Unexpected Affections Pt 03

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Unexpected Affections is romantic harem story about a guy who would never have dreamed to find himself in such a situation. It's a story about sweet friends and trying to better yourself. This story will jump between categories, you've been warned.

This part includes meeting friends, admissions of proportion, an accidental show and a giant dick.

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Chapter 24

"Hello, Oliver," Hannah said as she flicked on the light. She was sitting in the chair in the living room area of the apartment, while Margot and Hikaru were sitting on the couch. You'd just come in, finding it strange that all the lights had been off.

Now that they were pulling 'angry parents waiting for you to get home,' you got the joke.

"It's almost 11 PM, Oliver," Margot said, putting on an equally silly-serious face to Hannah's. "We were worried about you."

"You'll need to explain what you've been doing," Hikaru said. "Who have you been hanging out with? Are they pressuring you to do the drugs?"

"Are you selling drugs now, son?" Hannah asked. "Are you into the crack cocaine?"

"Or is it the Devil's Lettuce?" Margot asked.

"Or maybe you've been selling and/or ingesting Shrooms," Hikaru added on. "Are you tripping balls right now, Oliver?"

"Yeah, are you tripping balls?" Hannah asked, barely keeping her smile from her face.

"No," you said, shaking your head as you stepped into the living room area. "I have not, in fact, been 'tripping balls,' selling drugs, or getting peer pressured into using them."

"Then where have you been, Oliver Warren?" Hannah asked, doing a pretty good impression of your Mom.

"What the hell were you guys watching tonight?" you asked. "The Wire? Law and Order?"

"We're asking the questions here," Hannah said, tilting the lamp next to her so that the light was more directly on you.

"Start from the beginning, Mr Warren," Margot smirked, trying to hold in her laughter. "

If

that's your real name."

You rolled your eyes and shook your head, but gave them the bullet point list of the things you'd done on your date with April. When you got to the last little bit at the park, you said you'd gone on a walk and didn't mention what you'd actually been doing. "Then we came back here, and we talked about our next dates."

"Dates?" Hikaru asked.

"Wait, wait, wait," Margot said. "You guys just walked through the park holding hands? At night?"

"Well, we were... talking," you said. "And we might have kissed a few times."

"Ugh, disgustingly cute," Hannah said.

Margot was giving you a look, and you could tell that she was seeing through your explanation, but she didn't push it any further.

"What were you saying about next date

s

?" Hikaru asked again.

"Well, we both want to keep seeing each other," you said. "And since she needs to travel for work the week after next, we planned two dates. The first one is on Wednesday, and I was thinking that you might want to come with us, Hannah? April wants to meet you, and I know you want to meet her so you can ask me fewer questions about her constantly."

"Oh," Hannah said, blinking and a little surprised. Then she smirked a little. "Are you asking me out on a date with you and your girlfriend, Ollie?"

You rolled your eyes. "Do you want to come to Puttputt golf with us and meet April or not?"

"Yes, obviously," Hannah laughed.

"What about us?" Margot asked.

"Well, we also made plans for Saturday," you said. "I'm going to make dinner here, and I'm hoping you two will join us? Then she'll have met all three of you."

"Dinner sounds good," Margot smiled and nodded.

Hikaru looked a little distant, but she met your eyes and smiled softly. "OK," she said. "It'll be cool to meet her."

"Awesome," you said. "Um, alright. How was your night here?"

"Vat did I say, Mister Varren?" Hannah said, putting on an awful German accent as she pointed the lamp at you again. "Ve ask ze questions here!"

The ladies had ordered in Chinese food, of which there were leftovers in the fridge for you, and had a Girly Night and done each other's nails and watched a movie and gossiped. They made it a point to tell you they mostly gossiped about you since you'd abandoned them for some other woman. They laid it on thick enough to make sure you knew they were joking.

You got a text a little while later from April letting you know she'd gotten home safe and survived her parental grilling, and you let her know you'd survived your witch trial with the Spanish Inquisition. She sent you back a GIF of the Mony Python Spanish Inquisition, and then a picture of her making a kissy face at her camera and wishing you good night. You hesitated but sent her a heart back and wished her good night as well.

Emojis weren't like saying 'I Love You,' right?

Eventually, Hannah had to call it a night since she had to work at her part-time gig at the gym the next day, and she crashed into you with a big hug before she left. Margot went soon after when the three of you started yawning, giving you a kiss on the cheek and telling you she was happy that your date went well. That left you with Hikaru.

"You OK?" you asked. "You were quiet tonight."

"Yeah, I am," she said with a bit of a sigh. "I just... can I have a hug?"

"Of course," you said, standing back up. She came to you and the hug wasn't the heavy, hard squeeze like from Hannah, or the quick and sure one from Margot. It was tentative and soft, and it lingered a long time as you held Hikaru and she pressed her cheek to your shoulder looking away from you. "Are you sure you're OK? You know you can talk to me about anything," you said.

"I'll be fine," she said quietly, then pulled out of the hug and looked into your eyes. "I love you, Ollie. I just want you to know that."

"I love you too, Hikaru," you said sincerely. "Forever and ever."

She kissed you on the cheek much like Margot had, and then headed for her room for the night.

Chapter 25

"Ollie!" Hikaru said, her voice brimming with energy and excitement as she came in the apartment door. It was Sunday and you'd woken up earlier than you wanted, as usual, so that your sleep schedule wouldn't get out of whack for the work week. She'd gotten up, as usual, and made breakfast while refusing to let you help, and then while you had settled in to get some painting done on a new unit of Arclite Transhuman Ravagers that you'd put together last week, she'd headed out.

"What is it?" you asked, setting down the mini you'd been painting and looking over at her.

She'd kicked off her shoes and came over to you, and big smile on her face. "I got a job offer!" she said. "Well, I was asked to apply, and they said I'm pretty much a shoo-in. And it's not in my field or anything, but it's a part-time job so I can start actually working and making money and being an adult. Guess where it is?"

You were pretty sure you knew exactly where it was, but you didn't want her to know you'd had a hand in it. "Where?" you asked instead.

"The Cafe around the corner, so it's super close to home too!" Hikaru squealed happily. "Your friend Paula came up to me after the whole breakfast rush cleared out and talked to me for a bit, and then she told me I should apply and she could get me to start with a training shift this week. It's just a barista job but it's still

something

."

"That's fantastic, Hikaru," you said, standing up and squeezing her in a hug as she practically vibrated in your arms with excitement.

"Thank you so, so much for everything you've been doing, Ollie," she said, still hugging you. "Letting me stay here without rent or anything, buying all the groceries - you're the absolute best person I know."

"You're my favourite cousin," you said. "How could I not?"

"I'm not even your cousin anymore though," she said, pulling back from the hug and looking at you. "I'm like... your ex-cousin if that's even a thing. But you're the sweetest person I know. And now I can finally start chipping in."

"Whoa," you said, shaking your head. "You need savings, and to be able to buy stuff for yourself. There's no way I'm letting you chip in on rent or something when I was already covering this place by myself."

"Ollie-" she started to complain.

"You already make me breakfast, and most of my dinners," you said. "And don't think I haven't noticed you cleaning up around here too. That's more than enough 'chipping in' for now, OK?"

She gave you a look and then sighed in acceptance. "Fine," she said. "But that means you can't fight me over making breakfast anymore. Just accept that I'm doing it."

"Fine," you agreed. "But only if you agree that if you get sick or something, I'm going to be the one taking care of

you

and you don't try to push yourself."

"Agreed," she said, holding out a hand. You shook it with a smile and then pulled her into another hug.

"I'm so happy for you," you said. "And proud."

"Thanks, Ollie," she said softly, and it was good to hear the smile on her lips.

- - - - -

The ringing of your Discord app from your computer wasn't something you were expecting. It was late-ish on Sunday night and you'd spent the afternoon at the Game Store playing Arclite even though you hadn't gotten your new Ravager unit painted up completely. The game went longer than expected, but then they always did, and you'd made it home just in time for dinner with Hikaru and Margot. Now you were going through the notes that Hannah had sent you on your upcoming fitness journey.

What you were, and were not, allowed to eat was depressing. You were already missing Paula's pastries.

You clicked over to your Discord and raised your eyebrows, grabbing your headset and putting it on before accepting the call.

"Hey, Charli," you said. "It's good to hear from you. What's up?"

"Hey, Ollie," Charli said on the other end of the call. Her voice was almost cartoonishly high, which you knew she hated, but she also sounded ridiculous if she tried to talk in a lower register so she'd long ago learned to live it. The fact that she compensated for having 'Kid Voice' by going Goth wasn't lost on you. "How are things?"

"Pretty good," you said. "Nothing I can complain about at all. And I saw that you hit another milestone on your YouTube channel. Congratulations!"

"Thanks," she said warmly. "And I did see your text when it happened, I appreciated it. Sorry I didn't text back, I was kind of getting flooded at the time."

"No problem at all," you said. Charli had graduated from college at the same time as you with a double major in communications and psychology and had started up her own YouTube channel that covered a bunch of nerdy news stuff, interviews at conventions, and highlighted her cosplay and LARP activities. Considering she'd been the President of the university LARP club back in college, you'd never been surprised by her success in the nerd sphere.

"So, this is a little awkward," she said. "I'm coming to your city next month for Sword and Blaster Con because they invited me to attend as a guest judge for their cosplay and mini painting contests, but the event staff just got back to me and one of their board members fucked off with a bunch of their funds and there's a legal thing now. The long and short of it is that the Con is still going to happen, but they can't cover my hotel stay like they were supposed to. I was wondering if you could put me up the weekend of the 17th? I can get you and a couple of friends some VIP passes to the Con, and chip in for meals and stuff."

Your immediate gut reaction was to say yes - Charli might not have been as old or good a friend as Hannah or Margot, but she

was

a friend even if you hadn't talked properly in a couple of years. That was adult life though - things happened, and people got busy. There was, however, another issue.

"I'd love to," you said. "One thing is, my cousin is living with me so my guest room is kind of occupied. She'll probably still be here then, so I can offer you a very nice couch. Oh, or I can ask my neighbour Margot - she lives alone right now and has a guest room too, she'd probably be willing to let you stay with her and then you can just come one apartment over for meals and stuff."

"Well, obviously I'd prefer a room and a bed, but I'll take a couch," Charli said. "You said your cousin is a she?"

"Yes," you said.

"Then I'm good with it," she said. "God, Ollie. Thank you so much. This means a lot. Let me know how many VIP passes I should get set aside - are you still stuck at the hip with Hannah?"

"I am," you chuckled. "Always will be. I'll see if she wants to go, and a couple of other friends, and I'll get you a number."

"You're amazing, Ollie," Charli said. "OK! Now I can get back to planning this trip, and everything else. I'll give you a shout. Thank you!"

"You're welcome," you said, and the two of you hung up the call.

It took almost twenty minutes before you realised that you hadn't told her about April.

That

was going to be a fun surprise for her - Charli loved one of the darker anime that April had voiced a major character in, along with two of the games. She was going to be

shocked

.

Chapter 26

"So how are you going to handle Hannah?" Margot asked.

You frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

Margot had ended up having Tuesday off at the University library so the two of you had skipped your coffee meetup in the morning the previous day, but you were both back to work on Wednesday and you'd gotten your usual welcome from Paula. Your date with April at the mini putt place was that night, and until Margot had asked that question you'd been gliding by thinking everything was great.

"Come on, Ollie," Margot said, leaning in as she sipped on her coffee. "You really do like April, right?"

"Well, yeah," you said.

"A lot."

"Yes, I like April a lot," you said. "So what? Hannah was the one encouraging me to do the contest to begin with. She's been trying to get me to date for... years! This is everything she's wanted for me."

Margot smiled in a way that was sort of sad as she looked at you and shook her head. "Ever heard of the story of the dog who finally managed to catch the car it was chasing?"

"Um, no," you said, raising an eyebrow.

"It didn't know what to do with it once it caught up," Margot smirked. "Seriously - you and Hannah have had a specific dynamic for years. Hell, you and I have had a specific dynamic for the year we've been friends and neighbours and

I'm

a little jealous of your time with this new woman in your life, and I'm not the bundle of energy that Hannah is."

Your brain tried to go three ways at once, and you ended up focusing on the part that might have been the most throwaway part of what Margot had said. "You're jealous of April?" you asked.

"I mean-" Margot said, caught off guard a little and blushing just a little. "I'm jealous of your time, Ollie. And because I'm a reasonable adult I know that's not fair, so I'm not gonna hold that against you or her. I know Hikaru feels the same way and she's only been in the city for what, two months? We get into routines, and you're an amazing person and it's easy to fall into that routine with you. April is shaking everything up, and Hannah will be feeling it more than me or Hikaru."

You groaned softly, shaking your head.

"You hadn't given it a single thought, had you?" Margot asked.

"No," you said. "Hannah hasn't said anything. Unless she did to you?"

"No," Margot said. "Not explicitly or anything. But I'm a girl, Ollie. I can tell when another girl is starting to feel off. Hannah isn't going to, like, flip out or something... probably... so you don't need to stress out. Just keep in mind that just as much as April is going to be nervous about meeting your

best friend

, Hannah is going to be nervous too."

"Well, what am I supposed to

do

about it, though?" you asked. "Like, should I talk to Hannah about it beforehand? Or April?"

"

Gawd

no," Margot said. "Jesus, Ollie. That's the last thing you want to do. Just be your usual self. Give them reassurance. You make everyone feel comfortable anyways, so do that."

You grunted and then sighed, giving the blonde former cowgirl a look. "You do realise you've only stressed

me

out more by telling me this, right? Like, I would have just 'been me'

without

knowing."

Margot hesitated, surprised, and then laughed. "I guess so," she said, then reached across the table and rubbed your hand. "But sometimes knowing is half the battle, Ollie. And I'd rather you go into the danger zone knowing you're doing it than sending you in blind. Hey, who knows, maybe it goes

really

well and you end up in bed with them both by the end of the night."

You coughed on your coffee, lucky you didn't fully splutter and spray it. Once you had yourself under control you looked at her through slightly watered eyes and saw that smirk on Margot's face that told you she'd teased you like that on purpose.

"Damn it, Margot," you said and then cleared your throat again.

"Hey, you never know," she grinned wickedly.

"Yeah, when pigs fly, hell freezes over and Jesus comes flying down from heaven and surprises all the other religions by revealing the Mormons were right all along," you said.

Margot snorted and patted your hand again, then looked at her watch. "Shit," she said. "I gotta go." She stood up and you stood with her to give her a goodbye hug. "Good luck tonight, Ollie. Just have fun and be reassuring to both of them, OK? Don't stress more than you absolutely need to."

"Thanks, Margot," you said, giving her a good squeeze back. She gave you a firm kiss on the cheek and winked playfully before she grabbed her coffee cup and headed out of the shop.

"Why so red?" Paula asked as she came over to your table and you sat back down.

"Margot knows how to tease me by saying shocking stuff," you said, shaking your head a little.

"You sure I can't get you a pastry, Ollie?" the coffee shop manager said, putting her hand on your shoulder with a friendly squeeze. "I don't like seeing my favourite customer going to work hungry."

You groaned softly and sighed. "I really can't," you said. "I'm on a new diet."

"Well, tomorrow give me a list of all the things you can't have and I'll see if I can come up with something you can," Paula said with a smile. "And I can give you an update on your cousin's first shift here this afternoon."

"She's looking forward to it," you said. "Thanks again for that favour, Paula. And for not mentioning I asked."

"You're a good man, Oliver," Paula said. "And if she turns out half as good as you, she'll probably be employee of the month in the next few weeks."

Chapter 27

Hannah clenched her fists tight enough that her nails dug into her palms painfully.

Why the fuck am I so goddamn nervous!?

She thought to herself. It was just fucking putt-putt golf and meeting a minor celebrity that was dating her best friend. No big deal.

Except it sort of was.

She'd taken the bus since there was a line that ran from the training facility where she worked her day job to the outlet malls, and that meant it had only been a couple minutes of walking to the minigolf place. Realistically, she probably should have already gone inside - Ollie and April would be waiting inside unless they were running late.

Hannah looked down at herself again. She hadn't even been sure what to

wear

, which rarely happened. The problem was it was a date, but it wasn't a

date

, or at least her date. But then it sort of

was

since she was meeting April for the first time, so really it was more like a date between them than Ollie being on a date with April. Except that-