Written for comment_fic on livejournal

Prompt was for P/E/H, learning to share

Nate sighed as he heard the bickering again coming from the upstairs bedroom. He grumbled as he headed out the door so he wouldn't have to listen to yet another tedious fight.

As he walked down the block to the corner store, he thought about them. He had been worried about this since the three of them had started their arrangement. Before the team was assembled the only thing those three had in common is that they were all loners. Not one of them had ever learned to share.

At first Nate had been worried that Eliot and Hardison would fight over Parker. But Parker gave them both plenty of attention. And plenty of generally crazy behavior too. Enough that the two men had actually grown closer, as if they were a two-man team for a new Olympic sport called let's-never-piss-off-Parker.

But still, there was the concern that the two short-tempered ones - Parker and Eliot -- who also happened to be the most stubborn -- might butt heads. But whenever there was tension brewing, Alec's sense of humor and peacemaking skills tended to make things all right.

And then there was the night Nate came back early from his trip. Nathan winced as he walked back to his place, recalling that embarrassing event. He had discovered two things that he really, really, didn't want to know that night. The first was that they had temporarily changed Nate's living room into a dungeon ('there's more open space in here' Hardison had said, sheepishly, as if that explained it). The second was that apparently, his hitter enjoyed being dominated by not just one but both his partners. And that they called him their 'toy.' So Nate wondered if this would work out, if Parker and Hardison could really share him; after all, if there were one flaw that Parker and Hardison both had, it was that neither liked letting anyone touch their toys.

But to Nate's surprise, they seemed to get along just fine in that regard. Nate smiled at the situation as he came through the door and set the grocery bags on the counter. "Alec! Parker! Eliot! I went to the store!" he yelled, and soon heard the arguing stop and three pairs of feet come storming down the stairs.

The three of them had learn to share their jobs, their home, their bodies and their bed. But once Eliot and Parker got accustomed to, and then addicted to, orange soda, it had been non-stop arguing ever since. Luckily, when it came down to the last can, Nate would always hear the yelling and would do what was necessary. For the team.