Won't Back Down: Won't Back Down

by Unknown

  "I'm doing it," said Liam, his voice rough with need and emotion. "Alex, I love you so fucking much."

  "I know, I know, do it," said Alex. "I love you."

  Liam nodded. He let his fingers slip out, making Alex moan and flex around where they had been. Liam cursed under his breath, pushed Alex's legs back, and rubbed his cock over Alex's hole while Alex writhed beneath him. They'd do it this way their first time in the new apartment, face to face, because they both liked it. Liam didn't have to ask to know Alex wanted it this way.

  He rode into Alex in a long, slow push. He held Alex's thighs tight so Alex couldn't bear down on him any faster, even though Alex squirmed and cried out. "In, need you all the way in," Alex begged.

  "Not gonna hurt you," Liam rasped. Sometimes Alex tried to take him too quickly, especially when Alex was on top, riding his cock. Liam couldn't stand to see Alex's face contort with even the tiniest amount of pain. "We'll get there, promise." He stroked his thumb against the inside of Alex's thigh, and Alex closed his eyes, just panting and clinging to Liam's shoulders now.

  Liam eased in deep, moving his hips in tiny revolutions until they kissed Alex's thighs, and Alex shuddered and relaxed. He always did when Liam got fully seated in him.

  "So good. It's so good; I can feel you," Alex sighed. "Can do this every night now, all the time."

  "Yeah," Liam murmured. "Yeah, we can."

  He pushed in a little more, making Alex gasp and clench down on him. Alex craned up to capture Liam's right piercing between his lips, then the left, and Liam groaned. He couldn't even start rocking out and in because Alex's body was clamped so tight around his cock. Instead he pressed in and kissed Alex, licking long strokes into his mouth until Alex moaned and opened everywhere for him.

  Now Liam started to roll his hips again as they made out. He lowered his weight onto Alex to trap Alex's erection between their bodies, rubbing Liam's belly as he moved. "Oh, Liam, god," Alex mumbled into the kiss. His long nails, unpainted for the move, dug into Liam's left shoulder; his other hand slid up to tease through Liam's dreads. "Slow, please."

  "Mmh," Liam said, incoherent but agreeable.

  Some days he might hike Alex's legs up and pound right down into him until Alex wailed his name; some days they might switch positions so Alex could clutch the arm of the couch while Liam did him hard from behind. Today they just rocked together, damp with sweat, mouths joining and parting and rubbing together with soft, wet sounds. Liam reached almost absently to work at Alex's cock between them.

  Alex's breath hitched, and his eyes flew open, liquid and dark with the dilation of his pupils. His thighs tightened around Liam's waist. He came with a handful of soft cries, pushing into Liam's hand and convulsing around his dick.

  "Alex, yes," Liam grunted, panting, satisfied now Alex had come but still climbing toward his own completion.

  "Liam… Liam, come." Alex was still in the midst of his orgasm when he canted his hips up and met Liam's forward thrusts eagerly. He bore down on Liam's cock and Liam choked.

  He sank into Alex in long, hard strokes as he came, spilling everything he had into the hot vise Alex's body had become for him. They had never been with anyone else so they didn't use condoms, or anything that would be a barrier between them unless they had to keep it neat so they could go out without Alex leaking Liam's come. Liam worked his cock in and in and in again until Alex whimpered, reaching down in an abortive movement as if he'd fondle himself and come a second time.

  "Shh, shh." Liam moved Alex's hand gently away from his sensitive cock. He kissed Alex's forehead and eased out to let Alex sprawl, boneless and sated, under him.

  He went automatically for a tissue, but remembered in mid-reach that the nightstand wouldn't be there. "Just leave it," said Alex, flopping a hand at him.

  "You won't like it later," Liam said. He gathered Alex against him anyway, letting Alex nuzzle his chest and breathe him in. Alex's warm little exhalations made Liam smile.

  "I'll like it fine," Alex murmured. His nose rubbed the center of Liam's sternum, and his toes curled and uncurled against the bare skin of Liam's shin. "I like you."

  "I like you too, Alex." Liam laughed quietly and held his everything close.

  *~*~*

  Over breakfast on their first day of classes, Liam scrolled through the local news reports on his tablet. He frowned down at the latest story. "Another mauling last night." The man had been middle-aged, a corporate executive with a surprisingly mild expression. Liam's lips moved as he read the article. Adrian Fischer, 56, well-known in the business world for his ruthless buyouts of rival companies…

  Alex glanced up, tapping his iPod screen to select a new song. He never went anywhere without his music. "Weren't they thinking it was those gen-en chimps who escaped… what was it, a month ago?" he asked, referring to the genetically engineered creatures—known to the public as gen-en—that had made headline news four weeks before.

  "No, here they're saying the attack pattern's not right," said Liam. "No bites, just scratches." Gashes, the article said. Gashes consistent with a five-clawed animal, but cleaner, as if someone had ripped into the man with five knives at once.

  "Probably some other animal those fuckers screwed with," Alex bit out. "Those poor things."

  Liam shook his head. His gentle twin didn't hate many people, but they both felt the same way about the labs where animals were tortured for curiosity and profit. They had grown up with dogs and cats. Serena had taught them to be kind to anything and anyone smaller than they were, and that included their pets. Alex had been frothing mad when the Genetic Engineering Act had been signed into law. It gave companies the right to do anything at all to animals they bred, modified, and patented.

  "I know," said Liam and looked down at the screen again. "Be careful, all right?"

  "You know I'm careful. You're always with me." Alex nudged Liam's foot under the table, both of them still in bare feet. "Nervous about school?"

  Liam finally closed the browser window with the news feed in it. "What? Why?"

  "You only read the news when you're nervous," said Alex. He pulled out one of his cordless earphones and handed it over to Liam. "Here. Music'll help."

  "Thanks." Liam smiled and took it, fitting it into the shell of his ear. Bright-eyed, Alex bobbed his head to the beat until Liam had to laugh and join him. He watched Alex take his plate to the sink, still dancing along to an old '90s dance tune, wiggling his slim hips when he saw Liam looking.

  "Dance with me," Alex commanded. He shimmied his way over and held out his hand for Liam's.

  "No, c'mere." Liam tugged Alex down onto his lap. Alex didn't resist. He just stole a kiss, rubbing his lips over Liam's snakebite piercings.

  "I know. You can't dance," Alex said. "Poor Liam."

  "I'm a great dancer," Liam said. "I just don't want to make you look bad." He grinned.

  Alex cracked up. "That's very thoughtful of you."

  "What are older brothers for?" Liam asked and he kissed Alex's chin.

  *~*~*

  "Oh, no, I forgot my art bag," Alex groaned as Liam picked up both their cafeteria trays, ready to leave them by the trash on the way out. "I'll have to stop back home." The apartment had quickly become home for them. They'd never had a place to themselves before, where they could sleep and shower together without anyone knowing or caring.

  Liam glanced at Alex. "All right. I can cut class."

  For the most part they had the same schedules because they were both majoring in music. But Liam had an instrumental lesson with his guitar right after lunch while Alex had an art elective an hour later.

  "No, don't do that," said Alex. "You love that course."

  For some reason, Liam's stomach plunged, the way it had when they'd been younger and Alex had walked out in front of a car. Liam had yanked him back and yelled at Alex until he'd cried, then held him and stroked his hair until Alex had stopped and Liam had started crying instead, silently, imagining what could have happened. Now
Liam drew his left lip ring into his mouth, frowning. "We're on theory today. You go take notes for me, and I'll get your stuff."

  Alex laughed. "Liam, it's ten minutes away." He touched Liam's arm, the tactile reassurance they often gave each other. "I'll be fine."

  "I know, it's just…" Liam searched for a way to put his feelings into words.

  "You worry about me," Alex supplied and let his fingers brush Liam's, just briefly enough that it wouldn't look deliberate. Liam's fingers lifted instinctively to keep in contact as long as they could. "I'll text you the second I get back to school," Alex promised.

  "Text me when you get home, too," said Liam. "Please?" He didn't care that his instructor would give him hell for leaving his cell on.

  "I will, Liam," Alex replied.

  Liam held the glass door to the outside open for Alex. As he passed by, Liam said suddenly, "I love you." They didn't always say it aloud and usually never in public, where a look would do just as well.

  Alex looked up at him with a bright smile, cheeks already flushed by the cool autumn air. "Love you too." His black-dyed hair shone in the afternoon sunlight as he headed for home, his chunky heels clacking on the pavement. He flicked a wave to Liam over his shoulder. He'd just repainted his nails a shimmery gray that Liam liked; it reminded him of that morning when Alex had dragged those nails lightly over his thighs and laid kisses in their wake.

  Liam waved back and took in the sight of Alex for as long as he could. He watched Alex weave through groups of other music students, some toting instrument cases, like the guitar Liam had left home today in preparation for his theory lecture. When Alex turned a corner, Liam finally, reluctantly, tore himself away from the door. He had five minutes left to get to class.

  He lowered his head as he walked down the nearest hallway, sliding his hands into his pockets the way he did when he was uncomfortable. Outside the classroom, he checked his phone even though Alex wouldn't have reached the apartment yet.

  "Hey, Liam," Rob whispered as Liam slid into the seat next to him.

  "Hey." Liam didn't look up, waiting, distracted, for Alex's text.

  Rob was one of the few friends he and Alex had made in school so far. They just didn't need anyone else. But easygoing Rob got along with both of them, enough that they'd gone to his place for dinner and to fool around with Liam's guitar, Rob's drum kit, and Alex's voice above it all. "You all right?" Rob asked him.

  "Just waiting for Alex to text. He ran home for…" Liam trailed off. His cell phone chimed reassuringly; when he tapped the screen it came up with Alex's message: safe home. check pocket xx.

  Liam patted his jeans then stood halfway up to feel around in his back pocket. He came up with one of Alex's cordless earbuds and slipped it into his ear. He smiled at the first few notes of an old Red Hot Chili Peppers tune. Whatever Alex was listening to, Liam would hear right along with him. "Better now," Liam told Rob, slumping comfortably down in his seat.

  The professor walked in a few minutes late. Liam listened with half an ear as she outlined the day's lecture. A soft rock tune came on through his single headphone; not Liam's favorite, but he liked it because he saw Alex wriggling his hips, dancing along to it in his head. He still had his phone out on his thigh, ready to read Alex's text that he'd made it back to school.

  "—be discussing articulation and form—" The professor stood behind the desk at the front, bringing up diagrams on the projector, one of the new 3-D models that would've wowed all the students a few years ago. Liam idly jotted down a few notes. He knew most of it already because he and Alex learned best at home, where they could bounce new concepts off each other. Neither of them had ever been fans of traditional schooling.

  Suddenly his world lurched.

  Liam was on his feet before he knew what was happening. His phone clattered to the floor. The professor had cut off in mid-lecture. Dimly, somewhere in the back of his mind, Liam was aware that surprised eyes were fixed on him from every corner of the room.

  Rob's hand closed around his arm. "Liam. Liam!"

  The song in Liam's ear had cut off. He felt something damp on his face; it dripped to the desk and he stared at the bright red patch on the metal. Then Liam shoved his chair back, wiping his t-shirt sleeve under his bleeding nose. "Oh, Jesus, I have to go."

  He grabbed his phone and ran like his life depended on it. His heart was in his throat. Somewhere along the way he ordered his phone, "Call Alex!" His voice was hoarse in his throat with fear.

  Alex's phone rang. And rang. It went to Alex's cheerful voicemail message. Liam gripped his cell, white-knuckled. "Alex, call me. Please."

  Someone called to him from far behind, but it barely registered. Liam cut across the street right in front of their apartment building instead of going ahead to the crosswalk. He fumbled to press his thumb to the keypad and yanked the outside door open.

  In the hallway with its brightly painted mural, something crunched underfoot.

  Liam dropped down to his knees with a broken sound and picked up the remains of Alex's iPod. He tore into the apartment even though he knew Alex wouldn't be there. Nothing else had been touched, not their television or their sound system or anything inside.

  He stumbled out of the building. The pounding in his ears blotted out every other sound, made them hazy. Rob steadied his shoulder, but Liam still reeled. Faintly he heard Rob on his phone on the emergency line, heard Rob asking him what had happened.

  "Alex is gone," was all Liam could say. He clutched the iPod even though the broken edges of the screen bit into his palm. "Alex is gone."

  *~*~*

  Liam had been in police questioning for two hours. At first a female officer had brought him coffee and doughnuts, refreshments he'd stared at blankly until they'd been taken away. Once when they'd opened the door to the room, Liam had heard Rob's voice, saw a flash of his chestnut-brown hair. At some point Serena had arrived and hugged him and cried. She'd held him so tight that it should have hurt, but Liam felt nothing.

  She hadn't been allowed to stay with him because he wasn't underage. The first officer led her away to another room, just the next room over, she promised Serena over and over again.

  Now a male officer sat across from him. Liam had repeated his story for the seventeenth time. He'd been counting because he couldn't focus on anything else except Alex's name, repeating in his head. He'd said it out loud when they'd brought him to the station, dozens, hundreds of times over.

  The stark cinderblock walls of the room felt like they were closing in on him. He wanted to be out looking for Alex, not sitting in this cramped little cell with this man asking him, "Would your brother have any reason to run away from home?"

  "No." The words hurt his raw throat.

  "No problems in school? With his grades?" the officer asked. Liam hadn't caught his name.

  "No." Liam looked at the door. He wanted Alex so badly it made his head and chest and stomach ache.

  "With your home life?" the officer persisted. "Had the two of you fought recently?"

  Liam clenched his hands. One of them had a jagged cut in the middle where he'd gripped the iPod until they'd pried his fingers away and slipped it into an evidence bag. "He would have taken his music," Liam said roughly. "He doesn't go anywhere without his music." He still had the earbud in his pocket. They would have to tear it from his dead hands if they wanted it.

  "Mr. Kernon, please answer the question," said the officer. "Did the two of you fight anytime recently? Last night or this morning?"

  "No, fuck, no. Why aren't you fucking out there?" Liam asked, the demand ripping itself from him. "Why aren't you out there fucking looking for him instead of asking these—fuck!" He slammed a hand down on the table, breathing hard.

  The officer glanced toward the mirror Liam knew had to be a window from the other side. Liam subsided and the man shook his head a little, a signal to whoever stood watching them. "We're doing everything we can to find your brother," the man told him. "Have you two ever fought b
efore?"

  Liam let out a choking sound of disbelief. "What? We live together, of course we've fought. Argued."

  "And have your arguments ever become violent?" the officer asked.

  "Jesus, no," said Liam. "Not—I mean, when we were younger, yeah, sometimes." Always with Alex screaming and hurling lamps, pans, or schoolbooks, and Liam on defense, yelling back and dodging until Alex calmed down enough to listen to him. "Not now."

  "Not anytime within the last week or so?" The officer didn't even seem emotional. It wasn't fair when Liam felt like he was suffocating, drowning. This man stayed maddeningly calm, all the police had, when everything that mattered in Liam's world had just been snatched from him.

  "No. No." Liam shook his head. It weighed heavily on his shoulders. He needed to curl up with Alex and feel Alex's warm, bare skin under his fingertips.

  Another, younger male officer opened the door. Liam watched dully as he whispered something in the first man's ear. Then the second officer left them alone in the room. The first man steepled his fingers on the grey steel table between them. "Mr. Kernon. How is your relationship with your brother?"

  For a panicked instant, Liam thought he meant their real relationship, their relationship as lovers. "It—what? It's fine," said Liam, trying to take a deep breath. "Why are you even asking this?"

  "Well, it just seems… strange." The officer rose from his seat and paced slowly around the table, his eyes on Liam. "When we searched your apartment, it looked like only one bed had been slept in."

  He might as well have slapped Liam in the face. Liam jerked back, staring at the man in horror.

  "Clothes from both of you in there," the man continued and lowered his voice. "It seems odd, with two bedrooms in the apartment—and two brothers sharing it." He unfolded his hands. "Tell me the truth. Little brother was tired of serving as a stand-in girlfriend—"

  Liam's chair clanged harshly on the floor as he shot out of his seat and knocked it backwards. He slammed the officer against the wall, punched him hard in the face. "Fuck you! Fuck you!" He was screaming, crying even as the man fought him off. The other officer grabbed his arms and wrenched them behind him. Someone was screaming Alex's name now, and it wasn't until they threw him into a holding cell that Liam realized it had been him all along.