Page 52 of Hellfire & Bowties
“Here,” Azoth said, walking out from behind Zorun, Paisley suspended in the air by a tentacle wrapped around Azoth’s tail.
“Safe and sound.” Tarik motioned toward Paisley, as if he were a host on a cheesy game show.
“Might have smacked it on a doorframe somewhere…”
“Still moving so it’s probably fine…”
“It’s made of stone, so…”
“Doorframe’s shit now though…”
“Might wanna call someone about it…”
“What the…? Oh my god, you two,” Oren screeched, rushing across the room to grab the baby demon.
The twins turned to Zorun the moment the baby was out of their hands—well, tails—mirror fingers creeping up his wide chest as they coiled closer.
Oren ignored them and walked over to Luc, putting a wiggling Paisley into his arms and leaning in to kiss his lips. He smiled against the kiss as he noticed Luc’s arms tensing and fingers twitching to hold him closer, but the tiny baby demon made it impossible to move.
For all his size and the danger spilling from him and his reputation for being the end of all things (dramatic), Luc was impossibly gentle with the baby demons, not daring to move in case he hurt them somehow. Paisley was ninety percent stone and he still acted as if she’d shatter if he moved with her in his arms.
It made Oren fall for him more every time he saw it.
He broke the kiss and brushed a stray lock of hair off Luc’s forehead, making sure to brush against the root of Luc’s horn. His smile turned into a smirk at the groan Luc let out, and he straightened up, heading for the door.
“Enjoy babysitting duty,” Oren said over his shoulder.
“You’re really not gonna let me greet the new sinners?” Luc called after him, frowning when one of Paisley’s tentacles smacked him across the face.
Oren shook his head. “I’m really not. We talked about this multiple times, Luc.”
“Yes, but…”
“And what did we say?”
“Not to scare them.” Luc scowled.
“Right. And what did you do last time?” Oren leveled him with a look and Luc mumbled something under his breath. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“I scared them,” he said with a sigh.
“Exactly. Which made them all rambunctious and made orientation hell.”
“But this is Hell!”
Oren rolled his eyes. “Yes, but we don’t need to behave like it is.”
Luc stared at him for a moment, before turning to Zorun. “What in Heaven does that even mean?”
“No clue.” Zorun shrugged, distracted as Azoth went for the buckle of his pants while Tarik was trying to unstrap his harness with deft fingers. “I usually tune out when he starts in with his weirdness…”
“Hey,” Oren said. “I thought we were friends.”
“Friends ignore each other all the time.”
“That’s not how friendship works.”
Zorun redid his leather pants for the second time, even though it looked like Azoth was gearing up for a third attempt. Zorun batted him away momentarily and leveled Oren with a flat stare. “You can file a complaint with corporate.”
