Stars and Raindrops
Gideon huffs in annoyance.
It’s hotter than the Sun God’s ball-sack today (thank you, Rowan, for the visual), despite the total lack of sunshine. Early June can be beautiful, but climate change means Gideon has a river of sweat flowing between his shoulder blades.
He cannot be blamed for his annoyance.
The market had been a cesspit of humanity, tourists, and other chefs up with the sun looking for the best in fish and produce.
Afterward, he’d sweated through prep in Quest’s kitchen covering for Elias’s vacation, all before receiving the call from their favorite family grocer that someone else would have to collect the pack’s order this morning.
Normally, they’d have had the local grocer’s son do it, but young Tate has the plague, and there is no way Gideon is accepting food from a snot-nosed (literally—because normally, he’s quite nice) teenager who could infect Gideon’s very pregnant mate.
It hadn’t mattered to Gideon that Finn had told them time and time again that Nix couldn’t catch human viruses anymore.
No, they would not be taking any chances.
So, Gideon sacrificed his post-market Saturday afternoon shower and subsequent downtime to trawl the aisles for virus-free food instead.
To make matters worse, the first raindrops splatter on the trunk’s window just as Gideon pulls the first grocery basket out of the back of his SUV. Picking up his pace, he places it on the front step—out of range of the increasing downpour—followed by the second and third.
Given the sweltering day, it’s no surprise when the skies open up just as Gideon reaches for the last basket.
The yellow basket is filled with the fresh produce he’d purchased from the market; the scent of fresh tomatoes, berries, and onions fills his nose after sitting in the warm vehicle on the way from Quest.
The rain washes away some of the day’s sweat. With a swipe of his hand, he pushes back strands of hair—longer now than he prefers—dripping into his eyes. Still, he’s as susceptible as any guy to a few well-placed compliments.
There’s a movement on the porch in his periphery, and his kitten is standing on the now-empty porch.
Did Nix really carry all those baskets in?
“Dammit, Kitten,” he mutters under his breath.
Nix could carry him in off the porch without breaking a sweat, but Gideon’s wolf doesn’t enjoy seeing him struggle with the ungainly baskets over his very large—and beautiful—baby belly.
Finn says it will be any day now, but it won’t be soon enough for the pack.
They’re all hovering like expectant fathers, and it’s making everyone irritable, especially Nix, who does not like being under watchful eyes every second.
There’d been a helluva argument when Nix had caught Jay peering around the corner from the library just yesterday evening, as Nix had been baking cookies for the Sentinel crew.
Why the alpha hadn’t just made an excuse to sit and watch like Gideon had, he’ll never understand.
“Don’t dammit, Kitten me, Gideon Carnell. You’re getting soaked. What if you get what Tate has? What then? You are the most difficult patient,” Nix says over the steady beat of rain in the courtyard.
He pulls down the long white T-shirt he’s wearing over his belly before sticking his hand out from the cover of the porch.
“Hey! It’s warm!”
Gideon nods, suddenly overcome by the urge to see his kitten dancing in the rain.
Holding out his hand, he makes the come-hither wiggle of his fingers and Nix steps into the downpour with a peal of laughter.
Gideon almost can’t look at how beautiful Nix is, with water streaming down over his short brown hair, slick like a seal’s, and his bare, freckled face tipped up—turning his freckles into stars under droplets of water.
Mouth open, he sticks out his tongue. “Tastes weird,” he says with an adorable grimace.
“You’re not supposed to drink it, silly. There’s like…acid rain and shit.”
“You’re such a stick in the mud.” He spins in a circle before finding a shallow puddle to jump in with his bare feet. As if he could read Gideon’s mind from earlier (he can’t, right?), he murmurs, “Let’s dance.”
He licks rain off his lips and shimmies his shoulders, making eye contact that Gideon refuses to break.
It’s a challenge, as most things are these days.
They’re still figuring out how their dynamics play out—in the bedroom and in life—but more and more, Gideon is realizing that Nix loves to toe the line: to tease and taunt, to draw him out of his shell with laughter and silliness, to dare him to live out loud.
Nix turns in slow circles, breaking into a song Gideon doesn’t recognize. He begins to swivel his hips while raising his arms. It’s pure sensuality in every line as he tilts his head back, eyes closed, enjoying the rain on his face.
In the next moment, he opens those beautiful gray eyes and winks. “Don’t tell me you can’t dance, Gideon?” he teases.
It’s another challenge, so Gideon raises an eyebrow before showing him exactly how well Gideon can dance. The choreography is from a K-pop group’s latest choreography that Luca’s obsessed with.
When he’s done, Nix applauds. “Holy shit, that was awesome!”
“Mmm,” Gideon murmurs, before grasping Nix’s hand and twirling him around, careful of the rough stones under his mate’s feet.
So careful that he won’t lose his precarious, ever-shifting balance.
With his white T-shirt soaked through and raindrops caught in his lashes, he is the picture-perfect vision of joy.
Gideon’s joy.
“You can dance, Gideon! Ooh, that was so sexy. Who knew?” Nix giggles, turning in Gideon’s embrace and grinding his plump butt up against Gideon’s rapidly hardening dick.
“I’m not fucking you out here, Kitten.”
Or at all, sadly.
Finn said that it’s too close to the birth, and penetration is not approved for omegas in the last month. It’s proven difficult to convince Nix that he isn’t the exception to this rule, as he is to so many others.
“Pooh. Since when are you a rule follower?” Nix pouts and starts a slow twerk.
Gideon wishes it weren’t as arousing as it is hilarious. “When it comes to your health, I am following all the rules.”
He grabs his mate’s hips and spins him around, pulling him into a slow dance, humming under his breath.
Nix snuggles up as close as he can with their babies between them.
“Who taught you to dance like that?” Gideon asks, already knowing the answer.
“Luca, of course. He’s a good teacher of a lot of things. If you know what I mean. Wink wink, nudge nudge,” Nix says. His lips are pressed against his bond bite on Gideon’s throat—his vanilla-bread scent mixed with the fresh rain and his own stormy one.
“I certainly do,” Gideon whispers. “You two are double the trouble.”
“Lucky for you,” Nix giggles quietly before using both arms to hold him close.
Gideon likes to think it’s more—bigger—than luck. It’s divine.
No sooner than he thinks the word, the rain stops as suddenly as it had begun. It hasn’t lowered the humidity at all, and soon, Gideon’s T-shirt is sticking to his chest and back. The courtyard is almost steaming under the bright sunshine. It’s not as bright as his kitten’s smile, though.
He will never be the first one to break their embrace, so he lets Nix take as much time and affection as he needs.
“How is it that you are still so hot when you look like a wet cat?” Nix finally steps back, pushing the hair off his face with a small grimace.
Gideon gets a flash of tiny blue-green boy-shorts and a belly-button that’s popped all the way out as Nix lifts his shirt hem to wipe the rain from his cheeks. “You should talk, Kitten.”
It’s true. Nix is glowing. But isn’t he always? And it’s not because he’s pregnant, either.
It’s just him.
“Hot enough to break the rules?” he waggles his eyebrows and gives an exaggerated wink.
Growling at his persistent temptation, he tries to grab him in hopes he can swat that juicy ass. But, alas, his prey shrieks and dodges, slipping through his fingers like a ray of sunshine. He’s on the porch and through the open door in a blink, his laughter trailing behind him.
Picking the basket up off the stone courtyard, he props it against his hip—it’s already been washed clean by the rain.
Tilting his face to the sun, Gideon presses all the moments of this rainy day dance into his memory. There are more and more beautiful things happening in his life every day—it’s a good thing Gideon has infinite space to remember them.
There’s a shriek from inside, and he hears Luca calling for him.
Then, Tsuki starts barking.
It’s followed by a crash that Gideon is sure he’ll have to clean up once he gets inside. Probably some chaos his troublemakers are causing. He opens his eyes, his thoughts already on what’s next—and who he might convince to shower with him.
He stops suddenly, stunned.
He shouldn’t be surprised, given all the magic Nix continually brings into his life. But there, above the house, is a stunning rainbow—bright as any he’s seen before. A sure sign from the Goddess that he’s where he needs to be, loving the people he’s been gifted.
Bowing his head, he whispers—not for the first or last time—“Thank you.”