Unexpected Liaisons - 16. Family Time

Zander was kneeling in his lap when they made it through Zupan’s front door, too busy kissing to notice anything at all that wasn’t the taste of sweet apple cider and each other. The advantages of Zander’s choice in clothing was discovered as the slim young man ripped open the front of Zupan’s shirt, poppers snapping open to reveal his muscled chest. Zander was kissing and sucking on his neck, and Zu was pleased that he was going to be wearing the boy’s mark in the morning. He wheeled them into the kitchen distracted by kneading his boyfriend’s arse with one hand while he did so, still kissing hungrily.

Zander’s friends had been good fun, they’d drunk and chatted and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know him. He and Tony had traded and compared tattoos, because the band of lyrics down his arm weren’t the only ink that the other man had sported. Zander had been sort of jealous, so Zupan had made sure to drink his crotch firmly into his butt whenever no one was looking directly at them.

Zupan was busy trying to get Zander’s fly open, determined to get the jeans at least off his boyfriend’s hips by himself this time, when the cough snagged at his brain. It was hard to turn his attention away from the writhing mass of hotness in his lap, but he managed.

Zoltan was standing leaning on the doorway into the lounge with his arms folded, looking every inch ‘the bouncer’ wearing a stern frown. Zupan felt like a teenager again in a way he hadn’t done since their father had walked in on him kissing a girl when he was fourteen. He stopped, and Zander looked him, confused.

“Babe? Wha- oh… Hi Zoltan.” He couldn’t have sounded more guilty if he’d been caught holding the crown jewels.

Zoltan was frowning, and suddenly Zupan was irrationally angry with his twin.

“Oh fuck off Zol. Go judge someone else.”

“Zander, you might wanna move,” Zoltan was abruptly furious as he turned back to his brother, “Don’t you use him to hide from this.”

Zander hopped off his boyfriend’s lap and Zoltan closed the distance between them. What he wasn’t, couldn’t, be prepared for, was thway Zupan flung himself out of the chair towards his twin. Both men were on the floor, fists were flying, and despite not having the use of his legs, the brothers were incredibly well matched. They were both shouting, and nothing was audible or understandable, just that they were both pissed off with each other. Zander had seen enough cat fights and bitch slapping contests in gay bars to realise that this wasn’t going to end well, whichever one them ‘won,’ so he went to the sink, grabbed pint glass, filled it with water and emptied it unceremoniously over the top of the fighting pair.

“Fuck!”

“Gah! Zan!”

“You boys done now?” Zander folded his arms across his chest. “I’m going to go have a shower, play nice.” And with that, he sauntered off, swinging his hips, in the direction of Zupan’s room.

“You’re in the shit now bucko,” Zoltan said as he sat up. Zupan used his brother as a lever and pulled himself into a sitting position, “You got some grovelling to do.”

“And whose fault is that, huh?” Zupan knuckled rubbed the water off his hair.

“So when were you going to tell me?” Zoltan got up and removed his t-shirt, dumping the sodden cloth in the sink.

“Tell you what?”

“About you and pretty Zander boy there.” Zoltan went to the fridge and grabbed a couple of cream soda’s, “Also, stop drinking this stuff without telling me, I had none left the other day.” He popped the cap and offered the bottle to his twin. “Well?”

“Er… you know about us. We went for drinks at the South Alaska.” Zupan knew he was skirting around the issue. The problem with being a twin was that you tended to be way too good at reading the other person. Zoltan didn’t even need to ask his questions, Zupan made him ask anyway.

“And when were you planning to tell me that you loved him? That you hit a guy in club and assaulted some bloke at the gym over him?” Zoltan sat heavily in the kitchen chair, “I’m your twin. You shouldn’t need to want to keep secrets from me.”

“I didn’t…” I hadn’t realised I needed to tell you, he was going to say, but he knew that it would have come out wrong. Of course he should have told his brother, he’d been avoiding him all week, and it was weird to think that it was easier to label his relationship with Zander for the rest of the world and every Tom, Prat and Larry out there, than it was to explain things to his own twin. “I’m sorry.”

“So…” Zoltan was smiling again, “You going to put me out of my misery then? Or did I lose a bet to Bay?”

“You bet on me?” Zupan raised an eyebrow.

“After you guys left the bar. I said something like that I’d known you all my life and never figured you were gay, and Bay said that you weren’t gay and it ‘was just Zander’ or something. Did I win?”

“Nope.” Zupan grinned, and his smile shone all the brighter knowing that it was true, “Bay was right. There’s just something about Zander. You were partially right though. I love him.”

“I can see that.” Zoltan chinked his bottle against his brother’s, “So? Tell me everything.”

“Everything?” Zupan chuckled wickedly.

“No. Not everything. Safe stuff. I do not wanna know what you two get up to in bed. I’ve heard it often enough.”

“You boys sorted everything out now?” Zander’s soft voice cut right through Zupan’s defences and turned him into putty, “No more hitting?”

“No Zander.”

“No babe.”

“Aww look at that,” Zander kissed his boyfriend’s cheek, “Two big strong Vikings scared of me.” Zander was wearing nothing but a towel around his hips, which was distracting enough without the added sensation of his fingers on the back of Zupan’s neck. The snagged Zupan’s cream soda and sipped from the neck of the bottle.

Zupan tore his eyes away from the expanse of skin and washboard abs dipping into the towel to focus on Zander’s face. And then he looked again.

“What have you done to your hair?”

The skinny blond boy with the big fluffy fringe was no more. Zander looked like he did when he came out of the shower, except that his hair wasn’t plastered back with water, it was gone.

“You like it?” Zander went to ruffle the back, which had vanished, and grinned sheepishly. He’d obviously used Zupan’s all over trimmer to give himself a short back and sides, then trimmed the top with scissors before pushing it back over his skull. The haircut made him meaner, stronger, and showed off the square forehead to reflect his strong jaw. It was amazing how soft the fluffy hair had made him look.

“Y-yeah.” Zupan really hoped that his brother wouldn’t notice how hard he’d suddenly become, the bulge in his jeans perceptibly bigger. “You look great.”

“Time for a change,” Zander said with a smile, “I saw you looking in the pub. Not for the first time either.”

“Zu has never been good at hiding what he wants.” Zoltan chipped in.

Zander slid into his lap, a movement which mad the towel slip and fold in perilous ways.

“One of the many reasons I love dating you babe.” He pushed gently at the beginning of the mark he’d left on Zupan’s shoulder, “I love not having to send hours analysing you.”

“You saying I’m simple?” Zupan grabbed at his boyfriend and tickled him, “I’ll show you.”

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow.” Zolton stood and smiled, “Friendly against Norway tomorrow isn’t it?”

“Training with the other team,” Zupan replied, “Friendly is on Friday.”

“Night then chaps.”

“Night Zol.” Zander smiled and ran his fingers through his new shorter hair.

“G’night Zol.”

Zoltan raised a hand as he walked through the door into his bedroom, and Zupan felt his shoulders sag. It was like a weight had been lifted off him that he didn’t even know he had been carrying. Lying to his brother really took it out of him.

“Ready for bed babe?” Zander was smiling at him, still sexy and pink and lovely, but hard edged and cool. Zupan suddenly had no other conscious thought than Zander’s sexy smile.

“Yes.”

When Zander stood, he let his towel fall to the floor.

“Come get it then.”