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“Happy Birthday!” a naked Uhtred shouted as he bounced excitedly onto the bed next to the sleeping Sihtric.
Sihtric groaned and rolled away from his noisy Lord, burying his face against Finan’s chest and snuggling closer. Finan wrapped a protective arm around their boy, opened one eye and glared at Uhtred. “Too early” he grunted, closed the eye, and nestled back comfortably around Sihtric.
Despite his disappointment that his morning greeting had not been well received, Uhtred did have to acknowledge that it was indeed very early and probably too early for this level of enthusiasm.
With Finan and Sihtric clearly not ready to start the day yet, Uhtred joined them under the furs, curling his body around his beautiful boy, gently kissing the back of his neck as well as Finan’s hand where it held him in place.
Uhtred tried in vain to get back to sleep. Every minute his two lovers lay there contentedly snoring against each other felt like an hour. The more he tried to be sleepy, the more awake he felt. If he hadn’t already been told off by Finan, he’d have risked mischievously poking them awake and then pretending to know nothing about what had roused them.
As he lay there, next to the two men he shared his life with, he thought about how the day would play out.
Sihtric had never had a birthday celebration. He hadn’t been told on what day he’d been born and in all the years they’d been together, the three of them had never been able to mark the occasion. Sihtric hadn’t minded. He said he couldn’t miss something he never had. But it was one of the last remnants of his old life, and both Uhtred and Finan wanted rid of it. There should no longer be anything that marked out their cherished boy as different.
So the two older men had decided to give Sihtric a birthday. From now on, they would celebrate the anniversary of Sihtric’s first day as Uhtred’s oath-man. It felt appropriate to mark this first day of freedom as the first day of his new life.
Sihtric knew nothing of their plans. He was unaware of the gifts waiting for him, the special honey-cake made for him, and the day full of treats they had in store.
As he lay there, Uhtred thought of how Sihtric had grown from a boy to a man. Although they still referred to him as their boy, no longer was he the shy, blushing outsider. He was a strong, confident man who knew his worth and understood the value his Lord and his Irishman placed on the love and loyalty he both gave to them and received from them.
When the sun had finally risen high enough in the sky to send its light through the window onto the three bodies entwined under the furs, Finan and Sihtric at last wriggled and stretched themselves awake. As Sihtric turned to face his Lord, he was reminded of the earlier disturbance. “What did you say when you jumped on us in the middle of the night?”.
“Happy Birthday my love” Uhtred replied, kissing the boy on his beautiful lips.
“Happy Birthday precious one” whispered Finan, reaching his strong arms around both men.
Sihtric smiled. He had no need of birthdays. He had everything he could ever wish for. But if his special day was headed the way it appeared to be - as both men ran their hands over his awakening body - he most certainly would not object.