Four's a Crowd
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Sometimes he thought back to how this all started, letting himself get caught up in that cliché of the way it came to pass – slowly at first and then all at once. There was that one show, small glances shared between them all. Then the bar afterwards, that shared sense that they were talking to the friends who had come to watch because they were forced to – when really they all wanted to be somewhere together, talking about whatever it was that had suddenly changed between them. After that, they’d spent the next two days together, holed up in Tom’s tiny London flat as if the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Plane journeys, doubts, anxiety and sleepless nights.
Home, trust, reassurance and self-discovery.
Or, what happens when the rest of the world does exist.
Series
- Part 1 of Four's a Crowd
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“This is it,” Tom murmured, gesturing to the four of them. “For as long as we all want it to be. This is going to be our life. With or without the people who accept it.”
They had always talked about forever in metaphors – the secret bookcase door or jokes about ending up in a retirement home together. But Tom had laid it out more clearly this time. Their life - together.
Fear, rejection, panic and bad memories.
Patience, vulnerability, growth and protection.
Or, progress towards a life lived without metaphors.
Series
- Part 2 of Four's a Crowd
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The last day had been a fever dream that he still couldn’t wrap his head around. From AJ’s initial admission to the feeling of Sam kissing him in the hallway. From AJ pressing up against his back to his own hand splaying beneath Tom’s shirt.
Tension didn’t feel like the right word, even if they could cut through it with a knife. Even if it felt taut and ready to snap.
A continuation/different POV from the flashback in ch. 12 of Four's a Crowd (the night before Luke goes back to Spain)
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- Part 3 of Four's a Crowd
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He had a camera, a small one that lived in the bottom of his backpack. Second-hand from a car boot sale, he hadn’t even expected it to work when he got it home. Old film, battered lens case, worn leather strap fraying at each end.
He bought it a week before he told Luke, Sam and Tom how he had been feeling. He was experimenting with it as his mind played over the words he needed to say, the confession that could have ended everything. And when it didn’t, the camera became a frame through which their entire relationship sat.
A series of photos and the memories connected to each of them.
Series
- Part 4 of Four's a Crowd
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Begonias, Boundaries and New Beginnings by Anonymous
Fandoms: Shoot From The Hip RPF, British Comedy RPF
08 Oct 2024
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Sam looked over at him as he spoke, trying not to smile so much that Tom thought he was taking the piss but having to fight a grin every time the other man’s eyes lit up as he saw another plant he recognised. They walked between the different rooms, engaged in this largely one-sided conversation, and Sam tried to imagine anything else that he’d rather be doing with his afternoon.
By the third room, he’d drawn a blank, strangely captivated by Tom’s enthusiasm. It was like watching him on stage when he’d riled himself up into a rant about the logic of their longform or if he’d been put on the spot to do a Shakespeare monologue and would just fall into it as easily as breathing. There was something about the way his face lit up, both there and now, that Sam was sure he could never get enough of.
The date from ch. 24 of Four's a Crowd from Sam's POV.
Series
- Part 5 of Four's a Crowd
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Tom wasn’t in his room. AJ tapped on the door a couple of times and then let himself in, imagining Tom typing away, headphones in. He grinned at the thought of creeping up behind his friend and scaring him, that fantasy vanishing when he was met by an empty room. Tom’s laptop, an old, second-hand brick of a thing that had almost given up on him three times that year, was sat on his desk. A notebook of scribbled pages was open next to it, a pen without its lid waiting to be used.
He's fine. He doesn't need help. He's coping. (He isn't.)
Series
- Part 6 of Four's a Crowd
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“Stop fussing with your hair,” AJ said patiently. His hands moved and Sam mourned the loss of contact for a second before AJ’s fingers were skimming his temples, getting him to look straight ahead. He ran through Sam’s hair a couple of times, a gentle pulling motion putting the tiniest amount of pressure on Sam’s scalp but still making him wish they could sack off the whole attending the wedding thing and instead just stay at home.
It didn’t help matters that AJ was dressed so smartly, even if he’d refused to go as far as wearing a blazer. The tie and rolled up shirt sleeves were enough to drive Sam just a little mad – the simultaneous lack of trying and effortless formality making him stare at AJ in the mirror for far too long.
For Sam, a wedding that they're all invited to is just an excuse for Luke to be back in the UK. At home. With them.
Series
- Part 7 of Four's a Crowd
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It was dark and cramped and they could barely see the audience with the harsh strength of the stage lights pointing directly in their eyes. The stage was too small and they had nowhere to sit in the interval but a narrow corridor leading to a storage cupboard. They had to set up the chairs themselves and work out what ungodly mess the previous users had left the tech in. They held a bucket out at the door at the end of every show and got paid far too little for the amount of effort they put in.
And Sam loved it.
After university, people moved away, things changed. But there were always Tuesday nights at the comedy club.
Series
- Part 8 of Four's a Crowd
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Everything Is Not What It Seems by Anonymous
Fandoms: Shoot From The Hip RPF, British Comedy RPF
25 Dec 2024
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Luke hadn’t expected to meet a friend that evening. He hadn’t expected to make a friend by unapologetically being himself...
Tom leant back against the wall and let them bicker for a moment, slowly starting to feel like he was settling in...
Sam broke into a smile, almost as if he’d won already, and dropped Luke’s shirt back into place...
AJ glanced around for a second, briefly checking they were definitely talking to him and then going over...
Four meetings. Four discoveries. Twenty-four moments.
Series
- Part 9 of Four's a Crowd
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A Bad Film On A Good Day by Anonymous
Fandoms: Shoot From The Hip RPF, British Comedy RPF
04 Jan 2025
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“Look,” Sam started, glancing around them and establishing that they were on their own on a deserted street. “I love you but that was one of the worst films I’ve seen this year.”
“No, but Sam,” AJ’s mouth twitched, letting down his attempts to be serious, “You have to appreciate the vision.”
“Appreciate the vision?” Sam snorted. “You’re such a fucking film director.”
A cinema date and the evening that follows.
Series
- Part 10 of Four's a Crowd
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The Language of Flowers by Anonymous
Fandoms: Shoot From The Hip RPF, British Comedy RPF
03 Apr 2025
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The first February crept up on Sam.
Not the first February ever, obviously. Not even the first one with them. But it was the first one with them and the change in emphasis made all the difference.
On flowers, their secret meanings and a blossoming relationship.
Series
- Part 11 of Four's a Crowd
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AJ stared for too long, terrified to click on the video but unable to stop himself from considering doing just that. He chewed the tip of his thumb, wrestling with this indecision, and then gently tapped the screen, his eyes screwing shut instinctively as soon as he did.
A 30-second advert started playing, torturous to listen to although AJ wasn’t about to open his eyes to skip it. He dropped his phone onto his chest instead and tried to breathe normally – tried not to make this into a big thing.
He hadn’t heard Luke’s voice for two months.
It was never part of the plan, to be forced to adjust to a world that was only three quarters complete.
Series
- Part 12 of Four's a Crowd
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May 2019
No amount of loud music in his earphones and the characteristic wind-roaring sound of the underground was going to drown out AJ’s thoughts tonight. He’d tried thinking about anything else – focusing on anything at all – but he couldn’t get away from the date in the calendar and the ultimatum he’d set himself a few months earlier.
Twelve weeks to confess his feelings. Twelve weeks or he’d get over it and move on. Twelve weeks to decide if he could stand the thought of losing them forever.
The confession of feelings (and subsequent events) from ch. 5 of Four's a Crowd, retold from AJ's perspective.
Series
- Part 13 of Four's a Crowd
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Summary
Like so many things, it started as a joke.
It was another one of those countless moments that reminded Sam that things had changed. Because Luke joking about buying a couple of tickets and taking Sam to watch a show just because Sam had, in Luke’s words, been going on about it for months translated into Luke buying those tickets and announcing the week before as he phoned from Spain that Sam would need to make himself available on a specific Friday evening.
Luke takes Sam to the theatre.
Series
- Part 14 of Four's a Crowd
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“I’m saying all this stuff about excuses not to go and stay with Sam and Tom but the truth is, my brain just instantly went to you. And now I’m at Euston and I know I won’t even get to yours for another two hours if I actually come…”
“Get on the train,” AJ interjected, gentle but firm. If Luke was thinking about spending the money on a last-minute train ticket, AJ knew that meant he was desperate.
Three months after graduation. Three months after moving to Manchester. Three months of realising that short space of time is nowhere near enough to get over what he was trying to leave behind.
Series
- Part 15 of Four's a Crowd
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July 2015
By sunset, they were reaching levels of giddy tiredness that suggested they were either going to get far too drunk at the expensive hotel bar or descend into childish mischief that they probably should have outgrown by now. But when the next generic song came around on a playlist that Sam swore all the couples he knew had used, Luke stood up from the table they’d claimed and gestured to the door.
“Let’s explore,” he announced in a way that suggested he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Sam has never heard of polyamory. More importantly, his improv group might be dying (financially, that is, not on stage). But tonight he isn't going to think about that - tonight is for nothing but sitting on a hill with his three best friends.
Series
- Part 16 of Four's a Crowd