@Mint-Chocolate-Chip said:

What would a day with Slade, Mel, and the rest of their family at the zoo be like? I don't know what other description to give you because you are the writer and I just want to read what else you come up with. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more information. #theirthings

Rating: Mildly suggestive

* * *

Miranda Kolosov's POV

"I don't know," I replied rather irritatedly as I began putting the car into reverse mode.

"Wow, look! Everyone! Miranda Kolosov doesn't seem to know something for once!"

I gritted my teeth and shot my husband a glare before focusing on parking the car.

It was times like this that I wondered what the hell had I been thinking when I agreed to marry Slade. But then again, I wasn't given much of a choice.

"Speechless! It's a miracle!" Slade exclaimed much to the amusement of my three traitorous children who giggled rather loudly.

"I hate you," I muttered under my breath but I knew that Slade heard me. Eerily, he had the hearing ability of a dog. Ha! That did match his personality, I mused as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

"That's not what you said last night, and you know it," he smirked, eyes lighting with mischief and despite the eleven years that we've been together, I could feel my cheeks heating up.

All I could do was make a rather childish face at him as I got out of the car.

Slade was just pissy and annoying me on purpose because we had to visit the Zoo on a weekend of all days. He hated crowded, noisy areas with too many children, people that walked too slow, the smell of the place and badly cooked food. In short, he hated the entire idea.

If I didn't know better - and along with the three children that we were blessed with - I would swear that he was an old woman in disguise.

Who knew that men complained incessantly?

But as I watched Slade, the domesticated dad set up the double stroller for the twins, before setting Charlie in it, I could feel my annoyance fade. Just a little.

The twins were the reason why we were at the Zoo on a weekend. Sebastian and Charlie had been watching too much animal programs on National Geographic - which was no doubt Grayson's fault - and had been clamouring and begging to see the animals live.

And of course, we couldn't say no, no matter how much Slade wanted to. Truthfully, our children had him wrapped around their little pinkies.

It was because of this fact that made everything sweeter. That under those complains, gruffness, scowls, glares and tough exterior, there was a man who loved and doted on his children to bits.

Unfortunately for me, as Slade couldn't complain and rant about his distaste on Zoos to anyone else, I was his chosen victim and I knew my ears would bleed if he opened his mouth to make another barbed comment today.

Buckling Sebastian into the stroller, I spotted Kat walking around in circles. "Kat, stop that, you'll get sick," I warned and she stopped before trudging reluctantly towards me. "I'm bored."

Grabbing my purse, from the back of the car, I checked to see if my emergency bag was there. Most parents would call it unnecessary especially when your children were above the age of three but I would beg to differ. Because those parents didn't have children like mine and a father like Slade to egg them on.

The emergency bag contained sets of extra clothes for all of us, towels, packets of wet tissues, plastic bags and even a first-aid kit. 

Yes, I was that prepared.

In the Kolosov household, anything and everything was fair game.

"Mummy, can we go now?" Charlie whined and I gave her a bright smile, ready for the day to start.

"Of course," I said as I locked the car and trailed after Slade who was pushing the stroller, a sulky expression on his face. And Kat who was every inch her father's daughter had the exact same expression on her face.

I rolled my eyes and sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Kat, stop leaning over so much, you might fall," I warned, my maternal instincts at an all-time high as Slade carried Kat into his arms as she wanted to take a better look at the giraffes.

"You might fall," Slade mocked in a high pitched tone and I scowled at him, wondering when the hell his childish tendencies would end.

After two hours of mocking, heavy sighing, muttered swearing and dragging of feet, I was close to exploding.

"Would you stop it," I snapped and followed Charlie who was tugging insistently on my hand to see the elephant enclosure.

"Oh, my fuck! Look, Mel, she has hair the colour of that monkey's arse!"

I gasped in horror as Slade exclaimed loudly and rather shamelessly as he poked fun at someone's hair colour who did have an unfortunate resemblance to a monkey's butt.

"Slade!" I hissed, totally forgetting to remind him about swearing in front of the kids. I was too mortified to even reprimand him on that.

"Oh, what about that one?" My husband ignored me as he pointed to someone in the crowd. "Her dress looks like the picnic mat I saw in the trash yesterday."

Despite Slade's awful commentary, I could see the funny side of it. But I refused to laugh. It would only egg him on and I certainly did not want to let our children think it was okay to make fun of people in that manner.

"Stop it! She's going to know you're talking about her!"

Slade rolled his eyes as Kat squirmed in his arms to be let down and held her hand tightly. "Who cares? She doesn't know who we are anyway."

My husband shrugged shamelessly before his eyes widened in glee. "Mel, sweetheart, did you see that?"

I shot him an indignant glare, knowing he was going to make fun of another person and opened my mouth to speak but Slade quickly walked off, leaving me and the twins behind him.

"Now, that looks like someone ran over him with a tractor!"

I groaned despite the small smile threatening to break onto my face.

* * *

"Mummy," Charlie tugged on my jeans.

"Yes?" I bent down and just as I did, I felt a hand on my arse before the sensation of someone pinching it surfaced.

Abruptly, I jerked and my cheeks flamed. "Slade!"

"What?" He shot me a frown, his blue eyes shining with innocence.

I would have fallen for it if I hadn't known Slade for slightly more than a decade. He had his telltale signs that appeared when he was lying.

And on top of that, Slade would kill anyone who touched me inappropriately. He was too much of a possessive and protective male to let that pass.

"Knock it off! We're in public!" I whispered and he raised an eyebrow daringly.

"Mummy," Charlie was more insistent this time and I ignored my husband who was giving me a heated stare, his eyes appraising my body with a wicked gleam.

"What's wrong?"

"I want a hot dog," she begged, brown eyes imploring me, which I didn't have the heart to resist.

Fifteen minutes later, we all had our hotdogs and soda with the exception of Slade who was a snob and refused to eat 'processed food that came in the shape of a dick'. Those were his exact words.

I was just thankful that our children were too occupied in unwrapping the food to even listen to him. I had no idea on how to explain that.

"Daddy, can you open?" Sebastian asked as he handed the can of soda to Slade who was blindly took it.

I could only watch with horror as Slade opened it and the soda burst out, splashing him with it.The children gasped in surprise before bursting into giggles at the expression on their father's face when the soda just dripped onto the pavement.

Slade remained absolutely still but I could see the irritation and anger forming on his face.

After all the nagging, the complaints, the muttered swear words under his breath, the effort he took to annoy me made it all worth it.

"Wipe that smirk off your mouth," he snapped, eyes flashing and instead of feeling cowed when one was wont to feel when they were met with the glares from my husband, I did the opposite.

I burst into laughter.

"I said shut it!"

"I-I can't!" I gasped out as I stared at the sight of Slade soaking wet from soda. His black shirt was clinging to his torso, and the look on his face would make anyone run off but all I could do was laugh.

Slade growled before grabbing me by the waist and shut me up the only way he knew how. He kissed me.

But I didn't kiss him back. The stickiness of the soda made me shriek and I wriggled away from him. "Ew, no! You've got soda on me!"

Slade flashed me a wicked grin, no longer was he in a sulky mood. "Replace 'soda' with a three letter word that starts with C and we've got a winner!"

My jaw dropped, too stunned from his dirty joke to even come up with an articulate response.

"Oh, that's perfect too," he crowed, eyes glittering with amusement.

I snapped my mouth closed and glared at him but the playfulness on his face made my annoyance fade. "You're such an idiot," I sighed before shaking my head.

"You love me," he bragged.

I shook my head, "I've got extra clothes in the car."

Slade sighed as I handed him a packet of wet tissues from my purse before cleaning his hands and then depositing the twins into the stroller, leaving me to hold Kat's hand.

"Mel, you're the perfect wife," he declared as he pushed the stroller with one hand before slipping his other hand into mine and tightened his grip.

I could only snort in exasperation. 

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A/N: This was an absolute delight to write and I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did! :)