by Diane Lennox
Either way all that mattered to Evgeni was getting his family back together again. It felt deeply wrong like this, especially now that he was home. He supposed it had been easier to ignore those feelings when he had been so far removed from the source.
However, he knew that the problems weren’t just with Yves and Rafe. He himself had a rather rocky relationship with Yves that needed to be mended, as difficult as that was going to be. Evgeni knew he still had some strong emotions about his brother, the theatre, and him feeling forced to leave in general, and he knew he was going to have to face them soon, as much as he wished he could continue avoiding it. He was in a similar boat as Ezra – the sooner he dealt with his stuff, the sooner him and his family could rise to the top.
~~~~~
“Leander!”
Leander Kane stirred at the sound of his name, but quickly found that was almost all he could do. He did his best to open his eyes, but his eyelids were so heavy, and everything he saw seemed strangely blurry. Still, there was no mistaking the face of his brother, hovering over him as he pressed a hand to Leander’s forehead.
“Gods, you’re so warm,” Simon said softly.
“Si,” Leander said, finding it hard to even talk.
“It’s okay, I’m home now,” Simon said, running his hand over Leander’s hair which must have been disgusting at this point with how much he was sweating.
“How’s he doing?” Jacob asked. Leander assumed he must have just walked in.
“Shouldn’t you fucking know?!” Simon all but yelled at their grandfather. “You were supposed to be taking care of him! He’s boiling up and you’re not even here at his side! What in the fuck have you been doing all day?!”
Leander whimpered, not because he was scared of Simon’s temper, but because he was scared that his brother’s outburst might get him taken away. Even in Leander’s addled state he knew Simon had just majorly fucked up.
“Shit,” Simon swore and took one of Leander’s hands, bringing it up to his lips for a moment before looking off towards the doorway again. “Forgive me, grandpa, I shouldn’t have spoken to you so disrespectfully. I’ll accept any punishment you see fit for my outburst, but please, I beg you, don’t make me leave Leander. He needs me. Please.”
“I’m not impressed with your mouth, Simon, but I’ll let you stay with Leander for now. This weekend you belong to me though and you’ll be spending your time doing maintenance around this house when you’re not busy with your school work.”
“I understand, and I apologize again,” Simon said with a bow of his head.
“As for Leander, his fever had broken earlier so I thought he was on the mend, he doesn’t usually lapse back.”
Simon nodded. “Thank you for explaining. I’ll take it from here, grandpa,” he said.
“Alright. I’ll be heading to work tonight, but Lazarus will be around if you need him.”
“Thank you,” Simon said then leaned in close to Leander again. “I’ll be right back, I’m just going to get some supplies for you.”
Leander nodded as best he could and a moment later Simon left his side. He didn’t understand why he was feeling worse now than before though, he was sure he was on the mend. What had happened while he was asleep?
He hadn’t realized he had been drifting off again until he felt the bed shift and saw Simon sitting beside him once more. He had taken off his suit jacket and tie and was left just wearing a purple button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
“I’m going to help you sit up for a moment, okay? We just need to feed you a little medicine,” Simon said and moved to Leander’s side, slipping an arm underneath his back. “Ready?”
Leander nodded and winced as he tried moving his body to a sitting position.
“I got you,” Simon said, doing most of the work to get Leander maneuvered into a half sitting position up against his pillows. “Perfect. Now for some medicine.”
Leander listened as Simon opened the little bottle and he tried to think if his grandpa had given him medicine today. For some reason he couldn’t recall if he did or not. He must have though. In all fairness Leander had been really in and out of it all day, so perhaps he just didn’t remember it happening.
“Alright, open up,” Simon ordered, bringing the spoon over to Leander.
Leander did was he was told and let his brother feed him the liquid medicine.
“Good. Now one more,” Simon said and fed him one more spoonful. “Do you want to lie back down now?”
Leander nodded, sitting was difficult. Everything was difficult.
“Alright, let me help you,” Simon said and gently helped Leander to lie back down before fussing with his blanket and pillows, making sure Leander was perfectly comfortable. “I shouldn’t have gone to school today. I don’t understand why grandpa was being so insistent on me going. Gods, I couldn’t think in any of my classes, I just wanted to be home with you. I’ve never not been next to you while you’ve been sick.”
It was true, Leander couldn’t remember a single time Simon wasn’t with him or vice versa, and Leander had to admit he felt far better having Simon near now. It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending time with his grandfather, but it was Simon he truly wanted because Simon always knew what he needed.
He reached out for Simon’s hand and took it in his own, pulling it in towards his heart and hugging it close.
“I’m sorry, Leander, I won’t ever leave you alone again,” Simon said and used his spare hand to stroke Leander’s hair once more. “I brought a cold wash cloth, do you want me to use it on your face? Would that make you feel better?”
Leander nodded and closed his eyes.
A moment later he felt the cold, damp cloth against his heated skin, and he sighed softly at the cooling feeling. Simon moved it all over his face, wiping the sweat off gently, the movements themselves calming and relaxing. He knew he was being selfish again, but Leander loved this, having Simon dote on him, having all of his attention.
He opened his eyes and looked up at Simon who stared back at him, his eyes so intense, but so loving. It made him feel wonderfully content to the point that it felt like he was floating, though perhaps that was partially because of the fever as well.
“I love you,” Leander whispered, wanting Simon to know just how he felt, hoping the three words would be enough, because it was so hard to speak right then.
“I love you too, Leander,” Simon said, his familiar voice soothing to Leander’s ears.
“Read to me?” Leander asked before coughing weakly.
“Of course,” Simon said and got off the bed for a moment to go grab a book off of Leander’s bookshelf. “Let’s read On Guard For You.”
Leander smiled, pleased by the choice. It was a simple story about a personal guard falling in love with the merchant who had hired him for a long trip between kingdoms. Leander loved Simon reading the part of the merchant especially.
“But first let’s put the cloth back on your forehead,” Simon said and swished the cloth in a bowl of water on Leander’s desk before squeezing out the excess and laying it gently on Leander’s warm skin.
Leander just smiled in response and closed his eyes, eager to have Simon’s voice wash over him once more. He didn’t listen to the words so much as Simon’s voice itself. Even while reading he spoke with such confidence. Leander hoped Simon would get to speak publicly when he found a job he liked because he was so good at it.
After a while Leander’s mind started to wander and he found himself reaching out for Simon, his fingers gently running over the bared skin on his brother’s wrist.
Simon stopped reading and looked to him, one eyebrow cocked in silent questioning.
“Grandpa… doesn’t care about incest,” Leander said, forcing the words out of his tired and stuffy lungs. “You don’t have to be afraid of touching me.”
“He might care more if it was his own grandchildren,” Simon said, but didn’t pull away from Leander’s light touch.
&
nbsp; “No, he meant us,” Leander said then took a deep breath, it was so tiring to speak.
Simon’s eyebrow arched even higher. “Why were you two talking about incest?”
“I told him that I don’t want to share you. Grandpa thought that meant I’m in love with you.”
“You don’t want to share me with Alexei?” Simon asked.
“No, but I know it’s silly. I’m sorry.”
“It’s sweet,” Simon replied and took Leander’s hand, moving it from his wrist and bringing it to his lips to kiss softly. “I’d like it if you let me stay with him though. He’s good for me.”
“I know,” Leander replied, greatly enjoying the little kiss on his hand. “I don’t know how to not be jealous though. I’m scared I’m going to lose you. That he’ll be more important.”
“Never,” Simon replied, squeezing Leander’s hand.
“If we were both sick like this, who would you be with?”
“You,” Simon replied without hesitation. “But I hope I never have to be in that situation.”
Leander just nodded a little in reply, feeling a bit guilty he asked Simon such an unfair question, but he couldn’t help himself.
“Is this going to make you weird around Alexei now? Do you see him as competition?”
Leander frowned. He supposed he did. He didn’t want to, he enjoyed Alexei’s company greatly, but he knew in his gut that that relationship had unfortunately soured a little in his mind.
“I can talk to him about it for you and give you a little space while you sort your feelings out,” Simon offered.
“Please,” Leander replied. He definitely needed the help.
“I suppose that means you’ll be turning to Dimitrius instead.”
“Probably.”
“Then we shall both be jealous,” Simon said with a little smirk.
“Simon?”
“Yes?”
“We could go on brother dates. Just you and me. Where we won’t let anyone else distract us. No phones,” Leander said, already smiling at the thought.
“So what we did before we found other friends,” Simon said teasingly.
“Yes,” Leander said, squeezing at Simon’s hand before yawning widely.
“That sounds lovely,” Simon said and moved the cloth off of Leander’s forehead. “You should try to sleep more.”
“Stay with me.”
“I’ll be right here,” Simon promised. “Though I may keep reading our book to myself.”
“That’s okay,” Leander said and turned onto his side so he could snuggle up against Simon’s back. “Simon?”
“Yes?”
“I forgot to tell you, grandpa talked to me. He said I can be his successor, but that I have to slow down. He also talked to father about stuff and said that he needs to take over with Marius, but he’s keeping me in the loop as much as he can,” Leander said then let out a weak little giggle. “Father likes Ezra and Marius.”
“What? Really?” Simon said, chuckling as well. “Go father.”
“Mmhmm,” Leander replied and closed his eyes, he was quickly losing steam.
“And I’m not surprised that grandpa agreed to you being his successor, it’s the only logical choice,” Simon said, stroking at Leander’s hair once more. “I’m also glad he’s telling you to slow down. I think everything was stressing you out.”
“It was,” Leander agreed. “It was too much. I was too ambitious.”
“That’s alright. Now with the stress of the father and Marius situation off your shoulders you can focus on learning how to be the kind of Shar you want to be.”
“Yes.”
“But for right now your only concern is to sleep and get better. The medicine will help soon I’m sure, you’re already looking less flushed.”
Leander agreed, he did feel better, just incredibly tired. “Stay,” he ordered again.
“Yes, I’m staying,” Simon said. “Now sleep.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Leander, more than you know.”