Note: Well...here is a follow up to my first bit about Russell and Fletcher...because..um..you guys apparently liked it. I'm always amazed at what people actually enjoy reading...You can all thank one reviewer in particular because they were the straw that broke the camel's back. The camel being my mind. It just..snapped right in half. The moment I read the review my whole head went 'krrrr...krnap' and my mind broke. That must be what made me crazy enough to write this...and to plan on writing more. O.o
Russell drew the line at kissing.
He had been allowing Fletcher to hug him for about a month now. Publicly so for just under a week.
He kept waiting for something to notice, to say something, to grab him by the shoulders and shake him till he stopped being stupid.
But no one did.
Fletcher pulled his older brother around the market by the hand and nobody gave them a second glance.
Fletcher latched onto Russell's legs like a particularly adorable leech and just smiled up at him, right in the middle of the street, and still no one took much notice. Aside from the old granny who cooed and smiled at just how cute Fletcher could be. But Russell didn't blame them.
Perhaps, Russell thought, this was alright. Perhaps they really could just be brothers. Brothers who cared greatly about each other and openly admitted it. There was nothing wrong with caring about your family, after all.
And the people who had implied...things about them back in their old town were simply twisted. Twisted and deeply disturbed. Perverts.
And he had believed them. Stupid.
The people of Xenotime didn't seem bothered at all by the Tringham brother's behavior. They really were sweet boys, said the local chatterbox-women. Especially the cute little one, they said.
Things were going well. Just...well. Normalcy was a good thing. Health and affection and keeping busy were all good things. Life was just plain good.
But then Fletcher had to go and kiss him. Right in the middle of the market too.
It was just on the cheek, sure, but the woman selling candy had definitely noticed.
On the spur of the moment Russell had decided to buy his brother a chocolate bar. Why? Why not? Just because.
And Fletcher had been happy and surprised and for some reason he dragged Russell down a bit and jumped up a bit to give the taller boy a quick kiss on the cheek.
Except Russell froze in wide-eyed shock and Fletcher's lips seemed to linger just a little too long.
The shopkeeper stared at the scene, still holding Russell's money.
Everything snapped back out of slow-motion as Russell pushed his little brother away and gaped at him.
"Fletcher! D-don't do that!"
Then the shopkeeper was laughing and shaking her head, stashing Russell's money away in her register.
Russell whipped around to stare at her. She thought it was...funny?
"Typical older sibling..." she said, still chuckling, "My big brothers wouldn't even be seen with me when I was his age."
She indicated Fletcher then wandered off to restock a shelf of peppermints.
Russell found himself swallowing hard and not looking at Fletcher, sure that the smaller boy was looking terribly hurt by now. He couldn't stand to see him like that...looking so rejected and sad.
So he didn't look at him, only handed him his chocolate. Then they walked back to Belsio's in silence.
The walk home was slow, dripping darkness. Creeping frigid air, seeping down the back of his shirt and a heavy weight that settled just so atop his shoulders.
He imagined he could see what Fletcher was thinking.
The poor kid was probably wondering what he'd done wrong...
"Sorry." Russell choked out, unsure of where the word had come from so suddenly.
He realized a moment later that it hadn't come from anywhere suddenly. It had been eating him from the inside out since the moment he pushed Fletcher away.
What had he been thinking? Fletcher was young and he was too sensitive for his own good. Showing Russell affection was like opening himself up and offering his very heart for Russell's use.
And he had just stabbed it through with a hot spoon...
Fletcher only looked at him sideways, hiding by tipping his head forward so that the ear-flaps of his hat obscured his face from view.
"S'okay..." he murmured in his almost comically small voice.
The only time Fletcher ever got loud was when he was talking to Russell. When he would get excited because he had changed an array and made something work on an awesome scale or had done something as usual as made a new friend, the words would tumble out of his mouth in a fast and bubbly way, somehow forming an actual story out of gleeful squeaks and laughter.
Or when Russell did something so wrong that he needed to be scolded...
But thankfully that hadn't happened in a while.
Russell liked it when Fletcher was loud though. When he was happy...
"No really. I mean it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shoved you like that. It was wrong."
His hands balled into tight fists, squeezing the life out of themselves as blood-flow was lost to his fingers and they gradually became a ghostly white.
Fletcher turned around completely to look at his brother then, his face uncovered to show sad blue eyes and a tired looking frown.
In an instant the eyes lit up and a smile stretched to an unnecessary size.
"I believe you." Fletcher said with a laugh. He started opening the chocolate bar Russell had bought for him, glancing down as his fingers fumbled with folded paper.
"I just wish I understood what went on in your head sometimes, brother. All I did was...kiss you..."
Actually classifying the act and using words to describe it made it sound like something that was much less innocent. Fletcher blushed a faint pink and looked up at his brother, wide-eyed.
"You...you don't think people would think..."
Russell grimaced and nodded slowly. So Fletcher had finally caught on...
So much for the beauty of innocence.
"But...we're just brothers...how could anyone think anything like that?"
Fletcher seemed...angry? Could Fletcher actually be angry?
"I just do what little brothers do, right? It was just a kiss on the cheek. The lady at the shop was just laughing about it. She said it was normal. I'm allowed to love my big brother, right?"
Russell stared down at the little blond boy in shock. Fletcher sounded too...panicked.
"Well sure you are. It's just-"
Fletcher cut him off.
"No! It's just nothing! Brother you've been avoiding being around me for so long...why do you care what they think?"
Russell was speechless. Quite frankly he didn't have answers to the questions Fletcher was asking.
They should be allowed to care about each other, sure. And Fletcher should be allowed to kiss him on the cheek without anyone caring. And without Russell freaking out, too.
But...why did he freak out? Why did he even give a damn what anyone thought?
"I...I..."
Fletcher's eyes were brimming with tears and he was trembling.
"Do you just...not like me anymore...?"
Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap...
"No! I mean- YES! Eh...I still like you, Fletch! Of course I do!"
Russell dropped down onto his knees and threw his arms around his brother.
Well...no one else was on the road anyway...It was safe.
"I care about you more then anyone in the world. You know that."
Fletcher sniffled pathetically, letting Russell embrace him. He almost never received any sort of affection from his older brother. This would have been a rare treat if he didn't already feel so upset.
"I-I know..." he murmured, raising his arms to finally return the embrace, "I just...wish you wouldn't get so upset..."
Russell still wasn't sure what to say to that.
It wasn't that he didn't want Fletcher's hugs and...well alright...the kisses weren't so bad. They were cute and all, but he wasn't sure he wanted anyone seeing. That would lead to strange ideas and even stranger conclusions.
He decided on, "Just hugs...okay? Just hugs are okay. No kisses." Then he released Fletcher and stood up.
He just hoped that he didn't sound entirely cold and heartless.
Fletcher sort of smiled at that and nodded and they shared the chocolate bar on the way home but Russell was sure that neither of them really enjoyed it.
After Fletcher went off to play some game out in the garden with Elisa, Russell sat down in the kitchen to talk to Belsio.
"What do you think about the way Fletcher clings to me all the time?"
He asked the question almost immediately and Belsio seemed to have been caught off guard by it.
"He's...a very clingy sort of boy. I guess."
The question was dismissed with a shrug. But Russell would have none of it.
"Sure he is. But does it bother you at all that he's so affectionate with me? I figured people would stare..."
Belsio got up and set about making himself some coffee, looking for a moment as if he might just ignore the older Tringham.
"I really don't care one way or the other." he said finally, "As long as no one gets hurt, what the two of you do is really none of my business.
Russell stared at the man for a moment, puzzling out in his head.
His gaze hardened, "What are you implying...?"
His glare was met with a smirk, "Nothing at all."
Was something going on that Russell had just...completely missed? It was like everyone else knew something that he didn't and it was really starting to bother him.
oooOooo
That night Fletcher insisted on a goodnight kiss.
Russell refused.
"You're too old for a goodnight kiss." he said with a frown.
"No I'm not..." Fletcher said, a slight whine coming into his voice, "You're just being...that way again."
Russell's frown deepened and he left Fletcher in his bed to go over to his own on the opposite side of the room.
"I think you're old enough that you can go to bed without a goodnight kiss."
Had that sounded too condescending? He was almost sure it had...
"Just...go to sleep."
He closed his eyes and pretended that he was already on his way to sleep.
Fletcher wasn't fooled for a second.
There was a rustle of cloth and a few soft footfalls on the floor and when Russell opened his eyes Fletcher was standing next to his bed, leaning over him.
"Fletcher. Go to bed."
The smaller boy merely shook his head.
"Not till you tell me what's wrong with a kiss goodnight. I know you don't want anyone else to see it but there's no one here but us."
Russell closed his eyes again and tried to ignore his little brother.
Which was difficult because Fletcher kept nudging him in the arm.
"Come on...just tell me why and I promise I'll leave you alone and go to bed."
"Brothers shouldn't kiss each other!"
It was out of his mouth and out in the open much too quickly. Everything he'd been mulling over silently seemed to have flopped out of his head and onto the floor for Fletcher to openly stare at.
The smaller boy stood blinking for a moment.
"Why not...?"
Russell groaned.
Fletcher had to grow up at some point...right? Somehow Russell had always hoped he wouldn't.
"Look...just...boys really shouldn't kiss each other at all. Just boys and girls. And not if they're related."
"But..."
"Trust me. It's just wrong."
Another moment of silence. Hard, heavy silence that sank down and crushed him into his bed and made it harder to breath.
Just...say something...
He didn't have to try to break the silence though because there were lips pressing against his and that was a plausible excuse for not speaking. His eyes shot open and he just stared up at his little brother's face.
The kiss was...just a little too long to be a goodnight kiss. Too long and too much.
Fletcher moved away before Russell could gather the wits to push him again.
The younger boy clamped a hand over Russell's mouth, stopping another repeat of the same speech before it could leak out.
He leaned down to lock his gaze with Russell's and smiled just as innocently as ever.
"Things are only wrong when you think of them like they are."
Then he padded back across the room and snuggled down into his bed.
Russell ran his tongue over his lips.
He could swear that they were tingling...
And he was a horrible pervert.
And Fletcher's childish and completely insensible logic was just begging to be agreed with.
And goddamn Belsio was chuckling outside in the hallway again, the crazy old bastard.
I think this one might be even stranger then the first...
But it did give me a chance to receive a notice from fate (or god/the cosmos/whatever you wanna call it) I wrote the first page of this on an actual paper by hand. Which I never, ever do. Mostly because my handwriting is awful.
But just as I finished the page and went to put it away in my book the paper flew out of my hand, went straight into the air and nose-dived right between the floorboards of my deck.
My dear, sweet (obnoxious) little brother was kind enough to climb under the deck and get it for me, so he gets bonus points. But yeah...I don't think I'll ever write on looseleaf again.
Oh yeah- and I hope you all took some form of joy in reading this. And if you're hoping for something a little more Tringhamcesty, stick around. This thing might just take on a mind of its own and tie Russell and Fletcher up in someplace that is full of chocolate where all clothing mysteriously vanishes.
I mean...maybe they'll kiss again.
-cough-
Or maybe not. It all depends. And I am the goddess of the notoriously long after-note.
Nyah.