Several weeks past, and Björn and Christen hadn't made much progress. Sure, they didn't fight anymore…not outright, at least, but they still made plenty of snide remarks to each other in passing. Ari was getting really tired of babysitting them, so when Christen asked him to go out for a drink after work one night, he gladly accepted. It's not like he's asking me out on a date, so what's the harm?

"How are ya settlin' into Oslo life?" Christen asked.

"Alright," Ari answered, "it's very different from Reykjavik."

"I'll bet. I guess I probably should'a asked before, but you are old enough to drink, aren't ya?"

"Of course I am!" Ari replied hotly.

"Okay, just making sure," Christen laughed, holding his hands up in front of himself.

Something about the way Christen looked at him, and the way his heart fluttered in response, gave Ari a bad feeling. He broke the eye contact awkwardly.

"Want another beer?" Christen asked with a smug grin.

"Sure." Ari reached for his wallet, but the other man stopped him.

"I've got it," he said, standing up and going to the bar. Before Ari had time to worry about the implications, he got a call from Nils.

"Not a great time," he answered.

"It's important," responded his boss seriously. "I've been crunching the numbers, and I don't see any way we could ever get Christen and Björn to full compatibility."

"What does that mean? They'll never fall in love?"

"Not that I can see. Something is missing."

Ari looked at Christen's back. "What if one of them already likes someone else? Could that be why?"

"Hmm, usually the arrows would counteract other feelings, but this is a special circumstance, so I guess it's possible. Why do you ask?"

"Um, no reason." Ari's heart sank into his stomach. "I have to go." He hung up as Christen came back with their drinks. The Dane's smile quickly turned into a frown.

"Hey, are ya alright? You don't look too good."

"I screwed up," Ari moaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Nothin' alcohol can't solve," Christen said, pushing the beer towards the younger man and patting him on the back.

"No, I screwed up someone else's life. God, it's all my fault. I'm such a disaster."

"Hey, hey," cooed the older man. "Ya wanna talk about it?"

"I can't." God, now he was crying. In a bar in Oslo, with a guy he was supposed to set up with someone else. Instead, Christen was interested in him, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't also interested. Said man smoothed Ari's hair back and smiled at him.

"Yer an amazing person, Ari, and I'm sure ya didn't mean any harm with whatever ya did. And no matter how bad things seem now, they always work out in the end."

"What's goin' on here?" asked a voice behind them. Ari felt even worse for the way his heart fluttered when he turned around to see Björn.

"What'd ya do to upset him, Christen?"

"What makes ya think I'm the one what upset him, Björn?" Christen asked indignantly.

"It's you."

"What's that s'posed to mean?" He stood up from the table to glare at the Swede.

"I'd probably cry too, if'n I had to go for drinks with you."

"Why, you little—"

"Would you two knock it off?!" Ari shouted exasperatedly. "Jeez, you two should do us all a favor and just resolve your goddamned sexual tension!" With that, he stood up and stomped out of the bar.

"Now look what ya've done," Björn grumbled, but Christen ignored him. Sexual tension, huh? It wasn't something he had ever thought about, but now that Ari had mentioned it, he was curious. Maybe he was a little drunk, but it was hard to focus on Björn's lips when they wouldn't stop moving. Why was it he only spoke so much when he wanted to yell at Christen?

Before he knew what he was doing, the Dane grabbed the front of Björn's shirt and crushed their lips together. It wasn't exactly graceful, and definitely not the smoothest pickup he'd ever executed, but it was like a fire had lit between them. They stumbled out of the bar together, both equally shocked and turned on. Somehow they found their way to Christen's flat (only because it was closer than Björn's), barely separating the whole way.

Nils called Ari into headquarters in the morning with important news. "Their chemistry went up to 100% last night, and their compatibility shot up to 50%," he informed Ari, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's pretty miraculous."

"No, I think they just hooked up," Ari replied, cursing himself for feeling bitter.

"Well, whatever it was, the arrows should do the rest of the work. It won't be a fairytale relationship, but then again, most of them aren't. I think your work is done here. Congratulations."

"Thanks," he said drily.

"Now, let's talk about your career options. There's an opening in Reykjavik for an office assistant."

"I don't want to be a paper-pusher," Ari groaned.

"Gee, thanks," Nils replied, rolling his eyes. "Look, Ari, you did good work, but we can't risk another mistake like this."

"No, I understand. I need to leave Oslo anyway. I'd just come between the two of them."

"What do you mean?"

"Christen likes me, and I think Björn might, too. Not too hard to figure out why they weren't getting together."

"Hmm." Nils scrutinized him silently.

"I'll pack my stuff and tell Einar I'm quitting."

"Right. I'll send you your plane tickets later today."

"Whaddaya mean Ari's leavin'?" Christen asked Einar incredulously.

"Jus' that," replied his boss, shrugging. "Said somethin'd come up, and he has to go back home."

"Too bad," Björn said, and Christen knew that he meant it. He couldn't decide if things were better or worse between them after last night, they hadn't talked about it. One thing was for sure, though: things would be a lot lonelier without Ari around.

They worked quietly all day, not even exchanging one insult. Einar checked on them multiple times throughout the day, worried that they had finally killed each other. He stared at them in amazement and wondered if he should send Ari a bonus. What had that boy done to get them to stop fighting?

When they had closed up for the day, and Einar went home, Christen and Björn stared at each other awkwardly.

"Maybe we should talk." Christen began.

"Mhm," Björn mumbled, nodding.

They stood in silence for a few minutes. Finally, just as Christen took a breath to begin, a voice behind them interjected.

"Christen Køhler? Björn Oxenstierna?" There stood a blond man in a suit, who couldn't have been much older than the other two, but he emitted a sense of authority that commanded their attention.

"Do I know ya?" Christen asked, glancing sideways at Björn. He didn't look like he recognized the man either.

"No, but I know you. My name is Nils Thomassen."

"Ari's half-brother," Björn said, earning a confused look from the man.

"No, I'm his boss. I'm the one who told him to start working with you two."

"I don't understand," Christen said, shaking his head.

"I've been doing the calculations, trying to figure out what was missing. And then Ari mentioned something, and I realized what the missing piece was. I ran the numbers, and it was true."

"What the hell're ya talkin' about?" Christen didn't like being kept out of the loop.

"The only way for you two to be happy is with Ari. But first, you need to know why he was really here."

Ari looked around the airport, but he saw no sign of Nils. He expected his boss to see him off, but maybe he really had messed up too much. He looked at his phone – no new messages. He hadn't even told his moms yet that he was coming home; he didn't want to explain over the phone how he had let them down.

"Hey, Ari!" That was definitely not Nils. He turned around and was shocked to see Christen and Björn walking towards him.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked, noting how closely they stood together. He felt a stab in his heart from seeing them together.

"Didn't think you'd leave without saying goodbye, did ya?" Christen said, clapping him on the back. "Yer boss came an' talked to us."

"Who, Einar?"

"Nils," Björn replied.

"I don't know what—"

"Told us yer a Cupid."

"What?" Ari stared at them wide-eyed.

"He told us how ya set us up," Christen continued. "'Cause we weren't supposed to be together."

"Didn't say why," Björn added. "Just that ya have bad aim."

"Okay." Ari breathed out slowly. "So you know. Aren't you mad at me?"

"We should be," Christen said. "Who do you people think you are, messing with people's lives like that?"

"It's a noble profession!" Ari protested. "We're a secret society that has been around for centuries. These days we have state-of-the-art technology that assists us, and we have a 99.87% success rate. Well, that might be lower now, thanks to me."

"Real passionate about the job, aren't ya?" Björn commented with the ghost of a smile gracing his face.

"Well, my moms are both Cupids. I was raised in the society," Ari explained, blushing.

"We're not mad at ya, Ari," Christen said, placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Then why are you here? Why did Nils even tell you all this?" It broke every one of their rules to tell outsiders about Cupids, especially to tell two people they had been set up together. That wasn't a good way to start a relationship.

"He said there was still something missing for us."

"Right." Ari's heart sank. He really had messed up their lives.

"'s you, Ari," Björn said.

"Excuse me?"

"Yer the missing piece."

"What? You're not making any sense."

"He wanted us to give this to ya," Christen said, handing him a large envelope.

Ari opened it carefully and peeked inside. There was his original invitation to train at the Oslo headquarters. Behind that was a printed report, showing the chemistry and compatibility between one Christen Køhler, one Björn Oxenstierna, and one Ari Steilsson. Ari's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Chemistry: 100%, Compatibility: 100%. Missing piece, indeed. There were two more things inside the envelope: an arrow, and a note in Nils's handwriting that said "Don't miss this time." Ari knew what he had to do.

Looking around to make sure no one else was watching, he carefully pulled the arrow out. He handed the envelope to Björn, so that he could hold the arrow with both hands. Before he could lose his nerve, he plunged the arrow into his own heart. It took his breath away for a moment as it disappeared into his chest. Then his heart began to pound as he looked at the two men in front of him. He blinked a few times, and it was like he was seeing the world in a completely different way. He couldn't suppress his giddy smile, nor could he stop himself from hugging Björn and Christen tightly. Luckily, they gladly hugged him back.

Ari was able to keep his field job after going through the whole training program a second time. It was tedious, but he was just glad to get a second chance. Björn and Christen still worked at Einar's hardware store, and their poor boss could never figure out what had happened to make them suddenly get along so well. Maybe a little too well, since they started taking breaks at the same time.

The three of them got along really well. Björn and Christen still had spats from time to time, but Ari was an expert at mediating. Christen was way too excited to be dating Cupid, to which Ari would always reply that he was a Cupid, not the Cupid. Björn didn't talk about his boyfriend's strange job much, but he did tell Ari how proud he was the day he started in the field again. Ari's moms were happy that his boyfriends knew about their society, but they were even happier that Ari was at the center of a dramatic love triangle. That made their son sigh and shake his head. What could you do about it?

Timo Väinämöinen was set up with another perfect match, and Nils assured Ari that he was very happy. Ari almost laughed when he met Timo at a dinner party one night…almost. It seemed like everyone would get their happy endings.

Another contribution to the success rate of the Cupid Agency.

The End.