[C] Playing in the Park

Darragh had been up for almost an hour now, waiting patiently for either Aeker or Aodh to wake up and pay attention to him.

Neither of them had moved yet.

Which meant he could wake them up himself, right? Of course he could!

The boy climbed up onto the edge of Aodh's side of the bed and grinned widely. He was going to enjoy this. Waking up the parents was always a fun experience.

Especially when it came to Aeker and Aodh. They made the best noises when he woke them up.

The boy flung himself across the bed, his small body colliding with Aeker's stomach. "MOMMY!" he yelled out. "Up time!"

Aodh groaned softly. The scream had, unfortunately, woken him up. At least it was Aeker that got the brunt of it this time.

Aeker grunted loudly, sitting up in the surprise of being leapt on, it was something he still wasn't use it, being woken up by a small child was an experience.

The Vampire looked down into his lap groggily, rubbing his eyes as he was forced awake.

"Darragh..."

He groaned, his senses could tell him well enough that it was barely even sundown.

"Sweety you know I can't get up until it's dark outside."

He muttered, covering his mouth as he yawned.

Darragh pouted and bounced in Aeker's lap.

"Up time, up time. I want to play." He'd been patient for an hour. That was a long time for a four year old to sit still for.

"Pleaseeeeee."

Aodh groaned again, rolling over and pulling a pillow over his head. As soon as Aeker gave up and got out of bed, he would be the target.

He wasn't looking forwards to it.

"Alright, sweety, I'm getting up."

He muttered as he stretched his arms over his head, poor Aodh would be up next, perhaps he could buy the man some time.

"Darragh I have an important job for you, go into the hallway and see if the sun has gone down all the way then come back okay?"

Aeker wanted to go down and make them all some breakfast so Aodh could sleep in for a little bit and Darragh could get fed.

The boy nodded frantically and Jumped off the bed, heading toward the door. He opened it carefully and slipped outside.

Aodh shifted the pillow from his head when the boy had disappeared. "Thank you," he murmured, sparing a small, sleepy smile for his fiancé. As much as he loved Darragh, he wasn't a fan of being woken up this early in the evening by an excitable ball of energy like the boy.

Moment later Darragh returned grinning and Aodh retreated under the pillow again.

"The suns all the way down," he informed with a proud grin.

"I'll stall him for a little while longer while I make breakfast, have a little sleep in."

He muttered to his Lycan, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the man's cheek, smiling as he watched him retreat under the pillow again.

Darragh was a little bit...intense...in the morning, it was understandable to be a little reluctant to get up.

"Alright then, time to make some breakfast."

He informed the boy as he pushed himself out of bed, giving Aodh's hip a soft pat as he got up and pulled a shirt on as he wore track pants to bed and tied his hair back.

"Alright what are we having today?"

He asked the boy as he took Darragh's hand and lead him out of the bedroom, patting his leg for Mac to follow so he could feed her and let her out to go to the bathroom.

"You're a godsent."

The Lycan curled under the warm blankets happily as Aeker led the boy out of the room. Lie in, lie in!

Darragh smiled brightly as mommy led him down the hall towards the kitchen "Tubby toast, tubby toast!" Anya had made, for him all the time. He missed it a lot.

The husky followed after the two silently. She, too, was still not quite awake.

Aeker furrowed his brow slightly as he walked with the boy into the kitchen.

Tubby toast? He had absolutely no idea what that was.

"You're going to have to help me cook, Darragh, I don't know what that is."

He admitted to the boy as he walked toward one of the fridges and pulled out a blood bag for himself, setting it on the counter as he got out the juice for Darragh.

"What type of juice do you want?"

He asked, looking at the selection.

The boy grinned widely.

Mommy wanted him to help him cook! Darragh would be the best cooking assistant ever. Anya never used to let him help with the cooking and baking. She always said that it was a woman's job.

Now mommy wanted him to, he got to cook.

The boy as excited.

"Apple juice."

Aeker poured the boy a glass of apple juice, setting it down onto the table for him to have once the food was cooked.

"Okay little man..."

He started, scooping Darragh up into his arms and setting the boy onto the counter so he could help.

"How do we make tubby toast?"

He asked before heading to the pantry to get the sliced bread out.

Darragh giggled when he was lifted up onto the counter.

"Auntie Anya makes toast round and puts a smiley face on it with jam."

The boy gave a nod as if to back up his statement. "I like straw-by jam the best." It had to be strawberry jam. He didn't eat any other type.

The boy kicked his legs idly as he waited for Aeker to return.

Aeker nodded softly, that sounded easy enough, round toast with a jam smiley face.

That was adorable.

He wouldn't let the boy use the knife, even if they were blunt, as such he would reserve that job for himself.

He pulled out the toaster and set it on the counter near Darragh, plugging it in but not turning on the power, just in case.

Aeker handed the boy the bread.

"How many pieces do you want? You can put them in the toaster."

He instructed, it was always good for children to learn how to do things.

"Two tubby toast."

He always had two. Sometimes if he was really hungry and ate both pieces, Anya made him a third piece, but that didn't happen often.

He pulled two pieces of bread out of the packaging and dropped each piece on the toaster, looking up at Aeker for approval. He'd seen Anya and Garrett do it before, but he'd never been allowed to.

"Very good."

He praised before turning on the toaster and popping the toast down so they could cook.

"Now we never touch the toaster when it is on."

The Vampire instructed, picking up the boy and carrying him over to the microwave.

He picked up his blood-bag and place it into the microwave to heat up.

"You can help me cook my breakfast too, here press the one then the start button."

He held Darragh up so he could reach and pointed to the right buttons.

Darragh nodded, his face drawing into a serious expression. Don't touch the toaster when its on. He could do that.

The boy clung to Aeker when he was picked up, little hands gripping his shirt as he looked around curiously. This kitchen was much bigger than Anya's kitchen. It was huge in comparison.

The boy reached forwards to press the buttons when he was told to, smiling as the inside of the microwave lit up.

Being able to help in the kitchen was nice.

He smiled and pressed a kiss to Darragh's cheek as he finished with the microwave.

Soon he would be good enough in the kitchen to be able to help out without too much instruction, he just wanted to make sure that the boy knew how to be safe around all this equipment that could hurt him if use incorrectly.

"What should be cook for Daddy's breakfast?"

He asked the boy, bouncing him on his hip playfully.

"The fridge," the boy responded dryly in an imitation of what Anya had said once upon a time to the same question.

People always seemed to think his daddy ate a lot.

"Daddy can have tubby toast, too!" he replied as a more serious answer, his grin widening as he pointed at the toaster.

Aodh ate toast and jam. He always had it when he came to visit him in Ireland. Tubby toast was toast and jam. He'd like it.

Aeker burst into laughter as Darragh's response, looking down at the boy with immense amusement.

Aodh did eat a hell of a lot, but seeing the boy say in the way he did was simply perfect.

"Tubby toast it is then, once we've had our breakfast we will bring some up to him and surprise him with breakfast in bed alright?"

He asked with a smile as he place Darragh on the ground and made his way into the fridge, grabbing the jam and a can of dog food for Maccon.

He pulled out the dogs bowl and put it onto the floor before opening the can and giving it to Darragh along with a spoon.

"Empty the can into Maccon'c bowl okay? Careful not to spill it."

Aeker made his way over to the toaster after it popped, carefully cutting the toast into a circle and placing a smiley face onto it with the jam, putting it down on the table for the boy along with his juice.

"Breakfast is ready."
He called with a smile before collecting his own, grabbing the bag and emptying it into a mug for himself before putting some coffee onto brew for Aodh.

The boy's cheeks puffed up when Aeker began laughing.

Darragh didn't like being laughed at. And his grumpy expression and his little arms crossed over his chest alerted Aeker to that fact.

He didnt understand why he was laughing. Humour like that went over Darragh's head. He'd imitated his Aunt so didnt understand why the man was laughing.

The boy did as he was told immediately, his grumpy expression falling from his face as he concentrated on emptying the can into the bowl. "Oops," he murmured as a chunk of meat splattered against the ground.

Maccon was there to lick it up immediately, turning to the full bowl moments later.

The boy dropped the can and spoon on the floor and hurried over to the table, grinning widely as he picked up his first piece of tubby toast, biting into it eagerly.

"Don't look so grumpy, you're joke was very funny."
He replied as the boy huffed at him.

Aeker shook his head and picked up the can and spoon, putting it in the bin before washing the spoon off.

He sipped from his mug eagerly as he put four pieces of bread into the toaster for Aodh.

Once that was taken care of he sat opposite Darragh as they ate together.

Darragh was a messy eater.

That much was evident as by the time he had finished his first piece of toast, he had a big smear of jam running up his cheek.

He didn't seem to care, though.

He was happy to sit and eat breakfast, even if he was covered in jam and crumbs.

The boy reached forwards with a stick hand to pick up his class of juice, drinking it happily.

Aeker smiled endearingly at the boy, he could only imagine what Aodh would say if that sticky little pup jumped into bed with him.

He set his mug down and moved over to the sink, wetting a piece of paper towel and walking over to Darragh.

"Messy pup."

He tutted with a smile, wiping off the boy's cheeks.

"Wipe your hands."

He instructed, handing him the paper towel.

He boy stuck his tongue out as his cheek was wiped.

He finished his last piece of toast then took the paper towel, wiping his hands.

"All done."

He was fed and somewhat clean. A successful meal.

"Time to go wake Athair up?"

"In a second."

He replied as he cut Aodh's toast into circles and put a strawberry jam smiley face onto the bread.

He grabbed the man a cup of coffee and quickly packed away the dishes.

"Alright, lets go give him his breakfast."

He replied for the boy, nodding back toward the bedroom as he carried the Lycan's meal.

Darragh waited patiently for Aeker to finish up in the room before darting back towards their bedroom.

He threw open the bedroom door and bounded up to the bed, jumping up onto it and bouncing on his fathers stomach. Each bounce earned a loud, tired grunt from the older Irishman.

With a playful little growl, Aodh rolled over, pinning Darragh beneath him.

"Breakfast in bed. Yummy." With another loud, playful growl, he began nibbling on Darragh's neck, causing the boy to squeal and laugh.