Title: Take From Me
Author: Ponderosa (ponderosa@dragonworld.com)
Pairing: Marron+Carrot
Archived at: Destiny Interrupted (url in profile)
Warning: [PG-13] Yaoi. Brother complex (Incest)
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to their respective copyright owners, like Rei Omishi and Satoru Akahori. Plot, if you can call it that, belongs to me.
Notes: Had this sitting on my drive for months and finally decided to post. Thanks go to Lily for the beta job. ^_^
-=*=-
"Stop looking at me like that."
Marron averted his gaze, turning to look at the soft hues of the sky instead of his brother. "I'm sorry."
"It just..." Carrot said. He shifted his weight from one hip to the other, then propped his elbows on the stone rail in front of him and hunched down. "You know."
"Would things be different...if I were a girl?" Marron asked quietly. He didn't know how he managed to find the voice to ask. Perhaps it was because standing alone on a balcony with his brother, in the strange hours between night and day, felt beyond surreal.
"Then you'd be my little sister," Carrot said in his usual flippant tone. He yawned hugely and blinked in rapid succession. "Why won't the sun hurry up. I want to see it rise before I go to sleep."
"It won't be up for another two hours," Marron said.
"What?!"
"This is just false dawn," Marron said, gesturing at the glow that brightened the horizon. "It happens this time of year."
"I guess that explains why I thought that fight hadn't lasted long enough for the sun to actually be coming up," Carrot grumbled. He yawned again and rubbed his arms briskly. The cold was making the reddish marks from Tira's whip linger on his skin longer than they usually did. "Well, if I'm not going to catch the sunrise today, I'm heading to bed."
"Brother?"
The shorter boy stopped mid-pivot with one foot extended. "Yeah?"
"Is this what you used to do when we were kids?" Marron tucked his fingers beneath his elbows to keep them warm.
Carrot let his foot fall and scratched the back of his head. A little stain of embarrassment blossomed across his nose and he nodded. "I always figured you woke up when I snuck out. I haven't watched the sun come up in a long tiiii-" he broke off with another yawn.
Marron's thin lips curved in a gentle smile and he nodded once. The breeze picked up again, and the thin, violet sash tied about his waist fluttered and flared.
"Don't worry, I will. And remember, you agreed to the trade, so if Chocolate wakes up and tries to snea-" The shorter boy was halfway inside the broken and battered room that had been so recently liberated from its sorcerous owner, when he realized Marron's quiet footsteps weren't following behind him.
Carrot turned around and felt his heart twist in his chest at the sight of his brother standing out there alone. He seemed weary, moreso than what had been such a relatively easy battle should have left him, and for the first time in years, Carrot thought his brother looked fragile. Absurd though it was, he worried that the invisible fingers of the wind that plucked at Marron's hair and robes would somehow unravel the mage himself and scatter him to the corners of the continent.
He acted without thinking and grabbed the edge of a woven throw that graced the back of a embroidered chair. In a few, ground-eating steps he was back out on the chilly balcony and wrapping the blanket around his younger brother's shoulders. Marron stiffened at the gesture and drew away, and Carrot felt the ache in his chest intensify a thousandfold.
"If you're going to stay out here, I don't want you to freeze," Carrot said, the words sounding lame to his ears.
Marron relaxed and his long fingers pulled the thick blanket tighter around his shoulders. "Thank you."
The gratitude that lit his brother's eyes made Carrot smile, but it swiftly turned false; at one time Marron would've hugged him in thanks, or pressed a kiss against his cheek - one that he would make a face at and laughingly scrub away. Now it was a simple 'thank you', delivered in a tone one reserved for acquaintances. He started to wonder what had come between them over the years, but he already knew. The answer was staring at him, barely disguised in warm amber depths. It was a sad thing, he thought, when something as beautiful as love could force two people apart.
"Going to wait for the sun to come up?" Carrot asked.
"I think so, yes," Marron replied. His eyes widened as his older brother lurched forward a step and crushed him in a hug.
Carrot clutched the taller boy tightly in his arms. "Don't catch a cold, all right?" he said, his voice lowered in an attempt to sound gruff. The words came out sounding husky, and he instantly became aware of the rapid fire thumping in the chest his cheek was resting against.
Not entirely sure what possessed him to do it, Carrot stretched up and pressed his lips against his brother's cheek. He expected to meet skin chilled by the wind, but Marron's face was warm. He's blushing, Carrot realized, and the older boy nearly laughed as he settled back on his heels.
He stared up his younger brother's face as if he were looking at him for the first time. There were so many small things he'd never noticed before, and he wondered, when Marron's nose had gotten so straight, or his lashes so very thick. Carrot swallowed, trying to banish the strange swirling that had begun in his stomach and he took a couple wobbly steps backwards. "G'night, Marron," he said. His voice grew steadier with his footing and he smiled crookedly. "Get some sleep soon, all right?"
His heart still beating wildly in his chest, Marron assured him, "I will. Sleep sound."
Carrot nodded firmly and with an exaggerated shiver followed by a rush of nearly incoherent words, he headed inside once again.
Even if he hadn't meant it the way Marron wished, Carrot's mumbled statement sent a tingling flush through his body. With one hand emerging from the heavy wrap to touch his face and hold on to the memory of his brother's kiss, the longhaired boy kept his eyes fixed firmly on the promise of the beautiful day to come.
"I love you, too," he whispered.
Owari