Work Text:
They lay panting together afterwards, the three of them, everybody trying to get their breath back in their own time. They'd fallen apart a bit, Percy on his back, Pike sliding sideways off his hips to slump beside him on the bed, grinning inanely to herself. Scanlan was leaning back against the pillows beside Percy's head, somehow managing to arrange himself artfully even in the midst of gasping ruination. If Percy were a lesser man, he'd probably envy the bard that ability. Maybe he'd envy him regardless. Later, anyway. For the moment, however, he was entirely too exhausted and too content to do more than vaguely contemplate it.
He stirred himself a bit, shifting his hips and gingerly turning a little onto his side. Oh, ow. Yes. He'd strained something there, he'd swear he had. His arse, lovely, how amazingly dignified this sex thing was turning out to be. Ow.
It wasn't his fault. It was absolutely not his fault. Pike was heavy. They tended to forget that, most of them. Pike was tiny and beautiful and looked like sunshine and light and all those lovely, non-heavy things, so they ... they forgot. All of them, not just him. They forgot that she wore more armour than any of them, they forgot that tiny as she was she was built solidly of muscle, they forgot that she was a pint-sized little powerhouse who clobbered giants with the best of them and consequently was nowhere near as delicate and lovely as she often looked. Pike was not a light woman. Percy was soundly reminded of that now. Pike was nothing frail or fragile in the slightest.
He was, quite probably. Judging by the quivering in his thighs right now, he was the most fragile person in the damned bed this minute, although since Scanlan had somehow contrived to avoid the heavy lifting during the proceedings this time around that was possibly not a fair comparison. Though Scanlan hadn't had Pike quite as thoroughly as Percy had either, as a result of that. Hands and greedy mouths, yes, but not ... not what Percy'd just enjoyed. So. There was that. That was worth some strained muscles and shaking legs, yes, absolutely it was. Just. Also some dignity. Or a lot of his dignity. Ah well.
They'd trade off next time. They'd try some other arrangement, have Scanlan put his back into it for a change. The man bragged about his abilities often enough, they'd have him prove it to them some more. Pike. Or ... or Percy, maybe. He wasn't sure, he was thinking about it. He wasn't sure why, logistically alone it was somewhat alarming, but he ... he actually was thinking about it. Scanlan. Him and Scanlan. He'd been giving the concept a worrying amount of thought.
It was just ... it hadn't been what he'd thought. Sex. These two and sex. It had been ... He'd had it in his head that it'd be something reverent, something fragile. And it was, sometimes. It was Pike, there'd been a rather blasphemous bit of worship involved on both his and Scanlan's parts. And, he thought, a bit on Pike's part too, which was a great deal more blasphemous by far. He hoped Sarenrae would forgive her cleric her appalling taste. But. Howandever. All that aside, the ... the whole endeavour hadn't been what he'd expected. It hadn't been as serious and as borderline terrifying as he'd thought.
There were just all these little things. Details. Pike was heavy. Pike smelled of sweat and metal and armour polish, like a forge in some ways, and at particularly, um, particularly intense moments she had a tendency to swear like the sailor she'd been and then flush adorably afterwards. It was ... it was hard to be too serious in the face of that. And Scanlan. Scanlan was ticklish. Scanlan could be reduced to helpless, writhing pleading inside a minute with the right touch. Pike had pounced on that with glee, and Percy had almost despite himself been very happy to help her out. An armful of squirming, breathless gnome was a surprisingly exciting thing, in the right context. He honestly wouldn't have guessed.
(Percy was ticklish too, as it happened, but since that discovery had ended with Scanlan flung half off the bed and Percy himself hyperventilating a bit, they hadn't revisited the thought just yet. Later, maybe. Percy ... Percy was beginning to think that later would be a possibility. But not just yet. There were, after all, other things they could investigate in the interim).
It was fun, was his point. The whole sex thing, the whole keeping amorous company idea. Sometimes painful, mind, often undignified, but it was ... it was fun. It was warm, open and easy, something he had honestly never expected something so intimate could be. At least, it was with these two. Maybe he should have expected that with Scanlan, but he'd thought there would be an edge to it. A hint of mockery, a hint of too much knowing. But no. Scanlan was ... very gentle sometimes. Very gentle. It was nearly harder to bear than Pike's open devotion. It itched at the part of Percy that feared pity, but then ...
Then there was a gnome writhing breathlessly in his arms, their shared lover's fingers merciless against his ribs, and any thought of fear or pity seemed so very far away. Scanlan hiccoughed and laughed and swore, vowed vengeance on them both while Pike grinned at him with flushing innocence and Percy hid his smirk against the back of Scanlan's neck, and suddenly there was no thought of pity at all. No fear. Just warmth, and happiness, and a gentle sort of malice.
It was ... it was such a strange thing. The whole thing, the whole ... idea, experience, thing. It was so much more and also so different to what he'd vaguely expected all these years. Not just the sex, but them as well. Scanlan was gentler than he'd expected. Pike was ... more than he'd expected, heavy and playful and grasping and wriggling with delight at every possible juncture. Fierce, intent. She bit her lip sometimes. Watching them, rising and falling above them and watching Percy and Scanlan's fingers tangling together around Scanlan's member. She bit her lip, pulled it between her teeth, her eyes dazed and wondering and avaricious above it, and something in Percy's head went absolutely, perfectly still. Perfectly calm, perfectly quiet, every time. Scanlan would let go beside him, Pike above him, and for that second before he followed the world would seem wide and glorious and bright, and beneath that so utterly, perfectly still.
It was such a thing, he thought absently. Back in the present, his breath now nearly back to normal, his arm laid instinctively across his eyes to hide his thoughts from them. It was such a ... such a wonderful, terrible thing. He didn't know what to do with it. He hadn't expected it at all.
He didn't think he could bear to be without it again. Never, not ever. Good gods, how did people have this and then bear to let it go?
But then, maybe he wouldn't have to. A hand nudged his arm lazily, a weight settled solid and heavy against his poor hips, and Percy moved his arm from his eyes and looked at them. At Scanlan, propped above him with a sly grin and gentle malice in his eyes. At Pike, her hair plastered damply to her neck and a wide, dazed grin still on her face. At his ... his lovers, his partners, these people who'd pulled him into their bed and kept him happily there. Who promised him all of this and more, so long as he wanted them to. Maybe ... maybe he could keep that. Maybe he could have it, have even more if they all agreed to it, and never again have to give any part of it up.
Holy gods but they made him crazy, didn't they? This was beyond optimism, beyond even greed. This was outright lunacy, nothing more and nothing less, and they'd given it to him. They'd made him feel it. The sex hadn't changed that one little bit.
If anything, it had only made it worse. Or better. He honestly couldn't tell which.
"All right there, de Rolo?" Scanlan asked, leering mildly down at him. Not with any intent, really, not at this stage. Just warmly, just out of habit. "Looked like you pulled something there. We didn't break you, did we?"
"I'm really sorry, Percy," Pike said, shame-facedly patting his hip in apology. "I didn't mean to, I just ... it was really good and I just ... got carried away a bit? I'm so sorry. I can heal it up, if you want? I've got my breath back now. Just tell me where it hurts."
Percy blinked at her for a second, and then ... then he snorted softly, shaking his head both in refusal and at the ever-amazing depths of his own idiocy, and held out his hand to pull her up beside him and Scanlan instead. She blinked a bit in turn, but came willingly, letting them pull her up and tuck her in under Scanlan's arm to make a circle of the three of them. Three sweaty, exhausted, stupidly grinning idiots. Gods, Percy loved them. He loved them both and everything they did to him. He'd let them kill him in the morning if they needed to, though he had sense enough not to say so out loud. They tended to get a bit funny about that. All of them, not just these two. He loved too many people these days. More to the point, he let too many of them love him in return, and planned on letting more. It wasn't going to end well, but for once in his life Percy honestly wasn't sure how much he cared anymore.
"... I'm all right," he said softly, his own smile vague and distant and inane. "It's okay, Pike, I'm really fine. I might be walking funny in the morning, which nobody better comment on," and he paused to glare at an unrepentant Scanlan there, "but it's all right. Let's not bother Sarenrae over such trivial matters, hmm? I'm sure she has much better things to be doing than minding my sprained backside."
He hoped, anyway. He honestly hoped Sarenrae had too many things going on to be paying attention to her cleric right now. Lady of Light, he thought fervently, please be looking some other way right now, please and thank you kindly. Which was something of an unorthodox prayer, he did admit, and possibly unwise in and of itself, but some things the gods did not need to be looking in on. Judging by Pike's suddenly violent flush, all the way from her hairline down to her toes, the cleric very fervently agreed on that.
Scanlan equally clearly didn't, if his cackle was anything to go by, but then Scanlan was the kind of person who took a dump in a temple to spy on people. Barring it was for Pike herself, Scanlan wouldn't know reverence if it up and bit him. They weren't asking him. Honestly, nobody asked Scanlan with this kind of thing.
"R-Right, yes," Pike stuttered hastily. "Though, I mean, she probably wouldn't mind, but ... Yes. Let's, ah, let's leave that for now. Right. Okay then."
She bit her lip, bright-eyed and red-faced as she grinned sheepishly over at them, and Percy felt his heart turn over in his chest, a rush of absolute fondness swamping him where he lay. He glanced at Scanlan, met the bard's eyes, and found the same drowned and fiercely grateful expression there. Scanlan wasn't normally someone he moved in synchronisation to, but somehow it seemed easier that moment than near anything had ever been.
They pulled her down between them, nudged her gently into sliding across Scanlan and down to rest on Percy's shoulder. She went, startled but willing, always willing, her eyes soft now and confused, and Scanlan curled himself in behind her, wrapping himself along one side while Percy curled himself around the other. Surrounding her, cradling her in between them. Pike, who was heavy and beautiful and tiny and powerful, and nothing anyone could expect and everything anyone should desire, barring those selfish people who loved too many and too widely and couldn't bear to part from any of it. That was all right, though. That was okay. Pike loved too widely herself. She was the greediest angel in the world, and only the more beautiful for that. Let her have it all, then, and let the rest of them too. They were too greedy now for anything else, and all the happier for it.
"I'm all right," Percy whispered softly, pressing his nose to the metal-tinged damp of her hair. "I'm better than I've ever been. It's all right, Pike. You fixed the worst of it a long time ago. I'm all right now. Everything's just fine."
Scanlan snorted gently. "You're a really terrible liar, de Rolo," he said, but only gently, and didn't actually disagree. "How about you reach over and pull the blankets up off the floor, hmm? I don't know about you two, but I could use some sleep around now. Since somebody tired me out and all."
Percy grinned at him, a gentle malice. "After all those boasts about your stamina," he noted. "You must be getting old, Shorthalt. Can't go as long as you used to?"
"Getting-- Oi! Which one of us sprained his ass again? Old. Why I oughta--"
Pike giggled softly at the pair of them. The argument cut off, though to be fair neither of them had been really invested in it, and they looked down at her in unison. She smiled at them, and reached up to touch her hands gently to their cheeks.
"I love you," she said, entirely seriously. "I love you both so much. I'm really glad I stole the pair of you. I'm really glad you let me."
And that ... what could anyone say to that, hmm? What could anyone think, except ...
"So are we, Pike. So are we."