"Look, it'll be alright," Liam assured Heath who looked like he was about to have a stroke, "Romeo was fine with it."
"You told Smith?"
"No, he guessed," Liam admitted, "said it was obvious to everyone within a five mile radius..." The look on Heath's face was somewhere between disgust and outrage. "You sure know how to make a bloke feel special," Liam said coyly, resting his hand on Heath's chest and giving him his most adorable look.
"Yeah well, you know I don't like this mushy crap," Heath said warily.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Liam said playfully before kissing Heath's face. And that Heath let himself be kissed, proved he was all talk. "So how do you want to do this?" Liam asked. Brax and Casey were Heath's brothers after all.
"I dunno," Heath said, "I'd rather not think about it, let's just do it."
"Alright," Liam smirked, that was Heath to a tee. They headed over to the Braxton's place, Liam was surprisingly at ease, probably because Heath was freaking out enough for both of them. When they got to the front door Heath stopped, looking kind of lost.
"You don't have to knock," Liam said, "it's your house too." It was an attempt to calm Heath with humour but it just seemed to rile Heath up instead.
"I know that," Heath said with irritation. This was going to be difficult enough without Heath going in there angry, so Liam grasped Heath's arms and looked into his eyes, wanting Heath to know he was here for him.
"It's ok Heath," Liam told him gently, "it's just your brothers in there. Just Brax and Casey, the same people you've known all your life, the same people who love you. And you're still you, this won't change anything."
"You really think so?" Heath asked hopefully.
"I do," Liam said with certainty, moving his hands to cup Heath's face and pressing a quick kiss to his mouth. When he felt Heath relax a little, Liam pulled away.
"Ok," Heath said, appearing much calmer now. He took a deep breath and reached for the door handle, and his other hand reached back for Liam as he pushed the door open, so Liam took it, knowing in that moment that Heath was serious about this, about him, about them...and armed with that knowledge Liam could face anything.
They walked in to find Brax sitting at the table. He turned when he heard them and Heath saw his eyes flick down to where he held Liam's hand in his own. Heath had a moment of wanting to pull it away but then he felt Liam's fingers tighten around his and the thought dissolved.
"Is Casey here?" Heath asked, his voice sounding much calmer than he felt.
"Yeah," Brax said and then he stood and called to Casey. Soon enough Casey appeared in the room and then there was nothing left to wait for.
"There's something I wanna tell you two..." Heath began.
"Ya reckon!" Casey exclaimed before he thought, now that he'd decided his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. His brother, as in his brother Heath, as in his brother Heath who was excessively butch and who hated Liam Murphy with a passion, was standing in front of him, holding hands with that very same Liam Murphy. Maybe the apocalypse was upon them and for the moment that thought was a welcome distraction from his own worries. Heath threw Casey a reproachful look and continued. Or at least he meant to continue but suddenly every word he knew had flown out of his head. So Heath stood there silently looking at his brother's expectant faces.
"What Heath wants to say..." Liam intervened for him, and Heath felt him shift a little so he was pressed closer to Heath's side and Heath was grateful, "or rather, what we want to tell you is that our relationship has changed," Liam let a little smile curl his lips as he turned to look at Heath fondly. "You could say we don't hate each other quite as much as we used to..." It was perfect, Murphy had phrased it just right, he'd gotten the point across without making them sound like complete sissies.
"I'd say that's probably a slight understatement," Brax said, and for a moment his eyes met Liam's and Liam knew that this would be ok, that Brax had already accepted this. And with Brax's acceptance, Casey's would follow.
"Maybe a little..." Liam said to Brax, but what he really meant was 'thank-you for accepting this and try not to stir Heath up too much about it, he's a little touchy at the moment', he hoped Brax would understand that. "You'll be alright if I go home?" Liam turned to Heath and asked, not wanting to desert him, but thinking that he could probably do with some alone time with his brothers. Heath nodded. Liam leaned in and kissed Heath on the mouth, just to make sure they'd left no doubt that they meant what they'd said. Liam had intended it to be nothing more than a peck, but when his lips found Heath's...well things don't always go as planned.
"I'm going to bed, I hope I don't have nightmares," Liam heard Casey say and he pulled away.
"Thanks," Heath whispered as his lips parted from Liam's. Liam gave him a smirk and left, before this really did get out of hand.
Heath watched his brothers warily, now that Murphy was gone they'd say what they really thought. The room was silent, and when Heath could stand it no longer he turned to his little brother, Casey's reaction was the one that he dreaded least.
"Case?"
"I'm serious," Casey shrugged, "I really hope I don't have nightmares," and then he turned and went to bed. Shit, that seemed way too easy, but maybe not, because it did mean that now Heath was alone with Brax. Slowly, Heath turned his gaze on his big brother.
"It's about time."
"What?" Heath said.
"The suspense was killing me," Brax said almost managing to keep a straight face, but Heath could see the laughter in his eyes.
"You knew?" Heath said incredulously, all this worrying had been for nothing.
"Yeah," Brax said, letting himself smile, "you think I don't know when my little brother's in love?" Love? Whoa, Brax needed to back up a step or ten...
"In love?" Heath almost choked on the words. He could admit he liked fooling around with Murphy, but love was another thing entirely.
"Don't look so shocked," Brax grinned, "you'd have hardly felt the need to tell me and Casey about this if you weren't serious about him." Heath's mind was racing, he had no words for this. "So who tops?" Was Brax's next question. Had Heath heard that right? The look on Brax's face said he expected an answer, and he did look pretty amused. Heath may have panicked a little and he blurted out the truth.
"No one. We haven't actually done that yet." Brax's grin widened.
"Well I'll bet you're in for a treat then." It took a moment for the meaning of Brax's words to sink in.
"As if," Heath said defensively, "there's no way I'm taking it from that bitch." At that Brax lost it altogether, and there it was, Heath had known he'd get laughed at because of this.
"How long have you known?" Heath asked, so Brax would have to answer. At least if he was talking, he wouldn't be laughing.
"Since the night I came around here to stop you selling him anything and found you with a split lip and that dopey look on your face."
"It was a good punch," Heath admitted, his hand wandering to his mouth with the memory.
"Yeah that's the one," Brax chuckled, "he really has done a number on you hasn't he?" And this time when Brax smiled at Heath there was much less of the mocking in it.
"Huh?" Heath said, he'd only half been paying attention...
"Like I said," Brax grinned, "I'll bet you're in for a treat..."