Conduit
Fandom: Haven
Characters: Audrey Parker/Nathan Wuornos/Duke Crocker
Rating: R
Summary: Audrey needs them both to feel it.
Notes: Hardly original and long overdue, but OT3 flaily feels, y'all.
"This...isn't a good idea."
"It's a great idea. Shut up."
"Yeah, Nathan," Duke drawls. "Let the lady lead."
She'd had to drag Nathan, physically pull him to Duke's boat. Audrey knows that he'd easily have resisted with his considerably greater size and weight if he'd really wanted to, but her hand on his arm, sliding down to pull at his hand, constituted an unfair advantage that she had every intention of exploiting.
He'd balked again on the dock, at seeing Duke standing there shirtless on his boat. It's Duke's house, he could wear or not wear whatever he wanted, and Audrey took a second to admire the unselfconscious way he flaunted his long lean torso. "What are we..."
Nathan didn't finish the question, also caught by the sight of Duke's bare skin, although he tried to cover by looking away after a too-long glance. Audrey grinned over at Duke. "Permission to come aboard?"
Duke shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "As long as you're not on official cop business. Sure."
"We're here for shenanigans," Audrey sang out, enjoying the simultaneity of Duke's bemused expression and Nathan's raised eyebrow.
She'd steered them both below, determinedly leading the way without giving them any time to question. Once there, she fixed them both with her gaze and said, simply: "We're doing this."
Duke didn't bother to ask; he just looked her over once, gave Nathan the same examination, and leaned back against the dresser with a smirk. Nathan took a second longer, but Audrey always knew her partner wasn't as oblivious as he pretended. Hence the objection.
Now, Audrey smiles at Duke's apparent willingness to take direction and slips her shirt off without ceremony. Duke's expression doesn't change, that sly half-smile still plastered on his lips, but Audrey likes the way his eyes greedily track over her body. Nathan's clearly still trying to wrap his head around what he's doing here, but the way he goes motionless speaks volumes.
"Yeah, so," Audrey says, unbuttoning her pants and kicking her shoes into a corner, "I got tired of watching you two dance around each other, and one of these days you're gonna tell me that whole story. But if Nathan can only feel when I touch him, I figured..."
"You figured?" Nathan says, his voice hoarse. "You thought I-"
"Nate." Duke says the one word, and Nathan stops in mid-protest. Audrey's seen that before, the way Nathan stops and strains both toward and away from Duke at the nickname. Duke peels himself away from the dresser and takes a step forward, which puts him nearly on top of them in the tiny cabin. "Think I know what Audrey has in mind. Unlax and give it a shot, wouldya? What could it hurt?"
Audrey wishes he'd left the last part off, this being Haven and all, but at least his tone is right on. "Nathan, I really want to try this. Would you? Can you trust me?"
"That's never been a question." His pale blue eyes are steady on hers, but she can see the quickness of his breath. "I'm just not so sure about him."
Duke snorts and rolls his eyes. "Okay, we're not going to get anywhere if Officer Friendly here doesn't play along. Try this."
He takes Nathan's face in between his large hands and kisses him. Audrey sees Nathan hesitate before his mouth opens to Duke, but it's a mechanical motion, lacking passion.
She steps over and puts one hand on Duke's shoulder and then the other on Nathan's hand, completing the circuit.
The response is electric.
Nathan's eyes flash open and then squeeze shut again, and his hands come up to grip the back of Duke's head. Audrey giggles, making sure she doesn't lose her hold on either of them, but holy frijoles this is so much hotter than she'd imagined. Nathan's making all kinds of indecent noises, licking into Duke's mouth with complete abandon, and Duke's evident surprise and then his eager response is absolutely precious.
She thinks they've forgotten her for the moment and that's okay, it's more than okay by her, but then they break apart and both look down at her, completely in sync. "Audrey," Nathan breathes, his voice no more than a whisper. "How did you know this would work?"
"Didn't. Guessed. But it's good, right?" she teases, because the evidence is right there in the way his pupils are blown and his breathing's gone harsh. Duke's no better off, his face lit with a guarded joy and his hand-she'd missed that before, his hand clenching and unclenching against Nathan's back.
That's good. Better than good. The whole point, really. They're going to need each other when-
But that's still in the future and this is now. Audrey squeezes in between them, keeping her hands on them both. This moment is for her, too.
She leans back against Duke's bare chest. Following her cues, his hands come up to rest lightly on her ribcage, not quite touching her breasts.
Nathan runs his finger along the edge of her bra strap, gingerly, like he still doesn't believe he's allowed to touch. Or no, it's that but not just that; he's overwhelmed. Physically, emotionally. For a moment Audrey thinks it might be too much, but then Nathan's lips rise with his lopsided smile. "What next, boss?"
"You need a roadmap?" She puts her palms flat against his chest, sliding her fingers under his shirt to keep contact with his skin.
"No," Duke says over her head, "he doesn't." There's an awful lot in his voice, both memories and regret, and before this night's over she'd really love to get that story out of them. But it's a secondary concern to more immediate needs.
...needs that are simultaneously poking into her, front and back. Audrey grins up at Nathan, turns her head to see Duke's face. "I vote for a Nathan sandwich."
Both men suck in a sharp breath at the suggestion and Nathan seems to have been rendered speechless again. It's a good look for him. She draws him down for a kiss, learning the taste of him, wondering in the back of her mind if she'll remember this. When she goes. When, in time, she becomes someone else.
The thought's irrelevant to the moment. Nathan lets her go reluctantly and Audrey turns, reaching up to twine her fingers in Duke's hair with one hand and keeping her other hand laced with Nathan's. "You can pull," Duke says, his voice husky. "I don't mind."
"Maybe later," Audrey says, because right now she just wants to concentrate on kissing him, learning the contours of his mouth as well. And then she's going to have them kiss each other again as they tumble into Duke's narrow bed, where they'll all fit despite the restricted space. Audrey knows this because she knows the three of them make a perfect triangle, balanced in the here and now. If she can help Nathan and Duke find that stability between the two of them, she'll go to the barn-
Not without regret, fuck that. But with the comfort of knowing that neither of them will be alone.
Audrey's pretty sure that arranging for their happiness is not the purpose she's meant to fulfill while she's here. In this case, though, fate can go screw itself. For one night or two or however long she's got left she'll take this chance for herself, to create something that will last after she's gone.
That'll be her legacy, entirely apart from this resurrection/reincarnation business. Her chosen contribution to the well being of Haven. Audrey lets Duke go with a pat, grins up into Nathan's face again. "Well, boys," she says, sure of her course like nothing else in her borrowed life, "let's get it on."