They're in the big bed, with the twins between them snuggled under the covers and clothed in their special Halloween pajamas, wide awake and waiting impatiently for their bedtime story to begin. Illyana and Kitty know very well that the two of them had only been half-pretending to be scared when they came begging to sleep in their bed with them for the night, and so they had humored them, all piling into the master bedroom as soon as Hocus Pocus ended and the television was switched off.
Although the four of them had been out trick-or-treating for a few hours earlier in the evening, Nadya and Tatiana don't look nearly as tired as they should be - and their parents blame the candy for that one. They may have limited their supply with promises of letting them have more tomorrow, but even a few chocolate bars is enough to see a spike in their energy, and they're just lucky they're not bouncing off the walls like they were on Valentine's Day.
Kitty thinks that she and Illyana are more exhausted than the both of them, but it's a pleasant kind of exhaustion. She got to see her beautiful daughters running around the neighborhood in their handmade Stormtrooper costumes, demanding candy in high-pitched squeals and shaking plastic blaster rifles in the faces of anyone who put up even the mildest form of resistance. Earlier in the day, they had had the entire mansion around their little fingers as they chased them down with those same weapons, making the appropriate sound effects with their mouths and shrieking with laughter whenever they were snatched up by one of their many 'relatives' and tickled mercilessly.
The twins can be little terrors, but they're her little terrors, and as tired as she is, she is more than happy to give them the bedtime story they're pleading for.
"Okay," Kitty starts, "This one is called The Ghost and the Demon."
Illyana is quick to object with a half-hearted glare at her lover, "The Demon and the Ghost, she means."
"No, The Ghost and the Demon," Kitty repeats, glaring right back at the blonde over their daughters' heads. Illyana squints at the brunette, but otherwise relents.
"Fine," she says.
With a triumphant little smirk, Kitty goes back to the story, "Now, the ghost and the demon were very, very good friends. They did everything together, even though sometimes the demon couldn't touch the ghost unless the ghost tried really hard to stay solid. But one day, the demon went missing! The ghost checked all the usual spots for her, including under the stairs and in the demon's brother's room, but she couldn't find her best friend anywhere."
"The demon had gone out on an adventure," Illyana continues, only for Kitty to cut her off.
"But because she hadn't told anyone where she was going, or used the buddy system like she was taught to, a mean old wicked witch who wore nothing but white grabbed her off the swing set and took her to her secret lair. It was up to the ghost to save her!"
This time, a disbelieving Illyana glares at her for real, "That is not what happened."
"It's a made up story, Illyana," Kitty tells her matter-of-factly, giving her lover a pointed look, "Go on."
"What actually happened is-"
"The ghost tracked down the demon using her genius-level intelligence, but she didn't show herself right away-"
This time, the interruption came from one of the little ones between them, in the form of a fart noise coming from Tatiana's pursed lips, "This story blows."
"That's because she's telling it wrong," Illyana points out, ignoring the obvious offense on her lover's face.
"Fine," Kitty sniffs, "You tell it."
"Okay," the grin that spreads across Illyana's face is mischievous, "the demon went out on an adventure all by herself because she wanted to show the ghost that she could do cool things too. But then, something terrible happened. The ghost got kidnapped!"
"How did the demon know the ghost got kidnapped?" Tatiana asks, eyes narrowed skeptically.
"Yeah see, in my story, the ghost noticed that the demon was missing, but if the demon is off having her own adventure, who knows what the ghost is doing back home," Kitty adds smugly. Illyana kicks Kitty's foot underneath the sheets.
"The demon knew because she felt it in her soul," she explains, dragging out the last few words like it should have been obvious.
Kitty crosses her arms and gives the blonde a sharp kick of her own, "The ghost would never have let herself get kidnapped. She's too smart for that."
"Fignya*," Illyana is quick to retaliate, immediately followed by the loud pop of someone's bubblegum.
"Mama said a bad word," Nadya finally speaks up, licking at the gum that's now stuck on her lips and chin.
Kitty looks down at her in pure horror. Torn between Illyana's behavior and their daughter's, it's a few moments before she can find her voice, "Nadya Illyanichna Pryde. Where did you get that gum?"
Without a word, Nadya leans up and lifts Illyana's pillow to reveal a stash of the same bubblegum she's smacking on. The stare Kitty issues the blonde is life-threatening.
"Nadya," Illyana scolds her, ignoring the look on her lover's face, "we don't take other people's things without asking."
"And, despite the bad example your mama sets, we do not hide candy under our pillows. And we definitely do not eat it after we have brushed our teeth and our parents told us that we couldn't have anymore."
"Give me the gum, dushenka**," Illyana demands amidst Tatiana's snickers, reaching her hand over to her daughter's mouth. Nadya refuses at first, closing her lips tightly, but when the blonde raises her eyebrows in an unspoken threat, the child spits it out into her palm, "Good."
"Now let's get your hiney back to the bathroom to brush your teeth again," Kitty tells her. She slides out of the bed, her arm around Nadya's waist to drag the glowering child with her. As soon as her feet are on the floor and Illyana has dropped the gum into the brunette's hand, she's marched out of the room.
"This is better than the story," Tatiana finally pipes in and despite herself, Illyana laughs. The child props herself up on her hands, slapping her feet together beneath the covers, "Can I have gum?"
Instead of a response, Illyana picks up Kitty's pillow and pushes it against Tatiana's face, "No."
The small brunette's laughter is muffled into it and she lays back down, crossing her arms over her chest after she knocks the pillow away from her face.
A moment later, Nadya is escorted back into the bedroom, grumbling under her breath, and climbs up onto the bed, Kitty right behind her. Shadowcat pulls the covers back over both of them, and sighs. "Are we ready to get back to the story now?" she asks.
"No," Tatiana speaks up, "your story sucks. I wanna tell it."
Kitty lets out an offended hmph, but relents with a roll of her eyes, "Go on." With Illyana following suit, she settles back down into the pillows.
* Bullshit - Translated from Russian.
** Little Soul - Translated from Russian.