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It's date night. The stars have aligned and allowed all three of them to have the night off. They've all gathered at Eddie's house and stuffed themselves full of pizza and wings. It's Tommy's turn to pick the movie, and to no one's surprise, he's picked another romcom.
Upbeat guitar music starts playing over a montage of the New York City skyline as the opening for Maid In Manhattan begins. It doesn't take long for Tommy to notice that something is off. There's tension in the air and noticeable physical distance between them as Evan is lying down with his head in Tommy's lap, and Eddie sits on the far end of the sectional, maintaining a substantial gap.
"Is there something wrong?" He asks the both of them. He knows it can't be because of the movie. He knows for a fact Eddie had a crush on Jennifer Lopez when he was younger, and Evan had never said much about her either way. No, this was something else. He looks down at Evan who's avoiding his gaze. He turns to Eddie who does the same "Seriously, the both of you, what is it?"
It's a stalemate for a few seconds before one of them breaks the silence.
"He's a cheater!" Eddie says, his tone accusing, but there's a twinge of hurt on the edges that doesn't escape Tommy's notice. Tommy's eyebrows shoot up and he looks at Evan for clarification.
"What is he talking about?"
"I'm not a cheater!" Evan defends himself. "It's not my fault you suck at playing Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
"Because you always cheat!" Eddie spits back.
"What the hell are either of you talking about?" Somebody better start clearing things up or movie night is headed towards an early curtain call.
"We did Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who got to lie down in your lap tonight," says Evan. Tommy looks between the two of them, trying to figure out if they're serious. They cannot be serious.
"You agreed to this?" He askes Eddie, trying to read his expression for any sense of this being a joke.
"Yes, I did. We always do, every date night." Eddie says, reading to Tommy as totally sincere. "And he always—" Tommy holds a hand up to stop his accusation before it escalates the situation.
"I heard you the first two times," says Tommy, and he hears Evan grumble under his breath. Tommy closes his eyes, resting his head back to stare up at the ceiling. Individually, his partners are fully functional adults capable of great acts of bravery and intelligence, but he has to admit, if left alone together for too long they can devolve to childish behavior. Sometimes it's fun and he can even join in, break a law or two, but sometimes it leads to situations like the one they're in now.
"Eddie, come here," Tommy says, patting the space between them on the couch. Evan protests, pulling at Tommy's shirt and trying to bunch more of his bulky form into Tommy's lap so as to keep it all for himself. "Hey!" Tommy chides him. "Don't be greedy." Evan scowls at him, but he calms down.
Eddie's gone back to avoiding eye contact, pretending to watch the movie.
"Eddie," Tommy's tone is teasing as he reaches out to playfully tap Eddie's foot with his own. "Eeeddiiie, come over heerrre" It's only for a second, but Tommy catches a break in Eddie's composure before he's back to being stone faced. Then Eddie's scooting closer to him until he's close enough for Tommy to reach out and pull him right up against Tommy's side. "Better?"
Eddie rests his head against Tommy's shoulder, letting himself finally relax.
"Better," Eddie says, content to be close to them both. They go back to watching the movie, and they manage to make it another 20 minutes before Evan has to say something.
"Just to be clear, I did win fair and square."
Tommy can feel Eddie tense up against him, gearing up to start all over again.
"Okay, that's enough," Tommy declares, gentling guiding Evan up off of him and into a sitting position. He catches the dejected look on Evan's face, and the smirk on Eddie's before he surprises them both by wrapping an arm around each of their waist, managing by some miracle to get enough purchase to pull them both into his lap. Reflexively, they grab on to each other for balance.
Any remaining tension dissolves into laughter, quickly progressing into heated kisses that taste like lemon pepper wings and the hoppy, citrus flavor of Eddie's favorite beer. They can watch the movie another night.