it was more of an accident, really. 

 

hatta could swear with all honesty that he had (and still has) no intention on having a poly relationship. god. he was too busy with books to care about romance. one lover already sounds troublesome to him, and two? in whatever universe it is, even if he lost his goddamn mind, the thought wouldn't cross his mind even as a joke. 

 

and yet. here he is. watching a tv, sitting in a luxurious expensive sofa, sandwiched between a tall flirty asshole and a short gremlin ready to explode anytime. 

 

karno was more annoying than every other unconvenience in the world, yes, including a toothache. the man liked (and believe it when hatta said it's not enough to just bold and underline it) to drag hatta everywhere, houses to cafés, and sneak in what he called "quality time" in between all those. that is, trying to catch some luck for him by seducing hatta. which failed all the time. of course. it was even worse because karno is so easy to flatter. hatta could say one good thing that is applicable to basically every living being and karno would be there, nose flaring, thoughts about hatta hitting on him flooded his mind. he mistook it. that was just how he is. 

 

syahrir was the opposite; that played a role in his feud with karno now and then. syahrir was... well. he was syahrir. in contrast to karno with him, syahrir and hatta actually shared a lot of things in common. (that made karno JEALOUS like all the time.) they both loved diversity, they had more or less similar political views, syahrir could tolerate hatta's obsession of cats the way hatta could tolerate his a la western lifestyle. but syahrir was also weird in his own syahrir way. he was flamboyant, came up with unconventional ideas that might be radical to most people. if karno was too easy to flatter, syahrir was too easy to anger. one wrong move and the bomb will set off. 

 

now imagine hatta, the quiet normal one, amidst all that. 

 

really, it was an accident. a huge, regrettable one. hatta in his right mind would never take neither syahrir nor karno as his boyfriend, moreover both of them at once. but here's the thing: tan was a little shit, and hatta really wasn't aware that too many bandrek would mess up his perfectly logical mind. this was the end result:

 

"you know, i've always been in love with you," karno said it with a little discomfort. truly strange to see him not being confident in his lovery skill whatever that bullshit is.

 

hatta's reply was cold. "obviously." 

 

"i'm serious, ta." 

 

"so am i." 

 

they both went silent. syahrir came out of nowhere like two minutes after a total noise void, a juice in his hand, and said, "well! the one who's all over you is not only karno here." 

 

karno blinked. "what do you mean?" 

 

"what i mean, mr. bighead dumbass," syahrir snickered. he smiled annoyingly at karno's twitch. "is you have a competitor and that is me."

 

hatta sipped his bandrek once more. "isn't surprised, really." 

 

"so?" 

 

"so what?" 

 

"so what's your answer?" 

 

"well," hatta put his glass down. "i believe there is a bed wide enough for three people." 

 

and thus, his regret made its way to haunt him everyday. long gone the days of peace and absolute solitary. farewell. hatta missed you with all his soul. 

 

syahrir had daily bickering with karno to start the day--that's how hatta could know his day is going well. usually the topics are not far from petty, ridiculously small things. the sofa was their favorite, apparently. syahrir loved to bring up the fact he bought the sofa for a tearjerking price. karno would argue that, well, i helped you carried this piece of shit here. and yeah. the fight would go on. hatta would just sit and sip his tea while reading the newspaper until they finish. 

 

that was how they work together. dysfunctionally. 

 

 

[ ii. ] 

"you named it after josip broz tito," karno said, weirded out. 

 

"as you can see," hatta replied carelessly. 

 

"the cat is female, hatta." 

 

"i'm perfectly aware of it." 

 

syahrir walked in, looking fresh out of the bathroom. "ignore him," he said, then squatted down beside hatta to pet tito. the cat purred happily in his hand. "karno doesn't understand the beauty of cats and its culture." 

 

"that doesn't make sense," karno protested, a bit grumpy. "it's just a cat, it doesn't have a culture!" 

 

"i mean the culture surrounding its owners, you idiot." 

 

"shut up!" 

 

"he's too wrapped in those thots' titties to appreciate the tender warmness of kitties." 

 

karno stared hard at him, eyes almost popping out of the sockets. "i swear to god i will fucking--" 

 

"boys," hatta sighed. he took tito from syahrir and cradled her in his lap. "stop it. it's still too early for a catfight." 

 

the brewing fight stopped, but karno and syahrir didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day. 

 

[ iii. ]

 

"no, did you see my watch?" 

 

"you mean our watch?" 

 

hatta turned, his face growing red from annoyance. "say one more joke about communism and i am going to kick your ass." 

 

karno looked utterly confused and betrayed at that. "but i'm not joking!" he protested. "we do share a watch, the one we use alternately!"

 

hatta blinked. his brows arched. "well. okay, then. in my defense, though, you always tell me communism jokes that aren't even funny." 

 

karno sighed dramatically. "you don't even love me." 

 

"not appreciating your jokes do not equate to me not loving you. although it may be true i'm still questioning my feelings and the reasons behind it." 

 

"wow. rude much?" 

 

"kinda." 

 

"just appreciate me, you jerk. what's so hard about it? you don't act like this to syahrir!" 

 

"fine," hatta exhaled exasperatedly. "what do you want? a syahrirless date night?" 

 

karno perked up. "yeah. totes. you up for it?" 

 

"no." 

 

"ta!" 

 

"kidding, you big baby. help me find my blue watch and you might win my yes." 

 

[ iv. ]

"open your mouth." 

 

"i don't want any of that western shrimp cuisine in my mouth." 

 

syahrir insisted. "open. your. mouth." 

 

"no." 

 

"i will feed it to you with my mouth then." 

 

"gross!" hatta slapped his hand away. "karno will get the bambu runcing before you can even try." 

 

"that bitch had tried a lot of plots to overthrow me from your number one favorite throne and still can't do shit at all." 

 

"language, young man," warned hatta. 

 

syahrir rolled his eyes. "yeah, daddy. now will you open your mouth? the shrimp misses you." 

 

"no." 

 

"c'mon, don't be so stubborn now." 

 

"no."

 

"let me spoonfeed you." 

 

"NO." 

 

"kiss?" 

 

"i will stab your mouth now." 

 

that afternoon ended in a smooch, nevertheless. 

 

[ v. ]

when hatta came in to the living room, syahrir was sleeping on the sofa. it wasn't strange at all. what was weird was that syahrir rested his head comfortably on karno's lap. karno was also calm, sitting there reading a book on hamilton musical, his free hand playing with syahrir's hair relaxedly. 

 

"i wasn't expecting this," jabbered Hatta. His footsteps finally dared to let go of its sound. "But it's really nice to see you getting along with Syahrir." 

 

Karno turned his head. He smiled. "Ta!" And then he almost pushed Syahrir out of the sofa, but Hatta rushedly stop him before it could happen. 

 

He sighed. "Why wouldn't you just let Syahrir has his peace." 

 

"He called me a pussy." 

 

"He also called me a pussy but you don't see me making any fuss here. That's just how he is." 

 

"He's too impolite!" Karno exclaimed rather annoyedly. 

 

"Yeah. And he thinks you're too passive to the traitors. That makes you both even." 

 

"Hatta---" 

 

"Stop," and that was final. Karno said nothing and it was silent until Hatta continued. "It's late. Help me carry him to the bedroom. We should go to sleep now." 

 

"Just wake him up." 

 

"He looks so peaceful, No. You still have the heart to turn this rarity into another explosion?" 

 

Karno observed Syahrir's sleeping face, and shook his head distastefully. "He's heavy." 

 

"Syahrir is smaller than any man we've ever meet. He wouldn't be too heavy compared to your tall ass." 

 

"He's heavy with sins." 

 

"No."

 

"God. Fine, sure," Karno put down his book and gave up. "I'll help you. Now let's make it quick." 

 

Later that night, Syahrir was sandwiched between Karno and Hatta. They were sleeping together, all wrapped warmly, dreams bright and joyful. 

 

Syahrir would wake up the next day and not realize he's hugging Karno until five minutes after. 

sjahrir sat unfazed. "but i am not a man."

"you are."

"i'm still a boy, sir, evergrowing and learning."

it stung, somehow, like he did a really bad thing he can't bail out of. "don't play my words like that." and it's strange how, for all his speech ability, he couldn't seem to say something smart.

"sorry." sjahrir didn't even try to make it sound like he does.

karno sighed, taking steps towards him. "i have never make love with someone of the same gender with me."

"make love," syahrir huffed.

"what?"

"that's one way to put what we're doing into words."

"can you just focus on what i'm trying to say instead of trying to piss me off like that?"

"sorry, i just hate you."

"what?"

"i'll try not to."

karno flopped down, the space between them almost non-existent. "little boy--"

"don't call me that."

"then focus on what i'm saying."

"you're saying this is your first time fucking a dude, with a penis, okay," syahrir grunted. "then what?"

"stop making it sound so crude."

he laughed. "you certainly don't seem to realize the nature of prostitution. there is no romantic lovely words here. there is no poetry, no candlelight dinner, no heartfelt talk. there is only skins slapping and filthy primal urges and--"

"watch it, little boy! i didn't pick you to piss me off all night."

"you picked the wrong person," syahrir spat.

"what's with that?"

"there's literally many girls, ripe and sweet, and you choose a boy like me? you, out of all people?"

"so what?"

"you're sick."

karno snapped. "is it my fault you end up in here now? i don't even know why you became a prostitute at the first place!"

"ah!" syahrir stood out. "forget it!" karno was about to yell some more but syahrir closed his eyes, and when he opened it, he was a different person. his eyes were soft, tender with desire, and karno didn't know who he faced at all.

"so," syahrir said, his voice lulled. "you really haven't done it with males before?"

karno nodded gravely.

"well," and he plopped down, sitting on his lap, hands locking around his neck. "would you want me to get you around? so you can get used, you know, i can show you some stuff. you just lie down and watch." and he purred, for god's sake. 

karno's breath hitched. his bubbling anger from moments ago was gone just like that replaced with a certain want, a waking lust that's looming on the back of his mind.

regaining his composure, he slipped his hand under syahrir's butt, lifted him and rolled him to the bed.

"no," he murmured, straddling syahrir while pinning him down. "an old man like me have pride. i think i'd much rather explore my way around and figure things out myself. wouldn't that be more adventurous for us?"

syahrir was quiet for a while. "yes," he responded with a smile, but his eyes looked so far away. "as you wish, then."