Third Year Threesome

Requested by Rena Bodewig.

This is a college AU story. I apologize in advance for any characters that seem out of character.

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live.

This is a one-shot.

"Geez! You could have at least told us that you put all of our names on one apartment!"

"I-I'm really sorry!"

"Now, now…"

Had any of the younger members of Muse heard the argument, they would have thought that Eri was the one scolding, Niko the one being scolded, and Nozomi the one trying to calm the tension. Yet, things had changed between the three of them after one year dorming together in the college dorms. Niko scolded Nozomi more than anything else for making strange decisions on her own while Eri always had to be on guard before the bond between the three of them was severed. Now on their second year of college, they could look forward to having Honoka, Umi, and Kotori join them but becoming a second year also came with its own hassles. To make room for the incoming students, they now had to secure lodging nearby, and Nozomi took matters into her own hands.

"I just thought that it would be easier if we split the rent up three-ways so I put all of our names on it!" Nozomi mumbled, pouting slightly. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"W-Well, no…" Niko trailed off. "Considering we're still students and all, I guess it is to be expected. Plus you already paid your share…" Eri sighed. It looked like the bond wasn't going to be broken yet, though she wasn't quite sure when the next bout of tension would break out. She took into consideration both Niko's and Nozomi's personalities and figured that she would have to mediate another exchange in a few hours.

"Why don't you show us the apartment you found?" Eri suggested brightly, wanting to change the subject but ultimately failing as she realized she had picked on the same subject again.

"Sure!" Cheerfully, Nozomi led the way. Behind her, Eri elbowed Niko. As much as Eri knew that Niko was more often right in terms of common sense decisions, the blonde still tended to take Nozomi's side more.

The apartment that Nozomi had chosen turned out to be only a few blocks away from their school. It was an okay size for three college students, with two bedrooms, a single bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. "Ta-da!" Nozomi shouted proudly, gesturing at the expanse of the apartment with a flourish.

"Let me guess. One room is for all of us to sleep in, and the other room is for extra storage space?" Niko asked sarcastically. Nozomi gasped.

"H-How did you know?!"

Eri chucked a bit. Sights like this had been strange at first, but as time went by, it became more and more common that Nozomi would express more selfish desires. In addition to Nozomi opening up came teasing from both Niko and Eri. "We've all been staying in each other's dorm rooms and sleeping together so it really doesn't come as a surprise, Nozomi." To be honest, Nozomi and Eri managed to share a room while Niko had been paired up with another student. However, the black-haired teenager spent most of the time in the other two's room that she basically lived there in all but the paperwork.

"Ah…" Nozomi broke into a huge grin. "Then someplace like this is totally fine, right?!" Niko and Eri glanced at each other and smiled. For the three of them, anywhere would have been fine, as long as they were all there.

As the time neared for making dinner, Eri tried to enjoy the lasting moments of peace before the bickering she was waiting for happened. The housekeeping duties usually fell in such a way that Niko took charge of most of the cooking while Eri maintained the cleanliness of their household. Out of an unspoken agreement, both of them felt that Nozomi should be left out of the chore list, though they knew she was perfectly capable of doing either duty as she lived on her own while in high school. However, Nozomi became bored whenever she wasn't allowed to participate in helping and that also tended to cause problems, especially when she decided to 'help' Niko make dinner. They found out in their first month together that Nozomi liked adding her own special quirks to recipes instead of following it as she was supposed to, with mixed results. Speaking of which, she could hear Nozomi and Niko in the kitchen now, starting to bicker.

"For the last time, Nozomi. I don't need any help right now to make dinner!" Niko scolded. Eri could picture the shorter girl waving a ladle threateningly at Nozomi as she spoke the words.

"It's easier if we do it together!" She heard Nozomi retort. Eri smiled gently to herself and made her way to the kitchen. She had to stop the bickering before Niko gave in to Nozomi's offer and they ended up eating something inedible.

"Nozomi, I need your help." Eri said, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.

"But I want to help Niko-chi cook!" Nozomi protested, pouting.

"Just go help Eri. I can take care of it myself." Niko said, pushing Nozomi over to the blonde, sending Eri a silent thank you with her eyes.

"Are you sure?" Nozomi asked.

"Yes, I'm sure! Now go!" Niko gave Nozomi one last shove out of the kitchen before shutting the door behind her.

"…So what did Eri-chi need help with?" Nozomi asked, looking at Eri. Eri wracked her brain for something, having only said that she needed help to get Nozomi out of the kitchen.

"Oh! I need help with my lecture notes! I can't seem to understand them." Eri said, scratching the back of her head.

"But we're in different classes, Eri-chi. I don't think I can help you with that." The blonde froze, scrambling to think of something else.

"I-I know! We can finish unpacking what we didn't in the living room!"

"Boo…I don't want to do that…" Nozomi said sulkily, following Eri to the living room anyway. "There's so much stuff…"

"We're going to have to do it at some point, Nozomi." Eri said, smiling nervously. "I'll put on some music while we work."

They ended up holding a singing contest until Niko came out and told them it was time for dinner. The boxes remained untouched.

"Alright, I'm going to shower first~!" Nozomi chirped, dashing off to the bathroom and slamming the door shut before the other two could say a thing.

"Unpacking time?" Niko asked.

"Yup." Eri responded, opening one of the boxes. She took the items inside out carefully and Niko placed each one where they thought it would belong. Anything that was not deemed as important was re-placed back in the box and sealed. They went through all the boxes in the living room in such a way before taking the extra boxes to the second bedroom.

"And…done!" Eri said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"Finally..." Nico sighed.

"Good work, you two!" Nozomi called. "I got the bath ready for you!" Once again, both girls were unable to say anything as the spiritual girl pushed the two of them into the bathroom and pulled the door shut against them trying to get out.

Niko turned the doorknob and pushed with all her strength, with no results as Nozomi leaned against the opposite side with her full weight. Behind her, Eri started to strip, finding it useless to argue with Nozomi.

"Are you coming, Niko?" Eri asked, sliding the door open that separated the actual shower from the changing room they were in.

"R-Right…" Niko released the doorknob and started taking off her clothes as well. She picked up Eri's abandoned clothing and dumped it in the washer that was present in the changing area. Nozomi's clothes were already in it, so Nico added some detergent and started the machine. If she timed it perfectly, the clothes would be ready for drying by the time she and Eri got out of the bath.

Eri was waiting with the shower head in hand when Niko closed the sliding door behind her. The blonde gestured to the short stool in front of her and Niko took a seat. While this particular practice originated with Nozomi, now both of them washed the other's hair and back instead of doing so by themselves. Eri rinsed Niko's hair, making sure it was completely wet before turning off the water and giving the head for Niko to hold while she applied the shampoo. Niko shut her eyes tightly as Eri rubbed the soap into her hair. It wasn't that she didn't trust Eri to not let soap in her eyes, but some things never got comfortable, no matter how often she did them.

"Niko, the shower head please." Eri said, and Niko passed her the equipment. Eri turned on the water and started rinsing the shampoo off from in front of Niko, so that the soap would not fall into her eyes as it washed out. Niko felt it was strange to have the water coming from in front of her and opened her eyes. Right in front of her were Eri's rather large breasts, with water droplets on them from the steam in the room. She shut her eyes again, feeling a blush heating up her cheeks. This went completely unnoticed by Eri as she walked around Niko to get the last of the shampoo off. Once she was done, she turned the water off again, not wanting to waste it, and then poured some body soap onto a sponge. She gently scrubbed Niko's back, moving the black strands from where they hung blocking her cleaning area. Then she took a back seat as Niko scrubbed herself and finally rinsed. Now it was Eri's turn to be the person cleaned.

If she was truly honest with herself, Niko would have taken Eri right then and there to make out with her. After all, the blonde had her eyes closed patiently as she waited for Niko to wash her hair. But there was also Nozomi to think about, and the spiritual girl would not take lightly to having missed out on the action. So Niko suppressed her inner desire, which she had to do a lot of the time, and carried on with what she was expected to do. Her will to fight the desire almost broke when she got into the tub with Eri.

While Eri got dressed, Niko busied herself with the laundry so she wouldn't have to see Eri's naked body. Only after Eri asked why she wasn't getting dressed did Niko proceed to do so, after which the two of them tried the door again. Sometimes Nozomi couldn't tell when they actually went to take the bath and would keep the door held shut. This wasn't one of those times and they got out of the bathroom.

"The light's not on in the kitchen or the living room." Niko said, looking down the hall.

"Bedroom?" Eri suggested, heading to the bedroom. Nozomi was fast asleep on the bed, an open textbook half under her cheek. Niko giggled, lifting Nozomi's head enough so that she could slide the book out. Eri worked at the blanket until she had gotten it out from under the purple-haired girl. Eri and Niko both took up spots at Nozomi's sides and together, they fell asleep.

And...end of their first day living at an apartment. Review please!