Duke had been aware for a while now that there was something about him that seemed to catch Audrey's eye, and Nathan's too it seemed. It wasn't like he was going to do anything about it, with either of them. They were good together and he didn't need to go around breaking cute couples up to get his kicks.
But he didn't see any reason he shouldn't enjoy them looking. Audrey, because it was Audrey, and what man wouldn't enjoy some attention from her? And Nathan because, well true he was a good looking guy, but no matter that they might help each other out now more often than not, the old animosity hadn't completely gone away and there was something delightful in watching his old adversary squirm, as he obviously tried not to think about what he was obviously thinking about.
So he noticed that when Nathan turned up at the boat while Duke happened to be wearing nothing but shorts, it would take a minute before Nathan actually got as far as a coherent sentence. Even helped him evade a couple of tricky questions about some of his less legal business operations one time.
But mostly, he just noticed out of the corner of his eye how Nathan's gaze would linger when he thought no one was watching. And he took the opportunity to stand just a little bit too close to him, to see the conflict in action between him wanting to move closer and wanting to move further away.
With Audrey, he just soaked up her gaze, every chance he got. He grew his hair out after she commented on it and he got to know what she liked about him. He stood a bit too close to her sometimes too, although in her case just to see how far he could push it before she moved away.
He was serving them at the bar one evening after one of Haven's more surreal days. They were both a little quiet, but Duke was feeling chatty. He moved around behind the bar, pouring them drinks, letting his fingers brush theirs when he handed them over, holding their gaze just a little too long, leaning across the bar to talk to them both. Nathan had gone very still, and Audrey had turned even quieter. Duke grinned to himself – they were so transparent. He wanted to say something just for the fun of showing them how well he knew them. Just for the fun of playing with it a bit more, building on the game.
But then he moved away to serve a big group just arrived and when he turned back they were gone. Typical, he thought, spend the evening enjoying the view here, then head upstairs for some hot sex without me.
And that's when he started wondering if he could play the game so as to join them for the hot sex part.
He didn't do anything different at first, but gradually he began to flirt like crazy with them both any chance he got. Which wasn't that often actually; Haven being Haven, the life threatening situations tended to get in the way on a fairly regular basis, although saving a person's life was its own kind of flirting in a way.
He could be patient, anyway. They would enjoy the view for now and one day they would start to think about something more.
Another day, another Trouble and the three of them were sat in the Gull after closing, drinking off the effects of a bad day. Duke went to the bar for more whiskey and when he came back to the table he ignored his previous chair in favour of the one between Nathan and Audrey, taking the opportunity to lean across both of them as he poured their drinks.
"Well, things could be worse I say. There's still hope – we're all still standing, right?"
"Still standing, still here," said Audrey.
"Here's to that," said Duke, holding his glass up for a toast. He was tempted to say 'here's to us', but it seemed like too much.
"Here's to us," said Audrey and he almost kissed her, right then.
He slammed his empty glass down on the table instead and slapped them both on the knee in a friendly kind of way, but then left his hands there, just to see what would happen.
Audrey put her hand on his, but she caught Nathan's eye. Then Nathan's hand was on his too. They'd talked about this, Duke realised. He found himself acting a little more drunk than he really was, just to give himself a way to avoid pushing it too much – let them think this was their idea, if they'd planned it. He sat there staring at their hands like they'd come out of nowhere. Then he shifted his body, just a little, towards Nathan as he turned to look at Audrey. "Here's to us" he said, and would later remember that as the moment the mood really changed. Audrey kept her eyes on him until the last moment as she leant towards Nathan and then they were kissing in front of him. He heard the faintest "huh" sound escape his lips as their hands moved up his legs.
Realising he would have to move or they would think he wasn't interested, he took his hands up their legs, round their hips to their waists. He wondered briefly how this would work since Nathan wouldn't be able to actually feel him, but then Nathan was kissing him and Audrey's hand was moving towards his crotch and he realised thinking was overrated and decided to stop and kiss Nathan back instead.