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rainbowfic2025-09-28 04:10 pm
paradoxcase) wrote in rainbowfic2025-09-28 04:10 pm
Warm Heart #29 [Tales From the Neighborhood]
Name: Another Kind of Love
Story: Tales From the Neighborhood
Plot Thread: Michael, Robert, and Stephen
Colors: Warm Heart #29: Pleasure
Styles and Supplies: Life Drawing, Silhouette, Cartography, Stained Glass, Mural, Gesso, Sculpture, Calendar Page (National Self-Awareness Day), Tempera (Used dailytarotdraw.com and got the Seven of Pentacles: The Seven of Pentacles also reminds us of the importance of patience and persistence as we wait for the fruits of our labor to manifest. It encourages us to have faith in ourselves and remain committed to our goals, knowing that our dedication will eventually pay off. This card serves as a gentle reminder that success often requires nurturing and nurturing takes time.), Novelty Bead ("You give me fever - when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight/Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night." Fever, Michael Buble, given here)
Word Count: 11,976
Rating: T
Warnings: There's a lot of really strongly implied sex/hookups in here, but nothing higher-rated than T actually happens onscreen. Stephen and Jasmine say some bad words, and there's some really vague and unspecific discussion of past mpreg.
Important Onscreen Characters: Michael Wolf, Robert Bren, Stephen Bren, Victoria Ramirez, Jasmine Rai, Theo Huffington, Philip Marsh
Important Offscreen Characters: Bethany Ramirez, Oliver Bren, Archie Daniels, Simon Upsnott
Main Relationship is (the beginnings of) a Michael/Robert/Stephen QPR, and secondarily a Michael/Robert sexual relationship, but also:
Important Onscreen Relationships: Robert/Victoria, Stephen/Victoria, Stephen/Jasmine, Robert/Philip
Important Offscreen Relationships: Theo/Bethany, Oliver/Victoria, Michael/Archie, Theo/Victoria, Simon/Jasmine,Frodo/Sam, Michael/Philip
(There are also numerous unimportant characters and relationships in here, onscreen and offscreen, but I'm not listing them all.)
Summary: Michael, Robert, and Stephen survive college. Nobody survives Victoria Ramirez.
Notes: Sorry that this wound up becoming almost twelve thousand words of relationship drama and aspec nonsense. This is Sculpture with respect to this, which comes basically immediately after the end of this piece, and this, which happens at some point between Michael meeting Victoria and Michael and Robert getting together.
It was a Sunday afternoon when Michael found out about his brother Theo’s girlfriend. He’d come upstairs to the large room all of the siblings shared, that they affectionately (or not so affectionately) termed “the barracks”, looking for a sweater. They each had areas for their own things up here, sectioned off with screens, but as he passed Theo’s ‘room’ on the way to his own, he noticed him straightening a picture in a frame on the bedside table. They weren’t really that close as brothers, despite being very nearly the same age, but Michael couldn’t help being curious. He peered closer to see who was in the photograph.
It was Theo, and a girl with short brown hair that escaped from her headband and fell into her face. A nice back yard, one that was meant to be a back yard, with an old and gnarled tree, not like the greenhouse and the lawn that they had here. “Who’s she?” he asked.
Theo turned, and for a moment Michael thought he was going to get told to leave, but for some reason, the prospect of talking about this girl seemed to enliven him. “That’s Bethany!” he said. “Bethany Ramirez. I asked her out yesterday, and now we’re official.” He beamed. “She’s amazing, Michael. Her sister… Victoria’s no good.” He shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of some bad thought. “Oliver is insane, to try to go after her, I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
Michael didn’t know the girls, but he recognized Oliver’s name. “Oliver Bren?” he asked. Oliver was Robert’s brother; a long time ago, their parents had wanted Oliver and Michael and Theo to all be friends, since they were all of an age, but it had never really worked out, and Michael had wound up hanging out with Robert and Stephen instead.
“Yeah,” said Theo. “He has been stupidly obsessed with Victoria, he’s no fun to hang out with anymore. What about you?” he asked, suddenly. “Are you dating a girl? I never hear about what you’re up to.”
Michael spent a moment in consideration, but only a moment. He wasn’t going to spend his life hiding and lying; his family would all learn who he was eventually, and Theo might as well learn now. “I’m not so much for girls,” he said.
“Oh,” said Theo, not missing a beat, or really showing any sign of surprise whatsoever as he said: “Any boys, then?”
Michael smiled. Bless Theo for making it easy. “Maybe,” he said. “I think. His name’s Archie Daniels.” It still felt like there was some important conversation that he had yet to have with Archie, that Archie was putting a bit more weight on whatever their relationship was than Michael did and might have answered this question differently, but at the moment Michael was having fun and didn’t want to think about it.
“Great!” said Theo. “Maybe you can introduce him to me, and I can introduce you to Bethany.”
Michael shrugged, and went to grab his sweater. Theo could be such a dad sometimes.
Robert and Stephen already knew all about Archie Daniels, of course. They and Michael had been inseparable since middle school, and they always knew what was going on in each other’s lives. But somehow, learning about Archie had been different, for Robert. It had taken him a long while to put his finger on why, exactly; he’d kept himself up at night wondering if he was secretly homophobic. But eventually he’d figured out that it was actually jealousy.
It wasn’t jealousy over just having a partner, or even specifically having a boyfriend; he just wanted Michael, he realized. And maybe the boyfriend part didn’t even matter; he wasn’t jealous of the romantic gestures, not really.
At home, Oliver talked nonstop about some girl named Victoria, who Robert didn’t know or care about. They were going to go to college together, he’d say. They were going get engaged, and get married, and have kids, and maybe a dog. It sounded so clear and simple when he said it, but what it also made clear to Robert was that while he knew he wanted Michael, he also knew he didn’t want any of that other nonsense. Dating seemed like a bad time. Marriage seemed worse. And was there even a place for kids in his life without those things? Oliver went to bed at night dreaming of his future, and Robert stared at the ceiling trying to figure out what he even did want in the first place.
Maybe in some other scenario he could have just talked to Michael about it. Michael loved talking about how every single guy they saw was hot; other students, celebrities, teachers, he always had something flattering to say about them all, and genuinely seemed to mean it. He probably would have loved to have Robert join in, but try as he might, Robert just couldn’t see any of it. Michael would talk about something that attracted him, and Robert would focus and squint and do his best, but he could never manage to feel the same way about it. Michael seemed to live in a world full of beautiful men, and Robert lived in a much less interesting world of physically unappealing people. He couldn’t even see what Stephen was talking about, when he talked about attractive girls.
He spent ages agonizing over it. Was he really gay, if he wasn’t attracted to any guys other than Michael? Was this something else? Was it just regular friendship, tainted in some way by hormones? He had no idea. Instead of trying to confront it all, he poured himself into his schoolwork, into preparing for college, into earning scholarships. When he failed to make the football team, he got a part-time job running the register at a local shop. He told his friends and inquisitive siblings that he was simply too busy to worry about something so pedestrian as dating.
He was never too busy to hang out with Michael and Stephen, though. All of his remaining free time, he spent with them. Maybe he couldn’t play real football, but he could still convince Stephen, and sometimes even Michael to toss the ball back and forth with him out on the lawn. They wouldn’t watch the games with him and didn’t know any of the rules, but they weren’t too bad at just throwing the football.
Archie joined them sometimes, in the early days, but eventually, he stopped showing up. When they asked about it Michael just shrugged, and said that Archie felt like their relationship should be a separate thing. But Michael never did ditch them to be with Archie instead, and over time, Robert felt his initial jealousy wane and then peter out into nothing. He never stopped wanting Michael, though, in that confusing and conflicted way.
It was early in the evening, and Robert was closing the shop for the day, handing off the register drawer to his boss, putting the merchandise that was laid out on the counters away, and doing the last of the cleaning up. He stepped outside the door, locked it with his key, and turned to walk the few blocks to his house.
He stopped. There was someone there, sitting next to the door, their arms around their knees and their face buried between them, heaving the occasional quiet sob. The person raised their head, and it was Michael.
“What’s wrong?” Robert sat beside him, cross-legged, and put an arm around him, instinctively. Michael was never like this. He was always a ray of sunshine; a born optimist. Something was badly wrong.
Michael sniffled a couple times, and then said, unsteadily, “It’s Archie.”
“What happened?” Robert asked.
Michael opened his mouth and then closed it again, several times. Finally, he said, “I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t know how to explain what happened. But… we’re done, now. He’s gone.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” said Robert. “That sucks.” He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, himself; sure, it did mean Michael was single again, but did he actually want to date Michael? He didn’t really think so. But maybe he could say something to him about it, at least.
He didn’t say anything, for the moment, though. They sat there on the stoop, with Robert’s arm around Michael’s shoulders, and Michael sniffling from time to time, watching the wind rustling the trees and the occasional car or person going past. It seemed that Michael had said all he wanted to say about the breakup, so they just existed, silently, in the moment, with Robert cherishing the close contact that he didn’t usually get.
At length, Michael said, “I would have talked to Stephen, too, but… he’ll be at home, now. There’s so many people there. There’s no place to be alone, not really.”
It was starting to get late, and the light was starting to fade. “Did you want to go somewhere else?” Robert asked.
Michael shook his head. “No… I’ll go back. I should go, now, probably, my parents will be getting worried. It was just… it was nice to sit here, with you, for a while.” He grabbed the railing that lined the steps that led up to the shop’s front door and pulled himself to his feet. “Will you come with me, back to the house?”
“Of course,” said Robert. Michael and Stephen’s house was only a couple blocks past his, from here, so it wasn’t out of the way. But even if it had been, he would have walked a thousand miles for Michael, right now.
They walked together, Robert’s arm still around Michael’s shoulders, not saying anything, and Robert thought again if he should say something. Probably not. Michael didn’t want to hear it, right now.
When they reached Michael’s house, Robert saw that Stephen was waiting for them, leaning up against the side of the greenhouse, his long legs crossed at the ankles. When he saw them approach, he pushed off of it and called out to them. Michael shrugged out of Robert’s embrace, and called back, somewhat weakly. He turned back to Robert, with a slow smile, and simply said, “Thanks. For being there, today.” Then he hastened off in Stephen’s direction.
Robert stood there, and watched him go. Maybe that had been a chance at something. Had he missed an opportunity, or avoided a mistake? He couldn’t decide.
The year wore on, and eventually it was time for Michael to graduate. He started to become genuinely enthusiastic about the Sim State art program, while Robert and Stephen bitched and moaned and dragged their feet about college applications (yeah, he’d been there, he could relate). All too soon, the summer was over and it was time to leave. Well, he’d be moving to the other side of town, so it wasn’t like he was actually going anywhere. It might have been nice to leave his parents behind to go off to some out-of-state college, but it wouldn’t have been worth leaving Robert and Stephen.
Arriving on campus, he’d discovered that in spite of his fears, his housing plans had actually paid off — the lottery he’d put his name into for the private housing had panned out. Sure, there would be other students living in the house with him, but he would have a room all to himself. Jackpot.
There wasn’t anyone else at the house when he let himself and Mom Jenn in with the key he’d been provided, so he took the opportunity to survey the place. Near the door, there was a study room with bookshelves, a couch, and a computer, and then to the other side, a much larger living room with a boombox, a TV over a fireplace and a game console, and was that a pool table? It was. The kitchen and dining room were towards the back of the house, and the upstairs was devoted to the bedrooms. He found the one that was his, and Mom Jenn helped him move his things in.
Some time later, after Mom Jenn had left and he’d finished organizing his things, he came down for a better look at the pool table. Someone else was in the living room. A tall girl with her black hair tied into a single thick braid that came halfway down her back, with an honest-to-god bow on the end of it stood idly in the middle of the room, flicking through TV channels.
When she saw him, her whole demeanor changed. From idle boredom, she became alert and focused, like a predator that had scented some prey. “Hi, handsome,” she said. “Did you luck into this place, too? I can sense it’ll be a fun year already.”
Michael quirked his mouth at her, amused. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not into girls.”
Another complete transformation came over her, and her mouth twisted petulantly. “Oh, darn, really? That’s the second time today a hot guy turned out to be gay. Life’s not fair.”
“What was the name of the first one?” Michael asked. He’d tried sort of half-heartedly to talk to some new people after everything had gone wrong with Archie, but he’d soon realized he had virtually no ability to predict who would be interested.
The girl met his eyes again, and something of the predator from earlier was back in her expression. “I see you,” she said. “His name is Jimmy Phoenix, he lives in the Landgraab House dorms. Now,” she said, smiling ferally, “you’ve got to return the favor, right? If you meet a hot guy who doesn’t work out for you, you send him to me, yeah?”
Michael gave her a fuller smile. “Of course,” he said. “Though I think you have the advantage here, for sure. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Victoria,” she said. “And you?”
“‘Victoria’,” Michael repeated. “As in, Victoria Ramirez?”
There was nothing sinister in her smile this time, only the simple joy of hearing that her reputation had preceded her. “The very same!” she laughed.
Jimmy Phoenix had been nice guy, fun to hang out with, and he’d had none of the expectations or future plans that Archie had heaped on Michael’s shoulders. They’d had a fun night together, and had parted with no plans to be anything further than acquaintances. He’d also introduced Michael to a bar downtown that turned out to be owned by Robert’s reclusive uncle, who’d explained that although the bar had technically served its intended purpose when he’d found his husband, he continued running it out of what he felt was a service to the community. Amazing. Michael had met other guys there, too, some of them students at the university, others not. Some of them, he’d introduced to Victoria before they left in the morning.
Victoria had kept her half of the deal, too. Sometimes she brought home guys for him, sometimes one would come downstairs with her and she would elbow Michael at the breakfast table and push him to introduce himself. Not a bad partnership at all.
There was only one other person living in the house with them; apparently some people who had been supposed to live there had had to cancel or leave at the last minute, so it was just the three of them. The third was a junior named Simon, who had apparently been living in the house for a couple years now. He was a serious and soft-spoken guy that Michael and Victoria never properly made friends with, but he didn’t seem to mind the chaos of all the people they brought into the house on a regular basis.
The year ended, and another one began, and the three of them reunited at the house, now with a fourth occupant: a new freshman named Jasmine. But it transpired that Jasmine was not new to Simon, who greeted her like an old friend. Later on, Simon explained that she was actually his girlfriend.
“If you know someone who’s going to come to Sim State, you can put their name in for a place in the house and bypass the lottery,” he’d explained. “So if you’ve got any friends still in high school now… they can live here, too.”
Robert and Stephen were going to come to Sim State next year, so that was a no-brainer. Michael had immediately gone to the housing office and asked for them to be put on the list.
With a new year came new drama, as well, in the form of Theo having a meltdown over Victoria.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” Theo wailed, wringing his hands and pacing the length of his dorm room. “I wasn’t going to do anything. That’s not why I came there. But you know how Victoria is.”
“I do know how Victoria is,” said Michael, who probably knew better than Theo at this point.
“I don’t know why she is keeping the baby. I told her she should just get an abortion. But she insisted on keeping it. She just said her parents will take care of it. I’d love to hear their opinion on that.”
“It’s still her choice,” said Michael.
“If she has a baby, then Bethany’s going to find out about it. I don’t know what to do!”
“I think you’ll just have to be honest,” said Michael. “You want to marry Bethany, right? If you do, that kid is going to be your nephew even if you don’t acknowledge your part in his creation. He’ll be your family, and Bethany’s, too. You can’t just hide something like this from them.”
“What if she leaves me, though? What then? If she leaves me, it’ll be the end of the world. There won’t be anything else left to live for.”
“It really will not be the end of the world,” said Michael. He couldn’t imagine feeling this way about a partner. Well… maybe not a partner, but if Robert and Stephen abandoned him he guessed it might kind of feel that way. The thought made him slightly more sympathetic. “Look,” he continued. “You know Bethany better than I do. Do you think she’s going to leave you? She must know how Victoria is, too, after all; she did grow up with her.”
This did get Theo to stop freaking out, and to sit down at his desk and think for a minute. “If she actually understood the whole situation… I don’t think so. If she really understood, I think she’d accept my apology. But I just know I’m going to fuck it up explaining and she’ll think I’m lying, or something.”
“Well, I believe you’re not lying,” said Michael. “I’ll back you up on that, if it comes to it.”
“I… thanks,” said Theo. “That helps a lot, actually.”
In the summer break after Stephen and Robert had graduated, the three of them sat together on the floor of Robert’s room. It really was just Robert’s room now that Oliver had gone to college and hadn’t cared to return to his parents’ house for the summer. Stephen envied him that; back at his house, the barracks was just as full as it always had been, even with Michael and Theo gone.
Stephen watched Robert place himself at a very carefully calculated distance from Michael, just far enough away to not seem too weird, or too obvious. When Michael smiled his way, he carefully schooled his face and was reluctant to meet Michael’s gaze, but Michael didn’t notice any of it. This crush of his had been a source of private amusement for Stephen since he’d noticed it, years ago, but now that the prospect of college and eventually adult life loomed on the horizon, he could see the writing on the wall and he didn’t like what it said at all. Someday, possibly someday very soon now, Robert would get over his inexplicable shyness, or Michael would develop actual working gaydar, and then they would run off together and leave Stephen behind, with a lot of newly free time in which to feel sorry for himself.
Maybe it would be different if Stephen had someone of his own to feel shy about, but that wasn’t going to happen. Every time he did meet a pretty girl, she went and ruined it by opening her mouth. If he never had to hear someone talk about him being green ever again, it would be too soon.
Michael had said he had some surprise for them today, something about college. He’d already been talking to them about college for the last two years, of course, mainly the classes he was taking and the people he was dating. Robert would watch Michael talk about his dates with some kind of mixed hopefulness and trepidation, and Stephen would watch Robert.
But the surprise today was not about dating, apparently; it was about housing. “You guys won’t have to deal with the dorms,” Michael told them, full excitement and glee. “I put your names into the list for the shared house last year, so you’ll get to come live there with me.”
“Like, as roommates?” Stephen asked, thinking back to the barracks. Yeah, Michael and Robert really weren’t going to finish college without getting together, were they?
“No,” said Michael. “We all have our own rooms, there.”
Stephen allowed himself a grin that was just for himself, this time. He was so ready to have his own room. “Awesome.”
“Who else is living there?” Robert asked. “It won’t just be us, will it?”
“Well, Simon graduated,” said Michael. “So it’ll be us, and and Victoria, and Jasmine, and maybe some other new people.”
“Not Victoria Ramirez?” Stephen asked.
“Yup, it’s her,” said Michael. “She’s not that bad, when you get to know her, really.”
Well, Stephen thought. At least there would be plenty of drama to entertain him.
Moving into the house went very smoothly, since Stephen’s dad was helping them. They’d gone inside once to verify which rooms were Stephen’s and Robert’s, and then they had come back outside, and Stephen’s dad had teleported all of their things into their respective rooms without anyone having to carry anything. Being a warlock must be incredibly useful sometimes. It was almost enough to make Stephen want to study magical sciences rather than mundane ones. Rumor had it that Bethany Ramirez had gotten Stephen’s dad to give her one of his spellbooks before she’d left for the dorms.
Robert’s mom stood nearby, worrying her hands, clearly feeling like she should be doing something but also aware that there was nothing else left to do and she would just be fussing.
Stephen’s dad came up to her, almost apologetically. “Let’s take a walk around campus, while we’re here. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Stephen sometimes forgot that they were some sort of cousins, but the familiarity was clear as they walked off together.
Stephen and Robert went upstairs to verify that everything had gotten teleported correctly; sometimes Stephen’s dad had odd ideas about where things should go. After he’d moved a couple pieces of furniture and finished organizing his CD collection, he left the room in search of entertainment.
As he shut the door behind him, he saw someone else exiting their room as well: a beautiful girl with a long black braid and deep brown eyes, waltzing out like she owned the place. She saw him, and smiled, and there was more than a little something there that quickened his heart rate and made him anticipate some flirtation… but then she opened her mouth and said, “Ooh, you’re green!”
Stephen sighed. “Actually, I’m Stephen,” he said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Victoria,” she said. “I guess you’re one of the new freshmen?”
“Oh, of course you’re Victoria,” he said.
Across from Stephen’s door, Robert exited his room. Victoria turned to face him, and Stephen saw something light up in her eyes that hadn’t been there when she’d greeted him. He watched as she activated some extra level of charm that she hadn’t seen fit to grace him with, and strode over. “Hey, gorgeous,” she said. “What’s your name?” Too bad for her that Robert wasn’t going to be interested.
Except, somehow, flying in the face of everything Stephen knew about him, Robert was interested. He stepped back, awkwardly, in that shy and flustered way he got when he was around Michael sometimes, and there was pink in his cheeks as he said, “Ah, ah, Robert,” as if he had forgotten his own name for a minute there. Fascinating. Robert didn’t get like this around girls, he just didn’t. Then again, Stephen didn’t think they’d ever met one as forward as Victoria before, either. She must be very tall for a woman, he realized; still shorter than him, of course, just like pretty much everyone, but he happened to know that Robert was a solid five foot ten and she was matching him inch for inch in her flats.
Victoria smiled, clearly pleased at the reaction she was getting. She ducked forward, to get her face next to his ear and reached out to play with a tousled bit of blond hair before saying, “I’ll see you around.” Then she sashayed off down the stairs, like a queen surveying her palace.
“Who’s she?” Robert asked, eyes fixed on the stairs she’d taken, the blush starting to fade.
“That’s Victoria Ramirez,” said Stephen.
“Huh,” said Robert. “I guess I can see where Oliver was coming from, maybe.”
Victoria continued her pursuit of Robert as the year went on. At first it had been gratifying, maybe even a little fun. Robert had honestly been overjoyed to be attracted to someone who wasn’t Michael for once, and felt like he had finally gotten some small glimpse into Michael’s world full of beautiful people. But eventually it had started to become irritating. The others made jokes about it, of course, but he wasn’t going to follow through on any of the things her smiles promised him, not until he’d sat down and had a conversation with Michael, and he kept putting that off. He could feel Stephen silently envying him, and he worried that it would put a wedge in their friendship.
Michael and Victoria had some kind of schedule worked out where they would show up at the house with different guys on the weekends, sometimes swap afterwards, and then say goodbye to them and never see them again. Robert knew for sure that he’d eventually just be another notch on Victoria’s bedpost, but he was starting to wonder what something between him and Michael would even look like. In high school, he’d been thinking of the relationship Michael had had with Archie Daniels, but that didn’t seem to be something Michael was interested in, anymore. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He hadn’t wanted that kind of relationship, but he didn’t think he wanted this kind, either. At least, not with Michael. Victoria was maybe a different story.
One weekend, he was in the dining room eating lunch with Stephen when Michael came downstairs with whoever it was he’d been with the night before. Robert’s eyes followed them as they went to the front door, exchanged some last flirt or compliment, and then both left, Michael locking the door behind him. After meeting Victoria, and realizing that the way he felt about her really was the same way he felt about Michael, he couldn’t fathom how he’d ever thought it might not be real. It was on his mind constantly, now.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stephen follow the direction of his gaze, and he jerked his eyes back to his soup. Not quickly enough, apparently, because Stephen let out an overdramatic sigh and said, “If you want to fuck him, I think you can just ask. He is not picky.”
Robert tried and failed to avoid blushing, and continued staring at his soup. “I don’t—”
“Oh, give me a break,” said Stephen. “It’s been obvious since high school. You never looked at any girls, never even talked about any girls. I guess you’ve got this thing about Victoria now, but I’m honestly not that surprised that she’s some kind of exception, and I feel like she’s actually made you worse about him, somehow.”
Robert willed himself to swallow his embarrassment. “He probably doesn’t want me.”
“What makes you think that? You already know he likes you as a person. The chances that he doesn’t like you as a piece of meat are, I have to say, extremely low.”
“You always have such elegant ways of putting things,” said Robert, testily. “If that’s true, why has he never said anything?”
“He probably just thinks you’re straight.”
“Why would he think that? You didn’t think that, and you actually are straight.” Robert risked a glance back upwards. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Stephen. “At least one of us has to be boring, I’m afraid. But you have to understand, he’s not very observant. His gaydar is completely busted. If it weren’t for that bar your uncle runs, he’d be shit out of luck with all of the dates he wants to go on. I promise you the answer’s going to be yes. You just have to ask. So what is stopping you? It’s starting to get a little ridiculous.”
Robert thought for a minute, trying to figure out how to phrase it. “I’m worried that it will change my relationship with him.”
“Isn’t that what you want?”
“…Kind of, but also, not really.” He didn’t want to lose the simple friendship they’d had growing up, the one that involved Stephen, too. He did want to sleep with Michael, but he also wanted it to keep on being the three of them, best friends, forever. But he couldn’t have both of those things, could he?
“Let me put it to you this way,” said Stephen. “Do you want to fuck Victoria first? Or him?”
“Definitely not Victoria,” said Robert. Whatever else happened, he didn’t want his first time be with her. He was sure she would eventually take some significant amount of his pride anyway, but that would be giving her too much.
“Then you better get moving with him,” said Stephen. “She won’t wait forever.”
Time wore on, and Robert continued to drag his feet, and the tensions in the house failed to change. Stephen couldn’t bring himself to actually start trying to avoid his friends, but he did often shut himself in his room to get away from it, doing extra work, or just reading ahead in his textbooks, immersing himself in science and math and trying to forget that romantic relationships existed, for a time. He still didn’t want Michael and Robert to leave him for each other, but he’d long since accepted that as an inevitability at this point, and just wanted the suspense to be over.
One day he came out of his room to find the house blessedly empty, and went down to the kitchen for a snack.
The kitchen was less empty than expected; there he found the much lower-profile fifth member of the house, a girl named Jasmine. They’d been introduced back at the beginning of the year, but they had only had a few interactions thus far. She must not have gotten a bad impression of him yet, at any rate, because she smiled at him as he entered the kitchen. He had a moment to reflect that it was a prettier, nicer smile than any of the ones that Victoria had given him, or that she had given Robert, for that matter.
She was slicing a block of cheese, and had a box of crackers out, too. That sounded like a great idea. He got his own plate from the cabinet. She saw his intent, and passed the cheese over when she’d finished with it, but then lingered before taking her plate and leaving.
“It’s nice to have one sane person in this house,” she said. “It’s a bit much, sometimes, between Michael and Victoria and their endless parade of boyfriends, and Robert seemingly trying to decide when’s the right time to get in line. But you seem sensible, at least.”
Stephen shrugged. “Homework doesn’t do itself,” he said. “I don’t know how the three of them are managing their classes in between all of the drama and hookups, to be honest.”
Jasmine laughed. “I hear that’s no problem for you, anyway. Someone told me the other day that she asked you to do her homework for her.”
“I don’t do that,” said Stephen, unamused. “I don’t help people cheat.”
“Oh, I know. She was complaining to me that you’d refused. I told her that she was squandering the education her parents were paying for by not doing it herself.”
Stephen regarded her for a minute, with a bit of newfound respect. “And what are your plans for making use of your education?”
“Journalism,” she said, immediately. “I want to know the news before anyone else does, and tell the world about it. Think of what you could do in that situation — you could influence how everyone sees the current events. Whatever you see, that’s what they’d see, too, when they read your article about it.”
“But as a journalist, you’d of course strive for objectivity, right?” he asked.
“Oh, for sure,” she replied, but her mouth was quirked in amusement, and he found himself mirroring it. He put the block of cheese back in the fridge and took his plate out to the dining room, and she followed with her own.
He realized they’d been having a normal, friendly conversation, and she hadn’t yet made any comment about his skin color, nor had she said anything of the sort when they’d first met, like Victoria had. He wondered if mentioning it would be a bad idea, but then figured it probably wouldn’t matter; Michael had said she already had a boyfriend. “You haven’t told me I’m green yet,” he said, conversationally. “It’s a bit shocking.”
“Was I supposed to?” She put her plate down, and pulled out a chair.
“Everyone else sure seems to think so,” he said, settling into his own chair. “And you’ve seen how Victoria is about it,” he added, unable to resist complaining. “She’ll happily fuck every other guy on campus, but not me. I’m just too weird for her, I guess.”
“More fool her,” said Jasmine. “You’re the most fuckable person in this house.”
That brought his eyes up to hers, a hard expression on his face. “And here I thought you were going to make a claim to being the other sane person living here,” he said. “Michael told me you’re dating Simon. I told you before: I don’t help people cheat.”
She gave him that brilliant smile again and said, “Oh, don’t worry about Simon. We don’t have that kind of relationship. We can sleep with who we want, as long as the other approves. I already told him all about you, and he’s given his approval.”
He studied her face for a moment. “I’d want to talk to him about this, too, of course.”
“Naturally.”
“So you’re proposing what, exactly, here? That I’d be your other boyfriend?”
“Not so much. Simon is my love; you and I are simply friends.”
He said, “It sounds kind of like you might just be doing exactly what Michael and Victoria are doing, with extra steps.”
She shook her head, vehemently. “You misunderstand. If you want a relationship with me — with us… you’d be a real friend. Not someone we say goodbye to in morning, to never see again. You’d come over to our house, have dinner with us, get coffee sometimes, make friends with our dogs. And if we’re both feeling up to it, maybe have some fun with me, too. But first and foremost, you’d be a friend. And if you ever find a love of your own, bring her over for dinner, too. Maybe she and Simon will hit it off.”
He studied her across the table, and munched on crackers. She was quite pretty — not the in the same in-your-face way that Victoria was, but more petite, with more delicate features, and a good deal shorter. She seemed smart, she wasn’t going to play any dumb games with him, and she wasn’t afraid to say fuck. And she didn’t care that he was green.
“Huh,” he said, as noncommittally as possible. “That actually doesn’t sound terrible.”
She gave him a small smile. “Think about it. Take your time — like I said, we’re looking for long-term friends, not collecting people like bottle-caps.”
He smiled back. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll do that.”
It was Saturday night, and Michael was walking back to the house with his latest find from Robert’s uncle’s bar: a tall guy named Gunnar who wore his straight black hair pulled back in a ponytail. It had been a great evening, so far.
Just in front of the house, they bumped into Victoria, her arm around the shoulders of some tanned blond guy. He nodded to her as they passed.
Gunnar stopped walking. “Is that Victoria Ramirez? Does she live here, too?”
“She does,” said Michael, starting to get a bad feeling.
“Oh.” Gunnar looked back over his shoulder at them. “Do you think we could get them to join us?”
“I’ll be happy to introduce you in the morning,” said Michael. “But tonight is for us, yeah?”
“Let me just ask them what they think.”
Reluctantly, Michael allowed himself to be pulled back over to Victoria and her guy. Maybe the other guy would turn out to be straight and they could just go their separate ways.
Gunnar smiled at Victoria, and she smiled back; obviously they were already familiar. “Want to join us tonight, beautiful?” Gunnar asked.
“I’m game,” said Victoria. She nudged the blond guy. “What do you think, Neil?”
Neil and Gunnar looked at each other. Michael silently buried his hopes that Neil was straight. “Look,” he said. “I’m not doing anything with her. Tonight, you’re either sleeping with me, or you’re sleeping with her, you can’t do both at the same time.”
Gunnar looked at him, thoughtfully, and then turned his gaze back to Victoria and Neil.
Robert was sitting in the study room near the front of the house, working on econ homework. There were probably more social things he could be doing on Saturday night, but college had forced him to face up to the fact that he just wasn’t a very social person, outside of his association with Michael and Stephen, and they were both off doing something else tonight. Or, if there was football involved, he guessed he didn’t mind being in a crowd of strangers, but there wasn’t a game on. Anyway, econ was fun, and it was enough entertainment for him.
The front door banged opened and shut, and Victoria came in, giggling. Did she have two guys with her tonight? Of course she did. Robert ignored them.
A few minutes later, the door opened again, much more sedately, and only one person came in, standing for a minute beside the door, breathing a heavy sigh. Robert looked up, and was surprised to see that it was Michael. Michael turned, and they made eye contact through the open door of the study room. He came over to where Robert was seated on the couch and threw himself down beside him.
“I hate bi guys,” said Michael, with feeling.
Robert looked at him carefully, and tried to be as nonchalant as possible as he asked, “Oh. Why?”
“Because Victoria snipes them from me,” Michael said, not seeming to notice Robert’s reaction. “I spent so much money on him Robert, and he still decided to go off with her.” He looked down at what Robert was working on. “Don’t tell me you’re in here doing homework tonight.”
Robert shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
Michael grinned at him. “You’re such a nerd,” he said, affectionately. “You and Stephen both. How about we do some more entertaining nerd stuff, since apparently I’m now free for the rest of the evening? You still have your Lord of the Rings DVDs, right?”
“Absolutely,” said Robert.
“Great. I feel like losing myself in a four-hour fantasy movie right about now.”
Robert took his econ homework back up to his room and returned with the Fellowship DVD, and they put it into the player attached to the big TV in the living room. They sat in companionable silence as they watched the hobbits escape from the Nazgûl, through to the Nazgûl getting swept away at the Ford of Bruinen; upon the following scenes of Frodo waking up in Rivendell, Michael paused the movie just as Sam came to Frodo’s bedside and took his hand.
“Wasn’t there some gay backstory to this part?” he asked. “Like, involving the actors.”
“Yeah,” said Robert. “Sam grabbing Frodo’s hand there is actually in the book, and Ian McKellen told Sean Astin to do that, because the book fans would be looking for it. But in his cast commentary, he said that the real reason he did that was to make the movie a little more gay.”
“Right,” said Michael, “I remember, now. Bless you and Stephen for convincing me to sit through twenty-four hours of cast commentaries for that little piece of trivia.” Robert thought he might start the movie again, but he sat looking at the still frame for a little longer. “I know Tolkien never intended for them to be in a romantic relationship, but I kind of feel like, even if there’s nothing actually romantic there at all, they are still kind of gay. You know?”
“Yeah, a bit,” said Robert. He’d never been attracted to any of the actors the way he knew Michael was, but there was something he really liked about Sam and Frodo’s relationship, something he’d related to. He wasn’t sure, for himself, if it was a gay thing or a friends thing, but if Michael wanted to see it as a gay thing, he couldn’t say he was wrong about that.
“And you know they probably slept together at least once, anyway,” Michael said, reaching for the remote.
Robert found he’d reached out and swiped the remote before Michael could get to it to unpause the movie again. Something about where the conversation had gone made him feel like he had to say something now, that he wouldn’t get a better chance to put his feelings into words. And Stephen had been right about Victoria, when they’d talked earlier.
Carefully, he said, “I think that’s the kind of relationship I’d like to have with you, actually.”
He saw an expression of surprise flicker across Michael’s face, for just a split second, before it relaxed back into something more usual. A sad smile replaced it as he said, “Yeah, I get it. Probably not the part about sleeping together at least once, though, right?”
That sad expression made Robert’s leap hopefully as he replied, “No, that part too.”
Michael sat back and looked at him, surprise mingled with a newfound curiosity and cautious excitement. “I— Really? I’m sorry, Robert, I never knew you were bi.” He stopped there for a moment, and then continued, in a rush, “About what I said back there, about hating bi guys— I don’t actually— I don’t have any problem with bi people. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I get what you meant, it’s ok,” said Robert. “I don’t know if I even count as bi, to be honest. Maybe I’m bi in some alternate universe where ‘bisexual’ means ‘attracted to exactly two people’.”
“Exactly two?” said Michael, dumbfounded. “Really only two, and one of them’s me?” He laughed with some giddy joy. “Robert, that’s— My god. That’s better than Philip telling me he signed up for 8 AM calculus, just for me.” He laughed again. “I’m sorry, you’ve just made tonight so much better. That’s amazing.”
Robert smiled a little, but was still cautious as he asked, “Do you— Are you also in for sleeping together, at least once?”
“Am I ever, Robert,” Michael said. “I always have been. But look,” He sobered again, and took Robert’s hand. “I don’t know if you want— If you want to be my boyfriend, if you want to be another Archie Daniels, I can’t do that. He wanted so many things I couldn’t give him, romantic dates and flowers and I love yous and—” he shook his head. “I can’t do any of that stuff. The guys I ‘date’ here…” he shrugged. “It’s just a one-time thing with them. Easy, uncomplicated. Nobody is expecting a lifelong commitment to romance. But with you, it’s already complicated, isn’t it? I’ve known you practically forever.”
“Does it have to be?” asked Robert. “I don’t need romance. I just— I want it to be the same as it always was with us, the same friendship we’ve always had, just with… a little bit extra. I don’t really want to be anyone’s boyfriend, either. I just don’t want you to forget about it in the morning.”
“I couldn’t forget this if I tried,” said Michael. The caution was back in his face as he said, “You’re sure, though? You don’t need any of that romantic nonsense? I never talked about it with Archie, and that ended in tears. I don’t want you to say it’s fine just to get me to sleep with you. I really don’t want to lose you as a friend, Robert.”
“I’m sure,” said Robert. “It’s a big part of why it took so long for me to say anything.”
Michael searched his eyes for a moment, and then seemed to make up his mind. When they kissed, it was everything Robert had ever dreamed of.
Victoria awoke to the feeling of cold air on her bare skin. She cast a glance over at the other side of the bed. Neil and Gunnar had stolen all of the blankets. Dammit. And she was starting to get pushed out of the bed, too; the beds here were bigger than the ones in the dorms, supposedly, but they still weren’t really made for three people. It wasn’t going to be a nice weekend lie-in today, she supposed.
She got up and dressed, brushing out and braiding her hair. Last night had been fun, at least; Michael would forgive her when he got his turn with them tonight, she was sure. They both knew the rules of that game.
She opened her door to head down for breakfast, and froze. Across the hall from her room, Michael’s door was open, and Robert stood in front of it, his back to Victoria. And Michael was there too, behind him, and they were… kissing?
Interesting. And infuriating.
Robert drew away, slightly, and Michael stared across at her, directly into her eyes, clearly articulating a command without any words. She obliged, quietly pulling the door closed before Robert could turn and see her.
She stood in front of the closed door, counting the seconds it would take for Robert to get to the stairs and descend them, fuming internally. This was betrayal. How dare he scoop Robert out from under her? Gunnar and Neil didn’t matter, he knew that, but she’d had plans for Robert, and he’d known that, too, and now they were all dashed.
After a minute of waiting, Michael pulled open her door, as expected. “If you out him, I will end you,” he said, simply.
“Oh, who cares about that?” Victoria said. “You don’t mind that everyone around here knows your business.”
“He’s not me.”
“I cannot believe you got to him first.”
Irritatingly, Michael just looked amused. “I would say it’s your just deserts for taking Gunnar from me, but truthfully I didn’t do this to spite you. Actually, I should probably be thanking you for taking Gunnar from me, now that I think about it.”
“Why did he go for you first? You haven’t even been trying with him.”
Michael shrugged. “Don’t feel bad about it. Technically I’ve had a six-year head start on you, in that department.”
She shut the door in his face.
Victoria was in rare form that morning, dropping more innuendos than normal and touching Robert way more than was really necessary over breakfast. Or maybe she was just being her normal self, and Robert wasn’t in the mood for it. The previous night had defused a lot of the tension that had been occupying him recently, and here in the morning she seemed a good deal less appealing to him and was mostly just annoying.
“What’s gotten into her this morning?” he complained to Stephen, after she’d finally left. “I feel like I’m being hunted for sport. The Most Dangerous Game: Victoria Ramirez edition.”
“I understand,” said Stephen. “A pretty girl is flirting with you. That must be so terrible for you. I cannot imagine your pain.”
Robert looked over at him, and did feel a bit of empathy. “Don’t worry, she’ll be hunting you too, pretty soon, I’m sure,” he said.
“No she won’t,” said Stephen. “There are still plenty of other non-green guys on campus that she hasn’t fucked yet.” He stalked out of the dining room.
Down at the end of the table, Jasmine watched him go, a pensive expression on her face.
“…and that’s Winnie, and that’s Sandy,” Jasmine was saying, pointing out cream-colored dogs in the photograph, who all looked identical to Stephen’s eyes.
“Who’s that one?” Stephen asked, pointing to the seventh, unidentified dog.
“Oh, that’s just Sandy’s butt, I know the perspective is a little confusing. There are only six dogs, don’t worry.”
“Why so many?”
“Simon’s mom and sister were breeding them, that’s why they all look so similar. But then the dogs all decided they belonged to Simon instead, so now we’re on the hook to take them in after I graduate. Personally, I’m thrilled. Dogs are amazing.”
Jasmine set the photograph back on her bedside table, and stretched out beneath the covers, bringing her hands back behind her to grip the headboard. They were lounging in Jasmine’s bed, still naked, although Stephen was sitting more upright against the headboard, to avoid the feeling of his feet falling off the end of the bed. The sun was shining through the high window above them, casting a positive light on the room and really the whole day. He didn’t begrudge Robert anything today, and was even somewhat less pissed at Victoria.
“Did you have any pets growing up?” Jasmine asked.
“Oh, nah,” said Stephen. “We didn’t have the room. The house was too full of us kids for that.”
“Ooh, how many siblings do you have? Michael’s one of them, right?”
“Yeah, he’s the oldest. There are seven of us in total.”
“Seven! Your poor mom.”
Stephen laughed a bit at that. “We had two moms, is the thing. Mom Jenn had four kids, and Mom Heather had two. I don’t think those numbers are really that out of the ordinary.”
“That doesn’t add up to seven,” Jasmine noted.
“Yeah, well.” Stephen leaned back against the headboard, trying for casualness. “I don’t really have a biological mom, technically speaking.”
Jasmine blinked, a bit confused. “How does that work, exactly?”
“I don’t know the details,” said Stephen. “My dad never saw fit to share them, though I would also love to know more. I suppose it’s his business, though.”
“Seems like it would be your business, too, wouldn’t it?” said Jasmine. “The rest of us all know how we were born.”
“Maybe,” said Stephen. “And who knows, maybe I will find out, someday.” He looked down at her. “Did Simon find you guys a house yet? It must be hard trying to find a place to accommodate all those dogs.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Jasmine, “they’re in negotiations now. His family are going to help pay for it, since they are foisting the dogs on us, and yeah, they were a big issue when we were looking.” She looked up at him. “It’ll be nice to have you over there. And if you find a girlfriend, you’ll introduce her, yeah?”
Stephen looked thoughtfully at the opposite wall. “To be honest, I’m not sure there ever will be a girlfriend,” he said. “That’s ok, right?”
Jasmine shrugged. “Fine with us,” she said. “But I think you’re selling yourself short. Most people won’t really care about your skin color, out in the real world. You’re a good-looking guy, and you’re smart, and you can be nice when you want to be. You’ll find someone.”
Stephen shook his head. “That’s not what I mean,” he said. “Back in high school, I used to want a girlfriend because I thought Michael and Robert were going to ride off into the sunset together and leave me behind, and I’d need someone to take their place in my life. But it seems like they’ve resolved that now, and… they haven’t done that. Shit,” he realized, suddenly. “I think you’re not supposed to know about that.”
Jasmine just laughed. “It’s ok,” she said. “I can keep a secret. Although, I can’t say I’m really surprised to hear it.”
Stephen had to smile at that. “Anyway,” he continued, “I think they’re together now, but they aren’t acting like they want me gone, or like they want to be alone without me. And,” he snuck a sly glance at her, lying on the bed, “I’ve got you now, too, for ‘having fun’, as you say. So I don’t know… without needing someone to replace Michael and Robert, I’m not really seeing a compelling reason to have a girlfriend, if that makes sense.”
Jasmine seemed thoughtful, when he looked back at her. “I’d almost want to ask if you weren’t just gay,” she said, “but I think I’ve already answered that question to my satisfaction.” She shot him a playful smile.
Stephen did not return it. “Oh believe me,” he said, “I grew up with Michael, do you think I never went down that line of questioning? But no, I’m not attracted to men at all. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I’m just too boring to be gay.”
“Why would it be more interesting to be gay?” Jasmine asked. “I find being straight plenty interesting.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Stephen. “It’s just the default way to be, isn’t it? So it’s kind of boring just for that reason.”
“I guess that’s one way to see it.” She stretched again, arching under the sheets, and the top of the sheet fell away, revealing her breasts. “You’re not bored of me already, are you?”
He grinned down at her. “Oh, definitely not.”
It was game day, but as usual, no one in the house cared except Robert. Michael and Stephen had been down to shoot pool earlier, but they’d been completely uninterested in the TV. Then Michael had gone upstairs with someone who’d actually shown up on his own and rung the doorbell. Now it was just Robert in the living room, munching on a bowl of microwave popcorn and a bag of potato chips. It felt odd to cheer when there was no one to cheer with, but he still felt the same exhilaration when exciting things happened on the field.
He heard someone descend the stairs behind him, but didn’t turn to look, his eyes on the game. A few seconds later, someone plopped down on the couch next to him. “Llamas versus Bulls today, isn’t it?” the newcomer asked.
Robert recognized his voice; it was the same one that he’d heard at the door earlier when Michael had answered it. He turned to look at the guy. Skin on the darker side, not too far from Robert’s or Michael’s own, and tousled red hair that looked like it was probably permanently messy. And unlike everyone else here, he was watching the football with interest.
“Yeah,” said Robert. “I always love when they play the Bulls, because then they actually usually win.”
The redhead laughed. “The Llamas do suck for sure,” he said. “But I’m no fair-weather fan. They may be a sucky football team, but they’re my sucky football team.”
Robert shared a grin with him before they were both pulled back to the game again. But somehow, he found that his gaze made its way back to the other’s face after a few moments. There was just something about the messy hair, and the definition of his facial features, and the smile that the game put on his face that drew him back.
He shook his head, suddenly, in realization. Welcome to the world of trisexuality, he guessed. At least he understood what Michael had wanted with him. “What’s your name?” he asked, casually.
“Oh, sorry,” said the redhead. “I’m Philip. You?”
“Robert,” he said, and dragged his eyes back to the TV. He wasn’t Michael, after all.
He heard someone else come down the stairs, and then Michael came into the living room, sparing a bored glance at the TV, and then stole one of Robert’s chips. His eyes passed over Robert and Philip sitting on the couch together, and then he sat down on Robert’s other side.
“You like him?” he whispered to Robert, hopefully too low for Philip to hear. “He’s a catch.”
“Does it matter?” Robert whispered back. “I’m not gonna— I literally just met him.”
“I didn’t meet him that long ago, either,” Michael confided. “You have to learn to live a little, Robert.” He got up and walked past them, out to the front of the house, directing a wink in Robert’s direction.
Philip’s eyes followed Michael as he left the house, and then turned back to Robert with a grin. “I guess you’re here for Michael Wolf, too?” he said, with a bit of an impish smile.
Robert sighed. “I live here, actually,” he said.
“Ahh, so you get to have him whenever,” said Philip. “Lucky.”
He supposed there wasn’t any point in denying it. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen and dining room, but neither of the girls seemed to be around. “I’m not exactly out, yet,” he said, somewhat testily.
“I got you,” said Philip. “Don’t worry, my mouth is shut. But if you want some company other than him,” he shrugged. “Keep me in mind, yeah?”
“I barely know you,” said Robert. “I think if you want something from me, you’ll have to, like, take me out to eat somewhere, a couple times, at least.”
“Oh please. Don’t lie to me, you didn’t make Michael take you out multiple times before you slept with him.”
“Sure I did,” said Robert, easily. “I’ve been friends with him since I was twelve.”
Philip’s mouth started to form into a dissatisfied pout, but midway through he seemed to change his mind and sat back, defeated. “Alright,” he said. “That’s fair, I guess. But I’m not really a dinner date kind of guy. I can get us tickets to the next Llamas game if you want, though.”
Robert looked at him, a whole new world of possibilities coming into focus. To be at the game with someone else who was a fan? He’d never hung out with the right people for this before. “That sounds awesome,” he said. They grinned at each other and then turned back to the TV.
Robert was studying for an upcoming test in the small study room when Victoria came in. At first, she turned towards the bookshelf and it almost seemed like she might actually be there to study, too, but then she seemed to change her mind and settled down onto the couch next to Robert instead. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, leaned her head down onto the one nearest her, and peered down at the book in his lap. “Oh, what is this?” she asked. “Math?”
“Economics,” he said.
She flipped through the pages. “I bet you know all this already. You’re smart, aren’t you?” Her tongue flicked out and licked his ear.
Alright. He could tell her to leave, and he knew she would, albeit reluctantly. But truth be told, he did feel confident that he was already prepared for the test, and he no longer had a real concrete reason to put her off any longer. The warmth of her body and the promises made by her teasing were welcome to him today, and he knew himself well enough to know that that might well not be the case tomorrow.
He closed the book and leaned back into her embrace. “Actually, yeah. I did all the studying already, I was just doing a little review.” In truth, he’d been so engrossed in the material for this class that he hardly needed extra studying, but she wouldn’t want to hear about it.
She took the book from him and set it aside. “You’re in a good mood, today.” She reached out with her other hand to brush a stray lock of blond hair away from the side of his face, and then brought it around the back of his head to pull him into a kiss.
When she let him back up for air, she was halfway onto his lap, and combing her fingers through his hair once more. “You’re being so nice to me, now. Oliver isn’t being this nice to me.” She pushed her head onto his shoulder.
“Oliver?” Robert couldn’t see why she’d brought him up.
“He asked me to marry him. Can you imagine?” She laughed, but it sounded a bit hollow. “And hasn’t even spoken to me since I told him no, not even when I called. He’s never at his dorm, either.”
Robert sighed. “He’s in love with you, silly. And you’ve gone and broken his heart.” He’d already heard his fill of this little drama from Oliver’s side.
“Really? Moron.”
“You know, I kind of have to agree with you, there.” He traced his fingers across her nose and cheekbones, and down around the tips of her ears, and snatched another kiss.
She pulled away from the kiss to breathe into his ear, and he tensed, wondering if she was going to lick it, again. But instead, she said: “Are you in love with me?”
“Definitely not. I’m starting to think romantic love might be a little overrated, actually.” He couldn’t play with her hair the way she was playing with his, so he reached down her back and freed her braid from its ties.
Still with her mouth right next to his ear and breathing hot gusts onto it, she asked: “Do you love Michael Wolf?”
His hands froze where they had started to comb out her braid. He didn’t know how she would have known; he was sure that Michael and Stephen hadn’t betrayed him. But her question had been sufficiently imprecise, so he simply answered, “Of course. He’s one of my best friends.”
“Don’t be coy, I know you’re together now.”
Together? Maybe they were, in the same sense that they’d always been together, him and Michael and Stephen, the three of them. Together in some way that seemed to surpass mere friendship, but not in the way that Theo was together with Bethany, or in the way that Oliver was together with the girl he’d picked to fill the Victoria-shaped hole in his heart. He didn’t have the words to describe it, and it wasn’t her business, anyway. “Whatever you think you know about us isn’t worth talking about,” he said.
Her fingers in his hair were more aggressive, now, her nails tracing lines down his scalp. “You like him better, though.”
He saw why she was asking and what was bothering her, then; she was mad that he’d gone with Michael first. She’d gotten to the finish line today, but only in second place, and she couldn’t stomach not being first. “That goes both ways, doesn’t it?” he asked, casually. “Or else, why would you be talking to me about my brother right now?”
She stiffened against him, and drew in a hard breath through her nose, and he knew he’d scored a point, there. “Let’s not talk about Oliver,” she said, and kissed him again before he could say anything further.
Stephen was down in the living room playing pool. Michael had been with him earlier, but had then gone off to do something else, leaving Stephen to play against himself. He didn’t mind, really; he wanted to see if he could sink each of the remaining balls in one hit, which would count as a win against Michael, as far as he was concerned. He’d gotten the first three in no problem, and was feeling good about his chances with the rest, since the only ones left on the table were the nine, the eight, and the cue ball.
Victoria strode into the room, and leaned down and put her elbows on the edge of the pool table, making sure he had a good view of her cleavage. “You’re good at this game, aren’t you?” she said. “And so green, just like the table.”
He frowned at her across the table. She never came around just to flirt with him, and anyway, he wasn’t a fan of this particular opening.
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, and her smile almost seemed genuine. “You don’t like it when I say things like that. Ooh, what’s the way to your heart? I know: you’re smart. You’re majoring in some nerdy subject, aren’t you? Chemistry, right?”
He sighed, and ignored her, focusing on the nine ball instead. He lined up the shot, sighted it down the cue, and hit it straight into the pocket next to her elbow. “Biology, actually,” he said. “I can’t believe we’ve lived together for two whole years and you don’t know that. I know what your major is, and I’m honestly shocked and disgusted that this university is actually going to hand you a degree in psychology in a week.”
Her face formed into a pout. “You don’t think I’ve earned it?”
“I can’t imagine you have. You’ve clearly had other priorities.”
The pout deepened. “Why are you being so mean to me?” She leaned down further, putting her arms on the surface of the table and letting her breasts spill over the edge as well.
There were a lot of answers to that question, none of them nice. He focused on the eight ball instead. The pocket he wanted to put it into was the one she’d chosen to block with her boobs. He circled the table for a minute, trying to see if there was another angle he could use to get it in somewhere else in one hit, but no; the cue ball was too awkwardly placed. He’d have to try for something complicated that he was pretty sure he couldn’t pull off. He almost wondered if she’d done this on purpose, but wasn’t convinced she understood the game well enough.
Irritated, he turned his attention back to her, and her question. “It’s because you’ve finally fucked every other guy that will have you, you’re about to graduate, and now you’re here to offer me your reheated leftovers as a shitty consolation prize.”
He waited for the insult to land, but instead, a smile spread across her face, a vicious, predatory smile, like she’d caught him making some critical mistake. “But you’ll beg on your knees for my reheated leftovers, won’t you?”
For a brief instant, he saw red, and fantasized about just saying Never, maybe followed by bitch, or even… no, he’d keep it classy. But just to plaster a smirk on his face, look her in the eyes and tell her Never in my life and stalk out of the room would feel so good.
For five whole minutes, maybe. Then he’d spend the rest of his life being mad about sour grapes, and it might ruin his relationship with Robert, which wasn’t an option he could tolerate. Because she was right, damn her.
He looked back at the eight ball. You couldn’t win every game, after all. He wasn’t going to be the guy who threw the board at the wall rather than conceding defeat.
Very slowly, carefully, and deliberately, he put the pool cue back under the table, picked up the eight and he cue ball and dropped them into the nearest pocket, and gathered up some spare chalks that were strewn around the raised edge of the table, while he did his best to swallow his pride. He didn’t look at her again until he was finished.
With exaggerated casualness, he met her eyes and said, “Yeah, I will.”
Her smile transformed into a grin. “Thought so.” She came around to his side of the table, put her arms around his waist from behind, and planted a kiss on the side of his neck. It made him shiver. “You still think I didn’t earn my degree?” she asked.
They stayed in the house together over the summer, the three of them, just like they had the previous year. Technically Michael had graduated, but no one was actually going to check if he had left yet until the following fall. They hung out, played pool, and enjoyed living together for maybe the last time. Stephen even wound up watching a game a football once, while Robert and some red-headed guy he’d made friends with attempted to explain the rules to him.
Eventually, Michael really did have to leave, after managing to rent the smallest apartment known to man. The new term started, Jasmine returned for her senior year, and a couple new freshmen joined the house. Michael was gone, but at least Stephen could look forward to two more years without Victoria.
The without Victoria part of that was dashed when she called him randomly during the winter, to tell him that she’d given birth to another baby.
“I didn’t name anyone as the father,” she told him, “and there’s no paternity test — not that I think it would useful at all, in this case. But he’s yours.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked. “Is he green?”
She laughed. “Oh, no, not green at all. But… well, if you ever meet him, you’ll see.”
“I do want to meet him,” he said. The phrase my son flickered through his head and awoke some deep longing in him that he hadn’t known had existed there. Even if his son did have to be Victoria’s son as well.
“Maybe in a few years,” she said, offhandedly. “I just wanted to let you know that you’re not on the hook for anything.”
He saved her number to his contacts, and sometimes he would flip through his phone at night, just to look at it there. But he wasn’t going to debase himself further by calling her back and asking to know when he could meet his son. He’d get his degree first, get a good-paying job, and then come to her with money. That should do it.
A few weeks later, Robert told him that Michael had called, and had said he’d somehow managed to get a house, and wanted the both of them to come live there with him after graduation. Stephen looked at Robert with a cautious sort of optimism and asked: “Really, both of us?”
“Of course,” said Robert, confused, as if there had never been any question in his mind that Stephen would be staying with them.
The remainder of college seemed to pass much more quickly than the first two years had, knowing that the three of them would all be reunited at the end of it.
Height: The character heights mentioned here are actually canonical to my game, thanks to a mod. They were all more or less randomly generated, which has led to some funny stuff happening in the neighborhood. Do note that there are also heights mentioned in Crimes Against Romance, but I didn't have this mod installed at the time I was playing that neighborhood, in that case, those are all just basically headcanons.
Sim State University and Landgraab House Dorms: Sim State University is one of the three university neighborhoods the University expansion added, and the Landgraab House Dorms is an actual dorm lot in that university neighborhood.
Witch teleportation: Witches do have a teleportation spell, which is called Magivestigium. In the actual game, Magivestigium only teleports the witch themselves; I've spent some time thinking about how to make it able to teleport other sims as well. It does not teleport objects, but this is mainly because you can just switch the game into buy mode, pick up any object with your hand of god, and put it down wherever you want it to be without any time at all passing for the sims, so teleporting objects is largely unnecessary. I figure in a context where we're pretending that the buy mode hand of god doesn't exist, Magivestigium would probably teleport objects, as well.
Llamas versus Bulls: Maxis has used llamas as a kind of stand-in animal every time they need some kind of animal or mascot or team designation in a number of their sim games, including the Sims 2. I'm not sure if it predated the Sims 2 or not, but in this game, cows are also used as a stand-in for an evil animal or mascot - there's an evil cow mascot that roams university lots, supposedly from a different school, for example, and then of course there's the cowplant. So I figured I would use llamas and cows when naming these football teams, as well. "Cows" doesn't sound great as a football team name, though, so I changed it to "Bulls".
Important Characters
Robert Bren is a born-in-game sim. This is his adult portrait:
In my game, his mother is actually Stephen's father's sister, making them first cousins. However, after a while, I realized that this thing where Robert and Stephen are first cousins and Stephen is kinda sorta Michael's brother then makes Robert kinda sorta Michael's cousin, and then their relationship is kinda sorta weird. So for the purposes of this story, Robert's mom and Stephen's dad are cousins to some unknown degree, instead.
Robert is actually personally responsible for how most of this story turned out. Originally, I was thinking about a future for Michael that involved Archie Daniels, but then one day, Robert aged up to teen while Michael was over at his house, having been invited home from school by Oliver. The very first thing Robert decided to do as a teenager, even before I got a chance to see what gender preference he'd rolled, was to do the "oh no, he's hot" swoon about Michael, and I was like, ok, plans have changed. Robert then proceeded to roll exactly zero wants about dating, either involving Michael or anyone else, for his entire time as a teenager, and instead hyperfocused on grades, skills, career, and scholarships. This does happen to Knowledge sims sometimes, but I thought it was funny given that his first action was to tell me Michael was hot, and this has informed a lot of his characterization. Here, in addition to being aromantic (along with Michael and Stephen) he is also grey-asexual, and a lot of his experiences there are drawn directly from my own experiences with being grey-aesthetic.
Victoria Ramirez is a born-in-game sim. This is her adult portrait (maybe less attractive to humans than it is to my sims):
The origin story for this fur coat will come in a later installment.
Victoria (and Bethany) are both daughters of the premade playable sim Tessa Ramirez, whose only EA-granted properties are that she is a child of a furniture store owner, and the furniture store is not even part of my game, so I guess she is sort of AU Tessa Ramirez here. Tessa is connected to the family tree and is distantly related to the other sims: my founding sim had an affair with her father and had a daughter with him, and most of my other sims are descended from this half-sister of Tessa's. However, that was a long time ago, and Robert, for example, is Tessa's half-sister's great-grandson. The reason why Tessa's daughter is roughly the same age as her sister's great-grandson will be explained in a much later story.
I want it known that I was totally going to name all of the Ramirez kids actual Latine names, but then Victoria came out as possibly the most anglo-looking sim in my entire neighborhood and I was like, fuck it. There are some other sims named Ramirez in the Crimes Against Romance universe that will have more appropriate names, though.
Bethany is going to appear as an on-screen character in the next installment, so I will wait until then to introduce her.
Jasmine Rai is actually a pre-made playable from one of the university neighborhoods. I have not actually changed her appearance at all. However, just like Tessa, I have removed all of her EA backstory, so she's basically an AU version of the character, here.
Theo Huffington is a born-in-game sim, the son of premade playable sorority girl Heather Huffington. This is his adult portrait:
He is one of Michael and Stephen's "siblings", although he is not actually the biological brother of either Michael or Stephen, because his biological parents were the other two members of the polycule who were neither Michael's mom nor Stephen's dad. In my game, or at least during this part of it, he was the exact same age as Michael, but this was actually caused by a bug; technically Michael was born one day before he was, but for some reason failed to age up to toddler on the day he was supposed to and I didn't notice until another day had passed, so he wound up being the same age as Theo. Of course, as of the current state of my neighborhood, Michael has consumed a lot of cowplant milk and is therefore significantly younger than Theo.
Oliver Bren is a born-in-game sim, Robert's older brother. This is his adult portrait:
He is notable for having been the first baby born on a university lot after I installed a mod allowed college students to get pregnant. He was born on a Greek house, and caused the hilarious bug where, when I tried to have another sim join the Greek house, he answered the phone, as a baby, and then showed up on her lot, as a baby, scooting around at high velocity on his back, and she had to pick him up and cuddle him for a while until he "approved" of her enough to let her join the Greek house. This has to be the funniest bug I've ever been in a position to report to a modder before. 20 or so sim days later, after he had grown up and come to university as a student himself, I found that he was already considered a member of that Greek house, since I guess he had birthright citizenship due to having been born there.
Archie Daniels is this downtownie teen. I never moved him in or made him playable, so he is still wandering around my neighborhood as a teen. He had goings-on with one other playable of mine, so he may get mentioned in a future story, though. When I was going through Michael's memories looking for names and faces for the minor characters in this story, I noticed that Archie's name had changed to Archie Nichols. This is almost certainly because for a while, my game was using UK localization, and then I switched to a version that used US localization, and for some reason, the last name lists for UK and US localization are in a slightly different order, so this caused a bunch of townies' last names to change. This also affected Edith Curtis, but I manually changed her name back.
Simon Upsnott is a born-in-game sim. He is Alex Upsnott's little brother. This is his adult portrait:
The thing about getting imprinted on by six almost-identical dogs and then inheriting all of them is true to my game. Here is the best picture I have of the six dogs:
There was also a seventh dog, but she was more brown and grey, and actually imprinted on Simon's sister, so she got to stay with her after Simon and Jasmine moved out. Stephen later winds up with a dog that is descended from one of these guys, I forget which one.
Minor Characters
I won't go into all of these guys, but just to note that everyone Michael dated in here was pulled directly out of Michael's memories, and notably Gunnar Roque and Jimmy Phoenix are premade playables that have been divorced from their EA backstories.
Story: Tales From the Neighborhood
Plot Thread: Michael, Robert, and Stephen
Colors: Warm Heart #29: Pleasure
Styles and Supplies: Life Drawing, Silhouette, Cartography, Stained Glass, Mural, Gesso, Sculpture, Calendar Page (National Self-Awareness Day), Tempera (Used dailytarotdraw.com and got the Seven of Pentacles: The Seven of Pentacles also reminds us of the importance of patience and persistence as we wait for the fruits of our labor to manifest. It encourages us to have faith in ourselves and remain committed to our goals, knowing that our dedication will eventually pay off. This card serves as a gentle reminder that success often requires nurturing and nurturing takes time.), Novelty Bead ("You give me fever - when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight/Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night." Fever, Michael Buble, given here)
Word Count: 11,976
Rating: T
Warnings: There's a lot of really strongly implied sex/hookups in here, but nothing higher-rated than T actually happens onscreen. Stephen and Jasmine say some bad words, and there's some really vague and unspecific discussion of past mpreg.
Important Onscreen Characters: Michael Wolf, Robert Bren, Stephen Bren, Victoria Ramirez, Jasmine Rai, Theo Huffington, Philip Marsh
Important Offscreen Characters: Bethany Ramirez, Oliver Bren, Archie Daniels, Simon Upsnott
Main Relationship is (the beginnings of) a Michael/Robert/Stephen QPR, and secondarily a Michael/Robert sexual relationship, but also:
Important Onscreen Relationships: Robert/Victoria, Stephen/Victoria, Stephen/Jasmine, Robert/Philip
Important Offscreen Relationships: Theo/Bethany, Oliver/Victoria, Michael/Archie, Theo/Victoria, Simon/Jasmine,
(There are also numerous unimportant characters and relationships in here, onscreen and offscreen, but I'm not listing them all.)
Summary: Michael, Robert, and Stephen survive college. Nobody survives Victoria Ramirez.
Notes: Sorry that this wound up becoming almost twelve thousand words of relationship drama and aspec nonsense. This is Sculpture with respect to this, which comes basically immediately after the end of this piece, and this, which happens at some point between Michael meeting Victoria and Michael and Robert getting together.
It was a Sunday afternoon when Michael found out about his brother Theo’s girlfriend. He’d come upstairs to the large room all of the siblings shared, that they affectionately (or not so affectionately) termed “the barracks”, looking for a sweater. They each had areas for their own things up here, sectioned off with screens, but as he passed Theo’s ‘room’ on the way to his own, he noticed him straightening a picture in a frame on the bedside table. They weren’t really that close as brothers, despite being very nearly the same age, but Michael couldn’t help being curious. He peered closer to see who was in the photograph.
It was Theo, and a girl with short brown hair that escaped from her headband and fell into her face. A nice back yard, one that was meant to be a back yard, with an old and gnarled tree, not like the greenhouse and the lawn that they had here. “Who’s she?” he asked.
Theo turned, and for a moment Michael thought he was going to get told to leave, but for some reason, the prospect of talking about this girl seemed to enliven him. “That’s Bethany!” he said. “Bethany Ramirez. I asked her out yesterday, and now we’re official.” He beamed. “She’s amazing, Michael. Her sister… Victoria’s no good.” He shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of some bad thought. “Oliver is insane, to try to go after her, I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
Michael didn’t know the girls, but he recognized Oliver’s name. “Oliver Bren?” he asked. Oliver was Robert’s brother; a long time ago, their parents had wanted Oliver and Michael and Theo to all be friends, since they were all of an age, but it had never really worked out, and Michael had wound up hanging out with Robert and Stephen instead.
“Yeah,” said Theo. “He has been stupidly obsessed with Victoria, he’s no fun to hang out with anymore. What about you?” he asked, suddenly. “Are you dating a girl? I never hear about what you’re up to.”
Michael spent a moment in consideration, but only a moment. He wasn’t going to spend his life hiding and lying; his family would all learn who he was eventually, and Theo might as well learn now. “I’m not so much for girls,” he said.
“Oh,” said Theo, not missing a beat, or really showing any sign of surprise whatsoever as he said: “Any boys, then?”
Michael smiled. Bless Theo for making it easy. “Maybe,” he said. “I think. His name’s Archie Daniels.” It still felt like there was some important conversation that he had yet to have with Archie, that Archie was putting a bit more weight on whatever their relationship was than Michael did and might have answered this question differently, but at the moment Michael was having fun and didn’t want to think about it.
“Great!” said Theo. “Maybe you can introduce him to me, and I can introduce you to Bethany.”
Michael shrugged, and went to grab his sweater. Theo could be such a dad sometimes.
Robert and Stephen already knew all about Archie Daniels, of course. They and Michael had been inseparable since middle school, and they always knew what was going on in each other’s lives. But somehow, learning about Archie had been different, for Robert. It had taken him a long while to put his finger on why, exactly; he’d kept himself up at night wondering if he was secretly homophobic. But eventually he’d figured out that it was actually jealousy.
It wasn’t jealousy over just having a partner, or even specifically having a boyfriend; he just wanted Michael, he realized. And maybe the boyfriend part didn’t even matter; he wasn’t jealous of the romantic gestures, not really.
At home, Oliver talked nonstop about some girl named Victoria, who Robert didn’t know or care about. They were going to go to college together, he’d say. They were going get engaged, and get married, and have kids, and maybe a dog. It sounded so clear and simple when he said it, but what it also made clear to Robert was that while he knew he wanted Michael, he also knew he didn’t want any of that other nonsense. Dating seemed like a bad time. Marriage seemed worse. And was there even a place for kids in his life without those things? Oliver went to bed at night dreaming of his future, and Robert stared at the ceiling trying to figure out what he even did want in the first place.
Maybe in some other scenario he could have just talked to Michael about it. Michael loved talking about how every single guy they saw was hot; other students, celebrities, teachers, he always had something flattering to say about them all, and genuinely seemed to mean it. He probably would have loved to have Robert join in, but try as he might, Robert just couldn’t see any of it. Michael would talk about something that attracted him, and Robert would focus and squint and do his best, but he could never manage to feel the same way about it. Michael seemed to live in a world full of beautiful men, and Robert lived in a much less interesting world of physically unappealing people. He couldn’t even see what Stephen was talking about, when he talked about attractive girls.
He spent ages agonizing over it. Was he really gay, if he wasn’t attracted to any guys other than Michael? Was this something else? Was it just regular friendship, tainted in some way by hormones? He had no idea. Instead of trying to confront it all, he poured himself into his schoolwork, into preparing for college, into earning scholarships. When he failed to make the football team, he got a part-time job running the register at a local shop. He told his friends and inquisitive siblings that he was simply too busy to worry about something so pedestrian as dating.
He was never too busy to hang out with Michael and Stephen, though. All of his remaining free time, he spent with them. Maybe he couldn’t play real football, but he could still convince Stephen, and sometimes even Michael to toss the ball back and forth with him out on the lawn. They wouldn’t watch the games with him and didn’t know any of the rules, but they weren’t too bad at just throwing the football.
Archie joined them sometimes, in the early days, but eventually, he stopped showing up. When they asked about it Michael just shrugged, and said that Archie felt like their relationship should be a separate thing. But Michael never did ditch them to be with Archie instead, and over time, Robert felt his initial jealousy wane and then peter out into nothing. He never stopped wanting Michael, though, in that confusing and conflicted way.
It was early in the evening, and Robert was closing the shop for the day, handing off the register drawer to his boss, putting the merchandise that was laid out on the counters away, and doing the last of the cleaning up. He stepped outside the door, locked it with his key, and turned to walk the few blocks to his house.
He stopped. There was someone there, sitting next to the door, their arms around their knees and their face buried between them, heaving the occasional quiet sob. The person raised their head, and it was Michael.
“What’s wrong?” Robert sat beside him, cross-legged, and put an arm around him, instinctively. Michael was never like this. He was always a ray of sunshine; a born optimist. Something was badly wrong.
Michael sniffled a couple times, and then said, unsteadily, “It’s Archie.”
“What happened?” Robert asked.
Michael opened his mouth and then closed it again, several times. Finally, he said, “I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t know how to explain what happened. But… we’re done, now. He’s gone.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” said Robert. “That sucks.” He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, himself; sure, it did mean Michael was single again, but did he actually want to date Michael? He didn’t really think so. But maybe he could say something to him about it, at least.
He didn’t say anything, for the moment, though. They sat there on the stoop, with Robert’s arm around Michael’s shoulders, and Michael sniffling from time to time, watching the wind rustling the trees and the occasional car or person going past. It seemed that Michael had said all he wanted to say about the breakup, so they just existed, silently, in the moment, with Robert cherishing the close contact that he didn’t usually get.
At length, Michael said, “I would have talked to Stephen, too, but… he’ll be at home, now. There’s so many people there. There’s no place to be alone, not really.”
It was starting to get late, and the light was starting to fade. “Did you want to go somewhere else?” Robert asked.
Michael shook his head. “No… I’ll go back. I should go, now, probably, my parents will be getting worried. It was just… it was nice to sit here, with you, for a while.” He grabbed the railing that lined the steps that led up to the shop’s front door and pulled himself to his feet. “Will you come with me, back to the house?”
“Of course,” said Robert. Michael and Stephen’s house was only a couple blocks past his, from here, so it wasn’t out of the way. But even if it had been, he would have walked a thousand miles for Michael, right now.
They walked together, Robert’s arm still around Michael’s shoulders, not saying anything, and Robert thought again if he should say something. Probably not. Michael didn’t want to hear it, right now.
When they reached Michael’s house, Robert saw that Stephen was waiting for them, leaning up against the side of the greenhouse, his long legs crossed at the ankles. When he saw them approach, he pushed off of it and called out to them. Michael shrugged out of Robert’s embrace, and called back, somewhat weakly. He turned back to Robert, with a slow smile, and simply said, “Thanks. For being there, today.” Then he hastened off in Stephen’s direction.
Robert stood there, and watched him go. Maybe that had been a chance at something. Had he missed an opportunity, or avoided a mistake? He couldn’t decide.
The year wore on, and eventually it was time for Michael to graduate. He started to become genuinely enthusiastic about the Sim State art program, while Robert and Stephen bitched and moaned and dragged their feet about college applications (yeah, he’d been there, he could relate). All too soon, the summer was over and it was time to leave. Well, he’d be moving to the other side of town, so it wasn’t like he was actually going anywhere. It might have been nice to leave his parents behind to go off to some out-of-state college, but it wouldn’t have been worth leaving Robert and Stephen.
Arriving on campus, he’d discovered that in spite of his fears, his housing plans had actually paid off — the lottery he’d put his name into for the private housing had panned out. Sure, there would be other students living in the house with him, but he would have a room all to himself. Jackpot.
There wasn’t anyone else at the house when he let himself and Mom Jenn in with the key he’d been provided, so he took the opportunity to survey the place. Near the door, there was a study room with bookshelves, a couch, and a computer, and then to the other side, a much larger living room with a boombox, a TV over a fireplace and a game console, and was that a pool table? It was. The kitchen and dining room were towards the back of the house, and the upstairs was devoted to the bedrooms. He found the one that was his, and Mom Jenn helped him move his things in.
Some time later, after Mom Jenn had left and he’d finished organizing his things, he came down for a better look at the pool table. Someone else was in the living room. A tall girl with her black hair tied into a single thick braid that came halfway down her back, with an honest-to-god bow on the end of it stood idly in the middle of the room, flicking through TV channels.
When she saw him, her whole demeanor changed. From idle boredom, she became alert and focused, like a predator that had scented some prey. “Hi, handsome,” she said. “Did you luck into this place, too? I can sense it’ll be a fun year already.”
Michael quirked his mouth at her, amused. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not into girls.”
Another complete transformation came over her, and her mouth twisted petulantly. “Oh, darn, really? That’s the second time today a hot guy turned out to be gay. Life’s not fair.”
“What was the name of the first one?” Michael asked. He’d tried sort of half-heartedly to talk to some new people after everything had gone wrong with Archie, but he’d soon realized he had virtually no ability to predict who would be interested.
The girl met his eyes again, and something of the predator from earlier was back in her expression. “I see you,” she said. “His name is Jimmy Phoenix, he lives in the Landgraab House dorms. Now,” she said, smiling ferally, “you’ve got to return the favor, right? If you meet a hot guy who doesn’t work out for you, you send him to me, yeah?”
Michael gave her a fuller smile. “Of course,” he said. “Though I think you have the advantage here, for sure. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Victoria,” she said. “And you?”
“‘Victoria’,” Michael repeated. “As in, Victoria Ramirez?”
There was nothing sinister in her smile this time, only the simple joy of hearing that her reputation had preceded her. “The very same!” she laughed.
Jimmy Phoenix had been nice guy, fun to hang out with, and he’d had none of the expectations or future plans that Archie had heaped on Michael’s shoulders. They’d had a fun night together, and had parted with no plans to be anything further than acquaintances. He’d also introduced Michael to a bar downtown that turned out to be owned by Robert’s reclusive uncle, who’d explained that although the bar had technically served its intended purpose when he’d found his husband, he continued running it out of what he felt was a service to the community. Amazing. Michael had met other guys there, too, some of them students at the university, others not. Some of them, he’d introduced to Victoria before they left in the morning.
Victoria had kept her half of the deal, too. Sometimes she brought home guys for him, sometimes one would come downstairs with her and she would elbow Michael at the breakfast table and push him to introduce himself. Not a bad partnership at all.
There was only one other person living in the house with them; apparently some people who had been supposed to live there had had to cancel or leave at the last minute, so it was just the three of them. The third was a junior named Simon, who had apparently been living in the house for a couple years now. He was a serious and soft-spoken guy that Michael and Victoria never properly made friends with, but he didn’t seem to mind the chaos of all the people they brought into the house on a regular basis.
The year ended, and another one began, and the three of them reunited at the house, now with a fourth occupant: a new freshman named Jasmine. But it transpired that Jasmine was not new to Simon, who greeted her like an old friend. Later on, Simon explained that she was actually his girlfriend.
“If you know someone who’s going to come to Sim State, you can put their name in for a place in the house and bypass the lottery,” he’d explained. “So if you’ve got any friends still in high school now… they can live here, too.”
Robert and Stephen were going to come to Sim State next year, so that was a no-brainer. Michael had immediately gone to the housing office and asked for them to be put on the list.
With a new year came new drama, as well, in the form of Theo having a meltdown over Victoria.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” Theo wailed, wringing his hands and pacing the length of his dorm room. “I wasn’t going to do anything. That’s not why I came there. But you know how Victoria is.”
“I do know how Victoria is,” said Michael, who probably knew better than Theo at this point.
“I don’t know why she is keeping the baby. I told her she should just get an abortion. But she insisted on keeping it. She just said her parents will take care of it. I’d love to hear their opinion on that.”
“It’s still her choice,” said Michael.
“If she has a baby, then Bethany’s going to find out about it. I don’t know what to do!”
“I think you’ll just have to be honest,” said Michael. “You want to marry Bethany, right? If you do, that kid is going to be your nephew even if you don’t acknowledge your part in his creation. He’ll be your family, and Bethany’s, too. You can’t just hide something like this from them.”
“What if she leaves me, though? What then? If she leaves me, it’ll be the end of the world. There won’t be anything else left to live for.”
“It really will not be the end of the world,” said Michael. He couldn’t imagine feeling this way about a partner. Well… maybe not a partner, but if Robert and Stephen abandoned him he guessed it might kind of feel that way. The thought made him slightly more sympathetic. “Look,” he continued. “You know Bethany better than I do. Do you think she’s going to leave you? She must know how Victoria is, too, after all; she did grow up with her.”
This did get Theo to stop freaking out, and to sit down at his desk and think for a minute. “If she actually understood the whole situation… I don’t think so. If she really understood, I think she’d accept my apology. But I just know I’m going to fuck it up explaining and she’ll think I’m lying, or something.”
“Well, I believe you’re not lying,” said Michael. “I’ll back you up on that, if it comes to it.”
“I… thanks,” said Theo. “That helps a lot, actually.”
In the summer break after Stephen and Robert had graduated, the three of them sat together on the floor of Robert’s room. It really was just Robert’s room now that Oliver had gone to college and hadn’t cared to return to his parents’ house for the summer. Stephen envied him that; back at his house, the barracks was just as full as it always had been, even with Michael and Theo gone.
Stephen watched Robert place himself at a very carefully calculated distance from Michael, just far enough away to not seem too weird, or too obvious. When Michael smiled his way, he carefully schooled his face and was reluctant to meet Michael’s gaze, but Michael didn’t notice any of it. This crush of his had been a source of private amusement for Stephen since he’d noticed it, years ago, but now that the prospect of college and eventually adult life loomed on the horizon, he could see the writing on the wall and he didn’t like what it said at all. Someday, possibly someday very soon now, Robert would get over his inexplicable shyness, or Michael would develop actual working gaydar, and then they would run off together and leave Stephen behind, with a lot of newly free time in which to feel sorry for himself.
Maybe it would be different if Stephen had someone of his own to feel shy about, but that wasn’t going to happen. Every time he did meet a pretty girl, she went and ruined it by opening her mouth. If he never had to hear someone talk about him being green ever again, it would be too soon.
Michael had said he had some surprise for them today, something about college. He’d already been talking to them about college for the last two years, of course, mainly the classes he was taking and the people he was dating. Robert would watch Michael talk about his dates with some kind of mixed hopefulness and trepidation, and Stephen would watch Robert.
But the surprise today was not about dating, apparently; it was about housing. “You guys won’t have to deal with the dorms,” Michael told them, full excitement and glee. “I put your names into the list for the shared house last year, so you’ll get to come live there with me.”
“Like, as roommates?” Stephen asked, thinking back to the barracks. Yeah, Michael and Robert really weren’t going to finish college without getting together, were they?
“No,” said Michael. “We all have our own rooms, there.”
Stephen allowed himself a grin that was just for himself, this time. He was so ready to have his own room. “Awesome.”
“Who else is living there?” Robert asked. “It won’t just be us, will it?”
“Well, Simon graduated,” said Michael. “So it’ll be us, and and Victoria, and Jasmine, and maybe some other new people.”
“Not Victoria Ramirez?” Stephen asked.
“Yup, it’s her,” said Michael. “She’s not that bad, when you get to know her, really.”
Well, Stephen thought. At least there would be plenty of drama to entertain him.
Moving into the house went very smoothly, since Stephen’s dad was helping them. They’d gone inside once to verify which rooms were Stephen’s and Robert’s, and then they had come back outside, and Stephen’s dad had teleported all of their things into their respective rooms without anyone having to carry anything. Being a warlock must be incredibly useful sometimes. It was almost enough to make Stephen want to study magical sciences rather than mundane ones. Rumor had it that Bethany Ramirez had gotten Stephen’s dad to give her one of his spellbooks before she’d left for the dorms.
Robert’s mom stood nearby, worrying her hands, clearly feeling like she should be doing something but also aware that there was nothing else left to do and she would just be fussing.
Stephen’s dad came up to her, almost apologetically. “Let’s take a walk around campus, while we’re here. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Stephen sometimes forgot that they were some sort of cousins, but the familiarity was clear as they walked off together.
Stephen and Robert went upstairs to verify that everything had gotten teleported correctly; sometimes Stephen’s dad had odd ideas about where things should go. After he’d moved a couple pieces of furniture and finished organizing his CD collection, he left the room in search of entertainment.
As he shut the door behind him, he saw someone else exiting their room as well: a beautiful girl with a long black braid and deep brown eyes, waltzing out like she owned the place. She saw him, and smiled, and there was more than a little something there that quickened his heart rate and made him anticipate some flirtation… but then she opened her mouth and said, “Ooh, you’re green!”
Stephen sighed. “Actually, I’m Stephen,” he said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Victoria,” she said. “I guess you’re one of the new freshmen?”
“Oh, of course you’re Victoria,” he said.
Across from Stephen’s door, Robert exited his room. Victoria turned to face him, and Stephen saw something light up in her eyes that hadn’t been there when she’d greeted him. He watched as she activated some extra level of charm that she hadn’t seen fit to grace him with, and strode over. “Hey, gorgeous,” she said. “What’s your name?” Too bad for her that Robert wasn’t going to be interested.
Except, somehow, flying in the face of everything Stephen knew about him, Robert was interested. He stepped back, awkwardly, in that shy and flustered way he got when he was around Michael sometimes, and there was pink in his cheeks as he said, “Ah, ah, Robert,” as if he had forgotten his own name for a minute there. Fascinating. Robert didn’t get like this around girls, he just didn’t. Then again, Stephen didn’t think they’d ever met one as forward as Victoria before, either. She must be very tall for a woman, he realized; still shorter than him, of course, just like pretty much everyone, but he happened to know that Robert was a solid five foot ten and she was matching him inch for inch in her flats.
Victoria smiled, clearly pleased at the reaction she was getting. She ducked forward, to get her face next to his ear and reached out to play with a tousled bit of blond hair before saying, “I’ll see you around.” Then she sashayed off down the stairs, like a queen surveying her palace.
“Who’s she?” Robert asked, eyes fixed on the stairs she’d taken, the blush starting to fade.
“That’s Victoria Ramirez,” said Stephen.
“Huh,” said Robert. “I guess I can see where Oliver was coming from, maybe.”
Victoria continued her pursuit of Robert as the year went on. At first it had been gratifying, maybe even a little fun. Robert had honestly been overjoyed to be attracted to someone who wasn’t Michael for once, and felt like he had finally gotten some small glimpse into Michael’s world full of beautiful people. But eventually it had started to become irritating. The others made jokes about it, of course, but he wasn’t going to follow through on any of the things her smiles promised him, not until he’d sat down and had a conversation with Michael, and he kept putting that off. He could feel Stephen silently envying him, and he worried that it would put a wedge in their friendship.
Michael and Victoria had some kind of schedule worked out where they would show up at the house with different guys on the weekends, sometimes swap afterwards, and then say goodbye to them and never see them again. Robert knew for sure that he’d eventually just be another notch on Victoria’s bedpost, but he was starting to wonder what something between him and Michael would even look like. In high school, he’d been thinking of the relationship Michael had had with Archie Daniels, but that didn’t seem to be something Michael was interested in, anymore. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He hadn’t wanted that kind of relationship, but he didn’t think he wanted this kind, either. At least, not with Michael. Victoria was maybe a different story.
One weekend, he was in the dining room eating lunch with Stephen when Michael came downstairs with whoever it was he’d been with the night before. Robert’s eyes followed them as they went to the front door, exchanged some last flirt or compliment, and then both left, Michael locking the door behind him. After meeting Victoria, and realizing that the way he felt about her really was the same way he felt about Michael, he couldn’t fathom how he’d ever thought it might not be real. It was on his mind constantly, now.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stephen follow the direction of his gaze, and he jerked his eyes back to his soup. Not quickly enough, apparently, because Stephen let out an overdramatic sigh and said, “If you want to fuck him, I think you can just ask. He is not picky.”
Robert tried and failed to avoid blushing, and continued staring at his soup. “I don’t—”
“Oh, give me a break,” said Stephen. “It’s been obvious since high school. You never looked at any girls, never even talked about any girls. I guess you’ve got this thing about Victoria now, but I’m honestly not that surprised that she’s some kind of exception, and I feel like she’s actually made you worse about him, somehow.”
Robert willed himself to swallow his embarrassment. “He probably doesn’t want me.”
“What makes you think that? You already know he likes you as a person. The chances that he doesn’t like you as a piece of meat are, I have to say, extremely low.”
“You always have such elegant ways of putting things,” said Robert, testily. “If that’s true, why has he never said anything?”
“He probably just thinks you’re straight.”
“Why would he think that? You didn’t think that, and you actually are straight.” Robert risked a glance back upwards. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Stephen. “At least one of us has to be boring, I’m afraid. But you have to understand, he’s not very observant. His gaydar is completely busted. If it weren’t for that bar your uncle runs, he’d be shit out of luck with all of the dates he wants to go on. I promise you the answer’s going to be yes. You just have to ask. So what is stopping you? It’s starting to get a little ridiculous.”
Robert thought for a minute, trying to figure out how to phrase it. “I’m worried that it will change my relationship with him.”
“Isn’t that what you want?”
“…Kind of, but also, not really.” He didn’t want to lose the simple friendship they’d had growing up, the one that involved Stephen, too. He did want to sleep with Michael, but he also wanted it to keep on being the three of them, best friends, forever. But he couldn’t have both of those things, could he?
“Let me put it to you this way,” said Stephen. “Do you want to fuck Victoria first? Or him?”
“Definitely not Victoria,” said Robert. Whatever else happened, he didn’t want his first time be with her. He was sure she would eventually take some significant amount of his pride anyway, but that would be giving her too much.
“Then you better get moving with him,” said Stephen. “She won’t wait forever.”
Time wore on, and Robert continued to drag his feet, and the tensions in the house failed to change. Stephen couldn’t bring himself to actually start trying to avoid his friends, but he did often shut himself in his room to get away from it, doing extra work, or just reading ahead in his textbooks, immersing himself in science and math and trying to forget that romantic relationships existed, for a time. He still didn’t want Michael and Robert to leave him for each other, but he’d long since accepted that as an inevitability at this point, and just wanted the suspense to be over.
One day he came out of his room to find the house blessedly empty, and went down to the kitchen for a snack.
The kitchen was less empty than expected; there he found the much lower-profile fifth member of the house, a girl named Jasmine. They’d been introduced back at the beginning of the year, but they had only had a few interactions thus far. She must not have gotten a bad impression of him yet, at any rate, because she smiled at him as he entered the kitchen. He had a moment to reflect that it was a prettier, nicer smile than any of the ones that Victoria had given him, or that she had given Robert, for that matter.
She was slicing a block of cheese, and had a box of crackers out, too. That sounded like a great idea. He got his own plate from the cabinet. She saw his intent, and passed the cheese over when she’d finished with it, but then lingered before taking her plate and leaving.
“It’s nice to have one sane person in this house,” she said. “It’s a bit much, sometimes, between Michael and Victoria and their endless parade of boyfriends, and Robert seemingly trying to decide when’s the right time to get in line. But you seem sensible, at least.”
Stephen shrugged. “Homework doesn’t do itself,” he said. “I don’t know how the three of them are managing their classes in between all of the drama and hookups, to be honest.”
Jasmine laughed. “I hear that’s no problem for you, anyway. Someone told me the other day that she asked you to do her homework for her.”
“I don’t do that,” said Stephen, unamused. “I don’t help people cheat.”
“Oh, I know. She was complaining to me that you’d refused. I told her that she was squandering the education her parents were paying for by not doing it herself.”
Stephen regarded her for a minute, with a bit of newfound respect. “And what are your plans for making use of your education?”
“Journalism,” she said, immediately. “I want to know the news before anyone else does, and tell the world about it. Think of what you could do in that situation — you could influence how everyone sees the current events. Whatever you see, that’s what they’d see, too, when they read your article about it.”
“But as a journalist, you’d of course strive for objectivity, right?” he asked.
“Oh, for sure,” she replied, but her mouth was quirked in amusement, and he found himself mirroring it. He put the block of cheese back in the fridge and took his plate out to the dining room, and she followed with her own.
He realized they’d been having a normal, friendly conversation, and she hadn’t yet made any comment about his skin color, nor had she said anything of the sort when they’d first met, like Victoria had. He wondered if mentioning it would be a bad idea, but then figured it probably wouldn’t matter; Michael had said she already had a boyfriend. “You haven’t told me I’m green yet,” he said, conversationally. “It’s a bit shocking.”
“Was I supposed to?” She put her plate down, and pulled out a chair.
“Everyone else sure seems to think so,” he said, settling into his own chair. “And you’ve seen how Victoria is about it,” he added, unable to resist complaining. “She’ll happily fuck every other guy on campus, but not me. I’m just too weird for her, I guess.”
“More fool her,” said Jasmine. “You’re the most fuckable person in this house.”
That brought his eyes up to hers, a hard expression on his face. “And here I thought you were going to make a claim to being the other sane person living here,” he said. “Michael told me you’re dating Simon. I told you before: I don’t help people cheat.”
She gave him that brilliant smile again and said, “Oh, don’t worry about Simon. We don’t have that kind of relationship. We can sleep with who we want, as long as the other approves. I already told him all about you, and he’s given his approval.”
He studied her face for a moment. “I’d want to talk to him about this, too, of course.”
“Naturally.”
“So you’re proposing what, exactly, here? That I’d be your other boyfriend?”
“Not so much. Simon is my love; you and I are simply friends.”
He said, “It sounds kind of like you might just be doing exactly what Michael and Victoria are doing, with extra steps.”
She shook her head, vehemently. “You misunderstand. If you want a relationship with me — with us… you’d be a real friend. Not someone we say goodbye to in morning, to never see again. You’d come over to our house, have dinner with us, get coffee sometimes, make friends with our dogs. And if we’re both feeling up to it, maybe have some fun with me, too. But first and foremost, you’d be a friend. And if you ever find a love of your own, bring her over for dinner, too. Maybe she and Simon will hit it off.”
He studied her across the table, and munched on crackers. She was quite pretty — not the in the same in-your-face way that Victoria was, but more petite, with more delicate features, and a good deal shorter. She seemed smart, she wasn’t going to play any dumb games with him, and she wasn’t afraid to say fuck. And she didn’t care that he was green.
“Huh,” he said, as noncommittally as possible. “That actually doesn’t sound terrible.”
She gave him a small smile. “Think about it. Take your time — like I said, we’re looking for long-term friends, not collecting people like bottle-caps.”
He smiled back. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll do that.”
It was Saturday night, and Michael was walking back to the house with his latest find from Robert’s uncle’s bar: a tall guy named Gunnar who wore his straight black hair pulled back in a ponytail. It had been a great evening, so far.
Just in front of the house, they bumped into Victoria, her arm around the shoulders of some tanned blond guy. He nodded to her as they passed.
Gunnar stopped walking. “Is that Victoria Ramirez? Does she live here, too?”
“She does,” said Michael, starting to get a bad feeling.
“Oh.” Gunnar looked back over his shoulder at them. “Do you think we could get them to join us?”
“I’ll be happy to introduce you in the morning,” said Michael. “But tonight is for us, yeah?”
“Let me just ask them what they think.”
Reluctantly, Michael allowed himself to be pulled back over to Victoria and her guy. Maybe the other guy would turn out to be straight and they could just go their separate ways.
Gunnar smiled at Victoria, and she smiled back; obviously they were already familiar. “Want to join us tonight, beautiful?” Gunnar asked.
“I’m game,” said Victoria. She nudged the blond guy. “What do you think, Neil?”
Neil and Gunnar looked at each other. Michael silently buried his hopes that Neil was straight. “Look,” he said. “I’m not doing anything with her. Tonight, you’re either sleeping with me, or you’re sleeping with her, you can’t do both at the same time.”
Gunnar looked at him, thoughtfully, and then turned his gaze back to Victoria and Neil.
Robert was sitting in the study room near the front of the house, working on econ homework. There were probably more social things he could be doing on Saturday night, but college had forced him to face up to the fact that he just wasn’t a very social person, outside of his association with Michael and Stephen, and they were both off doing something else tonight. Or, if there was football involved, he guessed he didn’t mind being in a crowd of strangers, but there wasn’t a game on. Anyway, econ was fun, and it was enough entertainment for him.
The front door banged opened and shut, and Victoria came in, giggling. Did she have two guys with her tonight? Of course she did. Robert ignored them.
A few minutes later, the door opened again, much more sedately, and only one person came in, standing for a minute beside the door, breathing a heavy sigh. Robert looked up, and was surprised to see that it was Michael. Michael turned, and they made eye contact through the open door of the study room. He came over to where Robert was seated on the couch and threw himself down beside him.
“I hate bi guys,” said Michael, with feeling.
Robert looked at him carefully, and tried to be as nonchalant as possible as he asked, “Oh. Why?”
“Because Victoria snipes them from me,” Michael said, not seeming to notice Robert’s reaction. “I spent so much money on him Robert, and he still decided to go off with her.” He looked down at what Robert was working on. “Don’t tell me you’re in here doing homework tonight.”
Robert shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
Michael grinned at him. “You’re such a nerd,” he said, affectionately. “You and Stephen both. How about we do some more entertaining nerd stuff, since apparently I’m now free for the rest of the evening? You still have your Lord of the Rings DVDs, right?”
“Absolutely,” said Robert.
“Great. I feel like losing myself in a four-hour fantasy movie right about now.”
Robert took his econ homework back up to his room and returned with the Fellowship DVD, and they put it into the player attached to the big TV in the living room. They sat in companionable silence as they watched the hobbits escape from the Nazgûl, through to the Nazgûl getting swept away at the Ford of Bruinen; upon the following scenes of Frodo waking up in Rivendell, Michael paused the movie just as Sam came to Frodo’s bedside and took his hand.
“Wasn’t there some gay backstory to this part?” he asked. “Like, involving the actors.”
“Yeah,” said Robert. “Sam grabbing Frodo’s hand there is actually in the book, and Ian McKellen told Sean Astin to do that, because the book fans would be looking for it. But in his cast commentary, he said that the real reason he did that was to make the movie a little more gay.”
“Right,” said Michael, “I remember, now. Bless you and Stephen for convincing me to sit through twenty-four hours of cast commentaries for that little piece of trivia.” Robert thought he might start the movie again, but he sat looking at the still frame for a little longer. “I know Tolkien never intended for them to be in a romantic relationship, but I kind of feel like, even if there’s nothing actually romantic there at all, they are still kind of gay. You know?”
“Yeah, a bit,” said Robert. He’d never been attracted to any of the actors the way he knew Michael was, but there was something he really liked about Sam and Frodo’s relationship, something he’d related to. He wasn’t sure, for himself, if it was a gay thing or a friends thing, but if Michael wanted to see it as a gay thing, he couldn’t say he was wrong about that.
“And you know they probably slept together at least once, anyway,” Michael said, reaching for the remote.
Robert found he’d reached out and swiped the remote before Michael could get to it to unpause the movie again. Something about where the conversation had gone made him feel like he had to say something now, that he wouldn’t get a better chance to put his feelings into words. And Stephen had been right about Victoria, when they’d talked earlier.
Carefully, he said, “I think that’s the kind of relationship I’d like to have with you, actually.”
He saw an expression of surprise flicker across Michael’s face, for just a split second, before it relaxed back into something more usual. A sad smile replaced it as he said, “Yeah, I get it. Probably not the part about sleeping together at least once, though, right?”
That sad expression made Robert’s leap hopefully as he replied, “No, that part too.”
Michael sat back and looked at him, surprise mingled with a newfound curiosity and cautious excitement. “I— Really? I’m sorry, Robert, I never knew you were bi.” He stopped there for a moment, and then continued, in a rush, “About what I said back there, about hating bi guys— I don’t actually— I don’t have any problem with bi people. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I get what you meant, it’s ok,” said Robert. “I don’t know if I even count as bi, to be honest. Maybe I’m bi in some alternate universe where ‘bisexual’ means ‘attracted to exactly two people’.”
“Exactly two?” said Michael, dumbfounded. “Really only two, and one of them’s me?” He laughed with some giddy joy. “Robert, that’s— My god. That’s better than Philip telling me he signed up for 8 AM calculus, just for me.” He laughed again. “I’m sorry, you’ve just made tonight so much better. That’s amazing.”
Robert smiled a little, but was still cautious as he asked, “Do you— Are you also in for sleeping together, at least once?”
“Am I ever, Robert,” Michael said. “I always have been. But look,” He sobered again, and took Robert’s hand. “I don’t know if you want— If you want to be my boyfriend, if you want to be another Archie Daniels, I can’t do that. He wanted so many things I couldn’t give him, romantic dates and flowers and I love yous and—” he shook his head. “I can’t do any of that stuff. The guys I ‘date’ here…” he shrugged. “It’s just a one-time thing with them. Easy, uncomplicated. Nobody is expecting a lifelong commitment to romance. But with you, it’s already complicated, isn’t it? I’ve known you practically forever.”
“Does it have to be?” asked Robert. “I don’t need romance. I just— I want it to be the same as it always was with us, the same friendship we’ve always had, just with… a little bit extra. I don’t really want to be anyone’s boyfriend, either. I just don’t want you to forget about it in the morning.”
“I couldn’t forget this if I tried,” said Michael. The caution was back in his face as he said, “You’re sure, though? You don’t need any of that romantic nonsense? I never talked about it with Archie, and that ended in tears. I don’t want you to say it’s fine just to get me to sleep with you. I really don’t want to lose you as a friend, Robert.”
“I’m sure,” said Robert. “It’s a big part of why it took so long for me to say anything.”
Michael searched his eyes for a moment, and then seemed to make up his mind. When they kissed, it was everything Robert had ever dreamed of.
Victoria awoke to the feeling of cold air on her bare skin. She cast a glance over at the other side of the bed. Neil and Gunnar had stolen all of the blankets. Dammit. And she was starting to get pushed out of the bed, too; the beds here were bigger than the ones in the dorms, supposedly, but they still weren’t really made for three people. It wasn’t going to be a nice weekend lie-in today, she supposed.
She got up and dressed, brushing out and braiding her hair. Last night had been fun, at least; Michael would forgive her when he got his turn with them tonight, she was sure. They both knew the rules of that game.
She opened her door to head down for breakfast, and froze. Across the hall from her room, Michael’s door was open, and Robert stood in front of it, his back to Victoria. And Michael was there too, behind him, and they were… kissing?
Interesting. And infuriating.
Robert drew away, slightly, and Michael stared across at her, directly into her eyes, clearly articulating a command without any words. She obliged, quietly pulling the door closed before Robert could turn and see her.
She stood in front of the closed door, counting the seconds it would take for Robert to get to the stairs and descend them, fuming internally. This was betrayal. How dare he scoop Robert out from under her? Gunnar and Neil didn’t matter, he knew that, but she’d had plans for Robert, and he’d known that, too, and now they were all dashed.
After a minute of waiting, Michael pulled open her door, as expected. “If you out him, I will end you,” he said, simply.
“Oh, who cares about that?” Victoria said. “You don’t mind that everyone around here knows your business.”
“He’s not me.”
“I cannot believe you got to him first.”
Irritatingly, Michael just looked amused. “I would say it’s your just deserts for taking Gunnar from me, but truthfully I didn’t do this to spite you. Actually, I should probably be thanking you for taking Gunnar from me, now that I think about it.”
“Why did he go for you first? You haven’t even been trying with him.”
Michael shrugged. “Don’t feel bad about it. Technically I’ve had a six-year head start on you, in that department.”
She shut the door in his face.
Victoria was in rare form that morning, dropping more innuendos than normal and touching Robert way more than was really necessary over breakfast. Or maybe she was just being her normal self, and Robert wasn’t in the mood for it. The previous night had defused a lot of the tension that had been occupying him recently, and here in the morning she seemed a good deal less appealing to him and was mostly just annoying.
“What’s gotten into her this morning?” he complained to Stephen, after she’d finally left. “I feel like I’m being hunted for sport. The Most Dangerous Game: Victoria Ramirez edition.”
“I understand,” said Stephen. “A pretty girl is flirting with you. That must be so terrible for you. I cannot imagine your pain.”
Robert looked over at him, and did feel a bit of empathy. “Don’t worry, she’ll be hunting you too, pretty soon, I’m sure,” he said.
“No she won’t,” said Stephen. “There are still plenty of other non-green guys on campus that she hasn’t fucked yet.” He stalked out of the dining room.
Down at the end of the table, Jasmine watched him go, a pensive expression on her face.
“…and that’s Winnie, and that’s Sandy,” Jasmine was saying, pointing out cream-colored dogs in the photograph, who all looked identical to Stephen’s eyes.
“Who’s that one?” Stephen asked, pointing to the seventh, unidentified dog.
“Oh, that’s just Sandy’s butt, I know the perspective is a little confusing. There are only six dogs, don’t worry.”
“Why so many?”
“Simon’s mom and sister were breeding them, that’s why they all look so similar. But then the dogs all decided they belonged to Simon instead, so now we’re on the hook to take them in after I graduate. Personally, I’m thrilled. Dogs are amazing.”
Jasmine set the photograph back on her bedside table, and stretched out beneath the covers, bringing her hands back behind her to grip the headboard. They were lounging in Jasmine’s bed, still naked, although Stephen was sitting more upright against the headboard, to avoid the feeling of his feet falling off the end of the bed. The sun was shining through the high window above them, casting a positive light on the room and really the whole day. He didn’t begrudge Robert anything today, and was even somewhat less pissed at Victoria.
“Did you have any pets growing up?” Jasmine asked.
“Oh, nah,” said Stephen. “We didn’t have the room. The house was too full of us kids for that.”
“Ooh, how many siblings do you have? Michael’s one of them, right?”
“Yeah, he’s the oldest. There are seven of us in total.”
“Seven! Your poor mom.”
Stephen laughed a bit at that. “We had two moms, is the thing. Mom Jenn had four kids, and Mom Heather had two. I don’t think those numbers are really that out of the ordinary.”
“That doesn’t add up to seven,” Jasmine noted.
“Yeah, well.” Stephen leaned back against the headboard, trying for casualness. “I don’t really have a biological mom, technically speaking.”
Jasmine blinked, a bit confused. “How does that work, exactly?”
“I don’t know the details,” said Stephen. “My dad never saw fit to share them, though I would also love to know more. I suppose it’s his business, though.”
“Seems like it would be your business, too, wouldn’t it?” said Jasmine. “The rest of us all know how we were born.”
“Maybe,” said Stephen. “And who knows, maybe I will find out, someday.” He looked down at her. “Did Simon find you guys a house yet? It must be hard trying to find a place to accommodate all those dogs.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Jasmine, “they’re in negotiations now. His family are going to help pay for it, since they are foisting the dogs on us, and yeah, they were a big issue when we were looking.” She looked up at him. “It’ll be nice to have you over there. And if you find a girlfriend, you’ll introduce her, yeah?”
Stephen looked thoughtfully at the opposite wall. “To be honest, I’m not sure there ever will be a girlfriend,” he said. “That’s ok, right?”
Jasmine shrugged. “Fine with us,” she said. “But I think you’re selling yourself short. Most people won’t really care about your skin color, out in the real world. You’re a good-looking guy, and you’re smart, and you can be nice when you want to be. You’ll find someone.”
Stephen shook his head. “That’s not what I mean,” he said. “Back in high school, I used to want a girlfriend because I thought Michael and Robert were going to ride off into the sunset together and leave me behind, and I’d need someone to take their place in my life. But it seems like they’ve resolved that now, and… they haven’t done that. Shit,” he realized, suddenly. “I think you’re not supposed to know about that.”
Jasmine just laughed. “It’s ok,” she said. “I can keep a secret. Although, I can’t say I’m really surprised to hear it.”
Stephen had to smile at that. “Anyway,” he continued, “I think they’re together now, but they aren’t acting like they want me gone, or like they want to be alone without me. And,” he snuck a sly glance at her, lying on the bed, “I’ve got you now, too, for ‘having fun’, as you say. So I don’t know… without needing someone to replace Michael and Robert, I’m not really seeing a compelling reason to have a girlfriend, if that makes sense.”
Jasmine seemed thoughtful, when he looked back at her. “I’d almost want to ask if you weren’t just gay,” she said, “but I think I’ve already answered that question to my satisfaction.” She shot him a playful smile.
Stephen did not return it. “Oh believe me,” he said, “I grew up with Michael, do you think I never went down that line of questioning? But no, I’m not attracted to men at all. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I’m just too boring to be gay.”
“Why would it be more interesting to be gay?” Jasmine asked. “I find being straight plenty interesting.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Stephen. “It’s just the default way to be, isn’t it? So it’s kind of boring just for that reason.”
“I guess that’s one way to see it.” She stretched again, arching under the sheets, and the top of the sheet fell away, revealing her breasts. “You’re not bored of me already, are you?”
He grinned down at her. “Oh, definitely not.”
It was game day, but as usual, no one in the house cared except Robert. Michael and Stephen had been down to shoot pool earlier, but they’d been completely uninterested in the TV. Then Michael had gone upstairs with someone who’d actually shown up on his own and rung the doorbell. Now it was just Robert in the living room, munching on a bowl of microwave popcorn and a bag of potato chips. It felt odd to cheer when there was no one to cheer with, but he still felt the same exhilaration when exciting things happened on the field.
He heard someone descend the stairs behind him, but didn’t turn to look, his eyes on the game. A few seconds later, someone plopped down on the couch next to him. “Llamas versus Bulls today, isn’t it?” the newcomer asked.
Robert recognized his voice; it was the same one that he’d heard at the door earlier when Michael had answered it. He turned to look at the guy. Skin on the darker side, not too far from Robert’s or Michael’s own, and tousled red hair that looked like it was probably permanently messy. And unlike everyone else here, he was watching the football with interest.
“Yeah,” said Robert. “I always love when they play the Bulls, because then they actually usually win.”
The redhead laughed. “The Llamas do suck for sure,” he said. “But I’m no fair-weather fan. They may be a sucky football team, but they’re my sucky football team.”
Robert shared a grin with him before they were both pulled back to the game again. But somehow, he found that his gaze made its way back to the other’s face after a few moments. There was just something about the messy hair, and the definition of his facial features, and the smile that the game put on his face that drew him back.
He shook his head, suddenly, in realization. Welcome to the world of trisexuality, he guessed. At least he understood what Michael had wanted with him. “What’s your name?” he asked, casually.
“Oh, sorry,” said the redhead. “I’m Philip. You?”
“Robert,” he said, and dragged his eyes back to the TV. He wasn’t Michael, after all.
He heard someone else come down the stairs, and then Michael came into the living room, sparing a bored glance at the TV, and then stole one of Robert’s chips. His eyes passed over Robert and Philip sitting on the couch together, and then he sat down on Robert’s other side.
“You like him?” he whispered to Robert, hopefully too low for Philip to hear. “He’s a catch.”
“Does it matter?” Robert whispered back. “I’m not gonna— I literally just met him.”
“I didn’t meet him that long ago, either,” Michael confided. “You have to learn to live a little, Robert.” He got up and walked past them, out to the front of the house, directing a wink in Robert’s direction.
Philip’s eyes followed Michael as he left the house, and then turned back to Robert with a grin. “I guess you’re here for Michael Wolf, too?” he said, with a bit of an impish smile.
Robert sighed. “I live here, actually,” he said.
“Ahh, so you get to have him whenever,” said Philip. “Lucky.”
He supposed there wasn’t any point in denying it. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen and dining room, but neither of the girls seemed to be around. “I’m not exactly out, yet,” he said, somewhat testily.
“I got you,” said Philip. “Don’t worry, my mouth is shut. But if you want some company other than him,” he shrugged. “Keep me in mind, yeah?”
“I barely know you,” said Robert. “I think if you want something from me, you’ll have to, like, take me out to eat somewhere, a couple times, at least.”
“Oh please. Don’t lie to me, you didn’t make Michael take you out multiple times before you slept with him.”
“Sure I did,” said Robert, easily. “I’ve been friends with him since I was twelve.”
Philip’s mouth started to form into a dissatisfied pout, but midway through he seemed to change his mind and sat back, defeated. “Alright,” he said. “That’s fair, I guess. But I’m not really a dinner date kind of guy. I can get us tickets to the next Llamas game if you want, though.”
Robert looked at him, a whole new world of possibilities coming into focus. To be at the game with someone else who was a fan? He’d never hung out with the right people for this before. “That sounds awesome,” he said. They grinned at each other and then turned back to the TV.
Robert was studying for an upcoming test in the small study room when Victoria came in. At first, she turned towards the bookshelf and it almost seemed like she might actually be there to study, too, but then she seemed to change her mind and settled down onto the couch next to Robert instead. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, leaned her head down onto the one nearest her, and peered down at the book in his lap. “Oh, what is this?” she asked. “Math?”
“Economics,” he said.
She flipped through the pages. “I bet you know all this already. You’re smart, aren’t you?” Her tongue flicked out and licked his ear.
Alright. He could tell her to leave, and he knew she would, albeit reluctantly. But truth be told, he did feel confident that he was already prepared for the test, and he no longer had a real concrete reason to put her off any longer. The warmth of her body and the promises made by her teasing were welcome to him today, and he knew himself well enough to know that that might well not be the case tomorrow.
He closed the book and leaned back into her embrace. “Actually, yeah. I did all the studying already, I was just doing a little review.” In truth, he’d been so engrossed in the material for this class that he hardly needed extra studying, but she wouldn’t want to hear about it.
She took the book from him and set it aside. “You’re in a good mood, today.” She reached out with her other hand to brush a stray lock of blond hair away from the side of his face, and then brought it around the back of his head to pull him into a kiss.
When she let him back up for air, she was halfway onto his lap, and combing her fingers through his hair once more. “You’re being so nice to me, now. Oliver isn’t being this nice to me.” She pushed her head onto his shoulder.
“Oliver?” Robert couldn’t see why she’d brought him up.
“He asked me to marry him. Can you imagine?” She laughed, but it sounded a bit hollow. “And hasn’t even spoken to me since I told him no, not even when I called. He’s never at his dorm, either.”
Robert sighed. “He’s in love with you, silly. And you’ve gone and broken his heart.” He’d already heard his fill of this little drama from Oliver’s side.
“Really? Moron.”
“You know, I kind of have to agree with you, there.” He traced his fingers across her nose and cheekbones, and down around the tips of her ears, and snatched another kiss.
She pulled away from the kiss to breathe into his ear, and he tensed, wondering if she was going to lick it, again. But instead, she said: “Are you in love with me?”
“Definitely not. I’m starting to think romantic love might be a little overrated, actually.” He couldn’t play with her hair the way she was playing with his, so he reached down her back and freed her braid from its ties.
Still with her mouth right next to his ear and breathing hot gusts onto it, she asked: “Do you love Michael Wolf?”
His hands froze where they had started to comb out her braid. He didn’t know how she would have known; he was sure that Michael and Stephen hadn’t betrayed him. But her question had been sufficiently imprecise, so he simply answered, “Of course. He’s one of my best friends.”
“Don’t be coy, I know you’re together now.”
Together? Maybe they were, in the same sense that they’d always been together, him and Michael and Stephen, the three of them. Together in some way that seemed to surpass mere friendship, but not in the way that Theo was together with Bethany, or in the way that Oliver was together with the girl he’d picked to fill the Victoria-shaped hole in his heart. He didn’t have the words to describe it, and it wasn’t her business, anyway. “Whatever you think you know about us isn’t worth talking about,” he said.
Her fingers in his hair were more aggressive, now, her nails tracing lines down his scalp. “You like him better, though.”
He saw why she was asking and what was bothering her, then; she was mad that he’d gone with Michael first. She’d gotten to the finish line today, but only in second place, and she couldn’t stomach not being first. “That goes both ways, doesn’t it?” he asked, casually. “Or else, why would you be talking to me about my brother right now?”
She stiffened against him, and drew in a hard breath through her nose, and he knew he’d scored a point, there. “Let’s not talk about Oliver,” she said, and kissed him again before he could say anything further.
Stephen was down in the living room playing pool. Michael had been with him earlier, but had then gone off to do something else, leaving Stephen to play against himself. He didn’t mind, really; he wanted to see if he could sink each of the remaining balls in one hit, which would count as a win against Michael, as far as he was concerned. He’d gotten the first three in no problem, and was feeling good about his chances with the rest, since the only ones left on the table were the nine, the eight, and the cue ball.
Victoria strode into the room, and leaned down and put her elbows on the edge of the pool table, making sure he had a good view of her cleavage. “You’re good at this game, aren’t you?” she said. “And so green, just like the table.”
He frowned at her across the table. She never came around just to flirt with him, and anyway, he wasn’t a fan of this particular opening.
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, and her smile almost seemed genuine. “You don’t like it when I say things like that. Ooh, what’s the way to your heart? I know: you’re smart. You’re majoring in some nerdy subject, aren’t you? Chemistry, right?”
He sighed, and ignored her, focusing on the nine ball instead. He lined up the shot, sighted it down the cue, and hit it straight into the pocket next to her elbow. “Biology, actually,” he said. “I can’t believe we’ve lived together for two whole years and you don’t know that. I know what your major is, and I’m honestly shocked and disgusted that this university is actually going to hand you a degree in psychology in a week.”
Her face formed into a pout. “You don’t think I’ve earned it?”
“I can’t imagine you have. You’ve clearly had other priorities.”
The pout deepened. “Why are you being so mean to me?” She leaned down further, putting her arms on the surface of the table and letting her breasts spill over the edge as well.
There were a lot of answers to that question, none of them nice. He focused on the eight ball instead. The pocket he wanted to put it into was the one she’d chosen to block with her boobs. He circled the table for a minute, trying to see if there was another angle he could use to get it in somewhere else in one hit, but no; the cue ball was too awkwardly placed. He’d have to try for something complicated that he was pretty sure he couldn’t pull off. He almost wondered if she’d done this on purpose, but wasn’t convinced she understood the game well enough.
Irritated, he turned his attention back to her, and her question. “It’s because you’ve finally fucked every other guy that will have you, you’re about to graduate, and now you’re here to offer me your reheated leftovers as a shitty consolation prize.”
He waited for the insult to land, but instead, a smile spread across her face, a vicious, predatory smile, like she’d caught him making some critical mistake. “But you’ll beg on your knees for my reheated leftovers, won’t you?”
For a brief instant, he saw red, and fantasized about just saying Never, maybe followed by bitch, or even… no, he’d keep it classy. But just to plaster a smirk on his face, look her in the eyes and tell her Never in my life and stalk out of the room would feel so good.
For five whole minutes, maybe. Then he’d spend the rest of his life being mad about sour grapes, and it might ruin his relationship with Robert, which wasn’t an option he could tolerate. Because she was right, damn her.
He looked back at the eight ball. You couldn’t win every game, after all. He wasn’t going to be the guy who threw the board at the wall rather than conceding defeat.
Very slowly, carefully, and deliberately, he put the pool cue back under the table, picked up the eight and he cue ball and dropped them into the nearest pocket, and gathered up some spare chalks that were strewn around the raised edge of the table, while he did his best to swallow his pride. He didn’t look at her again until he was finished.
With exaggerated casualness, he met her eyes and said, “Yeah, I will.”
Her smile transformed into a grin. “Thought so.” She came around to his side of the table, put her arms around his waist from behind, and planted a kiss on the side of his neck. It made him shiver. “You still think I didn’t earn my degree?” she asked.
They stayed in the house together over the summer, the three of them, just like they had the previous year. Technically Michael had graduated, but no one was actually going to check if he had left yet until the following fall. They hung out, played pool, and enjoyed living together for maybe the last time. Stephen even wound up watching a game a football once, while Robert and some red-headed guy he’d made friends with attempted to explain the rules to him.
Eventually, Michael really did have to leave, after managing to rent the smallest apartment known to man. The new term started, Jasmine returned for her senior year, and a couple new freshmen joined the house. Michael was gone, but at least Stephen could look forward to two more years without Victoria.
The without Victoria part of that was dashed when she called him randomly during the winter, to tell him that she’d given birth to another baby.
“I didn’t name anyone as the father,” she told him, “and there’s no paternity test — not that I think it would useful at all, in this case. But he’s yours.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked. “Is he green?”
She laughed. “Oh, no, not green at all. But… well, if you ever meet him, you’ll see.”
“I do want to meet him,” he said. The phrase my son flickered through his head and awoke some deep longing in him that he hadn’t known had existed there. Even if his son did have to be Victoria’s son as well.
“Maybe in a few years,” she said, offhandedly. “I just wanted to let you know that you’re not on the hook for anything.”
He saved her number to his contacts, and sometimes he would flip through his phone at night, just to look at it there. But he wasn’t going to debase himself further by calling her back and asking to know when he could meet his son. He’d get his degree first, get a good-paying job, and then come to her with money. That should do it.
A few weeks later, Robert told him that Michael had called, and had said he’d somehow managed to get a house, and wanted the both of them to come live there with him after graduation. Stephen looked at Robert with a cautious sort of optimism and asked: “Really, both of us?”
“Of course,” said Robert, confused, as if there had never been any question in his mind that Stephen would be staying with them.
The remainder of college seemed to pass much more quickly than the first two years had, knowing that the three of them would all be reunited at the end of it.
Height: The character heights mentioned here are actually canonical to my game, thanks to a mod. They were all more or less randomly generated, which has led to some funny stuff happening in the neighborhood. Do note that there are also heights mentioned in Crimes Against Romance, but I didn't have this mod installed at the time I was playing that neighborhood, in that case, those are all just basically headcanons.
Sim State University and Landgraab House Dorms: Sim State University is one of the three university neighborhoods the University expansion added, and the Landgraab House Dorms is an actual dorm lot in that university neighborhood.
Witch teleportation: Witches do have a teleportation spell, which is called Magivestigium. In the actual game, Magivestigium only teleports the witch themselves; I've spent some time thinking about how to make it able to teleport other sims as well. It does not teleport objects, but this is mainly because you can just switch the game into buy mode, pick up any object with your hand of god, and put it down wherever you want it to be without any time at all passing for the sims, so teleporting objects is largely unnecessary. I figure in a context where we're pretending that the buy mode hand of god doesn't exist, Magivestigium would probably teleport objects, as well.
Llamas versus Bulls: Maxis has used llamas as a kind of stand-in animal every time they need some kind of animal or mascot or team designation in a number of their sim games, including the Sims 2. I'm not sure if it predated the Sims 2 or not, but in this game, cows are also used as a stand-in for an evil animal or mascot - there's an evil cow mascot that roams university lots, supposedly from a different school, for example, and then of course there's the cowplant. So I figured I would use llamas and cows when naming these football teams, as well. "Cows" doesn't sound great as a football team name, though, so I changed it to "Bulls".
Important Characters
Robert Bren is a born-in-game sim. This is his adult portrait:
In my game, his mother is actually Stephen's father's sister, making them first cousins. However, after a while, I realized that this thing where Robert and Stephen are first cousins and Stephen is kinda sorta Michael's brother then makes Robert kinda sorta Michael's cousin, and then their relationship is kinda sorta weird. So for the purposes of this story, Robert's mom and Stephen's dad are cousins to some unknown degree, instead.
Robert is actually personally responsible for how most of this story turned out. Originally, I was thinking about a future for Michael that involved Archie Daniels, but then one day, Robert aged up to teen while Michael was over at his house, having been invited home from school by Oliver. The very first thing Robert decided to do as a teenager, even before I got a chance to see what gender preference he'd rolled, was to do the "oh no, he's hot" swoon about Michael, and I was like, ok, plans have changed. Robert then proceeded to roll exactly zero wants about dating, either involving Michael or anyone else, for his entire time as a teenager, and instead hyperfocused on grades, skills, career, and scholarships. This does happen to Knowledge sims sometimes, but I thought it was funny given that his first action was to tell me Michael was hot, and this has informed a lot of his characterization. Here, in addition to being aromantic (along with Michael and Stephen) he is also grey-asexual, and a lot of his experiences there are drawn directly from my own experiences with being grey-aesthetic.
Victoria Ramirez is a born-in-game sim. This is her adult portrait (maybe less attractive to humans than it is to my sims):
The origin story for this fur coat will come in a later installment.
Victoria (and Bethany) are both daughters of the premade playable sim Tessa Ramirez, whose only EA-granted properties are that she is a child of a furniture store owner, and the furniture store is not even part of my game, so I guess she is sort of AU Tessa Ramirez here. Tessa is connected to the family tree and is distantly related to the other sims: my founding sim had an affair with her father and had a daughter with him, and most of my other sims are descended from this half-sister of Tessa's. However, that was a long time ago, and Robert, for example, is Tessa's half-sister's great-grandson. The reason why Tessa's daughter is roughly the same age as her sister's great-grandson will be explained in a much later story.
I want it known that I was totally going to name all of the Ramirez kids actual Latine names, but then Victoria came out as possibly the most anglo-looking sim in my entire neighborhood and I was like, fuck it. There are some other sims named Ramirez in the Crimes Against Romance universe that will have more appropriate names, though.
Bethany is going to appear as an on-screen character in the next installment, so I will wait until then to introduce her.
Jasmine Rai is actually a pre-made playable from one of the university neighborhoods. I have not actually changed her appearance at all. However, just like Tessa, I have removed all of her EA backstory, so she's basically an AU version of the character, here.
Theo Huffington is a born-in-game sim, the son of premade playable sorority girl Heather Huffington. This is his adult portrait:
He is one of Michael and Stephen's "siblings", although he is not actually the biological brother of either Michael or Stephen, because his biological parents were the other two members of the polycule who were neither Michael's mom nor Stephen's dad. In my game, or at least during this part of it, he was the exact same age as Michael, but this was actually caused by a bug; technically Michael was born one day before he was, but for some reason failed to age up to toddler on the day he was supposed to and I didn't notice until another day had passed, so he wound up being the same age as Theo. Of course, as of the current state of my neighborhood, Michael has consumed a lot of cowplant milk and is therefore significantly younger than Theo.
Oliver Bren is a born-in-game sim, Robert's older brother. This is his adult portrait:
He is notable for having been the first baby born on a university lot after I installed a mod allowed college students to get pregnant. He was born on a Greek house, and caused the hilarious bug where, when I tried to have another sim join the Greek house, he answered the phone, as a baby, and then showed up on her lot, as a baby, scooting around at high velocity on his back, and she had to pick him up and cuddle him for a while until he "approved" of her enough to let her join the Greek house. This has to be the funniest bug I've ever been in a position to report to a modder before. 20 or so sim days later, after he had grown up and come to university as a student himself, I found that he was already considered a member of that Greek house, since I guess he had birthright citizenship due to having been born there.
Archie Daniels is this downtownie teen. I never moved him in or made him playable, so he is still wandering around my neighborhood as a teen. He had goings-on with one other playable of mine, so he may get mentioned in a future story, though. When I was going through Michael's memories looking for names and faces for the minor characters in this story, I noticed that Archie's name had changed to Archie Nichols. This is almost certainly because for a while, my game was using UK localization, and then I switched to a version that used US localization, and for some reason, the last name lists for UK and US localization are in a slightly different order, so this caused a bunch of townies' last names to change. This also affected Edith Curtis, but I manually changed her name back.
Simon Upsnott is a born-in-game sim. He is Alex Upsnott's little brother. This is his adult portrait:
The thing about getting imprinted on by six almost-identical dogs and then inheriting all of them is true to my game. Here is the best picture I have of the six dogs:
There was also a seventh dog, but she was more brown and grey, and actually imprinted on Simon's sister, so she got to stay with her after Simon and Jasmine moved out. Stephen later winds up with a dog that is descended from one of these guys, I forget which one.
Minor Characters
I won't go into all of these guys, but just to note that everyone Michael dated in here was pulled directly out of Michael's memories, and notably Gunnar Roque and Jimmy Phoenix are premade playables that have been divorced from their EA backstories.
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Haha, it's a little between the lines in there, but Victoria and Oliver definitely weren't happy at the end of this. But thank you for reading this whole thing, I know it was a lot!
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ANYWAY I'm glad the boys at least worked something out! I also live with my two best friends (though we're all varying levels of ace so we don't sleep together) and I also would lose it if I lost them. It's so nice to see something like that in a story.
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Yeah, she has not made the best decisions, but she probably wouldn't have been very happy being married, either.
I personally have a hard time living with anyone, but I love it that it's becoming more of a thing now for people to share a house with a friend group rather than doing a traditional nuclear family thing.
I would make ace sims that are more black-stripe and don't enjoy sex, but I don't feel like the game is very well designed for them and it would be a big pain to mod it so that it was. Also, the sexual drama is what keeps me coming back to the game, haha. So The Fulcrum is going to be the main story about that kind of (alloromantic) ace experience.
I'm glad you made it through this whole thing. I remember Scrivener telling me it was going to take an hour to read this post, and since I know you read and comment on everything here (which is great, by the way!) I was just thinking that I'd made a whole bunch of work for you, haha. Thank you for reading.