“You’ll have to wait and see, precious!” Michael replied, “Your dad’s making sure it’s all ready for when we get home.”

Both of the twins squealed with excitement and Michael couldn’t stop the biggest smile from curling his lips.

The rest of the walk home passed by quickly as they discussed school and which of their neighbours the children thought would have the best sweets for trick or treating.

When they finally reached their cozy little house, the twins ran up the driveway, yelling for their other father to reveal their surprise.

Michael laughed to himself as he took off his coat and boots. The house was so warm and smelt of home cooking. Calum must have started dinner already.

“Woah there, you two!” Calum yelled from somewhere deeper inside the house. “You can see the surprise when you’ve taken off your wet clothes and helped your dad feed the kittens!”

There was a flurry of whining before the two children plodded back into the hallway. “Dad said we have to help you feed the kitties before we can have our surprise.” Tama pouted, kicking off his bright red wellies and shrugging off his blue raincoat.

Michael chuckled softly. “Let’s get you into some clean, dry clothes first, yeah?”

Bonnie was also shuffling out of her own raincoat when Calum appeared in the hallway to help with the post-school operation. “Can we change into our costumes?” The little girl asked, glancing between both of her fathers, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling with hope.

“Fine...” Calum replied, “let me know if you need some help putting them on okay?”

The twins giggled excitedly as they scurried upstairs and out of sight.

“You’re a soft touch, daddy Cal.” Michael smirked. “You say it’s always me that gives into them, but I think we’ve seen enough proof that you’re just as bad.”

“Oh yeah?” Calum snarled playfully, backing Michael up against the wall. “I think you’ll find you’re still the worst, actually. Maybe someone needs a bit of a Halloween spanking to remind them who’s the boss?” He insisted, pinning Michael’s hips to the wall as he allowed his lips to brush the blonde’s stubbled jawline.

“Calum...” Michael whined. “You can’t do this to me now, the kids will be back down in a minute.”

“Oh, I know.” Calum replied, his voice low and gravelly as his breath ghosted over Michael’s ear teasingly. “The wait will be all part of your punishment.”

Michael groaned needily. “Calum!” He gasped. “You can’t do this to me, it’s been weeks since we had time to... y’know...”

Calum giggled, pulling back from his husband before heading back down the hallway. “Well hopefully this will give you an incentive to get the kids to bed on time, for once.” He shrugged, glancing back to aim a wink at Michael over his shoulder before disappearing into the kitchen.

The older man had barely had chance to recover before Bonnie and Tama were scampering along the landing and down the stairs. They both had beaming smiles on their faces as they yelled for Michael to look at their costumes.

When asked what they’d like to dress up as, both of the five year olds had asked if the whole family could be pirates. Michael and Calum had agreed, happy that their ideas hadn’t been too outlandish this year.

To make sure that their costumes stood out amongst the crowds, the dedicated fathers had made each of the four pirate costumes themselves. They’d mostly used old clothing and distressed them using scissors and marker pens.

Of course, Michael had the bright idea of letting the kids make some of the design decisions for their own outfits. This had resulted in Bonnie requesting that almost every inch of her baggy, torn t-shirt be filled with a drawing of a skull and crossbone. Her outfit was completed by a little hat and the biggest sword she could find in the costume shop.

Tama had opted for a stripped t-shirt and bandanna. He’d decided to go for style over size regarding his sword which was much smaller than Bonnie’s but the handle was far more ornate.

“Wow!” Michael grinned proudly. “You look incredible!” He beamed. “Why don’t we go and show your dad, huh?”

The words had barely left the blonde’s mouth before the five year olds had sped off into the kitchen. Michael followed them, still beaming happily. By the time he reached the kitchen, Calum was already grinning from ear to ear. “I can’t wait to get pictures of us all when me and your dad are all dressed up too!” He said, giving each of the twins a huge hug.

The children squealed as they jumped up and down asking when they could have their surprise.

“We need to feed the cats first, remember?” Michael asked ushering the excited twins over to the little food bowls in the corner of the room. He grabbed the box of cat biscuits from the shelf they were kept on and handed it to Bonnie. “Why don’t you fill up Smudge’s bowl and then Tama can fill up Socks’s one, okay? I’ll fill their water bowls.”

The twins nodded and set about their task as Michael picked up the little ceramic water bowls and carried them over to the sink. As he rinsed and filled the bowl he was aware of Calum watching him and he felt his cheeks heat up under his husband’s gaze. “Why’re you staring?” He giggled, meeting Calum’s eye briefly.

“Just deciding what I’m gonna do with you later.” The younger man replied with a smirk, keeping his voice low enough that the children wouldn’t hear.

Michael bit his bottom lip between his teeth but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the comment. He had some parenting to do before he could get ravaged by his husband.

“We’re done!” Tama announced, holding up the cat biscuits towards his fathers. “Can we have our surprise now?”

Calum smirked at Michael suggestively - silently promising a good night later, before he crossed the room and took the cat biscuits from his son to store them back in the shelf. “Sure, buddy. It’s in the dining room. Don’t touch anything until we get there, though, okay? We’ll be there in just a second.”

Tama and Bonnie grinned widely before scampering off into the hallway without a second glance.

“You’re such a tease.” Michael pouted as soon as the twins were out of earshot. “I can’t wait for later...”

“Well you’ll have to.” Calum shrugged. “We have some serious pumpkin carving and trick or treating to do before I can focus all of my attention on you.” He made sure that his fingers brushed the back of Michael’s hand as he walked past.

“I‘ll hold you to that last part...” Michael grinned, feeling like an excited teenager at the prospect of sex.

The husbands made their way into the dining room to find the twins waiting impatiently by the table Calum had set up earlier. It had four pumpkins laid out on it along with the tools to carve them.

“I’m gonna make mine look like a cat’s face!” Bonnie announced, pointing at the smallest pumpkin of the bunch.

“I want mine to look like a ghost!” Tama added as he shuffled onto one of the chairs.

Calum placed a brief kiss to Michael’s cheek before taking his place at the table before confirming which pumpkin each of the twins wanted.

“Can we put candles in them afterwards?” Bonnie asked hopefully as Michael dropped into the seat next to her. “They’ll make the front garden look spooky!”

Michael chuckled, loving the way that Bonnie’s eyes sparkled just like Calum’s when she was excited or happy.

“Of course we can and they really will!” Calum promised, “but why don’t you two practice drawing out your designs on these pieces of paper whilst me and daddy hollow all of these pumpkins out, yeah?”

The twins nodded gleefully, each of them grabbing a handful of pens and a sheet of paper before scribbling down their designs.

As Michael and Calum carefully hollowed out all of the pumpkins, they couldn’t help glancing up to look at the twins occasionally. It was adorable how much effort they were putting into this and it made Michael melt a little. He almost shed a tear when Tama made a mistake on his drawing, his little face dropping into a disappointed frown before Bonnie helped him fix it. The cute moment brought a thought to the front of Michael’s mind and the words. “I want another one...” spilled from his lips before he even knew what he was doing.

Calum looked confused at first, before noticing that Michael was staring loving at the twins. “Another baby?” He asked, his shocked tone masked a little by the pure fondness he had for his family.

Nodding sheepishly, Michael tried to hide his his blushing face by leaning closer to his pumpkin.

Calum lifted his husband’s chin gently until their gazes met across the table. His eyes were full of some deep emotion but his facial expression was soft. “Mike, do want another baby?” He repeated, needing to hear the confirmation.

“Yeah...” Michael replied quietly. “I know I haven’t said anything before but I’ve been thinking about it and...”

“My too.” Calum interrupted. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot too... We can discuss it more when the twins have gone to bed, yeah?”

Michael’s heart was beating so fast as he leaned across the table to peck a kiss to his husband’s lips. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Calum replied, stroking a strand of Michael’s hair out of his face. “I think it’s about time the Hood family got a bit bigger, don’t you?”

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