Three Sentence Ficathon

Doug met Stede first, which was like meeting a ghost (a ghost who made his paramour very, very tetchy) until the moment he came back with Mary, plotting his own death and as warmly alive as the sun.

Stede only shone brighter when he brought Ed around, a man who was beautiful and intimidating and nervous and whose expressive eyes exploded into stars nearly like tears when Mary pulled him in for a hug.

It was years, actually, before Doug met Israel Hands, but he could immediately tell that he was in the other men's orbit, his whole body listening to he pair's rhythms aside from his wary, glaring eyes--he was a sentinel, sure, but Doug could also recognize immediately the way he shone in little crescent glimpses whenever Ed pulled him close for a noogie or Stede rested his hand on Izzy's arm.