Blake
BLAKE
After dinner, when it grew dark enough, dutifully filled the stone fire pit outside and started a bonfire. He’d plopped himself down, beer in hand, contented to spend the rest of the night listening to the sounds of the insects and wind through the nearby forest.
After almost half an hour, he thought his peace was about to be shattered when he heard someone leaving the house. It wasn’t until he heard the soft sound of bare feet on the stone that he realized he might still get it.
“Those two doing their cute thing again?” asked Sean, taking a drink.
Sean chuckled, taking the seat across from him. “No. Eric is having a...moment. Blaine is dealing with it and I figured I should get out of their hair.”
The man was dressed in a simple pair of loose shorts and t-shirt. His dark bangs stuck to his forehead, and even with the fire crackling, caught the faint scent of body wash.
“Well,” said. “We knew one or both of them would get the wedding jitters. They’ve got two days and they’re going to be proclaiming all their ooey-gooey love to one another.”
Sean laughed. “You make it sound so romantic.”
smiled, feeling a comfortable warm buzz in his head. “Ah, I know. I have a way with words, don’t I?”
“Not a believer in love?” Sean asked.
“Are you analyzing me, Dr. Andreas?” shot back with a wicked grin.
Sean returned the smile. “Are you evading the question, Mr. Edwards?”
Maybe.
sighed. “You can’t exactly see a couple like Blaine and Eric and not believe in love, so yeah, I believe.”
He just wasn’t sure if it believed in him.
Sean watched him thoughtfully for a moment, and was struck by how unnerving Sean could be. The man was incredibly perceptive and tended to pick through his thoughts and observations methodically. It left wondering what Sean saw when he looked at him.
cleared his throat. “What about you?”
Sean gave him a gentle smile. “Do I believe in love? My answer isn’t much different than yours, though I don’t require seeing Eric and Blaine to believe in love. I have been in love, after all.”
nodded. “Fair enough, it’s not like I haven’t felt that tricky little emotion before.”
“It’s tricky?” Sean asked.
laughed. “Yeah, the trick is getting it to last.”
Sean tapped the armrest of his chair thoughtfully. “ I believe love doesn’t change, but people can and do, or one does and the other doesn’t, and that’s the problem. The trick, as you put it, is finding a way to make the changed people continue to fit together. Some manage it, and some simply grow apart.”
glanced toward the house. “Think they will?”
“They could. I’ll never say it’s impossible. But I don’t think they will. They were in love once, drifted apart, and found each other again, different people than they were the last time, and fell in love again. I think they’ll always find a way to fall back in love with each other, no matter what happens.”
had to admit he was impressed by the answer. “That’s really deep, Sean.”
Sean eyed him, the corner of his mouth quirking. “Are you drunk?”
blinked. “Me? God no. Only had a few.”
“So you’re just very relaxed at the moment.”
“Ah, wonderfully relaxed. I’ve got a nice fire, excellent ambiance, a few drinks, and now the company is good. So yeah, relaxed.”
“You’re very charming when you want to be.”
gave him a crooked smile. “That’s high praise from a guy who seems like he should be immune to charm.”
“Should I be? Interesting.”
“Is it, like, required by law for all shrinks to use ‘interesting’ in a conversation?”
“They passed the law a while back. I can lose my license if I don’t throw it into conversation now and then, particularly casual conversation.”
grinned, settling back into his seat and draining the last of his beer. The sound of the forest behind him was a pleasant backdrop to the crackling of the fire, and he could smell the rich earth and plants.
“It’s kind of a shame,” said, setting the bottle carefully on the ground, “that you and I never really got the chance to talk before.”
“If that’s a compliment, I’ll beat you to the punch and say I agree. I’ve enjoyed what conversations you and I manage to squeeze in before the next problem calls us,” Sean told him, propping his feet up on a chair.
hummed his agreement. Sean’s aura of calm and contentment was contagious, and he certainly had a better sense of humor than his younger brother. It was soothing, spending time around Sean on his own. He could feel the minutes ticking by, with only the sound of the outdoors and the fire to break the silence, and was perfectly happy with that.
It was interrupted when he heard the door opening again. The footsteps headed their way were heavier than Sean’s, and not bare either. cracked open an eye to look up into the face of his brother, who was holding a fresh beer out for him.
“Ah, I knew I loved you for a reason,” said, taking it gratefully.
“Don’t go through the whole pack tonight, or Eric will have your head,” Blaine warned.
chuckled. “This was going to be my last one, and then I was contemplating crashing for the night.”
Sean let out a heavy yawn on cue. “That does sound appealing.”
“Then my timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Blaine said, sitting beside .
“What’s up?” asked, taking a drink.
Blaine leaned forward, using a long stick to nudge the burning logs. “Eric did a head count and then a bed count and realized there’s not enough beds for everyone.”
frowned. “What? Of course there is...isn’t there?”
“We miscounted,” Blaine explained. “So this is me telling you guys that in order to keep everything neat and clean, you’ll have to bunk together.”
“You mean in order to keep Eric from stressing more than he already is,” said.
Blaine shrugged. “He’s doing better. Today did him good, which, thank you, guys.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Sean assured him. “That is, after all, part of and I’s jobs as your best men.”
“Still, I appreciate it,” Blaine told them.
“Is that effective immediately?” Sean asked with another yawn.
snorted. “Saves on having to wash the sheets tomorrow so someone else can sleep on whatever bed one of us took.”
“So, no problems?” Blaine asked.
“I mean, I might not be used to sleeping with another dude in my bed like you,” said, leaning away from Blaine’s swat. “But I’m not going to cause a fuss. Just so long as Sean isn’t a nude sleeper.”
Sean smirked, pushing up from his chair. “I am, but I think I can abstain for a few nights.”
Blaine leaned back in his seat. “I don’t know. It would be pretty funny if you managed to traumatize .”
“I’ll think it over. Good night, boys,” Sean said, waving as he walked off.
“I would have made a joke about it being me traumatizing him with my nakedness, but come to think of it,” said, eyeing his brother, “someone beat me to the punch.”
Blaine wrinkled his nose. “He told you about that, huh?”
“That he did. What, one Andreas brother wasn’t enough?” asked with a grin.
Blaine rolled his eyes. “Don’t let Eric hear you say that.”
“Oh, c’mon, like either of you did it on purpose,” frowned.
Blaine chuckled. “He wasn’t jealous. Jesus, , give the guy some credit. He was just horrified that his brother got to see me naked. For some reason, Eric has this idea that Sean is going to be freaked out by sex and nakedness.”
snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s the case.”
Blaine eyed him. “Know something I don’t?”
Other than their awkward conversation earlier, had nothing definitive to work on. Well, there had also been that brief moment in the morning where he’d wondered if Sean had been eyeballing him, evaluating him in a way that wasn’t just amusement. Not that he had anything that proved that either, he just considered it a gut feeling.
But Sean was straight, wasn’t he? Come to think of it, no one had ever said one way or the other. He knew Sean had ex-girlfriends, and he’d never heard about any boyfriends, but wasn’t naive enough to believe that was all there was to it. There could be more to the man than any of them knew.
“Wow,” Blaine said, interrupting his thoughts. “You must know something really juicy if you’re shutting up that hard.”
laughed. “No, I don’t know anything. He wasn’t spilling his dirty secrets to me. But c’mon, the guy’s a few years away from forty. I doubt he’s a nun.”
“I’ve wondered sometimes,” Blaine said.
“You’ve wondered if he’s a nun? You know that’s only for women, right?”
“No, jackass, I meant I’ve wondered just how...active he is.”
“Oh yeah, that’s even better. So you’ve wondered if your future brother-in-law is sexually active.”
Blaine swatted at him again. “Quit being an ass. You know what I mean.”
“Are you trying to get me to admit that I’ve wondered if Sean is a voracious slut?” asked with a raised brow.
Blaine reached out and snatched the beer out of ’s hand. “No more of that.”
“Hey!” protested, jutting his bottom lip out. “I was drinking that.”
“And now I’m drinking it,” Blaine said, taking a swig. “I forget how much of a pain in the ass you become when you’re drinking.”
“I am not a pain in the ass when drinking. I am delightful, charming, entertaining?—”
“And annoying.”
considered that and nodded. “Also applicable...if you have no sense of humor, anyway. Or fun.”
Blaine pointed the beer bottle at . “And don’t think I don’t know what else you’re like when drinking. Remember, every single woman who is going to show up is taken, so don’t do your horndog, frat boy thing on them, got it?”
sighed. “I wasn’t going to hit on a bunch of women who are spoken for, Blaine. Jesus, give me some credit.”
Blaine chuckled, taking another drink. “Yeah, I figured you’d behave yourself. Just thought I’d remind you that all potential prospects are taken.”
“I’m not using my brother’s wedding to try to get laid or get a girlfriend,” muttered.
Blaine held the beer out. “And we deeply appreciate that.”
“You’d better,” said, taking it back.
“Well,” Blaine said, pushing himself up. “Time for me to crawl into bed. Try not to stay up too late. Otherwise, I’m sending Eric in to wake you up.”
“That’s cruel and unusual punishment. There’s a whole convention against that!” called after his brother.
“That was only for prisoners of war,” Blaine shot back.
“Of course, he has the Geneva Convention memorized,” grumbled, settling back in his seat.
* * *
When he woke in the middle of the night, it was from the realization that he was warm. For one groggy moment, he wondered if he’d somehow fallen asleep in front of the fire. Lucidity shot through his mind as he remembered he’d put the fire out and crawled into bed after another hour of sitting outside. Sean had already been curled up, dressed as he’d been outside, fast asleep on his side of the bed.
Grunting faintly, he made to move the blanket he’d wrapped around himself. His arm twitched, but something wrapped around it prevented him from doing much more than that. Frowning, he opened his eyes, trying again, this time with his leg. Once more, he managed only a twitch, and his leg couldn’t do much more.
With the faint light coming through the window, he realized his problem. At some point in the night, Sean had rolled over and wrapped his arms around ’s chest. His legs had wrapped around ’s, essentially pinning him as he buried his face into the back of ’s neck.
“Eric,” muttered. “Your brother is part spider monkey, Jesus.”
Sighing, he tried to nudge Sean’s arm off, wondering why no one had warned him Sean was a cuddler. Then again, Blaine wouldn’t know, and who knew if Eric did? It would have been nice if Sean had warned him. At least then wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night roasting.
His attempts to free himself only earned a tighter grip from Sean, who wiggled closer. clicked his tongue and then froze as he felt something slide up against the curve of his ass.
“Uh,” said softly, freezing.
There were a few things he never thought he’d learn about Sean. One of them was the fact that the man was a death-grip kind of cuddler. The next was that Sean apparently didn’t wear underwear in loose shorts. And lastly, Sean was apparently well-gifted in the genetics department.
“A guy’s dick on my ass. This is a first,” muttered, now trying to get free with even more enthusiasm.
He was trying to get Sean off without waking him. The last thing he needed was Sean to wake up, clearly hard, and spooning like his life depended on it. Awkward as the situation was, he didn’t want to embarrass Sean.
Even as he tried different tactics, pushing Sean’s arm off, nudging his leg out from between ’s, another part of his brain was hyper-aware of the hard length pressing against his ass. Sure, he’d seen guys naked, and he’d watched porn. He knew what a hard dick on someone else felt like. But it was incredibly distracting to have another man pressed up against him, feeling about as hard as it could get without being painful.
And then he tried to nudge Sean with his back and succeeded only in pushing Sean’s crotch with his ass. Sean’s grip around his arms tightened, and he ground forward. went rigid as he felt Sean’s very hard dick grind against his ass in a move he never thought he’d experience.
And then Sean moaned .
The sound was deep, thick with sleep, but there was no denying the desire as Sean muttered, “Mmph, fuck .”
The word, emphasized so intently despite the owner being fast asleep, was like a jolt of electricity spiking through . His stomach flipped, and he found himself growing even warmer. He was positively burning up, all too aware how strong Sean’s grip was as his fingers wrapped around ’s arm and held tight, and how warm his breath against the back of his ear was, sending shivers down his spine.
To his great relief, however, he felt Sean’s grip loosen, and in as quick and gentle a motion as possible, managed to detach the man from his arms. As soon as the sleeping man could sense he was no longer holding onto someone, he gave a low grunt of annoyance, flopped gracelessly onto his other side, and curled around his pillow instead.
lay there on the cooling half of the bed, staring up at the ceiling in utter confusion. His own sleep-induced hard-on, because that’s normal for a guy sleeping, he told himself, was still hanging in there, but he was more fixated on someone else’s erection. Namely the one that had been pressed against his ass and ground intently against it.
Glancing at Sean’s back, licked his lips, wondering what the hell the other man had been dreaming about. He also wondered if that emphatic, almost guttural ‘fuck’ had been what Sean normally sounded like when he was with someone. If that were the case, he would bet there were a few happy women in the world, having slept with him.
Realizing his mind was traveling down a bizarre path, even for his mind, he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He thought about rolling over to face Sean to see if that might put off any future attempts. After a moment’s thought, he decided that might just put him in an entirely different situation if sleeping Sean tried again.
Quickly, he shoved that mental image out of his head and rolled away. It took him far longer than he wanted to admit to ignore the mental picture of what had just happened and the questions it presented. Eventually, he fell back to sleep, wondering if he would remember anything in the morning.