Tawdry Little Affair {boyxboy}

Chapter Thirty-Six

Dante pulled on a pair of jeans, leaving his chest bare as he left his slumbering husband in their shared bedroom. He had recently become more accustomed to wearing more casual clothing since he had married Fionn. Though that did mean he had, on more than one occasion, gotten Fionn into a suit. Which he much preferred taking off him later those nights. Kastor was sat watching Arlo eat as Dante entered the kitchen.

"Fi's dinner will be ready in about an hour, I didn't think Arlo would be able to wait that long," Dante nodded, sitting across from Kastor, scrutinizing his son with a soft frown.

"How are you?"

"What?" Kastor mirrored Dante's frown, picking up Arlo's fork that he had flung under the table.

"Kas, it's been a week since you and Venice broke up. I want to know how you're feeling."

"Fine," Kastor murmured quickly, averting his gaze to his lap.

"You're allowed to be sad or angry or anything else, Kas, it's understandable. You two were together for-"

"I don't want to talk about it, father," Kastor caught Dante's eye, his expression sorrowful, with tears sitting on his eyelids, "please don't make me talk about it," Dante nodded, a lopsided smile on his lips.

"OK, just tell me if you need-" Dante stopped abruptly, hearing a familiar voice nearby the house. With a frown set deeper on his face, the vampire opened the front door, sighing at the presence of his family.

"Why are you here?"

"Cicero invited us, he said you were celebrating Christmas this year and wanted us all to be here," Yareli beamed at Dante, stood with her arm linked into Nikhil's.

"Cicero just lost phone privileges," Dante murmured, allowing his two siblings and his father to enter the house, closing the door quietly behind them, "I would have preferred to have been informed earlier, you know Fionn isn't entirely comfortable around you all yet," Isidro smiled, patting Dante on the shoulder.

"He's a part of our family now, Amaris, not just any wolf. We will treat him just as we would treat you, I'll keep your sister in check, don't-" Isidro was cut off by Yareli squealing gleefully, clearly she had just seen Arlo.

"Yareli, stop," Dante gripped his sister's arm, "Arlo is more Fi's child than mine and he hasn't been around many other vampires. He's a wolf and he might not react well. You can wait until Fi wakes up then meet him."

"Oh but he's adorable," Yareli stared wistfully into the kitchen, watching Arlo giggle whilst he sat with Kastor, "can't I just hold him for a minute?"

"Not until Fi has said you can," Yareli pouted, allowing herself to be led into the living room by Nikhil.

"How are you, my child?" Isidro tugged Dante into a bone-crushing hug, not something he would do around anyone but immediate family.

"I'm very happy, father," Dante returned the hug, a smile on his lips.

"Then I am happy too," Isidro followed Dante into the kitchen, glancing toward Arlo but respecting his son's wishes and staying out of the child's line of sight.

"Where have you been travelling recently?" Dante inquired, placing a mug in the coffee machine, mentally going through the instructions Fionn had given him on how to work it.

"South America. Yareli wanted to spend some time in Chile and Nikhil wanted to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. He's been swaying into religion in the past few years, I think he's curious," Dante smiled, his father was just as opposed to religion as he was.

"I remember you taking us to Chile millennia ago, although we ended up spending more time in Peru in the end."

"Yes, it was one of the last trips you joined us on before you turned Cicero," Dante collected the milk from the fridge and the sugar from the top cupboard, "married life seems to be treating you well, Amaris."