All The King's Horses And All The King's Men

eleven - 'with all do respect, Lucien, you can kiss my ass.'

"Dad!" Six year old Luna whined, rubbing the ice cream off of her nose with the back of her wrist.

Sixteen year old Levi just laughed, that was until he got ice cream smeared on his nose by Theo.

"I have avenged you Luna!"

The twins high fived while their dad scowled, even though deep down he's never been happier that he is right now.

He wiped his nose with a separate napkin, and smeared some ice cream onto Theo's cheek, while Luna smeared some onto Levi's forehead.

They were all sat in the deserted park, with ice creams that Levi had picked up on his was too pick the twins up, while the sun was setting. It was mid august so the air was humid but there was still a cool breeze drifting around them.

"Oh you're in for it now!" Levi threatened, causing Luna to squeal and grab her twins hand, running across the grass, Levi hot on their tail.

"Have mercy!" Theo screamed back to him, running faster.

Sixteen year old legs of a body builder versus tiny six year old legs. Do the maths.

"Ahhh! Dad!" The twins shrieked as he began tickling them both.

"Say I'm the best dad in the world!"

"Y-you're the best d-dad in the world!" Luna stuttered out in between her breaths.

"W-what she said!" Theo stumbled over his words.

Levi stopped tickling them and they both let out big breaths of relief, laying like starfishes on the grass.

Their dad layed with them for half an hour until the sun had finally set, and the breeze had picked up.

"Come on guys, let's get going, you'll get ill if we stay here any longer," he said, sitting up.

Luna clambered onto his lap and clung onto him, and no words needed to be spoken as he stood up, shifting her onto his left hip and grabbing Theo's hand.

The small girl laid her head on his shoulder, fading in and out of consciousness, and her twin was stupidly stumbling next to his dad, rubbing his eyes with his fist.

Levi noticed this and bent down, picking Theo up with one arm and resting him on his right hip, both twins with their head layed on him and hands gripping his shirt.

"Papa?"

"Yes baby?"

"Can we come stay with you in the orphanage? We promise we'll be quiet and we can sleep on the floor if you need us to." Luna asked in a sleepy voice.

After having a quick internal battle, he agreed and began the trip back to the orphanage.

Finally arriving, he laid the half asleep twins on the bed, chuckling under his breath.  Contemplating what to do about their pajamas, he walked out of his room and across the hall to the elder twins'.

Receiving the pajama's, Levi quietly walked back into the room. Both twins were awake but weren't lucid, the cloudiness in their eyes proving that much.

He changed both of them into pajamas as quickly as he could, and got into the middle of them. Both of them, on instinct, cuddled into him and he ran his fingers through both of their hair, planting a feather like kiss on each of their heads.

"Ti voglio bene bambini mio," he whispered, before drifting off to sleep himself.

(I love you my babies)