“Okay, you kids stay downstairs, I’ll go see your daddies.”
He went upstairs quietly, marveling at the fact that neither of his lovers had woken up to the sounds he must’ve made. Then again, maybe it was a testament of the familiarity of those sounds. Even if out of place, since they didn’t know he was coming home yet, they were positive sounds and let them sleep.
Leaf snuck into the bedroom and two heads of hair peeked from under the covers. They were sleeping so close, they must’ve been entangled under the blanket. Smiling, Leaf undressed, hoping he was clean enough even after the drive, and climbed into bed behind Dev.
Dev made a snuffling sound in his sleep, then turned around and attached himself to Leaf. After a moment, he seemed to wake up a bit to the body-temperature difference—it was like a furnace under the comforter—and opened his eyes.
“Wh—how are you here?” Dev asked, confused and adorable in his sleepy state.
“I got done early,” Leaf answered simply.
Seth stirred and rubbed his eyes before opening them fully. “You’re home,” he said, beaming Leaf a smile.
“Yeah, I am.”
“More sleep?” Dev murmured, burrowing closer than he normally would have.
“Sounds good.” Leaf reached to take Seth’s hand over Dev and kissed his fingers.
They fell asleep like that, with Dev as close to Leaf as humanly possible, and Seth and Leaf holding hands over him.
Epilogue
DEV WENTto make some more coffee in the break room at DeWitt Dogs. He smiled as he looked at the huge whiteboard on the wall, where some of the children from a local elementary school had scribbled things for them the day before.
The training center was an old ranch by the mountains. It wasn’t far from Leaf’s friends’ farm where they’d gone on their first date, almost two years ago. In fact, part of their properties lined up somewhere far from the house Dev, Seth, and Leaf now called home.
The house was much more manageable in size than the pink one had been. It was more compact, and the gaming room doubled as Dev’s office.
Seth hadn’t gone back to teaching, not after his sudden success as a novelist. His gay romance novels revolving around the art world with a hint of mystery had brought him income—and more importantly, a feeling of happiness—none of them had expected.
Leaf worked at the training center, and Dev still did his thing for Nemo Gaming.
The doggie door made a telltale squeak by the mudroom, and soon Grace wobbled in. She was so very gray now, and the cat following her never left her side for long.
“Hey, kiddos. Want some snacks?” Dev asked and dug his pockets for a dog cookie and a cat treat.
Once they’d eaten those, Grace went to her bed by the radiator, and Weasley curled up right next to her head.
Dev left the coffee to percolate and the kids to sleep, and walked out to greet the late-spring afternoon. He glanced up the hill where Seth was cleaning the windows of their house. He’d been talking about doing so for the last few days, and it seemed like he’d hit a snag in the novel he was writing and was avoiding working on it by cleaning.
Chuckling, Dev went to the kennels, where he knew Leaf would be. As expected, he found Leaf in the puppy room, where they had the occasional litter of puppies whose mom needed rehabilitation. A lot of shelters would just put the whole litter down, but Leaf had decided to take on those cases. He was playing with the six-week-old mixed-breed puppies while their mother, an Old English sheepdog coming from a severe neglect situation, sat in the corner inside their pen and tried not to tremble.
Dev went to sit on the floor, and three of the seven puppies toddled over to him immediately.
“We’re not keeping one,” Leaf told him, when he instantly cooed at them.
“I know. But look at their little faces!” Dev grinned, lifting one of the little ones to his face and inhaling the sweet new-puppy scent that still clung to them.
“How’s finding homes for them coming along?”
“Five down, two to go,” Dev said proudly. He’d become somewhat of the social media face for DeWitt Dogs, and he worked on the rehoming side.
“That’s awesome, sweetheart,” Leaf said, and leaned over the puppies to give him a kiss.
“Since I’ve been such a good boy, do you think Daddy might have a reward for me later?” Dev asked casually, right after the kiss. From the close distance, he could see how Leaf’s pupils expanded as he moaned.
“Yes, definitely,” he promised, and Dev grinned mischievously. They’d gotten further in their explorations of their shared kink, just like Seth and Dev had in theirs.
