This was originally entitled "Potion or Poison? A collection of one-shots for Kinktober 2022" but then I spent most of October healing from surgery and the first one I did is the only one I like, so I'm making it its own work.
potion: love confessions
pairing: severus/hermione/lucius
Hermione stared at the two men in front of her, not entirely sure they hadn't gone barking mad.
Love? They...loved her?
She had barely been back on British soil for three hours and already two of the last men she expected to meet her at Heathrow had whisked her away to the Sky Garden. Lucius sniffed that it wasn't quite the romantic fine-dining he'd expected Severus to find for them, while Severus bristled that it was perfectly adequate and offered exquisite views, and just because it wasn't the Manor or the Malfoys' Chateau in Lourdes that didn't mean it was plebeian, thank you very much. To which Lucius pointed out that perhaps it was all of the hot air around the place that was depriving Hermione's brain of the quantity of oxygen it needed in order to reply to their rather clear declaration.
Hermione watched the two men snip at each other with her mouth slightly agape, most of her extraordinary mental faculties being used to process the sight before her rather than on perfect table manners.
She shook her head, clearing perhaps only ounces of the confusion, and said, "I'm sorry, but...I don't understand."
The two men stopped their bickering and turned to face her, worry and vulnerability written in every line on their face.
Lucius swallowed and started first. "Darling, we know that we were absolute gits the last time around—" He was referring, of course, to when Hermione had somehow fallen into a multi-person relationship with the two of them for about six months, several years after the war when their true natures as spies for the Light were more well-known and their rehabilitation of their names complete. "But we would like another chance."
Hermione's brain couldn't compute fast enough. "But...why?" It had ended terribly. She had wanted more, and neither man had been willing to give it. Severus had been too hardened by the years of pain that followed love, and Lucius was still reeling from the death of Narcissa.
She couldn't blame them, but she couldn't stay.
"Because"—Severus took over this time—"we love you. And we were wrong before, to be afraid of you—"
"Though you are quite fearsome—" Lucius interjected.
"—and to reject something more serious. We've known it for years. From the moment you left, we've been searching for you."
"I was in America," she said, quietly. She'd been doing some hiding of her own. "You wouldn't have found me."
Severus smiled and it was sad. "I know. I tried."
"We did," Lucius said, nodding vigorously, "for the last three years, pet."
She felt tears welling up in her eyes, fantasies long-since-passed but never quite given up on coming true before her eyes. "How do I know"—and here her small voice cracked—"that you won't hurt me again?"
Both men leaned forward, each taking a hand of hers above the table, and Hermione couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her at the warmth of their skin. She'd missed the feeling of safety, goodness, rightness that their touch bestowed.
"Lucius and I have both lost much in our lifetime." Hermione watched as Severus swallowed. "And we have lost you once already. We would not make the same mistake again."
She looked to Lucius, eyes wide, hoping for further proof of their intentions. "We love you, Hermione. We never stopped."
"I—" her voice caught, a sob rising through her chest as she tried to press it down, fight it. "I've missed you."
She met each of their gaze in turn, both men holding their breath.
"Will you give us another chance?" Lucius asked.
"Please." It wasn't a word Severus said very often.
Hermione nodded, feeling the warmest sense of relief flooding through her. Severus and Lucius stood, meeting in the middle where she sat and bumped briefly in their joint endeavor to lift her into the air. It made her laugh, and finally Severus allowed Lucius the honor—they all knew he was the most affectionate of them all. But it wouldn't have felt complete without Severus' arms wrapping them both in a hug. Lucius finally placed her back on the ground, but the two men kept her wrapped in their arms, all enjoying the quiet serenity that came with the denouement of a love confession, when the peak of emotion had been reached and there was a sense that the story would happily continue on past that moment. At that point, it would need less tending to, less watching. There was trust that all would be well.
"Come on," Severus said, taking Hermione's left hand as Lucius took her right. "Let's go home."