Page 91 of Bloom in Darkness

I look down at Astra. He doesn’t move. A sketchbook is wedged between the couch cushion and his hip, one sock is missing, and my gray sweater is folded under his cheek even though I was looking for it this morning.

The door finally swings wide enough for Bryn to shoulder through, everything above his chest hidden behind a tower of pillows.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Pillows.” He kicks the door shut behind him, shifting the stack when the top one starts sliding.

“I can see that.”

Bryn looks at me over the edge of a dark green pillow like I’m the one being unreasonable. “Our Omega needs them.”

I look around the living room, taking in the second nest by the windows, the blankets permanently living on the couch, and the pile in my office that everyone refuses to call another nest even though Astra has slept in it twice. “Our Omega has enough pillows to open a store.”

Bryn lowers his stack carefully. “Upstairs is low on the left side.”

“There are fourteen pillows upstairs.”

“Fifteen,” he says without hesitation, because of course he knows the exact count.

Astra makes a sleepy noise and turns deeper into my sweater, prompting Bryn to lower his voice immediately.

“He likes the green one.”

“He already has three green ones.”

Bryn presses a hand into the center of the new pillow. “Different firmness.”

I look at him for a second, then give up. “You’ve become impossible.”

“You bought the three-hundred-dollar blanket.”

Unfortunately, he has me there, which is probably why I stop arguing and let him keep sorting the pile until Astra wakes.

Astra blinks at me first, then his attention lands on the floor and sharpens immediately. “Are those new?”

Bryn holds up a dark blue pillow. “This one’s for upstairs.”

Astra sits up so fast my sweater falls into my lap. “Fuck yeah.”

Bryn shoots me a smug look before Astra is even fully off the couch.

Astra squeezes the blue pillow, sends it toward the stairs, then picks up a softer cream one and presses it against his face. The first time we took him shopping for the nest, he spent twenty minutes asking before anything went into the cart. Today he points down the hall without hesitating. “This one goes in your office.”

“Absolutely not.”

He lowers it just far enough to look at me. “You have a whole couch in there.”

“For sitting.”

“Then sit on the pillow.”

Before I can answer, Bryn takes it from him and carries it toward my office while Astra grins and reaches for another one.

Astra keeps sorting without waiting for permission, sending the fuzzy one upstairs before holding up a brown pillow with obvious disgust. “This one is ugly.”

Bryn stops halfway down the hall. “You picked it.”

Astra looks at the pillow again. “I was wrong.”