𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐓𝐒 η jorbyn

tres

they waited on the stairs for corbyn to arrive. when the front door bell rang, jonah stood up immediately, then sat back down again. tatum sighed, brushing her hair back from her face. "go ahead. it doesn't matter." but then, as he stood up again, she held up a hand and said, "wait."

"i don't have to," jonah said. tate nodded, took a deep breath, then stood.

"i think he needs to see me first."

she opened the door, standing there for a moment, looking through the screen. the door was in the way, so jonah couldn't see corbyn 's face, but he could see tate smile, then laugh, and push the door open for him. "come on," she said, making a little bring-it gesture with her fingers. from her it wasn't anything close to intimidating, but jonah didn't figure she meant it to be.

"tate," corbyn said, his voice hushed. she hugged him there behind the door for a long time, but jonah stayed on the stairs. he told himself he wasn't hiding, but it was a fucking lie, because whatever was going to happen next it was going to change things completely for all of them. jonah knew he was just as terrified as corbyn had sounded on the phone.

"i don't really have much to say," she said, "but you know i love jonah, and i love you too, you big jerk." she stepped backwards into view, holding corbyn's hand and pulling him into the foyer. "and it sounds like, from what jonah's been telling me, that you guys have some feelings for each other."

corbyn looked completely lost. "i..."

"yeah," said jonah. he was too far away to touch corbyn, but he hung onto his gaze until corbyn looked away. "yeah, we do. i mean, i do. that's kind of what tipped me off."

corbyn was grinning, but now he didn't seem able to make eye contact with anybody. "shit," he muttered, his face as red as his shirt, glancing between the floor and the stairs and back again.

"come on," tate said. she held out a hand to jonah, and together they walked into the living room. when tate sat on the floor, cross-legged, jonah joined her. corbyn looked like he'd rather sit across the room, but he joined them too, their knees not quite touching to form a triangle, hunching over like he'd already been hit in the stomach.

tate was watching him solemnly. "you guys thought that fooling around behind my back was okay. can you explain that?"

"not really," said corbyn. he leaned his elbows on his knees, staring imploringly at tate. "i wish i could say i thought that was all it was, for me."

"you always had feelings for jonah," she prompted. the blonde nodded, wincing.

"we're being honest, right? well, when i heard about zach and daniel, all that about bros helping bros, i wondered... if they would do that. and then jonah...um."

"he told me the whole story already," she said steadily. "go on."

corbyn still wasn't looking at him. " jonah kissed me in the bathroom. that was...well, more than i ever thought i'd get, honestly. so if we could, if he wanted to, i wasn't going to say no. but then i started to feel bad. be-because you don't deserve to be cheated on, tate."

"you're damn right, i don't." she didn't sound mad. it was more like she was talking to a little kid, the way she was being so gentle and calm. "okay. so you guys were fooling around because... because you were frustrated? because you were single, corbyn, and because i wasn't... doing stuff with you, jonah?"