Holly picked up the phone on the fifth ring. Goddammit, it was… three in the morning. "Who the fuck calls at three o’clock in the mother fucking morning," he muttered. He picked up the phone. "What?" he snapped.

"Hello, this is Nurse Kale from County Hospital. We found a card for this number in a patient’s pocket. Do you know an Ezra?"

Holly blinked fuzzily. "Slow dow’. What?"

"We have an Ezra Fidel here at County Hospital. He had-"

Holly hung up the phone. So what if the slut was in the hospital? He was either dead or alive and Dimitri knowing wouldn’t help either way. Besides, Holly refused to put family funds to either funeral costs or hospital bills. The Fae Human Relations Committee could suck it.

"Who was that?" Dimitri asked, sounding distinctly more awake then Holly felt.

"Crank call," Holly answered smoothly, years of two or more timing guys before he had met Dimitri serving him well. "’Is your refrigerator running?’ Not even original." He managed to sound as disgruntled as he would have felt had some dumbass human really had called in the middle of the night.

Dimitri seemed to buy it. He yawned widely and curled closer to Holly’s back. "Okay."

Holly ignored his disappointed tone as best he could and went back to sleep.

--

Ezra woke up once again to the smell of disinfectant and the beeping of a heart machine. Bright light was piercing his eyelids and two voices were speaking softly beside him. He knew he should open his eyes, but he didn’t want to. He couldn’t make sense of the words; he didn’t even try. The voices formed sounds, his mind unable to comprehend. Both were familiar though, one feminine and musical, soft as honey. The other was lower, distinctly masculine, rough and husky. His voice was like the deep rumbled of a machine or a growling animal, maybe a purring tiger, soft as it was.

But, nice as it was, it was neither soothing nor pleasant. In fact, it sparked a fear deep within Ezra.

He pulled away from the light, pulling back into his mind and receding into unconsciousness, finding solace in oblivion.

--

Holly picked up the phone. "’Lo?"

"Is your refrigerator running?"

Holly rolled his eyes, but paused mid-motion of hanging up the phone. This could be the opportunity to assuage his guilt. Dimitri was moping around the house, obviously worried. And it was fate, the same crank call he had used as an excuse actually happening.

"Yes," he said, grabbing a pen and poising it over the notepad. He wrote nothing down though, just gave the illusion of intensely listening. Dimitri was watching him now.

"Well you better go catch it!"

Holly ignored the laughter and the subsequent click then dial tone. "Oh yes. My husband is very worried. I‘m sure we‘ll be there shortly." He hung up and whirled. "Dimitri, your slut’s at County Hospital."

Dimitri hurriedly set his coffee down. "Is he okay?"

Holly shrugged, not wanting to or able to summon up worry he didn’t feel. "Dunno." He recalled the conversation of the night before and tacked on, "But they called him a patient, so he’s probably alive at least."

Dimitri smiled. "That’s great! We should go over-"

"Why do you give a shit?" he snapped.

Dimitri blinked at him. "Be- Because the Human Fae Relations Committee would be livid if he died. Even if it was a drunken one night stand, we still got married. Besides, it’s probably better if we pretend it wasn’t a drunken one night stand."

Holly crossed his arms and scowled. "Fuck them. We’d pass an inspection."

Dimitri shook his head gently. "We have enough issues, but if we were all fae or if Malachi and Giovanni, as the only two humans, were both secure and happy, we might pass, but Giovanni and Malachi are not happy and secure and none of us have a solid relationship with everyone else in this marriage. We would fail. We cannot get inspected by the HRFC, Holly. I don’t want to lose you."

Holly pouted, but took Dimitri’s hand. "Fine, fine we’ll go down." He smirked. "Although an inspection might be a good thing. You’d finally have to get over yourself and fuck Malachi and Rylan."

Dimitri stiffened and opened his mouth to retort but Leo wandered in. "But then we’d have to have sex and that’s just gross."

Holly spun sharply and glared at the phooka. "What is your problem?" he hissed.

Leo shrugged. "You," was the rather cheerful response. "I think you’re a clingy, jealous, temperamental jerk who doesn’t care that much about Dimitri or Rylan. If you cared about Dimitri, when you met his first husbands, you wouldn’t have hit us!"

"First off, you deserved it. Second, you two weren’t together when Dimitri and I got married!"

"Ever wonder about that?" Leo asked, red eyes narrowing. "He didn’t touch neither me nor Rylan for years, but suddenly you showed. A month later, he was with me too."

Holly’s face drained of color then turned red, his face as bright as his hair. "Go to hell!"

Leo simply stuck his tongue out. "Not my fault you weren’t enough. You should-"

Holly tackled him, slamming him into the ground. Licks of flame began to dance around the fire elemental as his hands twisted in Leo’s shirt, coming perilously close to Leo’s pale skin.

Dimitri yanked him off the phooka, or tried to. Holly refused to let go so Leo got pulled up with him. The brunette’s hands were batting at the red-head’s trying to get him to let go. But Holly didn’t, shaking the brunette hard.

"Holly, let him go!"

Holly ignored him and Leo swung his foot out, catching Holly in the thigh and making the red-head grunt.

The flames began to pick up, licking at Holly and Leo’s skin. Leo screamed. Suddenly, Malachi was there, yanking Leo back. The phooka’s shirt gave, tearing, the ripping silk sounding like flesh being torn, and suddenly Leo flew backwards into Malachi’s arms, away from the angry elemental.

Dimitri wrapped his arms tight around Holly, wincing as his clothes caught. "You’re hurting me," he whispered.

The flames died suddenly, all of them, even the ones burning the other’s clothes. The incredible heat radiating off of Holly diminished as well, although not fading completely. The slender man slumped suddenly, going limp. He began shaking.

Leo huddled back into Malachi’s chest, pulling the large man’s arms around himself. He glared at Holly and Dimitri. "He tried to kill-" He paused, staring at the two, Holly trembling in Dimitri’s arms. His eyes widened. "Is he crying?" he demanded.

Dimitri gently turned Holly around as the first chime of a stone hitting the floor sounded.

"Yes," he said softly, pulling the elemental tight to himself.

Holly continued to shake and the soft sound of his tears hitting the tile floor continued.

Dimitri caught one of the small black stones in his hand as Malachi and Leo watched on. He tried to ignore them the best he could as he buried his face into Holly’s cinnamon scented curls and rocked him gently. "Holly, don’t cry. Please, don’t cry. I love you, my angel," he whispered, the words just for Holly.

Holly let out a watery chuckle at the pet name. "’m not so much of an avenging angel now, am I?" he asked, too softly for Malachi to hear.

Leo caught it though, one of his ears twitching. Curiosity bloomed on his face and his ears perked up, any pain from possibly burns flying out the window. Malachi continued to look worried.

"I never knew my being with Leo bothered you." He kept his voice too soft for even Leo to hear.

Holly sniffed and caught Dimitri’s hands, grip tight, as he pouted, looking down. "Well, it did," he said petulantly.

Dimitri glanced at Malachi and Leo. "Can you two excuse us?"

Leo started to shake his head, but Malachi nodded and tugged him out of the room, leaving them alone.

Dimitri waited until the two had sufficient time to get out of hearing range. "Holly, you tumbled Rylan within a week of me bringing you home. You spent a significant amount of time with him. I was jealous."

Holly pouted. "But why Leo?"

Dimitri sighed. "I had been technically married to him for years. I had seen him naked and I admit I found- find- him attractive. He’s beautiful and easy-going and light-hearted."

Holly smiled, the look more than a little self depreciating. "Everything I’m not."

"Holly, I love you."

"Then give up Leo," Holly demanded. "Stop sleeping with him!"

Dimitri sighed. "Holly, I can’t do that."

Holly glared, eyes narrowing. "You managed to be chaste and celibate for years! You didn’t fuck- or even date- anyone else for the year and a half we were going out before you married me! Like hell you can’t!"

"Holly…"

"You won’t do it because you don’t really love me!"

"Holly, I-"

But the fire elemental was already storming away, out of the room. A moment later, the sound of the front door being slammed shut reached him.

He suppressed a moan and collapsed onto one of the living room chairs, head falling into his hands. This was not good.

Rylan stalked in. "You have remarkably few people skills," he said. "And that was disastrous. Leo’s pretty pissed at you too, by the way. You weren’t particularly angry at Holly trying to kill him and he heard your little comment on jealousy being why you got with him. He missed the sweet stuff afterwards."

Dimitri tensed, resisting an overwhelming urge to go curl up into a ball in a corner. But he needed to placate both Holly and Leo now and go check on Ezra.

"And what was it I heard about a year and a half of dating?"

Dimitri tensed.

One of Rylan’s hands fell on his shoulder. "You didn’t lie to us, did you? When you brought Holly home and said you had gotten drunk? Surely," he purred. "You wouldn’t lie to your husbands."

Dimitri licked his suddenly dry lips. "Rylan…"

"No, we’ll talk later," Rylan promised, voice dark. "For now, we need to go visit your whore in the hospital. I know what an inspection would hold for us and I won’t let you fuck this marriage up."

Dimitri slumped, defeated. He was officially in hot water with all his husbands. This was bad.

And it just got worse. Ezra hadn’t woken yet and he wasn’t allowed to see anyone. When Rylan and Dimitri had claimed marital rights, her eyes had narrowed. "Both of you? No. He won’t wake until tomorrow, come back then."

So they were going home. On the way back, Rylan asked again why he had hooked up with Ezra. The answer- he was drunk- was met with the question why he was drinking. When Dimitri didn’t answered, just stared out the window, face blanking, Rylan snorted.

"You’re a cold bitch."

Dimitri resisted the urge to flinch, concentrating on keep his face blank and his posture rigidly straight. Holly’s words, words often repeated by Holly and Leo and Rylan, flitted through his head, reminding him why he had gotten drunk. And prompting him to realize it was going to happen again. Hopefully very, very soon.

As soon as they pulled into their driveway, Rylan was putting the car in park and yanking the keys out of the ignition. He was out and away from Dimitri before the dark fae could get out of the car, tense and very obviously angry. Dimitri could only guess it was the possibility of an HRFC investigation, or maybe a promise he had made to Holly or Leo. One of them had made him apologize to Dimitri after all.

He sighed and stepped out of the car walking in. The foyer was empty and he was able to get to his room without running into anyone. He took a deep breath and then locked himself in. He shouldn’t get drunk. Not after what happened last time. Rylan would kill him for starters.

But his plan to stay in his room for the night failed when someone knocked on his door. He stood quickly, his book falling from numb fingers. It was all he could do to traverse the room, fingers crossed, hoping it was Holly or Leo.

His hopes were dashed when he opened the door and came face to face with Malachi. His face fell, but he tried to hide it behind his usual blank mask.

Malachi caught it and smiled self-depreciatingly. "Don’t look so happy to see me."

Dimitri flushed, thanking his dark skin for hiding it. "No, it is not that I am-"

"Save it," Malachi said cheerfully. "It’s cool. I’m not your favorite person. Want a drink?"

Dimitri blinked down at the bottle in his hand. Sake.

"I shouldn’t," he said.

Malachi grinned. "I’ll make sure you don’t do anything you’ll regret in the morning."

Dimitri silently let him in.

---

Leo paced back and forth in front of Giovanni. "He’s with me because he was jealous!"

Giovanni stayed silent, hands twisting together.

Leo spun towards him. "How big of a jackass do you have to be?"

Giovanni still said nothing.

But Leo turned towards him. "Don’t you think that’s horrible?"

Giovanni still hesitated, but Leo just kept staring at him. He finally answered. "You… slept with him for the same reason. Rylan was with Holly and you wanted to hurt him."

Leo flushed, pale faces heating. "Yeah, but…"

"You can’t be angry with him, even if he did just sleep with you because he was jealous. Which I doubt. I’ve met Dimitri. I’ve actually talked to him a couple times. He… doesn’t seem the type to act rashly."

Leo snorted. "Not usually, but he married Ezra and Holly while drunk after knowing them for a couple of hours!"

Giovanni kept his mouth shut. He still hadn’t told Leo that he had seen Holly and Dimitri together several times before they got married. He hadn’t mentioned the fact that Dimitri was planning on bringing his lover home, married, and then lying to him either. That day, he had just played soothing music and lit candles and indulged Leo, preparing the phooka for the shock, without letting him know anything.

Leo sighed. "But I guess it may have been the alcohol’s fault. I’ve never seen Dimitri drunk."

Giovanni sighed. He had seen that as well and had been shocked by it the first time, when he had seen Holly and Dimitri’s first night together. When he drank, Dimitri turned into a slut. There simply was no other word for it. He was wanton and aggressive… It was kind of hot because it was Dimitri. Even Giovanni knew the man was rigidly in control at all times and formal to the point of being aloof.

"He’s drinking with Malachi right now," Giovanni said softly.

Leo perked up. "Really? With Malachi?" He giggled. "They’ll finally get together!"

Giovanni frowned. "Would Malachi take advantage like that?"

Leo opened his mouth, then closed it look thoughtful, before finally answering. "I don’t know. Probably not. Idiot."

Giovanni laughed and held his arms out.

Leo slid into them, gently pressing Giovanni against the bed and kissing him.

---

Rylan checked Holly’s room, but the man was not there. He checked around, but the elemental was nowhere to be found in the house. Still. He passed Malachi as the tall man was walking up the stairs, two bottles in his hand.

He kissed him firmly, one hand going to tangle in Malachi’s dreads. He pulled back regretfully. "Whatchya doing?"

Malachi sighed, holding the bottles up. "Going to get Dimitri drunk."

Rylan’s eyebrows shot up. "Why?"

Malachi sighed. "Because Leo and Holly are mad at him and you’re always picking on him."

Rylan scowled. "I do not-"

"Yeah, you do. For fuck‘s sake, you almost hit him in front of Ezra. Have you ever-"

"No!" snapped Rylan, horrified.

"Hey," Malachi said, holding his hands up in surrender, the effect undiminished by the bottles in his hands. "Don’t get mad at me. You aren’t the gentlest man and you’re always pretty rough with Dimitri."

Rylan scowled and opened his mouth, but Malachi kissed him. "I love you. Try the Carthusian."

---

Rylan followed Malachi’s suggestion and went straight to the dance club. He wrinkled his nose in distaste as soon as he cleared the door. Music was pounding, vibrating to his very core, and people- men and women, fae and human alike- were writhing on the dance floor. The bar was three deep in colorful patrons but Rylan found Holly right away.

The elemental was hunched over a drink, red hair shining like a beacon in the flashing lights. He was dressed simply in gray jeans and a bland white t-shirt but he stood out in the crowd. Men were crowded around him, but he was ignoring them, concentrating on his drink.

Rylan shoved past them, heading straight to Holly. He ignored words and grabs directed towards him and glared at the human in the seat beside Holly until he got up and left.

He took the seat next to Holly and slid an arm around the pyro. "Hey, sexy, how about you sit in my lap and we talk about the first thing that pops up?"

Holly turned towards him, trying to glare. A smile was tugging at his lips.

"You make my white dwarf expand into a red giant."

A giggle escaped Holly’s lips but he clapped a hand over his mouth.

"You have some beautiful jewellery," Rylan said, leaning close and licking the single ring in his ear. "It’d look better on my nightstand."

Holly giggled, leaning into Rylan’s chest.

"If you were a duck and I were a moose, and we had sex, we'd make a duckmoose, and it would sound like this." He made the weirdest sound he could.

Holly laughed. "You sound like a dying cat."

"Hey!" Rylan said, objecting playfully. "I think that sounded like a dying cow."

Holly sniggered. "Dweeb." He kissed the corner of Rylan’s mouth.

Rylan smiled and drew him close. "Look who’s talking. You’re the trekky."

"Hey!" Holly said. "You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!"

Rylan grinned. "Only works if I’m the only one who knows. Malachi’s a big of a Trekky as you and you guys are always watching it in his room. And I bet Dimitri knows."

Holly’s smile faded slightly. "He does."

Rylan tried to keep his smile in place. "He learn that in the year and a half you were dating before you got married?

Holly tensed. "You were listening?" he sounded subdued rather than angry.

"Yep," Rylan said flatly. "Along with Malachi and Leo for a little." Unwilling to be distracted, he asked, "You dated?"

Holly nodded, staring down at the bar. "Yeah. It started with a drunken one night stand, but we spent the day after together and we just… went from there. He spent nearly every night at my house. I didn’t know he was married; he never wore his ring."

"He barely does now," Rylan pointed out.

Holly shrugged. "Neither do you. It’s just a court thing."

"No," Rylan said with a sigh. "It’s a ‘me and Dimitri’ thing."

Holly grinned at him. "That’s the first time you’ve said that."

"Said what?"

"’Me and Dimitri.’"

Rylan snorted. "Don’t start on that."

"What? You guys would make an amazing couple."

Rylan rolled his eyes. "We’ve been married for a century. If it were going to happen, it would have."

Holly rolled his eyes. "You haven’t given him a chance. What ruined it anyway?"

Rylan looked away. "Ask Dimitri. Besides," he said, hoping to divert the conversation back onto its original track. "You don’t want me sleeping with Dimitri. You don’t want anyone sleeping with him. Wasn’t that what your little fight was about?"

Holly looked to the side. "I wouldn’t mind him sleeping with you. We could have a threesome."

"Just with Leo."

"He hates me!" exploded Holly.

"You’ve never given him a chance."

"He never gave me a chance!"

"You punched him on first meeting," Rylan pointed out.

"He called me a slut," Holly said, crossing his arms.

"You just told us you had gotten drunk and married Dimitri on a one night stand. You called Ezra a slut for the same thing," Rylan said, struggling to keep his face and voice neutral.

Holly said nothing, just pulled his knees to his chest and huddled on the barstool.

Rylan slid an arm around him. "No more questions. Just come home with me. I can’t take more drama."

Holly slid off the barstool. "Okay. Let’s go home.