Porthos loses the game of risk, and he loses badly. It brings far too much pleasure to Aramis, who won, and is now doing a victory dance around the room with Leon on his shoulders. The twins are laughing so hard that they are rolling around the floor by Rene; Celeste has a kind of bemused expression as she surveys the chaos, and Luke just looks disappointed.

"The greatest soldier Aramis has ever known, and he's not even a good enough strategist to win a game of risk," he exclaims as he clears away the board. Porthos gulps and gives the boy a tight smile.
"I'm sorry to disappoint," he says and Luke snorts as if to say "sure, whatever". Aramis notices Porthos' discomfort and puts Leon down.

"How about you all watch a movie while Porthos and I make dinner?" He looks at Porthos, who has his eyebrows raised. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" he quickly asks to try and avoid pressuring his friend- it's not been forgotten that they haven't seen each other for four years. Porthos smirks and gets up off the floor.
"I'll stay- so these lot aren't subjected to your terrible cooking for at least one night," he teases gruffly, and that earns him a jab to the ribs from Aramis and a defensive "hey, Aramis- Papa- can cook quite well" from Celeste, surprisingly. Aramis smirks and leads Porthos back into the kitchen, where he begins pulling bits and pieces out of the fridge, freezer, and various cupboards. Porthos stands back and watches him for a minute, leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed. The kitchen is large- really the whole flat is large- it would have to be for seven people. The walls are a light yellow and Porthos wonders if Aramis painted them himself.

"Are you going to just stand there and watch, or make yourself useful?"

Porthos pushes off the wall and rolls up the sleeves of his pullover before washing his hands. Aramis sets a huge pile of vegetables in front of him and hands him a large knife. It's enough to feed a small army- then again, in this house there is a small army of growing children.

"Spaghetti bolognaise good with you?" Aramis asks with a shy smile. He knows that it's Porthos' favourite.

"Always is," Porthos replies. He often forgets how much smaller Aramis is than him, but he's reminded now, standing shoulder to shoulder with him. Aramis is by no means short, but he's slight- and as Adalyn pointed out earlier- Porthos is a giant. They work in amicable silence for a bit, and it reminds Porthos of being in the army kitchen tent together. Except this time he's being supplied with red wine. Aramis takes a sip from his own glass as Porthos takes the one being offered to him. He drinks and puts it down again, chopping the last of the carrots and passing them to Aramis, who is cooking them away in what could easily be mistaken as a cauldron.

"Celeste is still getting used to you being Papa?" He asks, and it seems to throw Aramis off for a minute before his easy smile comes back.

"Yeah, after four years-" he chuckles, "but with the twins and Rene being here I think it's a habit she picked up and has decided she rather likes." He pauses and thinks for a minute before continuing, "I never asked to be addressed as Papa- I was introduced to them all as simply Aramis, but-"

"But really you are their Papa." Porthos finishes. Aramis looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn't.

"So Celeste has been here since you came back- what about the others?"

"Luke and Celeste were the first I adopted- after I came back. The authorities checked me out and I went to meet the kid they matched me up with- Luke. He was twelve, and liked me well enough- and after I'd seen him a few times he informed me that if I was going to adopt him, I'd have to adopt his best friend too. I'd met Celeste, she was eleven, and she and Luke were like siblings, I couldn't split them up-"

"So you didn't." Aramis looked up at Porthos then and smiled.

"So I didn't." He continued with his story. "Then came Rene, Adalyn and Nannette- maybe a year and a half later. I went to the orphanage expecting to bring home one child- Luke and Celeste had thought another kid in the mix would be good- and brought home three."

"You couldn't split them up," Porthos agreed, smiling at his friend. He was glad the size of his heart had not shrunk from the day they'd first met.

"I couldn't! I couldn't break up a family! The twins were barely a year old and Rene- at only three- was their protector, who wouldn't sleep in a different room to them, let alone be adopted separately to them. He still doesn't sleep in a separate room." Porthos chuckled, and Aramis grinned.

"Leon has been here nine months. He's painfully shy but incredibly witty-"

"And he looks like you," Luke interrupts to tell Porthos. Aramis looks at the boy and he seems slightly hurt. Luke notices- "not that that's why he's here, obviously, Aramis is just annoyingly nice and likes adding to his gaggle," he jokes, and grabs a bottle of juice out of the fridge before leaving again.

Porthos bumps Aramis' shoulder. "You are annoyingly nice." Aramis grumbles his thanks and continues cooking.

"How long have you been back?" Aramis asks.

"Six months and seventeen days," Porthos replies, a little too readily. "You would have known if you'd replied to my messages." Aramis looks guilty and drains the last of his wine.

"I'm sorry."

"I know. Still doesn't say why you didn't respond. I'd thought you'd switched numbers or didn't use that email or something."

"All the same still." Aramis grips the counter edge and looks down at his knuckles. "I guess I didn't want to-"

"Didn't want to keep in touch with your best friend. Wow. Thanks."

"Didn't want any connections to that part of me!" Aramis says a little too loudly and slams his palm down. He continues more quietly. "You should understand that- I thought you'd understand that the most out of everybody- and I'm sorry that even after I sorted out my head, I didn't reply because I've had my hands full if you hadn't noticed- and every time I went to write back I didn't know what to say- and I'm sorry." Aramis is breathing heavily and he takes a minute before he stirs the meat in the pot again. He goes to move around Porthos to get a spoon to taste it, but Porthos places his hands on Aramis' shoulders. Aramis looks up at him, not really sure what to expect. But then Porthos says "I know" and Aramis can't help but pull his friend in for a hug. Aramis buries his face in Porthos' neck and Porthos closes his eyes, just glad to have his friend back and have him back for good- he hopes.

They stay like that for a few minutes until Aramis remembers that he has children to feed. They finish cooking with another glass of wine and plenty of jokes between them, and it honestly feels like no time has passed.

Leon appears and shows Porthos where everything is to lay the table, and the eight of them eat together. Porthos helps with the washing up, gets suds in Celeste's hair as she's finally taken off her hat, and even helps put the kids to bed when they (very nearly) fall asleep on the sofa next to him while they all watch another movie. Soon it's just him and Aramis in the sitting room, finishing the last of the wine. Porthos' tongue is feeling a little looser after the alcohol.

"Why did you adopt them all?" He asks as he shrugs on his coat to leave. It's late but he probably should head back, rather than crashing on their sofa for the night. Aramis stiffens.

"I think you know."

Porthos looks at him steadily and bites his bottom lip. Aramis looks at him like he's begging him not to ask anything more. Porthos nods and wishes Aramis good night, hugging him before he steps out into the damp night, promising he'll come back soon.

He makes the walk home, and when he gets into his tiny flat, he feels twice as lonely as before.