Unexpected Affection Ch 63-67

Chapter 63

You tapped your fingers rapidly on your desk, breathing out a rhythmless pattern through your pursed lips.

You were nervous. Which was a little absurd when you tried to look at things from a bird’s eye view. Everything that had been happening with April over the last month had been… astounding. Amazing. An absolute dream. It felt like nothing could go wrong, or mess things up. You’d won a stupid dating app contest to meet her, she’d somehow not only liked you as a person but actually found you attractive despite your weight issues. She got along with your friends and showed an obvious effort of wanting to do so. You got along with her friend, though the how of that had been a little odd.

You thought she was gorgeous, and you were officially boyfriend and girlfriend.

And you had sex. Super-duper stupendous sex. And not only that, but April even felt comfortable enough to not only go with a spur-of-the-moment threesome plan with her best friend, but also do it again.

That birds-eye-view was looking pretty fucking good.

And maybe that was what worried you the most. Things weren’t just good; they were… too good.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” you murmured to yourself.

The devil was always in the details.

“Pardon?” Hikaru asked from over in the kitchen. She’d already been home from her early morning shift when you got back from work and had made you go get changed and sit down to have time to yourself while she put together a snack for you. You'd noticed she was in much better spirits since she’d started at Paula’s coffee shop, having somewhere to go and a purpose to her days, but she still insisted that she would take care of the cooking whenever you were both home.

“Nothing,” you called back. “Just muttering to myself.”

“About what?” she asked.

“Just… stuff,” you sighed.

“Stuff at work?”

“No…”

“Stuff with April,” Hikaru guessed, glancing up at you.

You might have been able to lie if she hadn’t been looking at you, though it would have been a lie by omission by grunting wordlessly or something. As it was, she saw the look on your face.

“Did something happen?” she asked. “Did she cancel on you tonight?”

“No, no,” you said, shaking your head. “Nothing’s happened. I’m still meeting her for dinner.”

“Then… is it her parents?”

“No,” you said. “It’s nothing like that.”

She sighed, coming out of the kitchen carrying a plate and a big glass of water. She was dressed in sweatpants that hung a little low on her hips and a thin, long-sleeved shirt with an anime print for a show you didn’t immediately recognise. For a moment, as she was coming over, you almost choked on your own tongue thinking about how she’d been doing her makeup since she’d started ‘trying something new.’ She’d admitted that Zara had encouraged her and shown her some stuff. You were happy for her. The issue was that it was like looking at a completely different Hikaru and you noticed things. Things like how she had a rather… large chest on her thin frame. Or how there was a gap of about three inches of bare skin between her sweatpants and her shirt. And her shirt hugged her torso tightly…

You cleared your throat, not liking where those thoughts were going. You’d been having them way more often now, about too many people who were close to you.

“Well, it’s something,” Hikaru said, setting down the plate to show she’d made you a small almond butter sandwich out of the extreme low carb bread that Hannah had approved for your diet, and she’d cut off the crusts and sliced the sandwich in an X like her mom used to do for the two of you when you were kids. “Will you please just tell me? You don’t really...”

“I don’t what?” you asked, suddenly concerned at the look on her face.

She let out a little huff of breath. “You don’t really talk to me like you used to.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “I’m not trying to hide anything.”

“No, I know,” she said. “But you used to talk my ear off, Ollie. About everything. And I liked that. I liked hearing about everything going on with you, and what you were watching, or what you’d read that day in nerdy news. I liked hearing about your games, or what you were planning for your next one, or that you were considering buying a new model kit. And it’s not like you’re not telling me that stuff or anything, but you’re not excited to tell me anymore because you’re excited to talk to April about it. And I- I get that, and it makes sense. But if something is really bothering you, I just want to be able to listen and help you. Please.”

You swallowed hard. Especially at seeing the hurt in her eyes.

“Hiki,” you murmured, standing up and trying to hug her, but she put a hand up and kept you back a little bit.

“I don’t want a- Well, I do want a hug, but that’s not going to help with this, Ollie,” she said. “I need you to let me in. What’s wrong?”

You let out a heavy sigh, feeling your shoulders drop. “I’m worried that things are too good. Too easy. I’m waiting for the thing that’s going to make this feel more like real life instead of a dream.”

Hikaru frowned at that, blinking a few times and then stepping back and sitting on the arm of the couch. “You’re worried that it’s going too well?” she asked.

“Well, I mean… think about it,” you said. “Everything you and the girls ‘talked about’ last weekend? It’s kind of ridiculous, right?”

Hikaru blushed, knowing he was at least in part referring to the fact that she, Hannah and Margot knew about the threesomes. “OK, that’s fair,” she said. “It is a little… fast.”

“Just fast?” you asked. “I mean, Hiki, it’s kind of wild even if it was five years down the road from now.”

“Is it?” she asked, catching you up.

“What… do you mean?” you asked.

“Well, how ‘wild’ is it, really?” she asked, frowning a little as she spoke slowly, picking her words carefully. “Think about it. Sure, it would have been super crazy like, I dunno, twenty or thirty years ago, right? Except how wild would it have been, really? There were swingers back then, and people cheating on each other, and all sorts of… I dunno. Sex stuff. People just didn’t talk about it. But it’s been getting more popular in media all over the world, so it’s more… acceptable to talk about now? That doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening before. Polyamory is a thing people know about now, and maybe people still think it’s kinda weird but it’s not… I dunno.”

You were blushing. Hard. So was she. “Still,” you said, not sure where you were going.

“Like, look at popular fiction,” Hikaru said. “Love triangles have always been popular because of the tension. Twilight, Team Jacob and Team Robert.”

“Team Edward,” I corrected her. “Robert was the actor.”

“Right,” she shook her head, smiling a little. “Still. Fanfiction stuff was wild for that, right? Like, people wanting kinky stuff to happen, or the girl to be with both of them, or the two guys to get together. And that’s how 50 Shades got big - it was Twilight fanfiction, and it’s not like that made people like kinky stuff, it just gave them a way to like it that was palatable or socially OK. And, like, do you know how popular reverse-harem fiction is in Japan? It’s crazy.”

“Wait, what?” you asked. “‘Reverse-harem?’”

“It’s when there’s one girl protagonist and a bunch of guys who want to be with her,” Hiki said. “And depending on the story, either she somehow never needs to pick, or some of them decide they are OK all being with her, or… yeah. They figure it out.”

“But… wouldn’t that just be a harem?” you asked.

Hikaru shrugged. “I guess that’s just the same thing, but one guy and multiple girls? My friends back in Japan don’t read that, but I bet it’s a thing, too.”

“OK, but that’s fiction,” you said, rubbing your forehead because you felt like it and your cheeks were going to burst into flame, having this conversation with her. “And April’s not- Having a threesome with Zara wasn’t some sort of relationship thing. It was sex. The point is I’m worried that nothing feels… hard. Nothing is going wrong. I've never been in a relationship before, but I feel like we should disagree about something, shouldn’t we? I feel like Karma is going to come flying out of nowhere and slap me so hard I lose a tooth.”

Now Hikaru let out a hard breath, frowning as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Have you considered that maybe April is part of Karma paying you back for how good a person you are, Oliver?” she demanded. “That maybe you’ve been such a good friend, such a good person, for so long that you deserve to have things go really well for you?”

“I… I don’t know,” you admitted. “I don’t feel like I’ve been that ‘good.’”

She let out another hard breath, almost a scoff, and stood up and crossed to you, bending down and wrapping her arms around your shoulders as she hugged you tightly.

“I love you, you big idiot,” she murmured. “Just let us love you, and love yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” you said, not sure what to say. “I love you too.”

She sniffed, squeezing you a little tighter, and then let go and stood up. You weren’t sure why she was getting so emotional, but she had to wipe her eyes. “Eat your snack,” she told you, and headed towards her room.

“Thank you,” you called after her, a little unsure of what all that had been.

And for all that she’d tried to reassure you, you were still nervous about your date with April. You had a lot to talk out with your girlfriend.

- - - - -

‘So I may have planted some seeds,’ Hikaru texted Margot as she sat on the edge of her bed.

She still couldn’t believe she’d managed not to say everything she had without chewing her own tongue out of embarrassment.

‘???’ Margot sent back.

Hikaru bit her lower lip. Bringing up reverse-harem and harem fiction had been tactical. She wasn’t supposed to do it yet, but she’d realised she had an opportunity and she took it.

Because if she and Margot got their way, Ollie would be the protagonist in a harem relationship. It would just be real life and not some Isekai or something.

‘He was feeling off,’ she texted Margot, who she knew would understand who ‘He’ was immediately. ‘About stuff. And I kind of saw a place to mention polyamory. And harems.’

‘Did he freak out???’

Hikaru sighed. ‘A little but not in a bad way. I don’t think he suspects anything though.’

‘Good job, girl! Now we just need to figure out how to bring it up with April.’

Hikaru put her phone down and sighed again, licking her lips and bouncing her foot. That was crazy. She still couldn’t believe she’d talked to Ollie about… swingers, and threesomes, and harems.

She swallowed, chewing a little on the inside of her cheek, and then scooted herself up more to the middle of her bed and slipped a hand inside her sweatpants, touching herself lightly. What if Ollie had responded more… ‘wildly?’ What if he’d had the realisation that this would all be a good thing, and he’d stood up and come to her and kissed her, his hands roaming…

Chapter 64

April tutted softly, gnawing on the inside of her lip. Zara had barely been gone a couple of days and she already missed her salty, sassy friend. April had other friends. She had industry friends from across the country and overseas. She had friends that were still living in the city, too. None of them were… 

Other than Zara, her friends from high school were settled. Two of them were married already, which until now she’d kind of thought was insane except she hadn’t ever felt like she did about Ollie before. Another one was in a long-term relationship and had two kids but no ring, which had kind of made her jaded and not very fun to talk to. And then there was Jane.

Jane was… usually not the best person to talk to about relationship stuff.

But Zara was maybe a little too close to things that were on April’s mind, and April didn’t want to talk to the others about this stuff, and she definitely couldn’t talk to her parents about it.

Sighing, she slipped out of the house and into her car, needing some privacy. Up until dating Ollie, she’d never had a problem with living at home in between flying out to do recording sessions in LA or Houston or Montreal. Now she felt like she couldn’t do anything she wanted when she wanted. Like having her boyfriend over…

The phone rang a couple of times before Jane picked it up.

“Autism hotline, this is your local Autist. What can I overexplain for you today?”

April snorted, smirking a little. “Hey, Jane,” she said. Her friend had leaned into comedy to compensate for what she had thought of as crippling social issues. April hadn’t ever thought of her that way, and as soon as Zara had been made aware of what Jane was going through, she’d backed off and become her biggest defender. The issue at the time had been that Jane was a very high-functioning person with autism, but it impacted her affect pretty badly, so ‘learning comedy’ had been a pretty excruciating few years of bad puns and jokes delivered so flat that you had to have her repeat herself to figure out she was making a joke.

Then she’d discovered self-deprecating humour in the eleventh grade, and she’d actually gotten funny, though April had always worried Jane would go too far putting herself down.

“Oh no,” Jane said, likely hearing the tone in April’s voice. “What happened?”

“I need a sounding board on something,” April said. “Someone who isn’t going to judge me for… choices. And stuff.”

“Then you called the right person,” Jane said. “Hold on, let me close my office door.”

The fact that Jane had graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colombia and been headhunted out of her Master’s program to work for a think tank dealing with political stuff still sort of blew April’s mind.

“OK, what’s going on that you couldn’t talk to Zara about?” Jane said, the sound of her desk chair squeaking in the background as she sat back down.

“That’s not-” April started to object but then remembered she was talking to Jane. “It involves Zara. Partially.”

“And what are you worried about being judged over that Sarah, Tina T. and Tina K. haven’t already judged you for?”

“They aren’t judgey, Jane. They’ve just moved on to a different part of their lives compared to us,” April defended their old group.

“Which doesn’t give them the right to think it’s weird to be single or look down on our careers,” Jane said. “And yet, they do.”

“You’re not wrong,” April sighed. “But this isn’t about my career.”

“So it’s about sex,” Jane guessed. “Did you and Zara finally start having sex?”

“What?” April asked.

“Did you two-”

“I heard you. I meant what do you mean by ‘finally?’”

“Oh,” Jane said. “I figured if it happened, Zara- Wait. I’m oversharing. Have you two had sex?”

April grunted in frustration. Younger, slightly less self-observant Jane would have just blurted whatever it was out. “Yes,” April sighed. “We’ve had sex, but it was part of a threesome with my new boyfriend. Well, two different threesomes. What did you think Zara would have done if we’d had sex now?”

“That’s… not for me to say,” Jane said, clearly becoming uncomfortable.

“Jane,” April groaned.

“April, please don’t make me invoke the Treaty of the Grand Canyon,” Jane requested.

April let out another sigh. “Sorry. You're right.” The ‘Treaty of the Grand Canyon’ had been agreed to by the whole group during a school trip that had included a stop at the Grand Canyon. Around the same time, Tina T. and Tina K. had both liked the same boy on the trip, and each of them had been a little abusive of the rest of the group in trying to ‘one up’ the other Tina in gathering information to use. Jane in particular had been a target for the Tina’s to manipulate, and that had led to the poor girl having a meltdown in their hotel room the night before they were supposed to take a hiking tour down the national wonder - something Jane had been looking forward a lot, and in her mind the clash of the Tina’s was about to ruin everything.

The boy was forgotten, and the Treaty was agreed to by all parties that no one was allowed to ask for gossip about anyone else in the group from Jane. And then they had the hike the next day, and it was awesome, and Jane had an amazing time. One of April’s favourite pictures ever was of the six of them together on that hike, the Canyon in the background, and Jane’s smile was huge.

Sarah ended up dating the boy two months later and reported to the Tina’s that he was all abds, no brain, and an awful kisser.

“Thank you,” Jane said, and April knew she meant it even though it came out a little terse and perfunctory. That was just Jane. “So you ended up having sex with Zara with your new boyfriend?”

“Right,” April said. “And it was- well, I’ll spare you details, but it was really good.”

“Thank you,” Jane said. She wasn’t asexual or aromantic, but she had once described the idea of sex as ‘two sacks of meat flapping wetly at each other’ and meant it.

“So what I’m grappling with is that I’m worried we might have done that way too early? But also it felt right, and it definitely helped Zara not only accept him but also with some of her own stuff that was going on, I think,” April continued. “And I’m going on a date with him tonight, and we haven’t, like, talked about it yet. Not in depth like I know he can, because he’s in tune with his feelings and stuff. And I’m worried that maybe it was too much for him because he’s a big, sweet, gentle giant kinda guy. But also, I need to talk to him about me and Zara because whatever it was that you were going to say, she kind of made it clear to me after the first time that she wanted to be able to fool around with me without Ollie too. And I kind of would want that for us too now that the door is open and all, but how the hell do I ask Ollie if he’s OK with me doing that when we're just figuring out our own dynamic? Not to mention that Zara got super horny for him and kind of said she wasn’t going to really be open to meeting someone moving forward because she’d just be looking forward to coming back on her next visit and seeing us.”

The line was silent for a long moment.

“Jane?”

“Sorry, are you done?”

“Yes,” April said.

“You told me before that your new boyfriend is a little shy, but is very good at communicating, right?”

“Right,” April said. “I mean, he doesn’t really get ‘flirting’ so much unless it’s super obvious, and that’s probably some sort of a self-worth thing. But yes, he’s good at communicating.”

“So talk to him,” Jane said. “Maybe a little less frenetic and like you’re ranting. But just tell him all of that, and your worries about it.”

“But that’s hard,” April whined, and started giggling a little bit at the end because she knew she was being a little ridiculous.

“Did you really call to interrupt my work day with something so obvious?” Jane asked. “And then complain about the obvious answer?”

“Ugh, OK. You’re right,” April said. “I’m being silly. It’s not a big deal, right? It’s just… sex. With a guy I’m falling for hard and my best friend.”

“You are being silly, but it is a big deal,” Jane said. “Sex is an economic, ethical and moral driver even on a civilisation scale, let alone individual one. And the collapse of the framework surrounding the nuclear family as a cultural foundation for the American dream, whether or not it was ever as common a thing as people thought, is a large part of several political shifts over the last quarter century.”

April closed her eyes, trying to parse what Jane was saying. “Wait, so if I have threesomes, it could lead to…?”

“Either the collapse of our foundational cultural infrastructure and belief systems, for good or ill, or to an uptick in reprisal against those forces, potentially leading to a new wave of fundamentalism or puritanism that would arguably reinforce many of the worst facets of our culture.”

“So when I have sex with Oliver and Zara, I’m-”

“Those are the extreme ends of the potential results,” Jane interrupted her. “Most likely you’ll either end up in a messy situation that will lead to at least two of you feeling poorly about the situation, you’ll have Zara will betray you and steal your new boyfriend somehow, or you’ll stick the landing on the sweet spot and end up in a relationship with both of them.”

“That’s- What- I’m not trying to date Zara,” April stuttered. “And neither is Ollie.”

“Look, I can only give you my thoughts based on what you’ve told me,” Jane said. “There’s room in the theoretical sweet spot for more variations than you three in a polyamorous throuple situation; it’s just going to be a very difficult process to end up there. So, like I said before, you probably just need to talk with him. Bluntly. Like you’re autistic. I can’t really see another way for you to make the complicated issues around sex and emotions work otherwise.”

April let out a long sigh. “You’re right,” she said.

“I know I am,” Jane replied.

“Thanks, Jane.”

“You’re welcome, April.”

And then she hung up.

Classic Jane.

April groaned again. This date was going to be… something. But Jane was right, even if her predictions were either dramatically apocalyptic or a little too much to be believable.

Sharing Ollie with Zara? Long-term? Like… sister-wives or something? That was kind of ridiculous.

Right?

She leaned forward, sucking in a deep breath, and then yelped as her forehead hit the center of her steering wheel and her horn honked.

“Fuck,” she laughed, breathing deeply and shaking her head as she tried to pull herself together.

Chapter 65

Hannah couldn’t get the idea out of her head.

Zara had said it so quickly, so off-hand, that Hannah didn’t think any of the others had really taken it in or taken it seriously.

She dared them - and by them, it only really applied to Hannah and Hikaru - to find a way to flash Ollie and get his reaction on camera.

April was already sleeping with him, and Margot had already gone streaking and flashed. Hannah guessed Margot could do it again, but it wouldn’t be as funny the second time. And the idea of Hikaru flashing Ollie was almost absurd - the poor girl had looked like she was going to spontaneously combust just watching Margot go through with her dare. And her embarrassment over seeing Zara naked had lingered way longer than necessary.

The wild thing was that Hikaru would probably get the most comedic reaction out of him, considering their history and the fact that she was smuggling around those sweater puppies of hers. Hannah had seen her in swimsuits over the years and had been more than a little jealous of the tall, willowy girl.

But that all cycled back around to Hannah doing it.

She was supposed to get dinner with Ollie later in the week. Her ‘date’ with him, not that the others had put together the guy she was asking out was Ollie. And he didn’t realise it was anything other than a regular hangout night for them.

But what if she manoeuvred her way into flashing him somehow? She could wear a loose crop top and flash him her titties. Would he like them even though they weren’t as big as April’s? But then, he hadn’t had a problem with Zara’s little tits and she was almost flatter than Hannah, so it probably wasn’t an issue of how big they were, but more who they were on.

What if she wore a cute, flowy summer dress? It wasn’t her usual style, but she could go commando and maybe a breeze swept through and blew up the front and she could act all ‘Oh my gosh!’ and have to cover herself after he got a good peek. Or if there wasn’t any wind, she could pick a good time to drop her purse or need to tie her shoes or something, and bend over at the waist and let the dress ride up.

Just the thought of it had Hannah distracted and flushed as she continued her climb on the stairmaster at work, getting in some personal time before her next client.

Ollie was going on a date with April that night. That was the other thing that was distracting her.

Because that meant that Ollie might be having sex that night.

“Fuck,” she muttered to herself, then quickly glanced around to make sure none of the other gymgoers had heard her - sometimes she spoke a little too loud when she had her headphones in and playing loud music. No one was nearby, and she chuckled to herself softly. No one would have guessed it was over her pining for her best friend’s supposedly gigantic cock and not just the tough speed she’d set for herself on the stairmaster.

She might not have the tits, but she definitely had an ass that could compete with the likes of April or Margot.

And she might be smaller than April, but she was pretty sure she could ride Ollie-

“Oh my gawd,” she murmured to herself, shaking her head heavily. Hannah knew she had to get her mind out of her ovaries, or the rest of the day would be a mess. She slapped the Stop button on the machine and let it slow down before hopping off and checking her phone - shit. She didn’t even have enough time to go get herself off in a stall in the women’s washroom.

Swearing to herself, she headed towards the change room anyways, needing to wipe herself down and pretty up a bit before her client. The guys always worked harder when she looked a little less ‘Let’s fuckin’ go!’ and a little more ‘Let’s do this, big boy’ even if she wasn’t likely to give them a shot.

Chapter 66

“I-” you and April both started, and then you both laughed softly.

“I was thinking about trying to not… make it a whole thing up front, but I have something I want to talk to you about,” April said, taking your hands. She’d barely made it in the door to your apartment for your casual date night, and other than a hug and a kiss, the two of you hadn’t actually said anything more than hellos. She’d come dressed cute but not ‘dressed up,’ wearing a long T-shirt that had a wide neck hole so it hung off one shoulder and what looked like a pair of tights underneath.

“I’ve had some stuff on my mind, too,” you said, giving her hands a squeeze. “Let’s sit?”

She nodded, and you led her into your apartment and to the living area where you’d set everything up for your date.

“Aw, Ollie,” April said as she sat down on the couch and set her mini case down. “This is so amazing.”

You smiled, your heart warming a bit more - part of you had wondered if this date idea wasn’t enough after last weekend, and part of you wondered if you were doing a little too much. You’d set up your coffee table with a couple of paint stations, and brought over a couple of directional lamps and had everything ready to go so you could sit side-by-side and paint minis together.

“I figured the extra effort was worth it,” you shrugged, still smiling, and then sat down next to her. “So… Do you want to go first, or me?”

“I’ll go first with one thing, then you do yours,” April said, turning to sit facing you with one leg up on the couch and the foot tucked under the other. “Though, I mean, we’re probably at least thinking about the same… stuff.”

“Probably,” you chuckled nervously.

April took a breath and nodded. Then she flushed a little. “Honestly, I kind of thought about putting off a conversation until later. Maybe while I was on top of you. But that didn’t feel honest.”

Despite everything the two of you had done and how comfortable April made you feel, you felt a bit of heat in your cheeks as well. “I think maybe I’d enjoy the process, but might not be able to think straight like that,” you said. “Though you could probably get the same reaction out of me just by taking your shirt off.”

“Maybe,” she grinned, looking down at her hands for a moment and then reaching over and taking one of yours in both of them. “Before I say my first thing, um- I just want to tell you again that I’m falling for you hard, still. Like, I’m really fucking happy being your girlfriend, Ollie. All of this,” she gestured to the set-up of lights, paints and trays. “It’s thoughtful and cute and sweet and- I just want you to know that the other stuff on my mind doesn’t change that I’m kind of in lesbians with you.”

You let out your breath, only then realising that you’d been holding it to begin with, and barked a laugh. “Scott Pilgrim?”

“I’m sorry, I start quoting movies when I get nervous!” April laughed as well.

“April,” you said, clearing your throat and looking her dead in the eye. “I’m your density- I mean, your destiny.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Back to the Future. Nice one, George.”

“Do I need to dig deep for some more, or should we save some quotes for later?”

“Save them,” she chuckled. Then she let out a sigh, cocking her head and looking at you sweetly. “You’re perfect, Ollie. And I want you to know that.”

“I’m not,” you said, “But I appreciate you saying that.”

She leaned forward and you reciprocated, meeting in the middle so you could kiss sweetly for a long moment. When you pulled away again she was still holding your hand with both of hers. “OK, no more procrastinating for me.” She let out her breath, looked at you again, and you both started laughing nervously again. “OK, OK,” she said, shaking her head. “Um. The first thing I want to ask is how you are feeling about everything that happened last week and weekend. With Zara and the dare with Margot. We didn’t really get to talk enough.”

You nodded, trying to piece together the different things in your mind that you wanted to say as an answer instead of as a question like you’d planned. “Um, alright,” you said. “How I feel. I feel like, with Zara… well, there’s two parts to that. On a ‘meet your friends’ level, once we, well, you know-”

“Had sex,” April said, grinning nervously.

“Right,” you nodded.

“Really fucking great sex,” she added.

“True,” you chuckled. “Once we all had that first night of really fucking great sex, Zara clearly mellowed out and we got along just fine. I don’t think she’d ever join us for a night like this or anything, but we could definitely hang out in the future and be good… except for-”

“Can we focus on you, not her, just for now?” April interrupted, sensing where you were going. “Just on how you feel first.”

You nodded, then struggled to find the words, and you ended up quirking your lips to the side a little.

“Ollie,” April said. “I really do love you, OK? You don’t need to try and make it sound good or anything.”

You wanted to argue that wasn’t what you were doing, but it was. That had you clicking your mouth shut for a moment and then slowly nodding. “I think I’m trying to figure out how to say things in a way I’m OK with,” you said.

“Give it to me raw and unfiltered,” April urged you. “I can take it.”

You tried - really hard - not to say it. And you failed. “That’s what she said.”

April’s snort was long as she tried not to laugh at the awful joke. Then she looked up at you with a smirk and a playful look in her eye. “For you? Damn straight I do.”

That got you and had you chuckling again, but she pulled you back down with a squeeze for your hand. “Seriously, Ollie.”

“OK,” you agreed. “Seriously. I feel like the luckiest man in the world. I have a beautiful, amazing, funny, talented, smart, nerdy girlfriend whose shown me everything I was missing from sex, and then you added on a threesome on top of that which was really fucking great. And then we did it again. By all rights, I should feel like I’m on top of the world, and I mostly do, but I’m also worried. I’m worried that it was too much, too fast, and could mess with us. I’m worried that if something changes out of our control, or my control, it could hurt one of us. And I’m worried-” you let out a breath. “Earlier today, Hiki saw a look on my face and asked what was wrong, and I told her I was worried that Karma was basically winding up for a big swing to knock me back down because I was feeling so lucky, and things had been going so well. And she basically told me that was silly, that maybe things were going so well as good Karma, and that I had to just be OK with letting you and the girls love me.”

“Oh, Ollie,” April said softly, then sniffed and laughed, shaking her head. “It’s a little crazy how alike we are sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“I mean, I called my friend Jane earlier today,” April said. “She’s really good at cutting through emotional bullshit and stuff, and other than telling me to stop being a silly bitch, she reminded me that all I had to do was talk to you because I keep telling her what a good communicator you are.”

“I am?” you asked.

“Oh my God, Oliver,” April said, scooting closer to you a little on the couch. “Yes, you’re an amazing communicator. It’s probably your single best skill. You listen and make me feel listened to, and you engage with what I’m saying instead of just immediately jumping to the next thing you have to say. That’s why you’ve got so many close female friends, honestly. Hannah, Margot, Hikaru? You’re their rock because you are so good at just being there no matter what and really listening. You have lots of other amazing qualities too, but listening is like your maxed-out stat. Well, that and cock size.”

“OK,” you mumbled, flushing a little again.

“Fuck, OK,” April said, massaging your hand now as she fidgeted while holding it. “Look, I know you have some self-worth issues. To be fair, we all do, but you’ve been burying parts of yourself down because of your size. We both know that. So here’s the deal - I promise to never pay you a compliment that I don’t believe in 100%, but you need to promise that you’ll believe me when I say them and just accept them.”

You sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, giving her a look. “You know that’ll be… hard,” you said slowly.

“I know,” April smiled sadly. “But I’ll beat you over the head with compliments if I have to.”

“OK,” you sighed. “I promise.”

“I promise too,” she said. Then she let out a breath. “OK, we kind of got off track there a little, but I’m glad we did. You said there were two parts, and the first one was about meeting Zara as a friend?”

“Well, we kind of pivoted into the second sex one,” you said.

“What about what happened with Margot? How do you feel about that?”

“Um,” you said, gesturing vaguely with your free hand and not really knowing what to say.

“Are you OK that we used you in a dare like that? Or that you’ve seen her naked? Does that… change anything? With your friendship?”

You immediately heard a touch of anxiety in her trail of questions, and it was always easier to spot your own problems in someone else than face them internally. April’s unspoken questions are loud in your mind. “I hadn’t really thought about being ‘used’ in a dare,” you admitted. “And I think maybe I need to think about that a bit more, but my initial reaction isn’t that I feel used or anything. It’s not like the prank was mean or mean-spirited. If anything, it was a little mean to Margot - I don’t know how you guys got to that being a dare in your game.”

“Yeah, that was a Zara dare,” April winced. “But things were getting to be a little much, and her and Margot kind of got competitive.” 

“I can imagine,” you said, shaking your head. “So the dare or prank or whatever itself doesn't bother me. Seeing Margot naked, and our friendship… I mean, it’s… I’m not going to make a stupid lie up. Margot is beautiful, and seeing her naked was kind of a shock, and not something I can unsee. So when I see her now, I do kind of have that memory in my head. But I also don’t think it’s affecting how I feel about her or how I would act with her.”

“Why do I hear another ‘but’ in there?” April asked.

“I think there’s two more ‘buts,’” you said. “The first one is that - well, let me put it this way. Before our first date, I pretty much gave up on the idea of me and… sex. And romance. You woke up a part of me that I didn’t even really think about anymore. And now that it’s awake, and you’ve been, um, ‘feeding it,’ I feel like I’m sort of noticing things I didn’t before. Like… like I see people more sexually, now. I always knew Margot was attractive, but now I see her kind of as a sexual being and not just as an objective fact. And it’s kind of universal, and something I’m trying not to dwell on. And everything with Zara, and Margot showing up here naked, was just more fuel for that particular fire.”

“So basically… you’re suddenly noticing people’s butts and cleavage and stuff?” April asked.

“Yeah,” you blushed.

“Ollie,” she said slowly. “I- I think that’s normal. I’m not going to be mad if you see an attractive woman and think, ‘Wow, look at that ass!’ Hell, I think I’d rather you lean over and point her out to me so I can oggle her too instead of keeping it inside and feeling guilty.”

“OK, I’ll… try that,” you said.

“What was the other ‘but ’?”

“The other ‘but’ is that for all that Margot is beautiful, I think you've got her beat,” you said.

“Ollie,” she scoffed.

“I’m being serious,” you said earnestly.

“Margot is ridiculously pretty,” April said flatly. “And she’s got the whole ‘cowgirl’ thing, and a great butt. And you can’t tell me she doesn’t have a great rack.”

“OK, that’s all true,” you said. “Including her great rack. But-”

“There’s a reason I’m a voice actress and not an actress-actress, Ollie,” April said. “I know I’m no slouch, but I’m not-”

“Oh my God, April,” you said in shock. “Who the hell told you any of that bullshit? You’re amazingly attractive. You have great, luscious hair, and your eyes are big and piercing, and your lips are so kissable. And you have a cute mix of an oval but defined jawline. Not to mention that you’re almost as fit as Margot, and while your butt might not be as toned, it’s still my favourite. And if you want to talk about great racks, yours is… I don’t want to talk down about any of the breasts I’ve personally seen, since it’s just you, Margot and Zara, but I couldn’t imagine a more perfect pair. Especially on you.”

“Ollie,” April murmured, this time taking her turn to blush at receiving compliments. “Mine might be bigger, but Margot’s are more perky and do that thing.” She lifted her boobs from over her shirt, lifting them into more of a shelf.

“So what?” you asked. “Yours are full, and womanly, and amazing. And that’s not to say that Zara’s are bad, but it’s like comparing apples and…” you snorted softly. “Melons.”

Her groan and grin told you that you were on the right track.

“I had to promise to accept your compliments as open and honest, so I think it’s only fair that you make me a promise,” you said.

“OK,” she sighed.

“You need to tell me if you ever feel less beautiful than-”

“That’s not a reasonable ask, and you know it,” she interrupted you.

“Fine. You need to accept that there are different kinds of physical beauty, and you might not fit Margot’s mould, but that’s only because you were the best version of your mould, and they retired it after they made you,” you said.

“Ollie,” she said, shaking her head and smiling a little. “Fine. I promise.”

“And you need to accept that the reason you’re a voice actress and not an actress-actress is because you’re just that damn good that you don’t even need to use your looks or sexual verve to make people feel very performance deeply.”

She gave me a look. “Every performance?”

You rolled your eyes. “Every performance that is meant to be felt deeply. Commercials and silly stuff aside.”

She huffed out a breath, pursing her lips.

“Promise me,” you said.

“You do realise this is, like, a big part of my imposter syndrome, right? It’s not that easy.”

“Promise me, or we’re not having sex until you do,” you threatened.

“Hey,” she countered. “That’s like starting a land war in Asia. No one wins with threats like that.”

“Princess Bride,” you acknowledged. “But I’m serious.”

“Fine,” she said. “I acknowledge that me being a voice actress-”

“Famous voice actress at the top of her field,” you interrupted, paying her back for earlier.

“I acknowledge that me being a famous voice actress at the top of my field,” she clarified, “Has more to do with my skill than it does with my looks.”

“That was the most half-assed version of that promise you could have made,” you accused.

“Well… It’s hard, OK?” she grunted. “And yes, that’s also what she said.”

“April,” you said, giving her a look similar to what she’d given you earlier.

“Fine. My career has very little to do with my looks, and the only person who I care about whether they think I look hot enough or not is you, and you’ve made it clear that I’m very hot enough.”

“Better,” you said, pulling her lightly towards you until she was snuggled under your arm, hugging you. The two of you sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, just hugging, as you processed your conversation so far.

“Your turn,” your girlfriend eventually mumbled.

“I’m worried that Zara is going to want more from us than we can handle,” you blurted out before you could re-think your wording.

“I know,” April sighed.

“You do?” you asked. “Like, you know I’m worried, or-?”

She sat up from hugging you, a mild grimace on her face. “I know she wants more; it’s just a question of whether it is more than we can handle.”

“What’s she said?” you asked. “Because those good morning texts have been getting…”

“Smaller,” April smirked.

Zara had started a group chat with the two of them, and so far, it had only been used to send good mornings the last three mornings. That wouldn’t have been so much of a problem, except that she sent a picture with them. Monday had been her wearing a thin little sleep shirt and yoga pants, lounging in bed. Tuesday had been the same shirt, but her nipples clearly poking the fabric, and panties. That morning had been a much smaller crop top shirt, barely covering her chest, and a thong. You would have been concerned about receiving photos like that from here, but April was getting them at the same time and hadn’t said anything.

“Yeah,” you agreed.

“Well… OK, we need to agree on what sort of boundaries we want with her,” April said. “Do you want to start with what we’re comfortable with or what I think she wants?”

The correct answer was likely figuring out boundaries between the two of you and then applying them to Zara, no matter what she wanted or not. Zara was her own woman and not in your relationship, and would have to abide by what you and April decided.

Except you were kind of curious…

“You already know, so I might as well know too,” you sighed.

“OK. Well, first off, I think she’s got a massive crush on you now,” April said. “Half because you’re the only guy who's even made her come, and half because you’re the only guy who put up with her shit without being a pushover or reacting badly. And, like, a big sliver because of how she saw you with me. And since things haven’t been going well for her romantically for a while, let alone sexually, I think she basically wants to use you, and us, as a proxy relationship. She doesn’t want to have to meet other people or find a guy or girl and go on first dates or anything. She wants to be able to have us be her emotional support that she’d get from a partner - and, I mean, until now we were kinda that for each other anyway - and she wants to be able to come back to us and get her brains fucked out and be loved on when it’s convenient.”

“OK,” you said slowly, a little shocked at how… pertinent what Hikaru had said earlier was to this conversation. “It sounds like she almost wants to be our long-distance girlfriend?”

“I don’t think she wants a label on it like that,” April said. “But… kind of.”

“How do you feel about that?” you asked, unsure of your own feelings.

“Well, I’m not done,” April cautioned you. Then she let out a breath. “Zara also, now that her and I have had sex, wants to be able to be more… sexual with me one-on-one.”

“Like have lesbian sex just the two of you,” you said bluntly.

“Right. But not just sex, I think,” April said. “Like, being more touchy. Cuddling romantically and not just platonically. Sexual grabass and not just giggly. And yeah, full lesbo sex, but also like phone sex, and sending nudes and stuff like that.”

“Wow,” you said.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know what to think,” you answered honestly, shaking your head. “On the one hand, it’s like… There’s an urge in my chest that that’s not something my girlfriend should be doing with someone else, right? And I don’t think that’s an unfair, jealous or selfish urge.” 

“It’s not. At all,” April agreed.

“On the other hand, we’ve already done that stuff, and she’s doing it with both of us, or is getting there. And if you could trust me to have a threesome with the two of you, why shouldn’t I be able to trust you with her now? Especially because she’s your best friend.”

“Except that’s not great logic, right?” April winced. “I mean, it would be like you being sexual with Hannah.”

That was a door you didn’t want to open at the moment. “Not really,” you argued. “It would be more like me doing stuff with… Connor.”

“Connor is your gaming friend, not your best friend,” April countered.

“Yeah, but Zara would be offering you something different,” you said. “A female… ‘encounter,’ I guess, and Connor would be offering me a male one. Different from what we do for each other.”

“OK, I see what you’re saying, but I think it’s less about the tools involved and more about the intent and emotions behind the actions,” she said.

“I- Yeah, OK,” you said, backing off from the point. You weren’t exactly looking to stand on the point of doing sex stuff with Connor - you liked the guy, but not like that. “So…?”

“So,” April sighed, nodding. “For me to ask you to be OK with me and Zara, I think I need to be decided if I would be OK with you and Hannah doing stuff. Even just as a logical thought experiment.”

“Well, there’s also the question of if you want to,” you pointed out. “Do you?”

April opened her mouth and started to blush as she searched for her words. Then she sighed and shrugged. “If we broke up, I’d do it,” she said. “The only reason her and I didn’t do anything more before she left was because I wanted to ask you first, and I knew we needed to talk about it.”

You swallowed, nodding slowly.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“I’m thinking that it’s not really a fair question,” you said. “Because it’s making me picture you and Zara together.”

April rolled her eyes and leaned forward, running her hand up the inside thigh of your pants and finding your cock about half-hard. She smirked a little and gave it a rub but let you pull her hand away because you both knew you weren’t done talking.

“So I’m guessing it’s not a hard no then?” she asked you.

“No, it’s- I think I’m OK with it,” you said. “As long as you let me know when it happened.”

“Do you want details?”

“Only if you want to tell me them,” you said. “I’m more concerned about if it gets to be too much or something.”

“OK, that makes sense,” April agreed. “And I can tell Zara that we want anything sexual discussed in a group chat, like with the morning pictures.”

“That would work,” you nodded.

“Then I just need to decide about Hannah,” April said.

“That’s theoretical, you don’t-”

“No, I do,” April stopped you, squeezing your leg lightly. “For my own sanity and sense of fairness. If Hannah came to me and said, ‘April, I’d like to fuck you and Oliver,’ would I say yes? And as long as nothing weird happened, would I let you two hook up alone afterward?”

“Nothing weirder than a threesome, you mean,” you said.

“Yeah, nothing weirder than that,” she smirked. Then she blew out a breath. “Hannah is hot, and a different kind of hot than me or Zara or even Margot. Totally bangable. Are you sure there was never anything there between you two?”

“Like… 99.9% sure,” you said.

“Not that that should matter to the thought experiment,” April sighed. “Um. OK. You and Hannah fucking. If you guys were already doing that before we got together, that's a big red flag. Total no-go for a relationship. And if she’d been pining after you for a long time… still a red flag. But what if it was just sort of a new, out-of-the-blue thing? Or like, we’re all out having fun and one drink leads to another and it just happens, and she wants more…?” She pursed her lips and glanced at you, and you gave her an incredulous look and a shrug back. “I think I’d be OK with it,” she decided. “Especially with how things have already happened with Zara.”

“OK, can we stop talking about Hannah theoretically having sex with me and get back to Zara?” you asked.

She snorted softly and smirked. “OK.”

“What boundaries do we want when it comes to more relationship-y stuff?” you asked. “If sex stuff is pretty much fair game.”

“I… don’t know,” April said. “I mean, the line is pretty blurry if I’m having sex with my best friend, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I mean,” you nodded.

“Well, first off, no titles,” April said. “Her and I aren’t girlfriends, and we’re not dating.”

“Makes sense.”

“And if she comes to visit, the three of us have to get together at least once, even if it’s just to hang out, even if sex can’t work for whatever reason. She can’t just come here to see me.”

“OK,” you agreed.

“Anything else?”

You thought for a moment, trying to game out issues down the line. “No secrets,” you said. “Or, I guess the only allowed secrets are for like birthday presents or stuff like that, or gossip that isn’t yours to share. As soon as something is ‘secret’ or we don’t want to tell each other something, that’s a major issue.”

“I agree,” she nodded. Then pursed her lips and shook her head. “OK. So… I’m having sex with Zara, and we’re having sex with Zara. And, by the way, if it’s fair for me, it’s fair for you - obviously you can bang her alone when she’s here too.”

It really wasn’t that far out of left field, but it still made you choke on a fleck of your own spit, and you had to cough and clear your throat as she grinned at you. Then she got up and threw her leg over yours, sitting back down in your lap, leaning forward to press her chest to yours and kiss you. The kiss lingered, the smell of her filling your nose, and you groaned slightly as you held her at the waist.

“Anything else we needed to talk about?” she asked you softly as she finally pulled back a little. “I don’t want to interrupt the conversation, I just really wanted to kiss you.”

“I mean, we're both neurotic messes apparently, so probably,” you said, smiling and rubbing her nose with yours. “But not right now, I think.”

“Good,” she grinned, pushing back and slipping from your lap the kneel on the floor, reaching for your belt. “Because you being able to handle a conversation like this - and talking about sex so much - has me just as horny as you are. So I’m going to suck this big, mammoth cock until you come down my throat, and then we can make that dinner order and start painting.”

You were powerless to argue with that series of events as laid out before you, and your gorgeous girlfriend grinned widely as she pulled your quickly stiffening cock out from your pants and started to stroke it with both hands, looking at it hungrily. Then she tilted it down towards her and licked all around the head before taking it between her lips, moaning softly as she looked you in the eyes.

She popped off again, smirking. “Of course, since tonight is supposed to be a painting date, you could always paint me with this big, thick brush. I’d just need to be cleaned up after.”

“Maybe we should move to the bedroom,” you said.

She bit her lip, hesitating just a moment, before grinning again. “Maybe we should.”

Chapter 67

You gave April and Hikaru a look as your roommate headed towards the bathroom. She’d come home from her hangout with Margot and hugged you both, and then wanted to see what you two had been working on even if she didn’t collect or paint the models herself. You and April hadn’t been too long in the bedroom and had managed to get to the rest of your date-night activities before Hikaru had gotten home.

But then, once the show-and-tell of your painting had finished, Hikaru had sat on the edge of the couch arm and leaned in, whispering right in April’s ear. And the look on your girlfriend’s face had been confusing. Surprised and shocked. A little flustered. Playful and laughing. Blushing. And then she’d been whispering back the same way, cupping around her mouth to keep her words from carrying. And Hikaru had been blushing and not making eye contact.

“What was that?” you asked as Hikaru closed the bathroom door.

“Girl stuff,” April said, not meeting your gaze.

You narrowed your eyes suspiciously.

“I invoke our earlier agreement of no secrets unless it’s about a happy surprise or gossip that isn’t mine to share,” April said.

That caught you up a little, and you had to let out a huff. “OK, that’s fair,” you said. Though it did leave you wondering who it was about - if Hikaru was with Margot, and it was about your friend, why would she tell April and not you?

The two of you got back to painting, and the shower turned on shortly after in the bathroom, and soon you’d moved on from the weird conversation.

About twenty minutes later, the bathroom door opened and you glanced up, a little surprised to see Hikaru coming out wrapped in towels instead of dressed. Not that you’d been paying attention to what she wore to and from the bathroom, but it stood out as different to you. She had her hair bundled up in one towel on top of her head, one wrapped around her shoulders and chest, and a third around her waist. Not exactly scandalous.

“Oh shit.”

That ‘not scandalous’ thing changed quickly.

The towel around Hikaru’s shoulders got caught on the door handle of the bathroom and as she passed through and made the turn towards her bedroom, it pulled right off her body, leaving her entire torso bare.

That was when she let out the expletive.

As you got a full-on view of her breasts.

Her amazing, jiggling, full breasts. Almost as big as April’s but on her more willowy body, with large, soft areolas and hard, domed nipples. Bouncing with her movements. Flecked with bads of water from the shower.

“Holy shit,” you repeated what she’d said, and a half-moment of stunned shock later you tried to get to your feet. “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine!” she squeaked, covering herself with one arm, her breasts overflowing that thin barrier for a long moment as she yanked one the towel and got it free from the door handle and quickly covered herself more effectively. She was blushing furiously as she looked back at you and April. “I’m so sorry. I’m- I’m just gonna-”

She rushed into her room.

You slowly sat back down, turning to April in shock.

April shook her head, eyes wide. Then she clapped a hand over her mouth, trying not to snicker.

“It’s not funny,” you said. “She’s probably traumatised or something. I should check on her.”

“God, no, baby,” April said, putting a hand on your arm to stop you. “If she’s traumatised, it’s not from me seeing her goods. And, I mean, wow, right?”

You wanted to agree, but it was Hikaru, so you just raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’ll go check on her, girl to girl,” April said, standing up and giving you a kiss on the cheek.

- - - - -

“I can’t believe you went through with it,” April whispered, huddled with Hikaru and talking quietly so Ollie couldn’t hear them through the door.

“Me neither. I was so nervous,” Hikaru giggled, almost hysterically. She had a sweater on and zipped up to her chin now, though her hair was still up in a towel and the other was around her hips. “Did you get his reaction?”

April smirked and rolled her eyes, lifting her phone. “Yes, you crazy girl,” she said. “I’ll send it to you, and you can send it to the group chat.”

“OK,” Hikaru said, going to grab her phone and starting to nervously snicker again. “God, I can’t believe I actually did it.”

“Neither can he,” April chuckled, shaking her head.

“Zara’s not going to believe it,” Hikaru smirked a little, a twinkle in her eyes. “Maybe she’ll think twice before throwing out dares like that.”

“I doubt it, but it’s a good attempt,” April smirked right back.

“Thanks for letting me do it,” Hikaru said, hugging the shorter woman.

“You’re welcome,” April chuckled, trying not to think of how stupendous those tits pressing against her were. “Nice job. Now I better go back out there.”

“I’m gonna stay in here and die of embarrassment now,” Hikaru giggled.

April left, and Hikaru shut the door without glancing out at Oliver, and locked it. Then the half-asian girl practically jumped across her bed, yanking off the towel around her waist and slipping a couple of fingers inside herself as she played the recording April had made of Ollie’s reaction to seeing her breasts.

Was that joy behind the shock? Horniness, before the concern?

She pressed her face to her pillow and moaned, working those fingers inside herself.

Now it was really Margot’s turn to make a move because she’d gone above and beyond.