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His children are loud, his husband is laughing and Matteo is tired.
He’s woken by the sound of his kids running at full speed and their excited voices as they jump into his bed. He feels David vibrating with laughter in his arms and the brush of smooth hair against his skin. From this, he can tell that David probably has their daughter trapped in his hold.
He only fully removes himself from David when he’s attacked in the side by his son, whose arms have shot him in the stomach.
He launches at his son as the little one screams with glee and pulls him into a hug.
“Papa you’re crushing me,” he says in between laughs and Matteo laughs with him, slowly loosening his grip.
He releases his son so the boy can waddle over to David and his daughter climbs into his open arms.
“Good morning Papa,” she greets and Matteo places a kiss on her head.
“Good morning sweetheart.”
He cuddles with her for a while and watches David flip over so Theo is no longer at the end of the bed and is lying next to his sister. Both kids wrap themselves under the covers and snuggle close to their parents.
He sees David smile warmly at him and Matteo’s heart flips because he’s so in love with David and their little family.
They all stay in bed for a few minutes. Ellie is telling them about her latest dream and Theo is poking at David’s stubble on his chin and telling him that it’s scratchy. Matteo hums along to his daughter's story to make sure she knows he's listening and in the corner of his eye he sees David rubbing his chin on their son's hand to make him giggle.
When Ellie finishes her story, Theo announces that he’s hungry.
“What do you two want for breakfast?” Matteo asks and his kids start talking over each other.
“I want banana pancakes,” Theo states.
“No,” Ellie whines. “I want chocolate chip pancakes.” Then she turns in Matteo’s arms to face him, juts her bottom lip out and pulls out her puppy eyes, saying “Papa can you please make chocolate pancakes?”
Matteo’s heart goes soft but he doesn’t respond because as soon as the words leave her mouth, Theo’s already yelling, “No, I want banana pancakes!”
Ellie scowls at her brother and before she throws a tantrum, David steps in, “how about...” he starts and lets his children turn to him so he knows they have his full attention. “If Papa makes banana and chocolate chip pancakes.”
“Okay,” Ellie responds. She’s the youngest of the two, only 5 years old and is always okay with any kind of change as long as there is chocolate still involved. She always had the biggest sweet tooth, but Matteo can't blame her because she is the sweetest little girl in the world.
“Fine,” Theo mumbles. Theo is at that stage where he gets a bit moody when he doesn’t get what he wants. As a 7-year-old he’s starting to develop an attitude. He’s a good kid, he’s not at his rebellious stage yet but he’ll comply even if things don’t go his way.
“Okay, why don’t you two go brush your teeth and Papa will start making the pancakes,” David says and the kids jump off the bed and start running towards the washroom.
Matteo and David watch them run off and Matteo comes close to cuddle David for just a little bit longer.
David links his hand with the one Matteo wrapped around his waist and sighs into Matteo's embrace.
“Do you want anything, my love?” Matteo mumbles into David’s neck.
David caresses his arm with the hand that isn’t linked in his and whispers, “I want you,” in a cheeky voice that makes Matteo laugh.
“It’s a bit too late for that,” he chuckles as he untangles himself from his husband but keeps their hands linked as he tries to pull David out of bed. “C’mon it’s time for breakfast.”
David resists Matteo’s attempt to get him out and snuggles back into the blankets. Matteo shakes his head at him and unlinks their hands making David whine at the loss of contact.
Matteo hops out and yells “you owe me morning kisses!” As he leaves their bedroom and makes his way to the kitchen.
When he gets to the kitchen he starts boiling water for coffee then begins to grab everything he needs for pancakes. He grabs two bowls, the ingredients, and of course, a banana. He pulls out that chocolate chip bag he hides at the back of the cupboard from his kids because he can’t have them pleading for chocolate every day. He takes a small bowl and pours from chocolate chips in and then hides the bag.
He slowly starts mixing in the dry ingredients in one bowl because he’s sure his kids will want to help him once they finish brushing their teeth.
As the kettle begins to sound, he starts to make his morning coffee and makes David's too.
Soon enough he hears footsteps running towards the kitchen.
“Papa! Papa!” Theo yells as he runs toward Matteo. “Can I help?”
Matteo nods his head and scoops him up onto the counter. “Do you want to mash the banana?”
Theo nods vigorously and Matteo chuckles at his enthusiasm. He places a bowl in his son’s lap, peels a banana and drops it in. He hands him a fork and Theo takes it quickly and starts mashing.
Matteo watches him as he finishes up with the dry ingredients.
When Theo finishes mashing, Matteo adds in the rest of the wet ingredients and lets Theo mix them up.
“Is it done, Papa?”
Matteo looks over at the mix and it looks pretty well done. “It looks perfect!”
The comment brings the brightest smile to Theo’s face and Matteo can’t help but feel proud.
He takes the mix from Theo’s lap and starts to add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and starts mixing them together. He passes the bowl back to his son because he knows he still wants to help and he greedily takes over for Matteo.
Theo reminds Matteo a lot of himself and it brings so much joy to Matteo's heart.
He starts moving around the kitchen to get the pan and some butter as he keeps his eyes on his son frequently.
As he sets the stove up, he sneaks some chocolate chips in his mouth and then offers some to Theo because he’ll take any excuse to praise his kids and give them sweets as a reward.
Theo happily pops some chocolate in his mouth but then immediately goes back to mixing.
In the distance, he can here Ellie running while loudly screaming “I want to help Papa cook!”
He chuckles because David probably braided her hair, which is why it took her longer to get to the kitchen.
Matteo’s theory is proven right when Ellie bursts in at full speed with two braids on her head, saying “I want to help!”
Matteo picks her up and hoists her on his waist while saying, “Well you’re just in time.”
“Do you want to put the chocolate chips in the pancakes?” He asks and she nods her head quickly.
He takes the bowl off of Theo’s lap and places it between his son and the stove to make sure he isn’t too close to it, grabs a scoop of the mixture and plops it on the pan. He makes sure he stands a bit farther away from the stove as he has his daughter attached to him and doesn’t want her to be right next to the heat.
He then takes a few chocolate chips in his hand to show Ellie what to do as he drops the chips on the pancake. “Can you do that for me?” He asks.
“Yes,” she says and Matteo passes the chocolate chip bowl to her. She takes a few in her little hands and drops them right on the pancake.
“That's perfect!” He assures her and she smiles widely at him.
“Can I try?” Theo asks.
“Of course!” Matteo responds, “you can add chocolate chips to the next pancake, okay?”
“Okay.”
Both his kids watch him intently as he flips the pancake. When it finishes, he adds it to the plate he left for himself to use and plops another scoop of the mixture on the pan. He offers the chocolate to Theo who takes some on his hand. Since he has longer arms, he’s able to lean over the pancake mix and drop the chips on the pan with ease.
He smiles widely at his work and Matteo offers both his kids some more chocolate chips to snack on as he cooks for being such great helpers.
David then comes in asking, “how are my little chefs?”
Matteo feels Ellie make grabby hands at David so he passes her to him once he’s close enough and Theo is enthusiastically telling David about how they helped.
Matteo continues making the pancakes and David gets the kids to help him set the table. He sets both their kids on the floor and hands Theo some plates and hands Ellie some plastic cups. Ellie runs out and Theo walks carefully, knowing that the plates could break if he dropped them. Both Matteo and David watch them fondly as they leave.
David quickly comes over to wrap his arms around Matteo’s waist. “How was cleaning the bathroom?” Matteo asks because he knows their kids find a way to make anything a disaster.
“They got toothpaste on the toilet,” David whispers into the neck and Matteo chuckles.
David remains wrapped upon him as Matteo continues cooking and they both listen to their kids trying to decide where they are going to sit for breakfast. Matteo chuckles because they have this argument before every meal yet they always sit in the same spots.
Suddenly, it dawns on him that he still hasn’t kissed David good morning yet. “You still owe me kisses.”
“Hm, do I?” He can feel David smirking against his neck.
“Mhm,” he hums.
David detaches himself from Matteo, making Matteo whine. David takes his face in his hands and kisses him square on the mouth. “You taste like chocolate.”
Matteo chuckles and pops some more chocolate in his mouth as David laughs at him and take some chocolate for himself.
“Save some for the pancakes!” Matteo says in between laughs as he tries to take the chocolate bowl from David.
David sneaks in some more kisses as he places the bowl back on the counter. He notices the two mugs of coffee near the kettle and his eyes light up. "Thank you," David whispers as he kisses Matteo's cheek. Then he pulls away to grab his coffee and some forks to finish setting up the table.
Matteo watches David bend forward to reach for the forks in the drawer and show off his ass.
That little shit.
David turns back to Matteo with a cheeky grin, “Eyes on the stove Matteo!”
Matteo rolls his eyes and flips David off as he walks away in laughter. He glances back to see David’s retreating figure then focuses back on the pancakes that he surprisingly hasn’t burnt yet with all of David's distractions.
When he finishes, he turns off the stove and places the pan in the sink. He grabs a bottle of whipped cream and syrup in one hand then grabs the plate of pancakes in his other.
“Breakfast is ready!” He announces as he makes his way to his family who is already seated at the table.
The moment the plate of pancakes hits the table, his children take for themselves and start pouring syrup on them. David helps them add whipped cream to their pancakes and Matteo goes to the fridge to grab milk and his coffee which he has completely abandoned.
When he gets back to the table Theo and Ellie are both talking very loudly as David chuckles at their expressive tones and actions as they eat.
Matteo sits back down and looks fondly at his family before he starts eating.
His children are loud, his husband is laughing and Matteo is happy because he wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.