The Aftermath - A Core-Four Villains & Vigilantes Bonus Epilogue (Patreon)

I have worked and reworked this chapter ten million times. I have no idea if it sucks or not, but I'll let Molly edit it tomorrow. I'll also be releasing a Night Movers chapter and Vengeful Bonds chapter over the next couple days before I jump into the Christmas fics.

Zane was…numb?

They’d talked about going home, but he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to be with the whole family—his real family—just…not right now. Now, he wanted to be with the people who understood him in a way that his parents should have, the people who saw all of his flaws and loved him anyway. People whose presence didn’t demand a performance. People who let him feel small without making him feel lesser.

It was weird being in Asa’s childhood bedroom—a bedroom that was bigger than Zane’s first apartment. It wasn’t his first time there, but it was the first time he truly understood just how vastly different their childhoods were. He shouldn’t be shocked; his own brother’s experience growing up had also been vastly different from Zane’s, whether he’d wanted that limelight or not.

Gage’s room had been a shrine from the time he left for college until the day he died. Every trophy, every certificate, every report card, everything he’d ever touched, immortalized and sealed like a tomb for his mother to visit and weep over. Zane’s room was a spare bedroom. Literally. His eighteenth birthday gift had been luggage and a key to a shoebox-size apartment with a year of rent paid in advance. A soft shove disguised as generosity. A quiet declaration that the house—and the love inside it—was never meant for him.

Then there was Asa. Thomas had forced him and Avi to have different rooms when they’d turned thirteen, but had conceded that they could have the room with the Jack-and-Jill bathroom so their rooms were still—technically—connected. While the boys’ trophies and awards lived in a glass case in Thomas’s office, there were still signs of Asa’s teen years scattered throughout his room.

His drafting desk, sketches of buildings taped to walls, pictures of him and his brothers smiling, pictures of him and people Zane had never seen before, arms thrown around each other, huge smiles on their faces. For all of Thomas’s flaws, he was genuinely proud of his boys; all of them. He’d been more of a father to them than Zane’s parents had ever been to him. There was warmth in this room that had seeped into the wood, the furniture, the air, years of belonging layered into the walls.

But the Asa in those pics wasn’t the real Asa. It was the mask he wore. The only people who knew the real Asa were under this roof.

Zane sighed, closing his burning eyes. He didn’t know why he was dwelling on this. He shouldn’t have been shocked that his mother had kept secrets from him—even one as big as the bombshell she’d dropped tonight. She’d have taken it to the grave if they’d let her. He was tired of feeling anything when it came to her. She didn’t deserve his tears or his heartbreak.

He should just embrace the numbness. Let it wrap around him like cotton, soft and muffling. Let it silence the ache that kept clawing up his throat.

Asa and Avi had just gotten out of the shower, towels slung low on their hips, hair wet and standing up here and there. Steam still clung to their skin, curling off their shoulders like smoke. Zane’s costume lay abandoned on the floor alongside Felix’s. Felix—who now kneeled before him, gently removing his makeup—was fully nude without a hint of shyness.

Zane was also naked. The air felt cool on his skin, raising bumps along his arms, but Felix’s fingers were warm where they brushed his jaw, grounding him in a way he desperately needed. Maybe he should’ve hated the way Felix babied him, but he didn’t. Felix was always his soft place to land. 

Modesty between the four of them had gone out the window years ago. But today he felt…exposed. Like someone had stripped not only his costume but his skin, leaving every fragile organ in full view, letting everyone know just how pathetic he was. Of course, his mother had found one last way to humiliate him on her way out. One final twist of the knife delivered with her dying breath.

He blinked back more tears as Felix rose to toss the makeup wipes, yelping softly as he received a smack on his ass as he passed Asa. When Felix returned, he took Zane’s face in his hands, forcing him to make eye contact. “Do you want space, cuddles, or sex?”

Felix looked so sad Zane almost wanted to comfort him. That was the worst part—how quickly his instinct swung toward caretaking instead of accepting it. He didn’t blame Felix. Sure, he’d seen Zane’s mother in action—to a point—but he’d never heard her tell the truth of her hatred for him. He’d never heard her say the things she’d said to Zane growing up. Now they all knew. Everyone he loved knew just how unloved he’d been.

It was embarrassing, but also vindicating. Was that weird? It wasn’t like the others hadn’t believed him. It wasn’t like they’d ever said he was exaggerating. But somewhere, in the back of his mind, he always wondered if he’d embellished his trauma, if someone else would have come out of it more whole than he had. If maybe he’d been too soft, or too needy, or too dramatic about pain other people would have shrugged off.

She’d rarely beat him—not in any way that would qualify as abuse to the state. She’d preferred psychological torture, taking him apart in bite-size pieces until there was nothing left. Zane would have preferred the beating. Wounds heal, bones mend, scars could be beautiful. But his mother’s words…those would live rent-free in his head forever. They’d carved caverns into him that still echoed when he was tired or vulnerable.

“Baby?”

Zane snapped his attention back to Felix, but before he could say anything, Avi said, “Maybe we should just put him to bed? He looks pretty out of it. You know he hates making decisions when he’s like this.”

Zane burst into tears.

Felix gasped, like Zane had just severed an artery and was bleeding out all over them. He supposed that wasn’t far off. His life was bleeding all over them, had been for years. Bleeding quietly most days, and catastrophically tonight.

“Oh, baby…is that what you want?” Felix asked. “Do you want to go to bed? Do you want to take a bath? Do you just want to snuggle?”

“That’s a lot of questions, Lix,” Asa said gently. 

The kind of gentle that came from seeing Zane fracture before—and knowing exactly how far he could bend before he broke. A fresh wave of tears crashed into him. Asa—his sharp as a knife husband—was being so soft for him tonight, bending himself in unfamiliar, uncomfortable shapes just to ease Zane’s pain. 

Zane shook his head, accepting the tissue Asa handed him, wiping his eyes. The bed dipped as the twins took their place on either side of him, pressing in on him in a way that reset his autonomic nervous system. It told his brain he was safe, guarded, protected. Their bodies were warm and solid, the familiar weight of them cutting through the dissociation creeping up his spine.

“I just don’t want to do something he won’t like,” Felix said, voice filled with worry.

Zane didn’t know how to tell them that Avi knowing him so well was what caused his tears and Asa loving him enough to soften his sharp edges is what kept them coming. It was so stupid. This was all so stupid. She was dead. Finally. But she’d fired one last shot on her way out. A poisoned dart aimed straight at the part of him that still wanted a mother who didn’t exist.

Zane’s dad wasn’t his dad.

There was a man out there who might not even know Zane existed. Or worse, that he did and he didn’t want him either. He didn’t know how to feel about that. About any of it. He was fully grown but somehow still felt like a kid looking for approval. Did that ever go away? Would he feel like this forever? Was there a version of him that didn’t ache for a parent who wasn’t ashamed to claim him?

“One question, Lois,” Asa said, his hand squeezing the back of Zane’s neck in a way that had his eyes rolling with pleasure. That touch always unraveled him, hit the off-switch in his brain and replaced the noise with warmth. “Just answer Felix’s one question and I promise we won’t make you think again until you want to.”

Asa nodded to Felix. “Space, sex, or cuddle?”

“The last two, please.”

“You don’t have to say please, Lois,” Asa reminded him. “But it’s so hot when you do.”

His voice went low and warm, stroking over Zane’s nerves like velvet, tugging him a little closer to the surface after floating in grief for hours.

Asa stood, dropping his towel and walking to the head of the bed. Sitting against the headboard, he spread his legs. “Come here.”

The command slipped through Zane like gravity, gentle and irresistible. His pulse fluttered, not from lust alone but from the sudden, blessed certainty that he didn’t have to hold himself upright anymore. Not emotionally. Not physically. At least not tonight.

Zane did as he was told, crawling to him on all fours, letting Asa tip his chin up and claim his lips in a bruising, possessive kiss that knocked a whimper from him. He was certain Asa had wanted him to sit in his lap, but Zane had other ideas. 

When Asa broke their kiss, Zane met his gaze as he dipped his head, taking Asa’s soft cock into his mouth. He loved feeling him harden for him, the heavy weight of him on his tongue, the scent of soap and skin, the way his thighs flexed beneath Zane’s palms as he dragged his lips up his length with that wet heat he loved so much. 

“Holy fuck, Lois,” Asa breathed, fingers catching in his hair as he bucked upwards. 

Zane moaned around him, molten sparks blazing inside at Asa’s reaction. 

“You sure you want to do this?” Asa asked, his words breaking on a sharp inhale as Zane curled his tongue just so. 

Zane was beyond sure. This was when Zane felt most powerful, most…desired. He loved to feel like he was acting in service of the three men who loved him. To him, Asa’s feral growls, Felix’s soft praise and Avi’s whispered curses were better than any touch. They loved him. They wanted him. They loved how Zane made them feel. 

The foreplay with just Asa was often quick and dirty, leading to the main event where he violently  fucked him through the mattress, making him feel loved, coveted, like he mattered.  

But he didn’t need to hurry through this. The way Asa used him quieted the voices in his head, the pain dulled all his other senses. Eventually, Asa would grow impatient and take over, holding him down and fucking his throat, but until then, he was going to savor him. 

He dragged his tongue along the underside of Asa’s cock, letting the crown slip between his lips, sucking just enough for Asa to make a low rumble, grabbing Zane’s hair in his fingers, but nothing more. Not yet. 

Strong hands gripped Zane’s hips hard enough to bruise, lifting his ass into the air. Avi. They were too big to be Felix’s.

Lips skimmed his ass, his whole body jolting like he’d grabbed an electric wire when Felix’s soft tongue kitten licked over his rim. He couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped, his cock throbbing as Felix laved over him, as unhurried as Zane was. How did that feel so fucking good? Another startled cry left him as a hand curled around him, jerking him in time with the persistent teasing licks. 

“Already so hard,” Felix said, jerking him roughly as he speared his tongue against his softening hole. “You taste so good. You’re always so good for us. Our sweet boy.” 

Every word, every breath caressed him like silk, making him press his hips back against his greedy mouth. He moaned around Asa’s cock, even as he bobbed his head, letting Asa guide his movements. 

“My turn, kitten,” Avi said, grabbing a handful of Zane’s cheek.  

Felix gave one last long drag of his tongue, then moved. The cold air had him clenching around nothing. 

“Spread your legs for me, baby,” Felix said, his hands skimming along Zane’s thighs. 

Zane frowned but widened his stance, a movement that had his back arching like he was presenting for them. 

“Here you go, kitten,” he heard Avi say. 

He made to pull off, to quell his curiosity, but Asa forced him back down. “Uh-uh, Lois. You’re not done yet. Behave. Let me use this perfect fucking mouth.” 

Something soft was slid beneath his hips—a pillow maybe. He didn’t realize what was happening until Felix’s head slipped between his legs, his shoulders pressed to Zane’s thighs. He gave a high-pitched cry as Felix’s lips closed over his own cock, taking him all the way in, hollowing his throat as he came back up. Zane couldn’t stop his hips from jerking, his whole body reacting seemingly of its own free will. 

Fingertips skirted over his hole, already slick with lube. Avi sank two fingers inside without warning. The sudden stretch scrambled Zane’s brain, another low moan escaping. When Avi’s fingers curled inside him, his whole body erupted in flames, pleasure whiting out his vision as he shook apart.  

Zane temporarily forgot his task, pulling off. Asa didn’t stop him, just let him drop his head against Asa’s thigh, paralyzed by the tight suction of Felix’s lips and the blissful drag of Avi’s fingers that had his eyes rolling behind his lids, his mouth hanging open. 

Asa petted his hair like a dog. “Feel good, Lois?” 

He nodded, finding it hard to keep his eyes open while Avi massaged his prostate, obliterating his thoughts. “Yes. So good,” he slurred, reactions sluggish.

“Want Avi to fuck you?” Asa purred. 

Zane whined, nodding vigorously. “Yes, please.” 

This time it was Avi who groaned, once more curling his fingers just so, another tendril of heat curling in his belly. 

Avi’s hand cracked hard across his ass. “I love when he says please.” 

Zane’s whole body bowed, pulling him free of Felix’s lips as fire licked along his skin. 

“No prep,” Zane managed. “I want it to hurt. Fuck me until I can’t form words anymore.” 

Asa’s chuckle was somehow both fond and condescending. “You heard him. Pretend you're me. Treat him like a pretty little sex doll. You know he fucking loves it.” 

Zane wailed as Avi pressed down hard on that bundle of nerves, once more whiting out his vision, until he couldn’t keep his mouth closed. When Avi pulled his fingers free, Zane’s body clenched around nothing, desperate to be full. The mattress shifted as Avi settled behind him on his knees, straddling his husband to get closer. 

Avi dragged the blunt head of his cock up over his hole, teasing him, but not pushing in. 

“Please,” Zane whispered. “Need it. Need your cock. Don’t make me beg.”

“But you sound so sweet when you beg, Zaney,” Avi taunted, once more ghosting his cock over his entrance. 

“Don’t tea-Ah.” 

Avi’s cock bullied its way past that first tight ring of muscle with nothing more than the leftover lube from his fingers. The pain was sharp, breathtaking, pulling the air from his lungs. It was just what he needed. The searing pain of his body accommodating Avi’s cock obliterated any worries, any fears, any insecurities. He was a toy, a thing to be used, not a person whose mother didn't love him. 

Avi didn’t stop until he was buried so deep, Zane could feel every breath he took. He pulled almost all the way out, before driving back in, the catch of skin on skin making them both groan. The burn was an ache now, a pain that beat in time with his aching cock. 

“Fuck, Zaney. You’re like a steel trap down here. You keep clenching like that and you're going to snap my cock in half.” 

Avi did pull out then, spreading Zane’s cheeks lewdly. He heard him spit, felt it hit his skin then slid down his perineum. The second time must have landed where he wanted it because he slammed back in with renewed momentum. He didn’t start slow, he didn’t build up to it. He gripped Zane’s hips tight enough to bruise and fucked him like he had something to prove, the force of his thrusts pulling Zane’s cock from Felix’s lips. The cold air and the pain of Avi’s punishing pace had Zane’s eyes rolling behind his lids, drool pooling on Asa’s thigh. 

Felix made a sound like he was the one being deprived, his hand wrapping around Zane’s aching cock and pulling it back into his mouth. He made an embarrassing sound as the two used him just the way he liked. 

It was agony. 

It was perfect. 

He was so drunk off his own pleasure, he forgot his original task. But Asa didn’t. 

He yanked Zane back by his hair, forcing him to look at him. “I’m feeling left out, Lois. Stick out your tongue.” Zane’s eyes rolled back, his tongue lolling out. Asa’s spit landed on his tongue. “Swallow it.” 

Goosebumps rose on his skin at Asa’s low growl, then he was forcing his head back down, pushing his cock past his lips.“Back to work, baby. Show me what a good little cocksucker you are.” 

Zane didn’t close his lips around him, just let Asa drive into him until he gagged, tears and snot and drool coating his face.  

When he didn’t move of his own volition, Asa seemed to catch on. “Feeling lazy? Want me to just use you like a toy? Our pretty little cocksleeve? Just a toy for us to fuck and use? Our property.” 

To anyone else, they would have thought he was degrading Zane, telling him he was worthless. But he wasn’t. It was practically a love letter. Zane belonged. Zane was wanted. Needed. Useful. Zane was the one who could make all of them happy, not just with his body but in every way.  

He whimpered, tears gathering as he gagged, drool running down the shaft of Asa’s cock. 

“I got you, Lois,” Asa said, tightening the fist in his hair to hold him in place as he began to thrust inside. “Such a mess already.” 

Tears immediately formed, a wet sound of Asa fucking his throat mixed with the slap of Avi’s skin on his and the slurping of Felix’s wet mouth still nursing Zane’s cock. It only made it hotter. 

“Fuck, your mouth is incredible, baby.” 

“His ass is incredible,” Avi grunted. “Everytime you make him gag he tightens up for me. It’s so hot. I’m gonna come in seconds if he keeps it up.” 

Zane’s higher thought processes had left the building, his instincts telling him his only goal was to get air into his lungs, to survive. He sucked in a broken breath as fingers circled Avi’s cock, preventing him from bottoming out. Felix, controlling the depth, teasing Zane, edging him until he was too cock-drunk to do anything but let them use him. He tried to get more, tried to find a way to make Avi fuck him deeper, but Felix never stopped teasing him, seemingly determined to turn him into this needy whiny creature. 

He couldn’t stop the sounds escaping, every time Felix moved his hand so Avi could bottom out. Avi would snap his hips in time with Asa, both of them filling him until he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. It was like Felix had some kind of sixth sense. Every time Zane got close, he’d close his hand around Avi’s length, would slow his own deep sucking drags up and down Zane’s cock. 

Zane could only take so much. He was only human. His orgasm was closing in whether Avi fucked him deep or abused his prostate with short, shallow thrusts. It was all too much; Avi driving into him, the perfect suction of Felix’s mouth, the low growled words dripping from Asa’s sinful tongue. 

“I love when you go dumb for us like this, baby. You look so beautiful when you’re just taking it. So pretty. Gonna come down your throat and you're gonna swallow every drop.” 

“His whines are so hot. I’m not gonna last much longer,” Avi said. “Kitten’s wandering hands are killing me.” 

It was all too much for Felix too, it seemed. Zane knew the exact moment he started jerking himself off, every moan vibrating through Zane’s cock like a tuning fork until he was ready to scream. He wanted to drive into his mouth, but Avi and Asa controlled him like a puppet. He went only where they put him. 

The flames licked higher and higher within him until every nerve-ending was screaming. He couldn’t even warn Felix, couldn’t tell him he was losing control. Two more long drags of Felix’s plush mouth over his cock and Zane’s whole body seized, his release spilling onto Felix’s mouth.

Felix moaned, sucking him through it, even as Avi doubled his efforts. 

“Oh, fuck, he definitely just came,” Avi panted, thrusts wavering as he gripped Zane’s hips tighter. He’s got me in a vice grip. I’m close.” 

“Remember what I said. You're gonna be good and swallow for me, Lois,” Asa said. “Every drop.”

It was Zane’s only warning before Asa flooded his mouth, forcing him to swallow or choke. Avi groaned, grinding his hips against Zane’s ass as he rode out his own orgasm. 

As soon as Zane swallowed, Asa released him, letting his cheek fall to Asa’s meaty thigh. Avi slowly pulled out. Zane grimaced at the feel of his cum leaking from him. Avi collapsed beside them on the bed, allowing Felix to free himself from the prison of Zane’s legs. They were all breathing heavily, the scent of sex and sweat hanging in the air. Warm, heady, familiar…them.

Felix fit himself between Avi’s prone body and Asa’s sitting one, resting his head on Asa’s other thigh to catch Zane’s gaze. “Feel better, baby?” he asked, sounding as winded as Zane felt.

Zane could only nod. His throat was raw and bruised, but he was riding the high of subspace, praying the crash down to earth wouldn’t be too painful. His limbs felt loose, his body humming, the world softened around the edges like it had been dipped in cotton.

Felix was beautiful, but never more so than right now. His cheeks flushed, his eyes bright, sweat making his skin glow. He was so sexy. Hot in a way Zane would never be, exuding confidence from every pore. Zane loved him more than words could say. Felix loved him too. He could see it in the way he looked at him, the way he smiled. It made Zane’s heart hurt in a good way.

“Did you get yourself off, kitten?” Avi asked, looking down at Felix’s softening cock.

Felix shrugged, then stretched, his lithe body looking like some kind of work of art. “It was too hot, I couldn’t wait. Zaney sounded so pretty and Asa was talking all growly and you were making those grunting noises you make when you’re drilling one of us into the mattress. I couldn’t help myself.”

Zane smiled faintly, listening absently to Felix’s justification, feeling like he was descending into a bubble, while the others remained outside. Everything felt slow, distant, like he was underwater and the world above was muffled and shimmering. Felix noticed immediately. Of course he did.

“You guys need to go get us sugar,” Felix said. “Our baby is already starting to crash.” 

Asa soothed his fingers through Zane’s hair. “Sure,” he said.

He deposited Zane directly on top of Felix. His cheek pressed against Felix’s chest, listening to his rapidly thumping heart come down a bit at a time. Felix wrapped his legs around him, combing his fingers through Zane’s damp curls. The gentle tug at his roots soothed him, pulling him a little farther out of the fog.

“Are you still doing okay?” he asked.

Zane started to nod, then changed his mind, shaking his head. “No.”

“Oh, baby,” Felix crooned.

If anyone else had said it, Zane might have found it condescending, but he knew Felix was upset he couldn’t fix him. He hated not having the answers that would make Zane feel better. Because he loved him. Felix, Asa, and Avi loved him so much. He was so lucky to have them. So lucky it sometimes scared him—like the universe would notice and take something back. 

He was trapped in this non-stop shame spiral and he couldn’t seem to drag himself out. He didn’t realize tears were falling until Felix tilted his head up and used his thumb to sweep them from his eyes.“How can I possibly have tears left?” he asked, nose instantly going stuffy.

“The first time I went and visited my mom after the assault—the first time I realized she had no idea who I was—I cried for a week straight. Jericho said I was going to flood the garage. He tried everything he could to make me feel better, but it was impossible.”

Felix’s voice went soft around the edges, threaded with a grief Zane knew all too well.

“What finally made you feel better?” Zane asked.

He felt Felix shrug. “Time, my friends. I still cry over it sometimes. You know that. You’ve seen more of my crashouts than even Avi.”

Zane burrowed closer, clinging tighter. “I just don’t know what to do now. I just feel…frozen.”

“You don’t have to do anything now. She’s dead. She’s never coming back. You can take all the time you need to process that.”

“He’s right, Lois,” Asa said. 

His voice floated from the foot of the bed, low and steady, the kind of stability Zane could anchor himself to if he let go of the panic long enough.

Zane lifted his head just enough to see the two standing there, snorting when he noticed the amount of food they carried and that they were still naked. He was still shaking and teary, but when Asa smacked his butt and told him to scoot, he forced himself to separate from Felix for at least a moment or two so they could set down the spoils of their pantry raid. 

Asa opened his arms, making it rain coconut water, electrolytes and a single box of chocolate milk, no doubt the ones Thomas and Aiden kept for the children. The young children. Leave it to the twins to steal chocolate milk from actual babies. 

Avi settled a large platter on the bed. 

Zane’s eyes went wide. “Was all this at the party?” 

“Yeah, Lois. You were just preoccupied. We grabbed a little of everything left.” He pointed out various items on the tray. “ Wagyu sliders, truffle mac & cheese bites, mini lobster rolls, honey drizzled baked brie bites, macaroons, salted caramel truffle bites, chocolate dipped strawberries, and a couple of the mini creme brulee jars.” 

Zane’s chest tightened as he took in all the options. Felix slid in behind him, wrapping his legs around his waist and setting his head on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll pick for you.” 

Zane deflated against him with a sigh, but frowned when Asa opened the coconut water. He made a face. “I want chocolate milk.” 

“First water, then milk,” Asa said, his tone leaving no room for argument. 

Zane grumbled under his breath, then obediently sucked down the coconut water, making a show of slurping to the very end to show Asa he’d finished it all. “There, do I get a gold star?” 

“No, you get chocolate milk, smartass,” Asa said, poking a straw through the tiny hole at the top of the box before handing it to him. 

When Zane finished his first swallow of milk, Felix grabbed something from the tray and held it before him. Zane took it, then moaned, the flavors exploding on his tongue as the sweetness of honey and the creaminess of the brie hit him full force. How had he not noticed those earlier. 

When he finished, Felix made him eat a strawberry, two truffle mac and cheese bites, half a mini-lobster roll and one salted caramel truffle. 

“If you don’t stop you're gonna have to roll me out of here,” Zane groaned, poking at his bloated tummy. 

Still, when Felix offered him a spoonful of creme brulee from the small jar, he took it with a moan. It was sinful. 

Rich and cold and sweet, so decadent it wouldn’t even occur to him to buy it for himself.  

Felix smiled against his shoulder as he savored the bite. “Good boy.”

Zane shivered at the praise, leaning heavier into him. His body felt loose and boneless, every nerve humming with the soft, gentle kind of intimacy that only came after he’d been stripped down to nothing and then built back up by the three people who loved him most.

“Alright,” Avi said around a yawn, stretching out on his side. “He’s fed, watered, and thoroughly wrecked. Can we cuddle now? Its been a long fucking night.”

“Switch,” Asa said automatically.

Felix maneuvered him gently, and Zane let himself be moved—pliable, trusting, drifting on the edges of sleepiness and safety. He ended up stretched alongside Felix, Asa behind him, Avi spooning Felix. They slept like this more often than not. They used to only spend the occasional night together, always retreating to their own rooms. But the more time that passed, the less time they wanted to spend away from each other. 

Asa’s fingers found Zane’s jaw, tilting it up so their eyes met. “You back in your body yet?”

“Mostly,” Zane whispered.

Asa kissed his forehead. Zane’s lashes fluttered, his brain processing such softness from his husband. “You don’t have to think about today anymore. Not tonight.”

“Asa and I sent a message to the group chat,” Felix added, yawning widely. “They’ll call and wake us if we don’t show up for brunch. But I told them we’d kill anyone who bothered us before than.” 

“We can’t kill family,” Zane said sleepily.

“Fine,” Felix said, settling a heavy hand on Zane’s hip, “I’ll delete their number.”

Zane huffed a laugh, tired and wet around the edges. “You can’t delete dad’s number.”

“I can,” Asa said. “I’ll just tell him Avi did it.”

Felix snorted, Asa shook with silent laughter, and Zane felt the sound vibrate into him.That warmth filling the places grief had emptied out.

“You three are ridiculous,” Zane murmured, but there was no heat behind it. Just awe. He rolled to tuck himself under Asa’s arm, feeling Felix curve around him.

Felix kissed the back of his neck. “Well, you're stuck with us. No takesy-backsies as Noah says.”

“It’s hard to believe he runs a fortune 500 company,” Zane teased, wiping his nose on Asa’s chest.

Asa snorted. “Did you just wipe your nose on me?”

“Did you just fuck my throat so hard I sound like I’ve been drinking whiskey since birth?” Zane countered. 

“He’s got you there,” Felix said around another yawn. “He can snot on whoever he wants today.”

Zane yawned too, then let out a tiny, broken laugh, and then a breath. Something inside him uncoiled, slow and quiet, like a fist finally opening.

Asa tucked his chin over Zane’s head. “You sure you’re okay, Lois?” he murmured. 

Zane swallowed hard. “Yeah,” he whispered. “I think so.”

Felix wrapped their arms tighter around him. “We love you. I mean, everyone loves you but we love you the most. Just in case you forgot.”

Zane closed his eyes. The room was warm, their bodies warmer. The scent of their skin and sex and fancy leftovers clung to everything. It smelled like the home he’d chosen. And a home that chose him back.

He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t need to. His breathing synced with theirs, slow and steady.

A beat. A breath. The soft rasp of fingers in his hair.

And then, finally, Zane let himself sleep.