20. Zenith VS Baby
ZENITH VS BABY
Zenith exchanged a panicked look with Emre.
The Butler Brothers weren’t easily stumped, or surprised. What the hell had happened downstairs?
Zenith was on his feet in seconds, Emre in his arms. “What happened, Hux?”
“Something weird,” Huxton said. “It’s not dire. But you should see this anyway.”
Zenith made a face. “Sweetheart, I’ll need to vanish my knot.”
Emre shot him a look of disbelief. “You can just... make your knot disappear?”
“It’s not part of my human shape. I borrowed it from my dragon since you wanted a knot so badly.” Zenith dropped the partial shift and pulled out, grabbing a large shirt for Emre and a robe for himself.
“I need a plug,” Emre said.
When Zenith turned, he found Emre with cum dripping down his thighs, splattering onto the floor.
If he hadn’t just put that load inside Emre, he would’ve been rock-hard again.
Instead, he turned and grabbed a jewel-ended plug from the nightstand, hurrying back to his omega. “I’m going to insert it right now.”
Emre spread his cheeks, his breath punching out when the plug sank home. “Thanks.”
“Looks good,” Zenith murmured. He grabbed a towel and wiped off the mess on Emre’s thighs. Then he shrugged on his robe, helped Emre with the shirt, and scooped Emre into his arms. In seconds, they were out of the bedroom, Zenith striding through the mansion.
“We’re in the living room,” Huxton said.
It didn’t sound like the pups were hurt. If they were, though...
Panic crept through Zenith’s veins.
No, if the pups were hurt, Huxton would’ve said so.
With a burst of speed, he charged down the stairs, only to find several small iridescent bubbles floating everywhere.
“Bubbles?” Emre said, confused.
“Looks like it. They’re coming from the living room.”
Bubbles weren’t on Quinlan’s list of merchild things to worry about. But if bubbles weren’t the issue, then what was?
The bubbles popped when Zenith and Emre bumped into them. Zenith turned in the direction of the heartbeats—there were too many bubbles to make things out properly.
“Abbie? Bean?” Emre craned his neck and swatted away the bubbles.
Then he gasped. Zenith charged forward, worry gripping his insides.
Instead of a baby and two pups, he found a pup and a tiny infant—much smaller than Abbie’s human shape.
“Is that—?” Emre’s eyes were round. He reached out carefully.
“Uriel completed his tasks and left an invoice,” Huxton said. “He left with his baby.”
“So this is... this is Bean?” Zenith stared at the infant in the shopping cart.
Unlike Abbie in her human shape, Bean was tiny, with downy brown hair and huge blue eyes. His little face was round, and he looked so fragile.
Bean blew a shimmery blue spit bubble, hiccupping so it floated away.
“He’s adorable,” Zenith said, his heart melting.
He set Emre down and stepped closer.
Bean twitched and spat a spit bubble at his face. It landed in Zenith’s eye with startling accuracy.
“Urgh!” Zenith said, freezing in his tracks.
Bean was five days old.
“Holy fuck,” Zenith whispered, wiping the spit off his face.
“Bean!” Emre squeaked. “Why did you do that?!”
“I must’ve surprised him,” Zenith said. “Here, you approach him first.”
Emre went to the cart and scooped Bean into his arms. Bean twitched his nose. Then he giggled and kicked his legs, especially when Emre cuddled him close and kissed his forehead.
“He’s human-shaped,” Emre whispered giddily.
“Finally,” Zenith agreed.
“Hey, hon,” Emre whispered. “We’ve been waiting a while to meet you like this.”
Bean smacked his tiny hand on Emre’s face. When he hiccupped, Emre got a faceful of bubbles.
“Ugh!” Emre snorted and shook his head to get them off, but he was grinning.
Bean giggled infectiously. Zenith melted all over again.
“Gods, I love his laugh,” Zenith whispered.
“I know,” Emre whispered back. “He’s perfect.”
When Zenith crept a little closer, Bean looked at him. Zenith froze. “Is he going to spit in my eye again?”
“Maybe you should keep a safe distance from him,” Emre said.
“Maybe you should name him Lil Spitting Devil.”
Emre laughed.
Carefully, Zenith peered at Bean over Emre’s shoulder. He gave Bean his best smile and held his breath. Bean stared back.
After a long, long time, Bean finally looked away, Zenith forgotten.
“I think you might not be a threat to him anymore,” Emre said. “Bean, hon, this is Zenith. Say hi to Zenith.” Emre took Bean’s hand, and patted it against Zenith’s face.
Bean watched them carefully.
“Maybe he needs more proof?” Zenith said.
“Hmm.” And Emre turned, pressing a kiss to Zenith’s cheek.
Zenith’s entire face flamed. Just from a cheek kiss.
“Oh.” Emre giggled. “You’re blushing.”
“Well,” Zenith said, and he couldn’t think of an explanation.
“You’re really cute,” Emre whispered.
“So are you,” Zenith whispered back.
They stared at each other for a long, breathless moment, until a tiny hand smacked against Zenith’s face.
Zenith startled and blinked himself back. Emre grinned.
And Zenith thought about kissing him again.
“I know,” Emre said, his gaze sliding back to Bean. “Since he’s in his human shape, I can think of something else for you to do.”
Apprehension filled Zenith. “What?”
“Let’s teach you how to change a diaper.”
The first time Zenith changed Bean’s diaper by himself, Bean surprised him again.
The poop was already there. So was the pee. All Zenith had to do was clean him up and switch out the diaper.
He got as far as laying out the new diaper. Since Bean was being incredibly chill about the whole thing, Zenith leaned in and made faces to try and make Bean laugh.
Except Bean peed again. This time, it shot Zenith in the eye.
“UGH!” Zenith spluttered, rearing back. “Bean, you—You!”
Bean giggled, kicking his legs.
“Fuck, I can’t even get mad at you,” Zenith said, looking down at the tiny baby.
“What? What happened?” Emre came skidding into the nursery.
“He peed on my face,” Zenith said. “In my eye.”
Emre froze, biting his lip like he was trying not to smile. “Again? First the spitball, now the pee?”
“I’m cursed,” Zenith said. “Hopefully puke doesn’t come next.”
Emre shook his head. “For your sake, I really hope not.”
With Emre observing amusedly, Zenith managed to get Bean cleaned up for real, and wrapped in a diaper.
When he was done, Emre stuck a gold star sticker on Zenith’s chest.
“You’re doing great,” Emre said. “I think you’re going to graduate from Dad School.”
Warmth surged into Zenith’s chest. “Have you graduated from Dad School?”
Emre wrinkled his nose. “I think we’re really far from it, actually.”
Somehow, that didn’t sound quite as terrifying as Zenith thought it would.
Abbie wailed. Bean wailed.
Zenith rocked Abbie in his arms and glanced helplessly at Emre, who looked just as lost.
“I don’t get what we’re doing wrong. They’re fed and changed. They don’t look or smell sick. We’ve done everything we could,” Zenith said, his heart hurting.
Emre leaned against the wall and sank down to the floor, a human-shaped Bean in his arms. He sighed tiredly. “Sometimes it’s all we can do to hold them while they cry.”
Zenith sat down next to him, pressing their shoulders together.
They rocked the babies together, back and forth, taking comfort in each other.
“Still want one of your own?” Emre asked wryly.
Zenith looked down at Abbie, whose cheeks were flushed red as she cried. “Yeah. They make me want to protect them.”
Emre’s gaze went all soft; his cheeks turned pink.
The babies were crying, and all Zenith could think about was how much he wanted to kiss Emre.
“Does that make me a bad dad?” Zenith asked.
Emre looked up at him. “Does what make you a bad dad?”
Maybe he should’ve thought this through before speaking. Oops.
Zenith bit his lip. “Um. Me thinking about you. While they’re crying.”
Emre wriggled his shoulders. “We’ve been doing our best, but nothing seems to work. I don’t think what you’re thinking about makes any impact on the situation.”
Zenith sighed, his arms full of crying baby. “I just want to be a good dad.”
“Trust me, you’re plenty good.”
Emre said it with such certainty that Zenith glanced at him. He thinks of me as a dad so easily.
Zenith made a face. Emre nudged him.
“We can’t all be perfect,” Emre said dryly.
“I don’t know about that. I think you’re perfect.”
Emre lit up, his eyes sparkling. Gods, the urge to kiss him was overpowering.
If they stop crying, Zenith told himself. Once they stop crying, I’ll kiss him.
His stomach tightened with nerves.
Emre raised an eyebrow. “You look like you just swallowed a lemon.”
Zenith leaned his head back against the wall. “Sometimes, as a dragon, I feel so invincible, and other times, I feel like I’m just a normal guy, trying to fumble his way through life.”
“I think we’re all like that,” Emre said. “Except we’re not all cool dragon shifters.”
Zenith huffed. “You’re still a shifter, which is pretty cool.”
Emre hummed.
They swayed with each other, trying to calm the babies. Zenith didn’t know how long they spent sitting against the wall, but Abbie and Bean finally fell asleep.
Emre sighed and slouched. “Okay, now I’m tired.”
“Same here.” Zenith hesitated, his pulse kicking up.
The sound drew Emre’s attention. He turned a little, glancing at Zenith’s chest.
“So,” Zenith said, nervous all over again.
It was just a kiss.
But it was also not just a kiss, because kisses held so much more weight than sex. So much more hung in the balance when you were offering someone your heart.
“What is it?” Emre whispered.
He gazed at Zenith openly, his pups right there in their arms. Emre was placing so much trust in Zenith, it almost made him speechless.
Zenith turned toward him, catching Emre’s chin to tip his face up. Then he leaned in close, so close that Emre’s breath fell on his lips.
“Zenith?” Emre croaked, his eyes wide. And now his heart was loud too.
The words fell out of Zenith’s mouth. “Has anyone told you that you’re perfect?”
Emre shook his head. “Just you.”
“That’s a damn shame, because everyone should know.”