Tul stirred in his sleep. Something was tickling his face and his chest felt heavy. Feeling around with his hand, he touched Max's head. Hair. Max's hair was in his face. Smoothing his hair seemed to trigger something in Max's dream. He mumbled unintelligibly and snuggled closer. Tul hummed his approval.

It took him a second to realize there was still weight on his chest.He cracked open one bleary eye enough to see Miri and Unicorn watching intently from their comfie seat. Tul smiled. "Morning, Princess." His voice was rough from sleep.

"Mowning, Daddy Tul!" Miri trilled. Obviously, someone was awake and ready to start her day.

'Entirely too perky.' Tul thought with a grunt. "Five more minutes, baby. Hmmm?"

Miri snuggled in. "Just five minutes cuz Unicown is hungwy."

"Mmhmm. Okay. Just five." Tul was already drifting back into sleep.

An hour later, Max woke with most of his backside hanging off the sofa. Tul was contorted on to his side and Miri was snoring in the space between them. Unicorn lay in her arms fixing Max with a plastic glare daring him to wake his owner.

Max grinned at the sofa pile and eased himself off trying not to fall on the floor. A stretch and a huge yawn. "Coffee..." he mumbled as he meandered to the kitchen.

The smell of coffee brought Tul out of his sleep. Max was holding a cup and wafting the scent towards him with his hand. "What a way to way to wake up. Coffee and eye candy." He gave his husband a sleepy smile as he sat up and reached for the coffee.

"Just awake and already smooth talking me. Gonna be a good day!" Max smiled.

Tul scruffed his hair and gingerly sipped the hot coffee. "Morning, babe. How'd you sleep?" Another huge yawn.

"Good. Yourself?" Max was seated on the coffee table sipping his own cup of yum.

"Weird dreams... there was a metallic dragon and you were fighting it. For some reason I got to be the damsel in distress. I look terrible in a skirt."

Max burst out laughing. The mental image was too wonderful especially with Tul's wild bed head and morning scruff. He leaned over to kiss Tul."I'll be your knight in shining armor any time, babe! Can't wait to see you in that skirt!" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before laughing some more.

Tul stuck his tongue out at him then laughed himself.

Miri looked around and stretched. All the laughter was a good way to wake up. "Mowning, Daddies."

"Morning!" They replied together then laughed.

"Daddies awe silly." Miri announced with certainty which only made them laugh harder.

This was the scene Saint and Perth walked in on. Both were smiling though it didn't seem to be because of the laughter. Max noticed they were holding hands and their smiles were only meant for each other. Saint had a hicky under his right ear. Perth had one in the vicinity of his Adam's apple.

He grinned and leaned in toward Tul. "I win!" he laughed softly and nodded his head toward the two men.

Tul turned and his eyes widened. "Why, yes you did." he laughed in return. "When would you like to collect?" A flirtatious raised eyebrow with a sultry grin accompanied the statement.

"After harvest, Miri can spend a night with her Uncles I would think." Max said with a smirk.

"Deal!"

Miri had crawled from between Max and Tul. Their conversation made no sense to her at all. Besides, her Uncles had arrived which was much more interesting then Daddies talking.

"Uncle Saint! Uncle Pooth!" Miri's eyes suddenly narrowed as she visually inspected her Uncles closely. "You have owies on you neck." She looked at them both with obvious concern.

Saint was convinced he was about to die of an embolism he blushed so hard. Perth was wearing an extremely smug grin even if he was a lovely shade of scarlet. Max and Tul started snickering at the entire situation.

Miri, oblivious to the embarrassment of her Uncles, leapt off the sofa. "I can help!" she yelled as she ran to get her beloved bandaid box.

Saint was praying the floor would open and swallow him while Perth had begun to giggle out of both embarrassment and nerves. Max and Tul were trying desperately not to laugh while simultaneously laughing their asses off. It was quite the scene.

Miri, still unaware of how mortified Saint and Perth were, had gently lead them to be seated at the table. In just a few moments, Saint was sporting a Barbie bandaid and Perth had a Frozen bandaid with Olaf on it.

At this point, Max and Tul had given up all pretense of not laughing. They had moved into the leaning on each other, belly shaking, tear wiping stages of laughter. It only got worse when Miri innocently asked, "How you get owies?"

Saint and Perth both froze. Neither knew what to say and the panic on both their faces caused fresh gales of laughter from Max and Tul. It was Tul who finally took pity on the two.

"Miri, wanna run upstairs and get dressed? I'll start breakfast while you do!"

Forgetting her question completely, Miri had run upstairs squealing about 'bweakfast' to Unicorn.

Saint covered his face with both hands while Perth just laid his head down on the table. Max had retrieved his phone and was now taking
pictures. It took Saint a second to realize what the click sounds were but when he did, he cast an unfavorable eye on his brother. The chase was on!

Perth having slightly recovered from the bandaid experience was in the kitchen with Tul getting a cup of coffee. Soon they were both leaning against the counter watching Saint hot on the heels of Max as they dodged back and forth around the dining room table and jumped over the living room furniture.

Max was yelling something about Saint teasing him about his first hicky someone named Stacy had given him so it was pay back. Saint was yelling back about he didn't take pictures of the hicky.

Perth, watching calmly with Tul, mentioned casually, "Good coffee this morning."

"Max makes a great cup of coffee." Tul replied as Saint caught Max and a wrestling match ensued.

Max was yelling "Leggo!" and "You can't have it!" as he held his phone out of reach. Saint was yelling "Gimme that!" while trying to reach a little further to grab the phone.

Miri was watching the bedlam below with wide eyes. 'Evewyone is cwazy.' she whispered.

It wasn't long before Max and Saint were lying on the floor next to each other panting.

"That was probably one of our best wrestling matches EVER!" Max enthused.

"Definitely!" grinned Saint.

"So... you and Perth?" Max glanced at his brother.

"Yeah." Saint was smiling all over himself and looking at Perth.

Max just shook his head. 'Ahh, young love!'
~~~~~

Everyone helped get breakfast on the table so in no time they were all seated.

Saint was shoveling in his toast and jam while complimenting Max on pinning him in the corner with the table.

Tul was convincing Miri to stop feeding Unicorn because human food might make him sick while trying to get peanut butter and jelly off Unicorn's face.

Max was commenting on how nice Saint's form had been as he hurdled over the easy chair.

Perth smiled and drank his coffee and looked at his Saint. His Saint. Gods, did he love that phrase!

Last night, they had kissed for hours. Some times wildly passionate. Some times gently loving. Neither could get enough. There had been no move to push anything past kissing. Well, a bit of exploration. Perth had been quite proud of himself when he found a sweet spot right below Saint's ear thus his 'owie' today. He was looking at the Barbie bandaid and smiling smugly again. It took him a second to realize the table had gone quiet and everyone was looking at him.

"What? Did I miss something?" He looked around at their faces.

Tul smiled. "I asked how your breakfast was."

"Great! Thanks!"

"Then maybe you should eat some of it?" Tul motioned to his untouched plate.

"What?" He glanced down at his uneaten meal. "Oh, umm, yeah. Okay!" He grinned sheepishly.

"So, what's the plans for today?" Perth asked more to get the attention away from himself than anything else.

Max looked put the big southern-facing windows. It was dark on the horizon. "Hmm, looks like we might get some rain. Let's harvest as long as we can. If it starts pouring, let's head to town. I really want to get the walkie-talkies. That adds another layer to our security which is never a bad thing. There's a good sized sporting goods store on the far side of town off the highway. Haven't been there so I don't know if there is anything left but it's worth a shot." Max turned to look at everyone else. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good."
"Works for me."
"Unicown wants a walkie-talkie too."
"Let's get started!"

Max smiled. Life was good.
~♡~♡~♡~

Smiles and Happiness, Everyone!

❤🍫🫖❤