[Modern Family] Ch: 25 [Dating Two Dunphys] (Patreon)

[7:00 PM] [Cafe]

Jason sat at a table by the window when Haley and Alex entered the cafe together. He had a tall glass of iced tea beside him, with condensation dripping down the side. The ice had almost melted, and he kinda arrived thirty minutes earlier. He watched the entrance more closely than he wanted to admit.

The moment he saw both sisters looking around, his stomach tightened.

Haley spotted him first and nudged Alex lightly with her elbow. They walked across the cafe together while Jason straightened in his seat, already wondering whether agreeing to this meeting had been brave or incredibly stupid.

“Hey,” Jason said as they reached the table, giving both of them a careful smile. “Glad neither of you brought a weapon.”

Alex pulled out her chair and sat opposite him. “We discussed that possibility and decided the cafe probably had security cameras.”

Haley sat beside her sister and smiled sweetly. “Yeah, and blood is a pain to get out of cute clothes.”

Jason stared between them for a second before slowly reaching for his iced tea. “Great. I feel way better now.”

Haley laughed while Alex tried to hide the small smile that appeared across her face. Once they settled in, a strange silence formed between the three of them. Jason took another sip while Haley looked at Alex, and Alex looked back at Haley like both were silently arguing about who should begin.

Jason finally placed his glass down. “Your message said you two talked without killing each other, so that sounded good. But I’m guessing there’s more to this than giving me an update on family survival rates.”

“There is,” Alex replied as she folded her hands on the table. “Haley suggested something, and I agreed to discuss it with you before making any decision.”

Haley leaned slightly toward Jason. “I said we should both date you.”

Jason almost inhaled his iced tea. He lowered the glass carefully and looked at Haley, then Alex, before returning his attention to Haley. “You’re really just starting with that?”

“You already know why we’re here,” Haley replied with a shrug. “I’m not gonna sit here for twenty minutes pretending we came to talk about coffee.”

Jason looked toward Alex. “And you’re actually considering this?”

Alex held his gaze for several seconds. “Considering is the important word in that sentence.”

Haley rested her chin against her palm. “She’s been thinking about it for hours. For Alex, that’s basically a yes with a ton of rules.”

Alex turned toward her sister. “And this is why I wanted us to have the conversation together.”

Jason leaned back slightly and rubbed his palms against his jeans. “Okay. I’m listening.”

Alex looked toward him again. “First, I need to know whether you genuinely want this or whether you’re agreeing because neither of us wants to step aside or you're playing some type of dating game with us just for fun.”

Jason thought carefully before answering. “This isn't a game. I really do want this. I like both of you, and acting like I don’t would just make things worse. But I also know this could go really bad if we turn it into some kind of contest over who matters more.”

Haley glanced toward Alex with a look that clearly said she had already made that exact argument.

Alex ignored the look and continued. “Then there need to be rules.”

Jason nodded immediately. “Yeah, I figured there would be rules.”

Haley smiled toward him. “You look way too okay with that.”

“I’ve spent the last month learning that dating one Dunphy sister already takes some work,” Jason replied. “Dating both of you with no rules sounds like asking to get hit by a car.”

Alex’s mouth twitched. “Good. At least you understand the danger.”

She rested her forearms against the table before continuing. “Nobody gets to make important relationship decisions for the other two. If something affects all of us, we discuss it together.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Haley raised one finger. “And no keeping score.”

Alex immediately looked toward her. “You’re the one who brought up keeping score first.”

“I know, which is why I’m saying we stop,” Haley replied while rolling her eyes. “No more first kiss versus first date versus who spent more time with him.”

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m totally okay with that because that scoreboard would get scary really fast.”

Haley pointed toward him. “Exactly. Scoreboard’s gone.”

Alex nodded reluctantly. “That works for me, as long as she doesn't bring it up again.”

Haley placed one hand over her chest. “Hey, I can be mature when I need to be.”

Alex looked toward Jason. “She says things like that with alarming confidence.”

Jason smiled. “I’m choosing optimism because the alternative involves me running through that door."

Haley kicked him lightly beneath the table, making him laugh as he shifted his chair back a little.

Alex waited until they stopped before continuing. “Another rule is honesty. If one of us becomes uncomfortable, jealous, angry, or feels ignored, we say something before it turns into another argument.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yeah, I want that too. I don’t want either of you saying you’re fine for days and then suddenly blowing up.”

Haley looked toward Alex. “Yeah, that means you too.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “Why are you specifically looking at me?”

“Because you’ll stay quiet for three days, think about every little thing, and then murder someone with big words.”

Jason covered his mouth as a laugh escaped him.

Alex turned toward him immediately. “You find that funny?”

Jason shook his head while still smiling. “It was just really specific.”

Haley grinned. “Because it’s true.”

Alex sighed and looked toward Jason again. “Fine. Honesty applies equally to everyone.”

Jason leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. “I’ve got one rule too.”

Both sisters looked at him.

“I don’t want either of you trying to be more like the other because you think I’ll like you more,” Jason said. “Alex, you don’t have to start caring about clothes because Haley does. Haley, you don’t need to start reading science stuff because Alex does. I like you both for different reasons. I don’t want that to change.”

The teasing disappeared from Haley’s expression for a moment.

Alex looked down briefly before meeting his eyes again. “That’s surprisingly sensible.”

Jason smiled. “Hey, I have good ideas sometimes.”

Haley reached across the table and lightly touched his hand. “Yeah. I like that rule.”

Alex watched the gesture, and Jason noticed the brief flicker of jealousy before she deliberately relaxed her shoulders.

She then placed her own hand on top of his other one.

Jason looked down at both hands before raising his eyebrows. “Okay, this is either going really well or I’m being taken hostage.”

Haley laughed. “Relax. You’re doing okay.”

Alex gave him a small smile. “For the moment.”

Jason looked between them and slowly nodded. “So we’re really doing this.”

“We’re trying it,” Alex corrected. “That doesn’t mean we automatically know whether it works.”

Haley leaned closer to her sister. “Alex, normal people would just say we’re dating him.”

Alex sighed. “Fine. We’re dating him.”

Haley’s entire face brightened. “Finally. That wasn’t so hard.”

Jason leaned back with an almost disbelieving smile. “I really didn’t think today would end with both of you saying yes.”

Alex looked toward him. “Don’t become too confident. We can still collectively dump you.”

Haley nodded immediately. “Oh, yeah. We should definitely keep that rule.”

Jason stared at both sisters before lifting his iced tea again. “Wonderful. My first relationship apparently comes with a joint termination clause.”

Haley laughed while Alex finally stopped trying to hide her smile.

For the first time since the strange triangle had begun, the tension between them felt manageable. Jealousy still existed, and none of them were foolish enough to believe every problem had disappeared after one conversation.

Still, they had something they hadn’t possessed before.

An agreement.

And for Jason, who had somehow gone from never dating anyone to sitting across from two sisters who had just agreed to share a relationship with him, that felt completely insane. 'I am one lucky son of a gun. Thank you, god, for this new life.'

He took another sip of iced tea and looked between them.

“So,” Jason asked, smiling cautiously, “what do we do now?”

Haley immediately looked toward Alex.

Alex looked back at her.

Then both sisters turned toward Jason at the same time.

Jason slowly lowered his glass.

“Okay, why am I nervous again?”

..

[Next Noon] [Museum of Tolerance]

Alex stood beside Jason near the entrance to the experiential Holocaust section, reading the information displayed along the wall while visitors moved quietly around them.

Jason had both hands inside his jacket pockets. He looked at the exhibit, then at Alex, then back toward the exhibit like he was still trying to understand how his second date had ended up here.

After another few seconds, he leaned slightly toward her.

“You know, when you said you wanted to pick our second date, this really wasn’t what I had in mind.”

Alex glanced toward him. “What did you have in mind?”

Jason shrugged. “Lunch, movie, aquarium, bowling, maybe mini-golf if we wanted to get wild. Something where there’s at least a small chance of fries being involved.”

Alex looked around the museum before returning her attention to him. “You don’t like museums?”

“I like museums,” Jason replied as they started walking. “I just figured our second date would have slightly less genocide involved.”

Alex stopped walking and slowly looked at him.

Jason immediately raised both hands.

“Okay, bad wording. Really bad wording. I’m shutting up now.”

Alex stared at him for another second before continuing forward.

Jason followed beside her. “See, this is already educational. I just learned there are jokes you shouldn’t make inside certain buildings.”

Alex’s eyes moved toward him again.

Jason cleared his throat. “And apparently I’m still learning.”

That finally made the corner of Alex’s mouth move slightly.

Jason noticed immediately. “Was that almost a smile?”

“No.”

“That was definitely almost a smile.”

“You imagined it.”

Jason nodded thoughtfully. “Right. Museum hallucinations. Probably happens all the time.”

Alex gave him another glance.

Jason looked straight ahead. “I’ll behave.”

They entered farther into the exhibit while the atmosphere around them became noticeably heavier. Photographs, documents, recorded testimonies, and historical information surrounded the walkway.

Alex stopped in front of one display and began reading.

Jason stood beside her and read along for several moments before looking toward her.

She didn’t notice at first.

Alex had this strange ability to completely disappear into whatever caught her attention. Books, documentaries, science articles, museum exhibits, anything remotely educational could steal her away from the rest of the world.

Jason kept watching her until Alex finally noticed.

“You’re staring at me instead of reading.”

Jason smiled. “I already read that part.”

Alex looked toward the display, then back at him. “We’ve been standing here for thirty seconds.”

“I’m a fast reader.”

“You’re suspiciously confident about that.”

Jason leaned slightly closer. “Tell you what. I'm gonna be serious starting now, and we're going to explore every part of this museum. Then, we'll do a little quiz. We'll take turns asking each other questions."

Alex loved that idea. "Okay. You got me interested. Keep going."

"We'll ask each other ten questions. An incorrect answer will cost you 1 point. The winner will get to ask the loser one thing within limits," Jason said with a confident smirk as he extended his hand toward her. 

Alex shook his hand. "Deal." 

--

AN: I'll drop the next chapter today. Maybe 2 if I get time to edit.