vacation pt. 1

modern au ish idk but w/kids

The heat hits me the second I step out of the car—warm and salty. And then it's chaos.

"Don't run!" I yell after Adrian, who, of course, is already sprinting toward the pool with his tiny shoes slapping the stone path, floaty wings strapped to his arms like he's about to take flight.

"Too late," Kai mutters, dragging our suitcase behind him with one hand, the other bracing my lower back like I'm made of glass. Which, to be fair, is how he's been treating me for the past four months.

I swat his arm. He grins like the cocky bastard he is.

Inside, it's worse.

Ava is already crying because "the pool is blue and I wanted a pink one," and Kit is dragging her suitcase across the floor like a warrior returning from battle.

Juliette's voice floats in through the open door. "Aaron, no, they're not eating Oreos for lunch—Leila put those down."

I blink as their oldest, Leila, struts past me in glitter crocs and sunglasses way too big for her face. "Hi Aunt Pae," she chirps. "I like your belly."

"Thanks?" I say weakly.

Warner follows a beat later, arms full of grocery bags, beach towels, and one pink stuffed dolphin clinging to his bicep like it's been personally traumatized. He doesn't say a word. Just nods once at me like a soldier returning from war.

Juliette, on the other hand, sweeps in like she owns the villa—which, technically, she does. "I told you we should've had separate snack bags," she mutters to him, yanking a trail mix pouch from the chaos in his arms. "Mckenzie threw a fit in the car because her gummy worms touched the crackers."

"You caved to her dietary drama," Warner replies dryly, "not me."

"I was trying."

"She's five."

"She's five and your child," Juliette fires back.

I look up just in time to see Mckenzie stomp through the doorway, golden curls flying, cradling a stuffed duck and a deep scowl. She immediately locks eyes with Adrian.

"You wanna play pirates?"

Adrian's eyes light up like a Christmas tree. "YES."

In less than five seconds, they're both running at full speed toward the pool with suspiciously sharp sticks and a towel tied between them like a shared cape.

"NO SWORDS!" Kai shouts after them.

Warner sighs. "They're bonding. It's fine."

Juliette turns. "Are you going to say that when one of them loses an eye?"

"Alright," Juliette says, clapping her hands like a kindergarten teacher on the verge of a breakdown, "everyone get inside, shoes off, snacks in the kitchen, children out of the pool. And if anyone brought a crab inside like last year—I will lose my mind."

There's silence for a beat.

Then Adrian's tiny voice from the hallway: "...I didn't mean to."

Warner blinks slowly. "No."

Juliette sighs. "No."

Ava gasps. "You brought Pinkie?!"

"Oh my god," I whisper.

Kai's already moving toward the hallway. "Okay, that's it. Everyone out of the kitchen. And Adrian—step away from the towel. Slowly."

We eventually corral the children into dry clothes and out of the pantry—Adrian somehow found a jar of marshmallow fluff, and Warner is still muttering "How does this even exist?" under his breath.

By the time I sink onto a lounge chair by the pool, I feel approximately eighty-five years old.

"Here," Juliette says, passing me a cold mocktail with a little umbrella. "Virgin mojito. Because some of us decided to be glowing fertility goddesses instead of drinking wine this week."

"Some of us didn't decide anything," I grumble, rubbing my belly. "Some of us were ambushed by sperm."

Juliette snorts. "Our husbands' fault, obviously."

"Obviously," I echo.

From the other end of the pool, I hear Kit shriek, followed by Leila's dramatic, "You SPLASHED ME on purpose!"

"I said it was a mermaid cannonball!" Kit shouts back.

"That's not a thing!" Leila yells.

"Oh yes it is!" Kit insists. "Aunt Juliette told me!"

Juliette lifts her drink and says, "Sounds like something I'd say."

"Sounds like something you did say," Warner calls from the patio where he's untangling pool noodles with a level of intensity usually reserved for deactivating bombs.

Kai drops into the chair beside me, soaking from the waist down and looking like he's already ready to go home.

I raise a brow. "Water nice?"

He glances at me. "Adrian kicked me in the face."

I try very hard not to laugh. "On purpose?"

"Unclear. He was mid–cannonball."

Juliette sighs. "Do you ever feel like we lost control somewhere around the third child?"

Warner doesn't even look up. "We never had control."

"Amen," Kai mutters.

A splash erupts from the pool, followed by Adrian's delighted, "I got you!" and Kit's dramatic gasp of betrayal. Ava is giggling so hard she tips sideways on her lounge chair, and Leila is trying to organize everyone into "synchronized swimming practice" like she's the coach of a very uncooperative team.

I take a sip of my drink, leaning back against the warm cushions.

"You're smiling," Kai says, dropping a towel over my legs.

"I'm tired," I reply.

"But you're smiling."

I glance at the chaos — the water fights, the shrieks, the glitter crocs abandoned in the grass — and I can't help it. "Yeah. I am."

Kai leans down, kisses the top of my head, and murmurs, "Welcome to vacation."

Somewhere in the distance, Warner says dangerously calm, "Who left a crab on my chair."

And just like that, I know this trip is going to be unforgettable.

bro i am so sorry for not posting consistently i feel terrible for y'all but i just can't find the motivation to write 😭

i dont even have an excuse, but thank  you to all of you who keep supporting even though i am NOT a consistent queen (yet, bc that day will come i hope), and specifically @bookishwafi and @asoueL0ver for requesting this one, i'll continue it for a bit before moving on!

thank you for everything again!