Thanksgiving was literally the one day they could fully relax before Danny's big game on Friday and Lacey beginning her new job on Saturday.
During their two days apart, Lacey took full advantage of her rare 'me' time. She tried to keep her mind off of her closet sex tape with Danny. She cleaned her entire dorm room, organized and washed all of her brushes and art supplies, soaked in the tub with all the hot water, worked through a backlog of emails and even called her family to check in.
Danny had also cleaned his place and shopped for his Thanksgiving feast. The rest of his time was spent at practice and completing his first conditioning drills ahead of Danny's second season as an elite SU soccer star.
Danny: Dinner's at five, love. Come early, I miss you
Lacey: Miss you too. What should I bring?
Danny: You.
Lacey: Do you have wine?
Danny: 14 bottles
Lacey: Really?
Danny: I don't play, I know what you like ;)
Lacey: This is true :)
Danny: If you really want to help, get here soon and prep these potatoes with me
It was her first time choosing to stay away from home for a major holiday, she was all caught up with schoolwork and didn't have a real reason to stay on campus. Lacey didn't care that she'd be with some jocks for Thanksgiving this year, at least Danny would be there and she'd have some hella good food.
The trade off was not having to listen to her parents pick apart her life and prod her about her future for once. Lacey was beyond ready to be a little immature and not the older sister who always had to set the good examples.
Lacey imagined there would be a lot of drinking and video games and something inside of her had never wanted that more than she did today. She was determined to relax and invest in these people, to try to see whatever it was that Danny saw in them. If they were still assholes in the end, she'd go back to knowing they exist, just not in her world.
Late afternoon, Lacey threw on her favorite jeans, a brown sweater that always shifted to expose one shoulder and her black docs. She was comfy and ready to eat and get her wine on.
She heard shouting as she approached Danny's door. She didn't bother knocking this time, trying the handle and just walking right in.
"OH THAT'S BULLSHIT!"
"I swear I saw him do it!"
"You didn't see me do SHIT!"
Lacey spied Danny in an apron, hair pulled back and a huge smile on his face as he buzzed around the kitchen. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Oh! Oh, hey there." Danny smiled and spun around to greet her.
"Hi." Lacey kissed him, her attention moving to the food prep around them.
Danny felt nothing but electricity in their kiss, his senses starved after two whole days without her. His mind wandered back to that no-contact kink they tried. Damn that shit was so hot.
"HA! I FUCKING TOLD YOU!"
Danny was rudely snapped back from his thoughts by the shouts coming from his living room.
"They're playing Among Us, in case you couldn't tell." Danny shook his head, "Wine?"
"Sure." Lacey smiled.
"Right, let's get you going!" Danny scooted around happily, grabbing a glass and opening a bottle of Malbec for her.
"Thank you." Lacey sucked it down and got herself a refill.
"Rough day?" Danny joked.
Lacey took stock of all the work Danny was doing. Good for him, Lacey giggled to herself.
"Why didn't you do all this at the big house? Aren't most of them in the fraternity anyway?" Lacey wondered.
"Their kitchen is shit. Stove's been broken for like five years. Besides, I like the intimacy, you know."
Lacey killed her second glass and chose some rosé for her third. Liquid courage as she listened to the crowd whining together a few feet away.
"You helping me?" Danny asked, shaking his extra apron at her.
"Umm, I think I am going to see what's happening in the living room."
Danny was surprised, but equally happy at the same time. His world would be so much smoother if somehow his heart and his friends could find some common ground.
"Porter!" Lacey heard from a few simultaneously as she walked into the living room.
"Hello—" She smiled and walked around to see what was up.
She wasn't the only one pre-gaming. Pretty much everyone had some sort of open container in their hand or sitting nearby.
A group were sitting all over Danny's couch as they played Among Us on their phones together, while another group crowded around his TV to play Madden on the Xbox. It smelled like large athletes mixed with turkey and cinnamon. This was going to be interesting.
"Mind if I play?" Lacey decided to jump right in.
"On Madden?" Cole asked, surprised.
"Yah, help me learn this game."
Danny watched from the kitchen as Cole handed Lacey his controller.
"Okay, it's the Bucs and the 49ers. Charlie is the Bucs, we're the 49ers. We're about to kick a field goal."
"Oh! So I'll be Danny then?"
Cole smiled, "Yeah, exactly. You just hold that, yep. Then aim and then let it go—"
"How many yards, boss?" Danny asked Cole.
"Fifty seven." He chuckled.
"Jesus, you guys suck." Danny commented as he rolled out his bread dough.
"Phoebe coming?" Cole asked her.
"Nope, she went home."
Lacey lined up and sent a perfect kick through the uprights. Cole lost it and high-fived Lacey, shouting and yelling.
"Holy shit." Cole laughed, "Lacey's on my team."
Lacey made no move to give the controller back, playing as a tackle and successfully preventing the Bucs from getting their first down. The cheers from Cole and a few of the guys who were watching her began to pull focus from the larger group on the couch.
"I didn't get a chance to apologize for Halloween—" Cole said sincerely.
"For what?" Lacey knew, she just wanted to hear his side.
"I shouldn't have left Phoebe, she was trashed. Jo, she kind of stole me and dragged me to the roof that night. Nothing happened, I was just trashed too. I didn't even realize how much time had passed until I came looking and found out you all left."
"Do you like her?"
"Phoebe? She's cool. We're not serious, you know? I'm not looking, she doesn't seem to be looking either, unless I'm way off—"
"I think you're right, but I'll never speak for her. Things change." She shrugged.
Lacey knew Cole traveled all over for at least nine months out of the year and wasn't ready to commit to a relationship right now. She knew Phoebe wasn't looking for anything serious either, but she also knew her friend really liked Cole a lot. She wasn't convinced that Phoebe would turn him down if he asked her for more.
"Does she like me?"
"All I know is that she's always happy after she sees you, except for on Halloween."
"Tell her I'm sorry? Tell her to call me?"
"I will." Lacey agreed, refocusing on her turn with the ball again.
Lacey dominated every position while Charlie failed miserably representing the Bucs. Danny was loving the commentary and put a few of his guests to work as sous-chefs so he could watch for a few.
"How the heck did you do that?!" Charlie groaned as Lacey managed another three-point conversion. It wasn't like she was really good at it, just good enough to slaughter Charlie.
"I want in on this—" Archie finally spoke up.
He nudged Charlie out of the way and took over just as his team got the ball back. Lacey was so invested at this point, she was standing and dancing around as she worked to stop Archie's passes from progressing up the field.
"No! Damn it!" Lacey groaned as Archie scored and the Bucs took the lead, winning their game.
"That's right, baby!" Archie shouted in victory.
Archie smiled, thinking about how awesome this was. They were all missing their families, all sacrificing for different reasons. He knew he and Lacey didn't have the best relationship, but maybe they weren't doomed after all.
"Good game." Archie gave Lacey a nod.
"You too." Lacey smiled back, definitely blaming the wine for helping them find this new camaraderie.
"I said eight minutes—" Danny could be heard in the kitchen scolding a few teammates who he had tasked with baking some rolls.
"Ohhh, something's burning." Archie smelled it first and headed into the kitchen, Lacey not far behind.
"It was only my perfect yeast rolls that I made from scratch, no big deal." Danny protested sarcastically as he magically pulled a fresh tray of rolls out of nowhere and put them in the oven.
"Well here's your problem."
Archie scooted himself up behind Danny and reached for the oven timer, taking his sweet ass time to prolong their proximity for as long as possible. Several of Danny's teammates giggled, too buzzed to police these two and their never ending fire.
"You need to set the timer." Archie said low next to Danny's ear as he continued pressing the buttons.
They knew who Danny's heart belonged to, but tonight, warm and happy on Thanksgiving, they all felt safe and cared for. Archie was always worried about what would happen if he ever openly admitted and authenticated his lifestyle, but the truth was, everyone already knew and none of them cared. They were a family, they were a team.
Lacey had been the link that everyone felt compelled to validate, not Archie's sexuality. All that the team knew before tonight was that as soon as Danny had connected with Lacey, Regina and Archie were never the same again. Their independent tantrums had caused so much distortion to their otherwise cohesive teams that everyone just assumed that Lacey was at fault.
Now that everyone had spent a couple of hours with Lacey, they were all realizing that they had been wrong. It was Archie and Regina's inability to move on gracefully after Danny had decided that he wanted to evolve that was the real problem.
Since they had lost Regina, the teams were not about to lose anyone else. After their visit with her tonight, they embraced Lacey and it was just accepted that she now held all of Danny's heart. Even so, Archie still wanted to play.
"Dude." Danny smiled and shook his head, pinned against the front of the stove while Archie snuggled up behind him.
Even though Lacey knew their interactions were harmless at this point, she wasn't about to let Archie handle her man without at least an attempt on her behalf to thwart it. She quietly sidled up to the duo and looked over at the timer.
"You can do a lot with eight minutes." Lacey offered while nonchalantly looking down at her phone, her voice dripping with sexual innuendo.
Archie smiled and looked at Danny for his reaction. Danny smirked, he loved dominant Lacey so much. Lacey looked over at them and quirked an eyebrow. She was buzzed and absolutely playing with them both.
Danny picked up on her body language and seriously doubted she meant to make it sound like Archie would be included in any post-Thanksgiving shenanigans. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested in those options.
Danny spun around and pushed Archie away lovingly, "You know what I want from you two that will take eight minutes?" Danny asked as he handed Archie a stack of plates and Lacey a basket of silverware and napkins, "Set the damn table."
Archie and Lacey scuttled off together to set the folding tables that Danny had set up, running the length of the hallway and into the living room, seating for thirty. They worked side by side to stage each place setting, giggling to each other as their muddled brains tried to figure out how many settings belonged on each side.
"One fork, one knife, one spoon, Porter. Jeez." Archie roasted her.
"Excuse me, all you have to worry about is one plate!" Lacey laughed, she was more than buzzed.
"Yeah, you're right, you're right." Archie smiled brilliantly, "So, what can you do in eight minutes?" He pushed, "'Cause I know my boy and he likes to take his time—"
Lacey just shrugged, not offering anything.
"Well, whatever it is, he likes it. You've got him on lock." Archie added, not meaning for it to come out sounding so sad, "I'm sorry, I'm happy for you two, I really am. He's happy Lace, he's so happy—" He tried to backpedal with some drunk rambling.
"I got you." Lacey just wanted tonight to be easy. Her and Archie had already went rounds with this bullshit, she was over it.
Once the table was set, Lacey, Archie and Danny brought platters of food over, their now non-stop sexual tension only apparent to the three of them. It was a dance. Danny would reach around Lacey to grab the butter, his lips brushing her earlobe. Archie would intercept it, his hands brushing Danny's. Lacey even ended up giving Archie a piggy-back ride from the kitchen to the table when they were done running around.
"This is your stop, big guy." Lacey giggled as Archie slid off the back of her.
"Dinner!" Danny shouted and all of his friends came over to filter into a seat.
They passed around Danny's incredible food that no one had helped him with and Danny had strangely never felt more grateful. They laughed and shared stories of their own family dinners and holidays past.
While their friends bantered amongst themselves, Lacey, Archie and Danny were sharing as well. Lacey chose a seat in between the two men, both of them passing things incessantly back and forth to each other once they discovered how fragile Lacey's ability to hide her interest in watching the two of them interact really was.
Once everyone had their first round of food, Danny's hand took purchase of Lacey's thigh under the table while he ate. The gesture was sweet, the love and it's subsequent warmth that crept up her neck made Lacey randomly smile in between bites. Danny noticed.
"You seem especially happy tonight." Danny leaned over and whispered to her.
Lacey brought her hand over and squeezed the top of his while it remained glued to her leg.
"I am." She smiled again, "Maybe the wine helped a little—"
Danny didn't hesitate, "Stay with me tonight?"
Lacey looked at Danny's face, his eyes, his cheeks, nose, lips. God she loved him. He squeezed her leg then, wanting her to know that he was feeling it too.
"Please?" He added softly.
Lacey licked her lips and leaned in closer, "Just me?"
Danny squinted, "Yes?" He answered as a question, not sure where this was going.
Lacey tipped her head a little, dipping closer, "Maybe we can have a guest tonight." She said simply, picking up her wine and taking a healthy sip.
Danny swallowed hard and adjusted his posture, "Lacey—" He had a pretty good idea what she was asking, but she'd have to be the one to ask for it and with far more details.
Lacey bit her lip, "Would he be into it?"
Danny chuckled and pushed his fork around his plate, "Yes he would." They both knew who they were talking about.
"So let's have some fun." Lacey shrugged.
"I'm not like, looking for this—"
"I know, I am. Would you do this with me?"
Danny was scared to answer.
"It's not a test, I swear." Lacey said as if reading his mind.
"Earth to the lovebirds, there's like twenty seven other people here you know—" Archie spoke up.
Danny's stare lingered on Lacey, completely ignoring Archie's whining, "This was your idea, you're gonna ask him, not me." Danny confirmed before shoveling up another bite.
"Ask me what?" Archie leaned in closer to Lacey.
"What are you doing tonight?" Lacey asked to Danny's surprise, was this really happening right now?
Danny leaned back, feeling as if leaning backward would give Lacey's question more space to flow between them. Like feng shui, but for conversations.
Archie looked over at Danny, who toggled between stress eating and binge drinking in back-to-back succession. He was nervous.
"Is that a trick question?" Archie wasn't sure this could be a real offer.
Danny didn't say a goddamn thing.
"Team Danny?" Lacey asked.
"This was your idea?" Archie's eyes twinkled at her.
"Are you in or not?"
Lacey needed the answer before she lost her confidence with this. Asking for a threesome was not as easy as her body made it feel like it should be.
"Oh honey, I'm down for whatever you're asking for." Archie confirmed.
"Danny?" Lacey wanted something more solid from him. Archie also waiting for him to respond with baited breath.
"In." He said while still refusing to look at either one of them.
Lacey sat on the counter, her legs bracketing Archie's body while they played Rock-Paper-Scissors for who would get to go next playing Madden after dessert. They were comfortable, seemingly fast friends.
Danny stood next to them, cutting and plating his homemade pies for his guests.
"Guys, get out of my kitchen if you're not going to help me." Danny grumbled.
Archie pulled Lacey off the counter by her waist, her slide down his body not going unnoticed by Danny.
"Oh shut up." Archie said as he grabbed a couple plates and headed out to begin serving his friends.
"You okay?" Lacey wondered why Danny was suddenly so short with them.
Danny stopped cutting and looked down, "Yeah, I just—"
Lacey walked up and gave Danny a reverse hug, squeezing him tight. Danny held her arms and squeezed back.
"I love you." Lacey said, smacking a wet kiss to his temple.
"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean I've been working to get him to stop focusing on me and I'm not sure if—"
"Yes please." Lacey uttered into Danny's neck, sending a jolt straight to his dick.
"God, okay. Okay."
"Hey now!" Archie returned for more plates and spied their embrace, "Don't start without me!" He giggled and hip checked the pair as he grabbed more plates and left again.
Danny stood straighter and lifted up some plates for Lacey to take, he needed some distance between them or he'd have a hard time leaving the kitchen without a tent in his pants.
After dessert, Danny's guests began dropping like flies. Many of them pairing up for the night or walking back to their dorms and the frat houses in warm, stuffed groups. Lacey took up residence on the couch with her phone, her legs stretched out and receiving the best socked foot massage from Archie.
Phoebe: Happy Thanksgiving!
Lacey: You too!
Phoebe: Have you eaten all my ramen yet?
Lacey: Not yet! I have SO much to tell you when you come back
Phoebe: ?
Lacey: Trust me it's too much to text
Phoebe: Well damn, should we make plans for Saturday then?
Lacey: Can't, I'm working
Phoebe: Excuse me? You have a whole job?
Lacey: I may or may not be in a threesome tonight
Phoebe: WHAT?! With who? What kind of job IS this?
Lacey: The threesome isn't the job, LOL. I'll talk to you about it on Sunday ;)
Phoebe: Yeah you will!
Phoebe: Shit, have a fucking blast
Lacey: xoxo
Danny walked into the living room after his last guest had left, wringing his hands together and looking over at his two partners for the night.
"Dishes can wait until morning, but I managed to get the food put away no thanks to either of you—"
Lacey took her feet back from Archie and patted the sofa beside her. Danny plopped down and Lacey locked him in by moving her legs back in place across their laps. Archie didn't miss a beat and resumed her foot massage.
"Dinner was amazing, Danny, thank you." Lacey said totally relaxed, but with a tinge of adrenaline that began dripping into the middle of her stomach. This was happening.
Danny began to participate in Lacey's massage, twisting his hands around her calves and moving up to her thighs. Archie took one hand away from Lacey's feet and turned Danny's face toward his for a kiss. Danny accepted and Archie kept his eyes open, staring at Lacey on the other end of the couch as he began to make out with her boyfriend.
Archie knew how easily things can change when people go from buzzed to feeling more sober again. He wanted to make sure Lacey had no objections before they got this show on the road.
Danny was worried too. He squeezed Lacey's leg as their kiss progressed, wanting her to know that he was very much aware that she was still there.
"Upstairs?" Danny asked them after pulling back from Archie.
Archie didn't answer, instead both men looked at Lacey for the cue that this was happening. Lacey slid her legs back and swung them around, standing and pulling the guys to their feet, one at a time.
"After you." Lacey held her hand out toward the stairs, Archie sprinting and Danny not far behind.
Once they made it to the top of the stairs, both Danny and Archie pulled their own shirts off. This one simple action immediately made the situation very real for Lacey, who stood between them wondering if she really had the balls big enough to go through with this.
Danny realized how overwhelmed Lacey must have felt at the sight of two dudes simultaneously getting naked on either side of her. Her idea or not, he'd only do any of this if she really wanted to do it. He pulled her into the bathroom and gestured to Archie that he needed a minute.
"Hi." Danny smiled and held her close.
"How have you done this before?!" Lacey smiled back, thudding her face into his chest.
"Awkward as hell, right?" Danny giggled, "It's always like that at first."
"I just—what do I do? I mean, is he—" Lacey didn't know where to start with the questions.
"Full disclosure? Archie's been in the room for a few of my group experiences. He'll ask you before he tries something and he'll stop when you tell him, I promise."
Lacey ran her hands up and down the front of Danny's beautiful chest. She had been so sure downstairs that she wanted this to happen, she really needed her mind to either get back there or tell her to flee.
"You don't mind, like, you wouldn't care if—" She suddenly began to worry about being involved with another person in front of Danny.
"You're thinking too much. There are no hurt feelings or whatever, the point is pleasure."
Lacey blew out some of her fear, "Is he going to focus on you? I mean—"
"If you want him to. Look, Archie is gay. He'll mess around, but he'll be looking to lay me the fuck out tonight I already know." Danny sighed, "He's a top, like, it's ridiculous—"
"Jesus, I remember." Lacey thought back to the sound of Phoebe getting nailed by Archie at the frat house.
"It's a fantasy. I'm not going to monitor if and when you let him touch you or if you touch him, it's a threesome, it'll happen. He's definitely going to want to touch me though, how do you feel about that?"
"Okay I guess."
"You guess?"
"Honestly? I've never seen you with anyone else, I'm quite interested."
"Well, I'm the center tonight for sure. How'd I get so lucky?" Danny asked, voice low.
Danny tipped Lacey's chin up and kissed her slow but with an insistent edge that let her know that he was all in if she was. He handled her differently, not rougher, just with lots of fire, intention.
"I'm not doing this without you and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to explore this kink with you too."
He kissed her again, searching, wanting.
"Fuck, okay." She hushed against his lips.
"Yeah?"
"Yes, but I need a minute—"
Danny stepped back, trying to school his expression to not reveal how stoked he was that Lacey seemed to be back on board. He loved sharing on occasion, but he had made peace with sacrificing that part of his life if it meant that he could be with Lacey exclusively full time. Tonight though, this was a gift and he was thankful.
Danny closed the door behind him and and began messing around with his phone to get some music going.
Archie gestured toward the door, "She okay?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, just warming up, you know how it is."
Archie moved to rub Danny's shoulders. Danny pulled away and turned to face him.
"Not without her."
"Got it." Archie stretched, "This her first time?"
Danny gave Archie a look. It was, but Lacey wasn't a novice with sex, she was just doing some soul searching.
Danny managed to get some music going that wasn't super cliché sexy and set it at a volume that would just barely drown out potentially uncomfortable community sounds, but still allow them to communicate. Archie reached to help Danny unmake his bed by pulling off the extra pillows.
Lacey slid out of the bathroom, her adrenaline now spiking as she spied the two hot, shirtless guys who were basically waiting for her. She didn't feel like running so she decided to listen to that and see how far they'd get.
Danny was the furthest away from her when she walked into the room so Archie turned and intercepted her.
"You okay?" Archie asked her with a sincerity she had never known from him.
"Yep." Lacey grinned, still feeling super awkward.
Archie brought his hand up and ran it down the side of her face, "Team Danny?" He whispered lovingly.
Archie smiled and stepped in closer, lingering just in front of Lacey's face, the sexual tension they had created downstairs building back up again. Lacey nodded and accepted a light, friendly kiss from him. There was excitement, energy and curiosity woven within.
Archie pulled away first, "Let's have some fun."
Someone's phone was buzzing, another one was chirping an incessant ring tone.
"Who. The. Fuck—" Archie groaned from one side of Danny's bed, his forearm draped tightly across his eyes to try and keep the sunlight out.
Danny was in the middle, lying back-to-back with Archie. He buried his face into Lacey's chest to try to hide from the noise as well. Lacey instinctively wrapped her arm around Danny and cradled him lovingly, both of them holding each other close.
Her eyes darted to his bedside clock: 6:45 AM
She waited until the two phones stopped making noise and closed her eyes briefly before they started up again.
"Fuck! I've got it—" Lacey grumbled, sliding out of bed sore and still naked from her workout a few hours prior.
Archie and Danny turned onto their respective opposite sides and found themselves snuggling into each other in Lacey's absence. Damn they were so cute.
Lacey grabbed Danny's phone from his dresser and switched it to silent. From a quick glance at his home screen she could see he had two missed calls and two text notifications. His phone was locked though so she couldn't read them.
The buzzing continued and Lacey realized it was her phone this time and scrambled through their pants pile until she fished it out of the tiny pocket she had stuffed it into last night.
Lacey had three missed calls now and two text messages. She didn't recognize some of the phone numbers but saw that one of them was from Phoebe and so were all the texts. This couldn't be a good thing. Her heart began to race.
She unlocked her phone and opened her text messages.
Phoebe: Are you awake?!
Phoebe: Call me!
The voicemail notifications came through then, the transcribed text from them revealing it was Syracuse PD calling.
"Oh my god—" Lacey said out loud, panicked.
"What's wrong?" Danny struggled into a seated position once he heard the seriousness in Lacey's voice.
"Jo's out on bail."