To return the favor of Nicholas having them over for dinner, Sören and Anthony invited Nicholas to have dinner with them on Tuesday the sixteenth. Sören and Anthony were both a bit intimidated cooking for a professional chef, but Nicholas praised the meal - smoked salmon with twice-baked potatoes and a side of asparagus. Sören had also made two batches of Icelandic Christmas cookies - piparkökur, like gingersnaps, and lakkrístoppar, a type of meringue cookie with licorice and chocolate... and Nicholas raved about those when he tried them.
"Sören, these biscuits are wonderful," Nicholas said, after sampling a few. He patted his stomach, chuckling. "It's tempting to eat the entire plate, and I shan't do that. I'm trying to keep in shape."
Anthony felt heat rise in his cheeks, and he noticed Sören wrinkle his nose and bite his lower lip - that tell that Sören had definitely noticed Nicholas's physique.
"You try to stay active, já?" Sören nibbled on a cookie.
Nicholas nodded. "I go to the gym a few times a month - I've been out of the habit this month because things are so busy with the restaurant. I also walk every day, and I'm part of a fencing club."
Anthony had seen a few fencing matches in his lifetime - his cousin Alistair, who he hated, was an Olympic sport fencer - but the thought of Nicholas fencing wasn't a sore spot. It was, in fact, rather the opposite of one.
The room was starting to smell like woodsmoke and a floral spice, and there was no fire going, nor any scented candles or incense. It was a smell Anthony was very familiar with - Sören's natural Omega scent, which got stronger when he was aroused.
Anthony reached for one of the lakkrístoppar - his favorite - and nibbled, thinking. This was the first time he'd seen Sören get aroused in the presence of another Alpha. And this was the first time since he'd been with Sören where the presence of another Alpha hadn't put him on the defensive. A few times, over the years they'd been together, there had been a few attempted challengers, most notably when Rey was at her grandparents' so they could have a "grownups" night and go to a pub for a few drinks, and some lout named Justin Roberts, an Alpha and an up-and-coming football star, had gotten handsy with Sören and wouldn't take no for an answer. Anthony had broken Justin's nose, and had managed to evade criminal charges with witnesses affirming he'd acted to defend his mate. Justin Roberts wasn't so pretty with a broken nose; Anthony saw on TV sometime later that Justin had cosmetic surgery and it had botched his nose even worse. Anthony thought the footballer had gotten off easy compared to what he wanted to do. But usually just giving a competing Alpha a look was warning enough.
Now here was Nicholas, whose scent was also a bit stronger, and his cheeks were flushed pink, his dark eyes twinkling, crinkled at the corners. Anthony found Nicholas's scent arousing rather than offensive. He hadn't been turned on by another Alpha like this since Mikael... himself a silver fox.
Usually a batch like the one Sören made would last for a few days divided among the two of them and Rey, but with Nicholas it was going faster, and faster still when Sören began packing Nicholas some cookies to take home.
"Sören, I have a question for you," Nicholas said.
Anthony braced himself, wondering if Nicholas was going to proposition him. He hoped not - it was etiquette to ask the Omega's mate, but Nicholas didn't seem that ill-mannered. Sören's eyebrows went up and he waited.
"Would you mind giving me the recipe?" Nicholas leaned back in his chair. "I'd like to bake these as the occasional treat for the free meals -"
"Oh, sure!" Sören laughed and patted his shoulder. "I can do one better, you can help me make another batch and see it hands-on."
"I'd like that. I was going to offer to make you another batch, anyway, since I've eaten quite a few of these."
Sören looked at Anthony, who nodded. "We're flexible," Anthony said, "whenever you've got time." Then Anthony's mind immediately went in the gutter at the words we're flexible, thinking about all the positions he'd taken Sören in. Thinking about what it would be like to share Sören with Nicholas in different positions.
Anthony couldn't believe he was thinking like that.
"How does Thursday evening work?" Nicholas asked. "I can bring ingredients from the store if you let me know what you need."
"That works for us." Sören's face lit up, and Anthony couldn't help smiling too, happy to see his mate that happy.
After dinner Sören and Nicholas played a game of chess with the finely carved wooden set Anthony had received as part of his inheritance from his late maternal grandfather. Chess was popular in Iceland - something to pass the long winter nights - and Anthony listened to them talk about it as he and Rey played with Legos. That led to Sören talking more about Icelandic culture, and Nicholas mentioning he'd read the Eddas and Sagas, which Sören was impressed with. Anthony was impressed with that too; he liked people who read things.
He was starting to like Nicholas a lot. Too much, really.
Every now and again Anthony stole glances at them and noticed the pink in Nicholas's cheeks, the way his dark eyes sparkled, the tenderness on his face as he and Sören talked. The room was starting to smell not just like Sören's own Omega scent, but now there was a touch of cedar and musk... Nicholas's Alpha scent. More than once, Anthony wondered if Nicholas would lean over the chessboard and kiss Sören, but he did not.
Even though it was getting to be a bit past Rey's usual bedtime, Anthony let her stay up until Sören and Nicholas were finished with their chess game. Once it was finished, Rey came over to see who won - Nicholas. She clapped and did a little dance. Then she admired the chess pieces, picking up Nicholas's king and studying it. "I wanna play someday too," Rey said.
"I'll teach you one of these days," Sören said, tousling Rey's hair.
"It's good to see someone so young with an interest in the game," Nicholas said. He frowns. "As you know, it seems to be a dying art."
"Not if I can help it. She's a smart kid, too. She can already read and write and do basic math, and she's been learning to play the piano."
Rey inherited Anthony's musical talent - Anthony had a keyboard that he fiddled with sometimes and Rey had taught herself how to play by ear, just like he had when he was her age.
"OK, squirt, time for bed," Anthony said.
Rey raced off to start getting changed and doing her nightly routine of washing her face and brushing her teeth. As she did, Anthony made hot cocoa for the adults. When Rey was ready, Anthony carried her down the hall, with Sören and Nicholas following. "Do you want a story or a song?" Anthony asked.
"I want a song," Rey said. "I want the song that gave me my name."
After Sören and Anthony tucked her in, Sören sat at Rey's bedside and began singing in his husky, bluesy tenor:
Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn't you love to love her?
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
She is like a cat in the dark
And then she is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark
And when the sky is starless
All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?
Rey fell asleep before the song was over, and then they walked back down with Nicholas to the living room. Nicholas glanced at the clock and gave them an apologetic look. "I should be getting to bed myself," he said.
"It was good having you," Anthony said, and then he noticed Nicholas was a little choked up. He thought about hugging the older man, but he didn't know if that would be welcome or not.
"Thank you for having me." Nicholas nodded. "You... have a very nice family. I feel... at home here."
Sören opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Nicholas had another question. "I am curious, however - Fleetwood Mac was from my era, before your time."
"The few years that I got to have with my mamma, I remember she was always playing music," Sören said. "The stuff she grew up with. Fleetwood Mac, ELO... Led Zeppelin." Sören smiled again, his eyes soft. "When I was pregnant with Rey I would sing to her and she always kicked me when 'Rhiannon' was on, so we decided once she was born that would be her name, but when she tried to say her name she could only say 'Rey'."
"That's adorable." Nicholas gave a small smile that would be a big grin on anyone else.
"We're glad you feel at home here," Anthony said, and held off the it feels like you belong here with us because that was definitely getting in over their heads.
After Nicholas went back to his flat, Anthony and Sören changed into their own pajamas and curled up together on the couch to wind down a bit before retiring to bed. Anthony put on a nature documentary - they liked watching those, usually found them relaxing. Tonight, there was one about elephants, and David Attenborough was talking about musth and how elderly male elephants in particular were the most driven to mate.
Sören's scent got stronger again, and now Sören was rubbing Anthony's knee and nuzzling him. After a few sweet, soft kisses, they kissed deeply; Anthony's cock stiffened and Sören reached to palm the bulge in slow, lazy circles. Anthony groaned and began kissing Sören's neck, breathing in the delicious, intoxicating scent of his arousal. Anthony's fingers played over Sören's chest, a thumb straying to brush a pierced nipple through the fabric of Sören's T-shirt. He smiled into another deep, hungry kiss as he felt the nub harden to his touch.
Sören's breath hitched, and the next thing Anthony knew, he was being pulled off the couch and dragged by the arm down the hall to their bedroom. He chuckled, delighted by Sören's enthusiasm. He stopped laughing when Sören slammed him against the wall of their bedroom and kissed him passionately, and moaned, cock throbbing. When the kiss broke they spent a moment catching their breath, looking into each other's eyes, and then Anthony gently closed the bedroom door and far less gently pushed Sören back towards the bed, kissing him all the way there, going out of his mind with lust at every moan.
They undressed as quickly as possible - when Sören turned around and gave Anthony a teasing butt wiggle, Anthony saw how slick Sören was already. Anthony licked his lips and groaned as he watched slick pooling out of Sören's passage. "Fuck," he rasped.
Anthony lay back and Sören climbed over him. Anthony patted his shoulders and Sören scooted up. First Anthony sucked at Sören's cock, stroking himself slowly as Sören gasped and moaned. When Sören's cock was dripping precum, he took Sören's cock out of his mouth and licked at it, long, deliberate swipes of his tongue, then lashing harder, faster. Sören's moans got louder, and he cried out when Anthony drew just the head into his mouth, kissing it. A few minutes later, Anthony pulled Sören's cock out of his mouth, grabbed Sören's hips, and Sören sat on his face, Anthony licking inside him, enjoying the lightly salty-sweet taste of his slick... savoring every moan and sigh. Anthony's tongue played slowly at first, teasing, then he tongue-fucked Sören, and when Sören started bucking, riding his tongue, gushing slick, Anthony stroked himself harder, almost ready to come.
Sören scooted back down and impaled himself on Anthony's cock. When Anthony was all the way inside they joined hands and squeezed, sighing together. Sören threw back his head and gasped as he felt Anthony knot inside him.
Sören leaned down so they could kiss, and back up, riding slowly. Anthony sat up to kiss and lick Sören's neck, lap and suckle Sören's nipples. When Sören started moaning louder, Anthony put his fingers in Sören's mouth. "Shhhh," he whispered, laughing. "Don't want to wake up Rey."
Sören gave a little whine around Anthony's fingers, but then he sucked Anthony's fingers, and the sight of Sören's full lips wrapped around his fingers, the heat in those brown eyes, drove Anthony wild. He started thrusting harder, and harder still, until Sören was bouncing away on his cock, grabbing onto him for dear life, his scent strong and heady. Anthony growled, his knot growing, his cock ready to explode, right there, but he held back, wanting his Omega's pleasure. It didn't take long for Sören to climax, seed shooting from his cock over Anthony's chest, slick pouring over Anthony's cock as his passage contracted. Anthony let out a shuddery gasp as he gave into his own release, and Sören sighed as he felt Anthony erupt inside him.
"I love you," Anthony said, and drew Sören down into a kiss.
He cradled Sören in his chest as their orgasm ebbed and gave way to the afterglow. They snuggled like that, holding and petting each other, as Anthony's knot continued to join them. Finally the knot went down... and Sören was randy again, climbing off Anthony and getting on all fours, sticking his ass out. Anthony's cock hardened right back up again at the sight of Sören's passage open, dripping his seed and Sören's slick. "I need it so bad," Sören panted.
Anthony got on his knees behind Sören and grabbed a fistful of Sören's curls as he took his Omega. He showed no mercy, fucking hard. Sören grabbed the pillows, white-knuckled, burying his face in them and whimpering, howling, rocking his hips back at Anthony, matching his rhythm. Sören looked over his shoulder and panted, "yes, yes, yes, fucking take it..."
The filthy, obscene wet suctioning sound and the slap of their flesh threatened to bring Anthony off right away. He slowed down and leaned in, chest against Sören's back, tilting Sören's face so they could kiss, putting an arm around him. "I love you so much."
"God, I love you." Sören bit his lip and gave a little whimper. "And I love your cock. I love that fucking knot..."
Anthony groaned and kissed him again. He continued to thrust slowly, teasing them both, as he kissed and licked the back of Sören's neck and shoulder, knowing how sensitive he was there. When he couldn't hold back anymore, the urge to mate too strong, his arm tightened around Sören and he bit Sören's neck as he sped up. "Mine," Anthony growled, licking Sören's neck where his teeth had just been, tasting the blood. "Mine."
"Yes, yours. Yours, oh god, yours..."
Then they couldn't even make words, could only moan - trying to keep it down for Rey's sake, but just barely, and there was that slapping and wet slurping again. Sören looked over his shoulder with fevered, desperate eyes, panting, gasping, and when Anthony claimed his mouth with another kiss, Sören made a high-pitched noise into the kiss, shaking with his release. A few thrusts later and Anthony was there too, coming, their hearts thundering together, sinking into the beating heart of the Earth, rising into the Sun. Anthony felt himself grinning like an idiot as the bliss melted him. There was nothing better than that feeling of all right with the world... sharing that feeling with his beloved. His Omega. His mate.
His Omega, who had been obviously turned on by another Alpha... an Alpha who Anthony, too, was attracted to. When Anthony's knot receded they lay facing each other, and Anthony decided he was going to broach the subject. "That was amazing," he said honestly. "You were amazing." He touched Sören's face, smiling at Sören's smile. "Really into it."
Sören nodded.
"Almost like you were in heat," Anthony said.
Sören giggled. "Not yet."
Omegas went into heat about three or four times a year. Some Omegas were like clockwork, while others were more irregular; Sören was one of those with an irregular cycle. There were heat suppressants that Omegas could take, and Sören had taken them in the past, but the side effects were such that Sören wasn't taking them anymore and they just used a birth control injector when Sören went into heat. Sören was due any time now, but had been due "any time" for the last couple of months. Sören was definitely randier than usual but didn't have other usual heat symptoms.
Though it made Anthony wonder when Sören took Anthony's hand and put it on his stomach. "I've been thinking," Sören said, "I know we wanted to wait awhile before trying to give Rey a sibling, but..."
"Oh, you..." Anthony blinked. "You think we should?"
Sören nodded.
Anthony wasn't opposed to the idea - he rather liked it. Sören's pregnancy with Rey had been fairly difficult, though, which was why he'd wanted to wait, and give Sören's body a chance to recover. Still, Rey was four and a half now, that was a good age difference with a sibling...
And babies were the sort of thing an Omega would be thinking about when drawn to an Alpha. "We can," Anthony said, rubbing Sören's stomach in slow circles, nuzzling his beard. "But it's a major life change..."
"Well, no shit." Sören laughed softly.
"...and it seems like we have other certain changes we should discuss."
Their eyes met and Sören stopped laughing.
"Sören..." Anthony's other hand took Sören's chin. "I know you're attracted to Nicholas."
Sören looked down. "Yeah." He exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry -"
"No need to be sorry." Anthony smirked. "I am too."
Sören started laughing. "Oh, good." Sören bit his lower lip. "I've been, ah... fantasizing about us having a threesome."
Anthony kissed the tip of Sören's nose. "You're incorrigible, you know."
"Takk."
Anthony laughed too. "Don't ever change."
Then Anthony got a little more serious as he went on, "I'll admit that I never thought I'd be amenable to sharing you -"
"Well, I didn't think we ever would be sharing..."
"But here we are." Anthony nodded. "And it's not really the sort of thing we can hide from Nicholas. I'm sure he smells you."
"So you think we should tell him?"
"I think it would be better if we did rather than trying to dance around it. At least this way if he says no and doesn't want to be around us, we won't have invested so much time in the friendship that it hurts more. But something tells me he's not going to say no." Anthony thought of the way Nicholas's cheeks flushed pink, the warmth and tenderness in his dark eyes as he interacted with Sören.
"OK, so maybe when he's here on Thursday? I just, you know, don't want to be like, 'Hey, let's make cookies, then we can fuck?'"
Anthony snickered. He skritched Sören's beard like a cat; then Anthony started purring himself, something Alphas did, and snuggled into Sören's shoulder. "No, let's find... a classier way of putting it. I'm sure the opportunity will present itself somehow."
Sören grinned. "Hi Sure The Opportunity Will Present Itself Somehow -"
Anthony tweaked Sören's nose. "Brat."
_
Anthony found himself missing Nicholas on Wednesday - even though they'd known each other for a short time, Nicholas had become enough of a fixture in their lives that his absence at dinner felt like something was missing. Even Rey seemed to feel it.
"When's Uncle Grandpa coming back?" Rey asked.
"Tomorrow," Sören said.
Rey pouted. "That feels like forever." Then Rey looked at Sören and Anthony in turn, her eyes wide and pleading. "Can he move in with us?"
Sören facepalmed, and Anthony laughed, face on fire. Yet, he couldn't deny something about that felt right. And it was scary for things to be escalating so quickly. Scarier still because they didn't know how Nicholas felt, though Anthony guessed it was at least somewhat reciprocal. But there was a difference between "somewhat reciprocal" and asking some guy you'd just met to move in and be a part of the family. Anthony didn't want to frighten him off.
Nicholas was in good spirits when he arrived on Thursday evening with bags of groceries - both the ingredients for Sören's Icelandic Christmas cookies, and "dinner is on me," he explained. Sören and Nicholas worked together in the kitchen to make chicken and dumplings, something hearty for the snowy evening, while Anthony and Rey colored together at the table. Sören put on classic rock while they cooked, and every now and again Sören sang along, or Nicholas did - Nicholas had a rich baritone, he could have been an opera singer if he hadn't become a priest, then a chef.
After dinner they all worked together on the Christmas cookies. Rey had a stool to work at the counter, and when it was time to cut the cookies into shapes she rode Sören's shoulders piggyback to point out the cookie cutters she wanted, waving her finger like a conductor waving a baton. When Sören was halfway through cutting out the shapes for piparkökur, Rey said, "That's enough," in a very stern tone of voice that made Anthony laugh, and then Rey explained, "You have to share, and let him do some." She looked over at Nicholas.
To Anthony's surprise and delight, Rey climbed onto Nicholas's shoulders, and he let her. It was comical and adorable to see Rey riding piggyback on Nicholas's shoulders, instructing him on which cookie cutters to use for his half of the piparkökur. Sören shared some egg nog with Anthony as they watched, and there was a wistfulness in Sören's brown eyes that echoed in Anthony's heart. Usually another Alpha trying to be fatherly with his daughter would make Anthony bristle slightly, but this just felt natural.
When Nicholas's half of the piparkökur was cut out, Rey stood back as they put it in the oven, and then she said, "Good job!" and hugged Sören and Nicholas in turn. Nicholas chuckled as he gave her a hug and head pats, and then he reached out to draw Sören into the hug, and gestured for Anthony to join them too.
It was all Anthony could do to not kiss Nicholas right then and there.
Once the cookies were done, Rey had to help the grownups with tidying up the kitchen before they could have any, and Rey grumbled a little, giving longing looks at the cookies, but did as she was told, and now Rey was singing along with the music on the radio too, Nicholas smiling fondly at a four-year-old's love of the music of his generation. Finally they had cookies and hot cocoa with whipped cream, and Sören started to laugh.
"What?" Rey glowered, making Sören laugh harder.
"You have a whipped cream mustache." Sören grinned at Nicholas. "You guys match now."
Nicholas narrowed his eyes, but shook with silent laughter. Anthony chuckled as he took a napkin and dabbed at Rey's face. Then Anthony laughed harder after Sören took a sip of hot cocoa, and sure enough...
"You have whipped cream on your nose," Anthony said before he took a bite of his cookie. Before Sören could wipe the tip of his nose, Anthony kissed it off, then kissed Sören's mouth.
The look Nicholas gave them as he watched them kiss all but confirmed for Anthony that Nicholas, too, was feeling the spark there.
Tidying up the kitchen and the warmth of the hot cocoa had an effect on Rey, who was looking sleepy. It was just before her usual bedtime, so Sören said, "I think someone needs to go visit Dreamland."
Rey nodded and yawned.
Anthony carried her down the hall and Nicholas watched as Sören and Anthony tucked her in. Then Rey looked at Nicholas, and then at her parents, and asked, "Can Uncle Grandpa read me a story?"
"Oh, ah..." Sören looked down and ran a nervous hand through his curls. Anthony felt that twinge of anxiety too, not wanting Nicholas to be annoyed and feel like he was being used as a babysitter.
But then Nicholas said, "I don't mind at all. What would you like to hear tonight, Rey?"
"Can you read me The Grinch?" Rey smiled.
Hearing Nicholas read The Grinch Who Stole Christmas was entertaining, especially when Nicholas did different voices, and he even sang "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch", which made Rey and Sören both giggle madly.
Rey wasn't asleep when the story was over, but she was smiling. Now Nicholas gave her head pats and pulled up the covers. "Sleep well, dear," he said as he walked out; Anthony hit the light and took one last look at Rey in the blue glow of her nightlight, glow-in-the-dark stars shining on her wall and ceiling.
"She's a love," Nicholas said softly. He sighed and frowned a little, as if he was reluctant to leave.
"We've got a few stray dishes to tidy, like the cocoa mugs, if you want to hang around a bit," Sören said.
Anthony fed Seumas as he watched Sören and Nicholas working together at the sink, feeling like he was going to jump out of his skin with anticipation of those two having "the talk". It didn't help that Sören's scent was strong again, and so was Nicholas's.
And then, Anthony noticed Sören had hung mistletoe a few feet away from the fridge - Anthony realized Sören had done that just today, while he was at work. You little minx. Anthony grinned, before the tension returned. Come on. Come on...
"I could use some more egg nog," Sören said. "Would you like some?"
"I can get it, I'm closer -"
"I don't want you to feel like a servant -"
And they were both standing in front of the fridge, under the mistletoe. Sören tapped Nicholas and pointed up. Nicholas looked up and then the flush in his cheeks deepened, his mouth open with surprise. Before he could say anything Sören grabbed Nicholas's face and kissed him hard.
Watching the way they melted to each other as their tongues met and played together... the way Nicholas's hands ran over Sören's body, before Nicholas pulled Sören close to him and kissed him back, deeply... Anthony was rock-hard now, hearing himself breathing heavily. It was too hot in the room all of a sudden, and Sören's and Nicholas's scents combined in the most exquisite way.
When Sören and Nicholas pulled apart, Nicholas gave him a dazed look and then he looked at Anthony, with an apologetic little frown. "I should have asked you," Nicholas said, "if... if you're fine with sharing your Omega..."
Anthony walked to them and said, "You can share me too," and then his mouth was on Nicholas's.
They both groaned into the kiss as their tongues teased. Anthony's cock hardened even more, and he could feel the hard-on in Nicholas's trousers. Anthony's cock throbbed as he heard Sören gasp, and Sören whispered, "Fuck, that's fucking hot."
Nicholas blinked slowly when the kiss was done. He looked at Sören, then at Anthony, and then he chuckled - he had a goofy grin but it was endearing and weirdly sexy. "Well... this is... unexpected," he said.
"When do we fuck?" Sören asked.
Anthony double facepalmed, and Nicholas laughed harder, a deep, resonant laugh that for all the world made him sound like Santa. When Anthony took his hands away from his face Nicholas stopped laughing and now he looked downright bashful.
"May I sit down?" Nicholas asked.
They sat at the kitchen table. Anthony remembered the egg nog and poured them each a paper cup, though it wasn't egg nog he was thirsty for now. There was a long pause, then Nicholas looked at each of them and took a deep breath.
"I like you both very much," Nicholas said. "Truth be told, I... think I love you, even though it's..."
"Soon," Anthony said, nodding. "Yes, this is all... quite sudden."
"But we mesh." Sören hooked his fingers together. "It feels right, and we all know it."
"It does. I won't lie, I'm... very attracted to both of you," Nicholas said, his cheeks pink again. "But I've never..."
"I mean, you were a priest, já? You were celibate all that time?"
Nicholas nodded solemnly. "I knew I was gay, and yes, I believed that meant God wanted me to be celibate and not act on 'sin'. But since leaving the Church, I still haven't acted on... my desires. It's not out of fear of 'sinning against God' anymore, it's because I'm old. I will be sixty-six on the twenty-eighth. I don't know how to navigate the dating 'scene'..." Nicholas's fingers made air quotes. "I've never had a relationship, and I fear my lack of experience with that sort of thing, this late in life, might cause problems. There is also, as you know, the matter of my age."
"We don't mind your age difference," Anthony said, and Sören shook his head vehemently.
"Perhaps not, but I still feel like it would be unfair to you to begin a relationship and, in a few years, start to decline. Especially when you have a child, I don't want to traumatize her -"
"It's not fair to you to spend the rest of your life alone," Sören said. "Look..." Sören leaned back in his chair. "Both my parents died before they were thirty. You seem to be in really good health for your age - you probably have at least another twenty years left, if not longer, with medicine advancing all the time. You could live for twenty years, and either Anthony or myself could go tomorrow." Sören took Anthony's hand and squeezed; Anthony felt a twinge of sadness for Sören losing his parents so young, and the horror of life with his guardians. "All we can do is take the time we're given. If you shut us out because you're afraid we'll get hurt... that'll still hurt us. It'll still bother Rey to lose you if you walk away from us, possibly damage her moreso than if you just..." Sören couldn't bring himself to say the word died.
"And we're not trying to pressure you," Anthony quickly added. "We know it's a major life adjustment, going from being single and celibate all these years to having not one but two partners, and a ready-made family. But our door is open, if you're willing."
"I want to," Nicholas said, "but I need to think about it. I want to be sure this is the right thing to do by all of us and not... just my hormones talking." Nicholas chuckled.
"They're very nice hormones," Sören said, and then he clapped his hand over his mouth, realizing how ridiculous that sounded.
Anthony laughed - little moments like that made him love Sören even more - and Nicholas chuckled too and patted him.
"On that note," Nicholas said, "I should go back to my place, before it gets too tempting to give in." He rose from the table.
"OK." Sören got up too. "I understand if you need to think about it some."
"Try not to overthink," Anthony said, being prone to that himself.
"I'll sleep on it. I should have an answer for you tomorrow," Nicholas said. He paused, like he was going to hug Sören, then resumed walking, like he thought better of it - like it would be too much of a temptation. But then at the door he paused again and waved. "Goodnight. And... thank you."
The door had been closed for about a second when Sören began dragging Anthony off to the bedroom, kissing all the way down.