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“Kinda, yeah.”

“Well, why not? We already have a baby and another on the way. Might as well add a shopping cart.”

Uriel grinned, leaning into Bruiser to press a kiss to his shoulder. “Thanks.”

Bruiser’s entire face lit up.

When they were safely ensconced within the mansion’s walls, Uriel reached for the colorful peppers that had been tempting him. “Which should I eat first?”

“These are all the same, just different colors.” Bruiser paused, then grinned. “You could eat three of them at once.”

Uriel eyed him. “That sounds like it might kill me, but okay.”

In his daily life, Uriel wasn’t much for spice. But right now, his craving itched his gums. So he held the peppers by their stalks and bit into them, crunching up the seeds. His taste buds tingled pleasantly, and tingled more when he chewed up another pepper.

“They’re not killing me yet,” he said with some surprise.

“Swallow them,” Bruiser said excitedly.

“Not something I ever thought you’d tell me to do,” Uriel said dryly.

Bruiser snorted and fluttered his hands. “Go on!”

Uriel swallowed. The peppers tingled all the way down his gullet. Then they grew hotter and hotter. A faint pressure grew in his stomach, like a burp. Uriel gave Bruiser a Look.

He burped. Instead of smoke or a tiny spluttering flame, a huge burst of orange fire erupted from his mouth, reaching all the way to the high ceiling.

“Fuck!” Uriel yelped.

“Yes!” Bruiser whistled admiringly. “That’s amazing, sweetheart.”

Uriel couldn’t help but stare. He was breathing fire, and it didn’t hurt at all. Because he was pregnant with Bruiser’s dragon baby. “I want to try that again.”

Bruiser handed him another two boxes of peppers. Uriel crunched his way through them, breathing fire until he was happy and buzzing.

“This might be the best day of my life,” he said.

Bruiser laughed. “Mine too. Want to read that book now?”

Abruptly, Uriel remembered the book. It was thick—how long had Zenith spent writing it? That seemed like an absurd amount of effort spent on his and Bruiser’s lives. He shook his head. “I’m almost afraid to. How did Zenith write an entire book about us, and no one knew about it?”

Bruiser frowned. “They kept it from me.”

“They kept the pool from you too, and it sounds like everyone was in on that.”

Bruiser huffed and placed the book in Uriel’s hands. It was a paperback with a glossy cover, with two illustrated men baring their teeth (and bare chests) at each other. The men looked... surprisingly like them.

Uriel coughed. “Totally not a book about us.”

“Of course not.” Bruiser rolled his eyes.

Uriel began reading. The story drew him in—he had known that Zenith was an author, but the way he had written Ulgon and Burnzinger... He had put Uriel and Bruiser right there on the page.

“I don’t know how to feel about this,” Uriel said. “It’s like he knows us.”

Bruiser coughed. “Well, he’s our friend. Of course he knows us. And he has witnessed several of our fights.”

He scooped Uriel up and set him on his lap, reading over his shoulder. For a long while, they read together, gasping at the things Ulgon and Burnzinger did. There were funny parts too, things that they would’ve done in real life.