This one could kinda count as family as well but since I went with the "friends are the family you choose"-theme I decided I could use the family theme for Aged-up Nino as well ;)
"Papa!", the little girl shouted as she came running out of the room where her group stayed in the kindergarten and jumped to fall around his neck. Nino chuckled and straightened up again, wrapping his arms around the little girl on his arms, his youngest child – still.
"Hey, Élodie, how are you! How was your day?"
The girl giggled and began telling him some stories about her playing time and one from lunch, where another girl had given her something from her box, while they began walking back home.
Nino grinned and listened to her while she completely exaggerated on a story which she played with her two friends, something epic about horses that turn to unicorns and can fly around and save others.
He walked bent down to hold her hand and his back ached but he didn't mind. It was more important to him that his little girl walked home instead of being carried. He stopped at a light and laughed at another story she told him.
"And what did Dominic do then, when you stole his ball?"
"He ran after me and we played tag, you're it! And then we played with the ball and the garage door was the target and-"
"It's green, pumpkin.", he interrupted her with a loving grin, knowing his daughter wouldn't mind him interrupting her. She eagerly continued talking about the story as they walked over the street, closing in on their home at the other side of the street. Nino pulled out his keys and came to a stop in front of the house door, unlocking it so they could enter.
Élodie immediately ran past him and up the stairs to knock on their front door. He laughed as he called after his daughter while getting their mail before following her up.
"Élodie, I have a key! You know Maman shouldn't stand u-", a door opened and he rolled his eyes as he heard the little girl squeal again.
"Maman!"
"Hello, sweets! How was your day?"
Nino jokingly groaned as he finally reached their door as well, watching the toddler tightly hug Alya's leg while she grinned at him.
"I just heard all of that! Mercy!", he said with a smirk, ruffling through Élodie's hair before kissing Alya and placing a hand on her stomach, "The doctor said you shouldn't get up too much."
While his voice was still cheerful and his grin stayed on his lips worry waved through it nonetheless. It had been a little more complicated pregnancy and now that Alya was almost due he was a little on edge whenever she did something against the doctor's recommendations. She just huffed against his lips and shook her head, reassuringly brushing over his arm.
"It's just a short walk and you know I'm not made out of sugar, I can handle it."
With that she gently nudged Élodie's head to let her walk inside and followed the toddler, letting Nino shut the door with a smirk on his face and a light shake of his head. He stepped into the living room after them and set down his bag as well as Élodie's small backpack for kindergarten, watching Alya sitting down on the couch with her daughter to listen to her stories. He chuckled and turned around to walk to the kitchen, getting to prepare a dinner for all of them. However, when he got there he noticed a cutting board with a few carrots and sausages already cut down to small pieces and a pot on the stove, on a low setting.
"Alya?", he called, crossing his arms.
"Yeah?", she replied after a short pause to shush Élodie for a moment.
"Did you cook?"
He heard his girls giggling before she threw back a cheeky answer.
"But didn't finish!"
He rolled his eyes and lifted the lid of the pot, smelling the delicious potato soup that she had mastered over the years, along with quite a few other recipes. Definitely had its perks to have a professional cook as a mother-in-law.
So he got to finishing it, even if he didn't have to do much more. She had already almost finished it, safe for the carrots and sausages to put them into the soup and finish it off with a little seasoning.
Just when he picked up the pepper he heard the door open and grinned, quickly running out before Alya had the chance to greet their oldest one, their son.
"Hey Papa.", Matthieu exclaimed as he kicked off his shoes and put down his colorful backpack, blue with sharks on it. The boy had been so proud when he had presented his new backpack for second grade last week.
Nino grinned broadly and offered a fist bump to which his son replied with a hug. And as always, he found himself relieved his little boy still wanted to hug.
Just then he heard Alya get up again and quickly let go of Matthieu to greet his Maman before she could get far. Nino knew Alya was stubborn but he was so even more and he was maybe a tiny bit overprotective.
His son bolted off and he heard the couch cushions rustle again as Alya laughed, sitting down. He smiled and nodded, then got back to the soup to finish it and put it on the table.
After dinner and after bringing Matthieu and Élodie to bed when they had watched the evenly episode of their favorite show, Nino and Alya settled down on the couch to let the evening slowly end. Nino had grabbed a water for them both, firmly pulling through with no alcohol for both of them. Well, it was obvious for Alya not to drink but as soon as she had told him she was pregnant he had stopped drinking as well, because of solidarity.
Alya giggled when he took a sip just as the opening of a crime movie played.
"You know you don't have to do this.", she prompted but he surprised her with a kiss.
"What, so I have to quit kissing you? For nothing, angel, ever."
She laughed and lightly smacked his chest before leaning against him, shaking her head.
"Even then it'd do nothing. But I'm actually a bit glad you're not drinking as well."
He merely shrugged, watching as the movie began with a young man running down a road, looking stressed.
"Don't wanna risk it."
"That's not the reeeeaason~", she teasingly sang, watching the character on the screen taking a turn and facing a car with the obvious bad guys.
"Well, don't wanna risk Nino junior gets bad ideas, that's not risking something as well!"
She laughed and brushed over her bulging stomach, lovingly drawing circles with her thumb.
"You're a great father, Nino. Thank you.", tears welled up in her eyes and she leant her head against his shoulder, sniffling, "Heh, stupid hormones."
His hand joined hers on her stomach and he grinned down to her, then bent down to kiss away her tears.
"Just two more weeks. And then we'll have Nino junior."
She mockingly sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Anooooother boy.", she drawled, "The Lahiffe boys are so-… So-…"
"Amazing, awesome, loving, cool, caring and overall talented in sports and music?"
Alya smirked and stuck out her tongue.
"You just described Matthieu and it's only because he's still half Césaire!"
Nino throatily laughed as he quickly lowered the volume when the character on screen got shot by the bad guys after a little intimidating talk, not to wake up the kids on the end of the hall.
"You love me and you know it."
She grinned, kissing his jaw before he could look down to her again.
"And don't you forget it."
"Don't you forget it!", he shot back, interlacing their fingers on top of her stomach. He felt a light kick against Alya's palm, only because their fingers were linked together so closely, and chuckled.
"Jérôme doesn't forget it as well.", she smiled.
"Hey, when did we decide on that name?", he mockingly poked her shoulder and she poked right back.
"A month ago, in bed, you were sleepy and I decided."
He theatrically rolled his eyes and slumped against the backrest, causing her to fall a bit more onto his chest since her shoulder lost its grip on his armpit.
"Of course you decide over my sleepy head, woman!"
"Don't you woman me, Mister. You agreed!"
He chuckled at her pout and quickly kissed her, sitting a little more upright again so she could relax against him, still keeping his hand on her stomach. His other hand snuck around her back and he hugged her around her middle, his hand joining their already intertwined fingers.
"And I love the name, don't worry. Jérôme sounds cool."
They settled a bit again before the light fall of footsteps let them listen up. Moments later, Élodie appeared in the doorframe, rubbing her eyes and sniffling.
"Maman I can't sleep…", she mumbled but before Alya could get up Nino gently held her back and got up instead, helping her adjust to sit comfortable without him before stepping to his daughter and kneeling down, leaving it to Alya to mute the crime movie on TV.
"Hey pumpkin, want a warm milk with honey?"
Élodie nodded and he scooped her up, carrying her to the kitchen to prepare a mug with milk to put it in the microwave and got out the honey jar to take spoonful. When the microwave beeped he got the mug out and put the spoon inside, taking her hand with his free one and leading her back to the living room. He set the mug down on the coffee table and lifted Élodie up to sit with Alya who had put on a documentary about some Scandinavian land, still muted, to not scare the toddler.
Nino then handed Élodie the mug, keeping his hand on it to save them from a mess and left it to the little girl to spin the spoon. They comfortably snuggled together, Nino and Alya to the sides of their child and his hand around them both ending up on her stomach again.
They watched the documentary in silence while Élodie finished her milk, then Nino set the mug down and pressed a kiss to her head.
"C'mon pumpkin, time for bed."
She stubbornly shook her head and leant against Alya.
"I wanna listen to Maman's baby!"
He chuckled and shrugged.
"Five more minutes, then you'll go to bed. Deal?"
The toddler nodded and eagerly sat up to press her ear to Alya's stomach. Unfortunately, she had been a little too eager and Alya huffed but shot Nino a warning glance, signaling him that it was fine. He merely placed a hand on Élodie's back, then leant over and placed his ear on his wife's stomach as well, his face turned towards his daughter. They could hear the baby moving around and Nino grinned.
"Awesome, huh?"
Élodie nodded, completely concentrated on listening to the baby and jumping back a little when a little bump appeared next to her head, probably a tiny foot.
"And that's my baby brother?", she asked incredulously, putting her ear back on the stomach. Alya lightly chuckled at her husband and her daughter leaning against her, brushing through Élodie's fluffy hair that she had inherited from her.
"Yep, that's your baby brother.", she waited for another moment before throwing a glance to her wrist watch and playfully gasping, "Élodie, it's already so late! You gotta go to bed now, that was more than five minutes."
The toddler leant back and nodded, turning to her Papa who lifted her up.
"Say good night to your Maman, pumpkin."
"… 'Night, Maman.", she mumbled, already rubbing her eyes again. Nino leant down to let Alya give her goodnight kiss before carrying her back to her bed and laying her down.
"Good night, Élodie. Sleep well.", he whispered, giving her a kiss as well. She quickly wound her arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as the awkward position allowed her.
"I love you, Papa."
He felt his heart hitching and smiled, hugging her back before softly lowering her back down to her mattress again.
"I love you, too, pumpkin. Good night."
He walked over to the door and looked back, turning off the light.
"… 'Night, Papa."
Nino nodded and closed the door until it was ajar and left to look after Matthieu. His little boy already deeply slept, preparing for another exciting day tomorrow.
"Good night, Matthieu.", he whispered into the dark room, before returning to Alya again. When he got back he leant against the doorframe, grinning at his wife who laid slumped against the backrest, the documentary still quietly playing. Her glasses were tilted because of the awkward position her head was in and one of her hands still rested over her stomach, sometimes twitching when it slid down but mostly staying still. He chuckled and shook his head, walking over to her and brushing over her cheek. He knew she didn't like it when he lifted her up and woke her with that so he woke her before.
"Alya… Alya, angel, you gotta go to bed."
She sniffled and opened bleary eyes, nodding slowly when she woke up a little more again. Her arms locked around his neck and he lifted her up bridal style, not able to suppress a little groan at how heavy she had gotten. He wasn't exactly unfit, having two little, active children and going on a run once a week ensured that, but he was no Adrien either. Though, instead of contorting his face he leant back and began his walk to the bedroom, grinning a little strained.
"You got a little heavy."
"You shut your mouth, you know exactly why…", she mumbled, too sleepy to smack his arm so instead he felt her fingers tapping against his neck. He laughed as he set her down on the bed, thankful for their relatively high mattress.
"Never said anything else. Besides, you're perfect. Was never meant as an insult."
She huffed sleepily, curling up on her side and making grabby hands for the blanket.
"Mmmh… 'Ts all Jérôme. He's the heavy one."
Nino suppressed a chuckle and nodded, spreading the blanket over her before getting in his pajamas and following her to bed and hugging her from behind.
"Of course, it's all Jérôme.", he hummed, burying his nose in her fluffy hair and letting his hand roam over her stomach, "It's all that little, three kilo heavy baby."
A few moments passed and he waited for a snippy answer but her deep breaths told him she had already fallen asleep again so he grinned and closed his eyes as well, his hand on her stomach stilling.
"… Sleep well, beautiful…"
