CHAPTER 453: CHAPTER 453: WINING

Lucas let the breath leave his lungs slowly. For the first time in a long time, it didn’t scrape on the way out.

Trevor watched him with that quiet, unwavering focus that had carried them through every fracture and memory that didn’t belong in the present. His hand stayed at Lucas’s neck, steady and warm.

Lucas’s gaze softened. "I don’t feel hunted anymore," he said.

Trevor smiled, small and real. "Good."

The room settled into a gentle stillness. Dean slept peacefully, curled against Lucas’s chest. Trevor leaned his forehead lightly against Lucas’s temple, their breaths slowly syncing.

For one brief moment, it felt like the world had stopped trying to pull them backward.

And then, naturally... the universe reminded them exactly who else lived in this house.

A sound barreled down the hallway.

"PAPA! DAAAAD!"

Trevor barely had half a second to register the incoming threat before the door slammed open with the force of a miniature hurricane.

Sebastian burst into the room with the intensity of a child who had either created a masterpiece or committed a felony. Possibly both. His dark curls were wild, his cheeks were flushed, his hands were suspiciously full of glitter, again, and he had the expression of someone who absolutely did not knock.

"Dad, Papa, you’re not gonna BELIEVE what... oh."

He froze mid-stride.

His eyes landed on Dean sleeping on Lucas’s chest.

Instant panic.

He gasped loudly, slapped both hands dramatically over his mouth, and whispered at a volume that was still too loud:

"I’m being QUIET."

Trevor lifted a single eyebrow. "Are you?"

Sebastian nodded aggressively. "Yes."

Lucas smiled despite himself. "Good job."

Sebastian marched, silently, or at least his version of silently, across the room and climbed directly onto Trevor’s knee without asking. Trevor steadied him with one hand, the other still resting protectively near Lucas.

Sebastian leaned in, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

"There was a situation."

Lucas blinked. "A situation."

"Yes," Sebastian said gravely. "A very dangerous one."

Trevor sighed. "Is Windstone on your tracks?"

Sebastian’s eyes widened, offended on a spiritual level. "No," he whispered dramatically. "He was on Uno’s tracks. I was completely innocent."

Trevor gave him a long, flat stare that said he believed exactly none of that.

And on cue a soft knock tapped once against the half-open door before it swung wider.

Windstone entered like a man walking into a battlefield he’d long accepted as his fate. His posture was immaculate, expression neutral despite his sleeves being dusted with gold glitter like the aftermath of a small magical explosion.

He paused, gaze sweeping the room. Lucas with a baby sleeping on his chest. Trevor sitting on the chaise with one arm around them both. Sebastian perched like a gremlin on Trevor’s knee.

Windstone did not blink.

"Good afternoon, my lords," he said evenly.

Trevor’s mouth twitched, his eyes moving onto the most likely criminal. "Windstone."

Sebastian stiffened, clinging harder to Trevor’s shirt. "Don’t look at me," he whispered, far too loudly. "I’m innocent."

Windstone shifted his gaze to him with the weary precision of a man who had dealt with Fitzgeralt chaos for over thirty years.

"Innocent," Windstone repeated. "Of course."

Sebastian nodded vigorously. "Papa said you were chasing Uno, not me."

Windstone exhaled. It was the sigh of a man who had lived through wars, diplomatic disasters, and Trevor’s childhood, but this was the thing that aged him.

"Indeed," he said dryly. "I was pursuing your cat. Because your cat was pursuing your glitter jar. Because your glitter jar was open despite being placed on the highest shelf in the studio."

Sebastian’s eyes darted left. "It... fell?"

Windstone continued as though he had not heard that blatant lie. "And when Uno stepped into the glitter, he tracked it across the east wing, the south corridor, the guest staircase, and the upstairs landing."

Lucas pressed a hand to his mouth to hide the smile that slipped out.

Trevor did not hide his. He let the amusement flicker fully onto his face.

"And Sebastian?" he asked.

Windstone’s gaze flicked to the glitter coating Sebastian’s hands, elbows, and several suspicious patches in his curls.

"Sebastian," Windstone said calmly, "was found standing atop the library table, holding the empty jar, announcing to the cat that he had been ’defeated with honor.’"

A tiny, guilty squeak escaped Sebastian.

Lucas couldn’t help it, he actually snorted.

Dean stirred faintly at the sound, and Lucas immediately smoothed a hand over his back. The baby settled again, his little head tucked securely under Lucas’s chin.

Windstone softened at that, just slightly. His voice gentled in a way only Lucas and the children ever saw.

"I apologize for the interruption," he said. "I intended to give you a moment longer, but the glitter has reached the second staircase. At this rate, it will be in the ventilation system."

Sebastian perked up. "Then the whole manor would sparkle!"

Windstone looked as though he briefly considered early retirement.

"Indeed," he said, tone bone-dry. "But I fear His Grace may not share your enthusiasm."

Trevor sighed, rubbing a hand over Sebastian’s back. "Sebastian, what do we say when Windstone finds us in the middle of catastrophic indoor weather events?"

Sebastian shrunk down, sliding lower on Trevor’s knee. "Sorry, Windstone."

Windstone nodded. "Accepted, young master."

Lucas shifted Dean carefully and looked at Windstone with genuine fondness. "Thank you for dealing with this."

Windstone inclined his head. "It is my honor, my lord. Also my curse, but let us focus on the honor."

Trevor’s mouth curved. "Do you need assistance?"

Windstone glanced at Sebastian, then at the trail of glitter visible from the hallway, then back.

"I would never refuse help," he said politely. "Especially from the architect of the small human who engineered this catastrophe."

Sebastian gasped. "It wasn’t engineering... it was art!"

Trevor wrapped an arm fully around him before he could leap off and defend his artistic integrity.

Windstone bowed with perfect form despite the glitter on his cuffs. "If you need me, I’ll be containing the situation."

"Good luck," Lucas said, trying not to laugh.

Windstone allowed himself a small, private smile. "I rely more on perseverance than luck, my lord. Enjoy your moment."

And with that, he turned and exited, leaving a faint trail of glitter in his dignified wake.

The door clicked softly behind him.

Sebastian leaned back against Trevor’s chest with a sigh of deep satisfaction. "I think we’re winning," he whispered.

Lucas laughed under his breath. "At what?"

Sebastian shrugged. "All of it."

Trevor looked at Lucas, at Sebastian, and at Dean asleep in Lucas’s arms. His expression softened again, peaceful in a way that felt earned.

"Yeah," Trevor murmured. "We are."