Archive of Our Own ^beta

The forth time Jake's call interrupts one of their dates, Max snatches the phone out of Julia's hands.

"Hey Jake." He easily evades Julia making a grab for the phone, throwing a sharp, lopsided grin her way. "Listen, Julia and I are just settling down for Strangers on a Train. There's wine and plenty of Chinese take-out. Why don't you come over?"

There's silence on the other end of the line, and Max can't quite suppress the surge of victory. It's not easy to render someone as slick and eloquent as Jack Gregorian speechless.

Next to him, Julia has stopped reaching for the phone and is looking at him with confusion on her face.

Meanwhile, Jake seems to have found his wits again. "Look, Max, I just need a quick word with Julia about the show tomorrow. I promise it won't take long." He sounds honestly contrite, or perhaps he's just good at faking it to get what he wants. If Max had indeed been annoyed by the interruption, as Jake seems to believe, he would probably be appeased. But that's not what this is about.

"Sure, but I was serious. Come over. We'll even save some of those little spring rolls for you." He hands Julia the phone, who hesitantly takes it and keeps frowning at Max. The shrug he offers her says ball's in your court, and he's pleased when she seems to decide to roll with it.

"No, I don't think he's drunk," she tells Jake.

Max throws his head back and laughs. "I'm not," he mouths at her. He feels a little drunk, but they only just opened the wine and the only things clouding his senses are the way Julia smiles at him, how her hair smells when she curls up against him, the sparkle in her eyes when she talks to Jake, and the memory of what it felt like to have the intensity of Jake's attention entirely focused on him.

Julia's gaze remains fixed on Max as she speaks. "He's lying, though. We're definitely not going save you any of those spring rolls, not unless you're here in less than thirty minutes."

They exchange a few more sentences, too soft for Max to hear, before she ends the call and puts the phone down. Settling back down on the couch next to him, she raises an eyebrow. "Care to tell me what this was about?"

He reaches out for her, his hand curving around her cheek. "Look, there's been three people in this relationship from the start." When she opens her lips to protest, he puts his thumb against her lips, gently shushing her. "It's not a bad thing. It doesn't have to be. I'd just prefer if the third party was actually in the room with us rather than just in here." He touches Julia's forehead, then her chest, right above where her heart is beating up a storm. "And here."

Julia doesn't deny it, but he instantly hates the way the guilt settles onto her features. "Hey. Don't." His fingers smooth out the frown lines between her eyes.

"How's having him here supposed to fix things?" He wiggles his eyebrows, prompting a snort of disbelieving laughter from her. "Seriously?! I was worried you were being passive-aggressively gracious about stepping aside so Jake and I could be together, but you're actually angling for a threesome?"

"You'd rather I'd step aside so Jake and you could be together?" He's teasing, but his stomach clenches uncomfortably, wondering if he misstepped and ruined it all, if she'd rather be with Jake after all.

Her smile doesn't waver, though, and she leans over to kiss him – brief and sweet, tasting of wine and spices. "Not a chance, mister. I'm looking forward to watching you get your ass handed to you when you try and sell this to Jake, though."

The corners of Max' lips twitch into a mischievous grin. He grabs a spring roll from the take-out box, holding it out for her until she steals it from between his fingertips, her lips grazing his skin. "I can be very convincing. You should know that by now."

Jake won't stand a chance.