by Raythe Reign
Liam made a pinched face as he balled the dirty sheets up and cast a glance around for a hamper. The sheets smelled like Cameron hadn’t changed them since he’d moved in. “Where do you put your dirty clothes?”
“Uhm, in a black plastic bag mostly.” Cameron shrugged. “Then I lug it to the laundromat whenever I run out of semi-clean underwear.”
Liam gave him a raised eyebrow as he said, “Semi-clean?”
“Uh, yeah. There are levels of clean laundry.” Cameron rolled his eyes like this was the most basic thing in the world. “There are some things that you can wear multiple times like t-shirts, shorts, socks and underwear. Then there are other things that never need to be washed like jeans. I think it was the Levi’s dude who said he just put his jeans in the freezer. I haven’t tried that yet.”
Liam quirked a grin at his younger brother. “I hate to tell you this, but underwear is a one use and then clean item.”
“You’re fussy. But for you I’ll launder my underwear more often. In fact, for you … I’d do anything.”
Liam turned at the sensual tone in Cameron’s voice. It sent skitters of pleasure down his spine. He looked over at his little brother. Cameron was perched on the arm of the couch. He had a bowl of strawberries in one hand and a spoon in the other. He looked so much better than he had since Liam had come back from Asgard. His skin was the color of peaches and cream. His halo of blond hair glinted gold and red in the sunlight. His blue eyes glowed with amusement and love. They were hooded as he regarded Liam. He swallowed as he saw that there was strawberry juice at the corner of his little brother’s mouth.
Liam quickly turned back to the bed. Except that didn’t give him any peace at all as he imagined himself and Cameron entwined naked on the bed. He shoved pillows into pillow cases. None of the sheets were white any longer. More of a dusty gray, but they were clean. He would have liked to air them out more, but he really did think — despite his fantasies — that his little brother needed to lie down.
“You’re plumping my pillows,” Cameron’s choked laughter filled every word.
“They need plumping.” Liam’s cheeks burned at the double entendre. “They’re flat as pancakes. You really need new ones, but these will have to do.”
“Are you going to go bedding shopping for me, too? Am I to have crisp, white sheets smelling of spring rains?”
“Would that be so bad?”
“Ah, no, it sounds sort of awesome actually. I think this is the first time the bed’s been made in … uhm, I’m actually not sure.”
“It’s been that long?” Liam’s eyebrows rose into his hair.
“I really can’t remember the last time I actually did anything other than tuck the fitted sheet back on the mattress.
“I think I will go shopping for bedding. You have not been taking care of yourself, Cameron,” Liam replied softly as he shook the pillows into shape and placed them at the top of the bed.
“Because you took care of everything before,” Cameron answered. “Not mom. Not dad. You.”
Liam slowed in his motions and his shoulders hunched in guilt. He had died and stayed away while Cameron had lived without anyone to care for him. Neither of their parents, even when their father had been alive, had really been much into housework or the normal kid and parent stuff. They were busy saving the world.
“Mom and Dad’s jobs were … overwhelming. They had to protect everyone. They knew we were safe so they didn’t sweat the small stuff.” Like helping Cameron with his homework, making sure they had groceries in the refrigerator, or that the clothes were washed. He had taken over those tasks so that his little brother’s life was more stable. “They couldn’t always be what they should have to us, but they loved us.”
“I remember how you would make my lunch every day.” Cameron let out a soft laugh. “Asked me what I wanted and made sure it was bought from the grocery store. I would whine until you got me those awful fruit snacks that were actually just candy in faux fruit form. And Fritos. God, I used to love Fritos and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
“And it had to be just the right amount of jelly and peanut butter. A perfect balance so one didn’t overwhelm the other.” Liam nodded as he remembered.
“You made sure the house was clean and the clothes were washed and … everything was good. Home was a safe place, but not because our parents were in law enforcement, but because you were there.”
Liam looked over at Cameron again. There was no longer the sultry smile on his face and he had licked the strawberry juice from his lips. He still was amazingly beautiful though. Cameron had balanced his feet on the arm of the sofa and rested his chin on his knees. The bowl of strawberries was empty and sitting on the table, unheeded. He was staring at the sunlight pouring in through the high windows.
“Mom and Dad loved us both. They did the best they could.” Liam’s voice choked up some and he cleared his throat. “You know that though. I know you know that.”
“Dad loved Mom more than anything in the world. And she … she kept herself apart. She keeps herself apart. From him. From us. It’s as if she’s known all along that she would lose us so she decided never to actually be near us,” Cameron answered and his lips pressed into a grim line.
“Do you know much about her mother, our grandmother?” Liam sat on the edge of the bed.
“Grandmother Eira? I know she died in a mental institution. Not exactly unusual for our family. She probably told people that Loki was real and they locked her up.” Cameron shrugged.
“She was mad, Cam. Really crazy and … dangerous.” Liam ran a hand through his hair.
“Evil?” Cameron goggled at him.
“Her madness was like a physical thing. A dark cloud that permeated every part of Mom’s life,” Liam began and felt his mouth go dry as he remembered what their father had told them about their mother’s life. “Eira saw spirits. She believed that our mother should see them to. So she would lock our mom in the basement with the lights turned off. Days of it. The only way Mom got out of there was to claim she did see spirits. Sometimes Eira believed her. Sometimes she didn’t. The last time she locked her in, Mom was in the basement for four days. No food. No water. She should have died … Luckily, a friend’s parent came by to check on Mom and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Holy shit,” Cameron breathed. His eyes were huge with horror.
“Mom still visited Eira in the sanitarium for years after that. I don’t understand how she could do it.” Liam clenched his hands into fists as he imagined his mother as a little girl in darkness, starving and dehydrated. He shook his head. “She had no one to teach her how to be a mother. No one to teach her how to be a good person. But she managed both. Not perfectly, but who is perfect?”
He looked up when Cameron was silent. He was surprised to see a tear running down his cheek. His arms were wrapped around his knees and he looked stricken. “I - I didn’t know it was so bad. I didn’t know …”
“She didn’t tell us.”
“How did you find out?”
“Dad,” he answered.
“Of course. She would never admit to any kind of weakness.” More tears fell. “Of course. That’s the Blake way.”
Liam rose up swiftly from the bed and wrapped Cameron in his arms. He felt his brother’s hot breath and burning tears against his throat.
“It’s okay, Cam. It’s okay. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Liam murmured into his hair.
“I’ve been a real asshole to her. I just thought she was too busy for us, you know? Too into her own stuff. And when she got rid of your things … I can’t forgive her for that. Even if she had the crappiest of childhood’s. She had no right!” Cameron huffed against his skin.
“I”m not asking you to. I just wanted to let you know that what and who she is to us is influenced by what has come in the past.”
Liam kissed his brother’s hair. He drew in a deep breath of Cameron’s scent and his eyes closed. Cameron’s heartbeat filled hi
s ears and he allowed time to slow. His little brother’s arms slid around his chest and smoothed down his spine before they rested just above the waistband of his pants. Cameron’s fingers slid beneath the hem of his t-shirt and caressed his skin. He drew back so that he could see Cameron’s face. It was not a child’s face even though there were tear tracks on his cheeks. He stared into his little brother’s eyes and saw all the blues of Asgard. Impossible blues. Godly blues. Aching blues that touched his soul.
Cameron’s head tilted to the side. His mouth parted and his tongue slid out slightly to wet his lips. Liam froze. He knew what was coming. A kiss. An utterly forbidden kiss. He remembered at that moment Loki’s words that none could spy on them here and his own reckless arrogant words in return that he would do nothing different under the gods’ watchful gazes as he would if they were barred from seeing him.
That was a lie.
He expected Cameron to wait for him to move. He was always the one to do things first. But he realized that perhaps ten-year-old Cameron needed him to act, but this Cameron did not. His little brother went up on his tippy toes and pressed their mouths together. It was better than he remembered.
Sweetness. Heat. Wet. An utterly sensual slide of tongues. A rasp of teeth. The press of Cameron’s body fully against his own and he was achingly hard so fast that it seemed to happen in the space of a breath. There was a whoosh of air and the sound of feathers rustling. Cameron broke the kiss. There was a triumphant smile on his face as well as the flush of arousal.
“Your wings are showing, Liam.”
Liam turned around, but of course his wings moved with him and he couldn’t see them. He felt them though. His cheeks flushed a nuclear red and he released Cameron from his arms. He focused and his wings folded and disappeared, but it felt like they were still there.
His heart was in his throat and his palms were slick with sweat. These were mortal reactions, but the source of them was the soul. His soul. How he loved his little brother! How he wanted nothing more than to keep going, pursue where the call of the flesh led them.
But I am supposed to protect him! This is not protecting him!
“Cam, we shouldn’t — I know last night was confusing for both of us and it’s hard to go back to seeing each other as just brothers, but —”
“I was attracted to you because you looked like my older brother, Liam.” Though Cameron had appeared distressed at Liam pulling away, he quickly recovered and gave Liam an open smile. His words, however, had Liam unable to breathe. “You don’t have to say anything. I know you desire me too and think it’s wrong. No, not wrong, but hurting me in some way. I can only assure you that you aren’t hurting me. You could never hurt me by loving me.”
Liam’s heart did this leap in his chest, but he held it down. Cameron was still sick. He didn’t know what he was saying. It was the loss of him that made Cameron want all of him. These feelings would pass once Cameron got used to him being back again. Yet he hoped that none of these things were true. His own feelings suddenly seemed so clear now. This was what he had been waiting for between them.
He opened his mouth. He had no idea what he was going to say. His heart and mind went in direct opposite directions. Cameron though saved him from whatever would have come out of him at that moment by holding up a hand.
“No, Liam, time will show you that I am serious about this and then you will have to make a choice as to whether you want the — the same things as me.” Cameron’s voice only stuttered once and Liam wondered at the amount of strength and self-control it had likely taken his little brother to say these intimate things without blushes or shame. Cameron was not looking at him though. His gaze was on the freshly made bed. “That looks really nice. Comfortable even.”
He stretched his arms over his head and the hem of his t-shirt rose showing an enticing slice of bare skin. Liam’s wings fluttered even as a line of heat ran down his cock. He adjusted his stance and wished he were wearing Thor’s leggings instead of the constricting jeans though he would have totally tented the soft material of the leggings and his wings wouldn’t be the only thing registering his arousal.
“G-good. You should sleep.” Liam nodded to his little brother’s back as if Cameron could see him. “Perhaps I will go to the laundromat and —”
“I need you here with me.” Cameron’s back was stiff and the lazy cat-like behavior was gone, replaced by that brittle glass-like demeanor that raised all sort of alarm bells in Liam’s head.
It’s the Loki in him. The dark part of Loki. He wasn’t sure how he knew that though he had witnessed some of it in the god downstairs when he had gotten the groceries.
“Cam, I’m back for good. I am not leaving you,” Liam said with firmness.
“I can’t …” Cameron’s shoulders curled inwards. “I can’t handle it right now, Liam. You were gone for fifteen minutes in the store and I nearly lost it. Don’t ask me to close my eyes and risk opening them to find you’re gone again.”
Liam opened his mouth in distress, but no words came out. There really wasn’t anything to say. This was how Cameron felt and nothing would change that except for time. Like Cameron had said time would reveal that he wasn’t leaving. He went to Cameron’s back and wrapped his arms around his brother’s slender form. At first, Cameron was stiff against him, but then he relaxed and was a warm, limp bundle.
“Come on. Let’s get you in bed. You’re still not one hundred percent,” Liam’s voice was low and soft.
They shuffled over to the freshly made bed. Cameron stood there, still and unmoving. Liam drew in a shaky breath as he took off Cameron’s t-shirt. His little brother lifted his arms above his head without being asked. The t-shirt whisked off and Liam dropped it on the couch. He would clean it up later. He thought about calling to Nafari to come take the clothes to the laundromat, but his best friend would look at him like he had lost his mind if he did that. They were here to fight the Gash, not do laundry.
My priority is to get Cameron well again.
As he turned back to Cameron he drew in a sharp breath. His little brother had shimmied out of his pants and now was kneeling on his bed in just his underwear that was drawn tight over the globes of Cameron’s pert ass. His little brother looked over his shoulder at him. A totally come hither yet innocent expression at the same time was on his face.
“Sleep with me?” Cameron asked.
His little brother laid down on the bed on his side, facing Liam. His long, muscular legs were stretched out, but only his feet were beneath the comforter that was folded at the bottom of the bed. He rested his head on one of his hands, his elbow deflating the pillow. His little brother’s chest was not little. He was ripped and beautiful with acres of that perfect skin and cinnamon colored nipples. Liam swallowed as he imagined tasting his little brother’s flesh.
“Ah, okay. I could lay down with you for a bit.” Liam swore that his jeans were now cutting off the circulation in his penis. He made a move to lay down, but Cameron scowled at him. “What?”
“Your jeans are scratchy. And you’ll get too hot. Take that stuff off.” Cameron was actually pouting.
“I don’t …”
“You don’t have any underwear on, do you?” Cameron laughed. “I forgot! You never wear them! And here you were telling me about the ins and outs of washing them.”
“I’ll take off my shirt and —”
“I’m totally good with you being naked, Liam. I’d prefer it actually.” Cameron bit his lower lip as he looked Liam over with a very adult gaze. “Here, I’ll take mine off, too.”
Cameron pushed off his underwear and kicked them off when they reached his ankles. They flew halfway across the room. His cock was long and slender. It was a deep rose color and it curled up towards his six-pack stomach.
“Cam, I really think …” His voice dried up because he couldn’t think. He could just stare and want.
“Don’t think. Just strip all that off and come here. You belong here. With me.” Cameron put
a hand on the bed and Liam found himself stripping off his clothes. Cameron’s eyes roved over every inch of Liam’s form. “You’re so beautiful.”
“You should see what I’m seeing. I can’t believe that you’re my little brother.”
Liam put a knee on the bed. His cock was arched upwards and he felt it bob as he moved so he was well aware of it. He stretched out beside Cameron so that his front was facing his little brother’s. He kept a foot of space between them and Cameron laughed.
“With that big monster of a cock, Liam, it looks like you’re straining to touch me.” Cameron looped an arm around Liam’s neck and easily slid himself along the smooth sheets so that they were pressed together. “Let me give you what the cock wants.”
Liam’s cock somehow nicely slipped between his brother’s thighs, which Cameron promptly closed tight around it so he had a shaft to thrust into if he liked. He let out a choked gasp even as his cock seemed to snuggle in deeper of its own accord. Cameron’s cock was pressed against his stomach and his little brother pushed eagerly against him.
“CAM!”
Cameron laughed. He stroked a hand down Liam’s cheek. “Let me take the edge off for both of us.”
“I …”
Cameron replaced his hand on Liam’s cheek with his mouth. His lips ghosted along Liam’s jaw and cheek and up into his hair. His little brother kissed him tenderly. His hot breath gushed against Liam’s throat.
“How long has it been since you’ve been with anyone? And I mean before me last night,” he could hear the smile in Cameron’s voice.
“A decade. I’ve not been with anyone since — since I died.” His face moved into Cameron’s hair. He took in more deep draughts of him and indulged in rubbing his cheek against the soft curls. “Until you and then … then I couldn’t resist. Oh, Cam, we shouldn’t do this!”
He was surprised when Cameron stopped the kissing and pulled back to look at him. Cameron didn’t look upset. His eyes were still glazed with desire, but they became sharper. “Tell me why. If it’s because you don’t want this …” Cameron’s breathing hitched that time, but then he swallowed and steadied himself. “If you don’t want this then we’ll stop. But if it’s because of something else —”