The first night with Nikolai home was as sleepless as Victor had remembered with Aki. He and Yuuri had agreed to switch off night duty every other evening, at least for the week that Victor had taken off of work. He had insisted upon having duty the first night, worried about his husband's physical state. The sun found him at dawn, holding his infant son as they both dozed restlessly in the rocking chair stationed in the baby's room. Victor lifted his head wearily at the sound of the bedroom door creaking open.

"Vitya? Are you up already?" His husband whispered through the crack in the door, obviously trying not to wake anyone.

"Da, I'm awake. Kolya is sort of sleeping." Rocking the chair backwards, he kicked his legs to give himself enough forward momentum to stand up without disturbing his son. He shuffled over to the door and nudged it open with his foot. When his husband's face was revealed in the dim light of the hallway, he smiled affectionately. "Ah, milyy, you have to give me some warning when you look so cute while I'm half-asleep."

Yuuri looked down at his baggy t-shirt and pajama pants, then back up in confusion. "I…see? Sorry about that?"

"Good." Leaning sideways over the baby in hi arms, he pecked his husband on the lips and started walking down the hallway. "Is Aki awake?"

"No. I think she's worn herself out the past few days. She's been so excited about her new brother that I don't think she's slept much. My vote is to let her sleep in as long as she wants today."

"Sounds good. But we should wake her if she's not up by lunch time. She has school tomorrow, and I don't think she'll forgive us if she doesn't get to spend any time with Kolya today."

Yuuri laughed quietly. "Agreed. Do you want some breakfast?"

Victor carefully scrutinized his spouse. "I certainly could use some coffee."

"Vitya, that's no good. You've been up all night by the looks of it. You can't just have coffee. I'll make you some eggs too, okay?"

"But aren't you tired too, serdtse moya?"

They were in the living room now, and Yuuri paused in the doorway to the kitchen. Victor watched him in concern as he turned around to respond. "Vitya, I'm just fine. I'm the one who got a full night's sleep, so let me at least make you some food, okay?"

Victor sighed in resignation. "All right. We'll come keep you company while you cook." He followed his husband into the kitchen, taking his seat at the table. He watched lovingly as the Japanese man bustled around the room to make their breakfast.

Just as the eggs started sizzling in the pan, a small yawn was heard from the doorway. Victor turned his head and saw Aki sanding there, rubbing her eyes. He smiled and greeted her. "Ohayo, printsesa! You're just in time for breakfast."

"Hmmn." She shuffled to her chair and plopped down, head and upper body pooling on the table. She opened her eyes just far enough to peep at her little brother. "How is Kolya?"

Yuuri chuckled as he pulled more eggs out of the fridge. "Just the same as he was yesterday."

"Mm. So adorable today too, huh?" She yawned widely and reached a hand out to poke the baby's cheek.

Victor answered, "Of course he is. Just as cute as you were when you were a baby. Although your cheeks were a little fatter." He stretched his hand out to poke her face too, laughing as she lazily swatted at his hand.

"Papa, I'm not a baby anymore."

"I know, but you'll always be my cute orel'ka."

"Papaaa!"

"Do you have to tease her so much?" His husband didn't even look back as he issued the admonishment.

Leaning over to his daughter, Victor whispered, "I swear Otousan has eyes in the back of his head."

Aki giggled. "I bet that would be itchy under his hair."

Victor nodded gravely. "Maybe we should get him a hair tie."

His daughter laughed even harder. Yuuri sighed and asked, "What are you doing now, Vitya?"

"Me? I'm innocent, sladkiy. Right, Koyla?" But the appeal to his infant son merely resulted in Nikolai letting out a long, shallow sigh.

"Don't go dragging the baby into this. It's bad enough that you get Aki caught up in your shenanigans."

"Wha–me? What did I do?"

The little girl next to him lifted her head to nod in agreement with her otousan as she admonished, "Papa, be nice!"

"Not you too, orel'ka!" Victor leaned back in his seat, throwing the back of one hand across his forehead as he pretended to swoon. "Cast off by everyone! Even Kolya has abandoned me! Makkachin! Makkachin, where are you? You're all I have left now in this cruel world." As he sank down further into the chair, he heard the click of toenails on the floor and felt a wet nose snuffle at his neck. Aki giggled uncontrollably as Victor tried his best to sit back up without disturbing the baby in his arms, all while attempting to push the poodle away from him.

In the middle of this hubbub, Yuuri came over to the table and set two plates down. "Can you take a break from that to have your breakfast?" His brown eyes shone with amusement at the scene.

Enchanted, Victor managed to successfully push Makkachin aside long enough to crane his head up and place a kiss on his spouse's cheek. "Of course, muzh moy. Thank you for making it for us!"

Aki clapped her hands together in front of the food before picking up her fork and shoveling eggs into her mouth with savage speed. Victor laughed as he began to eat more sedately. "You don't have to eat so fast. They're not going anywhere."

Through a mouth full of food she managed to reply, "Yeah, but I wanna hold Kolya."

Yuuri came to join them, placing his own eggs down along with a cup of tea. "There will be plenty of time for that today. Assuming you don't have any homework?"

Aki's fork paused in midair, and she shifted her gaze to her parent. Yuuri stared back, unmoved, as Victor laughed. "No use trying to fool Otousan. You'd better hurry up and get that homework done before Kolya here wakes up from his nap."

She shoved the last few bites of egg into her mouth and darted out of the kitchen. Victor turned his amused eyes onto his husband. "So, radost' moya, I was thinking that we could all just snuggle together on the couch today. Maybe watch a movie or something. Aki's going to be upset when she has to go to school tomorrow, so I thought it would be good for her to get as much baby time as possible today. Was there anything you needed me to do?"

Yuuri shook his head. "I think we're in pretty good shape. We got things mostly cleaned up ahead of time, so there isn't really much to do until the endless laundry starts." He smiled affectionately at their son.

"It's already started. We had a change in the middle of the night." Victor looked down at his sleeping son, and felt a wave of exhaustion. Blinking his eyes firmly against the feeling, he picked up his coffee cup and took a long drag.

The other man said quietly, "Why don't you go sleep for a while?"

Victor sat up straighter. "I don't need to. I want to be with you."

His husband rested a hand on Nikolai's head. "I want you to be with us, too. But it would be more fun if you were awake to enjoy it." He stood and held out his arms expectantly. "Now come on. I know you didn't get sleep last night. We'll all still be here if you go take a nap for a couple hours."

Although he wavered, in the end there was nothing he could do against the man he loved so much. Sighing, he stood up and handed over the baby. He said ruefully, "Will I ever get to win against you?"

Settling their son into his hold, Yuuri replied, "No, I don't think so."

Suppressing a full laugh, Victor added, "And now the number of people I can't win against has increased." He bent over to kiss his son on the forehead, then lifted his lips to give the same treatment to his spouse.

"Hai, hai, now go lie down." Yuuri's warm eyes smiled as he added, "I love you. Sleep well."

Overwhelmed with a surge of affection, Victor darted forward to capture the tantalizing lips in front of him. He cupped a hand around the back of Yuuri's neck, drawing them closer as he deepened the kiss. Finally, he drew away and rested their foreheads together. "I love you too. Aishiteru." With one last peck, he withdrew and obediently headed to bed.

As he walked, he made a mental note to set his alarm. He didn't want to miss any time with his precious family, and he certainly didn't want to leave his Yuuri alone for any longer than necessary.