Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It starts when the Achievement Hunter guys are in town.

Despite their shitty, half-pretend rivalry, Bruce actually admires them. They’re fun to be around and funny, witty, smarter than they give themselves credit for. They’ve been in this industry longer than Bruce himself, and even though their formats are different, Bruce stands to learn a lot at their feet. (Not that he’d ever admit to that. They’d never let him live it down.)

They’re alright though, Bruce likes them. So their last night in Los Angeles, after a day of making some videos with them, Bruce, James, Adam, Spoole, and Elyse take Michael, Geoff, and Gavin out to dinner. The place they choose to eat in is one they make fun of: a poorly lit, chic L.A. restaurant where they are having after-dinner drinks and joking around with each other.

It’s good and normal. They talk about videos they want to make together. They talk about new game releases. They talk about good shows they’ve seen recently. And, inevitably, they talk about their friends.

Bruce mentions Jack to Geoff and Geoff talks about Jack for a while. The conversation evolves and Geoff asks about Matt. Specifically, Geoff asks, “What’s up with Matt Peake? Does he not come out with you guys that often?”

Bruce answers sincerely, feeling a certain fondness at the thought of Matt, “He doesn’t go out with us much. Love the guy to death, but don’t count on him for anything after work.” And it’s true. Bruce and Matt have been roommates for almost six months now and Bruce has learned that while it looks like Matt likes to keep to himself on camera, off camera he’s passive but enthusiastic. His smiles are rare but that only makes them that much more valuable. He is also a huge introvert. His quiet, stoic demeanor does translate into his social life, that much is true. He likes to work out and occasionally go out if he has been notified in advance and it will be with friends. Matt is particular but it’s a delight when he finally goes out with you. Makes you feel like a cat has put its paw on your hand.

James pipes in then, answering Geoff’s question by adding onto Bruce’s answer, “Unless it’s the gym. Matt will never say no to the gym.”

Adam nods beside Bruce and James. “I’ve known the guy for years. He’s fun when he wants to be, but otherwise, he’s as reclusive as me.”

“You’re here, though,” Michael says, and smirks over the glass he has pressed to his mouth.

“Couldn’t get enough of your pretty face, could I?” Adam replies flatly.

Sean, where he’s sitting between Elyse and Gavin at the round table, has had one drink. Well, no drinks, actually. He’s been sipping from Elyse’s mojito most of the night while she pretends to mind. Sean almost stereotypically hiccups before he speaks, very much inebriated, and says, “Matt Peake is the beeeeest.”

Everyone at the table seems to collectively sigh.

Gavin coos jokingly, “Aw, little boy has a crush.” And goes to pinch Sean’s cheek when— Sean makes an indignant noise, actually does stereotypically hiccup, and says, “Don’t– Don’t tell him! Don’t tell Matt!”

Everything happens slowly for Bruce, then. Sean is blushing beet-red. The table is silent with every head turned to Sean’s direction. Bruce swallows hard. He has seen Matt and Sean interact. He knows they have tension between them, sly smiles and glances, but he never thought—

The moment passes so excruciatingly slow. Like, teeth-grindingly slow. Bruce considers three different forms of escape from this awful moment before Sean starts whining loudly and lamenting his sorrows onto Elyse’s shoulder. That breaks the tension, however clumsily, and it comes coupled with Geoff’s laugh, which is the first sign of amusement at the table. His loud guffaws startle the fuck out of Bruce, who all but jumps in his chair. Bruce grips his drink hard.

Geoff says, “Oh man! Man, oh man, you should see your faces!”

Bruce knits his brow, opens his mouth to ask What are you—? but he does a double take around the table and he realizes too late that Geoff is referring to them, to Funhaus, to its members seated at the table. They are all, in some form or another, tensing up, shifting uncomfortably, glancing around nervously, shocked and blushing.

It’s just… It was a shock, okay? Not that much, when the facts are considered, but still a shock. It counts.

Adam stops trying to sink into his chair long enough to take a gulp of his alcohol. A huge one.

The tense silence is once again broken clumsily, this time by Gavin, who flaps his hand and says, “Oh, come off it,” to which James asks “What?” apparently too quickly for Gavin’s liking. He and Michael exchange a look.

Michael leans forward on the table, shoulders squared and arms crossed around his drink glass. He speaks as if laying down the facts for dummies, says, “You’re tellin’ me that Spoole has a crush on Peake and none of you knew? Because those,” He gestures to Bruce’s face and Bruce is mildly offended, “Are not the faces of people who didn’t know.”

Adam takes another big, big drink. Hasn’t stopped drinking, in fact.

James puts on his best skeptical face, leans forward to mirror Michael’s stance, “Listen, I don’t know what all of you do down at Achievement Hunter-land, but—”

Spoole breaks through James’ sentence with a loud 'Why me?' whining while Elyse pats Sean’s head with a shocked smile on her face. She meets Bruce’s eyes and tries her best to convey a Can you believe this? gesture.

Bruce cannot actually believe this.

Michael speaks again, “Eight of you in the office, seven of which have been working together god knows how long, and none of you knew?”

Adam detaches from his now-empty glass, licks his lips and doesn’t look as Michael as he speaks. He goes for a joking tone, missing by a mile, saying, “Maybe we were just ignoring it, y’know?”

The strained tone Adam delivers his sentence with seems to amuse the Achievement Hunters endlessly, because it makes Geoff guffaw again, his laughter followed in melody by Gavin and Michael. Bruce hates them a lot in this moment but he hates himself more for how his stomach churns.

“Jesus Christ, they’re a fucking mess,” Michael utters between his giggle fit.

“Oh, man.” Geoff stutters out, laying a hand on the table and one on his stomach as he laughs, “You’ve gotta do it. You’ve gotta tell him, Spoole.”

“What?” Michael asks, curling forwards with laughter. “You want Spoole to suck Peake’s dick?”

Goddamn, Bruce hates them a lot.

Gavin has an incredulous look on his face when he says, “Naaaaah. He couldn’t. More than that, I’d bet you a hundred quid he couldn’t. Peake’s straight."

That sentence clicks in Bruce’s brain. Wait—

Michael rolls his eyes, “There’s straight people in Funhaus? Are you—”

“Wait,” Bruce says, can’t stop from saying, actually. He steps on Michael’s jab, asks, “Did you actually just bet on Spoole’s love life?”

Bruce doesn't know what answer he’s looking for but isn’t really expecting Geoff to lean forward, laughter still shining in his eyes, lacing his fingers together around his glass, and finally saying, “Lack thereof, technically.”

James speaks from beside Bruce, quirking an eyebrow as if he’s trying to make sense of the situation, “You’re saying real money.”

Gavin answers, rolling his eyes and shrugging, “Of course I’m saying real money. This would be hilarious!”

James narrows his eyes and shifts his gaze to Elyse. Bruce can’t read Elyse’s face now but, apparently, James can.

So he speaks, asking while still looking at Elyse, “Could we help Spoole get the date?”

Michael leans back in his chair, alternating his gaze between Gavin and Geoff. He shrugs at the same time Geoff says, “If that’s your way of saying that Spoole needs all the help he can get in order to get a date, then, just for the record, you’re the one who implied it.”

Adam stifles a chuckle, more nervous than anything, and James looks at Gavin, prompts, “Could we?”

Gavin shrugs, looks at Geoff, and makes a noise. “I mean, it’d certainly make things more interesting.”

James continues pressing, “You’re saying a no-frills bet, right? This isn’t for content or anything?”

Gavin smiles and winks, brings his almost-empty drink up to his mouth, “Ah, we’ll see about content.”

Bruce looks at Sean, who is notedly more calm than he was two minutes ago when he had his minor breakdown, but he is still red in the face and is aggressively avoiding everyone’s eyes.

Bruce asks, gently, “Spoole? Would you be okay with this?”

Elyse wraps her arm around Sean’s shoulders and Sean seems to ground himself with her touch. He takes a deep breath and takes a second to answer, aware that all eyes are on him. He says, “How… How bad could it be, right?”

Gavin makes a delighted noise at the back of his throat while Michael and Geoff look at each other, distinctly pleased.

Gavin digs into his pocket and takes out his phone. He points the camera at Sean and says, “Spoole, say the following.”

Bruce asks, “What are you doing?”

Gavin says, “Verbal contract.”

Sean does end up repeating after Gavin. In Gavin’s words, Sean accepts the bet while Funhaus looks on, semi-mortified, and Achievement Hunter looks on, flashing giddy smiles.

Gavin sends the video to Bruce after, for safekeeping and for posterity. Professional.

Bruce feels terribly uneasy when they’re done. He chalks it up mostly to the alcohol (he tries not to think about the fact that he had one beer while eating) and shuts his mouth, takes Michael and Geoff and Gavin back to their hotel.

As Bruce rolls down his window and says goodbye to Michael, Geoff claps a hand on his shoulder from the passenger seat. Bruce almost jumps out of his skin and he looks over to see Geoff glancing up at him, eyes half lidded and sly smile in place. Geoff has the car door open and is hanging both feet outside. He licks his lips and says, “We’ll talk.”

Bruce nods and says, “Good night.”

Geoff leaves and Bruce watches the three of them make their way into the hotel lobby. Bruce drives home and avoids thinking of the topic ardently.

When he gets inside his and Matt’s apartment, Matt is shuffling out of the kitchen with a soup bowl in his hands. Bruce nods at him and proceeds to avoid him for the rest of the night.

The next morning, the only thing that has been agreed on is that there is, in fact, a bet for Matt Peake’s affections and it involves Sean having to win them over. So the morning when Achievement Hunter leaves, the only unbagged cat is Sean’s feelings and the only ones out of the loop are Joel, Lawrence, and Matt. And there’s no way in hell anyone is telling Matt, if only because of the moral dilemma involved, so that leaves two uninformed.

That morning, James comes into the office kitchen to wash out his protein shaker and Lawrence walks in behind him to fill his coffee cup. And in meeting each other there, James connects last night to Lawrence not being at the restaurant and so he speaks, starts with “Y’know how we went out with Geoff and the other guys last night? Well, things escalated….”

James starts with drunk Spoole and Lawrence pours his coffee. James puts his hands up and gestures, continues the story with a declaration of love. Lawrence pauses in his movements, chuckles and shakes his head James recounts how Gavin had started the bet but how Spoole had actually accepted to going through with the bet! Lawrence leans against the kitchen counter stirring his cooling coffee, watching the steam rise and dissipate from the cup.

When James ends the story with a grin on his face, Lawrence looks up, meets his eyes. James says, “Oh, man, just…” He gestures with his hands. “Spoole has a crush on Matt. Can you believe it?”

Lawrence shrugs, smiles vaguely, says, “I mean, who in this office wouldn’t believe it? Have you seen the two of them together?”

Lawrence takes a sip of his coffee while James says, “I know right? But the fact that he admitted to it and agreed to a bet—”

Lawrence pulls away from his coffee, steps on the rest of James’ sentence with a level voice, “And who in this office doesn’t have a crush on Matt Peake?”

James’ smile drops slowly. Lawrence takes another sip of his coffee. It takes a moment of processing before the realization hits and an even bigger smile takes its place on James’ face. James asks, “Wait, are you saying—?”

“I’m not saying anything,” Lawrence shrugs, only glancing at James, not meeting his eyes, his vague smile becoming… nervous? “I am simply stating a fact.”

Adam walks in then, empty thermos in hand, and he catches the end of Lawrence’s sentence. He walks to the fridge, speaking in a calm, amused voice, “Is Lawrence stating facts again?”

Adam shoulders James out of the way of the fridge gently, contrasting to James’ barely contained giddiness. James moves as Adam pushes him, though, grin still intact, almost manic.

As Adam opens the fridge and moves things around, James trades a look with Lawrence. Lawrence simply shrugs. With something akin to a go ahead, James speaks as if bursting at the seams. “Lawrence is stating his crush on Matt Peake as a fact.”

Adam takes a step back, almost drops the jug of water he’s fished out of the fridge. “What?”

Lawrence shrugs again. “No, all I was stating is that crushes on Matt Peake are not a rare occurrence here.”

James alternates his gaze between Lawrence and Adam, waiting for the punchline. Lawrence brings his mug back to his mouth, smiling slyly. When Lawrence speaks again, lips barely moving, the room is dead silent. “Remember when you told me about yours, Adam?”

This time, Adam does drop the jug of water. James finds that he enjoys the punchline very much.

It doesn't take long for James to spring into action, bouncing back to the office and (not very) subtly calling Bruce into the kitchen to explain what has transpired there.

The jug of water is still on the floor when Bruce gets there. Adam has dropped to his knees, hands outstretched and tracing over where the mess is as if pure wishing would clean the mess up.

Lawrence has his back to the door while he refills his coffee. Bruce gets out “What is—” before James barrels through the sentence, grin a seemingly permanent fixture on his face.

“I thought you would like to know that Lawrence and Adam both have crushes on Matt.”

Bruce goes through a variety of facial expressions before he settles on his best bewildered face. “Wha’?”

Lawrence turns to face the door, to face Bruce, and he raises an eyebrow, “I’m only a little disappointed that you haven’t noticed.”

“What?”

Bruce can tell when Lawrence contains the rolling of his eyes.

“Are you guys—” Bruce squints, inclines his head towards Adam and Lawrence. “Is this a prank?”

Lawrence rolls his eyes anyway. “Yes, Bruce. You caught us. Our ongoing year long crush on Peake is all for this payoff. Adam kneeling catatonic over spilled water and your dumb confused face.”

Bruce says, very softly but with a lot of feeling, “What the fuck?”

James lets out an explosive “Ha!” before walking towards Lawrence and asking, “A year? Really?”

Lawrence gestures to Adam vaguely, “Well, at least in Adam’s case.”

These words seem to click in Adam’s brain; he moves oh-so-slightly, his torso straightening and facing Lawrence and James with a pained expression. He mimics Bruce then, saying very softly but with a lot of feeling, “What the fuck?”

James lets out another loud “Ha!” and bounds away, out of the room, leaving Adam, Lawrence, and Bruce standing (one kneeling) in a lopsided, shocked triangle.

Bruce hears James call out for Joel, stating that “We need some help over here in the kitchen. Adam spilled something.” Which, Bruce notices, are two correct yet unrelated statements.

When Joel comes into the room, rolling up his shirtsleeves, he tsk’s at the mess on the floor. “I can’t leave any of you alone for more than thirty seconds, can I?”

James’ voice is stale and serious as he says, “We have something to tell you, Joel.”

Joel’s eyes turn wary. “What is this? Is this an intervention?”

James nods soberly, keeping up the charade. “Worse. It’s a ‘crush on Matt Peake’ support group.”

Joel blinks, his stance loosening. His face adopts a raised eyebrow, a cynical, tired look. “Good. I need one.”

At this point, Bruce doesn’t have it in him to be surprised anymore.

Lawrence nods sympathetically (and even the action looks sarcastic). He pats the counter next to his hip. “C’mere Joel. Let’s talk about crushes.”

Joel goes.

James decides to call in Elyse and Sean, and it’s only then, when he leaves, that Adam takes it upon himself to clean up the watery mess he’s made. He grabs the empty container and disposes of it, gets help from Lawrence standing up and takes the mop Bruce offers him. When James comes back, Elyse and Sean in tow, Bruce asks James, “Where’s Matt?”

James scoffs, “He’s working, as always. What do you expect from him? He didn’t even look up when I called these two in.”

Sean looks wary as he takes a spot beside Lawrence, and Elyse asks, “Is this like an Are You Afraid Of The Dark meeting? Because I have a wicked story about my last gynecologist visit.”

Bruce huffs a laugh while Joel swallows one down. Joel says, “Elyse, this is serious.” It’s a half-joking tone, but it sobers Elyse up.

Bruce sobers, too, crosses his arms in front of his chest. This is a meeting, of a sort. And he guesses he should take the helm. Try and make some sense of this. “Alright, so… apparently, Spoole is not the only one in this office with a crush on... “ He hesitates to say Matt’s name with him so close by. His eyes look to the half-open door, half expecting Matt to poke his head in and catch them all red-handed.

James beside Bruce sees the hesitance, raises his eyebrows, and provides, “The Mountain Man?”

Bruce furrows his brow but rolls with it, for lack of a better term, “The Mountain Man. Spoole is not the only one.”

Sean slumps in on himself, whines loudly, “What?” Bruce shushes him but Sean keeps talking, “Are you telling me that you too?”

Bruce’s eyes widen. “What?” He feels all eyes in the room land on him, feels as if the temperature has gone up tenfold. He opens his mouth but no other words come out.

“Bruce?” Elyse is the one who prompts him, moving to stand to James’ side. Bruce lets his eyes pass over her figure, and he sees the delight in her face, sees how her posture screams amusement. She elbows James in the ribs once Bruce doesn’t answer right away. Bruce’s mouth feels dry as he says, “Listen.”

That seems to be what they were all waiting for, the bastards. James snickers, and so does Elyse while Joel rolls his eyes and leans on Lawrence, who sighs while Sean groans, and Adam brings a hand to his chin.

“Listen!” Bruce says again, now addressing the room as a whole. “Everyone has a gay exception.”

James is giggling when he says, “And yours is Matt Peake.”

Bruce suppresses a groan, instead says, “Let’s just… Let’s get this straight.”

“I’m not!” Joel says instantly, and Lawrence laughs, offers him a high five which Joel takes him up on. Bruce’s mouth forms a hard line.

“Guys.” He calls out, waits for everyone’s attention before speaking again. “Can we… Are we saying that every single one of us has a crush on… the, uh, the Mountain Man?”

When Bruce tries to meet Adam’s eyes, Adam looks away. Joel beside Adam shrugs, and Lawrence beside Joel fixes his glasses but meets Bruce’s gaze. Spoole scratches the back of his neck, avoids James and Elyse and Bruce’s eyes.

James and Elyse exchange a look while Bruce scrubs at his face and says, “Oh jeez.”

They break the news to the Achievement Hunters over text. Bruce sends Geoff a message detailing how apparently everyone in the office (with the exception of James and Elyse, the married couple) has a crush on Matt Peake.

Gavin replies instead of Geoff, and what he sends is a two minute long video of Geoff rolling on the floor of the Achievement Hunter office, proclaiming “I’m gonna shit my pants!” In between his rounds of laughter. Behind the camera, Bruce can hear Gavin laughing, and the camera pans to Michael, too, three or four times, where he’s leaning against the wall of the office, red in the face and in hysterics. Bruce swears he can also hear Jack’s laugh in the background but he has no video proof of it.

Bruce waits five minutes in a Very Grumpy State before he gets a proper reply from Geoff.

So, it reads, Does that mean you want to up the ante?

Bruce doesn’t, not really, but the video has spurred him on, has awoken his competitive streak—

Bruce:
> What are you proposing?

Geoff:
> We include everyone else. Except James and Elyse.

Bruce:
> How would it work?

Geoff takes a moment to reply, probably working on logistics on his end.

Geoff:
> Person over here bets on someone to go out with peake. Person who gets a date plus person who bet on them get the money. Even split down the middle. One thing though: peake has to choose the person he goes out with. None of you can ask him out.

Bruce hesitates. This is not only about money and pride, this is also about Matt’s feelings.

Geoff:
> Whaddya say? A little bet to ramp up tensions in the office?

Bruce chews it over. Texts back, I’ll talk to everyone about it.

Geoff:
> You do that.

“Of fucking course I want to join the bet.” Joel says that afternoon when Bruce calls a second meeting in the kitchen. Bruce stands almost in the middle of the room, demanding attention. Joel sits on the counter next to Sean, leaning an arm on Sean’s shoulder. Adam stands next to them in front of the sink, Lawrence next to him in front of the fridge. Elyse and James stand side by side next to the door. Keeping watch, they say, but their faces speak of a Mystery Science Theatre-like fascination. They’ve just taken lunch (the most stressful lunch of Bruce’s life, if he thinks about it), and so he shows them the video. They stand there for a few minutes, cursing the Achievement Hunters out and just generally being sour at the mockery, which is when Bruce brings up, “They asked if we all wanted to join in on the bet. Can you believe that?”

And Joel answers.

So Bruce holds up his hands and says, “Now, hold on—”

“Are you sure this is smart?” Lawrence asks.

Joel scoffs and slings Lawrence a look. “I thought you would be all for this, Lawrence.” And as Lawrence opens his mouth, Joel continues, “For the record, it is incredibly smart. No matter what happens, we all win. Someone gets to go out with Matt and we take Geoff’s smug money! The only loser here is Sean,” Joel ends with a smirk.

“What, why?” Sean asks, voice pitched high.

Joel jostles his arm on Sean’s shoulder, “Because you get more competition.”

“I didn’t even want a competition in the first place!”

“We have a video of you saying otherwise, Spoole.” Bruce says, tired.

Sean’s noise of protest dies in his throat.

Lawrence starts saying something about the moral repercussions of this shit, weighing pros and cons and whatnot when the sound of a door in the corridor startles Bruce. There’s a spike of panic down his spine when he realizes that Matt could hear them possibly discussing this… this bet on his feelings. Like he’s some sort of prize to be won.

Casually as he can, James pokes his head into the hallway and looks both ways. Shrugs as he comes back in and leans on the wall. Says, “Some guys from the office next to us. As you were.”

Bruce nods, feeling the worry bubble up in his throat. Lawrence clears his throat, as if preparing to continue his monologue (Adam murmurs “Here we go again”) but Bruce—he’s fully aware that Joel is staring at him. Joel always fucking knows when something isn’t sitting right with Bruce; he knows him well.

And so Bruce clears his throat, too. Prepares his words while Joel shushes Lawrence, clearing the way. In the silence, Bruce speaks softly and sincerely, more so than he meant to sound.

He says, “I… I just don’t want him to get hurt, y’know? I don’t want him to think that we’re just using him.” And Joel’s face turns soft as he looks at Bruce. Bruce doesn’t meet his eyes.

Adam speaks then, breaking a soft silence, saying, “I don’t think it counts as using him when we all care about him.”

Bruce nods while Joel hops off the counter and approaches Bruce, lays a hand on his shoulder. He seeks out Bruce’s gaze now, making their eyes meet, Joel saying, “Hey, we’re all adults here. If this bet gets too out of control, we’ll call it off and tell Peake everything. Does that sound good?”

Bruce thinks for a second, but ultimately nods again, saying, “Yeah, that sounds reasonable.” He looks away from Joel and addresses the room as a whole, “Is everyone okay with being in on the bet for Peake’s”—he winces at the slip, corrects himself—“for the Mountain Man’s feelings? Speak up now if you aren’t, we won’t judge you.”

No one speaks up (though Bruce almost does). Everyone shoots each other looks, instead, everyone shifts from one foot to the other. Only Lawrence speaks in the middle of fidgeting, asking, “What are the stipulations?”

Bruce tries not to let the nervousness of the room get to him, says, “They haven’t told me much, but Pea—the Mountain Man—has to be the one to ask you out. And the money goes to whoever wins the bet plus whoever bet on them.”

Lawrence and Joel scoff, perfect mirrors of each other. “Typical texans,” Lawrence says, while Joel shakes his head.

As a way of closing the quote-unquote meeting, Bruce asks, “Okay, so is that everything?”

Raising her hand and shaking it over her head so as to get Bruce’s attention, Elyse bursts out with, “Oh! Can James and I be the referees?”

Bruce sighs, stomach doing flips at the prospect of a real live bet, and turns to her. Her smile is bright and gleaming, which is definitely a deciding factor in Bruce replying, “Elyse, I don’t think we need referees.”

“Sure you do! We can—”

There’s another noise in the hallway, and this time, everyone jumps.

With everyone on edge, Adam asks, “Hey, are you sure he's not...?”

Rolling her eyes, Elyse says, “This sounds like a referee’s job.” Bruce sets his mouth into a hard line while she exits the kitchen, walks down the hallway, and comes back, shaking her head. “Door to the office was closed. We’re good. Do we have the job?”

Bruce stares, disgruntled, raises an eyebrow (all mostly for show).

James stage whispers, “I think that means yes.”

Elyse’s eyes shine and she moves her gaze to James. She pushes him on the arm and says proudly, “I got us the job, babe!”

James woops and leans over to kiss her head while Bruce sighs. “I guess I’ll go tell Geoff.” He says, officially ending the unofficial meeting.

When they get back into the office, Matt's still sitting at his desk, his brow is furrowed, as if in deep concentration. He doesn’t look up at the very conspicuous procession of people coming back into the office, so Bruce thinks they're good. Bruce has to actively stop himself from staring, though.

Yeah, so… Bruce never actually planned to have his crush aired. He just kinda hoped that it would play itself out, y’know? That it would run its course. He tries to ignore the fact that the crush had only properly settled in his mind when Matt moved in and that he wasn’t planning on asking him to move out anytime soon. As he sits down on his chair, Bruce tries very hard to ignore the fact that nagging crush, the want at the back of his brain, is not going away anytime soon.

He pulls up Geoff’s name on his phone and shoots him a short text.

Bruce:
> We’re all in. How is this going to work?

> Geoff is typing…

Chapter Text

The bet is set with a timeline of two months.

They make a goddamn group chat for their bet. Through it, Lawrence presses Geoff for more details on the rules of the whole thing: What exactly counts as a date? Does it involve kissing?

Geoff says, Are you saying you dont know what a date is?

After that, Bruce comes to the conclusion that they’re just wingin’ it.

Before the bet grew, back when the only money was on Sean, only Michael, Jack, Geoff, Lindsay, and Gavin were in on the pool. It was up to $173 and it was a comfortable number.

Bruce doesn’t realize that he only felt it was comfortable because none of the pressure was on him.

Now, the Achievement Hunters have a spreadsheet on Google Sheets as well as their Slack group chat.

The spreadsheet in question contains every member of the Achievement Hunter office, including Trevor and Matt, and every member of the Funhaus office with the exception of Matt Peake. The assigning of the money and persons they bet on takes three days but in the end, the spreadsheet reads out numbers and names plainly: Gavin and Jack bet on Adam (“They’ve been friends for aaaages, it’s only logical.” “It’s all in the shoulders, actually.”), Michael and Geoff on Bruce (“They live together, right?” “Yeah, I mean, it makes sense.”), Ryan on no one (“He wouldn’t date any of these idiots. Matt is smarter than that.”), Lindsay on Joel (“It’s all in the hips.”), Trevor on Spoole (“I believe in the underdog.”), and Matt and Jeremy on Lawrence (“I saw him flirting with Michael once and it almost worked on me.” “You weren’t even in the room, Matt.”). The total pool is up to $537.

When all's said and done, the bet unofficially starts on a Wednesday night with an official beginning date of that Thursday morning, at work and on fair ground for all.

Wednesday night, though, Joel asks the group chat, Does this count as a week?

Geoff:
> Nah, we’re good people. We’ll count thursday/friday as part of next week.

Michael:
> Have fun with your 11 day first week, you crazy kids.

Gavin:
> Say hello to Matt for me!

And on Thursday, Bruce steels himself because he’s so nervous that something in the office will change, that something will click, that someone will start something.

Only, Thursday is uneventful. Sure, Sean gulps almost audibly when Matt calls him over for a question on a photoshop he asked Matt for the previous day, and Joel pats Matt on the back once they break for lunch but that’s it. That is completely it for the first day of the bet and Bruce is actually incredibly relieved.

On Friday, Bruce’s nervousness is down, which is why, when Lawrence walks over to Matt and asks if they’re going to work out in the afternoon, Bruce furrows his brow. It shouldn’t shock him, Lawrence and Matt work out together sometimes, but just knowing about the bet and the stakes and the feelings on the line has Bruce on edge.

He hears Matt say yes. He shakes himself, and that’s that.

Later that Friday, after Bruce has set up the camera and capture for their recording of Wheelhaus, he calls James and Adam over. James says, “One sec,” and Bruce nods, watches as Adam pushes his chair back, stretches his arms over his head, and… turns towards Matt.

Bruce hears Adam speak, but only makes out, “... like it?” and he sees Matt shrug, not looking up from his monitor. Matt’s words are harder to catch and Bruce strains to hear, leaning over Spoole’s desk in order to decipher the situation—

He stops once he hears Lawrence clear his throat loudly. Bruce looks over and sees Lawrence’s raised eyebrow. Bruce frowns at him and in the back of Bruce’s head, he knows he’s being ridiculous. So, Bruce turns around and sits in his designated chair, waiting for Adam and James.

During the weekend, the Achievement Hunters are incorrigible. Gavin messages the group, How is everybody doing?

Michael:
> I’m doing good!

Geoff:
> Has anyone declared their love yet

Lawrence:
> Sometimes I wonder how you guys have so many subscribers. Now is one of those times.

Joel:
> Courting is an art that takes more than two days, Geoffrey.

Geoff:
> So thats a no

Jeremy:
> sounded like a no, boss

Lawrence:
> Jeremy, quit sounding like a mob henchman.

Michael:
> What about bruce? Isn’t he with peake 24/7 on weekends?

Geoff:
> Yeah did you bang peake yet bruce?

Bruce:
> Fuck off

Geoff:
> ;)

On Monday, that’s when Bruce notices the change in the atmosphere. It starts with Joel.

The thing is, Joel is (in)famous for being the constant purveyor of physical contact in the office. He lays his head on Bruce’s shoulder sometimes, and lays his hand on James’ thigh, too, some other times. They’ve known each other for long enough to expect this already. Which is why, when Joel starts flirting with Matt, Bruce doesn’t know why he’s so surprised that it comes laden with heavy physical contact.

On that Monday, fifth day of the bet, Joel walks over to Matt’s desk. By the look on his face, Bruce knows that he’s flirting, has seen that look in Joel’s eyes before. He turns the slightest bit and watches Joel walk into Matt’s space. He catches the way Joel drapes his hands over Matt’s chair, rests his palms on Matt’s shoulders. Joel pretty much purrs the words, “Hey Matt.” He cuts his gaze to Bruce, startles Bruce out of looking, smirks as he does it.

Bruce kind of hates him. He has to turn back to his work, then, so he doesn’t encourage Joel with an audience or make Matt suspicious. So he stares at his monitor and concentrates on listening (eavesdropping, technically).

Joel says a few words Bruce can’t make out, even though he’s close to them and straining to hear. What Bruce does hear, however, is Joel’s casual murmur and Matt’s soft laughter in reply. Bruce feels a little ashamed at how it makes his blood run hot.

Later, when he goes out to lunch with Joel, he asks, “What were you talking to Matt about?”

Joel shrugs and replies with a smirk on his lips, “Nothing in particular.”

Bruce levels him with an incredulous look, a raised eyebrow. Joel smiles up at Bruce, all sarcastic sweet, and asks “All’s fair in love and bets, right?”

Bruce rolls his eyes, swallows down the bite of his food and the jealousy that threatens to claw at his throat.

The next day, Tuesday, Bruce notes that the beginning of the one-on-one bet a week prior didn’t seem to light a fire under Sean’s ass at all. But, as it turns out, Elyse and James seem to do. Bruce catches Elyse walking over to Sean’s desk and Sean welcomes her as she leans into his space, but her calm demeanor contrasts with her tone. She sounds sharp as she says, loud enough for Bruce to eavesdrop but not loud enough to carry, “Stop screwing around and get to flirting.” She smiles.

Sean looks half disappointed that she of all people would demand this of him and half nervous that she is demanding this of him. She leaves, soft smile still in place and nods at James. James nods back subtly, looking back to his computer.

It takes at least an hour for Sean to stop squaring up his shoulders only to let them drop again, exhales coming out loud enough to annoy Lawrence beside him (who shoots him looks), loud enough to make even Bruce nervous. It takes an hour and a half but Sean still does it, pushes off from his desk looking almost embarrassed as he walks over to Matt’s desk. Once he’s there, Sean clears his throat. Bruce isn’t looking, can’t be looking, so he doesn’t see Matt turn to Sean while Sean says, “Hey… Matt.”

Again, Bruce can’t see anything, but he does hear Sean’s exhale and subsequent laughter. Bruce stares hard at his computer as Sean asks, “What’re you working on?” And Matt answers, “This Friday’s video,” with a smile in his tone.

After that, Sean stays at Matt’s desk for five minutes, five whole minutes (Bruce counts them), as Matt shows Sean what he has edited already and they both laugh in symphony.

Adam, Bruce notices fairly quickly into it, is not subtle about it. He’s nervous but not subtle. Adam turns around in his chair that Tuesday, just like he did on Friday, and tries to strike up a conversation with Matt about upcoming movies he’s excited about. It seems to Bruce as if he’s continuing an already open topic between them and his suspicions are confirmed when Matt answers, “Yeah, I told you about…”

But Bruce doesn’t miss the way how Adam fidgets when Matt takes a second before he answers, where he’s too caught up in his work to reply. And Bruce definitely doesn’t miss the way Adam seems to get even more nervous when Matt actually speaks to him.

The fidgeting and nervousness would be cute on Adam if it didn’t have Bruce so on edge, he thinks in passing.

On Wednesday, during the recording of the Demo Disk scheduled for the next week, James shouts out for Matt’s attention during a dumb Fight Club bit, and Matt comes, stands beside Sean and answers James’ dumb question (“Who’s the best MMA fighter? Could they beat up Brad Pitt?”) patiently, with a smile on his face.

Bruce watches as Adam fumbles with the mouse in his hand, apparently hyper-aware that Matt is behind them and looking in on their gameplay.

It’s only when James says, “Alright, thank you Matt,” and Matt replies, “Happy to help,” that Adam relaxes, glancing at their footage and watching Matt walk back to his desk.

Lawrence’s tactics are the only ones Bruce cannot pinpoint. He knows that Lawrence and Matt go off on their own some weekdays to work out together, and he knows that most nights, Matt comes back smiling and makes a beeline for the shower. And it’s not like Bruce can just up and ask Matt how it was. Unless– he does? Unless he asks “Hey, how was your workout?”

Yeah, that could work! Thursday night, he goes to ask but he can’t get the sentence to leave his mouth. Never mind. He greets Matt but that’s it. He resigns himself to watching TV alone until Matt comes by and says, “Good night.” Bruce returns the pleasantry with a “Sleep well.”

The only indications to Lawrence’s flirting techniques are A, the few teasing jabs he throws to Matt from across the office throughout the workday (started on Monday with just one until they kept racking up through the week), and B, when Lawrence takes advantage of Matt calling him over to his desk.

Matt edits The Know more often than not. That’s his job, so he Lawrence usually talk to each other over editing techniques, text to display, and clips to be used. The first week, second Friday, Matt calls Lawrence over in a soft voice that makes half the office look at him, out of curiosity.

Lawrence stands up and walks over, stands behind Matt. Matt motions for Lawrence to lean down and he presses his headphones to Lawrence’s ears. Bruce realizes he’s staring. He doesn’t stop staring.

Lawrence wrinkles his nose and looks up at Matt, their faces inches from each other. Matt is raising an eyebrow while Lawrence takes off the headphones and hands them back to Matt.

Lawrence says, “That’s bad.”

Matt replies, “That’s on you.”

Lawrence sneers playfully before he breaks into a smile, and it seems like it’s contagious to Matt, who mirrors it. Matt says, “Don’t do it again.”

Bruce has to swallow twice before he asks, “Is there something wrong with The Know?”

Lawrence straightens up, leaning into Matt’s chair all too casually. He shrugs and says, “I messed up my audio for today’s episode.”

Matt follows up with, “It’ll be okay. It’s understandable but annoying.”

Bruce nods. “Can you fix it?”

Matt says, “I’ll try.”

Lawrence says, “Sorry, Matt.”

Matt shrugs, reaches for his headphones again. “It’s not a problem.”

Lawrence lays a hand on Matt’s shoulder and leaves it there as he walks away, letting it slide off slowly.

As Lawrence walks back to his desk, Bruce notices James has completely turned around in his chair, a small smile on his face. When Bruce raises an eyebrow, James shrugs and turns back to his screen.

Their entire week in review is marked by small details that all add up to one big picture. Joel passes by Matt’s desk and comments on what a good job Matt’s doing on the edits, keeping up physical contact all the while; Sean passes by every so often, bringing with him snacks that he offers Matt while he laughs at Matt’s edits; Adam wheels his chair over, leaning into Matt’s space carefully, laying careful hands on forearms and fingers on shoulders; Lawrence throws jabs at Matt and Matt rarely answers back (he usually just shrugs); all the while Bruce sits at his desk, not going out of his way for Matt nor necessarily ignoring him, just— biding his time*, he tells himself.

(*By ‘biding his time,’ Bruce means he waits until the workday ends and they go home together to their apartment, where they are roommates, and does… nothing. He usually throws a soft reassurance, one fond word at Matt in between their normal conversations, but nothing more. He hypes himself up just to psych himself out.)

That Friday, official end of the first week, when Matt and Bruce get home, Matt seems… not all there. Bruce watches as Matt rubs his hands up his arms and shivers on Saturday. Bruce asks him, “Are you okay?” and Matt says, “I’m good.”

Only, he seems fidgety all Sunday too, up until Bruce suggests they go to the gym together.

Matt’s nervous energy channels itself into his workout, Bruce notices, but it’s only when Bruce pats him on the shoulder that Matt seems to settle back into his skin. Matt leans into the contact and grins genuinely, says, “Good workout.”

On Monday, the second week, the cycle of the office revolving around Matt continues, only grows in frequency. But, as Bruce observes, the week starts with Matt reciprocating the touches he receives.

When Joel passes by, Matt bumps his shoulder into Joel’s side, and it makes Joel scoff playfully. They both smile and detach themselves.

Sean makes a round, and when he offers Matt some cereal from his cup, Matt’s fingers close around Sean’s on the cup as Matt pulls the cup closer to his mouth, tips the contents onto his tongue (Sean’s gulp is audible).

Adam rolls his chair over and Matt actually stops working. Just leaves his computer alone. He and Adam make a lot of eye contact. Bruce almost makes a comment about Adam’s blush when their conversation is done.

Lawrence, again, is the most difficult to pinpoint with his strategies. Though, Bruce doesn’t miss the way his eyes meet (multiple times) with Matt’s when they’re discussing what to do for lunch on Wednesday. The rest of the office also doesn’t miss the way Matt actually replies to the jabs Lawrence throws his way with a smile.

By the end of their second week of the bet, by the third Friday, Bruce feels Matt getting closer to him than before. That afternoon, when they get home and Bruce digs into his pocket to open the door to their apartment, Matt closes the distance between Bruce’s back and his front. Bruce feels goosebumps raise. He pauses only momentarily in his opening of the door. As it swings open in front of them, Matt detaches and walks past Bruce, looking completely at ease. When they get inside and on the couch together, sitting next to each other watching some inane TV show, Bruce can feel Matt’s shoulders shake with laughter as Bruce makes a joke. Pressed together, arm to arm, Bruce feels his own nervous energy blooming.

On Saturday, Bruce wakes up to Matt playing video games on the couch. Matt offers him the controller, and Bruce turns it down gracefully, telling Matt he’d rather watch. Halfway through his strike in Destiny though, Matt bumps Bruce’s hands and offers him the controller again, taking Bruce’s attention away from planning their next week of videos on his phone. Matt’s expecting gaze makes Bruce buckle, makes him take up the controller. They spend the rest of the day swapping the controller back and forth, Matt commenting that Bruce has so much luck with getting Matt’s character exotic loot that Matt should just quit altogether. Bruce beams, pride hitting him, and he notices how it makes Matt smile. It’s a Saturday routine he could get used to.

When they’re washing dishes together later that evening, Matt presses an arm to Bruce’s, pretty much leaning on him. And Bruce, feeling at ease with his Saturday and his feelings, asks, “Are you tired?”

Matt hums, “Not really. Why do you ask?”

Bruce says, “You’re leaning on me pretty heavily. Thought our day of Destiny tired you out.”

Matt stops rinsing the dishes. He clears his throat and straightens up, says, “Sorry.”

Bruce’s words of reassurance get caught in his throat because that’s when he catches on to the fact that Matt isn’t doing any of this on purpose. None of the contact of the day was planned by Matt in any way.

Bruce lays down to sleep that night and reviews every instance of physical contact Matt has had for the week and a half. Every single day for the past two weeks Matt has had some sort of contact on him, some attention directed his way: Joel’s hands, Adam’s eyes, Lawrence’s jabs, Sean’s laughter—

Bruce reviews their last weekend in his head, thinking back to how Matt had settled down when Bruce had touched him, hand on the junction of his shoulder and neck—

Did Matt already have a magnetism towards physical contact? Some sort of subconscious need for physical contact?

When they wake up on Sunday and Matt hands Bruce coffee with a soft nod, saying to him, “I kept you from working yesterday so I’ll help you today,” and their hands linger on the coffee together, Bruce realizes that Yeah, this is happening.

And so, with that epiphany… Bruce doesn’t make a move. Doesn’t know how to make a move. It’s torture. He’s in on the bet, yeah, people have money on him, but he has no idea how to start something, if it will make things awkward. They’re supposed to live together long after the bet is over, and he feels like he’s taking advantage of Matt with how Matt initiates contact so easily now.

So Bruce acts as casual as he can and feels a stab of guilt when he touches Matt casually only to have Matt melt into him.

Chapter Text

On the Monday of the third week, someone starts up the conversation about how much James can bench press again. James swears it wasn’t himself.

When he looks around, Bruce notices how Spoole conveniently hides behind Lawrence so when James goes looking to prove his point, he ends up singling Matt out. (Though Bruce swears it’s because James loves to stir the pot.)

As Matt steps up, James rolls up his sleeves and asks, “How much do you weigh now?”

Matt opens his mouth to answer but James interrupts, says, “Never mind, it’s rude to ask someone that. Hop on.”

Bruce exchanges a look with Joel as James drops to his knees on the floor and stretches his arms. He didn’t really gather the entire office to watch this unfold on the floor beside Matt’s desk, but it’s a small office, people notice. People gather.

Matt hesitates, looking down at James and asking, “Are you going to lift me?”

James leans down and assumes the push-up position, says, “I think push ups will illustrate my point better.”

Bruce doesn’t see James’ point. He takes another look back around the room. Spoole is biting his nails, Lawrence is squinting at the pair in front of them, Joel looks like he’s trying to hide a disgruntled look.

Bruce looks back to Matt as he walks around James, trying to find a way to configure himself on James’ back. Adam looks unsettled as he asks, “Is no one filming this?”

That’s when Lawrence moves. He hurries to pull out his phone, says, “Wait, let me….”

Matt pauses and waits for Lawrence to give him the go ahead. Lawrence nods a few seconds later and says for the camera, “So James started the conversation of how much he could lift again—”

“Did not!”

“—And so he’s going to lift Matt Peake on his back.”

Lawrence nods again and Matt moves, takes a deep breath after James urges, “Come on!”

Matt wobbles a bit as he settles onto James’ back, sitting cross-legged and holding his arms out to balance himself.

James counts it down, does, “One! Two! Three. Four… Five. S-six?” push ups, and then collapses, huffing out a laugh. Lawrence zooms into James’ face planted on the carpet while Matt lays his fingers into James’s hair and strokes, asks “Are you okay?”

James laughs again, the noise sounding breathless, and he says, “Yeah, you weigh nothing.”

Matt smiles and gets up from James’ back. He stumbles, though, and Bruce finds himself darting his arms out to steady Matt. Matt grabs Bruce’s bicep just as Lawrence stops recording. Bruce asks Matt, “Are you okay?”

Matt breathes out a laugh and says, “I’m good. You should probably be asking James that.”

The James in question groans and asks, “Are you bulking, Matt?”

Matt collects himself and goes back to his chair. His hand on Bruce slides off instead of lifting, and it makes Bruce swallow hard.

Bruce watches as Lawrence pockets his phone and Bruce has a feeling that Lawrence isn’t going to send that video in for RT Life.

(Lawrence does send it to the bet group chat, though. Michael asks if James is looking to join in on the bet. James snorts at the message and sends back That’s cute.)

On that same Monday, right before lunch, Adam and Matt are talking about movies. About The Mummy, as far as Bruce can tell. Adam is leaning on Matt’s desk, his head laid on his crossed arms. Bruce is pretty much used to the puppy eyes Adam gives Matt by now, especially with how Adam has positioned himself in this moment: Adam looks up at Matt from under his eyelashes, wonder in his eyes, and Bruce can hear snippets of their conversation, of Adam saying “Beni was kind of useless as a character.”

Bruce hears Matt hum in agreement and say, “Yeah, and….”

Bruce tunes out their conversation and keeps answering emails. He signs one and is just about to send it when he sees Lawrence get up from his desk and walk over to Matt’s desk. Bruce thinks, This should be good, because he knows that look on Lawrence’s face, knows he’s looking for a fight.

And as Bruce predicts, Lawrence looks just a bit smug as he says, “You’re wrong, Adam.”

Bruce suppresses a laugh and only barely follows what they spend the next ten minutes arguing about. He sends off another email and catches James’ eye as, predictably, James has a front row seat for the disagreement.

When Bruce looks over, he sees Lawrence leaning his hands on Matt’s desk, Adam pulled back from where he was once lying, and Matt glancing at them in the middle of working, looking between them with amusement shining in his eyes.

Lawrence leans back and gestures with his hands, says, “That wouldn’t make sense! If Beni hadn’t been there, Imhotep wouldn't have been able to communicate at all! Forget the mysticism aspect he brings, it’s a serious, straight-up case of language barriers.”

Adam leans back in his chair, sighs softly, looks up at Lawrence. He nods slowly and says, “Okay, I admit I’m the bigger person here, Lawrence. I’ll give this one to you. You’re right.”

Lawrence’s stance loosens at that. He stands up straight and Bruce, from where he witnesses the moment, can see the adrenaline of the argument clearing from Lawrence’s eyes. Lawrence sighs contently and takes a step back to his desk. As he goes, he drops a kiss onto Adam’s head casually, says, “I knew you’d see the light, Adam.”

Adam swats him off, rolls his eyes at the kiss. Lawrence goes back to his desk. Adam smiles at Matt and wheels his chair back to his own desk. Bruce’s eyes linger on Matt for one more beat before he, too, goes back to work.

On Tuesday, Bruce isn’t actually sure who started the conversation but there’s no doubt in his mind that it was one of the Willems. The topic of their warehouse comes up (warehaus, if you will), and what is discussed is how it will soon be used for a big production their corporate overlords have green-lit. The point is that the warehouse won’t be free for much longer so they have to make use of it soon. And by soon, of course, they mean today. A work day.

Someone says the words Office Chair Race and the idea unfortunately sticks. The only actual volunteers are Lawrence, James, and, after a lot of peer-pressure, Bruce. So, predictably, Lawrence and James try to rope in Matt and Sean because they’re at an odd number, so why not make it an odder number?

As James and Bruce set up chairs and start testing them out on the floor of the warehouse, Lawrence walks over to where Matt witnesses the whole thing from his desk. He says, “C’mon Matt. Office bonding exercise.”

Matt raises an eyebrow and asks, “What? How will this bond us?”

Lawrence shrugs, says, “We’ll find out along the way.”

Despite his soft scoff, Matt takes off his headphones and lets Lawrence drag his office chair out to the warehouse. Matt curls his legs up onto his chair, sitting there with his legs crossed. Lawrence rolls him up to Bruce, who sits in the optimal chair, the one chosen for the race.

James nods at Matt's appearance and says, “Now it's looking like a real race!”

James detaches from Bruce and Matt, walking towards the office but Lawrence follows, calling out, “James, I think we should...”

James stops with Lawrence halfway between the office doors (to which Elyse has rolled up in her own office chair) and where Matt and Bruce are seated. It looks to Bruce as if they start discussing logistics of the race. Bruce is left alone with Matt, and, to be honest, he’s okay with it. He still has a bit of lingering guilt, but in a silly situation like this he’s almost as worried about all the work they’re shirking. Regardless, he smiles at Matt, because he’s not an asshole, and watches as Matt gives him a crooked smile back. Bruce feels fond. Matt asks, “Are we doing this in teams?”

Bruce spins the office chair and answers, “I don’t know. I should go find out.”

He gets up from his chair and walks over to where James and Lawrence are standing, a few steps away from office bounds, where Adam, Joel, and Sean have amassed next to Elyse.

Adam has his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the door to the warehouse where he speaks to Joel. Sean is leaning over the back of Elyse’s chair, looking at Elyse while she is on her phone, holding it up as if she’s—hang on, is she taking a picture?

Bruce calls out, asks, “Elyse, you taking pictures?”

Elyse smiles at him, “I got an office twitter to run, Bruce! I need more content.”

James says, “Be sure to get my good side.”

Elyse fires back with, “You kinda need to turn around for that.”

James smiles at her while Bruce laughs.

Lawrence raises an eyebrow at James, reconvenes the meeting Bruce has apparently just walked in on. He asks, “Why?”

James says, “It’ll be fun! Spoole will blush like a virgin.”

Bruce asks, “Wait wha’?”

Lawrence, in his quietest and most sour voice, explains that for some reason, James has decided that it would be the greatest idea ever to have Sean join them in this office race. Wait, not just join them, but also sit in Matt’s lap.

Bruce asks, “What?”

James says, “It’ll be fun.” And before Bruce can interrupt, he calls out, “Spoole! May I see you for a second?”

Bruce scrunches up his nose while Lawrence cuts his gaze to James, and Bruce knows that look on Lawrence’s face: it’s the one he uses for when he doesn’t understand something so he researches it heavily and stares at his computer with a puzzled look until he understands it fully. Like he’s trying to understand James’ motives and reasoning.

Bruce, too, wonders about James’ reasoning sometimes. Namely, now. He shakes his head and walks back to Matt, not wanting to get involved in this. Plausible deniability and all.

James slings an arm around Sean’s shoulders and Bruce approaches Matt again. He leans against the back of the unoccupied chair. Matt asks, “Verdict?”

Bruce shrugs, “Only James knows.” Bruce could swear that Matt’s smile is just the smallest bit nervous.

Matt asks, “When can I get back to work?”

Bruce nods once, slowly, “You’re right, that’s your natural state. You’re like a fish outta water right now.” He turns towards the rest of his office-mates and raises his voice, “Hey! Can we get this started? Matt misses his computer.”

James waves off Bruce’s words so Bruce directs himself towards Adam, Joel, and Elyse standing just inside the doors of the office. Asks, “What are you guys doing?”

Adam raises his phone in the air, “I’m filming this mess.”

Joel shrugs, “I don’t want to be a part of this circus.”

Elyse says, “I’m the omniscient narrator. I see all.” She raises her phone, taking another picture. Bruce gives a wide smile at the camera while Joel adds, “Eye of Sauron style.”

Elyse drops her phone onto her lap and covers one eye, “I see all!”

Bruce chuckles. James approaches Bruce then, placing a hand on his back. Lawrence follows close behind, waving Sean over from where he’s been hovering halfway between the doors to the office and Bruce and Matt. James directs his words towards the circle of them. “Okay, here’s the thing. We’re odd numbered but I think we have a solution. Bruce and I will push. Lawrence is taking this chair,” he gestures to the chair in front of Bruce, “And Spoole here… Well.” James pulls Sean forwards and Sean doesn’t look like he’s delighted to be included in this event.

“Spoole will have to sit in Matt’s lap to make this, y’know. A fair race.”

Bruce narrows his eyes, giving James a look similar to the one Lawrence slung him earlier.

Lawrence makes a soft noise in the back of his throat, mumbles out, “How much is Trevor paying you?”

James pretends not to hear the comment. Bruce tenses up at the reminder of the bet. At the fact that Lawrence brought it up in Matt’s presence. Bruce tries to subtly look at Matt’s expression to see if he can read any emotions on it—

Matt has an eyebrow raised. He opens his mouth and Bruce dreads the words—

Matt asks, “How will that be a fair race?”

Bruce doesn’t know if he’s thankful that Matt didn’t hear Lawrence’s words.

James answers. “Lawrence’s weight is… not the same as you alone, to put it lightly.”

Lawrence, who looks just a bit sour, rubs his belly over his shirt. “I’m working on it. Peake knows.”

Matt smiles small and nods. James claps his hands together and asks, “So Matt, do you mind?”

Matt makes a soft noise and shrugs, “Nah.”

James faces Sean and says, “Go on then, Spoole. Help us make this a balanced race.”

Sean goes, his shoulders squared.

James turns to Adam and the bunch, says, “Start those cameras up!”

Lawrence sits down on the office chair, moving this way and that way, trying to figure out the best position to race in. Bruce watches as Elyse places herself in front of the phone Adam holds up and begins introducing the race as if it were a high-level sporting event. Meanwhile Sean opens his mouth and takes hesitant half-steps into Matt’s space, as if trying to mentally work out how to configure himself into Matt’s lap.

James flexes his arm even though the camera’s not on him. He says, “I’ll push these two.” Bruce rolls his eyes, watches as Matt opens his arms. The action seems to shock Sean into even more inaction.

James leans over the back of the chair and suggests, “Bridal style?”

Bruce can see Sean’s ears turn red. Matt says, “Makes sense.”

Sean gulps. He moves though, shakily settling himself on Matt’s lap as Matt tucks one arm under his knees and the other over his back. Bruce sees Matt’s fingers wrap themselves around Sean’s ribs. Bruce watches as Sean slowly flushes from his collarbone up to the top of his cheeks. Bruce stifles his smile because Sean doesn’t know where to settle his hands. He flutters them from his own lap to around Matt’s neck hesitantly. Matt smiles softly, reassuring Sean, and the action also settles Bruce as well. Makes him feel just a tiny bit better.

(He’s not… jealous like he thought he’d be? He likes how Sean looks so flustered in Matt’s lap. Likes how Matt looks holding Sean. Wouldn’t know how to explain it, if he was asked.)

James asks, “Is everyone ready?”

Lawrence, Matt, Sean, and Bruce all give the go ahead. James and Bruce pull the chairs towards the office doors, showing off the teams.

James dictates the rules, “One lap, to the warehouse wall and back! Winner take all.”

Bruce asks, “What is all?”

James says, “Uh, free membership to the ‘I don’t suck ass’ club.”

Lawrence interjects, “But what if I win and I do suck ass?”

James shrugs, “Hey, that's your journey. I can’t interfere there.”

Elyse walks into frame again and announces that Joel will be the checkered flag girl for this race. The Joel in question walks into the warehouse holding a piece of paper towel, half of his button-down gaping open.

As James and Bruce position themselves, James asks, mostly for the camera, “Do we know if these chairs can go from zero to sixty in a moments notice?”

Bruce shrugs, “I guess we’re about to find out.”

Joel sashays over and positions himself between the two teams, holding paper towel in the air. He counts down, “Three! Two! One!” And he bends at the knees, waving the paper towel as if it were a flag.

Bruce pushes Lawrence, hears him give a surprised laugh at the suddenness of the takeoff. Behind him, he hears Elyse shoutcast the entire thing, (“They’re off, going down the straightaway, Bruce and Lawrence have taken the lead!”). He glances beside him and sees Sean with his eyes closed, one hand holding his hat on his head and the other wrapped around Matt’s neck. Matt is grinning widely as James pushes, and James’ face is set into an amused but determined mask.

They reach the wall of the warehouse, Bruce a few seconds in front of James. James makes a noise of exertion and dismay at being slower, but then Bruce trips over his own feet, or over Lawrence’s feet, or over goddamn air and almost fucking falls. He has a near-death experience, it was so close of a fall.

He grips the armrests of the chair hard and works on finding his balance.

James passes him laughing.

Try as he might, Bruce acknowleges that he lost precious seconds there tripping over nothing.

In front of him, the team of Sean, Matt, and James crosses the finish line.

James skids the chair to a stop and gives it a slow spin. As Matt and Sean turn in the chair, James raises his arms over his head. Says, “Victory!”

Elyse jumps onto the scene, announces, “There it is, folks! A third wheel is better than two!

Bruce brings Lawrence's chair to a stop at the finish line and works on regaining his breath after having run the length of the warehouse. Elyse pulls James in front of the camera and starts asking him questions related to the race, reporter style. Bruce sets his mouth into a hard line, sour at having lost. He tells Lawrence, “Fucking unfair.”

Lawrence nods in agreement.

As Bruce watches, Matt loosens his grip on Sean, who seems to be trembling with adrenaline. Sean huffs out a high, nervous laugh and works on settling his himself on solid ground. He wobbles a bit, standing on his own two feet, and Bruce sees Matt dart out his hand, grabbing onto Sean’s arm. Matt asks, “You okay?”

Sean laughs again, more happy than nervous now, says, “I’ll be fine. That was… that was fun!”

Matt smiles at Sean. Bruce likes the look of it on his face.

On Wednesday, halfway through the morning, Bruce approaches Matt. Bruce has been planning out the videos of the week and has come to the conclusion that yeah, they’re actually good on content, miraculously, regardless of the breaks they as an office have taken to fool around lately (see: office chair race). So walks over to Matt and asks Matt about the videos he has on docket.

Matt says, “Let me check.”

Matt pulls his headphones onto his neck and starts clicking around his desktop. That’s when Elyse walks over and smiles at both of them. She leans into Bruce’s side and asks, “Am I editing Demo Disk this week?”

Bruce turns his head and finds her looking up at him, face much closer than he expected. He says, “No, Lawrence said he could. But just stand by for any photoshops he might need.”

Elyse nods once, sharply, and says, “You got it, boss.”

She fucking—winks. She winks at him, a quick and fleeting gesture. Bruce blinks. Opens his eyes and finds her gone, walking back to her desk.

Matt asks, “Bruce?”

Bruce clears his throat, says, “Yeah.”

For lunch that same day, Joel, James, Elyse, and Bruce have lunch plans. And Bruce wants to invite Matt, because Matt usually goes to lunch with James and Elyse. But Bruce is taking James and Elyse with him and he doesn’t want to hang Matt out to dry just because James and Elyse want Chipotle, too.

So when Bruce calls lunch break, he turns in his chair and stands in front of Matt’s desk, trying to appear as casual as he doesn’t feel when he asks, “Hey Matt, do you want to come to lunch with us?”

Matt nods and asks, “Who’s us?”

Bruce says, “Joel, Elyse, James, and I.”

Matt nods again, and seems on the cusp of saying something, when Bruce sees James approach them out of the corner of his eye. Bruce turns his head to face him and James raises an eyebrow, looking at him like he knows something Bruce doesn’t. He says, “I heard my name over here. Planning a surprise party for me?”

James lays his elbow on Bruce’s shoulder as Bruce shakes his head. Says, “No, I was inviting Matt to lunch with us.”

James says, “Oh! Bruce, you are such a sweetheart.”

Bruce nods, “I am, yeah.”

James makes a delighted noise that Bruce is almost completely sure is sarcastic, and he leans into Bruce’s space and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Bruce chuckles and swats him away, rolling his eyes for show. James dances away from Bruce’s swat and says, “See you at lunch, lovebirds!”

Bruce feels a spike of embarrassment run down his spine. He laughs forcefully and shakes his head, hoping to play off James’ comment in front of Matt.

They go to lunch, and for once, it doesn’t feel like there’s a bet in the air. Joel behaves himself as they eat. Sure, he and Matt still make a lot of eye contact, but Joel doesn’t escalate. Elyse and James don’t make any more quips at Bruce or Matt, either. They just rope Bruce into a conversation, and it all feels normal. Feels good.

It’s nice, Bruce thinks. He likes it when it’s like this.

Chapter Text

Bruce realizes too late into their Thursday that having James choose the Open Haus questions for that week was a bad idea.

As they all settle in for a session of Open Haus, Bruce opens the document filled with the questions that James handpicked and shared with all of them earlier in the day, while Joel beside him stretches his arms over his head, readying himself for the cameras. Bruce is glad they aren’t recording because his jaw physically drops as he reads through the document.

When he looks over to James, Adam is pushing Joel’s water bottle off his desk, like a cat would a precarious object, while James sits by, looking passive. Bruce shakes his head, considers punching James (why would be he so calm what the shit?). Instead, he says, “Everyone go ahead and press record when you’re ready. I’ll count down to clap sync.”

He starts his webcam capture and steels himself.

After an intro in which Joel bickers with Adam over how Adam toppled the bottle of water Joel left on Adam’s desk, James making faces at the two of them all the while, Bruce reads over the first question again. This won't be pretty. He really hopes they'll get through this relatively unscathed, though. 

Not listening to Joel and Adam’s argument, he yells over them, “Alright already, start the stupid fucking show!”

Adam scoffs and turns away from Joel, clears his throat. He says, “Hey, welcome to Open Haus. Your first question this week comes from Enderglow. They write ‘Hey guys, I’ve noticed lately that Peake likes to leave his beard long. I was wondering what everyone else prefers, Matt Peake with or without a beard?’”

“No beard!” Sean shouts out first and loudest.

Bruce startles a bit but works hard on falling back into a comfortable joking zone. He holds up his hands and looks at Sean over his monitor, “Hold on, are you saying you don’t like lumberjack Peake?”

Sean makes a noise of dissension, crosses his arms, says, “I’m just saying I have a preference.”

Bruce nods, asks, “Okay, what does Peake have to say to that?”

Matt, lays a hand on his leg, raises his eyebrows, “Uh, well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”

“Even if that opinion is wrong?” James asks, glancing at Matt through Adam’s webcam. Bruce sets his mouth into a hard line.

Matt shrugs, smiles softly, says nothing else. The room seems to hold its breath as a collective before Bruce shouts out, “Next question, James.”

James clears his throat and speaks, “Wafflemalware wants to know ‘Fuck, marry, kill: your choice of three Funhaus members.’”

Bruce sees Joel grimace in the corner of his eye. Joel says, “James, you’ve truly outdone yourself with these questions.”

James widens his eyes innocently and looks around Adam to meet Joel’s eyes, “Hey, I thought it was time to let these questions have their day in the sun!” James switches his gaze to the webcam, staring unnervingly, “Before we never answer them again.”

Adam says, “You heard it here, folks. If anyone leaves any more questions like this, you’re dead.” Adam puts his finger to his throat and stares at the camera as well.

Lawrence seems to shrug and says, “This is like the beach episode in an anime, right? It’s purely fan service and offers no plot development?”

“See, now you’re getting it!” James grins at Lawrence. 

Elyse speaks up, saying, “To answer your question, fuck James, marry James, kill James, inherit his belongings.”

James laughs and shakes his head so Elyse continues, turning her body too look at him over Adam’s monitor, “You think this is a joke, James? Watch your back, it’s a three step plan.”

James laughs again, “I look forward to watching it all unfold from the safety of my new life after I fake my death.”

Elyse leans back in her chair, “So long as I get my money.”

James gives one last chuckle before he turns his attention elsewhere, “Bruce, what would you say?”

Bruce looks away, sighs. He is never one to back down from a challenge, especially not one James puts up. Plus, this is just for content, right? Purely for content.

Bruce thinks for a moment and treads carefully, aware of the content but also the space after the content is created.

“I would… fuck Joel because I know how long he’s wanted me for,” Joel scoffs and begins protesting, but Bruce holds up his hands and bites the bullet, “I would marry Matt Peake because we already live together, and that’s half the battle, right? And I would kill Spoole.”

Sean almost swivels in his chair 180 degrees, making a noise and asking, “What? Why me?”

Before Bruce can lay into Spoole, Matt speaks from the back, says, “I accept your proposal.”

Bruce almost stutters, he nods vigorously towards the camera and looks away, feeling something light in his chest. He avoids the look he knows James is giving him and passes the baton by asking, “Lawrence?”

Lawrence asks, “Can I marry all of you and you can be sister wives?”

Adam replies, “Doesn’t that mean we’re mormons?”

Lawrence shrugs while James speaks, “I think it means we all have orgies.”

Lawrence snaps his fingers, turns around and points at James, “That’s why I’m marrying you first! After we’ve fucked because I can’t leave you tainted and unwed.”

James touches his chest, “Aw, you’re a sweetheart. Who are you killing though?”

Lawrence turns back around and scoffs, as if it’s a no-brainer, “Spoole.”

Sean makes a noise and crosses his arms over his chest. Elyse shakes her head and asks, “Matt, what about you?”

The room is silent as Matt clears his throat and leans up in his chair, looking not at his webcam but rather at the others. “Uh, I guess I would… do James,” James is not the only one who seems shocked at Matt's answer. Elyse swivels in her chair infinitesimally, giving James a look Bruce can't decipher. (After a pause that is too long, when Matt has already started talking again, James says a soft, Yes, more to the cameras than to the room.)

“Marry—" (James says, Yes, Matt stumbles on a smile.) "Marry Adam, and kill… Spoole.”

Bruce tries not to sound hurt as he jokes, “What? I thought you already accepted my proposal!”

Matt shrugs. “I don’t want anyone to feel left out.”

Sean speaks up, “But you killed me!”

Elyse replies before Matt can. She says, “You weren’t left out, just killed off.”

Lawrence follows up with, “Spoole is like an unwanted romantic subplot used to further character development.”

Sean pouts while Matt grins. Adam says, "Rest in peace, baby boy."

Bruce furrows his brow. “Hang on. Would that mean Adam moves in with us now?”

Matt shrugs, says, “Yeah, that’s what being married is.”

Adam smiles sardonically, looks at Bruce, “I hope you’re alright with me not paying rent ever, sweetie.”

Bruce rolls his eyes and pretends not to notice the nervous smile Adam gives Matt. He clears his throat and prepares for the next question, reading out, “Uh, buttsandstuff. ‘If you had to choose between eating a bee and kissing a member of Funhaus, which member would you kiss?’”

Bruce furrows his brow while Sean speaks first, laughing and saying, “Wha-hat? It’s phrased so weirdly.”

Joel turns up his nose and says, “Well, since I would very much dislike having a bee in my mouth, I guess I have to choose the least filthy of you.”

Adam says, “I bathe regularly,” while Lawrence gasps in awe and says, “Me? Oh, Joel, I—”

“It’s Matt Peake.” Joel delivers, crossing his arms.

Matt rolls his eyes while Lawrence visibly deflates, says, “Psh. It’s not like I wanted to kiss you, anyway.”

James says, “Anyway, I’m not allergic to bees. Next question. Joel?”

Joel leans forwards and reads out, “Its_alayna asks, ‘Are there any tips or tricks you can offer when you want someone to ask you out on a date?’”

Lawrence jumps in, says, “Wear pheromone perfume.”

Bruce wrinkles his nose, “Wouldn’t they just want to bone you then?”

Lawrence raises an eyebrow, “Isn’t that what dates are?”

Bruce shakes his head, “It’s not—”

James holds up his hands, quieting Bruce. In an expecting voice, James says, “Matt Peake, what’s the answer?”

Bruce raises an eyebrow. James isn’t even being subtle anymore. Matt clears his throat. “Well, why don’t you ask them out yourself?”

Elyse asks, “Matt, what if they just can’t?” Bruce wants to strangle the Willems.

Matt says, “Talk to them. Any good date starts out with talking.”

Elyse nods and so does James, acting as if it’s the best advice they’ve ever heard. When Bruce glances over to Elyse, he notices how Spoole stares off into middle distance, eyes not trained on his screen. So Bruce says, “Spoole, next question.”

Sean snaps back into the moment, but not before fumbling over a “Wh-h-hat?”

Bruce stifles a laugh as Sean clears his throat. James comments, "Space cadet Spoole!"

Sean crosses his arms and looks at his monitor, starts with “Four twenty—” Before he breaks down laughing, and the rest of the office follows suit.

Lawrence says, “Read it, Spoole,” and Sean makes a noise and a gesture with his hands at the monitor, “This is—!”

Bruce yells, “Read it, Spoole!”

Elyse pats him on the shoulder and Sean takes a breath, seems to shake himself before blurting out almost unintelligibly, “42069PUSSSMASHR69420 asks ‘Who do you enjoy hanging out with most in Funhaus, if you've got a favorite?’”

Bruce raises an eyebrow, “Well, there is… one of you who is just. Amazing. Talented. A fantastic worker. Efficient and respectful. And the fans love them.”

James puffs up his chest while Elyse makes doe eyes at the camera. Adam asks, “Are you sure that person is one of us or...?”

Bruce says, “It’s, uh, it’s me, guys. I’m talking about me.”

James interjects, “Hold on, weren’t you talking about Matt Peake?”

Bruce really wishes he could punch James. James isn't wrong though, and Bruce keeps the first rule of improv in his head as he nods, Always say yes and keep the joke going. He says, “Oh, yeah, that’s it. It’s Matt Peake.”

Joel grimaces, says, “You guys live together. How sticky is your floor?”

Bruce mirrors his grimace, says, “Ew!” James makes a jerk-off motion to the camera while Lawrence smiles knowingly, mirrors James' motions to the camera. (Internally, and a little bit externally too, Bruce blushes.) Bruce says, “Read the next question, Lawrence.”

Lawrence straightens in his chair, stops his movements, and starts reading off, “250px asks, ‘If…” and his tone gets slower as he gets more into the question, registering the words he’s about to say. Bruce grits his teeth because this might be the worst of the questions. Lawrence continues, “‘If you had to steadily date anyone in the office, who would it be and why?’”

The office is silent for an excruciating beat before Lawrence himself clears his throat and says, “I thought you were all my sister-wives already.”

Bruce laughs forcefully.

Adam speaks, jumping on the joke, “There’s your answer, we’re a harem.”

After a tense second, Bruce calls out, “Last question.”

Elyse leans back in her chair and says, “You can take this one, Matt.”

Matt from the back of the room clears his throat and reads, “This is from alosercalledsusie. ‘If you made a game starring another Funhaus member, which one would it star and what would be the premise of the game?’”

Lawrence starts, “Fake your death simulator starring James.”

Adam adds, “Sister wives simulator starring Lawrence.”

Joel continues, “Shave Peake simulator starring Sean.”

Sean is notoriously almost always late to work.

The order of arrival is Bruce and Matt, together now that they’re roommates, Adam, Elyse and James, Lawrence, and finally, Sean.

Which is why, by the time Sean gets to work the day after recording the Open Haus, the mood in the office is tense, and Sean’s gasp of surprise echoes through the room.

“Matt—”

Matt looks up from his screen as Sean bounds over to him, backpack and coffee still in hand.

“You…” Sean sets down his coffee, brings a hand up to Matt’s face. “You shaved.”

Sean’s fingers run down Matt’s cheek as the smile on Matt’s face grows. “Yeah. I considered what you said yesterday during Open Haus.”

Sean is shocked speechless, which is a rarity all on its own. He gets a longing pang in his chest to lean over a few more inches and just kiss Matt. Just kiss him and let the chips fall where they may.

He doesn’t though, of course he doesn’t. But Sean does file away the look Matt gives him for later thought. He thinks just the memory of it could brighten his whole day.

Sean hears Bruce clear his throat very loudly, so he looks over and his hand on Matt’s face slips off. Bruce says, “You’re already late, Spoole. C’mon. Get to work.”

It’s the most serious tone Sean has probably ever heard him use, which is saying a lot since they’ve worked together for years. Sean obeys, though. He picks up his coffee, gives Matt an apologetic look, and walks to his desk, tail tucked between his legs.

That same day, the day when Matt has shaved because Sean suggested he liked it more, Adam wins the bet. Accidentally and unexpectedly, sure, but he wins nonetheless.

It’s a Friday, that day. TGIF, right? Adam, Bruce, and Matt are the only ones left at the office packing up their shit. Bruce is replaying in his head the soft smile and wave Matt gave Sean before Sean left when Matt clears his throat. Bruce and Adam glance over as Matt says, soft as always, “Hey, Adam. Do you wanna go get something to eat?”

Bruce has to snap himself out of his trance because his hands stop moving for a long moment.

Adam also stops packing his things, turns his body towards Matt, looks shocked. “Uh. Together? Alone? You and… you and me?

Matt nods patiently. Adam spares a glance at Bruce, and Bruce notices how nervous he looks.

Adam looks back at Matt. Says, “Sure. I mean, yeah. Where do you wanna go?”

Matt shrugs, zips up his backpack and shoulders it. “We’ll talk about it in the car. Are you okay with giving me a ride back home after?”

Adam gulps, “Yeah. Yes. That’s okay.”

Matt turns towards Bruce then, says, “See you later?”

Bruce (who has turned in his chair towards the two of them, who has just now noticed how much he’s eavesdropped) says, “Yeah. See you at home.”

As soon as Adam and Matt are out the door and Bruce pinches himself to make sure he’s not dreaming, Bruce sends a message to their group chat, Bet minus some assholes, which is the one without Achievement Hunter or Peake. (Yeah, so what, they made two group chats for the bet. Funhaus values nothing if not organization.)

Bruce messages, Matt just asked Adam out to dinner and they left together.

Two seconds later, Sean replies, Whaaaaaaaa???!!!

And right behind him, Joel replies, Fuck, is it a date????????

Bruce takes a second. I dont know. Adam?

Adam does not reply, not right away, and Bruce messages the group, I think he’s driving.

Joel says, ??????????????????

Lawrence says, Adam sucks.

Adam did not expect to win the bet. Not in this lifetime, anyway.

As he and Matt slide into his car, his new car, which he is incredibly proud of, his phone buzzes. He ignores it and turns his attention on Matt, asks, “This is the first time you’ve been in my car, right?”

Matt nods, says, “It’s a really nice car.”

Adam almost beams with pride. “Thanks. I picked it out myself.”

Matt smiles and Adam catches how his body is almost completely facing Matt. He clears his throat and asks, “Where, uh. Where did you want to go?”

Matt has not stopped looking at Adam, even as Adam fumbles his gaze around, toys with the keys in his hand. Matt says, “I read online about a new Asian place. I was thinking we could go there.”

Adam settles back into his seat, away from Matt and turns on the car, the engine purring to life around them.

“Lead the way,” Adam says as he backs out of his parking spot.

“Aye aye, cap’n.”

Adam can’t contain his wide smile.

The place isn’t crowded despite it being a Friday afternoon, so they get seated almost immediately. Adam has been telling a story Matt has probably heard tell a thousand times before, but Matt doesn’t interrupt or stop paying attention. He laughs where Adam inserts punchlines and gives Adam small smiles when Adam looks over. It’s nice.

Adam orders sushi while Matt settles on miso broth and some dumplings. When their food arrives Matt sips his broth, as Adam struggles with his chopsticks, quickly realizing that picking now of all times to show off how clumsy he is with these eating utensils is not ideal. He uses chopsticks sometimes, when he feels like he has the manual dexterity for it, and it works! If he uses both hands, he means. But today, Adam has the dawning horror that it is not a good day for his manual dexterity. He struggles in front of Matt, feeling regret for every single thing he has ever done in his life.

Adam notices as Matt raises an eyebrow at him over his broth. Matt asks, “Are you okay?” And Adam smiles very sheepishly, says, “I can do this, but only sometimes.”

The chopstick that flies out of Adam’s grip and into the wall of the booth they’re seated at says otherwise. Matt stifles a laugh around a sip of his water. Adam considers the advantages and disadvantages of faking his own death.

Matt grabs one of his own chopsticks and reaches over the table with his free hand. Says, “Here,” and grabs Adam’s hand gently. Adam swallows hard at the touch, watches as Matt positions his fingers in a specific way that makes Adam’s hand feel awkward. He looks at Matt’s concentrated face as Matt moves Adam’s fingers around, placing them on the chopsticks. Adam bites back his small, nervous smile, concentrates on being Calm, Cool, and Collected. Three things he arguably never is.

Matt retracts his touch from Adam’s hand. He says, “Try it now.”

Adam does. He moves his fingers clumsily, opening and closing the chopsticks a total of twice before a second chopstick hits the wall of the booth. Matt laughs out loud then, throwing his head back with a wide smile on his lips, a few bubbling laughs leaving his lips, his eyes narrowed in amusement. Adam feels his stomach flutter at Matt’s smile. He could really get used to that sight.

Matt says, “Here,” again and reaches for the chopstick in Adam’s hand. He combines it with his residual chopstick, placing his hands on them expertly. As it turns out, Matt has incredible manual dexterity. He handles the chopsticks impressively. Adam raises an eyebrow at the way Matt plucks a piece of sushi from Adam’s plate and holds it in front of Adam’s face.

Matt still has a small smile on his face as he raises an eyebrow in rebuttal and pushes the food towards Adam’s mouth. Adam shrugs inwardly and opens his mouth, lets Matt push the food in. As he chews, Matt sets the chopsticks down on Adam’s plate.

Adam asks around a full mouth, “One and done?”

Matt smiles into the last of his broth. Says, “I think you can figure out how to feed yourself.”

Adam raises both eyebrows and nods, swallows his food. “I got this far into adulthood, didn’t I?”

Matt nods back, gives Adam a brief smile. “I believe in you, if that helps.”

Adam ends up skewering his sushi with one of the chopsticks, eating the pieces as one would a kebab. He’s glad he does, because even though their waiter looks at him weird, it makes Matt smile, and that’s the best outcome, if he’s being honest.

When they’re done eating, Adam commends Matt for his choice. Matt takes the commendation with gratitude and says, “Next time, you can pick a place.”

Adam’s heart leaps at the thought of there even being a next time.

They order dessert. As their server leaves with their order, Matt excuses himself to the bathroom. It’s then that Adam makes a mistake. He takes out his phone and opens the messages he’s received from the group chat, and—

Joel:
> Fuck, is it a date????????

Bruce:
> I dont know. Adam?

Adam realizes that he has no idea what this is.

He messages the group, I dont know if this is a date.

Lawrence and Joel answer almost in tandem.

Lawrence:
> Ask him, asshole.

Joel:
> Fucking ask him dumbass

Adam narrows his eyes menacingly at the screen and hopes Joel and Lawrence can feel his disdain. He’s about to fire a text back, a scathing one, he assures himself, when Matt comes back to the table, smiling that soft smile that hasn’t left his face all night. It brings Adam's turned-down nervousness to the forefront of his mind.

“Everything okay?” Matt asks, sliding back into his chair.

Before Adam can reply, the dessert comes. They thank their server as she sets down their plates and once she leaves, Matt asks again, “Adam, are you okay?”

Adam picks up his fork and separates a piece of cake from the slice on his plate. He doesn’t meet Matt’s eyes when he shrugs, swallows hard, almost whispers: “I was just wondering." Adam clears his throat. "Is this a date?”

Adam is met with a silence so he glances up nervously. He catches how Matt raises an eyebrow; it startles his gaze back down and he separates a bigger piece of cake, picks it up with his fork, takes the cheek-filling bite.

Matt asks, sounding more curious than anything, “Do you want this to be a date?”

Adam chews slowly, hoping Matt won’t make him answer that out loud. No dice; Matt looks on patiently, not letting his gaze waver from Adam’s face.

Adam takes a deep breath, swallows his cake, and says, “Uh. Maybe? Yes? Only if that’s okay with you.”

Matt looks like he’s deliberating for a second and Adam wants to take it all back, just swallow his words back down—

Matt looks away, not meeting Adam’s eyes. Adam regrets saying anything so much—

Matt sounds warm when he says, “It would be okay with me.”

Adam almost faints.

After dinner, paid for by Matt, Adam takes him home. Adam has not stopped smiling since he confirmed it was a date. He hasn’t felt so nervous around Matt in a while because holy shit, Matt asked him out. Yet, he feels at ease because holy shit, Matt asked him out. That means Matt likes him, like Adam likes Matt. Holy shit.

Adam will say this, though. His words come easier with the thought of Matt liking him back (and he feels like he’s back in high school at the thought of like likes).

Matt seems at ease, too, in Adam’s presence. They talk about the possibility of attending a baseball game together soon. Adam tries to conceal his giddiness before he realizes that Matt looks giddy. It makes Adam’s stomach flip.

Adam finds himself taking the turn into Bruce and Matt’s apartment complex slower, so as to prolong their time together. And when he does stop in front of the building, Matt doesn’t get out right away.

Matt unbuckles his seatbelt, shifts in his chair. Adam clears his throat. The car is silent, both of them unwilling to end the evening.

Matt says, “I had a nice time.”

Adam nods, “Me too. Thanks for inviting me out.”

Matt nods, “Don’t thank me, it was my pleasure.”

Adam feels nervous laughter bubble up in his throat. He almost chokes on it, says, “God, we sound like we just met on Match dot com.”

Matt lets out a surprised, quiet laugh. “Are you saying we would get matched up?”

Adam considers for a second. Says, “Well, we’ve known each other for years and we’re not sick of each other yet.”

“Yet?”

Adam smiles as he says, “Who knows what the future holds?”

Matt laughs gently. His gaze drops to the middle console between them. There’s a pause where Matt just looks… nervous. Looks as if he wants to say something. Adam asks, “Hey. You good?”

Matt nods, looks back at Adam and gives him a fleeting smile. “Yeah. I’m good.”

Adam nods back, feels as if he should say something.

Matt shifts in his seat, digs into his pocket for his keys. “I’m gonna go. Talk to you later, yeah?”

Adam nods. Says, “Good night,” as Matt exits the car with one more smile at Adam. Adam watches Matt go into the lobby. Matt waves once more from inside and Adam leans over the passenger seat to return the gesture. Matt turns away and goes up the stairs. Adam slumps back into his seat, a breathless laugh leaving his mouth.

A date. Holy shit.

Adam’s brain snaps back to a very important message he has to send. He reaches into his pocket for his phone, unlocks it and pulls up the chat Bet minus some assholes. He sends out:

Adam:
> It was a date, where’s my money

Chapter Text

The Saturday after Matt has gone on a date with Adam, Bruce notes how peaceful Matt is. Matt melts into the couch in the morning after breakfast and stays there until lunch, his movements unhurried as he makes a comment to Bruce that they should go grocery shopping. Bruce agrees and they go, taking Bruce’s car there. Matt rides in Bruce’s front seat, commenting on the upcoming baseball game, and Bruce likes this. Feels as if this is where he’s meant to be.

Before the bet came around and turned the office into a waiting game, they, as a group, used to hang out almost every weekend. While it’s true that they’re close friends in the office, it’s also true that they’re… pretty much each other's only friends. So Bruce’s weekends since the bet’s start have looked startlingly empty. Now that the bet is, in essence, over, he kind of hopes they can get back to normal. But it’s not as if his feelings have magically disappeared since Adam and Matt have gone out. Matt made a choice. Bruce will have to live with that. On the plus side, two of his closest friends will be happy with each other. At least, that’s what he hopes.

But, ever since the office standstill, he can’t really bring himself to mind if he gets to spend his time around Matt. Sure, there’s still the nagging thought at the back of his brain that says, You have feelings for him and you had a bet on those feelings which he knew nothing about. Thing is, Bruce has always felt so at ease with Matt that now it’s hard to shake the habit. Sure, he feels butterflies in his stomach whenever Matt smiles at him but Matt is a grounding force to him, he realizes. A center of calm. Whenever they’re alone, Bruce can try and forget the bet happened (keyword try; he has accepted that he will always feel a wriggling of guilt when he’s with Matt now), and it’s… good. Bruce feels good. Kind of good. Mostly good.

They come back to their apartment with groceries and unload the car, making a joke of carrying as much as they can up the three flights of stairs to their apartment. (“Why do I have to make two trips when I go to the gym to get ripped?” Asks Bruce, and it makes Matt laugh. Honestly, Bruce could live like this forever. If only, y’know, he didn’t feel just a tad guilty over the bet. Just a bit.)

On Sunday, Matt is antsy again. Bruce wakes up planning to do some work but instead finds Matt in the kitchen making whole-grain pancakes, skittering between the stove and his morning tea.

Bruce says, “Good morning.”

And Matt looks at him and gives him a small smile, his eyes too wide and alert for it to be 9 in the morning. Bruce feels a sort of uncertainty prick at the back of his mind so he asks, “Do you want to go for a run today?”

Matt says, “It’s not leg day for me.”

Bruce asks, “Gym?”

Matt nods, takes a sip of his tea, “Yeah, a little later. I made pancakes.”

Bruce chuckles, “You did. Thanks for that.”

Matt smiles brightly and serves Bruce some pancakes. They eat at their usually ignored kitchen table, Bruce rambling on about work they have to do this week and Matt nodding along pretty damn enthusiastically.

Bruce does the dishes, stating that Matt did the cooking so it’s only fair. It earns him a soft smile and a hand on the junction of his neck and shoulder from Matt. Makes him shiver at the touch.

Bruce shakes himself and does dishes.

In the group chat, Adam has been asking since Saturday (Bruce got messages in the grocery store, goddammit) about when the money will be delivered to him.

Adam:
> You owe me $179

Jack:
> Yeah, and me!

Jack:
> And, unfortunately, Gavin too.

Gavin:
> Pay up!

Gavin:
> $$$

Geoff:
> Everyone will get their money in due time. Theres nine people in on this bet. Takes time to pool it together.

Gavin:
> You’re just sitting at your desk! You’re not pooling anything

Geoff:
> Bite me

Jack:
> Geoff just handed me a paper that says I O U

Adam:
> Are you going to mail me a paper that says I O U?

Adam:
> Because I cant feed my cats with that.

Geoff:
> I O U

Adam:
> Great not even a picture of a paper that says I O U

Jack:
> Picture message from Jack P. to group FH BET

Adam:
> Thanks.

Geoff:
> Youll get your money at the end of the bet time period dude. We’re going back to LA in like a month a half anyway.

Adam:
> I’m printing out the picture just in case

Michael:
> That’s kind of pathetic, dude

Adam:
> That’s kind of my life, dude

On Monday, Sean notices how Matt and Adam lock eyes right before Adam is called over by Bruce to record something. It makes his gut twist, knowing that they’re locking eyes because they had a date on Friday. They dated. The bet is over because Adam got a date with Matt. Sean is still bummed about it. This was his bet to lose! And boy, did he lose. And now, Adam and Matt keep looking at each other like goddamn fools while Sean sulks behind his monitor.

As Bruce and Adam and James start their recording and James clap-syncs the thing, Sean sighs softly. He really feels bad about the whole thing, has been feeling bad the entire weekend because, yeah, while most of the office has a crush on Matt, he and Matt… have something. He doesn’t know what, exactly, but he really thought they had something? Whatever, obviously not. Matt went out with Adam instead.

Sean sulks and edits, trying to keep his self-pity from appearing in frame of the recording happening in front of him.

General rule of thumb for when the guys are recording is that no one behind them should move much or say much unless it’s a joke. But Sean guesses he looks so miserable, Elyse has to come over and save him. She approaches him tucking her hair behind her ears and gestures for him to come with her. She mouths Snacks, and Sean nods, takes off his headphones and follows her out of the room.

Elyse makes sure to close the door softly behind them. She turns to Sean in the corridor and sets a soft hand on his shoulder, says, “You look sad. What’s wrong, buddy?”

Sean grimaces, “Y’know… The date.”

Elyse nods and pulls him into her side. “I know, Spoole. Let’s go get some pudding to make you feel better.”

Sean thinks that sounds ideal.

Elyse feels for Sean. She really does. She rubs her hand down his arm in what she hopes is a comforting motion as they come into the kitchen.

As Elyse reaches into the fridge for two pudding cups, she tells Sean, “Get us some spoons.”

Sean dutifully walks over to the drawer and gets them two plastic spoons. She sets the puddings on the counter and takes a spoon from Sean’s hand, smiling at him. She says, “Thanks, Spoole.”

Sean looks at least happy to be useful. Elyse is glad she could lighten his mood a bit.

As she tears off the pudding lid, a flash of movement catches Elyse’s eye. She turns and sees Matt walking into the kitchen. He gives her a small nod and approaches the pair of them.

Sean turns away from the counter, eyes on his pudding cup as he brings the spoon into his mouth. He takes a seemingly subconscious step forward and almost walks straight into Matt. Matt holds up his hands, ready to catch Sean if it comes to that. But it doesn’t. Sean stops moving an inch before Matt’s hands would end up on his chest.

As Sean slowly registers what's in front of him (or rather, who), his hold on his spoon wavers. Elyse watches as Sean lowers his pudding back into the cup, staring at Matt.

After a soft beat where Sean looks like he’s trying to figure out what’s going on, Matt says, “Hey Spoole.

Sean manages a soft reply of, “Uh. Hi.”

Elyse watches as Matt flashes a brief smile, doesn’t spare her a glance past his opening greeting. He says, “Hey.”

Sean smiles nervously, repeats, “Hi.”

Elyse almost laughs at these two dorks but has accepted her role as wallflower. She pretends to be a wildlife observer. And here we see the Spoole try and interact with his crush. Let’s listen in on possible disaster.

Matt chuckles softly, shifts from one foot to the other. He says, “Hi. Uh, so. I was… I was just wondering. Do you want to go out with me?”

Sean, to his credit, does not freeze. Not immediately. He bursts out, “Like, like a date?”

Matt nods twice. “Yeah.”

Only then does Sean freeze. Looks as if his brain stops working for a good few seconds. Elyse looks between them incredulously, with a gleam in her eye, an open mouthed smile on her lips. Did she hear that correctly? There’s a silence because Matt doesn’t repeat his question and Elyse stifles all her surprised laughter. Tamps it down deep within herself so as not to break the illusion.

Matt raises his eyebrows, a smile in his eyes. “Sean?”

Sean swallows thickly, cheeks and ears going red. He sputters out, “Y-yes? Yeah. I want to— yeah.”

Matt’s smile transfers onto his lips. He bounces on the balls of his feet and says, “Okay. Okay, good. I’ll message you about it tonight.”

Matt takes one step back, still looking at Sean. Sean waves meekly and Matt nods, turns on his heel and walks back into the corridor that leads into the office.

When Sean looks at Elyse, his eyes are cloudy. Elyse raises an eyebrow. Asks, “How do you feel now?”

Sean asks, “What?”

Elyse sends Sean off back into the office with his pudding cup and stays in the kitchen for a few more minutes. She waits until she can’t take any more waiting, until she’s bursting with the need to tell somebody—

She walks down the corridor and right up the office door, sets her ear on the wood to see if she can catch Bruce’s laughter or James’ voice, anything that will tip her off to the fact that they’re still recording.

She hears none of the sort so she opens the door as casual as she can, passes a working Matt and a still-dazed Sean. Walks up to James and whispers very discreetly, “May I see you in the hallway?”

James raises an eyebrow and nods. She almost skips to the door, she’s so giddy. Elyse opens the door for James and waits until he’s settled into the wall of the corridor before she takes a deep breath and recounts what she just witnessed.

Bruce stretches his arms over his head. The recording is done and over, some other shitty game done and commentated on.

After he checks the video files on the computer, he turns and settles the chairs and the mic into the corner. When he turns around, James is following Elyse out of the office. She opens the door for him.

Bruce pays them no mind. Walking back to his desk, he starts listing out the things he needs to get done before the workday ends. Answer that email. Start editing that video. Make that photoshop for—

He hears James explosive laughter penetrate through the door at the back of the office. Bruce furrows his brow. That can’t be good.

Geoff:
> Wait what?

James:
> You read that correctly: Sean Spoole Poole has a DATE with Matt Peake this week!!!

Spoole:
> I do!!!!!

Lindsay:
> Adam I thought you had sealed the deal what the shit

Michael:
> You didn’t even bet on him, shut up

Lindsay:
> Hey I still believe in true love

Elyse:
> I guess he didn’t. I saw Matt ask Spoole out with my own two eyes.

Adam:
> .

Jeremy:
> what the hell is going on in the FH hq

Lawrence:
> Well, we just got done with our weekly office orgy for building self-esteem

Spoole:
> Heh

Elyse:
> I direct that workshop

Joel:
> She does a fantastic job at it.

Bruce:
> The truth is even WE don’t know what’s going on.

Ryan:
> No shit, Sherlock.

There is a notable shift in the atmosphere after Matt has asked Sean out. Tuesday opens with Sean singing his way into work. Sean is never this happy in the mornings. What the shit, Bruce thinks.

Adam, on the other hand, is kind of… off. He spaces out more often. Bruce has to reach over and shake his shoulder more than once during their workday. Adam always comes back to earth with a hard blink of his eyes and a not-quite smile at Bruce. Bruce feels kind of bad for him. He makes a mental note to talk to Adam later.

First, though, it’s a Tuesday. On Tuesdays, they record the Fan Show and Dude Soup so that means and hour and a half sitting in front of a camera. He really hopes Adam is up for it.

When the time comes, Bruce tells Lawrence to set up the cameras. Lawrence nods and spares a glance at Adam. Lawrence is nothing if not perceptive. As Lawrence goes, Bruce lays a soft hand on Adam’s shoulder. He leans in and murmurs to Adam, “You okay?”

Adam turns his head. That’s when Bruce realizes he is… pretty close to Adam. It’s for the best, right? Matt is right behind them, better to not give anything away. Bruce tries to control his breathing, so as not to bother Adam. Adam blinks, licks his lips. Says, “I don’t think so.”

Bruce nods, “Can you stay after work?”

Adam doesn’t hesitate when he says, “Okay.”

Lawrence calls them over for the podcast.

In front of the camera, Adam is… Adam, only a little subdued. He gives his opinions, comments minimally on fanart, sits off to the side for the Fan Show. Bruce feels like he should pull his weight. He keeps glancing at Adam every so often to make sure Adam is okay.

If anything, James saves the entire show by being very James. He sits next to Bruce while Lawrence shows off fanart and he comments kind of loudly about the art. Bruce wonders if he’s read the situation and is trying to pick up the slack, too, but Bruce is too preoccupied with Adam to notice much. Lawrence pulls up a piece of art which features the eight of them, each one done beautifully, if Bruce is being honest. His eyes take the piece in, ready to comment on the first thing to pop into his head (pulling his weight), but James bursts in first, says, “Oh, look at Matt Peake! Wow, that’s good. I like the colors.”

Bruce resists raising an eyebrow. The door at the back of the room opens and Bruce glances, sees Matt coming back from the bathroom. James seems to notice, too, because he calls Matt over, says, “C’mere, look at this!”

As Matt walks over, Bruce looks at Adam. Adam looks at the screen. Lawrence raises an eyebrow and Bruce meets his eyes through the webcam, both with the silent question of Is James fucking with us again?

Matt stands behind Lawrence. James says, “Look at that.”

Matt nods, “That’s good art.”

James looks up at Matt, a genuine smile on his face. Bruce prepares for James to say something that will raise the tensions in the office again. Instead, James says, “I know, right?”

Matt nods again. James waves him away, saying, “Thanks Matt.” Smiles at Matt as he walks away. For once, Bruce thinks James is being…. Sincere. Actually sincere in his actions including Matt.

For the second time that day, Bruce thinks, What the shit?

After work, the only ones still at the office are Adam, James, Elyse and Bruce.

Adam finishes packing up his things and meets Bruce’s eye. Bruce nods. Elyse and James lean over Elyse’s computer, deciding what photoshops they should do for the following day. Bruce counts to ten before he follows Adam out, leaving his things on his office chair.

Adam waits in the hallway, leaning against a wall by the exit, staring at his feet. Bruce approaches slowly, digs his hands into his pockets. Says, “Hey,” and leans against the opposite wall.

Adam says, “Hey.”

Bruce goes for a gentle voice as he asks, “How are you feeling?”

Adam laughs humorlessly. He swings his foot, scuffs his heel on the ground. “If I’m being honest… I don’t know how to feel. Spoole and I were...." He pauses for a long moment, then sighs. "Spoole's my friend. And Matt is… Matt. I want them to be happy, if Matt chooses Spoole. But I don’t know.” Adam shakes his head, “I don’t know, Bruce.”

Bruce nods. “That’s okay. It’s okay, Adam.” Adam laughs humorlessly again. Bruce continues, “Do you want me to talk to Matt?”

Adam shakes his head again. “No.” Glances up at Bruce. “No, I’ll do it. I’ll talk to him.”

“Okay.” Bruce pushes off the wall, takes a step towards Adam, lays a comforting hand on Adam’s shoulder. He squeezes as Adam smiles tiredly. Bruce smiles back briefly. Says, “Go home, Kovic.”

Adam says, “Yeah.” He pushes off the wall, nods, waves at Bruce as he makes his way out of the hallway.

Bruce hefts a sigh, scrubs at his face. Jeez, this is getting messed up. Maybe the bet wasn’t the best idea, but— Matt, though. What is Matt doing? Maybe he likes the both of them. There was so much physical contact and flirtation going on around Matt in the past few weeks, maybe he… maybe there’s feelings on Matt’s part now. Adam said he would talk to Matt. Bruce weighs the pros and cons of asking Adam about their conversation, if Adam ever gets back to Bruce about it.

He walks back to the office door, mind buzzing. Through the gap in the door he left ajar, he hears the Willemses’ chatter.

He hears Elyse say, “Hey.”

Her tone makes Bruce’s steps slow. What is—?

Elyse continues, her soft words carrying to the door, “Saw you getting starry-eyed over the Mountain Man.”

Bruce stops walking. Leans against the wall by the door.

James sounds kinda dismissive as he says, “Eh, I’m just getting a little bit hopeful.”

Fuck. Bruce knows he shouldn’t be listening to this.

There’s a pause where Bruce panics that he’s been found out somehow. Then Elyse says, “That’s not a bad thing.”

James scoffs softly, half-joking. Says, “It is when we’re in the middle of a bet with five people trying to date him.”

“Is it still—?”

“Figure of speech.”

There’s another pause, shorter this time. Elyse sounds cheeky, says, “Hey, whatever happens, you still have me, babe.”

Bruce can’t see James but he knows him so well, he would bet his bottom dollar that James is smiling before he says, “And you’ve got me.”

Elyse makes an unimpressed noise at the back of her throat. There’s the soft sound of bodies moving, a chair rolling on carpeted floors. She says, “You’re no Peake.”

There’s silence before Bruce hears the unmistakable sound of a kiss.

Bruce swallows hard.

For the third time that day, he thinks What the shit?

Apparently, Matt has made weeknight plans with Sean. On Wednesday evening, Bruce clicks around on his computer as he hears Matt walk back and forth around their apartment. This is his life, huh.

His phone startles him a little, the sudden loudness of it in the relative quiet of the apartment. He checks the screen to see who’s calling and it’s Lawrence. Bruce answers his phone, says hello.

Lawrence says, “Hey, Peake isn’t picking up. Is he there?”

Bruce glances out his open bedroom door, sees Matt cross from the bathroom to his room. Bruce gets a whiff of his cologne. He clears his throat, settles into his chair, says quietly, “He is getting ready for his date with Spoole.”

Lawrence sighs. “Well shit. I thought we had plans to work out.”

Bruce gets out, “Are—” before Matt peeks into his room and says, “I’m leaving now.” Bruce nods at him, waves him goodbye. Says, “Have fun!”

Matt knocks twice on Bruce’s doorjamb, smiles small at him. Turns and leaves the hallway.

As Bruce hears the apartment door open and close, Lawrence says, “Seriously? Have fun?”

Bruce lets out a breath, relaxes a little. Rubs his forehead and says, “Lawrence, c’mon. Are you seriously still in on this bet?”

“Hey, I’ll play until the bet is over or I’m told to stop.”

Bruce shakes his head. Resigns himself to his fate now, “I can go work out with you. Where are you at?”

Bruce can hear the smile in Lawrence’s voice. “The Fullscreen gym. Make sure you bring some water for me, please.”

Wednesday evening rolls around and Spoole is scared shitless. He makes his way over to the place he has agreed to meet with Matt, only he’s twenty minutes early. As he rounds in on the place, he notices how barren the parking lot is. It serves to reinforce the thought that, yeah, he’s going on a date with Matt on a Wednesday. Not a date night but their date night. Is his brain even making sense right now?

As he parks and thinks about the concept of dates, the sudden thought of Adam enters his brain. Adam and, specifically, how Matt had gone on a date with him… like, not even a week ago. And now he’s on a date with Matt. Well, almost.

Sean bites his lip and turns off his car. Should he be going on this date? Because yeah, he has a crush on Matt, but, he has a crush on Adam, too. Had? Has. He has. He can't really tell how long he's had it for but, it's there. You can have a crush on two people right? Crushes are just wanting to talk to someone and, like, wanting to spend time with them. Right? Feeling nice when they're near? Yeah, that sounds about right. Sean nods to himself, then goes back to thinking about the... situation. Adam's been quieter than usual lately. Lately? Just one day of being quiet is lately, yeah. Is it... because of him? Because of Sean? God. Sean really hopes not.

He shakes himself. It’ll all work out in the end. It will. He grips his car keys and makes his way out of his car, to the entrance of the place. (As he walks, he muses that, yeah, okay he’s a little unsettled. A teensy bit. He probably should talk to Adam. But he really does think this will work out, though! Somehow.)

Sean takes a deep breath. He is wearing a loose fitting red flannel with the sleeves rolled down over a dark blue shirt that fits him well. On his head is his signature Duff hat, and he looks nice, he likes to think. It’s a good look on him. He is very nervous.

He paces circles around the entrance to the mini-golf place for ten minutes before he recognizes Matt’s car enter the parking lot. As he waits for Matt, Sean check his reflection in the storefront glass for the umpteenth time.

“Hey,” He hears Matt call out. He turns.

Matt is wearing a loose fitting green shirt with buttons up to its collar. He matched it up with dark jeans and shoes Sean has never seen him wear before: still sneakers but less athletic than his usual footwear. Matt carries a hoodie in his hands and as Sean looks him over, he notices how the sleeves of the shirt fall over Matt’s knuckles. Sean is so flustered, honestly.

“Hi,” Sean says after what feels like forever.

Matt smiles, “Sorry I’m late. I thought we’d said 7:30.”

Sean fidgets, “Oh! We did. I just got here… a little early.”

Matt takes a step forward, motions towards the door. Sean moves as Matt asks, “How much earlier?”

Sean watches Matt open the door for him, answers, “... 20 minutes ago, maybe?”

Sean laughs nervously and enters the arcade-slash-mini-golf lobby as Matt chuckles genuinely. It’s a soft, lilting sound in Matt’s chest that makes Sean swallow thickly. Matt is here. On a date.

Matt joins Sean, both of them now engulfed in a dimly lit arcade, the sounds of the machines ringing around them. Matt asks, “Mini-golf?” As if confirming that yes, that’s the plan they talked about. That is indeed what they said they’d do for their date.

Sean nods, keeps in pace with Matt’s patient steps as they walk to the mini golf counter. As he looks at the brightly colored putters and balls, he says, “I should tell you… Fair warning, I am awful at mini-golf.”

Matt laughs, stops walking right by the space-themed claw machine. Asks, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Sean makes a noise, shrugs, “You mentioned mini-golf and it sounded like fun!”

Matt smiles at him briefly, starts putting on his jacket. Sean hadn’t even noticed the cold. It’s cold? Matt is weird. Matt asks, “Okay, maybe I can teach you?”

Sean makes another noise, this one like a warning. He says, “I once whipped a mini-golf club into the fake lake without even moving my ball.”

Matt snorts. Sean feels good to have caused the noise.

Matt sighs, slips his hands into his hoodie pockets, asks, “What about at skee-ball?”

Sean widens his eyes, tilts his head. Resists the urge to backpedal. “I think I’m worse?”

Matt smirks, digs into his pants pocket, “I’m buying four credits.”

Sean swallows down the distressed noise he’s poised to make.

True to his word, Matt buys four credits for the skee-ball machine. It’s a pink machine with ice-white balls that feel heavy in Sean’s hand. He played this game, like, once when he was twelve. In the end, his friend needed three stitches to his chin. Could’ve been worse.

Sean is about to opt out of the whole encounter, make an excuse to leave the skee-ball machine, leave the arcade with Matt, go and have ice cream instead.

But Matt picks up one of the balls, too. He juggles it from one hand to the other, asks, “You good?”

Sean nods. Asks, “Just throw?”

Matt nods, “Just throw.”

Sean bites his lip. He carefully winds his arm and releases the ball. It somehow bounces off the cage at the side of the machine, hits the side of the basketball hoops machine next to it and lands, unceremoniously, behind Sean. Sean takes away his arms from his head, a cautionary measure, and smiles sheepishly. Matt is looking at him with a raised eyebrow, a barely restrained smile.

Sean laughs out of nervousness. Matt says, “Wow.”

Sean laughs even harder out of more nervousness. Matt says, “Here.”

“Wha’?”

“Here.” Matt walks over to Sean and seeks out his left hand. He lays the ball he was holding into Sean’s palm, closes Sean’s fingers around it. Says, “The trick is in the release.” He draws Sean’s arm back and arcs it forwards, mimicking a throw. “Release it around here.”

Sean nods, hopes his face isn’t too red with blush, “Have you ever considered becoming a teacher?”

Matt nods, “Sure, a skee-ball teacher.”

Sean smiles and tears his gaze from Matt’s face. He winds his arm back mimicking Matt’s lesson as Matt steps back. Sean swings and releases around where Matt said to and—

The ball rolls up the alley and into the lowest possible score. Honestly, Sean considers that a win! He laughs triumphantly, makes a fist of his hand, curls over himself with a smile. Matt beside him laughs. Sean turns to face him, gazing up past the rim of his cap. The glimpse of Matt’s smile makes Sean’s heart jump, holy moly. He mirrors Matt’s smile, straightens his back, and says, “Professor Peake!”

Matt shakes his head, still laughing. Sean picks up another ball and repeats the throwing process, gets the same score but he honestly doesn’t really care about it. He can throw without flinging the ball everywhere, hooray!

In the end, Sean does get better at the throws over the following three games. Matt corrects him twice more in his technique and the touch doesn’t stop giving Sean goosebumps. The machine spits out tickets and Matt keeps letting Sean have them because Matt considers them Sean’s effort, Sean’s sweat and tears. Sean takes them because why not?

When Matt’s token well runs dry, Sean reaches for his wallet and asks, “Do you want to go again?”

Matt shakes his head no. Says, “Let’s see what else they have.”

Sean says, “Okay,” and takes out his wallet anyway. Asks, “Where do you wanna go?”

Matt leads the way around the arcade and stops at the perfectly old fashioned Jurassic Park: The Lost World shooter. Actually, Sean is the one who stops, his bundle of game tickets in one hand and his wallet in the other. He stops walking mid-stride as soon as he sees the machine, exclaiming, “Oh! Matt, look! Can you believe they have one?”

Matt looks. He exchanges a look with Sean. Asks, “Do you want to—?”

“Yeah!”

Matt laughs softly, “Okay.”

The game booth is a cramped bench with two guns used for shooting ferocious dinosaurs. Sean, in his excitement, sits next to Matt. Very much next to Matt. Almost on top of him, actually, and he doesn’t notice until Matt chuckles and shoots a velociraptor, bumps his shoulder with Sean’s and Sean loses his focus because Matt is so close—

Matt saves Sean’s character by shooting the raptor out for his blood. Sean stutters out, “Thanks.”

Matt says, “Focus!”

Sean tries to focus.

They almost kill the T-Rex with prolonged teamwork and a lot of giggles from the adrenaline, but it eats them in the end. Sean whines and slumps against the bench while Matt puts his gun back. “We almost had him!”

Matt nods, “Hey, we got really far.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to win. I’ve never beaten this game.”

Matt bumps Sean’s shoulder. “Look on the bright side. You get tickets from this.”

Sean nods, brightens up at the words, “Yeah, we do!”

He exits the booth, makes a happy noise at the bounty that awaits them. As the stream of yellow tickets come out, Matt slips out of the booth. He looks at the tickets and nods appraisingly. Says, “I think we did okay.”

Sean beams at Matt. “I think that we’re a good team.”

Matt smiles softly, catches Sean’s eye. “We are.”

Sean feels a sigh lodge itself in his throat.

There’s a ticket counting machine by the prizes counter. They walk to it, both kind of giddy at the amount of tickets they hold. The ticket count is 289, and Sean demands a high-five for it. Matt obliges, looking thoroughly happy.

They take their number to the bored-looking teenager manning the prize counter and she just asks them what they want. Matt shrugs, leaves Sean to pick whatever he wants. And what Sean wants is… not so much pressure on him. There’s toys and plushes and small baubles all around the display and he wants to give Matt something but he doesn’t know what Matt would like—

Is it hot in here or is it just him? Hoo, he feels nervous. He stutters, “Uh. Uh…” The teenager raises her eyebrow. Why do teenagers have to look so judgemental all the time, oh god—

He points to the inflatable hammer toy for 250 tickets. “T-that one?”

The attendant gives him the inflated display toy. He turns to Matt, holds it out. Says, “This is for you. I, uh. Here.”

Matt trades his gaze between Sean’s eyes and the toy in his hands. He takes in from Sean gently, grips it by the handle and head simultaneously. Says, “Thank you.”

Sean shrugs, nods, says, “Yeah, you’re, you’re welcome?”

The teenager says, “You have 39 tickets left.”

Sean turns back to the counter. Says, “Wh–?” Turns to Matt. “Do you want anything? I mean, you should—get something.”

Matt nods at him, eyes lingering on Sean’s face for a second too long. Matt gets a chinese finger trap, a blue dice hanging ornament, and a pencil eraser. He slides them all over to Sean as he gets them and hoo boy, does Sean blush. He’s kind of embarrassed of himself.

They decide to call it a night after Sean pockets his trinkets and Matt slings the hammer over his shoulder. They have work tomorrow, it’s for the best. But Sean doesn’t want the night to end? He likes being with Matt like this.

Sean opens the door for Matt and then they both stand outside, right outside, where they met at the beginning of the night. Sean bounces on the balls of his feet, unwilling to let go. Matt smiles soft and looks at Sean’s arms crossed on his chest. Sean says, “I had fun. That was fun. Thank you. Uh, thanks.”

Matt nods, meets Sean’s eyes momentarily before looking away again. Says, “I had fun too. Thank you for my hammer.”

“Yeah, anytime. To the hammer, I mean. And to the… to the date, too.”

Matt rocks back on his heels, appraises his hammer. Sean thinks he should say more. Sean will say more. He opens his mouth, says, “I—”

Matt leans up on his tiptoes and kisses him on the cheek.

Sean short-circuits. “I— I, I. Oh. Oh, okay.”

Matt pulls back, looking amused. He digs into his pockets for his car keys. Says, “Goodnight, Sean.”

Sean watches him go, toying with the prizes in his front pocket.

Chapter Text

On Thursday, Bruce and Matt drive their separate cars to the office because Bruce has to get in a little earlier. He’s expecting a business call way earlier than usual and his set-up at home doesn’t really allow for professionalism. So that means that Bruce can’t get an accurate read on Matt that morning; he leaves before Matt is even awake.

After his business call, as everyone starts trickling in, he says good morning to all of them. Joel comes in with his coffee, swinging his messenger bag on his shoulder and humming something under his breath. Adam walks in behind him, pushing up his sunglasses onto his head and looking tired, but he flashes Bruce a smile anyway, says hello to Joel.

Lawrence gets in with his gym bag, which strikes Bruce as odd, since he was with Lawrence the night before at the gym and Lawrence doesn’t go to the gym every single day (he’s been going every other day, as he builds up his resistance). He assumed Lawrence went home after they parted ways, but apparently not? He looks tired but still happy. As he walks in, looking behind him, he seems to have been laughing at the punchline of some joke, and Bruce’s silent question is answered by James and Elyse arriving with him. Elyse pushes Lawrence’s shoulder, saying something Bruce doesn’t catch. Lawrence shakes his head and makes his way over to his desk while Elyse walks over and gives Bruce a kiss on the cheek, James nods and loosely salutes him. Bruce nods back.

Matt is next, getting in without fanfare. As he sits, Bruce notices how he gives no indication that he’s just gone on two dates with two of his coworkers in less than a week. But, then again, what does Bruce expect? For Matt to kiss Adam and Sean before the workday starts? Sean isn’t even in yet, typical. Bruce internally shakes himself and focuses on pulling up the day’s schedule.

Spoole gets in last, as Bruce is reciting what videos they have to film and edit that day. He’s not singing, at least. He looks peaceful, if anything. Serene. He sits at his desk, only glances in Matt’s general direction twice.

Bruce finishes running down videos due dates and he fields questions from James, Elyse, and Matt. Feels an overhanging sense of calm, false hope that the office is back to normal, despite it all.

It’s pretty normal for an hour, actually. No noise in the office except for clicking and typing. Lawrence asks something to the office at large about their Wheelhaus episode due that weekend. It’s great until about 10 in the morning, when Bruce’s phone buzzes. And, of course, it’s a notification from the FH Bet group chat.

Michael:
> So, did Spoole crash and burn on his date?

(Fuckin’ Achievement Hunter. He watches as the rest of the office also glance down to their phones. Sean and Lawrence seem to be typing something out. Sean’s message comes in first.)

Spoole:
> No! I had a very nice time with Matt

Trevor:
> Did you now?

Spoole:
> He kissed my cheek!

(From the corner, Bruce hears James stifle a laugh. Lawrence and Adam sigh almost in tandem.)

Lawrence: 
> This is a group chat, Sean. Keep your lewd content to yourself.

Geoff:
> Interesting

Geoff:
> So verdict? who does he like more?

Joel:
> Why don’t you invite him to a sleepover and ask him while you braid his hair?

Geoff: 
> Not you then

Lawrence: 
> He kissed Spoole on the cheek. I think it’s game over.

Michael:
> I dunno, can we get a ref ruling on these feelings?

(Bruce hears James take in a surprised breath.)

James:
> That’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said!

Michael: 
> I am not a smart man.

Geoff:
> James can you get info from peake?

James: 
> I can sure try my darndest. Gimme a day.

Trevor: 
> Ask him abt cheek kisses!

Jack:
> No, make sure he admits to his feelings for Adam.

Gavin: 
> $$$

The messages stop, then. And Bruce feels kind of unsettled. He remembers what he overheard just two days prior: James’... confession, for lack of a better word. His admittance of feelings for Matt. Elyse admitted to feelings too, now that he thinks back to it? Fuck, Bruce was hoping to just completely keep it tamped down in his brain, hoping that the bet would end and it would all pass but—

The text conversation. James is planning to speak to Matt about his feelings. Matt’s feelings for people who are not James even though James has feelings for Matt. Now that just makes Bruce sad, when he considers it. He furrows his brow, staring blankly at the half-edited video on his monitor. He should talk to James. Tell him he’s not alone. Ask him if Bruce could help in any way. Even if that includes talking to Matt about his feelings towards other people that are not Bruce.

Bruce makes his move to talk to James that afternoon, after Elyse has left with Joel for the gym (something about Elyse missing that morning’s session with Joel and about her owing him). James is still at his desk as Lawrence leaves, saying “See you later.”

Lawrence looks at James. James smiles back, and Bruce can’t really read his eyes even though he is sometimes really, really good at that.

James turns back to his monitor, saving and closing his projects, as the door at the back of the office closes behind Lawrence.

Bruce clears his throat, his rig already turned off and his things already packed. He swings the office keys in his grip, stares at the back of James’ head, unsure of where to start.

“Now that you have me alone,” James says, startling the fuck out of Bruce. James turns his chair, “What are you planning to do with me?”

Bruce stutters, meeting James’ questioning eyes. “I just, uh.” Bruce scratches his beard. “I overheard that you might maybe have some… feelings for Matt. Sorry. I eavesdropped, I didn’t mean to.”

James hums, breaks off eye contact with Bruce. He swivels his chair back and forth, asks, “Is that all you heard?”

Bruce nods, even though James isn’t looking. “Yeah. Is… Elyse okay with it?”

James nods. “Yeah. We,” He seems like he wants to heave a sigh but thinks better of it, “Our marriage is pretty open.”

Bruce bounces on the balls of his feet, fidgeting. “Oh. I was going to ask, do you want me to talk to Matt about the dates? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable or anything.”

James shakes his head, cracks a smile. “It takes a lot more to make me uncomfortable, Bruce, you know that.”

Bruce nods. “I know.” He clears his throat. “Uh, so. Can I ask why didn’t you—both of you, I guess—want to join in on the bet?”

James scoffs, aiming for playful, “Who would want to date a married couple?”

Bruce bites down on the I would, mostly because he has no idea where it came from. Instead he says, “Who wouldn’t?” And somehow that’s worse.

James smiles but it seems sad. He says, “Don’t worry about me Bruce. I’ve dealt with worse.”

James gets up from his chair, flashes a bigger smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. Shoulders his backpack as he passes by Bruce and pats him on the shoulder.

Bruce furrows his brow, the door whispering shut behind him, and thinks, Worse situations or worse crushes?

On Friday, shortly after their work day begins, James decides to act, going in for the info. He waits until Matt gets up from his chair for his mid-morning drink (tea or water, Matt is a creature of habit) and pounces.

He finds Matt sitting at the two-chair table in the kitchen with a steaming mug of tea in his hands, staring at the chair opposite of him. He calls out, “Matt?” Before entering the room and is glad he does because Matt startles, even with the gentle tone he uses.

“Hey,” James says as he approaches. “Mind if I join you?”

Matt shakes his head, gestures to the open chair, says nothing.

As James takes his chair, he can see that Matt is nervous. The feeling is etched plainly on his face. (Matt is bad at hiding things.) James feel a stab of fondness and sincerity at Matt’s frazzled appearance. His face softens and he decides to drop his hidden agenda for a moment. Drops the bet and drops his feelings for Matt (or tries to, anyway).

James won’t bring any bet shit here, this is about Matt, his friend, his kinda-not-secret-almost crush, who looks worried as hell. He asks, “What’s wrong?”

Matt inhales deeply, slowly. He says, “I just… I don’t know how to explain it.”

James leans forward on the table. Says, “Try.”

Matt’s mouth forms a harsh line of frustration. He huffs a frustrated sigh, shifts in his chair. There’s a beat of silence before he speaks, says, “How do you… Know when you,” Matt struggles, his face showing all traces of it. “Care about someone as… as opposed to just liking them as friends?”

James resists raising an eyebrow. He makes a surprised noise and leans back in his chair.

Okay, so James has had a soft-beating crush for Matt in back of his mind for about two months now. It’s a pretty low-key feeling that only makes itself known in moments like this, when it’s the two of them. If he had to pinpoint its birth, James would say the dumb stork dropped it off somewhere between gym meets when Lawrence couldn’t make it and lunch dates when Matt was left out by Adam and Bruce and Joel (not maliciously, James knows, but still. It’s not like Matt is the first to jump up at a chance to go out for lunch but… James likes having him around. Likes being around the quiet, calming energy he puts out.).

So, as with all crushes, James told Elyse. And Elyse, bless her heart, smiled softly at him and nodded. Said, “We can try it out.” God, James loves Elyse.

But then… the bet. With that, James has accepted the fact that Matt, who is the object of desire in a bet with five other co-workers, would probably not say be interested in dating a married couple. Because, like anything, if James is dating someone he’s doing it with Elyse. It’s what they meant when they said I do. Partners in crime, partners through the thick of it, partners through all smitten feelings. But it’s okay if Matt wouldn’t want to date them. James is used to it by now and is only a little bummed about the whole thing. He’ll get over it someday. The stork will take the baby crush back. Baby crush? Cupid maybe. Stupid Cupid. James should stop thinking about this because now, he feels the soft-beating crush flutter. He bites his lip. He is going to punch Cupid in the face.

James says, “It’s… something you just know. I know that sounds like a cop out answer, but it is. You have to, I guess, envision a future with that person. A good future.”

Matt furrows his brow, stares hard at James’ clasped hands. “But… what kind of future? Friends have a future too.”

James does raise an eyebrow then. He thinks about Bruce and how a year ago, two years ago, when they cracked their first joke together, James felt a glimmer of future dawning on him. A sort of natural ease between them that hasn’t faded yet and James hopes it never will. He clicks his tongue and shrugs, answers, “A romantic future. That’s all I can tell you, Matt. The rest is up to your feelings.”

Matt looks disgruntled, dissatisfied with James’ answer. James’ pouts inwardly at the prospect of Matt being upset. Which dumb baby does he have to punch to make Matt happy? Cupid again? Shit, he’ll do it.

James finds himself asking, “Do you want to come over tonight and play some games with me and Elyse? You look really stressed out.” But the thing is, he’s asking for himself, not for Matt’s well-being. He wants Matt around for himself. Awesome, James, nice job at being a decent human being. Can’t blame Cupid for that one.

Matt seems to hesitate for the fraction of a second before he nods, exhausted. He accepts with, “I really would.”

James says, “Okay.”

He sends Matt off with a kick in the butt, says, “Those videos don’t edit themselves!” It makes Matt smile, at least. James then stays in the kitchen for a second, sends Elyse the text, Invited Matt over tonight, hope it’s okay. He looked really stressed over the bet.

Elyse:
> All good, sugar nips. Make sure to tell him he doesnt need to bring anything since you’re cooking.

James: 
> <3

As promised, James reports back to the FH Bet group chat

James: 
> It sounds like he’s genuinely trying to decide if he has feelings for Adam and Spoole.

Geoff:
> Oh thats cute

Michael:
> That is genuinely cute.

… And, just for good measure and to ease his own burgeoning guilt, he also reports to the the Bet minus some assholes office group chat.

James:
> Who decides when this goes too far?

Bruce:
> All of us. Together.

James:
> Roger dodger.

Lawrence:
> When do we decide how far it’s gone?

Bruce:
> Later.

James:
> I invited him over. I’ll fill you guys in on any feelings developments on his part.

Adam:
> Roger dodger.

Matt arrives to their apartment at 7:08 at night. With him, he brings beer, the kind Elyse likes and the only kind James will tolerate.

Elyse opens the door for him, and she hugs him once she sees him. He has bags under his eyes but his smile is blinding bright as Elyse brings him into the living room where James is leaning over the TV, setting it up for them. James looks up as they walk in and says, “Hey!” pulling Matt into a hug.

Matt chuckles, says, “Hey. You need any help with setting up?”

James shakes his head while Elyse wrestles the bag of beer from Matt’s hands. Stupid, cute Mountain Man. She says, “I thought we said you didn’t have to bring anything!”

Matt shrugs and unzips his hoodie, “It wasn’t a big deal. Do you need help with dinner?”

James shakes his head and lays his hands on Matt’s shoulders, “No no no, you are sitting your butt down right,” He leads Matt to the couch and pushes him down to sit, “Here. And Elyse will keep you company while I finish dinner. I hope you’re hungry.”

Matt nods while Elyse and James leave the room. Elyse comes back with two uncapped beers. She lays one into Matt’s outstretched hand and scoots past him, sitting on his left.

“Cheers,” She says and clinks the necks of their bottles together before she takes a swig. Elyse hums happily and pulls away from the bottle, says, “Oh, Matt, how did you remember my favorite?”

Matt takes a drink as well and he shrugs again as he hears plates clatter around the kitchen, says, “It’s one of my favorite beers, too.”

Elyse gives him a lopsided grin and trades her bottle for a game controller. “My kind of man. Thoughtful and with good taste.” Elyse watches as Matt turns down his gaze, smiles into his beer bottle as he takes another sip. Stupid, cute Mountain Man! She taps a few buttons on the controller, feeling a soft sort of giddiness start at the back of her throat.

After dinner has been served and eaten, James gathers plates and takes them to the kitchen to start cleaning up. Elyse stops Matt from getting up to help James and cuts off Matt’s words of protest with the question of, “Do you want another beer?”

Matt sighs and nods, says, “Yes please.”

Elyse gets into the kitchen to get a second beer for Matt and a third beer for herself. As she opens the fridge, she hears James say, “Pst.”

Elyse grabs the bottles by the neck and looks at James, who is leaning against the sink with his hands gripping the counter beside his hips.

Elyse nods inquiringly, asks, “What’s up?”

James whispers as he speaks, says, “I think I’m getting goosebumps. Tell me you felt that.”

Elyse contains her smile. James with a crush is so goddamn cute. “The flirting? Yeah, I did.” And she isn’t lying. Elyse isn’t sure what Matt’s play here is or if he even has a play, but there’s a certain underlying something in everything Matt says tonight.

James smiles at her answer and asks, “Are we sure this isn’t a date?”

Elyse giggles, “You tell me, man.” She hip checks James out of the way and reaches for the bottle opener.

By the time she finishes her third beer, Elyse refuses to acknowledge the fact that she and James are both leaning heavily into Matt’s side while Matt works the controller in his hands. They’re playing Layers of Fear, or rather, Matt is. She and James have already done a playthrough on their channel, but it’s the game Matt chose, so it’s the game of the night.

James has had one beer and Matt is not even halfway into his second beer. Elyse exhales heavily and subconsciously digs her arm under Matt’s, relishing in the warmth he puts off. Why is Matt so warm? It’s not fair. Isn’t he normally always cold? The world works in mysterious ways…. She closes her eyes, focusing on the warm.

James beside Matt laughs, shakes the couch with it, and it makes Elyse’s eyes snap open. She realizes that she has leaned her head on Matt’s shoulder. Matt has not said anything or even looked her way. She clenches her jaw, looks at his concentrated eyes, his brow furrowed with focus. Past his lips, his tongue peeks out, held between his front teeth as he navigates the beginnings of the game, which she has seen before. Elyse sighs out a happy sigh and asks, “Are you having fun?”

Matt nods and spares her a glance, flashing her a brief, sideways smile. “I like the atmosphere.”

James says, “Good right? Oh!” He points to the screen. “Here’s the hairy baby! Look at him! I’ve named him Mr. Tumnus.”

Matt’s shoulders shake with sudden laughter as the hairy baby in question comes onscreen. Elyse hums as her head drops back onto Matt’s shoulder. “I heard there’s an achievement if you stare at him for five minutes.”

James asks, “Do you wanna do it?”

Matt replies, “Yeah, sure. All I have to do is look at him?”

Elyse nods, says, “Yep. Zoomed in.”

Matt zooms in, smile in place as he looks at the weird, hairy baby. James says, “Okay, settle in. Five minutes.”

Matt comments on the oddity of the painting and asks James details about it as Elyse feels sleep tug at her consciousness.

James, who has a sixth sense for when Elyse is falling asleep (and she hates it), taps her shoulder, jolts her awake, and asks, “You falling asleep on us, Elyse? Is this game not spooky enough for you?”

Elyse repositions herself, wrapping both arms around Matt’s arm and pressing her face into his shoulder again. She replies, “No, I could sleep through this like child’s play. Goodnight, moon.” And she leans up and kisses Matt on the cheek.

Only, instead of it being a quick peck like she planned, Elyse finds herself pressing her lips softly on Matt’s cheek, tucked in intimately and whisper-close. When she pulls away slowly, Matt is looking at her, his eyes brimming with a deep curiosity. Elyse feels the air in the room thicken. She hears Matt ask, “What—” before she sees James’ fingers slide onto Matt’s chin. James pulls Matt’s face toward him, and, as Elyse watches, James lays a kiss on the edge of Matt’s mouth, soft enough to rival Elyse’s own kiss.

This seems to shock Matt into inaction, curious eyes turning blank, as if processing what has just transpired.

Elyse is definitely not sleepy anymore. She is scared, feels as if she’s fucked this whole thing up for a joke that didn’t even land, and she can see on James’ face that he’s scared, too, completely terrified. They haven’t really discussed this at length, have only gushed that yeah, they’d like a date with Matt themselves, but that’s it.

Elyse feels so goddamn nervous that her dumb subconscious, sleepy, tipsy feelings have absolutely fucked this up. So she aims for her softest voice when she asks, “Matt?”

Matt blinks once, twice, and his cloudy eyes clear. He focuses on her for a second before letting his eyes drift off, and he opens his mouth, letting out a soft, breathy noise. For some reason, she knows what he’s going to ask before he asks. Matt is not looking at either of them when he whispers out, “Can I kiss you?”

Elyse inhales sharply while James exhales. She looks over Matt’s shoulders to James, and it’s James who asks, “Which one of us?”

Matt licks his lips. Says, “Both.”

Elyse nods to James while James answers out loud, saying, “Yeah.”

Matt looks at Elyse first, and Elyse tries to contain her nervousness. It’s not that she hasn’t kissed other people while she’s been with James—they’re not jealous or closed off to any of that, they love each other deeply and sometimes they want other people together—

It’s that it’s— It’s Matt Peake.

Elyse licks her lips and scoots immeasurably closer to Matt, her leg almost hitching itself over Matt’s thighs, and Matt brings a hand to her jawline, cradles her face there while they get situated. Matt leans in, eyes closed, but Elyse can’t close her eyes, doesn’t want to. She presses her lips to Matt’s and watches as Matt’s eyelids flutter, takes in how he knits his brow together as he moves his lips in time with Elyse’s, letting her dictate the pace.

Elyse shifts again, pressing herself closer to Matt, testing boundaries, and she notices how it seems to spur Matt on. Matt huffs out a breath through his nose, pressing in harder, kissing her deeper, with more intention, before he seems to catch himself and pull back.

Matt’s eyes blink open slowly, and he breathes in slowly, looking Elyse in the eyes with something undecipherable passing between the two of them. He opens his mouth to say something but if that something was words to tap out of the situation, James gives him no chance.

James grabs Matt by the chin again, gently this time, and he pulls Matt in the way he wants him, their faces pressed together as they kiss slowly, deeper than Elyse and Matt had. Elyse admires the slope of Matt’s jaw, the way James’ fingers look on Matt’s skin, and she belatedly realizes that while Matt is kissing James, his hand is still cupping Elyse’s face.

James and Matt break apart slowly because all good things end. James looks up at Elyse, the look on his face shocked and breathlessly happy, while Matt slumps onto James’ chest and lets the hand on Elyse’s face fall onto her lap.

Elyse says, “Well, that happened.”

And Matt laughs, high and lovely and contagious.

Elyse:
> Feelings development: he kissed us

Sean:
> What the hell??????????????

Joel:
> WHAT.

Lawrence:
> BOTH OF YOU????????

Elyse:
> Yeah

Adam:
> .

Bruce:
> What the hell are you guys doing?????

James:
> Kissing Matt, apparently.

Chapter Text

On Saturday and Sunday, Bruce tries his hardest to not… ogle at Matt. That’s the best word Bruce can come up with for the situation. In the past two weeks, Matt has gone on two dates and kissed two other people. That’s four people. And, well. Bruce can’t really ask him what’s up. He can’t… he can’t talk to Matt about feelings. He isn’t supposed to know about the kisses, is he? Would Bruce know about this development if they weren’t in a bet? And then a subsequent group chat for that bet? Would any of this have happened without the bet? Fuck, Bruce has a headache just thinking about it.

Their weekend is… less than normal. Bruce catches Matt’s vibe as soon he gets home (late) on Friday from the Willemses. Matt only nods hello at him while Bruce is getting something to drink, their eyes meeting over the fridge door. Matt breaks off their eye contact before Bruce can. He saw James and Elyse’s texts not five minutes before Matt walked into their apartment, and, if he’s honest, he’s feeling a little bad. James didn’t even want to be in the bet in the first place and now he’s kissing Matt? Or rather, Matt kissed them. Both of them. The married couple.

So much for James’ theory.

In the morning, on Monday, they decide to tell the Achievement Hunters. And, predictably, they have a field day with the new information.

Michael asks James and Elyse if that means that they will join the bet now. James and Elyse’s response doesn’t come in until after lunch, after Bruce has seen them leaning their heads together, backs turned to the rest of the office, speaking conspiratorially.

As Bruce exits Joel’s car, the both of them having gone out to lunch together, Elyse’s text comes in. It reads, We’re in. Put us on the sheet.

And so, both Jack and Jeremy flock to change their placed money (“James is funny as hell. I have faith.”

“Elyse is funnier than James. Imagine what they can do together.”).

Elyse and James are featured as a couple in the bet sheet, and that’s just how they like it. (Perfect, James messages to the group.)

And so, like clockwork, they start rotating around Matt, spinning on his axis.

On Wednesday of the fourth week, once they’ve been officially entered into the bet, Elyse and James begin making rounds to Matt’s desk. Bruce feels like it’s their first week all over again, like all the tension that was absent in their third week is now back in full force. He hears Matt chuckle behind him as James cracks a joke at him after wheeling his chair over from his desk half an office away. It’s so disrespectful, Bruce wants to give up.

Their workday ends before James and Elyse can do anything. At least, anything significant in Bruce’s eyes, just some mild flirting. The again, what did Bruce expect? They’ve already kissed the guy.

Later in the evening, Lawrence brings up a problem to the group. Messages, Some people here have gone on a date with Matt and some have just kissed him. What counts as a winning date?

Jeremy:

> apparently not you

Michael:

> Fucking savage, lil j

Adam:

> Hey Lawrence do you need me to drive you to the hospital to treat that burn?

Lawrence:

> Adam, you might want to tone it down. AH isn’t hiring another bearded guy. That’s like 5/6’s of them already.

There’s various bickering in text form from both sides and it’s pretty funny if Bruce is being honest. He sits in front of his computer in his room, chuckling at his phone more than once. There’s a lull in comebacks where he sees Matt shuffle from the living room into his room, shutting the door behind him. Bruce’s mind wanders from Matt’s disheveled appearance, logically, to James and Elyse. He wonders about how the kiss came about. James had admitted that he and Elyse would like to maybe date Matt, but that they didn’t want to be in on the bet. And then they invited him over to their apartment and he kissed them?

It just sounds like a mess. A huge, tangled mess. Bruce feels like maybe they should end the bet and tell Matt what’s happening. He deserves to know. But there’s a niggling thought at the back of Bruce’s brain that asks Would telling Matt about the bet change anything? And Bruce doesn’t want to even pay attention to that thought but… would it? Matt would probably hate them if they come clean, but Bruce thinks that’s it. Just some worst-case-scenario hatred and some awkward dates, nothing he can’t sweep under the rug, right?

Fuck. There’s another notification from his phone. It startles Bruce, but he recovers quickly and checks his screen. This time, the message is from Geoff. One where he clears things up.

Geoff:

> Okay so, two dates. We’re counting the kisses already given as dates. One more date for those who have already had a date. No more “just kisses” bullshit. Two dates. Clear

Joel:

> Crystal.

Elyse:

> So ours counts as a date?

Geoff:

> Yeah. Just get one more and you get cash

Jeremy

> get us cash elyse

Jack:

> $$

Joel watches with barely disguised disgust as James walks over to Matt’s desk, stretching his legs after finishing a gameplay commentary. James doesn’t necessarily stand by Matt’s desk but he is close to it. Right next to it, in fact. He stretches his arms over his head and groans, says, “Wednesdays. Am I right?”

Matt only glances over at him, face all but unreadable, yet it’s enough for James to latch onto him and start a conversation. James leans a hand on Matt’s desk and starts talking about who the fuck knows. Joel sure doesn’t. He slips his headphones back on.

Joel’s whole part in this bet deal was supposed to be the smooth-talking flirter, dammit. Now with James in the picture he’s all but obsolete. Finito. It hurts him inside because he’s pretty sure he taught James 90% of his moves.

As James puts the moves on Matt, Joel stews. Just a little. And, as he looks around the office, no one else has noticed the little Matt-James detail. Everyone is working dutifully, doing their job. All, except for… his eyes land on Sean.

Sean has, very unsubtly, swung his chair around completely, facing the back of the room to watch James and Matt talk. Honestly, Joel would scoff out of general bitterness if Sean didn’t look so goddamn helpless. It’s the eyes, Joel thinks. Those little puppy dog eyes that betray every emotion Sean feels. Joel feels… not pity. But he feels like he wants to help Sean get his mind off the bet, even for a second.

Finally, James finishes his conversation with Matt. He passes in front of Joel to his desk while Joel contemplates asking Sean out to lunch.

As it turns out, he doesn’t get to. Sean leaves the room ten minutes before lunch and Joel doesn’t see him again until after Lawrence has tapped on Joel’s desk to get his attention and invite him to lunch.

Joel says, “I hope that by ‘inviting me’ you don’t mean I have to pay for my own lunch.”

Lawrence smiles, “I’m a bad date, Joel. You should know that by now.”

Joel sighs, worries about Sean, and takes him up on his offer anyway.

Joel drives them both to a Chinese place not far from the office. All the while, Joel’s brain stews in worry, and the smaller, yet very important fact of his own obsoletion in the bet.

He’s not gonna bring up the dilemma of Sean with Lawrence. Not yet, anyway. Doesn’t feel right at the moment. So once he’s sat down at the restaurant, before Lawrence’s butt even hits the chair opposite him, he says, “Anyway, James and Elyse are the worst.”

Lawrence only raises his eyebrows, puts his tray down, settles in his seat. Asks, “Why are you bringing up this complaint with me?”

Joel sighs. He picks up his fork, pushes his food around. The self-pity he puts on now is for show. A show he knows Lawrence can see through, but it’s the principle of the thing, y’know?

Joel asks, no real curiosity in his voice, “Aren’t you, like, sleeping with them?”

Lawrence leans back in his chair and shrugs. Says, “Hardly. But I’m working on it.”

“Fuck off. At least you got invited to their…”—he waves a hand, gesturing without intent— “thing.”

“To their open relationship.”

“Whatever. You’re awful, too.”

Lawrence smiles a little too wryly for his liking.

Joel sighs again, letting his whole self-pity schtick drop as he leans forward and starts picking at his food with more intent. There’s a quiet lull at the table as Lawrence checks his phone.

Joel says, “Pst.” Lawrence looks up. Joel asks, “Why do you think Bruce didn’t win the bet?”

Lawrence puts down his phone, picks up his fork. Says, “Technically, no one has won the bet.”

Joel scoffs, bring rice up to his mouth. “You know what I mean.”

Lawrence shrugs while Joel chews. Lawrence asks, “How do you know he hasn’t?”

Joel swallows, jumping back into the swing of things. Says, “Please. If Bruce had gotten with Matt, he wouldn’t be able to keep his loving gaze off him for more than ten minutes at a time. Y’know.” Joel tries to keep his face neutral as he thinks of and delivers his closing line. He really does. “Like you and Adam.”

Lawrence makes a noise like he’s going to protest, then nods. Says, “That’s fair.”

Joel smirks and picks up a piece of chicken with his fork, feeling a little bit better. Now, it’s no secret that Lawrence and Adam have at least kissed before. Joel knows this because Adam confessed it to him when they all went to Germany, while they were both beer-drunk and two well-placed touches from kissing themselves. And then again after Joel found Adam stumbling out of Lawrence’s hotel room at a convention months later. Point is, it’s no secret. Not to Joel, probably not to James, maybe not to Elyse, but somehow it is to Bruce and Sean? And who knows what Matt is thinking?

No, Adam and Lawrence is no secret to Joel. Lawrence and himself? Well, Joel hasn’t had anyone in the office comment on it so it’s a safe bet that they’re good. Not that they’ve done anything… ish. Joel has seen Lawrence’s dick, if that’s what you’re asking. Whatever.

Lawrence looks up from his food, swallows, and asks, “If the bet had been on anyone else in the office, do you think everyone would’ve still participated?”

Joel opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything. The wriggling thought of Sean enters the forefront of his mind. And then, the sudden thought of his own mild flirtations with Sean in the past also come. He and Sean have flirted, sure, and Joel likes him, sure. But he finds it curious that a scenario where Sean trying to court him for money is a little more appealing than it should be.

He makes himself consciously move on from Sean to the slow tiptoe, will-we-won’t-we mannerisms he engages with James and Elyse (which, admittedly, he’s still not sure he’s imagining). He also recalls how Lawrence has let it slip, more than once, that he has very strong feelings on polyamory, which he’s defined to Joel various times, both while drunk and sober, as “Being in relationships with multiple people and they all know about it and consent to it.”

Joel’s own feelings approximate that but he’s hesitant to label it, simply because he doesn’t like to put labels on things. He describes his feelings as I’ll date six people at once if they’ll let me, which, as Lawrence always points out is the same goddamn thing as polyamory. And as Joel always does, he rolls his eyes.

So, for the moment, Joel closes his mouth. Tries again. He says, “If the bet had been on my feelings, I sure would hope so.”

Lawrence says, “Aw,” makes kissy noises at Joel. “You got me, babe.”

“Ew.”

Lawrence’s smile widens.

There’s another lull in the conversation where Joel, against his better judgement, allows himself to daydream about a world where the bet is on his feelings. He thinks, and dwells, again, on Sean. On taking Sean’s mind off the bet.

Mostly talking to himself, he asks, “What if I invite Spoole over tonight?”

He’s expecting Lawrence to reply with a raised brow or a curious look, but instead, Lawrence groans. Says, “Oh, no. What are you going to do to him?”

Offended, Joel says, “Nothing!” Then, because he knows Lawrence knows him too well, he amends, “Yet.” And in response to Lawrence’s raised eyebrow, he continues, “Just gonna ask him to come over. Maybe drink some wine.”

Lawrence scoffs, “He’s not gonna be in the best mood, y’know. He kinda got shafted with this whole Willems-Peake thing.”

“I know! I won’t do anything bad. I just wanna get his thoughts on this. Or, rather, off this.”

Lawrence smiles wryly again, “Gonna induct him into your boy toy cult?”

“Shhhhh.”

Lawrence rolls his eyes, and Joel flicks some rice in Lawrence’s direction. Any sense of disquiet cools at the sight of Lawrence’s soft smile in return.

Joel takes a sip of his drink, starts up a game of footsie underneath the table, asks Lawrence about what he’s reporting on The Know that day.

After work on Wednesday, James messages Lawrence and Bruce to see if they want to play Overwatch. And Bruce, never one to say no to Overwatch, says yes. Yes, absolutely.

Bruce joins in on Lawrence’s group and almost immediately, they start talking shit because it’s who they are. They play two matches where they lose fairly horribly. While they’re watching the play of the game (an enemy Bastion), Bruce hears James sigh. Lawrence says, “What a fucking surprise.”

Bruce leans back in his chair, presses his talk button. “Fuckin’ teamwork, right?”

James chirps in, “It’s okay, we can rally. Lawrence, give us a speech like one of those small town football coaches.”

Lawrence sighs. “Okay, team. We might not be the best. Or the most talented. But we do have something everyone else doesn’t have.”

Bruce asks, “Dignity?”

James scoffs, “Speak for yourself.”

Bruce chuckles and clicks onto Twitter during matchmaking. Lawrence continues, says, “No, we have pretty much nothing but a whole lotta love for this game.”

Bruce says, “That’s true,” and scrolls down his timeline. A picture catches his eye. He furrows his brow, clicks on the tweet. Oh. Well.

It’s a tweet from Joel that reads This kid wanted me to buy him and his friends some cheap beer but I said wine was better and brought him home. And the picture he’s attached is a selfie. A picture of Joel and Sean standing next to each other, smiling at the camera standing in what Bruce recognizes to be Joel’s living room. They’re both holding wine glasses in their hands, and Bruce can see Sean’s blush. He knows Sean is tipsy without even being present, what—

Lawrence says, “Bruce, pick your character.”

Bruce says, “What? Oh.”

He clicks off Twitter and onto the game, picking Soldier out of habit.

While the game starts, Bruce asks, “Hey, did either of you know that Spoole and Joel were hanging out tonight?”

Lawrence says, “Uh, I think Joel mentioned something, yeah.”

Bruce says, “Oh.”

The game begins then. They lose again.

Joel takes the selfie when Sean is two glasses of wine in.

The thing is that Joel is accustomed to having a glass when he’s had a long day at work. And if Joel is being honest, he considers any day with a mild inconvenience as a long day, because who the hell doesn’t want a glass of wine after the day is over?

He had asked Sean back to his place, intentions pure as sin. Okay, no, damn, that’s a good line, he’s gotta remember that for later—

No, now it’s time to focus on Sean. Sean who is giggly and cute in Joel’s living room. Yeah, cute. Joel is allowed to notice that about his friends, okay. Sean’s cute. Like a dork-next-door type cute. Like a tripping-over-his-own-shoelaces type cute. Like Joel’s type cute.

Oh, sue him. He likes Sean. Not like like. He’s still thinking about his and Lawrence’s conversation about if the bet had been on anyone else’s feelings. Joel had said that if it was on his feelings, of course he would want everyone else to join. Now he’s just… He’s testing his theory that if the bet has been on Sean’s feelings, he would’ve participated. Yeah, that’s it!

(No! He’s supposed to be helping take Sean’s mind off the whole Matt thing, it’s why he invited Sean over! He’s being nice.)

(Nah. In all honesty, Joel just wants to see where it’ll lead if he pushes this far enough.)

So he gives Sean a glass of wine, half empty. And Sean finishes it so Joel cuts up some of his fancier cheese that he keeps in his fridge and he lays out with some prosciutto for Sean, some pastrami for him.

As the food dwindles, Sean asks for a refill. Joel obliges, raising an eyebrow. He knows Sean is as lightweight as they come so he’s not very surprised when, lo and behold, Sean is drunk in Joel’s living room on a Wednesday.

When Joel settles into the couch beside Sean, having refilled his own glass of wine, Sean looks… happy. He’s rosy-cheeked and way too happy to just be watching TV in Joel’s apartment. The giggles are in full effect at the moment.

Joel asks, “Happy?”

Sean answers, “Tipsy!”

“Not surprising, you lightweight.”

Sean makes a noise of displeasure. “Hey, you’re on your third glass, too!”

“I know. But I’m not tipsy.”

“You drink more than me! All the time.”

Joel rolls his eyes.”Just c’mere, you drunkard.”

“I’m no Lawrence.” Sean giggles at his own comment.

Joel has no idea in what context Sean means, and he doesn’t ask. Just raises his almost-empty glass, takes out his phone, opens the camera. Says, “Picture time!”

Sean blinks and looks for his wine glass. Raises it to mimic Joel.

After the picture has been snapped and posted on Twitter, Joel finishes off his drink and watches as Sean blinks slowly at his own glass. Joel raises an eyebrow, asks, “You okay?”

Sean blinks once more, meets Joel’s eyes. “I think I need water.”

Yeah, Joel thinks, that’s right on schedule. He gets Sean the water.

While waiting for Sean to sober up, Joel says, “You can stay here, if you want. Or I can get you an Uber.”

Sean nods, staring at the TV. “I’ll stay, please and thanks.”

Joel nods, too, and leaves them to lapse into silence again. Not for long, though, because moments later, Sean makes a noise at the back of his throat. Joel recognizes it as the Spoole call for attention, so he looks over. Sean is still staring at the TV, but even like that, he starts talking. Says, softly, “Why….” Clears his throat. “Not to be mean, or, yeah, but. Why did you invite me over?”

Joel sighs. Sean looks over, then, as if worried for Joel’s response.

“You looked upset today and I didn’t want you to be upset. I wanted to help take your mind off the whole…”

“Matt… thing.”

“Yeah.”

Sean takes a second. Stares at the TV as he speaks again, “I’m not… that upset. I was okay with it because he already went out with Adam. I knew it wasn’t like, an exclusive thing. I just, I already knew. About Adam. So it wasn’t, I wasn’t, like, expecting anything. I, yeah.”

Joel nods. He gets it, really. Sure, it wasn’t what he was expecting to come from the bet but he’s not complaining. The lack of exclusivity with these dates is not a deal breaker for him. He’s okay with sharing Matt, if it comes to it. He’s okay with sharing any of them, if it comes to it. But that’s… that’s another layer. That’s dating people at the office he hasn’t even kissed yet. And he’s already kissed Lawrence and, well. He’s not really sure if he should count what he gave Bruce once as a kiss. More like friendly peck. They’ve never mentioned it after it happened (a month ago, Friday after dinner and a bar as an office-wide, after-work get-together, walking back to Bruce’s), but it’s not like it changed anything between them. Whatever, he’s not counting it. So he’s only kissed Lawrence. And he’s considered a relationship with Lawrence. But… he’s never kissed Sean—yet he’s still… considering. Dating, yeah, kissing, hell yeah.

Okay. Okay, Joel needs to bring it down a notch. It’s not like him to develop or acknowledge crushes so easily. He internally eyerolls at himself. Get it together.

Anyway. He should diffuse the tension. Or something. As a half-joke, Joel asks, chuckling, “So you’re okay with sharing?”

And Sean nods, almost absently. His eyes flick from the TV to Joel and back again. He says, “Yeah, I like Matt. But I….” He blushes, looking fixedly at a spot on Joel’s sweater. “I like Adam, too. And you, too.”

There’s a sincerness in his eyes. Joel knows that Sean, however immature he seems, can be genuine when he wants to be. And, however clueless he comes off as, he’s not oblivious. So, even now, with two glasses of wine in him, he’s telling it like he sees it—which is, as Joel knows, something that means something. Sean has a very specific way of seeing the world.

So Joel chuckles, hoping he doesn’t sound as nervous as he feels (nervous, what? He’s nervous? Okay, fuck). Says, “Okay, you’re still drunk.”

And Sean, almost in response, laughs nervously. “A little, yeah.”

There’s a beat. Soft and a little hesitant. A little fragile, too. Joel murmurs, “I wonder how your brain works, Sean.”

Sean smiles a little smile. A cute little smile. Says, almost as quiet, “I just believe that everything will work out.”

Joel chooses not to respond, instead clinks his glass against Sean’s and smiles again, picks up the remote control. Doesn’t comment on the way Sean shifts closer to him on the couch. He’s fine like this.

And in letting his mind wander, Joel thinks, maybe, he can have it all. He can have moments like this and have Matt. Because, if Matt’s doing a non-exclusive thing, he wants in. He can play to win this whole thing.

Boy, does Adam hate himself. He wakes up on Thursday hating himself.

That’s not uncommon for him, it’s more a dull thrum under his normal, daily thoughts. But now, more than ever, it’s incredibly present. Like, wow. Yeah.

It’s because Adam hasn’t talked to Matt. He hates himself for being a coward, yeah, but mostly he hates himself because he told Bruce he would and he hasn’t.

Adam hasn’t really spoken to Sean, either. And it’s weird because he really likes Sean. For them to go this long without talking is… not unheard of. But Adam just feels like there’s a certain… awkwardness straining this bout of not speaking rather than companionable silence. Regarding a bet. Regarding Matt.

Adam makes plans to talk to Sean three times in one day and talks himself out of it every single time. He makes no plan to talk to Matt.

On Thursday, Joel invites Matt to lunch with Adam, Bruce, and himself.

Adam is screaming on the inside, a little. He kind of hates Joel, a little. It’s not like he knows what Adam is (internally) going through or what he’s talked to Bruce about almost a week ago. But yeah. It’s just a shitty situation. All Adam has to do is pretend as if everything’s okay and he’s not repressing feelings or staring at Matt for too long because he really, really wants to know what he’s thinking. He doesn’t wanna ask Matt about it. He just wants to know. Ech.

They end up in Chipotle because Bruce is the only person in the car with an idea of what he wants, so they just roll with his suggestion. Adam thinks he navigates through all the social pitfalls of actually talking to Matt very well. He just sticks to jokes. Joking. One word answers. No eye contact. Well, some eye contact.

It’s probably because he’s over-thinking everything (always) that he doesn’t notice Joel straight-up flirting with Matt until they pull up to Chipotle parking lot. Joel rolls an ‘R’ where it doesn’t exist in “Chipo(rrrrr)tle!” as they pull into a spot, and he leans over the middle console and lays his head briefly on Matt’s shoulder in the passenger seat before they all get out.

Adam shuts his door and tries to meet Bruce’s eyes over the roof of the Prius. But fails. Bruce isn’t looking back. Did Bruce not… notice?

When they get inside, get in line, Adam tries to meet Bruce’s eyes again. He knows that Bruce is, uh. Kind of oblivious to subtext sometimes, but there’s no way he’s not picking up on what Joel is putting onto Matt.

From what Adam sees though, Matt doesn’t look very perturbed. He has a tired smile on his face and he seems to be answering Joel sincerely. Matt’s not very hard to read, Adam has always considered. What with Adam knowing him all these years. But now, it’s hard to read, probably because of Adam’s own shitty self messing everything up.

Joel and Matt get their orders first and go to sit down on Bruce’s insistence. It’s then that Adam says, “So, Joel’s not very subtle with his flirting.” Hoping to be delicate about making Bruce aware of the situation. And when Bruce looks over, Adam looks too. At the table, Matt is smiling at Joel and Joel is smiling at Matt, his mouth moving as he says something.

Bruce is nodding when Adam meets his eyes again. Says, “Huh. You think Matt’s noticed?”

Adam shrugs. Says, “Think so.”

“Will he do anything about it?”

Crossing his arms on his chest, Adam sighs. Says, “Well. Nowadays, with Matt, you never know.”

He feels like he should say more. In the end, he gets his food and doesn’t.

When Adam and Bruce get to the table, Joel is finishing a story involving cheese.

Adam asks, “Cheese?”

Joel nods, swallows the bite of his food. “I was telling Matt about my one and only encounter with a wine and cheese tasting.”

Bruce takes a bite of his food, “Was it like a wet dream?”

“Just thinking about it is like a wet dream.” Joel shivers for the effect. “Oh, baby.”

Adam grins, despite himself. Joel continues, “And the worst part is there’s another one this weekend! But I don’t want to go by myself.”

Bruce says, “You could—”

“Go with me.” Matt interrupts, calmly.

The table is silent for an excruciating beat. Adam swallows the bite of his food, finally finally exchanging a look with Bruce. Joel raises an eyebrow, scans the table quickly. Says, “Like, on a date?”

Matt shrugs, looking at his food, as if unperturbed. Says, “Sure. When is it?”

Joel says, “Tomorrow night.”

Matt says, “Okay.”

Bruce pushes his food around on his plate. Adam leans back in his chair, chewing slowly. Well. Shit.

The ride back to the office is fairly silent. Joel tries to lead a conversation, and Bruce tries to anchor it but Matt and Adam’s silence make the whole ordeal kind of pointless. It’s not that Adam doesn’t try to talk, but. It’s not ideal. He’s wallowing a little. Shocked, too. Like, when he heard about Matt and Sean’s date, he felt, obviously, bad. And he acknowledges that he should have talked to Matt about it. But now, he’s missed his window. He can’t talk to Matt now! The guy’s asked two people on dates and kissed two more people who aren’t him. So, obviously, Matt doesn’t want anything to do with Adam anymore. It’s the only logical conclusion.

Adam’s only reprieve is that he still has Lawrence, still has Bruce (he thinks). If he’s being honest, he just feels kinda unimportant—but that’s not new. What’s new is that he feels this way where he’s never felt before: in the office, surrounded by the people who know him best in the world. Funny how life works, huh?

When they get back to the office, Adam just has to make sure. He needs to find some solid ground here. So while Joel and Matt walk ahead, into the office, Adam makes a decision. Bruce is stretching by the car when Adam calls out, “Hey, Bruce.”

Bruce meets his eyes. Adam is not doing so hot, but hoping he doesn’t look it. Hoping Bruce doesn’t look at him with pity or anything.

Adam is glad when Bruce simply asks, “‘Sup?”

He made a decision, and he’ll stick with it. Adam asks, “Any chance you wanna go with me to the gym on tomorrow night?”

Bruce nods, a soft look on his face that Adam can’t bare to look at for too long. Asks, “Any specific time?”

Adam chuckles a little, sliding his sunglasses back onto his face. “At what time is their date?”

“Let’s say seven.”

Adam nods, slowly. “Okay. Seven.”

He’s got Bruce. Definitely.

Even when it’s after work, he still feels a little on edge.

When he gets out to the parking lot, he notices that he’s parked next to Sean. Mostly because he sees Sean’s flannel-clad back poking out of his backseat. So his thought process goes Shit, then, Okay, well, this should happen, then, quieter, in the back of his mind, I need to know if we’re okay. He has to. Because, before everything, before the bet, Sean and Adam were. Friendly. Like, flirting friendly. More like, Sean used to trip over his words and his giggles when talking to Adam, and Adam isn’t blind. He could tell. Or at least, he was wary and Lawrence confirmed the flirting. But then it came out that Sean liked Matt. And the whole bet was put in place. And he and Sean didn’t pay as much attention to each other anymore.

So, here they are now.

He has to know. The words get caught in his throat twice before he forces them out, says, “Hey, Spoole?”

And Sean’s head pops up from the back of his car. He asks, “Adam?”

Adam swallows. Says, “Hey. Do you wanna go grab some dinner and… talk?”

Sean’s brow furrows for a split second, as if he’s processing the words. Then his eyebrows shoot up and he says, “Oh! Yeah.”

Adam nods, “Uh, follow my car?”

Sean nods vigorously, says, “Yep! Let me just, uh. Okay, I’ll follow you!”

Sean ducks back down to the backseat of his car, zips up his backpack, and skitters to the driver’s seat. Despite how bad he feels, he still finds himself smiling a little at how sincere Sean is. Goddamn.

Adam leads Sean to a quiet burger place he knows of halfway between his apartment and the office.

They park a few spaces away from each other. Adam waits for Sean by the door. Before Sean even reaches him, Adam knows that Sean is nervous. His shoulders are hunched and he’s not looking at Adam. He’s looking everywhere but at Adam. And shit, Adam is nervous, too. What if Sean doesn’t wanna speak to him? What if, when he went on his date with Matt and realized that Adam wasn’t shit? Because come on—Matt is Matt and Adam is Adam. Adam swallows again, tamps it all down, and opens the door for Sean.

When they’re seated, Sean comments on the place’s decorations. Adam is glad for the small talk and agrees with his observation that the place is kind of eccentric, but he points out that the burgers are good. Sean asks “Yeah?” and Adam nods, nervously, and mentions his favorite burger and onion rings combination.

After the waiter takes their orders, Sean ordering what Adam has suggested (and a weight lifting off his shoulders a little), Sean goes back to fidgeting with his glass of water. Adam sighs. He doesn’t know why they’re here or where to begin. Why’d he do this, again? Because he doesn’t wanna lose his— his Sean? It’s all messed up. In his mind, too. He should talk soon. Maybe start with I feel bad, you feel bad, or maybe with Do you even want to talk to me anymore?

Before Adam can say anything, Sean wrings his hands, looks up at Adam. Says, “I— I just. I wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

Adam is taken aback for a few seconds. “Sorry?” He asks.

“Yeah. For the Matt thing. The Mountain Man thing. When I went on a date with him after you had. And for the—for not talking to you. Sorry. ”

Adam raises an eyebrow. Sorry is not what he was expecting. But… it’s what Sean was nervous about? He wanted to apologize? Apparently he did, he really, really did. Sean looks so… sincere. Like he’s incredibly sorry. So Adam just tries to get his thoughts in order. Tries to grasp for more words while he says, “You don’t have to be sorry, Spoole. It’s okay.”

“But you’ve been looking sadder than usual lately.”

Adam stifles a tired laugh. Sighs again. He’s been giving this a lot of thought, he’s not gonna lie. But now his words are kinda scrambled. He just says, “It’s not… your fault that Matt asked you out. And I wasn’t really… upset by you accepting. It was more of me feeling like I had won. But now, I’m just sad-looking because of everything that’s happened after. Not because of you specifically. Not because we haven’t talked. I just feel…” he pauses, grasping for a better word and not finding one, “rejected.”

Sean shifts in his chair. “Oh.”

Adam feels like he should lift some of the weight his words have left behind, should diffuse their tension, but their food arrives then. The waiter sets it down and leaves them in silence. Adam looks at his food, not feeling very hungry. In his field of vision, he sees Sean trading his gaze between his own food and Adam’s face. So Adam expects a question.

And he gets it. Sean asks, “Are you okay?”

He can’t really help the sad laugh. It makes Sean’s frown deepen. Adam says, “I don’t know. I just….” He shrugs. “Not okay.”

Sean almost pouts. Adam tries not to look miserable; probably fails. He shouldn’t be going down this path. He should just put on a brave face and eat his food, smile and hope Sean doesn’t say anything else to keep the topic alive. But he’s just tired, and he’s feeling— not okay.

“I don’t—” Sean makes a noise, like he’s trying to decide on his words. “No one dislikes you, Adam.”

Adam takes a sip from his drink. Keeps his tone neutral and says, “Yeah.”

Sean doesn’t comment or ask about that. Just says, “I don’t dislike you.”

That. That strikes a chord with Adam, somehow. Probably due to their past, to their… something in the before-bet-time.

He’s aiming for a joking tone when he asks, “So, you’re still here for me?”

And almost bursting, Sean says, “You never lost me, Adam!”

Adam, despite himself, smiles. Smiles wide and a little relieved. Watches as a twin smile blooms on Sean’s face. God. Maybe not everything is fucked.

He’s relieved. More than he thought he’d be. Says, a little gently, wholly sincere, “Thanks, Sean.”

Sean’s smile doesn’t fade as he says, “You don’t have to thank me, Adam! I’m happy you trusted me.” And it makes Adam—blush? He’s—no. No.

Well, he was. Then Sean pushes his hat up. Eyes drifting from Adam to his food, Sean speaks to his drink when he says, “Because, well, it. I’ve…” Sean looks a little sad. “I’ve been feeling like that too. Like with Matt? But, I don’t know. I still think everything’ll be okay.”

Adam is surprised, if he’s honest. He knows that Sean isn’t the most optimistic person on this planet, nor is he the most open with his feelings. Which is why he feels like Sean has opened a door for him, a glimpse into the most sincere parts of him. Makes Adam feel warm. Feel like everything will be okay. He nods, a part of him aching from sincerity.

He clears his throat, sitting up. “I’m sorry you feel that way. With the whole Matt thing. It’s weird. I mean, I’m really, really glad you trusted me back. But…” Adam scratches his beard. “What do you think is going on with Matt? Did he seem… off to you? When your, your date?” Wincing at his own words, awesome.

Sean doesn’t seem to mind, though. He takes a sip of his drink and says, “No! It was a, a normal date.” And he smiles a little. “I had… a lot of fun.”

Adam smiles, too. “That’s good.”

Sean nods. “It was really good.” He clears his throat, too. Looks small as he leans on the table. “What about your date? Did you have fun?”

“Yeah. I had sushi and he helped me with my chopsticks, because I’m a mess with those.” The comment makes Sean smile wide, so Adam is glad for that. He watches as Sean grabs an onion ring and he remembers his own fries. Picks one up as Sean chews.

In between his chew, Sean says, “So,” then he swallows. Continues, “You’d go out with Matt again?”

Adam makes a noncommittal noise at first. Pretends to be thinking about the logistics of picking up his burger and he answers, a little too sincerely, “Yeah. If he’d have me.”

Sean makes a noise, too. The noise he makes when he’s about to crack a joke. Says, “Yeah, me too. But at this rate, I think you’d be more likely to ask me out.” And Sean smiles, a little pleased with his joke. With his flirting? Whatever, okay, Adam can play this game too. He can joke about this, too.

So Adam smiles, picks up his burger and says, “Well, it happened, didn’t it? We’re out. Together.”

There’s another noise from Sean’s direction, though Adam can’t tell what it entails because he’s avoiding Sean’s eyes purposefully. Teasing. Sean says, “Like…” then seems so process the whole thing, and says, “Oh. Ohh, okay.”

No way is Adam blushing again. No way.

Chapter Text

Friday after work, Bruce is glad that he’s made plans with Adam to meet up at the Fullscreen gym around seven o’clock. Because, as he zips up his gym bag, he hears the water turn off in the bathroom, signaling that Matt has just gotten out of the shower. Which, in turn, means that Matt is getting ready for another date.

As he makes his way out into the hallway, looking for his jacket, the bathroom door swings open. Bruce doesn’t mean to peek in, but he still looks, seeing Matt wearing jeans and a… button-up? Bruce has rarely ever seen him in a button up. He looks nice with it on; it’s a nice light blue-green color that makes Matt’s tanned skin almost shine.

Bruce swallows hard. Can’t stop himself from asking, “Almost date time?”

Matt startles visibly, but only a little. Bruce hides his grimace at scaring Matt.

Matt says, “Yeah. At seven.”

Bruce nods once, sharply. “I’m going to the gym. See you, uh, see you later.”

Matt nods, runs a towel through his damp hair.

Bruce forgoes his jacket, leaves the apartment with a few minutes to spare.

When Joel searches for the address on his phone, he realizes that the place he’s invited Matt to is actually a villa in the hills with terra cotta walls and which, when they get there, has too many cars in the driveway.

They pull up to the side of the road a little ahead of the place instead, parking to the side there. Matt has been driving while Joel has been his co-pilot. (Before anything, Matt had cited that since he asked Joel out, he’s the one who should pay for gas. Joel had scoffed and said, “Matthew, you smooth criminal.”)

The sun has almost set once they get out of the car. Matt asks, “Does someone live here?”

Joel shrugs, “Beats me. It’s the first time I’ve been here.”

As they walk up the incline towards the house, Matt stuffs his hands into his jacket, asks, “So do you know anyone here?”

Joel hums, says, “Like. One or two people? Yeah.”

Matt nods, doesn’t say anything else. So Joel asks, “I didn’t actually ask you. Do you like wine?”

Matt seems to ponder for a moment. Says, “Depends on the wine.”

Joel smiles small, “If there’s anywhere to find out if you like wine, this’ll be the place.”

Matt smiles briefly and Joel tries to ignore the way he sees Matt furrow his brow for an instant. Joel gets a stab of uncertainty at the base of his spine. He pushes it away because what the hell? He’s on a date with Matt. At a wine and cheese tasting. Joel nods as if to himself, whispers a soft “Yes.” He fucking loves wine and cheese and he really likes Matt. This is going to be the best date ever.

The house at the top of the hill has all its lights on and its door is wide open. Next to the gaping doorway stands a sign that proclaims Wine and cheese tasting! Come inside! Matt lags behind while Joel pulls ahead, eager to start the evening of tasting. Through the window, he sees people with wine glasses in their hands already. Goddamn, he can almost taste it.

Inside, Joel finds that he knows more people than he thought he did. He says hi to at least five couples and introduces Matt to all of them. He gets both Matt and himself a glass of the most expensive looking wine he can find and of the stinkiest cheese. Matt wrinkles his nose at the cheese when Joel brings it around but he eats it anyway, proclaims that it’s good. Joel smiles.

Half an hour into their foray through faux-bourgeois territory, Joel loses track of Matt for about three minutes while he finds yet another person he knows but hasn’t seen in ages. While the woman in front of him rambles about her children or her cat, Joel finds his eyes drifting around the room, looking for Matt. And he finds him, in the corner of the room with an empty wine glass in hand, eyes glossy and shoulders shaking.

Joel feels that inkling of uncertainty flare up. He doesn’t look at the woman as he excuses himself, his mind working a mile a minute—

He approaches Matt, his arm outstretched. Matt doesn’t move as Joel lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. Joel asks, “Are you okay?”

Matt doesn’t startle, doesn’t answer, doesn’t look up at Joel.

Joel asks again, enunciating clearly. “Matt, are you okay?”

Matt takes in a shuddering breath. Says, “Yeah, I’m—” A hiccuping breath, “Fine.”

Joel frowns, feels guilty somehow. Says, “The fuck you are, Matt. Tell me, are you okay?”

Matt takes another stuttering breath. There’s a long pause. The chatter from the party around them dies down in Joel’s ears. Matt says a quiet, “No.”

Joel nods. Speaks softly, “Okay. Do you want to get out of here?”

Matt says a quiet, “Yes.”

Joel’s hand on Matt’s shoulder tightens. “Let’s go.”

Joel leads an almost shaking Matt out the door and down the slope of the driveway, his hand a firm warmth on Matt’s shoulder, his torso a steadying force on Matt’s side. Joel hasn’t seen Matt get like this in a long time. You work with a guy for long enough and you just sometimes get glimpses of his panic attacks. It happens. But Joel is a little rusty since it’s been a while since he and Matt have shared a cramped office together. He remembers basics but that’s it. Vaguely, he wonders if Bruce would treat this moment better. Lord knows Joel has soothed over some of Bruce’s panic attacks as well (not masterfully but… good enough, he hopes).

They walk to the car. Joel says, “Give me the keys,” and Matt hands them over after a pause. Joel leads Matt to the passenger side and unlocks the car, lets Matt slide himself onto the seat. Joel murmurs, “Seatbelt.” And Matt obeys with shaky hands.

After Joel has shut Matt’s door and settled down in the driver's seat, they stay in the parked car, Joel breathing Very Loudly, long and slow. Hoping to act as a pattern for Matt to follow.

It feels like ten minutes have passed but it has to be at least two minutes later that Joel suppresses a sigh and says, in his most sincere voice, “I’m sorry I made you come.”

Joel starts up the car. Matt doesn’t speak again until they’re pulling away from the curb. He says, “I asked to be here.”

Joel nods, “Well, yeah. You did.”

Matt sighs heavily. “It really wasn’t my kind of atmosphere. I’m sorry.”

Joel smiles softly, says softly, “Stop being sorry. It’s okay.”

Matt says nothing. Joel drives down the winding street, suppressing a sigh. Okay, so maybe this won’t be the best date ever. What kind of date begins with a panic attack, right? A panic attack that he caused, however indirectly. Fuck.

As he puts on a turn signal, vaguely remembering what turn they took to get there, he chews over a bevy of ideas to turn this night around, to make it up to Matt. He thinks about the movies but discards it almost immediately. Movies are bad for dates and Joel knows it. A restaurant? Okay, that could work, but any restaurant with any worth will be packed by now. No, but food though—

Joel asks Matt, “Are you hungry?”

Matt clears his throat. Says, “Yeah.”

Joel says, “Good.”

Joel pulls the car over on the side of the road, takes out his phone, opens his map application. Matt asks, “What are you doing?”

Joel smiles to himself, “Trust me.”

Matt says, “O… kay.”

Joel enters the destination onto his map, sets the voice directions on. He puts the car back in drive and goes.

Ten minutes later, Joel pulls into the parking lot of Whole Foods. He turns off the car as Matt slings him a curious look. Joel rolls his eyes while unbuckling his seatbelt. Says, “You said you were hungry.”

Matt asks, “Yeah?”

Joel says, “Well, come on!”

Joel walks into the Whole Foods with a menu in mind, but he walks out with a completely different one. Of course, it’s due to the fact that he lets Matt choose the ingredients for him

Matt goes for the chicken and reaches for the quinoa, the mushrooms, the spring mix. All, of course, after Joel brings him to every section of the store and tells him to pick out whatever he wants. Matt looks at him skeptically the first few times, and Joel only rolls his eyes, says, “Look, you brought your car and gas. This is me repaying you with the food bill. Pick a vegetable.” On top of Matt’s menu, Joel picks up things for a sauce that would work well with the flavors, the dish already forming in his mind.

Matt insists on carrying the bulk of the groceries and Joel lets him. He wolf whistles at Matt as he hangs back in order to take in the sight. Matt glances back at him and only smiles.

They go back to Joel’s apartment and while Joel insists that Matt should sit back and watch TV or even just lean on the wall and watch Joel work, Matt insists on helping him cook. Joel smiles at him and Matt smiles back, softly.

Joel holds out the container of mushrooms. Says, “Cut these.”

Matt asks, “How thin should they be?”

Joel says, “Here,” and shows him. Hands him the knife and leads his hand, Ghost style.

Matt nods at him and starts cutting. He finishes just as Joel puts the quinoa in a pan and Joel says, “You’re a quick learner, Peake.”

Matt shrugs. “Yeah, I’d like to think so. What else can I do?”

Joel turns on the stovetop and lays a pan on it. Looks over the kitchen before reaching over to the box of spring mix. He asks, “What dressing do you think would be good with a Merlot?”

Matt raises an eyebrow. “You’re asking me?”

Joel says, “Well, yeah. What do you like to eat, Matt?”

Matt says, “Uh. Oil and vinegar?”

Joel hums, “Excellent choice.” He reaches over to his condiments cabinet and pulls out both things, slides them over to Matt. “Be a dear and dress the salad.”

Matt nods at him, “Okay.”

Matt finds a salad bowl with directions from Joel, who oils the pan and tosses in the chicken, stirs the quinoa and adds the mushrooms. Matt dresses the salad. Joel asks, “How’s it lookin’?”

Matt shrugs, “I think it’s okay? Do you want to taste?”

Joel nods, keeping an eye on the stove. He says, “Yeah, let me—” but then Matt’s there, holding a fork with spring mix up to his mouth. And Joel opens up and takes the food in, chewing thoughtfully. He’s only a little startled by how Matt has brought his hand up inches from Joel’s face in case he needs to catch any stray greens, by the intimacy of the moment. Joel’s eyes drift from the cooking meat to Matt’s hopeful face. Matt asks, “Good?”

Joel chews and swallows, bites his lip. Nods, “Very good.”

Matt smiles.

Joel finishes the quinoa and the sauce at the same time. He calls out to Matt, who is setting up the dinner table, says, “Dinner’s ready!”

Joel brings out the plates and starts serving them both when Matt peeks his head back in. Says, “It smells really good.”

Joel says, “Of course it does. Now come get your plate.”

Matt walks over and grabs both their plates before Joel can stop him. Joel goes to stop him from being a gentleman but he ends up sighing, knowing that Matt will be Matt. He washes his hands and goes to join him at the dinner table.

Joel goes to offer Matt another glass of wine before he catches himself and says, “You’re driving and I’m being a bad influence.”

Matt smiles small and nods, “Yes. But the food was really good.”

Joel leans back in his chair. “Thank you. I’m sorry we don’t have any dessert.”

Matt shrugs him off, “Dinner was more than I could ever ask for. Thank you. Are you sure you don’t want me to help you with the dishes?”

Joel shakes his head. Says, “Fuck no! You’re my guest and my date. You will do no such thing.” Matt laughs lightly, plays with his empty wine glass.

There’s a beat of comfortable silence before Joel asks, “Do you need some water? An Uber?”

Matt shakes his head, meets Joel’s eyes. “I know I’m short, but I’m okay. Water would be good, actually.”

Joel nods and gets Matt some water. Matt drinks it as he’s shrugging his hoodie back on. He hands the empty cup back and checks his pockets for his keys.

Joel says, “Oh!” He digs into his pocket and takes out Matt’s keys, holds them out for him. Matt takes them, doesn’t meet Joel’s eyes. Makes as if to leave. Joel takes the hint, says, “I’ll walk you out.”

They walk few feet to the door of Joel’s apartment. Joel opens the door for him, says, “Text me once you get home okay.”

Matt says, “Okay.” He takes a step out the door and pauses. Turns around. Says, “Thank you. For everything.”

Joel knows he means everything. The save at the party, Joel’s clear head to Matt’s noisy one, the full meal. Joel swallows down his wide smile. Says a sincere, “It was my pleasure.”

Matt’s smile grows on his face slowly, timidly. They stand there, smiling at each other for a soft beat. Joel feels like Matt is on the verge of saying something, something big and meaningful, Joel assures himself, but then Joel’s neighbor opens their door, startling them both. The neighbor walks into the hallway, looking annoyed.

Matt clears his throat, glances at the neighbor.

Joel waves Matt away, going for a playful tone as he says, “Get out of the hallway, Peake. You’re blocking traffic.”

Matt nods at him. Says, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Matt goes. Joel closes the door after he’s out of sight then leans his forehead against it. He feels a slight, nervous laugh bubble up in his throat. Fuck. Fuck, he’s a goner.

Bruce gets to the gym five minutes past seven.

Adam walks up at 7:12 PM, while Bruce is checking Twitter. Adam calls his attention by saying, “Heya handsome.”

Bruce looks up, smiling small. Adam smiles, too, more tired than Bruce, and carrying with him his gym bag thrown over his shoulder. Adam approaches Bruce and Bruce throws an arm around Adam’s shoulders, lays his hand on the back of Adam’s head in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. With his leverage, he pulls Adam into his side as they walk to the gym entrance. Bruce asks softly, “You okay?”

Adam shrugs under Bruce’s arm. Says, "Nothing a few good hours of working out won't fix."

Bruce chuckles, ruffles the short hairs on the back of Adam’s head. Says, "You sound like James."

Adam scoffs, jostles Bruce's hold on him. "That’s not a bad thing."

Bruce shrugs, says, “Depends on who you ask. Because if you ask James, James is the best thing you could be.”

Adam makes a noise. Says, “Well, James is incredibly handsome.”

Bruce retracts his arm and goes to open the door for Adam. Asks, “How much did James pay you to say that?”

Adam laughs. They enter the gym together. After leaving their things in gym lockers, they head out onto the workout floor.

Bruce looks around as if it’s his kingdom. Hands on his hips, he looks at Adam and asks, “What do you want to do? Squats? Free-weights?”

Adam gives the gym a once over and shrugs. “I’m gonna keep the James joke going and say squats.”

Bruce laughs heartily, hand on his belly. When he straightens up, Adam is smiling at him warmly. Bruce says, “Okay, squats. You better do the best squats you‘ve ever done. I’m gonna be telling James about this.”

Adam scoffs, “Tattletale.”

They go to the squat rack. Bruce makes sure Adam stretches before he starts doing his reps. He sets the entire thing up for Adam while Adam bends at the waist and tries to touch his toes (he almost gets there, too; Bruce is impressed).

Adam settles on the squat rack while Bruce finishes stretching, and prepares himself to catch the weights if Adam drops them. He leans against the white metal of the squat rack and watches as Adam grabs the weight rod, positioning himself to start squatting.

Adam has done five very well placed reps when Bruce sees the flash of a familiar face on the reflection of the glass in front of them. He looks over his shoulder. Oh—

Lawrence saunters in, “Well, well, well.”

Adam furrows his brow, losing his concentration. Breathlessly, “Are you following me now?”

Bruce springs into action and goes to spot him. Adam waves him off and finishes the rep, lays the weights on the rack.

Lawrence says, “Wow, talk about self-centered.”

Adam slings him a look.

Bruce asks, “Are you following me, then?”

Lawrence scoffs, “I have better things to do with my time. Like accompanying Sean Poole to the gym.” He gestures behind him, where Sean is sorting through the free-weights.

Bruce furrows his brow at the sight. Now, he has no exact idea of what’s been going on between Adam and Sean, but by the fact that on some recent work days he’s caught Sean looking at Adam only to very quickly look away when Adam looks up, Bruce guesses they are not all that okay. So Bruce is hesitant about this… whole situation. He doesn’t want to put Adam into a situation that would be awkward. Even if that means basically breaking up the office. Shit, this isn’t the first time he’s considered the possibility that this bet might break up the office. Their productivity hasn’t really been negatively impacted, but Bruce still worries.

Bruce opens his mouth to say something, he isn’t sure what, but Adam beats him to the punch. He says, “Oh, you shouldn’t leave kids alone like that. He could hurt himself.”

Adam pushes past Lawrence and Bruce, making his way over to where Sean is hefting the weights he’s chosen. Adam gets halfway through the gym before Sean spots him and beams him a smile (after a delay where Sean seems to be processing that, yes, Adam is here, and yes, Adam is walking right to him).

Bruce waits for Adam to do… something. He some kind of reaction but nothing comes. Just Adam crossing his hands over his chest, his face semi-serious as he seems to ask Sean something.

Bruce and Lawrence exchange a look. They make their way over to where Sean and Adam stand. Sean greets Bruce as soon as he sees him, even from a distance. Bruce waves at him, asking as he approaches, “You good, Spoole?”

Sean beams. “Yep! I didn’t know you guys were gonna be here!”

Adam says, “Yeah well, I think Lawrence is stalking us.”

Lawrence narrows his eyes. Opens his mouth to say something but seems to think better of it. He ends up saying, “I can tell where I’m not wanted.”

Adam slings him another Look. “Lawrence—”

Lawrence shakes his head. “No, no. You kids have fun over here. I will go and stalk you from the step machines.”

Adam rolls his eyes. Sean says, “Lawrence, you don’t have to—”

Lawrence shakes his head, turns away. “Nope, too late. Bruce?”

Bruce doesn’t know where Lawrence is going with this, but he trusts him. He shrugs at Adam and Sean, as if to say What can you do? Follows behind Lawrence as he moves to the step machines.

Lawrence leans against a step machine. Bruce asks, “So, what the fuck are we doing?”

“Right now, we are watching Spoole and Adam flirt.”

Bruce doesn’t think he heard that right.

"They're adorable," Lawrence coos as Bruce tries to process his words. "You can see the affection in their eyes."

Bruce furrows his brow. “What?” He turns and directs his gaze over to Adam and Sean. "What do you mean?”

Lawrence beside him shrugs, his gaze lingering on Sean and Adam. “They're practically making kissy faces at each other.”

Bruce watches Adam and Sean. They’re just… talking. And then Adam is smiling. Bruce looks away, asks again, pointedly. "What do you mean?”

Lawrence lifts an eyebrow, moves his gaze straight into Bruce’s eyes. “Seriously?”

Bruce doesn’t answer, hopes his face is quizzical enough for Lawrence to tell him. Lawrence sighs and nods his head at Adam and Sean, as if directing Bruce’s view, as if that would answer the question.

Bruce looks again. Really looks this time. Watches as Adam lays a hand over Sean's on the weights, as Sean looks at Adam, making faces. Watches as Adam laughs at the face Sean makes, all soft smiles and softer giggles. Bruce… Bruce connects the scene in front of him with Lawrence’s words (love, kissy faces)—

And, shit. Shit. He’s sees it now. He sees with his own damn two eyes that the touches he witnesses are entering a more-than-friendly territory. And he sees that the smiles they exchange are soft and carry weight. Seeing it, it has all registered as a coherent thought in Bruce’s brain: Adam and Sean are flirting.

Bruce swallows hard. The words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop them, and they sound sharp in his voice, “Are they—are they gay?”

Before Bruce can take the question back, Lawrence shrugs. Says, “It’s not my place to say. You should really ask them if you want to know.”

Bruce decides in for a penny, in for a pound. He asks, “Are… Are you gay?”

Lawrence shrugs again. Says, “I like pretty people. I believe the proper term for it is pansexual? Don’t quote me on that, though.”

There is silence between them. Bruce kind of beats himself up for asking questions like that. Like he has no manners. Bruce feels like he has to say something here. Something to clear the air. He clears his throat, and without being prompted, he says, “I'm not gay.”

Lawrence gives him a sideways glance. “Are you sure?”

Bruce furrows his brow for a second. Says, “Yes. I just—I like Matt.”

Lawrence makes the most condescending noise Bruce has ever heard. Lays a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, puts on his best sympathetic expression. Bruce grimaces.

Lawrence says, “Bruce, there's no such thing as a gay exception. Sorry to break it to you. You could be bi, if you think about it.”

For lack of anything better, Bruce says, “Huh?”

Lawrence says, “Bisexual. Come on Bruce, you know that.”

Bruce shrugs Lawrence’s hand off. Says dryly, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Bruce spends the half-hour following his conversation with Lawrence panicking, just a little. Bisexual? He could be bisexual? Aren’t there gay exceptions? He’s had them all his life! When he had his high school girlfriend, he had a gay exception (Tom, the guy on the lacrosse team, that was his gay exception then). And when he was in college and went to a party, he had a gay exception! And he kissed him, the guy from his math class (but he doesn’t talk about that because that was the night he also got laid by the girl who would then become his girlfriend for a year).

As Bruce reviews his history of gay exceptions in his head, he considers the possibility that maybe there really is no such thing as a gay exception. And yeah, as he picks his things up from his gym locker, he considers the possibility of maybe… being bisexual. Okay, it’s only taken him thirty-something years to figure it out. Fucking Lawrence.

At 8 PM, with the four of them walking out of the gym together, someone mentions dinner. Bruce doesn’t know who, but since he can’t really get out of it cleanly, they go out for food together.

They choose a place by the gym that Lawrence and Bruce are familiar with. Once there, Bruce decides to have two beers in a row to try and quash his bisexual panic. He succeeds, for the most part, only he tamps it down in such a way that he knows he’s going to have to open that can of worms fairly soon. It really ought not to be ignored.

To Lawrence’s credit, he picks up the slack where Bruce drops conversation. Bruce is grateful to him but he also knows that Lawrence can’t do it forever, so he jumps into conversations headfirst, trying to find his groove.

He does find his groove, but only in the middle of dinner, and despite Bruce feeling the looming cloud of Sean and Adam flirting, their dinner feels like old times. The conversation is easier than Bruce expected. What did he expect? He’s known these guys for years, of course the conversation is going to flow.

With his belly full and two beers in him, Bruce lets his guard down. He watches Sean order his third Piña Colada of the night. By the time their dessert gets there, even Lawrence has switched to water (after his two vodka tonics), and Sean is slightly shitfaced, giggling at every other word that comes out of Adam’s mouth.

In the middle of dessert, Sean starts with, “See,” and waves his spoon around. “If the bet was on my feelings, Adam would’ve won already!”

And Bruce, with his guard down, is a little taken aback. He watches as Adam takes another bite of his dessert to hide his smile.

Lawrence steals a piece of Adam’s cake off his plate and says, “We would’ve all won, Spoole. We’re all here.”

And Sean giggles, clatters his spoon onto his plate. Says, “No, but this is the second time Adam and I go out together.”

Lawrence raises both eyebrows. Says “Oh.” Asks, “Are we intruding on your second date? Because, Bruce and I could leave.”

Sean jumps forward, takes Bruce and Lawrence by the hand. Bruce feels a blush rise at how warm Sean’s hand is on his.

Sean says, “No! No, don’t leave! This can be a date with all of us.”

Well, that surely does not help Bruce’s great big bi panic. Lawrence shoots him a look that Bruce doesn’t want to decipher. Adam looks between the three of them, half-nervous, half-amused.

Their night ends shortly after that. They split the check four ways and Bruce drinks another glass of water, feels the alcohol clear from his system.

Outside, on the sidewalk, with Bruce supporting Sean’s stumbling weight, Lawrence volunteers to take care of Sean. The four of them walk back to the gym where Sean left his car, only Bruce suggests that they should probably take an Uber. Lawrence, in his infinite knowledge, agrees. Bruce and Adam wait with them for the Uber, and when it arrives, Bruce looks for his wallet to pay Lawrence back for Sean’s ride home. Only, Lawrence turns him down. Says, “We’re both going back to my place. Don’t worry.”

And Bruce doesn’t worry for either of their safeties. Rather, he worries because he’s been wondering in the back of his mind how Lawrence knew that Sean was flirting with Adam. As if Lawrence had seen it in the past.

He doesn’t let his mind dwell on it.

Adam and Bruce walk into the parking lot. Bruce wants to ask if Adam deliberately flirted with Sean, if he knew what he was doing, if he likes Sean—

Instead, he clears his throat and walks Adam to his car. Asks, “See you at work Monday?”

Adam nods, unlocks his car. Says, “Same time, same place.”

Bruce walks back to his car thinking about Matt and Joel, and Lawrence and Sean, and Adam and Sean, and James and Elyse and Matt, and—

There’s a big tangled mess going on in Bruce’s head, all of it mixing in with his big bi panic. By the time he gets back to his car, he’s only thinking about dates. About flirting. About relationships he might’ve missed that have been happening under his nose.

He unlocks his car, throws his gym bag into the passenger seat, and takes out his phone.

Before he sends the message to Joel, he considers the possibility of ruining his and Matt’s date. In the end, he decides that it’s Joel. No text message could ruin his date; Bruce knows him well enough for that.

So he sends the message.

Bruce:
> Have you ever flirted with anyone at the office?

Joel:
> My date was fine, thanks for asking! Very domestic.

Bruce:
> Joel, have you ever flirted with anyone at the office?

Joel:
> Is this a serious question?

Bruce:
> Right. It’s you.

Bruce:
> Has anyone in the office ever flirted with you back???

Joel:
> You mean, apart from you?

Bruce:
> Joel.

Joel:
> Bruce.

Bruce:
> I’m being serious.

Joel:
> Why are you so curious about this all of a sudden?

Bruce:
> I saw Adam and Spoole flirting tonight.

Joel:
> Ah, those two finally resolved that.

Bruce:
> ??????? Are you making a joke?

Joel:
> Kind of. But Sean has an unresolved infatuation with Adam for ages now. Did you seriously not know this?

Bruce:
> What the fuck?????????

Joel:
> You seriously did not know that.

Bruce:
> What the FUCK

Joel:
> Bruce, do you attend work with your eyes closed? I’m just wondering.

Bruce:
> Fuck off.

Chapter Text

The words feel difficult to form in his mouth, but Sean still manages to get them out quite expertly, he likes to think. He says, “Hey Lawrence, I think I’m drunk.”

Lawrence seems to smile. Says, “You don’t say.”

“I do say!” Sean giggles, feeling airy. Whoa, he feels. Light. Like a little bird! Is this how birds feel? Huh.

The door to Lawrence’s apartment swings open wide, like a big mouth, and Sean is kind of enticed to go in. So he does.

Sean’s been here before. Once, or twice, he’s not sure. But he knows that the table is there, ow, that’s the edge of it against his thigh, and the couch is there, oof, that’s the back of it against his tummy. Okay, maybe birds don’t feel like this. He blinks and the lights come on. He tries to blink them off again with no success.

And then, when he’s blinking hard to turn off the lights, then Lawrence comes back into frame. His hands circle Sean’s waist and lead him around the couch to sit on it. Damn, Lawrence’s hands are warm. They’re warm and it feels nice. Sean kind of wants more, so, he tries to get more.

When Lawrence sits next to him, Sean butts his head into the nape of Lawrence’s neck. It’s warm there. His hands go for Lawrence’s sides, where it’s warm, too. So Sean says, Sean mumbles, “You’re warm.”

And Lawrence, who seems all too okay with the contact asks, “Are you cold?”

Sean hums, “I don’t think so? But you’re warm. It feels nice. Good.”

“Okay, Spoole.”

Sean hums again, letting the noise draw out of him as he blinks slowly. He shifts, drawing his head back to take in the lines of Lawrence’s face from this close up. Lawrence has always been pretty. He’s pretty. Sean think’s he’s pretty. He has nice eyes and a nice jaw and nice lips. He’s not conventionally handsome like Adam is, because Adam is very handsome and Sean knows this. Lawrence is his own kind of handsome that Sean likes, too. And he says smart things, he has a smart head and he says good things and his mouth? His lips are nice. They they look soft, like kissably soft. Sean wonders about how they’d feel. In a kiss, he means.

“Hey, Lawrence? How do you kiss?”

Oh boy, he’s drunk. He knows he’s drunk and he knows that makes no sense, so while Lawrence chuckles softly Sean amends, “How do you kiss? Like, how does it feel?”

That makes Lawrence laugh harder and Sean’s face heats up. Lawrence says, “Well, when two people like each other and agree to kiss each other, they put their lips together and—”

Sean waves a hand in front on Lawrence’s face, as if dismissing his words from the air. “No! No, I mean… How… How does it feel like to kiss you?”

At this, Lawrence seeks out Sean’s eyes, an eyebrow lifted in disbelief. Sean kind of feels a little small. Like they’re not the same height at all.

Lawrence’s voice is thick with amusement as he asks, “Are you, Sean Poole, saying that you want to kiss me?”

There’s a beat that’s not hesitation but… Sean trying to play it cool before he says, “Maybe.”

And by Lawrence’s surprised laugh, Sean thinks maybe he didn’t play it as cool as he thought he did.

“Okay. How drunk are you?”

“Not very!” He almost stereotypically hiccups. Damn you, body!

“Okay, buddy. Let’s get you some water.”

“But you’re warm!”

“I know, Spoole. I’ll be back.”

Instead of just bringing two cups, Lawrence brings a jug of water and the cups. Sean is kind of impressed but also chalks it up to the fact that Lawrence does this. A lot. Get drunk, he means. Not have other people ask to kiss him… Sean thinks? Maybe? Who knows? He’d have to ask, and if he were more sober, he’d keep the words to himself. But as it is, Sean’s words slip out as Lawrence hands him a tall glass o’ water. He asks, “Do you… kiss a lot of people?” Smooth one, Sean.

Lawrence grins and pours himself a glass of water, too. Leans back into the couch and looks pensive as he says, “Define a lot. Also, define the time period. This month? This week? Tonight?”

Sean bites his lip, brings the water up to his mouth, the glass held with both hands. “Y’know… people. Three. Or something. A we— month? A month?” He takes a big gulp of water, shutting himself up.

Lawrence takes a small sip of water, still pensive. He answers, “Three. No, wait. Four this month.”

Sean nods, still gulping water.

“And I’m surprised it hasn’t been five with how you’ve been flirting with me right now.”

Sean does a very cliche, very flustered, spit-take. At least, he tries to. There’s no actual water in his mouth when the sentence comes out so he just ends up kind of spluttering into his cup.

He’s been flirting. He has been! Lawrence noticed! Did he want Lawrence to notice? He’s not sure? God, it's a sobering thought, though. He gulps, head clearing momentarily.

Has he always liked Lawrence or is this a new development? Does he like Lawrence? Well, he’d be open to it. To… something with Lawrence. Actually, by the way he’s been talking, he’s more than open. He asked Lawrence what he kisses like for Christ’s sake! Damn his brain for even bringing it to mind!

“Spoole?”

Startled out of his own thoughts, Sean lifts his head, eyes wide.“Wh— Huh? What?”

Chuckling, Lawrence sets his empty cup on the coffee table in front of them. Reaches out and grabs Sean’s cup out of his hands, despite the noise of protest. Says, “C’mere.”

Sean furrows his brow. Lawrence shifts closer hand coming up to cup Sean’s cheek, and then he leans in, and oh. Oh. Then Lawrence is— Lawrence is kissing him. Ohhh. So this is how Lawrence kisses. His lips soft and warm against Sean’s, his hand firm on Sean’s cheek. The slow, meticulous slide of their lips making Sean blush and lean into Lawrence’s space as much as he can, as much as he’s allowed, because Lawrence is so warm and Lawrence kisses so good, and holy shit, he’s kissing Lawrence—

There’s a noise, a high, desperate sounding one that Sean doesn’t want to admit he made. But Lawrence— kissing— Sean feels like he might melt.

The warmth leaves him, suddenly, and this time, Sean will admit to making a noise. A noise of protest, he tells himself. Not as needy one. Nope.

He feels Lawrence’s thumb stroking down his cheekbone and he reluctantly opens his eyes, slowly, as if waking. Says, “So that’s how you….”

Lawrence grins, bright and… fondly? A little fond? Oh, man. Says, “That’s how two people kiss. Yeah, Sean.”

Sean is too charmed and too sleepy to retaliate. Instead, he leans into Lawrence’s hand. Says, “‘S nice.”

As he drives home, Bruce thinks a lot about the events of the night. A date, a realization, bisexuality, people dating each other outside of the bet. All of it while he was oblivious. Bruce seriously can’t believe that all of this was going on right under his nose. Including his own feelings. Which he was… mostly unaware of.

Fuck.

It takes him something like half the car ride back home to sort through his feelings. The way his stomach flips when he considers the label of ‘bisexual’ for himself. How it feels… right. Feels like he’s discovered some part of him that he didn’t know existed. Feel’s like it’ll be okay.

The other feeling is how it has clicked in his head that people, people like Adam and Sean, have been seeing each other outside of the bet. Like the bet was a non-issue. It makes him consider other ways that his friends might be… together. He remembers the picture Joel posted two day prior of him and Sean together, drinking wine. Together. How it takes on a whole new light when Bruce considers how open Sean was with the invitation to consider their dinner a date. Even with four of them. It could’ve been a date. Could it have been? Fuck, Bruce has to definitely file that one away for later.

It makes him think of James and Elyse, how James had told him that he and Elyse were in an open marriage. Like they could just date someone else and be okay. Like they could both love someone else while still loving each other. That thought makes his stomach flutter again, for some reason. Yep, another thing for later.

Ultimately, in the face of all of these new ideas, Bruce can’t help but feel… something like possibility. He feels like he’s not in the dark anymore, in some weird way. Like he can play the game now. Like he knows there’s a game now.

Ultimately, he has no idea what his revelations might do for the office. What all these budding relationships might entail. He just knows that this is basically a whole new world for him, and he’s going into it with eyes wide open.

When Bruce gets home, he can’t shake the slightly happy feeling he has at the sheer fact of the realizations he’s had that night. He presses the elevator button and thinks about the fact that he’s going to see Matt. He’s going to see Matt and, for once, he doesn’t feel too guilty about it. It may be the fact that now he’s aware of a lot more than he was before, or that the feeling of possibility is still there, but he’s just. There, for once. Present and in the mix and ready to participate.

The feeling turns a little sour when Bruce opens the door to find his apartment dark. The only light that faintly shines is the lamp by the couch, which illuminates Matt’s silhouette.

Bruce asks, “Matt?”

He gains no answer. Flips the switch on the living room wall, lighting the space. What he finds is Matt curled up into a blanket at one end of the couch, staring a black TV screen.

Joel said their date went fine and domestic, so Bruce’s mind jumps to bad conclusions. His stomach does a flip. He’s got a bad feeling. Asks, “Matt, are you okay?”

Again, he gets no answer from Matt. Bruce drops his gym bag by the coffee table and takes a seat next to Matt, making sure to leave a space between them.

This time, he speaks in a very soft voice. He asks, “Are you okay, Matt?”

Bruce watches as Matt’s eyes jump from the blank TV to Bruce’s eyes. And Bruce can see that there’s an underlying fire behind Matt’s gaze, a frustration.

Matt’s face contorts into an anger Bruce has never before seen it take. He bites out, “I’m fine, Bruce. Why don’t you mind your own business?”

Bruce, too stunned to say anything back, watches as Matt gathers up his blanket and walks down the hallway and into his bedroom. Matt’s door slams shut behind him. Bruce slumps into the couch.

What… what the fuck?

Bruce’s weekend is filled with excruciating encounters with Matt.

The few times they meet in the common areas of the living room and kitchen are uncomfortable silences and averted glances.

Bruce spends the most time he can outside of their apartment, driving or getting food anywhere that he knows Matt doesn’t frequent, just in case.

On Sunday, he meets with James at a new health food bar that opened a block from James’ apartment. James asks him more than once if he’s okay, and Bruce doesn’t know what to answer, so James lets it go.

The thing is, if this situation were different, if the bet wasn’t in place, Bruce would chase after Matt and ask what was wrong because he cares for Matt. Cares deeply for Matt. He’d do it for any of his friends; that’s what he does. He talks things out where words help. He may not be as wordy or witty as Lawrence or James or even Joel, but he likes to resolve things where he can. It’s his nature.

As it stands, though, he feels that if he goes to Matt to work things out, he’d end up telling him everything about the bet. About his revelations.

At this point, he doesn’t know if that would help or hinder them. Them as two people. Them as a group. He and Matt and the rest of the bet-mates. And, well. He doesn’t want to ruin anyone’s fun by being a stick in the mud who wants to end the bet early.

It’s just a little too much for Bruce to think about, so he… minds his own business. Leaves Matt alone.

On Monday, Bruce leaves the apartment before Matt has even woken up.

He waits a full hour before anyone actually gets to the office. Adam comments on how he looks tired (and coming from Adam, Bruce knows he must look really tired).

The videos they make that day are subpar. James tries to pick up the slack, but he’s only one man. Bruce ends up changing the order of video recordings and brings in Lawrence to record their GTA video more than a full week early, hoping that Lawrence could help with this, too. In the end, Bruce just ends up getting not-funnily mad at some jackasses who cut him off in the race while James and Lawrence and Adam sit around stiffly, reading the situation as way too intense.

When they stop recording, Bruce scrubs his hands with his face and apologizes. Says, “I’m sorry, guys.”

Lawrence sets the controller on the desk and lays a hand on Bruce’s shoulders. Says, “Don’t worry about it.”

When Bruce gets back to his desk, he gets two messages, one after the other. One from Lawrence (If you need to talk, I’m available) and one from James (Are you okay? <3).

Bruce smiles briefly at them, but doesn’t reply to either.

At the end of the work day, Bruce is exhausted. He starts packing up after Sean does (because no one packs up their shit faster than Sean, let’s be clear) and finishes after Sean and Joel have already left, talking amongst themselves, Joel throwing Bruce a kiss as he goes.

Bruce zips up his pack and looks over his desk for anything he might’ve missed. Once he pats himself for wallet, keys, and phone, Adam waves goodbye at him. Bruce waves back. Adam leaves.

Bruce realizes he has all his things in order. He’s considering giving James his spare keys to lock up so he can leave early when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Matt get up from his desk and leave the office. Bruce notices that he leaves his things behind, so Bruce deduces that Matt is probably going to the bathroom or the kitchen. It’s a perfect time to escape without running into Matt, he realizes. Shouldering his backpack, he leaves his spare keys on the white table and says, “James, lock up for me, will you?”

James whines out, “Aw, man. Responsibilities.” But he nods all the same. Bruce leaves the office, eyes trained forward and ready to ignore Matt for another long day.

When he turns into the hallway, he resolutely does not look behind him, in case he meets Matt’s eyes or something. God, he is fucked up over this. Very much so. He goes over the events in his head that lead up to this mess. He pushes past the door and makes his way out through the warehouse to the open rolling door. Bruce exhales, feeling as if he’s home free for now. He thinks about how he’s going to leave his things at the apartment and pick up some gym clothes, go to the gym and shower there and—

Bruce hears Matt’s voice before he sees the back of Matt’s head, standing in front of Adam right next to Adam’s car in the parking lot, the both of them blocking the driver’s side door to his own car, fuck.

Bruce curses internally and ducks back behind the brick warehouse wall.

Matt says, “I just, I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

Adam says, “About what?”

“About… us.”

Bruce hears Adam’s intake of breath.

Adam asks, “Us?”

“Yeah, I really…” Matt breathes in long and slow. “I really liked our date. And I didn’t want you to think that I don’t care about you just because I’ve gone on other dates.”

“So you… care about me?”

“Yeah. I do, yeah. And I don’t… don’t want to lose you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I, uh. Yeah.”

Bruce decides then that he has heard enough. He turns on his heel and walks back to the office, a fog clouding up his mind. Matt cares for Adam? He’s gone on five dates and he still thinks about Adam’s feelings. He doesn’t want to lose him. Matt chases after Adam to clear the air but he snaps at Bruce and they don’t speak for three days.

It’s just a little too much for Bruce to handle. Just a bit.

With his foggy mind, he doesn’t realize he’s about to bump into Elyse until her hands land on his chest and push him back, just a little. Bruce comes back to Earth, saying, “Elyse, sorry, I. I’m sorry.” Bruce lets his backpack drop to floor, sags against the hallway leading back to office. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

Elyse furrows her brow, watches as Bruce sighs so deeply, it feels as if her heart wrenches in her chest. She bites her lip and brings a hand to Bruce’s cheek, watches as Bruce leans into it subconsciously.

Elyse asks, “What’s wrong, Bruce?”

Bruce says nothing, stares at the floor.

Elyse tries to keep the look of concern off her face. She strokes down Bruce’s cheekbone with her thumb, watches as his eyes flutter at the contact. Elyse trails her hand up to his forehead, running her fingers over the skin, hoping to soothe the worry lines that are firmly parked on his forehead, making him look older than he actually is.

She asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Bruce sighs out small. Elyse stands on the tips of her toes in order to run her fingers in Bruce’s hair.

Bruce says, “Maybe. I don’t know yet.”

The door to the warehouse opens, startling them both. Elyse’s hand drops to Bruce’s shoulder as Matt stands at the doorway, looking like a deer in the headlights. Bruce looks away from Matt, his expression pained. Matt seems to swallow hard, walks past them and into the office with his head down.

Elyse lets the silence linger over them for a second, the pieces falling into place. She makes a decision then, returning her hand to Bruce’s hair.

She says, “Bruce, do you want to come home with me and James?”

Elyse waits to refute his No, because she knows him, and she knows that he wouldn’t want to bother them, especially when he’s like this. So the rebuttal sits on the tip of her tongue—

Only, Bruce sighs out hard and says, “Yeah.”

Well that was easy.

Elyse says, “Okay.” She lets herself drop down from her tip-toes, grabs Bruce by the bicep. Says, “Wait for us in the kitchen?”

Bruce nods but doesn’t move. Elyse picks up his backpack and shoulders it, pushes him softly off the wall. Says, “Come on, Bruce. It’ll be okay.”

Bruce goes.

She leaves him in kitchen with a glass of water.

When she gets back the office, Matt refuses to meet her eyes, James and Lawrence are flirting. James looks up as she approaches and, reading her face and stance, realizes she has something important to say. James excuses himself from Lawrence and Lawrence nods, picks up his things, leaves the office, with a wave to Elyse and to Matt.

James asks, “What’s up?”

Elyse can’t stop herself from glancing over her shoulder at Matt. Matt is packing up his things. She turns back to James and says, “Bruce is coming home with us today. I don’t think things are okay with him.”

James nods, slowly. “Okay. You’re cooking, right?”

Elyse scoffs. Says, “Not on your life.”

James shrugs, “Thought I’d ask.”

On the way to James and Elyse’s, the fog in Bruce’s head lifts little by little. James and Elyse chatter on in the front seats, not making him feel left out but also letting him have his space. Bruce feels comfortable in their presence but not in his own skin right now.

As James drives, Bruce realizes that he and Matt are distant. That they’ve been distant ever since Matt asked Sean out. And now, two weeks later, Bruce is realizing that the constant, shared closeness and the soft, well-meaning touches, have not only affected Matt. Bruce is missing human touch too, ever since Matt distanced himself from Bruce. And the only reason he realizes the absence is because he’s gotten used to making a space for Matt beside him by now, not only physically but somewhat emotionally too.

Frankly, it sucks. Bruce fucked himself over with that one. Played himself.

As James turns into his and Elyse’s apartment parking lot, Bruce’s mind brings up the bisexual dilemma. It’s not…. Matt didn’t do anything to him in that regard, but. But. Bruce accepted the possibility of his bisexuality not two hours before Matt snapped at him. And it’s not that Matt knew or that Bruce was going to tell him right away, but he still wanted support. He just wanted some support. A friendly word thrown his way would’ve been enough. Instead, Matt snapped at him.

Of course, Matt didn’t know, but Bruce still feels a little bad about it. About the whole thing. He’ll have to forgive Matt because he didn’t know, but in the meantime, he’s still coming to terms with his own involvement of Matt’s angry feelings. Maybe Bruce did something to make Matt feel bad, too.

Bruce startles out of his thoughts when Elyse touches his upper arm softly. He looks up at her fixing her hair. Elyse says, “We’re here. C’mon, James is gonna get us dinner. We’ll wait for him inside.”

Bruce nods and gets out of the car holding his backpack. As he walks with Elyse up the flight of stairs, he feels more like a person than a collection of mist. Elyse unlocks the door and Benson bounds up to greet them. Elyse turns on the lights and drops off her keys on the dining table, bends at the knees in order to receive kisses from Benson.

Bruce smiles softly. Elyse pets Benson and gestures to the apartment as a whole. Says, “Make yourself comfortable.”

Bruce hesitates. Elyse raises an eyebrow. Bruce shakes himself, taking the eyebrow as a soft reprimand. He drops his backpack off on one of the dining chairs and walks over to the couch, sits down in the middle of it.

Elyse gives Benson one last pat then straightens. Walks over to Bruce and sits next to him (right next to him). Asks, “Wanna watch a movie?”

Bruce nods, more for her benefit than for his.

They’re still picking out a movie when James comes back, hefting two takeout bags from the health food place they went to the day before. James tells him, “I hope you don’t mind eating the same thing two days in a row because you have no choice.”

James distributes food while Elyse chooses one of the Final Destinations as background noise while they eat.

As he picks through his food, he considers having a second go at coming out. Not that he ever came out in the first place? But, with the whole Matt thing….

Just, he wants reassurance, okay? He’s only human.

There’s a friendly silence surrounding them, the chatter from the television providing a comfortable buzz in Bruce’s mind. He feels on the verge of nervousness, so he thinks it’s the perfect time to speak.

Bruce swallows his food, bites the bullet. Says, “I’m bi. I think I’m bisexual.”

The silence that follows is shorter than what Bruce makes it out to be.

James nods. He speaks with his mouth full, says, “Hey, me too!”

Bruce stares.

Elyse beside him nods and shrugs. Says, “Yeah, I’m still considering, too.”

Bruce moves his stare to Elyse. Bruce is…. James is…. Elyse is….

Oh, jeez.

If Bruce wanted any more acceptance than that, he’s probably not getting it in this lifetime.

Bruce says, “Oh.” Pretends to ignore the way Elyse and James exchange a smile over their food.

Someone dies on the TV, but Bruce doesn’t notice, only faintly registers the bloodcurdling scream echoing across the living room. Their takeout containers sit empty on the coffee table where they left them. Bruce can’t really trace the events—little events, like bones in the hand—that led him into the position, but he’s not complaining.

Bruce swallows hard, feeling James’ presence as an overwhelming phenomenon. He feels so surrounded by James, by his warmth, even as he feels Elyse press herself against his back, hooks her chin over Bruce’s shoulder. He watches as James lets his eyes drift shut. Bruce feels like he should do the same; he clenches his eyes closed, waiting for it, waiting for it—

James lips land on Bruce’s. The first touch of it fleeting. Bruce takes in a short, shaky breath at the feeling. James presses in closer, planting their lips together properly. Bruce sighs out through his nose, feeling James do the same, feeling the warmth of his breath. James moves his lips, sucks Bruce’s bottom lip into his mouth softly.

Bruce hears someone moan lowly, and, with a shock, he realizes it was him. He made that noise, and James heard it, Bruce could tell by the smile he presses into their kiss. Elyse’s hands wander to his hips, her fingers slipping underneath his shirt, her hands a startlingly cold contrast to James’s warmth.

Elyse presses a closed-mouth kiss onto his neck and Bruce leans in to the soft touch, feels an affection bloom in his head. James runs his fingers up his cheeks and into his hair. Bruce doesn’t know where to put his own hands, still coming to the realization that, holy shit, this is happening. This is not what he expected when he admitted to being bi. Holy shit.

He finally settles his left hand to hovers over James’s neck awkwardly, not really touching him, but really wanting to. He settles his right hand on Elyse’s thigh, close to the knee, fingers not really grasping, unsure of the limits of this.

Bruce feels Elyse’s fingers trailing from his hips to his thighs, thumbs hooking on the waistband of his pants before continuing down, ghosting around his inner thighs. Bruce chokes on a groan, feels his body, um, react at the stimulus. He parts from James, feeling overwhelmed at the amount of attention focused on him. Elyse hums contently, a soft rumble against Bruce’s shoulder.

James leans forward, seeking Bruce’s lips again, but Bruce says, “Um.”

James sits back, settles his hands on Bruce’s shoulders. Asks, “What’s wrong?”

Bruce says, “Uh. I, um.” He leads his eyes down to his crotch, his thighs framed by Elyse’s still lingering hands.

James follows his eyes down, and yep, there’s Bruce’s half-hard dick. James snorts a laugh. Bruce feels his face heat up. James’ hands move to cup his face. Says, “It’s okay. If anything, it’s a compliment.”

Bruce lets out a breath, still feeling a little embarrassed. Elyse retracts her hands with a barely-there kiss on Bruce’s neck. The three of them readjust themselves on the couch. They end up with Elyse leaning into Bruce’s side, tucked under his arm; James on Bruce’s other side, his arm around Bruce’s shoulders and his leg slung over Bruce’s.

James asks, “Do you want to watch another movie?”

Bruce, settling himself into the couch, says, “Yeah.”

He’s asleep before the credits at the beginning even end.

At some point in the middle of the movie, he hears Elyse call his name, hears Elyse say, “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

Too tired to argue, he gets up from the couch and follows Elyse into her and James’ bedroom. He toes off his shoes and all but collapses on the bed, landing smack dab in the middle.

As he drifts in the space between sleeping and waking, he hears Elyse and James murmur around him. Hears the clicks of lights turning off. Then James’ voice, “Scoot over, baby boy.”

Bruce moves. James pulls the covers out from under him and tucks him in. Bruce feels the warmth of James body settle in beside him, to his right, while Elyse slips in to his left. Bruce sighs out softly, feeling so at ease.

He falls back into sleep as if he was floating, surrounded by warmth.

Chapter Text

Bruce wakes with a start at an alarm that isn’t his in a bed that he doesn’t recognize.

As he wakes up, he realizes a few things, in stages. One, he is well rested. Like, extremely so. Two, he's warm. Warmer than he usually is when he wakes up, which brings him to three: he's wearing clothes. When he sleeps he usually does so in only his underwear which is why it's strange for him to have a shirt and pants on him while he's laying down in bed.

His eyes fly open when he realizes that, four, he is not in his own bed.

And laying there with two bodies shifting beside him at the alarm going off, he comes to number five (four point five?), registering that yeah, he's in James and Elyse's bed.

Slowly, like trickling water, the previous night’s events are brought to the forefront of his mind.

Oh, fuck.

Beside him, to his right, a solid mass stirs. Out of the corner of his eye, he registers that it’s James. To his left, a smaller, solid mass curls itself into Bruce’s side, two arms holding one of his own captive. He registers that it is Elyse.

James turns off the alarm and sits up, stretching his arms over his head. Says, “Good morning.” His voice is sleep-rough and it’s just making Bruce’s heart do funny things in his chest.

Bruce makes no move to get up. To extricate himself from Elyse’s grasp or take back his hand from where it it’s laid on James’ thigh. He lets the reality of his situation sink in. Clears his throat, says nothing.

Looking over his shoulder, James catches his eye. Lifts an eyebrow and asks, “Did you sleep well?”

Bruce takes in the still sleepy features of James’ face. The way his hair is mussed up from his pillow. Swallows and says, “Yeah. I did.”

James smiles softly. “Good.” He directs his gaze to Elyse next and it’s then that Bruce lets his eyes land on her for the first time in the morning. Her eyes are closed, her nostrils flaring with heavy sleep-breaths. Her face looks soft in sleep. James calls out, “Elyse, c’mon. Up and at ’em!”

Grumbling, Elyse tightens her grip on Bruce’s arm. Bruce contains his chuckle but his smile is still visible. When he looks up, to James, he sees the smile on James’ face that mirrors his own. Something passes through them, an unspoken moment, a spark, something. Bruce is kind of terrified to decipher what it means.

Breaking the moment, James informs, “You might as well take your arm back now. It’s the only way she’ll ever get up.”

And as Bruce retracts his arms from Elyse’s whining grip, James gets up from bed and stretches again, arms over his head. Bruce sits up and scratches his beard. Watches as James puts his arms down and circles the bed over to Elyse’s side.

“Elyse!” James calls out, slapping her arm softly. “Up!”

Groaning and with her eyes still closed, Elyse kicks off the covers and Bruce shivers and the draft she brings on.

“I’m up!” Elyse announces, sitting up in bed. She rubs her eyes with her fingers, hoping to loosen the sleep from them.

With a smile, James says, “Good! You know how Bruce hates it when we’re late for work.”

And, oh.

Oh fuck. Fuck. With those words, Bruce’s responsibilities click in his head. It all comes tumbling into his consciousness with a harsh thud. He can’t believe he forgot—

He brings his hands to his face.

“Bruce?” James asks.

Bruce contains his groan and lists off, “It’s Tuesday. My car’s at the office. I gave you the keys to lock up. We have to open the office. Fuck me.” Bruce scrubs at his face, letting his groan loose, “We have to do Dude Soup today! Fuck. Me.” Bruce sighs. “I didn’t bring a change of clothes.”

James shrugs. “Borrow my clothes.”

And as if James has proposed they do rocket science together, Bruce looks bewildered, asks, “Wha’?”

“We’re the same size shirt, Bruce.”

Bruce narrows his eyes. Realizes he doesn’t really have a choice. He has to appear on camera today and he’s going to be the only asshole wearing the same clothes in two different videos filmed on two different days. And it’s not like they have time to stop by Bruce’s place and get a change of clothes. If anything, he’ll do it at lunchtime. But, he’ll decide on that later. Now, they have to get up, have breakfast, Bruce wants to shower, all before 8. The office has to be opened by 8:45 at the latest.

So. He’s gonna have to borrow James’ shirt.

After James goes to the bathroom, he gives Bruce a towel and a shirt. It’s his orange gorilla one, for some reason. Bruce tries to give it back because he knows it’s James’ favorite shirt but James just waves him off and shuts the bathroom door behind him.

Directly after Bruce finishes his shower, Elyse enters, shutting the door behind her. Bruce is still running through his mental checklist of things to do at work today so he finds that his feet automatically carry him into the kitchen where James is making breakfast. Omelettes, it seems like.

“Hey,” James greets, still clad in pajamas, looking serene in while holding a spatula. “You want cheese on yours?”

Nodding, Bruce says, “Yeah, please.”

James nods in acknowledgement, picking up the packet of cheese from the counter. Bruce walks to the dinner table where he left his backpack, stuffs his shirt inside, fishes his phone out. When he tries to turn it on, he finds that it has no battery. He asks James if he can borrow his charger and James says yes. Bruce goes to put the phone to charge in the bedroom and by the time he gets back, Elyse is out of the shower, the door wide open as she does her makeup. James is setting plates on the dinner table. Bruce walks into the kitchen to grab the third plate that James couldn’t carry, to help. When he sets it on the table, James asks him, “Water or juice?”

Bruce says, “Orange juice, if you have it. I can get it myself.”

It seems like James is debating it for a second before he nods once, giving permission. Says, “You know where everything is. I gotta get Elyse or she’s gonna be in front of that mirror for the next hour—”

“I can hear you!”

“And then her omelette is gonna get cold!” James finishes after Elyse’s interruption, making sure his voice carries into the bathroom. Despite the joking tone he used, he still walks into the bathroom. Bruce shakes his head at them and gets juice for the three of them as well as cutlery. As he’s setting the table up, a half-formed thought comes into his head. Says, This is disgustingly domestic. He doesn’t let himself dwell on it.

Before Bruce finds that he has to play the guessing game as to which omelette is his, James comes back with Elyse in tow. He points at the plate on one side of the table and Bruce sits in front of it, picks up his fork, gives pause until James and Elyse are settled in front of their own omelettes.

Biting down on his food, James asks, “Dude Soup on the docket today. Anything else we should worry about?”

Swallowing, Bruce thinks. Says, “Uh. We always have videos to edit so don’t worry about that.” His brain is still—still?—kind of foggy. Kind of messy. Bruce takes another bite of his food. Elyse and James let him lapse into silence. They start up their own conversation, one about cleaning the apartment soon. Spring cleaning or just plain cleaning, Bruce isn’t sure.

And in between James and Elyse making note of the things they have to do around the house, Bruce grasps onto the fact that this seems way too normal. The word domestic comes to mind again. He… doesn’t really mind the domesticity, but he does mind the fact that they’re acting as if nothing happened here. As if Bruce isn’t wearing James’ shirt after having slept in James and Elyse’s bed. Acting as if Bruce’s heart still hasn’t quieted down from the moment he woke up and realized where he was, who he was with, what they had done the night before.

It was only a few kisses, and they’re good friends. But fuck, they were good kisses.

Bruce clears his throat to get their attention. When he gets it, they look at him softly. He says, “I know it's a little late for this but was this… okay?”

James smiles gently. “Yeah. It’s fine, Bruce. Like I told you before, we have a pretty open relationship.”

Taking a sip of her coffee, Elyse says, “ Yeah, we’re okay with it. Sure, we weren't planning on last night but we don't regret it. At all.”

Bruce chuckles, “Good to know. You guys are the experts here so. You take the lead.”

James and Elyse exchange a look. One that seems like they’re deciding on something, or answering an unspoken question. For some reason, the look makes Bruce think about the feeling he had a few days prior, that feeling of possibility. It’s slightly terrifying, if he’s honest. Before, when he first faced this feeling, he was slapped in the face by Matt’s anger. And while the two aren’t really connected, he still has a sour feeling, like his brain made the connection for him and he can’t unconnect it now. Unless he really and consciously tries, he can’t. He files the mental exercise away for later, and because he’s a little terrified and slightly nervous, he feels like he should say more. So he does.

“I don’t…” Bruce starts, interrupting their look, interrupting his own thoughts. Waiting until they look at him. “I don’t want this to be nothing.”

They don’t say anything, only look at him like they’ve already decided that, too. But Bruce continues, unable to contain himself. “I want this to… mean something.” He leaves out the part where he wants to ask, Is this a beginning for us? Or am I intruding?

Elyse’s smile widens timidly, while James’ averts his eyes, smiling into his omelette. He nods, slowly, while she looks at Bruce, softly.

Elyse says, “Okay.”

It unravels something in Bruce. He feels better. Lighter, somehow.

When Lawrence gets into work, the office is open but Bruce isn’t there. The only ones present are Adam and Matt.

Lawrence inquires about Bruce’s location to Matt but Matt just shrugs. Adam also proves to be unhelpful. In the end, Lawrence just shrugs internally and goes to brew coffee in the kitchen.

By 9 AM, start of the work day, everyone is present except for James, Elyse, and Bruce. At that point it isn’t a question of if they went home together, it’s a question of how far James and Elyse got with Bruce. Second base, tops, Lawrence thinks to himself.

At 9:30 AM is when the three of them roll up. Every single head in the office looks up to the door once it opens. And there’s Bruce, wearing the same pants he was wearing the day before and James’ orange gorilla shirt. Lawrence doesn’t even try to bite down on his grin.

Joel beats him to the punchline though. He wolf whistles while Elyse and James walk in behind Bruce, looking unburdened, making their way to their desks. Joel calls out to Bruce while Bruce is setting up his things on his desk, “Y’know, you’re not really supposed to do the walk of shame into work.”

“It’s only the walk of shame if you’re ashamed, Joel.” Bruce retaliates and Lawrence watches as his face crumbles, instantly regretting the quip.

From his standing desk, Joel laughs uproariously. Lawrence hears Sean giggle nervously to his left. Adam looks amused but worried. James and Elyse give each other the quickest, most indecipherable look. Bruce doesn’t look up at any of them, focusing instead on his things, his desk.

Lawrence watches surreptitiously as Bruce plugs in his phone to charge, too preoccupied to notice Joel sidling up to him silently. Lawrence kind of wants to hear this exchange for some reason, so he leans back in his chair, pretending he’s stretching his arms over his head, only catching the words okay and lunch before a movement to his right and a hand on his forearm startle him back into being conscious about his space.

It’s Matt, Lawrence registers. Matt’s standing next to his chair wearing two hoodies and delineated bags under his eyes. Matt leans into Lawrence’s space, leans over him, looks at him with a sort of gaze that makes Lawrence feel like he’s looking through him. Lawrence opens his mouth to ask What’s up, are you okay? but Matt speaks first. Asks, “Do you want to go the gym this afternoon? You and me?”

And because Lawrence is one part worried, three parts curious, he says, “Absolutely.”

As discussed, Bruce and Joel go to lunch together. They go in Joel’s car, just the two of them, to Chipotle, because Joel can apparently read Bruce’s mind.

Bruce knows that Joel asked him here to check how he’s doing, if he’s okay. But Bruce also knows that Joel will want to know every detail about his night with James and Elyse.

So before Joel can hijack the conversation, Bruce wants to get to the bottom of something. Wants to tell him something, too.

Bruce asks, “How was your date with Matt? Was everything okay?”

Joel’s eyebrow twitches. He starts with “It was…” and leaves it there for a second. Softly finishes with, “Matt. He had a panic attack.”

That was… not what Bruce was expecting. He furrows his brow. “Huh? Are you sure?”

Joel looks at him pointedly. “I know what those look like, Bruce.”

And Bruce knows he does. He remembers Joel calming down a few of his own attacks through various offices, different settings, Joel always being the solid mass he trusts himself with. He nods. Asks, “And?”

Shrugging and picking at his food, Joel says, “And nothing noteworthy. I helped him calm down and then I took him to my apartment and I cooked for him.”

“And was he fine when he left your place?”

“Yeah! He was normal, calm guy Matt when he left. Why are you asking?”

Bruce sighs. He feels like this is a confession. It sort of is, when he considers it. “He snapped at me when I got home. I thought maybe something happened.”

“Like, he screamed at you?”

“No, he…” Bruce shrugs. “He didn’t scream but he was angry. He didn’t seem okay.”

“Oh wow. What did you do?”

Bruce scoffs, “Nothing! I only asked him if he was okay.”

Widening his eyes, Joel says, “Clearly he wasn’t!”

“I think I got that when he snapped at me!”

Joel sighs, and Bruce knows there’s no real malice in their banter. No real blame-throwing. They’ve known each other for long enough to read each other better than that. Joel says, “Why do you think he snapped?”

“I should ask you that.”

Shaking his head, Joel says, “I’m telling you nothing happened after the panic incident. He was calm and collected. Maybe it was something that happened before our date? Was he fine when you saw him before he left?”

Bruce goes through his memories of that night. What he remembers is getting ready for his own… thing with Adam and seeing Matt for a few seconds before he left, but that’s it. He doesn’t recall Matt looking off or saying anything that Bruce would categorize as off-kilter. “No. I think he was fine.”

“Huh.” Joel looks down at his food, contemplating. Looks back up. “Well, after the panic incident and the dinner, he was fine. When he left my apartment, he was about ready to kiss me.”

Bruce snorts. “Sure, Joel.”

“What, I’m serious! When he left my place, he was full of love.” The way he draws out the O makes Bruce smile earnestly but he rolls his eyes as a show anyway.

After a beat of silence, Bruce catches Joel smiling mischievously. And before Joel speaks, Bruce already knows he’s going to bring it up, so he prepares himself.

Joel says, “But speaking of love, how was your date with James and Elyse?”

Innocently, Bruce asks, “What?”

“Come on, Bruce! Was it more than a date? Are you part of the family yet?”

“What, like if they’ve adopted me yet?”

“Bruce.”

“Joel.”

“Bruce.”

Bruce sighs. Joel is like a dog with a bone when it comes to things like this. So, he answers. “They just helped me get my head in order.”

Raising an eyebrow, Joel asks, “By giving you orgasms?”

Bruce shakes his head. “No, Joel. By talking to me.” He takes a drink from his water bottle, leaves Joel in suspense before he finishes with, “And a little….”

Joel leans forward, “A little what? Sexual healing?”

“Kissing.”

Explosively, Joel says, “Ha!” Bruce bites down a smile. “How was it? Which one kisses better?”

Scoffing, Bruce leans back in his chair, “I have nothing to say.”

“Aw, come on, Bruce. Gimme something!”

“You think I kiss and tell, Joel?”

Whining, Joel pleads, “Bruce!”

Bruce shrugs. “We talked about being bisexual.” The word is feeling more at home in his mouth the more he tries it out. And now, telling Joel, who is arguably his closest friend… it feels right.

Joel maintains a carefully neutral expression. Says, “Oh?”

And as nonchalantly as he can, Bruce says, “Yeah.”

Joel nods slowly, “Anything else?”

“Well, we kissed. And I stayed over, in their bed,”—Joel’s eyes widen—“because I was tired. But nothing else happened, okay?”

Shrugging, Joel says, “Hey, you don’t have to justify yourself to me.”

Bruce rolls his eyes, a thought striking him. He tries to be conspicuous as he forms the question he wants to ask, takes a bite of his food. He really wants to know where Joel stands on this, so he says, “Anyway, how would a date with three people even work? Isn’t that like what the saying was made for? Third wheeling?”

Joel shrugs again, now meeting Bruce’s eyes. “I feel like it’d be fun if you liked both people.”

Well that’s an answer. With a smile, Bruce says, “Pfft. Hell, why not four people?”

“Shit, why not?”

Bruce chuckles. A silence passes over them and it only takes a few seconds for Bruce’s smile to fade, for him to really want a definitive answer. So he asks, “Do you think it would actually work?”

Joel hums, “What, three or four people?”

Bruce thinks back to the after gym dinner he, Lawrence, Sean, and Adam shared. The way Sean’s hand felt on his, the warmth, the silent awe of watching Adam and Sean so enveloped in each other but at the same time still being part of the group, of the… the date. So, Bruce says, “Four people.”

And Joel nods. Says, “I’d like to think so.”

That seems to end the conversation. They both finish eating their lunch in relatively comfortable silence.

When they get back to the office in Joel’s car, Joel stops Bruce before he enters the office. Asks, “Do these count as work hours?”

And Bruce shrugs. Answers, “Nah, it’s still lunch for a few minutes.”

Joel says, “Good.” He leans into Bruce’s space, catching Bruce off guard as he presses a soft, almost sweet kiss onto Bruce’s lips. Bruce feels the slick of his lips where he licked them before he leaned in, the warmth radiating off his skin where the tip of his nose touches Bruce’s cheek. Through his shock, Bruce registers how different this kiss feels from kissing James. The slow, chaste slide of lips is not what he expected from Joel, not at all, but it feels almost addicting. Like he wants it to not be chaste. Like he needs to kiss more just to see what it feels like—

Joel pulls away way too quickly for Bruce’s liking. He has a self-satisfied grin on his face that makes Bruce want to kiss it off. Wait, what the fuck—?

Smirking, Joel asks, “Now, who kisses better? Me, James, or Elyse?”

And he doesn’t wait for answer before he walks back into the office, leaving Bruce shocked into inactivity just outside the warehouse doors.

Matt drives Lawrence to the gym straight after work.

On the ride there, Lawrence doesn’t really try to flirt. He’s been flirting with Matt since the bet began, weeks ago. He’s sure that by now his motives are clear and understandable to Matt.

But now, in this encounter? Now he doesn’t think he should push it, if the way Matt looks so distracted is anything to go by. It’s just that from the moment they get into the car all the way to the gym and even on the workout floor, Matt keeps giving him these looks. Looks that Lawrence knows what they mean because he’s been giving them to Matt for the last few weeks.

For what is definitely not the first time since the bet started, he wonders if Matt, like him, has been considering polyamory. It would explain why Matt has been bouncing between dates and kisses, why Matt seems undeterred now when giving Lawrence the Looks.

So, for lack of things to talk about past Lawrence straight up just asking Matt What’s the matter?, Lawrence brings up MMA fights. He and Matt have been talking about them for a while now, have been talking about seeing one together because Lawrence admitted once that he doesn’t really understand them. So Matt has offered to explain it to him one day, they just need to get together. The only thing that has stopped Lawrence is the damn rule about Matt having to be the one to ask you out.

Tonight, when Lawrence brings up an MMA fight, Matt slows his arms swinging up and down gripping the weights in his hands. Matt looks like he’s contemplating something for half a second before he decides and seeks out Lawrence’s gaze.

Matt says, “There’s an MMA fight going on tonight. It hasn’t started yet, I think. Do you want to get some dinner and go back to your apartment to watch it?”

And fuck, that’s a come-on if Lawrence has ever heard one. Lawrence says, “Yeah, I’m up for it.”

Matt puts down the weights and oh, Lawrence is meant to do the same, they’re going right now, okay, fuck.

They’re back in Matt’s car in less than 15 minutes. On some level, Lawrence feels pleased that all his tactics and flirting have finally, finally worked. It’s what he’s wanted for so long. Right? This is what he wants?

That’s the other level, then. Something inside him feels bad somehow, feels… predatory. Like this whole setup which has led to this outcome isn’t what he wanted. To him, it just feels like Matt is asking for… for some quick lay. And Lawrence isn’t sure that this is what he wants. He wanted a date.

As they make their way up to Lawrence’s apartment, he notices the way Matt seems antsy. He’s rubbing a hand down his arm as if he has a thrum under his skin that speaks of anxiety.

When they're inside, Lawrence asks, “What do you feel like eating? Personally, I'm craving some Thai but if you want to eat anything healthier, let me know if they deliver.”

And Matt, who was has been surveying Lawrence's apartment as if he’s expecting someone to pop up out of nowhere, says, “What? Uh, sounds good. Yeah.”

For some reason, Lawrence thinks that Matt may not have been paying attention. He ends up looking up the number for the local pizza place while he hands Matt the TV remote and tells him to tune into the MMA fight. He walks into the kitchen to order and by the time he comes back, the TV is on and Matt is seated on the couch, staring at the fight.

Lawrence asks, “Did I miss anything?”

Matt seems to snap out of the trance he was in but he does it so subtly, Lawrence barely even notices (barely, he still notices the way Matt's eyes refocus). He shakes his head. “It just started.”

Lawrence takes his seat next to Matt, leaving a mindful gap between them. But Matt shifts, making Lawrence's mindful gap be nothing more than a sliver between them where he could barely fit a nickel. He feels Matt's arm press against his, Matt's hand shifting like he wants to find a place for it on Lawrence's thigh.

Lawrence gives Matt a sideways glance, catches the way Matt hasn't looked away from the screen.

Matt asks, “Are you understanding everything?”

And Lawrence resists the urge to raise an eyebrow. Not looking at the television, he says, “Maybe explain the moves to me.”

Matt nods, closes the sliver of distance between them with a small shift. He practically hooks his chin over Lawrence's shoulder with how close he is. Pointing at the screen, he explains whatever the hell an oma plata is.

The way Matt's face is almost touching his has Lawrence wondering, has him itching for clarity here. His curiosity has not been assuaged by the way Matt's voice sounds almost pressed into his ear. So as best he can, he clears his throat. Says, “Hey, Matt?”

Matt pulls away fractionally in order to look him in the eyes.

Lawrence asks him, “Is this a date?”

Matt nods, slowly at first. Says, “Call this a date.”

And, well, before Lawrence can even properly register what is happening, Matt pushes into his space and presses their lips together. The kiss feels like a heated, wet thing, a desperate action. Matt's hand finds Lawrence's neck, fingers moving restlessly against the skin.

In what seems to be a clumsy gesture, Matt swings a leg over Lawrence's and gets on his lap. Lawrence's hands settle on Matt's hips instinctively, holding on for dear life as Matt licks his way into Lawrence's mouth. The way Lawrence twists his tongue around Matt's makes Matt moans softly, squirming.

The MMA fight plays in the background and Lawrence’s senses are overtaken with the distant sounds of cheering, which serve to highlight the soft sounds Matt makes, the wet sounds their mouths make together. Lawrence didn't think he would get this far, if he's being honest.

After Lawrence does something particularly crafty with his mouth, Matt's squirming turns deliberate. Turns into Matt grinding down onto Lawrence's lap. And Lawrence, as wary as he is in this situation, he is not completely unaffected. But—

But Lawrence pulls away from the kiss, his head almost hitting the couch from how Matt chases his mouth. Lawrence runs his hands up Matt's back and asks, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Matt goes quiet. Doesn’t look at Lawrence. There is a long beat of silence where Matt pushes away from Lawrence, sitting so far back in his lap, Lawrence lays steadying hands on his thighs out of caution.

Softly, Lawrence asks, “Matt?”

And Matt sighs. Crosses his arms over his chest and says, “I don’t know. But it’s what you want.”

Oh, Lawrence’s heart breaks at those words. The bad feelings bubble up again. He asks, “What do you mean, Matt?”

Matt still isn't looking at him. He looks so small right now, like he could fit in the palm of Lawrence's hand. His shoulders are bunched up, eyes looking at everything but at Lawrence.

After the bout of silence, Matt says, “Nothing. I’ll go now. Sorry.”

He extricates himself from Lawrence's grip and grabs his gym bag, his keys.

Lawrence stands up, puts his hands out to calm Matt or even just stop him from leaving, he can't leave like this when Lawrence knows that something is wrong but that Matt won't talk about it—

He says, “Matt—”

“Sorry that I…. Just, sorry.”

“Matt, can we—?”

“I’ll see you at work.”

The door clicks shut behind Matt before Lawrence can stop him.

Bruce gets a message from Lawrence two hours after he and Matt have left for the gym. Bruce is in his room when his phone rings.

Lawrence:
> I don't think Matt is okay.

Bruce sighs and picks up the now-empty glass he was drinking water from. Shoots back a message as he walks to the kitchen.

Bruce:
> Did something happen?

He’s in the kitchen taking gulps of water when Lawrence replies. At the same time he picks up his phone, he hears the front door open, sees Matt deliberately ignore him and hears him trample his way down the hallway and into the bathroom. Bruce sighs and devotes his attention to alternating sips of water and this conversation with Lawrence.

Lawrence:
> I’m worried, Bruce. He practically seduced me tonight and he wasn't even sure about it.

Bruce:
> Why are you telling me this?

(Bruce hears the shower kick on.)

Lawrence:
> Because Matt is a mess. I can't be the only one who's noticed this. You live with him, don't you?

Bruce:
> Right now, that's kind of up in the air.

Lawrence:
> What do you mean?

Bruce:
> I mean we're not on the best of terms lately.

Lawrence:
> Ah. I won't pry if you don't want to tell me but I really, really want to know.

Bruce:
> Thank you for not prying.

Lawrence:
> Welcome.

Bruce:
> Do you think this has anything to do with the bet?

Lawrence:
> Maybe? I don't know if it’s the bet but I think it hasn't done him any favors.

Bruce:
> So you're saying we should tell him.

Lawrence:
> It wouldn't hurt.

Lawrence:
> I mean, yes it would hurt but you know what I mean.

(Bruce hears the shower turn off. He decides that if he wants to make it back to his room unscathed, without another dark look from Matt, he has to move now. He types with one hand, holding his glass of water with the other.)

Bruce:
> I agree we should tell him, but we should bring it up in the group chat, just in case.

Lawrence:
> On it.

Bruce walks into the living room, looks up from his phone to see Matt coming out of the bathroom in sweats and an old t-shirt, shaking a towel over his head. Bruce isn’t expecting to see him yet, which is why he freezes at the end of the hallway, his back to their living room. Matt looks over and Bruce is reminded vaguely of wolves in the dark being shone in the eyes with a bright light, that same sort of wary stare that Matt gives him.

Matt straightens up and faces Bruce while Bruce trips over his words. He sets his glass of water on the couch end-table and looks around the living room. He spots Matt’s gym bag and takes it as a conversational point to seem nonchalant. Says, “You left your bag by the door, do you want me to bring—”

It seems like all Bruce has to do is blink and Matt has already closed in on him, dropping his towel on the floor and backing Bruce up into the wall of their hallway.

Matt’s hands lift, hover for a second, come to rest on Bruce’s shoulders. The only lights that illuminate them are the yellow-light glow from the open bathroom door and their living room light. Matt’s face is inches from Bruce, and Bruce tilts his face down (for a better view of Matt’s eyes, he tells himself), brings his forehead and Matt’s mere centimeters from each other.

Matt’s eyes are half-closed, Bruce notes. Matt takes a silent, sharp breath and brings his mouth up to Bruce’s.

Their first kiss is not a kiss at all, not per se. Matt presses his shaky top lip against Bruce’s closed lips, and he breathes in stuttered breaths, his face tilted and impatient, lips and face and forehead moving against Bruce’s. It almost seems like a kiss Matt is negotiating in his brain, as if he has to psych himself up to complete it.

Vaguely, Bruce notices that Matt is standing on his tiptoes. Bruce gets the idea to bring his right arm around Matt’s figure, to hold him up, to help. Bruce presses him in, brings their chest flush together, and it makes Matt take in another sharp breath, this one audible. Bruce opens his mouth (to ask Matt if he’s okay, of course, that’s what he’s going to do), and his bottom lip catches Matt’s, makes Bruce freeze.

They stand there, breathing each other's air and slowly coming to the conclusion that, yeah, they both want to kiss. Their lips move, not together, but in the same pattern, closing and meeting in the middle, both mouths soft and trembling, unsure of it all.

Matt moves first, breaking the illusion of soft and angling for a better grip in the kiss, a better position. His head tilts as his lips move, Bruce brings his other arm around Matt’s torso and drags him up and into his chest, bringing them almost to eye level. Bruce moves his lips too, in time with Matt’s, a rhythm that speeds up only marginally as their breaths get heavier and their lips close together, moving on each other with a slick sort of drag that makes Bruce question for a second if this is actually happening.

Bruce has one hand between Matt’s shoulder blades and one down the small of Matt’s back when Matt pulls his head back, his hands sliding down from the back of Bruce’s head. Matt blinks up at Bruce, who really can’t contain his soft grin while he puts him down, setting his feet back on the ground.

Jeez. Holy jeez. Bruce wants to say something. Wants to say anything. Wants to talk to Matt and get inside his head and know what he’s thinking and just untangle this entire mess by just talking. Wants and wants and wants. For the first time in this entire bet mess, he wants Matt with no worry about consequence. Wants more of Matt.

Matt pushes away from Bruce abruptly, his back hitting the hallway wall opposite of Bruce. His eyes are wide and his stance is nervous. It breaks the illusion of calm that had formed around them in a few seconds. Bruce feels antsy all of a sudden, feels unbalanced. He wants—

Matt says, “Uh.”

Bruce wants to encourage Matt to speak.

Instead, Matt turns away from Bruce and walks back to his room, closing the door resolutely behind him.

Chapter Text

Lawrence:
> Bruce and I are in agreement: we both think we should tell Matt about the bet. We’re bringing this up in here to see what majority rules.

Joel:
> Is this because neither of you have gotten a date yet?

Lawrence:
> I already had a date. It’s why I’m bringing this up.

Joel:
> What?

Spoole:
> when?????????

Lawrence:
> I had a date with Matt tonight.

Joel:
> LAWRENCE

Adam:
> What happened???

James:
> Holy shit???

Lawrence:
> Nothing, we just watched an MMA fight and we kissed.

Joel:
> Okay and???? Where are the details??

Bruce:
> Lawrence.

Lawrence:
> Okay! Text me later for details, Joel. Right now, Bruce and I are in agreement that leaving Peake in the dark about this bet is doing him more harm than good.

James:
> So was the date bad or what?

Lawrence:
> Well.

Joel:
> Mhhmmmmmmmmmm???????

Adam:
> That bad?

Lawrence:
> Basically, he came onto me and didn’t seem like he was doing it for himself but rather for my benefit.

James:
> Jeez.

Adam:
> So he’s not okay?

Bruce:
> I don’t think so.

Elyse:
> So, we tell him? We just come clean about everything?

Spoole:
> what's the worst thing that could happen?

James:
> Death by Matt.

Adam:
> Matt quits. Matt stops talking to all of us.

Spoole:
> and the best case scenario?

Elyse:
> Death by Matt.

Lawrence:
> I think Matt would forgive us but he would never trusts us again.

Joel:
> Great

James:
> Yeah.

Lawrence:
> So, all in favor of telling him, say aye

Bruce:
> Aye

James:
> Yep

Adam:
> Yeah, tell him

Elyse:
> Eye

Spoole:
> Aye

Joel:
> Aye.

James:
> So we’re telling him.

Joel:
> Together?

Spoole:
> Welp.

Bruce:
> No, I don’t think it should all be together. If we all just sit him down in a big office circle, I think he would feel trapped.

James:
> Then do we Hunger Games this shit and pick names out of a glass?

Lawrence:
> Better than drawing straws.

Bruce:
> I should tell him.

Joel:
> Bruce no

Adam:
> What if he punches you?

Bruce:
> I’ll deal with it.

Spoole:
> Prayer circle for Bruce??

Elyse:
> Prayer circle for Bruce.

When Bruce wakes up the morning for work, Matt’s door is still closed. By the time he leaves, he has detected no movement or noise from Matt’s room. Part of him is glad for it, given their encounter the night before. Bruce is still anxious about the whole thing, especially after what Lawrence had said to him through text. That Matt came onto him for Lawrence’s benefit not for his own—

In true fashion, he tamps all his feelings down and focuses on getting out of the house ten minutes early.

Like always, when he gets to the office, he’s the first one there. He opens the doors and waits not fifteen minutes before Joel comes in with coffee, blowing Bruce a kiss which Bruce waves away (with a soft smile, of course; he’s still processing how Joel’s lips felt on his and how it made him feel). James and Elyse are the next ones in and they catch how Joel has pulled Bruce out of his chair and roped him into doing jumping jacks by the door. Elyse smiles and instantly joins in while James drops off his things by his desk and proceeds to takes a video of the shenanigans.

Bruce knows, deep down, that they’re trying to keep him together because he volunteered for the quote-unquote suicide mission in telling Matt the truth. Bruce plans on doing it later in the day, after work, maybe, because, the sooner the better, right? Band-aid reasoning? It’s what Bruce has always lived by and, why stop now?

Joel suggests doing squats-into-push-ups next but Bruce just scoffs it away and does three more jumping jacks. Elyse does a running man and it makes Bruce laugh, hand landing on his stomach. It’s then that Sean opens the door, sipping his coffee, eyes widening as he takes in the collection of humans by the door. Joel instantly zeroes in on him and drags him into the exercise.

Sean whines, “It’s barely nine in the morning!”

With his hands on Sean’s shoulders, Joel shakes him slightly. “Never too early for some squat push-ups!” He takes Sean’s coffee from him and takes a sip, points to the ground.

From behind the camera, James says, “Spoole, come on, make us proud!”

Frowning, Sean shrugs off his backpack. Everyone whoops in encouragement as Sean squats, then drops into a push-up then back into a squat and straightens up. James counts them down one by one.

When he’s up to three reps, Lawrence and Adam walk in, smiling at each other like there’s a secret between them. There probably is, knowing them.

The look Bruce exchanges with James tells Bruce that a secret between Adam and Lawrence is not only a conjecture that Bruce’s brain is making, it’s a Very Real Thing. Bruce suppresses a surprised noise while Adam behind him asks, “How’s that exercise kick treating you, Spoole?”

Sean makes a muffled noise halfway through his very halted push up. Lawrence joins in on the whoops, the whole office counting now, all the way up to 15, which is when Sean collapses on the ground, settling his arms on his sides and his cheek pressed to the carpet, his hat askew.

Elyse kneels at his side as James walks in for a close up on Sean’s face with the camera.

With her hand skimming the side of Sean’s face, Elyse asks, “Now that you’ve won the Funhaus exercise bowl, what are you going to do?”

Sean takes in a few shaky breaths, huffing out a weak laugh. “Throw up, probably.”

Smiling and zooming into Sean’s chin, James says, “Nice, can I film it?”

“No.”

When the office exercise bowl is concluded, everyone retreats back to their desks, getting ready for the workday. The little event helped Bruce get his mind off the fact that he has to come clean to Matt today (today, it has to be today—if not, he’ll lose his nerve). But the reality comes back full force when he gives Matt’s empty desk a sidelong glance.

His brain decides that now is the time to bring up the topic of… that. He’s still not sure what actually happened last night. Sure, he’s pretty clear on the fact that he and Matt kissed. And that it wasn’t just a peck, like Joel’s kiss was, and it wasn’t something sweet like James’ kiss was. It had been… intense. Scalding, almost. A slow burn in the pit of Bruce’s stomach.

In the moment, it felt right. It felt like Matt wanted nothing in the world but to kiss Bruce, to kiss him as if he was a lifeline.

But when Bruce factors in the news Lawrence had given him about their date, the way Matt came onto Lawrence—

Bruce should feel guilty. But he doesn’t, not completely. He really wanted the kiss, wanted to kiss Matt, wanted Matt. It’s not in the same way he wanted (wants? Because he still does) James and Elyse. It’s almost the same but not quite.

It’s weird, trying to reason it out. When Matt kissed him, it unscrewed him. It took him apart, kind of. The want he felt the night before—pure want just for affection from Matt—it’s still there. The sidelong glance at Matt’s desk turns into an unsubtle ogle at Joel. He wants to feel that kiss again. Eyes skimming from Joel to James, Bruce really just wants to see what would happen if he and James and Elyse slept together, like they had before, in such a domestic setting. He’s so curious about everything, every possibility. So bogged down by conflicting feelings, all of the good and the bad and the want—

His phone vibrates, startling him back to reality. Oh, boy. It’s a message. From Matt. Bruce’s heart kind of jumps.

Bruce unlocks his phone and holds his breath.

Matt:
> I’m sorry. I can’t come into work today.

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

He sure feels guilty about this. The fact that they had—have—a bet for Matt’s affections. The fact that Bruce volunteered to tell him. The fact that it’s happening today, apparently after work.

But why the fuck would Matt be missing work? Matt never misses work. Bruce remembers one day, when Matt had a cold so bad he fell asleep at his desk, Bruce woke him up gently and sent him home to sleep, and he had feelings for him then, too, and—

Just, Matt never misses work. The fact that he’s missing work now, today of all days, stabs Bruce in the heart a little. Guilt and anxiety all mixed up under his skin.

In the stew of all his emotions, James speaks, standing by his desk and calling Bruce’s attention. Bruce looks.

“Do you want to send in the footage of Spoole’s exercise kick in for an RT Life?”

“Yeah,” Bruce clears his throat and tries again. “Yeah, that’d be amazing. Does anyone want to edit it?”

There’s a silence that shouldn’t resound in the office but that does anyway. It takes a second for Bruce to process why the silence makes him feel so bad inside before his mouth goes dry, realizing the mistake. The silence sounds so loud because Matt would usually be the first to chime in on volunteering to edit. But he’s not here today because he’s missing work because Bruce kissed him even after he knew Matt wasn’t doing okay, and then Bruce wanted him even after he knew Matt wasn’t doing okay—

And there’s the guilt. There’s the guilt. It’s Bruce’s fault. All his fault.

To Bruce’s right, Adam clears his throat and volunteers to edit the video. Bruce okays it and focuses a blank stare at his own monitor. He is so tense. So, so tense.

For lunch, Joel, James, and Lawrence go with Bruce in his car. Elyse, Sean, and Adam go by themselves in Adam’s car.

During lunch itself, when James and Lawrence are sat next to each other, and when Bruce is sat next to Joel on the other side of the table, no one mentions Matt. No one mentions dates. They do a very good job steering clear of any inflammatory topics. They talk about movie reboots and arcade games and musicals.

But Bruce—Bruce just can’t keep it in. When there’s a lull in conversation, he tells them that Matt texted him about how he couldn't make it into work.

James looks passive while Lawrence hums, interested. Asks, “How did he seem this morning?”

“I didn't see him,” Bruce shrugs, hoping he seems calm. Joel shifts ever so slightly to where their knees are touching under the table.

“Oh. Okay.” Lawrence clears his throat, looking impassive.

Then James nods, as if signaling the end of that conversation and takes a sip of his drink. Starts in on another topic unrelated to Matt. It doesn't really calm him down in the slightest but Bruce appreciates his effort anyway.

When they get back to the office, Bruce has worked himself up to a boiling point.

Everyone’s back from lunch already, getting ready to get back to work. Sean is stretching his arms over his head by Joel’s desk while Joel leans over to talk to James. Elyse and Lawrence are huddled by Bruce’s desk, talking to Adam about something that brings a tender sort of glint into Elyse’s eye. The conversation flows freely and the smiles do, too. It’s almost a normal day for them.

He guesses that's what sets him off the edge, the normality of it all. So after he takes three steps into the office, he realizes that wow, he’s not going to be okay, and so he turns on his heel, exiting the office immediately.

As if by instinct, he ends up in the warehouse, leaning against a wall with his hands on his knees while he tries to get his breathing within normal parameters. The place is dark and almost maze-like while the sets for the office get built, the carpenters likely at lunch, too.

In the silence of the warehouse, Bruce can hear when the door opens. He works on breathing silently, so as not to get detected. He doesn’t want to bother anyone with this.

“Bruce?” A voice call out loud enough to reach him. Bruce thinks that’s Sean’s voice. So he stays still, doesn’t move, tries to fly under the radar.

Soft footsteps approach him anyway. He guesses he’s not as hidden away as he thought he was because Sean finds him almost immediately, like a bloodhound smelling his mood. Even though Bruce reckons he looks almost pathetic, there’s no pity in Sean’s voice, only worry, when he speaks. Says, “Bruce! Are you okay?”

Bruce lifts his head. Opens his mouth to reply but only manages a wheeze in response.

That doesn’t seem to be the right answer. Sean frowns and rushes over to him, lays a hand on his shoulder, speaks softly. Says, “Sit down. Let's, let's sit down.”

They both make it to the floor, Bruce sliding down the wall while Sean joins him, sits in front of him with his legs crossed.

Hesitant, as if asking for permission, Sean reaches for one of Bruce's hands. Bruce gives it willingly, so Sean takes it into both of his own, into his lap. Holds it there as he asks, “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

For a second, Bruce doesn’t answer. Sean’s touch is grounding him though his head is a foggy mess. Then in response to Sean, Bruce shakes his head, mostly because he has no idea where he start.

Sean nods, “Okay. That’s okay, it’s fine. Do you want me to talk? I can talk.”

And Bruce, who knows Sean’s penchant for never shutting up when he wants to, nods.

“Okay,” Sean says. “Okay, I, I don’t know what to say.”

There’s a first, Bruce thinks.

The thing Bruce really likes about Sean is how expressive he is. Every emotion he has, however fleeting, passes through his face unfiltered. So while Sean thinks, his brow furrowed, he hums. Bruce studies his face. Then, eureka. Sean’s eyebrows fly up, and he says “Oh!” Bruce averts his eyes, so as not to make eye contact. He’s not sure why.

“One time,” Sean recounts, “when I was in high school, I broke my wrist when I wrestling. I couldn’t wrestle for two months! And I had to wear a cast for my wrist and someone started the rumor that I jerked off so hard that I broke my wrist.”

That. That gets a chuckle out of Bruce, an earnest one. It makes Sean, smile too, though he continues, “I really did break my wrist because of wrestling though!”

Bruce laughs again, this time more shakily. He doesn’t know if it’s Sean’s face or if it’s the physical touch he’s providing, but he’s feeling marginally better. Though, not by any stretch of the imagination is he okay. As evidenced by the unwitting wheeze he tacks on at the end of his laugh which makes Sean look worried again.

Sean asks, “Should I get Joel?”

Bruce shakes his head no, thinking that however riled up his brain is making him feel, he doesn’t need Joel to see him like this, too.

Sean scoots closer. “Okay. What do you need?”

Bruce resists the urge to shrug; he thinks the action would look helpless on his shoulders. Instead, he shakes his head again. “Just,” his voice is whispery as he speaks. “Just stay here.”

Sean murmurs, “I can do that.” He scoots even closer, bumping their knees together. “I’ll be here.” And Sean leans up a little clumsily, incredibly sweetly, and presses a kiss to Bruce’s head.

There’s a heat radiating from the spot where Sean’s lips touched his head. Makes him warm inside, for a reason Bruce knows full-well but isn’t willing to acknowledge just yet. He tries to get the soft image of Sean’s face moments before the kiss, the way he looked so unguarded—

Why is Bruce feeling this now? Feeling this, like this? God. God. He’s gotta—he has to file this away for later study. It’s getting to be too much.

Rubbing their knees together, of all things, Sean says, “It’s going to be okay, y’know? It’ll all work out.”

And on every plane of consciousness, Bruce sincerely hopes he’s right. For now, he mentally marks down all points of contact between him and Sean, matching their breathing to beat in time.

When he gets back into the office, ten minutes later, almost hand in hand with Sean (they’re walking so close to each other, they might as well be), everyone in the office looks up. The eyes are fleeting but well-meaning, Bruce knows that. He still has to look to Sean for reassurance, though.

Sean smiles at him softly and presses into his side briefly before going back to his desk. Bruce goes back to his desk, too. Tries to get in the headspace for a normal work day.

His phone vibrates not two minutes later. When he checks, it’s a message from Lawrence, who offers to provide him a script on what to say to Matt when the time comes.

Bruce looks away from his phone, up over his monitor. Watches the way Sean slips off his hat in order to slide on his headphone. It settles him.

He sends back, Yes, please.

When Bruce gets back to the apartment, nothing has changed. He didn’t know what he expected, maybe Matt angry on the couch or World War III in the kitchen, but everything looks exactly the same as when he left the morning. He sighs.

As soon as he drops off his keys by the door, setting them next to Matt’s, he glances down the corridor to his and Matt’s room. And that’s when he notices something is different. The door to Matt’s room is open. Yet his keys are still here. That means Matt’s in his room with the door open.

Okay, fuck. Bruce gulps.

Unceremoniously, Bruce fast-walks down the hallway, passing Matt’s room without even so much as a look inside. He knows Matt’s there. He just knows. But he isn’t ready.

He shuts the door to his room, feeling like a coward. As he lays down on his bed, he lays his feelings down in a line. It falls out as guilt for kissing Matt, guilt for kissing Matt and liking it in the moment, guilt for kissing Matt and wanting more, guilt for keeping the bet a secret from Matt for so long, guilt for wanting more from Joel and Elyse and James, for wanting something from Adam and Lawrence and Sean, but it all gets more fuzzy as he goes down the line. Like the thoughts aren’t fully formed there. So he leaves them alone for now, focuses on the present, takes out his phone and re-reads the script Lawrence wrote for him. Spends an hour in his room practicing what he wants to say before he comes out.

The thing is, there’s no casual way to go about this. Try as he might, Bruce feels like a fraud when he peeks into Matt’s room, knocking on the open door.

Matt looks up from where he’s sitting on the bed, in jogging pants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. He meets Bruce’s eyes with a hollow stare, not giving anything away.

Bruce swallows through the knot in his throat. Says, “Hey, can we talk?”

Matt nods. “Sure.”

Bruce comes into the room, feeling like it’s the gallows. He fumbles his steps, tripping over his own two feet as he makes it in to sit Matt’s desk chair.

Bruce lets a silence linger over them for a moment. Seven seconds, to be exact. He counts them. Fuck, he can’t postpone this. It’s what he came here for, so now he has to just. Do it. Say it. Fuck.

He lets out his breath slowly and starts with, “So, I know this is going to be hard to hear.” And just as hard to say. “But we need you to know that all of us in the office… care about you. And we didn’t mean for it to go this far.”

Met with Matt’s blank stare, Bruce pushes on. “I guess the best thing is to just say it.”

Taking a deep breath, Bruce brings up Lawrence’s script in his head. He tries not to think too much as he recites it. “We, as a group, decided about a month ago to… make a bet with the Achievement Hunter guys on who got to date you. It’s why you might have noticed that we all started… flirting with you.

“Believe me, I speak for everyone at the office when I say that we are so incredibly sorry about this. And we’ll understand if you don’t want to forgive us. We just thought you deserved to know now because we noticed you haven’t been acting like yourself. So, in case that has to do with our treatment of you, we thought you deserved to know.” His voice goes soft as he tacks on, “And I should have told you sooner. For that, for everything: I’m sorry.”

There’s silence. Bruce tries to meet Matt’s eyes but Matt is staring at a fixed point between Bruce’s feet.

Gulping down his guilt, Bruce finishes the script. “If you want, I could leave you alone now to think about it. You don’t have to forgive us, or even forgive me, but just think about—”

“I know,” Matt says, clear as day. “About the bet, I know.”

“Wait,” Bruce feels like he’s not hearing this right. “What?”

Again, Matt is clear as day as he clarifies, “I know about the bet.”

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

Chapter Text

Matt has always considered himself a man of slightly above average intelligence. He knows things. He knows how to do things. It sounds vague but it’s true. Matt knows how to cook and he knows how to work out and he can sew holes in his shirts shut and he can fix a clogged sink. He knows how to do things.

Though, in the sense of people, he’s never been quite sure where to start.

It’s no secret to anyone that Matt has always been a quiet guy. Why say ten words where one will suffice, right? He doesn’t do it to be rude or to seem displeased. It’s just how he is. He doesn’t say much and he keeps to himself.

On camera, he’s quieter than usual. That’s saying something. When someone asks him something off camera, he has to answer. And if he answers with one word instead of ten, he really appreciates those people who understand him.

That’s why he’s eternally grateful for his officemates. Since the beginning, during Machinima days, he’s been so grateful. They don’t call him out on using just one word. They don’t make too much fun of him. If anything, they’re nice to him. They rib him in good nature. They compliment him on his work. He really likes working with them. The freedom they give him in doing what he likes to do, in editing. It’s something he’s thankful for.

Sure, they all made a bet on his emotions, but that’s another story.

And the way he found out? Another story entirely.

Matt finds out about the bet the day after Michael, Geoff, and Gavin visited the office. Sean had been acting startled all morning. Since he came in, he skittered to his desk and avoided Matt’s eyes. Sean hadn't been the only one, either. Bruce had been, in his own way, avoiding Matt. No eye contact at breakfast. Only a few words when they got into the office.

It’s made Matt curious. The whole situation makes him curious. He isn’t the kind of person to ask someone about what’s going on outright. He prefers to wait until he’s alone with one of them, maybe Bruce, and ask what’s going on. He decides that’s what he will do after work that day.

Though. It’s not even mid-morning when James comes into the office and drags people away, little bunches at a time. He’s not very discreet about it. How it happens is, Matt knows that Lawrence is out of the office, and so is James. Kitchen, probably. Adam leaves of his own volition, but he doesn’t come back. James does, he comes back, and he takes Bruce first. Then he comes back for Joel, opening the door and calling out, “Joel, we need some help over here in the kitchen. Adam spilled something.”

Joel sighs and walks out. Matt is internally furrowing his brow, asking himself why James would need Joel’s help if Bruce is already with them. He lets it slide. Until James comes for Elyse and Sean. And Matt is left alone in the office with a resounding silence.

The whole situation just mounts his curiosity.

When they all come back, Adam is blushing. Sean is blushing. Bruce doesn’t look at him, again. Matt really wants to know what’s going on. He’s so curious. He’s curious all the way through lunch, when he’s left alone in the office with James, who only smiles at him, knowingly.

It all boils down to one simple feeling: what the crap?

Right about when lunch ends is when James, the only other person in the room with Matt, gets a message on his phone. It rings on his desk, and he checks it. Smiles secretively. Glances at Matt in passing. Leaves the room.

Matt has just about had enough of the looks and smiles. Of the secret everyone is in on but him. He decides to go look for them.

When he pokes his head out of the office, there’s people in the hallway. He recognizes them as the people from the office next to theirs. They barely give him a glance as they walk towards him on their way out. Matt tries to work out where he’s going, if he’s gonna have to nudge around them to find where his friends are gathered.

As he gives the corridor a once over for any sign of them, he sees James poke his head out of the kitchen for a second. James scans over the people from the office next to them and doesn't seem to spot Matt. He loses sight of James as the people walk by, blocking him. When they’ve passed, James has already gone back into the kitchen.

So they’re in there. At least James is and that's good enough for Matt. He takes a breath and walks over. Plans on knocking on the wall, making his presence known, asking what's going on.

His steps slow as he hears Adam mumbling something that ends with what he thinks is the word him.

Then Joel says, “Hey, we’re all adults here. If this bet gets too out of control, we’ll call it off and tell Peake everything. Does that sound good?”

And what? What? That was his name. They said his name.

Bruce continues, “Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Is everyone okay with being in on the bet for Peake’s”—the what—“for the Mountain Man’s feelings? Speak up now if you aren’t, we won’t judge you.”

There's a pin-dropping silence in the kitchen and in Matt's head.

A what? Did he hear that correctly?

“What are the stipulations?” Lawrence asks. Bruce says, “They haven’t told me much, but Pea—the Mountain Man—has to be the one to ask you out. And the money goes to whoever wins the bet plus whoever bet on them.”

Wait — what? A bet? On asking someone out? On feelings?

A bet. On his feelings. On his asking someone out.

He… they…. What?

From inside the kitchen, there’s two twin scoffs that almost echo in Matt’s brain.

“Typical texans,” Lawrence says.

Matt gulps, listens to Bruce ask, “Okay, so is that everything?”

And yeah, yeah, Matt needs to get out of there right now immediately. He forces himself to move, his legs nearly unresponsive. As he turns, he hears Elyse say “Oh!” and he winces at how close it sounds. He’s not sure if he’s imagining things or if she really was just on the other side of the wall behind him. It’s a terrifying thought.

He’s almost on auto-pilot going back to the office, hearing Elyse’s faint voice ask about referees or something. He’s not sure of anything anymore.

Matt opens the door with his head swimming. He’s not concerned with being quiet or the possibility of being found out until after he’s stepped into the office and the door shuts behind him loudly.

He’s a little lost. His thoughts are so mixed up. He leans back in his chair, which he must have gotten into without thinking? It’s all just so messed up now. Why has hearing this messed him up so much?

Crap.

Sighing, he thinks. Tries to think. What is he meant to do now? Pretend like nothing’s the matter? Is something the matter? What is he supposed to focus on now? Is he just supposed to ignore the fact that his co-workers, his friends, the people he holds in the highest regard have made a bet on his feelings?

Before he’s even registered it, the door is opening again and everyone is coming back. No one among them speaks. He feels eyes on him, he thinks. He’s not sure. Only stares at his monitor, unseeing.

Crapshit on crap. He really wants to think about what this all could mean. But he feels like he can’t afford to think about this now. He can’t let them know that he knows about the bet. That he heard them. Can’t act like anything’s the matter.

Matt takes a deep breath. Takes a long gulp from his water bottle. Gets back to editing.

It gets so hard not thinking about it. Like something’s in his brain and it’s squirming and screaming at him.

Through the day, he proposes meanings of what he overheard. While he’s putting the end slate on a video, he considers that maybe, he overreacted and misheard. He heard feelings but he didn’t hear about what. He heard feelings but maybe they're not romantic, like he immediately assumed. It could be feelings and opinions on a current event. Why not? But then, why not bring it up with him? Would it really be that inflammatory of a topic that they couldn’t just ask him?

He goes back home with Bruce driving and he mulls it all over. Bruce won’t look him in the eye and it gives him an uneasy feeling.

When the next day rolls around, Bruce is still acting weird. Matt’s entire Wednesday consists mostly of editing and catching people staring at him. Editing and watching people looking at their phones in almost-unison at random intervals. The whole situation makes his stomach churn with uneasiness because he’s not supposed to know why they’re all doing that. He’s kind of glad that he does. That he’s in on it. But he’s also not because now he has a big cloud of doubt over his head. He wants to believe the best in them, but the way Elyse keeps smiling in his direction just makes his mood turn sour.

Nothing really happens that Thursday. No one really talks to him. It makes him feel a little like he’s invisible, in a way.

When Friday dawns, Bruce is looking him in the eyes again. Fleetingly and like he’s scared, but. It’s something. He actually talks to Matt when they’re both in the kitchen making breakfast. It helps Matt, somehow. Makes him feel like a person again.

When he gets into the office, he’s still aware of the maybe-there, maybe-not bet on his feelings. He wants to believe it’s not romantic feelings but Sean won’t even look in his direction. And given their… flirtatious past couple of weeks, it’s disconcerting.

When he’s settled into his chair and considering making himself a tea, Lawrence walks by, coffee cup in hand.

Lawrence smiles at him, stops by his desk. Matt smiles back. Feels something settle inside him at being treated normally.

Lawrence asks, “Hey, are we on for the gym tonight?”

Matt swears he sees Bruce’s back straighten out of the corner of his eye. He nods to Lawrence, says, “Yeah. Meet you there, same time?”

Lawrence nods back, smile widening. And he keeps walking.

When Matt looks back to his monitor, Bruce is not being very inconspicuous in his staring. Matt raises an eyebrow and he’s not sure if Bruce sees it or not but they both go back to work after that. Matt doesn’t give the encounter much thought. Maybe things are back to normal now? Maybe he misunderstood the whole thing? Bruce is the only one acting weird right now, as far as he can tell. But he’s just not sure anymore.

Right before lunch, Matt hears Bruce calling for Adam and James so they can start recording a video. A Wheelhaus, Matt thinks, but he’s not sure. He’s thinking about where he’s going to eat for lunch, maybe a sandwich place, when he sees Adam walk up to his desk.

Well, the thing about it is, he and Adam have had a flirtatious past, too. But it’s more of a back and forth that Matt hasn’t taken very seriously in a while. He just thought that it was the vibe Adam gave off to him. That it was the looks Adam gave him.

So, Adam. He’s in front of Matt’s desk, eyes looking a little scared and very hesitant.

For some reason, Adam asks him about a movie Matt told him he watched a few weeks back. Matt keeps his face carefully blank, trying hard to hide the confusion on his face. He shrugs in answer, says, “It was okay. I think you’d like it, though.”

Adam’s eyes light up. He nods, and Matt smiles small. This is what he meant when he knew Adam was flirting with him. Adam has always had his feelings etched into his eyes, and Matt has always been able to read him like a book. For a second, Matt feels comfortable again. Like maybe he did misunderstand. He doesn’t know how he could’ve but, apparently, he did. Because this is almost back to normal, now.

Matt hears Lawrence clear his throat loudly. When he looks over, Bruce is standing in front of Sean’s desk, looking startled. Matt furrows his brow and watches as Adam gives him an apologetic look, walks over to Bruce to start recording.

He meets Lawrence at the gym.

They've been meeting like this for a while now, mostly because Matt has a set gym routine and that's what Lawrence needs if he wants to make headway on his fitness journey.

So, the gym. Matt has been helping Lawrence with a few pointers here and there, a few tips. Lawrence always listens dutifully and takes his advice and Matt's grateful to be appreciated. He doesn't know everything, not about this. James would be a much better teacher, but Lawrence still goes with Matt. He doesn’t understand why but he's grateful for it. Grateful for the company.

“Good rep, Matt!” Lawrence exclaims. Matt hasn’t really done much, just a few weights with Lawrence spotting him and encouraging him.

"Thanks. Not my best but," Matt shrugs.

"Aw come on," Lawrence's hand lands on his shoulder, shakes him a little. A friendly gesture. "Still better than me!"

Matt shrugs again. "Give it time and patience."

Lawrence laughs, “Easy for you to say. With muscles like these…."

Matt pauses, takes in the west Lawrence looks at him. Up and down like he's… like he's checking Matt out. Makes Matt ask, “What do you mean?”

Lawrence's voice is edging on nervous, “Just that… you look good. Really good.”

There’s a pause. Matt feels like he’s been plunged headfirst into cold water.

Lawrence is… flirting with him?

Lawrence is flirting. With him.

He’s never done something like this before. At least, not this bluntly. Maybe when he was drunk, if Matt remembers correctly. But, here he is, sober as a priest. Giving Matt some hardcore eyes.

It all connects in his brain. The bet. Seems like he didn’t misunderstand anything. It has to be on his romantic feelings. Right? He’s not imagining this? Not imagining the way Lawrence’s hand feels on his shoulder? Warm and solid and—?

He smiles at Lawrence. Nods. Watches as Lawrence smiles back and slips his hand off, turns away.

So, he wasn’t imagining things when he thought that his co-workers, his friends were making a bet on who would win his romantic feelings. Yeah. Okay.

Fuck.

During the weekend, Matt stays in his room a lot. He thinks a lot, too.

He brings back the idea that maybe he imagined the whole thing. And he discards the notion almost immediately. He has his feet planted very firmly on the ground, thank you. He doubts many things but his sanity is not one of them.

So, it’s a thing. Maybe they’re all in on it, and maybe they’re doing it just for the one date. It’s a messed up situation that makes him feel a little betrayed. People he trusted are essentially playing with his feelings.

But, he thinks, maybe I could play back. He considers, maybe it’s all for real. He weighs equal amounts of belief in both thoughts. All he knows is pretty much nothing. He just wishes he hadn’t heard about it at all. Because now he knows — knows about their feelings, about the bet. He knows that they want to date him and he hopes — hopes with all his heart and soul, knows in some part of him deep down — that the bet came because of feelings. Not because of fucking him over. He trusts them that much. He will give them the benefit of the doubt, because —

— Because he’s known for a while that Sean has a crush on him. And he knew that Adam had a crush on him, too, but he thought that ended ages ago. Matt himself has been flirting with Sean, a little. Here and there, over a month now. Nothing serious, testing the waters. And back when he was sure of Adam’s crush on him, he was open to maybe dating him. But that was months ago. He thought he was over it. A chapter closed. But now? In light of all these feelings, something stirs inside him. He’d be open to dating the both of them, yeah. He’s not sure how it would work but he’d try. If it ever came down to it. Shit, what is he thinking about?

He’s not sure about any of the others. He’s never really read too much into their interactions. Has always thought that they were just being nice. Joel has always flirted with him but Joel flirts with everyone. And he’s not even paid attention to his feelings for Bruce. He’s packed those away nice and tight, never to be touched again. They’re roommates. He doesn’t need things to be awkward between them because he can’t keep his feelings in check.

But he is sure of this. He wants to date Sean and Adam. At least them. It’ll be good for them and this bet… maybe it will open this door.

He’s scared of what else it could bring on though.

It’ll… maybe mess with the bet a little bit. It’s just a harmless little pressure on these bet-makers, to see them squirm. Then after? He’ll date them again, when they all come clean and the bet is uncovered. He’ll smile and say I knew about the bet! then in private, he’ll say to those he dated that he meant the dates. That they weren’t all about messing with them. That he’s grateful for the parts of them they shared with him and that he’d like to continue. And then? Well, he makes no more plans from then on.

He’s not a perfect man. He’s always looking for chances to better himself. But he can’t resist wanting to get back at them. He goes back and forth on the pros and cons of doing what he thinks about doing. Because it would be a great way for this thing to go.

The way Matt figures it, he goes on a date with Adam and Sean. No real importance to one or the other first but it has to be one after the other. On consecutive days. He'll do it to confuse everyone that's in on the bet.

So, he hatches a plan. It might not be all that good but it’s something. His plan is: he will flirt back. He will flirt back to them. Maybe they’ll come clean once Matt plays along. Maybe it’ll go far enough that they’ll have to come clean.

It’s not the best plan. But it is something.

So he plans, so he unfolds.

Monday, Joel grabs his attention by coming to his desk and laying his hands on Matt’s shoulders.

Man, he’s really laying it on thick, isn’t he? Leaning into Matt’s ear and whispering a question about lunch. Matt can’t help but laugh softly at how hard he’s trying. It’s almost silly if it wasn’t all that insulting. He’s not sure if he’s meant to take it seriously. But, he does. Having his friends' attention is nice, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons.

He flirts back. Implements his plan. He doesn’t think he’s very good at flirting but he tries anyway. And he just remembers to smile. Just smile. Don’t finish sentences. Let them think about what you mean.

God, he hopes he’s not messing this up. He hopes he’s not wrong here.

They all try too hard, he notices. Like, if he wasn’t already aware of the bet, he would be very suspicious right about now. James asks Sean to sit in his lap, for goodness sake.

When Open Haus happens, it’s also very inconspicuous. Questions about his beard, ‘fuck, marry, kills,’ relationship advice? His friends are arguably the worst at hiding things.

When he gets home, he thinks about if maybe he should shave. His beard is getting just this side of unruly, and as a bonus, it’d be a great play in the game, especially since Sean said he didn’t like it. Thinking about the way Sean said it, that he has a preference, plays again in Matt’s mind as he shaves. He will deny the butterflies it gives him later. For now, he shaves clean and avoids Bruce’s shocked look when he comes out of the bathroom.

When he sees Sean get into the office, Matt sits a little straighter. Sean said he liked him clean shaven but he’s still nervous about it. What if he really doesn’t and was just joking?

“Matt—”

Matt looks up. Sean comes over, wonder in his eyes. He sets his coffee down. Says, “You….” Runs a hand down Matt’s cheek without thinking, then catches himself and looks startled. Finishes with, “You shaved.”

Matt can’t help himself when he smiles. The way Sean looks feels… genuine. God, is it genuine.

Matt says, “Yeah. I considered what you said yesterday during Open Haus.”

The look that overtakes Sean’s face is so… open and honest. So full of something that Matt can’t process correctly. His hand is still on his cheek.

Bruce clears his throat, startling Matt back to his reality. He blinks and watches Sean slink back to his desk.

The rest of the day is an exercise in patience.

He’s already decided on a course of action. He will ask out Adam because if he has to go on a date with anyone, he prefers it to be a good friend whom he doesn’t live with.

The look Sean gave him, though… it plays again in his head. His cheek still feels the ghost of Sean's touch, the light fingers….

But now, he's playing back. Playing their game. The look, the touch, the feelings Sean brought on were a little too real. A little too much like the reality of his feelings, and not the bet, not the game Matt is trying to figure out. It all gets tangled in his head, real feelings and fake feelings and real flirting and fake flirting. It’s a lot to keep track of.

He tries to ignore the part of his brain that supplies the fact that he’s seriously flirted with Adam before. Maybe it’s all a thing of the past now, feelings buried and forgotten. It's only a date, right? One date in good company? It'll be fine.

When it’s only himself, Bruce, and Adam in the office, he asks Adam out to dinner. Better to have a witness, right? For bet reasons?

(The confounded look Bruce gives him almost makes him laugh, almost makes him come clean.)

Adam says yes.

Matt’s stomach does nervous flip-flops and he’s not entirely sure why.

His date with Adam turns out to be more than he bargains for. Adam smiles so sincerely, so openly. He’s known Adam for years but the looks he gets across the dinner table on the night they go out are so intimate and personal, Matt just wants more. Wants another date. And this, this wasn’t part of the plan. Sure, he’d thought about asking Adam on a second date before he’d put this plan into motion but being presented with the reality so startlingly soon makes his breath come quicker.

If Matt’s being honest with himself, the thought of second dates was a pipe dream. Well wishing on his part. Discarded easily, before this night.

He feels it all come into focus after the date, at home alone with Bruce. The date… it was Matt’s first date in a long while and the sense of calm he feels as he wakes up the next morning is disconcerting. He spends the day thinking about Adam, thinking about their moments, the looks they exchanged, the comfort he felt, deep down. The familiarity of being there with Adam, of them knowing each other so well… but now in a different light. A more romantic light.

Saturday morning’s ease over the comfort of Adam morphs into Sunday’s encompassing dread over continuing to mess with the bet.

He’s made this plan. He’s gotta see this through.

He gets his date with Sean. This is something he’s been wanting for a while, so the asking is more cathartic than he first realizes. And since he’s still playing the game here, he asks Sean out the Monday after his date with Adam… and in front of a witness. The look from Elyse makes his dread worth it because this is all he's going for. This confusion, this messing up the bet — it's all he wanted to do. This is his plan and it’s more rewarding seeing it on both their faces. Tit for tat, they made a bet, he’s playing their game.

The date goes smoothly. It’s also more than he bargained for. He enjoys Sean’s private smiles way more than he means to. Enjoys Sean's company more than he thinks he's entitled to. So much so, he can't help the kiss he gives Sean; absolutely adores the way Sean looks after he pulls away.

It’s a mistake. He made a mistake somewhere but he’s sure it wasn’t the date. The date isn’t the mistake. He’d ask for more, if he thought he was entitled to it. But this… he’s creating a mess for himself by playing back.

All in all, he’s conflicted. Inundated in feelings. Because he wants to do it again. He wants to go out with Sean and Adam again. But they’re in on it for a bet and Matt knows about it, and he should’ve told them that he knows about it because now he’s in a pit that he can’t get himself out of until they come clean to him, they have to come clean to him—

His plan was to cause chaos in their bet and once they come clean to him, he comes clean to them. He gets to date Sean or Adam or both again, if they'll have him. It'll be okay. If they'd just come clean—

In all of this and despite his previous weirdness, Bruce is the only person he thinks isn't in on this bet. He feels like the true north of the whole thing to Matt. It helps that Bruce is the only one who has always seemed to be honest with him. Even now, as he keeps the bet a secret from Matt, he seems to feel guilty about it. Of course, it’s a hollow feeling, leaning on Bruce— he's the one who led the meeting about the bet —but Matt finds comfort in it anyway.

If he ignores the fact that they have a bet on his feelings, it’s almost normal again.

His conflict increases once being invited to the Willems’s house.

He… he kisses James and Elyse. He doesn’t mean to. He sincerely doesn’t mean to. He’s just— he's a little more distraught than he initially thought. He already wants Sean and Adam. And James and Elyse want him too, they’re in on the bet too, he thinks.

So, it's easy. The easiest thing Matt's ever done. He kisses two of his friends. Easy as pie.

The aftermath leaves him a little on edge, though. Leaves him confused. He's liked all of this, the dates and the kisses. More than he's meant to. More than he should.

They’ll come clean. After the kisses, they’ll all come clean, right? Matt’s sowed himself into enough discord that the bet can’t possibly be maintained, can it?

Days later, no one has come clean yet. Why haven't they said anything about the bet? Why hasn’t anyone?

Maybe there is no bet. Matt is sure there is but — maybe he’s not a good judge of character anymore. Maybe he’s just ruining his friendships, one at a time.

So, he asks Joel out in front of Bruce and Adam. It hurts him to see Adam’s face. He knows he’s made a mistake. Another one in the pile.

They’ve gotta see this, right? Sitting at a table surrounded by friends, they’ve gotta see that this… this isn’t normal for him. That he’s doing this on purpose. Screaming for them to come clean.

The date with Joel… it’s a cry for help which turns into a scream. In the end, Joel feels like home. Like warmth. He cooks for Matt, takes care of him. Makes him leave his own brain behind, opens himself up. It’s comforting. It helps, for a moment.

He wants more. But the ride home brings him crashing back down into this mess.

Why haven’t they called this off yet? The bet hangs over his head. Why hasn’t anyone talked to him.

The feeling of dread from earlier finds him on the couch, staring forward blankly. The mess he’s made for himself awaits him in his own head.

Bruce. Why hasn’t Bruce come clean? Is he in on this? Is he not? What’s the truth?

He snaps at Bruce. Regrets it instantly. Spends a weekend regretting it.

Even if this bet isn’t real, he’s still made a mess he needs to clean up. One by one, he’ll make this right. He aborts the plan and just goes straight to the resolution. He’ll tell Adam and Sean how much their dates meant. After that, it gets murky, but he’ll figure it out.

If they aren’t going to come clean with him, he’ll come clean with them. But maybe not about the bet. He won't mention it if they don't.

So, he talks to Adam. He says his piece. Watches as Adam’s face loosens with relief, with affection. Matt smiles at him, watches him smile back.

He’s made the right choice here. He’ll talk to Sean when he sees him next.

Bruce doesn’t come home that night. Matt remembers the way James and Elyse had whispered about him unsubtly, how Matt’s mind had run away with possibilities. He infers. He worries. He worries up until he goes to bed. He resists messaging him, resists interrupting his life. He isn’t Bruce’s keeper, Bruce doesn’t owe him explanations to go home with James and Elyse, especially after Matt had already gone through that, had gone home with James and Elyse before. Memories of that night flood his mind and he thinks, for a second, that maybe history is repeating itself.

The thought doesn’t discard itself the next morning, when he wakes and Bruce still isn’t home. His uneasiness peaks when he gets to the office and Adam is the one who has to open it for him. Bruce is nowhere to be seen. Lawrence arrives. Asks after Bruce. All Matt can do is shrug.

When Bruce finally, finally comes into the office, he’s half an hour late. And he enters with James and Elyse.

While wearing James’ shirt.

Something akin to jealousy stings under Matt’s skin even though Matt knows that he has no right to feel it. Bruce isn’t his. Isn’t even in on the bet, as far as Matt knows.

Still, that green monster writhes at the pit of his stomach. He carefully avoids Sean’s eyes as he approaches Lawrence, discarding all previous plans to come clean.

He thought Lawrence would be the one to give him a respite. Matt’s always suspected that Lawrence and Adam have something, something casual. He thought… maybe Lawrence would want him in some way that wasn’t really anything but what he’s offered to give. He still remembers the Open Haus a few weeks ago, Lawrence’s voice saying, Isn't that what dates are? Implying he’d only want one thing….

And Matt is prepared to give him that. To have just one night where feelings don’t matter, where he can just look at Lawrence and know that he won’t want more than Matt’s body.

But then… Lawrence acts like he cares. And he does, Matt knows he does. They’re friends. They care about each other. Lawrence is a good person. He cares about Matt. It’s just… Matt never thought he’d be this tender with him, handle him with kid gloves. That he’d be able to read Matt’s turmoil so well. It leaves him feeling shaken, like he misjudged the depth of Lawrence’s feelings.

He can’t take this. He needs to get his mind off all of this.

When he gets home, he gets home to Bruce. The jealousy from earlier returns, especially when Bruce is here, acting like he’s Matt’s home, and not the apartment they share. The true north of this bet, the one who isn’t in on it.

Matt can’t help himself, his jealousy.

He kisses him. He reaps all the discord he sowed.

This is selfish. This kiss is selfish, motivated by the thought of James and Elyse doing this first, before him. Doing this, this, all Matt’s wanted, from the beginning of the bet, from when they first moved in together. Bruce kisses like all Matt has ever been missing. This isn’t predicated on messing with the bet, this is Matt being self indulgent, staking his claim. Acting on jealousy.

But in the end, it’s Bruce. Bruce who he lives with. Who he’s supposed to keep living with, despite his feelings and his selfishness and his discord and his jealousy and this mess he’s created.

He pulls back. Feels guilt, feels shame.

He slinks off into his room before he can say something he’ll regret.

He misses work the next day. Needs to get himself in order for when Bruce comes back, so he can apologize for messing with everyone’s feelings. For knowing about the bet and playing them back and making this into a bigger mess than it ever needed to be.

He should’ve come clean a long time ago. Back even before he went on any dates. Back when he first heard about the bet. He shouldn’t have played.

It’s a mess. His mess. He needs to clean it up. But when Bruce comes back, he goes straight into his room. Matt thinks maybe he’s about to get fired. Or get kicked out.

But then Bruce comes to him. Apologetic and looking so, so guilty.

Matt almost cries. In relief or in amusement. He’s not sure.

“I know,” he interrupts Bruce. “About the bet, I know.”

Bruce looks like his brain stops working for a second.

But then, he’s back. "Wait. What?"

"I know about the bet," Matt reiterates.

“What?”

Matt still isn’t looking at him when he speaks, softer now. “I’ve known about the bet for a long time. Since it started.” He's nowhere near done explaining but he's so tired, his mouth almost refuses to make words.

Bruce, by no means a silent observer, contributes, “Uh? Can you—? Hang on, I—”

Matt interrupts him with a sigh. “I was trying to... I wanted to mess with the bet. But messing with the bet meant… Messing with all of you and your feelings. It got out of hand. I never wanted….”

He risks a glance up at Bruce, who, he finds, is openly gaping at the revelation. He looks away again, fidgets a little.

“So,” Bruce seems to be rebooting now. “You… knew.”

“Yeah. I… got the gist of it.”

“The gist?”

“Well,” Matt takes in a breath. “Who was in on it?”

“Uh,” Bruce blinks once more, seemingly composing himself fractionally if only to look embarrassed a second later. “All of us.”

Us. He still asks, “Including you?”

“Yeah.”

Matt laughs. He honest-to-god laughs. The sound startles Bruce and Matt tries to contain himself past the realization. This means Bruce was in on this. This means Bruce wasn’t a true north. He wasn’t an observer who Matt threw himself on. He volunteered for the bet based on… feeling something for Matt. Matt’s still gotta figure out if everyone who was in on the bet has feelings for him but… the truth is he’s screwed because he has feelings for everyone.

It’s true that Matt was, at first, annoyed at his friends for doing something that involved him behind his back. But he did his best to make it a non-issue. And now, it is. It’s all out in the open. The dirty laundry has been aired. Cat’s not in the bag. All that crap.

He knows he should give Bruce a moment to absorb this information. Matt’s been aware of the bet for longer than Bruce has been aware that Matt knew. This is a bomb he’s dropped on Bruce. And he knows by the look on Bruce’s face that it’s taking a while to set in.

So, Matt takes a breath, closes his eyes. Brings himself back down to the situation.

The way he sees it: they wanted something from him without his knowledge. But Matt did know. And instead of standing up for himself or talking it out, he wanted something back. He wanted them. The assholes who bet on his feelings. In Matt’s world, that seems pretty even. Especially with how Matt just asked them out all willy-nilly and essentially played with their feelings. He was confused then. Now, not so much.

Matt opens his eyes, shifts in his chair. Decides, finally, that this needs to end. He has to finish this. “Can we get everyone somewhere to talk?”

“Ye-heah, sure. Sure.” Bruce stops for a second. He stares at his own hands for a moment and Matt can tell he’s going to ask something. “Are you going to explain—?”

“Yes.” Matt interrupts, anticipating Bruce’s objections. Then, he sighs, realizing that this will be a long night. “I’ll explain everything. Everything.”

“Okay, Okay.” Bruce sounds dangerously close to placating as he fidgets with his phone. Matt watches him unlock it and open his messaging app, typing and deleting message after message.

He guesses he can spare Bruce from at least this.

“Can I do it?”

Bruce looks up, somewhat startled. He blinks, looks down to his phone, back up to Matt. “Yeah.”

Bruce added Peake to Bet minus some assholes

Peake:

> We need to talk. Meet at the office. 8 PM.

Peake:

> Please everyone be there.

Chapter Text

The other shoe has dropped.

If Adam’s being honest, he’s been waiting for this since the moment they set up the bet. Hell, he’s been waiting for it since Spoole opened his drunken mouth in front of the Achievement Hunters. Since he started having feelings for Matt.

It feels weird being back at the office at this hour and especially under these circumstances, but he feels something ironically poetic about this ending where it started. Where it officially started, anyway. Never mind that confession at that restaurant, the office is where it all got set up, where it all fell apart.

By the time he rolls up, James and Elyse’s car is there, as well as Joel’s and also Bruce’s. And, by the time he gets out of his own car, he feels his energy leave him. Adam isn’t sure he can do this, can face this conversation. He isn’t sure he wants to hear Matt outline just how badly this bet fucked him up and just how much he dislikes all of them now, especially Adam, who’s known him for so long that this must be a betrayal. Must feel like one.

Another car rolls up just as Adam is wallowing and he’s blessedly thankful he recognizes it as Lawrence’s. He lets out a breath that comes a little easier as he watches Lawrence’s familiar silhouette approach him.

“Hey,” Lawrence greets as he steps in front of Adam. He cups Adam’s cheek and Adam can’t help the shaky sigh he gives in response.

“You okay?” Lawrence asks.

Adam looks up, shifts against his car. He bundles his arms tighter against his chest, seeking comfort in Lawrence’s warmth before he asks, “What if he hates us?”

The look Lawrence gives him is fond and reassuring and Adam is reminded once again of how much he appreciates Lawrence’s affection.

“He won’t hate us, Adam.” Even his voice is reassuring, low and smooth in that way Adam likes. “It’s Matt. He doesn’t have it in him to hate anyone.”

As much as Adam is expecting this all to go horrible, he can’t argue with Lawrence on that point. Adam has known Matt for long enough to recognize that Matt is a kind and understanding person. He just hopes he’s understanding about this.

—

When they get inside, everyone else is already there. Bruce gives the arm Lawrence has slung around Adam’s shoulders a long look but says nothing.

He can tell everyone is on edge about this. Matt stands next to Bruce, looking, for some reason, guilty. Knowing him, he’s probably found a way to make this about himself, in the bad way. Matt’s forgiving and understanding to the point where Adam wouldn’t put it past him to blame himself for the mess everyone but him has landed him in.

“Hey,” James greets quietly, hand landing over Lawrence’s on Adam’s shoulder. He squeezes, Adam feels the pressure on him, and it’s all a small comfort, given that this is their execution hearing. He’s already prepared for the litany of apologies to come pouring out. The tension has him on the edge of a bad mental path that’s being kept at bay by Lawrence—and now, James.

Elyse leans into Adam’s other side as soon as James’ hand lifts and now Adam feels warm on his both sides, noting how Elyse hugs his arm and doesn’t let go. He spots Sean leaning against the table facing Bruce and Matt. Joel hovers close by, they’re almost pressed side to side.

“Okay,” Matt speaks, calling them to attention. Adam feels the dread building in him. “Okay. We’re here because… I wanted to explain something to you.”

Adam hears Sean’s soft noise of confusion and he’s inclined to agree with it. Explain? The silence that follows is not encouraging yet no one breaks it but Matt, moments later.

“I wanted… to let you all know that I forgive you.”

The words make a bolt of shame rush through Adam. It’s the acknowledgement of wrongdoing, that Adam has done something wrong. He can feel the apologies piling up in his throat, eager to escape.

After a brief pause, Matt continues, “I forgive you because we’re all even.”

Adam’s surprised that his eyes don’t just roll out of his skull with how wide he opens them. His gaze lands on Matt, incredulous. There’s silence for a beat before—

“What?” It’s Joel who speaks, voice sharp and disbelieving.

Besides Matt, Bruce sighs and shakes his head. Adam wants to ask what everything means but James beats him to it. “Sorry, Matt. What?”

“We’re even.” Matt sounds firm in his words, yet he looks no one in the eye as he continues. “We’re even because I’ve known about the bet since it started. It wasn’t a secret to me.”

Adam’s heart sinks to his stomach and leaps back out, lodging itself in his throat. Matt knew. Matt’s known this entire time. There’s not a moment of this bet when Matt hasn’t been aware of the implications of— hang on, does that mean—? He planned—?

He finds himself curling deeper into Lawrence’s warmth, brain stuttering on the discovery.

When no one else speaks up, Matt continues. “I heard about it when you were all… here. In the kitchen. Setting it up. And I was… well. I was annoyed, at first. And so I wanted to,” his voice cracks for a second before he squares his shoulders and soldiers on. “I wanted to mess with it and confuse you all. So, I decided that I would… go on two dates. With Adam. And then Spoole. I figured you’d come clean after it. But it— it was... really good. It’s been really good. I liked those dates I went on. I liked them more than I thought I would. I’d had feelings before them but it… cemented those. It made me feel like I was tricking you. My feelings were real but the premise of it wasn’t.”

Matt exhales long and slow, looking like all his energy’s left him. Adam’s mind is still reeling trying to process all this information when Matt quickly inhales, shoulders once again squaring, eyes determined. “Then James and Elyse invited me over to their apartment and I said yes because I wanted to talk to someone about it. Just talk. But I ended up kissing them. I ended up… messing it up more. And I liked it, too. I liked… the feeling of it. I liked them. And it, I let it get out of hand. I made a mess of it, after that. I went off the rails a little. But at the end of it, now, I realize that I was selfish. I messed things up, I did things I shouldn’t have done. I should have come clean and not tried to mess up the bet. But I was selfish, I think. Deep down, I really wanted to see how it was all different. The bet was an excuse. I wanted to see what all the dates could be like. I wanted to know… I wanted to know what you all loved like. I wanted to see how different Adam’s love was from Joel’s love and how Sean could kiss differently from how James could, and just… I wanted… All of you. I wanted all of you and I wanted all of you to want me.”

Matt’s shoulders rise and drop with another breath. “But I should have stopped it. I should have called it off and come clean. But I didn’t because I was a coward who was… who was so afraid of messing it all up. Despite the fact that I never lied about my feelings. Not once. I knew about the bet. But I could have called it off. The burden should be on me.”

After Matt’s voice peters off, his frame sags with a kind of exhaustion that seems relieved. The silence that surrounds them is deafening.

It’s all so much that Adam’s head is spinning. Matt’s always known. He knew what he was doing when he asked Adam out, knew what he was doing when he asked out Sean directly after. It wasn’t him trying to screw over Adam or Sean specifically, but the bet they’d set around the whole thing. And instead of coming clean, the stupid bet had just doubled down. Called Matt’s bluff. A hilarious chain of events that brought them all, wounded and scarred, right back here in a semicircle.

It’s Joel who breaks the silence, finally. “So… we’re even?”

“Yes,” Matt answers, looking up at Joel. “We are.”

Joel asks, “The date with Adam. You planned that?”

Matt nods.

“And with Spoole?”

Matt nods again.

“What about kissing Elyse and James?”

Matt shakes his head.

“Our date?”

Matt shakes his head again.

James cuts in quickly, "Matt— it wasn't just you who was in on it and playing the game. We all knew. We all kept it from you, regardless of if you knew or not."

Matt seems to have been prepared for that to be brought up because he once again squares his shoulders and looks determined. "But I asked you all out. I chose to do that. I called the shots and none of you ever did anything to make me doubt your feelings. But I kept playing with them and made it all worse."

It makes sense, the way Matt says it. Adam knows, logically, that since this is the case, all parties are to blame here. All parties should have called this off sooner. It still doesn't make him feel 100% better but that's because he came into this kitchen with the expectation to be scolded. Instead, what he’s gotten is understanding. An even playing ground. It will take a few moments for his brain to reorient himself around the fact.

“Matt,” Lawrence calls out, sounding firm. Resolute. “I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we’re sorry we made up the bet in the first place. We shouldn’t have started it.”

The words make Matt nod, once, quickly. “And I should have ended it.”

“No,” Bruce says, the finality of it making the others pause. His arms are still crossed, eyes fixed on a point in the floor tiles. “We should have ended it. That burden shouldn’t have been on you. We didn’t know you knew. We were the majority. It should have ended earlier. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Bruce looks up, eyes locked on Lawrence first, a sort of understanding passing through them before he looks to Matt. “We’re sorry. You knowing makes it better in some ways but not in every aspect. We should have told you because we care for you. It should not have gone this way.”

The way Matt’s shoulders sag makes Adam think that maybe this is what he’s wanted to hear all along. Someone else to shoulder the blame he’s been feeling all this time. Matt’s body sways to the side like a tree in the wind, leaning heavily into Bruce’s side.

“We’re sorry, Matt,” Bruce repeats, lifting his arm to bring Matt into an embrace. “I’m sorry.”

Sean steps forward from Joel’s side and hesitates for a second before he makes his way over to the two of them to hold Matt as well. Adam hears Sean’s whisper above the rustling of an embrace, “I’m sorry, Matt.”

The rest of them don’t need to be told twice. They move and in quick succession, Joel first, quickly followed by James, Elyse, and Lawrence, a cascade of murmured Sorry’s sounding as they step into the space to embrace Matt. Adam comes as well, moving a little belatedly, his shame rising in him.

“I’m sorry,” Adam says as he listens to Elyse repeat, “I’m sorry.”

James and Joel speak in turn, both enunciating their “I’m sorry,” in the same tone. Lawrence’s “Sorry,” sounds weary, weighty. As guilty as Adam feels.

They embrace. The eight of them, all outstretched arms and murmured apologies, curling around their warm, forgiving center of Matt.

Adam can barely see Matt over Sean’s shoulder. Lawrence is to his right again, James to his left, Elyse’s back pressed to his front. The warmth of the embrace makes Adam feel like he’s sloughing off all the guilt and confusion he’s been carrying since this whole thing started. He feels the barely-there trembling of Matt wrapped in Bruce and Sean’s arms, the sensation muffled by the bodies between them.

“Okay,” Bruce says softly, reassuringly. “Okay. We’re okay. We’ll be okay.”

They embrace for what feels like hours and must be minutes. Adam relaxes into it, meets Joel’s eyes as he leans his cheek on Elyse’s head. There’s an understanding there, a tenderness. Adam gets the urge to kiss him.

“I don’t know about you guys,” James pipes up, voice chipper. “But I really, really needed a hug like this.”

A laugh ripples out of the circle like a breath of fresh air. That’s James— the James Adam knows and loves. He gets another urge, this time to kiss James.

The embrace ends as hands and arms drop away but no one moves too far back. They stay in their messy, clumped together semicircle. Matt is under Bruce’s arm still. Elyse leans into Adam’s chest.

In their center, Matt wipes his sleeve under his eyes, trying to be discreet about the tears that have pooled there but ultimately failing. Bruce jostles him gently. “You okay, Matt?”

Matt lets out a breathless laugh, smile shining despite the tears. He lifts his gaze, scanning the crowd organized around him.

“Yeah,” he says, sounding decisive. “I am. For the first time in a long time.”

“Okay,” Bruce says softly. He turns his gaze to the others and repeats, “Okay,” his voice stern and level, making it clear that he's taking control of the situation as he addresses them. “We’re all in the know. We’ve talked. We can take the night to think about it and we’re back to work tomorrow. But if I sniff a moment of discomfort, I'm bringing you all right back here so we can talk again.”

There’s murmured assent from all of them.

“Okay,” Matt says steadily, as if drawing strength from Bruce. “Meeting adjourned.”

Though they seem to disperse after that, they still find themselves gathered in the parking lot. At the warehouse door, Lawrence squeezes Adam’s shoulders, asks him if he’s okay. The question makes Adam smile, a warm gesture. He’s glad Lawrence is here for him. Has always been here for him.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He meets Lawrence’s eyes, registering the softness which radiates off him in this moment. He’s not sure who leans in first but their lips meet in the middle for a chaste kiss.

As Lawrence pulls away, he looks behind Adam. Adam follows his gaze, turning to find Bruce hesitating in the warehouse. Adam turns back and nods Lawrence away, as if telling him it’s okay. He’ll be okay.

There’s a smile on Lawrence’s face as he goes, walking towards Joel, who was witnessing their moment. A peeping Tom, for sure, but Adam will call him out on it later.

Bruce walks up to Adam, looking unsure.

“So,” he starts. "What do you think?"

Adam huffs out a laugh, makes a deliberating noise. "It went... significantly better than I was expecting. My money was on him quitting."

"Please,” Bruce groans. “No more money talk, ever. No more bets, not even as jokes."

Adam grins crookedly at that. He ultimately agrees. This has all been too stressful for the meager payoff of five hundred. The bragging rights to Achievement Hunter barely even apply anymore, given the state of things. He looks around the parking lot now, sees how James and Elyse stand by their car, talking to Lawrence, who holds Joel close to his chest. Adam knows that embrace, loves that embrace. In the distance, by the parking lot entrance, Matt and Sean stand facing each other. Sean looks to be saying something giddily while Matt nods along, eyes shining with something Adam can’t place.

"It'll be okay, I think." Adam's eyes move from Matt and Sean back to Elyse in James' arms, both of whom meet his gaze with so much warmth, it makes Adam want to kiss them. Joel starts to turn, too, before Lawrence drops a kiss onto his neck in such a blatant display of affection, something in Adam’s chest swells. "It'll all be okay."

——

On the ride back from the office at 10 PM on a Wednesday, Bruce drives while Matt sits in the passenger seat, hands firmly in his hoodie pockets, looking out the window.

It's drizzling outside, the wipers are on, and the radio is playing a song about love at a very low volume.

When they're halfway there, stuck at a red light, Matt speaks, his voice almost in time with the beat of the rain, “Would you ever date the others in the office?”

Instinctually, Bruce wheezes out a chuckle. His voice a low rumble as he says, “Were you not there yesterday? I showed up to work wearing James’ shirt after sleeping over at James and Elyse's apartment.”

“So that's a yes?”

A beat of silence. Then, “That's an ‘I think I already am.’ I’ll have to ask.”

Almost instantaneously, “With Adam and Spoole?”

Bruce is quiet for a moment. He thinks about earlier in the day, takes out his mental map of where Sean touched him while he wasn’t very stable. Thinks about how things had felt so comfortable with Adam, Sean, and Lawrence after the gym a few weeks ago. How the atmosphere had only been tainted by his own confused feelings towards everyone at the table. Feelings that were now, for the most part, cleared up. He still has to unearth that box of worms but, for now, he’s pretty sure what he wants.

So he answers Matt, “I would like to try it, yeah.”

And Matt nods, distracted. His shoulders take on a particularly relaxed stance.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

On Thursday morning, Bruce wakes up feeling strangely light.

The air has been cleared. It's a relief to wake up and be able to face the day without the guilt over the bet plaguing him. He wonders if Matt feels the same way now that he was able to admit to his knowledge. He hopes that the apology was enough to patch the wounds the whole affair caused.

He hopes, he hopes, he hopes.

The previous night's conversation sticks with him as he gets out of bed. The apologies, sure. The reassurances from Adam, yeah. But sitting with Matt in the car…. Bruce can't stop thinking about the implications of it. He asked Bruce if he'd date the others. While coming clean about his knowledge of the bet where he pretty much admitted to wanting all of them.

Well, except for Bruce. Matt never did ask him out.

He's not very sure why that's a sticking point. They shared a kiss—a very good kiss— but no date. Bruce also doesn't take it as a ringing endorsement that Matt had to take a day off work the night after their kiss.

This is all nitpicking. He’s being nitpicky. He should be happy that they’ve worked it all out. Right?

Bruce hesitates to come out of his room before he squares up and exits. He finds the apartment empty and fights a sinking feeling in his chest when he finds the note. It's a small yellow one, written in black ink, and left on the bathroom mirror. Matt's handwriting reads, Went to gym early. Meet you at work.

It lifts Bruce's spirit a little, knowing Matt thought to think of him enough to leave him a note. To let Bruce know not to worry.

He gets ready for work, feeling steadier by the minute.

——

When he gets to work, Matt still isn't in.

He feels a little let down once he notices but doesn't let it shake him. Especially not as Joel swoops in on him and lays a lingering kiss on his cheek. The action makes him smile, noticing that Lawrence is watching them and mirroring his mirth. They're the only three in the office for enough time it takes for them to say their hellos before James and Elyse enter the room. The sight of them makes Bruce's smile soften, something tender shaking his heart. His optimism grows as he watches them smile back at him, too.

Matt arrives a few minutes later and Bruce isn’t sure why he feels relieved at the fact. It’s not like he doubted Matt would come in, especially not after he gathered them all up to explain the previous night. That was Matt taking the hard road up to communicating with them, with all of them, making himself as clear as possible and allowing them a space to be as transparent with him as possible. It allowed them to apologize, a gesture Matt seemed to appreciate. Bruce just wishes he could apologize again and again without seeming pathetic. He still feels sorry.

The room seems to hold its breath once he enters.

“Good morning,” Matt greets, the end of his mouth quirking up in a quick smile.

The breath is sighed out collectively, the atmosphere relaxing.

Adam and Spoole are the last ones in. They come in together, well after everyone’s sat down to work.

?????

—

There’s a huddle by James’ desk. Joel and Lawrence are leaning their heads together, shielding Bruce’s view of James. A murmur rises from them, making Bruce lift an eyebrow, curious.

Lawrence glances back, eyes skimming over Matt quickly before he turns around again. It makes alarm bells go off in Bruce’s head. He said that if there were any problems, they’d talk again. Not that he doesn’t think his friends aren’t adults who can communicate, but—

“Hey,” he calls over. “What are you guys talking about?”

The way Lawrence looks over makes Bruce think he was right on the money about avoidance. Joel and James look less deer-in-the-headlights but it’s still noticeable.

“Do we need to have a talk?” Bruce prompts.

“Uh,” Joel averts his eyes for a second before looking back up. “No. I don’t—”

James saves him, voice sincere as he says, “We were trying to figure out… how to call the bet off.”

His answer makes Bruce furrow his brow. He hadn’t considered that, really. He’d known the bet was the reason for all their turmoil but he’d always considered them communicating a bigger priority than anything else. And now that they’d talked and straightened things out (for the most part), he’d felt like the bet was over for them. But it was true enough that… they still need to officially call it off…. for everyone.

Bruce opens his mouth, no words coming out, no answer for them.

Matt speaks up from behind him, standing by his desk, making Bruce turn. He seems to address the whole office as he asks, "What were the rules of the bet?"

Joel speaks up, "Well… originally one but after Adam and Spoole, it got upped to two dates to win."

Matt nods, eyebrows furrowing as if in thought. "Okay… which dates do they know about?"

James and Lawrence exchange a glance before James answers, “All of them. Adam, Spoole, Elyse and I, Joel… do they know about Lawrence?"

Lawrence looks to Matt. "Did it count?"

Matt nods, determined.

Lawrence nods. "I don't think we told them. I told Bruce."

"I didn't say anything," Bruce confirms.

"Then, not Lawrence yet." James says.

"Tell them," Matt says.

Lawrence picks up his phone to do as Matt orders.

“Hey. Bruce," Matt says.

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

Bruce feels his heart stutter in his chest a little. “Like. You and me?”

Matt raises an eyebrow. “Yeah. Us.”

“Uh. Yeah. Yes.”

“Okay.”

That seems to be that because Matt slips his headphones back on. When Bruce turns back to his monitor, he sees Adam giving him a Look, capital L. Bruce bats at him, as if dismissing the look, smiling while he does it. Adam smiles, too, and goes back to his editing.

Well. It’s happening.

—

They don’t drive home together, what with Matt having left before Bruce that morning, so when they meet, they meet at home. They meet in the parking lot, their commute having been almost identical and only separated by a few minutes difference when Bruce was locking up the office.

When Matt sees him, he smiles as if he hadn’t just come from seeing him at work. Bruce smiles back and it feels warm on his face. He holds the door to the apartment lobby open for Matt and Matt thanks him softly.

In the elevator, Matt speaks up. Says, “Bruce.”

Bruce looks over to Matt, whose eyes are glued on the elevator doors. He waits.

Matt takes a long breath then starts, "I didn't mean to make it seem like I was just knocking names off the list. I should have asked you out before the bet. But I was scared. You're… you're you, you're special to me. And I was scared of that."

Bruce feels a little bad about Matt feeling like he has to say the words. It's comforting and the right thing to do, which is Matt's entire schtick, but… he realizes a little belatedly tht even if Matt were using him, he'd be okay with that. He cares about Matt so much that he wouldn't mind bring used by him this iant the VIBEEE WHAT ARE U SAYINGGGNBGBGDJDHEJHD I AHTE YOU

“Where are we going?”

“Here. I thought we could stay in and watch a movie. Order some food.”

“Okay, yeah.”

“If you want to go out, though, you can tell me and we can—”

“Matt. It’s perfect.”

Matt smiles small.

bruce, fury road and hot make outs

Chapter 15

A week of softness. Dating, feeling their way around each other, before,

-

Matt's eyes are stony. "Tell them the bet's over. Tell them I want to talk to them."

"You don't have to—"

"I want to. Tell them."

--

- Bet's over

- Who won?

- Peake says he wants to talk to you about it.

- Oooo, ominous

- ??? What? who won???

- He'll explain when you get here next (?) week.

- Ok now I'm scared.

talk with AH

“hey matt maybe dont mention that you knew about the bet?”

“Yeah.”

achievement hunter come back when they’ve been dating for two/three weeks. theyre being skeptical about the whole "im dating everyone" thing so they grill Matt about it and he just. calmly if nervously answers as truthfully as he can. about poly dating and shit.

Michael voice "how are you guys even alive"
Geoff "i can't believe matt let you live"
gavin "polyamory? really?"

“so who gets the money?”

“well, i’m not happy about it but. since the cat’s out of the bag and you’ve all gone on exactly two dates with peake, all of you.”

“Suck It Geoff.”

—

it's the first time all week Matt seems relaxed.

cuddles bruce on the couch.

--

extra scene with bruce and lawrence? James?: “hey, heard we have a date this week” nd the comment “if this office gets any more tender, I'm gonna have to report this shit to HR.”

Chapter 16

Turns out that arranging logistics for a date with more than two people is kind of a headache. Everyone has to carpool and agree on a time to arrive and don’t even get started on restaurant seating plans. When James called the restaurant, he said they asked him if they would need a private room for their activity. James made it into an innuendo that Bruce was inclined to laugh at.

Though it’s a headache, it is well worth it, Bruce finds out. He, Matt, Adam, and Joel get there only five minutes before James, Elyse, Sean, and Lawrence. There being a restaurant James and Elyse recommended: a

--

(everyone get there, everyone sit down, laugh in relief that wow, they’re on a date. all of them together. date. brief description of dinner and how they all interact and the touches they exchange. adam and sean hold hands, lawrence and joel kiss on the mouth more than once, elyse kisses bruce, james flirts with matt)

They go to dinner and it feels so fucking organic. The way Lawrence’s hands swipe Sean’s cheek and the way Elyse leans into Joel’s side as she laughs, the way James catches Adam’s hand and Adam fucking blushes, the way Bruce smiles at Matt and Matt smiles back, so fucking genuine.

lawrence, with adam leaning into him all tenderly “i knew this would happen someday”

adam “please. this was your pipe dream.”

“pipe dream come true baby” kiss

end

open haus bring it back to sister wives

“Now that you’re all sister-wives, who do you want to officiate at your ceremony?”

“Do we have to be sisters in order to be sister wives?” spoole

“nah” lawrence

“hey guys don't you think it is a little early in our relationship to be talking about marriage?” James

Matt blushes

“Plus, it’s not sister-wifery-whatever. It’s the seedy underbelly of Funhaus polyamory.” Lawrence

“Seedy?” Elyse, hands on hips? “Who you callin’ seedy?”

“Matt! He bought 50 pounds of oats!” Sean

“Oats are seeds?” Adam

Joel groans out loud. Bruce lays a soft kiss on the back of his head.

epilogue.

Now, he’s waking up in an apartment with someone he has feelings for. He sees that person when they’re sleep-rough and he gets to smile at him over breakfast. And that person (Bruce, if one is wondering) smiles at him back. He knows that they’ve already kissed but it still feels… new. It feels blooming.

Matt gets into work smiling and flirting with a person he has feeling for only to find six more people he has feelings for. They’re all new and budding. Little sprouts. Each one a different seed.

He can’t really help it—he’s an old romantic. So he compares each one to a different plant. Because they’re all so new.