Handmade Cards and Grumbling Chefs

"Edgar, I was using it first!" Heath screeches, stretching across the messy table to yank the paint from Edgar's grip.

"No! It's my turn." Edgar yanks the green bottle, pulling Heath with him.

"I want to use it!" Rock yells, his little self completely unaware of the entire situation.

What a fucking disaster.

"Bu—"

"Boys." I yell, the sudden erruption of six little voices arguing coming to a complete pause at the sound of my commanding tone.

"Sorry Dad." They all chime defeatedly in a chorus, their faces painted with small scowls as they all glare at one another in accusation.

"I was still using it first." Heath grumbles beneath his breath.

"Heathcliff Stone!" I warn, instantly making him smirk to himself whilst muttering an apology.

"You will take turns using it." I affirm. "Perseus can use it first and then you will take turns in age order, understood?"

"Understood." They all grumble, my little mini-me's all slowly adopting my rough voice.

Edgar and Heath let go of the green paint bottle that they both held in a challenging vice grip, the custom fairytale-green colour now being passed to Perseus with a huff from Edgar.

There is currently one huge white card laying upon the covered wooden table in our garden, the large piece of card currently unseeable due to six little figures huddling around it.

I could not see what mess of a creation they had made, I was simply here to oversee any fallouts and to make sure that they were all civil.

Rochester leaned with his full body on the table, his face practically smushed against the card as he scribbled something with his green crayon.

Edgar sat with his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth in concentration, his brows furrowed harshly as he wrote little quotes, famous to be said by his mother, onto the textured paper.

Gatsby added his own little touch by gluing small cutouts of aliens from his science magazines all over the card, a great big smile on his face as he did so.

Fitzwilliam was the quietest of them all, completely serious as he wrote what appeared to be a heartfelt note onto the once-blank paper.

Perseus was the leader of the small pack, telling each of them what to do and making sure that not a single thing wasn't right as he used a small amount of green paint to form some kind of shape onto the card.

Heathcliff's face was still etched in a tetchy scowl from the previous events, mumbling to himself as he drew strange green shapes with the led of his green crayon.

Today was Mother's Day. One of many heartfelt days in my calendar that made me all the more grateful to have my green-haired goddess in my life.

What symbolised just how utterly incredible she is as her role as their mother was the fact that every one of our sons was utterly devoted to gifting her this card.

They loved her almost as much as I loved her, since there would not be a single person in the entire universe that could feel half the amount of love for a person similar to that of my feelings toward her, not even her own sons.

I watched as our sons chattered away with each other, talking about their mother as always. Rock tried his very best to join into the conversation, but his only contribution being little mumbles and incoherent words.

After another hour they all pull away from the card at once, beaming with delight as they peer down at the messy creation that lay upon the table.

"Done!" They all chime at once, holding up the card that is covered in every art product that comes in the shade of fairytale-green.

A little piece of glitter falls off from the place where Edgar had emptied an entire bottle onto, the remains of such looking completely random as it stick to a random area on the card.

"It's amazing, boys." I tell them, even though it looks as though a green glittery bomb has exploded in our garden. "She will love it."

I had no doubt that my Medusa would love it, so that part of my sentence was not a lie compared to the latter.

"When is she back, Dad?" Gatsby groans, instantly making his other brothers scowl at the absence of their mother, with Rock trying his very best to mimic his brothers.

My Medusa was currently away shopping with Lana, the only reason for her being away from me being that I had planned this entire day so that me and the boys could work on her presents.

Lana had no choice but to agree to taking Ella out for her Mother's Day treat. I did not even check if she was busy before hanging up on her and continuing with my day.

"Soon." I tell them, trying not to make it painfully obvious that I had longed to have her by my side from the very second the door closed behind her, because I knew that my sons would become a group of grumbling little creatures and that we would not get anything done.

"Mom?" Rock grumbles, his words muffled by the barrier of his green pacifier.

"She'll be home soon, Rock." Perseus says, quickly dismissing the tantrum that was about to explode. "Let's make some cakes, yeah?"

"Cake?" Little Rochester gasps lightly, his face instantly brightening up.

𓆙𓆙𓆙𓆙

"Not too much, Gatsby!" Edgar scolds, the bowl that sits upon the counter surrounded by six little figures as it becomes inhabitant of a heap of flour.

"Sorry!" Gatsby grumbles, scowling back at the five other scowling faces of his brothers.

I smile as Heath pats him on the back, telling a worried-looking Gatsby that it's okay and that they can fix it.

They really are the best kids in the entire world, not a single soul could tell me otherwise.

The rest of the cake-making goes somewhat smoothly, each of them taking turns in adding each ingredient, with me giving Rock a helping hand when it came to his turn.

Fitz added the entire bottle of green food colouring, his brothers beaming with delight as the colour mixed into the mixture and created the exact colour of their mother's hair.

They all stood in a line beside me as I took the cupcakes out of the oven, the sight of the overflowing and messy cakes making me smirk at the fact that not one of my sons was destined to be a baker.

Each of them grumbled in disapproval when I told them that the cakes needed to cool before we could decorate them, with little Rock stomping his little foot against the ground and mumbling incoherent words.

"I have another job for you." I told my little tribe, the absence of their mother eating at me like the most hateful disease. "I need you to write in the card you made for your mother. Each of you need to write your own little message for her, okay?"

They all instantly chirped up, the scowls that once coated their faces now vanished as they all scrambled to find a pen.

I handed little Rock a pencil, seeing that he looked utterly confused as to what is going on, telling him what to do in a way that he could understand.

He also quickly scurried away into the garden and I watched from the kitchen window as he joined his brothers at the table.

They all gathered around the card once again and remained in complete silence as they wrote their messages onto the paper. I kept checking on them as I cleared the messy kitchen ready for them to decorate the disaster that they call cupcakes.

I noticed that Rochester was struggling to get into the huddle of his brothers, so, when I was finished in the kitchen, I made my way outside to help him.

The rest of them paused what they were doing when I told them that Rock needed his turn, I placed him onto my lap and helped him spell out the words that he knows onto the paper, eventually making a full sentence that I know Ella will be able to read despite the scribble-like nature.

It wasn't long until the paper was filled with little drawings and messages for their mother, the pride on their faces as they brought it through to the kitchen filling me with joy despite my aching need for my Medusa.

If I thought that the cakes were a mess before then I was not at all prepared for the catastrophe that now lay upon the green cupcakes.

Each of them got two cakes to decorate. Gatsby filled his with the little edible alien stickers that I had bought, the small dessert now looking like a mini-UFO.

Fitz filled his with a shit-ton of green sprinkles, the green icing completely invisible as the entire contents of the bottle of sprinkles coat each of his cupcakes.

Edgar had drawn a small portrait of his mother onto each of his cupcakes, the green blob was...something, but I did not dare tell a soul that I looked like a character out of one of Ella's books.

Rock, bless his heart, was extremely proud of his little creation. He had only added a tiny amount of sprinkles and icing yet, in his eyes, it was utterly fantastic.

Perseus had managed to somehow use all of the decorations and pile them onto his cupcakes, a huge heap of greenness almost making the small cakes topple over.

Heath had tried to make his cupcakes look like those off the television, and, in my eyes, his were much better than those on the shitty television, they all were.

"How will she know whose is whose, Dad?" Perseus asks, watching as I place all the cupcakes onto the counter in front of the huge green card.

"She will know." I tell him, my deep voice rumbling with assertiveness. "She is your mother. She will know."

𓆙𓆙𓆙𓆙

"She's here!" Fitz screeches as we all wait for her by the window.

All six of the tiny figures scramble to the door at the sound of it opening, the sight of my little-green haired goddess placing her shopping bags down making my heart skip a beat.

I waltz over to her and pull her to me despite the small army that clung to her legs, she wraps her arms around me as I inhale her heavenly apple scent that I had craved all day.

"I have missed you so fucking much." I mumble against her lips as I kiss her smile.

"I have missed you too." She beams tauntingly, kissing me back despite the calls from below her.

"Okay okay!" She smiles, looking down at all six of our boys as they cling to her, each of their calls for attention coming to a halt at their mother's voice. "I missed you all very much." She grins, kissing each of their heads.

"We have something to show you!"

"Show me, show me!" She beams, following behind the little group with her hand interlaced with mine.

"They have worked all day on this, it has been madness." I tell my little wife, entranced by the way her green hair flows with the breeze from the open patio doors.

"I can't wait to see." Ella grins, dragging me along as she quickens her steps, my need to be with her as long as I can overpowering the fact that there are currently six little people also waiting for her presence.

"I have a surprise for you later, also." I whisper in her ear, the feeling of goosebumps raised to her skin and the sight of her flushed cheeks making me smirk with delight.

"Stop it, Lurch." She mumbles sheepishly, quickening her steps toward the kitchen.

"Surprise!" Our boys beam, open armed as they signal to the green surprise that sits upon the island.

"Oh my goodness!" Ella screeches, hugging each of our sons who once again cling to her despite my small glares of warning. "Thank you all so much!"

"We made you a card, Mom." Edgar points out, pointing at the green card as they all talk over one another to get her attention.

"Yeah!" Fitz joins in, his voice quicker than the speed of his thoughts. "And we made you some cupcakes, there's twelve and...wait..."

Suddenly I realise that there are only five of my sons counting the tray of cakes, my eyes desperately searching for Rochester and also the twelfth cake.

Each of their heads whip around to the sound of a giggling Rochester in the doorway, his face covered in a mess of green icing as he eats away at the missing cupcake.

"Rock!"

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a/n - heyyy all! A new update for you all, it's short and sweet but I still felt that I should include it, hope you all enjoyed! <33