Work Text:
Alex sits on the barstool, poking at the last bits of his breakfast. He's been thoroughly fucked out the night before by the men in front of him, who are now bickering in the kitchen while doing the dishes. There’s a flirty air around them that Alex very much enjoys, comfortable easiness in the way they tick together, poking at each other both physically and metaphorically. There’s been a lot of that between them, recently, and it fills Alex with fuzzy giddiness.
It made him realise that while both of them have touched him a lot, they’ve barely ever touched each other. And maybe it wouldn’t be gnawing at him so much, had they not been looking so painfully hopeful that the other would make a move all the damn time.
Head propped up on his hand, eyes sparkling with excitement, Alex asks them.
"Would you kiss?"
Immediately, when the question lands, Alex realises that it’s a bomb he didn’t expect it to be. Seeing how both of them freeze, his stomach sinks.
Greg looks at Alex, raising an eyebrow.
"You?" he asks.
"Each other."
Greg gives him a dumbfounded, nervous smile, like he thinks Alex is joking.
“What? Why?”
Greg turns to Rhod like he expects to find a mirror of his own reaction, a reassurance. But when he doesn’t find it, his expression flattens.
Rhod barks out a laugh. “Haven’t had that in him for over fifteen years. Don't ask him now.” Rhod says, seemingly busy with wiping a plate he has long since dried.
Greg frowns. "What?" He hesitates. “Did you want me—”
“I don’t think it’s like that between us, Alex.” Rhod barrels over him.
“Yeah,” after a beat of stunned silence, Greg is quick to follow, back on track and visibly relieved to have Rhod backing him now.
Only… Alex is sure that whatever Rhod said wasn’t exactly an agreement, or even at all an agreement, and that Greg knows it too.
He confirms that when Greg excuses himself from the kitchen early, and then when Rhod gets ready to leave.
“Right. I’m gonna go to Sian,” he raises his voice a bit in the general direction Greg has disappeared to.
“Alright!” Greg replies, and doesn’t come to see him off.
Alex feels very confused and uneasy, looking at Rhod with a deep frown. His lips a worried line, almost disappearing completely under his moustache. He stands next to Rhod silently, holding onto a wall, looking at him putting on his shoes and jacket.
When Rhod is done, he smiles at Alex lightly, gets up to him and cradles his face in his hands. “Everything is okay, Alex, I promise,” he says and kisses Alex gently, still smiling. Alex grabs onto his arms when Rhod wants to extract himself, his eyes pleading. Rhod’s smile gets a bit sad and he kisses Alex again, a bit longer, letting their lips gently brush against each other. Alex wraps his arms around him and hugs him tightly.
“I'm sorry,” he mumbles into Rhod’s shoulder, unsure. “I didn’t want to prod at a sensitive topic. I thought…” he trails off.
Rhod rests his chin on his shoulder and hugs him. "We both love you, Alex. And as for me and Greg? We're friends. Good friends. But nothing more than that.”
The heavy pit in Alex’s stomach only seems to get heavier as he sees Rhod off. Alex walks to the living room as if in a haze, his head full of thoughts buzzing around like bees in a hive. He plops himself down on the sofa and stares off into space until Greg comes out. He sits down next to him, running a comforting hand over the top of Alex’s.
“Hey, love,” Greg rumbles, leaning into Alex to nuzzle his neck.
Alex does not respond.
“You okay?” Greg asks, pulling away to look at Alex properly.
“I just…” Alex sighs and looks at the floor. “I just don’t understand why you and Rhod don’t… why you aren’t…” Words that he wants to articulate fall just short of his tongue, and he huffs out a frustrated breath.
“Alex.” Greg takes Alex’s hand and holds it in both of his own.
Alex looks up into Greg’s eyes. He can tell by the tone of Greg’s voice that he’s about to say something serious, and he doesn’t want to miss it.
“Rhod and I have been mates for a long time. Over the years we discovered that we share many of the same… inclinations.” He tilts his head, as if wondering whether that’s the right word to use. “But we’ve never tried… anything… with each other. The opportunity just never came up.”
Alex opens his mouth to interject, but Greg cuts him off before he can start.
“We’re both very happy with our current situation, Alex.” Greg’s brows furrow as he stares into Alex’s eyes. “And honestly, what we have with you isn’t worth risking. We’re both perfectly content.”
“But I’m not!” Alex whines, the words bursting from his mouth. “I see the way you two look at each other and it’s… it’s bollocks that you’re not doing anything about it!”
Greg’s eyes widen as Alex shouts. His eyebrows venture up his forehead and his jaw drops a little.
“Why are you so invested in me getting together with Rhod?”
“Because I want you to be happy!”
“Alex, I am happy –”
“No, I want you to be happy with Rhod,” Alex explains, feeling frazzled. Why can’t Greg see what he’s trying to say? “I want you to go after the things that you want. And you want him.”
“I –”
“Don’t deny it!”
Silence falls as they stare each other down. Greg looks surprised. Alex’s heart is beating fast, his breathing quick.
“Listen,” Alex says, after a minute. “I love you both. And I know that both of you love me. But I want you to love each other as well.”
“Alex, I’m not –”
“Please.” Alex squeezes Greg’s fingers, still wrapped around Alex’s hands. “Just try. For me?”
Greg considers for a minute, looking into Alex’s face. Finally he sighs and removes his hands from Alex’s. He wraps his arms around him and pulls him close.
“Alright,” he mutters into Alex’s hair. “For you.”
—
The next time Rhod comes over, he’s been briefed by Alex on what’s going to happen. Alex’s plan? Lock them in a room together until they can figure their shit out.
Rhod, however, is not so easy to persuade.
“Alex, there’s no use in doing this! If he was interested in me, we’d have done this a long time ago!”
“Rhod, please,” Alex begs, taking him by the shoulders and forcing Rhod to look into his eyes. “I’m just asking you to give it a try.”
Rhod rolls his eyes and looks at Greg for backup. Greg only crosses his arms and shakes his head.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” he shouts, throwing his arms in the air. “Fine! But I promise you,” he points a finger at Alex threateningly. “Nothing is going to come of this.”
Despite his hostility and his words, Alex smiles. “Thank you, Rhod.” He wraps him up in an embrace that Rhod reluctantly returns.
“You’re lucky I love you,” he grumbles into Alex’s collarbone.
“Right, let’s go!” Alex pulls away and grabs Rhod by the wrist, dragging him over to Greg. He grabs Greg’s wrist as well and pulls both of them along to the bedroom. He guides them inside and closes the door, turning the lock.
Greg and Rhod look at Alex, who is in the room with them.
“Are you… do you need to be here for this?”
“I mean, the door locks from the inside. Someone has to guard it to make sure you two don’t try to escape.”
“Jesus Christ,” Greg grumbles, at the same time Rhod says, “Fuck’s sake.”
Alex presses his back to the door and slides himself down, sitting in front of it and crossing his legs. He looks up at his two men expectantly, puppy dog eyes sparkling.
“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Rhod spits, and looks up at Greg. “So what do you have to say for yourself?”
“What do I have to say?” Greg bellows. “You’re the one that never made a move on me, even though I gave you plenty of opportunities to do so! And I thought, well that’s just fine, then! If Rhodri doesn’t want me, then fuck him!”
“I did want you, you ignorant hot air balloon! I never made a move because you drew the line in the sand!”
“What fucking line?” Greg’s face is turning red as he yells, his hair getting messed up the more flustered he gets.
“You told me that I could fuck off with thinking about making a move on you.”
“Bullshit. I never did.”
“You did.” Rhod nods. “We were sitting on your fucking sofa, and I was trying to talk to you, to get you to open up, to see if we could make this –” he gestured between himself and Greg, “work. And I said, ‘If you don’t want to talk about it, just tell me to fuck off.’ And you said, ‘Fuck off, then,’ and then you left!”
Rhod is left breathing heavily, glaring daggers up at Greg, whose face has gone pale.
“Shit,” he says quietly, almost a whisper.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Rhod crosses his arms. “So fuck you.”
“No, Rhodri, I… that’s not what I said.”
Rhod arches an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
“I thought you said, ‘If you don’t want to talk about it, then you can fuck off,’ and I said, ‘I’ll fuck off, then,’ and left, because you clearly were angry at me and I knew I didn’t have a chance.”
Greg looks down at his hands, empty and grasping at nothing. Rhod’s face is fixed, angry and unmoving. Then, suddenly, the anger drains out of him.
“Oh,” he says quietly.
“Yeah.” Greg continues to look at his hands. He chances a glance up at Rhod’s face.
They stare at each other for a solid minute. Alex wonders if they’re trying to communicate telepathically. Then they surge forward into an embrace, Greg leaning down to kiss Rhod on the mouth. Rhod melts under him, wrapping his arms as far as he can around Greg’s midsection, and Alex swears he hears him whimper into the kiss.
“I’m so sorry,” Greg says, breaking apart, and Alex can hear the wobble in his voice that means he’s on the verge of tears.
“What a stupid fucking miscommunication,” Rhod chuckles weakly, and reaches up to kiss Greg again.
They grab at each other and keep kissing, and when they break apart again, Rhod turns to Alex and beckons him over with a motion of his hand.
“Alex, love.”
Greg pulls Rhod back into another kiss as Alex stands up from his spot on the floor. He walks over to Greg and Rhod and stops for a second to watch them. Warmth pools deep in his belly to see the men he loves loving each other. Then he gets pulled into their embrace and is smothered in kisses from both sides. He giggles and then raises a finger in the middle of the three of them.
“Wait, wait! I have an idea.”
They look at him, waiting.
“Would you kiss?” he says, raising his eyebrows.
“Him or you?” Rhod asks, jerking his head toward Greg.
“Yes,” Alex says with confident finality, and leans in toward both of them.
Greg raises an eyebrow, then lets out a chuckle as he figures out what Alex wants them to do. Rhod looks confused.
“Three way kiss,” Greg explains to Rhod, who bursts into laughter.
“Yeah, alright.”
The three of them lean in, pressing corners of their mouths against the two on either side of them. It’s surprisingly nice, and actually works. Each one kisses into the other two, and they all stay like that for a minute before pulling back. Alex has a huge grin on his face. Rhod rolls his eyes again but looks pleased. Greg pulls Alex in for a one-on-one kiss.
“Thank you for this, Alex.”
“Yes, I suppose we should thank you,” Rhod says begrudgingly.
Alex beams. He thinks that maybe things will be different from here on out.
Different, and better.