#poly!verse

The bed was huge, almost impossibly so. Cass could only watch in mild horror and fascination as the delivery men shoved the box through the door and down the hall to the large bedroom. Sebastian was there to direct them and make sure they didn’t hit the walls, while Cass bribed Sam with cookies to stay out of the way. It took a full dozen to get him to lay off, but he was sitting on the couch and watching the movers work with narrowed eyes and not getting up to do it himself.

“The bedroom is just back here, we’ve got space cleared for it,” Sebastian said, waving his arm towards the bedroom while the men moved the box.

Cass looked over at Sam and held her hand out for a cookie. “Do you think we should have opted to have them put it together? What if it’s too complicated? We won’t have anywhere to sleep.”

Sam placed a cookie in her hand and nibbled on his own. “We’ll be fine, we’re already paying enough for this bed, we don’t need to pay some guys to do something that we can do ourselves.”

Cass could tell that Sam was putting a lot of effort into saying ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ because of the emphasis he placed on the word each time. Sam had the bad habit of pretending that he could do everything by himself, forgetting that he had not one but two capable partners to help him with things.

“We’ll see if you stand by that statement an hour from now.”

Once the movers got the box containing the bed frame into the bedroom, the memory foam mattress was next. It was thick and unwieldy and when Cass and Sam watched them bring it towards the front door, they both held their breath.

“I’ll bet you another dozen cookies it doesn’t fit.”

Cass glanced over at Sam. “No dice. You’d just get me store bought cookies if I win.”

“I would not!”

“That’s even worse because we both know you can’t bake to save your life.”

“Shut up.”

Cassandra smirked and turned her attention back to the movers who were already beginning to wedge the mattress through the front door. It was like watching an obese dog try to fit through a cat door, but through some kind of divine intervention they were eventually able to get the entire thing into the house. From that point, Cassandra and Sam both jumped in to help guide it towards the bedroom, making sure that none of the pictures on the wall were knocked over in the process.

It took a good twenty minutes to get the mattress into its place atop the bed frame. Once it was centered and the bed was exactly where they wanted it, which actually meant it was where it would fit inside of the bedroom, Cass set about making the bed while Sam and Seb dealt with paying the movers. They ordered custom sheets for the bed and decided on a soft grayish blue color, complete with three pillowcases and two large comforters because it was inevitable that at least one person would wind up stealing the covers.

Once it was all set up, Cass wasted no time in throwing herself on the bed. She flopped down directly in the center, nestling her face into the middle pillow and grinning against the fresh smelling fabric. She stretched her limbs out and was elated to find that she couldn’t reach either edge from where she lay. Finally, the three of them could share a bed without the threat of someone falling off the side.

A few minutes later, Cass looked up to the sound of footsteps coming down the hall and saw Sam and Seb come into the bedroom.

“We just got the bed and you’re already hogging it,” Sam said, raising his eyebrows at her.

“First come first serve,” she responded, even as she pulled her limbs in so they could climb in on either side of her. She curled up with her back against Sam’s chest and hummed happily when Sebastian’s arm encircled them both, effectively sandwiching Cass between her boyfriends.

“This is much better than clinging to each other for dear life,” Sebastian said. Cassandra grunted softly in reply, eyes already falling shut.

“Beats getting kicked out of bed in the middle of the night because someone doesn’t know how to share, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll kick you out just for that comment.”

“Your legs won’t reach that far now.”

“Shut up.”

“Hush, both of you. You’re ruining the moment.”

The first time Sam and Cass shared a bed, it was at her place. Cass cooked dinner for the two of them and then they curled up together on the couch and watched some terrible slasher flick. Cass talked through the entire thing, mostly complaining about the characters doing obvious stupid things that got them killed. About three quarters of the way through the movie Sam got tired of Cass complaining and decided to quiet her by shoving a handful of popcorn in her face. This instigated a brief food fight that ended with the popcorn bowl on the floor and Cass straddling’s Sam’s lap, her lips locked on the spot right under his jaw.

They made their way towards the bed and eventually went to sleep, naked and intertwined under the blanket.

When Sam woke in the morning, he was lying at the very edge of the bed and completely exposed to the cold morning air. Cass was curled into a makeshift burrito, red hair splayed across the pillow, snoring softly.

This happened multiple times, so when he, Cass and Sebastian all moved in together he insisted on everyone having their own blanket so that no one woke up cold. Cass still wound up wrapped in his blanket.

Sebastian rarely drinks. If he does, it’s usually just a glass of wine with dinner, maybe a beer if he’s with Sam at the bar. It’s not that he doesn’t like alcohol, he likes it just fine. The problem is that despite his size, he gets drunk faster than most. It takes about half as much as it takes Sam, or even Cass, for him to get completely hammered and as a result he has learned the hard way that it’s best if he doesn’t drink a lot.

However, it is not impossible to convince him to “let loose” and “live a little.” Sam and Cass took Seb to a gay bar for their anniversary and supplied him with a steady stream of mixed drinks he couldn’t remember the names of. Cass nominated herself the designated driver and so Sam was free to match Sebastian’s pace and then some.

By the end of the night, Sebastian’s shirt was gone, lost to the dance floor, and he had wormed his way up into a gogo dancer’s cage. Cass managed to retrieve him before he lost his pants as well, but not before he managed to collect twenty dollars in crumpled up bills from drunk men who were only to happy to throw their money at the beautiful black man pumping his hips in time to the music.

Cass huffed in frustration as the avatar on the screen fell in a bloody heap, a crowd of animated zombies rushing in to tear it to pieces.

“This is stupid,” she growled. She tossed the controller down next to her on the couch and leaned back in her seat. “Why do people think this is fun?”

“Well, most people don’t suck as bad as you do.”

Cass shot a glare at Sam who sat on the cushion next to her. He didn’t meet her gaze, too focused on keeping his own character alive while wave after wave of zombies rushed towards him. Watching him beat the mission, he made it look effortless and it was infuriating. All he did was press buttons on a controller and suddenly he had a victory message on screen. Before she could even absorb that, he was moving on to the next missions and her character was resurrected for the next horde.

“Hey at least give me a warning!”

“I’m trying to beat my record.”

Cass scrambled for her controller and immediately sent her character running into the corner away from the zombies. She took a minute to gather herself, but when she tried to fight back she realized her avatar had no ammo for their guns. Shit! She ran across the screen, hoping to find some lying by one of the conveniently placed garbage cans, but before she could get to them she was attacked. A few moments later she was dead again.

She had no idea why she agreed to play video games with him when this was how it always turned out. She would die repeatedly and get increasingly more frustrated until she inevitably quit, leaving Sam to play on his own. He didn’t seem to mind either way, but he always asked her to play at the start. Sebastian was smart enough to say no, he had no interest in watching virtual enemies get blown to bits.

“If I suck so bad then why do you always ask me to play with you?”

“Confidence boost,” Sam said, flinching slightly when he let his character throw a grenade into the crowd of enemies. “If I forget how good I am I just look at your screen and feel better about myself.”

“You’re such an asshole.” Cass let out an incredulous laugh and went into the kitchen for a snack. Sam could have at least lied and said he wanted her to get better at them or something.

Wouldn’t be Sam if he did though. Cass pulled tin foil off the plate of brownies she’d baked last night. She heated one up in a bowl and added a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it before heading back into the living room. Sam was still busy with the round while Cassandra’s screen glowed with the words “You Died.” She ignored the option to restart and instead focused on the dessert in front of her.

That was when an idea popped into Cassandra’s head. Sam might be better at video games than her, but there was one game she knew she could win. She set the bowl down on the coffee table and brushed her hair back over her shoulders before fanning herself with her hand for a moment. She wasn’t actually hot, but it always helped if she started off looking authentic. She pulled her shirt off over her head, leaving her sitting on the couch in just her shorts and her sports bra. It wasn’t unusual for her to do this, especially since it was the middle of summer and hotter than Satan’s dick outside.

It was so normal that Sam didn’t even glance her way, choosing instead to focus on upgrading his character’s abilities. Any other time he would have stared blatantly at her chest and probably made some kind of lewd comment too, but apparently making sure he could withstand the next mission was more important than his girlfriend. Game on, Sam.

Cass picked up the bowl, cut into the brownie with her spoon and scooped up some ice cream along with it. Slowly, she lifted the treat to her mouth.

“Mmm…” Cass couldn’t hide the little hum of pleasure when she tasted the dessert, and if anyone said that it was a little loud and drawn out she would deny it until her death. She noticed Sam’s gaze flicking over to her though, but a second later he was back to his game as though nothing had happened.

Cass licked the spoon clean and went back in for another bite. “This might be my best batch yet,” she said after swallowing the next piece. These brownies were just ordinary brownies, but Cass had been messing around with the recipe trying to get the consistency just the way she wanted it. Most people liked their brownies fluffier but she wanted thick, fudgy brownies that melted instead of crumbled in her mouth.

“Good, then you’ll stop making them every day and I can stop getting fat.”

“I didn’t ask you to eat three from every batch.”

Sam grunted in response and Cass went on eating. Every time she made a noise, Sam’s gaze would drift over to her and each time he lingered a little longer. A drop of melted ice cream landed on her chin at one point and she wiped it off with her finger. Sam was on the mission screen of the game and was now staring at her and the dessert with hunger in his eyes.

Holding out her finger, Cass watched as Sam obediently licked it clean and sent shivers up her arm in the process. She pulled away once he was done though and went back to eating her dessert as nonchalantly as she could. Sam hesitated, waiting to see if she’d do anything else, but he eventually gave up and went back to his game. He pressed the buttons on his controller a little harder now, but he was still destroying hordes of zombies like they were paper dolls.

Cass turned her head away and stifled a laugh; he was falling for her every move and she was just getting started. She planned on dragging this out as much as possible, because the more frustrated Sam got, the longer you kept him waiting, the bigger the reward would be in the end.

The ice cream was almost completely melted now, so every bite left her with a trail of vanilla sauce to lick off her lips. She took full advantage of it and made sure to lick her lips slowly, still making the occasional moan of pleasure because the dessert was that good. At the same time she pretended not to notice the way Sam’s performance in the game declined rapidly, but the first time he died in the middle of a mission she felt her face split into a grin.

“Guess you’re not as good as you thought you were,” she said, wiping yet another drop of ice cream off her face, this time from the corner of her mouth.

Sam dropped his controller onto the coffee table and glared at Cass. “You were distracting me, that’s different.”

“Is it? Everyone loses, it’s nothing to be ashamed off.”

Cass held out her vanilla covered finger again, but Sam didn’t take the bait this time. Not exactly. He swatted her hand out of the way and wrapped his arm around her before crushing his mouth against hers. She knew he could taste the chocolate on her tongue and from the groan he let out she could tell this really was her best batch. One of his hands moved up to tangle in her hair while the other clutched tightly at her back and Cass let out a low moan as Sam drew her closer.

She stopped kissing him long enough to straddle Sam’s lap and pin him to the couch. His fingers tightened in her locks and she gasped quietly before smirking down at him. “Hope the game didn’t cramp your fingers up.”

“Mouthy.”

Cass let out a laugh that was cut short when Sam attached his mouth to her collarbone. If this was his attempt to shut her up, it wasn’t going to work. If anything, she was going to get louder.

“Mouthy works on you though, doesn’t it? Otherwise you’d still be playing that stupid game.”

“Still be playing if you weren’t distracting me.”

“Yeah you seem real disappointed by this little distraction.”

With the smile still pasted on your face you turned to grit out a response through your teeth. “Because you are an officer of the law.” He rolled his eyes and shifted his weight in impatience.

“We could call in a noise complaint,” Nick murmured over your head.

You snorted out laughter, keeping your face turned away from the door and hoping his sentence had been swallowed up by singing. You could feel them becoming more and more unamused, so you jumped in to put a stop to things before their comments got louder.

“Bravo!” you cheered sunnily, clapping in the middle of their singing. Your smile was making your cheeks hurt with the force it took to keep it on your face. “Incredible! You guys sound so good,” you complimented. The singing petered off jaggedly, but you kept your innocent smile on your face with determination. “So sorry to cut this short, but we were just in the middle of dinner and I don’t want it to get too cold.”

One of them, their leader you suspected, nodded and opened his mouth. It seemed like he was unlikely to get the hint, so you steamrolled ahead.

“Thank you all so much for understanding. Have a Merry Christmas!”

Before anyone could get in another word you wrenched the door out of Sonny’s grip and pushed them both back as you began to close the door. You waved at the carolers one last time with a smile before shutting it with a definitive snick.

“Oh, thank the baby Jesus in a manger,” you groaned as you slumped against the door. “That was going on forever.”

Sonny burst into laughter and clutched his sides as he made his way back to the living room. Beside you Nick chuckled, making a detour towards the kitchen as you went to join Sonny in your previous spot on the couch. The movie was still paused and you lifted your legs up to situate yourself and grabbed for the blanket where it had been hastily tossed aside several minutes ago.

When Nick came back into the living room he was holding the saucepan with the oven mitt in the shape of a poinsettia. He gestured with the pan and you nodded and inched your mug over towards him. The three of you had been sipping spiked hot chocolate and watching Christmas movies and you were more than happy to get back to it. As Nick poured, he began humming and your head snapped around to stare up at him.

“Hum one more note of that carol and I will stab you,” Sonny threatened. Nick looked up startled, then his expression turned to sheepish as he realized what he had been doing.

“You know…maybe you should go join them,” you teased. “I bet if you leave right now you’d catch up with them.”

Nick turned on his heel to walk back into the kitchen. “Ha ha ha,” he tossed over his shoulder. “Didn’t know I was dating a pair of comedians!”