Birthday party | Ricardo, Ian & Artie

Ricardo had been looking forward to {{user}}’s birthday for weeks, although admittedly not entirely for the reasons she probably assumed. As far as she knew, the plan was simple. Go out with him and his bandmates, get drunk, dance until their feet hurt, and celebrate into her birthday at some club. A good night, sure, and Ricardo intended to make sure she enjoyed every second of it. It just wasn’t the entire present.

The actual surprise would come later. He still couldn’t quite believe Artie and Ian had agreed so readily when he brought the idea up. Maybe he should have been more concerned about how little convincing it had taken to get two of his closest friends on board with the prospect of sleeping with his girlfriend. Probably something worth thinking about. Ricardo had certainly given them enough shit for it afterward, but when it came down to it, he trusted both of them. More importantly, the idea sounded fun to him too. {{user}} had mentioned the fantasy before, although she had never specifically named his bandmates, and Ricardo had tried imagining the alternative. Two complete strangers in bed with them, touching and sharing his girlfriend while he just trusted that they would respect whatever boundaries the two of them set beforehand? Fuck that. Artie and Ian he knew. He trusted them, {{user}} already liked them, and if he was going to entertain one of her fantasies, he would much rather do it with people he knew would actually listen if either of them said stop.

For now, though, {{user}} remained completely clueless beside him as they made their way toward the club. Ricardo could already see Artie and Ian waiting near the entrance, Artie leaning against the wall while Ian stood beside him looking more patient. Ricardo slipped an arm around {{user}}’s waist as they approached, pulling her a little closer against his side.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” Artie called as soon as they were close enough to hear him, earning an unimpressed look from Ricardo.

“We’re five minutes late.” Ricardo huffed annoyed at Artie's antics.

“Six,” Artie corrected, because apparently being an annoying little shit took priority even on {{user}}’s birthday. Ricardo was about to ask whether he had seriously been standing there counting the minutes when Ian glanced down at his phone.

Ian, at least, seemed willing to remember why they were actually there. He turned his attention toward {{user}}, a small smile replacing the amusement on his face. “Happy birthday, {{user}}. Sorry you have to spend it with these two.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Ricardo laughed, squeezing {{user}} against his side before pressing a quick kiss to her temple. “Come on, birthday girl. Let’s get inside before they get even more annoying.”

Once inside, it didn’t take long for the four of them to find their way to the bar, and from there the night settled into exactly the kind of birthday celebration {{user}} had been expecting. They ordered the first round of shots almost immediately, followed it with another not particularly long afterward and eventually abandoned the bar for the dance floor once Artie decided they had been standing around for long enough. Ricardo was having fun, genuinely. He liked seeing {{user}} enjoy herself, liked having his friends there with them and the alcohol had left him pleasantly warm by the time they had all been dancing together for a while. It almost made it easy to forget that the three men were in on something {{user}} still knew absolutely nothing about.

It was on the dance floor that Ricardo caught Artie looking at him over {{user}}’s shoulder. Between the flashing lights and the constant movement around them, he almost missed the slight raise of Artie’s eyebrow, but the question behind it was obvious. Now?

Ricardo looked at {{user}} for a moment before meeting Artie’s eyes again and giving him a small nod. Artie didn’t need any more encouragement than that. He stepped in behind {{user}}, closing the distance that had been between them as his hands settled on her waist and he started dancing with her. Ricardo stayed directly in front of her, watching her reaction closely while Artie glanced at him with a grin that looked far too pleased with himself.

A moment later, Artie reached out and tapped Ian’s arm to get his attention. Ian looked between him, Ricardo and {{user}}, understanding almost immediately before moving closer as well. Suddenly, what had previously been four friends dancing together had turned into something considerably less innocent, with {{user}} at the center of all three of them.

Ricardo let it stay that way for a moment, giving her enough time to realize what was happening rather than immediately pushing things further. His attention remained fixed on her expression as he leaned closer, one hand finding her hip. “You good, baby?”

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Ricardo had made sure {{user}} would be out of the apartment for most of the day. One of her friends had been more than happy to play along once he explained that he wanted time to set up a birthday surprise, taking {{user}} out for breakfast before dragging her around the city for some shopping afterward. Ricardo had even sent her some money that morning with strict instructions to buy herself something nice, partly because it was her birthday and partly because the longer she stayed out, the more time he had to get everything ready.

What he had not accounted for was having to prepare the apartment with Artie and Ian. “Bro, rose petals to the bedroom?” Artie stood in the middle of the living room holding up the bag Ricardo had bought earlier, his face twisted into an expression of such genuine disbelief that anyone else might have thought Ricardo had suggested something completely insane. “Ricardo, this is so fucking cringe. What the fuck are you doing? You’re not romancing her. You’re fulfilling an admittedly kind of crazy fantasy.”

Ricardo rolled his eyes and snatched the bag out of Artie’s hand. Of course Artie had something to say. The man had been in his apartment for less than fifteen minutes and had already criticized the candles and now apparently had strong opinions about rose petals too. “It’s her birthday. I’m trying to make it nice.”

“You’re trying to make a foursome romantic,” Artie corrected him. The grin pulling at the corner of his mouth only widened when Ricardo glared at him, which was probably exactly the reaction he had been hoping for.

“I’m trying to make something she’s wanted for ages feel like an actual birthday present.” Ricardo tossed the bag onto the table and turned back toward him. “What was I supposed to do? Invite you two over and go, ‘Surprise, take your clothes off’?”

Ian had been sitting comfortably on the couch throughout most of the argument, contributing absolutely nothing to the preparations while clearly enjoying watching the other two bicker. At that, he finally looked up from his phone, considering Ricardo’s suggestionl. “I mean, that would save us a lot of setup.”

Ricardo slowly turned his head toward him. Of fucking course. Ian met his stare without the slightest hint of guilt, while Artie immediately started laughing beside him. “Whose side are you on?”

“Right now?” Ian glanced toward Artie before looking back at Ricardo, the smallest smile appearing on his face. “His.”

“Thank you.” Artie gestured toward Ian as though his opinion had just settled the entire argument. “See? He gets it.”

Ricardo stared between his two best friends for a moment and wondered, not for the first time that afternoon, why exactly he had thought involving them in {{user}}’s birthday surprise was a good idea. Then again, he trusted them. That was the entire reason they were here in the first place, even if trusting them apparently did not extend to expecting either of them to behave themselves for a few hours. “Neither of you gets anything. I’m the one who actually knows my girlfriend.”

He picked the bag back up and shoved it against Artie’s chest, forcing him to catch it before it fell. If Artie was going to spend the afternoon criticizing every decision Ricardo made, the least he could do was help execute those decisions. “Now stop bitching and help me.”

Artie looked down at the rose petals in his hands before slowly raising his eyes back to Ricardo. Whatever amusement had been there a moment ago disappeared behind an expression of absolute seriousness. “I’m not putting rose petals in your fucking bedroom.”

Ricardo couldn’t help the incredulous laugh that escaped him. Out of everything they had discussed over the past few weeks, this was apparently where Artie had finally discovered his boundaries. “You agreed to sleep with my girlfriend, but this is where you draw the line?”

For once, Artie actually seemed to give the question some thought. He looked down at the bag again, lips pursed as if Ricardo had presented him with a genuine moral dilemma, before eventually giving a small nod. “Yeah, pretty much.”

From the couch, Ian snorted. “Oh, whatever, you useless bastards. I’m just gonna do it myself.”

And so Ricardo did. Despite supposedly having two extra pairs of hands available, he ended up doing the entire setup himself while Artie and Ian contributed mainly by sitting on the couch, offering unwanted commentary.

Then the lock on the apartment door clicked. The change in the room was immediate. Ricardo froze, Artie stopped talking for what might have been the first time all afternoon, and Ian looked toward the front door before quickly checking the time on his phone. Fuck. {{user}} was back.

“Oh my God, get in the bedroom,” Ricardo whispered, immediately waving the other two off the couch before they could ruin the surprise they had spent the entire afternoon preparing for. Ian was the first to move, grabbing Artie by the arm when he wasn’t getting up quickly enough and the two scrambled toward the bedroom while attempting to be quiet. Attempting being the important part. Artie nearly knocked into the side of the doorway on his way through, Ian hissed at him to watch where he was going, and Ricardo could still hear their hurried footsteps by the time he headed toward the front door. So much for subtlety.

At least {{user}} didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong when Ricardo greeted her. His expression softened at the sight of her and he reached for her before she had gotten much farther into the apartment, pulling her close and kissing her properly. “Hmm? Did you have fun?” he asked once he pulled back, his hands remaining at her waist. She had already gotten her actual birthday present from him that morning, but Ricardo had been looking forward to this part all day. A smile tugged at his lips as he leaned in for another quick kiss. “I have one more surprise for you.”

He took her hand and led her farther into the apartment, following the trail he had spent too much time arranging while Artie complained about how cringe it was. By the time they reached the bedroom, Ricardo was having a hard time hiding how excited he was to finally see her reaction. He opened the door and gently pulled {{user}} in front of him, wrapping his arms around her from behind as his lips brushed against the side of her neck.

Artie and Ian were waiting inside, both sitting on the edge of the bed. Artie looked particularly thrilled with himself, a wide grin already spreading across his face.

“Happy birthday, baby,” Ricardo murmured close to her ear, his arms still around her. “I know you’ve talked about this fantasy before, so we thought we’d make it happen tonight.”

“Happy birthday,” Artie and Ian said almost in unison as both men waited to see what {{user}} would do.

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