Read till the end, if you are confused ;)

I am the World's Greatest Dad!

The doorknob twists with the sound of the latch drawing into the handle, and a narrow beam of light slowly spreads across the room until it strikes my face. I pull the blankets over my head to black out the light and hope that this sign is enough to frighten the intruder away. The floorboards creak as he approaches the side of my bed and waits for me to acknowledge him rather than try to wake me up. I don't move. I'm too tired to do anything tonight other than sleep.

"Are you awake?"

There's a note of fear in his voice, and I push back all thoughts of sleep. This must be important. My hand slithers out from under the blanket and blindly reaches for the lamp on my nightstand. I pull the chain, casting the room into an unpleasant circle of light. My hand then falls back down to the nightstand and searches for the glasses that seem to be evading my grasp. I finally find them and, pulling them under the covers with me, slide them onto my face. Only then do I lift the edge blanket enough to peek out from under it, and I curse at myself for being so selfish. He looks like he's about to cry.

"Daddy," Tao's lip protrudes as his eyes swell with tears, "I had a bad dream."

I sigh. This isn't the first time Tao has stood in front of my bed, claiming to be awoken by a nightmare, and it surely isn't the last time he's going to do it. Tao often appears at my bedside. To tell the truth, I am suspicious that he comes over every time he wakes up at night, but this time, he is really afraid. I can see it in his eyes and behavior. Without thinking about it, it has become routine by now, I raise the blanket a bit. Immediately, the small child rockets himself into my chest.

"Easy, Tao."

"There was a monster! I dreamed it was under my bed, and it tried to eat me and..."

I tune out Tao's babbles as I focus my attention on making sure that he is properly tucked in. In a few minutes, he'll wear himself out and fall asleep. And then I will finally be able to get some rest as well.

"It looked like a green bug that could shoot-"

"I'm sure it was very scary, but you don't have to worry about that now." I roll over so that my back is facing him and consider shoving my head under the pillow to block out the noise. "Just go to sleep."

"Daddy?"

"What?"

"Are there any monsters living under your bed?"

I look back at him. His eyes are wide with excitement rather than fear, and I grin with a threatening bravado. "They wouldn't dare."

"Could you check?"

It seems like I won't get back to sleep any time soon. Tao is now kneeling behind my back with his body half sprawled over my shoulder. I am surprised he is not bouncing on the mattress... yet.

"I'll check for monsters, but then you have to lay down and sleep."

Tao happily nods, seeming to enjoy the adventure that he is fabricating for himself. Of course I could have told him in a stern voice that he should stop fidgeting and go to sleep, but I tell myself that I would have had to move anyway to lay my glasses back on the nightstand. This has nothing to do with the bright grin on the child's face.

I slide onto the floor and pull the covers up enough to search under bed. "Absolutely no monst-" A low moan sounds from somewhere in the darkness.

"What was that?" Tao's head is sticking over the side of the bed, and he flips over upside down to investigate with me. Blue eyes look back at the two of us, and they begin to crawl forward. Tao screams and falls on my back, knocking me onto my stomach.

"Get off me."

"Monster!" He yells right in my ear and squirms to get a better look. My hair is now pinned under his knees, and he shoves his hand against the side of my face, smashing it to the floor, as he points at the creature. "See it?!"

"That's your brother." I mumble as gracefully as I can in this position. "Now get off me."

Tao instantly obeys only to flop down on his belly next to me, grinning at Takeo.

"What are you doing under my bed?" I don't even raise my voice as I look at the boy and bite back the question of how long he had lain there already. Honestly, nothing surprises me any more with these children.

"I woke up and was scared. I wanted to wake you, but the door opened, and I hid... Can I sleep here?"

I resign to my fate. There are going to be two two kids sleeping in my bed tonight. I stand, brushing some imaginary dust from my pyjamas.

Takeo scrambles out from under the bed and mimics me by dusting himself off as well. He actually is covered in dust, and I cringe at the thought of letting him curl up in my blankets even if he is my kid. Tao plots himself in the middle of the bed, and Takeo leaps in after him before I have a chance to protest. So much for my clean sheets.

I sigh and lay down as well, but I'm not sure how well I can put up with the dirt. They're my children, I tell myself. Any father would be able to put up with this much, and I will not be outdone by them. I cling to this unrealistic rivalry to keep myself from drawing away as Takeo inches closer to me.

"Tell us a story." Takeo says with wide eyes. There's dust on his face.

"It's the middle of the night," I reprimand sternly, but carefully wipe away the dust specks on Takeo's cheeks. It doesn't really help. Tao shuffles a bit, pushing my hand away to take his own try at cleaning Takeo's face. In the end both children struggle with each other, Tao trying to wipe his pyjama sleeve over Takeo's face, and the other boy trying to keep him from doing so.

"Stop, both of you," I snap, and they look at me wide eyed, Tao pouting. "We're sleeping, now." I order.

"But Tao is going to toss around less if you tell a story."

"So we'll sleep earlier in the end."

Five seconds ago they almost began a fight, and now they are feeding each other lines. My cunning children grin expectantly up to me, and I give in again. "Alright, what do you want in your story?"

"A dinosaur!" Tao shouts immediately and wiggles enough to shake the whole bed.

"A scary dinosaur and-"

Tao yanks on my arm hesitantly. "I want a nice one."

Right, scary dreams. I nod reassuringly. "A nice dinosaur, and what do you want in the story, Takeo?"

"A scary one!"

No wonder they fight. "No scary dinosaurs. I don't want you to have nightmares. Choose something else, Takeo."

"Then... then... a robot!"

I barely keep myself from scowling at Takeo. A dinosaur and a robot in the same story that had to be done impromptu? Tao nods eagerly while Takeo slides closer to his brother and into a more comfortable position, preparing himself to listen to the story. I sigh.

"Once upon a time, there was a young dinosaur. He lost sight of his family and was walking around all alone. After a while he came upon a robot, and he asked him, 'Can you help me look for my fam...'"

I stop at the soft knock on the door, and as I look up, it slowly opens. "Couldn't sleep?"

"He woke me up." My oldest son says as he drags my youngest son in by the hand. He looks annoyed, but that's usual for M-21. That boy rarely smiles.

"Well, bring him here."

M-21 wraps his arms around Regis' stomach and struggles to wadle him closer to the bed. It's tough for him, I can tell, since Regis is half his size, but he's too determined to ask for help. He finally manages to bring Regis to the side of my bed, and I host the toddler into my arms.

"Regis, do you wanna hear a story?" Tao clamors over me and sits down on my knees so that he can face Regis. "What do you want in it?"

"Something scary." Takeo prods with a smile. "'Cause Tao's a scaredy cat!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!" Tao shoves him.

"Dad, Tao hit me!" Takeo shoves him back.

"No, I didn't! Takeo hit me!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Knock it off." I separate them so that one is on either side of me with Regis in the middle. "If you two can't get along, I am not going to tell you a story."

"Story!" Both boys instantly wrap themselves around my arms.

"What story are you telling?" M-21 asks softly as he stares at the ground.

"Do you want to come up here, too?" I pry myself free from Takeo and Tao while balancing Regis on my lap.

"There isn't room." His eyes glance up to me and back down. "And I'm too big."

He wants to join us, I can see it in his eyes during the short moment he looks up. It would still have been clear if I didn't see it since M-21 doesn't leave. He would have the moment Regis was safely tucked under my blankets if he felt like it.

"There's still space left," Takeo chips in before I have a chance to say something. Tao even pushes against my shoulders to make more room for his oldest brother, careful to not squeeze the already half-asleep Regis. For once I'm glad to have such extroverted children. It is hard to coax M-21 into something.

As I hold open the blanket once more, M-21 stays still for one moment before a reluctant smile appears on his face.

"Come on in, it's freezing! And I want to hear the story." With those words, Tao hauls his brother into the bed and under the covers. A few moments of struggling for a comfortable position arise in which I make sure that the sleeping form of Regis is kept safe. Like this, I settle in to tell the story, and in moments we are all asleep.

I wake up alone. The boys are gone, and I lay in bed listening to their adult voices drift down the hallway. They are not children. They never were. I shake my head in disbelief. It's not like me to have such vivid dreams. Perhaps I should stop calling them my children.