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Ty sainst Zane’s lips "Must have ain, don’t you think?"

Ty was already nodding "For nature"

"Obviously"

Ty chuckled and they shared a languid kiss Ty was s when they parted "Marryand sat up These weren’t exactly the ideal conditions for a proposal they needed to be telling to family "Nuh uh"

"Oh, come on!" Ty called after hi in front of a fireplace in a fucking castle?"

"Nope" Zane caught hi in the mirror, but he didn’t even try to wipe it off when Ty joined hiainst his lips "You ht have to lower your standards"

Zane hummed "How about youup yours?"

"Is thatis that a pun?"

Zane held to Ty as he tried to pull away

Ty rolled his eyes "Jackass"

Ty and Zane were some of the first people down to breakfast, beaten only by Chester, Ty’s parents, and Nick and Kelly The five of thelanced around theroom, surprised by the nerves he felt when he saw Nick with his fa at the doorway, stopping hi the room before the others saw theht

Ty hesitated and peered around the door again Earl and Nick were carrying on what appeared to be a pleasant conversation Earl was laughing, and Nick looked like hea story Ty turned to Zane "How much do you know about Nick’s father?"

Zane raised both eyebrows, obviously confused "Nothing?"

Ty sighed "Okay Well, Nick’s dad used to beat the hell out of hiitimately should have spent tiraduated from Basic, our parents all came down for the cereot into an argument, and Nick’s dad started in on him and then walked out when Nick stood up for himself Let’s just say Dad took offense and basically adopted Nick after that"

Zane nodded, still frowning in confusion "I thought Earl didn’t even remember Nick’s name from the snake incident"

Ty shook his head "He was justNick spent practically every leave with us after that Ma and Dad are pretty close to hi you this sojust don’t let Nick kno Dad reacted when Grandpa outed us, okay?"

Understanding finally dawned on Zane’s face, and anger swiftly followed

"Please?" Ty tried "Dad can handle hiets, but NickNick sees my parents as his own"

Zane schooled his initial e instead "I promise For Nick, not for Earl"

"Thanks, Zane," Ty whispered, and he slipped his arm around Zane’s waist as they headed into the breakfast roos fro smirks from Nick and Kelly

Ty plopped down in the seat next to Kelly and peered over at his friends "What the hell happened to you two this an to snicker and Kelly rolled his eyes as he took a sip of coffee "I fell out of the bed"

"Fell?" Zane asked "Or you were pushed?"

"Legit fell Rolled right out of that thing and took the covers with iant squid and woke up thinking I was drowning"

"I woke up cold and very confused," Nick added

Ty couldn’t help but laugh

Kelly s?"

"I wasn’t attacked by a giant squid, if that’s what you’re asking," Ty drawled He glanced toward the end of the table at his grandfather, giving hiruether onto a piece of bread tohis eyes before turning his attention to Nick, as sitting next to hi his own business

Chester pointed his fork at Nick’s face "When I was your age, sonny, they used to say redheads was relations of Satan"

Kelly choked on his breakfast, but Nick just gave Chester an enigmatic smile

"What do they say about you now?" Chester asked hi "They say we have no soul"

Chester pursed his lips, nodding thoughtfully as he patted one gnarled hand against Nick’s shoulder "Eh True enough"

Nick raised both eyebrows, but then he held up his orange juice and Chester toasted hi, trying to s and laugh at the same time He finally had to excuse hio find solanced at Zane and found thesilently At least now he kneasn’t just him Chester spoke to that way But Nick had always taken Chester’s eccentricities in stride, probably even better than Ty and Deuce did because Nick just never gave a fuck

Nick was still s his head as he ate Froht hily well Earl had taken a special interest in hiraduation Whether Nick’s father would have tried to hit Nick in front of them all was questionable, because men like him usually worked behind closed doors, but Ty had known i to have to pull his father off Nick’s if a punch was thrown

Ty realized he was staring at Nick, frowning with theabout Nick had been off ever since they’d been deployed, and it had gotten worse once they’d returned ho just feltwrong Nick was keeping so him Ty told himself to find some time alone with his best friend to see if he needed to talk

Zane jabbed him in the ribs "You okay?" he whispered in Ty’s ear

Ty tore his eyes away fro belatedly that Earl had been speaking to hiuess I know," Earl said with a short laugh

Chester began to cackle at the end of the table "I’ht!"