A/N: I'm pretty sure I made Tom much nicer than he would be. Oh well. Crossposted on Ao3 and FF.
His first thought is to pity the poor guy because this has to be very awkward for everyone. His second is that Edward Nygma has some seriously beautiful eyes that Tom could stare into forever. And his riddles are….interesting. He also has a cute butt, which wasn't something Tom expected the infamous Nygma to possess.
Tom knows that he isn't the best or brightest cop on the force. He keeps his head down and tries not to get noticed by the wrong or right people. That just spells trouble and Tom doesn't want any trouble. However, Tom knows he's observant. He is a cop after all. And within five minutes of meeting the Riddleman Edward Nygma, he knows. Not the Kristen thing. That one is fairly obvious. The man has flowers behind his back of chrissakes!
No.
Within five minutes of meeting Edward Nygma, Tom knows that he wants to have a relationship with him.
It doesn't take long to figure out that Kristen shares his feelings for the interesting conundrum that is Edward Nygma.
Conundrum. He bets Ed likes that word. It's a very Ed-ish word if he ever heard one. It fits him to a T. He's a puzzle that Tom would like to figure out. He always liked puzzles and riddles and brain games. And Edward Nygma is the biggest and cutest puzzle he's ever seen. Well, Kristen might be cuter. Actually, Ed would probably be the cute one and Kristen the beautiful one. Tom would probably be the plain one. He doesn't have Ed's brain or strangely endearing qualities. He's not confident and witty like Kristen. He's just plain ol' Tom.
(Kristen vehemently disagrees with his assessment of himself but that's neither here nor there).
It takes about a week and a half after their first meeting before he makes it down to Ed's lab. Of course, since Tom is not beauty and grace like Kristen, he and Edward crash into each other like two awkward giraffes learning how to walk. Ed's papers take flight and Tom's coffee now has a new home on Nygma's shirt and question mark tie.
"Ed I'm so sorry!" Tom drops to his knees to help the other man pick up his myriad of papers. Holy shit, how much work do they have this poor man doing? "I was just coming to see if you wanted to get coffee or lunch or somethin' sometime soon. Guess I made a mess of that." Tom gives what he hopes is a comforting smile. He practiced with Kristen last night.
Ed looks one bad comment away from tears. "You're fine. It's not your fault I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings. My fault."
OK. He has to save this situation. "Nah man I should have knocked or looked." Tom straightens the files in his hands. Kristen has really started to rub off on him. "So….lunch?"
Nygma blinks. And blinks again. "Lunch?"
Tom grins. "Yes lunch. My treat since I ruined your shirt and tie. Which is really neat, by the way. Love the question marks. You a fan of that diner on the corner of 33rd and Rydell? They have great burgers and Kristen loves their melts."
"Do you have an ulterior motive? Is Flass putting you up to this?" Ed's jabbing a finger in his chest and Tom can't be bothered.
"No. Kristen likes you. I like you. You tell great riddles. I want to be your friend." He also wants to scope out how comfortable Ed would be entering a polyamorous relationship but that doesn't need to be said right now.
Tom is reward with a genuine smile that makes the corners of Ed's eyes wrinkle up.
"I think I would like that."
Lunch with Ed and Kristen becomes a regular thing. Ed, and it's officially Ed to him although Kristen can get away with the occasional Eddie, has become much more comfortable in his presence. He laughs at Tom's terrible riddles and smiles when Kristen tries to tell funny stories. Edward Nygma is practically glowing with happiness and it makes Tom's heart soar.
It takes several months before they decide to tackle to topic. Well, Kris is the one who starts dropping hints, which is a surprise to Tom. She starts by asking questions about polyamory and ancient cultures and gradually moves on to more recent things like the Oneida Community, Kerista Village, and prejudices against people in polyamorous relationships. Not that Ed picks up on the hints at all. He just loves that there's a topic all three of them are interested in. Ed turns out to be pretty down with it, rambling on about stuff that goes way over Tom's head.
All that remains is, you know, asking him.
It takes another month to decide that they must approach this with a plan of action. Get the things to go, find a nice place in the park (Kristen is leaning towards the duck pond and Tom thinks the sculpture garden would be better. There's some interesting modern sculptures in there and he thinks Ed would like how abstract and riddle-like they are), tell him that no matter what they'll all still be friends, and then lay it all out on the table.
Lunch starts of the same as always. The diner is pretty deserted and they get their things to go (Tom gets a loaded hamburger, Kristen a turkey melt and Ed gets the soup of the day with crackers and a side of cottage cheese please) and ask where Ed would prefer to eat. He chooses the duck pond, saying he would like to feed the ducks some leftover crumbs like he did when he was little. Tom drives while Kristen takes shotgun, leaving Ed in the back. Not that it matters since Ed and Kris are both twisting and leaning in their seats as they animatedly continue their conversation from yesterday (about some book series Tom's never heard of but apparently one of the characters is from a place that encourages polyamory and something else about how it compares to George R.R. Martin's work).
Once Tom parks the car, they ramble down the path towards the pond and ducks. Kristen nearly trips over overgrown tree roots several times. Tom makes sure to grab her arm before she can crash into Ed, who is pointing out different bird calls and talking about invasive plants.
Ed chooses to sit under an ancient willow tree and Tom whips out the old ratty blanket he keeps in his car for emergencies. Kristen spreads out the food and they begin to eat. It takes longer than normal seeing as both Kris and Ed become enthralled by the little ducklings and use the crusts of the melt to lure them closer. Kristen has to bribe Ed with promises of hand sanitizer from her purse in order to get him to feed some of them. Tom makes sure to snap some pictures on his phone because the only thing cuter than Ed and Kris is Ed and Kris with baby ducklings.
After most of the food is gone, Kristen takes a deep breath and starts. "Eddie, before we start this conversation I want you to know that you can say no. You do what's right for you. It's not going to hurt our friendship."
"Yup," Tom interjects around a fry, "There's no getting rid of us now. We're stuck to you like glue."
Kris pinches him for that. "I don't know if you noticed, but we've been talking a lot about polyamory. And there's a reason for that." She takes a steadying breath and glances at Tom, who decides he's not going to beat around the bush.
"Ed would you like to join our relationship? We would love if you did."
Ed blinks. He blinks again. And then he smiles a smile so happy and content that Tom thinks it puts all of the other Ed smiles to shame. "I thought you'd never ask."