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Christmas celebrations in the city had a way of getting one in the festive mood.
The procession of marching elves brought warmth to their hearts to beat the chill of winter and the gray clouds above. Bells chimed in the streets as the parade turned into the next corner, and the cheering of the crowd drowned out the music blaring over the speakers. Toward the edge of the crowd stood Arthur, Vivi and Lewis, all of which were paying attention, but only enough to the general movement of the parade, and not the finer details. A large red sleigh signalled the end of the parade, and the majority of the crowd followed the sleigh into the streets. The three young adults stayed behind, reclining against a brick garden.
The audience had now scattered, making their leisurely way to their next destination. Groups of friends chatted and walked towards the roads, and couples posed next to the fenced off Christmas tree nearby for yuletide photos. Arthur watched the couples bitterly, wondering if Vivi and Lewis would want him to take a picture for them in front of the tree. As he pulled his phone out, he saw the time on his lock screen and turned to Vivi to try and get their attention.
"Well you two better go and get ready for your date. It's almost 7," Arthur said, shuffling from foot to foot. Vivi could tell how jittery Arthur was, and her stomach dropped. She just knew what she was going to say next would make him even more jittery, but it was something that she and Lewis wanted to sort out for a long time now.
"Uh- Arthur, you do know we made a reservation for three, right?" Vivi threw her hand in the direction of the stuttery mechanic.
Arthur’s eyes widened for just a moment, and then faded back into blankness. “Eh- Oh,” he mumbled. The warmth from the parade and the jolly atmosphere dissipated in an instant, and Arthur felt the winter bite at him. Part of him tried to think back to what Vivi and Lewis told him. He knew they said the word date, he swore they did, but if he was coming along then they must have been lying. After all, he was Arthur Kingsmen, the perennial third wheel. As he was, is now, and ever shall be.
A glum look crossed his face, turning his mouth down into a frown. This gave Vivi pause. Why would being invited out upset Arthur so? Maybe he wasn’t as into them as she first thought. Maybe she was just projecting her feelings for him onto him. As she gripped her hands together for just a moment, Lewis stepped forward and put a hand to Arthur’s shoulder.
“We really do want you there, Arthur,” Lewis said, pulling him in close to have the three of them huddled together. In the December chill, this proximity had its perks, but there was a tension in the air that they could all sense. Arthur wasn’t frowning anymore, but the bemusement on his face was undeniable.
“...Let me get this straight, you want me to come with you both to that really pricey restaurant with the fancy hot pots?” Arthur started, trying to wrap his head around what the two of them were proposing. “You know, the restaurant you were lamenting getting reservations for because it would be packed this time of year? The restaurant whose usual run of customers are couples who are very much in love with each other?”
Arthur had worked himself up into a state of fear again. There was no getting around it. They must really want to humiliate their third wheel. He tried to stop the tears from running, so he held them in as his face went red from the exertion. Something was wrong here, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. Were they just wanting to get his hopes up so they could rub it in his face?
But one look at their faces said that that was not the case. Both of them were staring at him without a trace of irony or mockery. Instead, the crinkles of their eyes and the soft curve of their mouths suggested… fondness? No. Couldn’t be.
“Funny thing about the couples,” Vivi started, but Lewis cut her off in haste. He did not want to give the impression that the two of them were breaking up. Far from it in fact. There was no use. They dug themselves in deep, and the only way out was through.
“What Vivi’s trying to say is, well, we were thinking of asking you something, in fact. Not just, 'do you want to come on our date', but, 'do you want to be our boyfriend?’” Lewis sputtered like he was choking on air. He had never expected him to be the one to ask Arthur out. It was Vivi who broke the ice and transitioned their relationship from friends to lovers, so it made sense that he would be the one to bring Arthur into the fold.
Meanwhile, Arthur stood on the marble tiles, dumbfounded and trying to piece together what was being said.
He asked: “Do you want to be our boyfriend?” Our. Not my, not his, not her. Our. Both Vivi and Lewis.
It was like some wonderful dream. It had to be a dream. Arthur couldn’t just say yes.
“...” Arthur’s mouth hung open, leaving a cavern large enough for flies to swarm into unnoticed. “...Are you… are you really…” God, he could kick himself! He was making a fool out of himself, melting into a puddle in front of the nice people who wanted an answer, for Pete’s sake.
Lewis and Vivi linked hands, gripping them tightly. They looked into each other’s eyes, nodded, and turned to Arthur with such immaculate timing he could assume the whole routine was rehearsed.
“We mean it,” the two of them said in unison.
“After all the crazy things that have happened to us within the last year, I’m surprised this is the hardest thing for us to do,” Vivi said, stepping forward. “But speaking from my experience, I knew you were a good friend. You were there for me after Lewis died, and I didn’t even know why you were being so kind to me. When everything fell into place and I remembered that I loved Lewis, I didn’t want to forget about what you meant to me. It’s just, with all the shit we had to sort out, I kind of just left confessing my feelings about you lower on the totem pole until we were all comfortable again. Then one night, I just admitted to Lewis that I liked you too, and I was surprised that he thought the same!” As Vivi laughed, the spectre beside her hid his mouth and chuckled before starting his spiel.
“I actually forget that all of that stuff happened. To me, it feels like years ago. To think I once resented you and hated the ground you walked on! But then it all came back to me, and I remembered how much I loved you. I felt guilty for months, thinking about what I almost did to you. But I needed stability for just a while. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel left out during that time, Arthur. I’m just glad that Vivi decided to admit her feelings, and then we can really talk about where to go from there. And here we are now. We’ve been through too much to ever hate each other again. I know deep in my heart that I love you, and Vivi loves you too. We want to know if you feel the same about us.” Lewis put an arm around Vivi and stretched a hand out in the direction of the coward who was no doubt in shambles.
Here they were, bearing their hearts out for him, standing in front of the beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the middle of the city. How could Arthur not be swayed? The butterflies in his stomach raced from one wall to another, and he gripped his metal arm with his right hand. He could feel the cold metal under the cover of the warm zip up jacket he had on. At least now he was grounded.
Arthur swallowed a mouthful of doubt. He had his answer.
“Jeez, I wish I could spit out that many words to say what you both mean to me. But I’m not good at that. And I’d rather not take up your time after you spent all that time saying all those things about me, so I’ll just say… yeah, I’ll be your boyfriend. I’ll be a boyfriend to both of you.”
Lewis pulled Arthur into his barrel chest, holding him close to his thrumming heart. Never before had Arthur been held this close. Blood rushed to his cheeks as he tried to hug Lewis back, but he was startled by the tackling leap of Vivi. The three of them stood, interlocked, cuddling in the shadow of the Christmas tree.
“Think fast, guys!” Vivi cried, and as Arthur turned his head to face her, his cheeks met her lips. He must have been burning like a meteor against her mouth; it was a surprise that she didn’t pull away. Lewis kept his arms around Arthur, holding him close in the hopes that he would be able to calm the racing heart of this boy in love.
“Now smile!” Vivi shouted, holding her phone in the air and catching the three of them in the limits of the lens. As the shutter snapped, Lewis rested Arthur against him, looking down at him with a loving smile. Meanwhile, Arthur looked like a deer in headlights with eyes as wide as saucers.
“There we go, our first couple selfie! And in front of the Christmas tree too,” Vivi proclaimed, saving the photo and setting it to her lock screen. She proudly showed the boys. Lewis ran his hand over Arthur’s shoulder while the scrawny blonde stared at the picture. He could have looked so much better, but the phone screen showed all he wanted. It was a picture of him in front of the Christmas tree as part of a couple.
A few minutes ago, he was trying to fight the jealousy of seeing couples together. Now, he was in one. He wanted to cry. He really did. The joy was spilling out of his brain, unable to be contained all at once.
Vivi locked her phone and shoved it in her pocket, taking Arthur’s hand and starting a stride. “Now come on, boyfriends! The best hot pot in our lives awaits!” Her grand steps pulled Arthur forward, and he linked his other hand with Lewis. They were right, it had been a crazy year, and the craziest part was that it was going to end like this.