Her Brother Ch. 01

Lisette's pretty eyes widened steadily as I spoke. "Where is this coming from?" she gasped. "What are you saying?"

I closed my eyes for a few moments. I had been suppressing so much for so long I'd neglected to realize I had such a festering wound from the way she had been treating me, and now it badly needed to drain. "I just... I'm just realizing I've come to think things like, 'I'd be so lost without my girlfriend, I'd be nobody'. But... I think you made me feel that way. I didn't feel like 'nobody' before I met you. You took issue with everything that was 'me', and tried to rebuild me into your ideal boyfriend. I let you... on account of being in love. I preferred being your boyfriend to being myself. I let you take over my life. And now you're trying to do the same thing to Julien - picking apart everything about him, and trying to make him into the sort of man you personally approve of. It's not right - you've got to stop!"

Lisette clenched her teeth. Her chin trembled. "So!" she hissed. "Now I'm some kind of monster on a rampage? All this time you play the sweet, caring boyfriend, treat me like a princess, and out of nowhere, I'm Queen Bitch? That's real nice, Cody. Real nice. I just love how every problem is my fault just because you've suddenly discovered an ego."

I sighed. "I didn't say you were a bitch or a monster. Look... I'm sorry to dump all that on you at once. I probably should have given it some more thought first... and waited for a good time for us to talk things out. I just... I'm having trouble right now with your... controlling tendencies. But I'm not the one who's important right now. Julien's a sweet kid, and he's probably more capable than you give him credit for. I'd like to see you treating him with a bit more respect."

She pressed her pretty lips together into a less-than-pretty little angry line and fumed. "He's been complaining about me behind my back, hasn't he? You two have been conspiring, like two little bratty kids in the back row complaining about teacher!" She slapped her notebook down on her nightstand and threw back the covers with a vengeance, climbing into her bathrobe the moment she stood up as if she didn't want me to look at her body. She placed her hands on her hips and glared down at me. "I can't believe you're lecturing me about respect, when you're gossiping about me with my baby brother. I've told you before, there's a lot you don't know about Julien, so this little tirade of yours about how to treat my own brother is pretty pathetic and ignorant. From now on, Cody, why don't you let ME deal with MY family... and you mind your own gosh darn business?"

Without waiting for a reply, she whirled around and left the bedroom, robe flapping behind her. A few moments later, I heard the shower running.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly and forced myself out of bed, padding out into the living room. Julien was still unconscious. He looked like a perfect doll in the innocent vulnerability of sleep. A perfect doll with tousled hair and a tiny spot of drool at the corner of his sweet mouth. I noticed things I hadn't noticed yesterday: his long lashes, his smooth skin, his flawlessly shaped eyebrows. I wanted to keep watching him sleep, but it was probably creepy of me, and besides, I had to prepare breakfast immediately or I'd be late for work.

I started some coffee going, turned on the oven, and began chopping vegetables. Either the percolating of the coffee machine or my chopping woke Julien. He shuffled over, wearing only rumpled pyjama shorts. I froze as he leaned on me from behind, placing his chin on my shoulder to peek at what I was doing. I could feel the heat of recently departed slumber radiating off of his bare flesh.

"Morning," he whispered.

"Hey, you," I whispered back. I couldn't rouse the necessary coordination to continue chopping while his chin was on my shoulder. "Uh... you like mushrooms?"

"Yeah, I don't mind em."

"Onions? Peppers?"

"Sure."

"Tomatoes?"

"No. No tomatoes."

"Check."

He finally peeled himself off of me and watched from a short distance as I prepared a veggie frittata, sans tomatoes. Once it was in the oven, I sat with him, and we had coffee. He loaded his with milk and sugar. I had mine with just a little sugar.

"Sleep okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, pretty well."

I sipped. His hair was an adorable rat's nest that I wanted to tame with my fingers. His face still had faint sleep lines. His chest was boyish, completely hairless. "I, uh... had a little talk with Lise this morning."

"Oh?"

"She was trying to make some kind of schedule for you for the day. I kind of unloaded on her a bit." I rubbed the back of my neck and frowned, listening to the distant whine of her hair dryer from behind the bathroom door. "She might be on the warpath today, so... sorry. I definitely opened a can of worms."

He bit down on his bottom lip for a few moments. "It's probably my fault. I vented to you a lot."

I shook my head. "No, I'm glad you did. It made me realize I needed to do a little venting myself. I don't think my timing was great though. And I wasn't especially tactful. Anyway... she thinks we're conspiring against her or something."

"Maybe we sort of are." He smiled shyly.

I couldn't help but grin. He was so disarming. I slung an arm around his naked shoulders, and he leaned against me.

"It's not like we're plotting her doom," I chuckled. "We just want to be treated like grown-ups, right?"

"Yeah. That... that'd be nice." He pressed his face into my shoulder, muffling a brief chuckle. "Am I allowed to hoard Oreos and sleep with a stuffed animal and still be a grown-up?"

"Of course!" I laughed, squeezing him against my side. "You have my permission at least."

Lisette's hair drier quieted, and soon the rattle of the doorknob sounded. Julien and I quickly, instinctively, separated and sat up straight as she stepped out of the bathroom. Moments later, she swept into the bedroom and shut the door noisily behind her. I felt a strange rush of exhilaration mixed with guilt. I was forced to consider why I'd just been cuddling my girlfriend's brother... and more importantly, why we'd both been afraid to get caught at it. I glanced across at Julien, and his cheeks were flushed. I supposed he'd been having the very same thoughts.

"I should take my turn in the shower," I said breathily, standing and slipping away before he could respond.

I took full advantage of the opportunity to have an unsuspicious excuse to lock the bathroom door. In the shower, I jerked myself off hard and fast, lubing my stiff cock with plenty of soap. My mind was an abstract pornographic filmstrip of rapidly switching, intensely sexual imagery designed to get me there as efficiently as possible. In the moment before my climax, however, I was picturing the sexiest mouth in the world, wet-lipped and smiling coyly - it could have been Lisette's, but deep down I knew it was her brother's. I clenched my jaw painfully tightly to keep back any telltale noises. My fluids swirled harmlessly down the drain, and as my body calmed from the intense orgasm, I was thinking of how it had felt to have Julien's warm, mostly-naked body next to mine, his chin resting innocently on my shoulder.

Once I'd gotten myself all scrubbed and dressed for work, Lise and Julien were sitting at the kitchen island, arguing in French. I tried to calm the inner flare of stress that surged up at Lise's vehemence, and at the appearance of the schedule she had written up and was now pushing on him. I took the frittata out of the oven, served up breakfast for the three of us, and helped myself to a second cup of coffee. I didn't want to sit in the third chair this time, to be cut off from their conversation. Instead I stood across from them, facing them, and ate standing up.

Lise paused mid-lecture and glared up at me. "What?" she demanded. "This really doesn't concern you."

"Why can't it?" I asked calmly. "I'd like us all to talk. The three of us."

"Yes - please, could we?" Julien begged his sister. "No more French. I think it's rude to leave Cody out."

Lisette clenched her jaw. "This is a family matter, as far as I'm concerned."

Julien sighed, and his posture sagged a little. "Um... I don't think it is, really. This is about you wanting to make sure I'm... not being a freeloader, or whatever." He looked up at me, and then at Lisette. "This apartment belongs to both of you. You've been nice enough to let me stay awhile. I swear, I'll do my part. I'm actively job hunting. And... I can manage that without instructions."

I watched him fold Lise's sheet of notepaper in half, and then in quarters, and slide it toward her. "I'm not a little kid. If you don't trust me... fine. I've got savings. I'll pay one-third rent, and buy all my own groceries. We'll just be temporary roommates."

"Your own groceries!" she exclaimed, her voice dripping with cynicism. "What would that be, a big case of Hot Pockets and gallons of Mountain Dew?"

"Lise!" I cut in sharply. I was surprised by the force of my own voice, and she was too. I hated the condescending way she was speaking to her brother, and I reacted instinctively.

"Cody!" she snapped back. "Butt. Out. I'm not kidding."

"Lise!" Julien exclaimed, sounding close to tears.

"Stop, both of you!" Lisette shrilled, pressing her hands over her ears. "You're driving me crazy!"

Julien and I met eyes silently.

"I have to go to work," she said after a few moments of silence. She pushed away her breakfast dishes and grabbed her purse.

"I should go too," I muttered, quickly putting her dishes in the dishwasher and tucking the breakfast leftovers into the fridge. I turned to Julien, who was looking defeated, his shoulders sagging.

"Hey," I whispered, touching his shoulder briefly while Lise was digging for her keys. "Don't worry, okay? I'll do what I can."

He looked like he wanted to hug me, but he stayed still. "Thanks. Thanks for breakfast. And... for everything."

"You're welcome. I'll be home around half past five."

After giving him a little squeeze, I followed Lise out the door, just barely managing to catch her in the elevator.

"I'm not arguing with you, Cody," she said tightly. "I don't know what's come over the two of you, ganging up on me like that, but I'm not going to argue with you."

"Does that mean you're not willing to have a discussion?"

"It means I'm not impressed with your attitude, and I'm not going to indulge it." She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

"I'm really not sure what that implies, but I'd like you to at least listen to my opinion. I know he's your brother, and I know you care, and want him to have all the best chances in life. But I don't think you're helping him by... taking over. Remember how stressful it was trying to balance work and college for the first time? He's going through a lot of change, and he's obviously pretty upset about something. The way you're treating him might just be piling on extra stress. I really think you should just let him do his thing. Give him a chance to be an adult... all on his own. Would you consider that?"

Lisette rolled her eyes. "I don't know how many times I need to repeat myself. There's a lot you don't know about Julien - get that through your head! For your information, I'm respecting his privacy by not telling you details. I'm sure he's been sweet-as-can-be with you to try to win you over to his side, but for your own sake, don't take him at face value. Seriously. Trust me when it comes to my brother. I know things you don't, and that's that. Anyway, stress is part of life. No one achieved success without stress. He should be feeling the pressure. If he's not feeling pressure, then I'm going to pressure him. People like you and him think you can just take it easy and coast through life in blissful mediocrity. I won't stand for that."

I swallowed hard. "Mediocrity? Is that what you thought of me when we first met? That I was just some... mediocre slob?"

"Don't take that whiny tone with me. It's really irritating."

"Please answer the question."

"Cody - jeez!" She jangled her keys impatiently as the elevator door opened and we stepped out into the underground parking level. She began to stalk toward her car, her heels clopping and echoing in the cavelike structure.

"Lise!" I called after her.

She whirled around and set a hand on her hip. "WHAT?"

I took a deep, cleansing breath. "Julien at least thanked me for breakfast. I don't remember the last time you did that. I think you could stand to learn from his example a little... rather than the other way around."

She squinted at me, looking both confused and annoyed. "I thank you plenty! What do you want, a parade? And when do you ever thank ME for anything?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. Since we'd moved in, I'd been doing nearly all of the cooking and cleaning. When she did laundry, she did only her own, and even that was because when I'd tried to do ours together, she berated me for mixing different fabrics and wouldn't allow me to touch her clothes again. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be thanking her for. Correcting all of my mistakes? Monitoring my diet? Pointing out every time I put on a few pounds? I did happen to thank her every time she let me have sex with her, but that now seemed like a thing of the distant past.

What an idiot I'd been. What a stupid, mindlessly fawning lap dog.

She finally threw her hands up in frustration and turned back to her car. I retreated to mine, and we both left, driving in opposite directions.

==========

I was in a fog all day at work, trying to puzzle out how to handle Lisette now that I had found a backbone and she wasn't liking it. When I wasn't fretting over this issue, I was distracted thinking of Julien, of how great it had been to hug and cuddle him, of his breathtaking smile and how it made everything seem right with the world. I was also inescapably curious about Lise's warnings about him, about what secrets there might be that they were both keeping from me.

It was with mixed stress and excitement that I returned home at the end of my day. It was Friday night, and we had the weekend ahead of us. Maybe I could take Julien out for some "guy time". I knew Lisette wouldn't like it, but she had "girls' night out" on a regular basis with her friends, and what could she do to stop us? Lock us in a cage like her very own little pets?

When I came in, Julien was sitting on the sofa in a little blanket nest, reading a book. He looked up and gave me a tiny smile.

"Hi," he said softly. "I missed you."

He missed me? Lisette never said things like that. I stood and stared at him, startled by this realization. She didn't seem to miss me when I was gone. Usually it was me who initiated every "I love you". If she gave me a compliment, it was almost always in polite response to something I'd said. How had I been with her so long without noticing these things? Julien seemed to illuminate them because he shone in every way she didn't. Julien was warm and inviting, and made me feel wanted. With Lisette I felt barely adequate, often less than adequate, and was struggling constantly to be better. Was this how she and her mother had both made Julien feel his whole life? Was this what drove their father away?

"I-I'm sorry," Julien stammered after a few long moments of my silent rumination. "Was that... a weird thing to say?"

I shook my head. "No... not at all. I was just thinking of how much I missed you too."

He brightened immediately and set his book down on the coffee table next to his laptop. I approached him, and it seemed perfectly natural to dive down onto the sofa and tackle him with affection. He laughed, and we rolled around in the tangle of blankets, hugging each other tightly. The no-holds-barred way he clung to me was deeply satisfying. We ended up cuddling there on the sofa, embracing and leaning on each other. I was expecting Lise to walk in the door any minute, but for now I would take advantage of every moment alone with her sweet, adorable brother. Julien the Beautiful.

My phone bleeped with a text message notification, and Julien leaned away from me so that I could check it. I pulled my phone from my pocket and found a text from Lisette:

[Working late, don't wait up. Make sure Julien has lots of veggies at dinner. Also take him shoe shopping (NICE job interview shoes, we can buy, budget $80) and haircut too if possible. Pls don't argue!!]

I furrowed my brow at the screen, and moments later showed Julien the text. He made a disgusted face. "She seriously does think we're eight years old, doesn't she?"

I nodded. "I'm starting to think so." I typed out a reply: [Not arguing. Take care.]

I set my phone down with a sigh. "Okay. Julien, do you need new shoes?"

"No, I have nice ones in one of my boxes. I wouldn't wear my Chuck Taylors to a job interview."

"See, I figured you weren't an idiot," I said with a wry grin. "Do you want a haircut?"

"No. I like my hair."

"I like it too. There, we're done that crap. What do you want for dinner?"

His eyes lit up hopefully. "Pizza?"

I grinned. "I don't think I've had pizza in at least six months. Could it at least have veggies on it?"

"As long as it also has pepperoni and sausage and bacon!"

"Good enough for me!" I laughed. "One large super-deluxe pizza, coming up. We could also order a few cans of Coke...?"

"Yes!"

"And those cinnamon-sugar things?"

"Mmm, yes!" He wriggled excitedly.

I laughed and grabbed him again, tousling his hair. "Awesome! Tonight's gonna be you and me, and whatever we want to eat!"

He squeezed and nuzzled me, laughing with delight. "You're my favourite brother!"

"Do you have others?" I teased.

"No... but if I did, you'd still be my favourite."

I was once again flooded with affection for him so overwhelming that I wanted to bite him. I was at a loss to understand my own inclinations, but I was loving every moment with him nonetheless. I resisted the urge to gnaw on his sweet face and instead turned my attention back to my phone and made our delivery order.

"Now, we can't have any leftovers, and all the trash needs to go straight down the chute so Lise doesn't find out," I said as we waited. "I hope you're hungry!"

He nodded. "I'm skinny, but I can pack in a lot of pizza!"

"I bet you can," I chuckled, poking his flat stomach.

We continued to chat a while, and eventually I paid attention to the book he'd been reading - it was "Game of Thrones". I asked him if he'd watched the series.

"Not yet, but I own the first season. It was a Christmas present from a friend. I wanted to read the books before watching."

"I've only seen part of an episode. I wanted to give it a chance, but Lise made me turn it off because it was too violent, and... yunno... naked." I laughed awkwardly. "She basically equated it with porn."

His cheeks coloured, and he smiled sheepishly into his lap. "Not surprising. So I guess you're... not allowed to watch porn either?" He ended with a brief chuckle.

I was quiet for a few moments, considering how much I wanted him to know. Well, he already knew his sister wasn't putting out - how much more information could be inappropriate to share at this point? "Nope. She gets, um... pretty upset if I do. She says it's the same as cheating."

He seemed to consider this deeply, and then gave his head a little shake. "So, um... did you wanna watch with me? I won't tell."

I suddenly felt warm and tremulous all over. Julien wanted to watch porn with me! The thought was both shocking and titillating. I'd never watched porn with a friend before. And watching it with a friend I found shockingly attractive, and had deeply enjoyed cuddling with, seemed like a great big Red Flag scenario.

The bell rang, saving me from having to answer - our dinner had arrived. We dove into the pizza with gusto, each grabbing for a slice the moment the box hit the kitchen counter. The slices we took were connected to one another by delectable gobs of molten cheese. They separated unevenly, like a wishbone, and I apparently won the pull - a few too many toppings clung to my slice, leaving his partially denuded.