Chapter 5
The house was quiet when he finally stepped from the room and made his way silently down the stairs.
Briant had fallen asleep a couple of hours ago, with Nix still perched on the window seat, blindly staring out as the sky darkened and the view turned pitch black.
He’d needed to move after a day of doing nothing, so he’d left the room to wander.
The quiet didn’t worry him. He knew without having to be told the Demons would never leave him alone. One or more of them were certainly here, somewhere in the Roost. The fact he hadn’t seen Lake, even though they’d been occupying his room, meant everyone understood Nix’s state of mind.
He appreciated that they were giving him space. If this had been two months ago, they wouldn’t have. Hell, a month ago, he wasn’t convinced they’d even care enough to consider it for a moment.
Things had escalated so quickly between them. It was frightening and overwhelming when he stopped to think about it, but he tried not to allow himself to. It wasn’t like he could do anything anyway. The past couldn’t be changed, and he’d already made up his mind.
Nix had chosen.
And he’d chosen them.
All of them.
Including the one currently brooding into the night.
Brooding was probably the wrong word. Yejun Sang looked like he was modeling a mysterious midnight blend perfume.
He certainly had the face for it. His messy dark hair was up in his signature bun, and his jewelry, tiny black studs for snake bites and a single eyebrow piercing, winked in the porch lighting.
The glass double doors leading to the back porch had been opened wide, and he was standing with a shoulder propped against the frame, head tipped slightly up toward the sky. His ankles were crossed, and he’d ditched the school uniform for a black t-shirt and jeans. His feet were bare.
Nix didn’t know what it was about that last detail, but it had him pausing in the living room. Maybe it was how domestic it looked. A picturesque depiction of the perfect, considerate boyfriend, waiting patiently.
He wondered what Yejun was thinking about so deeply. He was completely still, even with the breeze blowing toward him, bringing with it a scatter of raindrops. It was more mist than anything at the moment, but it was still enough to wet his skin as he stood there.
There was a lot to think about. Nix had been focused on himself, but he wasn’t the only one dealing with changes.
Sure, the Demons were the reason for everything that had happened with him, but it was also true they’d been targeted before he’d come along.
And he certainly hadn’t helped the situation any by bringing Juri deeper into their world.
There was a lot of guilt there, not just toward Briant, or Branwen, but toward Yejun and West.
It was interesting how quickly things could shift. Just a couple of days ago, Nix had struggled with forgiveness, but now he was the one feeling like he needed to beg for it. Logically, he understood he’d been tricked, but…
Yejun chose that moment to let out a deep sigh before turning on his heel.
The moment he caught sight of Nix, he froze, going so still it was hard to tell if he was even breathing.
They remained like that for a spell, his eyes wide and his nerves obvious, like he wasn’t quite sure what to do or if he should even do anything at all.
“Hi,” Nix broke the silence first, internally wincing over how stupid a comment that was.
“Hi.” Yejun didn’t make any movements aside from his lips.
“Can I…join you?”
He blinked at him and then took a step back onto the porch, waving his arms for Nix to follow almost comically. “Yes. Yes! Of course!”
Nix hid a smile behind his hand, pretending to clear his throat as he joined him.
The night breeze was nice, the light spattering of misty rain somehow soothing his frayed nerves and he suddenly understood why it hadn’t bothered Yejun.
He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been all day, too lost in his head and his feelings, but now the knots in his shoulders became apparent, and he rotated them in a poor attempt to ease some of the discomfort.
“Should I get West?” Yejun offered. “He’s better at massages than I am. He’s preparing a room for Briant. Just in case he’s not comfortable staying in Lake’s.”
Noting the hint of disappointment in his gaze, Nix shook his head. “Nah, I’ll be all right.”
Yejun stilled once more. “Will you?”
It was a weighted question, and one he didn't have the answer to yet, so Nix chose to stare out at the smooth surface of the mountain face across the patio instead.
The Roost was a large structure built against Munin Mountain.
From some vantages, they could catch a glimpse of the Club House hovering above, since it also jutted from the hulking stone.
Demons, or legacies of the Club, traditionally called the Roost their home during their years at Foxglove Grove.
Nix was the first honorary resident in a long time.
Technically, his records still showed him living in his dorm room with his friend Grady.
Were they still friends?
Would Grady want to be?
Did he…hate him?
“What were you doing before I interrupted?”Nix asked, mostly to keep himself from spiraling all over again. He’d spent the day feeling sorry for himself. Enough was enough.
“You could never interrupt,” Yejun said.
Nix quirked a brow and gave him a pointed look.
“Fine,” the artist chuckled, “I’ll lay it on a little less thick.”
“Please do. I’m not made of glass, and false platitudes won’t magically make everything better.”
“What does better look like for you?” he asked. “What’s the future you envision for yourself, Nix?”
“Now, or before I met you three?”
Yejun glanced away.
Nix sighed. “You already know. My dreams were pretty basic before. Hard to achieve, sure, but nothing grand. Nothing like being named Royal Consort or moving to the palace.”
“Nothing like publicly dating three men.”
“Exactly.” It was an odd situation, not unheard of, but not common anymore. Typically, a Fourth was part of an already existing relationship, but the three Demons weren’t like that with each other.
At least, not unless Nix made them be.
Memory of Yejun on his knees, sucking Lake off came unbidden, and a flash of heat coiled in his lower region before he could help it.
“What are you thinking about, Firebird?” Yejun’s tone changed, turning teasing and suggestive in an instant. He was the biggest flirt out of the three, could turn it on like flipping a switch.
“Nothing.” He for sure wasn’t going to say he’d been thinking about Lake’s cock in June’s mouth.
“Nothing won’t make you blush like that.”
“Pretty sure what you’re trying to say is, something had to make me blush like this,” he corrected, mostly trying to lead the conversation in a different direction.
Yejun snorted. “Gods. You sound like Lake.”
“Take that back,” he feigned affront.
“Are you really all right with it?” Yejun brought them back around after they’d finished laughing. “Dating the three of us? Having the entire planet know you’re shared?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. That’s what’s happening.”
“Nix.”
“I don’t need you to apologize,” he stopped him. “Not now. Not when it’s already too late.”
“Ouch.”
It was the truth, even if it stung. They were already on this path, and neither of them was getting off it.
Fortunately, Nix didn’t think either of them really wanted to.
Sure, Yejun felt bad for what he’d done, and Nix was still not as comfortable around him as he’d once been, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t still affection there.
“I like you,” he found himself confessing, voice low and even. “I like all of you. I don’t care what people think of me, or if that will cause them to gossip about us in some social circles. I never have.”
Nix had always had a one-track mind, that was why he’d been holed up in his room studying while Branwen and the rest of the kids his age had been busy making friends.
“I am curious though,” he couldn’t help but say. “Are you three into each other?”
“No.” Yejun paused as soon as he said it, rethinking.
“Actually, not really? We’re not sexually attracted to one another, and we’ve never considered dating or being together.
But we don’t turn each other off. You know that.
You’ve seen firsthand that we can all get hard together.
” He tipped his head. “Why? Do you want us to fuck each other? Are you trying to trick us into giving you a break in the bedroom?”
Nix shook his head. “I just wanted to know, because you’re right, you didn’t have any problem sucking Lake off, and he didn’t hesitate to come down your throat.”
Yejun grimaced. “You don’t have to be so graphic about it.”
“Does it bother you after the fact?”
“I don’t like Lake or West. Although this is funny. It reminds me of a conversation I had with Beck once.”
Nix frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I guess he used to think I had a thing for West,” Yejun explained.
“After Lake left for Vitality, it was just the two of us. Obviously, we grew closer. I suppose that was misinterpreted by some, including our favorite professor. He finally caved and asked me about it over drinks one night, and I set him straight.”
Nix considered the way they’d always spoken about each other. “You guys really do regard one another like siblings, don’t you?”
“I mean…Siblings don’t give each other head, Firebird. But it’s a similar closeness. We’re family, no matter what that means or what we do in that context. If you ask me to go get West right now and let him fuck me over the kitchen table, for example, I would do it without hesitation.”
“Because you want to be fucked by West?”