The Fast and the Purrious
This little bit of Luca/Nix fun takes place in the weeks post Tides of Fate. I hope you enjoy Nix’s journey in exploring what it means to be free.
Thanks to my husband for the motorcycle advice. Any errors are mine alone.
Content Warnings
Mentions of a non-threatening stalker
Jealous and possessive behavior
Sub-Standard Decisions
“I’m starving,” Luca groans, the whining tone adding to the annoyingclick-click-clickof the remote as he pages endlessly through Nix’s Netflix homepage. “We should order something.”
Goddess, yes, please. What Nix wouldn’t give for food that wasn’t torn into tiny pieces and sniffed by a big enigma first. Most of the time, it was good—great, even—but Rowan was taking it to extremes. Just this morning, his baby-Daddy got milk on his nose from the cereal he’d stuck his face in just to be sure the Cheerios weren’t poisoned—or whatever it was he was looking for.
“Amazing idea, but we’re not supposed to have anyone inside the gate, or at the gate, or near the gate, Luc. We promised.”
It hadn’t seemed like a big deal to promise to stay put when, for the first time since the showdown, Nix and Luca were home alone together. Every one of their mates had immutable prior commitments, and while it had seemed like a windfall a few hours ago, now they’re bored.
They had run out of things to do an hour ago that didn’t involve their favorite pastimes: gossip, sex, or food.
Luca didn’t have permission to come, and Nix had been with Rowan and Grayson all afternoon, anyway. Other than the detailed insight into the O-faces of their mates, eight rounds of Mario Kart, two Ghibli films, and a ludicrously unfair game of hide-and-seek (Luca giggled every time it was his turn to hide, and Nix’s nose was just too good), they’d run out of fun things to do at home.
“Ipromised,youwere busy in the Art House. So technically, you couldorder food, and I could act surprised.”
Nix wants to laugh because there’s no way Gideon was going to let a technicality slide, but Giorgio’s cannellonianda spanking?Yes, please.Besides, what could go wrong? It was just food, and the Uber driver had to be from a vigorously vetted and verified list.
A twinge of guilt makes Nix feel like he should at least try to do the right thing. “Gideon is going to be mad…”
The whole pack was still on edge after the security breach with Dill Pickles, no matter that the new security system was better than anything even the Pentagon had at the ready. Add to it that now that Nix had a baby on board, they were all acting like alpha idiots and blowing every little thing out of proportion.
Just yesterday, Nix had accidentally gotten a face full of pepper in the kitchen and sneezed. No less than three enigmas had materialized behind him from all over the house, sure he’d contracted the plague despite the firm knowledge that Weres don’t get colds, flus, or other respiratory viruses.
Sighing at the memory of Finn dragging them out with promises to show them the “well-researched medical evidence” on the computer in the library, Nix agrees to order some food before he decides to eat ice cream for the third time today.
His bean has decided on a meatball sub, and he is hungry—dammit.
“Okay, but I want Giorgio’s. I need a meatball sub, maybe two. What are you having?”
“Here, you have to use your phone.” Luca has Giorgio’s app open on Nix’s phone, muttering, “Wish I could have ameatballsubright up my—oooh, I want a calzone, with extra cheese.”
“Luc, I don’t think it matters if you do it or I do it at this point, you know?”
“It matters. It may seem like a technicality—and it is—but it could mean the difference between getting to come or not. So we do it this way.”
“If you say so,” Nix mutters, because he’s still new enough to this dynamic that he’ll defer to Luca’s expertise in spankings and Gideon’s understanding of technicalities.
“Besides, he’s not been home to care lately, anyway,”Luca whispers as his eyes go far away. “He’s angry all the time, too. Not at us, but at someone, and I can feel it even when he’s not here. Sucks.”
Burnt coffee lingers in the air, sharp enough to make Nix’s stomach twist—regret settling in right alongside the second meatball sub he’d ordered on impulse. The ache in his gut isn’t just the food, though. Luca’s sadness and Gideon’s simmering anger spark and coil together somewhere deep inside him, hotter than he’d ever admit out loud.
He slides his arm around his twin, pulling him close. “Hey. We’ll get through this. I can feel it.” He tries for a grin, nudging optimism into the moment. “Besides, nothing says comfort like Giorgio’s extra-cheesy calzone and a marathon of Friends.”
“Yeah, okay. Come on, let’s wait on the couch. You can cuddle me while I try to convince you they were a pack—again.”
Between the impassioned Joey/Chandler shipping, and the arguments about whether Ross was really an omega in hiding, they almost forget about the food. At least until the gate’s buzzer announces their Uber driver has arrived. Hunger renewed, Nix checks the security app on his phone.
