Chapter 680: Big spoon, little spoon

"All of this conversation hinges on defeating the demon king, anyways." Edgar added. "If we fail, none of this will matter." How positive, Eddie.

"That’s true." Cass agreed, "but I’m not the kind of man who would agree to something without finishing it." Cass said. "I said I would ruin the demon’s plans, and I would say we’re doing a pretty good job." Cass said. Lucian finally looked up, seeming to recover somewhat after Cass’ comments.

"We wouldn’t want Cass pregnant as he faced off with his mother and father, anyways." Lucian added, glancing at Edgar. "I feel, much as you feel like you want to ruin your father’s plans, I feel Cass feels the same way. Maybe not as strongly about not having kids entirely, but about ruining his plans. He’d feel too much satisfaction if Cass was pregnant and fighting him." Cass shuddered at the thought.

"I haven’t even worked up the courage to put anything inside of me there, and it might not even be fully developed yet. Don’t say such scary things." Cass muttered, shuddering again.

"I don’t mind checking." Gideon offered sincerely. "If you’re okay with it, I don’t mind checking. Or we could ask the Doctor to check further. They might have more knowledge on female anatomy." He suggested. Cass blushed.

"Gideon, sweetheart, you have two experts over here. Edgar isn’t just attracted to men, nor am I, and I promise you, I am well acquainted with vaginas." Lucian promised. Now it was Cass’ turn to bow his head in embarrassment. He was forced to recall sitting on that damn bench in the bathroom with Lucian as he forced Cass to touch himself. He had to, for Cass’ benefit, otherwise Cass might have been afraid of himself even up until this point.

Cass was still scared of himself, but not enough that he didn’t touch at least the outside of his vagina. Fuck, that was horrible to say even in his head.

Gideon blinked, before he gave a small nod.

"Well, that might be true, but having a true professional who won’t take things in a sexual way might be better." Gideon argued.

"Do you think we’d take advantage of Cass?" Lucian asked, sounding offended. Gideon stared at him silently.

"Do you want me to answer that honestly?" Gideon asked him and Lucian huffed.

"That is answer enough. That’s very rude, Gideon. I’m a changed dragon. I would never do that." Lucian said, placing a hand on his chest. Cass rolled his eyes. Changed dragon, huh?

"Sure, Lucy, whatever you believe, but right now none of that matters because it’s not important. We need to continue our chat outside of children." Cass said, flushing as he cleared his throat. "I want to burn Gideon’s contract." Cass told him, seeming to catch Lucian by surprise.

"Truly? You don’t want that security anymore?" Lucian asked and Cass nodded.

"He’s more than proved himself capable of honouring it, and more, and I don’t want to be in a position of power where it feels like Gideon can’t say no to me." Lucian gave Cass a confused look, as did Gideon, but Edgar seemed to understand where Cass was coming from.

"You would never do such a thing." Gideon argued. "You wouldn’t take advantage of me like that."

"I second that. Maybe if it was during your heat, but I can’t see you holding onto someone unwilling, even then. You have too much pride in yourself." Lucian said. Cass glared at Gideon, especially since they had already spoken of this a little bit.

"While that may or may not be true, I don’t need that kind of security for the reason I said and I don’t want Gideon to feel like he has to obey me. I don’t want people to talk about us in a derogatory way and for me to worry in the back of my mind that they may be right. I don’t want that, so I’m going to fix it." Cass declared.

Lucian backed off, raising his hands and nodding.

"Understood. That’s your decision to make, and I respect it. I was just curious about why, that’s all." Lucian said. "With the kind of contract you made, you’ll need my fire to burn it. Dragon fire is about as close to godly powers you can get, and those are different from holy powers." Lucian explained and Cass nodded. As long as he could help burn it, he didn’t care.

"Also, how do you feel about adding a small table to our rooms so that we don’t have to eat in here, hunched over, and instead eat sitting face to face like a family?" Cass asked him.

Lucian froze, Gideon paused, and Cass watched as Edgar’s eyes watered but he turned his head away too quickly for Cass to be certain that was what he saw. Lucian’s throat worked, smoke rolling out of his nose as he appeared to need a moment to gather himself.

"Cass, sweetness, you have a way of just..." Lucian trailed off, sighing as he rubbed a hand over his face. Then he turned to Cass and took the saucer out of his hand, placing it on the table and pulled him in for a hug. Cass found himself pressed against his chest, being squeezed tightly.

To Cass’ annoyance, he also wasn’t answering his damn question.

He let it slide though, given how quickly Lucian’s hearts were racing in his chest and how nice he smelt. Cass let him hold him and when Lucian pulled back, Cass turned his gaze towards his face to see what he was thinking.

Lucian’s expression was tender, his eyes glowing but human, not draconic. Cass found that fascinating as Lucian leaned in and rubbed his face against Cass’, similar to how he had snuggled him this morning.

"You’re going to be the reason my hearts seize." He murmured. That didn’t sound like a good thing in Cass’ mind but he did get an answer from him. "I would love that. In fact, we should do that right now. Waking up in the morning and having breakfast with you or Edgar or Gideon in my lap? What a blessing the gods have given me." Cass flushed. The gods hadn’t given him anything, not really.

"Um, me?" Gideon said, sounding rather confused at Lucian’s words. Lucian chuckled, holding onto Cass still as he turned to look at Gideon and winked.

"Of course. Everyone deserves to be treasured." Lucian said. Gideon blushed, while Edgar let out a small noise of complaint.

"Then who is going to hold you in their lap, Lucy?" Edgar asked and Lucian seemed surprised by that.

"Oh. I’m fine. I like holding-"

"Absolutely not." Cass interjected immediately as soon as it was clear he was going to say he was fine. "I will. No way are you thinking for a damn second that you have to hold everyone else and not get held yourself. You even do that in your sleep. You need to let us be the big spoons sometimes." Cass argued.

He received blank stares in response and Cass groaned, realising he needed to explain it.

"There are terms used when you’re cuddling. Not universal, but they help explain things. When two people are cuddling, one is the big spoon and the other is the small spoon. Big spoon on the outside holding the other person while the small spoon is on the inside, being held." Cass explained. All three men nodded, understanding what Cass meant. Lucian pointed at himself.

"So I am...the big spoon?" He asked and Cass nodded.

"Too much. You don’t get to be the big spoon all the time. My thighs are thick enough now. I can support you. Edgar can support you. Hell, Gideon can support you without concern." Cass argued and watched as Lucian’s eyes widened and a slow, slightly foolish smile touched his lips.

"You? Cass, you’re barely thick enough for my cock. My hands can break you in half. Your thighs aren’t thick enough yet to support me." Lucian said. Cass felt his face burn, but he didn’t back down.

"Okay, what about Gideon or Eddie? Both could hold you, so none of this ’I like it’. If you’ve never felt the other side, how would you know what you prefer?" Cass asked. Lucian opened his mouth, ready to argue before it died in his throat. Cass watched as the man seemed to examine himself and he wondered what he finding.

The end result was clear. Lucian had no argument against Cass’ words and Gideon slowly opened his arms.

"Do you want to try it now?" He asked, staring at Lucian earnestly. Lucian glanced not just at Cass, but Edgar and both men encouraged him. Slowly, with great confusion, Lucian got to his feet and shuffled past Edgar towards Gideon. Cass and Edgar watched as he approached and slowly lowered himself into Gideon’s lap. Gideon supported him the whole way even as Lucian looked very skeptical.

When he was finally sitting on Gideon’s lap, Gideon wrapped his arms around him, supporting him as Lucian rested his arm on the back of the couch behind Gideon’s arm. He looked very uncomfortable but Cass held in his laughter. Gideon started at Lucian earnestly still, holding him and Cass watched as Gideon’s eyes softened.

"Not bad, is it?" He suggested softly and watched as Lucian swallowed thickly.

"It’s strange." He admitted. "I think the last time I was held like this was by my broodmother hundreds of years ago." He said and Gideon softened. So did Cass and Edgar.

"But you don’t hate it?" Edgar asked and Lucian looked like he wanted to lie. Cass could see it in his eyes and how uncomfortable he looked, but it wasn’t in his nature.

"I don’t hate it." He admitted begrudgingly. Cass smiled, satisfied.

"So don’t think you have to be the only strong one in this group. We’re all strong in different ways." Cass said, giving a pointed look to both Gideon and Edgar. "I’m serious, and this applies to everyone. We’re all allowed to have fears and scars and things that make us uncomfortable, but I will not have any of you, any of us, carrying the whole weight of everything on our shoulders. That happened to Fiona, and look what happened? She ran away with her female lover. I will not have the same thing happen to us." Cass declared. "The villain in me is too possessive. I don’t want to add anyone else in, you three are enough for me. More than enough. If anyone else sneaks in? I’m killing them and burying them as fertilizer for the nursery tree." Cass declared.

He then realised that might be too far as the three remained silent after he said that.

Until Edgar reached over and kissed him. Deeply.

He was smiling prettily, his eyes dancing as he stared at Cass.

"Awe. You’re so cute, Cass. Message heard and received." Edgar told him, smiling as he wrapped his arm around his shoulder and turned them towards Gideon and Lucian. Cass finally felt like he could relax. They’d gotten through it. Good.