“I didn’t think it was that bad!”
“That was my tamest one. I’m so nervous, Dav.”
“Isthatwhy you were at my door before moonrise?”
Lazerath draped himself over the counter dramatically. “I’ve never been nervous a day in my life.”
An exaggeration—young Laz wasconstantlyon edge—but Davarox understood what he really meant.
Laz sobered, the cheer in his demeanor dimming. “She’sso smartandso pretty, I feel like I’m going to mess this up.”
“You won’t,” Dav promised without hesitation. Sure, his best friend was absent-minded, spoke before he thought things through, and constantly knocked stuff over with his tail and distractedness. But messing up relationships? Laz was a beacon of joy and hope, even when he had shit days. He was never boring, never anything other than himself, just naturally lovable.
Dav, however, only lived up to his nickname—the name of the fucking bakery—in Laz’s only-see-the-positive’s eyes. He was the realistic one that soured moods and called out any demon who insulted his best friend. He was the magic-less gray demon who liked numbers and lists and who others discarded once they’d had their fun experimenting.
Davarox shoved all those thoughts aside for the present. “How much more of this do you need to get out? We have ten minutes before she gets here.”
Lazerath used seven, because—and Dav should have expected it—Rosalind arrived three minutes early. Probably earlier than that, if the dim figure lingering in the distance had been her. The pacing back and forth and constantly looking toward the clock down the road definitely aided that theory.
“Hi,” she said when he opened the shop door for her. She worried the toe of her shoe against the entry stone, tugging at the hem of her pink velvet blouse. “Sorry, I’m a bit early.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” he reassured her, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she entered. Her shoulders immediately lowered from her ears, so with his mouth close, hewhispered, “Maybe having two of us always early will make Laz on time for once.”
Rosalind giggled, a sound that went straight to his cock because apparently Lazerath was rubbing off on him.
Oh, fuck, not like that. He couldnotbe thinking aboutthat.
Thankfully the red demon was, as always, himself, bouncing on his toes where he stood at the counter. “I thought you were smart. If you addanotherdistraction to my routine, I’m never getting anywhere.” He grinned and flexed his arms like he was unsure of himself for the first time ever. “Can I… hug you?”
She nodded, blunt teeth peeking out between her lips. “Yeah, that would probably help.”
Rosalind was already in his arms by the time she finished the sentence, Laz frowning down at the top of her head. “Help what?”
“I’m really nervous,” she said, voice muffled as she spoke into his chest. “We sort of did this backwards.”
“A night of mind-blowing sex before courting?” Dav asked smoothly.
When she looked back at him, her cheeks burned a darker red, like Laz’s color had seeped under her skin while she was in his embrace. “Yes, that. But also… I guess I never asked. You said you’ve shared, but I didn’t know if that included courting.”
“It’s never been like it was with you, and I don’t think it could be like this with anyone else,” Laz saidgently. “That’s why we wanted to court you properly. Or improperly? Properly, but the opposite order?”
Dav huffed a laugh. “It’s new for us too, baby.” He reached out and soothed a hand over her shoulders, feeling the muscles loosen under his touch. “We’re all learning together, but you get to decide what fits. One of us, both of us, none of us at all.”
One of those options killed him. Even with only a single night between them, a life without Rosalind felt about as pointless as a life without Lazerath. But deep down, Davarox knew where things would eventually end. Laz already believed she was the other half of his soul, and with the way they were together, of course it was true.
Dav would stop at nothing to make sure they were happy.
So it was a relief that Rosalind gave him a small smile, still pressed against his best friend, and said, “I was really waiting for Laz to make a filthy joke about what else I might decide should fit.”
Lazerath howled a laugh, to which Rosalind snorted and slapped a hand over her mouth.
Blazes, Dav was dangerously close to blurting Laz’s non-first-date thoughts aloud, so it was a miracle he managed to stutter out instructions for them to get started on their day.
Rosalind’s wide-eyed awe of their barely-functional kitchen and workspace certainly helped distract him, particularly when she catalogued every ingredient and their locations like she might be tested on it later. But she did ease into the dynamic as smoothly as Dav predicted she would.
“I still can’t believe you’re making us work on a date,” Laz muttered, though he had no reason to complain when he was the one with his arms around the human who definitely didn’t need help kneading bread dough.
“I can’t believe you thought all of this prep would magically do itself.” Dav poked at the hearth with a frown before trying the rune again. “I’m sure you’ll find some brilliant metaphor in that dough, if you keep letting Rose do all the work.”
