Rule of Threes | HEEJAKEHOON

Fourth Option

Sunghoon and Jake talked about their feelings for Heeseung and each other a bit more, as well as what they wanted to do about them a few days after their heats. Neither of them wanted to generate any kind of confusion that may lead to a misunderstanding. They really wanted to be on the same page about what they’d do. Before they even considering bringing anything up with Heeseung, they had to have everything resolved on their side.

After that, however, came the more difficult task of actually talking about it with Heeseung. They weren’t really afraid of his reaction, they knew nothing would change between them if he didn’t correspond their feeling, but they were so damn shy. It was ridiculous, really, because Heeseung was their friend and they knew him well. That didn’t stop them from choking on their words whenever they tried to bring it up casually.

First and foremost, they had to make it clear to Heeseung that they were dating. Jay had been kind enough to point out that Heeseung could be a bit slow when it came to relationships around him, and judging by his reaction before their heats… Yeah, Heeseung had no idea. Or at least he had had no idea, hopefully he’d picked up on it now. That or he may have thought it was too soon for them to take that step. Heeseung didn’t strike them as someone who’d judge others’ relationships, but one could never be sure.

“Do you think it’s weird?” Sunghoon asked Sunoo after dumping all his thoughts and worries on him.

“I think you two are weird, though not for this specifically,” Sunoo didn’t hold back. “I also think you should just talk to hyung, he’ll understand, probably,” Sunoo shrugged. There was honestly nothing else he thought they could do. Nothing legal, at least.

“Just because I know that’s true, doesn’t make it any easier,” Sunghoon complained. Sunoo ignored him. “Yeah, we’ll talk to him,” he ended up conceding with a sigh.

Even like that, fully with the intention to confess to Heeseung, neither Jake nor Sunghoon made an actual attempt to set up a time for it. They’ve done it countless times before, inviting Heeseung over to what would have otherwise been one of their dates. But they were cowards and it had taken Jay to get them together. If only Jay had suggested this fourth option from the start, maybe they’d have talked to Heeseung already.

They weren’t actively avoiding him; they just conveniently were never together when they could meet Heeseung. They had agreed that they would talk to him together, so if one of them wasn’t there, the conversation couldn’t take place.

“Is it because of your heats?” Heeseung asked eventually, Jake had just left saying he had to pick something up from his dorm.

“What?” Sunghoon panicked, though he wasn’t sure what Heeseung had meant by it.

“I mean, since then- since now I know you are… dating… is it so… I’m not third-wheeling or… was I not supposed to know?” Heeseung was fidgeting with his hands and sounded timid, so much so Sunghoon found it endearing and wanted to hug him with bruising strength.

“It’s not that,” Sunghoon sighed. They really needed to talk about it, if Heeseung had caught on to it, they were being glaringly obvious. “Let me call Jake back,” he said, pulling out his phone.

“No!” Heeseung panicked instead. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable or- or—”

“I promise it’s not that, just let me get him back here,” Sunghoon attempted to reassure Heeseung, but it didn’t seem to work to calm him down.

As Heeseung sat tensely, biting his bottom lip, Sunghoon got Jake to come back. He’d hardly walked a block away from them, so it took him no time to get back. Sunghoon nodded at Jake, silently communicating that he thought it was time, that they should stop running away from it. Jake nodded back, understanding perfectly what Sunghoon was saying. He sat back down where he’d been before Heeseung arrived and looked at the very terrified alpha. Both wanted to reach over and calm down him, but they knew it wasn’t the time.

“Have I made you uncomfortable?” Heeseung asked before either could gather themselves to actually tell Heeseung anything. “Have I overstepped or—?”

“Hyung, sorry, but you’ll have to let us speak to understand,” Jake stopped him before he could spiral down some weird anxiety-induced line of thought.

“Sorry, I just—” Sunghoon interrupted him this time.

“We have talked,” he said. “A lot, actually, we really talked this out,” he continued, making sure Heeseung understood they were on the same page for what they were about to say.

“And, well, back when we started dating… it actually happened because of… you.” Jake pointed at Heeseung with both hands as he finished speaking.

Heeseung was speechless. “Me?”

“At least partially,” Sunghoon nodded. “We were arguing over who should… date you,” Sunghoon said, knowing it sounded weird.

“You were fighting over me?” Heeseung seemed more and more dumbfounded as Jake and Sunghoon explained.

“Probably not how you are thinking,” Jake sighed. “I said Sunghoon should date you, because he deserves the best and you could be a great boyfriend. Plus, his muscles are amazing and you like muscles.”

“And I argued that he should date you, because he also deserves the best and he’s so cute,” Sunghoon barely contained himself by the end of his statement.

“So, Jay suggested, as we kept complimenting each other while arguing, to just date each other,” Jake continued recounting how they started dating.

“And it was good, really good,” Sunghoon explained. “But there’s been something… missing, and during our heat, which is synced by the way, it became more obvious,” Sunghoon said, ignoring Heeseung’s light blush at the mention of their heats.

“That thing, we agreed, is you,” Jake ended their shared confession.

Heeseung nodded as if he understood. Then, he stopped, stared at them for a whole second and said: “What?”

“We like you, hyung, a lot,” Sunghoon made it clearer. “We have for a while, even before we started dating.”

“And while we like each other a lot, too,” Jake continued. “We’d like for you to be our alpha.”

“T-that’s…” Heeseung stuttered, face lightly red. “Y-you actually want… me?” Sunghoon frowned and looked at Jake to confirm he’d heard that right.

“Yes?” Jake answered immediately, just as confused as Sunghoon.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Sunghoon questioned, because it just didn’t make sense in his head.

“W-well… you have each other? Why would you need me?” Heeseung said, as if that had any sound to it.

“Hyung, you’d been in like… half our dates, it doesn’t matter if we need you, we want you.” Sunghoon said firmly.

“And if you want us back…” Jake trailed off, waiting for Heeseung to give them an answer.

“Who doesn’t want you?” Heeseung laughed. “Of course, I like you, but I wouldn’t want to—”

“That’s it.” Sunghoon stopped him, he was not letting Heeseung get away from them. “You said you like us, you are now our alpha.”

“No take backs.” Jake added, leaving Heeseung with a flabbergasted expression and unable to form any further sentences.

They’d talk more about it later, but for now they just needed Heeseung to stop second-guessing himself. They may have ended a cuddle-pile on the couch at Sunghoon’s dorm; Jungwon was not happy about it.