Scolex One-shots.

Lava

As soon as Alex stepped inside his front door he was greeted by a childish squeal of excitement followed by loud giggling and a muffled "Hey! That's not fair". And that was just Scott. He trod quietly down the corridor of their house before turning the corner and silently opening the door to the lounge, hoping to scare them. Instead it was Alex who received the surprise.

Gone was the usual symmetrical and (sometimes) tidy arrangement of the couch, bean bags, blankets and other objects commonly found in the lounge. The couch was on its side, all of the cushions scattered around it, blankets were bundled up and placed in seemingly random positions and it looked like one of the bean bags had burst judging by the thousands of tiny white polystyrene balls littered all over the floor. But perhaps the most alarming sight was Scott; sprawled over the coffee table, face down, with their two children dancing on his back in victory, much to their father's discomfort.

On spotting Alex in the door way they both leapt down from Mount Scott and rushed over to him, squealing excitedly as he picked them up, one under each arm. He huffed dramatically, "You two are getting big! I'm not going to be able to lift you soon!" he joked, setting them down and looking at the twins. They stood smiling big toothy grins up at him, their hair tangled, cheeks rosy and – "Laura did you lose another one today?"

She smiled proudly, showing off the gap in her front teeth as if it was her prized position, nodding, "and Mrs. Martin said I might get TWO dollars for it"

Alex laughed, "Is that so? I think it's barely worth one" he teased, smiling over at his husband who was now sat on the edge of their table, chuckling at the interaction. Alex scanned the room again before looking back at Scott, "what was going on before I interrupted?!" Alex asked.

"We were playing the floor is lava!" The voice came not from Scott but Nick who had wrapped his arms around Alex's waist, "can you play too daddy?"

Laura echoed her brothers request, as did Scot, jokingly adding, "Please, daddy" much to Alex's surprise.

"This got weird" he joked, laughing as Scott caught on to the subtext of his statement.
He stood up and straightened his shirt before clearing his throat, taking in a deep breath and practically yelling, "the floor is lava!".

The family sprung in to action, squealing and giggling as they raced around, jumping from obstacle to obstacle, chasing each other around in circles before Scott decided to add in new rules.

"No one's allowed to stand on the couch!" he called, laughing as his two 5 year olds practically dived off it and on to nearby cushions. Alex on the other hand was hot-footing it along a line of cushions.

"Silk cushions and socks" he joked, stumbling, "what could go wrong?" At that he slipped and, in trying to save himself, took a step on the hard wood floor. "NO! My FEET! They have been SCORCHED!" he hopped around on one foot, clutching the other in his hands as the rest of his family doubled over laughing at Alex's overly dramatic sense of humour.

Once they had calmed down Scott added in a new requirement, "ok now no cushions or the couch." A new round of screaming erupted, particularly from Alex who was surrounded in nothing but cushions. "Ten seconds, Alexander" Scott called over, standing on a pile of blankets.

"TEN," Laura and Nick chorused, "NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN". It was here that the chant diverged, Nick opting for the more traditional 'six' whilst Laura went back to 'eight' looking embarrassed when she realised her mistake. Not that anyone noticed. They were too busy watching Alex have a meltdown, before panicking and pulling his sweater off, tossing it on to the floor. Scott held back a wolf whistle. Gotta keep it PG. "TWO," the chant stopped once Alex stood in relative safety (much to the kid's disappointment), triumphant and exhausted.

Several noisy, giggly rounds later and Scott noticed the slight drooping in everyone's eyes so called out a final rule, stretching his arms out to embrace his family "ok, everyone on my cushion now". In one long stride Alex reached Scott, wrapping is arms around the blonde and giggling as he felt two smaller bodies wriggle in between them, but before he could pull away Scott squeezed him in tighter, smiling at the giggling that came from the twins. "Whatever is that noise, Alex?"

"I don't know Scott, maybe there's rats in the floorboards".

"NO silly!" Laura exclaimed, "It's us". Scott and Alex each let out a short laugh, breaking apart and looking at the children below them. Scott watched Alex run a hand through his hair, before reaching down and doing the same to Nick. He smiled at the interaction, suddenly overcome with happiness and affection for their small but perfectly formed family. When Alex met his eyes again Scott was almost certain he would break down any minute, so he gently pressed their lips together, amazed at how his husband could still take his breath away after all these years.

"EWWWWWW" the twins chided, squirming free of their Dads embrace but not leaving the safety of the cushion.

The two men separated but kept their foreheads pressed together, "you don't have to stay, y'know?" Alex teased.

"But what of the floor is still lava?" Nick inquired, looking up at Alex with his tired, innocent, but piercing dark blue eyes. Alex felt Scott chuckle against him and pulled away from their embrace, tapping his toes on the ground next to the cushion, then fake sighing in relief.

"I think we're safe now. You guys go put on your pyjamas we'll be up in a minute". Alex turned back to face Scott, listening to the light pattering of feet, then heavy stomping as they no doubt bear crawled up the stairs in typical Kirk-Hoying fashion. Alex laced his fingers with Scott's and looked at their intertwined hands. They stood on top of couch cushion in the middle of a scene of destruction with two 6 year olds who'd soon be desperate for attention upstairs, but right here and now, Alex had never felt more satisfied. He drank in the silence and watched Scott look around the room, chuckling at the madness.

"6 year olds, huh?" Alex said.

"Yeah. Bagsy not tidying it up" Scott quipped, pecking his partner's cheek before sprinting up the stairs.

"And I thought there were only 2 children in this house" Alex muttered to himself, laughing and following the rest of his family, calling "the bed time monster's coming to get you!" And laughing at all three of the responding shrieks.

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A/N - I wrote this because 1) let's be real scolex are going to be A* parents, and 2) Alex didn't cry at Inside Out (?!) which got me thinking about the short film at the beginning, with the "I lava you" etc and bam. This was difficult but so fun to write so let me know what you think, I guess. X