“Fuck, you’re so hot. So good for me. You did so well. I’ll never doubt your cock-sucking skills again.”
“I should hope not,” Nico said, both of them laughing at the hoarseness of his voice.
He dropped his head to Mal’s shoulder.
“Tired?” he asked. Nico nodded. “Let’s get ready for bed.”
“You get me ready for bed. I’m exhausted.”
“Hey, which one of us got beat up by gangsters today?”
“Which one of us made you come twice?” Nico countered as he placed a soft kiss on Mal’s throat.
“That’s fair,” Mal said, somehow standing and dumping Nico onto the bed in one motion.
Nico laid there as Mal stripped them both, then wiped them down with wet wipes. It wasn’t until they were both wrapped up in each other that both their phones vibrated.
Nico slapped blindly at the little table beside the bed until he found his phone. He knew whatever had come in had been sent to them both.
He thumbed open his phone, holding it so they could both see it. It was a photo sent to the both of them from the room next door. Nico’s stomach swooped. They wouldn’t send, like, a sex pic or something in retaliation, would they?
He took a deep breath and looked at Mal, who seemed to gird himself for whatever they were about to see. He clicked on the picture, then bit back a laugh. It was Levi and Shiloh clad in their sleep clothes, lit only by the television, giving them the finger.
Another message followed immediately behind it. Just four words filled with foreboding.
We will get even.
Mal winced when Nico’s alarm went off at seven, the grating noise loud enough to bother not just their roommates but probably several neighbors, too. He heard Nico make a beleaguered little sound, jostling Mal as he blindly searched for his phone on the side table. The alarm fell silent as Nico gave another irritated whine, dropping the device onto the mattress beside him.
Mal smiled as Nico burrowed closer, pressing his nose to the skin on Mal’s neck, inhaling deeply, then sighing wistfully.
“You always smell so nice,” he mumbled before drifting back to sleep.
Mal huffed out a laugh but let sleep drag him back under as well. Fifteen minutes later, another alarm sounded, with Nico slapping at the phone until it was quiet. It happened again at 7:30, then at 7:45.
When it happened again just after eight, Mal snatched the phone from Nico, turning the alarm off for good before chucking the device over the side of the mattress without thought. Nicogave what sounded like a sigh of relief, as if Mal had disarmed a bomb and not simply turned off the alarm instead of snoozing it as Nico had.
Nico fell back to sleep easily, softly snoring against Mal’s chest, his hand on his lower back. Mal’s brain refused to be tricked again. Instead, he used the time to stare at Nico’s face, puffy from sleep, hair tangled and lips slightly chapped.
This was Mal’s favorite time. When it was just him and Nico, living in their little bubble of solitude. If Mal was a better person, he would have prodded Nico until he woke up and went to school. But he wasn’t. He wanted to keep him home with him, even though it was selfish.
Nico really didn’t have the grades necessary to get away with skipping classes. Not because he wasn’t smart, but because sitting for hours on end with his aggressive form of ADHD just wasn’t how Nico learned best. Not even the best medication could tame Nico’s wild, beautiful brain. And with his barely passing grades, he needed that participation percentage to keep from failing entirely. Even if it was only worth ten percent.
Still, Mal didn’t push. He wasn’t really sure why Nico was even in school. He seemed to enjoy working with Jericho and Arsen at the garage. He liked the complexity of engines and the chaos of the job, but it was like he was trying to prove something to himself. He’d had a dozen other jobs that never quite panned out. He just couldn’t adhere to a schedule like most neurotypicals.
Mal understood that better than most.
If he hadn’t found a job teaching dance, he would have probably taken up Thomas’s offer to freelance. With his sons’ ever expanding families, it wasn’t as easy to coordinate taking out the trash as it used to be. Thomas had left an open offer to all of Jericho’s boys, Mal included.
He’d rejected the offer, but not because he was morally opposed to killing. He truly had very little empathy for those outside his circle. He wasn’t really sure why he’d said no. Maybe because the others had as well? It was easy money, and the hours were great. If Nico chose to drop out of school, Mal would take the offer. If he worked for Thomas, Nico could do anything or nothing. He could be a house husband or work at the garage. Whatever he wanted.
Mal didn’t realize he’d fallen back to sleep until he woke to teeth softly clamping down on his nose. He swatted at Nori without opening his eyes, wondering when and how she’d gotten in their room. Maybe she’d snuck in when Nico had gotten up to go to the bathroom. She was crafty that way. But it wasn’t fur he found when he batted at his assailant but skin.
He cracked his eyelids open, finding not Nori but Nico. He stared at him, his blue gaze shining, even though the dark circles under his eyes told Mal he didn’t sleep well. He stared at Mal with a dreamy expression that made Mal’s stomach swoop like he was doing five Gs in a fighter jet.
“You hungry?” Mal asked, voice sleep-soaked.
He traced the planes of Nico’s face with his fingertip as he stared at him. He couldn’t believe he was finally his.
