by Diane Lennox
“Fiiine,” Leander replied and sat up. “But Dimitrius?”
“Yeah?”
“Um, is friendship all you want from me?”
Dimitrius nodded. “I think you’re stunningly gorgeous, and I’m probably still going to have one or two not so pure thoughts about you, but my gut says we should slow this down.”
“I feel the same way,” Leander replied, knowing it to be true. It wasn’t that he didn’t desire Dimitrius on some level, he very obviously did, but there had to be some reason why it didn’t feel right to push harder for that kiss when he knew he could have. It was more than just his innocence and nerves getting in the way.
“Then we’re set,” Dimitrius replied and made his way to the door. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Yes, sir,” Leander teased and followed Dimitrius to the door to put on his coat and boots. Then, once he was ready to go, he pulled out his phone to see if Simon replied back.
I’m not at all happy about this, Leander, especially since I asked Jamie and Amos about you leaving and neither of them saw this man that you left with. You should have introduced him before just running off with him. You have until midnight before I tell father.
Leander sighed and pocketed his phone. Good thing he’d be home before midnight.
“What is it?” Dimitrius asked as they exited the apartment.
“My twin brother isn’t pleased with me.”
“For going back to a strange man’s house?” Dimitrius asked as the two of them headed back outside.
“Mmhmm.”
“Would it help if I introduced myself when we get there?”
Leander looked to him. “Would you do that?”
“Well it’s either that or he comes hunting me down.”
Leander smirked. “I want to say he wouldn’t do that, but I’m not entirely sure of that. So yes, perhaps it would be best if you quickly said hello.”
“Done,” Dimitrius said. “So, uh, you should probably lead the way, I’m not sure where we’re going.”
“Oh!” Leander exclaimed. “Um, just get us onto a tram heading northwest.”
“Alright, there’s a stop just a few blocks this way,” Dimitrius said then offered Leander his arm once more.
Leander happily took it, staying close to Dimitrius as they walked through the quiet, but well-lit streets together.
The trams in Ramshire ran very frequently and they didn’t have to wait long at the stop to get on the one heading to the northwest part of town where Leander lived. After a short ride it was only a five minute walk to Leander’s house.
“Here we are,” Leander said.
“Huh, to be honest I thought your house would be bigger considering who your father is,” Dimitrius said.
“We live pretty simply actually, and I’m happy for it. I mean yes, I’m aware we’re very well off, but we take care of the house ourselves, cook our own meals, and we don’t really have a lot of stuff. Most of my things are actually gifts from my twin brother from money he made himself. He spoils me rotten.”
“You sound very close to him.”
“Extremely. We haven’t really had any other friends, at least not any close ones, until recently.”
“Well I suppose when you have a brother the same age as you that you get along with you don’t really need other friends.”
“Exactly,” Leander said then opened the front door and walked inside.
“Welcome home.”
Leander looked up and his eyes widened as he saw his father standing right there. Shit. It wasn’t that he thought he would be in any trouble, but he didn’t want Dimitrius to think he’d somehow set something up.
“Good evening, father. Um, so I made a new friend while I was out. This is Dimitrius,” Leander introduced. “Simon was nervous about me running off with a strange man so I thought I could bring him home so he could meet my new friend himself.”
“Good evening, sir,” Dimitrius greeted politely as he stepped forward and bowed.
“Look at me,” Lazarus commanded and Leander tensed, mentally begging his father not to scare off his new friend.
Dimitrius did as he was told and looked up at Lazarus.
They stared at each other for a long moment before Lazarus nodded a little.
“Just friends?” Lazarus asked, his tone thankfully curious, not threatening. At least Leander knew it wasn’t, he hoped Dimitrius realized the same.
“Yes, father, just friends,” Leander replied.
“Well you’d better go show him to Simon,” Lazarus said then headed into the kitchen.
As soon as Lazarus was out of sight Leander turned to Dimitrius and bowed. “I’m so, so sorry, usually he’s up in his room. I honestly had no idea he was going to be at the door. This wasn’t some sort of set up, I promise.”
“I believe you,” Dimitrius said, gripping Leander’s hand for a moment before smirking up at him. “And in a way I’m happy I got that over with. But fuck, you owe me. I think I just aged like ten years when he stood there staring into my soul.”
Leander giggled. “I know, and I’m so sorry. But you know, you do the same ‘stare into your soul’ thing.”
“I know, which is why it was so fucking terrifying being on the receiving end this time.”
Leander just giggled more. “Just think of it as a bit of karmic retribution. Now come on, Simon will be up in our room.”
“Right, you did say you guys shared a room,” Dimitrius said as he followed Leander upstairs. “Is that by choice?”
“It is. I’m afraid I’m rather attached.”
“And what about dating? Isn’t that gonna cause some problems?”
“Well, we’ll see. Simon just recently started courting someone, but so far it hasn’t been a problem,” Leander replied, noticing he was far less irritated thinking of Alexei and Simon now that he had sated his own restlessness.
Leander reached the top of the stairs, walked down the hall to the second door on the right, and entered their room. “Simon? I’ve brought my new friend for you to meet.”
Simon looked up from his desk and immediately walked over to them, looking down at Dimitrius in a way that Leander didn’t particularly like.
“Simon, this is Dimitrius. Dimitrius, Simon,” Leander introduced.
Dimitrius was the one to offer the hand first.
It took a moment, but Simon did eventually reach out and take Dimitrius’ hand, the two of them engaging in a rather firm looking handshake.
“So it sounds as if I’ll be seeing more of you, Dimitrius,” Simon said, his voice tense.
“You probably will,” Dimitrius said, his own voice rather chilly.
“Thank you for walking my brother home safely.”
“Of course, just being a gentleman,” Dimitrius replied. “Anyways, I should probably be heading off, I know Leander’s got school tomorrow.”
“I’ll see you out,” Leander said, sending a little glare Simon’s way before walking back down with Dimitrius. “I’m sorry for my brother, I’m not sure why he was being so weird towards you, he’s not usually like that.”
“He’s obviously protective and I’ve got a feeling he thinks we did a lot more together than what we actually did,” Dimitrius replied as he laced up his boots. “It’s alright, we’ll sort him out.”
“We will,” Leander agreed and hugged Dimitrius as soon as he was ready to go. “Thank you again, Dimitrius, for everything. I had an amazing night.”
“So did I, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with you. You’re an interesting man, Leander Kane.”
“As are you, Dimitrius,” Leander said, grinning down at his new friend. “Take care.”
“You too,” Dimitrius said and headed off.
Leander kept smiling until he made his way to the stairs, then it started to fade as he thought about confronting Simon at the top.
“So what did you two do together?” Simon immediately asked as soon as Leander stepped into their room again.
/>
“And if I said we had sex?” Leander asked, not appreciating Simon’s interrogating tone at all. Leander hadn’t done anything wrong, he didn’t deserve this sort of attitude from his brother.
“I wouldn’t believe you,” Simon said as he spun around in his chair, but despite the relatively calm words there was a fire in his eyes that Leander had never seen before.
“Do you really want to know what we did? I thought we didn’t talk about these things,” Leander replied, feeling his agitation from before flare right up again. “And I’m not particularly pleased with the way you looked down on him.”
“He’s beneath you, Leander, and I’m not referring to his height.”
“Actually it was me beneath him,” Leander said, feeling an urge to get under his brother’s skin since he was being such a dick about the whole thing. “And I liked it.”
What Leander wasn’t expecting was for Simon to fly up out of his desk chair, sending the thing slamming against the wall, and marching up to Leander looking ready to murder something.
“Say you didn’t actually do anything with him,” Simon all but growled out. “Please tell me you’re just trying to piss me off right now.”
“Why would it piss you off at all? It’s my body and my decision to make! It’s not as if you consulted me before you did whatever you’ve done with Alexei.”
“You approve of Alexei.”
“So that’s what it is? You need to approve of the man I’m with before I can be with him?”
“Yes! You promised me yourself you wouldn’t do anything with someone I did not approve of!”
At that Leander immediately deflated. He had promised. He remembered saying those words. This had to be the first time he’d ever broken a promise to Simon and it made him feel horrible despite the fact that Simon was still handling everything rather poorly.
“I’m sorry, Simon, you’re right, but you don’t need to worry. What we did together was minor, he didn’t even take my first kiss. However, you’re still being a dick, and I don’t like that you think I’d give my attention to someone I didn’t feel was worth it. Dimitrius is a complete gentleman and far more intelligent than you’d expect. Half of our time together was spent talking about things I need help with,” Leander said then looked away, frowning. “And I was jealous, seeing you and Alexei together today. Is it so wrong that I wanted a kind man to hold me too?”
Simon sighed, the fire in his eyes dimming. “I’m sorry too, Leander. You’re right, I didn’t even give Dimitrius a chance. I was just pissed that you didn’t consult me about any of it. I also didn’t like that you just ran off to his house alone like that. I know you’re plenty old enough to make your own decisions, and you don’t need my permission to do anything, but I worry. You’re a very attractive man, Leander, and I know there are going to be men out there that will take advantage of your inexperience.”
“I know, and I was nervous, and maybe I should have had Amos meet him first before I was alone with him, but I also trust my instincts, and they were right. If I were to be totally honest, and I know this is a little too much information, but it was Dimitrius who made sure I didn’t do anything rash with him. I… I probably would have kissed him, if he didn’t say no.”
Simon’s eyes widened. “Why did he say no?”
“He said he had a feeling my first kiss was meant to be taken by someone else. And I think by that point we were both realizing that while we did have an attraction towards each other, we were more interested in becoming friends. As I said, he’s a complete gentleman, Simon. I’m very safe in his hands.”
Simon let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Leander. I’ll apologize to him the next time I see him.”
“Thank you,” Leander said and smiled a little. “And I’m still a little pissed at you, but I’m happy that you care so much about me to be this worried.”
Simon smirked. “I’ll always worry about you. Now let’s get to bed, we got school tomorrow.”
“Yes, Simon,” Leander said and in lieu of giving Simon a hug he simply smiled brightly at him before running off to the washroom to get ready for bed.
It was strange, arguing with Simon so much in one day when they hardly ever argued at all, but it felt good in a way. It felt like they were finally getting some things out in the open that they had never addressed and Leander felt closer to his brother for it.
And, now that Leander had Dimitrius, he felt more balanced and had a feeling he was far less likely to get jealous. Simon, Alexei, and Dimitrius. It was perfect.
Episode 6
At some point Pasha Scarlett crawled to his bedroom door, making sure it was shut, before collapsing on the ground once more, his body heavy and numb. He knew at some point he’d have to talk to his brothers, but he wasn’t going to do it until they were all home. It was going to be hard enough to tell the story once, never mind three times over.
“Pasha? Are you in there?” Alice called through the door. Brother number one was home.
Pasha opened his mouth, ready to yell back, but found he didn’t have the strength, or perhaps just will power, to do so. Instead he pawed at his backpack, pulling it near so he could get his phone, and texted Alice instead.
“Yes, but I want to be alone,” he typed and hit send.
A few moments later he got his response.
“That’s okay. Yuri and I are going to be in Yuri’s room if you need us. We love you.”
So apparently not one, but two brothers were home. Just one more left.
Pasha tossed his phone aside and closed his eyes once more. He knew once Ezra came home he’d be forced to talk, but for now he was going to enjoy the numbness that had taken over him. It was certainly better than the pain and crying that he had to endure for the last half hour.
Restless sleep came and went as Pasha remained on the floor, too lethargic to even bother moving to his bed.
Then finally the moment came when Pasha knew he could hide no longer.
“Pasha?” Ezra called through the door. “Is it okay if I come in?”
With a defeated sigh Pasha forced himself off the ground and opened the door to his bedroom to greet his older brother with simply a stare. He was sure his blotchy red face would explain enough.
Ezra’s eyes widened for a brief moment before they hardened, the swirling grey taking on a steely, silver sheen. He then went down on a knee before Pasha and looked up at him.
“If you ask me to haunt Soren Warrick, I will.”
Now it was Pasha’s turn for his eyes to widen, shocked at Ezra’s declaration. Although he knew his older brother would protect him, this was the first time Pasha had ever heard him utter a direct threat against someone like that.
However, that’s not what Pasha wanted, as honoured as he was by his older brother’s promise.
Pasha shook his head and his chin started to tremble even though he tried valiantly to stop it. He really didn’t want to cry again in front of his brothers.
“Will you come tell us what happened?” Ezra asked gently, his eyes softening once more.
Pasha nodded. He knew he had to.
“Come on,” Ezra said then stood and took Pasha’s hand, gently leading him down the hall and to Yuri’s bedroom where Alice and Yuri were already waiting, the two of them sitting on Yuri’s large bed.
Pasha glanced up to his two other brothers and saw them react much the same as Ezra did moments ago.
“If he fucking made you cry, I’m going to make him cry,” Yuri threatened.
“Come here, Pasha,” Alice said, patting the bed beside him and Yuri.
Pasha just nodded and crawled up onto the bed to sit between his brothers.
Ezra shut the door then made his way over to join them on the bed, the four of them making a little circle.
“Tell us what happened, Pasha,” Alice said, his voice calm and comforting.
Pasha sniffed, barely keeping his tears at bay. “We were just going to go to Soren’s to go p
lay games, and it was fine, I mean besides meeting Soren’s dad which was terrifying, but then when we logged on to go play…” Pasha paused and swallowed hard, but it didn’t stop his voice from cracking as he said the next damning words. “He’s ShadowDarling. Soren is ShadowDarling.”
“Fuck,” Yuri swore softly.
“I’m sorry, Pasha,” Ezra said and reached out to take Pasha’s hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze.
Alice, however, started to giggle.
Pasha turned to look at his older brother, shocked and a little pissed at his reaction. “This isn’t funny, Alice.”
Except apparently Alice thought it was, because he started to giggle more, hiding his mouth with his hands.
“I’m with Pasha on this, this isn’t funny,” Ezra said, sounding both confused and unimpressed.
“Yes, it is,” Alice said with a little nod.
“Even I can’t laugh at this, Alice,” Yuri said, looking at Alice as if his body had just been taken over by another being, which Pasha was beginning to think might be a possibility. Alice had never been this shockingly rude before. He was about to cry, damn it! Alice shouldn’t be laughing at him!
Alice looked as if he was trying to stop laughing, but his giggling wouldn’t quite stop. “I pity the gods, how many more signs must they give you before you realize that Soren is your man?”
“What?!” Pasha exclaimed and backed away from Alice so fast and forcefully he ended up right in Yuri’s lap.
“No,” Ezra said, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest. “Soren is not Pasha’s man.”
“I promise you, he is,” Alice said, shocking Pasha once again by confidently standing up to Ezra.
“Explain,” Yuri said as he wrapped a secure arm around Pasha’s waist, apparently not minding that Pasha had crawled right into his lap.
“I thought this was rather obvious,” Alice said, tilting his head a little and looking at them like they were the strange ones, not himself. “Do you not see how Pasha’s eyes glow whenever he talks about Soren?”
“Because he hates him,” Ezra said.
“Yes, he does, at least a little, but that hatred is so passionate,” Alice said then looked to Pasha. “You’ve always done well with your classes right from the start, but something changed as soon as you knew you had a rival and you knew it was Soren. Every project you’ve done from that point onward was to beat him, to prove that you’re better. You can’t even mention school without mentioning him. I know just as much about the projects Soren has done as I do about yours. You know every detail and even studied what he did so you can do it next time too. You can say you hate him all you like, and I believe you do to a small degree, but I also believe your respect and admiration of him goes a lot deeper. He’s made you better at what you do, Pasha, and it’s been beautiful to see you grow as you push yourself to beat him.”
