Work Text:
Toma closed the bathroom door as quietly as he could. He shivered as the cool morning air hit his bare chest; he had only bothered to put on his pajama pants.
He thought about making himself coffee but decided against it. I'll wake them up. He thought.
Instead, he made his way to the living room, where three futons were lined up next to each other on the floor, two of which were occupied; Mai was curled up one the middle one, while Shin was sprawled out on the right one. Toma eagerly hid under the covers; he had just taken a shower and while he felt refreshed, he realized that perhaps he should have grabbed a shirt.
"Toma?" Mai gently whispered. She was buried under two thick blankets; all Toma could see was her blonde, ruffled hair and forehead peeking out from under the covers.
"Sorry I woke you." He whispered. "Sleep."
But Mai shuffled closer to him, clearly wanting to cuddle. Toma smiled, and pulled her close to his body. "You're cold". Mai said, but she didn't move away. "I just took a shower." He wrapped his arms around her, settling into a comfortable position.
How they ended up like this was beyond him. 2 years ago, he had hurt her in anger, and yet she hadn't turned her back on him. I don't deserve this. He thought as he kissed her forehead. I don't.
He did go to trial, and he did get a sentence; a very light one, due to his lack of criminal record as well as Mai's positive testimony. He said he didn't want any mercy or forgiveness, but Mai insisted she was not turning her back on him. "Well if she isn't, then neither am I." Shin had said. That had surprised Toma. Out of everyone, he was sure Shin would be the one to never, ever forgive him. But apparently that was not the case. "But you're gonna have to work damn hard to show me you're still my friend, our friend."
And that is exactly what Toma did. He served his time, he went to see specialists, he took medication, and it had gotten better. Back then, he was honestly just grateful they still wanted to talk to him, much less go out to a movie with him. Months had passed, but after a while it became natural they regularly spent time together, just like when they were kids.
Only, Toma realized something different was happening. He wasn't blind; Mai kept sneaking in shy, flirty glances not only at Shin, but at him too. At first he was puzzled, and Shin seemed even mad. "What is she playing at, honestly?" Shin muttered once to him when they were on their own. "Does she want us both or something?" Shin paced around angrily, his jaw clenched and his brow furrowed. However, Toma could clearly see Shin was half-faking his indignation; it was a cover for how he really felt. "She's not playing Shin, and you know it. She loves us both, and she's being honest about it." And probably impartially, too. Toma knew he didn't deserve it, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her to back off, especially after Shin told him he would hurt her. "Just accept the fact that she loves you, dumb-ass. I know I will." Shin had said.
And so Toma did.
At first Toma was anxious and untrusting of himself; but with time it got easier. Their relationship progressed soon into something physical; Mai would kiss him, then kiss Shin, then again him, then Shin until they all got tired of it and ended up snuggling together. On one occasion, Shin raised an eyebrow and joked that him and Toma should kiss "Since we're all enjoying ourselves here,right?", but Toma laughed and waved it off, telling him not to be weird. "It can't be any weirder than this." Shin mumbled after taking a shot of vodka. That one cold evening were sprawled out on the living room floor in Shin's apartment; Mai was dozing off on Toma's lap, drowsy from the little alcohol she drank. Shin was practically drunk, while Toma was very tipsy.
Things had happened later that night; not exactly sex, but not exactly tame foreplay either. However from that point on, they realized it was ridiculous for any of them to be in denial. And so, they officially started dating, all three of them.
Toma thought of it as not only dating Mai, but Shin too. Shin was his best friend and probably one of the few people Toma had ever been so close to. To say that he didn't have feelings for Shin would be be a lie; Toma realized that fairly soon. However, what those feelings were and how they physically manifested themselves was an entirely different matter (they had kissed a few times, nothing more), but Toma reasoned they had time to figure that out.
Now, he was just enjoying their weekend off together. Whenever they had time, they would do a small set up at one of their place's; they would line up three futons on the floor and just spend time with each other; watching movies, playing games, helping with each other's homework, or just having sex.
Sex was an interesting thing to figure out. At first they were rather clueless how to go about it, but in the end they simply let it happen. Sometimes, they were all there; other times, they spent time one on one. Their schedules differed and it was sometimes hard for all three of them to sync up for more than a couple of hours. So there were days Mai spent the night at Toma's, or at Shin's, or one of them would come to her. Toma still remembered how he once came home to her, braving the pouring rain to bring her her favorite food because she had a sudden craving."I was kidding!!" She had said while she energetically dried off his wet hair. In the end, Mai didn't let him go back home in the storm, and they spent a romantic and highly pleasent night together.
This time around, it was Toma's apartment they were all at. The night before, they all fully intended to get intimate, but exhaustion had gotten the better of them and they realized there was no point in needlessly tiring themselves out. So they settled down and decided to have some fun in the morning.
Toma had nearly dozed off when he heard Shin stirring. "Toma, you up?" He murmured.
"Yeah?"
"Why the hell were you taking a shower at 8 am?" Shin growled, sleepily propping himself up on his elbow.
Toma snorted "I want to be clean? Besides, normal people take showers around that time. When they have to go to work, or school, you know?"
Shin grunted unhappily in reply and scooted over to Mai, gently hugging her sleeping frame from behind, wrapping his arms around the places Toma couldn't reach from the front. "So when are we fucking?" Shin yawned, and moved in closer so he could prop his chin on Mai's shoulder.
Toma laughed "Your eyes are barely open."
- Give me a minute.
- You'll be asleep in a minute.
- Shut up Toma.
- And Mai's still asleep.
- Well then I'll wake her up.
- I'll hit you if you do.
Shin huffed, and Toma rolled his eyes. He liked to think Mai had already long gotten used to their bickering, whether it was at full volume or in hushed tones over her shoulder.
"Let's sleep some more, we've had a long week." Toma suggested, and Shin mumbled an okay.
It was well after twelve before they all woke up again.