My dear little broccolis💚💚💚

💚 Well, a Valentine's Day story, cute, no drama, some fluff and lots of lemons to come ... ENJOY

💚 Pictures will be available on the Facebook page, Mina's Fanfictions

💚 READ, ENJOY, REVIEW^^

Love, Mina 💚💚💚

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

💚 Three Is Better Than Two 💚

Ana was looking for a flat, and she found two flatmates in two handsome men. Will the three of them be able to live together, or will it clash and end up in tears?

‼️Rated M - {Out Of Characters/All Human/Alternate Universe}‼️

‼️Romance/Angst/Drama/Lemons‼️

‼️AS/CG/Jack Hyde/Elliott Steele‼️

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

Chapter 5: (2,5K)

The weekend that preceded spring break, Jack and Christian went to Jack's parents as they have done for the past five years. It was a family tradition and every single Hyde in the world met up at Jack's grandparents to spend the weekend together, no matter what, there was no excuse to escape it. When Jack and Christian got together, Christian was still working a lot in his shop, and he had to close it down for that weekend for Grandpa Stewart was not taking work as an answer.

Christian loved those weekends with Jack's family. Though, with the years, he came to consider them as his family. He was especially close with Adelaide, Jack's mother and it was not uncommon for Christian and her to meet up and have a wine evening together.

Ana was supposed to leave as well, to enjoy Spring Break with her girlfriends, as any student would do. Christian had made her chocolate muffins for the road since he knew they were her favourite. She had been a bit under the weather, but the guys put it on the stress of the exams. Jack even made fun that Ana was one of those students after all. Those who would be satisfied by nothing but at least an A. She might look like an average student, but she highly valued her grades.

As Christian was driving them back home, Jack made a couple of insinuations of how they would be able to enjoy the empty apartment. Ana living with them didn't really change much to their sex life, except that now they did their best to confine it to their bedroom. And as of late, her name came up more than once during their little games, not that either man minded.

When they came home, Christian went straight to the kitchen to get the whip cream that Jack had promised to eat out of him, but he found something that made him frown. The muffins were still there. He had found it odd that she didn't text him to thank him because it didn't seem like her, but he had put it on the fact that she was excited to party with her friends. But it certainly didn't look like Ana to leave chocolate muffins unattended.

"What is taking you so long, babe? Are we out of cream? I'll just take yours then," Jack sultrily said as he entered the kitchen and Christian shook his head, pointing at the muffins,

"Ana didn't take the muffins."

"Uh? Nah, Ana loves your muffins." His eyes fell on the muffins and his mood passed from lustful to worried. "She texted you since we left, right?"

Christian shook his head, annoyed, "No, you're the cool one, remember? Ana doesn't initiate with me."

They both shared a look before Christian strode to her room, knocking on her door. "Ana?" He then opened when he had no answer and found Ana shivering in her bed, struggling to open her eyes whilst her ragged breath made her sound like a ghoul.

"Shit! Jack! Call the doc!" He went straight to herald ignored her feeble attempt to speak as he put his hand on her forehead. Saying that she was burning was an understatement. He went to his room to grab an extra blanket and he found Jack in her room with tea.

"She looks like crap."

"I can hear you. I'm not dead," Ana complained, though her voice was really making it seem like she was dead.

Christian glared at her before sitting by the window so they could wait for the doctor to come.

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

After the doctor left, diagnosing Ana with pneumonia, Jack went to the pharmacy for her medications whilst Christian stayed with Ana. Dr Flynn warned them that if her fever didn't go down over the next couple of weeks, she would need to go to the hospital, and so both Jack and Christian agreed to not leave her alone. Her breathing was as worrisome as it was, so they preferred to keep watch on her.

He texted Jack to pass by the grocer so he could make a soup since eating wasn't something Ana seemed keen to try. When Jack came back, Christian joined him in the kitchen, ready to make a simple leek potato soup, with garlic bread on the side.

"I think you should call her brother," he told Jack who whipped his head to Christian.

"Just in case. I mean, we don't know anything medical about her, and if she's hospitalised, he'd like to know away."

"I don't want to break bad news, Christian. You're the one who's good at it, not me."

"I know. But you're the one who's buddy-buddy with him. Didn't you highjack her FaceTime with him during the Super Bowl so you could have someone to fanboy with?"

"he's going to flip."

Christian stopped slicing his vegetables and took Jack in his arms, kissing his neck to comfort him. Jack didn't like dealing with the negative side of life, or with anything that would make him deal with sad people. He had too much empathy for that. And that's why Christian always carefully listened when Jack came back from a hard day at work, to make sure that he wasn't too overflown by his emotions.

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

Elliott arrived the next morning, bright and early. Ana chastised him, or tried to, barely aligning five words without coughing. And as Elliott hugged his sister with tears in his eyes, both Jack and Christian witnessed the strong bond between them. The two siblings locked eyes and in a brief moment, they had a full conversation without saying a single word.

Jack pulled Christian out of Ana's room to leave the two Steeles alone, and they both agreed to welcome Elliott into their home. Not that they thought that Elliott would try to leave Ana's side. During the week that followed, the three of them alternated in looking after her, refusing to leave her alone for a second, even after her fever finally broke down.

It was during this week that Christian learned more about Elliott. He was living in LA, with a job that would seem dreamy to many but not to Christian. He had started a company that trained animals for movies. At first Christian thought it was cool, picturing Elliott in a house full of cats and dogs. But Elliott specialised in big or dangerous animals. Yes, he had a couple of horses, but he had more lions, boa constrictors and alligators.

He showed a few pictures to the guys of him with his pets… amongst which all sort of animals that Christian admired only on the discovery channel. Wolves, gorillas, lions, tarantulas, pythons. In many pictures, Ana was also staring, always smiling with all her heart and happy as can be to be next to those dangerous creatures.

Christian was admiring a picture of Ana with a normal animal, riding a white horse and holding her hat as she was looking at the camera and he briefly wondered if riding a horse gave Ana the stamina to ride him. But he quickly shook off the thoughts, aware that it wasn't the time or place.

"This is her favourite horse. Every time a studio asks for him, she warns me to charge him double and to warn the studio that anything were to happen to him, she'd find a way to make them regret it," Elliott laughed and Christian joined him, swiping to the next picture only to find Ana between two lions, snuggling against on.

"Well, she's braver than me. You wouldn't catch me with my face so close to anything's teeth," Christian said giving Elliott his phone back before popping two beers for them.

Elliott chuckled, shrugging, "Most of those animals, Ana saw them as cubs. But you're right, she's braver than most. She's a strong woman. She's definitely stronger than what she looks like, right now. She's stronger than me."

Christian frowned, not expecting this self-depreciation from Elliott. If anything, Elliott reminded him of Jack in many ways, which he understood why Ana and Jack got along so well.

"Don't talk about yourself like that. Ana wouldn't like it," he said. He knew that Ana loved her brother, and she always spoke about him as if he held the sun.

They silently drank, not bothered to switch on the TV since they didn't follow the same programs and they were certainly not going to depress themselves with the news.

"By the way, since she missed her Spring Break, Jack and I were thinking of throwing her a surprise birthday party. Of course, you're invited. What cake do you think I should make?"

Elliott shook his head, his face serious as he said, "Don't, she won't like it. And we already have plans anyway."

"We were going to do it on her actual birthday because we figured that you guys already had plans, but …"

Elliott looked at him with a new eye, as if he was just understanding something about him, before he took a sip of his beer and asked, "So … Ana never talked to you about our folks?"

"No. We never really asked, so why would she?"

Elliott had a disabused smile, "And you never wondered why she is two years behind? I mean, she's a straight-A student."

Christian shook his head, afraid to read between the lines, and Elliott started his tale, his eyes lost in space,

"Two years ago, almost three now, she was in Seattle, doing the same major, with the same excellent grades and with the same ability to make friends. I mean, Ana has always been able to make friends easily.

Our folks were living with me because business was booming and I could afford it. I mean, it's the dream of any kid to take care of their parents when they grow old. And we were really close, the four of us. We're not one of those torn families, we're … we were really close. Not just for show.

So when May came, we decided to surprise Ana for her birthday. The big twenty-one, it's something to celebrate. Mom never liked flying. She did her best to have Ana study at UCLA, but friends and ambition drove her to Seattle. So I drove. It's a bit of a drive, but in two days we could be at her dorm…

I don't really know what to blame it on. I could say that I should have taken more breaks so I would have been tired and more alert. Or I could have been less of a macho man and let my Dad relay me in the driving at least one. Or it was the sun that day. I don't know. All I know is that I didn't react in time when the car in front of us lost control. I swerved too late …

Dad died on the spot. Mom wasn't so lucky. She died on her way to the hospital. The nurses and Ana never told me how bad it was, but I can only imagine that she suffered every second before her final breath. And …"

His voice cracked a little and a tear escaped his eye. He cleared his throat whilst Christian still attentively listened.

"Ana took the rest of the year off, not to grief but to take care of me. I stayed in the hospital for three months and in a wheelchair for a year. And what's worse, worse than my baby sister taking care of me in the ways I never thought she would, it's that she didn't hate me. Not even a little. I killed our parents, and for two years, she took care of me in every way possible. Physically, emotionally, mentally. I wouldn't be here without her. She even picked on a couple of jobs, she kept my business up float, making sure that my employees still had a job and that they did everything the way I had always done them."

Elliott seemed lost in his memories before he cleared his that again and wiped his tears away. "So yeah. Her birthday is forever tainted with the death of our parents because of me."

"It's not your f—" Christian started, but Elliott shook his head, disabused,

"Don't worry, she's already told me this a million times. And in all logic, I know it's not my fault. Accidents happen. But in my heart … well, that's another story."

Christian nodded, not pushing the words of comfort Elliott didn't seem ready to receive, and the man appreciatively smiled at him. And he was saved from sharing more about his life by Jack coming in from Ana's room. Elliott jumped to his feet and said he'd watch after his sister, leaving the two lovers together.

They went to bed, and Jack asked Christian, "Elliott seemed sad. Everything okay?"

"not really. He was telling me about how their parents died."

"Oh," Jack said sympathy, though without much surprise. He had already shared with Christian his suspicions about Ana's lack of direct family besides her brother.

"On Ana's birthday," Christian added, making Jack feel for the siblings. "So … I think it's obvious that we're not doing that surprise thing."

"Of course." Jack looked at him with worry, bringing his hand to Christian's cheek, "You okay, babe?"

"I'm just … I really sad for them."

Jack engulfed him in a hug, and for the first time in their relationship, Christian ended up the little spoon as he sought comfort in his lover's arms.

"You want to fuck it out or hug it out?"

Christian had a small smile, always happy to see how well Jack knew him. More often than not, when he was overwhelmed, Christian coped with sex. But this time, he snuggled against Jack and let him know,

"Just like that. I just … I wish she would have told us. I thought we were close."

"We are. But I told you before, I'm still a professor at her uni, even if I don't teach her. And you … well, you're being a creep and she thinks you're playing with her."

"I'm not!"

"I know you're not, but she doesn't."

Christian closed his eyes, wishing Ana could be with them at this right instant. And so he said the most natural thing that came to him, "I can't wait for her to graduate."

.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.

💚 Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed 💚

💚 E L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, Everything else is mine (including the mistakes and grammar errors).

Love, Mina 💚💚💚