sliceitwithwind | Terren Apples

"I can deal with mint." Fuck manly appearances, he was going to sip his drink thank you.

"And I won't tell them. Shit, I'm wondering why I didn't notice. You...hover like you know?" Hover, and fret, and drag them off together and..."Dude, you sleep with them!" Both! At once! He'd seen it!

"Well, yeah, but there's nothing sexual about that." Because Braig takes VERY cold showers, "It's just...we've always done that. I try not to hover and fret and shit. I try to let them have what they need and not just what I need."

"Nerves of steel man," he was impressed. In that..."You're a masochist." kind of way.

Siiiiip. Oh, fuck. He didn't know if this drink was good or already killing brain cells. Damn. "How long man?"

"No. Masochists enjoy it. I...enjoy not having my mom eviscerate me and then Nevada kill me if I fuck them up, even by accident."

A moment of silence, then Braig started on the beer provided by the nice Moogle, "Ever since Aya fell into the lion's den. She was six. Dilan went in after her. My fucking heart stopped and I swear I didn't breathe until they were both out again."

"Yeah, from what I heard of Nevada, he'd make one violent ghost. You'd be lucky if he didn't salt your stomach when your mom was done." Pierce snorted, then ended up coughing as the fumes from the earlier sniff hit his sinuses, hard.

Ouch.

Awesome.

Minty.

"Shiiiiiit. That's a lot of years Braig. A whole lot. And like...triple digits in girlfriends."

"If I didn't burn off the sexual frustration I would be more neurotic than Dilan." it was deadly serious, "The girls know it's not for long-term, even if they don't know why."

"I don't know if that's sick because you still get so many damn girls anyway, or...kinda sad." Pierce was honest! And...minty fresh. "Dude, want to finish this? It's kinda like toothpaste after that first sip."

"Go with sad." Braig took the rest of Pierce's drink and knocked it back, "I can't...dude, I've tried to get over them. I really have. It fucking sucks, man. Everything I want in life depends on them getting past this idea of me as a fucking brother."

His head banged on the bar, "And it's much more likely that I'm just going to fuck it all up."

"Sappy," It was like sad. "And morose, but c'mon, you're a genius. How could you fuck up something you put your mind to?" Really?

Not that, you know, Pierce wasn't a genius. He was just...way different than Braig. "Dude, why am I not dead for trying to date Aya?" Cause the whole week it lasted totally counted as 'trying'.

"...By pressing my desires on them and keeping them from hitting optimum development due to my overwhelming personality and their life-habits of doing pretty much what I tell them to do."

HE HAD THOUGHT ABOUT THIS. A LOT.

"Because you're, like, my age and not actually in love with her. I knew it wouldn't last."

"So, don't." He shrugged. "You hover but you're not exactly puppet master you know? You're doing fine, they're awesome, and Aya's almost legal yeah?" Maybe not the best tactic but hey, it was..goodish news?

"Well, yeah, but she's hot and I coulda been an idiot you know."

"Yeah...but she still thinks of me as her fucking brother." NEVER has that word been spit so harshly. Never.

Braig looked up at him and said, simply, "Nah. You're a good guy. And if you'd been an asshole you never would have touched her." Braig would have broken his wrists first.

"She grew up in your house, Braig, with your counsel and your parents. ANYONE would label you siblings after that." That was just the truth really. And what was it now? Hmmm, proactive spouse grooming? Eh? Nah, his brain just couldn't wrap around that. "Dilan does too right? Maybe, don't know. He talks to me less than you do." They were friendly, but Braig and Pierce were buds!

"I shiver retroactively I assure you."

"I don't." it's simple, and pained. "They were always mine. Just. Mine. I don't think Dilan thinks of me as his brother, but Dilan's more..." he waves vaguely, "Dilan gets mine. He's been mine since he was three days old. Aya's different."

"Dude, anybody ever mention you're possessive and shit?" Just saying. The 'Mine' thing wasn't exactly normal. "Is she different because you guys weren't there when she was born and stuff? Cause...I'm not getting it really."

"One or two billion times." Braig allowed, "Mine was my first word. No, it's because Dilan is an Obsessive-Compulsive. Some things are the way they are, and that's just life. Other kids got puppies, I got Dilan...by the time he was old enough to get that it wasn't normal, it was part of what made his world safe. Aya's normal."

"You're possessive and shit." He pronounced solemnly. "Two billion and one." There you go Braig, never say he didn't do anything for you!

And yep, time to peer over his sunglasses at the man. "...you just called Aya normal, Braig." Which was...one of teh funniest things ever. Yes, laughing into his (not turquoise) shot now.

"Compared to me and Dilan, she is." Braig was serious, "She's above-average intelligence, but she's not even as smart as you are. She's well adjusted, she's beautiful, she's driven, but she doesn't have more than the average set of neurosis - primarily based on her feelings of inadequacy based on not being on the same mental level as myself and Dilan. She's amazing...but compared to the majority of my life, she's the normal one."

Every word drips with love. Not sickly, cloying, stalkery "love", but that bone-deep, blood-deep appreciation for the whole of a person as they really are.

Oh, good, if Braig had gone saccharine stalker man on him Pierce would have had to slam the man's head into the bar a few times. "Dude, she wouldn't know normal if it bit her. She'd not you guys, sure, but she's not normal even setting the 'gotta keep up' thing aside. That's part of what makes her hot. There's a whole lot of normal out there and Aya...isn't. I think your reality scale is skewed though. It's okay." Thoughtful silenece time. Then...

"...I might have the tools to fix that."

"...What?" Braig is drunk enough to have NO clue what Pierce is talking about, regarding tools.

He slapped his credit card down for the Moogle and said, "Run a tab, keep 'em coming. Me and blondie."

"Fixing a reality scale. Can't be too different from...hmmm..." Pierce, the guy who thought mad science and interesting applications of new tools was plausible when drunk.

And yes, he might already be sketching a circuit board layout with a drop of booze and a handy counter top. "...though I guess that might. Yeah. Anyway. So. You don't even want any pics or anything of them? I mean, they don't have much ego really, this has got to be helping their esteem a little."

"Pierce. I haven't had a hot shower since Aya hit puberty. I am not a god." He'd die if he had photographs. Or jack off until he passed out.

"....whoa." That was like...wearing a hair shirt, or self flagellation. Bathing in cold mountain streams for purity and shit, even if they came from a tap. "Right, no pictures. And that's totally why you wanted to take people's heads off right? How the hell do you handle then dating?"

"Yes. That is." His lips twisted into something sort-of like a smile, "It's easier with Dilan, because we date the same girls. It's not easy, though. I am so fucking jealous all the fucking time. It's like. Damn."

Pierce is watching you Braig, just so you know. With that 'I shouldn't be surprised or amused but I kinda am' look. "You hide the constant, seething hatred for competitors well most days. Maybe it hides behind the ego?" A lot could be eclipsed by the ego.

Hell, small countries could be hidden in the shadow of that ego.

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