Dad's Home!

[Brodie Summers]

Brodie was incredibly happy that Friday had finally come. For the next two days Aeon would be home, and they could finally spend some time together. Between the twins, the shop, Brodie's part time job, and Aeon's work as a professor the husbands barely got any time to themselves. They would have to send Ellie, and Lysander to go spend the night with Dallas sometime in the near future. It had been forever since their last actual date. Nana, the house elf, was in the kitchen preparing dinner, and Brodie was keeping the children occupied with some coloring pages. The little trouble makers had been sent home from preschool that day for 'strange behaviour'. As they grew they began to manifest more magic. Brodie was proud of course, but it was still tiresome to have to drop everything, and go pick them up. He, and Aeon would really need to discuss finding a preschool better suited to them. Arisa's son was about their age, maybe she would have some ideas. The few times Ellie, and Lysander had spent time with Spencer they seemed to all get along well enough. Brodie yawned, and stretched his arms. He cringed a little when the bones popped. How long had they been sitting here? "What are you two drawing? Are they for Daddy?" Brodie asked. He loved his children, they were the love of his life, but professional artists they were not. Of course that didn't stop him from hanging every little project up on the fridge, and all over the walls of his work shop.

 

[Eleanora Summers]

Eleanora was concentrated very hard on her drawing. It was for Daddy, and she wanted it to be perfect. The little girl didn't even notice she had her tongue sticking out. Just a few more colours, and it would be done. When Daddy Brodie asked what they were drawing Ellie put down her crayon, and lifted up the paper. Scribbled on it was four figures, three on all fours, and one standing up. "It's us! That's me, and Sander, and Daddy," she said gesturing towards the kneeling three, "and this is you, Dadddy!" she pointed to the standing figure. "We're all puppies, and you're a people!" the young girl added cheerfully. Pretending to be a puppy was one of Ellie's favourite games. It was even more fun when Daddy joined, and actually did turn into a puppy! She wanted to be able to do that one day. Then they could all go for walks, and eat on the floor, and sleep in a big pile in a doggy bed, and Daddy Brodie wouldn't be able to stop them because they actually would be puppies, and not people. Ellie beamed she was so proud of her family portrait. It just needed one thing. In her most careful big girl writing she scrawled out all of their names above each person. Otherwise people might mistake her for Lysander, or Daddy for Daddy. Suddenly Ellie heard the tell tale pop of apparition that signaled Daddy was home. She quickly scooped up her drawing, and ran to the front door wanting to show it to him as soon as he entered the house.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander's hands were coated in rainbow smudges from where the crayons he was using to draw with had rubbed off, their paper coverings long since torn away and lost. Daddy would be home soon, and they had decided to surprise him with some pictures, but for the four year old, it was a messy job. Scrawling across the papers scattered out in front of him, the boy worked cheerfully on his picture, only to become slightly frustrated when he went to reach for one of the other colours, to find that Ellie was already using it. He scowled, having to use a completely different purple for daddies cloak.

As Daddy came in, Sander held up his picture to show him what he'd drawn so far. "Look Daddy." He beamed, holding up his paper next to Eleanora's. "I drew me and Nana flying away on a real fast broom. You and Daddy and Ellie and Auntie Dallas are all watching how fast I am." The boy pointed at the fire on the back on the broom, emphasizing just how fast it was moving. Just then, the familiar sound of apparition echoed from the front door, and Lysander excitedly ran after his sister to go and greet their father.

 

[Aeon Summers]

The weekend was always the one thing Aeon looked forward to each week. As much as he loved Hogwarts and educating its students, he loved his family so much more. It was an upsetting thought, knowing that he spent more of his time teaching other people's kids instead of his own, but that was a part of his job, and the money that provided would mean he could give his own children a proper, comfortable upbringing, even if he wasn't able to be around as much as he would have liked. At the very least, he saw his children more than the parents of those who attended the school did, and far more than he had seen his own parents whilst he was still a student himself, a fact he didn't mind in his senior years. He just hoped his relationship with the twins didn't turn out the same as his relationship with his own mother and father.

Surprising his family was almost impossible, as Aeon had learned - his children were all too familiar with the telltale sound of apparition, and already he could hear their tiny feet scampering across the floorboards toward the front door. The wizard touched his wand to the lock, listening as it clicked out of place and swung open, before bracing himself for Lysander and Ellie to jump at him and grab hold of a leg each. He made his way slowly inside, their combined weights making it feel as if he were walking in heavy iron shoes, and closed the door the door behind him while the children gibbered on about some drawings they had to show him. "Okay, okay. Just let me sit down first." He laughed and trudged on through to the lounge room, beaming tiredly at his husband before collapsing onto the couch while the two rugrats clambered up on either side. It had been an exhausting day, to say the least, and the animagus patted the cushion next to him for Brodie to come join them. "Alright, what masterpieces do we have here?" He questioned, waiting to see what kind of horrendous drawings he'd have to pretend to like and stick on the wall.

 

[Brodie Summers]

Brodie struggled to keep smiling when both his children showed him pictures where they were depicted as dogs. Aeon had spent so much time around the twins as a dog while they were infants, that somehow they had gotten into their heads that they should also be dogs. In fact their first words had been bark, and woof. My children are going to be the weird kids everyone makes fun of. he dreaded. Hopefully they would grow out of it as they aged. "Wow you two are becoming such good artists" Brodie told them while putting a hand on each shoulder. "Ellie I'm so proud of you using your letters to spell out everyone's name, and Sander that broom looks so fast. I'm sure Nana would love that you're giving her a turn on the broom." Brodie was about to suggest they draw some more pictures. Ones where they were humans when the sound of Aeon coming home sounded from the front door. Suddenly the twins were off in a blur. Brodie made sure all the crayons were put back in the box before he joined them in greeting their father. Merlin forbid they lost a color, and one of them just absolutely needed it later. Brodie stood in the doorway to the dining room, and laughed as Aeon trudged through the house with two little trouble makers on his legs. Moments like this made all of the hard parts worth it. When Aeon patted the couch next to him Brodie went to go joined his family. He picked up Ellie, and sat her down on his lap. The wizard gave his husband a welcome home kiss before the twins flew into their descriptions.

 

[Eleanora Summers]

Eleanora was so excited for Daddy to be home! He was always so busy during the weeks, but Friday meant they got to spend the next two days with him. When he opened the door Ellie flung herself onto one of his legs, as her brother did on his other side. "Welcome home!" she said as she squeezed tight. Ellie giggled as daddy walked all the way to the living room with both of them on his legs. It reminded her of when they were smaller, and daddy could carry them around while he was a puppy. Once they were all seated on the couch together Ellie shoved her picture in front of Aeon's face so that he could really see all the hard work she put into it. "I drew this for you! It's me, and Lysander, and Daddy, and you!" Ellie told him proudly. She thought it was obvious who was who. Daddy was the big black, and white dog, and Lysander was the small brown one, and she was the small blonde one. Of course Daddy Brodie was the person. After seeing Lysander Ellie felt bad for leaving out Dallas, and Nana. She would have to make them extra special pictures to make up for it. "We got to come home early today so we got to color a lot!" Ellie said proudly. It wasn't their fault that the girl at preschool was a poopyhead.​

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[Lysander Summers]

Lysander was quick to clamber up on the arm of the couch, his paper slightly crinkled at the sides where his fingers held tightly onto it. His sister was already trying to steal all the attention, so Lysander tried to push his drawing up under hers so that Daddy Aeon could see it too. "Daddy look. Dad. Daddy, Daddy look. Look at mine." He urged, wanting his to be praised more than Ellie's. He added more people to his, even if he didn't know how to spell their names like Ellie did. "See? I'm going real fast, and Nana is hanging on behind me. She's not having a turn like Daddy B says, because I'm driving the broom. See, I'm at the front. Look!" He put the effort in to make the fire different colours just to emphasise how cool it was, and Nana didn't even know how to ride a broom so she couldn't possibly have a turn. Brodie was so silly. "I wish we could come home early every day! Then we could draw all the time, and I could fly my broom for real all the time too!"

 

[Aeon Summers]

There was no rest for a parent. Aeon tried his best to keep up with the blurring papers in front of him as Lysander fought for his to be shown, but given enough time he could make out what both drawings were. Neither were good, but to be fair, they were only young, so it was to be expected. Who knew what they were going to try pursue in life. Well, Seers knew, probably. He could always ask Esme if she foresaw anything, but the animagus hadn't spoken much to his cousin since she graduated. "Oh wow, these are...wow. I see. They're both very good. Some of the best drawings I've ever seen. I'm sure Nana would love to see them, too." The house elf was no doubt better at pretending to like what they made. She didn't seem overly fussed when they scribbled on her towels and sheets to make them more appealing. It beat wearing the same white items of clothing over and over again. The wizard let them run off to pester Nana, before turning his attention to his husband. "Hey babe." He grinned, trailing a single finger up the other man's chest, his head resting on his shoulder. "Do you want to explain why the children are home early today?" He could only hope it was a nice, muggle reason, like one of the other kids had chickenpox or something. He didn't want to imagine that the children were scaring the others with magic already. He'd read enough about the damages that could be done to magical children growing up in the non-wizarding world to be concerned.

 

[Brodie Summers]

Brodie had to hold in laughter while the twins showed off their masterpieces to Aeon. It was pretty adorable when Lysander just had to make sure he got as much attention as his sister did. Not as cute when he corrected Brodie on the true nature of his drawing. Soon enough Aeon had sent them off running to Nana. The old elf was sure to love them. Whatever drawings weren't hung up on the fridge usually made their way to Nana's room. If Brodie wasn't mistaken she even still had one he had drawn her when he was about the twins age. Brodie felt his shoulders relax as Aeon rested his head on them, and let out a breath of relief. He hadn't realized how tense he had been until that moment. Brodie positioned himself so that his arm was drapped over Aeon's shoulder, and planted a kiss on top of the wizards head. It was so good to have him home. Brodie sighed again when Aeon asked why the kids were home early. He had hoped for just a few more minutes to themselves before they were back in parent mode. "There was a girl at school who was picking on another student. The twins didn't like that so they threw toys at her. The problem was when another little boy insisted that the toys had just begun floating on their own." Brodie told his husband. The teacher had managed to calm the boy down, and explain that was impossible, but Brodie still felt it was best for the twins to come home early. "I think it might be best if we found another school more suited to them." Brodie added. These kinds of things were just going to keep happened, and would probably become more frequent. Home schooling was always an option, but Brodie wanted the chance for the twins to be social with their peers before they were shipped off to Hogwarts at age 11.​

 

[Aeon Summers]

So it hadn't been a muggle reason. It was concerning, but Aeon couldn't help but smile at the thought of some bully getting their just desserts. Stuffed animals flying toward her had ought to teach her a lesson on how to treat others. Or traumatise her for life. "Aw, look at them standing up for other people already. I bet they'll take after me and be sorted into Gryffindor." He teased, grinning broadly at the Slytherin alumni. "At least they didn't combust anything, or bring the toys to life. That could have been mentally scarring. When I was a bit older than Ellie and Sander, I accidentally vanished the handle to a broom closet I locked this ******* kid into after he'd taken my lunch. They had to break the hinges with a hammer to get him back out." He reminisced fondly. Similarly, his mother had to relocate him to a more magical environment to avoid future problems. "It's not as bad as I imagined, but it'd probably be for the best if they weren't around muggle kids as often anymore. I read a book about Albus Dumbledore's sister and how some non-magicals attacked her. Apparently she couldn't use magic properly after that. It's scary to think that it could happen. I could always ask Arisa where she sends Spencer." There were too many worries and responsibilities as a parent, and while he didn't want to admit it, he could understand why his own parents made some of the choices they did when he was younger. Abandoning him halfway through his education, however, was still not a choice that sat well with him. "I guess we can figure it out later. I'm too tired to do anything tonight." Summers curled up closer to his husband, wishing to enjoy the short alone time they had before the children lost interest in telling Nana about their drawings. "What about you though, get up to anything exciting this week?"

 

[Brodie Summers]

Brodie rolled his eyes, and laughed when Aeon said the twins would probably be sorted into Gryffindor. "I don't know. If you saw the way they manipulate people into giving them cookies you would think they're Slytherin for sure." Brodie quipped back. All those two had to do was make their eyes a little wide, and people were putty in their hands. Sometime about twins was just cuter for some reason. Whatever house the ended up in Brodie would be proud as long as they didn't get into too much trouble, but with who their fathers were it seemed unlikely. Brodie shook his head as Aeon told a story about locking a boy in a closet. Due to his families beliefs he had never been allowed to be around muggle children so he didn't have those kinds of problems. Most of his magical outbursts involved being bored, and destructive around his families property. He suddenly felt bad for the house elves that would have to clean up after him. Brodie nodded when Aeon talked about the girl whose powers went crazy. Every couple of decades you heard the same story. The thought of it happening to his babies sent a shiver through him. Thank-fully he had Aeon their to warm him back up. Brodie wrapped both arms around the blonde wizard, and held him close. He took a deep breath, and inhaled the wizards scent. It was warm, and comforting, and smelled like home. Merlin he missed him so much during the week. "Hmm lets see. I got to tinker with a new bikes this week, and figured out a better invisibility booster." Brodie answered Aeon's question. He had to keep his job on the down low, but he just loved working on the machines. There was something magical about the muggle contraptions all on their own. "How about you? What's the latest Hogwarts gossip? Any new pregnant head girls? Homework cheating rings going around?" Brodie asked.​