Sometime after Holly had fallen asleep, Ezra must have passed into unconsciousness, although he didn’t remember it, because the next thing he knew, he was being shaken gently awake and bright red hair was filling his vision.

He groaned and buried his head in the crook of Holly’s neck. “Too early,” he mumbled.

Holly snickered. “Agreed, but we gotta go soon, sleepyhead.”

Ezra mumbled a protest and closed his eyes again, breathing in Holly’s spicy scent.

Holly poked him. Ezra didn’t move. Holly poked him again. Same reaction.

Holly sighed gustily, making Ezra smile a little, but then the fire elemental grabbed his ass and squeezed. Hard.

Ezra groaned and rolled away. Too early. It was too damn early for this shit.

But Holly followed and straddled his stomach. “Up boyo. Investigation phase two.”

Ezra groaned again and Holly tugged on a strand of hair. “Up. You need a shower. You’re still covered in glitter.”

Ezra laughed tiredly and pulled on one of Holly’s curls, giggling as it sprang back into place. “Fine. Only if you join me.”

“Only if I get to screw you.”

“’Kay.”

Holly started. “Really?”

Ezra grinned at the surprise. “Yep.”

“You’re easy.”

Ezra tensed and Holly blinked down at him for a moment, before wincing. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Ezra sighed and shoved him off gently. “Yeah, you did.” He stood, tugging the sheer shirt he was still wearing down as far as it would go. It didn’t go very far down, but he ignored that as best he could and padded to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

“Ezra!”

He ignored that too and climbed into the shower alone.

-

By the time he was out, he wasn’t mad anymore. He wasn’t even depressed about being called easy. He had waaaay overreacted.

He got dressed in slacks that were tight and fitted and clung to his ass and a royal blue shirt made of a silky material. He left the underwear off and padded to the kitchen. Holly was poking at pancakes with a spatula.

The kitchen was otherwise inhabited only by Rylan, who had his face buried in his arms. He wasn’t awake enough to care or even notice if Ezra did what he wanted to.

Ezra pressed himself to Holly’s back and kissed his neck. “Sorry,” he murmured against Holly’s warm skin.

Holly stayed silent for a moment, flipping the pancake, and Ezra got steadily more and more anxious.

Finally, Holly sighed and turned in Ezra’s arms.

He kissed him on the cheek and Ezra sighed in relief. “Even if I’m not happy I didn’t get to fuck you in the shower.” He paused to grope Ezra’s ass. “I’m sure you’ll make it up to me.”

He paused, feeling around. “Are you wearing underwear?”

Ezra shook his head and Holly smirked and kissed him, this time on the lips. It quickly deepened and Holly grasped his hips and shoved him against the counter. He picked him up and shoved him onto the counter, not breaking their lip lock.

Ezra gasped as one of his hands went between Ezra’s legs and grasped his thigh, lifting it up so he could grind their hips together.

“Jesus fucking shit.”

Both jumped and Holly let go of Ezra like he was on fire.

Rylan was glaring at them, but still looked sleepy. “It is like six in the fucking morning. It is too early to be as horny as you two are.”

They just stared at him, Ezra’s breath coming faster and faster.

Holly swung his eyes to Ezra and frowned. “Calm the fuck down,” he ordered. “We’re polygamists. I’m allowed to make out with you.”

Rylan frowned at him and then sniffed. “Holly, I think the food is burning.”

The elemental swore and darted away to tend to the pancakes.

Rylan stood up, throwing his loose hair over his shoulder. He was only in pajama bottoms, leaving his amazing torso bare. Ezra couldn’t help his eyes drifting from Rylan’s angry face. It was easier to look at the hard, mounded muscles of his stomach than his cold blue eyes.

Ezra couldn’t even look at his abs when he got close enough, just dropped his eyes to the floor.

Rylan cupped his jaw and tilted his face up. “’M not gonna hit you,” he muttered. “Make out with Holly all you want: just not at six in the goddamn morning.”

He shuffled back to the table and collapsed.

Ezra blinked at him. “Do you want coffee?”

There was no reply.

Holly grinned at him as he scraped the remnant of the pancake into the trash. “He wants coffee.”

Ezra grinned at him and went through the cabinets until he found filters and coffee grounds. There was also an espresso machine.

He went over to the table and poked Rylan’s shoulder. “Do you want coffee or a latte or like a macchiato or something?”

Rylan turned and blinked up at him. “Large caramel macchiato, no whip.”

Ezra stared down at him for a moment and then grinned. “’Kay.”

Rylan cocked his head and actually straightened up to watch Ezra as he went back to the cabinets and pulled down the espresso machine. He ignored the eyes on him and made Rylan’s drink, digging through the cabinets and fridge when he needed something. Holly left him alone to find things.

Ezra dropped Rylan’s drink in front of him and the blonde smirked at him. “How long were you a barista?”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “Forever.”

“Sick of it?”

“Eh, it’s not any worse than any other job.”

Rylan grinned and took a sip. “Mmmm.”

Ezra smiled at him and went back to hug Holly.

Holly pushed him back. “None of that. I don’t want to burn another pancake.”

“Do you want anything to drink?”

Holly brightened and spun in his arms. “Latte. Would you mind making one for everyone?”

Ezra shrugged. “Not at all.”

Holly kissed him on the cheek. “Leo likes insanely sweet things.” He paused. “And Dimitri does too. And Malachi.”

Ezra giggled. “Giovanni?”

“Oh, he only drinks tea.”

“And you?”

“I like my coffee to taste like coffee.”

Ezra grinned and kissed his cheek. “Cinnamon?”

Holly pouted. “Why is everyone convinced I like spicy stuff and spices and-“

Ezra raised his hands. “Sorry.”

Holly gave him a scalding look, but a tiny smile tugged at his lips. “I would love cinnamon. And for the record, I love everything spicy,” he whispered conspiratorially.

Ezra grinned at him and set about making the drinks. Breakfast was a quiet affair. Most of the men had hangovers. Leo was even wearing huge, oversized sunglasses.

They all trooped out to car and piled in. Today, Holly was clinging to Rylan and Ezra found himself nervous and anxious, missing the contact. He crossed his arms over his chest and dug his fingers hand into his ribs, where no one would notice.

Malachi ended up in the backseat with him and was eyeing him before the ride was even halfway over.

“Quit fidgeting.”

Ezra stilled, although he kept his nails dug into his sides. “What’s happening today?”

Malachi’s eyes widened a tad. “Oh,” he said softly. “I guess you weren’t around for that conversation. Today we all meet with a shrink, as a group, and ‘talk.’” He threw up air quotes around the last word. He sounded disgusted.

Ezra had to repress a small smile, but he definitely understood the disgust. Talking about your relationship with your husband, or husbands, as the case may be, in front of another, especially one who was guaranteed to be judgmental and trying to find something wrong, couldn’t be fun.

The silence resumed and Ezra’s grip slowly tightened on his arms. He had terrible memories of couples counseling and this seemed destined to be even worse, although it wasn’t quite the same thing.

Leo parked in front of the squat, ugly building and they all went in, everyone as clingy as yesterday. But Rylan and Giovanni were on the ends of the little snake and it left Ezra no one he was particularly comfortable being clingy with.

He took a deep breath and trailed behind, reminding himself that this was not his family. He was doing this to be nice and because he thought the men were good together, not because he wanted to be part of it. He mused that it was a little sad that he had to remind himself of that. Maybe he really was a slut. Rick was the only man for him and he just needed to remember that and it wouldn’t sting that no one noticed he was walking alone behind them.

He hovered as Rylan signed them in with the ever perky Amber and they all took a seat. Dimitri sat down next to Ezra and caught his hand in his.

Ezra stared down at their joined hands and then smiled gently. “You’re sweet,” he murmured, feeling all warm and toasty inside.

Dimitri smiled at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

Leon Richardson came through the door at a shuffle, back hunched over.

He stared at him, his glasses magnifying his eyes. “Mr. Zyniph,” he said to Dimitri. He nodded to the rest of them. “Good morning.”

Ezra belatedly wondered why Dimitri was Mr. Zyniph and the rest of them were… not. Rylan had called Dimitri head of the household yesterday too.

He quickly abandoned that train of thought and got up with the rest of the men to follow the older man back into the labyrinth of hallways and rooms. They were taken to a different room, this one a soft cream color. The furniture was dark wood and a coffee brown. There were two well-stuffed armchairs facing a large wooden desk that had a more uncomfortable looking office chair behind it and was crowded with knickknacks. A couch stretched across one of the sides of the room and a few straight-backed chairs looked like they had been grabbed from somewhere with different decor and crammed in.

“This is where you’ll meet with our psychologist, Dean McCormick. All of you will speak with him today until lunchtime. Mr. Zyniph will meet with him alone for the rest of the day. The next three days, you will all meet with him individually once for three hours each. If he deems it necessary, a few may have to come back Saturday or Sunday to complete the evaluation.”

He started to leave the room, but Malachi called after him. “Is there a set schedule for that?”

“Mr. McCormick will inform you if there is,” he said without looking back.

Malachi scowled at his back. “Dickwad.”

Ezra blinked at him as the other men tumbled onto the furniture. He usually seemed so… calm. Nice.

Holly caught the look and grinned at him. “’Lachi gets super pissy when he’s hung over.”

“I do not and don’t call me that,” Malachi snapped.

There was a long moment of silence before Malachi laughed ruefully. “Okay, so maybe I do.”

Ezra hid his grin and stayed silent, just taking a seat on one of the armchairs, but Rylan patted Malachi on the head, ruffling the dreads.

“You’re cute when you’re angry.”

Malachi flipped him off and everyone else snickered. “Glad my head aching amuses you,” he muttered.

Leo giggled and tugged him onto the couch so he was sprawled over his lap. He pulled his oversized sweater out and let it hang over Malachi’s face. Malachi laughed and groped upwards to find Leo’s ears, rubbing them gently. “Dork.” It didn’t escape Ezra’s attention though that he neither straightened up nor pulled the impromptu shroud away.

Ezra’s grin widened and Dimitri smiled at him, taking the other armchair. “You don’t seem very hung-over.”

“You either,” Ezra returned. “I didn’t drink anything last night. I drove, remember?”

Dimitri blinked and then laughed and then covered his mouth to muffle it, but he couldn’t seem to stop snickering.

Ezra scowled at him. “What?”

Dimitri just shook his head, but he kept snickering.

Ezra frowned at him until he finally stopped although he was still smiling.

“What?” Ezra repeated.

“I just- I remember the night we met and the few days that followed.”

Ezra started and then slowly grinned. “I guess it would be pretty hard to connect that with a designated driver.”

Dimitri smiled again. “You did not have to do that. I actually expected to get a taxi.”

Ezra smiled slightly at him. “I shouldn’t drink for a few more weeks still,” he said softly. “I’ll get smashed then.”

Dimitri frowned. “Do you need a healer again?”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “No. I’m fine. Just shouldn’t drink.”

Dimitri smiled gently at him. “When you’re better, we’ll get hammered,” he said softly.

Leo grinned at them, one of his ears twitching. “Count me in too,” he purred.

Ezra grinned at him and Dimitri smiled slightly.

“What are you guys going to do?”

Leo grinned at Holly whose hand he was still holding. “Get shit faced the second Ezra can drink again.”

“Slut,” Rylan muttered.

Leo turned to glare at him. “Don’t call him that.”

Rylan was still for a second. “Eh- Eeeeezraaaa?” he made it sound like a question, his eyes squinting up a little as he sounded it out.

Ezra grinned. “Very good, snuggle muffin.”

Rylan started and then turned a stunned look at Ezra. “What the fuck did you just call me?”

Ezra grinned. “What, we’re getting all affectionate and caring and shit now right?” He put a hand over his heart and tried to look earnest. “It just felt right. I feel that this is a huge step in our relationship and-“

“Idiot,” Rylan muttered, reaching over to bat at Ezra’s head lightly.

Ezra grinned and was going to say something back when the door opened. A short, round man came in. His hair was thin and cut short where there was some. It was blonde, streaked with gray and his eyes were a golden brown. He looked startling like Amber, the perky receptionist. But his eyes were neutral and although there were smile lines around his mouth, his lips were turned just a touch downwards and pressed tightly together. But he pasted on a smile as he came further into the room and took a seat in the desk.

Malachi straightened up, pulling Leo’s shirt off his head.

“Hello, I am Dean McCormick. I’ll be the psychologist for the investigation. If you will all introduce yourselves?”

Rylan took over again. “I’m Rylan Zyniph, this is-“

“Please, introduce yourselves,” the little blonde man interrupted.

There was a moment pause and then they started introducing themselves, one by one. “I’m Dimitri.”

“Holly,” “Malachi,” the two said at the same time. They grinned at each other.

“My name’s Leo,” the phookah said with a wave.

Ezra waited a second for Giovanni, but the man wasn’t speaking. “Ezra,” he said softly. “Nice to meet you.”

McCormick nodded at him and looked to Giovanni expectantly.

Giovanni looked down, fiddling with the hem of his shirt, red-faced. “I’m Giovanni,” he finally said.

Holly grabbed his hand and squeezed, Leo doing the same thing on the other side.

The psychologist looked at the interaction with interest. “Giovanni, you seem shy.”

Giovanni flushed darker and curled against Leo’s side, clinging to him. Holly rubbed his arm encouragingly.

Giovanni seemed to gain strength from the contact. “I’m a seer,” he said softly. “I- I don’t… I don’t get out much.”

“By choice?” His voice was calm.

Giovanni started anyway. “Of course!”

Ezra drew his legs up on the comfy chair and crossed them. “Seers don’t deal well with others,” he explained. “And vice versa,” he added after a moment of thought.

Leo wrapped his arms around his first husband. “He has visions a lot. It makes going out difficult for him even with others with him. And he was kidnapped a lot as a kid.”

“I don’t like leaving the house,” Giovanni said softly.

McCormick nodded, either understanding or pretending to. “I see.” He looked around the other six men. “And you are all okay with this?”

Rylan tilted his head to the side. “He’ll come out with us when we ask,” he said defensively.

Suddenly, one of the many little ornaments on the desk flashed.

Rylan’s eyes widened and he stared at it.

“Truth charm,” McCormick said amicably. “I apologize, but as this is not therapy, it’s necessary during our sessions. Care to revise your statement?”

Rylan stared at the little yellow stone and sighed gustily. “He has never refused to come with us and I assume that he will probably not usually refuse in the future.” The yellow stone stayed dull.

McCormick tilted his head to the side. “Do you expect him to refuse at some point?”

Rylan shrugged. “I want him to if he doesn’t want to. I know a few times he hasn’t wanted to go out but has anyway.”

“If he refuses, will you order him to go?”

“Of course not!”

“And Dimitri? Would you order him to go?”

Dimitri shook his head. “I would never order any of my husbands to do anything.” There was no flash of light and Ezra realized that Dimitri actually meant it. And remembered Rylan during those first few days, remembering him threatening to just make Ezra stay. Right. Fae marriage was like ownership. And if Dimitri was head of the house, he owned all of them.

Ezra found himself not that bothered by the idea, surprisingly. Dimitri was such a sweetie and such a softie, he really believed he wouldn’t ever order him to do anything. It was surprisingly nice to trust someone that much.

McCormick nodded. “The rest, we will go into during our individual meetings.”

Ezra shifted a little bit. Dimitri he trusted. But Rylan? He had already proven he would order Ezra around. Surprisingly, a little voice jumped to Rylan’s defense in the back of his head. Rylan had been doing it to protect his family. The men he loved.

Leo grabbed Giovanni’s hand. “Can I come with during Giovanni’s? I won’t say anything,” he said hurriedly. “Or do anything but hold him.”

Giovanni looked at McCormick with huge blue-gray eyes. “Please?” he begged.

McCormick shook his head. “I’m very sorry, but that is not allowed.” He turned his eyes to Leo. “I can have a chair set up outside if you are worried for his safety.”

Leo’s mouth pressed into a thin, unhappy line, but he nodded once. “Okay.”

McCormick laced his hands together. “Now, Ezra.”

Ezra looked at him, trying not to look angry. “Yeah?” he muttered.

“You’ve kept your last name, Fidel. All the other men have taken Dimitri’s family name.”

Ezra fought to keep the surprise off his face. He hadn’t known he had kept his last name.

“Why?”

Ezra shrugged as Dimitri shifted uncomfortably beside him. He could nearly feel the ratcheted up tension in the room. He had probably not taken on Dimitri’s name because even when drunk, he knew it wouldn’t last long. But that was not an acceptable answer. “I kept my last name during my first marriage too,” he said instead. “It’s my mother’s last name. I’m an only child and the rest of our family has passed. She didn’t want to be the only Fidel.”

It had been a point of contention when he married Rick. Ezra had wanted to be Ezra Galyn, but his mom had insisted otherwise. “It doesn’t make much of a difference.”

“And how do the rest of you feel about this?”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Dimitri said softly. “Ezra can keep his last name if he wishes.”

Ezra smiled and reached over to take his hand and squeeze gently.

The other men murmured their agreement.

McCormick nodded. “So there has been no tense moment over this? No debate?”

Ezra stifled a smile. He had doubted the other men had known any more than he had. He shook his head.

“I’m very sorry, Ezra, but I must ask you speak aloud.”

“No. It hasn’t been an issue. No one even brought it up.”

Dimitri smiled sweetly at him, but his eyes were shiny and Ezra could tell he would be grinning if they were alone.

McCormick nodded. “Now, we have established through the questionnaire that you know each other. You all did exceptionally. In fact, I don’t believe anyone has ever done that well. I must ask, did-“

Mind racing with the implications of what would happen if he asked how they had done so well, Ezra cut him off. “We spoke beforehand.” Someone inhaled sharply and Ezra glanced back, locking eyes with Rylan, who was glaring. “He was going to ask anyway.” He tried to look loving while also trying to communicate that he had to. McCormick had been going to ask if they had prepped and then would ask what they had done.

He turned back to McCormick. “Rylan has an employee that knows, like, everyone. We asked about the investigation and found out there would be a questionnaire and then talked to each other.”

“We already knew a lot of it about each other,” Malachi said.

Ezra tensed a tiny bit. The stone stayed dull. It meant Malachi didn’t really include Ezra in that ‘we’. Ouch.

“It was just a matter of learning about the rest,” Dimitri said softly, squeezing his hand. “It was actually fun.”

“But did you…” McCormick paused for a second, thinking of the best words and Ezra quickly stepped in.

“It’s not like we had the exact test.” There had been a few questions missing, and a few that hadn’t been on it. “We just talked a lot, trying to fill in basic knowledge. It was a pretty in-depth questionnaire.” His voice turned a little sharp, a little accusatory. “I was with my first husband for over ten years and didn’t know all that about him.”

McCormick shrugged, unapologetic. “It’s necessary to weed out those who got married on a whim or whatever. I’m glad you all spoke so extensively to each other. Were you all comfortable sharing that much?”

Sharing, not speaking. Damn.

“I was,” Rylan said, crossing his arms.

Malachi nodded as well. “Me too.”

Well, that was good for the investigation but made Ezra want to cross his arms and mutter angrily. He didn’t think he would ever be that comfortable. But then, they both seemed like open people and certainly had nothing to be ashamed of, except for maybe Malachi’s continuing love affair with pop music.

“I was uncomfortable with the sharing of sexual likes and dislikes,” Dimitri admitted softly. “I… My family was very…”

“Repressed,” Rylan filled in dryly.

Dimitri gave him a look. “It was not a thing to be openly discussed.”

Ezra gave his hand a squeeze.

“I wasn’t comfortable with any of it,” Giovanni finally said. “Leo already knew… almost everything,” he said, smiling at the phookah who smiled back. “But I don’t- I’m not-“ He stiffened suddenly and his eyes took on the unfocused look.

Leo hugged him tightly, squeezing his hands.

“He’s having a vision,” Rylan explained. “Happens a lot.”

McCormick nodded, as if expecting that. “And the duration?”

“Varies,” Leo answered.

McCormick nodded. “If we can continue until he returns to us?”

Leo kissed Giovanni’s head and then turned to McCormick. “I wasn’t comfortable telling everything to Ezra initially, because I haven’t known him as long, but it was… it ended up being fine.” He grinned at Ezra. “And I’m definitely enjoying not worrying about something coming up later. I like him knowing everything.”

Ezra grinned back and said, “I wasn’t fully comfortable at first, but…” he shrugged. “I guess I enjoyed parts of it.”

McCormick hooked onto that. “But you still aren’t fully comfortable speaking to them.”
Ezra tensed but forced a glare. “As I’m sure you know, I was a victim of abuse in my last marriage and I suffered from drug addiction. I’m still not comfortable talking to therapists about it.” He hesitated for a moment and then decided to speak. “I’m more comfortable talking to them about all of that than anyone else.”

That was true. He wasn’t comfortable talking to anyone about it. He didn’t talk to anyone about it. A few therapists, but he didn’t talk to any of them about everything. These men, meanwhile, had already found out about all of it.

McCormick nodded. “And Holly?”

Holly shifted uncomfortably. “I- I mean…” He sighed. “I used to cheat on every boyfriend I had and I didn’t ever want any of my husbands to worry about it,” he said softly. “I would never cheat on any of them.”

The stone stayed dull.

McCormick nodded again. “That’s good to hear. Now, I would…” He paused as Giovanni gasped and came out of his trancelike state.

McCormick smiled at him although he looked curious. “Giovanni, welcome back.”

Giovanni flushed and tried to press himself closer to Leo.

“If you are ready, can you recount why you weren’t comfortable sharing with your husbands?”

Ezra got the feeling if Giovanni was standing, he would be shuffling his feet. “I- I don’t- I mean…” he sighed. “I’m scared,” he said softly. “Of pretty much everyone. They- they scare me, but less than anyone else.”

McCormick nodded and made a note on his sheet. “Very well,” he said.

“I would like you all to recount how you met. Feel free to chime in to each other’s stories.”

Ezra froze. He could feel the tension again and Dimitri quickly spoke up, speaking of how he and Rylan had met the day of their wedding.

Slowly, they went through all their memories and experiences, going through how they all met each other. Holly’s story was met with a frown.

“So at this point, it was Rylan, Dimitri, Giovanni, Leo, and Holly had just married Dimitri?”

They all nodded. “And you two just told how you actually met recently?”

Holly shrugged. “We’ve… We had a lot of issues. We’ve been sorting through a lot of them these last few weeks and everything’s getting better. I don’t think me or Dimitri really believed it wouldn’t cause a blow-up that might ruin everything until just recently.”

He reached out to grab Leo’s hand, surprisingly enough.

The phookah blinked down at the interlocked fingers and blushed slightly, but smiled and squeezed them back.

“We weren’t a family back then. Leo was with Giovanni and Rylan, but there was no other crossover. Dimitri wasn’t part of that. He was in an arranged, loveless marriage to Rylan and had let him marry whoever else he wanted. I don’t think Dimitri was willing to just bring me home and risk a fight and me leaving if I ended up mad.”

He smiled at the dark fae man. “It ended up working out well.” He turned his gaze to Rylan. “I fell for Rylan really quickly.” He squeezed Leo’s hand. “And I think I’m falling for Leo,” he added quietly.

Leo froze. Suddenly the room was completely silent.

McCormick stared at Holly. “You two seem to have had a rather rocky relationship in the past.”

 Holly shrugged. “I didn’t like him mostly because he didn’t like me. Everyone else fucking adores him and I… He’s never done anything to me. I’ve never worried about him hurting me or anything and he’s sweet. And hot.”

Leo giggled and McCormick made another note in his book.

“Okay. I’m glad relationships are being formed and repaired. Malachi, if you will recount how you met?”

Malachi grinned at him. “Sure.”

Ezra straightened. He knew the rest of the stories to some extent, but he had no idea how Malachi had ended up part of the family.

“I met them all at the same time, actually. Rylan and Leo had decided they should all go out and do something as a family so they dragged all the others out to a fight- an MMA heavyweight match. They got really good tickets and I ended up running into them in the VIP section after the fight.”

Leo spoke up, giggling. “He was all banged up from it too and I nearly pooped my pants when I literally ran into him afterwards, because he was all big and punked out and I had just seen him beat the shit out of a fairy half-breed that was actually a little bit bigger than him and he looked annoyed, but he like literally picked me up and set me on my feet and apologized and he was so charming and cheerful the entire time.”

Holly snickered and interrupted. “Actually, he seemed a little bit flustered by Leo and he got all fidgety and nervous and adorable when he met all of us and it was just too cute- there wasn’t even a debate whether we were going to ask him on date.”

Rylan spoke up. “And he was seriously hot. Holly,” he paused to tug one of the fire elemental’s curls, “was almost salivating over him during his fight.”

Holly snickered. “Like you weren’t. I seem to remember a certain amount of miming spanking and other more unspeakable acts during that same fight.”

Malachi colored a little, but grinned at them. “I didn’t know that.”

Giovanni giggled and added his two cents for the first time since he had recounted how his family had hired Leo to protect him. “It was really dirty.”

Leo grinned and kissed Giovanni’s head. “I couldn’t see exactly what they were doing during the fight, but Gio couldn’t stop blushing the entire time so it had to be pretty bad.”

“There were a couple explicit motions,” Rylan admitted, looking at the ceiling. “Just a couple.” The charmed stone flashed and Rylan grinned. “Okay, there was a lot. And some narration.”

McCormick nodded. “I’ll assume the date went well for now. We’re running out of time, so that story will have to wait.”

All the men smiled or laughed a little.

It was cut off when he turned to Ezra. “Ezra, how did you meet your husbands?”

He had been expecting this and mentally preparing for this. Not even for just this session, but for the last week or so. So he didn’t freeze or tense up. He smiled a tiny bit, making it sheepish. "I met Dimitri in a club. I only remember bits of that night, but I woke up in the hotel room with him the next morning."

Dimitri nodded. "We were both very drunk. Holly and I had a fight the night before. He called me..."

"I told him he was cold which is totally not true. I was just pissed that he was still holding Malachi, Rylan, and Giovanni at arm’s length. Well, pissed mostly for Malachi because he seriously wanted into Dimitri's pants."

"Amongst other things!" Malachi protested.

Dimitri smiled gently. "Yes, so I went and got very drunk. I didn't have any intention of leaving with anyone, but I don't always think clearly while intoxicated."

Rylan snorted a little bit and McCormick made a note.

"And Ezra, why were you drinking?"

Ezra did pause a little at that question before shrugging and answering. "Before I met Dimitri, I was out drinking and clubbing every night. Me not being drunk would have been an odder occasion."

McCormick frowned and made another note.

"I'm not an alcoholic," Ezra said hurriedly. That was a common misconception. He knew he drank a lot, but he was fine without it and it's not like he mad bad decision because he was drunk- he drank because he knew he needed to make a bad decision to not spend the night on a park bench. The charmed stone didn't change at all and McCormick's expression lightened just a tad as he made another note.

"Records show that you did have a drug addiction when you were..." His frowned deepened. "Fourteen?"

Ezra flinched a little. "Yes, but I went to rehab, as I'm sure you know, and haven't touched any drug other than prescribed ones and alcohol since."

McCormick kept frowning, but nodded. "You were all aware of his problem?"

"Yes," everyone chorused.

McCormick made another note and then looked back up at Ezra. "So you went home drunk with Dimitri. And then? How did that change into a relationship?"

"We woke up the next morning and he took me back and introduced me to his husbands," Ezra said. "I don't know why," he added, forestalling the questions. Yes, he knew why he needed to go home with Dimitri, but why he needed to be introduced? If their positions had been reversed, Ezra would have stashed Dimitri in the basement, made him fill out the paperwork, and then asked him to disappear.

"I like Ezra," Dimitri said softly.

Ezra smiled a little. 'Like,' not 'liked.'

"The first meeting didn't go well and things were rocky for a while, but they settled down pretty quickly and things started going well." They had started going well last night.

McCormick nodded and made some more notes.

"I see. Dimitri, you weren't intimate with Malachi yet at this point?"

Dimitri flushed dark enough for it to be seen through his skin.

Malachi spoke up. "We weren't. It's only been in the last few weeks that things started moving forward."

"Because of the investigation?"

Malachi shrugged. "Maybe on Dimitri's part, but I had been interested for a very long time. I just got up the courage to push it these last few weeks. Dimitri's shy."

He smiled at the dark fae and Dimitri smiled back. "Same for me," he said softly. "Except for Malachi being shy."

Malachi smirked.

"He was very not shy but never tried anything so I didn't think he was very interested."

Ezra wanted to either giggle or roll his eyes at them. Malachi was turning out to be the cutest man ever. If he had ever doubted his status as home wrecker, he certainly wasn’t now. Breaking these men up would be an atrocity.

McCormick nodded. “I see. It seems a lot of you started off with rocky relationships. I apologize, but I must ask this. Who is intimate with who?”

There was a lot of blushing by some parties, but they outlined who was sleeping together, who was at a lower level but still more than friends, and who was just friendly. It took the rest of the time until lunch to do that because there was so much side stepping and avoiding the questions.

McCormick stood with them when Mrs. Bennett entered. “Giovanni, if you will come back after lunch? You can get it over with quickly.”

Giovanni tensed but nodded.

“And then Dimitri tomorrow morning, Rylan that afternoon, Leo, Holly, Malachi, and then Ezra Friday afternoon.”

They all nodded and followed Bennett out of the room and back to the lobby where she released them for lunch. Apparently they were allowed to go out today.

They went to a different restaurant today, Leo holding Giovanni’s hand the entire time. The small man seemed to fold in on himself more and more as the lunch passed by. He got paler and paler and started speaking even less than he usually did and the visions seemed to be coming faster and faster and lasting longer.

Leo was obviously getting progressively more worried as well, but he tried to pretend he wasn’t and got louder, smiled more, and got generally more animated. It was a little manic and it was incredibly clear that he would be waiting right outside of the door, freaking out the entire time.

As Rylan paid the bill, Ezra leaned over. “Do you want company?” he asked softly.

Leo quickly nodded. He was looking a little pale and had barely eaten anything. Ezra was guessing if left alone for the next three hours, left to just wait, he would freak out.

Leo grabbed Ezra’s hand, Giovanni pressed firmly to his side, and led the way out.