His husband was decidedly tipsy. He’d had at least two of those boozy hot chocolates and he had zero tolerance for alcohol. It was one of Asa’s favorite things about him.
“Don’t encourage this,” Felix admonished, turning to dig his fingers into Zane’s ribs until he squirmed with laughter. “You want to spend the night riding these idiots?”
Asa chuckled when Zane’s laughter died, his gaze growing hazy, instantly turned on at the idea. “I mean…”
“Traitor,” Felix cried. “I’m doing this for you. Your little noodle legs get tired five minutes in and then you start whining and crying, lips all pouty. I’m doing this for you.”
“My hero,” Zane swooned. Asa watched as his husband’s expression went from dreamy to crestfallen comically fast. He slapped Felix’s shoulder softly. “That’s mean. My legs aren’t…noodles. Do you know how much cardio I get by letting that lunatic—” Asa assumed he was the lunatic in question by the aggressive pointing in his direction. “—run me down in the woods like a deer?”
“It’s not an insult, baby,” Felix said, turning to kiss his pouting lips. “You’re just naturally lean. I’d kill to be able to eat like you and never gain a pound.”
“Don’t even joke about that,” Avi said, looking devastatedat the thought. “I love your squishy thighs, they're my favorite ear muffs.”
“Mine too,” Zane agreed happily.
Their conversation lapsed after that, with only the sounds of baby giggles and crashing blocks interrupting the softly playing Christmas movie in the background.
After about twenty minutes or so, Avi blurted,“So…was that a yes to you two facing off tonight? The twins' bedtime is in an hour? Hell, if you want to make it interesting, you two could switch.”
“Switch?” Zane asked, twisting his head to look up at Avi, understanding finally dawning on him. “You mean like…switch…reindeer?”
Avi’s hand stroked Zane’s face. “Yeah, Zaney. You ride me, Kitten rides Asa…”
Zane whined, his fingers finding Felix’s hair and tugging it, eyelids heavy. Yeah, he was both drunk and horny. Still, he deferred to them as always. “I’ll do whatever you guys want.”
Something like pride swirled in Asa’s chest. “Of course, you will, Lois. You’re always so good for us.”
Felix shook his head like he was disappointed. “You really need to work more on playing hard to get, Zaney. One ‘good boy’ and you fold like cheap IKEA furniture.”
Zane huffed out a breath that sounded more like he was blowing a raspberry, setting off Oscar and West who had recently perfected their technique for maximum spit range.
Zane giggled at the babies who were happily hosing Asa down in their saliva. Fuck, he loved that sound. Almost as much as he loved the sounds of him crying and whimpering,begging to come. He loved how happy Zane was…well, as much as he was capable of loving anything.
His husband waved a lazy hand wildly, almost smacking Avi in the face. “I just want to make everyone happy, Lixie.”
Avi, ever calm, let out a soft hum. “And you’re doing a great job, Zaney,” he said, his hand fingers going back to combing through Zane’s hair.
Zane stared up at Avi, catching his swollen bottom lip between his teeth. Avi was almost always the masochist, letting Felix do what he liked. But when it came to Zane, he brought out the predator in others. He was just meant to be someone’s toy to play with and even Avi couldn’t resist bullying him just a little. He was looking at Zane like a cat toying with a mouse. Zane was too tipsy to be wary. He either didn’t see or didn’t care about the dark look Avi had as he looked him over.
His husband lifted a hand, pressing a finger to Avi’s lips. He opened his mouth and bit down on his finger, earning a soft gasp. Felix turned around to see what was happening, then smirked, shaking his head. There really was no jealousy amongst them.
When he relinquished his finger, Zane flicked him, voice lacking conviction as he said, “Bad murder puppy. No biting.”
Avi made a whiny noise, ruining his apex predator vibe. “You let him bite you.”
Zane placed a hand on Felix’s soft curls, petting him like the pampered cat he was. “And you let him carve you up like a Christmas ham but you don’t see me coming at you with a kitchen knife.”
“Wow, I can really feel the spirit of Christmas here in the room with us,” Felix deadpanned. “Our children aren’t going to grow up to be malignant deviants or anything.”
“Oh, Lix, that ship has sailed,” Asa said. “No child of ours will ever be normal. Not on my watch.”
“Yeah, we’re raising Mulvaneys. They’re gonna be weird,” Avi agreed.
“They’re also Navarro’s…” Felix reminded.
Avi chuckled. “Kitten, that’s not the flex you think it is.”
“My family is normal,” Felix countered, tone haughty.
