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Lupin woke up to hair tickling his forehead. He was comfortably cocooned between two bodies and didn’t really want to move – truth be told. The source of the tickling was Goemon’s hair, which made sense given that he vaguely remembered slotting himself between Goemon and Jigen the previous night, after they’d polished off a frankly astonishing amount of wine. The way they were going Fujiko was going to run out, and they’d only been in the house for barely a week so far.
The samurai moved beside him and Lupin is distinctly reminded of a second piece of his anatomy (not his forehead), one that was much more interested in the minute movements of Goemon’s thigh than anything else Lupin had in mind. Even that though, was fleeting, as he was overcome by the sudden warmth flooding through him when Goemon shifted and hummed sleepily, arm reaching blindly behind him where Zantetsuken would be waiting for him. His fingers wrapped around the scabbard briefly, just assuring himself that it was still there, before he brought the hand back up to rub across his eyes.
Goemon never used to sleep like this. Sometimes it was hell to get him to sleep at all. It took months before he’d sleep anywhere except the sofa, or sitting up on a bed. He’d only lie down when he was absolutely exhausted. Now though –
Now Goemon cracked a single eye open, he must have felt Lupin watching him. He raises an eyebrow in a silent question. Something rattles in the kitchen. Lupin can feel Jigen’s leg tangled between his own, so it must be Fujiko who is up and about.
“Don’t even think about it,” Goemon said, in a voice still scratchy from sleep.
Now that was hardly fair, Lupin hadn’t even said any –
Goemon moved his thigh from where it had been pressed against Lupin’s crotch and the thief felt his face go red as he realised what the samurai was implying.
“I wasn’t going to!”
“A likely story.” A lazy smile curled up Goemon’s features, “If you wish to paw at someone, I’m sure Jigen will be more than happy to help.”
The figure bundled in blankets shifted at the sound of his name.
“Fuck off.”
Goemon hummed happily at the gunman’s grumpy countenance, before stretching out long like a cat, and sitting up. As much as Lupin missed the warmth, it was a very nice view of the samurai’s torso. He reached up to run his fingers across the smooth skin, marvelling at how the muscles twitched under the light touch. Goemon reached for Zantetsuken with one hand, and ran the other through Lupin’s short hair fondly. It took all Lupin’s inner strength not to preen under the soft touch.
“I will see you later. I wish to meditate this morning.”
“Give Fujiko a kiss for me.”
“I will think about it,” he said as he stood and moved towards the door.
Lupin rolled over as the door clicked shut and eyed the pile of blankets that was currently housing his other lover. He was telling the truth, he wasn’t looking for sex, but perhaps he could convince Jigen to humour him and kiss him, just for a little bit.
“You’ve got less than a minute to make your decision before I go back to sleep,” the pile of blankets grumbled, “and if you wake me up after that I will be very grumpy.”
Lupin dove under the covers, coming up nose to nose with the gunman. Jigen shifted to make room for him, slotting their legs together in a familiar tangle. He looked half asleep, his hair was sticking up in a disarray, and Lupin could make out a red mark on his cheek where he’d been lying on his hand.
“You got plans?” Jigen rumbled out, “Or are we going back to bed.”
“Plans for now, or plans for later?”
Jigen yawned, shoving his fist in front of his mouth, “both. Its new years isn’t it?”
Lupin had to think for a moment, the days had gotten away from him in the week they’d spent together. They’d arrived on Christmas day, which meant that today was – new years eve.
“Well, we should go out tonight, there’s bound to be a party somewhere. And as for right now,” he ran a hand up Jigen’s side, grinning when he saw recognition flicker in the gunman’s eyes, “I’d like to kiss you.”
Jigen rolled his eyes, “I probably need to brush my teeth before you go doing stuff like that.”
Not to be deterred Lupin leaned in press a quick peck to those thin lips, “I don’t care.”
Jigen shrugged, using the arm that wasn’t under him to pull the thief in closer. His palm lay flat and warm against the small of Lupin’s back, bleeding the pleasant heat up and down his spine.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Jigen kissed him with the lazy methodical movements that Lupin had come to know and love over the years. It was nice, and familiar. Well past the point of exploring each other, these kisses were more like returning home.
And if they spent a little more time than usual getting out of bed – well then, they were on holidays after all.
They did manage to make it out of bed by the time Goemon returned from his meditation, armed with the important information regarding which of the local bars were going to be hosting new years eve celebrations. They leave the warmth and seclusion of the cottage by late afternoon, to make their way into the nearby town.
Jigen spotted a bar that sold his preferred whiskey and that settled the decision about which place they’re going to spend the evening at. It was a nice, homely little place, with a roomy area inside and upstairs terrace. Goemon, true to form, escaped to the rooftop almost immediately, leaving Jigen, Fujiko and Lupin to organise their orders. At least he had the good grace to save them a table while he did it. Then there was nothing to do but wait for the celebrations to begin in full force.
A shrill giggle from Fujiko caught Lupin’s attention. Jigen was leaning around her, reaching into her bag for something – probably a lighter, judging by the unlit cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth. Fujiko was pushing his face away, where his beard was touching her neck.
“You need to trim your beard, Jigen.” She was saying, giving his face another shove, “It’s all scratchy and gross.”
Jigen leaned back, target acquired, and flicked the lighter.
“That’s not what you said last time we…”
He blew a puff of smoke into Fujiko’s spluttering face, lopsided grin finishing the sentence more effectively than words.
“Jigen!” she gave him another shove as Goemon chuckled, “A gentleman isn’t supposed to kiss and tell.”
“I’m not a gentleman,” Jigen quipped with a grin, as Goemon dissolved into helpless laughter at Fujiko’s red face.
He got himself under control enough to ask – in full serious tone, “Pray tell us then Jigen, what did Ms Mine say last time you…”
He finished the sentence with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, and Lupin barely heard Fujiko he was so caught up in admiring Goemon’s incredibly out-of-character expression. He knew that eyebrow wiggle – it was the same one he directed at himself every morning in the mirror. How long had the samurai been parroting his expressions, either consciously or unconsciously?
His chest warm and tight he zoned back into the conversation, where Fujiko was now holding Jigen’s scotch glass hostage while he performed a shocking imitation of her to a laughing Goemon.
“I’m fairly certain it went something like this.” The gunman coughed and pitched his voice higher, “Oh please Jigen, don’t stop. Your beard is scratching me in all the right ways…”
Unable to maintain the ruse, Jigen dissolved into laughter as well, head dropping forward on Goemon’s shoulder.
“That’s not how it went and you know it,” Fujiko huffed, as Goemon and Jigen doubled over.
“Sorry, sorry,” Jigen came up, gasping for air, “you’re right, it actually went – oh Jigen, you and your beautiful beard feel so good. If you stop now, I will kill you.”
He paused for a moment, looking up in a motion Lupin recognised as his ‘pretending to think’ face.
“And then you pulled my hair and I think I might have a bald spot now…” he rubbed his head absently, “threatening me and physical violence, I don’t think we should sleep together anymore Fujiko. It’s bad for my health.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Fujiko said primly, taking a sip from the scotch glass, “I don’t think I want to sleep with you after that.”
Jigen grinned again, and whisked the glass out from underneath her. He caught Lupin’s eye and winked at him. Lupin lifted his glass in a salute, well aware that he was being uncharacteristically quiet, yet, unable to find it in himself to throw himself in with his usual gusto. He was getting soft, he thought, as he watched his lovers banter across the table.
Fujiko slid into the bench seat beside him, head tilted to the side as she looked at him.
“Are you okay lover?”
Her slim hand found his own and laced their fingers together. In the background Goemon and Jigen were still chuckling, heads tilted together like two peas in a pod as they conversed in rapid-fire Japanese.
“Yeah,” he said, and to his surprise, he meant it, “I’m glad we’re all here together.”
Fujiko hummed and leaned into his side, “It was a good idea. It’s been fun, just the four of us.”
“It has been,” he said, giving her a quick kiss to the top of her head, “and you haven’t even killed Jigen yet?” he added with a grin.
Fujiko rolled her eyes, “I will if he keeps making up stories about me.”
The night wore on remarkably quickly, or maybe it was just that Lupin was so engrossed in the people around him that he didn’t notice the time. Fireworks had been planted in the nearby canal to go off at midnight, and downstairs the celebrations were ramping up. Lupin had lost count of how much the four of them had had to drink, he just knew that he wasn’t really looking forward to picking up the tab at the end of the night. Maybe they could stage an escape, and get away without paying…
Movement in his periphery caught his attention. Goemon was wandering back over to their table, leaving Fujiko and Jigen on their own near the edge of the terrace. Lupin leaned his head onto Goemon’s shoulder when the samurai sat beside him.
“Do we need to worry?” he asked, gesturing to where Fujiko and Jigen were leaning against a railing in an animated discussion.
“No,” was Goemon’s simple reply, “they were debating the finer points of explosives in fireworks when I left.”
He was silent for a moment, then he snaked an arm around Lupin’s waist – laying his own head down atop the thiefs with a small sigh.
“You worry too much.”
“Hmm?” Lupin would have looked up to see Goemon’s face if he could have, even if he suspected that the usual neutral expression would be in place.
“We,” Goemon started, “We will be fine. All of us.”
“How can you be so sure?” Lupin said, with as much on an exasperated shrug as he could manage, “It seems like only yesterday we were having to drag Jigen and Fujiko apart, because Fujiko was still selling us out at every opportunity, and you were swanning off whenever you wanted to without telling anyone…”
Goemon’s arm tightened around his waist, bringing his monologue to an impromptu pause.
“Those days are over now,” the samurai said, lifting his head, “I have realised that my place is here, Fujiko is more loyal now than she has ever been,” he paused for a moment, “I suspect Jigen and Fujiko will always bicker, but I am moderately confident we will never have to intervene between death threats again.”
He motioned with his free hand, “look, they prove my point without realising.”
Warm affection flooded Lupin’s heart as he watched his two oldest lovers. Below them in the bar there was shouting – the countdown to midnight (and the new year) was starting. Jigen had an arm slung casually around Fujiko’s shoulders, and Lupin could have jumped up and hugged them both with happiness when he saw Jigen kiss Fujiko’s hair as the fireworks in the nearby canal started to ignite.
The affection only increased tenfold when he witnessed Fujiko mouthing something, flicking her long hair back over her shoulder in a familiar motion. Jigen smiled at her, his lopsided one that said he found something amusing. Then, Fujiko pulled him down to press their mouths together and Jigen didn’t even so much as flinch. Lupin felt as though his heart might actually burst out of his chest as he watched Fujiko wrap her arms around the gunman’s shoulders, as Jigen pulled her close, arms wrapped around her torso in kind.
As much as Lupin wanted to jump up and down and yell with glee at the sight, he didn’t want to interrupt. So, he settled for wrapping his arms around Goemon instead. The samurai looked down at him with an embarrassingly fond expression.
“I just love them both very much!” Lupin said defensively, seeing the knowing twinkle in Goemon’s eyes.
“What about me?” he said, with a mock offended expression.
Lupin rolled his eyes and leaned forward to place a quick kiss on the samurai’s cheek, “You too, of course.”
Goemon hummed, the corners of his mouth turned up in a small smile.
“Of course.” He echoed, “Now it is your turn to remember that we, against our better judgement, love you as well. We wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Lupin narrowed his eyes, pretending for the sake of theatrics to be unconvinced, “How do I know for sure? Maybe this is all an elaborate ruse to sell me out?”
Goemon chuckled, “Hardly. If anything, I am in for the long haul. I am hoping you all get better with age so I can sell you for a profit.”
“If we get better with age, aren’t you better off staying with us?”
A loud cheer erupted in the building below them. It was so loud that it almost made the railings on the edge of the rooftop terrace shake.
Goemon leaned forward into his space, murmuring against his lips, “Do not think about it too much. Enjoy the new year.”
The next thing Lupin knew was the feeling of Goemon’s tongue against his own and he all but melted into the samurai. Fujiko was right, the holiday had been an excellent idea – one that he was definitely going to suggest again.