Work Text:
Richard Montlaur was born on the 14th day of July in 1994 in Cordon, France. He was the third and final child born to Timothy and Marion Montlaur, a couple who lived and worked on a picturesque goat farm. Their son had been a perfect child, just like his brothers had been, and had enjoyed roaming the fields around their farm with his brothers and their friends and lending a helping hand with the daily tasks of a farm whenever he was required. Most of all, Richard loved kicking around the soccer ball they'd bought him for his eighth birthday - he loved learning new tricks and constantly improving his shooting accuracy on each foot. His mother didn't understand how her son could play for hours with a ball even when nobody else could play with him, but she never questioned it. Both she and her husband knew that he would go far in the world of soccer; they knew he would play in the big leagues. Now that Richard plays for AFC Richmond, Timothy and Marion fondly remind him that they are his biggest fans.
Colin Hughes was born on the 21st day of August in 1995 in Cardiff, Wales. He was the first and only child born to Brynn Hughes, who did not know she was pregnant until after Colin's father revealed that he was married and wanted nothing more to do with her. Brynn had known that being a single mother would be demanding and was thankful to her parents for the care and support they always offered to her and Colin. He was a quiet child, one his family feared would get lost amongst the crowd until his grandfather brought him football boots and signed him up for a local team at the age of six. Once he stepped foot on the pitch, Colin's anxieties were quickly forgotten, and he showed off the confidence and swagger that Brynn had loved so much about his father. She attended each and every match her son ever played before he was transferred from Cardiff City F.C. to AFC Richmond; she was his biggest cheerleader and is sure she always will be.
Jan Maas was born on the 1st day of September in 1993 in Groningen, Netherlands. He was the first of four children born to Michel and Aletta Maas, a couple who always prioritised their respective law careers over their familial duties. They don't recall the times that Jan was a golden child, caring for two younger sisters and his brother; they only mention the times they were dragged to the principles office to discuss their eldest son's tendency to fight on the schoolyard. It was a co-worker of Aletta's who suggested signing Jan up for a sport would stomp out his unruly behaviour at age nine. Neither Michel nor Aletta thought their eldest son would go far in life; he was not an academic like their other children, so when they were told their son was gifted on the pitch, they just were relieved he was not a total failure. Micheel and Aletta did not say goodbye to their son at the airport when he left for London, did not hug him like his younger siblings did and force him into promising to visit and call as much as possible. If they were ever asked, neither of them could even name the club that their eldest child played for.
When asked what brought the three men together and led them to find love in a throuple, a term Richard personally despises, all three of them have different answers. Richard takes on a loving expression as he claims destiny brought them together, Colin's eyebrows knit together in confusion as he claims football brought them together, and Jan bluntly reveals that it was an excess amount of alcohol and the fact they were all horny that led to them crossing the line beyond friendship. However, whether it was fate, football or alcohol and horniness that brought the three of them together, the truth of the matter is that they love one another and are determined to celebrate each other at every given opportunity.
Richard had always loved his birthday and was grateful that his parents and siblings had always made it so special when he was younger before passing the duty over to his friends and teammates as he got older. One of the first things he was most excited about upon entering a relationship with Jan and Colin was his birthday, knowing they'd honour the tradition of him having perfect parties.
Richard's birthday fell on a Friday, exactly six weeks after they'd made their relationship status known to their teammates. Although Richard was the one who typically planned their dates and outings, Colin and Jan did not struggle to plan the perfect birthday bash for the man. It was easy to predict that Richard would want a large party attended by his boyfriends, teammates and model friends with whom he could speak drunken French. Jamie had been kind enough to offer his house as a venue, knowing his three friends would likely sneak off to make use of one of his guestrooms and Sam helped them source crates of champagne and goat's cheese while Isaac helped them curate the guestlist and decide on a firm dress code. Richard spent the night as close to his boyfriends as possible, thanking them as often as possible for organising the whole thing and laughing each time they tried to minimise their involvement by reminding him they had enlisted their friends for help.
As the night ended and the morning began, the party started to clear out of Jamie's house, and Richard pulled both Jan and Colin into the nearest bathroom and performed two very eager handjobs before demanding his boyfriends take him home.
Colin always associated his birthday with feeling loved, remembering how his mother had taken the day off work to ensure she could spend the whole day with him. As a child, Colin didn't appreciate how much his mother skrimped and saved to be able to afford to fulfil his every wish on his birthday, whether it was go-karting or laser tag or a day spent in the cinema; whatever Colin wanted on his birthday, he got. As he got older and realized the importance of money and the hardships that came with earning it, Colin began to ask for less and less of his mother each year, but Brynn didn't let his lack of asking to prevent her from dragging him off to do something fun. The only thing that made honouring this tradition difficult was the fact he now lived in London, something Jan and Richard could empathize with when Colin told him he would be visiting his mother in Cardiff for their grand day out two days after his birthday.
Colin's birthday fell on a Monday, and it was surprisingly easy for Richard and Jan to cajole the rest of the team into joining them for a day of paintballing to celebrate Colin's birthday. Even O'Brian, who they had worried would pull out at the last minute due to one of those embarrassing injuries he was known for. managed to make the journey to a paintballing centre just outside London to surprise Colin when he took his blindfold off. When Richard had bundled him into an Audi and told him to put the blindfold on, Colin hadn't known what to expect other than that they would likely have to make another stop and pick up Jan before arriving at their final destination. Dani's comment about the blindfold being kinky when they arrived made the heat rise quickly in Colin's cheeks, he was still not used to people knowing about his love life, but Jan and Richard's laughter instantly ridded him of his embarrassment. He loved how they were so confident in both themselves and their relationship. The three of them spent hours working as a unit against the other team that was captained proudly by Moe who'd vowed to destroy anyone he came across and celebrated with a tight group hug when their team reigned supreme. Colin slept on the way back into London with Richard and Jan conversing quietly in the front seats, only to be woken by Jan who gently asked what he wanted to eat from McDonald's as Richard pulled into the drive-through. Colin smiled, touched that they'd remembered him telling them that his mother always ended his birthday by getting him McDonald's as a rare treat and greedily asked for as much food on the menu as he could remember.
Colin was too full at the end of the night to thank them with anything more than sloppy kisses and telling them that he'd never had a better birthday.
Jan did not care much for his birthday; to him, it was just a day like any other. His parents had never thrown him elaborate parties like Richard's parents had, and they certainly had never taken the day off work like Colin's mother had done each year. Jan didn't tell his boyfriends this when they asked him how he usually spent his birthday, unwilling to let them know what his parents were truly like just yet, he simply told them that he never thought much of it which surprised Richard and Colin greatly. It seemed unnatural that Jan wouldn't give much thought to something so when they asked if they could plan his day and he agreed without hesitation, knowing they'd simply pester him for days until they wore him down otherwise, Colin and Richard knew that they had to make it special.
Jan deserved to love his birthday as much as they loved theirs; he deserved to be celebrated.
There was not long between Colin's birthday and Jan's birthday for Colin and Richard to plan the perfect party or day so after days of agonizing over what to do; Colin and Richard decided the best thing to do was to hold a team meeting, without Jan, to brainstorm ideas. As Colin handed out beers to everyone who stayed behind to help them and Richard erased whatever Coach Lasso had written on the whiteboard, both of them thought that Jan would be rather impressed with how seriously they were taking it. He was a fan of order and efficiency and seeing his boyfriends host a meeting definitely would've done something to turn him on.
"Why don't you just spend the day in bed sucking him off?" Jamie asked with a shrug of the shoulders, his crass question shocking everyone in the room especially considering the fact that he had not opened his bottle of beer yet. Colin started at his friend with his mouth agape as Richard quickly jotted the suggestion down on the whiteboard; he did not think that spending a day in bed with his boyfriend was a bad idea at all.
"Wipe that off the board" Colin hissed, passing the eraser to Richard who only laughed as he followed his boyfriend's order. He truly thought it was adorable how awkward Colin got whenever discussing sex and made a mental note to tell him as much later that night when they were with Jan "We need serious suggestions here fellas!"
"Well, what does Jan like?" Dani asked, quickly deleting the suggestions for how Colin and Richard should help the other man celebrate his birthday that he'd written in his notes app prior to their meeting. If they had not liked Jamie's suggestion, they defiantly would not have liked his suggestions of various positions and kinks that they could spend the day exploring.
"Well, he likes being-"
"Do not finish that sentence, Richard!" Colin cut his boyfriend off with a harsh glare. He knew that Richard would never have actually revealed Jan's love of being tied up and was simply teasing him, but part of the fun of Richard's teasing was giving him the reaction he wanted. It was all a part of their game "It's not as simple as doing what Jan likes; his birthday has to be spectacular! He helped make both of ours so special, and we want to do the same for him"
"Why were your birthdays so special?" Sam asked slowly as he shared a look with Isaac, neither of them understanding how Colin and Richard hadn't figured this out for themselves. It seemed Jan really was the brains of the relationship.
"They were special because they were exactly what we wanted - we got to share our traditions with people we love" Richard answered, his back turned to everyone as he began drawing hards on the whiteboard. He could feel Colin's eyes on him, and he smiled at the attention as he wished Jan was there. He was excited for their date later that night, eager to spend time with the two people he cared for the most in life "Jan won't tell us what he wants to do though, which is why we enlisted you guys"
"Maybe he just wants to do nothing?" Isaac suggested, watching as Richard stopped drawing and realization dawned on Colin. It really was surprising that they had not figured it out earlier "Maybe, he just wants to do nothing with the two of you"
Jan's birthday fell on a Friday. He had expected to be woken up by his boyfriends bursting into his apartment and demanding he got up and dressed so they could whisk him away for a day of activities that he'd pretend to enjoy just to make them smile but was pleasantly surprised when they arrived with breakfast and declared they were staying in. Jan had not thought that staying in would occur to either of them and as the day progressed and they continued to laze about watching movies and playing on his Xbox, Jan waited for them to reveal the rest of their plans. He expected to be told about a fancy dinner where the team would surprise him or an elaborate party where he'd have to suffer as the centre of attention, but no such revelation ever happened. He simply got to spend a day doing nothing with the two people he loved, and as they lay in bed together, each of them sweaty and trying to catch their breath, Jan had to use all of his strength not to make any premature confessions of love to the men laying on each side of him.
Spending the day with the two people he loved was the perfect way for Jan to spend his birthday and he hoped he'd get to celebrate in the same way every year for the rest of his life.