"Do you think we can wake them now?"
"I don't know."
"What about now?" Katie was excitedly stepping from one foot to the other.
Both kids peered through the small crack of the door into their parent's bedroom. Josh was gnawing at his bottom lip, a frown on his forehead. He had a small box wrapped in blue paper securely pressed to his belly and was squinting now to get a better look at his parents.
"I don't know if we're allowed to wake them," he finally whispered and looked at his sister.
"But Ms O'Mally had us making presents for them." Katie was pouting now, her own box wrapped in green paper firmly in her stubby hands.
"She also said that it's a special day for dads and that's why they are getting presents."
Katie gave her brother an annoyed glare before she peered into the bedroom again. She could see her dads curled up under the blanket, but neither of them showed any signs of waking up any time soon. "How are we supposed to give them the presents when they are asleep?"
"We should wait until they are awake," Josh stated with all the certainty of his almost five years, but the longing look towards the two men in the bed betrayed him and his sister picked up on it immediately.
"We could wake them, give them their presents and then they can go back to sleep?" Katie's eager suggestion tempted Josh, but a grumbling voice from the bed saved him from having to make a decision by himself.
"Katie? Josh? Everything okay?" Some shuffling and more grumbling followed when the blanket was tossed back and Jack lifted his head to blink bleary at his kids.
"You're awake!" Katie took this as her cue to push the door wide open and ran into the room closely followed by Josh. Both kids didn't even think about stopping and climbing carefully onto the bed but launched themselves at their parents, causing Ianto to come awake with a start when Josh landed on his belly. The surprised "oof" was enough to set Jack off in a laughing fit, who had been alert enough to catch Katie in mid-air.
"What the..." Ianto's eyes flew open, but he caught himself in time when he heard his giggling kids and the baritone laughter of his lover. A moment later Josh's smiling face appeared in front of him and he got a wet kiss on the cheek.
"Happy Father's Day!" The boy shouted and placed another kiss on his father's cheek.
"Happy Father's Day!" Katie squealed and wriggled in Jack's arms so she could press a kiss to his cheek as well.
Both men were too stunned to notice the short expression of panic on their kid's faces when the twins realized that they had jumped onto the bed without thinking of the presents, but some wild scrambling later both sighed relieved when they found the boxes still neatly wrapped at the foot of the bed.
Ianto had used the moment to sit up and exchange a glance with Jack. He opened and shut his mouth several times, but was too overwhelmed to say anything witty, thankful that Jack appeared just as flabbergasted. Before he could even think of forming a sentence, Josh was sitting on his lap again and pushed a present into his hands.
"This is for you!"
"But... I... what...." Ianto stuttered still at a loss for words and looked at Jack for support. However, the other man was occupied with their daughter who had climbed into his lap and presented a similar box to him.
"Open it." Katie urged her dad on, poking Jack's naked chest.
Glancing over at Ianto for a second, he carefully unwrapped his present.
"You too, Tad!" Josh was pulling excitedly on Ianto's pyjama shirt, only satisfied when he saw Ianto tear the paper away.
Eventually, both men reached their present at the same time and pulled a coffee mug each out of their respective boxes.
"We made them at school," Katie explained excitedly.
"Miss O'Mally helped us with the writing," Josh supplied shyly and looked at his Tad who was inspecting his mug.
"She didn't have to help me!"
"Yes, she did!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Hey, no fighting." Jack pulled Katie back who had started to scramble over to her brother. "There is no need to fight. Whether or not Miss O'Mally had helped you is not important."
"I've never gotten something so beautiful," Ianto mused, still turning the mug over and over in his fingers to read the text on it.
"Do you like it?" Josh asked shyly, turning his attention back to his father after sticking his tongue out at his sister.
"I love it, baby! Thank you." Pressing a kiss on his son's head, Ianto pulled him into his arms and hugged him tightly to his chest.
"You really made this for me?" Jack asked his eyes once more glued to the mug in his hand.
The fight with her brother already forgotten, Katie tugged nervously at the blanket that was still covering half of Jack's body. "Yes, do you like it? Everyone in our class made something. Ms O'Mally said it's to show you how much I love you." Peering up at her father through her lashes, the girl was relieved when Jack beamed one of his smiles at her and pulled her close to his chest.
"Oh, I love you, too, squirt. Thank you for making this, it's wonderful!"
Both men smiled at each other over the heads of their children, savouring the moment. Then Ianto smirked and winked at Jack while carefully placing the mug back into its box and putting it on the nightstand.
Giving his lover a comprehending grin, Jack put his mug out of the way as well and nodded when he was ready.
"Now, about that fighting earlier and jumping onto the bed…" Ianto started and shot a wicked grin at his partner.
"We weren't fighting."
"No, not fighting!" Both kids exclaimed and sat up from their position safely snuggled up to their fathers.
"It sure looked like fighting," Ianto said, his grin getting wider when he saw Jack wriggling his fingers. "But the only fight allowed in this house is what?"
The kid's eyes became comically wide when they realized what was going to happen next and they squealed loudly while trying to scramble away.
"Tickle fight!" Jack shouted and flipped Katie on to her back while his fingers mercilessly tickled her sides. The girl was alternating between giggling and screaming and tried desperately to dodge her dad's fingers. But when Jack started to blow raspberries on her belly she could only giggle helplessly.
Ianto had Josh pinned in the same fashion, but when he saw Jack blowing raspberries he stopped and grinned down at his gasping son. One wink and the little boy had a smile plastered all over his face.
With a quick move, Ianto tackled Jack and pinned him down, while Josh scrambled over and started to blow raspberries to Jack's belly, quickly joined by his sister.
Jack gave a rather unmanly squeak when Ianto had pulled him on his back and helped his kids in tormenting their father. He was now wriggling helplessly between giggles and gasps.
"No, no, no. Stop, please!"
"Do you surrender?" Ianto asked, panting from the effort of holding Jack down.
"Yes, please no more tickling."
"Alright, troubles let Dad get… aaah." Ianto realized he had made a mistake by letting go of Jack, when he suddenly found himself flipped on to his back with his arms pinned down, while his kids started to clamber over his body tickling him everywhere their stubby little fingers could reach.
"Ah… not fair." Now the one gasping for air, Ianto tried to wriggle out of Jack's grip, but the older man had him pinned down effectively and was now bending down to blow a raspberry on his exposed belly. Making the same squeaky sound as Jack before, Ianto couldn't decide what was more important, giggling like mad or gasping for air. "Please, please I surrender!"
It was obviously the right thing to say, because the weight that had pinned down his arms disappeared and Jack grabbed Katie while he slumped back down on his back, panting heavily.
Whit all four of them needing a moment to catch their breaths, Jack was the first to speak again. "What time is it anyway?"
Shifting a bit in bed while pulling Josh further up on his chest, Ianto squinted at the alarm clock.
"It's 5:20 am."
"Ah, I knew there was a reason why we were still sleeping," Jack grinned and hugged Katie tightly to show the girl that he wasn't mad.
"Maybe we can catch another hour of sleep," Ianto suggested, barely able to contain a yawn.
"You think that's an option?"
"Maybe." Smiling at Jack, he indicated down to the little boy sprawled over his chest. Carefully pulling the blanket over himself and his sleeping son, Ianto sighed contently when he felt Jack shifting closer, their daughter snuggled up between them.
"Exciting morning," Jack whispered and stretched to press a kiss to Ianto's lips.
"And it will be an even more exciting day." Grinning at Jack, Ianto pulled Josh even closer to his chest and closed his eyes.
"Good thing we haven't told the troubles, yet," Jack mumbled, thinking of the tickets to the Oakwood Theme Park in his wallet.
And just as quickly as laughter had filled the room only minutes earlier, the quiet of even breaths was proof that sleep had once more claimed the occupants. Two of them were smiling in their sleeps as images of their presents mixed in their dreams.
The mugs with the writings of "Best Dad in the world" and "Best Tad in the world" would find their place in the Hub to elicit a smile on the owner's faces every time they drank their coffee from them.
