It was a typical Saturday morning in the Katsuki-Nikiforov household. Victor woke up to find that his spouse was already out of bed. The smell of breakfast enticed him down the hallway and into the living room. He saw his children sitting on the couch watching TV, and greeted them.

"Ohayo-"

"I DIDN'T BREAK ANYTHING."

His four-year-old son, Nikolai, whipped his head around with terror on his face as he interrupted his father with this frantic declaration.

Victor narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Didn't you, now?" he asked suspiciously. Covertly, he cast his gaze around the areas of the apartment that he could see, trying to figure out if anything was missing. He decided his daughter was likely to betray some information on her brother. Coming up behind her, he kissed the top of her head and said sweetly, "And how's my little girl this morning?"

Akilina rolled her eyes at him. "Papa, I'm not a little girl anymore."

He felt a pang of rejection at her words. She had recently turned eleven, so he understood her sentiments, though. He said dejectedly, "Oh, I see. Of course you're not."

Aki, however, ignored his pouting and declared, "I'm a ninja dragon."

He blinked down at her, for once out of things to say. "I see." Looking at her more closely, he noted she was dressed in her dragon onesie, and had a thin strip of cloth wrapped around her forehead. Trying not to laugh, he looked quickly away from her, just as his husband peeked around the corner of the kitchen.

"Vitya, you're up." Yuuri smiled lovingly at his spouse. "Breakfast will be ready in a minute. Aki, can you please set the table?"

She flopped her head back dramatically on the couch. "Otouuusaaan, why do I have to do it? Kolya isn't doing anything."

Yuuri narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as his daughter. "Your brother isn't tall enough to reach the cabinet where the plates are kept. So I suggest that you set the table like I asked, if you'd like to partake in breakfast." Certain of his orders being obeyed, he turned around and walked back to the kitchen.

Aki groaned, but nevertheless got up from her seat and trudged into the kitchen, making her feelings about the chore clear with every step.

Sighing, Victor followed her into the kitchen to help with glasses. When had his sweet little girl started having such an attitude? Ah, rather, his sweet little ninja dragon.

As he walked into the kitchen, he stopped at the stove to give his spouse a peck on the cheek. "Ohayou, zhizn moya," he said. Grumbling, Aki carried a stack of plates and utensils to the kitchen table and began plunking them down noisily. Leaning closer to Yuuri, Victor said in a low voice, "Do you know what Kolya broke?"

Yuuri's head snapped up. "What? Kolya broke something?"

Chuckling, Victor replied, "Well, he greeted me this morning by shouting that he didn't break anything, so it seemed a little suspicious."

The Japanese man sighed. "I'll take a look around after breakfast and see if I can figure out what it was."

"Oh, you didn't need to do that, dorogoi, I just thought you might have heard some shattering or something that might give me a clue."

"Unfortunately, I didn't. Or maybe fortunately? Who knows." He shrugged. "At any rate, breakfast is ready."

"All right." Leaning back into the doorway, Victor called, "Kolya, breakfast time! Turn the TV off." He went to the cabinet to pull down glasses, trying to help his spouse direct the chaos of finding drinks and arranging food on plates.

When they were all finally settled in eating, Yuuri casually said, "So, Aki, anything happen this morning?"

"Oh, yeah, Kolya broke the remote."

"Aki!" The little boy glared at his sister, his blue eyes flashing with anger at the instant betrayal.

Patiently, Yuuri interrupted, "What happened, Kolya?"

Nikolai looked sheepishly at his otousan. "I dunno. I dropped it, and then it stopped working."

"Ah. Well, I'll take a look at it after breakfast, but you'll have to do something to amuse yourselves other than TV for a bit."

"Something quiet, preferably," Victor interjected. "I have some work to do for the Federation, and I believe it is shopping day for Otousan."

"I can wait for that until your work is done, Vitya." Yuuri turned back to his children. "But either way, you two should find something quiet to do.

"Mm." Nikolai made a noise that was probably agreement around his mouthful of food.

They finished breakfast, and at Yuuri's insistence, both children helped clear the table before they went racing off into their rooms to play. When two doors had slammed shut, Victor turned to his spouse. "Well, hopefully that's the last we'll hear from them in a while. I'm going to go to our room with my laptop, but I have no doubt they'll be out here again in a little bit."

"That's probably a good idea," Yuuri agreed, already headed over to the coffee table to pick up the remote. Victor followed him, giving him a kiss on the back of his head as he scooped his laptop up and retreated to their bedroom.

He hadn't been working long, however, when he heard a screech from the room across the hall. Sighing, he got up and cracked his door open. "What's wrong?" he called.

Aki's door opened, and she yelled, "Papa, Kolya bit me!" Indignantly, she held up her hand. Victor squinted at it, but couldn't see more than a faint imprint of a mark.

"Why did he do that?" he asked.

"Because I let him." Aki shut the door again, yelling something to her brother as she did.

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, at least he supposed they seemed to be resolving it themselves. Yuuri called down the hallway, "Everything ok?"

"Yes, lapochka. I'm going back to work now."

"All right. I can deal with it next time, you know."

"I know. I was just closer this time." Blowing a kiss down the hallway, he shut the door again.

This time, peace lasted about 20 minutes until his door burst open, and Aki burst into the room, Nikolai following her closely. "Kolya! Stop it! STOP STOP STOP!" she screeched, holding her hands over her ears as her brother followed after her.

Victor angled the screen of his laptop down so he could get a better look at the sudden intruders. "Aki, why are you yelling at your brother?"

"He won't stop talking and I don't want to hear him!"

Yuuri came down the hallway at the commotion, just as Nikolai protested, "I just want to tell a story…"

"NO!" Aki yelled.

Victor cut in. "Aki, let Kolya tell a story."

Aki flopped dramatically backwards onto her parents' bed. "FINE."

Yuuri interjected, "Kids, maybe you should take this to the living room, Papa's trying to work."

"No, it's ok, they can be here. I'd love to hear your story, Kolya." Victor smiled encouragingly at his son.

Nikolai plunked himself down on the bed next to his sister, enjoying his rapt audience as he began his story. "Once upon a time there was a princess and her name was AKILINA!"

Aki looked at her brother suspiciously from her place on the bed.

"Princess Akilina had a beauuuuuuuuuutiful smile."

"Awww, that's so sweet, Kolya," Aki said, warming up to the story now.

"Then she got hit by a car."

"KOLYA!" Aki shrieked, jumping off the bed.

Yuuri cut in smoothly, moving an arm in between them to prevent potential violence. "Kolya, that's really not an appropriate thing to say about your sister."

He looked up, wide-eyed, at his otousan. "But it wasn't about her, it was about Princess Akilina."

"That's obviously supposed to be me!" Aki fumed.

"Either way, I don't feel like that's appropriate subject material for a story. Now come on, you've bothered your papa enough. Let's take this to the living room. I got the remote working again, so if you two can get along, you can watch TV for a little bit."

"YAAY!" Both kids cheered as they bounced off the bed and out of the room. Yuuri winked at Victor as he shut the door.

Amazingly, this time the peace lasted until lunch time, when Yuuri called him into the kitchen for sandwiches. The children seemed to be in the midst of a truce, chatting happily with each other about the show they had been watching.

When he had finished, Victor stood up and took his plate to the sink, saying, "I'm almost done with my work, and then you can go to the store, lapochka."

Yuuri nodded. "That's fine, you can take your time. I've just been doing some cleaning while I'm waiting. Kids, can you go straighten up your rooms? I'm going to vacuum and dust in the living room."

They both groaned as Victor walked away, smiling to himself. He could hear their protests all the way down the hall.

Despite that, he was able to work in relative silence until his work was completed. Sending off one last email, he shut his laptop, standing up to stretch. He decided to go check on his children, since he'd left most of the parenting to Yuuri so far in the day.

Opening his door, he stepped out into the hallway and knocked on the door across from his. He heard frantic shuffling on the other side, and Nikolai's voice called out, "Don't come in yet!"

He frowned. What was Kolya doing in Aki's room? He was supposed to be cleaning his own room. He opened the door, and was greeted with an absolute disaster. Books and toys were strewn about everywhere, and clothes draped from nearly every surface. He gaped at the sight before him. He knew that her room had not looked like this yesterday. He demanded, "What happened in here?"

Nikolai's clear eyes looked up at him. "I won," he responded calmly.

"What? Won what?" Deciding he didn't really need to know, he waved his hand and said, "Never mind, actually. Aren't you supposed to be in your own room, cleaning?"

Aki stepped out from behind the bed. "We made a deal, Papa. He's gonna help me with my room, and then I'll help him with his."

"As nice as that thought is, it clearly doesn't seem to be working. Your room looks worse than it did before. Kolya, pick up all the clothes, and then go back to your room and clean it up. Aki, you are not to talk to him until he goes back to his own room." Shaking his head, Victor left the door open and walked out. He made his way to the living room and flopped down into a chair, sighing heavily.

Yuuri looked at him. He had been putting the vacuum back in the closet. Shutting the door, he asked, "What's wrong, Vitya?"

"Our children have made an absolute mess out of Aki's room."

"What? I just checked in there about 20 minutes ago, what on earth did they do?" He started down the hallway, but Victor stopped him.

"I already dealt with it, but I'm just not sure why they felt the need to do that." He rubbed his forehead with one hand.

Yuuri chuckled at him. "Perhaps because they're children?" He turned and took a few more steps down the hallway, calling, "Aki, Kolya!"

They both poked their heads out of Aki's room. "Da, Otousan?" Aki said.

"I'm headed to the store in half an hour. Anyone who is done cleaning their room can come with me and pick out a candy bar."

"OOOH!" They both squealed and darted back into the room, talking excitedly together. Yuuri chuckled as he came over to sit next to his husband.

Victor looked at him admiringly. "I swear, you're Baba Yaga."

Yuuri stared at him for a second before letting out a chuckle. "So what are you saying about me, that I'm old and ugly? Or maybe that I'm going to grind up the children's bones and eat them?"

Victor laughed also. "Of course not, my beautiful Yuuri. I meant that you have a special magic that makes children obey you. Although I wouldn't mind if you ate me." He winked.

"Hmm, that sounds nice." Yuuri stood up and sauntered over to the chair his husband was sitting in. He lifted one knee and placed it on the chair next to Victor's thigh, and draped his arms casually over Victor's shoulders. Leaning down close to the silver head, Yuuri whispered, "We'll have to see just how much like Baba Yaga I am later."

A pleasant shiver ran through Victor. He turned his head, capturing Yuuri's mouth in a demanding kiss. When he pulled away, he muttered, "Damn, I never thought I'd get turned on by Baba Yaga."

Yuuri laughed. "Hey, at least I know you'll still be attracted to me when I'm old and wrinkly."

Gazing up adoringly, Victor replied, "I doubt you'll ever get all that wrinkly, but of course I'll still be attracted to you. You're you, and you'll always be beautiful."

Yuuri snorted. "Flatterer." Despite his attitude, he looked pleased, and leaned down to give Victor another kiss before settling himself sideways in his lap. As Yuuri waited for the kids to be done cleaning, they chatted happily about this and that, sitting comfortably together in the chair, mostly just passing time enjoying each other.

Eventually, Nikolai burst out of his room, excitement written all over his little face. "Otousan, I'm done! Come look at my room!" he exclaimed.

Yuuri smiled at their son. "All right, Kolya, I'll come see if it's clean enough for a candy bar." Giving Victor one last kiss on the forehead, he levered himself out of the chair and followed the bouncing blond head down the hallway. He peered into the bedroom and exclaimed, "Wow, Kolya, it's very clean! You did a great job!" The little chest puffed out proudly as Yuuri patted his head.

Victor commented from his seat, "Aki had better hurry up if she wants to go. She only has a few minutes left."

Nikolai nodded seriously. "I'll go get my coat and shoes," he announced, scrambling to the door. He sat on the floor to put his shoes on, but had to keep pushing away an excited Makkachin. The poodle seemed to be fairly certain he could help NIkolai with his shoes.

Yuuri grabbed their coats and tapped his feet into his own shoes. "Aki, I'm leaving now," he called. "Are you done?"

Silence met his question. Yuuri looked over at his spouse with one eyebrow raised. Victor waved his hand unconcernedly. He would deal with their daughter. Yuuri took Nikolai's hand and led the happily chatting child out of the apartment. Victor got up from his seat, making his way down the hallway. Reaching Aki's door, he knocked gently.

"Aki?" he called.

There was no response.

Sighing, Victor said, "I'm coming in." Opening the door, he saw his daughter sitting on the floor in the middle of a pile of toys, her head hanging down and looking very dejected. Picking his way over the small pile, he sat down on the floor next to her. "Aki, you're almost done. Did you give up?"

She nodded, still not looking at him.

Oh good. She was picking the silent treatment. One of his least favorite things, especially from his normally extremely verbal daughter. Another thing that he wasn't enjoying about puberty striking the Katsuki-Nikiforov household. Scooting a bit closer, he tipped his head so he could see her face better. "Can you talk to me about why you're giving up?"

She glared sullenly at the carpet. "It's not fair! Kolya made all this mess, and then he still gets to go with Otousan and get candy!"

"Now, Aki, that's not exactly fair. You both made this mess together, and he did help clean up part of it."

"It's just...Kolya's always around!" she burst out in sudden anger.

"Well, yes, he lives here, too."

"He doesn't have to," she muttered angrily.

"Akilina! That is not kind! You only get one brother, so you should appreciate him a bit more."

"But Papa, he isn't even cute anymore! I remember when he came home, and he was just so cute and sweet. But now he's all big and annoying, and makes huge messes in my room that I get in trouble for!"

Victor gently ran his hand over Aki's dark hair. "Orel'ka, of course Kolya got bigger. So have you. Both of you are going to keep on getting bigger until you're grown up. It's good to remember how he used to be, and what you loved about him then, but you should also try to appreciate him how he is now. For example, you guys can finally have some real conversations now, right? And there are some TV shows that you both like to watch together. And I know that you two like to play together."

Slowly, Aki nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right, he's not too bad. But he still was cuter as a baby."

Smiling wickedly, Victor quipped, "So were you."

She looked at him in outrage, mouth hanging open. "Papa!"

He laughed heartily. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, Aki! You're super adorable now, too! I just wanted to tease you a bit." Still laughing, he pulled her into his side, hugging her and giving the top of her head a kiss. "Now come on, let's finish up your room." Standing up, he began picking up her toys and putting them in a nearby toy box.

Between the two of them, the work went quickly, and by the time Yuuri and Nikolai returned, they were sitting at the kitchen table, chatting over sodas.

"Tadaima!" Nikolai announced as he bounded into the kitchen, laden with as many shopping bags as his small body could carry. He unceremoniously dropped them all on the floor and started rooting through one. Yuuri followed him more calmly as Victor responded.

"Okaeri, you two. Did you have a nice trip?" Standing up, he went to his spouse and took the bags from his arms, adding a kiss as he did.

"Yeah, we did! And Aki, I have a shopping surprise for you!"

Shopping surprises were a special family tradition they had. Victor had been the one who had started them, long before they'd had children, or even before they were married. There were several times when he had been somewhere and seen things that he knew that Yuuri would just love, so he bought them, even if it wasn't near any holiday. After all, what reason did he need to spoil his Yuuri? The first time he had brought one to his student, Yuuri had blinked at him and asked what it was for. So, on the spot, Victor had made up the phrase "shopping surprise" to describe the present. Since then, it had become rather popular among their close circle of friends, and all of them occasionally gave each other and their families these small presents for no reason. Victor, the originator of the trend, was also perhaps its most enthusiastic proponent, since he simply loved showering his family with little presents.

The mention of the phrase had piqued Aki's interest. She stood up from the table and looked at her brother as he triumphantly held up two mishka kosolapy packages. "We got you a candy!" he squealed.

She looked at her otousan in surprise. "But Otousan, I thought I wasn't getting one because I wasn't done cleaning my room."

Yuuri smiled at her. "Are you saying you don't want it?"

She protested, "No, I'll take it! Thank you, Otousan!" She happily took the candy bar and peeled the wrapper off.

"Don't thank me, thank your brother. He insisted on getting you one, and said that you'd definitely be done cleaning by the time we got back." He turned around and began pulling items out of the bags to put away.

Aki turned her gaze on her little brother. "Kolya, thank you," she said quietly, clearly not wanting to make too big of a show out of her gratitude.

He grinned up at her through a chocolatey smile. "Yup! Because Aki is the best oneesan!"

Victor's heart felt like it was melting. It was so nice to see his children getting along.

His husband, however, was on a mission. "Guys, can you go eat those in the living room so Papa and I can put the groceries away?"

"Ok, Otousan!" they chimed, scrambling away happily with their candy.

Victor began helping his husband, pouting a little. "I was enjoying them being all sweet to each other," he groused.

"I know you were, but you can enjoy them after we get these perishable foods put in the fridge."

"Yuuuuriiii, you're heartless," Victor whined. "Who knows if they'll still be getting along by the time we're done?"

"Well, you'd better hurry up with that then." Not even looking at his husband, Yuuri opened the freezer and began putting food inside.

Despite his protestations, Victor helped willingly, and they quickly had all the food put away. Victor walked into the living room and was met with the sight of both his children holding their candy wrappers up to their faces, making growling noises.

"What are you two doing?" he asked, amused.

Nikolai turned towards his papa and responded in a gruff voice, "It's a kid thing, you wouldn't understand."

Victor stopped in his tracks, unsure if he felt more amused or hurt that his children were excluding them. His husband chuckled from behind them. "And you were worried they weren't going to be getting along anymore."

"Yuuuriiii!" Victor wailed, turning around and burying his face in Yuuri's shoulder.

Comfortingly, he patted Victor's head and whispered in his ear, "It's all right. You might not understand kid things, but you get to enjoy adult time with me later."

Victor felt a heat spread through his abdomen at his husband's suggestive words. Happily, he hummed into Yuuri's neck.

"Papa, Otousan, I'm bored. Let's play a game!" Aki declared.

Victor leaped out of his husband's arms, beaming at his daughter. "Of course, orel'ka! What do you want to play?"

Yuuri laughed at his sudden mood changes, but Victor ignored him. Their children were just too cute, after all.