#serena c': b/c she made their lives so serene and tranquil

[sunnybimbo]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @ace-pidge!! :’D you said you were craving shunkeith and you mentioned something about a parenthood au, so i took that and ran. 

i tried to add as much autumn imagery as i could (and you can probably obviously tell that im weak for spouses sharing clothes….)

(you ALSO mentioned that you’d like some hunk-centered and keith-centered fics so OF COURSE i added that as well, because what am i??? a heathen??)

I hope you have the best birthday ever <3 LOVE YOU HOPE YOU ENJOY

Early September

It was morning when Shiro woke to the soft noises of their fussy child, bundled up in soft blankets in her bassinet.

He rubbed at his eyes, stifling a yawn as he rolled over in bed to watch her. She had been adopted not even a few months prior, but Shiro was head over heels in love with her from the very first moment she’d peeked at him behind half-opened eyelids.

Her eyes were a warm brown, bigger than the moon and more expressive than the ocean. And she had the roundest, most perfect nose that scrunched up whenever she was hungry, like it was now. Her cheeks were so unbearably chubby and round that Shiro often found himself pressing against them when he hugged or burped her.

She made a fussy noise again, and he quickly rolled out of bed before the other two occupants could wake.

Keith took up his vacated spot almost instantly, seeking the warmth Shiro left behind. He was cuddled up snug against Hunk’s backside, legs tangled with the latter’s, but they both stayed deep asleep.

From the looks of the light filtering through the drapes on their windows, it was maybe nine in the morning? She was probably very hungry, then.

He leaned down to coo at her softly, pressed his fingers against her chin to calm her. “I’m here, baby girl.”

She kicked her legs, and he lifted her up to his shoulder. She nuzzled against the warm curve of his neck, burying her face there, and the soft tuft of hair at the top of her head tickled at his ear.

Along the way out the door, he stole Hunk’s hoodie to put on while he waited for a bottle to warm up.

Shiro yawned again, halfway down the hall. The walls were lined with medals and silly family photos they’d taken over years. He paused in front of a particular photo, right next to the archway that led to the kitchen. It was a picture from their college graduation, where Keith had gotten a bit too buzzed and kissed both Hunk and Shiro across the lips before he passed out in the back of Hunk’s truck.

That had been before they’d ‘officially’ gotten together, but Shiro was glad Keith had done it when he did, or else the three of them would have never gotten the courage.

The photo itself was of them, hooking their arms across each other’s necks. Shiro had been taken by surprise, when Lance had pointed a camera at them and screamed, “Say cheese!”

His plate of chocolate cake had nearly fallen as Hunk hooked him into the side-hug, and that could clearly be seen in the photograph. Keith, on the other side of Hunk, was hiding a half-smile against Hunk’s forearm, obviously pleased at the touch. A flush from the alcohol already stained his cheeks, and Shiro could almost see the way his eyes sparkled that night.

Hunk was beaming bright, his graduation cap hanging around his neck. He didn’t even hesitate to drag the other two into a hug, and Shiro remembered it feeling incredibly warm.

Hunk always did give the best hugs.

The tile was cold against his bare feet when he finally entered the kitchen, and he shivered so hard that his daughter was jarred out of her half-asleep lull. She voice her dissatisfaction loud in his ear with a half-garbled yell, and he quickly patted her on the back with a soft ‘hush’.

She was still wrapped in her blankets, so he untangled her and laid them on the counter in order to fight against the cold when he set her down upon it. She was old enough to sit up on her own, which is what she did as he grabbed the ingredients he needed. He kept a close eye on her, so that she wouldn’t tumble off the edge, but she didn’t seem interested in doing so in the slightest. Instead, she was more focused on sticking her fingers between her toes and nodding off.

The bottle was quickly prepared, microwaved, and tested on the inside of Shiro’s wrist. That last part was hard to do, since he’d left his prosthesis off before he’d left the bedroom, but he’d had enough practice with bottle-feeding one handed that it wasn’t as much of a hassle as it could have been. When the temperature came out perfectly, he carried her and the bottle over to the living room and plopped on the couch. Only when she was comfortably nestled in her blankets again, and he’d securely hooked her against his thigh and the end of the couch so that her head was still elevated, did he press the nipple against her mouth and let her eat.

She fussed a bit more, just because she could, before she took the offered food into her mouth and suckled greedily. Shiro wiped at his tired eyes with his shoulder and looked out at their backyard.

Thick blankets of fallen autumn leaves lined every inch of their fenced yard. A plethora of beautiful colors were illuminated by the sun’s rays, sparkling with the morning dew that had yet to evaporate.

He could see a squirrel running across the patio, with a twig in its mouth. For some reason, that image made him laugh, especially when the squirrel dove into the sea of crunchy leaves and disappeared up the large tree.

Down the hall, he could hear two sets of footsteps padding across the carpet. “What’s so funny?” Keith asked as he passed the couch, smiling down at the image Shiro painted while cradling their child close.

“Just enjoying the morning.” He said, handing off the empty bottle to Keith’s waiting palm. Hunk ambled into the kitchen behind him, drowning in the blankets from the bed. He always took the longest to wake up in the mornings, even if he loved them more than Shiro and Keith combined.

Keith leaned down to peck Shiro across the lips, letting his free hand drift down to rub his thumb across their baby’s cheek, wiping away a bit of drool before he wandered into the kitchen. Already, she was on her way to falling asleep again. Even more so, now that the rest of her family had arrived.

Keith, like Shiro, was wearing something of Hunk’s. The sweater dwarfed him in size, and hung low until it was tickling at his knees. He looked damn cozy, though, especially when he let the sleeves cover his hands as he took an offered mug from Hunk and lifted it to his nose to breathe in the comforting scent of the coffee.

While Hunk waited for his own cup to finish brewing, he waddled over to Keith and smothered him in a hug. The blanket covered both of them from head to toe, and Shiro could hear the way Keith laughed even underneath it, face pressed against Hunk’s chest. Shiro hoped Keith didn’t drop his cup, with the two of them tangled like that.

Careful not to jostle the sleeping babe, he turned halfway on the couch to watch the two of them. Just the very top of Keith’s head could be seen, where it was nestled under Hunk’s chin as they mumbled soft words to one another. One of Keith’s hands had snaked out to curl around what Shiro assumed was Hunk’s waist, and the two of them slowly rocked together, in the world’s softest, sleepiest waltz.

When they broke apart at the coffee machine’s bell, Hunk and Shiro caught eyes. The former smiled, glancing away only to pour himself a cup without burning his fingers. “You look like you’re in love.”

Keith hopped over the couch (Literally. He literally jumped over the back of the couch and landed on the other side perfectly unharmed.) without spilling a single drop of coffee, placing the warm, decorated mug on their round table. It had little leaves engraved at the lip that Hunk always cursed about when they had to clean dried coffee from the tiny nooks.

Hunk followed shortly after, choosing not to jump over the couch, but to walk around it like a sensible person. Along the way, he kissed Shiro on the forehead before he stole the middle spot between him and Keith.

He tugged the blanket over his legs, spreading it out so it covered both of his husbands’ as well. Then, he sunk into the plush leather of the couch and let his coffee warm him up from the inside out.

“I am.” Shiro murmured, glancing down at the baby girl in his arms. She had smushed her face against his chest and was drooling on it heavily. A wet spot formed just above his heart, and he knew it would dry cold and probably freeze his nipple off.

“Hm?” Came the distracted inquiry as Keith dug around the couch cushions for the remote. He found it buried underneath Hunk’s thigh, and he pinched it as punishment for Hunk hiding it. Hunk retaliated by touching his cold toes against Keith’s calf, causing the latter to squeal as a shiver coursed up his spine.

Shiro grinned, stealing a sip from Hunk’s coffee cup while they were distracted. “Don’t worry about it.”

In the next hour, they calmed down enough to cuddle close and watch a movie. Keith stole their daughter to hold for himself, taking up the left side of the couch. He laid atop Hunk, buried completely under the covers that the three of them were too lazy to tote back to the bedroom and exchange for something less bulky. Shiro took up the right side, and the bottom of their sleep-pile. His legs would probably be asleep by the time they decided to get up, but he wouldn’t complain.

Keith and Hunk dozed off like that, in one tangled mess of a family. And Shiro watched over them, half-listening to whatever movie Keith had turned on. His sweater, switched out from the drooled-on hoodie he’d stolen, was so comfortable it felt like one of the warmest hugs he’d ever gotten, and Shiro fell asleep to that; the feeling of his chest being so warm, and his heart so full of happiness that it was near bursting.

He’d never been so in love in his life.

Mid October

Hunk kicked his feet through the neat pile of leaves Keith had raked in the corner of their yard, spraying the warm colors all across the wet ground. He heard Keith sigh heavily, and a mischievous grin grew on his face as he turned to regard the other.

“You’re cleaning that.”

Keith leaned against his rake, which was missing two rungs and rusted on the handle. He was bundled up as if it were the middle of a snow storm, with a thick winter jacket on that swaddled his middle, a knitted hat Shiro had made for him, and two pairs of gloves. The only thing missing was his scarf, which had gotten wet when he’d gone outside and slipped on their porch, sailing headfirst into a pile of heavy, freshly fallen leaves.

“Of course.” Hunk agreed. He probably wouldn’t clean it today, but… Keith didn’t need to know that. Instead, he began hopping up and down in the leaves and splattering Keith’s boots in the cold mist. It always was wet where they lived, no matter how much it hadn’t rained.

On the porch sat Shiro and their daughter. He was watching them, half-asleep, as he rocked her to sleep. It was mid-morning, but Shiro had been up late the night prior helping Keith finish an assignment for the business class he’d decided to take (only to promptly hate. Shiro convinced him to keep going at it though, and it was too late to drop the class, anyway.)

Keith dropped the rake and stretched his arms above his head. “You sure are rambunctious.”

“It was the yoga.” Hunk said, striking a pose on one leg for his husband. “Keeps me invigorated.”

“Do they sell that in a can, or...?” Keith cracked a smile, gathering some leaves that had fallen into the hood of his jacket and throwing them at Hunk.

Hunk dodged, nearly slipping and falling back into the destroyed leaf-pile. Keith pushed him down, and Hunk shrieked as the cold from the ground seeped into his hoodie. “Keith!”

Shiro startled at the sudden noise, and they could hear their daughter fussing at them, as if demanding for them to stop so she could get the cuddles she wanted, undisturbed.

Keith threw another leaf at Hunk, and it smacked him in the face.

“Whoops.” He said, completely unapologetic, as he helped Hunk to stand.

Hunk quickly stole him for a hug, transferring some of the cold to the bundled up roll that Keith was, and he lifted him up to spin him around. Keith didn’t struggle, used to the treatment after years of them dating. Instead, when Hunk dropped him and the dizziness had left his eyes, he plucked the leaf from Hunk’s face and pressed a kiss against the tip of his cold nose.  

They wandered back towards the porch, and Hunk definitely did not sneak the leaf down the back of Keith’s shirt along the way.

He kissed Shiro on the forehead when they arrived, and Shiro responded with a pleased hum. His eyes didn’t open in the slightest, and he looked like a pampered cat the way he was lazing in the sun. All that was missing was a tail swaying at his back.

“Sleepy?” Keith asked, tugging his gloves off with his teeth. First came the yarn-woven ones, which were covered in dirt. Hunk grimaced. Then, came the leather ones, which only covered up to his knuckles.

Shiro hummed again, an affirmative, before he cracked open his eyes. “Hungry, too.”

Keith stole the dozing baby from Shiro’s arms, murmuring soft nothings at her as she wiggled in her blanket and onesie.

“We should go eat, then. Want to go out?” Hunk hooked his hand in Shiro’s and ran his thumbs across his cold knuckles. He brought each hand up to his lips and blew a warm puff of air over them, heating them quickly.

Shiro shook his head. “We should stay in and cuddle.” He suggested instead. “And nap.”

“We always do that.” Hunk said, smiling. The fall always made them extremely lethargic. As did the mornings and the nights, and the time just after lunch. As well as the cold, and the extreme heat. Hunk was beginning to think they just liked cuddling each other too much to admit they had a problem.

Keith was already standing in the doorway when Hunk looked up, watching them with a strange smile on his lips and a quirk of his brow.

Hunk helped Shiro stand, and kept holding his hands as he led the latter towards the couch. He waddled the entire way, eyes closed. He probably wasn’t as tired as he was pretending to be, but Hunk would spoil him anyway.

He pressed a kiss against Shiro’s cheek as he sat him on the couch. Keith took up his right side, leaning his head against Shiro’s shoulder as he kicked his fuzzy socks off. They’d left their boots at the door, of course— because who wanted to clean up muddy water from their carpet? Not them.

Hunk, stealing their darling daughter along the way, took Keith’s jacket as he went to the kitchen, tossing it on the nearby coat rack that stood just outside the archway. His dwarfed Keith’s in size when he set it on the next rung, and the sight had an endearing heat pooling in his belly.

Tiny fists curled around his chin, and he pecked a kiss against her soft face as he began to heat up milk for the three of them. He would be making hot cocoa to warm them up before they settled down for a nice, relaxing Sunday.

She had already had a warm bottle of milk about an hour before they’d gone outside, but Hunk prepared another anyway. She always did like to eat, just like her dads did. (Shiro and Hunk could eat half a buffet if they actually tried, honestly. And Keith, if antagonized enough, could eat the rest on his own.)

He stirred the milk in the pot, clicking his tongue to the beat of a song he couldn’t remember the lyrics to anymore. A bit splashed out and soaked into his sweater, and he quickly dabbed it out with a nearby towel. He was wearing one of Shiro’s old college sweaters; the letters had faded years ago, long before they’d even thought of adopting their baby girl. The logo wasn’t the right colors anymore, and there was a small, mended tear just under the armpit that scratched at Hunk’s skin when he lifted his arm.

She cooed when he moved, rocking from one heel to another. Out of all of them, she loved it when Hunk bounced her the most. Hunk liked to think it was because he was just the best at hugging.

The baby bottle was warm against his palm, but just right for her sensitive tongue. He carefully tilted her head the way he’d practiced for months with a stuffed doll and let her eat as much as she wanted.

Her hands wrapped around the plastic just below the nipple, kneading it as she languidly filled her belly.

A fond sigh escaped him, and he had to resist smooching her across the face. He didn’t want to mess up her process.

She only ate about half the bottle, but that was fine. They had plenty to spoil her with later, whenever she wanted.

The hot cocoa was assembled mostly by muscle memory. Shiro liked a lot of whipped cream, piled so high that it coated his nose when he took a sip. Keith liked the giant, puffy marshmallows that were soft when he bit into them, instead of the dehydrated ones that came with the cocoa mix. Hunk also sprinkled a bit of cinnamon over both of their drinks, just enough to add to the aroma.

The sink squealed when he turned it on to wash his hands, and he made a quick mental note to check that out whenever he had the time next. Probably tomorrow, after he raked the leaves.

He hooked two mugs on either of his forefingers, and carried the other in the crook of his elbow. With his empty elbow, he supported their child’s back and let her rest her weight entirely on his shoulder. It was a common pose for him to adopt, even if she’d only been in the family for half a second.

Ever so carefully, one step at a time, he walked back into the living room.

As expected, Shiro was knocked out when he rounded the couch. His legs were curled on Keith’s laps, and Keith reached up to grab the babe from Hunk’s hold. She easily took up the space between them and Keith’s stomach, her head curling against Keith’s chest.

Hunk set Keith’s drink on a coaster in front of him and pecked him on the lips.

“Thanks.” Keith said, softly. His free hand laid against Shiro’s thigh, gently patting it as he rubbed circles against their baby’s back.

“Of course.” Hunk said, almost offended. He took a sip of his own drink and let the chocolate coat his tongue, taking a whiff of the faint cinnamon scent. Yummy.

He sat down on the recliner they rarely used, near Shiro’s head on the other side of the couch. The pillow they’d stuffed in the corner of it was stiff as a board on Hunk’s hip, but he was too busy watching Shiro sleep to care to move it just yet.

Keith shifted, kicking his legs up on the table as he let his head lean back against the couch. He let out a soft, content sigh, and Hunk couldn’t help but silently agree.

Hunk could remember a time when none of them had ever been this close, always sidestepping and leaving a wide gap between one another as they walked, or never even acknowledging one another’s presence as they passed each other on the street.

Then, they got to know each other, for no reason at all. And then they’d fallen in love, and now—

Their daughter gurgled in her sleep, and Keith ran his fingers through the downy, barely-there tuft of hair on her head. She leaned into the touch and relaxed even further, legs kicking once before she settled again.

Now they were a family that shared everything and preferred to cuddle together on a too small couch than to go out.

How quickly things had changed. Hunk was more than happy to say it was for the better.

Late November

Keith sat at his desk, a dark stained wood that was sturdy enough to survive years of use and coffee spills, staring out of the window instead of studying the material he needed to know for his exam the next day. It would be the most important of the semester, excluding his final, and he couldn’t for the life of him remember why he wanted a damn business degree in the first place.

The blinds were pulled up high so that the starlight coated his fingers, from where the light could fit between the branches of the tree outside their window. He turned his palm to face it up, clenching his fist as if he could hold the stars themselves.

It would be fine if he took a break, right?

He pushed his chair out, and the wheels immediately got tangled in the shag rug he forgot to push away. He liked to stick his toes in the plush yarn fibers while he was solving problems— sue him.

With a soft grunt, he fell to his knees and upended the chair, digging the yarn out one piece at a time. A few ripped out, as they always did when he inevitably ran over the thing, and he hid the bald spots by fluffing the rest of it. When he finished, he threw it under the window and out of the way, dusting off his knees as he stood.

He wandered through the house, shoving his hands in the large pocket at the front of his hoodie. For once, he was wearing one of his own, instead of one of his husbands’. He usually liked wearing his own clothes, but tonight it just made him feel lonely.

The wood creaked as he walked down the hall, careful of the baby toys they hadn’t picked up during the day. He knew one of them would step on the noisy toy in the morning, and it would dig into their toes and piss them off— but that was a problem for the future.

He cracked open the door to his bedroom. Vaguely, in the dark, he could make out the lumpy shapes of his spouses, snoring away on either side of the bed. Hunk’s foot hung off the side, and he was spread so strangely that Keith winced. He was amazed that he didn’t have back problems, with the wild way he slept.

Keith padded in more, leaving the door ajar behind him. Shiro’s breathing shifted as he got closer, and he mumbled something against Hunk’s chest, burying his face against it even further.

Keith pressed a kiss against the crown of his head, smoothing back his hair fringe with a gentle shush.

He checked the windows to make sure they were locked, just out of habit. They were, of course, because nobody but him opened the windows in their house.

On the other side of the bed, at the other window, Keith paused again to look at the stars. They twinkled so loud in the sky he could almost hear their song, and he let his eyes drift shut.

The house settled around him, creaking ever so slightly. He could faintly hear the bass of a neighbor’s party raging down the block, and he hoped someone wouldn’t call the cops. They always blared their horns too loudly, especially when everyone was supposedly asleep.

Behind him, he could hear his daughter shifting around her crib. They’d switched out her bassinet for the thing about a month prior, because she was growing so fast and needed the extra space.

He peered over the baby cage, leaning against the bars as he watched her get comfortable. She wasn’t awake, as far as he could tell, and was having a pleasant dream by the way she’d occasionally twitch and squeeze her hands into tiny little fists.

Keith could never get over how small she was. His hand dwarfed her when he cradled her head as he fed her a bottle, or when he was giving her a bath and trying to get between each of her toes.

She was a soft, squishy little thing. When she’d first been born, her skin had stayed a splotchy-red color for so long that he thought she’d had spots.

His fingers strayed against her cheeks, where he remembered them being, and she made a soft, babbling sound at the touch. Her pupils danced behind her eyelids, and Keith didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that he was grinning like an idiot.

His feet were getting cold, though, from the draft circling around the room. He should have closed to door.

She didn’t make any other noises, so he tucked the blanket back over her and stood on the tips of his toes to reach in the crib and gently kiss her forehead. When he pulled away, he set a soft, yellow duck next to her hand, so that she could grab it whenever she wanted. It had been a spur of the moment purchase, and he’d only thought to buy it for her because of Pidge. Pidge absolutely adored the baby, as much as children made her nervous, and she probably would have stolen his wallet from his pocket and bought it herself if he hadn’t done it.

Keith left her alone to sleep. He didn’t want her to wake and start crying.

The air was getting colder the longer he left the door open, but the space heater would probably automatically kick on, sooner or later.

Keith allowed himself to dawdle in the cozy atmosphere. It soaked over him, and embedded itself deep in his heart as he sat on the very edge of the bed and rested against the tangled lump of Shiro and Hunk.

Shiro sleepily patted around the blankets until he found Keith’s arm, and his fingers wrapped around Keith’s palm with a firm squeeze, as if he were reassuring himself that the latter was actually there.

He mumbled something, almost exactly the same way his daughter had.

Hunk hardly shifted at Keith’s presence, but he was extremely warm and soft to cuddle against. And Keith did exactly that, until Hunk’s breath tickled the cowlicks at the top of his head as he snored loud in his ear. It rumbled his chest, which bodily lifted Keith with each deep inhale, and Keith let out a soft laugh.

His legs were starting to get as cold as his feet were, covered only in a pair of boxers. They had little bananas on them, a gift from both Hunk and Shiro as a ‘4 month anniversary present’. He hadn’t even known that was a thing before he’d gotten married, but the boxers were comfortable so he wouldn’t fight the little celebrations they liked to have.

He probably wouldn’t be getting any other studying done tonight. He was much too happy to let interest rates and net profits keep him from his family.

Keith climbed over them, careful not to jab them in the stomach with his knees, and squeezed in the empty space they’d left for him on the opposite side of the bed. Hunk was firmly nestled in the middle, and Shiro had turned onto his side at Keith’s absence, hair flipping over and laying across Hunk’s face.

Keith reached up to tuck Shiro’s hair out of the way so he could breathe, and he wrapped his arms around them as completely as he could. They weren’t long enough, of course, but he was happy to just touch the both of them at the same time.

Their breathing had synced in the night, and it was easy to find the rhythm once Keith relaxed enough, sinking into the too-soft mattress they had insisted upon at the store.

He had just begun to drift off when Shiro shifted and sat up in the bed to tuck the blankets around Keith’s shoulders, eyes half-lidded and heavy with sleep. He pressed a sleepy, wet kiss against Keith’s temple, and turned to make sure Hunk was adequately covered, too, before he plopped back down on his edge of the mattress and promptly fell back asleep.

Keith snorted, legs tangling with both of theirs. He hid his red face against the curve of Hunk’s arm, and reached over to squeeze his palm against Shiro’s hip as he settled in again.

He was already getting too warm, and he knew he would wake up tomorrow drowned in sweat. But the moonbeams were soft against his neck where he was, buried under the covers, and Hunk had found his hand and was tracing soft patterns with the pad of his thumb against the back of Keith’s palm, and Shiro was starting to snore again. It was all so endearing and so comfortable that Keith couldn’t find it in himself to ruin the atmosphere.

Tomorrow could happen tomorrow.