“Of courseyou’dsay that. You think everything about me is perfect.”
Quin smiled. “Everything apart from your grumbling right now, baby boy.”
“I’m an old man. I get ornery when I’ve just woken up.”
Quin leaned down and rubbed his nose against Kit’s. “And you’re cute even when you’re ornery.”
Before Kit could rebuke that too, the doorbell rang, and Mabel skittered along the hall to see who was there.
“That’ll be them,” Kit said, cocking his head. “Yeah, I can hear DJ insulting the neighbour’s plants.”
“They’re drooping!” came DJ’s response from outside. The bathroom was above the front door, so it took little effort for them to hear him, but DJ projected his voice like he was on stage and his words needed to reach those in the very back row.
Kit sighed. “Does he even remember that it’s nighttime?”
A much more sedate, “Oops,” followed.
Quin gave Kit a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll get the door, you get dressed.” He pulled on his dressing gown before heading downstairs.
As he stood at the closed door, he gave Mabel a stern look. “Sit, and no jumping up.”
She did as she was told as Quin opened the door. “Come on in.”
DJ ran in. “Puppy!” He went to Mabel, lifting her clean off the ground and cuddling her as she licked at his face.
Shaun followed. “Oh, she’scute,” he said, joining DJ. Rake came in last, eyes lighting up at the sight of Mabel. “She’s so soft! Come feel her, Rake.”
Quin closed the front door behind them. “Hello, Quin,” he said to no one in particular. “How are you, Quin? Thank you for inviting us over, Quin.”
“Oh, hi, Quin,” Shaun said. DJ beamed at him for a second before focusing back on Mabel, and Rake waved without sparing him a glance. Mabel was in heaven, squirming happily as sixhands petted her all over. Quin left them to it, going upstairs to change into actual clothing.
Kit was looking at himself in the mirror, fussing over his hair. He still worked on it even once Quin had dressed, so Quin took hold of one of Kit’s hands and pulled him downstairs.
“It’s not sitting right,” Kit said.
“It looks?—”
“If you say perfect, I’ll bite you.”
Quin laughed. “As if that’s a threat.”
The guys hadn’t made it further than the hallway. “Can we take her to the beach?” DJ asked.
“Of course. She loves the water.”
They traipsed down to the shore, Kit getting the honour of holding Mabel’s leash. Given the late hour, they had the place to themselves, so they let Mabel run around off lead. Kit, Quin and Rake perched themselves on the edge of the wall that bordered the beach. After peeling off their shoes and socks, DJ and Shaun played with Mabel in the low waves.
“It’s nice here,” Rake said, though his gaze was intent on his boyfriends and not on the midnight blue sky. The stars were out, thanks to the lack of cloud cover, and the waning moon cast a bright reflection across the dark water.
“It is,” Kit said.
“But aren’t you going to move back to Wales?” Rake asked, in a manner that suggested he considered it a forgone conclusion.
Quin hadn’t thought about it. The reasons for leaving his home no longer seemed so dramatic anymore. It wasn’t like Lark compared to Kit. He almost looked forward to seeing Lark try anything, just for the pleasure of watching Kit tear him to pieces. Metaphorically, of course.
Or perhaps a little literally.
“You do miss your family,” Kit said.
