Chapter 82: Make it work
Chapter 81
Jack
I look at the alcohol and decide against it. No, I need my head clear for this. I grab a glass of water instead and down half of it in one gulp. This conversation needs me sober, focused, and... marginally less likely to throttle either of them.
I hear hesitant footsteps. They’re slow—like two people walking toward their execution rather than a bedroom.
Why are they so scared? It’s not like I’m going to eat them.
...Okay. Maybe I want to.
"Both of you. Sit on the bed."
They do reluctantly, like I just told them to sit on a ticking bomb. I turn to face them fully and almost—almost—laugh at the picture they make: Nolan looking like a golden retriever who accidentally chewed the furniture, and Ciel looking like he’s contemplating an escape route through the window.
Instead, I grab a chair and pull it across from them, sitting down with deliberate slowness.
"Nolan. Ciel. This conversation is long overdue."
They don’t respond.
Figures.
"This whole thing isn’t working because I’m the focal point." I say it plainly, gesturing loosely between us. "Everything spins around me, and that’s why it’s lopsided."
Still nothing. Just wide-eyed silence.
"Give me your hand, Ciel."
He hesitates for half a second but eventually places his palm in mine. Warm. Tense. Like holding a bird that might bolt any second.
"Nolan."
He gulps but gives me his hand too, his grip firm but uncertain.
I interlock my fingers with theirs.
"This right here," I say, lifting our joined hands slightly, "is good. Solid. But it’s incomplete."
I watch as confusion flickers across their faces. Neither speaks.
"Want to know why?" I tilt my head, giving them a wolfish grin.
"Look at me. Both hands are occupied. I’m connected to both of you. But you’re not connected to each other."
They follow my gaze down to the empty space between their hands.
"See the gap? That’s the problem."
"What do you mean?" Nolan finally asks, voice tight.
I don’t answer right away. Instead, I pull my hands back, grab Ciel’s hand and place it firmly in Nolan’s. Their fingers fumble, awkward and clumsy, but eventually they lock. I then reach back and take their other hands again, so the three of us form a closed loop.
"Now," I say softly, "it’s complete."
The room goes quiet.
"This is absurd. Nolan and I are best friends," Ciel blurts, eyes wide.
I arch a brow. "Best friends don’t make out and do the things you two have done."
Their faces go red at the same time. Beautiful.
"How did you—" Nolan starts.
"Know?" I finish for him, leaning back with a grin. "Please. There was a very specific day when you both walked around with swollen lips. And another when the doggy’s whimpers echoed down the hallway."
Nolan makes a strangled noise. Ciel looks like he wants the floor to open up and swallow him.
Speaking of that day, I really should do something about the soundproofing in this place. Especially with Lanny growing up. Awkward doesn’t even begin to cover what that would be like later on. Mental note: new insulation.
"Tell me again," I say smoothly, "how you’re just best friends."
"You don’t understand," Nolan rushes out, his voice too quick, too defensive. "It wasn’t like that—"
"Yeah, yeah." I wave a hand, amused. "It’s really simple. Ciel and Nolan want Jack. Jack wants Ciel and Nolan. Ciel and Nolan want each other."
I grin, slow and sharp, leaning back in my chair like a man who’s just solved a particularly fun puzzle.
"So Jack says, let’s all be one big happy trio," I say, pulling my hands dramatically away from theirs like I’m announcing the plot twist of a badly written soap opera.
"But it’s—" Ciel starts.
"Weird," Nolan finishes for him.
I tilt my head. "Weird how?"
Nolan waves his hands helplessly. "How can three people be... I don’t know. A thing?"
I stare at him. "Oh my sweet summer child."
"It’s actually a lot more popular than you guys think," I say, slipping into my best infomercial voice.
"There are AAO relationships, OOA relationships, ABO relationships—which, hello, is literally what we are. People make it work all the time."
Nolan blinks at me like I’ve just explained quantum physics. Ciel just looks vaguely overwhelmed, which honestly is kind of adorable.
Not to mention Rose’s end game for the novel was for Ciel to end with all four of the dukes somehow. That means poly relationships are canon in this universe.
"It’s just a little..." Ciel starts.
"Different," Nolan offers softly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Unconventional," I correct, wagging a finger. "But also very doable. Anyone here actually against this?"
They both glance at each other but no one answers fast enough.
I don’t give them a chance to think about it—I clap my hands with a flourish like some evil director calling "Action!"
"Great, let’s test our chemistry now," I say with a smile that I know is a little too pleased with itself. This may or may not have been my villain arc all along.
I lean back into the chair, crossing one leg over the other, getting way too comfortable.
"Now kiss," I command.
The words leave my mouth and I instantly want to crawl under the floorboards. Why did I sound exactly like that little girl from the cancer ward making her Barbie dolls smooch in awkward plastic collisions?
I don’t let any of that show on my face, though. My poker face is elite.
They both just... stare at me. Dumbly. Like two confused golden retrievers who’ve been handed a math problem.
"We only have, like, two to three hours before Ivan gets back with Lanny," I say, clapping my hands again to speed this up.
"So, come on. Let’s go."
Ciel’s ears turn red. Nolan looks like someone just asked him to recite Shakespeare naked.
"Wait, now?" Nolan croaks.
"No, doggy," I deadpan. "Next year’s summer festival. Yes, now."
Nolan groans, Ciel hides his face in his hands, and I grin, I feel like a kid in an expensive toy store.