(Untitled)

[theunascended]

Dinner. It'd been a long time since he'd actually made dinner. It wasn't anything special this time. Just bits and pieces tossed together to make something that Daniel wasn't sure what to call. But it was food. And there was a table. And there were notes that he was using

Comments

[karmic_darwin]

With someone else, Mohinder might've been offended to have his advances ignored. But with Daniel, as he himself, any acknowledgment at all while working was substantial. He drew his fingers through Daniel's hair, then righted himself as Alcuin spoke.

He had no qualms about Alcuin seeing him with Daniel. It had to happen sooner or later, since he had no intention of hiding that they were together and even less intention of not being. "You're not interrupting. I was just trying to bring Daniel back to the land of the living." Instead of Budge's Land of the Dead.

On the other hand, the issue of greeting Alcuin was complex. He'd fallen into a pattern of being physically affectionate with Alcuin that might make Daniel uncomfortable, just as seeing him with Jack had for Mohinder.

That, in its turn, decided him. He greeted Alcuin with a warm smile and cupped his shoulder. "Come on. There'll be more room outside. We won't be on top of each other." As soon as he said it, he remembered the song the jukebox had played and glanced away from Alcuin, grateful his complexion hid the flush.

[will_you_see]

Alcuin nodded at both of them, following behind Mohinder back out the door.

Mohinder's discomfort was obvious enough that Anafiel would have been displeased indeed at Alcuin's powers of observation had it not caught his notice. He wondered if he could say something to reassure the man, but then realized that that would be rather difficult without knowing the exact source of the discomfort. It could be anything from hiding problems with Daniel to lingering issues with the betrayal of his confidence to residual feelings concerning their time together (which could be anything from shame to lust that he was trying to hide in front of Daniel...). In any case, yes, it could be a great many things, and Alcuin did not want to make any assumptions.

Alcuin sat down at the table and commented, "It's a beautiful night," before taking a second to admire it. Then he pushed some hair away from his face with his hand and added to Daniel, "Thank you for your hospitality. Should we get started?"

[theunascended]

Daniel did feel a twinge at the behavior, but since he was no better with Jack, or even with Alcuin, he didn't say anything, just smiled at the two of them. He grabbed the paperwork that wasn't a part of his Egyptian history class and followed them. He put the notes down and nodded to the food already at the table.

"Feel free," Daniel said, beginning to open up the various containers.

His stomach growled a little and he wondered just how late it was.

[karmic_darwin]

Alcuin sat, then Daniel. Mohinder hesitated only briefly before sitting beside Daniel and across from Alcuin, putting either Daniel or Alcuin in the middle depending on how the situation were viewed. It hardly mattered. With a table of this size, they were all within easy touching distance anyhow.

That observation didn't help Mohinder's lingering awkwardness. He set his notepad to the side and helped Daniel with serving the food.

"Thank you for cooking," Mohinder said, not really looking at either of them. "Next time, it's my turn."

[will_you_see]

Alcuin helped himself to some food, though after a few minutes of what he felt was largely pointless small talk and uncomfortable silences, he sighed.

"Look," he said, turning to look at each of them in turn, "far be it for me to address the elephant standing in the room, but... is there anything that the three of us should discuss, before moving onto plans for the class? Because making sure that there are no lingering issues between us is probably an important part of making sure that this joint venture doesn't blow up in our faces. The last thing the students need to deal with are the instructors casting uncomfortable glances at each other."

[theunascended]

"Only time will help my problem," Daniel said, glancing at Mohinder and his uneasiness. "Unless there's something new that I haven't heard about?" His stomach twisted a little. He hadn't been paying attention to the emotions that were thick in the air because half of his mind had still been on work.

He was paying attention now, though.

[karmic_darwin]

Rubbing his hands up his face, Mohinder took off his glasses and set them aside. He sought Daniel's gaze first, slid his hand across the table to rub his fingertips against Daniel's forearm. "There's nothing new."

And there wouldn't be, no matter how much he cared for Alcuin. He'd made Daniel a promise about Dani and it applied equally to Alcuin.

Still touching Daniel, he tilted his chin toward Alcuin. "The songs the jukebox played have made me a little skittish, Alcuin, that's all. That, and--" He slid his fingers down to Daniel's wrist then curled his hand around Daniel's briefly. "This is new, being together with someone else around. It would be awkward no matter who was present, but considering everything between the three of us and not wanting to hurt either of you in any way, it's more so."

[will_you_see]

Alcuin watched them for a moment, then simply said, "I don't know what else to say aside from assuring you that I am all right. I have a rather thick skin when it comes to such things anyway, and I really am very happy for you. If I have any unpleasant feelings about the situation at all it is merely its position in a larger pattern and nothing that the pair of you have done individually. If you're happy, then you should be happy, and you should let the world know it."

[theunascended]

"Shall I assume it was doing something similar to what it was doing with us?" Daniel asked, stomach still tight. He pushed his fork around his plate, but found that he couldn't really eat anymore. "Something old, then, that's never been resolved. Alcuin's right."

Like his guilt over basically abandoning Alcuin for Mohinder. That was definitely old. And, as he'd said, could only get over with time.

"Being around with someone else doesn't bother me. It has been a month, after all." A month since the beach. Since all their jealousy, or at least most of their jealousy came out into the open. He'd even started telling his friends that there was someone.

[karmic_darwin]

Softly, Mohinder said to Daniel, "Not the same." He laced his fingers through Daniel's and stroked his thumb over Daniel's palm. "Not really."

Taunting he and Alcuin about being attracted to each other, about all of them having sex together, that wasn't the same as love songs and eroticism to overheat them.

He lowered his chin, ducked his head in apology to both of them. "It's resolved. It's just a little awkward."

[will_you_see]

"I suppose there's nothing else to be said then," Alcuin said after a moment. He simply had to trust that Mohinder was being straight forward. "I only wished to know if there was anything that I could do to make things less awkward. But I do realize that sometimes these things simply take time."

Watching Mohinder and Daniel be affectionate with each other did not make him jealous, or bitter, or really anything unpleasant... perhaps a touch sad, that he himself missed that sort of casual intimacy.

[theunascended]

"Well, I can't know, since you haven't told me what happened with Alcuin," Daniel pointed out. "And I didn't say same, I said similar. As in taunting and being a general pain in the ass."

Sometimes, he missed when things had been simple. When he'd been on his own or when there had been only one person and there was none of the awkwardness that there was now.

Sometimes.

[karmic_darwin]

Mohinder sighed. He hated fighting with Daniel, and he wanted to do it front of Alcuin not at all. Some things ought to be kept between the two of them, but now that they were into it, it would only be worse if they didn't resolve it now.

He gave Alcuin an apologetic look. "Excuse us, Alcuin, please."

Turning to Daniel, Mohinder sought and held his gaze. "There was little to tell, and your teammate arrived the same night. There hasn't been time alone in which to tell you."

He rolled his shoulders forward, one part shrug and one part loosening of tension. "The jukebox played songs about our attraction to each other. The most notable about..." My god, this was uncomfortable. "A threesome. And then Alcuin left to do other things."

[will_you_see]

Alcuin gave Daniel a bit of a sharp look... which probably came off even sharper than he intended because it was such a rarity that that sort of expression crossed his face, even rarer than raising his voice. "Nothing happened that needed to be told. I'm sure that you hardly expect Mohinder to appraise you of every moment of his day."

Then he blinked a little in surprise and to Mohinder added, "I'm sorry, I hadn't really thought much about the context of the songs that jukebox was choosing... that is, after I realized what a 'gigolo' was. I didn't realize that you thought it was making suggestions about your sex life."

[theunascended]

"I don't," Daniel said evenly, "but when there's a mention of songs that make Mohinder skittish around you, I get curious." He took a breath, held it for a minute, and then let it out slowly. Then he glanced at Mohinder and Alcuin. "You don't expect me to be upset, do you? It's not as if you exactly had control over what the jukebox was playing, right?"

His stomach twisted a little, but he shrugged and took a bite of his food.

This wasn't the time or the place for an argument and he was tired of having the same one - or variations on the theme - every time something like this happened. So he just wouldn't have the fight.

[karmic_darwin]

Taken aback by the swiftness and sharpness of Alcuin's defense of him, Mohinder's mouth opened slightly, then shut again. Then Daniel spoke, with far more mildness on the subject than he'd expected.

Mohinder took a slightly ragged breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "It's all right, Alcuin. There's nothing to apologize for. It simply caught me off guard, since--" and here he thumbed the crease of Daniel's captive palm more insistently, more familiarly, "as we've all observed, the issue of sex is still quite fraught between us."

Fraught, that was one word for it. He never wanted to regret having been with Alcuin; it had been lovely and intimate and precisely what he needed. But it'd hurt Daniel and set them onto this trajectory, and it was hard not to wish it had been different.

He switched to French, knowing Alcuin would still be able to understand, so it would not be rude. And yet also appealing to the intimacy of the language between he and Daniel. "Not upset, no. Hurt, perhaps, or nervous." Glancing apologetically at Alcuin, he continued, "But there is no need."