillow. “Why did I think giving them waffles for dinner was a good idea…”
Bobby chuckled. “We’ve got two maple syrup-fueled maniacs.”
"Tickle time!" Madison declared suddenly, and without warning, she pounced.
“Wait—WAIT—” Athena sat up too late. Madison was already crawling into her lap, placing wet, exaggerated kisses all over her mother’s cheek.
“Mommy kissie!” she said proudly. “Why you still seepy?”
Athena laughed, wrapping her arms around her daughter. “Because it’s still morning, baby.”
Mason wasn’t to be outdone. He stood tall—well, toddler-tall—on the edge of the bed, hands on hips, like a superhero about to take flight.
“I jump now!” he announced.
“NOPE!” Bobby grabbed him mid-launch. “What did we say about jumping on the bed?”
Mason pouted. “No jumpin’ on seepy beds…”
“Exactly.”
“Only jumpin’ on the couch!”
“No!” Bobby corrected quickly, holding back a laugh. “No jumping anywhere unless Mommy or Daddy says it’s okay.”
“But it’s bouncy!” Mason whined.
“That’s why it’s dangerous,” Athena said, kissing Madison’s forehead and shifting to sit up fully. “You don’t want to end up with a boo-boo before breakfast.”
“Boo-boos are bad,” Madison said seriously.
“Yeah,” Mason added. “I had a big boo-boo, and I cried so loud!”
“You did,” Bobby said, easing him down onto the bed. “The neighbors probably thought we were under attack.”
Athena grinned. “I still can’t believe you tripped over your own shoe.”
“It was a twap mommy!” Mason shouted. “It moved by itself!”
“It sure did, buddy,” Bobby said, voice full of affection.
The room was full of motion now—flailing limbs, twisted sheets, a pillow falling to the floor. Athena finally sat upright, holding Madison in her lap, brushing the wild curls out of her daughter’s face. Her light brown eyes sparkled, even this early in the morning.
“You are trouble,” Athena said, booping her on the nose.
“I cute!” Madison replied proudly.
“Both can be true,” Bobby muttered.
Mason suddenly flopped back dramatically onto the mattress. “I hunggryy.”
“You just woke up,” Athena said, squinting at the clock. “It’s not even 7:00.”
“But my tummy sayin’ grrrr!”
Madison nodded. “My tummy’s talkin’, too!”
Bobby ran a hand down his face and yawned. “Alright, alright. How about pancakes?”
“YAYYYY!!” both twins shouted in unison.
“But,” Athena added quickly, “after we all brush teeth and change out of our pajamas. Deal?”
“Deal!” Madison said, throwing her arms up.
“Hmm…” Mason squinted. “Can I wear my shark shirt?”
“You can wear whatever shirt you want,” Bobby said.
“Even if it’s backwards?” Athena added, raising an eyebrow.
Mason looked down at himself.
“…Oops.”
Bobby couldn’t help but laugh. “We’ll help you fix it.”
Just as Bobby leaned over to reach for the remote on the nightstand—thinking he might buy them ten minutes with cartoons—Mason decided to climb again.
“I TALL NOW!” he shouted, bouncing near the foot of the bed.
“You’re about to be falling,” Athena warned, reaching out instinctively.
Sure enough, Mason stumbled a little too close to the edge. His foot slipped, and for one terrifying second, he started to tip backward.
“MASON!” Bobby lunged across the bed, grabbing the back of his pajama pants just in time to yank him back onto the mattress.
Mason burst into a fit of giggles.
“Daddy saved me!”
“You scared me half to death, little man,” Bobby said, trying not to show how fast his heart was beating.
“Was I flying?” Mason asked.
“No. You were almost falling. Big difference.”
Madison crawled over to her brother and kissed the top of his head. “Don’t fall, silly. Then Mommy cry.”
Athena’s heart squeezed. “That’s right. No falling. We want happy mornings.”
There was a brief pause. The kind that only lasts two seconds before another storm hits.
“Can we have pancakes with whippy cream?” Madison asked.
“And chocky chips!” Mason added.
Athena looked at Bobby.
“Do you really want to fuel that kind of energy at seven in the morning?” she asked.
Bobby gave her a helpless shrug. “We’re already in the splash zone.”
Twenty minutes later…
The kitchen was filled with the smell of pancakes, Bobby at the stove flipping them like a short-order cook. Athena leaned against the counter, sipping coffee with a smirk as she watched him.
“You look like you’ve been through war,” she teased.
“I have,” he muttered. “And they’re only four.”
“They’re your kids, remember?” she said sweetly.
“Don’t remind me.”
From the kitchen table, the twins were making pancake towers on their plates, singing something that sounded like a mashup of the PAW Patrol theme and “Happy Birthday.”
“Look! Pancake Mountain!” Mason shouted.
“It my pancakey birthday cake!” Madison added, jabbing a fork in it.
“I think you should get hazard pay for this,” Athena said, nudging Bobby’s arm.
“Only if I get overtime when someone flushes a toy down the toilet again.”
“It was one time Daddy!” Madison called from the table.
“It was an accident!” Mason added.
Athena walked over, leaned down between them, and said with a grin, “No more plumbing experiments, or we’re calling Grandma.”
Both kids gasped.
“NOOO!!, Grandma make us nap.”
“Exactly.” Athena smiled, kissing the top of their head.
Later, after the pancakes were devoured and syrup was somehow in everyone’s hair, Bobby and Athena sat on the couch while the twins ran circles around the living room, both in their “super capes”, which were really just hand towels safety-pinned to their shirts.
“You know,” Bobby said, “as exhausting as they are… I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
Athena leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling. “Me neither.”
Then came a crash from the hallway.
“UH-OH!” Madison shouted.
“I didn’t do it!” Mason shouted a beat later.
Athena groaned, lifting her head. “And so it begins again…”
Bobby stood up with a sigh, offering her his hand. “C’mon, partner. Time to investigate the crime scene.”
She took it and stood. “Let’s roll, Captain.”
They walked down the hallway hand-in-hand, ready for whatever chaos their little tornadoes had created next.