“Ted!” Ted jumps a little as he sees, of all people in the world, Nate Shelley come bursting into his office, Beard and Roy right on his heels, as Nate gasps out, “Don’t eat the—”

He cuts himself off, staring in horror at the half-eaten box of chocolates on Ted’s desk, and then at Ted, who’s holding one of the chocolates in his hand, oozing jam from where Ted had just taken a bite out of it.

“Oh no,” Nate says, clapping a hand to his forehead. “Oh no, no, no no.” If not for the gray hair and the black suit, it would be almost as if Ted’s traveled back to the old days, Nate standing in front of him all wide-eyed, earnestly fretting, though over what Ted isn’t sure.

“Howdy, fellas,” Ted says slowly, looking at all of their aghast faces with growing alarm. “Mind telling me what’s up?” Absently, he licks at the corner of his mouth, where a tiny smear of jam’s left, his tongue faintly tingling from the tartness as he does.

“Ted, drop the chocolates,” Beard says urgently, holding out his hand.

“Okay,” Ted says, and does so. “Why?”

“Because they’re fucking poison, that’s why,” Roy snaps out, scowling ferociously.

Ted stares at them all, then looks down at the box, the lingering taste of raspberries going sour in his mouth. “Well, shit.”

*

The thing is, Nate explains to them all in Rebecca’s office, looking wretched, is that it’s not poison, exactly. “It’s some sort of drug meant to lower inhibitions, I think Rupert thought if you had it, you’d turn into some raging lunatic and act out in public—”

“Is that West Ham’s new tactic now? Poisoning the opposition when you can’t beat them on the pitch?” Rebecca demands, as furious as Ted’s ever seen her.

“Shouldn’t we be calling an ambulance?” Beard asks, looking over at Ted, who is sitting on Rebecca’s couch, trying to breathe through the sudden fever that’s come over him, quick as lightning. He’s already had to strip off his sweater, and even his polo shirt’s feeling too restrictive right now.

“No, I don’t think so,” Higgins says distractedly, peering at the chocolate box he’d brought with them. “It’s not that kind of drug.”

“And what kind of fucking drug is it then?” Trent demands, storming in. Ted watches him with fascination, his eyes lingering on Trent’s bare forearms from where he has his sleeves rolled up.

Nate jumps at Trent’s entrance. “And what’s he doing here?”

Trent stops in his tracks, looking at Nate like he’s a nasty slug. “I could ask the same thing. Given that I’m Richmond’s Director of Communications now, and you’re the fucking competition—”

There’s more talking and shouting, but Ted fades out of it, focusing on his breathing, on the heat that keeps spiraling inside of him, tighter and tighter, low in the pit of his stomach—

Oh. Oh dear.

Carefully taking a pillow and placing it in his lap, Ted mumbles, “Think I outta be getting home, sleep this off.”

“Can’t do that either,” Higgins says, grimacing sympathetically. “You’ll have to, ah, burn it out.”

“Burn what out?” Rebecca demands, and Ted loses track of everything for a moment, staring at the pink gloss on her mouth, the curves of her body in that tight blue dress—

Ted groans, lowering his head. “Stuff’s not making me angry. It’s, uh, stirring me up in a different way, if you catch my meaning.”

“What is this stuff?” Trent asks in disbelief.

“Aphrodisac,” Higgins says succinctly. “Rupert, ah, knows some interesting people, with some interesting recipes. Though he clearly hasn’t paid enough attention to what those things can actually do, they don’t give people personality transplants—”

“What the fuck kind of dodgy shit are you doing at West Ham?” Roy demands of Nate, who says indignantly, “It’s not my dodgy shit, I came here to warn you all!”

“Showed up a bit late, didn’t you?”

“That’s not my fault, it took me ages to get past your security—”

“Ted,” Trent says, coming closer. Ted blearily lifts his head, and boy was that a mistake, because now he’s looking up at Trent’s handsome face, his lovely grey-streaked hair falling over his eyes, the smell of his cologne…

Ted turns away, clutching the pillow even closer to him, though that doesn’t do him a lick of good, not when Trent’s placing a warm hand on his shoulder and asking kindly, completely unaware of how his touch is setting Ted on fire, “Ted, are you all right?”

“Oh, peachy keen,” Ted insists, trying to sound as normal as possible, even with the hoarse rasp to his voice, the fantasy playing in his head of turning back to look at Trent, sinking his hand into that thick hair and pulling him in for—“Just need to get home.”

“No one is sending you home alone,” Rebecca says imperiously, from where she’s been consulting with Higgins and Beard. “We’ll keep an eye on you.”

“Uh,” Ted says, but whatever argument was happening earlier while he was distracted, Rebecca’s won it, as everyone is now trooping out of his office, Beard giving him a supportive thumbs-up as he goes. Nate’s the most reluctant, turning to look at Ted worriedly as though he’ll drop dead at any moment, until he’s finally tugged along by Beard.

As the door shuts behind everyone, Rebecca gracefully sits down on the other side of Ted. She doesn’t say anything at first, just strokes his hair in comfort, and Ted watches her and Trent look at each other, having a silent conversation that he’s not a part of. He closes his eyes as he rests his head against the couch, wistful and grateful in equal measure that even if he’s not a part of their relationship, they’re still here with him—and also trying not to shudder or moan in pleasure at the feeling of Rebecca’s fingers in his hair, her nails just barely scratching at his scalp.

As Ted tries to keep his breathing steady, Rebecca is the one to break the silence. “Ted.” As Ted opens his eyes, Rebecca reaches out to touch his hand as she says, a flush rising up on her cheeks, “Ted…I know this is awkward, but simply sending you home to ah, take care of it yourself won’t solve the problem. You need a partner. Or more than one.”

“Rebecca—“ Trent begins, and Ted may be about to start climbing the walls from how sexually frustrated he is, but that is not the sound of a man ready to jump into…whatever it is Rebecca’s proposing, Ted’s not letting himself thinking about the specifics, otherwise he will lose it.

“No, no, that’s okay, I don’t wanna get between y’all, I really can manage this on my own, I swear,” Ted says desperately, trying to sit up and not dislodge the pillow still in his lap. “I’ve got a right hand and plenty of toys at home, I’ll be fine—“

“Toys?” Rebecca asks, eyes going wide.

“Not that I don’t want to hear about the toys, but what do you mean, get between us,” Trent demands.

Ted looks from Trent to Rebecca and then back again, knowing he’s messed up somewhere but not able to pinpoint where. “In between y’all’s…thing. Your relationship.”

Rebecca blinks at him. “Ted, do you think that Trent and I are dating?”

“Yes?” Ted says, his voice rising up at the end because he was sure of it, what with Trent and Rebecca getting along like a house on fire once Trent came on board and started quashing Rupert’s schemes left and right—ooh, that’s probably why Rupert tried to drug Ted—what with them having lunch together all the time, going out for drinks, laughing together when they watched training together from Rebecca’s office, calling out hello in unison to Ted through the open windows. Ted had been happy for them, and if his happiness had come with a wistful streak to it, that was Ted’s problem.

Except, even as lust-addled as his brain is at the moment, Ted’s starting to realize that’s not very much evidence to prove Trent and Rebecca are dating.

And sure enough, Rebecca tells him, “Ted, I’m not dating Trent.”

“We’re really not,” Trent agrees, amused. “We’re friends, who have discovered we have a great deal in common. Such as how much we’re both attracted to you.”

Wait.

“Wait, what?” Ted blurts out, the shock of it momentarily driving the fog from his head, but then Rebecca’s hands are sliding on top of his, and she smells so good and she’s so close, those lovely green eyes looking straight into his, and she’s saying softly, “Let us help, Ted.”

Ted is not able to figure out who starts leaning in first, but somehow his mouth is on Rebecca’s and her hands are on his chest, and he’s burning up everywhere now, and it’s not until Rebecca makes a soft noise against his mouth that he realizes that he’s gripping her arms tightly, the pillow having fallen to the floor at some point.

It hurts so much, but Ted somehow yanks himself away. “Wait, wait, I shouldn’t—”

“Yes, you should,” Rebecca insists, eyes sparking now. “I’m not going to see you suffer just because my ex-husband decided to be a shit.”

“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have to do this just because Rupert’s a shit,” Ted retorts, to which Rebecca slides her hand up his thigh and asks, her eyebrow raised and her voice low and promising, “Does it look like I don’t want to do this?”

And then, because Ted doesn’t have enough temptation to be dealing with at the moment, now Trent’s stealing an arm around Ted’s side, the weight of it solid and grounding, and he’s leaning in against Ted’s back and murmuring in Ted’s ear, hot breath sliding against Ted’s skin, “Just a helping hand, it doesn’t have to be more than—” Whatever else Trent’s going to say, he doesn’t have a chance to finish it, as Ted’s control finally snaps, and he twists around to clumsily press his mouth to Trent’s, the warmth and softness of Trent’s mouth driving Ted to press for more, until he’s got a hand gripping Trent’s soft hair and he’s licking into Trent’s mouth, shuddering as Trent wraps a fist around the hem of Ted’s shirt and pulls him in even closer.

If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that Trent and Rebecca had things choreographed between them, because while he’s kissing Trent, Rebecca’s moved her hands to the buckle of Ted’s belt, and Ted’s hips are arching up into it before he can stop himself, and Rebecca presses herself against Ted’s side, asking sweetly, “Ted, tell me if you want this—”

What he ought to do is being buried under waves of desire and desperation, under the hot press of Trent’s mouth against his and the smell of Rebecca’s perfume. Eyes squeezed shut, Ted mumbles against Trent’s mouth, “God, yes, please—”

That’s as much as Rebecca needs. She works open his belt and his pants, both her and Trent guiding his hips up to tug his clothes down far enough to give Rebecca access, and Ted groans with relief as Rebecca’s hand finally closes around his erection, her grip warm and sure.

It doesn’t take much, just a few steady strokes before Ted’s spilling over in Rebecca’s fist, sobbing for breath against Trent’s mouth as Rebecca murmurs soothingly against the nape of his neck. “There you are, there you go,” she says, and the praise sends a spark racing down Ted’s spine.

Gasping, he finally pulls back from Trent and collapses against the back of the couch, so lightheaded he can’t even think, which is why it takes him a minute to realize he’s just as hard as he was before Rebecca—

“Well, this is fascinating,” Trent murmurs, and Ted lets out a choked little laugh and covers his eyes, not sure he’ll be able to stay composed at the sight of Trent Crimm calmly examining his still-erect cock.

“Perhaps if we,” Rebecca begins thoughtfully, and Ted cracks an eye open.

“Whatever y’all have got planned for me,” Ted says, still breathless, “May I request we move to, uh, a more discreet location? I try to avoid having sex marathons in the workplace.”

“Do you have sex marathons on a regular basis, Ted?” Trent asks, eyebrow raised and his mouth curling up.

Ted is feeling so at peace with the world—at least for the moment—that it feels all right to smile at Trent and say, “A gentleman doesn’t just kiss and tell, Trent, you know that.”

He’s still smiling when first Rebecca, then Trent, lean in to kiss him gently on the mouth, one right after the other.

*

The car ride to Rebecca’s house sure is interesting.

It’s ironic that Ted is somehow the one most committed to not having sex in the back of the car; even with the divider up, he’s still too aware of the fact that Rebecca’s driver Adam almost certainly knows that they’re all making out together in the backseat, and he will almost certainly know if they actually start having sex in the backseat, and crazy raspberry-flavored drugs or no, Ted has limits.

He’s absolutely going to make out with Rebecca and Trent in this car though, oh yes sir.

“Darling,” Rebecca murmurs happily against his mouth, arching up into his touch as Ted maps out her body with his hands, and Ted is practically vibrating with the effort it takes to keep his touch light, to move slowly, to keep from dragging her in and just taking—

Ted swears as Trent’s hand moves up his inner thigh, cupping him through his khakis with a firm and sure touch, the casual ownership in it making Ted feel even more light-headed than he already is. “Oh, Jesus,” he groans, pulling back from Rebecca’s mouth to grab at Trent’s wrist to hold it still, warning him, “Trent, sweetheart, have mercy—”

“How is it that you’re still more restrained than either of us right now?” Trent marvels, before looking at Rebecca and asking her, “Can you believe this?”

“It’s quite impressive,” Rebecca demurs, leaning in to kiss behind Ted’s ear, along his jawline, grinning against his skin as Ted shivers.

“Y’all are gonna be the death of me,” Ted says in despair, and pulls Trent in for a kiss, hoping that’ll be enough to keep them all busy until they can get to the damn house.

Whatever was in those chocolates, it’s got Ted all kinds of mixed up—his body feels hot and cold as though he’s got a fever, and he’s teetering right on the edge of losing control entirely, like the only thing that’s keeping him from flying apart is the warmth of Rebecca and Trent pressed against him, their hands moving over him, but if he lets himself sink too far into it, that haze’ll come over him and he can’t let that happen, he has to think—

So Ted methodically counts the steps of his plan off one by one, first they’ll get into the house, then he’ll get that gorgeous but restrictive dress off Rebecca, after that they’ll—

Ted’s feverish thoughts are interrupted once the car finally pulls to a stop, Trent muttering, “Oh, thank fucking Christ,” and then they’re all stumbling out of the car together, clumsy and far too obvious but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter a bit, no sir, not once they’re inside and the door is safely shut behind them and Ted can finally pull Rebecca into his arms, tugging at the zipper to her dress until it’s finally peeling down the curve of her spine. Trent steps up behind Rebecca, dark eyes fixed on Ted as he helps Rebecca wriggle out of her dress. Ted’s mouth goes dry at the sight of Rebecca in nothing but her black bra and matching underwear, Trent’s hands on her bare skin. “Becca—” he chokes out, but before he can say anything else, Rebecca’s kissing him fiercely, and Ted finds himself touching her everywhere, her breasts, her hips, the curve of her ass, as Rebecca clutches at him, urging him on until he’s grinding against her thigh, and no, no, this won’t work.

“Hang on, hang on,” he’s mumbling, and Rebecca’s reassuring him, fumbling with his belt as she tells him it’s fine, she’s got this handled—right up until Ted lifts her up, his arm tight around her waist and a hand balanced on the back of her thigh, pressing her back against the door with more force than he’d like, but even though Rebecca’s eyes are wide with shock, she doesn’t look hurt or alarmed, just—

“Okay?” Ted pants out, searching her face.

Rebecca gapes down at him, her hair slipping free of the carefully crafted ponytail she’s been wearing all day. “Holy shit, Ted,” she says, open-mouthed, but her long legs are already wrapping around his waist, and she’s arching up into him as Ted groans with relief and drops his head, placing feverish kisses between her breasts as she reaches between them and starts working his pants open, calling out over Ted’s shoulder, “Trent, darling—”

“Of course,” Trent purrs, and then he’s standing right behind Ted, a warm and solid weight at his back as his hands join Rebecca’s, easily getting Ted’s belt and khahis open as he says hotly in Ted’s ear, “Aren’t you just full of surprises today, Lasso?”

His thumb swipes over the head of Ted’s cock as he speaks, and Ted can’t think to say anything asides from “Oh God, please,” but they’ve got him, they have him, as Ted pushes Rebecca’s underwear to one side and Trent’s hot hand is lining him up right as Rebecca’s sinking down onto him, and then everything in the world disappears, and all Ted can do is gasp for air as Rebecca clutches down on him, the hot wet feeling of her around his cock so overwhelming that Ted’s nearly biting through his lip as he tries not to come immediately, or move before she’s ready.

“Shh, shh,” Trent says soothingly in his ear, before asking Rebecca, “Darling, are you—”

“I’m good,” Rebecca says, her voice high and faint. “I am, it’s just…fuck, he’s so big,” she says, half-laughing. “Oh my God, no wonder you’re so confident, who wouldn’t be when they’re secretly walking around with a baby elephant trunk in those hideous khakis—”

Ted’s control is hanging by a thread, but he somehow manages to ask, incredulous, “Baby elephant trunk?”

“Having seen it, that is an accurate description of the monster you’re currently packing, my dear Ted,” Trent agrees behind him.

“It is, it really—” Rebecca’s voice catches as Trent’s hand, still between them, starts carefully rubbing at her clit, “Oh God, don’t stop, don’t—”

“Shh, I won’t, I won’t,” Trent reassures them both, Ted biting at the inside of his cheek as Rebecca restlessly rocks down against him and Trent’s hand, growing even slicker and hotter around him, until she’s finally panting out, “Okay, okay, Ted you can move—”

Any other time and Ted would’ve waited longer, would’ve double-checked (really, he would’ve made her come at least once before penetrating her), but nothing about this is like any other time, and so Ted doesn’t wait, he just finally lets his body move, thrusting up into her until tiny cries are escaping Rebecca’s mouth, until it feels like lightning is running up and down his spine as he pants against Rebecca’s lovely throat.

And Trent’s right there for all of it, murmuring encouragement to them both, his face turned into Ted’s hair as he urges them on, Ted listening to his voice as he snaps his hips up, balancing Rebecca against the wall, Rebecca gasping as she grinds down against his cock and Trent’s hand until she’s coming with a choked cry, clenching so tightly around him that Ted finally has to come, in a blinding rush of pleasure and relief.

“Jesus,” Rebecca sighs, stroking Ted’s hair. “I can’t feel my legs.”

“All right?” Ted asks lowly, and Rebecca smiles down at him, flushed and radiant.

“Darling, I’m fantastic,” she assures him, and Ted grins up at her, abashed and pleased, and carefully sets Rebecca down on the ground, Rebecca sighing as she unwraps her legs from Ted’s waist and wobbles unsteadily to the nearby couch.

Trent’s taken a few steps back, and despite everything Ted’s just done with Rebecca, when he looks at Trent he feels that haze of pleasure rolling over him again, and it’s the sharp edge of desire, that endless need for more that has him pulling Trent in by the loops of his belt and saying, “Come here a second,” before he backs Trent up against the same door he had Rebecca at just a moment before, and then goes down to his knees.

Trent’s breathing has gone unsteady as Ted roughly opens his trousers, his hands carding gently through Ted’s hair as Ted wraps a hand around his cock, his thumb carefully moving Trent’s foreskin back, before he lowers his head and wraps his mouth around Trent’s thick cock, choking a little in his eagerness.

“Jesus fucking Christ, your mouth is—” Trent’s hands are tightening in his hair, hips carefully rocking back and forth, Ted’s eyes closing as he relaxes his throat and lets himself…lets himself be used, however Trent needs to make use of him.

“He’s absolutely marvelous, isn’t he,” Ted dimly hears Rebecca saying; Trent laughs unsteadily and replies, gasping a little as Ted’s tongue rubs along his foreskin, “He really is, oh fuck—”

That lightning’s moving through Ted’s body again, and he lets himself give into it, moaning around Trent’s cock as he strokes his own half-hard erection, not letting himself think of anything but the weight and taste of Trent’s cock in his mouth, and when Trent comes, his hands going punishingly tight in Ted’s hair, Ted swallows him down.

*

It all starts to blur together, after that.

They make their way up to Rebecca’s bedroom, where Ted goes down on Rebecca in her king-sized bed, and then going for another round after that, her leg thrown over his shoulder as he fucks her, Rebecca’s eyes squeezed shut as she cries out with every thrust.

Later, as Trent’s working Ted open with slick fingers, he says idly to Rebecca, who’s lying next to them still catching her breath, “Somehow I never pictured you being that noisy.”

“I’m not, usually,” Rebecca says, wild-eyed; she reaches out to brush her fingers against Ted’s panting mouth, and Ted sucks them in without thinking, tasting the salt of her skin. “Good God, what an absolute treasure you are, Ted.”

Ted makes a faint dissenting noise, Trent huffs and says, his fingers twisting inside of Ted and making him whimper, “No, I’m with Rebecca on this one, you are…a remarkable gift.”

Ted lets Rebecca’s fingers slip free from his mouth and turns his face into the pillow, mumbling, “Oh, God, please just—Trent, I’m ready, you don’t have to—”

“Darling,” Trent says, so tender and cruel at the same time, “Let me just take care of you, hmm?”

“You are, you are, just—”

“Shh,” Trent says, and Ted buries his face in his elbow and tries to remember how to breathe, shuddering in pleasure as Trent stretches him open, the heat and burn of it sinking into his entire body.

Rebecca strokes his hair the entire time that Trent fucks him, Ted pushing back against her hand and against Trent’s, who’s holding him down with a hand placed right between his shoulderblades, hiking Ted’s hips up just that much higher so that he can hit precisely the right angle to drive Ted straight into a babbling wreck of his former self, sobbing and pleading as he moves back into every thrust, and when Rebecca reaches down to stroke his cock, Ted comes with a sharp cry, so sensitive by this point that it almost hurts, but not enough to stop. Not nearly enough to stop.

It goes on like that, Ted needing more and more and Rebecca and Trent giving it to him, giving him everything that he could want, until the fever and the haze finally burns itself out, and Ted is lying in the wreckage of Rebecca’s bed, completely and utterly wrung out, slick and sore and finally, finally sated.

“Oh my God,” he slurs, blinking up at the ceiling, his mouth painfully dry. Trent’s gone off to get some water, God bless the man, because Ted genuinely doesn’t think he’s capable of moving right now, let alone walking anywhere.

Rebecca hums, kissing his forehead. “Yes, I was definitely seeing God at one point.”

Ted laughs weakly, flapping a hand. “Don’t…don’t flatter me.”

“Excuse you, the multiple screaming orgasms did that for me, thank you very much,” Rebecca tells him, then as Trent approaches, footsteps going louder, she reaches out for the glass, kissing Trent on the cheek as she murmurs, “Oh thank you, darling, he really needs this.”

They both help him sit up and Rebecca holds the glass to his mouth, Ted gratefully drinking every drop of the cool water, slumping against Trent’s side once he’s finished. “Think I’m just gonna collapse right here, if it’s all the same to y’all,” he murmurs, eyes sliding shut.

“Hmm,” Trent says. “As tempting as that is, we should probably get you into a shower first.” Ted whimpers pitifully at the thought, and Trent chuckles and says, “I know, darling, but you really will feel better afterwards. Come on, we’ll help you through it.”

Ted stirs a little at that and says, “You don’t have to…I mean, y’all have already…”

“Ted,” Rebecca says, and Ted catches her and Trent sharing a look, before Trent smiles down at him and says, “Like everything else that has happened today, we’re doing this because we want to take care of you, because it is our pleasure to do so.”

“Also my shower is fucking magnificent,” Rebecca adds loftily. “We could fit six people in there, easily.”

“I hope you’re not planning to,” Ted says, and Rebecca laughs and says, “No, the three of us is plenty enough.”

And like everything else that’s happened, it’s far too easy for Ted to give himself up to their generosity and strong hands, patiently scrubbing him clean and working expensive shampoo and conditioner through his hair as the hot water comes down on all of them. Ted leaves the bathroom using Rebecca’s hand for balance as he carefully inches his way back to the bed, smelling of her, to find Trent’s already stripped down the bed and put new clean sheets on it.

“God, y’all are amazing,” Ted sighs, collapsing into the bed facedown, not even worrying about his still-damp hair. They climb into the bed on either side of him, Trent’s hand moving idly down his back as they discuss what to order in for dinner, Ted drifting off to sleep to the sound of their cheerful banter over whether they should go for Indian or Greek.

*

Breakfast the next morning is, despite all of their best intentions and efforts, still pretty darn awkward.

There’s just no way for it not to be, even with Ted putting a smile on his face as he fixes up enough French toast to feed an army. He knows it’s mostly his fault, he’s too stilted, and Rebecca and Trent know him too well (good God do they know him after yesterday) to not see through him and pick up on his unease.

They’re both kind enough not to comment on it, Rebecca sipping her orange juice as Trent outlines his plan to destroy Rupert Mannion and grind him into dust. Apparently he’s had this plan in the works for a while now, it’s just getting escalated due to…recent events.

“It’ll help now that we have Nate on our side, of course,” he adds at one point, and Ted pauses at the stove.

“It almost feels like I dreamed that bit, about Nate coming to warn me,” he says without thinking. “I didn’t, right?”

“No, that really happened,” Rebecca says gently. “I know, I’m also shocked when I think about it.”

“He seems quite desperate to make amends,” Trent says, adding dryly, “I’m rather familiar with the feeling myself, so I can recognize the urge when I see it.”

That subject’s a minefield that Ted is absolutely not capable of navigating right now, so instead of making the attempt, he puts down the plate of French toast in the center of the island, and all three of them dig in. For a few moments it really is all right, Rebecca and Trent both raving about the breakfast, Ted relaxing the way he does whenever he gets a chance to cook for people he cares about.

And yet—there’s still things he should say. So, staring at his plate, at his mostly-full glass of orange juice, Ted takes a breath and says, “Listen, I know you…I just feel like I ought to say thank you again, for helping me through all of this. It was a hell of a lot to ask of you both, and I know I was, uh, a lot to handle there—”

“Only in the best possible sense,” Trent says dryly, and Rebecca clicks her tongue at him, lightly hitting him on the arm.

Ted can feel himself blushing, but he pushes on anyway. “And I just wanted to say thanks and you know, apologize that you were put in that position.”

There’s a wrinkle growing between Rebecca’s eyebrows. “How are you apologizing to us? And for what?”

It’s not often that Ted wants to crawl under the table, but boy is he getting there right now. “For—” he flaps his hand helplessly in the air, “You know. I was kind of a giant mess, and you had to keep me together. I’m not usually that, that needy and—”

“What a pity,” Trent says, voice even. “Because I for one thoroughly enjoyed giving you everything you could ask for.”

If his cheeks were feeling hot before, they’re scalding now. “You…”

Trent’s looking straight at him, and for all of his dry words just now, the expression on his face is intent and serious. “How you can think that anything about yesterday was somehow…somehow a burden is beyond me. Good Lord, Ted, exactly what part of that did you think was distasteful to me? The part where I came down your throat? The part where I fucked you through the mattress?”

Rebecca lightly places a hand on Trent’s arm, restraining him, and they share another one of their looks, having an entire conversation in the time it takes to blink.

Then Rebecca looks at Ted, with that expression she gets when she’s about to be brave and talk about her feelings, even though it terrifies her. “Ted,” she says, carefully, “What Trent is trying to say is that if you want to move on from…from yesterday, we will absolutely understand. But please don’t think you have to do it for us. We…” she trails off, looking to Trent to continue.

Trent picks up the thread, saying, “We’re both rather crazy about you, and yesterday hasn’t changed that at all. Rather exacerbated it, if I’m frank.”

Speechless, Ted looks at them both, mouth open as he tries to pull himself together. It’s not that he hadn’t hoped, or that he didn’t want—

“Unless that’s a problem,” Trent says carefully, both him and Rebecca waiting for whatever Ted’s about to say next, whatever his decision’s going to be.

Ted’s mouth opens without his consent, and he blurts out, “Can I take y’all out to dinner?”

It’s funny, the way Trent and Rebecca blink at him in pretty much exactly the same way. “Dinner?” Rebecca repeats.

“Yeah,” Ted says, his heartbeat picking up as he looks back at them. “Something where everyone stays sober, and we get to enjoy each other’s company, and we just…take it from there.”

There’s another beat, and when Rebecca and Trent look at each other to check in, they’re both smiling. “That sounds…actually rather perfect,” Rebecca says, her face soft and open and so beautiful it almost hurts to look at her, except for how it’s one of Ted’s favorite things to do, and it feels so good to be able to admit that at last.

“Just so long as there aren’t any mysterious chocolates involved,” Trent adds slyly, and Rebecca’s outraged “Trent!” isn’t enough to drown out the sound of Ted bursting into laughter, or stop Trent from looking so pleased with himself, even as he’s reaching out to take Ted’s hand in his, their fingers tangling together, and really—for how strangely this started, he can’t believe his luck in how this all turned out, he really can’t.