chapter fifteen
you'll turn into a dinosaur
Friday 9th February 2018

"Mum, Lyra, say cheese!" Asher pointed the camera at the pair as Olivia helped Lyra sift some icing sugar in the bowl.

"Cheeseee." Lyra and her mum smiled at the camera and Asher took a picture. "My turn, Asher. Give your sister a hand, you're good at the icing." Olivia walked towards Asher and took the camera. She smiled to herself as she snapped multiple pictures of her children whisking the icing. A cloud of sugar rose up, making the pictures look even funnier.

Olivia took more pictures of the bare cupcakes, then as they put different coloured icing on. Suddenly, the phone rang. The mum picked up the home phone with a beam as she saw Eric's number displayed. "Her Eric,"

"Hey, Liv." Eric replied. "How're the preparations going?"

"Good, the kids are decorating their avengers cupcakes. They seem like they're pumped with sugar but I know they're not." Olivia grumbled lightly as she tried to filter out the squeals.

"That's my little munchkins. So, please don't tell Lizzy, but I've brought us tickets to go to Australia. I want to take her back to my hometown and propose to her in one of her favourite spots." Eric couldn't keep it in, he let the words tumble out of his mouth in just as much excitement as the kids.

"Oh my god, Eric that's perfect! She'll love it." She was beyond happy for her sister, there was no doubt to anyone she'd say yes. Lizzy loved Eric and all she spoke about was having a family with him. "Did you speak to dad?"

"Of course. I felt awful I couldn't speak to him in person but I said we'd be over soon. I'm sure she'll want to see them soon anyway. You can come with us if you want?" Eric suggested with a beam on his lips.

"I can't take the kids out of school. We're hoping we can go out there for the Easter holidays." Olivia looked back to her kids who'd finally got onto selecting which character should go on which cupcake. "Thank you for the offer though. Eric I'm so proud and happy for you. I'll keep my mouth shut. When do you leave?"

"In 4 days. I wanted us to stop at yours before we go to say goodbye. So don't stress about coming to see us. We'll be gone for a week." He explained. Olivia couldn't stop her heart from beating so fast. 4 days? Olivia's baby sister could be engaged to such a wonderful man.

"Good luck, Eric. I know it'll be amazing and I can't wait to see your beaming faces when you get back."

"Thank you Liv. Good luck this evening. I'll see you in a few days. Love you!" Eric chuckled slightly.

"Love you too, Eric. See you soon."

***

Olivia had told Tom that 5 o'clock was perfect. So could she really fane surprise when a knock echoed through the apartment at exactly 5pm? Olivia knew her boyfriend would be on time, his time management was impeccable compared to her own.

"He's here!" Asher harshly whispered and Lyra looked at the door as if it was about to come off it's hinges and engulf her in wood. Olivia stood up with a grin and began to walk towards the door.

"Mummy!" Lyra whispered. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh baby, what's wrong?" Olivia quickly made her way to her daughter and pulled her into a little hug. "Do you not want to meet him anymore?" Lyra shook her head.

"What if he doesn't like me?" She whimpered.

"Oh Lyra. You are too sweet not to be loved by anyone. Remember how amazing you are, okay? You're incredibly caring and extremely cute. If he doesn't like you, I won't like him. Okay?" Olivia felt incredibly sad. Her daughter felt insecure about meeting her mother's boyfriend. That's a feeling no young girl should feel.

"It'll be fine, Ly." Asher encouraged his sister. "I'll help you be confident, I promise." Olivia let her pride run through her veins and gave them both kisses all over their faces.

"I love you both to the moon and back." The mother beamed at her children and pulled them into hugs. Then she made her way to the door and opened it.

"Via." Tom smiled sweetly as the door opened in front of him. He stepped in and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Happy Birthday, Tom." She gazed at him and tried to steady her breathing. This was a big step. And he had to arrive looking so handsome in a white shirt. She lowered her voice. "Just a slight warning, Lyra has suddenly turned really nervous."

"Okay, I'll try my best." Tom whispered back, but he was, also, incredibly nervous. "Uh, where shall I put my bag?" In response, Olivia kissed him quickly, took the bag, and placed it by the shoe rack. "Lead the way," Tom smiled cutely, and he reached for Olivia's hand quickly. The woman nearly giggled at how cute he was, but didn't want to make his nerves worse.

They stepped around the corner and into the living room, where the children sat patiently on the sofa. "Guys, this is Tom.."

"Mummy, are you serious!?" Asher jumped onto his feet with wide eyes as he looked Tom up and down. His mouth hung open like a goldfish. "It's absolutely amazing to meet you Tom. Or should I say LOKI!?" Asher had made his way to Tom and was shaking his hand quickly, eyes lit with pure shock and excitement. Or was it honour to meet one of his favourite superhero's?

Tom chuckled. "Call me Tom, I'm sure you don't want me turning into a snake anytime. Asher, right? I've heard we can talk about marvel for hours." The man finally let go of Asher's hand and focused his attention on Lyra who began to question.

"I don't understand, why did Asher call you Loki?" The girl was beyond confused as she trotted over to the man. Tom squatted so that they were at eye level.

"Honey, do you remember when we watched Thor the other day?" Olivia questioned and perched on the sofa next to her daughter. Lyra nodded her head slowly. "Can you picture Loki?" A nod again. "Now look at Tom really closely."

Lyra gasped. "Wow!" The girl suddenly pounced forward and flung herself into hugging Tom. "You're amazing! And you're mummy's boyfriend?" Lyra was in complete shock. "Wow! Mummy! Wow!"

Tom chuckled and placed his hands on the girls arms. "Did you just call me amazing? I'm sorry, but you, Lyra, are the cutest little actress I have ever seen. I watched We Brought A Zoo last week, and you did such a good job! I bet you're proud of yourself."

Olivia's daughter suddenly blushed and moved away from Tom, fidgeting with her feet. "Thank you." She smiled at the floor.

"Tom, Tom, Tom!" Asher bounced up and down and grabbed the mans forearm. "Can you tell me about the next Avengers film?"

"I'm afraid I can't," Tom laughed and let Asher drag him to the sofa. Lyra followed with her heavy footsteps, and clambered next to the adult and leaned on his leg as he spoke. "I could lose my job if I tell you, but I'll make sure you're one of the first in the world to watch it." He promised.

"You can do that?!" Asher shouted, his marvel enthusiasm bursting like an overfilled dam.

"I can do whatever I want!" Tom teased and turned to Lyra. "Because I'm Loki!" He placed his fingers on the girls belly and tickled her quickly as he muttered his characters name with a devilish grin. The girl squealed and scrambled away.

"You're scary but funny when you do that!" Lyra breathed out and managed to get herself back leaning on his thigh. Olivia had made her way to the open kitchen, and watched slowly as she prepared the oven.

"I'm scary?" Tom pouted which caused Lyra to burst into laughter.

"Not now, silly. When you're Loki." The girl explained with a slightly arrogant tone.

"Oh, of course. No more scaring you by being Loki?" Tom asked, and Lyra stuck out her pinky.

"Deal." They both chimed together as Tom locked their pinkies together.

"Happy Birthday, Tom." Asher suddenly blurted. "Sorry we didn't say it sooner, but we got party hats to decorate!" Lyra nodded eagerly and jumped off of the sofa, sitting on the floor next to the coffee table.

"Oh wow, I've never had party hats on my birthday. You guys are the best." Tom flopped onto the floor but he had unfortunately sat the wrong seat.

"No, Tom, sit next to me please." Lyra patted next to herself. Tom chuckled and shuffled his body to sit next to Lyra. Although it didn't matter much anyway, because she positioned herself between his legs as they picked up the plain blue party hats.

"I even got us avengers stickers to decorate them!" Asher said proudly, and Olivia knew Tom would be very impressed.

"Avengers stickers? I need to get myself some of those." Tom reached over Lyra's body and picked up two hats, one for him and one for the girl. "Who's going to make mummy's?" The man asked. Olivia had never felt such relief as Tom already knew proper kids etiquette, they would've felt incredibly awkward if he'd referred to her as Olivia.

"I will!" Asher dibsed the fourth hat.

"Tom, who is your favourite avenger?" Lyra questioned, she pulled her head all the way back and looked up at him with a giggle. "You can't choose yourself though." She looked back down at her hat, and continued writing her name in big black marker.

"Hm," Tom hummed as he thought. He was asked it a lot, but for the purpose of ease, he just said Thor. "I think Doctor Strange is very good. He's a very confusing character but I like him because of that." He tried to put it simply for the girl on his lap.

"He's totally cool!" Asher chimed. "My favourite is Captain America because I love his shield." As he said this, he placed a captain America sticker on his hat. In the background, Olivia couldn't help but take a quick photo. It was a day to remember. "Lyra, who is your favourite?"

"Scarlett." Lyra hummed happily to herself as she put black widow on her hat. "She's such a nice person and her character is so strong! When I grow up, I want to be as strong as her."

"You will be." Tom smiled, which resulted in Lyra nestling further into him. "Can you pass me a Loki sticker?" He asked Asher, who happily passed one over.

"Have you put Tom, or Loki on your hat?" The boy asked as he tried to peat over the coffee table at Tom's hat.

"What do you both think I should put?"

"Loki!" They both said with beams. The man obliged and let Lyra scribble the name onto Tom's hat. Once she had finished, she spun round and faced him. "All done." She smiled, and placed it on his head.

"Thanks guys." Tom didn't have a proper second to thank them before Asher was in front of the pair with Olivia's camera. Lyra and Tom had to give quick smiles with their party hats.

"We look awesome!" Asher fist pumps the air as he puts his own hat on. He quickly runs to Olivia and takes pictures of the food. "Mummy, here's your birthday hat!"

"Wow, that's amazing Asher. How did you know Thor was my favourite?" She asked the boy with a teasing smile. She looked up to Tom and saw he was frowning slightly at the tease. But it was quickly washed away as Lyra jumped on him and started chatting about Scarlett Johansson. "Dinner guys, sit down at the table."

The two kids were there before Olivia could even finish her sentence. Lyra, once again, insisted Tom to sit next to her, and Asher, of course, moved to sit opposite him. The mother placed two plates in front of the children, then her own and Tom's.

"Dino Nuggets and chips?" Tom guffawed at his plate. "How did you guys know this is one of my favourites?" He asked and Asher smiled to himself slowly. So far, Tom was making a very good impression on the young boy and he appreciated the effort he was making.

"They're our absolute best meal!" Lyra replied whilst kicking her feet under the table slightly. "But mummy doesn't let us have them all the time."

"Because if you eat too many, you'll turn into a dinosaur." Tom joked to the younger girl and her eyes went wide.

"Then I'll eat all the Dino nuggies in the world!" Asher boasted with a smug smile. "I'd be the most biggest dinosaur in the whole world." Tom just laughed at this and smiled at Olivia who was silently pouring him a large glass of red wine.

"Thank you." Tom smiled and kissed her cheek quickly.

"Ewww!" Asher and Lyra laughed. Olivia raised her eyebrows at her children with a smirk.

"You don't like this?" She looked at Tom with a devilish look and kissed him softly on the lips. The kids burst into a fit of giggles and covered their eyes. "Silly billies, eat your food."

word count: 2237
note: dad Tom is actually going to be the death of me.

I hope this wasn't too much, I just wanted to show that these kids are incredibly confident and won't shy away to meeting someone new