On Kubu Island

They were having "a moment", so Andy told the crew to clear off to the campsite a couple of miles from the salt pan island and left a skeleton support crew with no cameras on the reasonable chance at least one of them would break down or get stuck doing the same journey.  He watched them himself for a couple of minutes as the astonishing sunset bathed them in an almost magical orange light, watched them move closer together; Jeremy's arm go around Richard's shoulders and James' hand settle against his back.  Then he turned and left them alone because they needed to be.

Eyes fixed on nature's magnificent performance, Jeremy sat down, ass on the hot rock, and tugged on the sandy tails of Richard's crumpled shirt for him to follow.  Richard glanced behind him before lowering himself down and as he did, Jeremy directed him between his open legs, ignoring the quietly muttered protest to wrap his arms around Richard's waist and lean into his back.  Richard didn't protest for long, one hand resting on Jeremy's arms, resting back against him as he reached up and pulled on James' fingers.

Silently, James sat too.  Jeremy pulled one arm from around Richard to slide it round James as the third man nudged into his side, leaning back on his hands.  And that's how they stayed while the sun set behind the edge of the world.  The temperature started to drop quickly and Jeremy pulled Richard closer, leaning his face into the back of his neck.  He felt James shift closer too, felt the warmth of the other man pressing against his side and spread his hand over his hip.  As his fingers moved he knew he was pushing boundaries they themselves had wordlessly established.  James glanced at him, the reflection of the sun burning in his eyes, and for one insane second he thought he was going to kiss him.  But the moment passed and they both turned their heads again to look around them.

It was truly beautiful here; wild and untamed.  They were doing something no one else had ever done and as insane as it was, it was what they did.  These two men in his arms had gone from being co-presenters to being friends to being something else, something more, something he always had trouble putting into words.  This was since Richard's accident, since standing with James outside ICU in the middle of the night with tears sliding down his face, seeing tears in the other man's eyes, fresh shock at seeing their hyperactive third hooked up to all manner of machines and monitors keeping him alive.

They had Richard back and that alone sometimes felt like a miracle.

"Maybe we should get moving before we lose the light," he heard Richard murmur and although he sensibly agreed, he was loathe to unlock this huddle.

With a deep breath, he lifted his head and ghosted his mouth over the nape of Richard's neck, nuzzling the fine hair stuck to his skin by the heat of the day.

"Jez…."  Richard's head ducked forward and turned slightly but Jeremy didn't lean away. 

Instead he murmured, "Sorry," with his face still close to Richard's skin.  But he wasn't.  He could smell sweat, sand, oil; Richard underneath it all.  When that had become attractive, he couldn't say, couldn't pinpoint when he'd first looked at his friend and felt a certain pull towards him, didn't know if it had been a sudden thing or a slow, progressive thing.  Sometimes he caught James looking at Richard, knew he was feeling the exact same thing and just like Jeremy he couldn't deal with it - didn't know how to.

Or maybe he did, because as Jeremy forced himself to lift his head, James' hand reached passed him to touch Richard's jaw and as if they'd stepped into another world, side-stepped into an alternate universe, he watched, mesmerised, as James touched his lips lightly to a surprised Richard's mouth, lingering there in the glorious dying sunlight before lifting from the ghost of a kiss.  Then with a smile, James rose to his feet and dusted off his jeans as if he hadn't done anything.

"Richard's right, we should go before we lose the light." 

Jeremy tore his eyes from James to Richard who was looking slightly shell-shocked, and quickly took his hands from around him.  "Don't ask me," he said definitively, "because I don't know anything."  He got to his feet and offered Richard a hand up.  "Let's get to the camp site.  We can quiz him there." 

Richard only nodded, and Jeremy followed him down to where their 'cars' waited, wondering like he thought Richard probably was what the hell had got into James.

~ 

By the time they reached the camp, Andy had had their tents set up a little way from the crew's, his excuse apparently having been that James snored.  The catering wasn't a million miles from what they were used to and some bright spark had packed a cold box full of beer which Jeremy decided was definitely what the three of them needed.  Given the heat and the dehydration, one bottle of beer each and they were merrily intoxicated.  They sat up around the fire late into the night, not really talking, just staring into the flames or looking up at the stars - the clear night sky was incredible out here.

Long after the crew had turned in, they did too, all three crawling into one tent.  James was the first one to drop to his ass on his sleeping bag and look at the other two as if they'd lost their minds.  "What are you two imbeciles…?"  Jeremy was about to open his mouth to shut him up but he was beaten to it by Richard practically falling into James, shoulder pushing into his chest, hand landing hard on his thigh.  James had enough to think about working out where to put his hands that wouldn't get him instantly punched in the face.  Job done.  Jeremy smiled to himself as he kicked Richard's foot out of the way before he sat on it, turning to zip up the flap behind him. 

"Jeremy reckoned we should share a tent," Richard kindly explained before burping loudly.  Jeremy caught James pulling a face but knew after what he'd done on the island that he wouldn't be able to argue for too long with the slightly drunken logic that had brought him to this genius decision.  It wasn't going to be comfortable - there really wasn't enough space in a one-man tent for three grown adults because what Richard lacked in height, Jeremy made up for.  But he didn't care and he knew James wouldn't after a couple of minutes of enforced closeness.

Somehow they managed to unzip the sleeping bag and lay it out on the sleeping mat.  Jeremy, thinking ahead for once, had grabbed his bag from his own tent and with some trial and error they found that they all slotted together like a three-piece puzzle, kicking off shoes as Richard lay on his side in the middle, with Jeremy on one side and James on the other, facing him.  It wasn't exactly painless procedure, with elbows in stomachs, knees in testicles and somehow feet in mouths, but when Jeremy could feel Hammond pressing against him from chest to shin, when he got a comfortable arm around his waist and his hand spread on his cotton-clothed stomach, every eye-watering moment, every blue bruise, was worth it.  It didn't matter that he'd probably be limp in the morning after lying on his hip on the hard ground all night.   

Looking at James over Richard's head, he was undoubtedly thinking the same.  His eyes were apparently locked with Richard's, and Jeremy didn't know which bits of who were touching who but he could definitely feel James' foot touching his leg over Richard's ankle.

"Earlier," he heard Richard whisper to James, "that was the… riskiest thing I've ever known you do." 

"There are times you have to take risks."

"Why?"  His head swivelled to the left and he said in a low murmur, "Jez, if your hand moves any lower I'll be breaking your fingers."  Jeremy stilled his hand, fingertips resting over Richard's navel, not quite tucked into his shirt.  His head turned back.  "Why, James?" 

There was a silence long enough that Jeremy honestly thought James was going to feign sleep just so he didn't have to answer, but James' eyes were still wide open and finally he said, "Because I knew Jezza wouldn't, even though he's been wanting to for months."  Jeremy froze.  "One of us had to test the waters, I figured it might as well be me or we'll be here for the rest of our lives, wondering."

Initially there was just more silence.  Then Richard asked, "You've wanted to for months?" and Jeremy knew the question was directed back at him despite him not moving.   

"Yeah."  He gave an honest and frank answer.  "Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" 

He shrugged, not easy while lying on the ground on an already aching shoulder with one arm tucked under his head and the other wrapped increasingly tightly around his younger colleague.  "It feels like I should be."

"Don't be."  He felt Richard shift in his arms and watched, stunned, as he moved across the narrow space and planted a kiss on James' mouth.  There seemed to be an inordinate length of time before James' hand curled around Richard's shoulder and he actually responded.  Jeremy leaned forward and bit a finger carefully before finally, finally putting his mouth on Richard's neck and sucking gently.  

It may have been his imagination but he thought he heard and felt Richard moan softly, then suddenly James deepened the kiss as if he was trying to get to Richard's tonsils and Jeremy halted for a moment, stunned, taking the hand from under his head to reach out hesitantly and stroke James' hair.  It was a strange thing to be doing, but it wasn't every night - wasn't any night before this one - that he watched his two co-presenters, two best friends, having a snog right in front of him.

James drew back, licking his lips, and Richard twisted in the tight space between them until he was close enough for Jeremy to kiss him too and he wasn't about to let this chance slip away.  Pushing himself up on his elbow he stroked his knuckles over Richard's stubbled cheek and extended his fingers into the hair above his ear.  "You're fucking gorgeous, you know that?" 

Richard nodded, and Jeremy laughed before he lowered his open mouth to Richard's and groaned softly as their tongues touched and tasted one another.  He was hard in a heartbeat, forgetting about James for a second and sliding his hand down between Richard's legs to stroke his palm over a growing hard-on clad in denim.  Richard squeaked, and Jeremy lifted his hand quickly, lifting his head too, worried suddenly he'd gone too far too fast.  But Richard's hand closed on his, pushing it back down to cup his erection and with a grin Jeremy ran his thumb firmly along its length and back, up and down, torturously slowly.

Richard bucked into his hand, reaching for James, turning his face to break from Jeremy's kiss, straining to reach James' mouth.  James closed in again, fingers brushing over Jeremy's, unzipping and unfastening so Jeremy's touch slipped over hard flesh forcing this incredible sound from the back of Richard's throat.   

Almost immediately Richard's fingers were scrabbling at their jeans, trying to get to them both, and they both helped until his hands were on them, palm wrapped around Jeremy's cock, fingers hooked around James, James gently cupping Richard's balls while Jeremy jerked him off.  It was messy and uncoordinated, but Richard was perfect, feeling him and seeing him shift restlessly, reacting to every touch; kissing him, being kissed, strong fingers bringing him relentlessly to orgasm as he and James worked Richard together, touching - the most intimate touch Jeremy thought he'd ever known.

As always when it was the three of them, Jeremy finished first, covering Richard's hand and wrist, biting down on the sleeping bag to stop from waking the entire crew.  James and Richard weren't far behind, Richard shuddering beneath him, James moaning into Richard's shoulder.   

As practical as ever, Jeremy wiped himself and Richard on the spare sleeping bag.  James, obviously disgusted by this behaviour, dug a handkerchief out of his overnight bag while Jeremy settled back onto his side, pulling Richard possessively with him, back into the happy position they'd been in before the madness had ensued.  James got as comfortable as he could on his back and Richard immediately draped a leg and an arm over him, causing Jeremy to have to shift until his arm was trapped between the two men.

"Pray to God we don't oversleep and have to be woken by the crew," he muttered around a yawn. 

"Pray to God they don't have the cameras on when they do." James came back.  Ten seconds later, he was snoring and Richard and Jeremy had to kick him until he turned onto his side and finally fell quiet.