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Felicity desperately clawed at her throat as she tried to take oxygen into her lungs. She coughed violently, trying to bring up the coffee that she'd accidentally inhaled. Oliver was right, coffee would be the death of her. Tears streamed down her face and she could feel the eyes of the other diners seated on the patio enjoying the warm spring afternoon burning into her. After a solid minute of hacking and a very concerned waiter asking if she was all right, Felicity finally managed to catch her breath. She took a sip of water and used a napkin to blot the tears from her eyes. "What?" she directed to Thea who looked way too amused for having watched someone nearly die from asphyxiation by coffee.
Thea smiled innocently as she took a bite of her quiche, "Double penetration - I know you all share a bed, but when you're having sex are they both," Thea lowers her voice, "inside you at the same time?"
Another wet cough racked through Felicity's body and she was pretty sure she'd stopped breathing. Thea sat patiently with a bland smile on her face as she waited, "I don't think this is appropriate brunch conversation," Felicity gasped.
Thea looked around the patio and shrugged. The patio was full, but there was plenty of space between the tables and they were seated in a corner and the table nearest to them was now empty. "Do my brothers do stuff to one another, like are they," she leaned across the table, "having sex with one another or is it just with you?"
Felicity wrinkled her nose, "Do you really want to know about your brothers' sex lives?"
Thea's head rocked side to side as she thought about Felicity's question, "Um, yeah."
Felicity was at a loss for words. She never had a girlfriend she could discuss her sex life with and now that she did she was learning that she wasn't comfortable sharing intimate details of her sex life, especially with the little sister of both of the men she shared a bed with. She couldn't imagine why Thea would want to hear about her brothers' sexual relationship with her or each other "Why does it matter? Would you want me asking about what you and Roy do in bed?"
Thea gave Felicity a grin that left no doubt she was Tommy's sister and took another forkful of quiche, "What would you like to know?"
Felicity put her coffee cup down, grateful she hadn't taken another sip, "I don't want to know anything." A shiver went up her spine as a fleeting thought of Roy and Thea in bed together flashed through her mind.
"It's hard to believe you have sex with two men at the same time, but can't talk about sex," Thea folded her arms across her chest and sank back in her chair, "you shouldn't be so puritanical."
"I can talk about sex, I'm just uncomfortable discussing it with you." Felicity sighed when Thea rolled her eyes, "Doesn't it make you uncomfortable? They're your brothers."
Thea played with the stem of her water glass, "When I was little - before I really understood marriage or knew what sexuality was - I would wish that Ollie and Tommy would get married so Tommy could be my brother too."
Felicity smiled as she thought about what their childhoods had been like. She knew that Tommy had been incredibly lonely and the Queen siblings were the only things he ever smiled about when he talked about his life after his mom died. All of his happy stories seemed to involve one or both of the Queens. Once Oliver became a teenager, the shine was off his parent's marriage and he was painfully aware that his mother was unhappy. His father's infidelities put a strain on the family and Oliver coped with the pain through self medication and indulgent self-destructive behavior. Only Thea and Tommy kept him from completely imploding. As for Thea, whenever she talked about her childhood before the Gambit went down, it was like her memories were surrounded by twinkling fairy lights. Oliver and Tommy were these heroic figures who took her on adventures and fed her ice cream. Felicity wished she could go back and see them for a day as they shared a teddy bear picnic on the lawn of the Queen mansion, "That's very sweet."
"I know that they're my brothers, but they aren't each others', so it's not like it's incest or anything. I just want them to be happy," Thea slid her silverware around on the table in front of her.
"Thea," Felicity reached across the table and took the younger woman's hand, "they're happy and they both love you so much."
Thea beamed, "Of course they love me, I'm awesome."
Felicity laughed and returned her attention to the french toast in front of her, relieved that the awkward conversation portion of their brunch was concluded.
"So, does one of them play Sudoku while the other is having sex with you?" Thea had a wicked gleam in her eye.
Felicity groaned and waved the waiter over. If Thea wasn't going to drop this, she needed something stronger than coffee. After the waiter took her order for a mimosa she said, "Thea, neither of your brothers play Sudoku, inside or outside of the bedroom."
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere," Thea rubbed her hands together, "So, who's better?"
"Better?" Realizing Thea wasn't referring to Sudoku anymore Felicity took the mimosa right off the waiter's tray and chugged it while she held his sleeve. She returned the glass to his tray and smiled brightly as she asked him to bring her another.
Thea waited for the waiter to be out of earshot and then began to gesticulate wildly, "You know, who's the better kisser? Who's better at oral? Who's better at sex?"
Felicity dropped her head to the edge of the table, "Kill me," she begged the universe.
Thea kicked Felicity under the table, "Don't be so dramatic. You're like a sex superhero and I need to know your secrets."
Felicity looked up, "What?"
"I mean, Ollie and Tommy weren't angels. They've had lots of sex - a lot. So, for the two of them to be with you for this long - I mean, obviously, they're crazy in love with you, but you must have moves to keep two men interested and not be bored while sitting on the bench."
Sports metaphors weren't Felicity's strength, but after being with Oliver and Tommy for over a year she'd seen more than her fair share of ESPN, and now understood many of them, "No one is sitting on the bench."
"Okay, but you must be doing something to keep the one interested while the other is," Thea's eyes went wide, "up at bat. What are you doing to the one waiting for his turn at bat?"
Felicity could feel heat flare in her cheeks as she desperately looked for the waiter and her second mimosa, "It's not like we have a batter's circle in our bedroom. If we are all participating, then we are all participating." It was too bad she could never tell the guys about this conversation because she was pretty sure they'd be proud of her baseball metaphors.
"It's not always the three of you?" Thea sounded surprised.
"Our schedules are crazy, sometimes I can only find time to be with Oliver or Tommy and," Felicity worried the napkin between her fingers because she wasn't sure if she could make Thea understand, "sometimes I need to be with only Oliver or Tommy."
Thea nodded her head trying to encourage Felicity to continue, "I don't understand. You're a threesome, why would you be a threesome if you need a twosome? Are you trying to decide which of them you love more?"
Felicity blanched at the idea that anyone could possibly think that her relationship with Tommy and Oliver was really an extended audition, "No, Thea, I'm not trying to choose." Felicity went silent as the waiter put down her second mimosa. She took a sip as she tried to gather her thoughts on how to explain why Oliver, Tommy and her worked, "If Oliver and Tommy were alike, maybe that would be true, but I get different things from them - separately and together and I'm not talking about sex. We connect differently on an emotional level. Oliver and I share a common purpose. We want to make the world a better place and we share a vision of how to do that. It's what brought us together and, partly, why we fell in love. There was an instant connection from the moment we met. I trusted him and he trusted me. I get Oliver. I understand how his mind works, or doesn't work. I know what to say to him to keep him on track or to pull him out of the darkness. Oliver gets me. When my brain goes off in a different direction from my mouth, he doesn't get embarrassed - he always understands and actually finds it endearing. He's never been threatened by my intelligence - he's actually always been super proud of me being a genius. He's always encouraged me to do more, to be more. When I started to see myself through his eyes, I become braver and stronger."
Thea wiped a tear from her eye, "That's amazing, but isn't that enough? Why do you need Tommy if Oliver gives you all that?"
"It would be enough. Oliver is enough. Tommy is enough. I'm just incredibly lucky because I get to have and to love both of them. Tommy gets me in a different way. There are a lot of similarities to our childhoods that shaped us into the people we are today. He's helped to heal those wounds. I feel less damaged when Tommy is looking into my eyes. He is kind and generous. He makes me laugh. God, does he make me laugh. No matter how dark things are, Tommy helps me keep perspective. When I'm too lost in my head he refuses to coddle me. He'll push and push until he tears whatever is bothering me out of my head. He doesn't let me hide. He makes me face things head on. Tommy makes me braver and stronger too." Felicity smiled softly, "Does that make sense? It makes sense here," Felicity pressed her hand to her heart, "but, I don't know if I'm any good at explaining it."
Thea seemed hesitant as Felicity watched her formulate her next question, "What about Tommy and Oliver? Do they ever just need each other?"
"You should really asked them about it," Felicity took another sip of her drink, "but I will say there is a bond between them that is awe inspiring. They have this connection from a history that is full of love, friendship and even pain. Don't ever doubt it, Thea. They are in love with one another - it just took them awhile to figure it out."
"Thank you." Thea smiled warmly, "I do have another question."
Felicity took another drink as she prepared herself for whatever Thea could possibly ask, "Go ahead, I'm on a roll."
A laugh bubbled out of Thea before she became serious, "Why not just have an open relationship and date one another separately? Why are the three of you together as a three? I read what people say about you. They're cruel. Why are you doing it the hard way?"
"It's not the sex. I know everyone thinks this is about sex," Felicity goes still as all the hurtful and ill-informed things she's read or heard whispered behind their backs races through her head, "don't get me wrong, the sex is good - amazing, actually, but if it were just about sex we would've burned out a long time ago." Felicity looked at Thea who was listening with rapt attention, "I wish I could explain it to you, but I don't know if it can make sense to someone who hasn't experienced it. We're just better as three. We're stronger as individuals when we're together. We're happy. If it wasn't worth it, do you think we'd subject ourselves to all of the ridicule? We endure it because it's worth it."
"I'm so glad my brothers have you. They're more like who they were before the Gambit." Seeing Felicity's uneasy reaction she continued, "I don't mean drunk and high and fighting with the paparazzi and peeing on cop cars - I mean how they were with me. They smile now. They laugh. I don't need to tell you what Ollie was like when he came home, he wasn't whole and Tommy was just a shadow of himself after we thought Ollie died. You gave them back to me." Thea stood up from the table and wrapped her arms around Felicity.
Felicity was taken aback by Thea's outburst of public affection, but her arms quickly wrapped around the younger Queen, "I'm so glad I have them too because it gave me you."
Thea wiped her eyes as she returned to her seat, "I'm glad you're happy to have me because Roy does this thing with his tongue that I'd really like your advice on."
There was no way she was psychologically prepared enough to discuss Roy's oral sex technique. Felicity's hands flew to her ears, "I can't listen to this," and she began to hum the national anthem.