"Daddy? Daddy?"
Marc stirs a bit in his sleep. Though, he wasn't really getting any. First, nature decides to be an asshole and cause a thunderstorm that not only cuts off the power while he and his husband were working on the next issue for their comic and go on for hours until they went to bed, but it's also been keeping Michaela up. Marc's had to get up five times to calm her down and he's exhausted.
He turns to his husband, somehow sleeping soundly through the storm like he doesn't have a care in the world... Not this time. Marc grabs his pillow and hits Nathaniel's head with it, causing the redheaded man to jolt awake and rub the tiredness out of his eyes.
"Wh-what happened?!" His eyes dart around the room. "Is someone in the house?" Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turns to his husband and immediately knows he's in trouble. "... Hi, Rainbow."
"There's about to be someone on the couch if they don't check on the baby," he says sweetly, but Nathaniel can hear the exhaustion-induced irritation in his voice. "Now please go check on Michaela, I've had to get up five times while you lied down peacefully like a princess," he spat with so much acid in his voice that it could melt through metal.
"Daddy!"
The noirette folded his arms and gave his husband an expectant look. "You heard her, daddy."
Nathaniel's learned many things over the course of being married to Marc for seven years, but the one thing he makes sure to remember as if his life depended on it, is to never cross Marc when he's tired. That's basically asking for death or a week on the couch, which, in Nathaniel's opinion is worse. Going a week without sleeping next to his husband is just something he cannot live with. "Yes, dear." He starts to get up. "I love you."
"Shut up," Marc hissed, muffled as he lied back down and tried to block out the sounds of the storm.
With an amused roll of his eyes, Nathaniel got out of the bed, put on his slippers, and made his way into Michaela's room. "Hey, angel."
The dark-haired girl shakily stands from her crib, holding onto the railing for some support since she's still getting the hang of walking. "Daddy?"
"Daddy's here," he said softly and goes over to his daughter's crib. "Can't sleep?" Nathaniel chuckles. "Neither can I right now. You know how testy your dad can be when he's angry," he whispers. "I swear, he's like a dragon."
"I heard that!"
"Love you, sweetie!" He turns back to his daughter with a terrified look on his face. "See?" At the sound of the thunder, Michaela begins to cry, prompting the redheaded man to pick her up and pull her into his arms. "It's okay, I know. I never liked storms either when I was a kid. I'd always run to my parents' room with my blanket the second I woke up from the thunder..." He trails off when he sees his daughter looking at him pleadingly with those innocent-looking mismatched eyes. "You really wanna deal with your dad while he's practically spitting acid, right now?" He tenses, expecting Marc to yell from the other room again, but doesn't hear anything. "... Must be asleep," he murmured.
Michaela reaches up and starts patting her dad's face with her little hands. "Daddy?"
The redhead chuckled as he held the girl up to his face and kissed her on the nose, making the little noirette giggle and try to grab at his face. "Aw, I doubt your dad can say no to that cute face." He grabs Michaela's pink unicorn plushie out of her crib, knowing she'll be up all knight without it. "Can't forget your unicorn," Nathaniel smiled as he heads back to the master bedroom where he sees Marc sound asleep in their bed. "Shh."
"Shh," Michaela mimicked him, drooling a bit.
Stifling a laugh as best as he could, Nathaniel quietly and carefully slips back into bed, cringing with each creak the bed makes, worried it might wake Marc up. He's about to lay Michaela down in the middle when,
"So, I spit acid, apparently?" Michaela giggled at her dad's guilty look. "You're lucky our baby's in the room. Now get in bed, dear, it's late."
He complied and set Michaela down before getting on his side of the bed. "Love you, Rainbow."
"I love you, too. Now shut it and go to sleep."
The two husbands move in closer together, careful to leave some room for Michaela and wrap their arms around each other. Their daughter holds onto their arms and drifts off to sleep, already forgetting about the storm.
