Daniel thought that he wouldn’t, but Jinyong did end up calling.

He sounded exhausted. Daniel couldn’t help but worry when he heard how weak his voice was.

Jinyong was asking him to come over. Daniel did.

As soon as he was at the door, he was embraced. Jinyong held on tight. Once the surprise seeped out of him, Daniel hugged right back.

“Are you okay?” Daniel muttered.

Jinyong nodded. When he pulled away, he acted as if nothing had happened.

“How are you?” Daniel persisted, following Jinyong to the couch. They had agreed to have a movie night, for old times’ sake.

“I’ve been…” He chuckled. “Bored, more than anything. It’s…. quiet without Nicholas. Or you.”

“Do you two talk at all?” Daniel asked, trying not to overthink the last part of the sentence.

Jinyong shook his head. “I don’t… I can’t. I hope he’s alright, but I can’t be hearing from him.”

“I understand…”

“I’m worried, but…”

“It’s okay, Jinyong.” Daniel’s voice was gentle. 

Jinyong looked at Daniel, smiling faintly. “Hey. Thank you for being there for me, but I don’t want to talk or think about Nicholas. Let’s just put on a movie and catch up.”

Daniel nodded. It was a good plan.

He liked once again being huddled on the couch with Jinyong, under a warm blanket. He liked that they could be close again without awkwardness.

Daniel didn’t even mind when Jinyong put an arm around him and pulled him close. Actually, it felt like home. Daniel rested his head on Jinyong’s chest, nuzzling close to him.

It had never been like this. Not even before, when they lived together. But Daniel didn’t mind. He never minded when it was Jinyong.

They’d been chatting about music and their careers. Jinyong let Daniel be the one to talk about what he’d been up to during the time they were apart, since he didn’t want to bring up Nicholas.

Then, when Daniel finished a story about his most recent promotions, Jinyong said,

“Danny, I wanted to tell you…”

Daniel looked up at him and tried not to look scared.

“I wanted to tell you that—”

Jinyong’s phone rang. He sighed and reached for his it. Jinyong took one look and tossed it back onto the coffee table where it had been in the first place.

“Who is it?” Daniel asked, placing his hand on Jinyong’s chest.

“Nicholas…”

“Do you want me to answer?”

Jinyong agonized over the answer. “I shouldn’t talk to him, but something might be wrong—Talk to him for me, please.

Daniel nodded, reached for Jinyong’s phone and answered the call. “Hey, Nick. It’s Daniel. What’s up?”

“You… where are you?” Nicholas slurred as he spoke.

Daniel frowned. “I’m at Jinyong’s… Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. Thanks for—yeah. I’ll… I’ll see you around.”

Before Daniel had a chance to ask anything more, Nicholas hung up. He looked at Jinyong, confused.

“What was that all about?” Daniel muttered.

Jinyong shrugged. He stopped for a second, eyes going out of focus. “I hope he’s really okay.”

“I’m not sure about that.”

They tried to focus on the movie. It seemed that neither of them could. Daniel folded himself in Jinyong’s arms, burying his face in Jinyong’s neck.

Daniel winced at first when he felt a hand in his hair.

“Sorry—”

“It’s fine,” Daniel whispered. “You just surprised me.”

Carefully, Jinyong continued to play with Daniel’s hair.

“What were you going to tell me?”

Now it was Jinyong’s turn to wince. “Nothing,” he said at last. “It doesn’t matter.”

Just as Daniel was about to start convincing Jinyong to tell him, the doorbell rang. Jinyong and Daniel exchanged looks. They separated in order for Jinyong to go open the door.

Looking through the peephole, he cursed. “It’s Nicholas… What is he doing here!?”

“He did ask me where I was…” Daniel muttered. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have said.”

“No, it’s fine.” Jinyong took a bracing breath and opened the door.

“Hey,” Nicholas’ voice.

After a pause, “Hi.”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Jinyong moved out of the way and Nicholas stumbled inside.

Daniel stood up in case Jinyong needed help with him.

The silence was uncomfortable. Nicholas ped his jacket and left it on the hanger, not after missing the hook a few times. Then he leaned against the wall next to the TV and stared ahead.

“Nicholas, what are you doing here?” Jinyong asked tiredly.

Nicholas looked up, and it took him a while to respond. “I needed to… I needed to see you.” He looked from Jinyong to Daniel. “Both of you.”

Daniel’s heart leaped. He was prepared to be the third wheel again, to be an uncomfortable observer. But that one sentence from Nicholas suddenly pulled him into the situation.

“Me?” Daniels stuttered.

“You.”

“What do you want from us?” Jinyong asked.

“Jinyong!” Daniel scolded for his harsh tone.

“I just had to tell you something,” Nicholas mumbled.

“Oh,” Daniel uttered. He gave Jinyong a sideways glance. “I guess it’s a night of confessions.”

He meant it as a joke, but to Daniel’s surprise, Nicholas said, “You have no idea.”

Nicholas took a deep breath. “I’m in love with you. Both of you.”

No one dared speak, move or breathe.

“So… that’s all.” And Nicholas stood up straight and tried to make way for the door, forgetting his jacket.

“Hold on just one ing second,” Jinyong said, slamming his palm on the door and blocking Nicholas’ path. “You can’t just say that and leave. What—what the dude!?”

Nicholas shrugged. “I have nothing else to say. I just needed to get that off my chest.”

Daniel approached. He wrapped an arm around Nicholas’ waist and led him to the couch. Once sitting down, Nicholas rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.

“How did you get here?” Daniel asked.

“Taxi,” Nicholas said, voice muffled. “I told him to wait… I knew this wouldn’t take long.”

Jinyong looked at Daniel. “I’ll take care of the taxi, you watch over him.” Jinyong grabbed his wallet and went out the door.

Nicholas’ shoulders started shaking. Daniel shuffled closer, embracing him.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Daniel muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Nicholas said. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go this way.”

“It’s fine. You… I don’t know what you expected, Nick, but either way we’re here for you. We’re not leaving you.”

Nicholas didn’t respond. He continued to cry quietly.

Jinyong returned promptly. He went to the bathroom, just like that night the three of them spent together. He brought the activated carbon and water for Nicholas, then sat down next to him, once again sandwiching him between himself and Daniel.

Both Daniel and Jinyong had a hand on Nicholas’ back. He took a pill, then returned to hiding his face.

He kept apologizing, voice muffled.

“You should go to sleep,” Jinyong suggested. “We can talk when you’re sober.”

“No! That was—the point was for me not to be sober, I—”

Jinyong then did something completely unexpected both for Nicholas and Daniel. He leaned in and kissed Nicholas’ cheek.

“It’s important for you to rest, okay? And don’t worry about the talk, it’ll be okay.”

Nicholas’ eyes glistened. “Don’t do that. Don’t give me hope.”

“We’ll talk about this,” Jinyong said slowly. “When you’re sober. And everything will be okay. Trust me.”

Nicholas didn’t respond affirmatively, but, feeling like he didn’t have a choice, he let himself be handled. Daniel and Jinyong took him to the bedroom and put him to sleep, tucking him in gently. Then, encouraged by Jinyong’s previous actions, Daniel leaned in and kissed Nicholas’ forehead.

He only sniffled.

Both Jinyong and Daniel wished him a goodnight. He responded in a soft mutter.

Daniel and Jinyong were once again alone in the living room.

“I have a feeling I know what you were going to tell me,” Daniel whispered.

“Do you?”

“I…” Daniel swallowed. “I thought you and Nicholas… But now...”

“I love you,” Jinyong blurted out. “But I love him too. And I just—”

Daniel let out a breath, burying his face in his hands. “For so long I was jealous, but I didn’t know of whom . It turned out that—I liked both of you and was jealous of the both of you and…”

“Is that why you left?” Jinyong asked.

Daniel shook his head. “Well—not really? I was… I felt abandoned. I felt that I was losing you both at the same time and… I couldn’t be around either one of you.”

Jinyong nodded. He reached out and took Daniel’s hand, passing a thumb over his knuckles. “I understand.”

Daniel wiggled himself over, pushing himself into Jinyong’s hold.

“Do you want to finish watching the movie? Or do you want to sleep?” Jinyong asked.

“I’m tired,” Daniel answered.

Jinyong stood up and offered to carry Daniel, an offer which he wholeheartedly accepted. He clung onto Jinyong until he was put down onto the bed, beside Nicholas. The bed was big enough for all three of them to fit, something that made Daniel quite happy.

Nicholas was already asleep. Daniel wiggled out of his clothes and accepted a shirt from Jinyong to sleep in. When Jinyong had changed into his pyjamas, he got in beside Daniel and the younger immediately demanded he be held.

Jinyong couldn’t help but smile. He cupped Daniel’s cheeks and kissed his nose, then his cheeks, then his forehead. Daniel had to stifle his laughter, not wanting to wake Nicholas up, even though no noise would probably be able to accomplish that.

Nuzzling close to each other, the two drifted off.

* * *

Daniel was the first one to wake up, judging by the two sets of snores coming from either side of him. Deciding to let Nicholas rest some more, Daniel turned to Jinyong. He propped himself up, resting his hands on the mattress, and began to lean in. He continued to get close until his bangs were tickling Jinyong’s face.

Jinyong’s eyes fluttered open and he whined, gently pushing Daniel away.

“Stoop,” he complained, instead wrapping his arms around Daniel’s waist and pulling him in, thereby preventing him from pulling any more pranks.

Not that Daniel minded their new position. He took Jinyong’s hand and brought it up to his lips, pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

“I’ve missed you,” Jinyong whispered.

“I’ve missed you too.” Daniel kissed Jinyong’s wrist.

“We should live together again,” Jinyong then said, hooking his chin to Daniel’s shoulder.

Daniel nodded slowly. His heart beat faster just thinking about it. He hadn’t been doing well on his own. Thinking of having Jinyong around again nearly made him tear up.

He wasn’t alone. He wouldn’t be alone again.

“Maybe with him too,” Jinyong said, reaching over to poke Nicholas’ arm. “Maybe at his house, it’s much bigger than my apartment, probably yours too.”

Daniel once again had to stifle his laughter.

“Bit of we’re going to live in his house, we are going to have to tell him about all of this,” Jinyong observed and reached over, beginning to continuously poke Nicholas’ side.

“Noo, let the man sleep!” Daniel scolded in a whisper. “He had a rough night.”

“He slept enough! We need him now.”

“At least be gentle…”

Jinyong sighed and instead of poking resorted to gently shaking Nicholas.

Eventually, his eyes opened. He whimpered a little and buried his face in the pillow he’d been sleeping on.

“Was yesterday a dream?” Nicholas asked, voice muffled by the pillow.

“Nope.” Jinyong had sat up and now had a hand on Daniel’s tummy, while looking at Nicholas. “We need to talk.”

Nicholas laced his fingers in his hair, holding his head. “Please no.”

“Will you just tell him? Put him out of his misery,” Daniel said with a small smile.

“Tell me what?” Nicholas asked, lifting his head a little.

Jinyong sighed and rearranged himself so that he was sitting up straight, “Daniel and I talked… Do you remember what you told us last night?”

At first, Nicholas didn’t move. Then, slowly, he nodded.

“Well,” Jinyong said. “Daniel and I realized that we feel the same way. Towards each other, and you.”

Nicholas sat up and stared at Jinyong, then at Daniel, then back at Jinyong. “What?”

“Do you need me to spell it out? Jinyong leaned in, removing his hand from Daniel’s tummy so as to not squish him as he shifted his weight. “I ing love you, . And Daniel does too.”

Nicholas swallowed, perhaps a little flustered with how close Jinyong had gotten. He looked at Daniel, unsure, asking for a confirmation.

Daniel nodded. He felt his cheeks burning, but he was surely not as red as Nicholas, whose ears and neck flushed as well.

Nicholas cleared his throat. “This… is not how I expected this to go.”

Daniel sat up, having to wiggle himself in-between Jinyong and Nicholas.

“Me neither,” Daniel said. “I guess we were both wrong.”

Seeing Nicholas shake, Daniel wrapped his arms around him. Nicholas didn’t hug back right away. It took him a while to unravel, to bury his face in Daniel’s neck and cling onto him.

Jinyong gently Nicholas’ hair, while holding Daniel’s waist. When Nicholas pulled away, he had to wipe his eyes. He was looking away in an attempt to hide his face.

“—I’m sorry. This is stupid, I’m sorry,” he was muttering.

Daniel was holding onto Nicholas’ sleeve.

“It’s not stupid,” Jinyong said. He reached out and cupped Nicholas’ cheek, wiping his tears.

Nicholas ended up sandwiched in a hug, both Daniel and Jinyong squeezing him gently.

“I thought you wouldn’t have me back,” Nicholas whispered.

Daniel took a deep breath and kissed his cheek. Nicholas’ eyes widened. Daniel paid it no mind.

“Don’t think about that now,” he said softly.

He didn’t like the way Jinyong pulled away, how he held Nicholas’ hand to his chest and, or the way he looked at him.

“Listen… I’m glad to have you back too. But I still can’t stand behind your drinking problem.”

Nicholas tried to pull his hand away. Daniel took his other hand and kissed his knuckles. “Don’t be upset with us, we’re just worried.”

“I want to stop too, I just—I don’t wanna go to rehab. Not now , not when we just got together—”

Daniel mimicked Jinyong’s gesture of pressing Nicholas’ hand to his chest. “How about you go, just for a short while, and we’ll wait for you? We’re not going anywhere, Nick.”

Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t want to leave.”

“This is what’s best for you,” Jinyong said. “You two—There’s only so much I can do for you. You need to start taking care of yourselves.”

Daniel swallowed. The time he’d spent away from both Jinyong and Nicholas… He’d picked up some bad habits. At the time, he didn’t think that his actions were hurting anyone. He wasn’t close with anyone, he’d pushed his friends away. But now… He felt that it was all catching up with him.

He looked at Nicholas. “If you go to rehab, I’ll return to therapy.”

“Wait, what?” asked a worried Jinyong.

“Do we have a deal?” Daniel asked, not looking away from Nicholas.

Nicholas contemplated the idea, but in the end he nodded.

“What was that? You’re going back to therapy?” Jinyong took Daniel by the shoulder.

Daniel looked down, shuffling closer to Nicholas as if to hide himself. “I… Well. While I was alone, I kind of… I didn’t see the point. I didn’t feel that medication and therapy was working so I stopped….”

“Danny...” Jinyong said, voice dripping with disappointment and worry.

Nicholas hugged him, cradling his head. “If you’re going to take steps to get better, then I will too. I… , I don’t want to leave you guys, but…”

“You’re not leaving us,” said Daniel. “You’re just going away for a little while.” He leaned in and kissed Nicholas’ cheek.

Jinyong now embraced Daniel, holding him tight. “Promise me you won’t do something so stupid again. Promise me you’ll do your best to get better.”

A little taken aback, Daniel nodded. “Of course,” he muttered.

For a little while, none of them wanted to move.

It was an odd morning. The three of them had breakfast, got dressed and spent the rest of the morning cuddling on the couch. Daniel found himself incredibly touch starved, and judging by how touchy the two were, Jinyong and Nicholas were as well.

Afterwards they went to Nicholas’ place to help him pack and see him off.

Daniel held Nicholas’ hand while he talked to the nurse at the front desk, and Jinyong had his arm around Nicholas’ waist.

When they hugged, none of them wanted to let go. Daniel and Jinyong stayed at the lobby, watching Nicholas go. He only stopped at the door to give them one last wave.