A pair of arms draped themselves around Dima's waist, drawing him out of his deep slumber the next morning. The feel of the limbs clutching him tightly was familiar, as was the scent emitting from the body behind him. It was the essence of family.

"Mmm...Raine," Dima grumbled in a fatigued voice. "What are you doing here early in the morning? You were here just yesterday. Missed me that much?"

"Your mom sent your breakfast," came Raine's curt reply and then the waggish one – "I always miss you."

"Dima, are you up? Raine is here, so I sent your breakfast up with him; did you get it or did he eat it all on his way?" Dima heard his mother shout from the ground floor. Not hearing back from him must have raised some alarm bells in her head because the next thing he heard was the sound of her footsteps approaching fast.

The sound of the footsteps grew noisier indicating she was just down the hallway. No doubt she was heading to check up on them.

"I know he is here, mom." A mumble followed his sentence, "because he is currently pressed up against me like a clingy boyfriend."

Raine flicked his forehead, presented him with the tray of breakfast and then called for his mom.

As soon as Sonja appeared at the threshold, Raine latched onto her and started with the complaints - "Mama, he is calling me a clingy boyfriend instead of the sweet boyfriend that I am."

Sonja gazed at Dima with narrowed eyes and tossed him a warning –
“Dima, behave. Do not poke fun at your boyfriend a.k.a my future son-in-law.” Diverting her fixation back to Raine, she hugged him as tightly as he was hugging her and cooed at him. Although her subsequent confession had Dimitri in stitches. "And Raine baby, you are undoubtedly exceptionally sweet, but you are sticky. You are clinging to me like a monkey right now."

The beaming smile that had graced Raine's face after being called sweet turned into an adorable pout.

"Mama," Raine whined and then suddenly he put on a mask of nonchalance. He coerced himself to adopt a tone of uncaring. "I think Dima was right about you."

Sonja stared at her son, not breaking eye contact while grilling  Raine. “Oh. Don't let me stop you from telling me how much my son knows me. So, what did he say?"

Raine shrugged his shoulders, maintaining the same demeanor and speaking with added smugness to his say. "That you are constantly on his side and you can't control him."

The scary mama bear was on Dima within a second. Holding him by his right ear. She pulled and clipped it.

"Ow! Ow! Mom, I didn't say anything like that."

"You are becoming such a brat and it is all your father's fault; he is spoiling you rotten," she said in a mom tone and everyone knew that 'mom tone' was scary. What is scarier? It is when your mom starts crying. Why? Because firstly, that's your mom - the most incredible and loveliest woman in your life. Secondly, you'd have a displeased dad on your case for making his wife shed precious tears. And the worst was transpiring with Dima right then as Sonja had started crying out of nowhere.

Raine appeared at her side, comforting her with a hug and glaring daggers at Dima like it wasn't his own mistake in the first place. Yielding, Dima threw his hands in the air. He approached his upset mother like she was a ticking time bomb. Well, she wasn't, but the male staring icily at him sure was. Even though Raine was a vampire, he bit like a dog - hard and worth getting a bandage for. Dima had to soothe the wild dog before he got bitten in the ass.

"Mom, I promise I didn't say anything like that."

Sonja sniffled a little, straightened up, and turned her face in his direction. Don't get Dima wrong, but her complexion didn't even look like she was crying just a second ago. Soon he realized why as she uncaringly said - "I know" and high-fived Raine.

Dima's jaw hung open. "You both are unbelievable!" he exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.

Sonja and Raine simply cat-walked out of his room giggling like a bunch of freshmen who thought they were cool after they had pulled a prank on someone for the first time.

Dima decided to leave them both and munch on his breakfast.

----------×----------×--------

Raine and Dimitri were at the end of the movie - Dirty Grandpa - when Raine put forth the boisterous idea of revisiting the cafe.

"No, thanks." Dima had said the two words for the umpteenth time, yet Raine's persistent ass asked repeatedly.

Giving Dima the stink eye, Raine threatened him - "Don't make me take out my trump card."

"Trump card," Dima snorted. "Anything with the name Trump in it doesn't even work properly."

That is when Raine shouted - "Mama."

So there they were, walking towards the cafe peacefully. Although it wouldn't be Dima if bad luck did not follow him, so he asked Raine about what will be their Modus Operandi if they run into that mute little shit again.

"He dumped garlic on you, you can dump him in silver."

"Wow, brilliant idea!" Sarcasm dripped Dima's words. Dropping the sarcasm, he took the you-are-an-idiot tone. "But genius, silver actually kills them."

"It'll be fun."

Dima knew Raine was just saying that in vain because he was among those who believed that lives are important. Also, Raine doesn't hate werewolves, unlike Dima.

"Sadist," Dima muttered.

"Who is a sadist?" a voice asked.

Like I said it wouldn't be me if bad luck doesn't follow.

"Ooh, he is just telling preposterous shit. I am not a sadist, I am a masochist though. Wanna hurt me sweetly, baby?" Raine flirted with Chris and Chris looked amused out of his mind.

"I'd like it more if Dimitri was a masochist." Dima glowered at Chris in countereffect of the werewolf's words. "Anyway who are you, cutie?" Chris directed his question towards Raine.

"Oh! I am his boyfriend, Raine."

Chris was shocked at the new piece of information but recovered fast. His lips pursed and he made a face of distaste like he ate something sour.

His reaction gave Dima some hope that Chris would stop teasing him. If that happened, he would have to treat Raine for calling him his boyfriend in front of every person they encountered. What people don't know is that Dima was not his boyfriend and Raine doesn't have a pause button. He doesn't take a pause; he is unaware of that term. So when he says boyfriend, he means boy-friend. Only in the presence of their families does he joke about being a boyfriend to Dima.

Dima sympathized with every grammar Nazi that had the bad luck of confronting Raine ever.

Dima smirked at Chris and encircled his arm around Raine's midriff while Raine simply looked at him in confusion. However, the smirk was swept right off his face and he choked on air when Chris opened his mouth.

"Wanna have a threesome then?"