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It was one of the few rainy days on the island. Water poured from the sky, flowing down the gutters and into puddles all around the gravel roads and paths. Linus would take the kids out to play, but seven kids out in a rain storm was way too much, especially since Arthur was out picking up a package in town and Zoe was who-knows-where with Helen.
So Linus thought it would be best to keep the kids inside, though one broken lamp later he was starting to regret that idea.
“Lucy! Phee! Stop trying to have flying races in the house!” Linus shouts, looking over to the front door and seeing a certain gnome attempting to escape. “Talia, I swear on all that is holy stop trying to sneak out of the house!”
”But my garden!” Talia fumbles with the doorknob for a minute before Linus scoops her up, plopping her down on the couch. Linus looks up, it now seems like Theodore has joined the flying contest. All three kids glide around, narrowly dodging light fixtures and taller pieces of furniture.
Linus takes a deep breath, “if all three of you don’t get down right now there will be trouble when your dad gets home! And I am not joking! All of you on the couch, now!” The kids blabber out a series of complaints but listen anyway. They join Talia and Chauncey on the couch, the latter taking a nap. How he manages sleep with all the ruckus will forever puzzle Linus.
Linus is just about to propose a game of Pictionary or something when the door creaks open. Fully expecting it to be Talia trying to sneak out again, Linus whips his head to the entryway. His glare softens when he realizes it’s just his husband, who is currently carrying a box of some sort.
The kids all get up, clambering to greet their dad. Sal, who was upstairs writing, joins his siblings in their cuddle-pile.
”Kids, go sit on the couch. I brought a present for anyone who was good for your papa,” Arthur shakes the box he brought for emphasis.
Linus had never seen his kids move faster, especially going to sit down. They hated sitting still. Sitting criss-cross at the center of the couch, Lucy grinned, “we were so good for papa, weren’t we?” The rest of the kids nod and mumble in agreement, while Lucy blinks his eyes in a way that was supposed to portray being ‘innocent.’
Arthur looks to his husband to confirm, who just shakes his head, “to hell with it. They were fine, let them have their gift.”
”Alright then kids, Linus be a dear and go grab the tv will you?” That seems to rile the kids up more. The tv was put away in a closet on a rolling cart, it was only used for school and sometimes fun. The kids were already excited just by the prospect of getting to use the device.
Once the tv is brought into the room and powered on Phee pipes up, “the tv is cool and all, but what’s in the box?”
Arthur just grins, pulling out what some of his kids recognize as the N64 video game console, “who wants to play Mario Kart?”