Percy wraps his arms back. "Gosh, how did you guess?" Squeeze.

"Like I said, wild guess."

Lan bounds closer and wraps his arms around both of them. "Cuddle piles are the best."

"To me it's all about the company," Percy says, calling Aaren in.

Aaren laughs and joins them happily. "The company definitely makes hugpiles better."

Hug. Bask.

After a little, Aaren jostles them. "Alright. I need to finish cooking, and you three need to not fill up on sausage rolls."

"Of course... dad."

There's a moment of shocked silence, and then a delighted warmth from Aaren, and a gentle squeeze.

'Chelle futilely tries to muffle her delighted squeak. Her own excitement and joy give her away anyway.

Excitement and joy is delightful. Squeeze. "Something is up, sis?"

"Always wanted a brother," she says leaning into him. "And no, Lan doesn't count."

"Well known fact that my maths ability is dodgy," Lan says cheerfully. "Does this mean we get cake? This feels like a cake moment."

"I don't know. Do you think we could impose that much on dad?"

"I don't know if you've noticed," 'Chelle stage-whispers. "But he likes cooking."

Aaren laughs. "I think I can whip something up. It does feel like a cake moment. Now shoo. Go watch TV or something while I cook."

"Of course," Percy turns to the other two teenagers. "Anything good on TV at this time of the day?"

Lan drapes his arms around both Percy and 'Chelle. "If not, we've got several dozen subscription channels."

"If you won't watch Swedish crime dramas, I'm not watching French telenovelas."

"French telenovelas?"

"The only TV at my parents is in French, they're snobs like that. French telenovelas are a thing!"

"When you think about it, it explains an awful lot about Lan."

"It does. And I speak that as an empath."

'Chelle giggles, and navigates them through both doors into the living room, pulling them all down onto the sofa and flopping over Lan and Percy's laps. "Alright, so, as much as I'm against French telenovelas, I figure Lan's going to pout if I don't at least offer to introduce you to them. And I suppose I can spend the entire time judging them."

"I have not seen that many non-French telenovelas, but now I am curious about this exotic art form that clearly had a hand in the formation of our dearest Lan."