August scoffed. “That was almost thirty-six hours ago.”
“I also gave you a handjob at lunch and you blew me in the library when I threatened to go get the girls from daycare,” Lucas reminded.
August took Lucas’s hands and guided them awkwardly to his back, sighing contentedly when Lucas began to draw patterns on August’s skin. “What’s your point?”
This time, it was Lucas who scoffed. “My point is, how can you miss me, missthis, when we’re practically together twenty-four hours a day?”
“I would chain you to me and make you follow me around all day if it was socially acceptable. I hate being away from you, even for a few hours.”
“And you say I need more therapy,” Lucas teased.
“I do. Yes,” August agreed.
“Do you think this anxiety over the kids will ever go away? Do you think I’ll turn into some annoying helicopter dad and make them weird?”
“Oh,umnishka, that ship has sailed. They’re going to be weird.”
“Wow. Those are our children.”
“They’re going to be weird. They’re going to be smart, probably funny, but they’re going to be weird.”
Lucas snickered. “They’re just babies. You don’t know that.”
August gently bit down on the skin closest to his mouth. “They’re not just babies, darling. They’re Mulvaneys. They’re going to be weird.”
Lucas sighed. “Fair point.”
“We should enjoy our sleep while we can.”
“Mm,” Lucas said, noncommittal.
August lifted his head to find Lucas staring at the upended camera. “Don’t you dare pick up that baby monitor.” Lucas’s look was pleading. August shook his head. “One quick look, then sleep.”
“Yes,” Lucas hissed triumphantly, already turning it over in his hands.
August sighed, settling in beside Lucas to hook his head over his shoulder. The two girls were in separate cribs but they always gravitated towards the ends so they were side by side, close enough to touch if they reached through the bars. They truly were fascinating and exceptional in every way. All because of Lucas. He was a perfect father and partner.
August gently removed the monitor from his hands and placed it on his end table so Lucas could still see it. “You can be big spoon tonight so you can see the monitors from a distance.”
Lucas grinned, rolling onto his side to curl around August. “I’m always big spoon.”
“Mechanically speaking, it just makes more sense,” August murmured, threading their fingers together over his belly.
“You just like rubbing your ass on my dick in the morning.”
“To-may-to, to-mah-to,” August said, already drifting off to sleep.
“Mmhmm. Love you.”
“Love you, too,umnishka.”
“We’re not mad,” Lucas said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “We just want to know who showed you that?”
The girl’s eyed him warily, taking a step back towards their baby brother’s playpen, eyes darting to Jett and Jagger who sat a foot to their right on the pool chair, both looking surprisingly docile for preschoolers.
All the Mulvaneys were gathered around the second pool at the mansion for the annual July 4th barbecue, and were dressed appropriately so the family gathering could be heavily documented on social media, showing the world how boringly normal they all were.
Except they weren’t. Lucas eyed his children warily, his knees screaming from kneeling on the hard surface beneath. How had his beautiful, stunning, doll-like children become such little monsters?
