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Hannah felt Ernie take a slow, deep breath from under her head but she didn't open her eyes to look round at him. She didn't know what was going through his head and a part of her had to wonder if she wanted to know what was wrong with him. He was her best friend, though, so she knew that she couldn't just leave him to stew. When Ernie Macmillan was left to stew, bad things happened.
"You alright there?" She hummed, somewhat lazily. She didn't want to have to move either. The four puffs had been out late last night, partying in the Room of Requirement, and Hannah had definitely had far too much to drink. She was sort of hoping that Ernie had had too much and that was what was going on because she didn't think that she was able to cope with anything other than lounging around in bed for the whole day.
"Last night's events just came flooding back to me all at once." Ernie groaned and Hannah realised that she wasn't going to get away without him unloading on her. She didn't ordinarily mind, but she didn't ordinarily drink as much as she had last night. "I can't put it off any longer, can I?"
"Put what off?" Hannah found herself asking. She didn't know what he could possibly be talking about, nor did she think that she could even begin to work it out on her own. "What's going on, Ern?" She couldn't really remember much of last night, but she was aware that for the most part she had lost sight of her best friend. This was fine, they weren't joined at the hip after all, but from the way that he was talking whatever had happened in her absence seemed to be pretty serious.
"I kissed them." He paused and took another slow deep breath, which allowed for Hannah to process the fact that he had said 'them' and not 'him' or 'her'. She had known about his crushes on their mutual friends for some time now, but he had always promised that he would choose between them before he dared to act on his feelings. "I kissed both of them, Sunshine. I've messed it all up."
Hannah screwed her eyes up tightly as she tried to piece together any thoughts that weren't her just simply reprimanding him for being so foolish. She was grateful that he could see her from his current position as her pillow. "Why?"
"Because I like them both. I can't decide between them. It's not possible to." Ernie said quietly. Hannah could tell from his tone that he was as disappointed in himself as she was so she knew that she didn't need to make him feel worse about what had happened.
"You can't just string them along though." Hannah whispered. She didn't want to make him feel worse but Susan and Justin were her best friends too. He couldn't choose between them, and neither could she.
"I don't plan to." He said quietly before he swallowed thickly.
Hannah rolled over so that her head was on her hands which she had set in the middle of his chest and she was able to look down at him. "Then what?" She asked slowly, an eyebrow raised slightly as she tried to understand where his head was at. She didn't understand how he could kiss them and not expect any repercussions, not when she had it on good authority that both Susan and Justin had feelings for Ernie.
"They kind of.. both know? They were there…" Ernie rubbed a hand over his face and Hannah noted that he wasn't even able to look her in the eye. "It's one big mess. It would be so much easier if I…" He trailed off with a small shake of his head. "You gotta help me, Han."
"You know I'm always here for you, Ernie, but I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to help you figure out this one… You could… Date them both, I guess? If they both know you like the other then it's possible?" She knew that she didn't sound particularly confident in what she was saying but then Hannah had no experience in dating at all.
"Yeah, I guess I'll have to talk to them about it. I just… If they don't agree to it, if they want me to choose between them, I could lose them both. And I don't know if I want to risk that. They're family, just like you are."
Hannah chewed on her lip. She knew that Ernie had been kicked out of his parent's house at the start of the previous summer when he had come out as bisexual to them, that she was the only person to know this and that was only because he has moved onto her sofa for the whole summer. Hannah's family had taken him in without any questions and Ernie had tried to let them know how grateful he was each and every night.
It took a few moments for Hannah to collect her thoughts, something that she would be sure to blame on the alcohol that her brain was still swimming in if he questioned her, before she was able to form a response. "They won't turn their backs on you if you continue to be honest with them. Before they developed these feelings for you, they were your friends. Friendship runs deeper than anything else."
Ernie reached up and swept a strand of hair out of Hannah's face while she tried to give him what she hoped was a comforting smile. "That's your advice? Honesty is the best policy?" He asked to which Hannah gave a short nod. "You really are the puffiest puff that there ever was."
Hannah couldn't help but grin at that. "I do try." She told him, but they both knew that she didn't have to try at all. She just wanted for all their secrets to be paid out on the table so that she wouldn't have to keep them anymore, not to mention the fact that she just wanted her three best friends to be happy and if the way for that to happen was for the three of them to get together, then so be it. They wouldn't find a bigger cheerleader than her anyway.
Ernie shook his head fondly before he leaned his head back on her pillows, his eyes closing and a content smile now fixed in place on his lips.
Hannah let herself watch him for a few moments before she laid her head back down on his chest and closed her own eyes. He certainly seemed happier than he had before last night now that all of their feelings were out in the open and that made her feel a lot better about everything as well. She had hated knowing how everyone felt and not being allowed to say a word to the others, and honestly she had been so worried about what would happen when Ernie chose between the two other puffs and what effect that would have on their friendship as a whole that she peas honestly relieved that he was going to give it a shot with both of them. She was going to get to keep her three besties together and she couldn't ask for a better outcome.
Ernie saw them as his family, and that made them her family too. Family didn't always come in the form of two adults and their children; sometimes it came in the form of four queer teens, three cats and one owl.