Here is Home • The Pack

Chapter Fourteen

For a moment, Preston lies there and enjoys the rare silence in the house, then, Lachlan breaks the silence.

"Come here, idiot," he says. He half sits up from the bed, and Preston can see in the darkness that he's smiling fondly, rolling his eyes. He reaches a hand out and grabs Preston's wrist, pulls him up.

Preston panics for a moment. He's been staying with them for nearly a week, but as far as anyone but Preston knows, it's just because he's not at school, not because he's fucking one of them. But when Lachlan's looking at him with those amused eyes, he knows he's lost all resistance. He lets himself be pulled up and onto the bed, and settles into the crook of Lachlan's arm, pressing their bodies together as close as he can, resting his hand on the soft skin of Lachlan's arm, brushing his thumb over the freckles. Lachlan presses a kiss to Preston's forehead, and Preston feels his whole soul cave in on itself. He just feels warm, and full of something he thinks is like happiness but seems more important, somehow.

With Lachlan wrapped around him, Preston falls asleep within seconds.

• •

When Rob wakes up the next morning, he sees Preston and Lachlan tangled together on Lachlan's bed. They've so obviously been dancing around the whole couple thing for a while now - Rob's overheard about ten conversations between them, arguments really, about whether or not they should tell the rest of the family. Rob couldn't actually care less.

Finding a shirt that seems clean enough, he pulls it over his head, and then begins the hunt for socks. It's a cold morning, still in the middle of Chicago winter and the heat in their house is off again, so his toes are freezing where they curl into the floor.

There aren't any socks in Lachlan's sock drawer. The sock drawer is instead full of dirty laundry and a roll of condoms. Rob starts hunting on the carpet, under the beds.

Which is why he's nose to nose with Preston when Preston wakes up.

Rob quickly jumps back when he sees Preston's eyes flutter open. It seems to take Preston a moment to realise what's going on, his expression at first blissfully happy, more peaceful than Rob's ever seen as he snuggles back a little into Lachlan's arms. Then he spots Rob looking at him, and his whole body tenses, eyes shooting wide open. He sits up with a jerk, ripping Lachlan's arms away from him.

"It's - I'm - it's not what it looks like," he says frantically, arms flailing about like he can't decide whether he should beg or reach for a gun.

Rob rolls his eyes.

"I've walked in on you sucking his dick like, five times, chill already," he says, pulling on the first two socks he finds - one blue and grey striped, the other baby pink with a hole in the toe - and heading towards the door, ignoring Preston's terrified expression.

Jerome looked up from the breakfast he was heating as Rob stumbled down the stairs tiredly. Rob didn't acknowledge him until he was seated at the table and blearily looking around for food. "Hey," the younger boy nodded at Jerome and yawned.

"What's with you?" Jerome asked as he started putting together a plate of food for himself.

"Lachlan and Preston went to bed late last night, woke me up." Rob answered yawning once again and stretching.

Jerome glanced to the stairs and walked to the table, sitting beside Rob and pulling a fork out to eat with, "Preston's still here?" Rob nodded and grabbed a fork of his own, casually picking food off of Jerome's plate, He smiled and pushed the plate over to Rob before standing to make up another for himself."So what do you think of him living here again?" Jerome asked, trying to keep his question sounding casual.