The four of them outnumbered the twin terrors but that didn't seem to make a difference in the long run. "Two of them seemed like something we could handle when we first found out about them but I think these kids are trying to kill me," Tommy panted after he successfully chased down Alta and put her back in her playpen. "I may be too old for this shit."
"Old man," Eddie sing-songed as he pressed a kiss to the top of Tommy's head. He eyed their son out of the corner of his eye when he noticed Luca trying to make a break for it. "Sit back down, you little jail breaker," he ordered with a laugh.
The two year old glared at him but listened and stopped trying to free himself and his sister for the time being. "Bad!" he shouted defiantly.
"Yes, you are!" Tommy shot back, choking back a snicker at the look of betrayal on their son's face.
Buck and Christopher walked into the living room, and the twins began shouting excitedly for their big brother. "They're trying to escape again, aren't they?" Chris knowingly asked.
"When aren't they? You guys want out here with your daddies and big brother?" Buck couldn't help but fall prey to their charms every time, which both delighted and annoyed his boyfriends.
On cue, Alta and Luca started rattling the gate, desperately wanting out so they could play. "Maybe they'll wear themselves out," a hopeful Tommy pondered as Eddie walked over and unlocked the gate.
The toddlers came tearing out into the room and jumped up on the couch next to Christopher. "Movie," Alta demanded.
"Not even going to say hi first?" questioned a mock wounded Christopher. They all laughed when she shook her head.
Luca leaned forward to grab the remote and then handed it to his brother when he successfully swiped it. "Can't even do it himself." Tommy let Eddie pull him back up and groaned when he sat down next to them on the couch.
"I love all of you," Buck whispered, suddenly emotional. He teared up as Eddie pulled him into his lap.
"No happy weeping today. New rule." None of them truly minded, however - they meant it with love.
"You can't tell me what to do, Eddie. Tommy, tell him!"
"Wait, I'm supposed to tell Eddie what to do even though he can't tell you what to do?" Tommy loved these two idiots more than he could ever say. And their three amazing, sometimes annoying as hell children too.
"Uh, obviously," Buck responded. They all started giggling, even though Alta and Luca didn't understand their conversation.
"I think we should order some food and maybe find a movie." An impatient Chris stared down his three fathers, hoping to speed this up.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Are we going to fight over the movie again, or just let one of our toddlers win this upfront?" Tommy wondered.
"Let the toddlers win this round," Eddie chimed in.
"They're not winning the argument over dinner," Chris declared, putting his foot down. He didn't want to bow down to the whim of toddler food tastes. Hard pass.
"Of course not." Buck adored Alta and Luca but letting the toddlers win was out of the question. They got their own meals most of the time anyway.
"Well, as long as there's not a repeat of the Great Evan and Eddie Divorce Era of 2024, I think we're fine," Tommy deadpanned, earning him horrified looks from everyone else.
Then they all cracked up, thankful they could at least make jokes about their blowout fight and brief falling out after Eddie blew up his own life and then proceeded to fuck his way through Los Angeles (everyone now affectionately referred to it as his Buck 1.0 era). "Rude," Buck shot back.
"We do not bring that up in front of young ears. They won't hear that story for a long time, if ever." Eddie owned his mistakes, though, and he had been forgiven in the end. That's all that mattered. Working past it had made them all stronger in the end, and they were happy as a triad.
"We're just fucking with you, sweetheart," Tommy assured him, kissing him for good measure.
"Hey, I want a kiss!" Buck protested.
"I hate all of you. Can we stop with the PDA and order some food already?" Christopher whined.
"You heard the kid. Let's eat. But first kisses." The three of them exchanged kisses, eliciting a groan and gagging from their eldest.
They finally got down to work, ordering their food, but holding off on starting a movie until after they ate. Toddler attention spans meant they couldn't pause to take a brief break to eat.
After they finished eating, Alta grabbed Tommy and immediately forced him to get down on the floor to play with her while they watched the movie. "If I throw my back out, it's on you," Tommy warned his boyfriends.
"We want to throw your back out so save it." Buck smirked at him.
"Yeah, you won't know what hit you," chimed in Eddie.
"Guys, I'm right fucking here," pointed out a horrified Christopher.
"Oops." Tommy felt bad for traumatizing him but they had forgotten about the kids for a quick second while they flirted.
They turned their attention back to the movie, the twins falling asleep halfway through. Their fathers paused the movie to get them into bed, and then returned to finish watching it with Christopher.
They snuggled in closer together, ignoring their eldest son's eye rolls, and settled in, content to live in the moment. Buck, Eddie, and Tommy had found each other after the darkest times of their lives, and they didn't take any of it for granted. They had planned for the twins (although they hadn't necessarily expected two of them, even though they had been warned) and everything was finally working out for this misfit, cursed trio. Everything was golden, they were in the prime of their lives, and the three of them loved this family they created together. Even if they were somehow outnumbered by the twin terrors.