It's midnight and Johnny is sitting on the couch alone, brooding, a half empty glass of whiskey in his hand and a matching empty bottle in front of him, when Ethan and Kristina come home.
"Oh, Johnny," Kristina says softly as Ethan closes the door. "Oh, honey, no." She rushes to his side. Ethan looks at them, Kristina's hands pale and delicate as she holds Johnny's face, and decides he needs a drink himself. There's one bottle of whiskey left that Johnny hasn't gotten to yet. Ethan pours himself a glass and downs it quickly.
"I'm fine, Krissy," Johnny says. Ethan puts his tumbler down, turns away from the liquor cabinet to see Johnny attempting a smile for Kristina as he strokes her long brown hair. "I was just thinking."
"That never ends well for you, does it?" Ethan asks as he moves to join them on the couch. "Shove over, mate." Johnny moves over, pulling Kristina onto his lap as Ethan joins them.
"What were you thinking about?" Kristina asks and Ethan just wants to shut her pretty mouth with a kiss but he knows how mad she'd be if he didn't let Johnny answer. Kristina believes that all three of them should be talking and sharing their feelings constantly and Johnny is even less compliant with the rule than Ethan.
There's silence and Ethan can see the muscles in Johnny's jaw working as he struggles to find the correct words to answer her and he reaches out to touch Johnny's skin, warm and stubbly beneath his fingers.
"My father," Johnny finally says. "I was thinking about my father."
"Why?" Kristina asks. "Did he do something?"
"I swear to God," Ethan says, "if that crazy bastard threatened Kristina again…"
"Nah," Johnny says. He kisses Kristina's cheek and Ethan feels Johnny's hand find his own and squeeze reassuringly. "Nothing like that. Actually, I don't know what he's up to. I haven't talked to him. For all I know, he could be out killing half of Port Charles as we speak."
"It's not your problem anymore," Kristina tells him. "I know it's hard because I'm in the same place. You've cut your father off. He's not your responsibility."
"It's different for you…" Johnny starts to say, stops suddenly, reaching for the whiskey glass.
"Why? Because she didn't choose to cut Sonny out of her life, he did?" Ethan swats Johnny's hand away, takes the glass himself, and drinks.
"No, it's not that. There's nothing Krissy can do to stop Sonny. But I could take my father out if I wanted to."
"It's not your job," Kristina insists. "Let the police catch him. He needs to go back to Pentonville where he belongs."
"If not the police, maybe Anthony and Sonny will get in a gun battle and take each other out." Ethan glances quickly at Kristina's face. She doesn't look amused. "Okay. Not funny. Sorry."
"The thing that really kills me, though," Johnny says, ignoring Ethan, "is that I lost my temper today. I almost fought this guy who was just sitting at Jake's and made a smartass comment about my playing. I have such a short fuse and it scares me. I look in the mirror and see echoes of my father."
"You're not your Anthony," Kristina says, "anymore than I'm Sonny or Ethan is Luke. We are not our fathers."
"Thank God," Ethan says, finishing Johnny's glass of whiskey. "If I were my father I'd be a raging alcoholic… Oh, wait."
Kristina punches him in the shoulder. "Shut up. You're not an alcoholic." And it's true. Ethan hasn't been drinking as much since he started dating Kristina, and even less since things with Johnny fell into place.
"Krissy's point is valid, though," Ethan says. "When it comes down to it, in all the ways that really matter, you're nothing like Anthony."
"I have faith in you, Johnny." Kristina kisses him quickly, little more than a peck. "You're a good man and I love you." She kisses him again, opening her mouth and Ethan can see their tongues moving together. Kristina squirms around in Johnny's lap until she's facing him and as she throws her leg over in an attempt to get her legs open and straddling Johnny, she kicks Ethan.
"Ow," he says.
Kristina breaks the kiss, looks at him briefly, sees that he's not really hurt, and smiles brightly. "Sorry, baby."
"It's okay, love," Ethan says. "I was hoping you'd stop kissing Johnny soon anyway." Johnny looks at him, raising his eyebrows and mouthing, "Jealous?" Ethan grabs his face and kisses him. The kiss tastes like whiskey and Johnny and the familiar waxy apple of Kristina's favorite lip gloss. Johnny bites Ethan's lip and he can taste his own blood, coppery on Johnny's tongue. Ethan breaks away. "I love you, too," he says.
"I love both of you," Johnny says.
Ethan feels Kristina's hand in his lap, finding his cock hard and trying to poke through his jeans. "What about me, Ethan? Do you love me, too?"
"Of course," Ethan says. "The three of us, we love each other."
"Then let's go to bed," Kristina says. She rises from Johnny's lap, pulling him behind her with one hand while the other reaches for Ethan. He takes it and then she leads them to the bedroom. Ethan glances at Johnny as they move. He knows Johnny will always have doubts about himself, the kind of man he is, how much of his father really lurks under the under the surface. But for now his eyes have cleared and his mouth has twisted into his trademark sexy smirk. Tonight, he will take comfort in Ethan and Kristina and forget his father as their bodies meld together.
Ethan and Kristina will forget everything too. That's one of the great things about this relationship, the way that they can lose themselves and their cares in searing pleasure. The best thing, though, for Ethan at least, is conversations like the one they just had, the moments of easy intimacy. The three of them fit together in a way Ethan never imagined.
They fall onto the bed in a pile, Kristina on top, and then she's kissing Ethan and he can feel Johnny's mouth on his neck. It fits.