Page 79 of Sparrow

“I only put more in because you like it that way!” Orion protests.

I stick my tongue out at him as I turn the burner back on to rewarm the cocoa in the pan, and he makes a face at me. Mars catches that part of the interaction and snorts, but when he looks at me and catches me laughing, he starts laughing as well.

His grin when I hand him his own mug of chocolate and whiskey is worth everything, and suddenly I’m very, very glad that I couldn’t fall asleep tonight.

Then Mars says, as if it’s the most logical thing in the world, “As long as we’re in the kitchen, maybe we should make some cinnamon rolls.”

There’s exactly zero reason for us to make cinnamon rolls. They take hours to mix and then bake, and I know from experience that the dough is impossible to work with. But he looks like a little boy who’s just realized that he woke up early on Christmas Day, and I would never forgive myself if I said no.

So I run to my room for the recipe, and start gathering the ingredients.

The moment we start trying to make the dough, however, things start to go badly. We’re all half asleep and incapable of measuring responsibly or taking turns, which results in all three of us measuring the right amount of flour and dumping it into the mixer. When Mars decides to turn said mixer on, flour explodes from the thing and covers all of us.

“Mars!” Orion shouts. “What are you doing?”

“The directions said to mix well!” Mars responds, offended.

“There wasn’t even anything in there to mix, you goof,” I say, wiping flour out of my eyes. “What did you think you were mixing?”

He pauses for a moment. “The flour, obviously.”

Orion turns the blender off and stares at him. “Pretty sure flour comes pre-mixed, friend.”

Instead of answering, Mars scoops a handful of flour off the counter and throws it right at Orion. Or rather... Well, he doesn’t throw it as much as he tosses it into the air, the fine white powder spreading like dust in the air. Orion responds with a handful of cinnamon, which acts the same way, and I start laughing at both of them.

“You two are supposed to be big, scary men, and the best you can do is throw flour and cinnamon?” I giggle. “What’s wrong with you?”

Mars takes one long look at me, then yanks the scoop out of the sugar bowl, tosses it to the side, and dumps the whole bowl of sugar over my head. I shriek as it runs down my shirt and over my belly, and Orion responses by splashing Mars with the whiskey, which makes Mars rush to the faucet and throw water at Orion.

I’m laughing so hard at this point that I slide to the ground, my knees giving out, and then I realize that I’m sitting in a puddle of whiskey.

This is, for some reason, even funnier, and now I start howling with glee. Orion hears me and rushes over, slips in the alcohol, and goes to the floor, and this drives him into gales of laughter. Mars is doubled over at his friend’s antics, and I have the fleeting thought that I’ve never heard the two of them laughing like this before.

I don’t even know if I’ve seen them smile at the same time.

And I’ve never been this happy in my entire life. I’ve never felt so at home, or so loved.

We laugh for several minutes until we’re left breathless and exhausted, all of us too drunk to consider cleaning up.

“Maybe cinnamon rolls were a bad idea,” Mars finally says.

Orion flicks more flour at him. “Ya think?”

I pull open the fridge and look through it, wondering what we can eat that doesn’t involve baking. Then I see the perfect option. I pull out the box of leftover pizza from our dinner last night and turn toward the men.

“Pizza?”

“Perfect,” Mars groans.

“Living room,” Orion adds.

Five minutes later we’re on the couch watching I Love Lucy reruns on TV, the lights off and the kitchen left behind in all its flour-clad glory. I’m laying with my head in Orion’s lap and my feet in Mars’, the pizza box resting on my hip so both men can reach it.

And I think this might actually be Heaven.

Though in Heaven, this couch would be a bit bigger, so we could all lay down.

Still, I’m happy to be the only one with that pleasure right now, and I snuggle down into the leather of the thing, check to make sure I can feel both Mars and Orion’s hands on me, and take another bite of pizza.