James and Abby were seated at the coffee table playing CandyLand. Charley and Harry were having an epic MarioKart battle. And Q sat on the sofa, working on a code for 008's new car and silently watching over the rest of his family. It was far from quiet, but silence was a rare thing for a house with three children and Q enjoyed this form of chaos, a welcome change from the chaos at work.
Sitting on the table next to the board game was a bowl of candy, various holiday treats that Q and James had a tendency to pick up while at lunch or on their way home. Both had a notorious sweet tooth, rivaled only by their kids and by now, the only treats left were a handful of candy canes. Sorely in need of something sweet while he worked, Q opened the straight end of a candy cane and started sucking on it mindlessly while his fingers flew over the keyboard.
He continued to work, unaware of the shift in the atmosphere. The boys, too, seemed unaffected. Abby, however, got frustrated and eventually yelled out, "Daddy! You aren't even paying attention!"
Q looked up in time to see the flush on James' cheeks, the slightly darkened gaze directed firmly at him before it was pulled back to the game board where James was frantically trying to play and not look as distracted as Q now knew him to be.
It took a moment to figure out what was going on. And then he grinned because teasing James was nearly as much fun as coding or playing games with his kids. Waiting until James' eyes drifted back up to him, Q eased the candy cane out of his mouth before sliding it back in, eyes locked on James the whole time.
His husband swallowed deeply and did his best to take his turn on the game, "Daddy! That's red and you were supposed to go to yellow which is back there." Q chuckled again and went back to his coding.
The next time their eyes met, Q licked the candy cane, all the way down to the curve, which earned him a dark glare and the sight of James shifting uncomfortably on the floor. He smirked once more, nodding to the board game. It was James' turn after all and Abby was difficult when she was frustrated.
Turns out, so was her father because the next time Q slid the candy cane almost all the way into his mouth, James had obviously had enough. "BED!" he shouted, jumping up and causing all three kids' eyes to go wide. "It's too late! Everyone in bed now. Bed! Bed!"
"James, it's only seven. They still have an hour," Q smirked, not even looking up from his computer.
A deep, visceral growl came from his husband and Q looked up at him, a beatific smile and a question on his face. "I'm taking a shower then," he mumbled, stalking off toward the bedroom.
Q waited a few minutes before turning to the twins, "Watch your sister for a few minutes, okay? I need to go check on Daddy and see if he needs help with anything." The boys barely nodded, simply handing another controller to Abby and none of them even looked in his direction when Q made his way to their bedroom to finish what he started.