Soothing Siblings, Undiluted by Diffidence

Author: ebb in and away

Rating: T (see warning)

Spoilers: Up until now(very few, but the ones that are there are somewhat large)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee.

Warning!: There are some situations in here that might possibly be triggers. If you might possibly have any, please DO NOT READ THIS. I don't want anybody to be hurt or upset. There are mentions of bullying. If you have issues with swearing, you might want to skip this story. If you have problems with two people of the same sex being in a relationship, you may want to skip this story.

Chapter 10

Nick and Jeff had led Beatrice back to their room right after supper, knowing that they needed to get their homework done to avoid any last minute panic on Sunday. Nick and Jeff each sat at their desks, Beatrice flopping onto the floor next to Nick's feet. The trio worked in silence, each person perfectly content to be with the others without constantly talking. They finished after three hours of steady work, each feeling exhausted by the vast amount of information they had learned.

Nick stood up and stretched, then offered his hand to Beatrice to help her up. She grasped it and let him pull her to her feet, stretching herself. Jeff had wandered over and flopped onto his bed, reaching his arms toward Beatrice. She let go of Nick and climbed onto Jeff's bed, sitting next to him and rubbing his back gently. He rolled onto his stomach, letting her reach all of his back, and simply relaxed as Beatrice's careful hands eased each knot from his muscles. Nick smiled at the common sight, even though it was something that Beatrice would not allow anybody to do to her. She didn't like people trying to rub her back and shoulders, not even him. He sat on his bed and slowly leaned back until he was laying down, waiting for Beatrice to finish with Jeff. Jeff's back tended to become sore more easily than Nick's, so he didn't mind that Beatrice helped Jeff first. Soon enough, he heard a small giggle from the other bed. He rolled onto his side so he could look over at his sister and his best friend, then burst into laughter.

Jeff was sprawled across the bed, his eyes shut and his face pressed into his pillow. He had apparently been more sore than usual, judging by how relaxed he was now compared to earlier in the evening. He opened one eye when Nick started laughing, then closed it again, clearly too relaxed to respond to him. Beatrice was still giggling as she made her way over to Nick, who rolled onto his back and stretched out one arm. Beatrice curled up next to him. The siblings were quiet for a moment, simply relaxing. Nick eventually spoke.

"You don't need to do my back, you know. You didn't have to do Jeff's either."

Beatrice smiled at him.

"I like doing that though. It's relaxing for me, even if I won't let anybody work on my back. Now, roll over."

Nick smiled and did as he was told. Beatrice knelt beside him and started working each of his muscles. Nick sighed as he felt his muscles relax under Beatrice's hands.

Apparently I've been more tense than I thought.

The more he thought about it, his tense muscles really shouldn't be all that much of a surprise. He had been working hard recently, trying to finish his homework and Warblers practice was more intense than usual, especially since Sebastian had been making them work hard to prepare for their next concert. The new dance moves were more difficult to do than the side-stepping he was used to, making him sore after each practice. Eventually, Nick gave up on thinking about why he was so tense and just left himself sag into the mattress, his sister's hands working each knot out of his muscles.

Beatrice finally tapped his shoulder and he rolled over, careful not to knock her off of the bed. She went to the bathroom, then came back and climbed past him to the other side of the bed. The siblings curled up under the covers, Beatrice using the same pillow as Nick. Nick registered this as unusual, but didn't ask what was wrong. He knew why she had chosen to sit with Sebastian.

She must know what's wrong and think that it will be difficult to fix. This should be an interesting way to finish the school year...

Nick pulled his sister closer and fell asleep, hoping that she could help Sebastian.