Red Wine and Warm Summer Nights #2
In a lot of ways, it feels like I am. Sex is not foreign to me. Not by a long shot. Unlike my acespec brother, I’m as allo as it gets. Although I never get involved. It’s just sex. But I haven’t met someone who could light me up the way Marcus does with just a glance.
Not since… no. Not tonight. I won’t ruin tonight for Qi by letting that fucker take up space in my head. It’s not even a fair comparison if I’m being honest. Because even he didn’t light me up quite as bright as Marcus does, and that is fucking terrifying.
With that, my heart does a random thu-thump movement, like it knows it’s not going to get its way and it’s pouting. But I ignore it and look away. In a world full of possibilities, this one can’t happen.
Pax and Owen head back to a spot on the lawn, both swaying a bit and getting ready for another round.
“No dick-grabs, Pax,” Owen reiterates, and I can’t help but roll my eyes at that.
There’s a flurry of movements that I’m barely paying attention to when Paxton ends up on his back.
“Goddamit, Owen. Goosing doesn’t count! Qi!” he hollers out, the offense almost laughable after what he did to Owen in their previous match.
“Another dirty grab to ease the pent-up sexual tension between them,” I mutter under my breath, earning a couple of side-eyes from Qi and Marcus.
“If you two can’t play fair, then maybe you ought to just sit,” Qi says.
“Still my point,” Owen calls.
“Doesn’t count when you cheat,” Paxton huffs.
Owen shoots Paxton a smug smile. “I didn’t cheat. We said no dick-grabs.”
“It should go without saying–” Paxton argues.
Owen’s smug smile only grows. “Well, obviously it didn’t–”
“It’s enough, guys, park it and do something else if you can’t play nice. You’re killing my buzz,” Qi grumbles a bit.
“Yes, Mom,” the two of them call.
“They take after your side,” Tristan mumbles humorously into Qi’s ear.
Qi resolutely shakes his head. “Nope, absolutely not, I refuse. I’ll take credit for being their bestie, but no way in fuck am I claiming them as sons.”
“I don’t know. Tristan would definitely make a hot daddy.” Owen pipes off, and that’s enough of that for me.
“Nope, sibling-in-law icks. I do not need to picture my future brother-in-law as a daddy in any way, shape, or form. Thank you kindly,” I shake my head, stopping that conversation before it gets any worse.
I can be happy for my brother without knowing all the details. Not that it actually works, since, despite how shy he is, my brother seems to think I’m the one person he can divulge all his curiosities to, which means I know far more than I ever needed to.
“Spoilsport,” Paxton mutters under his breath.
“Watch yourself, handsy, or I’ll kill your ability to use the boners you get from all those dick-grabs,” I retort.
“So not–that’s not–,” Paxton stutters out in horror.
“Calm down, dude. Qiang’s just trying to get a rise out of you. You make it more suspicious by getting your back up,” Owen says, pulling a sullen Paxton down in the grass next to him. Paxton leans heavily into Owen’s side, and it really floors me that they are so completely unaware of themselves.
“So–” Marcus startles the fuck out of me as his breath hits my ear.
I don’t know when he moved that close, and I’m low-key ashamed that I let Owen and Paxton’s ridiculous antics distract me enough to allow Marcus the ability to do so.
“Do you have a studio somewhere for your makeup channel?”
I barely hold in the sigh of relief at the normalcy of the inquiry. “Naw, I don’t make enough to justify the cost of that. Pretty much just paying off what my scholarship doesn’t cover so I can graduate debt-free.”
Marcus nods before shifting to a more comfortable position next to me. “So then, where do you usually record?”
“Dorm room,” I breathe out, more than a little relieved at the space Marcus created when he moved. Just because I know better doesn’t mean it isn’t distracting as fuck to have him in my space.
“Kind of sucks because the lighting isn’t that great and I don’t really have a dedicated space for it, so I’m always having to spend as much time setting up and taking down as I do recording the actual video,” I add, almost using the normalcy of the conversation as a way to regulate the rampant train of inappropriate thoughts his closeness shot into me.
“So, having that second room could help then? You could turn it into a dedicated space and get special lights for better lighting, right?” he asks, his intense eyes searching mine.
“It’s definitely a talking point in my head. Well, that and Qi, of course. But I don’t really know how much time Qi and I will really spend with how wrapped up in Tristan he is,” I sigh out, letting out one of my fears.
I’ve been looking forward to being close to Qi again for so long; I didn’t really imagine a boyfriend being a part of that scenario, especially one who Qi seems remarkably incapable of not making out with as often as humanly possible.
Not that I’m unhappy about their relationship at all, just that it’s an adjustment in the image of what I thought this last year was gonna be like, and I’m really hoping I don’t get kind of brushed off into a corner.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. You’re his fucking hero. Pretty sure it’s universally impossible for him not to make time for you,” Marcus says, as though he can read my thoughts.
“Well, I don’t know about all of that, but thanks for saying it,” I say, because I know Qi thinks the world of me, but I don’t always feel like I deserve it.
“Not blowing smoke up your ass, it’s obvious that he thinks he’s the luckiest fucker on the planet because he got you for a sibling,” Marcus says, and I’m wondering if I’m showing more emotions on my face than normal tonight.
Maybe I ought to slow down on the wine myself.
Probably shouldn’t have touched it in the first place, with my heart’s inappropriate thu-thumps whenever Marcus is around.
Impaired judgment on top of pre-existing questionable judgment is a recipe for only one thing, and that’s a poison I’m not ready or willing to handle.