“There’s a condition,” Drew warned. “And this matters to Joe a lot. Like, deal-breaker important.”
Finn turned to Joe, wide-eyed with curiosity. “What is it?”
Joe’s expression was pensive. “I’m willing to work on this if it’s the three of us, and only the three of us, but I can’t deal with you having hookups, too. I’m sorry, and if you can’t accept that, I’ll understand. This is going to be complicated enough, trying to find a dynamic that works for all of three of us, especially with me in therapy and you still recovering from your injuries and having to undergo physical therapy for months. Neither Drew nor I are interested in any outside action, so to speak. If we’re going to settle down, it’s got to be all of us.”
Finn sagged with relief. “No, that’s fair, and I’m willing to forego outside action. In fact….”
He released their hands and leaned forward to grab his phone off the coffee table. He opened his dating app and went to the settings. Holding out his phone so they could both see the screen, he went through the steps to delete his account, before closing the app and deleted that as well.
“Done,” he said as he tossed his phone back on the coffee table. “The two of you are worth it.”
Joe’s shoulders slumped, and it was only then Finn noticed how tense he’d been, and how hard it must have been for Joe to make that condition. Joe had never, ever given Finn any kind of limits before, and he had probably been dreading Finn’s reaction. “Thank you.”
“Damn right we’re worth it,” Drew said. “Wise choice.”
“I think it’ll go down as the best decision I ever made.” Finn’s smile was wide and happy as he rested one hand on Joe’s leg and the other on Drew’s. “Anything else? Any other ground rules or conditions?”
“Just that we all be honest.” Joe smiled slightly. “I know I’ll have to work on my communication skills, but I’m going to try.”
“So will I,” Drew nodded. “I’m sure it’s going to take some adjustment, but I love you both. I want this to work. I’m sure it will, if we’re all on the same page. But what about you, Finn? Any requests or rules you want to toss into the pot?”
“I can’t think of anything right now,” Finn said, shaking his head. “But this’ll be an ongoing process. Let’s start with honesty and open communication as the foundation and go from there.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Now that everything had been settled, Joe seemed to relax. He slid an arm around Finn’s shoulders and hugged him. “So now you’ll have the two of us to take care of you. Think you can stand both of us hovering over you?”
“You hover, Isupervise,” Drew corrected him. “I was an XO, after all.”
At that, Joe stuck out his tongue at Drew. “Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that!”
Finn nestled between them, far happier and more content than he had ever thought possible. Drew was exactly what he and Joe needed to complete their little circle, and to Finn, a white-picket-fence scenario for three sounded just about right.
