Inspired by a prompt that HunnybadgerV decided to toss my way: "A fairytale with a happy ending always brings a smile to my face." - Drunk Troy and Sober Johnny?

So, the two talk. Or Troy talks while Johnny listens. Close enough.

This is a bit further in the three's timeline past the previous entry (That first step), and in a place where they've had more time to adjust and start to really enjoy the shift in their relationship. Still in the same continuity as the others following Take a rest, now take a rest.

"Hmm, no."

The channel changed to a game show, one that had people whistling as money shot from the ceiling.

"No."

A courtroom drama came on, loud yelling coming from both sides as someone climbed over the table and proceeded to start slapping at the other. Troy noted with mild interest that it was a rerun, and waited for V to call it.

"Nope."

The next had a giant robot, one that sparked while it tried to shoot fake laser beams at a guy in a rubber suit. Troy waited with his finger on the remote, but she shook her head.

"Nah, seen it."

"You're being picky tonight," he noted, taking another drink of his beer as she scrunched her nose up. "Nothing working?"

It was one of those late nights where he wasn't on call, and on those nights they always stayed up with him while he tried to burn off the last of his caffeine buzz. Naturally, this was done with some assistance, so Johnny had broken out the beer while V curled up next to him, and they'd passed the remote around in their search for the best quality television only the later hours could offer.

Tonight, however? They'd struck out one by one, and Troy's run hadn't proven much better. Not even the movies he'd hunted down seemed to work, and if she hadn't shot them down, Johnny had.

They'd made good calls – how he'd tried to pitch the last one he'd had no clue, but he had a feeling it was tied to the bottles piling up around him – but they were back at square one. Nothing to catch other than the nightly news or the infomercials, and no matter how many times they heard the jingle, they weren't about to shell out any cash for a giant singing fish. There wasn't a level of drunkenness capable of making him think that was a passable endeavor.

V sighed and wiggled out from under Johnny's arm. "I don't know. It's all kind of bleeding into one giant blob at this point. Have I had too much? " She swung her head towards Troy and flopped against his arm. "Have I?"

"I don't know." He raised his chin towards Johnny. "What do you think?"

Gat eyed the two of them and shrugged. "I think you're both fucking weak. We've barely covered the table and you're both gone."

"Not gone," V insisted, sitting back up. The motion left her blinking for a few seconds before she righted herself. "Buzzed. Pleasantly so. Since most of what I'm hearing out of you's bullshit, I think you could stand to catch up."

Troy smirked. "I'm with the lady on that one."

"Blow me." Gat folded his hands behind his head and propped his feet up. "I could do two to your every one and put you both under the table. This is just pathetic."

"Give me a moment," V said, making a grab for Troy's bottle. "Two to one, right?"

Troy dodged her hands, grinning as she kept on swiping for it without success, and caught hints of her citrus shampoo as she continued bobbing in and out. It made his fingers want to touch her even more than her giddy and flushed face already did. "Yeah, no dice, V. I've enabled enough."

"Bullshit. There's always that last little bit, Chief." she teased, climbing onto his lap. Her warm weight drew a soft groan from him as she shifted, and when their eyes met again he had to draw in a quick breath at the look there. "Don't hold out on me."

"Someone's got to be responsible here. Between you two, it's a wonder we're not all passed out."

"Responsible? Oh, so that's what you are? The one making sure to lead us on the right path?" Her lips grazed his jaw as the bottle dangled off to the side, but he didn't let her take it. Not even when her tongue darted out, but he wasn't going to hold on for long. Not with her this close, and definitely not with her mouth moving over him. "The good old straight and narrow?"

The remote fell as Troy tangled his other hand in her hair, and nearly dropped the beer when her hips started rocking against his. Her lips covered his, making him sigh, and he barely registered Johnny's chuckle from the other end of the couch.

Then the bottle disappeared from his grip completely, and Troy broke away from V in time to see Johnny polish it off. "Fucking disgraceful."

"Really?" She leaned back and gave Gat one of her more potent glares. "I had dibs on that one."

"I don't know. You seemed pretty busy with something else," Johnny said, giving them both a lengthy once-over over the top of his glasses, as he caught a stray drop of the beer with the side of his hand. His tongue swept it up, and Troy heard her inhale. He wasn't sure if she'd caught his. "It would've hit the floor if I hadn't stepped in, but don't stop on my account. You had something good going there."

"Asshole." V yawned, and Troy had to fight from mirroring the motion. "I actually should be sleeping right now. We've got all sorts of shit to sort through tomorrow, and I can't dodge it any longer. Neither can you."

"Fuck it, it's all easy."

"Then it shouldn't be any problem for you to get most of it done so we can go back to doing other things." Her eyes flicked towards Troy. "Like, you know. Pumping the Chief for info. That's always a fun pastime."

"Sure it isn't the other way around?" Troy replied, raking his eyes over her.

"Maybe, maybe not." She grinned widely as she got up, and the T-shirt she wore rode high enough to give him a perfect view of her legs. "But if the info isn't good, at least we were, right?"

Troy rolled his eyes, and felt the corner of his mouth tug up when she reached for Johnny's arm. Gat didn't do much moving at first, but on the fourth pull, he let her drag him up only to promptly throw her over his shoulder.

"Guess we'd better work this off properly, or you'll never wind down," Johnny sighed, keeping a solid hold on V as she squirmed.

"Me? You're the one always waking up for sex at three in the morning. Don't even try," she shot, but squeaked when Gat squeezed her ass.

"Whatever. You both love it." He started to carry her off, but noticed that Troy hadn't budged an inch. "You coming?"

"Later. I think I'm going to take it easy here for now." That immediately drew a disappointed sound from V, and Troy gave them both an apologetic look. "Hey, I'll be in soon enough, but go ahead. Maybe by the time I get there you'll both be at a level I can work with."

That got him a raised eyebrow, but Gat didn't push it. "Suit yourself. I don't want to hear you bitch and moan about missing this later."

"Nah. I figure I'll find a way make it up to you somehow. Promise," Troy threw out, watching as Johnny carted a sulking V off towards their bedroom.

The door closed behind them, and he laughed softly. It was more of a courtesy than anything else, since it usually took more than four walls to muffle any of the noises they let out, but it'd give him some peace.

And the peace he'd found here wasn't the kind worth abandoning just yet. Maybe it was the night, maybe it was alcohol, but he didn't want to break the moment. That careful, comfortable calm that had settled over them as they'd sat there. It left him ready to doze off at a second's notice, but the flickering screen in front of him held his attention. And when he heard the first moan, he couldn't help the chuckle that slipped past his lips.

Picking the remote back up, he flipped through the channels, even the rejects, to see what there was to offer. The news broadcast from earlier in the day made his head pound, but he let it play long enough to absorb what he already knew. That the fight out at the Dome was going to hold a monopoly on his attention for most of the coming week.

The next channel was better for all of ten minutes as he listened to the thumping base start up, but the movie on the one after that was safe. He'd seen the old cop flick enough to let it stay, and leaned his head on his hand as the lead investigators circled the crime scene.

"Nice," he muttered, as they tried to grill the local cops milling around. "Stomp all over the evidence at the scene first and then get pissed off. That's one way to get them to listen."

His eyelids drooped, and he raised them back up two or three times as it all became too bright to focus on. He jolted back up when his arm gave, and the set of explosions rattled him until he noticed purple flooding the screen.

Also, spacesuits, but the one that V had on wasn't even close to the one he'd gotten used to, and the tight feeling in his chest unwound when his brain caught up with the rest of him.

Saints in Space. It'd been a handful of years since he'd seen it, and he ran a shaky hand over his face when V shouted out her line. Acted it out with every inch of her body.

Fuck, dozed off after all.

He blinked a few times to clear his vision and sat back, relieved as hell to hear something close to fake laser noises coming from the television.

"What we're trying to do today is vital. I need you all to stand tall, with purpose. With courage! And all the honor – the integrity – that only a Saint can possibly offer."

He'd almost forgotten how well she'd tried to chew the scenery. Jesus.

His eyes were fixed on her as she marched back and forth down the line of people, and when she kept her chin raised to bark another declaration as she sank into the red sand surrounding her, he couldn't help the fond smile that crept up on him. V could act, had all of the ability to, but B-movie cheese was her bread and butter. Her instincts thrived there, and watching her come alive in it was a sight to see.

It faded with the camera cut. Shaundi and Pierce mirrored her stance almost perfectly, but he'd always had to do a double-take when he'd get to Johnny. Or rather, the guy they got to fit into the role. He traded a few words with V, and the voice that declared his undying loyalty was too close.

At that point Johnny had been dead for nearly a year. How she could hold it together while in the same room with someone that was as close to a walking, talking duplicate as they could get mystified him. Still did now, as he tried to piece together what could've been going through her mind at the time.

He'd seen it in her eyes for a second or two. Backstage at the premiere that she'd somehow smuggled him into he'd caught that small hint of herself that he'd been missing for months, that energy he'd begun to suspect he wasn't going to ever catch in full ever again, and it'd come from the stranger standing in front of them. She'd hid it well, but it was there. Something reserved for someone that had been gone for ages and finally decided to make their way back.

For him it'd been like shaking hands with a ghost. Because the guy had offered his hand. Introduced himself with a voice that wasn't the right fit – and a smile that Troy had had no fucking illusions of ever earning again – and he'd stared at him like he'd been holding a gun.

It didn't register, because for a moment he'd believed it too. That it had been Johnny, or a close enough fit, and when Troy had shaken himself out of it his jaw had been clenched tight enough to hurt.

And V's guilty look had nearly done him in after that.

He watched her wave the others on as they charged, her eyes bright, and sighed.

"You're not fucking into this, are you?"

Troy tensed again, and pressed a hand to his eyes. "Christ. Just couldn't announce yourself, eh?"

"Why bother? You were pretty set on watching V go at it. Play the fucking hero," Johnny replied, and Troy glanced over his shoulder to find him leaning on the back of the couch. He'd tossed on a white tank and left the chains on, and the beer in his hand made Troy want to crack another open. "She really got into it, huh?"

"They gave her free reign to hop around on a studio lot in a spacesuit. The cherry on top would've been an actual shuttle ride, but they didn't want to actually shoot her into space. Figures, right? So, she took the next best thing."

"Rolling around in red sand with an LED-covered noisemaker? Shit. Those motherfuckers took her for a ride."

"Guess that's one way of looking at it." Troy let himself catch Johnny's reactions for a few minutes, mostly going off of the slight frown since his eyes were covered, and the scowl made him turn back to check what was happening.

Gat's doppelganger had begun his dramatic last words to V, and the moment Troy caught what he thought was actual pain in her eyes he fumbled for the remote to switch the channel.

"Had enough?" Johnny asked, standing up.

He swallowed down the bitter taste in his mouth and nodded. "...Yeah. Think I might've left it on too long, actually."

The sitcom he'd settled on couldn't have been more different from the movie, as a family sat down to eat their dinner. Canned laughter broke out when something on the stove caught fire, and Troy rubbed his lips with his thumb as he tried to clear his head. Gat fell into the seat next to him after a few minutes, and when he held out another beer, Troy didn't hesitate to take it.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Troy asked, leaning forward to search the coffee table for the bottle opener. "Where we were then. Or how we were, I guess. That might make more sense." He took a long drink and nearly finished half the bottle in one go. "Seems like a different life."

"I hear that." Johnny leaned back into the couch and folded one of his arms behind his head. "And you're not even touching on any of the weird shit."

"Nope, because even before any of that was- it was tough. Trying to figure out what the hell was going on with" - V, you, the Saints - "shit, everything. Course it wasn't like it was when V had first woken up, but it wasn't fucking easy."

"Easy. Right-"

"No, that's...let me rephrase that," Troy cut in, the words coming faster than he could think them up. "It wasn't ideal. Not for me, V, or you. You had every reason to want me gone and I respected that. So did V. I wasn't anything to either of you anymore, but...if there was anything that I could do, I did it. It'd been years, but who you both were to me hadn't changed."

Johnny lowered the bottle he'd tipped, and was watching him closely now. The next few words came out in pieces, jumbling as Troy tapped his fingers on his leg, and he wasn't sure he was doing any of this right, but couldn't stop.

"You were my friends. Two people that I wanted out of this fucking mess before the other shoe decided to drop. I still wanted you two out when you tried to pull the same damn thing later on, but my hands were tied."

Troy took in a breath and kept his eyes in front of him. "But I tried anyway. Had to. Even if some days I did wonder if..." Johnny's attention was right on him, and Troy sighed. "You know. If we'd end up going for round two. I still wondered if that was in the cards even after V had put Vogel in the ground. Things had been bitter for so long, I wasn't sure if it would ever change." Troy flicked his eyes to his left, and Johnny hadn't budged an inch. "Can't blame me for thinking that, right?"

Gat snorted, but didn't give an answer. Only glanced away and nursed the beer in his hand, his grip tight.

"I missed it. The times when you'd go on about how I was incapable of having fun, because of the stick shoved up my ass. When V would alternate between defending me or adding more fuel to the fire." Troy drained more of the beer and shook his head. "I didn't think we'd ever get anything close to that back. None of it. It was easier to think we'd go the rest of our lives maintaining our careful balancing act. V and I on one side, and you and V on the other. Pulling her back and forth while refusing to come clean about any of it. It was a mess, but one that we knew how to work with. Manage."

Leaning an arm on his leg, Troy rubbed his chin and shifted his gaze to the floor. "Which is why some days I wake up and wonder if all of this is a fucking dream. Something strange my subconscious came up with as a bizarre way to cope with the fact that what we had going wasn't always going to work. Because how else could I explain any of this? That..."

Troy waved a hand between himself and Johnny and scrambled to get the words out. "Fuck, that uh, well. That we'd end up here. Like this. V with you. With me." He wet his lips. "Us. It's a hell of a thing to have all things considered, and after everything else? I'm glad. That we can have this. Each other, all of it."

The family in the show was out in their backyard now, and Troy watched as they prepared their small barbeque pit. "Because this is about as close to a picket fence as any of us'll ever get. It's not even close to normal, but what the fuck would we even do with that? Wouldn't even know where to start there."

He thought it over for a few minutes and felt his lips curve up. "Do we actually even have a fence? Shit, I think we do." It was in need of a coat of paint, but it was there. Sturdy and still holding strong. "Guess this is some kind of fairytale ending after all."

His lazy grin fell slightly, as Gat tilted back his beer and remained silent. Not that he expected a response, but he would've liked something. Anything other than the blank slate staring over at him.

And then he came back to himself. Saw the empty bottle in his hand and the others on the table and felt like an idiot. "Uh, yeah. Ran a little too much off there, huh. I should go lie down-"

Johnny's hand clamped around his arm when he stood up and he stumbled back into the couch. "Running already?"

"It's not like I'd be able to get far," Troy muttered. "If it makes you feel any better, I was going to aim for the nearest flat surface that wasn't the floor. Not that I'd turn it down since standing's not the best thing to deal with right now."

Johnny chuckled. "Fucking figures. You don't know when to shut up either."

The grip on his arm tightened, and Troy felt his balance shift with one quick pull. The kiss wasn't neat, all tongue and the occasional scrape of teeth, but Gat held him close anyway as they moved from the first into the second. The hand behind Troy's head steadied him. Held on as he kept on going, and when Johnny pulled back Troy had to take in a shaky breath.

After a few minutes of silence, however, his lips quirked up. "That was sloppy as hell."

"That's all on you." Johnny gave him one last one – quick and deep – and withdrew. "Don't even know what half of that was supposed to be."

"Bullshit. You're the one that's all teeth," Troy replied, grinning. "You want to try again, though, I think I can make my way through another round."

"Don't tempt me." He gave him a look, and leaned forward to rest his arms on his thighs. "I owe you. ...For her, and for a lot of other shit. Though for a while I wasn't sure what the fuck you were doing. Sticking your neck out for us wasn't going to get you anywhere."

Troy rubbed his eyes and sighed. "I know."

"But you did. Kept on giving me your back as well, which was a fucking mistake if I'd ever seen one, but...V trusted you. Kept on doing it, and no one was going to shake it out of her."

"Not even you?" Troy asked.

Johnny took a long pull of his beer and put it down. "She didn't want to hear it. Tried, but didn't get far."

"I can't say I'm disappointed you fucked that up."

"Better that I did. Saved you from a body bag."

"Guess so." Troy reached for the bottle that Johnny had left behind and checked to see if there was any liquid left. Only a small amount covered the bottom, and he tipped it back. "Sorry, man."

"Do I look fucking sorry?"

The sunglasses caught the light from the television, not showing a damn thing, but Troy looked him over anyway. Gave him more than a minute as he checked everything from the way Johnny tilted his head to the way he'd begun to lean into his space. "No."

"So much for that, then." He backed off and inclined his head. "It worked out. Made V happy. Made you happy."

Troy had to take his eyes off of him then. The tightness in his chest was becoming unbearable, and hearing that familiar tone – hell, maybe even fond – was almost too much. "And you?"

"I let a motherfucker like you slip by." His lips curved up as Troy raised his head, and there it was. That same careful smile that took his breath away. "What do you think?"

He couldn't. Couldn't think, couldn't do much aside from stare at him as he tried to come up with something. So when Johnny sat up and took him by the chin Troy didn't think. Just acted. Made sure to get it right this time as he pushed Gat back against the cushions with a rough kiss, and fumbled for his shorts.

That fucking chuckle of his ran through Troy as he held him down, making his hands unsteady as they forced the shorts down around his hips. It cut off sharply the moment that Troy wrapped his lips around Johnny's cock, however, and pressed his tongue flat against him. Hearing that made Troy want to take him fast. To tighten his lips as his mouth moved, and he sucked harder when he heard that loud groan slip into another deeper one. One that had him wanting that mouth of Johnny's on him as well.

But he wasn't going to last long like this. Not as hard as he was with the way Gat kept on encouraging him with every moan and sound from deep within his chest.

Still, Troy let a hand drift down to his own pants anyway after moving off of the couch, messing with the zipper as he yanked his underwear down to get a steady hand around himself as they moved. The way he moaned around Johnny had Gat's hand gripping his hair tight, and when he gave one last thorough suck, he glanced up in time to see Johnny throw his head back.

Troy couldn't take his eyes off of him. Not with every buck that guided Johnny as deep as he could handle, and not until he'd heard the last few scattered words, hurried and unclear pass between his lips. It left Troy's heart pounding as his own hand paused, every last bit of his attention taken by him completely as he came.

He'd barely finished swallowing him down when Gat pulled him up off of the floor and off of him, both of them breathing hard. "Thought we had this down by now. You first."

Troy wiped his mouth and started tugging up Johnny's tank. "Is that how we do it?"

"You couldn't wait could you?"

He got the tank over Gat's head, and didn't even try to hide the smirk. "The fuck do you think?"

"I think" - Johnny pushed him back so he was sitting on the edge of the coffee table - "you're done having a say here." He stood and grabbed the collar of Troy's shirt. "Up."

A couple of bottles fell over behind him as he used the table to steady himself, but he got up and grabbed for Johnny's arm as he found his balance.

"You going to be able to hold up?" he asked, sliding the sunglasses down as he checked him over.

"What? Stand?" Troy let go and held his hands out to his sides. The waver he'd dealt with a few minutes ago lingered, but he could push through it. Sort of. "I'm up. Only way I'm falling is if you shove me."

He gave him a look over the glasses, but couldn't hide his amusement. "Good to know."

The grin warned him two seconds too late, and he barely got his arms up in time to keep from planting face-first into the cushions. "She'll be pissed," Troy pointed out, while Johnny got his jeans down. "About missing out for starters, but you jerk me off now and you're fucking cleaning the couch."

"Better wait until I'm ready then," Gat warned, his tone lower than Troy had ever heard it, and ran his tongue along the shell of his ear.

The hand that closed around him had enough of a slick to it to make him moan, and Troy nearly laughed. Fucker must've licked his palm. "Because you want me to ask, don't you?"

"Or beg. I won't complain."

He was about to. The long, slow strokes weren't doing anything to keep him coherent, and the lips on his neck only made it worse. It didn't get any easier when Gat's other hand made its way up his shirt, and the sharp pinch to his nipple had Troy gritting his teeth to keep anything from coming out.

"Holding up?" Troy tried to flip him off, and that only made the firm grip around him move at a pace that rendered the slow trip over his skin a trial. When Johnny let go to palm his balls, he couldn't help the line of obscenities that slipped out. "I didn't catch that."

"Fuck, just...great," Troy forced out. "I'm fine. Doing just fine."

"You sure?"

Johnny let go, and out of the corner of Troy's eye he saw him lick his thumb. "Fucking positive."

"Fine. Sure." Gat laughed, and moved that same thumb down his length. "Then ask."

"...For?" Troy groaned, feeling him move along the ridge and over the tip.

"I can draw this out as long as I have to. I can wait."

He wasn't lying. Troy had seen him do it to V God knows how many times before, and had been on the receiving end of it more than once himself. It'd left him hard to the point of it almost being painful, and he wondered if there was an inch of him that wasn't flushed and aching right now.

The hand on his chest moved to tug at his shirt, and Troy shifted so Johnny could get it over his head. "I'm pretty fucking aware of that."

"So why wait?" Gat taunted, licking his fingers again before tracing them along the bottom of Troy's cock. "Is it really so hard to tell me you want it? My mouth, my cock. Any of it."

"No." The careful slide left Troy gripping the cushions hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "...Ah, probably not."

"Then go ahead." Johnny pressed his mouth to Troy's shoulder, sucking the skin gently as he lingered around the edges of the fleur inked so long ago, before returning to Troy's neck. "Cut the shit already."

"So you can get on your knees? Sounds pretty fucking good to me." He sucked hard enough to sting and Troy clasped a hand behind Johnny's head.

He hummed his approval, and sure enough the teeth came out. The rough scrape only made Troy hold on tighter.

"Because you seem pretty fucking eager to do that," he managed. "My dick's already out. You want it so bad, take it."

Those weren't the magic words, not even close. But the quick inhale told him they didn't have to be, not with the way Gat held onto him.

The push planted him onto his back, the shift enough to make Troy's vision blur before he shut his eyes tight. Because there was no warning for Johnny's mouth or the pace he'd picked, and Troy found himself grabbing for Gat's arms the moment he felt that wet heat close around him. The sound that left him when Johnny withdrew however, he couldn't control, and the loss of the sensation left him shaking.

"I should be fucking you right now," Johnny said, his voice rough as he leaned over him.

The glasses weren't in perfect place anymore, and what Troy caught there made him swear again on principle. He didn't think he could be wound up any tighter, but that did it. "Yeah, you should."

"Guess you owe me then." Gat's hand drifted, and Troy felt a finger run down along his ass, the press gentle but insistent. "On your back just like this. Tight and waiting, because you can't help it, can you?" The long lick left Troy gasping. "You want me to fuck the question right out of you."

He couldn't answer. He could barely even keep his eyes on Johnny as he felt that tongue run over him again, and mouthed the answer that they both wanted.

"Good."

And there was no more teasing. Only the hot breath that left Johnny's mouth as he gave Troy that last little desperate push. Neither were quiet as Johnny drew it out, his grip just as bruising as the one Troy had on his shoulders, and Troy lost any last trace of coherency he had left.

Only the last few lazy licks along his cock brought him back, and Troy angled his hips into each one until Gat finally let go to climb over him.

His mouth met Troy's in a hungry kiss, and when Johnny's tongue slipped into his mouth the taste was still there. Just enough to make his breath catch. "You going to get your ass in bed now?"

"Sure," Troy rasped when he came up for air. "As long as you don't mind lugging me there."

"You serious?"

"Yeah. Not exactly feeling the urge to move much after that, man. I don't even know what your deal is, because I know you fucked V thoroughly before coming out here. You're not even phased."

"I've got a few rounds left. Give me five and maybe I'll fuck you after all."

Troy had to laugh at that. "Knock yourself out. But you want me anywhere else, you're going to have to move me. Legs aren't working, remember?"

"Get the fuck up," Gat ordered, and Troy grinned when he took him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.