Epilogue
One month later…
“That the last of it?” Ash asked, lugging a box the size of a small car. It was duct-taped shut but clearly Liam had underestimated the sheer power of stuff that was in it, because it was bursting at the seams, spilling silk and glitter everywhere.
“OMG I love this!” Black squealed, sprawling himself on the ground and flailing in a small pile of glitter like he was making a snow angel. “We should get Liam moved in and out every day.”
“Fuck no.” Cane glared from the bed of Fix’s pickup, his expression automatically shifting from a snarl to a smile when Hart walked out, beaming at him from the porch.
“Gross, Candy Cane,” Ash said, hefting his box higher and heading toward the house with Black hot on his heels asking him to ‘meander’ so they’d have a glittery pathway to the front door. “Stop eye-fucking my brother.”
“But he’s so very eye-fuckable,” Cane drawled, and Fix groaned under the weight of an entire sofa he was now holding on his own while Cane slacked off.
“I have a jar filled with teeth stashed in my car just waiting for Hart to see them,” he hissed, looking at Cane pointedly.
Cane sneered but bent down and picked up the other end of the sofa, muttering under his breath about rule boards and body parts being forbidden under threat of celibacy.
“The things I do for you, sweetheart,” Cane said as he carried the sofa, marching after Fix toward the house. Liam wanted to keep the sofa, so they were keeping it.
“There are entirely too many shirts for this to be enjoyable. We need more skin,” Morgan said, walking by with a whisk in his hand. It was dripping icing and he was licking it. “Yum.”
“Is that my icing?” Fix asked, trying to poke his head around the arm. “For my boy, made by me to celebrate him?”
Morgan looked up with his tongue wrapped around one of the wires of the whisk. “Maybe.”
“You people are like locusts. I can’t leave you alone for a moment.” Fix dropped the sofa with a thud.
Cane told him to absolutely go fuck himself before dropping the other end and stalking away, Hart hot on his heels, telling him how proud he was of him for putting himself out there and befriending people.
Fix had no idea what befriending Hart was talking about, but sure.
“Did someone mention icing?” A voice came from the open front door, and just like that all of Fix’s irritation evaporated. His lips stretched into a smile at the sight of Liam, backlit by dim daylight and looking so beautiful it hurt.
“Hi, Daddy,” Liam said coyly.
Fix strode toward him, grabbing him around the waist, lifting him up, and spinning him in a circle. Liam’s legs went around his waist instinctively and Fix held him tight, protective and careful around him as always, but it was different now.
Liam was visibly stronger now.
Only once his magic was under control had Fix realized just how much it was taking out of Liam. He looked healthier and more alive now. More alert. His cheeks didn’t look as sunken as before, and the shadows under his eyes were gone. The smile he’d give to Fix, while just as breathtaking as before, now looked brighter. He walked with King and did his job and made his costumes with a joy that hadn’t been there before. Liam was free, both emotionally and from the magic that had been rioting inside him, and Fix found himself falling for him even deeper when he hadn’t thought that was possible.
“Welcome home, honey,” Fix said, leaning in to capture his lips in a kiss, still holding him up.
Liam snuck his fingers into Fix’s beard and returned the kiss, soft mewls leaving his lips as Fix chased his tongue with his own.
“Been home since I met you,” Liam said against his lips, and Fix melted. Liam smiled, hopping out of Fix’s arms and reaching into his bag. “Got you something, Daddy.”
He pulled out a wad of fabric and spread it over his torso, showing it to Fix. It was an apron with the words “Cooking is like sex. Everyone can do it, but only some make it delicious” on it.
“High praise.” Fix took the apron, knowing it would easily become his favorite one.
“Like it?” Liam asked, and Fix leaned down to kiss his lips again.
“I love everything you give me.”
“Gross,” Black said.
Liam snapped his head toward him, glaring.
He liked to pretend he still didn’t like Black but, horrifying as it was, their areas of interest overlapped quite a bit. Fix feared the day they’d announce their BFF status to the world.
“Your face is gross,” Liam bit back. He trailed after Black, who came to stand next to Morgan, eyeing him for a second before snatching the whisk out of his hand and eating the rest of the icing.
“Oh ew, Black,” Ash said as he came back downstairs, sans box but absolutely covered with glitter. “He just licked that.”
“And I licked his balls this morning,” Morgan said just as Wren walked around the side of the porch followed by a gaggle of ducks.
He pulled a face at Morgan before turning to Liam. “King’s with the bunnies. They’ve decided the big scary dog is now a bed.”
“Nice,” Liam said, smile wide as he talked to Wren about his beloved dog.
King had come a long way too. He now liked three people: Liam, Wren, and for whatever reason, Midas. Midas pretended not to care, but the gold collar King had started wearing recently hadn’t appeared out of nowhere.
As for Fix, King still fought him for attention, but there was a respect between them now that had built and couldn’t be broken.
They protected Liam together. Their pack.
“Oh, Liam! Did you get your tattoo done?” Ash asked.
Liam nodded, a blush sitting high on his cheeks.
“A tattoo is gonna make people go wild,” Morgan said with glee. “I can’t wait to edit your first video for IE.”
“Did Alex treat you nicely?” Fix asked, trying not to think about Liam’s new job at Morgan’s studio, him naked, now with a budget to make Fix go completely insane with want.
Liam nudged him with his shoulder and Fix dragged his mind away from lacy panties.
“He was great,” Liam said. “Did exactly what we talked about, and the spell made it so it didn’t hurt that much at all.”
“So can we see it?” Morgan asked.
“Um…not right now. It’s somewhere I won’t be able to hide it for long, but I want Daddy to see it first.”
Fix’s heart expanded about five times at his words. After debating for a while on what method of dampening his magic would work best, Fix had tentatively suggested a tattoo. He had loads of them—caster designed and done—for cursebreaking, some for protection, and some just because he liked them. So to him, a tattoo just felt like a logical choice. But Liam had none, and while he went crazy for Fix’s tattoos, he’d never expressed interest in having one himself.
But he’d liked the idea, so Fix had set up an appointment with his guy and explained in detail what they needed, and Alex had come up with a solution for them in a couple of days.
Gwen had stopped by after her and Liam’s now weekly lunch date to go over the casting involved and found no flaw in Alex’s design. Dampener tattoos weren’t a new thing, just rarely used.
And so Liam had gone to get his tattoo so he could continue with his life uninterrupted. Fix had wanted to come with, but Liam said no, the tattoo was a surprise. Fix found he wasn’t a huge fan of surprises he had to wait to see this long. Especially when they concerned his boy.
“The doll got a tattoo?” Cane asked as he walked back outside with a cigarette in his mouth, clearly finished with his tantrum.
Fix did not want to know what Hart did to calm him down. Or what required a cigarette after.
“Stop calling me that,” Liam said sharply all of a sudden.
Everyone went dead quiet, except for Ash whispering, “Candy Cane got TOLD,” and Morgan slapping the back of his head.
“What was that, doll?” Cane asked deliberately.
“That,” Liam said. “Stop calling me doll. Got it?”
No one told Cane what to do. Unless your name started with H and ended with art.
Fix readied himself to jump in as Hart tensed in the doorway, ready to defuse another bomb…but Cane was still. Placid as he continued to smoke. Looking closer, there was something like a sparkle of respect in his eyes.
“I’ll think about it,” he eventually said.
The way he left off ‘doll’ made Liam bite back a smile and stand just a bit taller, and Fix wrapped an arm around his waist. Fuck, he was so proud of him.
“In Cane speak that means yes,” Hart leaned forward to whisper.
“You fluent in my language now, sweetheart?” Cane asked. “Thought it was too vulgar for your sensitive ears.”
“I’m so pleased with you that you’re not even aggravating me,” Hart crowed. “The meditation tapes must be working.”
Cane scowled. “What meditation tapes?”
Hart blinked innocently and quickly scarpered away. “I have no idea what you’re referring to.”
Cane followed him, pausing for a second and turning to Fix. “This is a lot of favors I did you, cursebreaker. I’m gonna collect on that very soon.”
Fix wanted to glare, but Cane fucking worshipped the ground Hart walked on so he held back.
“I pay my dues,” Fix said, and Cane pointed a finger at him before stalking away.
“Is it just me or does he not look as scary anymore?” Black mused.
Wren shrugged, hardly listening as he helped one of his ducks onto Liam’s sofa. It flapped around for a moment before settling down, making Wren coo.
Black draped himself over the other end of it.
“We should keep this here,” he said, ignoring his suddenly ringing phone.
“Is that Cyrus?” Liam asked.
Black shrugged. “Could be.”
“Aren’t you answering? Someone might be in trouble.”
“It’s me,” Black said. “Me is in trouble.”
“Did you lick the crime scene again?”
“It’s part of the process.” Black scowled, groaning as his phone rang again and stomping away to take the call.
“He is so weird,” Liam said.
Fix didn’t want to point out that another member of their family was currently putting ducks on a sofa in a perfect row and was looking for a blanket to cover them with.
The rumble of a familiar car sounded. It pulled up, the door opened, and Midas stepped out in all his glory, pausing for a moment as he took in the scene.
Fix opened his mouth to explain, but Midas lifted his hands and just said “No” before disappearing inside.
“Can I show you my tattoo now, Daddy?” Liam leaned up on his tiptoes to whisper into his ear and Fix forgot about everything else instantly.
“Oh, I insist.” He draped the apron over the sofa, then scooped Liam up into his arms and carried him to their room. He ignored the whistles and cat calls from his brothers and slammed the door, closing them off from the rest of the world.
Their room.
“I can’t believe you’ll be living with me,” he said as he set Liam down, arms still wrapped tight around him.
“I already have been.” Liam chuckled.
“Yes, but it’s official now. All your things are here, you picked your side of the bed, you changed your address. No going back now.”
Liam looked up at him, eyes focused as he took Fix in. Without breaking eye contact, he reached down and plucked at the hem of his sweater, pulling it up and taking it off. He stood in front of Fix, bare-chested, with his shoulders pulled up to his ears.
“There was never any going back for me, Daddy,” he said. “I’m yours.”
He took Fix’s hand in his and placed it on his chest, and that was when Fix saw it.
The tattoo.
Just over Liam’s heart.
A shiny white outline of Fix’s cursemark on Liam’s skin.
“Honey…” He choked on the word.
“You keep me safe,” Liam said. “You are home and safety and protection. When I was thinking about what tattoo to get to control my magic, this was the only thing that felt right. The only thing I wanted on me forever. You.”
Fix felt his eyes sting with unshed tears as he bent down to kiss the marked skin.
“Is it healed?” he asked, lips just a whisper away. Liam shivered when hot breath hit his skin and Fix smiled, loving the effect he had on his boy.
“Alex healed it so it started working right away,” Liam said, pushing his fingers into Fix’s hair and pulling his head toward his chest. “Kiss me, Daddy.”
“Bossy.” Fix smiled, but obliged like he always did.
He pressed his lips against the tattoo, feeling it alive with magic under Liam’s skin. It was warm and it felt safe and kind. It felt like it loved Liam, and he realized why. Because it was him, keeping his boy safe. Forever. As it should be.
“I love you, honey,” he said, resting his forehead against Liam’s chest.
“I love you too, Daddy,” Liam said, and if Fix spent the rest of the day learning how much Liam loved having his new tattoo touched and kissed, well…that was nobody’s business but their own.
Curious about what Liam's first day at Indecent Event's looked like?
Read our bonus to find out.