Blake
BLAKE
Morning light streamed in through the windows on the second floor as emerged from one of the bedrooms. Clad only in a pair of boxer briefs, he gave a heavy yawn as he padded across the cool wooden floor. Scratching his stomach, he descended the stairs to the main floor, following the smell of coffee.
Not at all surprised to find his morning person of a brother in the kitchen, watched him for a moment. Blaine was examining something on his phone with great interest as a pan popped and hissed on the stove.
“Mornin’,” said as he headed straight for the coffeemaker.
Blaine grunted. “Morning. I see you still like to laze around in the morning.”
frowned at the coffeemaker display as he grabbed a mug. “It’s not even nine.”
“And I’ve been up for three hours already,” Blaine told him, setting his phone on the counter.
poured himself a cup. “That’s because you’re an inhuman monster who gets up with the sun.”
“Eric does too,” Blaine told him, poking at the eggs in the pan.
inhaled the rich scent of the coffee, humming happily. “And he has the decency to be pissed off about it for a couple of hours. Well, more than usual, anyway.”
“I should have started cooking bacon. That would have woken you up,” Blaine said.
snorted. “You’re lucky Eric isn’t here to watch you cook.”
“I can cook.”
“On the grill, sure.”
“Hey, I’ve learned some things. Eric made sure of that.”
“Only because he didn’t want you burning down the house when you had to feed yourself while he was away or staying late at work.”
“Not the point, I’ve still learned.”
chuckled, taking little sips of hot coffee as they chatted. It felt good being around his brother for a little one-on-one time. Their lives had taken them to separate places for so long that when they did get together, it was more about catching up. After he’d moved to Port Dale a couple of years ago, had seen more of his brother. With the wedding drawing closer and the couple needing help with the prep work, spent almost every day with Blaine, and he wouldn’t argue.
“I’ll go put on pants if it makes you feel better,” told him.
“Yes, because seeing what is essentially me walking around in underwear is really all that horrifying,” Blaine told him, flipping the eggs.
“Hey, some people might think it’d cause an existential crisis,” pointed out.
Blaine snorted. “Those same people haven’t had to see their reflection walking and talking for thirty, almost thirty-one years either. I think I’m immune to freaking out seeing my mirror image, thanks.”
Well, other than several pounds of muscle and some extra scars, sure. But that was a point he’d made before, and he wasn’t touching it again. Didn’t help that it was a bit of a sore spot for him too. Not the scars, he was fine with that, even if he did joke that they made Blaine more masculine and attractive. It just irked him that, for all his gym work, he couldn’t build much in the way of muscle. Apparently, identical only went so far, or he was doing something wrong.
Leaving his brother to poke at the eggs and mutter, returned to the second floor, coffee in hand. He was halfway across the room when the door leading outside swung open, and a wide-eyed Eric came thumping in.
“God damn,” Eric was saying. “This place is absolutely gorgeous. I take back all the shit I said about the price. I don’t even give a...why are you naked?”
The question was directed at , and he looked down at himself. “I’m not.”
Eric scowled at him. “Close enough. What the hell, ?”
“I’m wearing underwear,” said. “It’s not like if I was naked, it wouldn’t have been anything you hadn’t seen before.”
“I’ve never seen you naked!” Eric protested.
glanced at the stairs, where banging plates could be heard. “I mean, close enough.”
Eric wrinkled his nose. “That’s fucking gross, . I don’t even want to think about that.”
Sean entered behind him, peering over Eric’s shoulder. “Don’t want to think about what?”
grinned. “Heya, Sean. I was just telling Eric that since he’s seen my brother naked, he’s pretty much seen me naked.”
Sean hummed thoughtfully. “With a few differences, that would make sense.”
“Sean!” Eric protested.
“Only a few,” said with an overly suggestive wink.
Eric looked outright horrified. “ Why do you even know something like that?”
shrugged. “I mean, I can attest completely, but we’re only not completely identical because he’s super buff. And that isn’t genetic.”
“I can see that too,” Sean added, much to ’s delight.
Eric threw up his hands and headed for the stairs with quick strides. “I don’t want to see anything . I hate both of you. Blaine!”
“Yes?” Blaine’s voice floated up from the kitchen.
“Our brothers are assholes,” Eric proclaimed as he stomped down the stairs.
“And here I thought we knew that already,” Blaine said, sounding amused.
continued grinning as he heard Eric complaining. Undoubtedly, Blaine was consoling him, but knew his brother would be fighting back laughter.
winked at Sean. “Thanks for the help. Teasing him is a hobby at this point.”
Sean chuckled. “Honestly, he’s been tense since he got up this morning. He absolutely had to come here as soon as possible. Giving him something to focus on and vent his frustrations is good for him. It just so happens that you willingly make yourself a target.”
hummed. “I’m sure he’d be so happy to know you went full therapist on him just then.”
Sean cocked his head, looking over. “If it helps, I probably do have a good idea of what you look like completely naked.”
froze on his way to take another sip of his coffee, eyes widening as his thoughts led him to a horrible realization.
“You’ve seen Blaine naked?” asked in a whisper.
Sean shrugged. “I stopped by early one morning to grab something I’d left at their apartment. Blaine walked out of the bedroom, not knowing I was there. Apparently, your brother is a nude sleeper.”
As much as he’d been willing to use his almost nakedness to tease Eric, it was a slightly disconcerting feeling to know that Sean actually had a good idea of what he looked like in the buff.
“Does Eric know?” asked.
“Considering Eric called me a Peeping Tom afterward, I assume he does,” Sean said.
“Blaine probably told him, laughing his ass off the whole time.”
Sean cocked his head. “And for the record, despite being identical, you both don’t...feel the same, and so, don’t look the same.”
laughed softly. “And how does that work when we’re identical?”
“Well, other than you being noticeably smaller than him, it’s in the face and other things. You both present yourselves differently, altering how others perceive you. I imagine those of us who know you both would be able to pick each of you out without needing to see the extra muscle,” Sean said.
let that stew for a moment and then nodded. It made sense, just as it made sense that even though Sean and Eric were remarkably similar looking, it was easy to tell them apart. There was the same dark hair and eyes, and while Sean had a few inches on Eric, they both had the same wide-set shoulders.
It was the way they held themselves and how they expressed themselves without talking that really set them apart. Despite Eric losing most of his bristling sharpness over the years, there was an almost static charge about him, an energy barely contained. Sean, however, had an air of comfort about him, a sereneness that allowed him to pass through storm and fire with ease.
“Alright,” relented. “Game point to you, Mr. Observant.”
Sean smiled. “It’s a family trait.”
True, for all his bluster and tendency to barrel through life, Eric was incredibly observant. was willing to attribute it to all the nervous energy the man stored up, giving him an almost paranoid obsession with keeping track of what was happening around him. He didn’t get the same from Sean, who seemed happy to watch the world patiently and quietly take note.
“Oi,” Blaine’s voice shouted up. “Breakfast is up if you guys are hungry. But Eric says you have to put on clothes first, .”
turned around. “I refuse to put on anything but pants. Being dressed is for after coffee.”
“Fine,” Eric growled up the steps.
beamed at Sean. “Your brother is so easy.”
“Oh, the next couple of days should be interesting,” Sean said with a chuckle as he walked to the stairs.
“That’s what I like about you, Sean,” said as he strutted toward the bedroom. “Ever the optimist.”