Matt had been hit pretty hard by Elyse’s improvised drinking game. Truth be told, he had forgotten just how many shots he had done over the course of the evening. He wasn’t feeling too drunk, but when he made to get up off the couch he swayed on his feet, and James grabbed him by the arm, keeping him steady and upright.“Matt, don’t go,” Elyse pleaded from her spot on the couch, reaching up an arm to try and grab hold of the man she was talking to.“It’s too late to party,” Matt objected. “I should go home.” Elyse made another noise of complaint and James gave a wicked grin, released his grip on Matt’s arm and watched as the smaller man wobbled before falling back over onto the couch.“I don’t think we can trust you to get home,” James laughed, looking at where Matt was now sprawled out, Elyse’s hand on his shoulder.“And you’d be all alone because, because Bruce is gone,” Elyse tried to reason. “Stay here Matt, please.” Matt sighed heavily, relaxing back onto the couch and pulling his legs up, getting into a more comfortable position.“Fine,” he mumbled as he settled down. “I’ll stay.”“Yay!” Elyse exclaimed, throwing an arm up before bringing it down to wrap around Matt’s shoulders. “Sleepover with Matt Peake.”“You two have fun braiding each other’s hair,” James laughed as Elyse pulled the smaller man closer to her.Matt wasn’t sure how or when he ended up curled against Elyse on the couch. He was sleepy and still drunk, and so his concerns about cuddling with Elyse or about getting a little too close to her were non-existent. James had left the room some time ago, and Matt could vaguely hear him bumping around as he cleaned up in the kitchen. The lights were still turned off from when they’d been gaming, leaving Matt and Elyse laying in darkness, with the exception of the glow from the TV and the light coming through from the kitchen where James was.Elyse moved, and Matt became conscious of the fact he was laying on her, that she was probably uncomfortable, that he should get up and stop crushing her. But before he had time to follow through on the thought, Elyse’s arm wrapped around his front, resting just above his waist. The other arm, the one closest to Matt, moved and she brought her hand to the back of his head, began softly petting his hair. Matt’s eyes slipped closed again and he sighed contentedly, leaning his head onto Elyse’s chest. He didn’t say anything, was too scared to move let alone speak. For now he was more than happy to lay there, to listen to the quiet hums Elyse made as she breathed deeply, her own eyes closed and a gentle smile on her lips.“So glad you’re staying, Matt,” she murmured after some time. “Don’t want you to go.”“I’m not going anywhere,” Matt reassured with a soft laugh.“Not tonight maybe,” Elyse grumbled in response, causing Matt to frown.“What do you mean?” He asked. He felt Elyse’s fingers go still in his hair, felt her heavy sigh as much as he heard it.“You’re not staying forever,” she explained. She was quiet, almost nervous. “You’ll stay tonight, but in the morning you’re gonna go home.”“Y-you… You don’t want me to go home?” Matt asked, completely lost by now. He had no idea why Elyse was so sad, why she didn’t want Matt to go home tomorrow.“I want this to be your home,” Elyse replied. She opened her eyes, pulled back and started to stroke Matt’s hair again. Matt blinked up at her, still frowning, brow furrowed in confusion.“What are you talking about?” Questioned Matt, his voice much more calm than he felt. His heart was hammering in his chest, but he didn’t let his nervousness show.“You, Matt. I’m talking about you. I just want you to stay here. I don’t wanna wake up from cuddling you and have to say goodbye.”“Elyse, you see me every day. You can hug me whenever you want, I don’t mind.”“That’s not the same though.”“Not the same as what?”“It’s not the same as like, waking up next to you, or keeping you warm at night, or kissing your head in the morning while you’re still asleep.” Elyse rambled, her head tilted back, open eyes looking at the ceiling and not Matt. For which Matt was thankful, since his mouth was hanging open and he probably looked incredibly foolish in that moment.“I… I don’t understand,” he breathed after what felt like a long silence, where Matt tried to gather his thoughts. Elyse sighed again, quietly, moved her head so she was looking down at Matt. She met his gaze and Matt found it a little hard to breathe under the intensity of her stare.“What don’t you understand?” Elyse asked.“Why? I don’t… You really want all that?”“I would love to wake up next to you every day, Matt Peake.”“Elyse—” Matt started, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by Elyse’s lips finding his own. She took advantage of his surprise, her tongue meeting Matt’s through his parted lips. He gasped at the kiss and Elyse made a quiet noise in the back of her throat, the hand on Matt’s head pulling him in closer to her. Matt wasn’t sure why, maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was because he wanted Elyse, but he found himself kissing her back, his own hands tentative as they held onto her sides.Elyse pulled back with a small grin and Matt blinked his eyes open in time to see her move, to watch as she swung one leg over his and seated herself in his lap. Her hands returned to Matt’s face, bracketing it, holding him still so she could lean back in and kiss him again. She was rougher this time, more eager and more confident, catching Matt’s lower lip between her teeth and getting a rush every time he gave a soft moan or surprised groan. In response to her.Matt’s whole world had reduced down to just Elyse, to Elyse’s hot tongue in his mouth, her strong hands on his head, the warm weight of her as she sat on top of him. His brain couldn’t think beyond how great she felt, how good she was at kissing, how much he enjoyed the fact Elyse was in control, that she was setting the pace. She took Matt’s hand from her waist, brought it up to her head. Matt ended up with his fingers tangled in her hair, just to keep her close, to try and make Elyse feel as good as he felt.When Elyse pulled away Matt felt like he’d ridden a rollercoaster, was breathless and full of adrenaline, craving more and yet in love with everything he’d already had. She leaned down so that their foreheads were touching, and Matt’s chest felt funny when he noted the smile on her face. Elyse’s hand slipped down, and Matt sighed quietly at the feeling of her nails against the side of his face and in his hair where she was touching him.“I love you, Matt,” she murmured. Matt took in a long, deep breath, let his eyes fall shut again as he thought about that confession, the weight behind those words. Matt wanted to say them back, but hearing Elyse tell him that was like she’d just thrown a bucket of ice water over him. He was shocked into reality, suddenly remembering that this was his friend, and she was married, and they’d just made out on her couch whilst her husband was in the next room. The guilt filling Matt quickly flushed out any affections he may have wished to express.When Matt didn’t reply, Elyse rolled off him, back into her previous spot, curled against the arm of the couch. She was already half asleep, and Matt sighed heavily, scrubbing a hand over his face as the weight of what he’d just done started to hit him. He moved away to the other side of the couch, settling down and getting ready to spend the night there.A short while later Matt heard movement and was awoken from his mostly unconscious state. He looked up to see Elyse pushing herself onto her feet and walking slowly and deliberately towards James, who was standing in the hallway, waiting for her. Matt saw him press a kiss to her head as she passed him, and the guilt stabbed at Matt again as he watched the interaction.After Elyse had disappeared to the bedroom, James entered the living room. Matt’s heart pounded as James approached the couch, and Matt wondered if James had seen them, if he was about to throw him out. Matt wouldn’t blame him, in all honesty.James didn’t throw him out, however. What he did do was throw a thick blanket over Matt’s legs and hold out a pillow. The kindness only made Matt feel guiltier, and part of him wished that James would have just yelled at him and told him to leave. Somehow that felt like it would have been easier to deal with.“Is that blanket okay, or do you want another one?” James asked, with a small smile. “I know how cold you get.”“N-no, this is fine, thank you,” Matt said hurriedly, taking the pillow out of James’s hands. He managed to force an awkward smile to show his appreciation, and James laughed gently.“Okay then. I’ll see you in the morning, buddy.” Matt nodded and James gave a little wave before turning off the TV and heading back down the hall to join Elyse in their own room. Matt heard the door close and let out a long, heavy sigh.When Elyse and James got up on Saturday morning, their living room was empty and the blanket had been folded and left on the couch with the pillow beside it. James frowned as he picked them up, turned to see Elyse’s worried look, the way she curled in on herself where she stood. James let out a soft, sympathetic noise at the sight, walked over and wrapped his free arm around her, pulling his wife into a hug which was given half by James himself and half by the bedding in his hand.“I’m sure he’s fine,” he murmured comfortingly. “Try not to worry about it too much. It’ll be okay.” Elyse groaned and nuzzled at James’s chest.“I hope so,” she replied, her words slightly muffled by James’s shirt.
After showering, he put on clean clothes and seated himself on the couch, already wearing a comfortable hoody to keep himself warm. Matt decided the next thing he would do was to throw himself into some work. He lay on the couch, laptop on his thighs and headphones on, deciding that at least he could focus on an edit. If he wasn’t working then he’d be stressed over last night, and it made sense to at least be stressed and productive, if he was going to be stressed either way. And Bruce wasn’t there to shout at him for working on a Saturday, so Matt was more than happy to get the video finished.However, when his edit was done, Matt had nothing to hide behind, and his emotions began to catch up with him. He kept thinking about the way Elyse had kissed him, catching himself recalling the way she bit his lip or held his face, and then proceeding to mentally berate himself for even letting that happen, let alone dwell on it now. Matt had fucked up, and he had no idea how the hell he was supposed to move on from it.The problem wasn’t necessarily that he’d gotten drunk and kissed Elyse, although that was, of course, an issue. However, what really troubled Matt was the fact that he actually cared about Elyse, perhaps more than he was willing to admit. He’d always been a little envious of both her and James, of the relationship that they had. They were both very attractive and very lovely people, and though Matt was happy for them, he couldn’t help that little voice in the back of his head which wanted in on it. Now that Matt had had in on it, he hated the little voice more than ever.Having Elyse kiss him only made Matt realise just how bad his crush on the Willemses was. And whilst Matt could handle an unrequited crush or two, he now faced a bigger problem, in that he had kissed his best friend and co-worker. Add to that the fact that said friend and co-worker was married to another friend and co-worker, and Matt was in a severely awkward situation. He dreaded going to work on Monday.He remembered what Elyse had said to him, remembered her drunken confession which she made when her lips were inches from Matt’s own. Matt wished that she’d never said anything. The fact that Elyse had James and yet had still told Matt that she loved him was just another heaping of guilt on top of Matt’s already growing pile. He didn’t need all this. He groaned exaggeratedly and pulled himself off the couch, deciding that he should make himself some lunch, since he hadn’t eaten all day. His stomach had been upset with nerves, and he still didn’t have much of an appetite, but the cooking would be a welcome and much needed distraction.When Matt got to the kitchen, he went to open up his phone to play music whilst he cooked, and realised that the battery had died, presumably at some point last night when he had been too drunk to notice. He went to grab his charger and plugged the phone in in the kitchen, surprised when it booted up and displayed that he had messages. It was rare that Matt had texts from anyone, unless their group was planning something or if he’d agreed to go somewhere. Neither was true in this instance, so he wondered who was texting him. His heart seemed to stop when he read that he had five new messages from Elyse. And then two from James. He opened Elyse’s first.The first two had been sent at around 09:30, one after the other. The first read: “I didn’t even get to wake up in the same house as you,” followed by a crying emoji. Matt felt sick as he began to realise that Elyse remembered everything she’d said to him last night, and she probably remembered what they did too. “You’ll have to stay over again and let me say goodbye properly,” her second text added, only fuelling Matt’s growing guilt and confusion. Not only did Elyse remember, but she didn’t seem at all bothered by what had happened, and it appeared that she had every intention of continuing this messed up affair. Did it even count as an affair if they kissed twice whilst drunk? Matt didn’t know. He’d never had an affair before.The third text came some twenty minutes after the first two. This one said: “Shit, did I misjudge that whole thing last night? Because I thought you were pretty into it. I was into it.” Nothing for another fifteen minutes, and then the fourth. “It’s fine if it was just a drunk thing, just please talk to me? I don’t want anything to be awkward between us.” Matt laughed when he read that. He was pretty sure there was no way they could continue the situation without it being awkward, not considering what had happened between them. There was over an hour between the timestamps on the fourth and fifth texts. The last one said: “????? Matt? Are you avoiding me?”Matt felt even guiltier over that. He wasn’t sure why; he felt he had every right to avoid Elyse for a little while, given the circumstances. It was certainly true that he’d wanted to avoid her and James that morning, hence why he left before they had even woke up. Of course, he couldn’t reply and tell her that. He went back to check the messages from James. The first was sent before any of Elyse’s, at 09:16, and it read: “You didn’t have to leave so soon. Hope you got home okay.” Under any other circumstances, the concern would make Matt smile. However, given that Matt had kissed his wife last night, he didn’t feel like he deserved even common courtesy from James. The second message from James was the most recent of all, having been sent only ten minutes ago. “Elyse is really worried, we’re gonna come over. See you soon, Peake!”Matt felt the sudden urge to cry. By this point they would be nearly here, and Matt really didn’t want to see them right now, especially not the both of them at once. He had barely held it together whilst James spoke to him the night before, he had no idea how the hell he would cope with both Elyse and James in front of him. He stood in the kitchen for a while until his panicking was interrupted by a knock at the door, and Matt tried to think passed all the worries filling his head, ignored the fact his heart felt about ready to burst out of his chest, and went to open the door.As he had anticipated, James and Elyse were stood on the other side.“You’re alive!” James joked, his cheerful tone making Matt more nauseous.“Oh my god, Matt, we’ve been worried about you!” Exclaimed Elyse. Matt opened his mouth, took a deep breath to steady himself before he spoke.“My phone was dead,” he supplied, flatly. “I just saw your texts. I’m sorry I made you worry.”“That’s okay,” assured James with a comforting smile which made Matt hate himself.“Can we come in?” Elyse asked softly, seeming to pick up on Matt’s internal stress. Matt wasn’t surprised; she was always good at sensing when he needed a break or some tea when he was at work.“Uh… Yeah, sure,” Matt mumbled, unable to think of a suitable excuse as to why he needed to be left alone. He retreated back inside and James and Elyse followed him, closing the door behind them. When they got to the living room, James noted the laptop and headphones which Matt had left on the coffee table.“Have you been working?” James asked, his tone making Matt feel guilty for a new reason. He shrugged one shoulder, looking sheepish, and James sighed. “Matt, man, it’s the weekend! Give yourself a break.”“It helps to calm me down,” Matt explained quietly as he sat himself down on the couch. James took the armchair and Elyse joined Matt on the other side of the couch, leaving a space between them.“What’s got you so stressed that doing actual work makes you calm?” James prodded. Matt really felt sick. He had no idea what to say, had no excuse ready, no lie he could come up with on the spot. He certainly couldn’t tell James the truth.“James,” Elyse scolded softly, shooting him a stern look. James rolled his eyes dramatically and got to his feet.“I’ll go make Peake some tea. I don’t want him to become a complete nervous wreck.” Elyse nodded, watching him leave the room. Matt frowned softly at James’s retreating figure, feeling like James was in on something here that Matt didn’t know about. That or James was just being oddly caring this morning; a rare but usually welcome occurrence which Matt couldn’t cope with right now.“Is this an intervention?” He asked Elyse, only looking back to her once James had gone. Matt could still see him, due to the layout of the house, so he knew better than to bring up last night right now. If Matt had his way, they’d never bring it up again, ever. Then he could wallow in his guilt for a while until his crushes went away, and Matt could go back to functioning like a normal person around his friends.“Yeah, it’s the give Peake a break intervention!” James yelled before Elyse could answer. “We’re taking your laptop so you can’t work on a Saturday.”“I have a PC,” Matt quipped back, a small smile on his face. This was fine, Matt could handle this. It was just like any other day at the office, James teasing, Matt grinning to himself at the attention.“Don’t make him take that too,” chuckled Elyse. “What would you do when you’re stressed then?”“Probably just go for a walk,” Matt replied honestly, shrugging his shoulders.“Sounds good, we should do that some time. But, back to the real question. What are you so stressed about?” Was Elyse serious? Matt wanted to scream. She must know the cause of Matt’s stress, must have some idea why he would be freaking out if she remembered everything that had happened the night before. Matt glanced at the kitchen, at James with his back to them, fussing with the kettle. Matt leaned in a little closer, his head ducked down.“You know why I’m stressed,” he whispered in reply. Elyse frowned, her head inclined to one side.“Look, Matt, I told you, if what happened last night was just a drunk mistake, then that’s fine, I can live with it.” Matt’s eyes went wide, panic filling him again over the fact that Elyse wasn’t whispering like he had been. She was speaking at a normal volume, and Matt glanced nervously back at James, certain that he could hear her. “But really, I’d rather we talk about it. I don’t want you to be stressed over it.”“Why are you so calm about all of this?” Matt demanded, his voice still lowered.“Why are you whispering?” Elyse countered, her face downturned into a confused frown.“Because James is right there!” Matt exclaimed, as much as his hushed tones would allow. Elyse’s frown deepened, and she shot a glance towards the kitchen.“James isn’t gonna be offended,” she countered, causing Matt to actually laugh out loud, a sound of disbelief rather than joy.“You’re kidding, right?”“No, Matt. I promise, James won’t mind of it was just a one time thing. Neither of us are gonna be mad at you.”“Elyse,” Matt uttered. He was completely confused by now. Elyse must have got her words backwards, must have meant that James would be mad. “You’re not making sense.”“What doesn’t make sense about that?”“It doesn’t make sense that James would be okay with it!”“What is James okay with?” Asked James as he came back into the room, offering the cup of herbal tea to Matt. His presence made Matt jump, panic returning to him as he blinked up at the taller man stood beside him. Matt had suddenly forgotten how to speak.“Matt thinks you’re gonna be mad if the kiss was just a drunk thing,” Elyse explained when Matt failed to find his tongue. Matt’s eyes went wide at her response. He was too scared to look at either of them. If this weren’t his own house, Matt would be tempted to get up and walk out. There was no way he could talk his way out of that, nothing he could say to explain, no way to stop James from hating him or—“I mean, I’ll be a little bummed out, but I’m not gonna be mad,” James shrugged, interrupting Matt’s train of thought. Matt blanched at the calm response, his head whipping up to stare at James in confusion.“Huh?” Was all he managed to say. James gave a small, fond laugh, putting Matt’s tea on a coaster on the coffee table when it became clear Matt wasn’t going to take it from him.“I said I’m not gonna get angry if you don’t want it to happen again. Honestly, I was kinda hoping that it would, but if you’re not into it, then we’re both fine with that too.” Matt was lost. This whole thing was backwards, and the fact James was speaking so patiently and not yelling at him was really throwing Matt for a loop.“You… Were hoping for what?” Matt asked quietly. James arched an eyebrow, his grin still in place. Matt was pretty cute when he was confused.“That you’d want to kiss Elyse again,” James replied easily. Matt blinked, staring at James with his mouth agape.“I don’t understand,” he stammered after a long silence.“Elyse,” James groaned. “You could’ve at least talked the guy before sucking his face off!”“Well sorry if I was a bit distracted by Matt Peake’s very kissable lips,” Elyse defended, being purposely overdramatic in an attempt to lift the mood. The atmosphere in the room was much too tense for her liking.“Talked to me about what?” Asked Matt exasperatedly, looking between the couple. He felt very left out, and clearly Elyse and James had been discussing something without him there.“About the huge gay crush James has on you,” Elyse supplied.“Hey!” Cried James. “You’ve got a huge crush on him too!”“Yeah, but mine isn’t a gay crush, it’s just a crush.”“I’m so confused,” Matt deadpanned. If anything, this new information was just hurting his head even more. James sighed, reaching over from where he was sat to place a hand on Matt’s knee.“Elyse and I have been planning on asking you out for a while,” he said slowly. “But Elyse got too excited after those shots last night, and decided to just jump right in with kissing you.”“Wait,” Matt said, raising one hand whilst the other held his forehead. “How can you guys ask me out when you’re married?”“We have kind of an open marriage,” explained Elyse, shifting a little closer on the couch. Matt looked up at the sound of her moving, Elyse’s eyes meeting his. She gave him a soft, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I probably should’ve made that clear, huh?”“That would’ve been nice, yeah,” agreed Matt breathlessly. This couldn’t be real. This was way too good to be true. “We understand if you’re not into that or whatever,” James said, drawing their attention away from one another. “It’s a little weird, and it’s not for everyone, and we know that. But, we figured we might as well ask you. And then Elyse said what happened last night, and I guess we got out hopes up.”“But we don’t wanna put pressure on you!” Elyse interjected quickly. “We just want you to be happy.”“With you two?” Matt asked, sceptically. Elyse grinned and nodded her head.“If that’s what you want, yeah.”“Or, you can just say that you were drunk and it didn’t really mean anything to you,” James reassured. “Like I said, we’re not gonna be mad.”“You guys really wanna date me? Both of you?”“Don’t sound so surprised, Peake,” James laughed, giving Matt a playful shove to the shoulder. Elyse frowned and wrapped her arms around Matt’s shoulders in response.“Hey, you leave my Matt Peake alone,” she said with a scowl. Matt laughed quietly at the two of them, allowed himself to relax at the touch instead of getting tense and worried, reminding himself that this was okay. He briefly noted that he appreciated Elyse’s hugs a lot more when they were both sober.“I like the sound of that,” he murmured shyly in response to the slightly possessive comment. Elyse grinned at the confession, relieved and overjoyed that Matt seemed to be on board with dating them.“If we’re really doing this, then he’s my Matt Peake too,” James reminded her. Matt gave another laugh, overcome with delight at the fact he’d apparently just gained two new partners.“Nuh-uh, I call dibs,” Elyse teased, pulling Matt closer to her. Matt fell against her and laughed again, a full-on chuckle which made Elyse smile proudly. James pretended to sulk on the armchair, and Elyse poked out her tongue to tease him. Matt’s laughter died down, but he was still smiling, reaching out one of his arms towards James.“You can share me, it’s okay,” he assured, beckoning James over by making a grabby hand at him. Matt’s voice was soft and he was still nervous about the idea of being in a relationship with two other people, not quite sure how to act around them just yet. But he loved the way Elyse’s arms felt around him, got a little rush of excitement as he realised this could be a regular occurrence, and he was more than happy to encourage their affections. James grinned smugly at Elyse as he moved, pushing Matt up on the couch so he could sit on the other side of him. Matt felt content, sandwiched between them like this, and thought he could happily do this every day without the novelty ever wearing off.“You still owe me a proper sleepover,” Elyse reminded him, nuzzling his hair playfully. Matt hummed, and the hand which he had stretched out fell onto James’s thigh.“Bruce doesn’t get back until tomorrow,” Matt offered, raising his head and looking between them. “If you guys wanna stay?”“I can’t wait to talk about all the cute boys we like!” James squealed as he draped himself over Matt, one arm behind the small of the other man’s back and his left reaching out to grab Elyse’s bicep. Both Matt and Elyse laughed at him, and James grinned at the sight of them, hugging and laughing together. This was already much better than he’d ever anticipated it being.“First we’re gonna take Matt Peake out for lunch so he doesn’t have to cook anything, though,” Elyse said, trying to disentangle herself from her boys.“Oh yeah, we have to take you on a real date,” James agreed, getting up and waving for Matt to do the same. Matt followed the instruction, that soft smile still on his face.“You really don’t need to,” he tried to argue, but James was already slipping his hand into Matt’s, tugging him after Elyse who was heading for the door.“We know we don’t need to,” said James with a roll of his eyes.“But I already messed up the asking you out part. So, we’re doing the actual date thing properly,” Elyse finished. Her voice had a slightly authoritative tone, but honestly, Matt wasn’t about to argue with her anyway. James swung their hands between them as they walked to the car, and Matt marvelled at how natural this felt, being with the two of them in this way. He could most definitely get used to this.
