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Chapter Text

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Alexander’s house in Edinburgh—or rather his mansion— was brimming with joy. Together with his partner Linus, who had moved in with him a while ago, he had invited many friends and colleagues, including Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdóttir who had come over all the way from Iceland. They all were here to celebrate the success of the duet Alexander had recorded with Sigrit a few months ago, here in his studio. “Friendship” had turned into a Europe-wide hit. It surely had helped that Sigrit’s and Lars’ band Fire Saga were known beyond Iceland because of their performance at the Euro Vision Song Contest some years ago. As for Alexander, he had been a pop star for several years now.

Pop songs blasted through the mansion, accompanied by laughter and happily chatting guests. Alexander, who was beaming with pride, just wanted to continue his chat with Sigrit, Lars and Linus and take a bottle of lemonade from one of the tables, as someone tipped a finger on his shoulder. Alexander turned around and saw Mita Xenakis, his dear friend from Greece. “Honey, there is a guy at the door who wants to speak to the host,” the pretty brunette told him.

“Oh?” He waved apologetically at Sigrit, Lars and Linus. “Sorry, darlings. Will be back in a second.”

“Sure,” his boyfriend Linus said, who had gone all goth today, wearing black—of course—along with some dark makeup, also black nail polish. But he hadn’t covered his face in white foundation.

Alexander’s style, however, had rubbed off on him a bit because the shirt he was wearing had some glittering golden ornaments. Usually, he preferred silver, as many goths. Alexander himself still had the blow-dry hairstyle which was reminiscent of some pop stars in the Eighties, like George Michael. Tonight, he was wearing a black suit with silver and golden ornamental patterns on brocade and no shirt, a signature look of his. And besides, it was quite warm on this summer evening.

Alexander went all the way down to the main entrance. Puzzled, he looked at the stranger who was standing in the rain, which had started pouring down half an hour ago. It was a handsome man in his mid-thirties, his short red-blond curls dark from the water, his wet face full of tiny freckles. The casual light blue jumper was soaking-wet, as were his jeans. But Alexander noticed how red and swollen his eyes were. As if he had been crying. And indeed, the guy looked miserable.

“I’m so sorry to bother you”, the man blurted out in a sad tone. “I don’t mean to crash your party or such. It’s just … I’ve had the most terrible day of my life: My boyfriend broke up with me tonight, my car broke down right in front of your … um, mansion and I can’t fix it. And the battery of my phone is empty, so I cannot even call a taxi or an Uber. So I wondered, may I use your phone to call a taxi?”

A rush of empathy rolled in Alexander’s mind when he heard about the breakup. He felt sorry for this man, who happened to be gay. Or maybe he was bi or pan. Acting on impulse, Alexander said, “I have other idea. You are soaking wet. I could lend you some dry clothes, while we dry yours in my dryer. Would be no problem. And as long as you have to wait, you could join party, yes? And later call taxi?”

The eyes of the man grew wide. “Oh, that’s very kind, but I don’t mean to impose myself upon you.”

“Not at all!” Alexander countered. “It would be pleasure for me. Come, come, follow me. Let us go to my wardrobe.”

They took the stairs up to Alexander’s and Linus’ bedroom and from there over to the large walk-in wardrobe which Alexander shared with his boyfriend. It showed: Roughly half of it was all black. Alexander turned to his half, which was a bit more colourful, and some of it was sparkling with silver, gold and other shining colours, in velvet and brocade. But he figured that this man would rather not feel comfortable in something extraordinary, at least not tonight, so he suggested a suit in dark purple and a black shirt. “This should fit, we have a similar build and height.”

“Thanks. Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Joe.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Alexander.”

Joe stared at him, confused. “Wait, you are not … are you Alexander Lemtov? The pop star?”

Alexander smiled. “I am.”

“Oh. I had no idea that this was your house.”

Alexander got a bit suspicious. “No problem. Unless you are a tabloid reporter or photographer?”

Joe laughed. “I assure you, I am neither. And I’ll tell nobody that you have invited me into your house.”
Alexander noticed that Joe had a beautiful, low and smooth voice. The kind you could listen to for hours on end, like some narrators of audiobooks or the hosts of podcasts. Alexander liked to listen to such media during long flights and drives, when he was touring or had other travels to do.

He realized that he stared at the guy in a bit of a dreamy way, lost in thoughts. Alexander cleared his throat. “Very good. You can change here or in bathroom, it’s next door. There is also washing machine and dryer. Let me know when you changed, then I’ll start the dryer.”

“Okay.”

After they had dealt with all of that, Alexander gave Joe an approving glance. “Purple suits you.”

To his delight, Joe blushed a bit. “Thanks.”

“Come, come, let me introduce you to some friends. And my boyfriend.”

Joe followed him downstairs, and soon they were surrounded by Alexander’s guests.

“These are Sigrit and her partner Lars, from Iceland. Maybe you have heard of Fire Saga?”

“Yes. Hi, nice to meet you.”

Sigrit and Lars greeted Joe with some friendly words. As did Mita and Linus, along with a couple of other guests. Sigrit had braided her blond hair for the party, which reminded Alexander of that time he had done it while she was sleeping in his bed. Tonight, she was wearing a shiny signal red dress with some lovely ornaments, while Lars, whose long dark blond hair was a bit tousled, sported a dark blue suit that seemed a bit too tight for him.

“Please, have a drink,” Alexander suggested.

Joe looked at the table, on which several bottles had been placed, along with a large bowl with a fruity punch and glasses. He took a glass of the punch.

Linus asked, “From where do you know Alexander?”

Joe told him what Alexander already knew and ended with, “I’m sorry to be a party crasher.”

But Linus gave him a sympathetic smile, as Alexander noticed. “No need to worry, man. Maybe
our party will make up a bit for the shitty evening you’ve had so far.”

Joe, who seemed a bit less miserable by now, replied, “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

Alexander wanted to chat a bit more with their unexpected guest. A common small talk question came to his mind. “What do you make for living? Your job?”

“I’m a teacher of music and English.”

Linus, who had taken some finger food from a platter, turned to Joe. “Oh, that’s interesting. Where do you teach?”

“At Gracemount High School.”

Alexander said, “Very interesting indeed. Maybe you have heard about the school Linus and I have founded, Music For All. It’s free for talented kids whose parents cannot afford music or singing lessons. I mean beyond regular music education at school. We set it up in the East Wing of this building. We have rooms there for group courses and for one-on-one lessons.”

Joe smiled appreciatively. “Yes, I remember reading about that online. What a splendid idea.”

Linus looked at Joe for a moment as if he were thinking about something. Then he said, “Actually, we are currently looking for more volunteers to teach. I do a bit, piano and synthesizer lessons, and we have three other volunteers, but there is room for more. If that were something you’d consider? Maybe two or three hours a week?”

Alexander now smiled as well, he was pleased about Linus’ idea. “What instruments do you play?” he wanted to know.

“Guitar and violin. My mother used to play the violin with friends at a pub, Scottish folk and such. She taught me a lot. She had to quit when her arthritis became too bad.”

Alexander nodded. “Perfect. I mean, not your mother’s arthritis. Sorry about that. What I mean, several kids have been asking about guitar lessons. Also, violin. But no pressure. Please just think about it.”

Joe seemed to warm to this idea. “Yes, I will. How can I contact you?”

“A moment, please.” Alexander left the two of them for a quick walk over to the entrance area. On a side table, there was a box holding several flyers and calling cards, mostly of Linus’ goth band Seekers of Midnight, Alexander’s own internet presences and the website of Music For All, along with some about projects of their friends.

When he returned with a flyer, he noticed that Linus smiled at Joe in a way as if he really liked the guy, though they had just met. If Joe really decided to join as a volunteer teacher at their school, it would surely help if the two, no the three of them, got along well.

“Here is flyer of the school. There is also our contact e-mail address on it.”

Joe thanked him.

New guests arrived and Alexander excused himself to say hello to them.

“Kevin Swain! Welcome! So lovely to see you again. And hello, Matt. Kevin told me so much about you.”

Kevin was dressed in black, as always, with an elegant turtle-neck jumper. His new boyfriend Matt seemed to prefer the opposite, sporting shining pastels and some golden jewellery. He blushed a bit and replied: “I hope only positive things?”

“Of course,” Alexander assured him with a bright smile.

When he closed the door behind the two men, Alexander noticed a glaring flash on the horizon, followed by the low growl of thunder. A summer thunderstorm … he didn’t think more about this until twenty minutes later, when suddenly the lights went out and the loud pop music stopped.

In the sudden silence and the dark, he heard nervous laughter, moans and annoyed voices. Kevin called out, “Hey, who turned off the lights?”, but this surely was meant as a joke.

With the training he had got as an opera singer, Alexander had no trouble to raise his voice to be heard far and wide. “Listen, everyone! I am sorry about the power blackout, must be because of thunderstorm. I’ll see what we can do. I look for candles.”

Fifteen minutes later, several candles lit the party hall, which gave the place a cosy feeling. From outside, more thunder strikes could be heard.

There was still no electricity working, which was truly annoying. But Alexander had the best guests in the world. Sigrit and Lars took turns telling a funny anecdote from their hometown Húsavík, when they had a long power blackout in the middle of winter and the inhabitants had come up with all sorts of funny and weird ideas to work around this mess. This story was quite amusing and several guests who were listening, including Joe, laughed.

Kevin Swain had his own story to share about an ill-fated performance by one of the artists he had worked for. When the anecdotes about power blackouts dried up, suddenly another guest started to clap their hands. Without hesitation, others joined this.

“What’s this about?” Joe asked Alexander with a confused look, as another flash lit the room for a second.

“Oh, you will like this”, Alexander answered gleefully, leading Joe into the middle of the room, where several of his guests were already gathering, still clapping along. Linus followed them.

This time, it was none other than Sigrit who started singing Gloria Gaynor’s “I will Survive”. Lars soon joined her in the second verse, then Mita.

Alexander followed with his bariton, now blending a second song, “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child, into the first one, when more and more singers joined. As they had no instruments or tracks to accompany them, they all did a sort of a-capella.

Joe’s confused look gave way to a happy smile. Oh yes, he really seemed to like this, as Alexander had predicted. And what was not to be liked in a song-along? Linus was not much of a singer, but he now did a sort of background vocal to the chorus and Alexander smiled at his boyfriend.

Another guest then started weaving “Mr Brightside” by The Killers into “Survivor” and the others improvised some more a cappella voices for that.

The song-along continued, loud enough to drown out the thunder outside. What a night, Alexander thought, full of joy.

Later, him and Sigrit gave an acoustic rendition of their hit “Friendship” for their friends and guests, accompanied only by Lars, who was playing the guitar. This was rather lovely, in the dimly lit room full of candles. It reminded Alexander of some MTV Unplugged concerts he had watched on television. Their performance was met with enthusiastic cheers and happy applause. Instead of creating a romantic duet about love, as so many artists had done before them, Alexander had written a song about friendship, reminiscent of the friendship he had formed with Sigrit, Mita as well as other singers and musicians. He had been inspired to do this after listening to the same called song from an old television show called “The Heights” from the Nineties. Sigrit’s and his song had gone viral pretty quickly, with millions of streams on YouTube, Spotify and elsewhere.

Despite the power blackout, Alexander truly enjoyed this party. He was beaming with joy so much at his guests, and his boyfriend, that the muscles in his face started to hurt a bit.

Some time later, electricity was working again and music blasted once more through the loudspeakers, while the lights went back on. But Alexander turned them off because he rather liked the soft glow of all those candles.

Around 2 AM, the first guests said their goodbyes and left. Others followed some time later, while Mita, Kevin and his boyfriend, as well as Lars and Sigrit, thanked Alexander and Linus for the lovely party. They all headed for the guest rooms on the second floor.

As Alexander turned the lights back on and started blowing out the candles together with Linus, Joe came over to them and explained, “I have a bit of a problem. I checked, I do not have enough cash for a taxi. And I forgot my credit card at home. Also, the next bus stop near where I live—I mean, the night bus— it’s a thirty minutes walk from there. And I don’t feel so comfortable with that, not in the middle of the night.”

Alexander thought about this for a moment. “How about you stay the night? Our guest rooms are taken, but you could sleep on the couch in our living room. If you don’t mind? And then have breakfast with us in the morning. Or rather, a bit later.”

“But …,” Joe started.

“I have trust in you,” Alexander continued. “Tomorrow, you can take bus, right? Or I can lend you money for taxi. No problem.”

Joe seemed a bit embarrassed. “Thanks. I … um … I’ll take the bus tomorrow. But are you sure? About me staying the night? I mean, we barely know each other.”

Linus smiled. “Don’t worry about it, it’s really no big deal. We have guests who stay the night quite frequently.” He laughed. “And besides, you told us at which school you teach. If you cause us any trouble, we would know where to find you.”

Joe seemed even more embarrassed now. “You have a point there.” Slowly, a soft smile crept into his face. “Alright, thanks, I accept. And I promise, I won’t cause any trouble. I mean, not more than I already have.”

Alexander chuckled. “No trouble at all. Come, I’ll show you the living room. And I take care of the dryer, give you your clothes.”

Fifteen minutes later, all was settled. Joe had changed into his clothes again, which were now dry, and had made a makeshift bed of the large couch in the living room, with several cushions and a blanket.

Alexander had said goodnight to the last guests and prepared himself for the night. As it was summer, he just left on his briefs, while Linus preferred to sleep in black satin pyjamas. Linus had taken off the goth makeup, along with the faux eyelashes, and yawned. “Man, I’m pretty knackered. After all, I’m not twenty any more.”

Alexander laughed softly. “No activities in the bed then?”

“Haha. The only activity I wanna do now is to kiss you goodnight and sleep.”

Alexander smiled. “Fine with me.” He leaned forward and kissed his boyfriend. They cuddled for a moment, and it didn’t take long until Alexander fell asleep.

*

The next morning turned into noon. As it was a Sunday, it was a day off for Alexander’s staff. Bohdan and Anzhelika, who were both Ukrainian, had served food and drinks at the party, together with two ladies from the catering service. But the cleaning would have to wait until Monday.

As Alexander’s stay-over guests emerged from the respective rooms on the first floor, or after a shower in the guest bathroom, they all met in the kitchen. Despite the party, its white and metal surfaces were polished and gleamed in the warm summer sun that shone through the windows. Next to the kitchen area stood the large dining table, which was suitable for ten people. Perfect for a small party like they had today.

Linus, Mita and Alexander prepared breakfast, or rather brunch, in the kitchen: scrambled eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice, toast with several options for spreads and cold cut, coffee, and tea.

Kevin’s boyfriend Matt insisted on making some pancakes, and Lars offered to help him.

Joe came from the living room and joined them. He looked tired, and his smile was yet content as he said, “Good morning.”

The others greeted him and a few minutes later, they all gathered at the table, Mita and Sigrit chatting a bit about Greek and Icelandic folklore, Lars and Kevin piling steaming pancakes on a large plate, while Linus was going around with the coffee pot, pouring it into the colourful cups and in his own, a black one with a bat and the line, “I work the graveyard shift”.

For some time, they all chatted with each other, filling the room with laughter and happy voices. As Joe asked about it, Alexander and Linus told him a bit more about the Music For All School.

Later, Kevin admitted with a sheepish smile that he had a bit of a hangover. “Not the first, and not the last, I guess,” he said with a laugh.

Sigrit and Lars had arrived in Edinburgh two days ago and had left their son Ármann in the care of Lars’ dad and his stepmum. They would leave in the early afternoon, there was a direct flight from Edinburgh to Reykjavík. From there, it was a six-hour drive by car over to Húsavík, in the northeast of Iceland, as Lars now explained.

“Some day, I am visiting you there, in Húsavík,” Alexander promised. “Must be lovely town, yes?”

Sigrit beamed at him. “Oh yes, please, come and visit us.” She turned to Linus. “You are welcome too, of course.”

Linus returned her smile. “Never been to Iceland so far, but it’s definitely on my bucket list.”

Lars nodded. “Very well! I’ll show you around our town. Also the pub, where we started our career with Fire Saga.”

They sat together for some more time, but then Kevin, Matt and Mita had to leave, all of them were heading to London. Mita had an interview scheduled for Monday, at a hotel, and a meeting with her London fan club later. Kevin had a meeting with a musician and her band, they were planning a music video that he was going to direct.

Alexander kissed Kevin and Mita on the cheeks as he said goodbye to them in the entrance hall, where he stood next to Linus.

“This really was a party to remember, sweetheart,” Mita said amicably. “You need to come to Athens sometime. We could hit the local nightlife again, yes?”

He grinned. “Iceland and Greece, I put them on my travelling wish list, honey.”

“Very good.” And with that, she left, with Kevin and his boyfriend.

Joe came into the entrance hall. “I should go, too,” he said. “Thank you, for everything. I need to take care of my car, call someone to take it to a garage. I guess it needs a repair.”

Alexander nodded. “Of course. And you have our flyer, yes?”

Joe smiled. “Yes. I’ll definitely think about your proposal.”

Alexander wanted to spontaneously hug him, but he stopped himself. After all, they didn’t know each other that well. Instead, he just smiled at the guy with the many freckles in his face.

*

One week later, an e-mail by Joe arrived for the Music For All school. Linus, who was wearing one of his beloved black-and-white band shirts, showed it to Alexander. They were managing the school together, in a team with two volunteers and there were also three more volunteers working as teachers.

Joe had written in the e-mail that he wanted to volunteer, teaching guitar or violin lessons. I can start in one or two weeks, if you wish. You mentioned that you also offer summer courses, right? Can I maybe come over to your house and we discuss the details? It would be easier than writing back and forth, I guess. We could also talk on the phone or a video call, but I’d also love to see the schoolrooms and get a feeling for the place.

Alexander held out his hand to Linus and grinned. His boyfriend gave him a high-five.

After that, Alexander wrote a reply to Joe, inviting him. Because it was easier, they agreed to find a date to meet in a phone call. Alexander had two phones: One for all business matters and another private one for his closest circle of friends and Linus. He gave Joe the number for business matters.

They settled for a meet-up the following Wednesday evening, also for dinner.

*

When they met at Alexander’s place, Joe looked a lot better, not as miserable as when they first encountered. His red-blond curls glistened in the sunlight outside the entrance, and he wore a band shirt of Metallica, along with dark blue chinos.

Linus laughed and pointed at his own shirt, a band shirt of The Cure. “Seems we have a sort of partner look today.”

Joe chuckled and slipped into the entrance hall.

Alexander and Linus had prepared dinner together, a self-made pizza with all sorts of vegetables and three different types of cheese. It was already in the oven and a nice smell was wafting through the kitchen.

Alexander had set the dining table and asked Joe what he wanted to drink.

“I have to drive,” their acquaintance replied. “Do you have lemonade, or juice?”

“Sure.”

When they all had their drinks—Alexander and Linus had chosen an alcohol-free red wine—the pizza was ready to be served. As they ate and drank, they talked about Joe’s planned volunteer work for the music school.

“Of course you get contract from us, to be on safe side,” Alexander explained.

Joe nodded. “Very good, I wanted to ask about that.”

It turned out that Joe had time each week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in the evening. So he would be able to come twice-weekly for lessons.

They discussed more details, also about the kids who were coming to school.

“Some of them are the children of refugees. So it’s best if you could also teach them a bit of English on the side,” Linus explained.

“That’s absolutely no problem,” Joe agreed. “I’ll weave it into the music lessons.”

After dinner, Alexander and Linus showed him the rooms of the school. They had put up isolating materials on the walls so that the sound would not travel all from the East Wing into the main building.

In the largest classroom, which was used for group lessons, some instruments were kept, among them synthesizers, a percussion section and guitars.

“Hey, how about I show you a bit how I play the guitar? Care for a little jam session?” Joe suggested. He smiled at Alexander. “I recently learned the guitar track of your Lion of Love. It’s not too darn bad, isn’t it?”

“Oh …,” For a moment, Alexander didn’t know how to respond. What a lovely surprise. Before he could say anything, Linus offered, “Do you have the score for that at hand? I could play the synthesizers.”

Alexander felt a bit touched by this because as much as they loved each other, Linus wasn’t a big fan of pop music, he preferred the goth genres. A warm glow bloomed in his chest and he looked at his boyfriend appreciatively. “Yes, I be back in a bit,” he then said and went up into his study, to get a folder with several scores from his songs.

A few minutes later, he came back. Linus studied the score for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, let’s try this.”

The song started with Alexander singing, then Joe followed, playing the guitar. Alexander quickly noticed how well Joe did it. He surely knew what he was doing, there was no lapse in the rhythm and his way of playing was flawless. Soon, Linus chimed in with the synthesizers. Ideally, they would have also needed some percussions, but for this impromptu session, it was enough.

As Alexander sang, watching Linus and Joe making music in such a lovely way, it felt as if a switch was pulled in his mind. Joe was a talented musician, so much for sure. And there was a glow in his face as he lost himself in the music, or so it seemed. Suddenly, Alexander felt the urge in his heart to become a friend of this handsome man. This thought jolted through him, he almost forgot his next line.

As the song ended moments after that, he smiled at both men. “This was lovely.”

“Yes. Hey, how about another song?” Linus proposed. He looked at Joe. “Do you know Friday I’m in Love by The Cure? I think it’s one of their best known songs. My band and me, Seekers of Midnight, we often use it as a warm-up.”

Joe smiled, he seemed pleased. “Yes, I can play that.”

Alexander was familiar with the song too. “I can sing again. I need to look up some of the lyrics online. But wait a moment.”

He took a look around where the instruments were stored and came back with a tambourine so that they would have a bit of a rhythm instrument.

After that, he looked up the lyrics on his smartphone, holding the device in front of him.

“Friday I’m in Love” was not your typical goth song, it was too up-beat for that. Rather a feel-good song, in Alexander’s eyes. He very much enjoyed singing it, while tapping the tambourine against his leg with his free hand. But he dared not to look at Joe when singing “I’m in love”. Instead, he focussed on Linus whose fingers dashed over the synthesizers again.

Joe smiled at them both, as the song ended, “That was fun.”

Chapter Text

Over the course of the following weeks, Joe met the other volunteers of the school and settled into his own voluntary work. Alexander insisted for Joe to at least join him and Linus once a week for dinner, after his music classes. Joe agreed with pleasure. Alexander wanted to get to know him better, and Linus was fine with that.

Alexander suspected that Linus liked Joe, but he wasn’t jealous. His boyfriend gave him no reason to do so. And even if Linus really liked the music teacher, what if? Joe was a very likeable guy in Alexander’s eye. And from what he heard of some parents, the kids from the music school got along very well with their new teacher.

One evening, as they were eating a spicy salad and garlic bread for dinner, Joe mentioned that he had learned a bit at uni about writing and composing songs. “I still dabble with that in my spare time.” Alexander was thrilled to hear this, and it lead all three of them to a longer conversation, in which they discussed the ins and out of composing and writing lyrics.
Alexander asked Joe to show him some of his songs and his guest agreed. After that, their conversation changed to other subjects.

Joe told them, “Yesterday, I looked at your Instagram profile, Alexander. I was a bit shocked, to be honest.”

Alexander had an idea where Joe was heading with this. “You mean trolls and haters? I get that a lot these days. Many comments in Russian, from homophobes.” He sighed and explained, “Facebook and Instagram are forbidden in Russia, I think since … um, 2022? But some people found way to work around this, I guess. With … what is name? VPN, I think. Or they left the country but have taken their homophobic views with them. But they not the only ones, I get insults also in English. And maybe other languages, but I am not sure.”

“That’s awful.”

Alexander frowned. “Yes. I believe any openly queer music star gets share of such hate. I have social media assistant, Laura. She started working for me this spring. I would not know what to do without her.”

“Ah, so you don’t look at Instagram yourself. Does she post for you? And blocks the trolls, deletes their comments?”

“Exactly. She works remotely, from home, also for another musician. I send her photos and videos. She puts online, writes captions and hashtags, also checks comments. “

“I am glad you have some help with that,” Joe said. “Social media can be such a dumpster fire. Oh, by the way, I now follow your band there, Linus.”

Linus smiled at him. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

Some time later, Alexander dared to ask Joe about his ex-boyfriend.

Joe sighed and picked up a piece of tomato with his fork. “There is not much to tell really. Ronny fell in love with another guy. He had met him at the Rainbow Sweethearts .”

“Oh, Alexander and I met there too,” Linus interjected.

“I like that queer bar,” Joe said. “But I don’t want to know how many hearts have been broken there. I was even considering to write a song about that.”

“Oh, darling, I am so sorry,” Alexander said, without much thinking about his choice of words, patting Joe’s arm for a moment.

Joe shot a surprised glance at him. “It’s been a while since I have been called darling by a man …”

Linus chuckled. “Alexander calls a lot of men—and women— darling , don’t think too much about it.”

“Is this some kind of queer showbiz thing?” Joe wanted to know.

Alexander blushed a bit. “Yes, you’re right. Sorry.”

Joe waved that off. “No worries. Anyhow, Ronny and that other guy. I suggested to Ronny we could try an open relationship. Or polyamory.”

“You would be open to that, in a relationship?” Linus wanted to know.

“Well, let’s put it this way, I would have given it a try. I have some friends who are quite happy with polyamory. It’s working well for them. But I don’t have personal experience with it.”

“I know open relationships,” Alexander said. “But what is polyamory?”

Joe took a gulp of his drink, before explaining, “It’s when people have more than one romantic and/or sexual relationship, intentionally. Without cheating, all parties give their explicit consent to this. Often, polyam people are enthusiastically happy for their partners, when these have other relationships as well. That’s called compersion. I could talk longer about this. I heard quite a bit about it from my friends, and also read a non-fiction guide about it. But these are the basics.”

Alexander thought about this and felt as if suddenly seeing a new horizon he had never noticed before. Since his years as a young adult, he had basically flirted with anyone he met and liked. Not much in Russia, as it was dangerous for queers. But later abroad, on his travels. However, not in his wildest dream had he ever thought that there were actually people who consensually had more than one relationship at the same time. Surely, he had heard about some love triangles, but often this had seemed like a temporary arrangement that later fell apart as one of the partners left, or chose one over the other. And in stories—novels, films or shows—love triangles mostly were a recipe for imminent disaster and never ended with a happy ending for all three. Alexander realized he had been lost in thought. “I see,” he now said to Joe. “Fascinating. Thanks for explanation. Did you know about this, Linus?”

“Yes, I heard about it. But like Joe, I have no personal experience with it.”

“Well, to make the story short, Ronny and his new boyfriend didn’t want to try polyamory. So Ronny left me. But it’s alright. Our relationship had been already in shambles before he fell in love with that other man. Ronny and me … we are very different, and we wanted different things in life.”

“That sucks,” Linus said.

Joe shook his head. “It’s better for both of us, I guess. To have split up. I hope he will be happier with his new partner.”

“If you say so,” Linus ran a hand through his black dyed hair and lifted his glass. “To our ex-boyfriends and to love.”

Alexander chuckled and raised his glass too, as did Joe. None of them had alcohol, but it didn’t matter. They toasted, looking each other into the eyes and then continued with their meal.

Later in the evening, when Joe had left, and they were preparing for the night, Alexander thought again about what Joe had told them about polyamory. He wanted to speak with Linus about this, but didn’t know how to start. Maybe it would be better to research the topic for a while? Surely, there would be something on the internet about it …

Chapter Text

In the middle of August, there was a small indie music festival near Edinburgh which would run over a whole weekend. It featured local bands from all over Scotland, with several genres, mostly rock, folk and punk, but also some others. Linus and his goth band Seekers of Midnight had landed a gig there. Alexander had been to a few concerts of his partner’s band, but he was eager to see them also at this festival.

Linus came up with the idea of inviting Joe. “You could meet here, drive with him to the festival and then later we could all come back here,” he suggested to Alexander. “I need to be at the venue early on Saturday, so I’ll drive with the other guys from the band.”

Alexander warmed to the idea. “That is splendid idea. I’ll ask him right away.”

Joe seemed a bit surprised when Alexander texted him. That’s a nice idea. I know that festival, I have been there a few times. But I have no car on that weekend, a friend asked me to lend it to her.

No problem, Alexander wrote back. Take the bus here, yes? I drive with you to festival. The concert is at 5 PM. Linus has to be there earlier, so he drives there with band. Afterward, you can sleep at our house, if you like. And then on Sunday, I drive you home.

It took some time until Joe finally answered. Yes, sure. Thanks.

*

The first day of the festival, Saturday, was very hot and dry. Instead of dressing up to the nines, as he liked to do, Alexander simply wore khaki cargo pants, comfortable sneakers and a black tank top, hiding his eyes behind sunglasses and a black cap. He had also put on a lot of sunscreen.

Joe had put on yet another band shirt, this time by Green Day.

Together, they walked over the dusty parking space in front of the venue, which was basically a large field. After waiting for a while in the small queue in front of the entrance to get a ticket, Alexander looked around. Two stages had been built here, and several large tents scattered the area, with merchandising and catering. In the back, there were rows with porta-pottis and beyond that, another field, for camping. Plenty of people had already put up their tents over there, and the whole venue was already full of festival goers.

It was out of question for Alexander to camp here, though he would have loved to. But after all, he was a pop star and could be too easily recognized. He risked that already, as he would be standing in the crowd in front of the stage.

Just as he was thinking about this, a man stopped right in front of them, staring at Alexander.

He knew that kind of stare. At first, the disbelief. Then, the recognition. But he also noticed something else. The guy was wearing a wristband with the pride rainbow stripes. Alexander smiled at him brightly, and the man finally spoke. “Sorry, but aren’t you Alexander Lemtov?”

“Yes. But don’t tell anyone, yes? I am here as a guest. Like you.”

“Can I take a selfie with you?”

Alexander nodded. “Sure.”

The man beamed at him. Alexander did him the favour and took off his sunglasses, just for the photo. His fan seemed over the moon with joy about the selfie and thanked him. Alexander felt happiness glowing inside. It was always a pleasure for him to meet fans. “Take care. And enjoy festival.”

“Thanks, you too.” the man said and left.

Joe had watched the whole exchange silently. “That was nice.”

“I am always happy to meet fans,” Alexander said. “But let’s go over to the stage, yes? We can watch the band before Seekers of Midnight .”

Joe nodded, and they made their way through the crowd.

The punk rock band that was currently playing on one of the two stages seemed to have many fans, there were people dancing in the audience, lots of cheers could be heard and Alexander enjoyed the gleeful atmosphere. This was a thing he loved about live music: Though it was a fleeting form of art, it brought people from all walks of life together, in one shared moment of joy, for an hour or more.

He smiled a Joe, who seemed to enjoy all of this as well.

At 5 PM, Seekers of Midnight took the stage. Linus wore a patchwork-like black shirt with some deliberate holes in it, and he had put on the full goth make-up he liked to wear on such occasions, with white foundation that let his face glow like a ghost. He stood behind the synthesizers. His bandmates had also dressed up in black with a bit of white and silver. Their singer, Shelley, had dyed her hair red as fire. She introduced the band and was met with applause. Then the band started their first song, which was rather melancholic and a bit dreamy.

Since Alexander was together with Linus, he had learned quite a bit about goth music. Though it wasn’t his favourite type of music, there were some subgenres he really liked, especially Dark Wave. Seekers of Midnight were inspired by this as well, mixing it with EBM.

Alexander had only eyes for Linus, but Joe and him hadn’t managed to get into the front row, so while Linus looked into the audience now and then, he couldn’t see them, Alexander figured. He didn’t mind, the concert was lovely.

While the venue did have a back-stage area, Linus had told Alexander beforehand that there would be no time and space to celebrate there after the concert because the next band needed to prepare their gig.

So instead, after the concert, they all met in an area near one of the catering tents which wasn’t so crowded. Linus’ bandmates had a drink and Alexander introduced them to Joe. He also congratulated them for the successful gig and said, “Shelley, you have lovely voice. Did you have any kind of training?”

She smiled. “Not in the beginning, I started singing when I was fifteen. But I had some singing lessons a while ago. Very helpful. Linus told me you had a formal training?”

“Yes, at Moscow Conservatory. Opera performance.”

“Wow. But it shows. I listened to some of your songs.”

This surprised him. “Oh, I thought, you listen to goth music, mostly?”

She laughed. “Not only that. I like several genres. I have a particular weakness for P!nk.”

He chuckled. “I can understand. She is brilliant. And her concert shows are spectacular.”

They chatted a bit more. The guitar player of the band discussed some details about guitars with Joe, while Shelley and Alexander talked about singing. Linus and the Seekers ’ drummer, Aaron, gathered another round of drinks for them all.

Later, they said goodbye to the other band members.

“Do you want to listen to another band?” Alexander asked Joe and Linus.

“Sure, why not? How about the one on stage 2, it’s a rock band from Aberdeen. I heard they are pretty decent,” Joe suggested.

Alexander and Linus agreed.

Joe was right, the concert was good and also well-received by the audience.

It was quite late when the three of them finally arrived at the mansion in Ravelston. But Alexander still felt giddy with joy. “Such lovely festival. And your concert was so nice, Linus.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad.”

Alexander couldn’t get used to the often self-deprecating way and the understatement of the Brits, but at least he now knew about it. He laughed.

“Let’s have a drink in the living room,” he then suggested. “Before we go to bed?”

Linus, whose make-up by now was rather flaky, nodded. “Good idea. It has been such a hot day.”

Joe looked at him. “You look a bit like a zebra,” he teased.

“Oh, I should have known. With all the heat and sweat today. Let me fix that, it won’t take long. Alexander, pour us some drinks, please.”

“I got some alcohol-free bubbly, how about that?”

Linus made a thumb-up gesture. “Perfect.” He headed to the bathroom.

Alexander got out some glasses, opened the bottle with a loud pop and then poured the liquid.

“I wanted to ask,” Joe started, and Alexander turned to him.

“Why don’t you drink alcohol?”

Alexander shrugged. “I have given up on it some time ago. I not like what it does to my mind and body. I need to be fit. And I heard too many stories about drunken celebrities who have made fools of themselves in public. I do not want to be such a person. Linus is not keen on alcohol either, so we are on the … um, same page there.”

Joe nodded appreciatively. “That’s good. I like a beer now and then, but when I think about some excesses I had as a teen and young adult ... I’d rather not have that again.”

Alexander was pleased to hear that. “I see, we understand each other.” For a moment, he laid his hand on Joe’s arm. Right then, Linus came into the living room.

“Did I miss something?” he asked, and there was an annoyed impression on his face. It was an awkward moment, Alexander realized. He let go of Joe’s arm. And then, as he looked at the two, a sudden inspiration flashed through his mind. Now was the time. Now, or never. Maybe.

“Please, sit down with me, on the couch. Both of you, yes? I want to speak with you about something.”

They all sat down, Alexander in the middle.

Both Joe and Linus looked at him expectantly, Linus with a frown. He seemed worried.

And suddenly Alexander didn’t know how to start. So he blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. “I am so happy tonight. I am happy, because of lovely festival and because you are here with me. I want to kiss you. Both of you.”

“What are you insinuating?” Joe said with a confused look. Nervously, he ran his hand through his red-blond curls. “I would rather not be your toy, and I am not interested in becoming a friend with benefits. I am also not interested in casual sex and I certainly don’t want to be your unicorn.”

Now Linus seemed confused too. “What do you mean by unicorn?”

Joe sighed. “Sometimes couples look for a third person, for a threesome. But it’s mostly just for sex.
And this third person is then called a unicorn. And I have no interest in that.”

Alexander blushed with embarrassment. Nervously, he ran his fingers through his hair. “I am sorry, this is big misunderstanding. Linus, Joe … I have read about polyamory in last weeks. I have reputation to be very … um, flirty. It is a part of me. I have lots of passion, for music and when I meet interesting people, I just …,” he stopped, not quite sure where to go with this sentence. He gathered his thoughts and turned to Linus. “I never knew about polyamory until lately. The thing is, I love you, Linus.” Then he looked at their guest. “And I like you a lot, Joe. But I don’t know how you feel about each other. Or if you like me, Joe. I mean, more than just friend.”

Now it was Joe who blushed. So much that even some of his freckles seemed to disappear under his red skin. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Joe’s voice was soft and quiet when he finally broke the uncomfortable silence in the room. “So let’s put the cards on the table, shall we? The truth is, I like you both a lot. But I never imagined this would go beyond friendship. And my break-up was just some weeks ago, and you know how they always say not to rush into a new relationship? So I thought, this thing with us, whatever it is, it could not go anywhere.”

“This is what I thought too,” Linus now admitted. He seemed quite flustered. “I consider you a friend. And sometimes I thought, the way Alexander looks at you … I got a bit jealous, to be honest. But then on the other hand, I thought it’s just his usual habit of flirting. Like he does with almost everyone. So I didn’t read that much into it. You know, so far, I have lived very … what’s the right term? When you assume that the best type of relationship should involve two people and no more? Like society and pop culture et cetera tell us everywhere?”

“It’s called mononormativity,” Joe explained.

“Yes, that’s the word I was looking for. And so far I thought, Alexander and I would go on like this, exclusive, the two of us.”

“And what if whe changed that?” Alexander quietly asked. His heart raced, as excitement—and fear—rushed through him.

Linus hesitated. A glance to Joe, who seemed to relax a bit now. Then he looked Alexander in the eyes. “I’m not sure. But I am willing to give it a try.”

“But how is this ever going to work?” Joe demanded to know from Alexander. “I mean, you are a pop star, a public figure. What if we start a polyamorous relationship—people will find out, won’t they? It will be in the tabloids, on social media.”

“And you don’t want to be associated publicly with me?” Alexander asked. “Look, I came out as gay publicly, but I don’t talk about my love life in interviews and such.”

“But people found out, nonetheless, that we are a couple”, Linus reminded him. “Ever since that paparazzi took those photos of us kissing in front of the Rainbow Sweethearts a few months ago. I mean, I don’t mind the publicity, and neither do my bandmates. But I guess Joe has a point there.”

Alexander’s heart sank. He felt like he was fighting a losing battle. If Joe was afraid to be seen publicly with him, as his partner—or rather, as one of his partners—Alexander couldn’t guarantee that this would never happen. And he told him so. “If this is too much for you, I understand,” he sadly said. “I can only promise not to mention you in interviews or on other occasions. But I cannot keep away all the paparazzi or other curious people, I have to admit.”

Joe was no longer blushing. His face looked rather pale and he seemed tired. “I … I need to think about it all. Listen, I want to go. I can take the bus home. It’s not that late, I can walk home from the bus stop.”

Alexander felt more sadness welling up inside of him. He was so much used to having his wishes fulfilled. Oh, how spoilt I am … , he thought in Russian. But this was a matter of the heart, not of fame or fortune. And after all, he couldn’t buy happiness.

Linus and Alexander both brought Joe to the door. “Please, take your time to think about everything,” Alexander asked him.

Joe nodded. “I’ll do that. And I’ll be at the school on Tuesday evening, for the guitar group lesson.”

Alexander thanked him and he left.

After Alexander had closed the massive old wooden door, he turned to Linus. “I had no idea you liked him that much.”

“Oh, come on, you must have suspected it at least a bit—just look at the way he made me laugh and all those discussions we had about music and songwriting et cetera.”

Alexander gave him a thoughtful look. “I thought the two of you had become friends.”

“And I think we have. But then I realized there might be more to it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alexander asked

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Linus countered, looking him straight into the eyes.

Alexander sighed, then shrugged. “I was unsure. And I didn’t want to lose you.” He hugged his friend, losing himself for a moment in the gentle touch. He smelled Linus’ Patchouli perfume, which seemed bitter and sweet at once. Linus patted his back for a moment, while Alexander continued, “And now we’ll have to wait and see what he decides.”

“Aye … I’m glad he still wants to do the voluntary teaching,” Linus remarked.

“Yes, me too. He is so popular with the kids. And I think he really is good teacher.”

Alexander had watched Joe’s teaching once, and it had seemed really helpful for the teens. Joe also had a humorous approach, and the kids had laughed more than once about his jokes.

Later that evening, as they lay in bed next to each other, Linus started kissing Alexander, who still felt a bit absent-minded. He was thinking about what Joe had said to them.

But Linus’ kisses were a welcome distraction. “Let’s take these off, yes?” Alexander pointed to Linus’ satin pyjamas. Linus nodded with a soft sigh. As they started slowly making love, leaving hot enticing kisses on each other bodies, gently touching lips and warm skin, suddenly Joe’s face appeared before Alexander’s inner eye. Before thinking about it, he blurted out, “Oh, Joe …” As he realized what he had said, Alexander slapped his hand over his mouth.

Hastily, he exclaimed, “I’m so sorry.”

To his surprise, Linus grinned. “I was thinking about him too, actually. I wish he was here with us. Is that a stupid thing to say?”

“No.” Alexander caressed Linus’ face. “Not at all. I wish same thing. But who knows if he will ever …” He raised one hand, stopping his train of thought. “I don’t want to think about that now. Tonight, it is just the two of us.”

And so they made the best of it, like they had done so many times before, when Joe had not been in the picture ...

Chapter Text

On early Monday evening, as Alexander was sitting in his study, working through some paperwork, to his surprise he got a phone call by Joe. Which was odd because usually Joe only texted him. Had he already thought about the whole polyamory thing and wanted to talk about it?

Alexander’s heart started to beat faster as he answered the call, trying to keep his voice even. But his fingers trembled. “Hi, Joe. How are you?”

“Hello. I’m … Alexander, I have a problem.”

Alexander’s heart now skipped a beat because he worried about his friend. “What happened? Are you alright?”

“This morning, when I left for work, I slipped on the staircase in our house and fell down. I am now at the hospital, I broke my right arm. A neighbour drove me here. One of the doctors was able to fix it, thank God it’s not a complicated fracture. I got a cast. But I have some other injuries from the fall, so they insisted on keeping me here until tomorrow. I’m sorry, but I cannot do the voluntary teaching. I cannot hold a guitar at the moment, and certainly no violin either.”

Alexander thought about this. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll tell the parents in an e-mail that we have to cancel some lessons. And we’ll look for a replacement until you are better again.” Then he asked, “Have you got anybody at your home to help you?”

“Not really, I’m afraid. And for me as a right-handed person … gosh, I feel so helpless with my left hand. Even using the phone isn’t easy. My neighbour offered to help me, but he is very busy at his job and often has to work extra hours. My parents are dead, and my sister lives in London. And she cannot come over, not with the children and her work.”

“Yes, you mentioned your family, I remember,” Alexander said. Joe continued, “And my friends – I guess some could come over now and then, but I don’t know how to manage it all.”

Slowly, an idea formed in Alexander’s mind. “Listen, can I call you back soon? I need to check something. I’ll be quick.”

“Okay.”

Alexander ended the call and went to see Linus. His partner was in the built-in music studio in the West Wing, working on an arrangement for a new song of Seekers of Midnight.

Linus put down the headphones he was wearing, as Alexander entered the room. “Hey, what’s up?”

Alexander told him about Joe’s broken arm. “I have an idea I wanted to discuss with you first.”

Linus nodded. “Shoot.”

Five minutes later, Alexander called Joe again. “I spoke with Linus,” he explained. “Listen, darling …” He hesitated. He should stop calling Joe darling, but the word came so easy when he thought about this wonderful man. “I mean, listen, Joe, how about you live with us, until your arm has healed?” A bit anxiously, he continued, “Please, before you say no, hear me out. In the next couple of weeks, I don’t have much to do. I just want to work on new songs, in my studio. I have an appointment or two, but they are mostly here in Edinburgh. So I could help you with all the everyday stuff. I drive you to a doctor, or to work at the High School, if is necessary. Linus has already agreed. He can help you too. And if both of us are busy, you could ask Bohdan or Anzhelika. As I told you, they work for me, part-time. They do a lot of the household chores, cleaning and such, together with a colleague.”

There was silence at the other end of the line.

“Are you still there?” Alexander asked nervously.

“Aye … but I cannot, I mean, I would rather not be a burden.”

“You are not burden,” Alexander objected. “Maybe I must make clear, Linus and me, we not expect anything in return from you. We are friends, yes? Friends help each other out, if they can. If I was on tour or busy with other things, it would not be possible. But as I said, I have little work to do at the moment and in coming weeks, so I have time for you.”

“But it will take six to eight weeks until my arm is healed,” Joe interjected.

“No problem. My work schedule gets busy again in October, but before that, like I said, I have time.”

“Okay. Thank you so much. I owe you one.”

“Not anything,” Alexander insisted. They discussed further details and agreed that he would pick up Joe the next day from the hospital and drive him home. There, he would help him pack some essentials and then drive with him to the mansion.

*

Over the next couple of days, Alexander learned a thing or two about care work. Fortunately, no one at the hospital had seemed to recognize him, though he had not worn sunglasses, which would have been too conspicuous indoors.

Joe really needed a lot of help, but Alexander had expected as much. For instance, he helped him to have a bath in the large tub, without the cast around his arm getting wet. Alexander had a hard time not staring at Joe’s body on that occasion, and Joe blushed as he sat down in the warm, fragrant water.

“Look,” Alexander started. “This is not about sexy times. I am sorry. Because of staring. But you are beautiful.”

“Hey, you just said, this is not about sexy times,” Joe protested. He seemed embarrassed. “Stop with the compliments then, will you?”

Alexander chuckled, but he got serious again when he noticed that Joe clearly had an erection, which was reaching the water’s foamy surface. Joe tried to hide it under his left hand.

Now Alexander was a bit embarrassed yet also pleased, a strange mix of feelings. Maybe Joe felt attracted to him, but was not ready to admit this? In any case, Alexander would not exploit Joe’s vulnerable position. So instead of commenting on Joe’s arousal, he stood up as if he had not noticed it and said, “I’ll give you some time. When you want to get out, ring the bell, yes?”

He pointed at the small, yet really loud brass bell that he had found in the attic some time ago. He had placed it on a side table next to the tub, so that Joe would be able to reach it easily.

Joe nodded, his face red. “Yes, thanks.”

Alexander suspected it wasn’t just because of the steaming hot bath, but again, he swallowed any comment in that direction and left the bathroom.

Later, as he helped Joe dress for the night, he couldn’t help but touch him here and there. And it felt wonderful, but as before, Alexander didn’t say anything. Neither did Joe, who was set to stay in one of the guest rooms on the second floor.

*

Over the following week, Alexander got a bit more used to this new routine at his house: Helping Joe with all the small everyday things he couldn’t handle well with using just his left hand. Joe had a sick certificate for his work at the High School for three weeks, which also had to do with the pain the healing arm caused him. After that, the doctors wanted to check if he could go to work again, even if he still couldn’t drive or use his right arm and hand.

During the day, Linus was at the queer community centre where he was employed as a social worker. But he also helped Joe in the evenings, Alexander and him took turns.

Joe seemed glad and annoyed at the same time, and one evening during dinner, as Linus cut some potatoes for him into small pieces, he spoke about this. “I am very grateful to both of you. And I am angry at myself. If I had been more careful, I wouldn’t have fallen down that damn staircase!”

Linus shrugged. “Shit happens. And you’re lucky. One of my colleagues went skiing two years ago and broke his knee. It was a terribly splintered fracture. Took him months to recover.”

Joe grumpily replied, “Well, I guess you can always compare yourself to other people who have it worse.”

“Sorry, I was just trying to cheer you up a bit,” Linus said.

“How’s the pain doing?” Alexander asked, patting Joe’s left arm for a moment. At this point, Alexander had touched his friend several times, and he didn’t seem to mind the soft, reassuring touch. Alexander let go of him after a few seconds. Joe made an indistinct gesture with his left hand that could have meant anything. “I have still got enough painkillers. But my skin itches beneath that cast. It drives me crazy. Sorry, I am complaining here, and I haven’t even asked Linus, how was your day?”

Linus then spoke a bit about his work and some teenagers who wanted to organize a party for their peers at the centre.

“That’s a lovely idea,” Joe said.

“Aye, it’s also a lot of work, but it surely will be worth the effort,” Linus said with a smile.

“Speaking of effort. I want to give something back for all your help,” Joe started, now with a soft smile.

Alexander waved that off. “Is not necessary, not at all.”

But Joe went on, “Please, let me finish. I told you I like to compose songs and write lyrics. We have all talked a lot about this. Why don't we work together on your new songs, Alexander? I cannot play anything on instruments currently for finding melodies et cetera, but we could talk and brainstorm a bit, how about that?”

Alexander hadn’t expected this. “Oh … yes, that would be lovely. If you don’t mind, Linus?”

Linus smiled reassuringly. “Not at all. It’s a good idea.”

Joe and Alexander started their work the next day in the studio in the West Wing, while Linus worked again in town.

Alexander had dressed rather casual, by his standards: a midnight blue satin button-down shirt and black slacks. Joe was mostly wearing t-shirts, as this was the easiest with the cast. Today, it was a band shirt he had borrowed from Linus because the small collection of clothes he had brought along with him needed to be washed. Sand-coloured stubbles now grew on his chin and jaw as he had trouble with shaving. But Alexander rather thought that it suited him well.

“You know, I want to write love song,” Alexander explained to him. “But different from my hit, Lion of Love.”

“And what do you have in mind?”

“You know, Lion is all about hunting. It’s passionate and sensual. But I want something a bit more … how do you say? A bit more toned-off.”

Joe hesitated. “You mean, toned-down?”

“Ah, yes. And romantic.”

“I see. Okay, how about we just brainstorm a bit? And see what ideas come up? We can always ditch the bad ones later.”

Alexander smiled enthusiastically. “Yes, it be my pleasure.” Then he laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Joe asked, with a confused look.

“It is probably good that you teach English. I often get grammar wrong or have trouble finding the word. If we write lyrics together, there will be no mistakes, yes?”

Now Joe smiled as well. “I can’t promise that, but I’ll do my best.”

For two days, they tossed around ideas. They also tried bits and pieces of a melody and a base line, with the help of a software, as Joe was still unable to play a guitar or violin. Alexander improvised with his singing. Initially, he wanted to tell a kind of story in this love song, but he wasn’t quite sure where to go with this.

At some point, Joe asked him in a teasing way, “Hey, what was the cheesiest thing you ever said to someone whom you felt attracted to?”

Alexander frowned. “Cheesy? I don’t understand. What does it mean?”

Joe thought about this for a moment, before he answered, “Maybe you know it with a different name: kitsch.”

Alexander shook his head and shrugged.

“It’s something very emotional. Like the things you might say to a lover. But kitsch is overly sentimental. It’s too much.”

“Ah, now I understand. Let me think a moment.” And suddenly, he remembered what he had said to Sigrit once, on that night of the party during the Eurovision Song Contest in Edinburgh.

“You remember Sigrit from Iceland, yes? A few years ago, even before we became friends, I wanted to lay world at her feet. I wanted her to travel world with me, work on music, go on tours together and so on.”

Joe looked surprised. “Were you in love with her back then?”

Alexander shook his head again, vehemently. “No. Not in traditional meaning. But love … I have passions for many things. I was in love somehow, with her beautiful voice. You understand what I mean?”

His guest nodded. “I think I get it.”

“At a party, here in my house, we both adored the view from the terrace, all the glowing lights of the city. Sigrit said it was the most beauty she had ever seen in her life. Which I doubt because Iceland and its landscapes … but I digress. I told her then, It is more beautiful because you are here in it.”

Joe cracked a mischievous smile. “You’re sure this is the cheesiest thing you ever told someone? It’s not that bad, actually.”

Alexander playfully hit Joe on his left arm. “Well, you tell me most cheesy thing you ever said to somebody.”

Joe shook off Alexander’s hand, chuckling. “Hey, I just wanted to get the brainstorming started.”

Alexander decided not to nag him, so he said, “Okay, let’s brainstorm a bit more. And work on that melody. I think we are on a good way …”

Two more days went by, with a lot of friendly banter, until they had a sort of outline and concept for the song, along with a melody which might be earworm-material.

Now it was Sunday evening, Alexander’s staff had the weekend off and Linus was practicing with his bandmates, in one of the schoolrooms in the East Wing. Alexander had offered the band the room for the weekends, which meant they could practice without renting a rehearsal room somewhere else.

Joe and Alexander had decided to weave “This world is more beautiful because you are in it” into the lyrics, cheesy or not. Joe was sitting on a chair, at the desk with the PC, that was connected to speakers so that they could use the music software.

But as Alexander sang that line, looking directly into Joe’s grey-blue eyes, he saw a sudden change in them. Within seconds, it seemed as if Joe was about to cry, his eyes got wet. He blushed and looked away, but he couldn’t hide the emotions in his face.

Alexander stopped singing and walked over to him, putting one hand on Joe’s shoulder. The music they had developed so far played on.

“What’s wrong, dear?” he asked in a low and soft voice.

Joe tried to wave it off. He wiped his eyes, as Alexander let go of him. Then he turned off the music. “I’m sorry. Just an outburst of sentimentality. I was thinking about my ex.”

Alexander looked at him thoughtfully. He had a feeling there was something else there, something that Joe held back. “But that’s not all, or is it?” he asked quietly.

And then Joe really started to cry.

Alexander wanted to hug him, take away his pain. But maybe Joe would not have wanted that. So instead he said, “Oh, dear, why are you sad? Have I done something wrong?”

Joe shook his head and seemed to try to calm down again. Again, he wiped his eyes, his voice nothing more but a whisper, slightly trembling. “I am not sad. I am overwhelmed.” He looked directly at Alexander. “I love you. I didn’t want this to happen, but here I am. In love with a ridiculously rich pop star and I have no fucking idea how to handle this. And you are right, that is not all because Linus … I love him too.”

Alexander wanted to bend down, but Joe raised his left hand and continued, “And I have no idea if either of you want me here or if you just feel some kind of obligation to help me because you view me as a friend.”

Alexander felt overthrown with raw emotion, and he would have loved to hug Joe, and tell him what he felt. But he held back. This wasn’t just about Joe and him, but also about Linus.

A glance to the antique clock on the wall, made of dark, beautifully carved wood.

But then he could no longer contain himself. With a soft touch, he cradled his friend’s face. “Joe, Joe, Joe … I love you too. From bottom of my heart. Did you not realize from what I told you on the evening before your accident?”

Joe leaned into Alexander’s touch. “I … um, I wasn’t sure.”

Alexander frowned. “Hey. I may be ridiculously rich pop star, and flirt a lot, but I don’t toy around with people. Not want to hurt anybody.” After he got that off his chest, he said, “I would like to hug you.”

Instead of answering, Joe got up from the chair and embraced Alexander as best as he could with the cast on his right arm. Alexander leaned into this touch, feeling the delicious warmth of Joe’s body against his skin.

After they let go of each other a few moments later, Alexander suggested, “Let’s talk with Linus, yes? His band practice must be over in a few minutes. We can all go in living room when his mates have left. I can text him.”

Joe just nodded.

As the mansion was so big, Alexander sometimes texted Linus when they were in different parts of the building.

In the living room, Joe sat down on the couch, while Alexander checked his phone.

I’ll be there in a minute, Linus had answered him.

And so he did. This evening, Alexander’s partner had not put on make-up, except for the black eyeliner he always wore.

He looked at Alexander, then at Joe. A worried expression crept into his face. “Have you been crying, Joe? What’s the matter?” With some few fast steps, he went over to the couch and sat down beside their friend. Alexander followed him, so now Joe was between them.

“No need to worry. I am just a sentimental old fool,” Joe started, but then seemed to be lost for words.

“Care to explain?” Linus asked, now looking confused.

Joe audibly exhaled, then looked at him directly. “Staying here with you these weeks … it made me realize that I love you. Both of you. I already told Alexander. And now I don’t know where we go from here.”

Linus didn’t reply anything at first. But Alexander noticed how his face lit up. Finally, he said, “Oh, Joe … you cannot imagine how happy I am about this. And I don’t care if that makes me a sentimental fool as well—I love you too.”

“Me too. As I told you,” Alexander quietly said.

Joe blushed, turning to him. “I’d like to kiss you.” He looked at Linus. “And you.”

Alexander just nodded. Because for once, he was speechless, which he rarely was. The kiss he shared with Joe tasted like pure bliss. And like a promise, for so much more to come. A minute or so later, Joe kissed Linus. And Alexander quickly noticed that there was no jealousy gnawing at him as he witnessed this. Instead, rather the opposite. It was hot to watch them. Linus ran his hand through Joe’s curls, while Joe caressed Linus’ jaw with one hand. Crazy sexy times … Alexander smiled.

But when Linus and Joe stopped kissing, an uncomfortable thought crossed his mind. “I don’t want to spoil mood, Joe, but what about … um, publicity problem? I mean, if anybody finds out that we are dating? Or have become partners, together with Linus. After festival, you told us that you don’t know how to handle that. If it ever happens, I mean.”

Joe looked at him, then at Linus. “I am going to say something really stupid and cheesy now. My love is stronger than that. I know that now. Or at least, I hope so.” He turned to Alexander again. “I am willing to take that risk. But you have to promise me that you won’t talk about me in interviews. Or at least not mention my name.”

“Of course. I promise,” Alexander said, and he meant it.

Joe said thanks. “Even if people find out … the school I am teaching at is quite progressive. I mean, they care about diversity and inclusion. Most of my colleagues are also rather queer-friendly. So I think, I won’t get into trouble at work.”

“Good.” Alexander cracked a smile. “Where were we? Oh, yes …” He kissed Joe again, longer this time. With more passion.

When they let go of each other, Linus got up from the couch and looked at them with a seductive gaze. “How about we take things from here into the bedroom?”

Alexander looked at Joe. “What you think about this?”

“Aye, I want to, but I guess, I am not much of use, not with this bloody cast.”

Alexander chuckled. “Oh, I am sure we find some ways to all enjoy this. I like to be creative in bed anyway.”

Linus laughed and Joe just smiled joyfully.

They already started to undress each other on the staircase, their clothes flying left and right onto the stairs.

When they finally reached the bedroom, the only thing Alexander still wore were his small silver earrings, just as Linus did—his were a bit larger, shaped like bats and spiders.

The only items left on Joe’s body were the watch on his left wrist, his dark blue briefs and his cast. “I have to admit,” he murmured as he sat on the large satin-draped bed with several soft cushions which stood in the middle of the big room, “I am a bit intimidated.” He glanced at the three-part golden-framed mirror that was placed opposite of it. Alexander had got rid of the stuffed tiger fur and head which had been placed at the foot of the bed because Linus didn’t like to be watched by a dead animal.

Alex looked at Joe. “Because I am ridiculously rich pop star, as you like to call me?”

“I definitely was intimidated by his wealth when I heard about it for the first time,” Linus admitted.

Joe shook his head. “No, it’s not that. At least, not any more. But I never had a threesome, and certainly not with a cast and a fucking broken arm. And as I said, so far, I have no experience with polyam relationships.”

Alexander thought about this for a moment. “But we are all in this together. It is new for all of us, right?”

“You never had a threesome?” Joe asked. He sounded incredulous.

Alexander sighed. “No. Not even with ladies. You read too many tabloids about pop stars, maybe?”

Joe quietly said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Alexander waved it off. It surely wasn’t the first time he was confronted with prejudices and stereotypes about his life as a star. But it hurt a little that this came from Joe. “It’s alright.”

“I’m such an idiot. Now I have ruined the mood,” Joe blurted out.

“I have an idea or two how we get there again.” Linus grinned enticingly, and after a few minutes, they all were one hot entangled mess of naked limbs and wet lips, of searching fingertips touching hungry skin and fast-beating hearts.

After some foreplay, which made Alexander hot and a bit sweaty, he whispered into Joe’s ear, “Do you want me to fuck you? We could both stand, so you not have to support yourself.”

Joe’s voice sounded coarse, as he replied, “Aye.”

Alexander turned to Linus. “Do you want to watch us?”

Linus seemed surprised, but only for a moment. “Oh? Yeah, why not?”

As Alexander and Joe both got up from the bed, he felt the hot sensation of his arousal pulsing through him. By now, he was shivering with anticipation. And maybe Joe felt the same? Oh, this was delicious! Such joy … He went over to a side table and opened the drawer in which he kept a package of condoms. He took one of them out, putting it ready to hand on the bed. Meanwhile, Linus rolled around in the bed, and leaned on his elbows. “I am ready for your show,” he said with a chuckle.

“Now I am really intimidated,” Joe protested.

“Don’t listen to him,” Alexander said, “he is just teasing us.”

And then, there were no more words for quite a while, just kissing and caressing, also preparing Joe to get fucked, nice and slow. And it seemed to Alexander that Linus really enjoyed the show ...

After Alexander had fucked Joe, the three of them lay in bed together, Alexander still feeling the warm afterglow. His lover was lying next to him, cuddling a bit, while Linus stroked his shoulder.

Some time later, both him and Linus spoiled their friend who was lying on his back, watching them breathlessly as they gave him a combination of a handjob and a blowjob. It had been music in Alexander’s ears to hear how Joe with his lovely smooth voice moaned, as pleasure and arousal took hold of him, until his climax finally came crashing over him in waves. Joe cried out loud. Later, he watched Linus and Alexander fuck, caressing Linus a bit while they were doing it and leaving a trace of kisses on his chest.

Later, as he lay next to Linus, panting from all the excitement, Alexander found no words for all of this. Linus and him making love was heaven. Or as he liked to say, crazy sexy times. But Linus and Joe, together with him? It seemed, as if a new world had opened up to him. And then a bold idea came into his mind. That love song he was working on with Joe—he wanted to rewrite parts of the lyrics. Alexander wanted to change it into a song about polyamory. After all, there were gazillions of songs about love, but he doubted that there were many about polyam relationships …

Chapter Text

Several months later

Confidently, Alexander smiled into the camera of the photographer who wanted to take a group photo, for a local newspaper from Edinburgh. Next to Alexander were Linus and Joe, and with them, all the other volunteers of the Music For All School. They stood in front of the mansion. It was the anniversary of the school’s first year, and Alexander could not have been more proud.

He had also donated quite an amount of money for several charity organisations, including some for refugees, and wanted to continue this. By now, he had sold all his real estates over the world, with only the Edinburgh mansion left.

For a moment, he thought about what happened these last months. Five or six weeks into their polyam relationship, when Joe’s right arm had healed, rumours had spread about the three of them all over the internet. They had visited the goth club The Black Garden together, feeling safe enough there to kiss and hug each other. But in hindsight, this turned out to be wishful thinking because one of the other guests had secretly taken a photo of them and put it up online. It had gone viral pretty quickly.

Alexander had then discussed the problem with Linus and Joe. He also had been asked more than once in interviews about the photo. Linus and Joe had finally agreed that he could openly speak about the polyam relationship, but not about details of their love life and without mentioning Joe’s name.

But it hadn’t taken long for some students—and teachers—at the High School to figure out who was the third man in the photo. Fortunately, Joe hadn’t got into trouble at his workplace, and after a few more weeks he had got used to officially be one of the partners of Alexander. He had also agreed to move in with Alexander and Linus. They all sometimes cracked jokes about their flat share in this old and possibly haunted mansion. But after all, the house was huge. Big enough for the three of them to live in, also big enough for the schoolrooms and Alexander’s music studio.

After all that had happened, Joe didn’t have any objections about the group photo today.

But that hadn’t been all—Alexander’s latest single called “Three” had been released a few weeks ago and this heart-melting love song about polyamory had been well received, not only in the queer community. Alexander’s social media assistant Laura had noticed that he lost some followers online shortly after the release, and some comments were full of hate against polyamory, also with several harmful stereotypes and prejudices about this relationship concept.

But as the song had found its way into the charts and got streamed a lot, Alexander gained several new followers, even more than before.

The photographer now interrupted his train of thought, waving her hand towards the small crowd. “Move a bit closer, please … yes, that’s better. And now, say cheese!”

Laughter and cries of “Cheese!” answered her.

Some time later, as a reddish-purple dusk darkened the sky over Edinburgh, while more and more lights started glowing in the streets and buildings, they all went into the large hall which Alexander often used for parties. Tonight, rows of folding chairs were lined up. On some tables at the left end of the hall, a buffet had been set up by Anzhelika and Bohdan, with drinks, some finger food and snacks. But all eyes were now focussing on the area next to the large windows, where several students of the school had gathered with their instruments, microphones, and music stands.

Alexander sat down next to Linus and Joe. Both were dressed up as if they wanted to go to a party—Linus all black, white and silver, with a bit of make-up, Joe with a dark grey blazer over a knitted sand-coloured jumper. A warm glow rolled through Alexander’s chest area as he glanced appreciatively at his partners. They both looked gorgeous. He whispered this thought into Linus’ ear and chuckled as his friend blushed. “You look lovely too,” Linus then replied with a bright smile and leaned over to Joe, now also whispering into his ear. Tonight, Alexander sported one of his favourite blazers with decoratively ornamented brocade and a velvet lapel, in which he had put a golden pin with a crown. Maybe it was a bit much for this occasion, but he was not only ridiculously rich, but also a bit eccentric. Like many people expected their pop stars to be, or not?

Joe smiled at both of them. Then, the concert began and Alexander listened closely, waiting for slip-ups and small mistakes. But there weren’t many, instead it was really good. These talented kids had learned a lot, and they definitely had been practising often. And all of them were gifted, so much was clear. Alexander felt proud of them all. Not only the kids and their hard work, but also the volunteers who kept this school running.

And as he glanced again at his partners, he felt a rush of joy flooding through him. Who would have ever thought that he would find true love after all, so late in life? And not only with one man, but with two? And what more, two who shared his love and talent for music. He couldn’t find more words in his mind for the overwhelming happiness he felt. So instead, he took Linus’ hand, softly caressing it, while they listened to the music. He noticed that Linus now also took Joe’s hand, thus connecting all three of them. Alexander lay his head on Linus’ shoulder and sighed. What a splendid evening. And he was looking forward to every new evening with Linus and Joe.