...as in, was John's friend a third wheel, swinger, cheater, brother, or what? The final scene left me confused.
And by the way -- I think the total time for flashback would have been about 5-7 seconds if not for the super slo-mo. Instead, they seemed to make up about a 1/4 of the total screen time.
Both men kiss the woman passionately, so the implication is that she was sleeping with both. I think Leone wanted to show that the early twentieth century was a time of rebellion against Victorian morals, as well as being a time of political revolution. Also this part of the film is an hommage to "Jules and Jim", which was a very detailed portrait of bohemianism of the era.
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They were totally gay for each other. Bigtime. That's what the slow-mo was about.
You didn't catch that?
2nd theory: Leone was still under the influence of Jules et Jim, which the scenes imitate to a painful extent.