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"Hi, babies," a woman coos at them, smiling as she bends at her knees, hands resting on her jeans to talk to them. "Where's your mommy?"
Luke and Kieran blink up at her. "Mommy's not here," Kieran says.
"Yeah, Mommy's at work," Luke adds.
"Do you know when she'll be back?"
They nod proudly. "Next weekend!" they chime together.
The woman gasps softly, eyes widening, but she clears her throat and keeps smiling. "Oh, you sweet things! Why don't you come with me and we can go talk to Mr. Policeman about getting her back sooner?"
Before they have a chance to refuse this stranger like they were always taught, someone clears their throat nearby. The woman stands up, frowning at the dark-haired man there. "I'll thank you kindly not to talk to them," Zayne says, voice cold enough to leave a chill in the air.
The woman frowns deeper, arms crossing defensively. "I'll bet you would. You've been hanging around the playground all morning, you creep."
He raises a brow. "Yet you're the one trying to remove them from the playground."
Her mouth drops open in an offended gape. "I was trying to take them to find their mother!"
"Their mother is on the other side of the city," chimes another voice. Sylus comes up beside Zayne, both of them absolute forces of intimidation and annoyance. "I have custody of them this week."
The woman, wide-eyed, looks between the two men, then at the two boys watching the exchange. Red eyes and white hair that match the taller man. She stammers, trying to defend herself. Maybe make an outcry about how these two creepy men who've been loitering around the playground all morning are going to do something to her. Before she can, however, Sylus keeps going.
"Careful, miss. Their mother is a very good lawyer and my patience is running thin. Walk away with what pathetic fragments of your dignity you can keep intact and never come near my sons again."
Burning with indignant embarrassment, she skitters away, calling for her own child and speed walking to her minivan in a huff. Sylus's piercing eyes follow her the whole way.
"We going home now, Papa?" Kieran asks, uncertain about what that was all about, too young to understand how frustrating it is for his two dads to keep dealing with mothers hellbent on 'doing the right thing'.
Zayne shakes his head with a reassuring smile. "No, darling. Why don't we go to the swings? We can push you."
Luke jumps up quickly, already on a mad dash to get the best swing. "I wanna go really high!"
"Hey, wait!" Kieran scrambles up to chase after. "It's my turn on the good swing!"
Zayne grabs Sylus's hand. Finally, he stops staring off where the woman disappeared off to. His brow relaxes, shoulders un-tense. He sighs, walking along with his partner after the two little boys. "At least we didn't have the police called on us this time."
"Or your ex."
"Mm. She'd kill me if she heard some random woman took her boys away. Good intentions or no."
Zayne squeezes his hand. "You're still a good father," he reminds him. Sylus sighs softly through his nose like he needed to hear it.
"This never used to happen with her," he mutters, still a little frustrated. "The moment a mother isn't around, everybody freaks out."
"Next time, I'll wear a dress," Zayne jokes.
Sylus smirks, glancing down at him with something undeniably heated. "Now, that I'd like to see."
"Behave."
"We're making a stop on the way home."
"We are not."
"You'd look good in silk."
"Sylus."