He wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay, Maggie, it's okay. It's just pretty lights that make noise."
"You protect me."
"Of course, I'll keep you safe, I promise."
She shook when the next explosion went off, face in his chest and he hugged her tight.
"Do you need me to take her?" Slayde asked.
"NO! NO! I want Uncle Drake!"
"We're good." He rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.
"Okay."
"You know your momma used to be scared of the fireworks, Mags?"
She looked up at him. "Mommy?"
Drake nodded. "Totally."
He tugged her in closer, and chuckled. "She used to cuddle up to me and make me protect her like this, too. Of course I was a lot smaller then."
"You big like Mommy."
"I am now, yeah. But we both used to be little like you and Christian." Was she old enough to understand that? He didn't know. Slayde would, though, and he looked over to the man.
"Uh-uh." Maggie clearly wasn't buying it.
Slayde nodded, grinned. "It's true, I've seen pictures."
"Oh, God, tell me you haven't seen my baby pictures." There weren't a lot, but those there were tended to be embarrassing.
"Oh, I have seen the one with you naked being a baby merman."
"Fu--" He cut himself off and cleared his throat. "She told me she'd burned those."
"She lied." Slayde looked altogether too pleased with himself.
Another firework went off and this time Maggie didn't cry.
"Good girl. They're so pretty if you can ignore the loudness."
"I like the explosions!" shouted Christian, running around them.
"He is his father's son, hmm?" Steven chuckled softly.
"Oh yeah." Drake nodded. Jerry had loved his explosions.
They all watched, and it felt weird, to be so normal. Shit, he usually worked holidays. Every holiday. Now he was hanging out with this family, grandparents, nanny, kids, watching the fireworks. His family…
He glanced over at Slayde who was sitting next to him and suddenly he wanted to put his arm around the man. His lover. He didn't want to have to be careful, to hide it. He knew there were going to be people who would hurt him and Slayde for loving each other, but everyone he cared about…well, aside from Mindy they were all right here and they didn't want to hurt him, now did they? And neither did Mindy…it was…wow.
Maggie watched another firework, then slid from his lap, dancing and hooting crazily with her brother. Now that was special and it made him smile so hard his cheeks hurt.
He snuck his arm up around Slayde's shoulders, holding his breath. Slayde didn't say a word, the man just leaned into him. Drake felt Slayde's mom's eyes on them, and he refused to flinch. She knew already, his arm around Slayde wasn't going to make her know any more or less. And she wasn't going to hurt him for it. Well, he supposed that might not be true if he hurt Slayde -- momma bears and all that.
As the fireworks continued, he relaxed, enjoyed the show, and sitting with Slayde. Eventually the kids got tired and threw themselves into his and Slayde's laps to watch the last ten minutes.
Slayde stood at the end, took Jenny from his mom. "I'll take her up and then be back for the other two."
"I've got them, ba--" He garbled an ending to that, picking up Maggie as he stood, holding his hand out for Christian.
Slayde's parents looked at him, then Helen smiled. "You need any help, boys?"
"We're good. Thanks." He gave her a smile and followed after Slayde, admiring that ass.
Maggie didn't manage to stay awake through pajamas. Christian stripped down to his underwear and crawled into bed without even brushing his teeth. He tucked Christian in and met Slayde in the hallway. "They're both asleep."
"Jenny's down, too. Let's go make coffee for the folks."
"Okay." He didn't get out of Slayde's way, though. Instead he took a kiss, softly opening Slayde's mouth.
Slayde looked surprised, and he had to admit, he was fucking shocked, too, that he was doing this with Slayde's parents just downstairs. But this was what it was.
When the kiss ended, he turned and headed down the stairs. "That coffee ain't waiting."
"No. No, it's not." Slayde swayed a little, blinking at him.
He grinned. Look at that, he'd blown the man's mind. Go him.
Chapter Twelve
They made it through another month, almost blissful, if too damn hot. Today Jeannie had stopped by to pick up Christian for a play date and lunch with her twin boys. Once it was them and the girls, they just sort of stared at each other. Slayde thought it felt damn odd. This was how school was going to feel, though. All day long.
Maggie and Jenny were coloring at the little table, and playing with their dolls. Drake sprawled out next to him on the couch. "It's quiet," Drake finally said.
"It is, and Christian isn't what I'd consider a terribly loud kid, huh?"
Drake nodded. "He's a boy, though and we do tend to play hard and loud. Not that I'm trying to be a chauvinistic ass or anything, but I know I got Mindy in to way more trouble than she got me in to."
Slayde chuckled at Drake and gave him an out by changing the topic. "I, I mean we, need to take Christian school supply shopping, then to meet the teacher next week."
"Is it going to freak her out to have me along as well?"
"If it does, we'll explain. You'll need to meet her, in case you need to help out."
Drake nodded. "I'm Christian's uncle and as long as I'm here instead of Minds, I want to be involved."
"Of course you do." Slayde leaned back into the cushions and sighed. "They'll all think you're a hero, putting your life on hold to help with the kids." He didn't know what to do. He knew they couldn't just keep fucking their issues away. He knew that, but it was so easy and what he wanted and Drake had seemed a little easier
