Schedule

2-3 times a week MWF
Starting LATE JANUARY

This book is 95% COMPLETE as of December 2024. I'm scheduling EVERYTHING to release at the same time every day I plan to post.

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Content Warnings

Triangular Theory of Love explores themes of polyamory, open relationships, aromantic relationships, hookup culture, and the power of friendship <3

Relationships other than Micah and Alistair may contain threesomes, cucking, age gaps, accidental sugaring, dp, bdsm, mxmxf, and roleplay.

Micah is becoming a switch, predominantly topping, and is generally a mess lol

Alistair is a switch under normal circumstances and has contamination OCD lol

The rating is 18+. Explicit, graphic smut for Micah x Benny/James and Micah x Alistair. There will not be much (if any) summarized hookups (iykyk)

All sex in TToL is consensual.

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Micah considered himself somewhat of an expert when it came to casual relationships, a title he wouldn't have given himself a year ago. He was working through his phobia to the word "relationship" now that he was in an ambiguously committed one.

Benedict West—hereto-forth referred to as Benny—was not, in fact, the relationship he was ambiguously committed to. Micah understood that they were publicly committed friends.

Not lovers.

And yet there Micah found himself on a Friday night, at Benny's favorite restaurant. With Benny.

And Benny's fiancé, James.

Micah had never felt so lost in his field of expertise before.

"I'm so confused."

Benny rolled his eyes. James, for what it was worth, had been blushing since the second they sat down. "It's not that confusing," Benny said.

How does a man go from an insecure, codependent relationship to a healthy one that can withstand the mere topic of a threesome?! Micah thought, dizzy. He crossed one arm over his chest and propped his cheek on his free hand, studying the two of them.

James glanced nervously at Benny as the little demon went off on a tirade. "It'd just be one time. Probably."

"P-Probably—" said Micah.

"And I mean, you and I have done it before," Benny went on, as if that made the situation any better. "We were thinking James could just watch while you do me. James and Kennedy said you're, like, so not into James like that, which is totally fine. I'm not offended or anything."

He's so offended, Micah thought, eyes wide and taking it all in.

Benny put his hands out to hold Micah's forearm, which put them incredibly close. He could smell the minty toothpaste on Benny's words, on his smile. "Think of it like an early wedding present! You don't have to get anything on the registry if you do this. You'd really be helping us out."

"Helping you out," Micah repeated. He glanced at James, and back again. "Why are you offended I don't like James like that? Isn't that a good thing?"

"I just said that I'm not offended!"

"You wouldn't have said that if you weren't offended!" Micah said. He gestured wildly at James, who was (partially) innocent in all this. "Wouldn't it make you uncomfortable if James saw my dick?!"

"No!" Benny shrugged. "I mean, maybe. But in a hot way."

"Oh my God," James whispered, laughing nervously.

"The answer is no," Micah said. "I'm not... screwing you to spice up your sex life, Benny. Shit like this ruins relationships, and why do you even need to spice up your sex life now? You've barely been in a relationship for a month!"

"I mean, our sex life is good," Benny said. James was now covering his face and drinking heavily. Benny laughed a little, dreamily. "Super good, actually."

James nearly choked.

"Then I don't see why this would help an already good thing you two have going. If it isn't broken—"

"Couldn't you just—"

James' voice broke like a lamb, quiet and barely audible.

Micah blinked. He leant forward. "What was that?"

James set his glass down, staring at it rather than either of them. He shrugged, and looked incredibly small as he admitted again, "I don't know how to top Benny."

Micah wished he could ask him to repeat it again but thought the ask rude. Instead, he glanced at Benny for confirmation and for once, Benny was silent. "Excuse me?"

They both shrugged.

Micah leant back in his chair, arms now crossed. This was... a dilemma he didn't think was possible. He gestured to Benny. "He's an easy bottom, though. You can't fuck it up."

James looked like he wanted to cry, and Micah regretted pushing the matter at all. Why hadn't he just agreed? He didn't want to listen to their relationship problems so candidly. "I've tried though. He doesn't like it when I top."

Micah clenched his fist before he knew what he was going to do with it. He thwacked Benny in the arm. Hard.

"Ow! Hey!" Benny cried, fake-sobbing. "It's not my fault!"

"What the fuck is your problem? Ever heard of constructive criticism?!"

James put his hands out, shaking his head. "He's given me tips, but I just—It's really difficult, all right? And then we got to talking about how—how you do it. And Benny suggested the demonstration idea."

Micah punched Benny in the arm again. "Are you out of your fucking mind!?"

Benny threw his head back, sinking down the booth seat and against James' side as if shot. "I'm sorry—!" he moaned.

"I'm not angry about the suggestion!" James assured, frantically. "Please, don't be mad at him—! Honestly, I don't mind the idea. I agreed with it almost immediately."

Micah held back on a third punch, though his fist was still raised. Benny was begging for mercy, hands out in surrender. All the violence had James opening up a bit more, one hand braced on the back of the booth and the other on the table.

No longer looking like a kicked puppy, James explained, "I don't know what my problem is. You can tell me a hundred different ways that I won't break him, but I just... There's something about... 'it' that just makes me think the night's gonna end in the ER."

"I told you, he's an easy bottom," Micah said.

James rolled his eyes, ears hot. "I know that. But it doesn't translate. We think I just need to see it to believe it. And that's where you come in."

Micah relaxed once again back into his seat. After a split second, he leant forward to grab his drink. The waiter was coming by, and he asked for seconds before he ever finished his first. "Give me a minute," he said.

"Take your time," James said.

"Oh my God, you're considering it," Benny breathed.

Micah wound his fist back again, to which Benny cried, "Uncle! Uncle!"

Micah was done with his first drink before the second arrived. After taking another sip, it was decided. "It has to happen now or else it'll be a 'no' any other day," he said.

"Wait, what," Benny said.

"A-Are you really sober enough now to be making that decision...?" James whispered.

"And we do it at my place," Micah said. "It's better if it happens somewhere you guys can leave and not feel trapped. And also, you can decompress on the walk back, so—"

"Oh, you really thought about it," Benny said, eyes wide in amazement. He straightened a little, more alert. "I'm not exactly prepared... I didn't think the talk would go this well."

Micah's jaw nearly dropped. "You didn't—! You were gonna risk me saying no?!"

Benny put his hands out, still shellshocked. "I-I guess! I figured we'd recover from the ask pretty quickly."

"You—!"

"Is it okay if we make a pitstop then before we go to your place?" James asked, surprisingly calm for someone who'd just gotten the a-okay for a threesome.

Micah shrugged. "Sure."

Micah didn't expect dinner to go all that smoothly, but James was a compartmentalizer, which made conversation a bit more tolerable. Benny, on the other hand, was beside himself thinking about what was to come, giggling, and then apologizing and schooling his expression like he hadn't just visualized Micah fucking his brains out.

Micah glared at him every time. When the check came, Micah said, dryly, "This dinner's on you guys."

"Totally fair," James said.

"Best wedding present ever," Benny agreed.

James snickered a little as he tucked his credit card into the book and passed it back to the waiter.

Benny started giggling again, leaning toward Micah this time. Micah threw an arm around his neck just to wrestle him into a headlock. Only after escaping did Micah stand, saying, "I'll be right back."

"Okay," James said.

"Wait, are you gonna ghost us? That's so foul!" Benny cried.

"I'm not gonna fucking ghost you," Micah said, "I'm just going to the bathroom."

"Dine and dash!"

Micah hissed, cursing, because now patrons were looking. "James literally gave the waiter the credit card! You can't just say things like that."

Benny puffed out his cheeks like a child preparing to hold their breath until they fainted.

Micah escaped to the bathroom, put his back to the door, and exhaled. The world was fuzzy on the edges, excitement sweeping up like a tide.

He hadn't thought about sleeping with Benny since the Freshmen Year Threesome with Kennedy, but four years had happened since then. They were graduated, they were legally allowed to drink, and Micah was allegedly, casually, ambiguously committed to Benny's older brother.

Micah nearly dropped his phone in his haste to fetch it and find Alistair's contact. Once upon a time, he might have rang Kennedy first, but evidently, Kennedy already knew this was happening. Benny was probably texting her right now anyway.

Alistair answered on the second ring. "Hey. I'm just leaving the gym."

"It's happening," Micah said on an exhale. He laughed, evilly, and put a hand to his forehead. He paced away from the door. "Holy shit. I'm taking them to my place."

There was a rustle on the other end of the line. He knew he had Alistair's full attention as he continued: "I know you said it was fine, but I feel an obligatory check-in is in order."

"It is. And I'm still fine with it. How the fuck did you go from a negotiation dinner to fucking?"

"I think I'd decline if I slept on the offer, or agreed now but pushed it to a different date," Micah admitted. He shut his eyes. "And that isn't to say I'll regret it. I won't regret it."

"Where are you now?"

"In the restaurant bathroom. Has Benny still not talked to you about this?"

"No," Alistair confessed. "Should he?"

It was weird, definitely. Benny and Kennedy fully believed Micah and Alistair to be dating and by their logic of exclusivity... Alistair deserved to know Micah was fucking Benny. A part of Micah wondered if Benny was up to something nefarious, like teaching Micah a lesson about communication in relationships, or something equally as infuriating.

"Goddammit it," Micah sighed, kicking one of the stalls. "Bye."

"Wait, call me af—"

Micah hung up, circled back, and returned to the table with a vengeance this time. Benny and James straightened as if they hadn't been staring intently at Benny's phone between them. Benny hid the screen from Micah.

Micah stood before the table, hands on his hips. The check had returned, and he slapped it open to confirm James' card was gone. "Why didn't you tell Alistair about this," Micah said.

Benny's shock transformed into a full-fledged grin. "Oh, it's so over. Healthy communication?! You're so dating my brother—!"

Micah couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Did you make up the whole threesome plot to confirm that, or did you just—"

"Oh, no, the ask is very real," Benny assured, his ear-to-ear grin insulting at best, humiliating at worst. "So are you guys, like, in love or something?"

"Is Alistair okay with it?" James asked.

Benny gasped, pointed at him, and said, "Oh, right! Asking the real questions I see."

James beamed down at him until Micah snapped his fingers. The two of them were all ears and wide eyes. "We're leaving."

"Wait—"

"I take it that's a ye—oh!" Benny dragged James out of the booth and after Micah across the dining room.

"Can I hold your hand?" Benny asked out on the sidewalk.

"No," Micah said.

"How do you expect me to be comfortable if you won't even hold my hand?"

Micah glared at him. "We've been friends for nearly five years, Benny. What part of a five year friendship equates to not feeling comfortable."

"It's called foreplay."

"Holding hands is not foreplay because if it was, I'd do it. You know I don't hold hands."

"Yeesh, you weren't kidding," James whispered when Benny fell back to his side. Micah glared at them over his shoulder. James winced. "Sorry. I guess I never really believed Benny when he said you were aromantic."

"Aro-what now?" Micah said, pausing at the intersection to level Benny with a glare. And then, when Benny stammered and stumbled over every letter of the alphabet, Micah looked to James, "You gotta learn to start believing people at their words, man. What the hell is 'aromantic'?"

Benny stood beside him, arms crossed, and sighed. "It's not a bad thing. I always thought Alistair was aromantic so it makes sense that you would be, too."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"It's a sexuality, kind of," James said from Micah's other side. The walk sign blinked on, and the proceeded to cross. "People who have an aversion to romance, that sort of thing. It kind of goes beyond preferences, which is why it's on the asexual spectrum."

"I love sex. That kind of defeats the whole 'asexual' thing."

"I said, 'spectrum'."

"So now I'm on the spectrum. Awesome. Glad to know you guys have been theorizing about this for—"

James tried to say, "That—! That's not what I meant—"

Benny circled around to ensnare James in his arms, laughing as he said, "He's being sarcastic. He knows what you mean."

"I know what aro is," Micah confessed, to which Benny cried, "Aw! You were being facetious with me too?!" Micah rolled his eyes. "I just don't care for labels of any kind."

"They should do a study on you," James said.

"They are, and by 'they' I mean 'you' because you gotta be taking notes when Micah does me," Benny said, arm around James' shoulders.

"I—! I won't be taking notes," James said.

"Take a video then?" Micah suggested.

Both of their heads snapped in his direction. It took a second for Benny to find his voice. "Y-You'd let us do that?"

"Just... don't share it with Kennedy. I don't think I'd survive that," Micah confessed.

"Isn't she a fujoshi?" James said.

Benny gasped. "You're right. We could give her the recording for her birthday."

"This might actually kill me," Micah said.