#varning för
I wish I could always bethis loose with my ink lines :’)
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GreetingGoodbye
story by @rennakins
Things have been going surprisingly well.
Krister, probably the most pessimistic of the three – by his own admission – finds himself constantly surprised by just how well their relationship has been going. He hadn’t had high hopes from the start, of course, always waiting for the inevitable, for himself to be squeezed back out somehow, that maybe Annika and Håkan decide they want to be “just friends” after all. But that time hasn’t come yet, and he’s starting to feel like maybe, just maybe, this all might work out.
It’s different, definitely, being in a relationship with another man as well. It’s easy loving Annika, always has been from the moment he knew his feelings were reciprocated. There was some trepidation at first, some worry that he’s stepping on Håkan’s toes at any given moment, but even that tension has eased off since. He’s just never quite sure what to do with his hands when he’s not touching Annika and Håkan is right there beside him.
Sometimes he wants to touch, whether out of curiosity or something else he doesn’t want to put a name to. But most times that seems like an insurmountable task that he’s not ready to tackle, so he sets it aside. After all, they’re both more than happy to focus their attention on Annika in the bedroom.
It’s when they’re not in the bedroom that presents a problem. Krister isn’t sure how he should act around Håkan. They hadn’t talked about that when they’d discussed boundaries, what happens between them at all other waking hours. Håkan seems very relaxed about it, seemingly content to hang out like they’d always done before. Like they have two distinct relationships, separate from one another.
Håkan seems fine with it. Krister wonders if that’s really true, but he doesn’t ask. How is a man supposed to ask another man if he wants to kiss him?
Krister is late.
He never used to be late for things, but it’s difficult to extricate himself from the pile of limbs that the bed becomes when all three of them fall asleep together. Having been between them, he’d awoken with Annika’s legs tangled around his while using his chest as a pillow, and Håkan’s arm thrown across his chest, face buried in his shoulder. Slipping out hadn’t been easy, and resulted in a lot of displeased groans.
They’re just dragging themselves out of bed as he’s throwing his coat on, stumbling to the kitchen in search of coffee. Annika is wearing his shirt – he tries not to think too much about that or he really will be late.
“Time to go already?” Annika asks with a yawn. She opens the cupboard and finds her favorite mug on the third try, ceramic clinking against each other. Håkan already has the pot ready to pour for her.
“I’ll be back a little later today,” he says, and takes Annika’s coffee from her to steal a sip. He’s still tired too. “I’ll be home for dinner though.”
“All right,” Annika says. “Be careful.”
“I will,” Krister says, and he leans in to give her a goodbye kiss.
And then he does it again… to Håkan this time.
His body moves before his brain can catch up, and he only registers what’s going on as his lips make contact with Håkan’s, who, when he pulls back, seems just as surprised as he is, color rising to his cheeks. Annika stands wide-eyed beside him, looking back and forth between the boys in shock.
Krister opens his mouth like there’s anythinghe could say to make this less awkward, but instead he turns and makes a break for it, pulling the door closed behind him. He gets halfway down the stairs in a sprint before he comes to a sudden stop.
What did he just do?
And then, a second thought.
What did he just do, and why did he run?
He didn’t think. But taking a brief moment, he replays the incident in his head, wonders what Annika and Håkan must think.
Specifically what Håkan must think. He just kissed him and then he ran away.
This is not good.
It’s not like he’s never kissed Håkan before, but that was in the bedroom. He feels like he’s broken some unspoken barrier between them. But what is he saying by leaving the way he did? He likes Håkan. He and Annika are Krister’s best friends. And kissing him… it’s not a bad thing. He thinks of the times they’re in bed together, the way Håkan smiles every time he pulls back from a kiss.
Oh, he might have really hurt his feelings.
He runs back up the stairs, throws the door open again, dropping his bag at the threshold, and dashes down the hall. Annika and Håkan are just entering the living room, half dressed and nursing their coffees. They both freeze when they see him.
“I… I forgot my shoes,” Krister says. He’s absolutely wearing his shoes. It’s the dumbest thing he could have said, but there’s no time to take it back. “I have to go.”
He closes the distance between them quickly, plants his hands on either side of Annika’s face as he pulls her in for a kiss.
Then he looks at Håkan. He reaches up, pulls him down towards him, and kisses him hard.
And maybe a little too long, but he wants to make sure Håkan understands. It wasn’t a mistake. I wanted to kiss you too.
Håkan’s face is beet red. His ridiculous smile makes it all worth it though.
Krister smiles too. And then shock hits him.
“I’m gonna be so fucking late,” he says.
Annika and Håkan are already shooing him out of the living room, back down the hall. He glances back just once as he retrieves his bag, sees Håkan’s face still flushed and Annika trying to contain her laughter.
Things are going a lot better than he’d ever expected.
Radio Luxembourg
