viii.

A few weeks passed after that, and soon, fall weather was coming in. It had been two months with the boys, and it seemed that time passed effortlessly when I was around them. They had proven to protect me and annoy me at all costs, and my normal routines had changed drastically.

Marigold had come and apologized a few days after the incident while David was sitting with me in my shop. Though I didn't think I could ever fully forgive her, she had persisted in staying my friend, showing up almost every night to talk to me before leaving. I was surprised none of the boys had threatened her yet, but I ignored it.

My business had a spike in sales, and it seemed that even more people were coming in to buy flowers, but the reasons also seemed a bit happier than usual. I blamed it on one of the other flower shops of the town closing down, though it didn't have much business, to begin with.

It had become the usual for at least one of the boys to sit in the shop with me while I worked, and though I did enjoy the company, they made it a bit harder to work considering they didn't know how to keep their hands to themselves. There had been a few times where I had threatened to go home and uninvite them for the night if they kept things up, and there was an almost immediate response every time. Marko was the worst out of all of them when it came to touching while Paul was a close second. Paul was a nuisance in shop simply because he had taken to making me give him certain flowers so he could put them in his hair. Marko had braided him flower crowns a few times, and though I was happy he seemed to like flowers so much, it sucked when I had to take to planting more and more to keep up with him and my business. Dwayne didn't do much when he came around to sit with me. He would bring a book or two to occupy himself, only messing with me when I was having a slow day. Those days, I wasn't able to leave his arms, and I would walk into the cave with a plethora of new hickeys. When David was in shop, he watched everything with a careful eye, constantly scanning me or the customers that walked in. There had been a few instances where I had to tell him to calm down a bit because he was scaring the customers, but he just rolled his eyes and told me he was trying to keep me safe. I pointed out Rain who always laid down by the door, and he would make a comment of how he was a thousand times better than the dog in protection, but he would try to calm down a bit. He never did.

After shop, I would stop by my house for clothes for the next day, though most had already been moved to the cave, and anything I wanted that night. Slowly, my house was becoming barer and barer as I moved to the boys' cave without even thinking about it. My bed was either the one in the lobby of the cave or the one in the back caverns depending on my mood that night. There were nights where I wanted to sleep alone or with Rain, and those were the nights I slept in the lobby while the boys slept in an elevator shaft, something I had learned about after a month of living with them.

They had taken to making a bathroom in one of the backrooms with working water and everything, though I was thoroughly confused as to how they did it. I was happy, though, and they told me about how they had been needed a shower or bathtub for quite some time, but they had constantly been putting it off.

Everything seemed to be settling down until Max had come to the boys with some news while I was out with Paul. I was riding his back while we looked around the boardwalk for anything to entertain us with, both high off our asses. My shop was closed for the night, and Paul had offered to take me around. We rode the carousel about three times and a random roller coaster once, but nothing else seemed to pique our interest that night, so Paul was taking us to the boys. I messed with the small dandelions placed in his blonde locks and hummed along to a song playing through the speakers. Every so often, I would press a kiss to his neck or cheek to which he smiled at.

I smiled when the boys entered my sight, but it dropped when I noticed their annoyed expressions. "What's wrong," I questioned, jumping off Paul's back and fixing my long gypsy skirt. My bare feet barely touched the ground before I was lifted into another set of arms – Dwayne's. "Hey, warrior," I mumbled against his shoulder, wrapping my legs around his waist as he grabbed my thighs to help me.

"Princess," he stated, kissing my cheek.

I hummed at the nickname. "What's got you guys all annoyed?"

"We'll talk about it in the cave. We were waiting on you guys to get back."

I nodded and dropped from his arms, climbing on his bike behind him easily. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and we sped off to the cave.

When we entered the familiar area, I immediately sat down on one of the couches. Marko followed me and laid on top of me, his legs between mine and face on my chest. I rolled my eyes but let it slide, looking toward David as he began speaking. "Sweetheart, some things are gonna start changing around here." I raised an eyebrow, a bit focused on Rain curling up next to Paul on the floor. "Max found a woman he likes quite a bit, and he wants us to become friends with her daughter so the mother would be more inclined to join the family."

I sat still for a second before glancing up at him. "You guys aren't going to leave me, right?"

David shook his head, a pained looked on his face. "We'd never leave you." His voice was soft but firm.

I nodded and ran my hand through Marko's curls, laughing a bit as his body released a purring-like sound. "Well, what's her name?"

"Star," he stated easily. "She's seventeen, and she looks like a boho gypsy. She's very quiet, and she doesn't really seem like she'll fit in with our group, but we'll just have to figure it out."

I nodded and sighed quietly. "When will we begin, uh, letting her in?"

"Tomorrow night, sweetheart. Max is supposed to introduce her to us before he goes on a date with whats-her-name."

I nodded again, looking around at my boys. The cave fell quiet besides soft music that Dwayne had put on a few moments ago. It was a peaceful kind of silence, and I watched as a few pigeons flew around. I learned they were Marko's self-proclaimed pigeons after I found an entire sketchbook filled with pictures of them. Marko was an artistic kind of boy, and his clothing certainly reflected it.

I hummed along to the music as I began braiding loose braids into Marko's hair. He continued his purring, moving so he was more comfortable against me. I smiled a bit at that, and I watched from the corner of my eye as David stood from his chair, making easy steps toward me. I turned my head toward him as I felt his hand grab my chin softly and pull me toward him.

He bent down slowly and pressed his lips against mine. I sighed a bit, trying to lean up the best I could with Marko still on top of me. His pace was slow and almost romantic, and it made my insides flutter just a bit. David pulled away, a small grin on his lips. I took a moment to breathe before pulling him back to me, enjoying the familiar feeling of his lips on mine. They locked easily, and it left me breathless every time he pressed just a bit harder only to let go almost entirely. My body was on fire, and he knew it. It was something any of them could do, and it drove me crazy to no end.

It was when I felt Marko move up just a bit and kiss my neck that I let out a soft moan. Marko seemed to move his lips in time with David's, and I was practically panting. I let out a small whimper as Marko sucked a hickey into my neck while David dragged his tongue against my lip. I slowly parted my lips, and he took control, his tongue slipping against mine in a way that oddly felt nice. I grabbed at him with one of my hands while the second carded through Marko's hair, pulling it softly.

We went like that for a few minutes before we pulled away, and I sat with a dazed look in my eyes and red lips, a new row of hickeys lining my neck. I sat panting for a moment, trying to remember how to breathe properly as Marko sucked a final hickey into my neck, running over it with his tongue before letting me go. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision, and looked over to David who was sat back at his wheelchair throne, watching me with a smirk on his face.

"That was nice. We should do that more often," I mumbled, watching as his smirk grew to a grin. I then turned to Paul and motioned him over. He walked over easily after pushing Rain over a bit. He raised an eyebrow as he squatted down to my level. I giggled a bit and took the joint he had from his lips, raising it to mine. He laughed a bit and shook his head before sitting on the ground in front of the couch, his back to me. We passed the blunt back and forth, and I smiled at the familiar hazy feeling took over my body, my inhibitions flying out the window.

I blew out a large puff of smoke, watching as it disappeared into the air, before handing it back to Paul who did the same. "Y'know. I think I really love you guys," I stated, clenching my jaw a hard feeling overtook me and tears gathered in my eyes. "I think you're some of the only people I can really trust, and I just want you guys to know that I love you." I felt Marko gingerly wipe away the tears that fell down my cheeks.

"We love you, too, Angel," Marko stated, lifting himself so he was straddling me instead of laying on me.

"Yeah," Dwayne stated, a smile evident in his voice, "you mean a lot to us too, Princess. We love you more than you think."

I nodded and looked up at Marko who was staring down at me. "Thank you for pulling me from my dumb shop that night," I stated, watching as his face fell into a smile.

"Anything for you, Angel."

"Now, somebody, please kiss me before I lose my mind." Marko easily bent down and kissed me while Paul turned and took my neck. The two worked even better than Marko and David had, and I was breathless as I pulled away, giggling loudly as I took Paul's blunt from him again.

"I'm going to go to sleep now," I stated easily, laying back completely against the couch. "I'm very, very tired."

"Come on, sweetheart," David said as he picked me up into his arms and Marko stood from above me. "Let's take you to bed. You shouldn't sleep on that couch."

I nodded a bit, and I felt my breathing even out as I fell into a haze of sleepiness and weed. I was vaguely aware of someone pulling off my clothes so I could sleep better and the boys taking their positions in bed so I felt comfortable. It was an easy thing to do, everybody working in sync. It was nice, and I was soon asleep between four beautiful men who I trusted completely.

A/N: Small thing real quick. Someone asked me if Paul and Marko were together in the last chapter, and you're going to see them do more next chapter, but I'm a big Paul/Marko shipper lmao so I did add a bit of that in here. I'm also in love with the headcanon of the boys' sexuality where Paul is pan, Marko is bisexual, Dwayne and David are bi, but they lean more toward girls than boys. I mean, if you're gonna live forever, I figure you would care less about who you fucked, y'know.