"I'm already put to good use!" he complained, not at all annoyed. "Who got you out of that bar brawl last time we were in town together, hm? Who kept that bear from eating Archer's lute?" That had been a wild night. "You two get into an awful lot of trouble for a single pair, you know. travelling with you is a full time job."
"Oh shut your mouth, you love every second of it and you know it." Fen shot Ori a wink and a smile over his shoulder before turning back to the path, twirling his staff in his hand. The staff that Archer constantly teased him for considering it was at least three inches taller than him with Fen only being 5'4". And every time he does this, Fen proceeds to beat him over the head with it.
Ori returned the wink, slipping an arm across Fen's shoulders. He was quite a bit taller than the healer, standing around 5'8" or 5'9", and seemed to appreciate the height difference, looking down at the healer with a small smirk. "Well I never said I didn't! You've both been wonderful partners, darling, I just think you should give me more thanks. Like, for example, you could promise me a spot on the bed tonight."
"Would you rather deal with Archer's incessant turning and kicking?" Archer elbowed Fen with a frown, being able to look down at Fen being at 5'7" himself. "It's not incentive." "Incessive, love." "Well whatever! I'm a musician, not a linguist." "No, trust me, I know. You nearly started a war between the elves and the goblins because of your horrible Elvish."
"Oh yes, because it's so difficult to cuddle up with your charming boyfriend on a feather bed. Trust me, I can deal with Archer." He blew a kiss at the bard over Fen's head, laughing quietly. "What I can't deal with is murdering my back by sleeping on the floor for the third night in a row. I need relief, Fen, won't you take mercy on me?"
"Please, the last thing either of you need from me is mercy. It's because of me that you both aren't dead." Fen shot both of them reprimanding looks. Archer looked away, blushing in embarrassment. Archer was horribly accident prone and Fen had been fixing him up for years.
Ori just smiled and leaned over to knock their heads together affectionately, not at all apologetic. "I've saved your life too, sweetheart! And I do need mercy because if I have to spend another night alone on the cold floor, I'm going to die, and then you'll have that on your conscience for the rest of your life."
"Okay, fine then. You can deal with Archer and his bruise inducing sleep kicking and I'll have an uninterrupted night of sleep on the floor, how's that sound?" Fen raised an eyebrow at Ori, a faint smile on his lips. "Do I not get a say in this?" Archer huffed.
Ori smiled back, knocking against the smaller man again before he turned to Archer with a playful pout. "Well… yes, but do you really think it would be so bad to sleep with me? I've been told I'm an excellent bedmate, and I can promise that I won't be any grumpier than Fen."
"Yeah but…Fen cuddles are best cuddles." Archer muttered dejectedly. "Archer, love, you can handle one night without me." Fen patted his boyfriend's shoulder, his smile growing as the town finally came into view.
Ori laughed and reached over to pat Archer's shoulder as well. "Well we could all try squeezing into the bed together, but I don't think it would be very comfortable. You'll just have to make do with me and my sub par cuddles."
"Hmm…well, I guess I can deal with it. But one day you'll just have to cuddle Fen yourself and see how good they are. He's very cuddly when he's sleepy." Archer giggled and Fen elbowed him, pulling his hood down to hide his blush.
Ori laughed and leaned down so he could poke Fen's cheek. "Cute," he teased, smiling, doing his best to ignore the sincerity in his voice. Liking both of them was weird, he told his treacherous brain, and anyways, they would never feel the same way. "Maybe we should cuddle tonight then, Fen, and Archer can take the floor. Maybe you'll get a good night's sleep for once and you won't be so grumpy."
"Wha-I mean-I don't…" Fen spluttered through about four different sentences before giving up with a huff. "You know what? Fine. Whatever." "Yay! Now Ori can get in on Fen cuddles!" Archer cheered, making Fen smile. "You're lucky I like you." Although something weird in his chest made him wonder who exactly he was saying it to.
Ori just smiled and wrapped an arm around Fen, giving him the awkward one armed squeeze that was about as close as he ever got to a hug. For somebody who was forever leaning into other people's space and thumping himself against other people, he was remarkably bad at delivering affection the way everybody else did.
"Thank you, Fen!" There was real happiness in his voice as he pulled away, though his attention quickly shifted to Archer. "I promise I'll kick just as much as you do, Archer! That way he won't have a preference."
"You start kicking like he does and I will push you out of bed. I have a moral obligation to keep Archer, not so much you." Fen chuckled as Archer gasped. "Ooo, does someone have a crush?" Archer poked at his boyfriend teasingly. Fen swatted away his hands with a roll of his eyes.
Ori laughed because it shouldn't bother him, that Fen and Archer were two peas in a pod and he was more like the weed that had poked its way into their garden, and let himself fall half a step back again. Out of their orbit. "Well you don't have to keep me around, sweetheart. Who knows, maybe Archer and I will cuddle up on the floor and leave you all alone."
"Nooo, you cuddle Fen. He's just being difficult." Archer poked Fen's cheek. Fen didn't answer, that weird feeling in his chest coming back at the thought of actually cuddling up to Ori. "Maybe…" Fen mumbled under his breath, quietly whispering his thoughts to himself as he often did when he was thinking way too hard about something.
Ori rolled his eyes and took the liberty of stepping forward, just for a moment, so he could bat Archer's hands away. "No, no, if he's too good for me, then I'll be more than happy to curl up with you. I'm sure you're nice to curl up with too! And you're definitely not too good for me, I've watched you almost get eaten too many times to think you're cooler than I am."
Archer watched Fen for a long moment, glancing back at Ori every once in a while. The gears in his head were clearly turning until they suddenly clicked. "Actually, can I ask you something?"
Ori felt a little flash of panic at the question—he knew, didn't he? he knew and he hated it and now Ori was going to be left behind for being a greedy little freak—but he did a good job of keeping it from his face. He turned to Archer with a perfectly composed smile and nodded. "Yeah, of course."
"Well, let's give this hypothetical situation. Let's say you were in a relationship with someone. You love them very much and they love you too. But then someone else comes along that you really like and it seems like your partner really likes them too. Would you be willing to try an open relationship or do you think your partner would be weirded out by the idea?" Archer kept a careful eye on Fen as he spoke, making sure to keep his voice down as to not jostle his boyfriend out of his thoughts.
"Oh, um…" His voice was a little too flat. That little flash of panic was turning into something bigger now, something worse that made his stomach drop and his heart beat too fast in his chest. He really liked Archer and Fen, he didn't want to be left behind again. Not by them. "I… well, I… I would probably just ignore it, until this hypothetical person stops being… open about it. Because, you know, the hypothetical person probably doesn't mean to intrude and he–or, ah… or they can't control who they like, and they probably really don't mean to be meddling in a perfectly loving relationship."
"Hmm, I guess that makes sense." Archer chewed on his thumbnail, thinking. "Okay, additional detail. Let's say that it's not just like. Let's say that this couple starts crushing on this new person. Like, they both really like them but they're both too scared to bring up the idea." Archer took a deep breath.
"Fen might not show it, but I think he's really falling for you. He's acting the same way he did when he first confessed to me. But I think he's scared of the idea of an open relationship because he doesn't know how I'll feel about it. I just… Fen's the brains, I do emotion. And I don't think he's realized that I feel the same way."
Ori got about three seconds into his internal freak out before he heard the words I feel the same way and realized he was not, in fact, about to be abandoned in the middle of the night for something he couldn't help.
"Oh," he said. Oh appeared to be his go to word at the moment, because he was too surprised to really think of anything else. He'd been so busy bracing himself for rejection that he hadn't even spared a thought for what it might be like to be accepted by them. "Oh! You…" He turned to Archer with wide, eyes reaching over to grab at one of his hands. "You… like me? Like… really? And he does too?"