Apollo was the first to emerge, no doubt drawn by the smell of bacon that he seemed to be able to eat unholy amounts of. Hiseyes were barely open as he walked over to where Lachlan was cooking and buried his face into the space between his shoulder blades.
"Ah, morning?" Lachlan said with a smile.
"So hungry. Sleepy. Dying," Apollo grumbled.
"Sit down before you fall down. I'll get you coffee," Lachlan replied, although he liked the feel of Apollo pressed up against him. He had worried that Apollo would be standoffish because of the previous night and was glad he wasn't. At least not yet.
Apollo sat at the table and rested his head on it without a word. Lachlan quickly made his coffee and set it down in front of him.
"Food is almost ready. Your dad says hello, by the way," he said.
Apollo drank some coffee with his eyes still closed before finally opening them. "What did Dad want?"
"Nothing. I called to update him because Valentine didn't."
"I did too. I said we were alive," the other Greatdrakes said, coming down the stairs. He was out of his pajamas, but his normally tamed black hair was a tumbled mess. He slumped down in a chair. "There better be coffee and breakfast for me too."
Lachlan poured him a cup and set it down in front of him. Valentine had a few mouthfuls before asking, "Did you manage to kill it?"
"Kill what?" Lachlan asked, turning back to the stove to save the eggs he was cooking.
"The pig you two decided to slaughter last night," Valentine replied, looking at Apollo.
Apollo squinted back at him. "What the fuck nonsense are you talking about?"
"I mean, that's what Iassumedyou two were doing from all the grunting and squealing I could hear," Valentine replied.
Apollo went red before picking up his coffee coaster and throwing it at his brother. "Shut up, you ass.
Valentine dodged the coaster with a bright grin that Lachlan had rarely seen. "I had to put a silencing ward on my room just to get some sleep."
Lachlan was redder than Apollo as he put their plates of food in front of them. "Okay, settle down, boys. No throwing any of this food at each other either because I've just spent an hour cooking it. Valentine? Are you done?"
"Areyou? Because I need to reset that ward if you two are going to go at it again," Valentine replied.
Apollo pulled his shirt up over his face. "Val, stop."
Lachlan didn't like Apollo embarrassed, so he took Valentine's plate of breakfast back.
Valentine snarled, but Lachlan held it out of his reach.
"Be polite, Val. I'm sorry we kept you up, but that doesn't mean you can upset your brother before he's eaten and can defend himself. Tease later."
"Fine," Valentine grumbled, and Lachlan gave him his food back. Valentine smiled menacingly at him. "Look at that, youdohave a mean side. I was beginning to wonder."
"Oh, he really does. I found that out last night," Apollo snickered under his shirt.
Lachlan gave up on both of them and sat down. "Eat your breakfast. We are hopefully going to have a family meeting today."
Apollo popped his head back out of his shirt and tore a pancake in half with his fingers before stuffing it into his mouth. The love of his life didn't believe in cutlery when he was hungry. On the other side of the table, Valentine was cutting all his food into precise bite-sized squares.
Lachlan sighed. At least if they both had food in their mouths, they would quit bitching at each other.
25
Valentine managed to wait until Apollo had eaten half of his pancakes before asking, "Bas shifted when he had sex. I wonder why you didn't? Lachie not hit the right spot?"
"Wow, did you just wake up and choose violence today?" Lachlan said, bristling. Apollo patted Lachlan's knee under the table.
