Work Text:
Sean’s mind had a tendency to wander off late at night. He was in his own room in their house, had his own queen bed, his own desk and streaming computer were against the wall. His curtains were a deep shade of green and the moonlight would hardly get through. But for some reason his mind would wander to Lawrence in his room, sleeping apart from Adam, his husband, because that’s how it was before they were ever married or even considered themselves to be dating. Sean thought of James and Joel, the high school sweethearts, all bundled up in the master bedroom, sleeping soundly together after kissing each other goodnight like all good husbands do. He wondered about Matt and Bruce, the recently married men, and how the dewy and damp spring evening was treating them because Bruce ran hot and needed the window cracked at all times.
Sean wondered a lot of things as he laid there alone, a symbolic ring on his own finger, the movable gears getting hard to fiddle with and he might need a new one. He was their husband and he loved how they’d whisper that to him in the dead morning when he was with any of them. Or how they’d shout it into the air as they made love. And it was making love unless it was called for a good dicking. Sean was treated as their precious little house spouse. And Sean reveled in it, loved it, and never wanted to let go of his title no matter how the legal system fights how he’s only a side lover in technical terms. In their house, and their hearts he’s their husband as well. He’s the link to where the word husband is replacing all the other terms of life partnership.
Bruce had actually told off Lawrence for calling Bruce his boyfriend in front of their neighbour. The Hullums don’t care so long as the house of husbands doesn’t wake their kids then the titles of “My ---” mean nothing to them. In fact the majority if not all of their friends find it sweet or don’t care what they call and are to each other so long as it’s consensual and mutual. And Sean finds it dandy that he can hear so many permutations of my husband being used, whether they’re married or not.
When Sean streams and Matt is off work on the construction site he’ll tease Matt and kiss him on stream, occasionally covering the camera and giggling, “My husband needs to trim, he’s a little scratchy.” before uncovering the camera and carrying on. His favourite time is when Joel is done editing the latest script and will come into his bedroom, a smile on his face and red ink on his hands. He’d make sure the mic was muted as he whispered utter filth or sweet talk into Sean’s ear. The mic won’t pick it up but the camera gets Sean’s flushed face, scandalously parted lips, and his widening pupils because his husband is done his work for his editing firm and can now play. “I may cut this stream short tonight, you all saw what Joel did.” Sean squeaked when the mic was on. It takes him another half hour for his erection to go down and his thought process to tell him to shut the stream down for the night. Some nights he’s being called down for dinner by James, he gets home the earliest some nights, will put all the essays and worksheets on the desk in the office on the main floor and get to cooking a big meal rather than when he gets home later and he ends up cooking them all a lighter meal. But Sean loves being called from downstairs that “Supper is ready! Tell them you’re taking a break!” And Sean says he’s shutting off for an hour or two, he’ll be back later. And shut it all down before racing to the dinner table to be surrounded by his husbands, his family.
The house spouse that Sean is had opened up so many possibilities, including Bruce settling down from his punk days, his rougher days, and mellowing out in the way he fucks anyone. He mellowed out enough that he married Matt, gave his long time boyfriend and his beautiful husband what he wanted. Not just a trinket of their companionship in a bracelet made from a memory, but in a gold ring and a string of vows as they tied the knot officially. Joel had finally admitted his deeper feelings towards his friend/love interests. He was so tired of thinking he couldn’t love them, he loved James and James alone. They had a set-up where they could fool around and have sex, but Joel never thought he could love them all like they love each other. Joel never said I love you to them until he had broken down. And James didn’t either because Joel was not ready, James knew he loved them all and was capable of saying it and meaning it, Joel didn’t realize it and had called James while he was with the high school football team at a tournament out of town. The three little words flowed out of Joel and James after that, in large amounts but no one denied that each utterance wasn’t true, every single phrase said was believed though and through.
It took them years to find peace with themselves and each other. Took fights and breaks and breakdowns and lock-ins to figure it out in their heads and out loud to their company. Agreements were made and love making was often. Sean is cozy and happy with his husbands, the men who work at different times or who have to go out of town, the ones that wake up early to the ones with the late shift. Sean will be the stay at home husband who plays and feeds the cats, who is there to kiss them goodbye and hello in the same day (If that’s the case). And he loves to be the one to hear the cacophony of sounds of love or the symphony of soft snores and sighs. He’ll stay up well into the night to reminisce and remind himself that he’s in love for all the right reasons and he has no where better to be than under the same roof as his loves. Sean is the house husband but he’s their house husband.