V.

Ludwig sighed wearily as he closed the garage door behind him. What an exhausting day; the first half had been spent writing economic revitalization proposals and the second half was devoted to listening to and critiquing ones written by his staff. It always surprised him how much non-physical activities like that could wear him out so quickly. Then again, maybe the reason for his fatigue was less about the writing and reviewing proposals and more about the fact that the current recession had left him a bit weakened and feverish. Thankfully, he was on the mend. The slamming of the door had, as usual, summoned his children to greet him.

"Daddy!" they cheered, hugging onto his legs.

Ludwig knelt down so that he could return their hugs somewhat less enthusiastically in his drained state than he normally would have. After a moment, he stood unsteadily to greet Feliciano. He wrapped his arms around his husband and held him tight, resting his blond head on Feliciano's shoulder. Feliciano's hand came up to stroke Ludwig's hair gently and kissed the back of his neck.

"Did Ludwig have a bad day?" he asked softly.

"Not particularly; just a long and exhausting one… Let's go sit down."

"Ah… sorry, Ludwig," Feliciano said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "Felicino and I were just about to leave. He needs some new shoes so I thought I should take him out and get some. Ve, is this a bad time? I guess I could go buy them tomorrow…"

Ludwig sighed resignedly and shook his aching head slightly. "No, it's fine. I can wait for you… If you happen to see some black socks in my size for a decent price, pick some up for me, will you?"

"Ok. I'm really sorry, Ludwig." Feliciano kissed him again. "I'll hurry, ok? Maybe you and Benni can spend a little time together while I'm out with Felicino."

"What's wrong with Daddy?" Feli-chen asked worriedly, clutching at the hem of his father's business shirt.

"Nothing, sweetie," Feliciano assured the child as he released Ludwig and took Feli-chen's hand. "Daddy just had a busy day. Come on, let's go get your new shoes, ok?"

"I want red ones!" Feli-chen chirped.

Feliciano laughed. "We'll see if we can find some nice ones in your size."

Ludwig watched Feliciano and Feli-chen leave in silence, then looked down at Benni. He offered the golden-haired child a small smile. "Did you have a good day today, Benni?" he asked, toeing off his shoes and making for the refrigerator for a much-needed cold beer.

Benni shrugged. "I guess. Feli-chen and I played outside and caught a frog today."

Ludwig popped the lid off the bottle of beer and took a long pull of the cold, bitter liquid. "A frog, I see… Was it a big one?"

"About this big," Benni said, holding his forefingers a few inches apart. "Feli-chen named him Linguini and was gonna ask Daddy if we could keep him but he got away."

Ludwig made his way into the front room and flopped down on the couch, deeply relieved that the work day was over. "Hmm… that's too bad."

Benni watched his father take another drink of beer with a small frown of concern on his face. Ludwig looked down at him when Benni put his little hands on his knee.

"Are you sad?" Benni asked quietly.

Ludwig gave his son a weary smile. "No, just tired. I had a really busy day at work today."

Benni's frown deepened. After a moment, he knelt down and laid his head on Ludwig's knee. As exhausted as he was, Ludwig couldn't keep his smile from softening at Benni's attempts to comfort him.

"Come here, Benni."

Benni obediently got to his feet again and crawled into Ludwig's lap. Ludwig set the nearly empty bottle of beer aside so that he could hug his son. Benni rested his head against Ludwig's chest and sighed. Ludwig stroked Benni's fine, fair hair affectionately and kissed the top of his head.

"Why don't we watch some TV together?" Ludwig proposed.

"Ok," Benni said.

Ludwig picked up the remote and flipped lazily through the channels. Eventually, he came to an educational show for children about polar bears and he paused. "Is this ok?"

Benni nodded. Ludwig set the remote aside and settled back into a reclining position on the couch, Benni curled up on top of him. The two of them watched the TV in companionable silence. Ludwig glanced down at the boy a few minutes later and smiled when he saw Benni slip his thumb into his mouth the way he always did when he was sleepy. He knew that thumb-sucking was a bad habit and that he should encourage Benni to stop because he was really getting too old for it, but he couldn't help finding it endearing.

Benni yawned, which set Ludwig off yawning. A nap didn't sound like such a bad idea. In fact, it sounded like a very good one. Benni's eyelids were already beginning to flutter sleepily. Ludwig pulled down the blanket that was folded over the back of the couch, shook it open and let it fall over him and Benni. He synchronized his breathing with Benni's as he closed his eyes and focused on the gentle rise and fall of his son's chest against his. To Ludwig's relief, sleep accepted him with open arms and he allowed his consciousness to slip away.

Feliciano and Feli-chen returned home with a pair of new shoes about forty-five minutes later. To Feli-chen's disappointment, they hadn't been able to find any red ones, but the ones they had chosen did have red on them so he was placated. Feliciano opened his mouth to announce their return, but stopped when he remembered how tired Ludwig had looked when he'd come home. If Ludwig had decided to take a siesta, he didn't want to risk waking him.

"Let's be quiet, ok?" Feliciano told Feli-chen. "Daddy might be sleeping."

Feli-chen nodded obediently. The two of them ventured into the front room, the box containing Feli-chen's new shoes in hand so that they could show Ludwig their purchase if he was awake. A wide, silly, affectionate smile spread across Feliciano's face when his eyes fell on Ludwig and Benni, who were curled up asleep together on the couch. It was just too adorable. Feliciano tiptoed over to the computer table where he kept his camera and snapped a picture of them.

"They're sleeping, huh?" Feli-chen whispered.

"We shouldn't bother them," Feliciano replied just as quietly. "Why don't we go out and get some gelato and play at the park for a while?"

"Yay!" Feli-chen cheered, forgetting to be quiet for a moment in his excitement. Realizing his mistake, he clapped his hands over his mouth. Luckily, his father and twin didn't stir. Feliciano laughed softly and opened the box containing Feli-chen's new shoes.

"Why don't you put these on and we'll go, ok?"

Humming cheerfully, Feli-chen sat down and put on his shoes while Feliciano scribbled a note to Ludwig about where they'd gone. He placed the note on the table next to his sleeping boys, securing the corner of the slip of paper under Ludwig's beer bottle. Feliciano smiled again as he looked down at Ludwig and Benni and couldn't help touching a soft kiss to the corner of Ludwig's lips. When Feli-chen had finished putting on his shoes, he took Feliciano's hand and the two of them headed out to the car again.