Kelvin paced the floor in the apartment. He glanced at Andy. “Do you know what this is about?” Kelvin asked him.
Andy said, “I’m sure it’s nothing bad.”
Kelvin sighed. Alex had called him the night before, saying he wanted to see Kelvin at the apartment at 9 a.m. He would bring muffins and coffee for breakfast. Kelvin was up most of the night, worried. What did he do to make Alex leave? Was it because of Andy moving in? Kelvin didn’t want to have to choose between his best friend and his boyfriend.
And all this before Christmas, too.
At 9 a.m. on the dot, Kelvin heard the knock on the door. He walked over to it and opened it to see Alex, his white arms carrying a “bucket o’ joe”, a bag of donuts and a box of muffins. “Hurry, before the acid gets to them,” he said.
Kelvin took the bucket and box while Alex dropped the bag of donuts on the desk in the foyer. “We’re not going to eat all this,” said Kelvin, bringing the coffee and muffins to the table.
“Save the muffins for later. These donuts are fresh.” He opened the bag and took one out, a sugar coated soft donut, and took a bite.
Kelvin got the cups out and poured coffee. Alex brought the bag of donuts to the kitchen table, and offered it. “I was careful not to touch the other ones,” he said, his lips surrounded in white powdered sugar.
Kelvin laughed and handed him a napkin. “Is everything okay? How are you doing?”
Alex wiped his mouth. “I’m doing all right. How are you two?”
Andy nodded, taking his coffee and doctoring it up, while Kelvin took a sugar coated donut. “Good.”
They looked at each other through the awkward silence. Kelvin blurted, “So what–” while Alex said, “So I–” They laughed together. Alex said, “I wanted to come and talk to you.”
“Okay,” said Kelvin, taking a napkin to wipe his own white lips. “Did we do anything wrong?”
“What? No.”
“You sure?” Kelvin glanced at Andy. Andy merely sat with his coffee and a donut that he had scored from the bag. “It’s not because of Andy, is it?”
“No. No, not really.” Alex sighed. “I – I would hear you guys. At night.”
Kelvin stopped, the donut half-way to his mouth. “Oh. Oh! I’m so sorry!” He blushed and blurted, “Ohmigod, I’m so sorry! I’ll keep it down, I promise.”
Alex said, “That’s not the problem, not really.”
“Then what is?”
Alex glanced at Andy, then back at Kelvin. “Kelvin,” he said, looking down, “I would hear you guys, and…want to be there.”
Kelvin looked at Andy. Then at Alex. Then he stepped back so he could see the two of them. “You’d…want…to…”
Alex took a breath, looked up at Kelvin. “Yes.”
“With me? Or with Andy?”
“With both of you.”
“Both of us? Like, at the same time?” He turned to Andy, “How does that even work?”
“It’s a threesome,” said Andy calmly.
“Two people? At the same time?” Kelvin looked trapped. Andy got up while Alex moved toward him. Kelvin waved his hands, getting powdered sugar all over the floor. “Wait, wait, a minute. How?” He looked at Alex.
“If you can imagine,” said Alex, “One person would be in the middle and two people on either side of him.”
“Not both, uh, in? At the same time?” Kelvin was blushing a furious pink, staring at Alex.
“I don’t think so.” Alex was pointedly not looking at Andy. He kept his entire attention and focus on Kelvin.
“And who’s in the middle?”
“Could be any one of us,” said Alex. “But I’d like it to be you.”
“Me?” His hands flew to his face, as if he realized he had been blushing, and he got sugar all over his red cheeks. He whirled on Andy. “Do you know about this?”
Andy just shrugged.
Alex said, “I know you might need to think about this.”
“I think…yeah. Yeah, that might be a good idea.” Alex started to leave. “Wait!” called Kelvin.
“What?”
“Will you stay anyway? Please? Even if I say no?”
Alex came back to the kitchen table. “Even if you say no, I’ll still be your friend. If you’ll have me.”
Kelvin took a step, his arms moving to embrace Alex, but Alex stepped back. Kelvin brought his arms down, ashamed. “Sorry.”
Alex smiled his tiny smile. “It’s all right. If you say no, I’ll talk to Mike about a soundproof spell.”
“Yeah, let me think about it.” Kelvin smiled. “In the meantime, do you want coffee?”
“I would love one,” Alex said, and sat down at the kitchen table.