Chapter Nine

Leif did a last sweep through their home, making sure that everything was perfect. He made sure the bathrooms were presentable, that his bartending station was stocked and ready to provide refreshments, and then selected an alpine scent to use on Rahul"s fancy candle melter, spreading a breezy-greenery aroma throughout the house.

He was in the middle of using a lint roller to collect some of Tucker"s stray hairs when he heard knocking at the front door. Guests!

"I got it!" he called out to Rahul, who was out back getting his brick oven fired up. He jogged his way to the front door, set the roller aside, then opened it to reveal Deimos and Toni.

"Hi, come on in!" Leif said, gesturing. "You can lay your coats in the living room, or hang them in the coat closet."

"I appreciate it, thanks. And here." Deimos handed over a bottle of wine with a bow wrapped around the neck, then turned to help his wife shrug out of her woolen long coat. "It"s nothing too fancy, though."

Leif turned it over in his hands, reading the label. "You didn"t have to bring anything at all, so this is already too much. It"s a Brut Rosé, though, nice! I think this will pair well with dinner, so I might set it to chill. I"ll run it by Rahul first, since he"s more familiar with wines than I am."

Leif set it on a nearby coffee table, then waited impatiently for the minotaur to pull a pair of padded slippers over his hooves while his wife hung their outerwear up. Beneath their coats, Deimos had on shorts and a red Hawaiian shirt—Leif figured the cold must not bother someone coated in fur on half of their body, with a thick layer of curly brown hair on the more human parts—while Toni had a sky-blue floral dress on her cushiony frame.

"Finally, hug time!" Leif wrapped his arms tightly around Deimos" thick waist first, then gave another hug just as tight to Toni, who held his head in place so she could kiss him hard on the cheek.

"Where are my other boys at?" Toni demanded, striding boldly forward through the living room and into the kitchen, peering down hallways and even opening the pantry, as if they could somehow be hiding inside.

"Tucker"s still showering, and Rahul"s on the patio out back."

"And I just took off my coat! He"s a good man, though, he"ll get the air nice and toasty for me." Toni slid open the curtained patio door, letting in a chill breeze that whipped her dark hair around, before stepping out back and shutting it behind her. Through the door, Leif faintly heard the pleased exclamations of their greetings.

"Can I get you anything?" Leif asked, indicating the bar.

Deimos strode to the living room, taking a seat. "Got any beer? Not to disparage your bartending talents or anything…"

Leif hustled behind his bar."No, that"s fine! Chilled or lukewarm?"

"Chilled, thanks."

Leif grabbed a bottle from the sizable mini-fridge where a collection of different drinks were kept, popped off the cap, then grabbed a wine cooler for himself.

Deimos took the offered drink with a nod of his head, chugging it for several seconds before pronouncing it good. Leif was about to take a seat on the sofa when there was another knock, so he set his drink down and jogged up to the door, opening it wide when he saw the silhouette of an orc behind the glass.

Alyssa was already picking him up and hugging him tightly before he"d finished welcoming them in, his words devolving into a delighted squeak. His Giant Lesbian friend carried him forward a few steps, making room for her girlfriend, then stepped towards the living room with its taller ceilings so that she could maneuver Leif until he was sitting on her broad shoulders.

Fang Wu waggled a bottle of top shelf tequila up at him, and he pointed across to his bar.

Leif hunched himself down so he could whisper in Alyssa"s ear as she walked away. "She seems okay."

His frequent texting partner did a squat so that he could slide off her backside, and he was careful not to tug on her dress as he dismounted. It was loose and black, and when combined with her striped leggings, yellow nail polish, and canary yellow hair, made him think of a gigantic, gentle bumblebee.

"Whatever message your boyfriend left on her phone worked," Alyssa whispered back while Fang and Deimos shook hands. "She seemed relieved afterwards."

"That"s great! I think it"s just been a lot of old emotions resurfacing. So tell me about the music festival you two went to!"

Leif made small talk with Alyssa, Fang, and Deimos until Rahul and Toni rejoined them, at which point there was some finger pointing and a shared laugh since Rahul had also chosen to wear a Hawaiian shirt, though his was pink, matching his nose septum and earrings. Rahul only stayed inside long enough for a quick hello, and then he and Toni carried several made-from-scratch margherita pizzas back outside for cooking.

Leif cracked open the gifted tequila, first making Fang"s traditional margarita, then set to work to make a frozen slush version for Alyssa. He was working the blender when Tucker came downstairs wearing a T-shirt and jeans, so he didn"t hear his brief exchange with Fang, but the two seemed amicable enough with several head nods. Awesome! He"d been worried it might be awkward, but it looked like couple-throuple"s night was going to go off without a hitch!

Sebastian and his mythblooded kitsune wife, Sakari, showed up just as Rahul was bringing in the last of the flatbread pizzas. Sebastian"s apology for being late was cut short by a sudden round of laughter and giggles.

"I guess they only make so many outfits for bigger guys, huh," Sebastian said a moment later as his wife adjusted his position in front of Deimos and Rahul. His own Hawaiian shirt was a dark blue.

Rahul laid a hand on Sebastian"s shoulder as Sakari, Toni, and Leif began taking pictures. "I prefer to think of it as the three of us having the same quality taste and adventurous, free-spirited nature."

"I"ll drink to that!" Deimos said.

After pictures and an early dinner, Tucker broke out their supply of party games while Leif began mixing drinks. They settled on Pictionary and Charades, and in teams of three with the relationships divided up to make it more challenging.

More challenging in theory, anyways.

"Flashdance!" Sakari cried out, just as Rahul lost his balance from sitting in an imaginary chair, arm outstretched overhead.

"Yes!" Rahul said, hopping gracefully to his feet right as the timer went off.

Laughing and kicking her bare feet, Sakari clinked her mimosa glass against Toni"s Mai Tai while Rahul marked their added points in their column.

"The score is now nineteen to seven to six," he said, then joined his teammates on the couch, sitting between them and pouring himself his own mimosa from a pitcher. "Fang, your turn."

"Um," Leif murmured into Sebastian"s side from where he was burrowed, knees drawn up to his chest. "I think they"re going to win again."

Sebastian patted him soothingly on the shoulder with the arm that he had wrapped around him, and together with Alyssa they watched Fang grab a card from the box and turn a serious gaze towards Tucker and Deimos.

Leif gave a parting rub to Sebastian on his belly, then rolled away from him. He strode over to grab the now empty mimosa pitcher, swaying only slightly as he went to mix his friends a refill.

Several delightfully tipsy hours later, Leif was hugging Toni goodbye, who smoothed down his spiked hair and told him he made the best Mai Tais this side of the Pacific Ocean. Then Leif hugged Deimos goodbye, then Sebastian and Sakari together, and then he hugged Deimos again.

After drinking a glass of water and taking a monstrous leak, Leif padded over to the couch and made himself comfortable in Tucker"s arms, mirroring Alyssa and Fang who were sitting across from them on the sectional. He sighed in contentment.

"I"m glad you were able to make it," Rahul said, his arm resting on Tucker"s outstretched legs. "Jamie and Nelson canceling was bad enough."

"Mmm," Fang agreed, and Leif watched as she reached a hand up to play with Alyssa"s draping hair. "Yes, you"re a people pleaser, no doubt. The more the merrier, right?"

"In so many different ways, yes," Rahul said, laughing. "Next time, don"t put off making an appearance on account of being a boss. You"re depriving poor Leif of Alyssa"s company!"

"Yes, exactly!" Leif chimed in. "For shame, Fang, keeping her all to yourself. She"s too amazing to be kept in an ivory tower, even if she"s, like, super awesome like a real princess."

"I still have that cardboard crown, by the way," Alyssa said. "I even added my own glitter to make it sparkle!"

"She did, and she left behind one of the worst messes I"ve seen to date," Fang said drily, but with an affectionate pat on the side of her girlfriend"s cheek. "Just gobs of glue everywhere, and the crown constantly flakes, so the glitter has gotten into every room of the house. Do you know how hard it is to clean glitter out of bed sheets?"

"Only too well," Tucker drawled. "Bless his heart, Leif does his best to scrub down after his work shifts, but any time there"s a theme night at the bar, even when he doesn"t put the glitter on himself, he always ends up bringing home ounces of the stuff that I can only assume is from him wrestling naked with glitter golems."

"It"s a complete mystery," Leif agreed. "But get a lint roller, they work on sheets and skin equally well. Oh, hang on, I can just give you one of ours! We bought a multi-pack last time."

Leif struggled himself out of Tucker"s arms, then dashed down the hall to the utility room. He snagged a spare roller, then brought it back to the living room, leaving it at the door for when their last guests went home.

Rahul welcomed him into his lap when he returned, securing him in place with his broad arms, and he sat there stroking Rahul"s neatly trimmed beard as he listened to the quiet murmur of Rahul, Tucker, and Fang reminiscing over past DOMA missions.

At last, Fang took a drink of some water before reaching across to set it down on a coaster on the coffee table, spinning out of her girlfriend"s arms.

"Thank you all again for having us over. Especially you, Tucker. I honestly thought you"d be angrier."

Leif looked over at his boyfriend, seeing him tilt his head to the side. "Angry? Do you mean because you"ve been avoiding me at work? It"s fine, I know all too well that emotions can be tough."

"I mean angry about the reports," Fang said.

"What reports?"

Now both Fang and Tucker were frowning.

"The Germaine transcripts you requested.You didn"t read them?" Fang heaved a breath, then quickly stood up to her feet and began pacing.

Tucker slowly got to his feet as well, sniffing. "Director, I was under the impression that you"ve been avoiding me because you felt guilty over Clairmont putting me front and center in the same case that cost Rahul his job, but that"s not it, is it."

"No."

Tucker nodded, but seemed content to wait the director out. Leif watched him ease himself back down on the couch, laying back in a non-threatening manner.

"...damn it. This would have been easier if you"d read through the reports. When you requested the old transcripts yesterday, I thought you"d pieced it together."Fang looked over at Tucker, squaring her shoulders."Tucker.When you last encountered Germaine, I changed the plan at the last minute.

"It"s my fault.I"m the reason he escaped."