Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/10409028.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage, Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Metal_Gear
  Relationship:
      Liquid_Snake/Solid_Snake
  Character:
      Liquid_Snake, Solid_Snake, David_(Metal_Gear), Big_Boss_(Metal_Gear), Eli
      (Metal_Gear), Solidus_Snake, Venom_Snake_(Metal_Gear), Ocelot_(Metal
      Gear)
  Additional Tags:
      Twincest, Sibling_Rivalry, Snake_doesn't_know_how_to_dad, Eli's_a_meanie,
      adding_more_tags_as_I_go, David's_a_precious_baby, Canon_Divergence, Slow
      (ish)_Burn, awkward_teenagers, Sibling_Incest, Masturbation,
      Olfactophilia, Neglect, Voyeurism, Hurt/Comfort, Anorexia, Frottage
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-03-24 Updated: 2018-03-02 Chapters: 34/? Words: 77125
****** Serpentine ******
by IShottheSheriff
Summary
     Upon finding his third and final clone, David, Big Boss brings him to
     live under his roof.
     Spending most of his time away as the commander of Outer Heaven, he
     leaves the quarrelsome and lonely twins Solid and Liquid Snake to all
     but raise themselves.
***** Home *****
Chapter Notes
     Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Metal Gear series.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
David had never been on a plane before. Sure, he had travelled to and fro
between states to reach various foster homes, but the journey had always been
by car or coach or train. People’s opinions of aeroplanes were very black and
white – either they were the safest mode of transport, or they were unholy
metal death traps. Needless to say he was a bundle of nerves boarding.
He was on his own, with only a ticket and a backpack containing a change of
clothes and a comic. All his stuff was already boxed, but it was being moved
separately. To be honest, there wasn’t much; getting ricocheted from place to
place all his life meant he was used to having few belongings.
The stewardess at the gate gave him a painfully big smile as he handed her his
pass.
“Are you travelling alone?” her voice had long since perfected the trademark
sweetness and concern.
“Yeah.” David mumbled back. He half expected her to pinch his cheeks and tell
him what a brave boy he was. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened to
him. Thankfully she didn’t, maybe he had finally grown out of being patronised
now that he was 15.
“I hope you have a wonderful journey!” the stewardess beamed, handing the
boarding pass back. Overly happy people seriously annoyed him, but he had a
strange respect for those who had to use it in their job. There was no way he
could fake a smile for a second, let alone all day every day.
His ticket didn’t just get him on the plane before most of the other passengers
- it was first class too. He had a spacious seat next to a window. Luxury was
never something he could afford, and he decided immediately that it was
overrated. However, it was nice not to be boxed in like a sardine in a tin.
An old lady wearing a dress suit and a factory’s worth of perfume perched
herself in the seat beside him, pulling a lacy fan from her purse and waving it
daintily. He made a face of disgust that went unnoticed. The lady was so over
the top she was almost a parody. David had never really understood rich people.
After the minor panic of taking off, the flight quickly became boring. The
comic lasted less than an hour, and it took just as long to get tired of the
crossword book he had bought at the airport. Watching the clouds go by
entertained him for a few minutes before he felt he’d seen all there was to see
outside.
Now I know why aeroplanes are so dangerous – they bore you to death! With an
hour of the flight left to go, he fidgeted uncomfortably until he fell asleep.
“…man. Young man.” David surfaced from his slumber groggily, turning toward the
insistent voice. “Young man, the plane has landed.” the fancy old woman prodded
him with a rolled up magazine as though he were contagious. Satisfied that he
was no longer unconscious she rose from her seat to join the flow of first
class passengers filing out.
Shoving his books back into his hand luggage, David got up and shuffled with
the others toward the exit.
At baggage collection people were bustling to get their things and hurry to
their respective families and taxis and buses. He didn’t have any cases to wait
for, so he just weaved past them toward the bus bay. His father had given him
three tickets: one for the bus to the airport, one from New Jersey to
California and another from the airport to the town of Los Prados. On the
corner of the last ticket he had jotted down the exact address.
A lot of trust was being placed in David to cross the country alone. His father
had only known him for a few days, too. He had just come into his life out of
the blue and told him he was coming home. At the time David had been between
foster families, staying in a group home in Newark.
Obviously, he was more than a little surprised to discover he actually had
relatives in the big wide world. There was no denying that they were related
either, David looked so much like his father that he might as well have been
his clone. Of course, there were a few differences – the only other time David
had seen someone with an eyepatch was when he crossed the road to avoid walking
past a drunk guy dressed as a pirate. And even then, it was probably just for
the costume.
Bus 204 C, bay 12. Where…am I in the wrong place?...No, there it is. The bus
was already loading passengers, the driver lugging suitcases into the
compartments at the bottom.
“Um…excuse me?” he tried to get the driver’s attention. “Excuse me?”
“What is it, kid?” The portly man was panting from the effort of lifting the
bags.
“Uh, does this bus go to Los Prados?”
“Does it say that on the ticket?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Then that’s your answer. Get on, we’re leaving.” Rude. David left the man to
his bad mood. Inside it was hot and stuffy. When he sat down a cloud of dust
billowed from the seat, making him cough. So far on his journey he had
encountered snooty people, rude people and gross vehicles. What a great start.
The plane seat hadn’t been too bad, though.
He put his backpack on the seat next to him so that no one would sit there.
There were more than enough seats for everyone else. They chugged out of the
bus bay, waiting five whole minutes at a traffic light just to leave the
airport and get onto the road. A baby began crying somewhere behind him, and
everyone gave a collective sigh of annoyance.
Having had lived on the east coast his whole life, the first thing he imagined
when he heard the word ‘California’ were glamourous superstars, sunny beaches,
surfing and roller skates. From out the dirty window he could see none of the
above. There were trees, but they weren’t palm trees. It wasn’t cold, but it
wasn’t holiday hot either. Los Prados was in Tehama County in the north, so he
was nowhere near the stereotype of his imagination.
It took an hour and fifteen minutes to reach Los Prados. He was the only one
getting off at the stop there. As the bus rattled away a silence rose all
around him. It’s so quiet here… If he had been back in Newark his ears would be
bombarded by the traffic and the people; even in the less busy areas the hum of
commotion could be heard far away.
This isn’t so bad. It’s a bit like Vermont, but warmer. And less orange. David
wondered over to the information stand to see the town map. The ‘you are here’
dot was a sticker of a smiley face. He got out the ticket with the address on
it and looked for his road. There was only one with the same name, curling
round the outskirts of town and stopping by a lake. What?He checked again, and
came to the same conclusion – he wasn’t mistaken. No, that’s so far away! Damn,
I just want to sit down.
David took a pamphlet with the map on it and got to walking. After two wrong
turns he finally happened upon his road, taking a left. There aren’t many
houses along here. This has to be the right place, though. Ooh, there’s a
house!...It’s not the right number.
He passed by three more houses, getting anxious to reach his destination. A
home. A real one, not just a temporary one, with a real family in it. His
father had mentioned that he had a twin brother living there too. David had
been thinking about him a lot. Why had they been separated? Had his twin gone
to a home as well? What TV shows does he like? What music does he like? Is he
excited to meet him too?
In his daydreaming he almost walked right past the next house without reading
the number. Wait, this is it! Number 23! He stood looking at the mailbox for a
minute, gathering his courage. It’s alright. I can totally do it. Yeah!
Just…one foot in front of the other…
The place was rather impressive. It was two storeys, and was twice as wide as
it was tall. By the looks of the roof windows the loft had been converted.
Three storeys, then. It’s so big…is he rich? Hedidgive me a first class
ticket.A grass garden surrounded the house on all sides, and there was a
swinging bench on the veranda. Is this real? Please don’t wake up now!
David raised a shaking hand and knocked on the door. …Maybe I wasn’t loud
enough. As he made to knock again it opened, revealing a strikingly familiar
face.
“David.” His father smiled at him and stepped aside for him to enter.
“Hi.” He sounded much too timid for his liking.
“Did you find the place ok?” No, I almost got lost in the maze that is this
town.
“Yeah.” He stooped to untie his shoes.
“Don’t worry about that, Eli tracks in enough mud for a hundred people. Go on
then, you’re allowed in.” David had been standing awkwardly, waiting for
further instruction. He made himself start walking slowly, still unsure where
he wanted to go. “Listen, I’m sorry to do this to you kid, but I’ve gotta run.
I tried to take the day off for you, but something came up.”
David took another look at his father. He was dressed in DPM camo with a rifle
slung over his back. What the fuck? How the hell didn’t I notice that?! “I know
its terrible timing. I wish I didn’t have to. So, feel free to make yourself at
home. Eat anything you want.” As he was talking, he started reloading another
gun that David hadn’t seen. “Go anywhere you want in the house, nowhere is off
limits. ‘Cept for my room and the basement. Stay out of them.”
The magazine snapped into the handgun and he stowed it back in the holster at
his side. “Your room is on the top floor, next to Eli’s. If you ask him, I’m
sure he’ll give you a tour. Alright, I think that’s it. Bye, son – oh, and
welcome home.” His father gave him a pat on the head and turned to leave,
lifting another rifle bag over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.
Oh. Ok then. David had been expecting to see more of him, now that he was home.
Well, if he’s busy then it can’t be helped. Children get to stay at home all
the time. It must be completely normal for a normal family, right?Still, he
couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I suppose…I’ll go find my room, then.
The porch opened onto a wide hall with a room on each side and a staircase
along the wall. Top floor. My brother is here too, I should go say hi. The
landing on the second floor was almost a repeat of the first. At the end of the
spacious landing another staircase led to the loft, and even more rooms and
corridors branched off further into the house. Top floor.
Before he even reached the first step he could hear music blaring above. At the
top were two doors opposite one another, and a window facing the back garden.
He opened the one without the deafening music and got the first look at his
room. None of his stuff had arrived yet, so it was just a desk, chair, closet
and a bed.
Dumping his bag in, he crossed the small space between his room and his
brother’s. He was eager to meet him. The word ‘Liquid’ had been scratched onto
the door. Someone had sanded and painted over it, but it was still faintly
visible. Alright. Here goes nothing.
His knocking had to be repeated a few times to be heard over the racket. The
music clicked off and the door cracked open a second later.
“What?” Shit. So we’re identical twins, then. Eli’s incredibly unamused face
peered out from the gap. Unlike David he had long blonde hair. “Oh, it’s you.”
The brunette had expected him to have a different accent, but an English one
was quite the surprise.
“Hi. I’m Da-”
“- David, yeah, I know. What do you want?”
“Nothing, I was just…saying hi.”
“Hmph.” The door closed again, a fraction harder than necessary. Eli’s music
started up again.That was…kinda mean. Maybe he’s shy…I just need to be patient,
that’s all. I’ll be ok here. This isn’t so bad…
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry this first chapter was odd and really boring! It's just to set
     the scene before the story starts up :)
     Probably not important, but the town's made up
***** Blood and Batteries *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The music stopped at 3pm. David was channel surfing the big TV in the living
room after a cursory exploration of the house. By then the sound coming from
Eli’s room had become white noise, and he only remembered that it had been
playing when it was abruptly turned off.
He looped an arm over the back of the sofa, straining to hear what was going on
upstairs. Footsteps, thumping down loudly. David waited patiently for the
blonde to appear in the hall where it was connected to the living room by a
large archway.
Eli jumped the last four stairs, sticking the landing and flicking his hair
back as he stood. Could he be any more dramatic about it?
“Hi.” David called over to him. His twin scoffed at him and walked off toward
the porch.He’s wearing a backpack. Is he going out?“Hey, where are you goin’?”
“Piss off, Solid!” The front door slammed behind him.
“Oooookay then. Bye, I guess.” he sat back and picked up the remote again,
sticking a hand in the packet of crisps he’d found in the giant kitchen. This
isn’t so bad. I’ve got a good TV. The A-Team flicked on between teleshopping
networks, so he stopped to watch it.
                                                                                                  
~
At 5:46 Eli came back. As their father had said, he waltzed right in in dirty
trainers. Catching sight of his brother peacefully watching the telly, he
swerved away from taking the stairs and went to annoy him.
“Oi, get out. It’s my turn to watch TV.” David looked up at him blankly. “Get
out, it’s my turn!”
“Ok.” The brunette handed him the remote. He snatched it and used it to point
toward the stairs.
“Now fuck off.”
“I don’t mind watching something else.” Honestly, he wanted nothing more than
to get away from his obnoxious sibling, but he felt he needed to stand his
ground. He wasn’t a pushover, so he wouldn’t let Eli boss him around like a
princess.
“Are you deaf? Go. Away.”
“I’ll be quiet.”
“Fuck off!” Eli jabbed him in the ribs with the remote. Don’t cave. The jabbing
moved to his face, and he swatted it away just in time when he aimed for his
eye.
“Quit it!” He blocked another swipe. Eli growled and threw the remote across
the room, where it hit the wall and ejected its batteries.
“FINE then!” he pouted, storming away to his room. Jesus Christ! What the hell
is his problem? After hearing a door bang on the third floor, he got up to
retrieve the remote. What a baby. Is he like this with everyone? Or is it just
with me? That wouldn’t be fair, I didn’t even do anything!
A fixed remote and a few channels later the front door opened again behind him,
and his father emerged from the porch.
“Oh, there you are. You like your new room?” he stepped into the light, and
David saw blood seeping through the camo at his midsection. The word ‘SNAKE’
had been sewn onto his shoulder, under an emblem depicting a winged skull.
“Uh, yes, thank you. A-are you hurt?”
“Huh? No, this isn’t mine.” …What? The older man let the rifle bag fall to the
floor, pulling a matchbox and cigar from one of his pockets. “You met Eli yet?”
“Yeah, he…I don’t think he likes me very much.” ‘SNAKE’ laughed, striking a
match that highlighted more blood splattered across his face.
“He’s a little shit, isn’t he? Don’t let him get to ya. Tell me if he gives you
too much trouble, I’ll sort him out.” Going by the blood all over him, David
guessed he wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted to be sorted out by.
“Ok…What did you say your job was again?” His father gave him a smirk.
“Petting puppies. Hard work, I wouldn’t recommend it.” he tilted his head back
and blew out a plume of smoke. “I’m a mercenary. You know what that is?” David
nodded. “Good.” Snake sauntered off into the opposite room, dragging the rifle
bag behind him.
He’s covered in blood, that’s so creepy! He decided it was time to retire to
his room. Well…if you’re a mercenary, you’re bound to get some on you from time
to time, right? (Does that mean he killed someone today?) Maybe I should just
stop thinking about it. He’s given me a home and a family (even if my brother
is a bit of a dick), so I should think about that, instead…It’s really none of
my business, anyway.
His door was open when he reached the loft. David was sure he remembered
closing it.
“What are you doing in here?” Eli was standing at his closet, rifling through
the few items of clothing he had hung up there. He whipped around, looking for
a second like he was actually guilty for being caught red-handed. It didn’t
last long, and he corrected himself quickly.
“I-it’s rude to sneak around like that!”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m just – having a look. At your stuff.” Why is he being so jumpy?
“Ok…” David was sure his twin would pitch a fit if he decided to rummage
through his room. He couldn’t be bothered to argue with him again right then.
Perhaps if he was careful, then he could have a proper conversation with him.
It was still his first day, and he’d gone the whole minute without being sworn
at.
“You don’t have a lot of it. Stuff, I mean.”
“No, it’s being brought here separately.” The search couldn’t have lasted long.
David noticed the comic tossed on his bed, and saw an opening for conversation.
“So, do you like -”
“- I have to go.” Eli shot out of the room, breezing right into his own.
“…Comics?” Jeez, he’s weird. At least he didn’t bite my head of, though.
                                       ~
Eli had been dreading the day his twin moved in. Snake warned him that he’d get
a beating if he was a ‘moody lil’ shit’ towards him, but that certainly wasn’t
going to stop him. For all he knew, Snake could have been joking – he called
him names all the time as terms of endearment. He knew Snake was dead serious,
but he was prepared to use it as his defence.
When David had knocked on his door he felt it was the beginning of the end. Or
the beginning of the bullshit, anyway. Slamming the door in his face hadn’t
been nearly satisfying enough. So, that was Solid Snake. He doesn’t look so
tough to me. I could definitely kick his ass, recessive genes or no!
His plan to intimidate him had gone awry when David refused to budge from the
settee. Hitting him with the remote didn’t work either. Eli couldn’t just beat
him up, he had to have a reason. Getting Solid to hit him for being annoying
gave him the chance to plead self-defence, but the brunette just wouldn’t get
angry! In the end he’d been angry enough for the two of them, and stomped off
in a rage.
Once in his room, the rage didn’t let up.Stupid idiot! He’s doing this to me on
purpose!He kicked the post of his bed and flopped down onto it. It’s
notfair!Why did Dad let him come here? It’s not fair!
His temper was slowly coming down the longer he stayed there. I don’t like it.
I don’t want him here! Eli got up again suddenly with a tempting idea. I could
look through his things while he’s downstairs…Maybe he has something
interesting that I can ‘borrow’.
As quietly as he could, he opened his door a peeped his head past it. The TV
volume was too low to be heard from the loft, but he hadn’t noticed any
footsteps coming back up.
Solid’s room was as bare as it had always been, with the exception of the
backpack on the chair. Ooh, what do we have here? He tiptoed over to it,
dragging back the zips. Books? Eli pulled the comic and crossword puzzles out
giving each of them a speedy flip-through and tossing them on the bed. Just
books? He must have unpacked.
The closet was his next target. There was hardly anything in there either, just
a shirt, jacket, jeans and some underwear chucked onto the shelf. Ugh. I hope
for his sake that he never goes out in public wearing these. He tugged the t-
shirt from the hanger, lifting it for a better look. ‘New Jersey Devils’? How
original, a sport-loving Yank. Is this all he has? That’s depressing…
Eli checked the room behind him nervously. Still watching TV… He turned back to
the closet, his stomach fluttering. Tentatively, he brought the shirt up to his
face and gave it a sniff. Well…at least he doesn’t stink. His curiosity
satiated, he cast the shirt aside and moved to the next item. David’s underwear
was hanging off the shelf slightly, almost begging to be picked up.
The blonde took a pair of boxers down, holding them like he had done the shirt
for inspection. They were a plain navy blue, and looked rather new. Nothing
special. Eli looked over his shoulder again, feeling the butterflies getting
stronger. He pressed the boxers against his face gently, inhaling with a
shiver.He doesn’t smell that bad. It’s mostly just washing powder…What would it
smell like if he’d worn them?
A crow cawed from the windowsill, clacking its feet on the tiles of the slanted
roof. Eli squeaked in surprise, glaring at the bird through the window. It
seemed to sense his stare and took off.
“Give me a bloody heart attack…” he whispered. For a moment his heart was
beating so fast he could hear it in his ears. Stupid thing. The underwear
regained his focus once he got over the fright. He hesitated, going to the door
to check down the stairs. Still nothing. Taking his place back by the closet,
he pushed the boxers harder against him and gave a long sigh as he exhaled. The
smell was starting to grow on him. Maybe David’s underwear would inexplicably
go missing after this.
Keeping the garments in place with one hand, he slipped another down the front
of his ripped jeans.
“What are you doing in here?” FUCK! David was in the doorway, watching him
suspiciously. Luckily he was able to get the hand out of his trousers quickly.
The boxers were hidden behind his back.
“I-it’s rude to sneak around like that!”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m just – having a look. At your stuff.” How long was he standing there?!
“Ok…” Shit, shit, throw him off!
“You don’t have a lot of it. Stuff, I mean.”
“No, it’s being brought here separately.” His twin’s gaze swept over his
invaded privacy, catching on the discarded books. Eli used the distraction to
drop the underwear and kick them to the back of the closet with the shirt. “So,
do you like -”
“- I have to go.” He darted out, cutting David off. Safely back in his own
room, he leaned against the door as though it would protect him
somehow.Fuck…that was much too close! How would he have explained that?I didn’t
even hear him come up the stairs! God, I’m sweating so bad…
The last time he had been caught touching himself, his older brother George had
still been living at home. He’d moved out earlier that year at 21. Eli had
developed a nasty penchant for creeping into his room and masturbating to his
dirty clothes and bedsheets while he was out. His favourite thing to do was
roll himself in his quilt like a pastry. It got really hot under the thick
layers, but it was worth it.
George had come back from the shop after forgetting their father’s wallet, and
walked in on Eli jerking off over his pillow. The younger brother had gotten
off lightly with a smack and a warning that their father would find out if he
didn’t do exactly what George wanted; which was for him to wait on him like a
maid for the duration of his time at home. Solidus didn’t need to get up for a
drink after that.
When he left, the sneaking around had stopped for Eli. He wouldn’t dream of
doing the same with his father, so he went back to regular boring masturbation.
Plus it wouldn't be the same, even if he couldn't quite put his finger on what
made his brother's things so exciting.
I need to be more careful…That was really stupid of me! I didn’t even close the
door! No more – it won’t happen again. I have to stop doing it...
Chapter End Notes
     Little Liquid with a kink for sibling incest
     >:3
***** Cuts and Scrapes *****
The sun woke David up at 7:03am, perfectly aligned with his eyes through the
window in the slanted ceiling. He’d forgotten to pull the blind down. Without
any way to tell the time he decided to get dressed and head downstairs.
He hadn’t cleaned up after Eli the previous evening, so his clothes would have
to be worn crumpled from spending a night on the floor of his closet. At least
a few things had stayed on the hangers, it was only a shirt and a pair of
boxers left in a heap. Why was he looking at my underwear? He’s weird.
At the landing of the second floor he turned into the bathroom he and his twin
shared. It would be nice to feel clean after all the travelling.
He almost bumped into Snake leaving the bathroom after a shower; his eyes were
covered by the towel he was rubbing on his head.
“Careful.” David jumped at the voice, which made his father laugh. “You sleep
ok?” Snake was fitted out in fatigues again, this time without the blood.
“Yes.”
“Alright. I’m going to work now, make sure you eat breakfast.” He patted his
son’s wet head again and disappeared down the stairs.
“Ok.” Where does a mercenary get work in such a peaceful place, anyway?
Tossing the towel in his room’s hamper, he tiptoed down to the kitchen. Since
Eli was probably still sleeping, he thought it a good idea not to wake him. The
blonde didn’t strike him as a morning person.
Safely out of earshot, David poured himself some cereal in an oversized bowl.
He hadn’t eaten much on the journey yesterday and Snake hadn’t made either of
them dinner, so he was understandably ravenous. Balancing the slightly
overflowing bowl with the concentration of a monk, he made his way to the
sitting room (and, more importantly, the television).
“Got enough cereal, there?”
“Jesus, don’t do that!” Eli grinned at his successful scare, slipping away in
his pyjama bottoms to fix his own breakfast. “I, uh, missed dinner last night.”
David called to him, still determined to make decent conversation.
“You didn’t miss anything.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you get the memo? We make our own food here. Don’t wait for him to do
it or you’ll starve.” We make dinner? That’s…
“How come?”
“Ugh, do you ever stop talking? It’s like living with a radio! And stuck on a
fucking boring channel, at that!” How polite. David put his efforts on hold.
Surely it would be easier after the morning.
                                       ~
At 9:00 Eli re-emerged from his room, clattering down to the front door.
“You going out again?” David spotted the backpack from his seat in the living
room. He got a middle finger in response, and the blonde vacated the house.
Being a curious boy, David got up to follow him.
Eli was already quite far down the road by the time he laced up his shoes. He’d
taken a left at the mailbox. That’s strange. If he remembered rightly, the rest
of town was in the opposite direction. Maybe he’s going to the lake. I suppose
I can swim in my clothes.
He hadn’t been swimming in a while. The cold water would be a relief, he was
uncomfortably hot in the t-shirt and jeans. Eli had the right idea – he was
wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top.
The fairer twin cast a glance over his shoulder, stopping dead when he saw his
brother a few metres behind him.
“What do you think you’re doing? Go home!” David stopped too, not saying a
word. Eli continued his onward march, picking up the pace. A few strides on he
spared another peek back. The brunette had caught up even more. “Quit following
me!”
“C’mon, I’m bored!”
“Oh, boohoo! Go find something else to do.” He went even faster, checking a
third time when he felt he’d made some distance. David was still tagging along.
“Wha- do you want a fucking smack, mate? Stop following me!”
“I’m not, I’m just taking a walk.”
“A walk? Do us a favour and take a flying leap!” Eli turned around crossing his
arms defiantly. The brunette could tell he wouldn’t move until he got his way,
so he made a compromise and kept going until he went right passed his road-
block brother.
A very confused Eli watched him go, down the path he had just been taking.
Do…do I win, then?Reluctantly, he carried on with his trek, making sure to go
slowly so as not to catch up. Where does he even think he’s going? He’ll
probably just turn back at the end of the road.
The end of the road was still quite far though, especially with the leisurely
speed David was adopting. The dark haired snake twisted suddenly, faking
surprise at the other.
“Are you following me?” he asked, failing to keep the smirk off his face. Eli
blanched, hardly believing what his twin had said. Then he began jogging,
sprinting toward him, intent on getting close enough to harm him in some way –
he hadn’t made his mind up exactly how, but he was sure he’d think of
something.
David took off running too, laughing at the danger he was completely oblivious
to. The backpack was impeding the blonde’s progress, placing him at a
disadvantage over the unencumbered snake. You better run, you asshole! Why
aren’t I getting any closer?
Focussed solely on grabbing his target, he didn’t notice his tucked in laces
fall out of place. “Oof!”
David heard the thwack and stopped to look back. Eli was sitting up from his
fall, inspecting the damage on the heels of his hands. His knees were cut too,
and he had a graze on his cheek where he had scraped it on the concrete. “Ow…”
“A-are you ok?” David went to him, not sure what he should do. “Does it hurt?”
As he went to kneel down for a better look, Eli came back to life.
“Don’t touch me! Go away!”
“But you –”
“- This is your fault! I’m telling Dad you pushed me over!”
“I didn’t push you, you fell!” Eli rubbed some blood and grit from his palms
angrily. “You’re gonna get it dirty – let me see.” he gripped one of the hands,
holding it up flat for a better look. It was snatched away immediately.
“Don’t fucking touch me!”
“You’re getting it dirty.”
“Hmph! It’s just a little scratch, I hardly think it’ll have to be amputated!”
In a display of how little pain he was in, he jumped to his feet and gave his
twin a shove before heading back to the house.
Eli felt like he had never been more embarrassed in his life. His short-lived
chase had ended in the most humiliating way possible, leaving him to shuffle
home in full view of his infuriating sibling. Although he was pretending
otherwise, the cuts did hurt.
The stinging wasn’t enough to make him cry – he’d had much, much worse before –
but, coupled with his mortification, he had been worried he might cry in front
of his brother. That would just be the icing on the cake, wouldn’t it?
He didn’t bother seeing if David was walking back with him. Shutting himself in
his room would get rid of him, anyway. Stupid Solid.
                                       ~
Snake didn’t return home that night. David microwaved a ready meal for his
dinner, cleaning both his and his twin’s dishes after. It wouldn’t be fair to
let him scrub with cuts on his hands, he told himself.
He felt his spirits lift when the door opened, expecting his father to come
sauntering in. Instead a complete stranger crossed the threshold carrying two
large boxes. Who is that? At first he was a bit scared; the intruder could be a
thief! A thief bringing thingsinto the house?
“Um…who…?” His meek voice failed to gain the stranger’s attention. “…Excuse
me?” The unfamiliar man seemed surprised when he noticed him, letting the boxes
down and standing up straight.
“Oh! Uh – you’re the Boss’ kid, right?” Am I?
“Um…”
“Yeah, you look just like him! This is your stuff, I think. He asked me to
bring it here. It was left in Heaven’s depo – wait a sec, there’s another box
yet.” He left, returning a second later with the goods. “That should be it.
Bye, Little Boss.”
And then he was gone. David stood in silence, processing what had happened.
Before checking the boxes he went to the front door and locked it. Should I
tell my father that some random guy came in? Without even knocking? Do
strangers come in like that all the time? All of a sudden his home felt much
less safe.
Who on earth was that guy? ‘The Boss’ – maybe he works for him…Hewaswearing the
skull and uniform. But even so, he let himself in!Just then Eli came slinking
into view, already in his pyjamas despite it still being light outside.
“Someone came in with these boxes.”
“And?” Obviously he was still nursing his wounded pride.
“Well, what if he was a murderer or something?”
“Don’t wet your little knickers, it was one of Dad’s men. We don’t worry about
them.” The blonde ran himself a glass of water and started back to his room.
His slight reassurance gave David some confidence.Perhaps he’s over the fall,
now.
“He called him the boss. So…does he own a company or something?” He was
ignored. “Is he important?” Eli halted to give him a look of incredulity.
“Are you for real? ‘Is he important’?!” David shrugged. “Jesus Christ, really?
You know, I’ll wait for you to figure it out yourself. That may take a few
millennia, though.”
“Figure what out?”
“You’re a bit strange, aren’t you?” he addressed him from halfway up the
stairs, resting the hand that wasn’t busy holding the glass on his hip. That’s
rich, coming from you.
“At least I don’t play with people’s underwear.” Eli’s face went white and then
bright pink.
“WHAT! I-I wasn’t playing with them, I was just looking!”
“So you admit you picked them up, then?”
“No, I…Fuck off, Solid!” Liquid stomped away, sloshing some water on the floor.
“Hehehe.” Full of pride in his achievement, he busied himself with the mystery
boxes that had been left in the hall. The tape was sliced with a kitchen knife
for him to get inside. It’s the rest of my things! Finally, I need more clean
clothes!
Ten minutes later and he was regretting not asking the stranger – his father’s
employee, apparently – for help carrying it all to his room. He seriously
doubted his twin would be of any assistance in the matter. His back and
shoulders were aching by the time the first load was hauled up.
Eventually he got everything in place, and unpacked his belongings. The closet
was filled with clothes, the desk was laden with books and the bed was filled
with a tired snake. His most prized possession, his skateboard, went at the end
of his bed. There. Now it’s really a proper bedroom. He was finally beginning
to feel settled in California.
                                       ~
Unbeknownst to the brunette, Eli had made a quick trip to his bedroom after
fetching the glass of water. He had rooted through his hamper hurriedly, acting
on an idea he just couldn’t banish from his mind.
Lounging around and daydreaming got him thinking about the close call he had
had in David’s room, which got him thinking about touching himself with his
clothes, which gave him a hard-on that refused to be satisfied until he had his
brother’s worn shirt in his hand. If I leave the towel on top, he won’t know
it’s missing…Hopefully.
A record case was pushed up to his door, just in case David decided to come
bursting in. Unlikely, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.
Getting comfy on his bed, Eli balled the shirt up and brought it to his nose.
Mmh, it smells much better than when it was clean.His pj bottoms came off his
hips, letting his erection loose. The hand cream was ready on his nightstand,
and he slicked it over his shaft with practiced movements.
The smell is so strong…He must have slept in it. I wonder if he jerked off last
night, wearing this. Eli let out a blissful sigh, picturing David sweating and
touching himself in bed. You shouldn’t do that. You’ll get your clothes all
dirty.He rubbed the fabric against his face, hoping the scent would stick to
his hair and transfer to his pillow.
“So dirty…” Under his whisper he became aware that he could hear his brother,
struggling with a box up the stairs. Each time he cleared a step he panted,
groaning when he lifted the box to the next step. It sounds a bit like he’s
about to come…
Eli moved the t-shirt between his legs, covering his cock with it and using
both hands to rub it through the material. It felt rough on his sensitive skin,
but he didn’t mind. He conjured the image of David masturbating again, using
his unwitting sound effects to make it more exhilarating.
Yeah…God, those noises! It’s almost like I’m really watching him! The scrapes
on his palms started to burn, moving fast over the shirt. Ahh, brother – are
you letting me watch? It’s exciting, isn’t it! Don’t you think so too? David
got to the top of the stairs, resolving to push the cargo the rest of the way.
I can hear you, my brother. You’re so close! “Mmmnhh!” He bit his lip and came,
trying his hardest not to make a sound with David right outside. Oh fuck, yes!
Fuck! His toes curled into the soft duvet, dragging it as he parted his legs
with the intensity of the orgasm.
The five seconds of pure ecstasy over, he let his tense body relax. His semen
left a dark puddle on the t-shirt, and he smiled at it contently.
***** Let's all go to the Park *****
David spent most of the morning skateboarding up and down the road, waiting for
Eli to emerge from the house. He was interested to see where his brother went
every day; it had to be more entertaining than sitting inside. Come on
already…hurry up, where are you?
Now that his things had arrived, he had more variety in his wardrobe. He’d pre-
emptively put on some swimming trunks under his shorts, just in case his
suspicions that Eli was going to the lake were correct.
Turning back at the end of the road, he spotted his twin leaving the house and
walking along the path. Eli saw him at once, and his scowl deepened.
“Morning!” David called as he rolled past, looping back to skate alongside him.
“You better not get on my fucking nerves today, Solid. Stay out of my way.”
“Of course.” As the blonde turned off the pavement to walk over a field, David
got off his board to do the same. “Where we going?”
“We’re not going anywhere. Fuck off.” The friendly, kill-them-with-kindness
approach was looking less and less likely to be successful. Maybe if I stay
quiet he won’t chase me away.They trudged through the daisy-riddled grass,
spooking grasshoppers that leaped quickly from their feet. There was so much
open space, natural open space, and David loved it. “Please go back.”
The brunette was torn from his placid sightseeing by his brother’s
uncharacteristically quiet voice.
“Hm?”
“Go back. To the house. Just…go do something else.” He didn’t sound pissed off
for once, only fed up. Upon closer inspection, David saw that his body language
had changed too. His shoulders were hunched under the straps of his pack, and
he studied the ground as he went along. Is he ok?
Before he could ask the question out loud Eli spoke again, this time in a hiss.
“Shit.” David followed his gaze to a playpark nestled in the field ahead,
acting as a landmark for a path through the woods at its side. There were
already some children chattering amongst the swings and rusty slide.
He was going to the park? “Don’t say a word, ok? And don’t fucking look at
them, whatever you do.” Eli changed direction, aiming to curve away from the
park and get to the wooded path. David followed the orders, made compliant by
the serious tone. However, he was still curious to see what the problem was as
they neared the park fence.
It turned out that the children weren’t children at all – they were grown lads,
each no younger than 18. One that had been picking the flaky paint off a seesaw
with a penknife noticed David looking over, and gave an amused cry.
“Hey, it’s the little girl!” The others fixed their eyes on the twins, grinning
wide.
“Look, she’s brought her sister along with her!”
“Isn’t that sweet?”
“Hey! Hey cutie, why don’t you come and play with us?” The blue-eyed brother
mimicked his sibling, keeping his head down and staying silent. “Aww, c’mon!
Come over here and show us your pussies!” They burst out laughing, nudging each
other and fiddling with their thin cigarettes. Luckily the snakes dipped past
the trees moments after the last comment.
Oh my God!Of course there were equally hostile and abusive people in the city,
but it didn’t make it any less distressing coming across them.
“…I don’t think we should walk back that way.” David mumbled once they were
well into the woods. He kept checking behind him to see if they were being
tailed.
“This is the only way in and out.”
“We should make a new one, then.” Wading through a few stinging nettles had to
be worth avoiding such unsavoury people. “Does that happen a lot?”
“Eh. Most days they’re not there, but sometimes…”
“They’re real fuckin' rude, aren't they?”
“No shit.” Eli snorted.
“Why are we doing this again? We’re all alone if they decide to follow us…I
think they had a knife!”
“They won’t; they chased me once for answering back, but that’s all. And I did
tell you to go home.”
“How long have they been saying…those things to you?”
“Look, can we just drop it? I don’t want to talk about it!” David sealed his
mouth again. He didn’t fancy going back on his own.
All around them life seemed to pour from every available space, encroaching on
the beaten track and tying a canopy over their heads. What a lovely place.
Forests were high on the list of his preferred places, right under snow.
Snowball fights were always a favourite of his, because they didn’t require a
lot of anything but throwing and ducking.
“How long have you lived here?” He still didn’t know what his sibling’s life
had been like before they met. There hadn’t been a chance to ask all the
questions he had wanted to, no good chance.
“…Three years.” Finally, a proper answer!
“Where were you before that?”
“Does it matter?” Tread carefully.
“Not really. You have an accent, though, so I was just wondering -”
“- Is this a fucking interrogation now?” Ughhhh...
The absence of their common enemy had extinguished the sense of kinship very
quickly. Even then, David couldn’t be sure Eli had felt it too. I still don’t
really know a thing about him…Brothers are always so friendly on TV! I suppose
I could let him know about me first – that might make it easier.
“You can interrogate me, if you want. I mean, ask me questions.”
“Ok: do you ever shut up?” Well, I walked right into that one. Now he really
wanted Eli to start answering him; something must have happened to make him so
grumpy all the time.
“Alright…we can make a game out of it.”
“Out of what?”
“I’ll say something about me, and you say something about you. Kinda like truth
or dare.”
“Why in God’s name would I agree to something so dull?” David sighed, finally
giving up on the matter for the moment. There was no point in subjecting
himself to the insults on purpose. He was only putting up with it in the hopes
that his patience would earn him the close sibling relationship he had always
desired. If it didn’t work he’d be stuck living with an antagonistic twin, and
he would much rather be stuck with an amiable one.
Without any warning, Eli took a sharp turn at a tree with a wiggle cut into the
dry bark. Concentrating more on his surroundings, David had almost bumped into
the trunk. I bet that would make his day. Having his eyes closer to the tree,
he noticed that the wiggle had a face and a forked tongue. It’s a snake! Did
Eli do that? Wait, where’d he go?
“Eli?”
“What now?” A gold head poked up from the ground, grimacing at him through the
flora. He had skidded down a bank by a small brook, which the brunette would
have fallen down in his lack of attention. Giving his previously clean shoes an
apology, he used them to slide on the dusty sill.
In the few seconds it took him to reach the sandy shore of the stream, Eli had
settled himself into a little alcove dug into the side of the bank. Rustling
around in his pack, he pulled out a notebook and a pencil. “Go find something
to do, then.”
“Huh? Aren’t you…gonna go to the lake?”
“It’s that way if you want to go.” he jabbed the pencil in the direction the
stream was running.
“What are you doing?” He came all this way to write?
“…Homework.”
“Why didn’t you just do it at home? Then you wouldn’t have to -”
“- Stop fucking nattering on, would you? I’m here just because, so shut up and
piss off.” The nasty attitude was having a snowballing effect on David’s
capacity to endure the abuse. If any other kid had been treating him like that
he would have already beat them down. Don’t let it get to you.
Being rudely dismissed, the dark haired clone felt at a loss for what to do.
Going swimming didn’t sound as fun on his own, and he didn’t really trust the
other to wait for him so they could walk home together. Feeling stranded with
his twin, he sat against the bank to wait out his sentence. Eli didn’t look too
impressed that he had taken up root in his peripheries, but he didn’t object
verbally.
Homework. Who the hell goes into the woods to do homework? God, he’s backward.
David wasn’t even sure it was a lie – what else would absolutely require that
trip in order to be written down? He suspected it was a diary and Eli was
embarrassed about keeping it, but he could just as easily hide it in his room.
What would he even write about?
                                       ~
Liquid Snake took hours to complete whatever it was he was doing in his
notebook. During that time his twin amused himself by paddling barefoot in the
stream and climbing each of the trees in the surrounding area. It was nice to
finally get outdoors, but he thought he would have had more fun in front of the
TV.
The blonde announced their departure by throwing a pebble at him, and together
they journeyed back through the darkness of the wood. Sunset was closing in,
showing the first hints of dusk in the long shadows. David was pleased when
they came back to the field; it was a lot less welcoming among the trees at
that time of day.
“Well, well, well! If it isn’t the sweet lil’ duo we spoke to earlier!” The
group of adolescents were still occupying the playsets. As they had before, the
brothers lowered their heads and kept on walking.
“Don’t be shy! We just wanna talk to ya!” Stubbing out his cigarette on the
roundabout, one of the older boys got up and vaulted the park fence, placing
himself in the snake’s way. His friends all followed suit. “Hey. I’m talking to
you, why don’t you show a little respect?”
Eli gave him a look of indifference, sidestepping causally around him. David
stuck close to him, eyeing the circle that had formed around them. They were
outnumbered, two to five. “UH – where do you think you’re going?” an arm herded
the twins back to the centre of the prowling young men. “I’m talking. I expect
you to answer.”
“We’re going home.” David said, missing the eye roll Eli gave beside him.
“Home? Home, ok.”
“It’s a shame, we were hoping you could hang with us for a while.” The speaker
reached out to touch the blonde’s hair, and was instantly swatted away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“OOOOH!”
“Ooh, you’re a feisty one, aren’tcha?”
“Fuck off, our Dad is waiting for us – he’ll probably be here any second now
that we’re late.” Eli recited a practiced warning, hoping they didn’t spot the
lie. He wasn’t so fortunate.
“Is he, now?”
“Yeah, so you better fucking leave us alone!”
“You have a dirty mouth, little whore.”
“Maybe I’ve been spending too much time with your mother, then.” David had
never heard such an English way of using the insult, but it had the same
effect. Eli received a swift punch to the face, reopening some of the small
cuts his fall had given him. He managed to stay on his feet, using the momentum
to swing round and drive his fist into another one of the unsuspecting lads.
His retaliation sparked something in the young men, and they all dove to tackle
the twins to the ground. Neither of them went down, so they were suspended and
left to kick out blindly to protect themselves. David felt his feet connect
with a yielding nose, planting his shoe down hard on the same spot twice more.
“AHHH! You CUNT!” The now flat-faced attacker grabbed his leg, twisting him so
hard that the other lad holding onto him lost his grip and let him drop to the
ground. They knelt on his back and calves, pinning him under their weight.
Eli landed a kick on the back of one of their heads, his other three limbs
being restrained by the other three assailants. His sharp eye espied the
penknife glinting in the fading light. Using the panicked strength given to him
by a rush of adrenaline, he wrested an arm free and launched himself toward the
knife.
He had something the young man wielding it (or any of them, for that matter)
didn’t have – experience. Taking the tiny weapon from him was almost too easy,
as was darting it up to sink above his collarbone. In a quick movement he
sliced it upward diagonally, leaving a deep two inch gash that expelled blood
at an alarming rate.
Still focussed on wrestling the brothers, none of the adolescents noticed
anything was amiss until the one kneeling on David’s back got a mouthful of
blood. At first he only made a startled groan, which evolved into a hysterical
yelling that finally got everyone’s attention.
The twins were discarded in favour of watching the injured boy choke and
convulse.
“H-elp.” he gargled, his breath bubbling from the unnatural hole in his
windpipe. “H-he-ughgguhh.” Giving a crackling wheeze, he crumpled onto the
crimson grass and let the hands that had been clawing at the slippery wound go
limp.
“…Fuck! DO something! Guys, do something!” Despite accidentally swallowing some
of his friend’s blood, the young man quickly found his voice. “Fucking do
something!”
“Is he-?”
“He’s dead! He’s fucking dead, you killed him!” All eyes turned to Eli, who
brandished the knife unashamedly. “- Murderer! You – he’s dead!”
“Yeah, I fucking did it; and you’re gonna be next cunt, unless you crawl back
into whatever hole you were shat out of.” The penknife sliced inches from the
lad’s face, prompting him to roll away and scurry off. His friends lingered
only a few seconds longer themselves, recovering from a fit of vomiting or
trying to hold one back.
Eli sheathed and pocketed the blade, helping a very subdued David to his feet.
***** Butterflies *****
Eli sheathed and pocketed the blade, helping a very subdued David to his feet.
The brunette shrugged his shoulders against the shirt sticking to his back – he
had been directly underneath the fountain of blood, and it had soaked him
through.
“Eli…what did you do?”
“Don’t start.” He collected the backpack and skateboard, both of which had
miraculously survived the scuffle unscathed, and handed the latter item back
over.
“That knife…”
“Doesn’t exist anymore. Don’t stare at him, we have to go.”
“Go? I don’t – we have to tell someone what happened!”
“Tell? Tell?! Oh, what a brilliant idea, brother! I’m sure prison will be an
absolute riot!”
“So you’re gonna fucking lie?”
The fair snake grabbed onto his arm, yanking him closer to emphasise his point.
“That is exactly what we’re both going to do. Let’s just get home and clean
up.” David pulled his arm back roughly.
“I -”
“- It was his life or yours, David! So stop bitching about it and hurry the
fuck up!” he took off over the grass, not sparing a backward glance.
                                       ~
At the house, Eli halted his twin before the veranda steps.
“Don’t go straight in. I’ll get a bag for us to dump our clothes in, then you
can wash up while I hide them and the knife.”
“Lying is gonna make it worse, the police will find out what happened!” He was
ignored, left to stand alone in the garden and wait. This is so fucked…there’s
no way he can get out of this, it’s...itwasself-defence, but it will look more
suspicious if he tries to cover it up. We should tell the truth, and plead
self-defence. Eli’s right, that guy was gonna stab me! And he killed him…
He was a lot less bothered about it than he expected. Of course he wasn’t
happy, not by any stretch of the imagination, but at least he was still alive.
If anything, he was more worried about what would happen to him than what had
happened to his attacker. His brother had killed someone to save him. Maybe he
doesn’t hate me as much as I thought.
“Here, put your shirt in this.” Eli returned with a plastic bag hooked on clean
hands. The t-shirt was heavy and stank of copper, dripping even more blood over
his hair and back as he dragged it over his head. “Alright, go take a shower.
And don’t touch anything.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“Just stop worrying about it, ok? I’ll sort it out, you just...stop worrying.”
Holding his red hands up, David ascended the stairs in his socks. His shoes had
been put in the bag too. ‘Stop worrying’ he says. How? I hope he knows I’ll get
in trouble for lying, too!Using his elbows, he turned the spokes on the tap and
climbed right under the hot spray still in his trousers. Eli had insisted he
leave them on the floor of the shower, lest they create a speck of evidence
somewhere unseen.
It felt good to rinse the sticky mess away. The water swirled down the plughole
pink. Now that the initial excitement had died away, he could feel the tender
spots on his body that would soon start to bruise. David presumed that the
stinging he could feel were cuts, concealed by the cleaning water.
He decided to change into his pyjamas for the night. It was still early, but
there was no point in putting clothes on if he was staying inside.
“Eli?” David’s little search ended in the kitchen. His brother was at the sink,
pouring something over his knuckles. A well-supplied first aid kit had been
emptied onto the island counter behind him.
“Hm. You took your time.” By the looks of it the blonde had already showered
himself. There was a red mark where he had been punched. “You’re bleeding. Use
the stuff there.” David looked over the medical material, but he ended up using
his fingers to feel out where exactly he was bleeding from. “There.” his
sibling pointed to the spot, getting frustrated when David still couldn’t find
it. “There. Ugh just – come here, I’ll do it.”
Eli brought the disinfectant to the counter, pressing a cotton ball to the
bottle and tipping it up. The cotton stung sharply on the wound, making him
wince.
“Ah, what is that, acid?”
“Don’t be a baby. Keep your bloody head still.” A hand locked his chin in place
while the ball was dabbed over the split skin. “You’re so useless. Have you
ever been in a fight before?”
“A few.” It had been much more than a few, but David wasn’t sure if they were
violent enough to be considered fights is his brother’s eyes; Eli had just
stabbed someone.
“How many excluding pillow fights?”
“Fuck off.” The cotton was discarded and his head was tilted to grant a better
look at the damage.
“It’s quite deep…”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.” That joke would have choked the other children with
laughter in the city, but Eli didn’t seem amused at all. He drew away from
David as though he had burnt him and busied himself at the island. Does he not
get it?
“Here. You’ll need this.” he turned back with a butterfly closure, pulling it
tight until it pinched his skin shut.
“Thanks. For, uh, stopping that guy…You really saved my ass there.”
“Did you think I’d let him kill you? That’s my job.”
“Haha-ow!” the laughter tugged at the closure on his cheek, threatening to rip
it off.
“Dummy.” Eli mumbled, pulling another from the box. Despite the quiet name-
calling, he was smiling too.
The kitchen light sparkled off of something David hadn’t noticed before – with
his hair tucked back, he could see a diamond stud piercing in his left ear. How
didn’t I see that?What else could he have missed, if he couldn’t spot something
so obvious?
While the second closure was being fastened, he took the opportunity to study
his twin’s face a little closer. He had a few faded scars here and there, much
more than normal for someone of his age. Again the curiosity at what had
happened in his life before rose up. Why so many scars? Under his lashes he
spotted something else.
“Your eyes are green.” He’d thought they had been blue, until he saw them up
close and proper. Eli shied away again, scooping the scattered supplies back
into the first aid box.
“Yeah, and?”
“And nothing. I was just sayin’.”
                                       ~
They sat waiting patiently on the sofa for their father to arrive. Eli had
called him after they had cleaned up, shooing the brunette away from
eavesdropping on the exchange. Judging by the ashen face he wore coming into
the living room, their sire was every bit as mad as one would expect.
It took Snake an hour and a half to get home. He came in without announcing
himself as usual, and barked out Eli’s name.
“In here.” his son replied timidly, both of the twins turning to look over the
back of the sofa and ducking slightly as if it would protect them. Snake wasn’t
carrying any rifles on his shoulders as he thumped to the living room, giving
the boys an icy stare.
“David.” At the sound of his voice they cowered even more.
“…Y-yeah?”
“Go to your room.” My room? What about Eli? He didn’t make his father repeat
himself, sliding off the settee and giving him a wide berth on the way to the
stairs. Glancing back he saw Eli watching him go meekly.
David had no idea what was in store for his brother. He’d never witnessed his
father doling out discipline, but he wouldn’t be at all surprised if the blonde
got a wallop for something as serious as murder, self-defence or no.
Snake was extremely intimidating too…Would he beat Eli for it? No, that would
be child abuse. He wouldn’t do that…but hedoesact strange for a parent. He
leaves us home alone for over a day, he doesn’t ever cook for us or…spend any
time with us. That doesn’t mean he’d go that far though, right?
From his bedroom he could hear Snake shouting. The words were unintelligible,
but the anger behind them was clear as day. David had watched his twin kill
another human that same evening and yet he felt sorry for him, being told off.
That wasn’t even the worst part; Eli still had to answer to the law! What would
he do all day, alone in the great big house, if Eli was sent away?
The stack of comics among his belongings was sorted through to pass the time.
Whenever he focused on the colourful pages his mind wandered back to the events
of the day. Those guys yelling at them, going into the woods with his sibling,
getting attacked. Eli stabbing that guy to save him. He must care about me at
least a tiny little bit.Although the circumstances were less than desirable,
that fact made him happier than he had felt since he landed in Cali. Probably
even before then.
While re-reading the busy page of the thin book for the eighth time, his
attention was brought to the front door slamming and footsteps on the second
floor landing. Not bothering to save the page, he got up from his bed to poke
past the door. Eli was coming up, his face veiled by his wavy hair.
“Eli?” His brother started at the whispered question, but he didn’t stop in his
ascent. “You ok?” David stepped out of the room to block his entrance to his
own. He was anxious to hear what had happened regarding where things went from
there.
“I’m fine. Out of the way.” Liquid muttered thickly.
“You don’t seem fine to me.” Underneath the bulb in the loft he could see red
welts on his arms that hadn’t been there after the fight.
“Move.” The hand that tried to brush the hair from his face was dodged.
“What did he do to you?” he asked softly. Liquid had been shivering since he
came into view. Has he been beating him?It certainly seemed that way. Has this
happened before? He envisaged his twin’s three years of living there, on his
own with an abusive parent.
David stepped forward to wrap his arms around him, somehow without being pushed
away or shouted at. Eli didn’t reciprocate, but he did rest his head on his
shoulder. The brunette wanted to say something reassuring that didn’t sound
like a lie, and pulled up nothing but blanks.
Instead he let go, ushering him into his room. “You can stay with me tonight,
if you want.” It wasn’t much, but he hoped it would be comforting for Eli to
know he was welcome. What else could he really do? To his surprise the blonde
went over to lie down on his bed, accepting the invitation wordlessly. Hm.
Kinda thought he wouldn’t want to. I guess we’re going to sleep, then…
Solid picked the comics up and dumped them on his desk, hovering uncertainly
for a moment. “Um, you can get under the covers yaknow.” He watched him settle
under the duvet, and went to do the same after switching the light off. The bed
was a narrow double, giving them enough space to lie side by side. They chose
back to back. “Goodnight.”
                                       ~
David was woken up deep in the night by his brother. He could hear him
sniffling into the pillow next to him, trying his hardest to be silent. Poor
Eli. Should I say something?
“Mmmh ~” …That didn’t sound much like crying. Listening closer, he began to
distinguish the noises better. Eli wasn’t sobbing, he was panting. “Mh, mmh ~”
Is he…? No, he can’t be… The green-eyed snake rubbed his head deeper into the
pillow, letting out a muffled sigh. I-is he beating off? If he concentrated he
could feel Eli’s arm shaking the bed gently.
Heis, I can’t believe it! That’s so yucky! B-but he’s onmybed! He – I - am I
dreaming? It was suddenly far too hot under the duvet. In spite of his alarm he
was scarily, incredibly aroused. As a fifteen year old the most pornographic
thing he had ever witnessed (other than rubbing one out himself, which he was
very fond of) was someone getting a peck on the cheek; and now he was almost
touching his masturbating twin.
Don’t listen! Go away!he told his erection, squeezing his legs to relieve some
of the pressure. No, what’s the matter with me? It’sEli, it’sEli, I shouldn’t
be so…What was the word he was looking for? Hard? Bad? Electrified? And to
think, he had been considering giving him a hug again when he thought he had
been crying. Eli wouldn’t be too happy with that while he’s trying to get off.
As the stifled whimpers increased the pulsating thrumming in his gut went from
irritating to overwhelming, drawing his hand like an industrial magnet. Would
he notice if I do it too? No, I can’t! It’s so dirty, why am I even considering
it?! But I NEED it, God I think I’m gonna fucking explode!
Eli sucked his breath in, tensing up and letting it out in a quiet groan. A
bolt of lightning hit David between his legs, a hair’s breadth from bringing
him over the edge. He came. He really actually came, in my bed – with me right
here! Why did he do that, couldn’t it just wait until morning?
Eli levelled his breathing and drifted off, his itch nicely scratched. David's
hard-on didn’t flag now that the show was over. Well…it looks likeI’llhave to
wait till morning now.
***** Snooping *****
The twins were woken up by their father shouting up to the loft.
“ELI! You’ve got ten minutes!” Liquid was up like a shot, disappearing from his
sibling’s room. David dug himself out of the covers that had been flung onto
him. Ten minutes for what? He got the chance to ask the question when Eli
returned a few minutes later to collect the sock that had come off the previous
night. Seeing it reminded the brunette of what he had heard – he must have used
the sock to collect the evidence, as it were.
“Ten minutes for what?”
“I have to go with Dad today. He said he wants to ‘keep an eye on me’.”
“What? What about…yaknow, what you did?”
“I didn’t do anything. It never happened.”
“Is that what he told you to say?”
“No, that’s just how it is.” Catching the complete incomprehension on his face,
Eli decided to elaborate. “Dad is quite…friendly with the law enforcement in
this town. Well, he didn’t move here for the clean air, did he? This wouldn’t
be the first time he paid them to overlook a little incident.”
“He paid them to lie? The police?”
“Duh. It doesn’t come cheap, but the people here practically work for him. I’m
pretty sure a few of them actually did at one point.”
“H-how are they gonna cover this up?”
“Ugh, I don’t have time to talk, can’t this wait?”
“No.” There seemed to be a pattern emerging of him being the last to know
anything.
“Fucking I dunno, I don’t get invited to the corrupt meetings! They’re probably
going to frame those other guys. Plant some evidence, get some false witnesses.
Easy.” Easy? So it’s over, just like that. Because he has money he can get away
with killing someone? That’s not right! It's not like Iwanthim to get
caught…but still…
Eli interrupted his train of thought impatiently. “Look, I really have to go.
I’ll be back tonight – I think.” And then he was gone. David followed him to
the loft landing, watching him hurry downstairs to meet Snake. The sound of the
front door heralded a day of zero human interaction, save for the brief talk
with his brother.Just me, then. Ok.
                                       ~
With the house to himself, David decided to do some more exploring. The
inspection he conducted on his first day had been cursory; he had only looked
into the rooms for a peek. He had an opportunity to do a more thorough search,
but he didn’t think there would be much to see.
Most of the rooms were empty, with plain furniture and stripped beds collecting
dust in peace. There were no decorations anywhere either – no paintings,
pictures, ornaments, potted plants or even fridge magnets. In his experience,
houses had at least a few pictures of friends and family in them. It was as
though no one really lived there.
The shed at the bottom of the garden appeared to be the best source of
entertainment, so he started with that. A thick padlock guarded the bolt, but
he found the key under a not-so-inconspicuous rock by the door. Very well
hidden. No one would ever think to look there!
David wasn’t the biggest fan of spiders, so he scanned each of the corners
before stepping in. He wasn’t afraid of them, he just hated the thought of one
running over him with its spindly feet. Inside was (at first glance) spiderless
and neat. It was full of stuff, but the clutter had been sorted.
A lot of it was metal boxes with different things stencilled on the sides.
Probably got more weapons in there. He recognised the winged skull of his
father’s organisation, and that was it. The rest were alien to him. There was a
dog’s head and the initials ‘D.D.’, another cracked skull with faded writing
underneath and a goofy cartoon fox firing a gun. At the back he even thought he
spied a Soviet Army case.
His theory about the contents of the boxes was confirmed when he flicked up the
stiff catches to look inside. It was packed with hand grenades, each nestled
into a cut-out of foam. He wanted to pick one up, but he could imagine himself
accidentally pulling the pin. Maybe some other time.
In a ‘D.D.’ case he spied an assault rifle, and had no qualms in wresting it
from the foam housing.
“Cool.” He placed the strap over his shoulder and checked his reflection in the
window.Nice. A camouflage helmet hanging on the wall was added to the ensemble.
Huh, it kinda suits me! I should get a job like my father.
From a netting pocket in the open box he pulled a folded piece of glossy paper.
Struggling to keep the big helmet from covering his eyes, he unfurled it bit by
bit. As the image was revealed he giggled. It’s my dad! Snake’s face was
painted on the poster in black and white, between bold yellow letters. “‘Is
watching’…no, ‘Big Boss is watching you’.”
Big Boss? What? David looked from the obvious rendition of his sire’s face to
the words Big Boss, a cold sweat gathering on his back. “No…no fucking way! Ho-
ly SHIT!” Snake is Big Boss? The person whose house I’m in, right now? What…the
fuck?! He felt dizzy with the revelation.
Now that he thought about it, it made some sense. He was a mercenary, Eli
laughed at him when he asked if he was important. The eyepatch, the codename
SNAKE. “Oh my God.” What the fuck is he doing living in a small town in
California? Shouldn’t he be, like…at war or something?
I think he’s made a mistake. There’s no way I’m related to Big Boss! (You can’t
deny how similar you look, youandEli). There’s no way…His kids should be some
kind of crazy warriors, I’m just – justme. (Eli’s a good fighter, though). I
don’t get it. M-maybe this poster is a joke. Yeah, it must be. He packed the
gun and helmet away quietly, keeping the poster to question his twin with
later. He’ll tell me what this is about.
The house felt different as he walked through it. If he had to picture Big
Boss’ house, he’d imagine a dark fortress with barbed wire and patrolling
soldiers, far from the suburbs or any hint of civilisation. Although his
father’s identity hadn’t yet been confirmed, David felt like he’d been made
privy to an enormous secret.
If it was true (as the minutes went by be believed it more and more – the
evidence was there, how could he deny it?) then he had actually met the legend
himself. Not just that, but he was living with him. He was his son. David
wished he was back in the city, just so he could make the other children
implode with jealousy and awe. They would bow at his feet and beg him to be
their friend, a far cry from how it had been before. He would be like royalty
in the group home.
Snapping from his fantasy, he found himself loitering in the kitchen. The rest
of the house wasn’t good enough now, he wanted to see his father’s bedroom. He
knew where it was, he had just never been in because Snake told him it was off
limits. But he’s not here right now, is he?
Although he knew he was still alone, he tiptoed along to the second floor and
down the hall to the door in question. Without any windows the corridor was
dark, making the mission feel even more dangerous. What if the door is alarmed?
If he comes back and knows I’ve been in there, he’s sure to hit me too!
David paused at the unassuming room with this in mind. Suddenly the idea was
less appealing. He’ll be so disappointed that I disobeyed him! I don’t want him
to be mad at me…I want him to think I’m a great son. Iama great son; I have to
be, you don’t get a replacement of your real family! Father, I can make you
proud. You told me not to go in, so I’m not going in.
The sense of accomplishment at marching away lasted for a minute before he was
plain bored again. Ugh, being good is so dull! All these rooms are empty
anyway…
Except for Eli’s. I’ve never been in his room before, either. I bet he’s got
some interesting stuff there – why didn’t I think of it before! His twin was
away with their father, equally as helpless to David’s nosing. This is gonna be
fun!
                                       ~
Opening Eli’s door was like unwrapping a gift. Impatient to soak it all up, he
didn’t waste any time barging right in. As he might have expected, the room was
a mess. The bed was unmade, the blind was drawn, there were things left lying
on the floor. It smelled a bit too, of male musk that needed airing out. All in
all, the complete opposite of his own bedroom.
David opened the blind to let the bright sun in so he could begin digging
through the stuff more thoroughly. There’s so much, where do I start? The most
obvious place was the backpack left on the bed, the same one Eli had been
wearing yesterday on the day of the Not Incident. The notebook must be in
there! Hehe, let’s see what he was writing, shall we?
Ignoring the dried blood, he pulled the zips apart and tipped the bag up. It
took a few shakes to get the notebook out, followed by a few pencils and a
water bottle. Nothing too uncommon, but the real entertainment was in the book.
He picked it up with a grin and turned to the front page. ‘LIQUID’S, FUCK OFF’
was scrawled there above a doodle of a snake. Ok, next page. David was
surprised by what he found there – not words but drawings. And good ones, too.
The second page had a cat, sitting next to a speech bubble that read ‘You are
what you eat’. Wow, that’s actually pretty good. This isn’t a diary, it’s a
sketchbook! Flicking through more observations of the neighbourhood animals, he
came to the first picture of a human. It was Snake, smoking a cigar on a sofa.
He must have drawn him watching the TV. This is amazing, I had no idea Eli
could do this!
Their father featured frequently among the following pages, surrounded by dark
scribbles where the blonde had made a mistake and half-assed squiggles of
random animals and household items. David came across the likeness of someone
he guessed was Snake as a young man. He looked just like himself, but older.
Must be a copy of an old photograph or something.
The same person came up more in the following pages, appearing topless more
often than not.Why would Eli want to draw that?“‘George let me buy sweets at
the shop today…I told him he was my favourite brother, and he laughed.’ We have
another brother?”
A few of the pages after were torn out, and soon their sibling stopped being
drawn. The book went back to being birds and snakes and houses again. David
recognised the tree by the stream they had gone to. He’s got the bank and the
water here too. So he was walking there each day to draw?
Among the scenery he spotted himself, hiding in the branches of a tree. He drew
me too! I didn’t know he was even looking at me. Leafing to the next side it
became clear that Eli had been looking at him much more than he had realised.
The two pages were nothing but him: David walking in the stream, David sitting
on the sand, David smiling at his twin.
Woah…he must have been watching me all day. He’s got so much detail in there.
The brunette hadn’t paid anywhere near as much attention to Eli’s face – he
didn’t even see the scars or the obvious earring there at all until he was
right up close. David felt strangely uncomfortable thinking about Eli studying
him so intently. He stuffed the sketchbook back into the bag and continued his
search.
Stepping carefully over shoes and dishes and discarded garments, he made it to
the chest of drawers against the wall. Clothes, clothes, clothes…Dunno what I
was expecting. Banging the stiff drawers back, he set his sights on the
nightstand.
In the top drawer he found much more interesting things. There was a bottle of
lubricant, a handful of toilet roll, empty sweet wrappers and a hairbrush. He
puzzled over the brush for a moment. Eli has one on the nightstand, why does he
have this one here? The one on the stand had some strands of golden hair
between the bristles, but the one in the drawer looked as though it had never
been used to brush his hair.Must be a spare.
David was tempted to take the lube for himself; he had been using his spit
since he had got to the house and it just wasn’t the same. If he stole it then
Eli would know he’d been in his room, so he let it be. The bed was his next
target, perhaps there were some dirty magazines under the mattress.
The mattress was bare underneath.Hmph. Nothing at all? Shame.Dropping the
mattress, he saw a familiar colour under the pillow. Curious, he reached
forward to pull his own t-shirt from under it. My shirt? What the hell is it
doing in Eli’s bed?!
As he lifted it the fabric stuck together, and he pulled it apart with a twist
in his gut. This is…Is this jizz? Wha- Eli’s been cumming on my shirt?There was
no mistaking what had crusted the material. That’s so (that’ssosofuckinghot)
weird, why did he…?
To confuse him even more, his body decided it was time to get a massive
erection. He must have taken this from my room. He’s cum all over it, I don’t
get it! Whymyshirt, I’m his twin! (Maybe he wants to cum onme) No, he can’t,
we’re – we’re – The distraction in his underwear begged to be touched, and
David put the shirt back to grant its wish.
He had barely stepped under the shower before his arm got to work. Confusion
weaved through his arousal, bringing up the question of his own sexuality for
the millionth time since hitting puberty. Oh Eli, why are you doing this to me?
You act like you hate me, then you do that to my t-shirt…and touch yourself in
my bed…and draw me in that book. What is it supposed to mean?
Imagining Eli with his clothing made his groin burn.He must have been thinking
of me while he did it, at least a little bit. It is mine, after all. Last
night, did you want me to hear you? Did you want me to wake up and touch
you?“Ah, yeah…” His words were masked by the spray of water.
If you sleep in my bed and do it again, I’ll touch you…Would you like that?
Maybe you’ll even do it back. I won’t tell anybody. “Fuck…ah, fuck!” David
braced himself on the tiles with one hand and tugged himself through his orgasm
with the other. Fuck…
In the height of his excitement he had accidentally burdened himself with an
unignorable temptation. Now he couldn’t rest until he had some excuse to put
his hands on his twin.
***** Duckies *****
Eli was glad to be heading home. To spend time with his father was something he
would pine for constantly, but being hauled away just to be ignored in a
different location wasn’t quite what he had had in mind. Snake barely said two
words to him the entire time, he had even dumped the blonde for someone else to
look after him.
This form of punishment hurt much more than simply being left at home – even
after being dragged to the Outer Heaven vessel on the Atlantic, his sire
continued to act as though he didn’t exist. Eli felt the barnacles got more
attention from the Boss than his own son did. When Snake had come to collect
him he turned on the waterworks and begged for his forgiveness. His father had
always been a sucker for tears; he didn’t seem to realise his son wasn’t five
anymore.
Eli got put on a helicopter back to California with some new bruises and the
usual pat on the head. The bruises weren’t given to him on purpose, Snake also
just didn’t realise how much he needed to reign in his own strength when
handling his kid. A purple handprint on his arm from being lifted into the
chopper was the only souvenir Eli got for the long journey home.
                                       ~
Falling asleep had proven to be near impossible. David had tossed and turned
late into the night, unable to keep his thoughts off of his twin and the
discoveries he had made in his room. When he woke he was still alone. He moped
and paced all morning, impatient for his brother’s return. Where is he?
As David counted down each painful second he tried to figure out exactly what
he wanted from Eli. If he did stay in his bed again that night and masturbated,
the brunette was sure he’d be too chicken to join in.
There was always the possibility that Eli would freak out over it. He couldn’t
be 100% certain that his findings meant what he thought they did. In the event
that his brother wasn’t into it he would never, ever get a chance to explain
himself or rectify his mistake.
He would be avoided and hated – Eli might even tell their father and get him
sent back to a home! Who was Snake more likely to believe: the son that had
lived with him for three whole years or the son that had lived with him for
five days? Has it really only been that long? This has been the most insane
five days ever. Ugh, it’s too risky, I can’t do it! If he does – if it is the
way I think it is, I should wait for him to make the first move. That is, if he
ever does…
David’s anxiety was so much that he had even forgotten to eat breakfast in
favour of fidgeting from one end of the house to the other (it didn’t bother
him that much though, it just gave him an excuse to eat more candy at lunch).
C’mon, hurry up! If I have to wait any more I might go mad.
                                       ~
It was dusk by the time Liquid Snake made it back from the lonely walk from the
designated landing zone outside of town, although a quiet field made for a
shoddy helipad in his opinion. But, as long as it served the purpose of letting
Snake’s aerial comings and goings go unnoticed, it was worthwhile.
He hoped he’d get a second to breathe before David descended upon him and
bombarded him with questions. That being said, he was looking forward to seeing
him again. Getting comforted after a thrashing wasn’t something he was familiar
with, and he decided he quite liked it.
It was nice to have someone on his side for once; Solidus was always siding
with their dad like the Perfect Son™ he was. In that sense having his self-
righteous older brother away in Liberia to participate in the rising tension
there was something of a relief, as much as he missed him…and the habit of
walking around naked that he had. And the fact that his bed was perfectly lined
up with the keyhole that Eli used to spy on him beating off through. Mostly the
last two things.
He got his wish for peace when he wasn’t immediately greeted by his twin, and
was disappointed by it.
“I’m home!” He’d never had to announce his arrival before, no one else usually
bothered to. “…Hello? Brother!” Shit, did something happen while we were away?
“Hello!” Eli climbed the stairs in a hurry, getting more panicked as the
silence went on.
“Hello.” David appeared from his bedroom, wearing his usual sweet smile.
Fucking Hell. The blonde had been picturing him packing up his bags and running
off, having discovered the absolute mess that was his biological family.
“Why didn’t you answer me sooner?!”
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you. Something wrong?”
“No, of course not.” he pouted, stomping his way up to the loft. David stopped
him before he got to his own door.
“Hey, are you ok? Was it…alright, going with him?” Having someone so concerned
about his feelings was another thing he wasn’t familiar with. He wondered what
David would do if he said no – would he be upset too, and give him another hug?
“It was fine. I was on my own there, anyway.”
“Oh, that’s good.” They stood awkwardly on the landing, neither of them finding
anything to say.
“…Um…Goodnight, I guess.”
“Wait!” Eli jumped at the sudden outburst, whipping back to face him. “I, uh –
you can stay in my room again, if you want. I mean, you can stay there
whenever, it’s not a problem or anything. If you want.” There was something odd
about the way it had been offered, but Eli couldn’t focus on it over his
surprise. He had to refrain from the extremely enthusiastic YES that threatened
to burst out, using all his control to be nonchalant.
“That’s very kind of you, brother. I’ll go get changed.” Once in his room he
gave the ceiling a soundless celebratory ‘yes!’, while David did the same in
his own. Sleeping in with David had been the biggest treat he had ever had, bar
none. Pleasuring himself so close to his twin that they were almost touching
was a kind of thrill that couldn’t be emulated. The added risk that he might
wake up made it even better, though he would have died if he had got caught.
He fished out the least threadbare pair of pyjamas from the depths of his
overflowing closet, trying to juggle pulling them on and brushing his hair to
save time.
It was too hot that time of year to sleep in long clothes, so he had to wear
matching shorts and a shirt made of thin blue material. The cute yellow ducks
on the pjs underlined the fact that his father had picked them out for him (at
George’s insistence, he later found out), and were the same reason they were
worn the least.
Why anyone would even make them large enough to fit someone of his age was
beyond him. They were the only pair that weren’t covered in holes or in
desperate need of a wash, so they would have to do.
David was already dressed for bed when he came in, attempting to concentrate on
the book in his lap. It was brought up to hide his grin when he caught sight of
what Eli was wearing. The book wasn’t as useful in disguising his barely
contained sniggering. “Don’t laugh, this was the only thing left!”
“No, I like it. It suits you.”
“Hmph.” Eli pouted again, rounding the bed to get under the covers. David
snorted when he noticed the ducks’ happy faces, bursting the dam and leaving
him in a fit of laughter. “It’s not funny!” He was starting to wish he’d picked
something else, even though it would have been smelly and unflattering. Then
again, ducks weren’t particularly becoming.
The brunette nodded to communicate that he disagreed through his giggles. “Stop
laughing!”
“N-no, I can’t! Ha ha, you look- hahaha!” Eli debated whether or not to storm
out and stay in his own room, but decided that hiding under the duvet grumpily
was enough. “I’m sorrhehehe!I’m sorry, I can’t help it!” As soon as it died
away it started up again. “No, it’s ok, I’m done now. Hehe, I’m done.”
David lifted the duvet from Eli’s head carefully. “Eli ~? I’m sorry.” The
covers were yanked back down again. “C’mon, don’t be like that. I was just
surprised, that’s all…You’re not actually mad, are you?” He sounded worried
enough to appease the blonde, who stuck his head back out to accept the
apology.
“Is this how you treat a guest, then?”
“No. I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all. You look so cute!” Eli pulled the quilt
back up to cover his red face at the compliment.
“Whatever.” The book was tossed away and the light turned out so that they
could settle down. They lay back to back again, whispering to each other
despite being the only ones in the house. David’s topics of conversation were
quickly exhausted.
“What kind of music do you like?”
“The music I listen to.”
“What kind of books do you like?”
“I fucking hate reading.” George being a snooty bookworm had really put him off
the pastime.
“Even comics?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok…what about TV?”
“I like the animal ones.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I like to watch them eat each other. Some programs let you see all the
guts and stuff.” Typical Eli, David thought.
Liquid let himself relax and float into sleep, surrounded by the heavenly smell
of his twin.
                                       ~
Solid jolted awake at every little noise, listening attentively for any hint of
activity next to him. His brother just kept snoring lightly, snuggled into his
bedding like an animal in adorable pyjamas.I wasn’t expecting him to even own
something like that. Surprised he hasn’t set it on fire or something.
Getting back to sleep was difficult when Eli would wriggle and kick every few
minutes, knocking him back into consciousness. As he would slip under a
twitching foot would catch his leg, or the blonde would mutter something in his
dreams. Normally it wouldn’t be enough to keep him up, but he felt very on
edge.
“Solid…David, are you awake?” Eli whispered so quietly that it was almost
soundless, yet to the brunette it was the blare of a foghorn. Should I say yes?
He stayed completely still, feigning sleep to see what his brother would do.
“…David?”
The bed moved slightly as his twin rolled over very carefully. A hand was
placed lightly on his shoulder, and he made sure not to stir. He must be
checking that the coast it clear. A bubble of excitement rose in him at the
thought that the events of two nights ago might be repeated.
Satisfied that he was still snoozing Eli shuffled even closer, going slow so as
not to disturb him. Once they were almost chest to back he stopped. David could
feel his body heat through his own pyjamas. What is he doing?His twin brought
his face to the nape of his neck, taking a long sniff and sighing the warm air
back onto him. He did it twice more, pressing his nose into his hair
gently.He’ssmellingme?
In a flash of courage Eli’s hand found its way to the sliver of skin between
David’s shirt and boxers at his lower back, tracing his fingers over it
gingerly. HE’S TOUCHING ME!  The dark haired snake fought to keep his breathing
shallow and calm while he was in chaos inside.
Elis’s hand worked its way up under the top, flattening the palm down
tentatively. His other hand, carrying a mouthful of spit, wrapped around his
cock and began stroking it eagerly. David somehow managed to stay still, barely
believing what was happening. Gradually his underwear began to tent over his
budding erection.
The wayward hand travelled over his side, ghosting over his stomach.If he goes
any lower he’ll feel how hard I am.“Mmh…” Eli breathed into his neck, smoothing
over his soft skin in little circles. With his mouth so close David could hear
every muted sound he made. Fuck…that’s so hot! At this point it was very
difficult to keep still and unaffected.
Eli felt all the way to the elastic of his boxers, keeping his fingers there
for slightly longer each time his rubbing brought them there. The brunette
tried not to shudder or make a noise, his arousal so strong he was almost
bursting. Please, stop teasing me!
On another low brush of his fingers David was sure he had dipped under the
band. Miraculously he didn’t squirt into his underwear there and then, but his
desperation for stimulation increased unbearably. With his judgement severely
impaired (as it would be for any hormonal teen) he finally moved to grab the
hand that was petting him.
Eli jolted at the contact, seizing up with a deep gasp. Before he could panic
or rip his arm away and try to explain himself David guided the hand downwards,
slipping it under the waistband until his fingertips met with the base of his
cock. He prayed that the blonde wouldn’t tear himself away or start an argument
over it, which was highly likely.
Taking a few seconds to register the rapid chain of events, Eli slowly unwound.
After a moment’s hesitation he let his fingers encircle the member, dragging
them to the tip and back again. David made a half-sigh half-whine, letting go
of his twin’s wrist to let him take the reins.
Liquid let the panting and jerking continue, carving the sensation of
pleasuring his brother into his memory. It felt much like masturbating with a
numb body.
“Eli…” Solid thrust his hips in time with his tight grip, bringing himself even
closer to the edge. With his newest fantasy coming true before him, Eli let go
of all his control and sped up to reach the finish line. Being each of their
first sexual encounters, neither of them were bound to last very long.
“Ahh!” The blonde was the first to come, giving a piping moan and sucking hard
on the back of David’s neck. His seed soaked through to the duckies on his pjs.
The other snake followed soon after hearing his twin’s cry, making a similar
noise and holding his fist in place to set the pace himself with his hips.
Panting and sweaty and tired, the boys melted into the bed. Eli didn’t want to
move, so he stayed pressed against his brother with his sticky hand still in
his underwear. David didn’t mind one bit. They drifted off like that in the
fuzzy afterglow, not saying a word.
***** Leppard *****
The blonde slipped away in the early hours of the morning, long before his twin
awoke. He got a good look at the hand he had used to touch him with after
pulling it from his underwear, giving the gooey substance a quick taste. He’d
tasted his own before out of curiosity and he decided his brother’s was much
better, sucking the rest from his fingers.
Not bothering to shower, he dressed himself in yesterday’s clothes and slung
his pack over his shoulder. Eli didn’t want to be near David for a while – he
was worried about what the brunette would say to him. David had been the one
who made him…do what he did, but he was technically the one who started it.
If Eli was asked why he had been fondling him in the first place, he wouldn’t
have an answer. Not a good one, anyway. ‘I’ve always wanted to jerk my brother
off’ probably wasn’t the response David would be after. What answer would he
want though? He was the one who moved the hand! ‘I have problems and stalking
my siblings is my no.1 hobby’ was also the truth, but again, not a good
response.
He took some money from the lockbox in the kitchen for the 24 hour shop at the
petrol station in town. The regular store wouldn’t be open for a few hours.
They were running low on – well, everything, and the shop sold a few grocery
items that would keep them going for another week. Snake wasn’t the shopping
sort, so it was up to Eli to get food now that George was away.
At first he had been debating whether or not to go to his spot in the woods to
hide while he found some excuse to give to David, but it was still too soon to
return to the scene of his crime. There wasn’t much danger now that his
father’s money had bailed him out, yet laying low for a while felt like a good
idea.
The dawn sun shone directly into his face as he walked, forcing him to squint
for most of the journey. No one was up yet, save a few morning commuters on
their way to work. Eli always received strange looks wherever he went. Perhaps
it was the scowling or the strutting around like royalty, but other people
seemed to sense he wasn’t quite like them.
The chances they would guess he was a Snake, product of a scientific miracle
and spawn of the most fearsome soldier to have ever lived, were low - so he
continued to glare at passers-by and swagger about in his cocky, self-important
way. Why change a habit of a lifetime?
                                       ~
David got a rude and abrupt awakening when he rolled right off of his bed and
landed hard on the floor. He yelped and scrabbled to his feet, his heart
hammering painfully in his chest. Shit! Ow…I fell out of bed! Unlike the usual,
he had been lying right on the edge. That’s right, Eli was here too…
Like a train through the fog, the memory of what had occurred the night before
struck him from nowhere and left him reeling. Eli! Where is he! David was alone
in his room. He immediately crossed the landing to knock on the blonde’s door.
“Eli?...Are you there?” the door was carefully pushed open, revealing another
empty room. He’s not here? Is he even home? Although he knew it was stupid
David was worried that his twin had left altogether because of what they had
done. There was no way he would just up and leave for good, but the thought did
cross his mind.
He’s probably gone somewhere to draw, his backpack is missing too. Or he could
just be downstairs. Feeling a little less panicked, he went down to get himself
cleaned up. Upon reflection he realised it was a good thing Eli was gone when
he woke up, he still had no idea what he would say to him. They might not even
acknowledge it at all, but he felt that having such a heavy thing hanging over
them constantly would make living together torture.
David went downstairs at midday, determined to be casual in case Eli was
around. From the second floor he heard the fridge open, and had to pause to
gather his courage. I’m not going back up just because he’s there…I have to be
cool. Just don’t bring it up, act natural.
Despite his internal pep-talk he took the stairs in a tiptoe. He could picture
himself being the antithesis of natural and casual as soon as he saw his twin.
How were you supposed to react to seeing someone who’d given you your first
handjob in such a strange situation?
The fact that they were brothers complicated things that much more. If they
weren’t they could either start going out, swear it was a one-time mistake or
never see each other again – neither of which were options in their current
circumstance. Say good morning, that’s all you have to do. ‘Good morning’,
don’t fuck it up you do it every day!
Creeping into the kitchen, he waited for Eli to close the fridge so he could
act like he was just walking in. The fridge stayed open, and his twin kept
rummaging around inside. C’mon already…What’s taking so long? Moments away from
walking in anyway and ruining the Casual Entrance, he finally got his wish. It
wasn’t Eli in the kitchen at all, but his father.
He was both disappointed and relieved, feeling the tension drain out of him as
he stepped forward to greet Snake. His father heard him coming and looked in
his direction, making David stop in his tracks. H-his face! Something was wrong
with the picture. Snake’s face was crisscrossed with deep scars that he was
certain hadn’t been there before. “…”
The man peered at him for a moment, snapping the lid from the bottle he was
holding with his bare hands.
“Didn’t you move out?” he looked him over a second time. “Wait, you’re that
other one. How long have you been here?”
“…Uh…”
“It’s Danny, right? Or Dimi?”
“Um, it’s David.”
“Hm.” The Not Snake breezed past him to the living room, where a dirty crate
had been dragged in next to the sofa. David followed after him, watching at a
safe distance as he made himself at home on the settee.
“Uh…w-who?...Who are you?” Not Snake turned his good eye toward him blankly.
“Don’t you recognise your own father?” Father? He’s not…is he? No, he looks
different! “Don’t look so scared, Dimi. Why don’t you run along, Daddy’s had a
long day.” David was discharged with a wave. He stood stunned, watching the
other twirl the bottle between metal fingers.
His arm…His head – is that shard growing out of him? He’s not my father, but he
speaks and moves exactly the same! Slowly he backed away out of the room,
careful not to take his eyes off of the imposter.Should I call someone?
The only explanation he could conjure up was that he was another relative –
Snake might have a twin brother too, but he had never been mentioned. It was
possible: David had only found out about his older brother by rifling through
Eli’s things.
Then why does he have the same eye missing? Is it a weird coincidence? He
wished he wasn’t home alone with his Not Dad. I think I need to lie down for a
while.
                                       ~
The house was deathly quiet. David kept his ears pricked for any sign of life.
With all the silence he’d convinced himself he had hallucinated his earlier
meeting downstairs. It must be hunger. God, I wish I’d actually gotten some
food earlier!
Underneath his growling stomach he occasionally thought he heard voices and
movement below.Just my imagination…no wait, someone’s coming up here!Whoever it
was was attempting to be soundless, but he noticed the footsteps on the loft
stairs all the same. Please don’t be that guy again…
The door to Eli’s room clicked open and David jumped up, not wanting to miss
his window to talk to him. Once in his bedroom the blonde probably wouldn’t let
him in to speak.
“Eli.”
“Fucking hell, don’t sneak up on me!” His twin was stopped under the doorway,
turning back moodily. Great, now what do I say?
“Um…do you wanna come in?” he stepped back to let him past, gesturing with an
arm.
“…Pass.”
“Then can I go in with you?” David kicked himself for sounding so desperate,
but he didn’t want to spend yet another day on his own. The isolation was
weighing on him; even back without a real family he had always had people
around him. “It’s just - I’ve never been in there before, I’d like to see it.”
Eli wavered, casting a glance over his shoulder at the clutter inside. He still
wanted to avoid bringing up the subject of last night.
“Well…I-I dunno, it’s a bit messy.”
“I don’t mind.” Eli spied the anxious look on his brother’s face and sighed.
“Ok then.”
David pretended that the room was alien to him, dispelling any suspicions that
the other might have about him entering uninvited two days ago. “Sit on the bed
if you want.” The brunette took the offer as Eli went around kicking junk into
a pile against the wall. “I’ve been meaning to tidy up, I just…” He didn’t have
an excuse, but he didn’t want to trail off into silence. The small talk was
awkward enough as it was. “I just haven’t.”
“It’s not that bad.” For a bombsite. When everything had been rounded up Eli
kept standing, prodding the pile with a foot. David opened his mouth to speak
more than once, eventually giving up when no words would come and lapsing back
into the uncomfortable quiet. He scanned about for a conversation piece. “I
like your turntable.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, it’s nice innit.” Another pause. “You can put some music on if
you want. I don’t think you’ll like anything there, though.” David scooted over
to where it was resting at the foot of the bed, hanging his chest off the
mattress to sort through the records beside it.
As he had found out on the day of his arrival, they were all rock bands. With
the top of the bed now free Eli sat himself against the headboard, transfixed
on the ass that was on display before him.
“Are these guys any good?...Eli?”
“Wha- yeah, they’re ok.” Forcing his eyes from the view was painful. Don’t look
at him don’t look at him. At least he’s not facing this way.
“Hey, I think I’ve heard of them. They’re British too, aren’t they?” By the end
of the sentence the blonde was glued back to his butt. “I don’t think I ever
asked why you have an accent.” David didn’t get an answer. His twin wasn’t even
listening to a word he was saying, and he took it as a reluctance to talk on
the subject.
The record was quite new and stuck in the sleeve; so he had to shake it out,
jiggling his body as he did. Eli took a big gulp that scratched his suddenly
dry throat.
His view was ruined when David got up to fix the record in place and turn the
obnoxious volume down to a bearable level. The brunette positioned the needle
and sat back, deciding to just lie down again when he noticed that his twin
would be right next to him. “Who was that guy downstairs? Is he still there?”
“Yeah, that’s Venom. He comes here sometimes.”
“But who is he? He looks like -”
“- Dad? He’s his phantom.”
“His what?”
“Phan- it’s like a doppelgänger.”
“…His what?”
“Ugh, never mind. It’s really complicated. He’s our dad but he’s not our dad,
let’s just leave it at that.” David felt a thousand times more confused than he
had before. Why couldn’t he have just said uncle? He remembered the poster that
he had found, opting to bring it up at a later date so as not to annoy Eli with
questions.
Unbeknownst to him Eli couldn’t have been enjoying his presence much more. As
the dark haired sibling lay examining the record spin, a pair of green eyes
burned holes into the back of his shorts. They’re a bit tight, aren’t
they?...Not that I’m complaining. They definitely suit him better than those
trousers.He was faintly aware that Pour Some Sugar on Me was playing, smirking
at the perfect timing.
“I might get something to eat soon. I’m starving.”
“Me too. I went shopping earlier.”
“Good.”
Here goes nothing.
“David…um, would you like to stay here tonight?” As an afterthought to fill the
dead-air he added: “We can listen to some more music…”
“Y-yeah ok.” David was glad his brother couldn’t see his excited face. “Yeah.”
***** Hypnotised *****
Chapter Notes
     So many elipsises...far too many
Eli was quaking with anticipation all the way through his dinner. On more than
one occasion he nearly dropped the food or his plate, and grabbed the red hot
packet from the microwave with his bare hands. Luckily the brunette wasn’t
looking, so he managed to recover without any damage to his pride. With his
stomach in a knot he didn’t want to eat much as it was.
Gulping the little meal down at an unhealthy pace got the inconvenience of
needing to eat out of the way. He finished it almost as soon as it was chucked
on the plate, still resting on the kitchen countertop. If David hadn’t been
just as hasty then he might (might) have been embarrassed.
Venom was snoring on the sofa in the living room, the remote still clutched in
his prosthetic fingers. Good. Eli acted completely different around V, in the
hopes that their relationship would never change. V gave him hugs and bought
him presents and actually spent time with him – when he was around – unlike his
real father who was colder and ignored him.
This semblance of normality had remained unchanged since he was twelve, and he
wanted it to stay that way. As mature as he liked to think he was, he still
wanted V to baby him…but not in front of David. So he left Venom there to
sleep.
Back in the loft the twins parted ways again.
“I’ll go get changed.”
“Ok.” he watched David slip into his bedroom and darted into his own to find
something good to wear. All of his clothes were dirty with him having postponed
laundry day for much, much too long. Shit! I don’t want to put something nasty
on! Some of the things in the pile he had amassed got pulled out for a quick
check, all getting re-added after failing to pass the test.
He took off his bottoms and tossed them away. Ugh…I suppose I’ll have to wear
this. He didn’t have anything against sleeping in his vest and underwear, but
he wanted to look like he’d made at least a tiny bit of effort. Not that he
wanted to impress his sibling, not at all. Definitely not. The careful sorting
of his hair in the small mirror on his cupboard had nothing to do with David
either.
“Eli? Can I come in?” His inspection of himself in the mirror was cut short by
his brother’s knock on the door. Eli stopped the preening at once to open it
and let him through. David lay himself on the bed as he had done before,
looking through the records again as something to do other than sit there
expectantly. They both knew what they were there for, but they couldn’t bring
themselves to address the elephant in the room.
“So…do you have any records?”
“No, I never had a turntable.” The brunette was wearing the same as him, and he
could see the shape of him much better without the shorts. I wonder what he
feels like there.
“…Hm, that’s too bad.” We’re the same, so it would feel like mine…but I’m not
really in the habit of fucking grabbing my own ass. Besides, it’s not mine I
want to grab. “What about tapes?”
“I used to have a Walkman, but it broke.” Would it be weird if it touched it
now?...Yeah, it would be a bit much out of nowhere. “Do you have any hobbies?
Besides listening to music.” …What did he say?
“Hm.” He gave the most generic answer he could to the question he didn’t hear.
Jesus, I’m getting hypnotised over here!
“What like? Do you, I dunno, swim or play sports or draw?” The almost
imperceptible inflection on the last suggestion was lost on him. What should I
say – if I tell him he’ll want to see the drawings.
“Oh, you know; a bit of everything.”
“Everything? Even stamp collecting?”
“No, dummy!” he threw the pillow at his head and the music wavered under the
pin.
“Haha! But seriously…” David flipped over to face him properly, propping
himself up on his elbows.
“Actually, I do like drawing.” Fuck, why did I say that?
“Can I see?”
“Uh, they’re not – ready.”‘Not ready’? Why am I such a-
“Aw c’mon! I promise I won’t laugh. Please?”
“No.”
“Draw something now, then.”
“There’s nothing to draw here.”
“What about me?” Now Eli got the sense that he had been guided towards this
particular outcome. Why so insistent, brother?
“…Maybe some other time.” David noticed his guardedness and gave up, rolling
back over to read the empty record sleeve.
“Spoil sport.”
                                       ~
Just after dusk they decided to go to bed. They hadn’t done much more than sit
and talk up until then, the tension building torturously thick between them.
The blind was drawn and they got under the duvet, both staring at the ceiling
and waiting for the other to act first.
Minutes crawled by in absolute silence, with Solid trying to gather enough
courage to move his hand the tiny distance to his twin. Just do it. Come on, he
won’t mind! He’s the one who let you in! Slowly he inched his fingers closer
and closer.
Eli jumped when their hands met, moving his arm out of the way so David could
continue. When he met the flesh of his hip he heard the blonde gulp.
Mimicking what had been done to him the night before, he ran his palm over his
middle under the thin top. The angle didn’t make it easy, so he switched to
using the back of his hand. His skin is so smooth…I can feel his heart beating
real fast.
The blood rushing away from his head made him dizzy. Eli sighed quietly beside
him, and he interpreted it as his cue to go further. Tentatively he wormed his
way into his boxers, taking the stiffening member into a loose fist. He pumped
it up and down the shaft, having to pull towards himself since it was hard to
reach in their position.
In the pitch black he couldn’t tell what face Eli was making, but he could hear
just how he was affecting him. It was reassuring to know he was doing ok, since
it was his first time touching a cock that wasn’t his own. As soon as his other
fist made to grab himself Eli moved onto his side to do the job for him,
plunging into his underwear eagerly.Holy shit, he’s holding me so tight.
David mirrored him so that they were facing, their arms crossed over to jerk
each other. Concentrating on his twin’s hand he noted the slight difference in
their methods. Everything about getting off via Eli was amazing – the thrill,
the unpredictability, the heightened pleasure.
Laid the way they were Liquid’s hot breath puffed over him. Our faces are so
close! The blonde grunted, letting him judge the distance even better.
“Haaah…brother…” Eli whispered. David wasn’t sure whether to be happy that he’d
called him brother or creeped out that he’d done it while they were
masturbating each other. Right at that moment he didn’t particularly care.
He’s so loud – I love it!Opening his eyes was useless as far as letting him
watch the other went. Solid wanted to see his face; imagining it surely
couldn’t compare to the real thing. He could just about make out his silhouette
and the sheen of sweat here and there.
S-should I kiss him? He might not want me to…It would be easy. In fact it could
even be done by accident, they were practically nose-to-nose.I’m sure a little
one won’t hurt.Nervously he craned his neck and puckered up, meeting Liquid’s
open mouth and surprising his poor twin yet again. “Mh!”
Eli jerked his head back, his movements faltering. David pulled away,
completely humiliated.Oh God, I wish I hadn’t done that!The hand on his cock
caught back up, but no comment was made at all. Even a simple reprimand would
have been better than nothing, in his eyes. Shit, I guess this is the last time
we’re sharing a room, then.
He was shocked when Eli pressed their lips together again experimentally,
waiting for him to respond. With zero visibility he had nearly missed his
target.
Carefully David pushed back, parting his lips in time with his sibling’s and
copying the cant of his head. So soft… A moan escaped him unbidden and Eli
answered with his own, his tongue darting out over his wet lips. “You taste
good.” The bolt of arousal that passed through him stopped him from replying
with something other than a shaky whimper.
Eli let go of the shaft to fling the quilt away, sidling closer until they were
flush against each other. Instead of returning to his member, the free hands
slid around him to stroke down his back and clasp onto his buttocks.
“Ah!” He didn’t push the unexpected attention away, though he now had a trail
of precome along his back. Not wanting to be left out, he fished himself from
his boxers to masturbate them both in one fist, the other gripping onto Eli’s
ass. “Mmhmh.” With a hand on the blonde’s backside David could tell why his
twin was kneading him so hard – his cheeks were an irresistible kind of
squishy, that made you want to claw at them and squeeze them.
As he was thinking how great it would be to bite there Eli sunk his teeth into
his bottom lip. Not hard enough to break the skin, but plenty hard enough to
make him squeak. The perpetrator chuckled and licked it better slowly, pressing
the tongue deep into his mouth afterwards. Having someone else’s tongue there
was a weird sensation, but Solid liked it.
Getting closer and closer, their hips rubbed together reflexively.
“Ahh, fuck…mmh! Fuck, I-I!” They reached their orgasm together, raking nails
over skin and groaning, twitching under the pumping hand.
Hot and out of breath Eli rolled back onto his back, letting the night’s events
sink in fully. The rise and fall of his chest was highlighted by sweat. “Did
you, uh…was I any good?”
“Uh huh.” Without the duvet the comparatively cool air of the bedroom was
soothing. “Was I?”
“Yeah.” he already sounded half-asleep. “Would you want to stay here again?”
“Mmh hm.” I’m tired…my eyes won’t stay open. Eli’s jaw all but unhinged in a
massive yawn, apparently in the same state as his brother. “I’m glad you let me
stay. I like having company.” But Eli was out cold, his underwear tangled at
his knees and semen drying on his stomach. “Goodnight.”
***** Lifeboat *****
He watched David dream in the pale light of dawn. Any sketch he took of him
would do him no justice – his twin was truly a work of art. Even a photo would
be a poor substitute to the reality, though he wouldn’t mind owning such a
photograph. Or two.
Eli swore never to forget what they had done last night, no matter what other
memories may come after. Life with his brother wasn’t what he had expected at
all. He’d imagined having his work cut out for him beating his sibling into
submission for dominance of the house and the love of their father. Eli had
already had The War for The Better Twin planned out in his head before the
brunette’s arrival.
David proved to be the opposite of the antagonistic adversary of his paranoid
daydreams. He was pretty much as normal a teenager as a member of their family
can be. It fascinated Eli, who observed him very closely. The day they went to
the stream David was happy just to paddle around and keep to himself. He wasn’t
bitter or angry or poisonous inside like the rest of them.
How? What had happened to make him so different? The question should be what
hasn’t happened. What does he know of suffering? He’s probably lived his entire
life in a bubble…if he grew up as I did he wouldn’t be so fucking happy-
David fell onto his back in his sleep, the side of his face pink where it had
been against the pillow. Lovely...I shouldn’t be mad, but I can’t help it.
Idowant you to stay the way you are. You don’t push me away like everyone else.
Eli reached out to smooth a strand of his dark hair down, which immediately
woke him up to paw at his face in a panic.
“Ah, fuh…ugh, I thought you were a bug.” David sat up with a shiver.
“Thanks. You going already?”
“Just to the bathroom. Should I come back?” In an effort to be apathetic the
blonde crossed his hands behind his head casually and shrugged. He was hoping
they could continue the fun they were having yesterday, but didn’t want to seem
too keen.
“If you want.”
Of course, he came straight back and plopped onto the bed. Eli didn’t waste
much time letting his intentions be known. He danced a hand along his side and
pulled him a little closer, smirking over his flushed cheeks. His twin caught
on at once and snaked an arm around his waist, bringing their faces together.
“Eli!” The twins started at V’s voice from outside. “Wake up.” David was
promptly pushed away and stuffed under the duvet.
“W-what is it?” Venom let himself in without any real warning, unbothered by
his son’s awkward lounging on the crumpled quilt.
“Pack a bag, you’re coming with me.”
“What? Since when?!”
“Since you killed that boy. John figures you’re better behaved with me,
so…there you go.”
“Couldn’t you have told me earlier? What about David?”
“Hm? Oh, he can come too. Be ready by 12.” The door was closed again and David
wriggled his head out from under the covers.
“What was that about? Where are we going?”
“For fuck sake…”
“What is it, where are we going?”
                                       ~
1987 – Mother Base, Seychelles
Eli was glad to be gone. America was too quiet and ordinary; here he was truly
king of the castle (well, prince of the castle). Not even George outranked him
here, because George never bothered to visit. His first home that felt like
home, with an army of dogs at his beck and call. What more could he ask for?
“Smells like seaweed here.” David stood beside him on the Command Platform,
sulking about being uprooted yet again.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Hmph. It’s so noisy.”
“It’s busy here.” Cranes and lifts were whirring away to haul cargo, the usual
background noise on Base. The ocean raged below constantly and machinery was
always blaring, and people just called out over the racket. In the more
peaceful places the din could still be heard humming in the distance.
“How long are we staying here?”
“I dunno. Cut out that grumpy shit too, at least until we’re in private.” They
watched Venom’s helicopter shrink on the horizon, neither of them very happy
that they’d effectively been dumped. David shouldered the duffel bag he’d
packed in a hurry and followed his brother to an electronic sliding door in the
thick metal walls.
In the cold fluorescent hall they passed by some others, all soldiers hefting
assault rifles. The soldiers nodded at them, and David followed his twin’s
example of ignoring them. A familiar image caught his attention to his left. It
was another ‘Big Boss is watching you’ poster at the end of another corridor.
“Come on.” Eli was waiting in a service elevator with a finger already hovering
over the button.
“Hey, um…”
“What is it?”
“No, it doesn’t matter.” The brunette had been meaning to bring up the subject
of their father’s identity for a while, but asking now would make him look like
an idiot. He’d just been taken to an offshore fortress by a spookily exact
replica of Snake – if that wasn’t a clear enough answer to his question then
maybe he deserved to get laughed at. Still, it was a lot to take in.
The elevator rumbled up two more floors and groaned to a halt. Eli led him out
onto the third floor, which was much, much smaller than the one he had just
been through. That one had been a maze of white halls and doors, but this one
had only one hall and half a dozen doors.
“This is our level. That door there,” he pointed to the one furthest away,
“leads outside. You can come and go from there, but this way is quicker. And
busier.” Eli slapped a button by the second door and it slid open. “This is my
room…I, uh, don’t think the other rooms have been unlocked yet, so you can put
your stuff in here.”
David stepped in as the lights flickered on. It wasn’t as cosy as their
bedrooms at home. There was a cot, a small table and two plastic chairs and a
chest. Hm…No windows? I suppose it could be worse. “Bathroom’s through there if
you want to use it.” The brunette set his bag down and perched himself on one
of the chairs.
“Why did we have to come here?” he mumbled gloomily.
“Blame our father. Hey, don’t look so miserable! You’ll like it here.” Solid
didn’t look very convinced. So this is what I’m like when I’m moody? I really
need to stop the blonde told himself. “I still have to show you around, there
are some cool places…Stop pulling that face, just give it a chance!” He felt
strangely proud of Mother Base, and wanted his twin to love being there as much
as he did; though he wasn’t quite sure why.
“You’re not gonna introduce me to anyone, are you?”
“Ha! Fuck no, everyone worth meeting here has either left or died.”
“There are still loads of people though.”
“This platform is always busy! We just went through Combat accommodation too. I
know all the best places, brother. Trust me, no one will even know we’re here.”
Eli kicked off the Impress David tour by showing him the outer way to leave
their floor. There were a few flights of stairs to the platform’s main deck,
but the only others along their path were patrolling soldiers.
“This place is huge.” Bridges to other platforms split off from Command, like
the tentacles of an octopus.
“Yeah. This is CP1. There’s something on CP2 I want to show you.”
“CP?”
“Command. Platform. One through four.”
“Oh.” Thanks for the belittling. “What do you wanna show me?”
“You’ll see.” Turning at a stack of shipping containers Eli descended a ladder
that led to an even lower level, shadowed under the metal walkways above. At a
row of some elaborate lifeboats he untied a loose knot and pulled the
waterproof tarp back from the hatchway.
“Are you allowed to do that?”
“Only if no one finds out.” After struggling with the tarp’s rope bindings and
yanking the hatch they were free to step into the suspended lifeboat. It rocked
ever so slightly, reminding David of the roiling water below.
“Uhh, isn’t this kinda dangerous?”Oh God please don’t slip…
“It’s fine, come on!” Eli let him in and secured the hatch behind him. It was a
lot bigger than it looked from outside. The sides were bordered with orange
leather benches, which could be lifted to reach stored rations and supplies.
“It must have been checked since I was here last, it’s been tidied.” The blonde
began poking around under the benches, pulling sealed packs out as he went.
“What are you- c’mon you’re gonna get us in trouble!”
“Rule one of Base, David: there is no trouble unless we’re caught. Which we
won’t be.” he tore into the thin plastic for dramatic effect and emptied the
foam mattress out. “Here, open this.” A thick grey blanket was vacuum packed
into the parcel.
“You’re making a bed?”
“Yep. It’s comfier this way – plus the new space under the seats can be used to
hide snacks.”
“What are you, a squirrel?”
“Just lay the blanket out, will you? Have some pillows.”
Eli had soon constructed a nest for them in the back half of the boat out of
the supplies, and sat admiring his handiwork. “That’s more like it! Lie down,
it feels great.” David settled onto his back over the makeshift bed. He had to
admit it was a lot softer than he had been expecting.
“This is quite cool, actually. It’s a great hiding spot.”Seems like no one
comes down here often. Plus, they couldn’t hear us over the waves unless we
really shouted. Liquid lay himself alongside his twin on the wide floor and
fiddled the corner of one of the blankets shyly.
“Yeah…I like it here. Do you think it still sucks on Base?”
“You haven’t shown me everything yet. But if it’s like this, then it can’t be
too bad.” His mood was considerably lighter than it had been setting foot on
Mother Base.
“Um…I was wondering if, uh…if I did something for you…would you do it for me
too?”
“Like what?”
“Well…” It was hard to tell in the coloured light filtering through the narrow
windows, but David was sure the other was blushing. Is that why he brought me
here? For something like…like that?“I wanted to know what it would feel like if
you put me in your mouth.”
Oh. OH. “It’s supposed to feel good, so – so I’d like us to do it together. To
each other.”
“Er, I…”
“You can go first, if you want.” Eli sat up to see his sibling’s face, gaining
some confidence now that he had finally, finally asked the question. “I’ll do
you first.” He flipped to adjust himself so that he was knelt between the
brunette’s legs, tugging at the button of his shorts.
“Uh, Eli, I don’t think-” The first layer had been broken through much too
quickly for his liking. “Eli? I- ahh!” David’s ability to speak was hindered by
the tongue sliding over the suddenly exposed shaft, lifting off the tip with a
flourish. He twitched under the touch and came to life as Liquid closed his
lips over him and hollowed his cheeks.
OhfuckholyFUCKIcan’tohmyGod! “Ah, aah Eli wait.” His brother’s mouth felt more
than just ‘good’, but something still wasn’t right. David knew it wasn’t, more
clearly than ever. It’s too much. “Wait a second. Wait!” he pushed on the
blonde’s shoulders to get him off and scooted away, panting.
“What, what is it?” Liquid was surprised but a little smug, suspecting the
other was close to bursting already.
“W-we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“What? Don’t be daft.” he crawled forward to resume the task at hand, and was
stopped by a raised hand.
“No, I’m serious! It’s not…right.”
“You must be joking.” The fair haired twin was smiling nervously, searching his
face for a hint of humour. “You have to be joking…I don’t get it.”
“This is wrong, it’s - too much.”
“Too…much?” David lowered his head, ashamed of himself.
“I think we should – I think – that I’m gonna go.” he tucked himself away and
waited for Eli to let him past.
“NO. Too much?! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Eli, get out of the way.”
“Don’t you dare get all high-and-mighty on me. You were the one who started all
this!”
“You know I wasn’t Eli, stop!”
“‘Stop’? So you stay with me and touch me and kiss me, but this is where you
have an attack of the conscience? Get over yourself, David! You’ve already
crossed the line, it’s too late for this!”
“So deciding I don’t want this makes me a hypocrite?”
“Yes it fucking does!” You’re so unbelievable! You’re puttingmymorals into
question?! Solid was getting as angry as his counterpart.
“Then I guess I’m a hypocrite, because I don’t want you.” He hadn’t meant to
word it quite like that, but it sounded much more cutting that way. Something
shattered visibly within his twin at that. Eli made an odd sound and faltered.
Then he exploded and launched himself at his cornered brother. David was quick
enough to kick out at the blonde’s middle, throwing his attacker’s trajectory
off and lessening the force of the punch.
“Gah! …You bastard…You’re lying!”
“No I’m not.” Yes I am. No, I – I don’t know!Did he not want Eli or just not
want the blowjob? Why hadn’t he liked it, when it had been pleasurable?
“You can’t change your mind like that. It’s not fair!” I didn’t want to! David
couldn’t voice his frustration at himself by then. Eli picked himself up and
turned away, hiding the pain that was still evident in his voice. “Fine, then.
I won’t waste my breath on you any longer.” Liquid shoved the hatch open,
letting in the bright sunset. “I don’t know why I bothered to in the first
place.”
“Ditto.” Childish or no, there was no way he would lose the pain-inflicting
competition.
“I wish you’d never come!”
“I wanted to stay at home anyway!”
“I was talking about California! I should have let you die when I saw that
knife.” Eli slammed the hatch behind him, swaying the lifeboat on its thick
metal pulleys.
***** Menagerie on Mother Base *****
Curse you, brother! Why?! Eli paced alone in his chambers, having thrown his
twin’s bag out into the hall and locked himself in. I should have known I
couldn’t trust you! You’re a liar!He crumpled to the floor again, banging his
fists on his head.David, you bastard…youdowant me, youdo, youdo! You have to.
Please, don’t let me be wrong about you.
Just that morning (not taking into account the time zones they crossed) he had
been lying in bed with him, marvelling at his sleeping body. Now he was
alternating between lying in a heap and pinging off the walls with rage. I hate
you! Look what you’ve done to me… He was mortified that David had such a hold
on him after only seven days – he had spent his entire life convincing himself
that he was his sworn enemy, someone placed alongside him to test his mettle as
the subordinate son of Big Boss, made from left-over parts.
But…I don’t want you to hateme, David! Please,pleasedon’t hate me!Where had he
gone wrong? Was it the location? Had he been too sudden with his proposal?
Everything was so perfect though! They had their own secret place, for them to
hide away together in. He’d offered him a piece of his kingdom, and David had
ruined everything.
                                       ~
It was a lot less welcoming on Base by himself. Not wanting to go back to Eli’s
room for a very long while, David cautiously ventured out to pass the time with
his own little tour. The gap between the shipping containers on the main level
served as a rest stop while he plucked up the courage to step into view of the
patrolling soldiers.
He scurried across the deck to a big silo that towered into the purpling sky,
waiting for someone to call after him and escort him back to his room. As far
as he knew nowhere was out of bounds, but the fear of reprimand was there all
the same. No one spoke to him or tried to stop him, if they even noticed him at
all.
From behind the humming silo he spied a large gun emplacement. The temptation
to inspect it outweighed the worry that he was far more likely to be told off
for touching it than he was for just wandering around. David put on the least
suspicious, leisurely stride he could and meandered his way through metal
towers and pipes.
It was a good thing he was paying attention or he would have fallen down the
giant open hatches in the floor. They must have been used to transport
containers to a lower level, judging by their size and rectangular shape. Jeez,
how on earth did it miss that? The sides of the drop were raised specially to
stop people from taking a wrong step there. That would have made a great first
impression.
A well signposted stairway led down to the storage room below. From the large
accesses he could hear voices. There’s light, too. It must be more soldiers.
“…pretty recently. Wait, no…it has been a few months.”
“Yeah, it has! There’s a difference already.”
“You think?” His curiosity piqued, David slowed down to eavesdrop on the
conversation while pretending he was still walking around to see the sights.
“Definitely. Two fights in the mess hall in twice as many months? That would
never have gone down with the Commander around.”
“True. I don’t think anyone’s going to be acting up after seeing what Boss did
to Sly Toad though.”
“Ha! That was brutal. Is he out of sickbay yet?”
“Not for a while. He can’t eat solid food with his jaw wired shut.”
“Fuck. Not more starting shit in the mess hall for him.”
“No kidding. Alright, I gotta go switch shifts with Harrier on Support.”
“See ya later.” David swerved away from the stairway to continue in the
opposite direction, hoping the emerging solider wouldn’t notice his snooping.
“Hey kid.” The brunette jumped and snapped toward the guy addressing him from
the foot of an observation tower. It wasn’t either of the pair he had been
listening to. Shit, was he watching me the whole time? Now I’ve done
it.“C’mere.” He were talking in a conspiratorial mock whisper.
David shuffled over guiltily. The soldier removed a hand from his rifle to dip
into a pocket, passing the recovered item over. It’s…a candy bar? Puzzled,
David took it and examined the shiny packet. ‘Calorie Mate’. An energy bar? “I
won’t tell anyone. Don’t stay out too late, kid.” he winked at him and grasped
the gun muzzle again.
“Thanks.” Solid replied genuinely. He had thought he was going to get scalded,
not get a gift. Nice! Something Eli had said about them having nothing to fear
from their ‘father’s men’ came back to him and he remembered the argument they
had had not long ago.
The blue-eyed twin set off back to CP1. Without Eli was alone; he had to make
up with him somehow. He figured the Calorie Mate would be a good peace offering
to fill the gaps in his apology. Even after dwelling on what had gone down he
still felt that he wasn’t the one at fault, but he doubted the blonde would
acknowledge it or be the first to reconcile the situation. It was up to him to
compensate for Eli’s egotism if he wanted his friendship. If that’s what they
even were to each other.
                                       ~
There was a knock at the door long after Liquid had calmed down enough to sit
still. Immediately he was tense again, gripping onto the arms of the chair and
straining to hear who was outside.
“Eli?” It’s him. “…Eli, are you there? Can I come in?” Without thinking he
stood up, quickly catching himself and sitting again. The door beeped in
refusal when David tried to open it, letting him know that it was no use.
Liquid had already overridden the button command from inside.
He didn’t dare speak up in case his brother decided to start a conversation
through the barrier. If he stayed silent hopefully David would give up and
leave. It didn’t seem like he was there to argue with him further, but Liquid
didn’t want to hear it. Yet. He needed more time to be upset about it – plus it
doubled up as a punishment for the brunette. David would be made to wait until
he was grovelling for Eli’s forgiveness.
Early the next morning he left to take up his favourite position on the top of
the Command Platform and recline in the age-brittled garden chair he’d brought
up there years ago. Here he wouldn’t be disturbed. In effect it was his own
throne room.
Every time he thought he heard a helicopter he looked around, impatient for his
father to return. He wouldn’t tell him that he had fallen out with his twin and
was actively avoiding him, he just wanted to see him. It always cheered him up.
The day crawled by agonisingly slowly, and it wasn’t until midday that he
finally spotted Pequod’s chopper glinting in the vertical sun. At last! He got
up to wave at the approaching aircraft, though he would be hard to see at that
distance.
Going down to meet Venom felt like a bad idea. David might be there to do the
same, or he might bump into him on the way. No, it was better to wait for V to
come to him. He would usually shower first and make his way up to check that
Eli was there, or ask around if anyone knew where the blonde was. His real
father would never have bothered.
It took a whole thirty minutes for V to reach him, still slightly damp from
rinsing the blood from his clothes.
“Hi Daddy!” Eli jumped into his embrace gratefully.
“Hey. How’s my boy?”
“Much better now.”
“Good. Why are you up here by yourself?” He kept his face from forming a tell-
tale scowl as V pulled back to look at him and shrugged. “Hm. Well, I’m going
to the Animal Platform if you wanna come with me and your brother.” Eli’s
delight at seeing Venom instantly dissipated.
“How come David’s going too?”
“Why wouldn’t he be? He’s my son, too.” God, you couldn’t have given a worse
answer if you tried.
“…No, I’m ok.”
“You don’t want to go?”
“No.”
“Why not? Are you feeling ok?” The younger snake saw an opportunity to ruin his
twin’s day. If he said he felt sick V would want to stay behind to look after
him.
“No. I have-” What do I have?“-a headache. It really hurts.” he rubbed his
suddenly pounding forehead weakly. Hehe, V’s a sucker for this kind of shit.
Hook, line and sinker!His voice of self-pity always did the job of tugging at
his predictable heartstrings.
“Poor baby. Go lie down instead of sitting in the sun, it’s not good for you.”
“Yes Daddy.” Now he had to fight to keep from smiling. Looks like your trip
will have to wait, brother!
“I’ll be back to check on you in a few hours, ok? Promise me you’ll drink some
water, too.”
“Wait you – you’re going?” No, this wasn’t the plan!
“Yeah, I’m taking David to see the animals. It won’t take long.” No, no, no!
Venom was leaving him, for David’s sake?! Since when did he put ANYONE before
him, son or no! Feeling the black anger rising up again he pushed past his
father stroppily.
“Well, don’t hurry on my account.” he spat before disappearing inside, ignoring
V’s confused calling after him.
Back in his room Eli lay down to scream bloody murder into his pillow. It felt
as though some unknown intelligence was methodically orchestrating his life to
fall apart. Venom had never made him feel like he was anything less than his
whole world and top priority, until David. He chose taking his twin to see the
menagerie over caring for his sick son? Eli wasn’t really sick, but V didn’t
know that.
It’s not fair. I was here first, me! Deep down he knew V was just trying to
make David feel welcome, as he had with him, but it felt too much like they
were turning against him. He wanted Solid to be deprived of the affection after
what he had done.
The blonde could not comprehend why he was been pushed away and rejected so
unexpectedly. Solid had liked everything else they did, and freaked out over a
blowjob? According to him it had been ‘too dirty’, but Eli couldn’t see the
difference.
Thinking back on it David hadn’t been overly keen when he suggested it. He
hadn’t said no…but he hadn’t said yes either. Maybe he needed more time to
think about it. Liquid had been quite impatient to get him in his mouth. To
him, the idea of giving was more arousing than receiving.
Years ago, when Solidus had still been living with them, he would suck the
handle of his hairbrush while he was masturbating and pretend it was his older
brother. After a while he stopped putting it in his mouth in favour of putting
it inside himself, still imagining it was George. It was a miracle no one had
walked in on him, assuming him to be in pain with all the loud whining.
His eagerness to fellate his twin had frightened him away.I think I should have
waited for an answer. Wait…amIthe one in the wrong?! No, he had said all that
horrible shit to me. This is his fault…Oh God…I think I am!I’mthe one who’s
going to have to apologise!
Saying sorry wasn’t particularly his forte. In fact he always refused to do it
because he never recognised that he had done something wrong. Had he ever even
said the word ‘sorry’ before? Fuck…I need to come up with something.
***** First Words *****
David had expected the trip to the Animal Platform to be extremely
uncomfortable. He should have known Eli would refuse to go if he did too – he
couldn’t run or fight him in front of their Not Father. In the end it was just
him and Venom Snake, who he had barely said two words to before. Great.
The short helicopter ride there was conducted in awkward silence. Venom didn’t
strike him as a man of many words, but it didn’t make it any better. He had
probably hoped David would say no. Surely Big Boss was too busy to waste time
with the likes of him.
A giant aviary sat at the hub of the Platform, on the deck understandably
labelled AP1. V strode over to it, still looking at the holographic display of
a futuristic handheld device that David really wanted to see.
Inside the chain-link cage were two levels of metal walkways, the railings
occupied by a raucous variety of birds. He could identify the vultures and
ravens; the rest were somewhat familiar but unknown to him. David stood
watching them watch him, his mind wandering.
“…Do you like birds?” The young snake jolted from his reverie at the first
words Venom had spoken to him since ‘do you want to see some animals?’.
“Uh, yeah. They’re ok.” He went back to staring at a dainty water bird wade in
a pond at the bottom of the enclosure. Unlike the keen eyes of the carrion
birds it hadn’t noticed him, and strutted around unaffected. “I like that one.”
“It’s a good one.” V was having just as hard a time as him thinking of
something to say. It had been easier with Eli, he couldn’t get him to stop
talking. Somehow he had imagined Eli’s twin to be exactly the same. Maybe it
was a blessing; even he couldn’t handle two Liquids. “Do you have a favourite
animal?”
“I dunno.” David shrugged, picking some flaking paint from the railing shyly.
“Dogs.” Thank God.
“Yeah? I like dogs too. We have some wolves here, you wanna go see them?” His
son’s face lit up at the mention of the wolves. Finally, they had something to
talk about.
“Yes please!” Venom led the way, a very excited David skipping to keep up with
his long paces.
Everything was sleeping when they got there, curled up in the shade; the
wolves, the jackals, the painted dogs and the old bear. David practically
jumped from the ladder in his haste to get a look at them, his joyful
expression reminding V so much of Eli that he got a blast of déjà vu. Again he
thought of the contrast between the twins, and of how they probably weren’t as
different as they seemed on the surface.
“How are you and your brother getting along?” The elder could see the instant
change in Solid’s body language where the boy was crouching by the fence.
“Good.”
“Right. You’re not very convincing.”
“We are good!...I mean, we were, but…”
“You had a fight?” David nodded. That would explain why Eli was acting so weird
earlier. “I wouldn’t worry about it, he’s always picking fights.”
“I dunno, he was pretty mad.”
“What did he do?”
“Well…uh, we were – just arguing, it wasn’t really about anything. We said some
real mean things to each other, I don’t think he’s gonna forgive me.”
“Do you forgive him?” David looked surprised at the question, and creased his
brow as he thought of the answer.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t think he meant what he said. I know I didn’t.” Ever since
that evening he had been searching for the answer as to why he felt put off.
Something about seeing and feeling Eli do the very intimate and pleasurable act
had rammed home how taboo their not-so-brotherly relationship was. The hand
jobs were bad enough as it was. For a moment he had been sickened, thinking
about what the rest of the world would think of it.
But the rest of the world didn’t have to know.
“Then tell him so.”
                                       ~
Liquid saw them return from his vigil, having crept back out some time ago. He
didn’t wave, hiding himself behind the wall and glaring at them as they stepped
back onto Base. They were too far below for him to make out their faces, but he
thought he could see Solid smiling.
V patted him on the back in farewell and the blonde’s annoyance intensified. He
wanted them to get along, just not without him. It was like being locked out
from the family fun time, which he certainly didn’t appreciate.
As if he could sense his thoughts, Solid turned his head toward the top of
Command where he was standing. Liquid started and slid down from peeking over
the barrier. There was a gap at the bottom that he could spy through instead,
without being noticed.
Solid stood looking in his direction for a few more seconds before heading
inside.Did he see me? Shit, I think he’s coming up!As far as he knew David had
no idea how to get up there, but it wasn’t a hard route to find. The stairs ran
right past the door outside their level on CP1, after all.
Eli didn’t want to confront him just yet, so he raced back to his room leaping
down each flight in the stairwell. He was a little closer to it than the
brunette, and would make it there before him if he hurried. Turning the corner
to their level was nerve-wracking, but luckily he was the only one there.
Back in his room he locked his door again and sat trying to catch his breath. I
made it… They had to come across each other at some point, he knew that. He
wanted to have some amount of control over the meeting, though. Having David
just bump into him gave David the upper hand, because he would get to choose
the location and be expecting it.
No, that wouldn’t do, but Eli also didn’t want to be the one to go up to him
first. Facilitating these two contradictory desires wouldn’t be easy.
                                       ~
There were no knocks on his door that night, or the following morning. Eli
thought he would have been glad about that, yet he was disappointed. Obviously
David wasn’t too bothered. To set his plan in motion he first had to find where
his brother was.
The platform was teeming with Diamond Dogs, each soldier carrying out their
tasks dutifully. He hoped his own men would work as devotedly for him one day
as the Dogs did for Venom. To his right a dozen members of the Security Team
were in the middle of target practice, deafening the whole of Command with
their unsilenced shots.
Eli marched up to the first patrolling soldier he saw and asked if they knew
where David was. They didn’t know, but they thought he had hitched a ride with
someone to Support for a look around. Great, so I have to walk all the way
there?
On a whim he thanked the Dog, something he never usually thought to do. He was
the Boss’ son, he could do whatever he damn well liked; including acting as
though he owned the place and everyone in it. They were always happy to
interact with him anyway, even if he was arrogant.
At the road connecting the Command struts to Support he stopped to eye the
waiting vehicle, parked ready to transport any soldiers. He couldn’t drive, but
it couldn’t really be that hard. It was just a straight line interrupted by a
few mild turns. Then again, there was a sheer drop into the ocean either side
of the road, with a two foot shoulder as the only protection from veering off
into the water. He would drown before anyone even knew he was missing. Shaking
a sudden chill from his body he pushed the idea away to journey on foot.
As he neared SP1 his apprehension grew. All he had to do was walk within
David’s field of vision and ‘unwittingly’ lead him somewhere quiet, where the
brunette would catch up to talk to him. It was simple, and yet there were many
ways it could go wrong. David might surprise him by appearing out of nowhere,
or he might not even follow Eli away.
His high alert payed off when he spotted David in his peripheries, loitering
near an M276. From the corner of his eye he could clearly pinpoint the moment
his twin saw him saunter by, pretending that he hadn’t noticed David there. Now
I just have to hope he follows.
Sorting through the limited options, Eli decided to head toward a dark corner
of the hanger on SP1. It was almost like the forgotten corner: soldiers didn’t
walk past and the all but unused elevator created a hidden alcove. Perfect.
Eli kept his oblivious walk up, realising that he’d have to turn away from the
corner if David didn’t catch up soon. Rather than forfeit his spot he stopped
at the elevator, fiddling with the cage door as if he was attempting to open
it. Time ticked past and he could feel the hairs on his neck standing up in
anticipation of his brother making it over to him.
He suspected that David was trying to sneak up on him, and cast a glance over
his shoulder. He was alone in the hangar. He’s not here?! Maybe he didn’t see
me after all. I need to walk by again. Adopting the casual gait, he made his
way back out into the sunlight.
Solid was still by the emplacement, now joined by three gulls that he was
crumbling bits of a Calorie Mate for. The brunette looked up at him. FUCK, he
knows I’ve seen him!!!Liquid hesitated and considered just walking off, but the
other would know he was running away.
Regaining his haughty composure, Liquid strutted over. The gulls squawked,
scattering, and the green-eyed snake stood with his arms crossed waiting for
Solid to greet him. His greeting never came.
“David.”
“Yeah?” Oooh, don’t you pretend like nothing’s the matter. Eli opened his mouth
to speak and found that he had no idea what to say. He hadn’t planned on being
forced to face him like this.
“W-what are you doing out here?” Ugh…
“I’m just looking around. What are you doing?” Oh fuck.
“Well – I – was told to come get you. Dad wants you.”
“…He does?”
“Yeah. He’s this way.” Eli spun on his heels and headed back to the hangar. It
was still empty, but he led David behind the shelves anyway. What am I going to
do? What do I do?!
“Why are we going this way?” The blonde stopped as his ideas ran out,
completely in the spotlight. “Eli?” He had nothing to say, and no excuses left.
“…Eli?” In a flash Liquid spun round and launched himself at his twin, crashing
their lips together clumsily. “Mh!”
He opened his mouth to the kiss and pushed forward with his tongue desperately,
clinging tightly to David’s neck. His sibling froze in shock and let his mouth
be probed. Please don’t ignore me!
As if waking up from a deep sleep, David shuddered and gripped onto Eli’s hips,
relaxing his jaw to mould it in time with his. Eli was pressing into him so
desperately that they stumbled, landing against a row of shelves and knocking
some empty boxes off. The sound of them thumping on the floor was muted, but
the twins stopped to check for anyone that might have heard.
They waited nervously, still clutching onto each other. A gull screamed
outside, and laughter could be heard somewhere on the roof. Someone could spot
them from the walkways above if they happened to be on patrol. Eli thought
about taking it elsewhere and his impatience cried out in protest. Even the
quick kiss had him aroused, and it had had the same effect on David by the feel
of it.
Getting some sudden inspiration he stooped to pick up one of the large boxes
and tipped the stray bits of packing foam out. Then he knelt down and hid
underneath it. David lifted a corner up to peer in after him.
“We can both fit in.” was all he needed to say, and David crawled in too. In
fact, it was so big their father could have hid underneath with room to spare.
What the hell did they put in this?
Solid was the first to pounce this time, crawling onto Liquid so that the
blonde had to lie down under him. The floor was cold against his bare back.
“So…do you…forgive me?” Solid whispered between planting kisses on his neck.
“Yes.” The dark haired twin had started grinding into him slowly, rubbing their
erections through their clothing. “Ah, yes.”
“Do you…still…wish I was dead?” Liquid cringed and faltered. I forgot I said
that.
“No, it’s not true! I only said it because…you made me upset.”
“I know. I suppose that makes us equal…because I didn’t mean all those things
either.” His lips ghosted over the column of Liquid’s throat, feeling his
heartbeat flutter there.
Eli’s hands hovered uncertainly across his body, finally settling on undoing
his shorts. They both sprung free of their underwear easily and Eli gathered
them in a hand to jerk them hurriedly. The box didn’t do much by the way of
concealing their voices, so they had to bite their lips and stifle their
moaning on each other’s skin.
David began thrusting hard, moving Eli’s body as well. It felt so right; Eli
spread his legs wide to let him get as close as he could. The movements even
rubbed along his ass where his clothes were bunching up and sliding. In that
moment he recalled the feeling of the brush handle he was so fond of and
imagined the sensation was his twin inside him.
“Hah, David!” He tensed up and spilt onto his stomach, locking the brunette in
the vice-like grip of his thighs. His seed was mixed with the other’s soon
after, and they stayed tangled together while they caught their breaths.
“Haaa…brother…”
“Hm?”
“I…” What did he want to say? “I -” Something he’d never said before. “I’m
sorry.”
***** Fever *****
Chapter Notes
     That took much longer than it should have
The box was left on the floor, the twins tidying themselves up as best they
could and heading back out into the open. They didn’t speak much on their walk
back to Eli’s room, but for once the silence was companionable.
David didn’t feel shy as Eli pulled his shirt over his head, nor did he feel
completely clueless when they kissed. In that room they were hidden. There was
no sickness or panic when Eli took him into his mouth this time, just a rush of
pleasure and excitement. He lay back and let himself enjoy the treatment,
however inexperienced and clumsy it was. David couldn’t tell anyway.
In no time at all David could feel the tell-tale heat building in his lower
abdomen, steadily getting stronger. As he got closer and closer he risked a
peek at his twin, who was looking up at him with such a strange expression that
it startled him. The blonde was flushed and out of breath, with thin tears
gathering under his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. David was a little
confused, and it must have shown on his face because Eli stopped to give him a
smile and gulp in some oxygen.
“You ok?” Eli nodded and stuck his tongue out to slide along his shaft. He’s so
warm and soft… David came without warning, groaning and catching his equally
surprised brother in the face. The orgasm was strong, and his hands fisted the
sheets as he rolled his hips into it.
His tense body unwound slowly, still twitching and hot and flushed.
“Hehe…sorry.” he mumbled when he’d recovered enough to open his eyes and get a
look at the mess he’d made over his brother’s cheek and mouth.
“Mmh~” Liquid’s tongue darted out to swipe some of the semen from his lip, and
Solid interrupted him with a kiss. The kiss evolved into a lick, and he gently
began cleaning the sticky substance from his face while Liquid sat and relished
the attention. When he was done he lapped the wetness from his eyes while the
other laughed and shrugged him off. “Quit it!”
As Solid pulled back his sibling tipped with him, lying over him on the cot.
Liquid buried his face into his neck, and the brunette could swear he was
smelling him again. Do I really smell that good? His twin’s still present
erection dug into his thigh where he was being straddled, so he flipped their
position in a smooth roll to take care of it.
Eli sat up for a better view, a feverish look of anticipation dancing across
his face. He was shivering and panting so hard that David was slightly more
concerned than aroused. Rather than ask if he was alright a second time he
unfastened his shorts and tugged them down, eyeing the wet stain in his
underwear at the head of his erection with a grin.
The underwear was finally peeled off, and David got the first good look at his
twin’s genitals. Before they had either been in the dark or hidden between
their bodies. Much to his surprise Eli had shaved himself, keeping the curly
golden hair at the top and disposing of it everywhere underneath. The skin was
so smooth that he had to pause to stroke over it, his sibling sighing
tremulously above him. “Ahh, D-David…”
“Mmh-hm?” stopping the advance of his mouth to look up at him, he could see the
cold sheen of sweat on his skin.
“I don’t feel so good.” Solid leaned back to take in Liquid’s pale face and
bruised eyes, shocked that the change had happened so suddenly.
“Jesus Eli, you don’t look so good! Maybe you should lie down.” Liquid
collapsed onto his side, his wet hair clinging to his forehead. “What the hell
happened? You were fine just a second ago!”
“I dunno…” They stayed in uncertain stillness for a moment, his arousal
forgotten by the both of them.
“Well, should I get somebody?” The shaking had gotten worse fast, and the
possibility that the deterioration was his fault crossed David’s mind. How
would he explain the fact that his brother had contracted an illness that
occurs when you put a cock in your mouth? Did such a thing even exist?
“No. I don’t want them. Can you pull the blanket up? I’m cold.”
“You’re boiling hot though! I think you have a fever or something.” Other than
argue with him the brunette manoeuvred his underwear back on and threw the
duvet over him. “I really think I should tell somebody.”
“Noooo!They’ll take me to the medical platform. I hate it there…I wanna stay in
my own bed.” Eli grunted and creased his brow against a stab of pain in his
skull. Witnessing the struggle, a very alarmed David jumped up and did the only
thing he could think to do – ask ‘are you ok?!’ in a loud voice. “Oww…”
“What was that?”
“My head…”
“You really need a doctor, let me -” Eli’s hand darted out to grab his wrist as
he stepped back.
“-I don’t need a doctor! Just…don’t leave, stay here.”
“What am I gonna be able to do?” His brother withdrew his hand and shuffled
away, peeling back the duvet.
“Keep me company.” David looked at the offered spot sceptically, the word
‘contagion’ flashing at the back of his mind. Pushing the thought aside with a
sigh, he lowered himself into the small gap on the bed next to his brother.
“Tsss, you’re cold!” Eli flinched at the contact with his sticky hot skin, not
able to move away on the one-man cot.
They jostled to find a comfortable position, David settling on his back and Eli
on his side. Up close the blonde’s laboured breathing was more apparent, and
his dark eyes stood out from the ashen colour of his face. David stayed quiet
so that the other could fall asleep.
After a minute or two of stillness he turned his head carefully to check if he
had drifted off, and the still-conscious Eli opened his eyes to see what the
matter was.
“Go to sleep.” The brunette whispered.
“Hmm.” The response was more of a simple acknowledgement than a yes or no.
David left it a little longer, almost able to hear the metronome esque ticking
of the non-existent clock. When he checked a second time he was still awake.
“Eli, go to sleep.”
“I’m not tired enough.” his voice was warped by the cheek resting on David’s
shoulder. He lifted his free arm to trace his fingers over the brunette’s
middle, eventually coming to a stop when his stiff joints started to ache.
“Hey, David?”
“What?” He had almost been falling asleep himself under Eli’s ministrations.
“Can you do me a favour?”
“…Like what?”
“Can you jerk me off?”
“Now’s not really the best time, is it?”
“Please?”
“You’re sick.”
“It might make me feel better!” Solid took a sidelong look at his pleading face
and gave in.
“Fine.” He freed his arm from between them and slipped into his boxers, feeling
around for his soft cock. Liquid twitched and filled out under the gentle
pumping, humming appreciatively into his ear.
“Mmh, that’s good.” Some colour had returned to his cheeks in his excited
state. The blonde’s random hip shuffles became little thrusts that kept in time
with the slow stroking. Solid withdrew to spit on his hand, slicking the member
up as best he could. “Brother~” Liquid nuzzled his face closer.
His precome stringed onto Solid’s wrist and hand, flowing fast and thick from
the tip. With each pull the foreskin folded over the head, sending another wave
of pleasure through his body. “Ah! Yes!” The pain was forgotten, but the
illness was still there. He fucked weakly into his twin’s hand, soaking the bed
with his leaking.
David felt his already high temperature rise. He didn’t want to make his
condition worse, but it wouldn’t be fair to stop and leave him unsatisfied
again – Eli hadn’t had a chance to finish before his funny turn. The squirming
and thrusting slowed to a halt, the minimal exertion becoming exhausting.
“Ah…mmmhm…”
“You want me to keep going?” His panting sounded like hyperventilating, and
David could sense that he was getting faint.
“Y-yeahh…I’m gonna cum.” No sooner had he finished the last word than his tired
body climaxed, feeling more like a shudder than an orgasm.
David tucked him away and wiped his hand on his underwear, hoping that the
other might finally be able to sleep. He tried scooting over to let Eli lie
properly, but he was held (albeit feebly) in place. “No…stay like this…” An arm
and leg was draped over him in an attempt to stop him from moving. “Stay like
this…”
***** Raining *****
Chapter Notes
     Back from the dead
     Jk I'm just really lazy
The light was still off when Eli fought to open his eyes. Behind them the
dizziness continued to pound, and his body was still achy. David had fallen
asleep in his limb trap, his cheeks pink with the heat that Eli was radiating.
Carefully the blonde climbed over him and toddled to the bathroom, only to wake
back up in his bed. Again he got up, telling himself sternly that he had to use
the toilet; and he woke back up in the same spot again. He was so tired that he
kept imagining himself moving, but he wasn’t actually doing anything at all.
C’mon…up! His body felt so weak when he moved an arm over David’s chest to set
the wheels in motion. For a few frightening seconds his leg didn’t even respond
to his mental command. Get up, you have to go! As he slowly righted himself he
nearly pitched forward in a faint and clonked heads with his twin.
The spell faded as he got over the head-rush and swung himself over the
brunette. It was just bright enough to see in the bathroom so he didn’t bother
with the light. Pulling himself from his underwear he sighed and let go,
feeling the relief wash over him.
“Eli?” David’s voice carried into the bathroom.
“Yhh – Yeah?” he wheezed and cleared his throat to be heard. When he didn’t get
a reply he tucked himself away and shuffled back to the bedroom. “What is it?”
David poked his head out from underneath the duvet, his eyes still heavy from
sleep.
“You feeling any better?”
“A bit.” The duvet was pulled aside for him and a hand extended to invite him
back under the covers. Liquid settled next to his twin, getting a kiss on the
neck as a greeting. He wasn’t used to getting so much affection, but he could
certainly stand more. Solid gathered a lock of golden hair and wound it round
his fingers lazily.
“…Yaknow, I-” He was interrupted by a loud knock at the blonde’s door which
startled the both of them.
“Eli.” Solid wormed his way back under the duvet at the sound of V’s voice.
“This is familiar.” he whispered up to his brother, who elbowed him to be
quiet.
“What is it?” Liquid croaked.
“You have to pack your stuff up…you uh, have to go home.”
“WHAT?”
“David’s still asleep, he won’t answer me. Can you tell him?”
“Wait, why do we have to go now?” Eli sat up labouriously to direct his voice
at the door.
“Your father’s orders, not mine. I’ll be back in an hour to get you, make sure
you don’t forget anything.”
“Nonono, wait!” he half fell out of bed trying to get to the door. When he
stepped out into the comparatively cold air V was already gone.
He wants us back?...Now? Why…He was the one who sent us away in the first
place, why has he changed his fucking mind NOW?!His knuckles cracked under the
force of his shaking fists.He’s doing this on purpose to punish me! Thatcunt,
I’m gonna-
“So we have to go back already?” David called over to him quietly, wresting the
quilt from his head once again. “It hasn’t even been a week.” Thanks for
reminding me. There’s no way we’re leaving now…
“No. We’re not going anywhere.” Eli shut the door and made a beeline for his
bag. He’d been living out of it anyway, so packing wouldn’t take long.
“What?”
“If Venom’s coming to collect us we just need to be somewhere he can’t find us.
We’ll go to the lifeboat.”
“And then what? It’s not like we can stay there forever.” Eli knew that, but so
long as they could be even an hour late to their father’s summons it would be
worth it. He pulled some clothes from the tangle inside the bag while David
watched him intently. For some reason he still felt shy changing in front of
him, even though his brother had seen him naked before.
“Are you going to pack or what?”
“Fine.” The brunette got up to collect the clothing strewn around from
yesterday and ducked into the hall to his own room. As Eli tried to lift his
bag his lack of strength became frightfully apparent, and he had to set it down
while he adjusted. Whatever had afflicted him the day before was still having
an effect on him.
When his twin returned the blonde was sitting on the end of his bed, mentally
preparing himself for the walk to the lifeboat. “Ready?” Eli hummed in response
and swung his luggage over his shoulder in a practiced movement, willing his
legs to hold out as he joined David in leaving the building.
                                       ~
It was raining on Mother Base. The boys scurried through the downpour together,
avoiding the attention of the Diamond Dogs shielding their eyes from the water.
Liquid had to steady himself on his brother’s shoulder a few times, but other
than that he showed no sign that something was amiss.
Taking the stairs instead of the slippery ladder was a smart move. Thankfully
their lifeboat was as they had left it inside and out, untouched. Eli was the
first in, immediately followed by an equally drenched David. Shaking, they lay
down on the makeshift mattress side by side.
“It’s freezing in here.” Solid whispered, pulling one of the spare blankets
over the both of them.
“It’ll warm up soon.” The brunette turned to face him and slid his hands up
under his shirt.
“You’re even cold here.”
“Well, it’s been raining.” his skin was numb, but he could still feel the
fingers tracing over it lightly. A hand glanced over his peaked nipple and he
swallowed thickly, catching his twin’s smirk from the corner of his eye. David
withdrew to pull the shirt up and replace his hands with his mouth. The sudden
change in temperature from his lips gave Eli goosebumps.
His nipple was enveloped in the wet heat and gently sucked up into it with a
strange tingling pleasure that made his breath hitch. David’s soft tongue laved
over it slowly and repeatedly, until the blonde could feel himself twitching in
his underwear.
With a slight change in position Eli’s upper body was pinned under him, their
shared warmth spreading through their damp clothes and skin. “Mmh…that’s nice…”
David pulled off with a pinch of his lips and moved to pay attention to the
other side of his chest.
Using the hand that wasn’t currently trapped by his twin, Liquid rubbed at his
crotch. It was surprising how good the sensation felt on his chest and he soon
found himself squirming under his sibling’s mouth. The lifeboat shuddered under
a particularly strong gust of wind and the brothers seized up in surprise. They
gave each other the same look of concern. “W-we’re fine, the ropes are made to
endure bad weather.”
Solid sat up to peek out of one of the thin windows into the sheet of grey.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” This was Mother Base, no expense would be spared when it came to
the safety of the Dogs that lived there. As if testing Eli’s faith the boat
jolted again and the hatch swung right off its hinges, the two of them seeing
death as they anticipated the drop to the ocean far below. Instead of death
their father appeared at the doorway, soaked through and looking quite
unamused.
“C’mon boys, time to go.” They sat in a mix of relief and shock, staring
speechless at V from amongst the blankets.
“Wha- how did you-”
“- Find you in the same hiding spot you’ve used for years? Get out, Eli.” He
knew this whole time?!
“No, we’re staying here.”
“In the lifeboat? Don’t be stupid.”
“We’re not going back, it’s not fair!” The blonde could never find the words to
articulate exactly how he felt, and it frustrated him to no end. Venom would
usually wait and listen while he tried to get it out, but today he was being
especially short with him.
“Eli don’t make me come in there and drag you out myself.” David flicked his
eyes nervously between the two, uncertain if he should obey V or stay with Eli.
“Why should he get to decide where we go? He doesn’t even care about us!”
“We’re not talking about this again now.” In some hidden, deep part of him,
Venom didn’t like the situation any better. Finally, his children living with
him, and suddenly they had to go back because John changed his mind. However,
he was used to his erraticism; so it wasn’t too much of a surprise. The scarred
man lifted a foot onto the lifeboat and made to duck inside.
“Wait, wait, we’re coming! Just – give us a sec, alright?” Eli quickly changed
his tune when his father started to advance, partially out of fear of the
anticipated punishment and partially out of wanting to conceal the erection he
had developed while alone with his twin moments ago.
Venom grumbled and stepped back from the hatch. Already David had collected his
pack and sat waiting for his brother to do the same so they could crawl out of
the boat together. Under the blankets Eli tried to readjust himself in his
trousers to make his predicament less obvious, before gathering his things
ready to leave home and go back to his prison.
                                       ~
They sat next to each other on the chopper again, shivering in the cold cabin.
David had been sure that Eli would burst into tears when V hugged them goodbye,
but he managed to keep his composure as they got in and watched Mother Base
shrink away behind them.
For a moment during the embrace he felt the same kind of despair as the blonde
over leaving, and briefly wondered if he himself would start crying too. It was
easy to see why he preferred it there. Why they preferred it there.
They had to walk back to the house from the drop off point. Even though it was
on the mainland, even though it was part of a small community (that was
obviously still shaken from the unexpected murder that had taken place
recently), it still felt infinitely more isolated than a rig in the middle of
the ocean.
So much had happened in such a short space of time that David felt like he was
being swept up. When he tried counting how long he had even been in his new
life he got confused and lost track. He wasn’t sure if it had even been more
than a fortnight yet.
“Is your life always this busy?” he asked his twin.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s always something going on. Like…getting moved around and all
that.”
“No, it’s been pretty hectic since you showed up. Everything happening at once,
almost. It can get really boring around here actually.” Good, I could use some
boring for a while.
They came to a tarmac road after a quarter of an hour, and onto a stretch of
pavemented road another ten minutes after that. The LZ wasn’t exactly on the
beaten track. In fact, there was a ‘PRIVATE, KEEP OUT’ sign beside the dirt
road leading up to it – whether or not it was an effective deterrent remained
to be seen.
The house cast a long shadow in the evening light that swallowed them up as
they approached it. Snake’s vehicle wasn’t anywhere to be seen. They both
commented on the empty driveway at the same time, and dropped their bags on the
doorstep as Eli retrieved the key.
“What is it?” David noticed him struggling with the lock.
“It’s not working. It’s already open.”
“Was it locked when we left?” They exchanged a ‘shit, oops’ and continued
inside. It didn’t look like it had been ransacked, or even inhabited since
their departure. “I’m gonna check the lockboxes anyway.”
“Thinking of stealing some money again, pipsqueak?” The twins jumped at the
unexpected voice, turning toward the speaker, who was blowing cigarette smoke
out the kitchen window. Again David had the shock of seeing a face so
strikingly familiar on someone he had never met.
“George! What the hell are you doing here?!”
***** Letters and Love *****
“George! What the hell are you doing here?!”
“Am I not allowed to come for a visit every now and then?”
“I-I thought you were in Liberia.”
“I was. I got flown back over while it’s quiet out there.” Solidus’ gaze fell
onto the other person in the house with little change in expression. “Solid.”
was all he said by way of greeting. “I thought you’d be blonde too. Looks like
you got lucky.” David gave him an awkward, forced smile that he ignored in
favour of taking another drag on his cigarette.
“Hav-”
“Shut up Eli, your voice fucking grates my ears.” Liquid stopped immediately,
much to Solid’s surprise. “You look like shit, are you sick or something?”
“…Have you been drinking?” The bottles in various states of emptiness on the
counter next to him were answer enough.
“What’s it to you? Why don’t you go upstairs and quit bothering me, both of
you.” The younger brothers stayed put while George tapped the ash off the end
into a dish of more squashed cigarettes. He looked their way again and got
visibly irritated by their disobedience. “While Dad’s gone I’m in fucking
charge, and I say go to your fucking rooms.”
This time they followed his order and backed away to the stairs. Their elder
stubbed out his smoke and took another swig from the vodka bottle at his elbow.
Once safely back in the loft they made a quick decision to go into David’s
room.
“Jeez, is he always like that?”
“He can be mean sometimes, but never like that. I’ve never seen him this way
before.” Eli cast a worried glance back at the door. “I’ve never seen him drunk
before either.”
“Oh, great. This is just what we need right now.” The brunette flopped back on
his pillow. His bed was much comfier than the one on Mother Base, at least. Eli
lay back to join him, tucking himself under the covers. “Make yourself at
home!”
“What? You don’t mind, do you?” A smile split across David’s face.
“No, I just thought you’d want to get your duck pyjamas on first.”
“Shut up.”
                                       ~
The twins ended up falling asleep, tired from their long commute. Eli was the
first to go, being wrapped up in bed; and David rested his eyes beside him
until he too slipped into unconsciousness. They dreamt about each other – one
was in a rowing boat with his brother and a talking heron, and the other had
built a treehouse in space that they could live in.
Their sweet dreams were cut short by the sound of glass breaking somewhere in
the house. The noise didn’t jolt them awake harshly, but they steadily came to
and waited for the mystery noise to repeat itself.
“Did you hear that?” David whispered. It was dark, so he wasn’t altogether sure
if the other was even awake.
“Yeah.”
“What was it?” From downstairs they could hear loud talking.
“It’s just George. Maybe it was our father coming in, I dunno.”
“Will he get told off?”
“God, I hope so. I-” The talking was replaced by heavy, uncoordinated footsteps
on the stairs. “…Is he coming up here?” They kept completely still, straining
to hear what was happening. When he reached the loft stairs Eli got out from
under the covers and sat back on top of them.
At the landing the noise stopped, and they held their breath curiously waiting
for the next move. Instead of calling out, Solidus opened the door to Eli’s
room and barged in unannounced.
“Get up, pipsqueak.”  The duvet was thrown back, revealing an empty bed. Taking
a few seconds to let it sink in, he turned and make his way into David’s room;
equally as unannounced. The light was flicked on and all three of them winced.
“What’re you both doin’ in here? Having a little slumber party?...Or
somethin’?”
It was obvious that he was extremely drunk, even before he spoke.
“…No. Did you want something?”
“Don’t talk to me like that, you lil’ shit.” George almost fell off of the
doorknob and righted himself on the desk. He raised a finger and pointed at
Eli. “Be careful around that one, Solid. He’s a creep.”
“Um…o-okay…” David replied uncertainly.
“Hey, Eli…c’mere. Come over here and gimme a cuddle, you haven’t said hello to
me yet.” The blonde stayed on the bed, in doubt as to whether he was being
serious or if he was just luring him over to punch him in the face, which
seemed much more likely. In the few months he’d been away George had packed on
a lot of muscle – if he would properly hit him now it would leave some lasting
damage.
George left the support of the desk to sway over to the bed, his younger
brothers shying away from him minutely. Eli was pulled into an uncomfortably
tight hug, turning his head from the sharp smell of alcohol on his sibling’s
breath. “What’re you being all squirmy for? You love cuddles, don’t you?”
“You’re crushing me!”
“HAHAHAHA! Don’t be a baby, baby brother.” There was something about his vibe
that was off. David sat watching the scene unfold before him, confused as to
what was going on. For all he knew it was like this between them all the time,
maybe they were just playing.
 Then he caught a glimpse of the panicked look on Eli’s face for a split second
and suddenly he was frightened too. “Why are you wriggling, pipsqueak? I
thought you liked it when I touched you.”
“G-George, stop.”
“Don’t be fussy, you love it really!” A hand slipped under the blonde’s shirt
to drag and press bruisingly into his skin.
“Stop, it’s not funny anymore…”
“Don’t do that.” David chimed in meekly.
“Hey, don’t pull that face guys, I’m not gonna hurt ya.” The other hand pulled
the shirt up along his back so that it was bunched under his arms. Eli used the
opportunity to try and escape his grasp, but George was too strong and too
fast, even while drunk. “You’re my sweet little brothers, I’m here to look
after you.”
“Let go of me. George, let me go!”
“Stop struggling first and I will.” Eli gradually came to a halt and sat tense
in the vice like grip. Slowly he was released, and he scooted away toward
David. “Haha! You’re so dramatic Eli.” he dragged the blonde back by his thigh
and laughed again at his expression.
“What d-do you want?”
“For you to go to bed, it’s bedtime squirts. Well? Don’t just sit there, get
into bed!” The twins started moving at the same time, carefully pulling the
duvet down so they could get under it. Solidus had to lean on the bedside table
for a moment, rubbing his eyes jadedly. “What’re you looking at?” he grumbled
at the pair of eyes watching him from the bed.
The elder soon recovered and straightened up again. “…Aren’t ya gonna give me a
goodnight kiss?”
“What?” his brothers asked in unison. Before either of them could react he
yanked Liquid up by his hair and drove their lips together, stabbing the taste
of liquor into his mouth with his tongue. Solid yelped in surprise and Liquid
spluttered, pushing against his assailant’s unmovable body desperately.
George let him go and drew away, his cold eyes boring into him as he scuttled
back in alarm.
“Go to sleep.” In another display of lightning fast movement he swept out of
the room, as steady on his feet as he would have been sober.
                                       ~
The desk was pushed against the door to barricade it. Neither of them said
anything about what had happened - perhaps they were still too shaken up for it
or there was just nothing they could really say. They lay very close together
and kept casting the occasional glance over to the door.
David had his arms looped around his clone as though he could protect him from
what had already occurred. He felt guilty that he hadn’t stepped in to help at
all. When Eli was getting fondled he had sat back, scared; and when George had
forced himself on him again all he could go was gape like an idiot. Worse than
that, like a coward.
Eli would undoubtedly have done something for him if the situation was
reversed. He would have shouted and sworn and thrown fists, though George now
had the strength and experience enough to snap them both like twigs. I don’t
really have any fighting experience…except for getting beaten up by those guys
at the park…but the two of us against him would stand a chance, right?
“I never thought I’d say this, but I hope father comes home soon.” Eli’s
confession brought him back from his introspection. “…Please don’t say anything
to him. It’ll just make things worse.”
“What? You’re not gonna tell him?”
“No, and you’re not either. Just trust me, it’s better if he never knows.” That
doesn't make any sense! Why let him get away with it?...I guess he
didn'tactuallydo anything...he's not gonna get told off for holding onto him
for too long, is he?
“Eli…”
“George has never done anything like that before. He’s drunk, it won’t happen
again.”
“That’s like saying ‘oh he’s never murdered before, we’ll let this one slide
and it won’t happen again.’” Eli pulled a face at him in the dark.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“N-no, it was just a random example, I-I didn’t mean-”
“- Me killing people?”
“No it wasn’t – about you, I didn’t mean to…say it like that.” Their
conversation trailed off, leaving behind the eerie silence that had been
permeating each corner of the big house since George had vacated the room. Not
a single noise had been heard of him since, which was incredibly unnerving. At
least if he was still crashing around they would have some idea of where he was
and what he was doing. “Seriously, I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Whatever. Can you at least promise to keep quiet?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“Good.”
                                       ~
Solidus hadn’t been lying when he told his younger siblings his reason for
returning to the States. At that moment things were at a standstill for him in
Liberia, and he was wasting his time twiddling his thumbs out there. He was
under no delusions as to why he was actually there – his father had sent him,
intending it to be a foot-in-the-door starter experience to their shared
inevitable lifestyles.
As much as he was glad to be out making a reputation for himself, he found he
was a lot more homesick than he’d anticipated. In an unexpected twist of fate
he found himself actually missing his younger brother, too. Since his comrades
would occasionally write home he was tempted to do the same. He didn’t imagine
his father would reply, but it would be nice to hear from Liquid while he was
so far way.
After a particularly bad day (he had been arguing strategy with companion who
proceeded to prove his point by getting his head blown off mid-sentence)
Solidus sat down to write two letters; one to his father to tell him that
everything was fine and another to his brother to tell him the opposite.
He didn’t go into much detail with Liquid’s, just that his unit had recently
had some bad luck. Reading it back he realised it was much too formal for what
he really wanted to say, so he added that he loved him and he missed him, and
promised that they’d talk about what he'd found in Eli’s notebook when he got
home – whenever that would be.
The letter was sealed with the address of one of the many small businesses that
held mail for his unit on the outskirts of their areas of operation, so that he
could collect the reply. He left it a fortnight before asking after any new
mail of his that had come in…of which there was none. A week later he was
handed his reply, but instead of Eli’s spindly handwriting he found his
father’s, along with some money.
A month passed by since sending his letter and still there was no word from his
brother. He had got so impatient by this time that he was visiting the store
every day, only to leave emptyhanded. It was certain that Eli had got the
letter because Snake had received his, and they had been shipped in the same
package. So, was he ignoring him? He had asked for him to write back.
On the second month of waiting he wrote to his father again, giving him a
cursory update and asking about Eli’s plans to contact him. Snake sent back
more money and the news that Eli refused to write back.
Upset and enraged, he had torn up his father’s letter.
In reality the blonde had never even received the heartfelt message, which lay
opened and hidden in a locked drawer of his father’s desk.
***** Bags *****
The kitchen floor was refreshingly cold on his face. Solidus struggled to
surface from his blackout, his elbow disturbing a glass bottle that clinked
over and rolled away on the tiles. He was sure that bedrest was all he needed
to cure his newfound headache.
Sluggishly he crawled out of the kitchen, turning away from the painful morning
light, into the hall and over to the stairs. Using the bannister for support he
got to his feet and began the slow ascent. It was quiet. Usually Liquid’s music
would have been playing by then, provided their father hadn’t told him to shut
up (if he was home at all).
As it turned out the household he remembered would never quite be as he
remembered it again. He knew Snake had managed to track Solid down, but he had
no idea he was planning on bringing him home. Seeing him shuffle in last night
had been a big surprise. However, Solidus was in no mood to get acquainted with
him at that moment.
Later that evening when he was well and truly plastered he’d discovered them
sitting together, apparently enjoying each other’s company. That was another
shock. Eli was so prickly he couldn’t make a friend if his life depended on it,
leaving George to come to the conclusion that their sibling was humouring him
since he’d otherwise have no one to talk to.
George had been planning to finally speak with Eli, but it seemed that he was
continuing to avoid it by sticking with David. Last night he had tried to
frighten him, just to let him know that he couldn’t hide behind their brother
forever; and of course, being drunk, he had taken it a bit too far. Hopefully
he’d succeeded in embarrassing him, though.
His room was as plain and characterless as ever when he dragged himself in. He
hadn’t unpacked a single thing yet, and his heavy bags were still lying where
he had dumped them upon arrival yesterday before dawn. Not that it made any
difference to the appearance of his room.
Somewhere, hidden in the lining of one of the trunks, he had kept the pages he
had torn from Eli’s notebook. Having discovered them less than an hour before
he was due to leave the house to board one of Snake’s choppers en route to
Liberia, there had been no time to decide what he was going to do with them –
so he took them with him.
He had been in an almost frantic rush despite being extremely prepared, since
he had been so nervous to leave home. Checking everything for the thousandth
time revealed that Eli had stolen something from one of his packs at the last
minute. George couldn’t recall what it had been (probably something minor, it
was more so the principle that mattered) but he did remember how pissed off he
had been at the time.
As usual he let himself into Eli’s room, knowing he was downstairs eating
breakfast. Immediately his backpack stood out as the first place to check, and
he found his unimportant item straight away. Was it a lighter? George tried to
visualise what he had slipped into his pocket before eyeing the book tucked
amongst a handful of pencils. Even though he felt the unnecessary urgency of
his scheduled departure the temptation to look was just too much.
Eli had shown him some of his scribbles before, so he knew what it was used
for. It was mostly just observational sketches of whatever was around him,
including George himself. There were even a few anecdotes jotted down around
the drawings.
As he flicked through an obscure sense of dread crept up on him, made worse by
the fact that he appeared more and more frequently on each passing page. Then
of course he had found what he had found and Eli came in as he was staring at
the pages. George had no idea how to react, and Eli just stood in the doorway
with the most horrified look on his face.
What could he do, now that time had run out? What should he do? Well, ignoring
the problem seemed like the best course of action, so he tore the pages out and
pushed past his brother, slamming the book against his chest as he went. The
blonde had called his name meekly from the top of the stairs and without
turning around or even stopping he replied ‘Don’t speak to me’.
From there he took his bags downstairs to leave. Snake pulled Eli down to say
goodbye, but neither of them spoke or looked at each other so he just let him
go. George left with those being his final words to his little brother before
diving headfirst into a warzone.
                                       ~
Liquid felt sick all through the night. Why hadn’t Snake said anything about
Solidus coming home? Was it because he was being punished, or didn’t he know
himself? He would’ve hidden himself a lot fucking better on Mother Base if
anyone had bothered to tell him.
Solid drifted in and out of sleep periodically beside him, his wonderful smell
soaking into the sheets. The blonde wondered how it all must look to their
older brother; him being so comfortable with his twin, and in such a short
space of time considering just a few months ago Liquid swore he was the bane of
his existence and proclaimed Solidus to be the Superior Sibling of the two.
Hopefully the pretend it never happened approach would work. Solidus surely
wouldn’t remember last night after all that alcohol…At least, that was the
theory. Either way he was on very thin ice, and he knew that eventually he’d be
cornered.
Stupid nosey bastard always going through my things… If he hadn’t pulled that
stunt with the zippo, though, George wouldn’t have had reason to even go into
his room. He’d planned to take it, volunteer to help look for the ‘missing’
item and return it just in the nick of time. All he had wanted was to be the
useful brother before George left.
Eli slid out of the narrow bed as smoothly as he could. He really needed to use
the bathroom, but that meant he’d need to move the desk and leave the sanctuary
of David’s room. After holding it for as long as he could he decided he
physically couldn’t wait anymore.
The desk was heavy, but it moved quietly over the carpet as it was pulled back
from the door. Twisting the handle as stealthily as he could, Eli peeked
through the small crack he created onto the landing outside. It was empty. His
ears were pricked for any sign of life as he tiptoed down to the bathroom.
George’s feet were sticking out from his room when he reached the second floor.
Clearly he was passed out, so Eli carried on to his destination.
He was fully expecting his older brother to be waiting for him outside the
bathroom door, George was always two steps ahead of him. There was no surprise
confrontation when he exited, and it just made him more anxious. Inevitably the
sword of Damocles was going to fall on his head, and the suspense was a
tightness in his chest that refused to settle. He hated being on edge, it
reminded him too much of his time in Africa.
The feeling of vulnerability was one he was far too familiar with; he’d never
have the upper hand as long as he kept dodging George. It was the same on
Mother Base when he had been avoiding David – he needed to be in control, or
he’d lose. I have to win! Ineedto!
In a sudden flash of courage the blonde halted at the stairs, looking back over
his shoulder at his brother.He’ll be sick…He won’t remember…He won’t argue
while he’s in pain.Slowly Eli turned around and found himself creeping across
the landing. He can ruin everything - David can’t know about this.
George was lying face down on the floor, stinking more of smoke and alcohol
than ever. Eli wrinkled his nose in disgust and stepped over him lightly,
focussing on the bags further in the room. The pages.He knew they had to be in
them somewhere, he’d already scoured around the room countless times in the
past few months. If he doesn’t have any evidence then I’ve already won.
The zip on the first bag sounded like firecrackers in his ears as he fought to
keep it silent. In the brief pauses he took to steel his nerve his heart
hammered just as loudly. Pushing past the neatly folded fatigues inside he
reached for a book and shook it out, hoping what he was looking for would be
hidden there. All that fell out was the old bookmark that had been keeping
George’s place.
Continuing the search he found a handgun with two boxes of ammunition, more
cigarette packets, a combat knife and a tin of shoe polish. Shit… Eli wasn’t
willing to give up, so he resolved to check all the pockets and packets too.
There wasn’t a hint of what he was looking for anywhere.
“What do you think you’re doing?” George’s clear voice made Eli jump, and he
shot up to face his brother standing.
“Where is it?!”
“Where’s what?” he rolled over so he was lying on his back, tilting his head to
watch his little brother.
“You know what! I know you have it!”
“…You won’t find anything in there. Sit down-”
“- No!” Eli didn’t want the conversation, if that’s what you could even call
it, to steer in an unwanted direction. “No, just…tell me where you’ve hidden
it.” The elder's expression changed subtly, and he looked up at the ceiling.
“…Why didn’t you ever respond?”
“To what?” George sighed and passed a hand over his eyes briefly.
“To my letter.”
“I never got a letter, dummy.”
“Eli…”
“I didn’t get a letter!”
“We both know that you’re lying – father told me you read it and decided to do
nothing.”
“I didn’t get a fucking letter!” Eli backed away slightly as the brunette sat
up. “I didn’t get anything, I didn’t even know that you were writing us!” He
couldn’t see the other’s expression now that his back was turned, and he was
blocking the exit that he so desperately wanted.
“Either way, we still need to talk.”
                                       ~
Liquid was sat on the end of the bed when Solid finally opened his eyes. He
nudged him with his foot under the duvet and the blonde started.
“You’re awake.” The desk pulled away from the door caught Solid’s eye.
“You’ve been out?”
“Just to the bathroom.”
“Did you see, uh, thingy anywh-” he was quickly cut off by Liquid pouncing on
him and melding their lips together. “-mmph!” Liquid mouthed and squeezed at
him frantically, leaving Solid no doubt that his morning wood would get put to
use somehow. His stifling pjs were practically torn off of him in their
struggle, and he gave just as much effort tugging at his sibling’s clothes.
Their kiss deepened until they were both lapping and moaning into each other’s
mouths. Golden hair fell like a veil over his face, blocking out everything
else.
They broke away for some air and Eli sat up, much to David’s disappointment.
The disappointment was short-lived, though, when Eli leant down to pull his
underwear away and run his tongue over his swollen length. “Ahh…” He lay his
head back on the pillow and let his clone lick at him slowly. Since his gaze
was elsewhere he was surprised by the mouth enveloping him, a spare hand
pulling the foreskin back so it could suck at his cock.
In the haze of pleasure he gripped onto Eli’s head with both hands, curling his
fingers into his hair. The blonde was still clumsy, but David couldn’t care
less. “Ohh fuck!”He retracted a hand to sit on his elbow and watch his brother
slurp at him, carefully sinking lower on his cock all the time. Eli flicked his
green eyes up at him and his stomach flipped, the pressure building unbearably
in his gut.
He couldn’t keep his volume down as he reached his climax, writhing on the bed
in ecstasy. Eli panicked slightly with no idea what to do with his semen, but
he let it squirt into his mouth and spat it into his discarded t-shirt
afterwards.
“Am I getting better?”
“Yeah…” David replied wholeheartedly. “Definitely.”
***** Cornflakes *****
Chapter Notes
     I'm very tired.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The twins disentangled after they’d both had their fun, waiting for their
batteries to recharge for the next round. That was the good thing about having
nothing to do; you could lie in bed all day and cum. David had asked Eli about
school as they were watching the ceiling, and Eli had snorted in his usual way
and told him not to be so stupid. All he could glean from that was either Eli
refused to go or Snake had never enrolled them.
The blonde asked him to get some food as soon as his breathing had calmed, and
David was going to tell him he wasn’t his slave until he remembered Eli had
already left the room that morning and apparently bumped into their brother.
So, he sucked it up and redressed into his pjs, ignoring Eli’s smug little
smile behind him.
He wasn’t altogether sure what he was expecting to find in the kitchen, but
Solidus sitting and reading at the spotless counter wasn’t it. The kitchen had
been cleaned of the bottles and spilt ashtrays and put back into order, looking
better than it had before under the twin’s care.
Solidus looked up uninterestedly from his thick book to take in Solid’s
dishevelled appearance and immediately turned his attention back to the pages.
He rested his head on a fist and fiddled with the stiff paper using his other
hand.
“Did he send you for his breakfast, then?”
How did he…?
“…No.”
“Of course he did.” He wet his thumb to turn the page and had another quick
look at his younger sibling. Solid’s pyjamas were inside out, his hair was a
dark mop on his head and he only had one sock on. They looked so much alike
(aside from the messiness) that it almost gave him the chills. Solidus wondered
if they had the same effect on their father. “Are you gonna get anything or
what?”
Solid went stiffly to the fridge and peeked inside. The shelves had been
cleaned and rearranged in there as well. Even so, there still wasn’t much in.
“There’s cereal in the cupboard there. The third one along.” He followed the
direction and pulled some cornflakes down, desperately wanting to spit abuse at
him but having no idea where to start.
“What did you say to Eli earlier on?” George spoke without looking up from his
book:
“Just what needed to be said between us.” There was an unspoken ‘it’s none of
your business’ in his wording.
“You tried to – hurt him last night.”
“Oh grow up, I was just fucking with you.” David turned back to find a bowl and
pour some cereal into it. Obviously there was more going on beneath the surface
than he was being told. Had George done something awful to Eli before? It
certainly seemed that way. Remembering back, though, there had been nothing but
admiration for him in Eli’s sketchbook.
Glancing sidelong he could see the side of his face, but it was unreadable.
Venom had been the same, so he could only assume they’d gotten it from Snake.
He hadn’t really seen enough of his father to be absolutely sure.
“That’s a fucking strange way to joke around.”
“This is a fucking strange family, brother.” David went back to shaking more
cornflakes into the bowl, careful not to tip it up too much and embarrass
himself with a cereal avalanche. “How well would you say you know him?”
The question caught him off-guard and he swivelled back toward George, who was
watching his face acutely.
“Uhh…pretty well, I guess.”
“Hm.” the elder sibling refocussed on his book, apparently having lost interest
in the subject.
“I’ve only been here for a few weeks.” In actual fact it was one day away from
being a fortnight. Unbeknownst to him, George was weighing an idea in his head
carefully.
“…I have something of his here. Yaknow, he annoyed the shit out of me the
entire three years I’ve known him, and he still does. I suppose we were just
typical brothers. That’s what I thought anyway, until I found this.” he pulled
a wad of folded paper from the wide spine of the book. “Have you found out he
can draw yet? Well, he drew this. I came across it completely by accident, much
to Eli’s horror.”
David was now engrossed in the impromptu story, absently slipping a dry,
flavourless cereal flake into his mouth. “Take it, it’s yours now. Ah-ah, don’t
open it here; wait until you’re alone for crying out loud.” The faint amusement
quickly drained out of his face now that he had handed it over, and he leant
back on his fist with a sigh. “This is all his fault. I only wanted to be his
brother.”
It sounded like George was speaking more to himself than to David.
The younger clone tucked the paper into the waistband of his pyjamas and
retrieved some milk for Liquid’s breakfast. What on Earth is happening?
“There’s no reason we can’t get along, even if he’s convinced you to dislike me
now. I hope that you change your mind, little brother.”
                                       ~
He was itching to see what Solidus had given him. At the back of his mind he
suspected it was a joke and it would be nothing, but there was only one way to
find out.
Instead of heading upstairs Solid went into the living room, through to the
unused dining area behind it that looked over the back garden. The two rooms
were separated by a pair of sliding doors of wood and frosted glass. He’d seen
it before during his exploration of his big new house, and it had a strange
lifeless feel to it. It wasn’t uninviting; Solid thought the vibe may be
because no one ever went in there. Around half the rooms in the house never
seemed to be used.
Setting the cereal aside on the polished dark wood table he sat down on the
matching chairs and started unfolding the mystery paper. There were two sheets
in the bundle. He smoothed them out and sat forward.
His body had no idea what sound to make, so it settled with a weak EHHH. There
was no doubt that it was Liquid’s handiwork. Solid lifted the first page to see
the second and made the same sound with a cringe.
“...Jesus.” He looked away to the outdated Victorian wallpaper of feathery
leaves and flowers all around him and looked back at the top page. Only two
people featured on the sheets – Eli and George. On each of the papers they were
engaging in a variety of pornographic situations together, always rendered in
extreme detail. Scrawled around each scene were paragraphs that David wasn’t
sure he should read, as he was sure they could never be un-read. Of course, he
had to read them now.
The image in the top left of the first page was of George alone, masturbating
himself. It was linked to a line of text by a dash.
- Does he suspect that I watch him? Maybe I should go in one day and offer to
help.
In the next scene Eli was on his knees giving George a blowjob. Then, George
covering his face with semen.
- He’s so big, but I want to impress him. I’ve been practicing with my
toothbrush – it’s not really the same because it’s too thin.
There was a relatively innocent one of them sharing a kiss, but it didn’t do
much to dampen the shock of the others. A speech bubble slipped from the crown
of George’s head (his mouth was occupied) that read ‘I love you!’.
- He stood up for me today. No one’s ever done that for me but him. When we
were alone I reeeaaly wanted to tell him. I will one day.
Something about that struck David as sad. All of it did, together.
Toward the end of the first page and the start of the second things escalated.
There were several drawings of them having anal sex in different positions,
with Eli always being on the receiving end. Each of them must have been
pencilled on different days when Eli was apparently in different moods.
- I want him inside me so badly I think I’m going 2 die!
- He’d be so gentle with me, I know it. I want him to have me completely, but
he just won’t pay me any attention!
- I think he’d like it if we did it like this. It would be sooo deep.
The second half of the last page was a written fantasy about the two of them
making love. What was the most disturbing thing about it was the fact that it
was written as though it had already happened and Eli was documenting it. In
fact both pages were double sided with content, with even more incidences
jotted down like diary entries. There looked to be at least a dozen scenarios
in total.
What thefuck? Whatisthis?! . A few even had some small illustrations paired
with them.
- We did it like this last night. George pinned me down and forced his way in.
He’s so much stronger than me. It’s different with him because it feels good,
even if it hurts me and makes me feel dirty. After I asked him why he did it
and he told me he loved me too much to wait any longer.
David finally tore his eyes away and looked out the window down the garden. A
cat picked its way through the growing grass, holding something feathery in its
teeth. He felt nauseous. In his hands he held Eli’s uncensored imagination, the
venting place for whatever he truly felt. Could any of this be true? No, it
could be. Then again...things weren't all that different with them.
George had found this without meaning to, and it had caused whatever rift lay
between him and the blonde. Eli had fabricated a relationship with him and
written it down in his private sketchbook. Reading it one got the impression
that, at times, Eli believed it was all true. This is so fucked… At a loss for
what else to do David re-folded the papers and collected the now soggy cereal,
getting up from the table to go back into the kitchen.
George was still in the same spot, albeit many pages further into the book. The
paper was skid across the counter to him and the cornflakes poured down the
sink.
“I don’t want it.” he said without looking up from his book.
“I don’t want it.” A beat. David rubbed his mouth nervously and pulled up a
stool on the opposite side of the counter. “Why did you give it to me?”
“Not sure. To show you what he’s like, I guess. Do you want me to go into this
or…?” the elder scanned over his face quickly to determine the best course of
action.
“No, but I can’t not know now.”
“...Alright. Let’s go for a walk.”
Chapter End Notes
     I'm interested to hear what any of you thought would be on the pages.
     The reveal has happened but comment what your theories were! <3
***** Ghosts *****
Chapter Notes
     This chapter's just a quick look into what life was like for Eli and
     George living together.
     Basically George tries to scare the shit out of him because he's
     bored and Eli's irritating.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
1985
George’s little brother was odd, to say the least. Now that they had known one
another for nearly a year he was slightly more used to him, but he doubted it
was possible to be completely used to Eli.
He was already technically an adult, and Eli was just 13. They didn’t have the
same hobbies, they didn’t have the same tastes; they didn’t even have the same
nationality. They had next to nothing in common except for their father. And
still Eli insisted on pushing his way into what felt like his every waking
moment.
“What are you doing?” the blonde’s face materialised at his doorway, not
bothering to knock or announce himself as usual (though the door had been open
already).
“What’s it look like?” George, sat comfortably on his bed, wiggled the book he
had in his lap.
“Boooooring! I’m bored – can we do something?”
“No. Find a way to amuse yourself.”
“There’s nothing to do!”
“You have toys upstairs don’t you? Dad just bought you a box of plastic
soldiers.”
“I hate them.”
“What a surprise.” he muttered to himself sardonically. “There’s always
something to do, I’m sure you can find it.”
“There really isn’t. This place is so boring even the neighbours will probably
commit suicide because their brains are melting.”
We don't have any neighbours, dummy. At that thought George had an excellent
idea to distract his little sibling, and maybe even get some payback for his
annoyance. Somehow he managed to keep himself from grinning at his swift
brilliance, and pulled his most convincing look of worry.
“Who told you that?”
“What?...No one, I was – what do you mean ‘told me’?”
“So you didn’t know? Well, I won’t tell you then.” he turned his eyes back down
to his book.
“Tell me what? Please, you have to tell me now!” George felt the corners of his
mouth twitching to smile.I’ve got him. That was easy.
“Have you ever seen our neighbours?”
“…Uh…I think so.”
“Are you sure? Have you ever seen anyone else on the street, or any cars in
their driveways?” From George’s window there was a clear view of their
neighbourhood, and Eli ran his gaze over the other houses as best he could from
the doorway. There were indeed no cars in any of the driveways, and the grass
was always overgrown. Thinking back over his brief time at the house he
couldn’t remember seeing anyone else coming or going either.
“No…t-the houses are empty, I think.”
“Exactly. That’s because…no, I don’t think I should tell you.”
“That’s not fair! Please, what is it?” the blonde tiptoed in further to hear
what he had to say.
“I don’t wanna scare you.”
“I’m not scared of anything!” Eli puffed his chest out in a display of his
bravery, an action that didn’t quite have the effect he wanted because he was
so short and skinny. Obviously he was somewhat unaware of his own unthreatening
appearance because he never wore a shirt.
“If you insist.” George looked around him as though he were checking for
eavesdroppers before he began, and Eli was so under his spell that he did the
same as he crept even closer, although they were completely alone in the house
most of the time. “There used to be people living in those houses, before you
moved here. They were just normal people. Then, one night, every single one of
them died.”
“That’s not true!” Eli drew back slightly, frowning at him. “It would have been
on the news!”
“You weren’t here yet, remember? And you don’t watch the news.”
“How can a whole street of people die at once? And how come you didn’t die?”
“Dad took me out on training that night.”
“How did they die then?”
“They all died…of fright.”
“You can’t die of fright!” Eli snorted. “That’s stupid!”
“Yes you can. You have a heart attack when you’re scared, right?”
“What scared them all at the same time then?”
“No one knows.” The blonde checked the room around him again in the following
silence, feeling cold all over.
“You’re just saying this to scare me, aren’t you?”
“You were the one who wanted to know!”
“Why did you bother bringing it up?”
“Because I wanted you to know that you shouldn’t go into those houses.”
“But they’re empty.”
“Not exactly – they’re haunted.”
“No they’re not! There’s no such thing as ghosts, you’re lying!” he wore the
most genuine look of concern that Solidus felt bad for teasing him. Then he
remembered all the times Liquid wouldn’t leave him alone and felt better.
“If you don’t believe me, fine. But there’s only one way to find out for sure.”
“…H-how?”
“We’ll have to go into a house ourselves to prove it.”
“WHAT? No. Way!”
“You’re not scared are you? I thought you just said you weren’t scared of
anything.”
“I’m not scared of anything.” Liquid snivelled petulantly.
“Then let’s go.”
“Really? But…isn’t that trespassing?”
“When has that ever stopped you before? Even barbed wire and electrics isn’t
enough to keep you out, if I’ve heard correctly.” Solidus marked his page and
set the book down, standing up from the bed. He was that much taller than
Liquid that the younger had to crane his neck to look at him. “If you want to
go we can go – as long as you’re not a coward.”
“Of course I’m not! I’ll prove it right now.”
“No, not now; wait until its dark.”
“Dark? Like night time?”
“Duh! It’ll give you plenty of time to find a flashlight.”
                                       ~
Now that he was out on the street he was a lot less sure of his stubborn
decision, despite the glaring security of the streetlight. Both he and George
had bulky spotlight torches each that they had found in the garden shed and
loaded with new batteries.
“Which one should we go in? It’s your decision.” Eli scanned along the road
carefully. All the houses looked pretty much the same to him.
“What about that one?” he pointed to the one closest to their own house,
diagonally opposite across the street.
“Good choice. C’mon.” George stepped into the road and out of the reach of the
streetlight. Eli scurried to keep up, feeling the darkness close in behind
them. Instead of walking up the drive the brunette stuck to the side of the
house, disappearing toward the rear. “We’ll go in the back way, so we don’t
have to break the front door.”
There was no light whatsoever there, so they both flicked on their torches. Eli
used the beam to inspect the featureless back yard as George used the butt of
his spotlight to smash the glass of the patio door and unlock it from inside.
“Alright, it’s open. Don’t slip on the glass here.” Together they crunched over
the shards.
The room they arrived in was bereft of furniture, as the rest of the building
would be. George knew that no one had really ever lived there – no one had
lived anywhere along the street, except for maybe a few crackheads who broke
into the houses for somewhere to stay. Honestly he was surprised that the door
hadn’t already been broken; perhaps it was because it was within view of the
one house that clearly had occupants.
As he understood it the neighbourhood had been built for the wealthy as a prime
spot in a secluded and quiet town. The perfect suburban mansion. No one
previously living in Los Prados could afford such a place far on the outskirts
of their community, understandably, so the housing was advertised in high-end
agencies and columns to draw in potential buyers. Then their father moved in
and every trace of the real estate advertising vanished, and the houses were
taken off the market. He wasn’t sure if they had all been bought by Big Boss to
keep them empty and give him privacy, but he wouldn’t be surprised to learn it.
“There’s nothing in here.” Eli whispered beside him. “Where’s all their stuff?”
“It’s already been taken by their families, dummy. It’s been, like, a year
since then.”
“Oh.” George led the way further in, checking the corners for any unexpected
guests. He just wanted Eli to finally cave and admit he was scared, not be
ambushed by junkies. It had been a very long time since he’d even spotted any
hint of another life on the street though – their father made sure the houses
were cleared of unsavoury characters for their safety. Back when he first moved
in he could hear teams of Outer Heaven soldiers moving them along with their
bullets in the night. Maybe now they knew to stay away. Maybe even they thought
it was haunted.
Apart from a few cobwebs there was nothing of note to see. The brunette was
disappointed; it would be much spookier with some props to work with. One look
at Eli’s face however and it was easy to see the experience was more than
spooky enough for him. “…How would you even fight a ghost? The knife would go
right through them, right?”
“I don’t think you can fight ghosts.”
“Then why are we here? What if- what if we get hurt?”
 “Stop being a scaredy-cat.”
“I’m not scared!” he hissed back, quickly lowering his voice again. “I just
think this is a dumb idea.” The island counter in the next room threw a
confusing shadow was Eli passed his light over it, and he fought to keep his
imagination in check.
“- Let’s go upstairs, there’s nothing on this floor.”
“Wait. Wait, don’t walk so fast!”
Much to George’s pleasure all of the doors on the second floor were closed. Now
he could make a show of opening them.
“Which corridor first?” The house had the same layout as their own in reverse,
except that the loft hadn’t been converted.
“Open that one.” Liquid gestured with his torch to the room that would be his
brother’s in their own home. His older brother made sure he reached for it
slowly, adding as much dramatic effect as he could. Liquid’s body was strung
taught as a bow string waiting to see what was awaiting them on the other side.
Solidus threw the door open so quickly he noticed his sibling jump behind him,
and he sneered to himself. Wimp. “There’s nothing in there.” Liquid stated the
obvious again after whipping his torch beam around inside.
“They must already know we’re here…”
“What?”
“They must be watching us.” George was enjoying this immensely. Eli was not.
"What do you mean they're watching us!?" He took his older brother’s hand and
pressed himself as close as he could. Goosebumps prickled all over his skin. “I
want to go home now.”
“C’mon ya big baby, we haven’t even seen anything yet.” he tried to disentangle
his hand, but Eli had too firm a grip on it.
“Please George, let’s go!”
“You can go if you want, you know the way home.”
“I’m not going by myself. Please, please, I don’t like it here.” As he was
whispering George tilted his head to focus on a faint noise coming from
downstairs. Is it my imagination?“Take me home, I – what’s wrong?”
“I thought I heard something.” Eli whimpered and moved in front of him to
protect himself from the rest of the house, still holding onto him.
“I hate this…George, I’m really scared!” Yes, finally! He said it, he’s afraid!
“What was that noise?...I wanna go home, I really really want to go…” By the
torchlight he took another look at Eli’s face to soak up his victory and
realised he may have gone a bit far with this game. His face was white with
fear and he was quaking, pressed against him for some security.
Eli was an experienced warrior – so why did the thought of the undead disturb
him so much, when he had taken lives himself? Maybe it’s because you can’t
fight a ghost. Or maybe he just has a weird fear of them.
“What are you two doing here?”
“AAAAAH!” they both started at the rough voice and George snapped around to aim
his torch at it. Eli dropped his on the floor. A tall figure stood across the
landing in the pitch black, covered in blood.
It took a second for them to recognise him as their father.
“Jesus…please, never do that again!” the eldest son wheezed.
“Why are you in here? Are you teasing Liquid?” Eli had never moved as fast as
he did then, darting toward Snake and gripping onto his arm. The gun holstered
on his thigh was a lot more comforting than his brother's hand - plus he knew
Snake could win any fight. There was something much more reassuring about his
father, as safe as he may have felt with Solidus.
“Take me home!”
“Alright kid, calm down.” Snake stopped his shaking by placing the gloved hand
n his shoulder, and Eli felt the bubble of relief envelop him.
“How did you know we were in here?” George picked up the fallen torch as he
spoke.
“I could see your lights through the windows. You get back too – and don’t let
me catch you sneaking around these houses again.”
Chapter End Notes
     A quick glimpse into what they were all like together before the year
     that the story is set in. It'd be nice to start building on the weird
     love/hate relationship that Snake has with Eli and the rest of his
     children. Complicated shit.
     Also I drew what the twin's rooms are supposed to look like kinda so
     check that out if you want:
     https://ialsoshotthedeputy.tumblr.com/post/166300872618/a-really-
     rough-untidy-idea-of-what-the-twins
***** Forgive or Forget *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
David was still in his pyjamas when they stepped out into the street. As they
crossed through the porch he had a few seconds to stuff his feet into some
shoes and follow after him through the door. There was no one else on the
street, as usual. He was beginning to think that they were the only ones
actually living in the outskirt neighbourhood.
“So, why did we have to go outside for this again?”
“We didn’t, I just need to stop smoking inside.” A cigarette had materialised
between his lips and he brought his hands up to cup a flame and light it.
“We’re not allowed to smoke inside. I gotta start airing the house out before
Dad comes home.” George stood waiting for his brother to catch up as he
crunched over the gravel of their driveway.
“He smokes inside.”
“He does a lot of stuff we’re not supposed to.”
“…Does he kill people?” George watched his face curiously, and found it much
harder to decipher than his twin counterpart’s – though not impossible. He saw
an expectant fear there, and he guessed David already knew the answer to the
question.
“Are you asking if that’s one of the things we shouldn’t do? Because a little
birdy told me Eli’s already broken that rule recently.” The memory of the event
came flooding back to the younger sibling, and the ever observant George took
in every minute emotion that played across his face. “Were you here when that
happened? Did you see it?”
“W-what’s with all these questions? Just get on with your story or whatever.”
He didn’t like the way George interrogated him. At least, it felt like an
interrogation.What use would he have for my useless information anyway?
“Alright then. There’s not a whole lot to say other than Eli’s a bit of a
headcase. Let me preface this by saying that he’s not exactly had the merriest
upbringing, so he can’t take all the responsibility for it. I think he should
still be getting help, but that’s just me.
“He gets sort of…attached to people, he latches onto them and becomes obsessed.
Never like that” he jerked his head back toward the house, “before, but he has.
The first time it was a few years ago with Venom – you’ve met him, right?
That’s where you were coming back from yesterday? Anyway, he just couldn’t bear
it whenever Venom went away; which was all the time. It got so bad that he
wouldn’t talk to anyone unless he was there, and then he wouldn’t eat until he
came home. Venom had to stop taking missions because Eli was starving himself
half to death.”
George stopped to take another puff of his receding cigarette before diving
back into it. “That’s when he was moved away from Mother Base to live here.
There’s never been any such problem between him and father, for whatever
reason. He’s been nothing but a brat to him since day one.”
“He’s not exactly nice back!” David recalled the splotchy red marks Eli had
received after a scolding from Snake. That had been the first night he’d
invited Eli into his bed.
“A bit of discipline never hurt anybody.”
“Except for when it does.”
“Look, do you want to listen or not?” David crossed his arms and pouted in a
way that was strikingly familiar, but stayed quiet. “Right. So, he comes to
live here. Eventually he got over his attachment to Venom. He gets moved back
and forth every so often to stop it happening again, but…obviously it didn’t
work this time. Looking back I guess it was easy to see that something was
going on. He never really left my side for long. Once I caught him- well, let’s
just say he was doing something he shouldn’t in my room. I didn’t think much of
it at the time, I thought he was just, I dunno, trying to prank me or
something…”
“What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t really matter now.” George looked back at the house, unchanged
since his arrival over three years prior. The house that Big Boss had bought
specially to keep his wayward children in, apart from the rest of the world.
His world. Even though he was king there his little princes weren’t safe
wandering around an unpredictable battlefield of bullets and backstabbing. It
made sense to hide them away while he prepared them for life as a supersoldier.
“Is that all?” Solid’s question brought him back from his reminiscing slightly,
and he gave him a quick once over before the thought faded from his mind. It
was hard to imagine this boy, dressed in in scruffy pyjamas with uncombed hair
and saliva from his sleep dried onto his cheek, would strike fear and awe into
the hearts of soldiers at the mention of his name, the way their father did.
The way their father wanted them all to one day. Maybe Solid would surprise
him.
“Did he stay in your room last night?”
“Yeah, why?” he shot back.
“You’re friends right? Get along well?”
“Yeah.” He bristled, and Solidus could feel his discomfort. “What of it?”
“Nothing. Just checking.”
“…Right. I’m going back in.”
“You know you can come to me if he tries anything, ok?” he slipped in before
the younger brother had taken his first step.
“Whatever.” Solid replied under his breath, trudging over the grey chunks of
gravel to the front door. Solidus’ offer was coming from a place of protection,
but the suspicion he appeared to harbour made him nervous. As he passed through
the hall to the stairs he spotted the pages lying unattended on the kitchen
island. He swiped them up.
                                       ~
“You’re back finally.” Eli glanced up from the comic he was perusing out of
boredom when his twin came back in. “Took you long enough. Hey – where’s my
breakfast? That was the whole reason you went down!”
David paused his advance toward the bed to flick the pages at him, watching the
colour drain out of his face. “How did you get this?”
“Guess.” Eli reached out and crumpled the familiar notebook sheets in a hand.
NO NO NONONO!
“…I can explain. This-this was just…a game. Whatever he told you, it’s not
true!”
“A game?”
“Yeah! It’s not serious! I swear, I-I...there’s nothing to do in this fucking
house, so I did this to pass some time. I was just bored, that’s all!”
“That’s a pretty weird thing to do out of boredom.”
“I didn’t mean for anyone to find it. I don’t know what I was thinking!” He
stopped for a moment to let yet another sickening swell of panic crash over
him. Why is this happening? That fucking paper is ruining my life!!! “Please
don’t tell father! Promise me; he can’t find out! He’ll absolutely kill me –
no, worse! He’ll send me away from here forever, and you’ll all forget about
me!”
David thought back to the conversation between him and George just a few
minutes earlier as Eli was pleading with him over and over. George had alleged
that Eli had something wrong with his head, and he needed help. ‘He can’t take
all the responsibility for it’, he’d said. So, were the drawings and the
fantasy a symptom of this sickness? Did it really mean that the blonde couldn’t
be blamed? David couldn’t imagine any kind of illness making him do something
like that, but then again he didn’t know much about this kind of illness.
What he’d seen on the pages had creeped him the fuck out, but now it also made
him feel sorry for his twin. It was obvious that Liquid was very lonely. Why
else would he have touched him and masturbated him that night, and started
their strange sexual bond so soon? Sickness and loneliness were the perfect
recipe for their disastrous pairing. Solid knew he was lonely himself. Being
with Liquid filled some hole in his heart that he’d had for as long as he could
remember. He hoped it was the same for Liquid. It was a nice feeling.
Big Boss wouldn’t hear about this from him. They had bigger secrets to hide.
“Alright, I promise I won’t tell him. You can stop now.”
“Are you sure?”
“What? Yes, I’m sure!”
“Ah!” he leapt up to wrap his arms around Solid and squeeze him hard. “Thank
you, brother! Thank you! You’ve really saved my ass this time!”
“Ow Eli I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry.” Once released from the strangle-hold he rubbed his sore neck
pitifully. Liquid wasted no time at all, ripping the accursed pages up into
confetti. Still holding the pieces he went downstairs and flushed everything
down the toilet. He chuckled as the evidence melted in the water and vanished
from existence. There. Like it never even happened. I win.
                                       ~
Neither of them bothered to get dressed that day. In fact, Eli decided to spend
it in his underwear. That’s what he usually did when he did nothing. He’d
managed to muster the courage to ask David if anything had changed between
them. David had said no. This was before he’d taken his clothes off; he had
enough sense to predict how awkward it would be if he stripped off and then
asked him. The response seemed genuine to him.
Earlier that morning George had tried to explain that he wasn’t mad at him
while Eli was steadily dying of shame. Hearing it came as such a relief, even
if he was trying to pick a fight with George to distract from his mortification
at the time. It was extremely embarrassing that his brother – both his brothers
– knew about his stupid notebook, but if he could keep things the same with his
twin then he was willing to try and forget (not that he wouldn’t try and
pretend it didn’t exist from now on anyway).
“Have you ever written anything like that about me?” David piped up where he
was sat playing with a Rubik’s cube on his bed. Eli had been on the brink of
falling asleep next to him when his voice brought him back.
“What was that?”
“Have you ever, yaknow, written something…like that about me? Or drawn
anything?”
“No.” he answered truthfully. It wasn’t that he hadn’t for any particular
reason, he just hadn’t found the time. Eli wondered if that disappointed him,
it was not easy to tell by his neutral puzzle-solving face. “I’d rather do all
that stuff with you for real.” That made him smile. David flicked his blue eyes
down to his twin and found that he was smirking too.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Eli ran a hand upward along the inside of his thigh and watched his
pupils dilate with excitement. “That would be a lot more fun.”
“All of the things you wrote about?” David had turned bright red, but the
little smile was still there. Hastily he thought back over what he had actually
put down on paper. Certainly everything he could think of, if he remembered
rightly.
“Sure. Wouldn’t you?”
“Umm…” he shrugged sheepishly, his blush deepening. “Y-yeah I guess.” A grin
split across the blonde’s face, and he hoisted himself up from his reclined
position to bring their faces together. David automatically turned his head
toward the kiss but drew back at the last second, hesitating. “Wait, what if
someone comes in?” They glanced at the unattended door. “We could get caught.
Maybe we should wait until night time.”
“It never bothered you before.”
“No one used to barge in without knocking before - except for you. Plus we
always do it at night.”
“We can block it with the desk again.” Please don’t make me wait now, for God’s
sake!
“What about the noise?” Eli got up and strode out of the room, leaving his twin
to sit in confusion while he gathered up his turntable from his room. He came
back in juggling it with a few records in his arms and set everything down on
the desk, which he rounded to push up against the doorway. There we go,
brother. Now you have no reason to complain. It was a stretch to plug the
turntable into the nearest wall socket, but he managed to get everything set
up. A record was selected at random, and the volume was adjusted to drown their
voices out from outside; but not so much that Eli couldn’t hear him moaning.
He went back over to the bed wearing his usual smirk, choosing to sit himself
on David’s lap rather than sit back beside him. The Rubik’s cube was dropped
under the bed, forgotten. David needlessly held him steady by his hips,
regarding the body that was perched on his groin with delight.
Eli was a lot leaner than the average fifteen year old boy. There was a lot
more definition to his wiry muscle because of it, but it also had the effect of
making him seem bony. David wasn’t all that different in that department (or
any department really), except he wasn’t as well defined as his clone. In that
respect he was actually healthier. The remark their older sibling had made on
Eli starving himself in the past came back to him and suddenly he wasn’t
enjoying the moment as much.
Thankfully Eli was there to distract him by continuing the kiss that he’d
interrupted before. He could feel the noises the other was making against his
lips more than he could hear them above the music. The fair haired snake braced
himself on the headboard and began to slowly grind himself down into his
brother’s lap. Whatever you do don’t crush him. That’ll ruin the fucking mood
real quick.
Through the thin set of fabrics separating them he could feel Solid filling
out. One of the hands stationed at his hips slid down to search blindly for him
in the front of his underwear. They pulled apart from their clumsy kiss for a
breather. Somehow they always succeeded in accidently biting each other as they
suffocated together. Well, it was only an accident some of the time on Liquid’s
part.
Liquid fell back to push his underwear off, and the brunette got an excellent
view of his butt as he lifted his legs and fought to unhook them from his feet.
He hadn’t had a good chance to properly appreciate his bare ass before, so he
made sure to make up for it now. The supine brother righted himself once again,
expecting his twin to have used the time to strip off as well - and finding him
mesmerised instead. Liquid preferred it that way. At least now he wasn’t the
only one who was easily distracted by the other’s butt.
Once they were both suitably naked they reached for one another’s erection and
started to tug at it in a tight fist. Despite what they had done on Mother Base
it still felt strange to lock eyes in broad daylight while they were…playing.
It was Liquid’s turn to be bashful now. He never had been a fan of eye contact.
Solid stopped to wet his hand with his tongue, as he usually did. The saliva
made it slip over him perfectly, and Liquid’s hips started to jerk with the
pleasure of it. His whisper of David was lost underneath the music, but his
twin saw it nonetheless. He caught him mouthing a response that he couldn’t
quite hear, a confession that he was already close to his limit.
“Huh?” Eli held onto the top of the headboard again so he could lean in to
listen, his hard panting making it difficult.
“I said…I think I’m gonna cum soon!” he squeezed him in his fist and Eli beat
him to it, tensing up and biting down on the wooden bedframe with a groan. The
varnish gave slightly under the pressure and left small indents beneath his
teeth. Their semen joined on David’s tummy when he followed a while after,
twitching under Eli’s fingers.
Still neither of them were able to last any decent amount of time being so
fresh, but they found the little sessions to be the most concentrated fun
they’d ever had.
Chapter End Notes
     I'd appreciate your comments because I'm sad and I love the
     validation
     <3
***** The Lake *****
Chapter Notes
     I'm thinking of using a plot idea that I dropped for my other
     fic...Hopefully it won't feel repetitive
A full week after he’d come home George finally decided it was time to buy some
more food. He left early to get the task out of the way, taking a wad of cash
from the lockbox. The money was replenished each time Snake came home specially
for the sake of getting food and toiletries.
Instead of getting a few essentials at the petrol station as he usually did he
decided to go to the shop even further in town. It was just big enough to
warrant a few trollies for customers to wheel around. Perfect for the bulk buy
he was planning.
The walk there was nice. He hadn’t seen a street look so clean for a long time
– the area he patrolled in Liberia wasn’t exactly up to the same standard as
the small American town. It was so quiet too… At the foot of a car park sat the
shop: a typical convenience store with ‘mart’ in the title. As he was about to
step past the thin automatic doors something caught his attention on the
newspaper stand outside.
                 LOCAL TEEN GETS LIFE IN SHOCKING MURDER CASE
                         See full story on pages 15-16
There was a mugshot of the accused, younger than him, bruised and beaten with a
badly broken nose. He smiled to himself. Eli’s handiwork. It was the first
thing he added to his trolley.
                                       ~
“I’ll write ‘dummy we’ve gone swimming’.”
“No don’t say that.”
“You think I should add ‘don’t come after us’ under it?”
“No! Just say that we’re going to the lake.”
“Too late I’ve already written it.”
“Eli!” The scrap of paper was snatched up from the counter for him to read.
Luckily the second part hadn’t been jotted down.
“Put your shoes on already, I’d like to be out of here sometime today. Get that
stupid sweatband off your head too, you look like – well, like our father!”
“I’ve never seen him wear a sweatband.” David pulled it off of his forehead and
pinged the elasticated band it at his twin.
“It’s a bandana. It doesn’t matter, just hurry up.”
They bustled out of the house carrying a pack between them for their towels, a
pair of oars, an inflatable dingy and a foot pump to blow it up once they got
there. David had been dying to go to the lake since he arrived, and he’d
finally got Eli to agree to go with him. Eli had been uncertain about taking
him because he knew the route to the lake, even if they avoided going through
the wood he liked to sit in, would take them past the park.
Their conversation got quieter as they neared it over the field. It looked
unchanged save for the muddy patches that the police and reporters had trampled
into the grass. The remnants of a strip of yellow crime scene – do not cross
tape was tied to the park fence. “We might as well go through the woods now
that we’re here. It’s quicker.”
His brother had become utterly silent now that they were actually there,
circling around the circle of black dirt that had once been a wide pool of
blood. Despite David’s discomfort Eli found himself sneering, picturing a chalk
outline on the ground to complete the image.
He didn’t regret it; he didn’t regret any of the people he’d killed. It was
just a pity he hadn’t done it sooner. That group had been heckling him for a
long time. By some miracle George had been there to jump in the first time they
met - he had been sent to retrieve Eli from the woods for his every-so-monthly
swap over to Venom and managed to catch up to him and grab him before he
started throwing fists. The boys had been scared off by the presence of the
older brother. George told Snake all about it as he always did and Snake had
warned Eli that ‘if you so much as look in their direction, I’ll make you
regret it’.
In retrospect the threat was an excellent idea on Snake’s part; he had gone all
that time steadfastly ignoring the group and forgetting his pride to obey his
father. He shouldn't be drawing outside attention to himself by getting into
fights, he was there to be kept hidden (and therefore safe).
Thank God they’d given him an excuse to get rid of them. Of course Snake had
still been furious, excuse or no. He’d struck Eli across the face with the back
of his gloved hand and caught his arm as he fell in his inhumanly strong grip.
That’s what had given Eli the red marks.
Then came the worst part…the lecture. It always ran along the same lines.I have
enough problems without you causing blah blah blah I told you not to blah blah
blah why can’t you be more like your brother? The guilt trip was always worse
than the occasional slap to him. Sure, he could go without the smack, but he’d
come to prefer it to the verbal section of his punishments.
During his bout of introspection he ran on autopilot through the wood to the
lake. David took a few sneak peeks at him to try and figure out what he was
thinking. Obviously it was about the murder, but how did he feel about what he
did?
“Do you think there are alligators or crocodiles in this lake?”
“Excellent point brother, maybe it’s been infected with piranhas too.”
“C’mon, it’s a serious question!”
“No, not to the best of my knowledge. Why would I agree to swim in croc-
infested waters?”
“Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if you did, Eli.” He got a playful shove that
nearly toppled him into the ferns.
“Very funny. You won’t be laughing once you witness my excellent swimming
skills.” Eli flicked his hair back proudly, twirling the oar he was holding
like a baton. David snorted, and the blonde narrowed his eyes at him. “I’ll
certainly swim circles around you.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“No, it’s a fact.” The trees thinned out as they reached the bank of the lake,
their higher branches hanging over the water. There was a rope tied to the
canopy to their left so that one could run down the bank with it and swing over
the surface.
Other than the two of them there was no one there. It wasn’t very big, and it
really wasn’t a place for a picnic – there was nowhere flat to sit save a small
wooden jetty extending from another path through the wood. This path led to
another road further in the town, a different route to the one the snakes had
taken. “Alright.” Eli dumped the deflated dingy and the pump at the base of the
rope swing tree. “Get pumping.”
“I’m not doing it.”
“I had to carry it!”
“And I’ve had to carry this.” he dropped his cargo next to the dingy, the tree
trunk saving it from rolling into the water. Eli grumbled to himself and
crouched down to attach the foot pump.
“We’ll take it in turns, then.”
Ten minutes and a tired leg each later and the dingy was ready to set sail. The
oars could float, so there was no risk of them being lost. Liquid took a
running jump into it and it sped away from the bank, leaving Solid stranded on
dry land. “Ha ha!”
“Mutiny!” Solid called after the dingy, losing sight of his brother as he lay
down in the boat to relax. He waded into the lake after him, hissing at the
cold. The water was dark but clear, getting steadily deeper as the soft muddy
sand dropped away underfoot. Once he was submerged up to his stomach he dived
in completely, kicking off the bottom to push himself through the water.
He surfaced a few meters from the dingy, swimming as quietly as he could up to
the rubber rim. Liquid’s feet hung over the back, and he grabbed onto one to
hoist himself into the boat as well. It was awkward with the constant swaying
of the inflatable and his twin’s surprised squawking but he eventually managed
to flop down inside, bringing a slosh of water in with him that made Liquid
yelp.
“You’re going to sink us!”
“No I’m not! It’s fine, see?” The rocking stopped and they drifted randomly
about the otherwise flat water. They lay side by side on the bed of the dingy,
watching the clouds float across the sky. Somewhere nearby David could hear the
small stream running into the lake, and birds and insects chirped all around
them in the wood. “Can you even swim? You haven’t been in yet.”
“Of course I can.”
“We’re quite far out. Do you want me to pull us back to shore?”
“I can swim, alright?” The moment of peace was disrupted when Eli sat up and
rolled out of the dingy abruptly. His head broke the surface and he spat some
water at his brother. “See?” David abandoned the boat too and they watched it
slink away. “Nice one.”
“We’ll get it later.”
They spent much of their excursion racing each other around and throwing
themselves off the swing and the jetty, interspersed with rests on the dingy.
David watched his twin’s face as they lay crammed into the rubber boat again.
Eli had his eyes closed, his wet hair clinging to his forehead. He looks so…
The brunette couldn’t find the words he wanted to describe him, so he settled
with pretty. His diamond earring had been swapped out for a round stud made of
gold. They’re probably both real aren’t they, not a cheap fake. “Is that new,
that earring?”
“No, I’ve had it a while. George got it for my last birthday.” David pulled a
little face to himself. After the revelation of last week it was obvious to him
that Eli loved their older brother. He didn’t know how to feel about that.
                                       ~
‘Dummy we’ve gone swimming’ read the note that had been left on the floor of
the main hallway when he finally got back. The twin’s breakfast dishes sat
unwashed in the sink. Looks like I’m playing the house maid again. What a
surprise.
George set the armfuls of shopping down and began to unpack, sorting it into
the appropriate cupboards and shelves. Gone swimming, huh… There was something
that had been playing on his mind for a while. A few things, actually.
Firstly, there was something suspicious about the fact that David was still
friendly with Eli after seeing the pages. Very suspicious. Surely there should
be at least a few days of awkwardness between them if they were going to put it
behind them at all. He had been observing them closely all week, watching and
listening their comings and goings from his quiet distance. There wasn’t much
to see other than that they were buddies. Maybe they bonded over the blonde’s
music; they certainly played it loud enough.
Secondly Eli had been acting weird around him, more so than usual. He wouldn’t
follow him around anymore and he wouldn’t talk to him unless it was a one word
answer. In fact it seemed like he was avoiding him. George had always thought
that he’d welcome the peace and quiet if it ever came, but now that it had he
hated it. Why should he be punished for something that Eli had done? It was as
though Eli had exchanged him for David.
He had done everything for Eli in their father’s absence – cooked for him,
cleaned for him, kept him company, sat with him when he was sick. In a sense he
had been his Eli’s father for all those years. George knew that none of Snake’s
clones could have children. He would never be able to pass his legacy on to a
son of his own one day, and it tore him up. As far as he was concerned his
little brothers were the next best thing. Needless to say he didn’t appreciate
being pushed away.
The idea he was playing with was dangerous, and George knew he didn’t
understand it fully. This time he tried to think it over for longer before
making a decision than he had when he handed David the pages – which he had
immediately regretted and tried to reverse by giving David some more context.
If this went wrong then it could ruin the lives they were living in that house.
But if it went right things could go back to how they were before.
To set his plan in motion first he would have to tell his father about what he
had found in Eli’s notebook.
***** Digging for Bullets *****
Chapter Notes
     When it comes to the ponies I speak from experience. They're very
     sweet.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
When he spotted the familiar cattle-grid outside the window he got excited.
Exmoor was one of his favourite places. There wasn’t much to see outside in the
pitch black except for the occasional sign or fence illuminated by the car’s
headlights. His first thought upon coming around from his nap and realising
where they were was ponies. Wild moor ponies are friendly and like to come over
to people for a stroke. They often got spooked by Eli because he was a loud
child, but he got to smooth one every now and then.
“Are we going to see the horses?” he asked sleepily from his booster seat in
the back. His handler stayed quiet.
They finally slowed to a stop, bumping lightly over the grass verge by the side
of the grit road. He had his seatbelt undone for him and he slipped out into
the bitter cold in his thin onesie. The grass was wet under his bare feet.
He took his handler’s hand as they walked away. Out of the close-knit circle
that were tasked with caring for him, he had to say that this one was his
favourite. They were much more fun than the others, and they were nowhere near
as distant.
The high beams from the car lit their way through the complete, remote darkness
of the moor. A shallow river ran in their path, only a few metres across and
not even a metre deep. “Where are we going?” he queried again, teeth clattering
against the low temperature. His handler stopped by the river and sighed a
plume of steam into the air.
“I’m taking you to meet your father.”
Before he could register what was happening he was thrown down into the icy
water. His handler pushed a knee into his back and twisted a hand in his hair,
keeping his face under the surface. Eli yelled and struggled, seizing up with
the shocking cold, his sobbing letting valuable lungful’s of air escape him.
Everything was burning, inside and out.
He woke up immediately, the spell of the dream broken in an instant. Even so,
it was hard to regain his breath. Eli sat up straight to help his gasping,
thankful that he’d chosen that night to sleep in his own bed without his twin.
There was no way he was putting up with David fidgeting when he was so tired.
The recovery took less time than he expected, and he sat for a while thinking
about his dream. I haven’t thought about that in forever.A very prominent
childhood memory of his was one of his handler trying to drown him. They had
almost succeeded too, but they were shot clean through the forehead by another
one of his carers who had followed their secret escape from the city. Eli had
been five years old at the time.
He had never been told why that handler had snapped, he’d always assumed they
had gone mad. That was the moment he abandoned his trust in people, as he was
being dragged away from the river puking up water and saw his ex-favourite
person lying dead, their vacant eyes still looking right at him.
That was so long ago…swimming around with David must have brought the memory
back. Eli hauled himself up from his bed to get an ironically much needed glass
of water.
The light was on in the kitchen despite it being around three in the morning.
Oh great. It’s probably Solidus. As he rounded the corner he saw his father
seated at the counter, shirtless and bleeding from multiple round wounds on his
body. Snake seemed rather relaxed though, using a pair of long medical tweezers
from the first aid box to dig bullets out of his flesh. He pulled one out of
his left shoulder and examined it before setting it down on the counter with a
clink.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” his rough voice startled Eli where he was watching
from the dark.
“I was thirsty.” As if trying to prove his excuse he emerged from the hall to
get a glass from the cupboard. From the corner of his eye he watched Snake bury
the tweezers into his chest after another casing. His father grimaced and
twisted the tool. This wasn’t the first time he’d come home with some sort of
injury.
“C’mere, you’ll have to get this one for me – I can’t reach it.”
“What?” Eli turned from the sink clutching his glass.
“These pliers are no good. You’ll have to suck the bullet out for me.” He
regarded his father with a faint look of disgust, weighing the request in his
head. He could always say no, but he’d happily take any opportunity to inflict
pain on Snake. The glass was set aside and he rounded the island, counting the
already retrieved casings resting in a pool of blood. Three.
Snake pointed to the wound in question, buried in the meat of his right
pectoral. Because of the angle of the entrance he was having difficulty
excavating the bullet, and he wanted to avoid as much nerve damage as he could.
Eli steadied himself with a hand on the counter and leant in to cover the wound
with his lips. The sharp taste of blood flooded into his mouth immediately, a
familiar taste. “Don’t fuck around, I want it out. So suck hard.”
Eli almost spluttered on Snake’s chest, the sudden realisation of the awkward
position he’d put himself in hitting him like a brick. He’d done something like
this with David before, but there had been much less blood and a lot more
nakedness. Good thing his face was out of view because he was sure he was
completely red.
In order to get out of the situation as fast as he could he hollowed his cheeks
with effort and got a mouthful of blood. He had to stop for a breath and try
again before he could feel the rim of the casing on his tongue, and he bit down
on it. Snake hissed as he caught some of his skin too, and Eli came away with
the bullet between his teeth. It was spat on the island counter along with the
blood, which dribbled down his chin and neck. “Nice work kid. Now go back to
bed.”
Eli did as he was told leaving his father to rummage around the first aid box
for the suture kit, feeling utterly ashamed of his excitement.
                                       ~
George shambled downstairs groggily the next morning, smelling his father’s
cigar before he spotted him in the living room armchair. It was the first time
in a long time he’d seen Snake wearing something other than his usual uniform
fatigues – he’d swapped them out for jeans and a plain black t-shirt. That
meant he was planning on staying the whole day.
“Son.” Snake caught sight of him landing in the hallway, cracking a small smile
to himself. He realised then just how much he'd missed his child. Not a child
anymore. The thought disquieted him and the smile faded slightly. “You’ve
grown.” George went over to take his place on the settee.
“Dad. You got here quick.”
“You said there was trouble.” Snake was talking about the phone call they had
had only yesterday. I also said it wasn’t urgent, Solidus reflected. More than
once. He wanted more time to think over exactly what he should say.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“It’s Eli.”
“What a surprise. What is it, then?”
Right. Now the time had come to tell him. Solidus wouldn’t have described
himself as a manipulative person, although he listed it among his talents. For
someone who wasn’t a professional at it – and he’d met some before – he thought
he did a pretty good job. After all he’d ended up being responsible for
practically every decision his unit made in Liberia, simply by mumbling things
to his CO as he was pouring over maps and schematics. Of course it helped that
he was sleeping with him too.
He’d thought that he could use his supposed talent on his father but now that
he was actually faced with it he was having some doubts. It was far too late to
back out now that he’d told Snake something was wrong.
                                       ~
David was oblivious to the conversation downstairs. He came to alone in bed,
vaguely remembering Eli leaving in the night complaining that he wriggled too
much. They were both worn out after swimming all day.
Automatically he got up to go into Eli’s room. When was the last time he’d
actually been without his twin for more than ten minutes? Not that he really
cared; he enjoyed the company. Friends spend just as much time together… It was
strange to think of Eli as his friend, because he wasn’t really. He’d had a lot
of fun at the lake with him, but other than that they didn’t do much else but
sit around. They didn’t have lots in common.We still like being together
anyway, so that has to count for something.
David knocked lightly and let himself in when he didn’t get an answer. As he
expected his twin was still asleep, his upper half visible above the covers as
he lay face down on his bed. The brunette slipped in beside him. If he wasn’t
his friend, then what was he? It occurred to David that he didn’t really see
Eli as his brother, either. When he learnt of his sibling’s existence, just
before he came to live with him, he expected someone he would play ball with or
go bike riding with. Typical brother things. That was how it was in movies and
books.
He placed the back of his fingers on Eli’s tan skin and felt his ribs move as
he breathed. There was a second where he anticipated the blonde getting tetchy
because he’d been touching him in his sleep, but he swiftly recalled Eli
starting the trend a few weeks ago when he essentially tried to molest him in
the night. Little did he know David had been eagerly awaiting him to do just
that.
Gradually he progressed to pressing his whole hand into his back and smoothing
it over the warm surface absently. The muscles in the blonde’s back twitched
under it, and the touch was enough to rouse him from his slumber.
“When did you get here?” Liquid murmured after twisting his head on the pillow
to see him. His hair was dishevelled from sleep and one side of his face was
red from resting on it.
“A while ago.” he whispered back. Solid shuffled closer on the double bed (a
lot wider than his, he had noticed) so that their bodies where tucked up
together, and his twin slung an arm over his chest. That was the best Liquid
could do that early in the morning. The hand returned to his back and he didn’t
make a comment or pull a face as Solid had expected. They didn’t touch much
like this when they weren’t masturbating together, so he was happy with the
non-verbal permission. “Do you think I’m your brother?”
“…What?”
“I mean, like, do you feel like we’re brothers?” He paused for a moment and
scoffed listening to himself speak.
“Do I ‘feel like we’re brothers’? That has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve
ever heard you say.” Liquid replied slowly.
“Well…I don’t really know what I’m trying to say.”
“It’s not just me then.”
“Hey!” Solid pinched him and got a little ow in response.
“If you’re asking if we’re just brothers then the answer is no – we’re much
more than that.” The brunette’s heart skipped a few beats in his chest. “We’re
twins. It’s different.” Oh. Kinda thought he was going somewhere else with
that.
“I guess so.” For some reason he felt…disappointed. But, at the same time, he
liked that Liquid had admitted they were close (if that’s what he had meant).
“So do you think we’re friends?”
“Where’s all this coming from all of a sudden?”
“Nowhere, I just asked if we were friends.” The blonde thought about it for a
moment.
“I don’t think friends do…the kind of thing we do.”
“And brothers do?”
“Good point. Let’s just say we’re twins.”
Ugh...that’s very helpful, Eli.
Chapter End Notes
     Thank you all for continuing to support this fic! <3
***** Liquid's Bike *****
Chapter Notes
     This one feels a bit messy but...here you go anyway.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Snake found himself alone in his study after listening to his eldest haltingly
say his piece. He opened a draw in his desk and flicked under some pages to
find the letter Solidus had sent home for Liquid, which he had elected to keep.
‘…maybe I’ve finally gone crazy, but I actually miss you dummy. You might find
this surprising but I do love you little brother. We’ll talk about what I found
when I get back. Be good.’
It more than corroborated George’s story in his mind. There was the remote
possibility that he was lying, and had sent that letter to act as evidence in
the absence of real proof – but what was his motive to such a well thought out
lie? Why bother, why do that to his younger sibling? Snake knew he was
clutching at straws with these questions, trying to avoid the truth. And the
truth was that George wasn’t lying.
As his son had said, it couldn’t be a simple case of moving everyone around
again. There was David to think about now too, who was apparently close to his
twin. That in itself raised the whole other unspoken problem of how close?
“I think this will work – send them both. You won’t have to worry about leaving
them alone again.” George had said. He’d certainly thought a lot about it.
Perhaps that was the one silver lining in it all, that he knew George had the
ability to plan meticulously on his own initiative; an infinitely important
trait in their line of work.
Snake had also heard the imperceptible subtext in George’s voice when he kept
repeating ‘alone’. His son might not have even realised he was doing it.
“Alone.” Snake had interrupted him, finally flicking his gaze back on him after
focussing it on the window opposite the armchair.
“Sorry?”
“You think they need someone to watch them.” It wasn’t a question.
“…I think…right now they could do with some supervision. Which they would get
there. Then...if it works well, maybe they’d be alright after that.” He’s being
careful. Solidus knew that his opinion was an indirect accusation on his
father’s input into the little family, which he had never openly criticised (or
even mentioned) before.
“Hmm.” was all he had to say back.
At the end of the day, Snake was the one making the decisions. This meant he
was also responsible for whatever came after. He needed someone he could
trust…Perhaps George’s idea wasn’t such a bad one after all.
                                       ~
No one disturbed the twins that morning. Their father stayed in his study all
day making calls, and George decided to stay out of everyone’s way after having
the most embarrassing talk ever with Snake, bar none. No one liked talking to
their parents about that shit, even if he had tried to get it out of the way as
quickly as possible.
David had demanded that they not spend another day in their rooms, so Eli had
reluctantly got dressed alongside him.
“What do you even want to do, anyway? I can’t be arsed to go swimming again.”
“Hm…” David made a quiet sound as he thought it over. “Do you have a skateboard
or something?”
“No.” the blonde muttered with a hint of contempt. “But if you want to go
riding I might have something else.”
The dark haired snake didn’t bother asking him to elaborate, instead following
him all the way down to the back garden. They both started to tiptoe
subconsciously when they heard Snake’s unintelligible voice coming from his
study. At the bottom of the garden Eli wrestled with a tarp that had been
thrown over something behind the shed. It was torn back from the vehicle in
question.
“You had a bike this whole time?!”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“I kind of forgot about it, honestly.” David stepped back from the shed to let
him steer it out into the open, the wheels clicking rhythmically. “Now I have
something to follow your skateboard on.”
“Why bring the board? Can’t I just ride on the back?” he pointed at the pegs on
the rear wheel.
“Uh, sure…won’t that be a bit boring though?” David shook his head. He’d never
owned a bike before, but he had learnt how to ride one by taking turns on
another kids’. It had always been a dream to have one of his own – and Eli just
‘forgot’ he even had one! Spoiled or what! I’d love something like this!
They made their way onto the street, and Eli swung his leg over the seat. It
was a bit too low, but not un-rideable. The bike was held steady like that as
David stepped up onto the pegs and gripped onto his brother’s shoulders. “Let’s
ride out of town. To the helipad? I don’t want to do circuits of the street.”
“You mean that field? Fine by me.” Getting going was the tricky part, having to
balance both of their weights while trying to start pedalling. There was a
wobble, but the bike steadied itself in the forward momentum. “Alright!”
“I have never seen someone get so excited by a bicycle before.” Eli scoffed.
“Aren’t you having fun?”
“No, you’re bloody heavy!” he tugged some fair hair out from where David had
trapped it under his hand.
“I can always take over.”
“You can drive on the way back, then. Deal?”
“Deal.”
It was calm at the makeshift LZ, away from the silent tension of the house.
They stopped to sit there for a while, lazing around on the grass, the bike set
nearby. Liquid lay down, crossing his arms behind his head. How weird that he
gets his bike out when I was thinking about it earlier on, Solid mused. Maybe
I’m psychic.
Together they stayed like that in the field, neither of them saying a word. The
dark haired brother picked at the green blades by his side, inspecting each of
them in turn and splitting them in half as his mind wandered. He peered back at
his twin after a few minutes as if to check he was still there in the silence.
Liquid was looking at him too him.
Another few seconds passed and Solid checked again; he was still watching him.
“What?” It was making him self-conscious. What is it? Liquid shrugged at the
question.
“I like you.” The statement shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to Solid,
but it did. They went around together, they rose and ate and talked and laughed
together, they even slept in the same bed on most nights now; and still the
simple admission came as a shock. Stumbling for something to say all Solid
could manage was a dense:
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” Now the blonde looked just as puzzled. David felt his face
heating up as a goofy smile spread across it.
“Well, I like you too!” The same grin came to Eli’s features, and an excited
chuckle bubbled up to the surface. He sat up and moved forward to wedge himself
between David’s chest and the knees that were tucked up to it, canting their
heads together. The brunette accepted the kiss, and let himself be pushed
backward onto the grass.
It was nice and slow, the pair of them melding their lips together repeatedly
to build up some sort of rhythm. His twin’s lips were always so silky, even if
he had a habit of chewing them when he was bored. Eli worked to open their
mouths further, moaning softly against the other. Eventually a pair of arms
looped around him, and his body was lowered to press flush against the other.
Something was fluttering hard in David’s chest. “Mmmh~”
After hearing that sound it was actually painful to tear himself away, but Eli
successfully lifted his head up. He didn’t want to, but he knew they would
quickly get too worked up if they continued. There was no way David would let
them do anything out in the open as they were, as far as he knew, and going
home to relieve the tight straining in their trousers in broad daylight wasn’t
an option with the house so dangerously full. David saw the frustration of
restraint on his face and mirrored it with his own. He understood. “…Can I ride
the bike now?”
                                       ~
Their bustle back into the house later that day was heard by the older snakes
from the second floor. Snake sighed, preparing himself.The sooner they’re off
the better.He got up from the heavy swivel chair, not bothering to turn off the
desk lamp or sort the disarray of papers and telephone wire.
He got to the stairs before the twins, blocking their path. They were chatting
animatedly about which one of them could pedal faster, the conversation coming
to an abrupt halt when they noticed him looming over them from the top of the
landing.
“Boys. You’re off on a trip.”
“Again?!” Eli piped up where he had one foot on the stairs, previously about to
climb them. Snake studied him, half expecting him to seem different after
knowing what he had done. The blonde remained the same to him, he was glad to
discover. Hopefully this memory would recede to the back of his mind and be
erased too. “What’s the matter this time?”
What do I tell them?His twins gazed up at him expectantly, their colourful eyes
big and bright. Not the truth. Not directly.
“You’ll be home soon. Don’t worry.”
                                       ~
Again to the LZ, this time by car. Snake’s big four-wheel drive. Their duffel
bags, which evidently now had to be kept on standby, were piled into the boot.
They had been left to linger nervously for their departure late into the night,
waiting for the chopper to make it there from wherever it was flying from. It
arrived a minute or so after they did, deafeningly loud and whipping the
cropped grass with the force of its rotors. The car’s steering wheel was
clamped, and the vehicle left. Snake abandoned it there regularly when he left
for work.
The twins were herded into the helicopter, and their father got in behind them.
He needed to go anyway, he might as well ride with them to save some time and
fuel. Eli chose a seat along the side of the small cabin, immediately slouching
in his chair the way he tended to do. David sat beside him, holding his hands
anxiously in his lap. No one else was fumbling to get belted in, even as they
rose steadily from the ground, so he didn’t either.
High in the air it got cold, quick. David’s fingers were the first to feel it,
along with the tip of his nose. He tried to ignore it for ten, fifteen, twenty
minutes because he knew the journey could take hours; but ultimately he folded
his hands under his armpits and shivered. Forgoing a coat or a jacket was
definitely a bad decision. Seemingly lost in thought at the back of the cabin,
Snake detected the gesture and clicked the switch near his seat for the heaters
on the overheads. David felt the warm draught on his legs after a while and
untensed himself gratefully.
At each hour interval Snake would turn minutely from the window or open his
resting eyes to check on his younger sons. They both looked to be fast asleep
each time, Solid resting his head on his own shoulder and Liquid nearly
slipping out of his seat completely, he was so low in it.
Still he couldn’t quite believe what he had been told about Liquid – he didn’t
want to believe it. How did he let it get to that? Something…like that…How did
it happen, in the house he sheltered his children in, in the house he forced
himself to return to to see them? The blonde’s face was barely visible behind
his twin’s chest.
David, Snake considered him from the rear of the cabin. Solid Snake, huh. His
first impression of him, when he’d taken a day to see him at the group home,
was timid. Then at the house he had spoken with more familiarity, but still few
words passed between them. Interestingly he and Eli seemed to be getting along,
which had been another weight off his mind. Until now. Snake grimaced, reaching
under his seat for a cigar and thinking the better of it. Eli always coughed
and complained when he smoked near him, and the ventilation in the cabin wasn’t
enough to flush out the smog. He could do without the whining at that moment.
David woke up then, looking around in mild confusion and stretching his gangly
legs as much as he could in the limited space. The main lights had been turned
down, so they only had the warm glare of a red bulb and the pinpricks of
instrumentation to see by.
“Where are we going?” he asked over the noise of the blades in a voice thick
with sleep.
“We’re not there yet. Not for a while.” Snake called back, trying to duck the
question again. He didn’t want to admit out loud exactly what he was subjecting
his sons to, as ridiculous as he felt for it. It would also help if their minds
were as calm as possible to get started. Keeping them in the dark was the
better option.
David nodded and yawned, settling back into the seat as best he could, wanting
to fall asleep again. The rumbling all around him lulled his eyes closed, and
he soon slipped away from consciousness once more.
Chapter End Notes
     I read through some of my other fic and it made me feel like this one
     is BORING and needs more ACTION, plus my writing is getting really
     lazy I think. Dunno how to add the ACTION to a domestic story, but
     I'm definitely going with the dropped idea now.
     <3
***** A Place Outside of Heaven *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The sky was a blank sheet of darkness when they arrived, devoid of any stars.
Looking up it was impossible to tell whether they were outside or under an
immense roof. This place was different to Mother Base; that much was
immediately obvious to David when he trailed his brother closely onto the
landing pad. For starters, the boiling of the ocean was missing below.
If Eli was equally as unfamiliar with the place he didn’t show it. He stuck his
hands in his pockets and kicked a pebble along the dusty ground with him as he
walked, until it skittered too far away and Snake turned them off course away
from it.
They were walking across the yard of a massive compound, undoubtedly one of
many behind the high barbed-wire walls around them. A few soldiers could be
seen drifting to and fro in the floodlights, all armed as they had been on
Venom’s rig. After the heated cabin of the helicopter the air felt cold,
especially when they passed through a shadow.
“Are you going?” the blonde asked their father after passing a soldier that
saluted them enthusiastically, again much like they had on Mother Base.
“Yes.” Snake pressed the pad of his thumb onto a sensor against the wall of a
thick metal building, and the door beeped and slid away from the wall to let
them pass. Inside it was a lot brighter, but the dull chrome walls didn’t make
it feel any warmer. Red dirt had been tracked in on the soles of numerous
shoes. Their father seemed to be walking them hurriedly to their destination.
“So…why the trip?”
“Just wait.” They overtook another guard, who, David noticed, eyed the twins in
confusion as they went. Do they not know about us? Is that why we’re going so
fast?Everyone knew who they were when they were with V. Everyone was pleased to
see them there.
A security camera whirred after them, tracking them. The muzzle of an automated
gun was mounted on the side. I hope it doesn’t think we’re intruders and start
shooting…
The trio ducked into an elevator, which required another thumbprint to access
the floors. Levels had varying degrees of clearance, he guessed. As they shut
the doors gave an extra clunk as they sealed. The entire structure was
reinforced. What do we do about air if we get stuck?David realised in a rush,
before spotting the pumping vents in the roof.
They went down and re-emerged on an underground level, the walls made of
concrete this time, and painted – still grey, but not as dark as above. There
was a single corridor and four doors; two on one side, one on the other and one
at the very end. Snake led them to the end one. It was so quiet down there that
their breath sounded as though it were echoing down the short hall.
There were a pair of metal poles, bent at the ends and bound together by
canvas, leaning against the wall by the door, and Snake gathered them up while
he used his spare hand to gain entrance to the room once again.
Inside was a bedroom of average size, with a high ceiling and a single wide
bed. Snake shook out the poles and snapped them in place. The bundle became a
shallow cot that was set down at the end of the bed. “Sort out amongst
yourselves who gets the bed, please.”
“Why are we here?” Eli requested for the hundredth time as his sire pulled a
spare quilt and thin pillow from a built in closet.
“…You’re going to counselling.”
“Counselling?!” The brunette brother flinched at the sudden outburst, it
sounded unnaturally sharp in the acoustically damp room. “Please tell me you’re
joking!”
“No. It’s just for a few nights-”
“- A few nights?”
“Listen.” Snake stood up straight from throwing the quilt down and silenced Eli
with a look. “You better behave here. This isn’t a playground.” Like Mother
Base, he added to himself privately. “Take the sessions seriously, because
they’ll go on as long as it takes to work if you don’t.” Eli pulled a face.
“What do you mean ‘work’?”
“You’ll go separately, but you can stay together after if you’re good.” he
continued, ignoring the last question. “You’re not to leave this room or go
anywhere by yourselves. Someone will come to collect you each morning and
escort you back. Your thumbs should let you in.” David rubbed a finger over his
absently. When did they take my thumbprint?“Got it?”
“Yes.” he answered immediately, perhaps the first time he’d actually spoken to
Snake in Eli’s presence. The blonde was pouting, nose turned up at the idea.
“I don’t like it.”
“Tough.”
“I don’t want counselling.”
“Tough.”
“David doesn’t need it.”
“Would you rather he go home?”
“No!”
“Then don’t worry about it.” Snake made to leave, and remembered something
else. “One more thing. I’ve asked a big favour of him for this, so be nice.
Seriously.” Then he was gone, leaving his twins to their own devices.
                                       ~
“What is this place?” Solid asked once they both sat down on the bed. The other
sibling shrugged, kicking his shoes off so he could tuck his feet under him.
“I’ve been here once before. ‘Outer Heaven’.”
“And we have to stay in our room the whole time?”
“Technically this is his room, we’re just borrowing it. I don’t think there are
any spare places this close to the interior.” Solid opened a drawer in the
small bedside table after receiving the information. He was hoping there would
be something more interesting than what he found: an Outer Heaven uniform
armband and a tin of mints. “Trying to look through his stuff? I didn’t realise
you were such a rebel!” Liquid teased. “There’s nothing good in here, I already
looked last time.” The mints were snatched up by the blonde, and the drawer
nudged shut.
“Where does he keep all his stuff then? Like…there are no pictures or anything
at home, and this place is empty.”
“What makes you think he’d keep pictures anyway? Maybe there’s stuff in his
bedroom - I’ve never got in there, he locks it.”
“Wise.” He took a mint from the proffered tin. “Ugh…counselling.” Solid mumbled
to himself sullenly, shaking his head.
“I know. I’m gonna be bored out of my mind.”
“We don’t even know how long we’re gonna be here. We don’t even get our own
rooms!”
“At least we get to share.”
“Yeah; his room.”
“Isn’t that part of the fun?” Liquid leaned in, a hand finding its way to the
other’s thigh. “He’d hate it if he knew what we’re gonna do in here.”
“No way, we would be in so much trouble!” Solid pulled his leg away slightly,
but he could still feel himself blushing.
“It’s not like he’ll find out.”
“What about…yaknow, cleaning up?”
“Come on I’m not that messy.” He regained his purchase on his brother’s limb
and nestled even closer, so that he was whispering directly into his ear.
“Let’s do it in the shower so we don’t have to clean up. We can finish what we
started earlier on.”
“Eli!” the brunette squirmed and shrugged him off, laughing. A heat started to
pool between Solid’s legs at his twin’s dizzying closeness, his clothes
starting to feel tight and stuffy. “Stop it, we shouldn’t be doing this here.”
“So you’re a goodie-two-shoes now, after going through his stuff a second ago?”
“It wasn’t really going through stuff, just one drawer.”
Liquid sighed and sat back up, keeping his eye on his sibling’s smile.
“You’re no fun. I guess I’ll just have to entertain myself.” With that Eli
started to casually unbutton his own bottoms, pushing them down a little to
give him more room. Eli had to pull himself out, not yet hard enough to spring
free on his own. That certainly got David’s attention.
All too soon it got far too hot under his layers and the vest was peeled off
him and chucked aside. Not wanting to stop the friction of his hand, Eli kicked
his trousers off the rest of the way. He reclined on the bed and admired the
engrossment of his twin, who was watching his hand intently. “Are you sure you
don’t want to join in?” he was already so breathless he would have been
embarrassed if it hadn’t made David shudder visibly.
“Yeah…” Eli felt unexpectedly ok with letting him just watch. He’d been aiming
to convince him to give a helping hand, but it was actually exciting to see how
much David enjoyed the show. From his low angle behind his back he couldn’t
fully see his face, save for the flushed red tips of his ears, but he could
hear his shaky breathing and frequent gulping.
The blue-eyed snake was such a mystery to him sometimes, it was nice to know he
could mesmerise him in this simple way. Most of all he was so very grateful
that the feeling between them was mutual; he would not have been able to handle
another unrequited attraction. If David hadn’t have been interested he was sure
it would’ve driven him insane.
The act never elicited as much noise from Eli compared to when David did it for
him, yet he was loud enough to provoke a response showing how much each sound
affected his now extremely aroused twin. How are you being so controlled?If
their situations were reversed Eli wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to
himself, let alone out of his pants.
The blonde felt a slipperiness under his fingers as he started to leak,
stringing onto his hand and below his navel where he was jerking himself.
Pressure was building there fast, pushing him closer to the edge. He reached
the other hand down to cup himself and wished desperately that he could see
David’s face, undoubtedly turned pink the way it did whenever he gave him so
much as a little kiss.
“Ahh, David!” The darker sibling ripped his eyes away from the cock to glance
back at him, taking in the blissed-out look he was wearing. As he was plucking
up the courage to ask him how close he was Eli orgasmed, spilling hot ropes of
semen along his abdomen with a groan. The sight rendered him completely
speechless apart from a strangled noise from somewhere in his throat.
Still panting and sweaty coated in his own cum, Eli asked, “Do you wish you’d
joined in now?”
“…I’m gonna go take a shower.” David responded.
                                       ~
Eli was the first to go. There was a thumping on the door in the – according to
the wall clock – morning, and a voice requested his presence on the other side
as soon as possible. Being used to rising whenever they wanted, the twins were
poorly adjusted to the early start. Eli seemed half dead as he dressed and
stumbled out to meet his escort.
This gave David another good hour of sleep after he had departed. Waking up
alone in the unfamiliar place wasn’t a pleasant experience, though. The bed,
like his own at home, was just wide enough to let them both sleep there, but it
felt very empty with just him in it. Not knowing the vastness of the complex he
had arrived in, or even what part of the world he was in, was more intimidating
than he had thought it could be.
He sternly told himself to get over it before the feeling got worse, and sat up
to a breakfast of mint imperials. As he was chewing on the soft middle he
thought about where they would get their meals from. If they were lucky it
would just be brought down there to them.
It took around five minutes for David to get bored sitting with his own
thoughts. Since he’d managed to get back to sleep his wait had been reduced,
giving him another quarter of an hour before he too was beckoned from beyond
the door.
He slipped into yesterday’s clothes and stepped through the door nervously. It
was an automatic sliding one, so he couldn’t peek through it before taking the
plunge. A soldier was waiting for him outside, looking as openly curious about
him as another one had been the night before.
“I’m here to take you across the building. You ready? We have to get going.” He
had an accent that the brunette couldn’t even begin to place.
“I’m ready.” David mumbled back, scurrying after the heels of the retreating
soldier. I hope we bump into Eli on the way there. There was no reason for them
not to cross paths, if they were going to the same counsellor. They must be, or
else why the wait for his turn?
This place was a lot more uninviting than Mother Base. At least there the
mercenaries had been chipper and lively, a far cry from the suspicious and cold
looks he got from the guards he passed here. Whether it was a coincidence or
not, he couldn’t help but draw the connection between the separate places and
the two versions of his father commanding them. It’s like the difference
between ‘SNAKE’ and Venom.With that thought he also finally grasped the themed
link between the two codenames and gave an audible ooh that made the leading
soldier throw a look over his shoulder at him.
It didn’t take long for them to get there, after a walk through the
labyrinthine halls and several more security doors; one of which the soldier
had to awkwardly ask for David’s thumbprint after his own clearance was denied.
Again he wondered how they had got his print.
David was left at the last door to go in alone. Waiting for him beyond the slab
of metal was a square room, empty aside from some chairs, one pulled into the
centre of the space, a table and a man. His company turned from where he was
occupied at the table against the wall and ushered him in with a gesture.
“You must be David. Come on in.” This accent was a lot more familiar than that
of the escorting soldier. Feeling acutely self-conscious as he did in any
situation with a stranger, he walked in far enough to let the door shut behind
him. A gloved hand was offered, and he had to shuffle closer to shake it. “Do
you know why you’re here?”
“Uh, counselling right?” For some reason this appeared to amuse the stranger,
who gave a slight smirk under his silver moustache.
“Sure. Why don’t you take a seat?” David looked at the isolated chair beside
him, perching himself on it unsurely. Weird setup. “I’m guessing you don’t know
me. I’m a friend of your father’s, he asked me to- help you out here. Call me
Ocelot.”
Chapter End Notes
     Everyone's favourite cat enters the fray to stir the pot >:3c
***** Interrogation *****
Chapter Notes
     I've re-written some parts because I was tired and rushed it too
     much.
     Sorry!
“We’re gonna keep this one quick today. I don’t know what you might be
expecting but…my methods are usually different from the norm.” Ocelot went back
to the table as soon as the brunette sat down. David had no idea what he had
been expecting anyway – perhaps something closer to the trope of lying down to
talk to a shrink. He’d ask him how he was feeling, David would say ok. That old
chestnut. This man didn’t look much like a shrink though, or one of his
father’s soldiers for that matter. For starters he wasn’t wearing a uniform.
Something clinked at the table and David directed his attention towards it.
There were all sorts of miscellaneous medical supplied arranged neatly there.
Ocelot was fiddling with something on a metal tray, the lip of which the young
snake couldn’t see over. Immediately he felt the grip of dread around his
heart.
“W-what’s that all for?” When he didn’t get an answer his apprehension grew.
“Are you a doctor?”
“I’m not going to be operating on you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Ocelot lifted a syringe to flick the bubbles out, in complete contrast to his
words.
“What’s that for? Are you going to inject me?”
“Now, now David; I’m supposed to be the one asking you questions.”
“Can you please just tell me what you’re doing?” he unconsciously leaned away
from the instrument as it was set down in a dish. More than ever he wished he
had Eli with him. Would he be in trouble if he just got up and left?
“I’m gonna give you a little something to help you relax, that’s all. You’re
not afraid of a tiny ol’ needle, are you?”
“No.” It’s what you’re giving me that I’m afraid of. He was about to tell him
he didn’t need relaxing until he recalled his father’s parting warning to ‘be
nice’, thought about it for a moment and decided to say it anyway. “I don’t
think I need a shot, I feel fine.”  The man came back to his chair to slip an
elastic tourniquet around his upper arm and tighten it in place. I guess I’m
getting one anyway. David looked away so he didn’t have to watch as a red
gloved finger pressed the inside of his elbow to bring up a vein.
Ocelot was studying his reaction carefully, systematically recording as much as
he could in his head. He wanted information. Information about Solid Snake.
“I think I should get to know you a bit better to start. Would you say you were
a nervous person, David?” The needle found its mark, and he slowly depressed
the plunger.
“Uh…I don’t think so…” his opposite hand was brought to press on the speck of
blood left from the syringe. Ocelot took his time disposing of it at the table,
he wanted the drugs to kick in before he asked more questions. He could ask a
few basic ones while he waited.
 Usually he would have jabbed the needle into the subject’s neck indelicately
(yet precisely), not caring if it hurt. Things were different this time; this
was John’s child, a little more care was required. Plus he wanted David to
trust him if he was going to get anywhere – stabbing him in the neck certainly
wouldn’t have helped to that end.
“You just moved into the house a few weeks ago, right? What do you think of
it?”
“It’s ok…” Ocelot couldn’t tell if he was purposely being difficult or if he
was just a boy of few words. The snake sensed that he wanted more and
elaborated. “It’s a nice place. I like it.”
“You’ve lived in a lot of houses.” He must know I was fostered then. My dad
must have told him about me.
“Yeah.”
“Did you like all of them?”
“…Some were alright.” David turned his head to look at the minuscule puncture
on his arm and the movement made him dizzy. It must be that injection. That was
fast.
“Do you know why your father sent you to me?”
“No.” Why am I here? “Is it because of Eli?”
“What do you mean?” The cat’s attention piqued.
“Am I here to keep him company or something?…Like, I don’t think I need
counselling.”
“And you think Eli does?”
“I dunno.” Yes.
“And you’re here so you’re not separated. Why wouldn’t your father want to
separate you?”
“Um…because we’re friends.” It was getting harder to concentrate on his
answers. As the spell of dizziness settled with the stillness of his head a
nausea was rising steadily in his gut. His mouth filled with saliva, some
accidently dribbling onto his arm, and he tried to catch it with a clumsy hand.
“Hggh...I don’t feel so good.”
A plastic bucket was thrust into his hands on cue. He knew what it was for, but
he still desperately fought not to throw up in front of the person he’d just
met. It was hard enough around new people as it was.
“So, your -” Ocelot was cut off by David vomiting into the tub, bringing up
nothing but bile after so long without eating anything substantial.
“S-sorry.” he mumbled when he was done, spitting the rest out after it. As
gross as it was he didn’t trust himself without the bucket, so it stayed on his
lap and he sat back up.
“So,” the cat continued as if nothing had happened, “your older brother came
back to stay recently. Would you say you were ‘friends’ with him too?”
“Uhhh.”
“It’s ok, you can tell me. What do you think of him?” He could see the cloud of
disorientation over David’s eyes now, and knew the drugs were taking effect.
His answers would be more truthful where he usually would have lied.
Unfortunately it also made him confused, so said answers may take a while to
get out. On a higher dosage even his memories would become malleable.
“I think he’s ok…I don’t really know him that well.”
“Mm-hm.”
“He’s hard to talk to.” Another burp of vomit forced its way up and landed in
the bucket. David apologised again, feeling better on the emptier stomach, and
promptly got the hiccups.
“What do you think of your father?” Ocelot knew exactly where he had to steer
the interrogation. He was eager to delve into the mind of the young clone. This
one seemed more like John than the others so far; Solidus tried too hard to be
clever for his liking and Liquid was – well, Liquid.
“Um -hic-…he scares me.” Ocelot raised an eyebrow, actually surprised.
“Scares you?”
“Yeah he hits -hic- Eli.”
“But not you.”
“No. I tthought he would be difff,” David could hear how much his words were
slurring and tried again, “I thought -hic- he would be different.” A fog had
settled in his head, making everything fuzzy.
“Different how?”
“…More like a dad, I guess.”
“Does that make you sad?”
“Erm…-hic-…I don’t know.” Unable to stop himself he added, “Yes.” Ocelot hummed
to himself, leaning against the table and crossing his arms. Now they could
start properly. “I want to be a good son.”
“I’m sure you do.” he told him. John’s summary of the brunette had been along
the lines of ‘polite’ and ‘skittish’, if he remembered correctly. The lack of
negative criticism told him that David must indeed be a good son around him.
All the more reason to puzzle over the apparent harmony between him and his
riotous twin. “It’s nice to hear you and Eli are getting along. I know he can
be a bit of a bully sometimes.”
David nodded to himself drowsily.
“He is…but only sometimes. He’s nice -hic- to me.”
“Why only to you?” Ocelot pried. Snake had told him all about Liquid’s
misadventures where Solidus was concerned, and he too was harbouring suspicions
about the nature of the twins’ relationship because of it. All they needed was
for one of them to slip up and spill the truth.
Liquid’s session earlier on had been more focussed on his obsession with their
elder sibling than his twin, and trying to get Liquid to calm down and stop
puking on the floor. Not a very fruitful session, apart from him eventually
recounting in delicious detail some of what he’d drawn. Ocelot hadn’t been
expecting much from the first day anyway. Everything had been mopped up by an
unlucky soldier before Solid’s arrival, but, now that the drug had made him
sick too, the smell was back.
“Because we’re close.” David removed a hand from the bucket to rub at his
throat where the hiccups were hurting him, and the gunslinger reached forward
to take it off him and put it on the floor before he lost his grip and spilt it
everywhere. “‘Twins are closer than friends’, that’s what he said.” He rested
his tired eyes for a fraction of a second too long and Ocelot slammed his fist
onto the metal surface of the table to jolt him awake, rattling the medical
paraphernalia. If he passed out now the session would be over. Maybe it was
time to speed things up a bit.
“David, did you know that Eli and George were close?” The brunette nodded
again, still shaken from the loud bang. “What would you happen to know about
that?”
“…Some stuff.” Even under the influence of Ocelot’s serum he was still trying
to be evasive. How much does he know? What else could he be hiding?
“Can you tell me?”
“Uhhh…-hic-…” He knew there was a reason he had to keep quiet, but the haze of
his mind refused to lift. “G-George got drunk, and they argued.”
“Why?” David shifted uncomfortably on the chair, hesitating.
“…He found out…um...Eli -hic- pretended he was in love with him.” The words
fell out before he realised what he was saying.
“Did he, now.” Ocelot knew all this already. Pretended? Is that what he told
you? “How does that make you feel?” An anxious gulp, a little shrug.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“How come?”
“It – he doesn’t feel like that anymore!” The irritation was clear and damning.
“Why are you getting angry about it?”
“I’m not.” David turned his face away to frown at the wall. It was possible
that the clone didn’t even know he was angry about it before, and the hypnotic
shot was finally letting him feel it. This would be a learning experience for
the both of them. The cat stayed quiet for a moment to give him a quick break,
not wanting to overwhelm him. The cocktail he’d injected him with also had the
tricky side effect of making the subject’s anxiety skyrocket.
“How does Eli feel about you?”
“He likes me.” This time a smile played on his lips, remembering his twin tell
him as much and kiss him after.
“Do you like him?” Ocelot started pacing so he could see what expression he was
pulling.
“Yes.”
“Have you ever felt as though you maybe liked him more than you should?” The
look of happiness twisted as the worry came back to him.
“…Yes.” Ocelot was the one turning to conceal a smirk now. It was a joke, the
whole situation. John was making himself sick with the stress of trying to keep
his unnatural children as well adjusted as he could, and failing miserably. ‘So
what if they have some fun with each other? Let ‘em, I say’ he’d told him over
the phone in jest, half serious. His closest friend hadn’t found it funny in
the slightest.
“It’s ok.” he tried to reassure him when David started to look nauseous again.
It was obvious that the involuntary confessions were distressing David greatly,
and he’d have to tread carefully unless he wanted to induce a massive panic
attack. At least the hiccups were gone though.
“No, I don’t like him.” the snake tried to backpedal tremulously.
“Alright.” Ocelot held his hands up to slow him down.
“I…y-you’re not gonna tell my dad, are you?”
“No, everything will stay between us.” He was a much better liar than the teen.
“But it’s important that you tell me the truth.”
“Ok…um, I was lying. About not liking him.” Ocelot managed to keep from rolling
his eyes at the boy.
“Is there something else you’re not telling me?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you should.”
“I don’t want to.” As annoying as it was, he had to admit the kid had a whole
lot of willpower.
“You can trust me, David.”
“We…we’ve been doing bad stuff together.” Stop, stop! he cried to himself.
“Bad how?” They were so close to getting a clear admission that would confirm
all of their suspicions that he could almost feel it.
“Eli was the one who started it!” Solid Snake was squeezing his own hands,
watching them wring in his lap guiltily. He knew he shouldn't, he knew it, but
it was as though he physically could not stop his scrambled thoughts from
moulding into speech. It was made worse by the fact that he was lucid enough to
understand what was happening. He was about to ruin everything. “I can't...we-
" Solid was trembling with the effort to control himself; with the fright of
what he would say. The words came slowly and thickly, with him attempting in
vain to stop them. "…Sometimes we…touch each other. We shouldn't...but w-we
do...” There. He’d actually said it. It would never be able to be taken back
now.
Ocelot allowed himself a smug look, imagining John’s reaction when he told him
the news. This wasn’t a surprise at all, but he certainly wouldn’t be pleased.
“It’s ok.” he said again, his pacing leading him behind the clone so he could
pat his tense shoulder.
“We know it's bad. We know it's bad.” The visceral alarm of being forced to
reveal it was enough to make him vomit again, leaning forward to aim at the tub
at his feet and clutching onto the flimsy armrests.
“…I think that’s enough for today.” The cat had got a lot more than he had been
expecting. There was no need to wear him out before they started for real
tomorrow. He hit a button on the wall near the door, calling a soldier to take
David back to his room.
The snake kept his mouth shut as he was helped up by his escort, unsteady on
his feet. He would have plenty of time to think about what he’d just done as
the drugs were wearing off.
***** Paperwork *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The escort stopped before reaching the door, as if crossing the threshold or
even going near it would electrocute him. Solid was nudged toward it, having to
fumble to open it himself with his thumb. Much easier said than done when his
coordination was shot.
Liquid was on the bed when he stumbled back in, still in his shoes. He turned
his head toward the intruder sluggishly, still under the spell of the drug
despite having had longer than the brunette to get over it. Solid joined him
there, flopping down on his front. They looked at each other in the dark,
illuminated only by the bulb from the bathroom shining through a crack in the
manual sliding door.
“I think I know why we’re here.” the blonde whispered.
“Counselling.” Solid’s eyes were getting heavy pressed into the comfortable
mattress. He extended a hand to cling onto the fabric of Liquid’s top weakly,
wanting some part of him under his fingers as he fell asleep.
“…No.”
                                       ~
It was so peaceful having the house to himself. No music, no hassle, no
thumping footsteps. No noise. Not even the infrequent muffled sounds their
father made whenever he was there. This was the first thing George noticed in
the absence of his family.
The silence quickly became deafening; almost unbearably so. He turned the
television volume way up just so he had some background clamour to listen to
from upstairs. After being surrounded by noise and gunfire constantly for so
long he wasn’t used to the uncomfortable stillness at all.
George worried that this was a symptom of PTSD he might have unknowingly
developed during his recent stint in West Africa, but tried to shake the
speculation off. It doesn’t make sense anyway, he told himself. You
don’tmissthe noise if you have PTSD, right?Being shell-shocked at twenty one
didn’t bode well for the rest of his career.
The novelty of being alone also wore off very soon. At least, the knowledge
that he would essentially be in isolation for an unknown amount of time was
draining. It was only the first day on his own, too.
He drifted around the empty house aimlessly in his boredom, breezing through
all the unused rooms to keep himself busy while he was waiting on the oven to
cook his dinner. Usually Eli would come sniffing around about then, asking if
he could make his dinner for him too.
George’s wandering brought him to a crossroads, deciding whether to take the
stairs to the twin’s rooms in the loft or turn left toward the rooms his father
used. They were locked, and he knew this, but he found himself heading down the
corridor anyway. He had been listening attentively to everything yesterday, and
he wasn’t sure if he could remember hearing Snake lock his study before he
left. It was just a feeling, yet it made him go up to the study door and try
the handle; astonished when it swung on its hinges in his pushing hand. It’s
open…
Unlike David he didn’t have any qualms about going in for a rummage around.
Everything had been rearranged hastily last night. Papers had been cleared, the
phone disconnected and stashed away. The escritoire was much more ornate than
something he would expect his father to own, set at an angle in the back corner
by the shuttered window and giving the whole room an askew look. Probably a
gift.
George made a beeline for the antique desk, flicking on the overhead light as
he went, and pulled the accompanying black leather office chair back to take a
seat. A Rolodex thick with contact details had been placed on one corner, set
back to the start of the roll. He flicked through some at random. Everything
was written in Russian for some reason. At first he thought it was to stop the
likes of him or his brothers reading it, but he could speak it almost as well
as he could English – like his father – and even Eli could understand some as
far as he knew. He checked under ‘Г’ for George, and found the address of the
place in Liberia that held mail for him.
Where the drawers were concerned, the most obvious choice was to check the
largest one set along the bottom. It stuck on its sliders, fastened. Damn. So
he locks this and leaves the door? Now determined to get in, he sorted through
the smaller drawers on the backboard. Nothing, nothing, some pencil clips, a
stapler, a letter opener, a fountain pen and ink cartridges. George sat back
with a huff, immediately noticing the small golden key blending in with the
equally golden base of the banker’s desk lamp it was placed on, opposite the
Rolodex. It wasn’t even hidden.
He snatched it up, admiring the swirling metalwork on the old bow for a second
before using it to unlock the long drawer. The mechanism clicked satisfyingly,
sliding out. All that George could see was paper. There were a few manila
folders marked FOXHOUND stacked in one corner and an untidy pile of assorted
papers scattered about the rest. His urge to sort it out had to be squashed if
he wanted to leave as little hint of his presence as possible.
Slipping out some pages indiscriminately he scanned over the information for
anything interesting. Mostly it was invoices from his Outer Heaven exploits,
mixed with a few from Diamond Dogs. Boring numbers. So much money, but boring
all the same. On a more intriguing note he found that some letters had been
separated from the business receipts, and pushed the latter aside to see what
his father had been writing.
‘Wait until after the next shore leave rotation or next thing we know he’ll be
stowaway on a boat to God-knows where.
- V’
It was written on lined paper that had been torn at the top, in Snake’s
handwriting, but written by a completely different snake. Venom. George had
been training with him a few times, even going out into the field with him
learning as he went, as he had with his real father. He found himself in awe of
them in action, finally able to see what really made them the fierce legend up
close. There was a lot of respect for them there. He forced his mind to become
a sponge in order to soak up every single thing they could teach him, and they
were excellent teachers.
There was a lot of pressure on him, though, and he felt every bit of it. V had
once said to him, as they were traipsing through the desert together outside
Kabul, ‘You’ll have to be him next’. Needless to say it didn’t lighten the
mood. He was talking about Solidus inheriting his father’s legacy. He wouldn’t
become Big Boss, obviously, but he was expected to become something equally
formidable. Solidus couldn’t let himself want anything else for his future,
because he was shit out of luck if he did.
Breaking from his reverie, he spotted some familiar stamps on the corner of a
brown envelope at the bottom of the pile. Slipping it from the stack, he took
the contents out carefully. It was the same waxy paper he had used in Liberia,
and he recognised his own cursive scrawled down the middle. This is…‘Eli, we’ve
hit a bit of bad luck here’…This ismyletter! What is it doing...He studied the
stamps again, the ones he now remembered buying for Eli because they had birds
on them. This was the original envelope, intact. George had a horrible moment
of realisation that it hadn’t been opened by his sibling, because he always
ripped the envelope to pieces in his haste to get inside. A letter opener had
been used here to make one clean slice across the top.
“My letter…” Eli had argued that he never got a message from him while he had
been gone. “God…he was telling the truth.” He hadn’t got the letter. It had
been in here the whole time. His father had told him that Eli had refused to
write him back, but he had had the thing all along. He lied to me. Why would he
do that?
George thought about his decision to tell Snake everything, advising him to
send the twins away, largely out of spite for the brother that had turned his
back on him. “Shit.”
                                       ~
Adamska reported the progress back whenever he could. Now that he had a rhythm
going with the boys it was much more methodical. They would tell him something
high on the serum, and he would inject them with more and replace the memory
with something different; innocent. For all their stubbornness and defiance
they were relatively easy to brainwash. As long as he kept them doped up they
would be receptive to the therapy.
At the end of it all they would have utterly forgotten about their sexual
deviancy with each other and their older sibling. Exactly the way their father
wanted it.
When they weren’t with Ocelot they were either sleeping or stuck in the
hypnotic state that made it impossible for them to do a thing. Lucky for them
they could still stagger to the bathroom by themselves.
Since they couldn’t keep much food down they were given just two meals a day -
nutrient dense bricks that would hopefully stop them from losing too much
weight as their therapy dragged on. The food had to be put in their hands or
mouths to actually encourage them to eat it, though eating had turned into
sucking the biscuit-like chunks until it had dissolved enough to swallow.
They hadn’t washed in the time that they had been there, or changed their
clothes. On the fourth day Ocelot got a medical staff member (he didn’t
completely trust the combat or guard detail with the twins’ comatose bodies) to
clean them and dress them in the only clothes they had on hand: Outer Heaven
uniform. The cat had to admit they both looked adorable in their new olive
drab.
John eventually made an appearance to see for himself how everything was going.
He had been hoping the twins were ready to be taken home, but they were still
lying in his room like a pair of vegetables. A pair of vegetables in matching
fatigues. One of them cracked an eye open and said his name, already
unconscious by the time he asked them what was wrong. It was unsettling to see
them like that, so he didn’t plan to stay in there any longer. At least he knew
putting them through this would be worth it.
The door opened behind him, and he faintly heard Adamska’s spurs rattling in.
“So much for the cot.” Even though Snake had his back turned he nodded toward
the untouched pallet at the foot of the bed.
“Are they always like this?”
“It’s the meds. They’ll be back beyond normal in no time.”
“How much longer do you need?”
“Just a few days, tops. If you were to ask them anything now they wouldn’t
remember it. All I have left to do is make sure it stays that way.”
“Huh.” His sons were so still and quiet they almost seemed dead. “Do they need
someone to watch them after?”
“I wouldn’t’ve thought so. Don’t you have Solidus at home right now?”
“I want him to get back in the field before he gets too used to it.” Really he
just wanted him out of the way while the dust settled. They would be better off
at Mother Base than with him…that is, if Venom could find someone suitable to
babysit them there. With things so busy for the both of them it couldn’t have
come at a more inconvenient time. “I might have to ask another favour.”
“I’m not doing it.” Snake barked with laughter at his abrupt response, waking
the twins up to look around them in confusion. Neither of the adults were paid
any attention, if they saw them by the bed at all.
“Not you. I’ll have to think about it.”
Chapter End Notes
     I may have had an idea to include another beloved character. Maybe.
***** Have Faith *****
Chapter Notes
     Might as well rename this fic 'they're tired and they move
     constantly'
The time had come for another decision. As much as he wanted to there was no
time to meet with Venom in person, so they’d have to deliberate over the phone.
This would involve the both of them. They didn’t have long until the twins were
ready to be brought back.
Their planning wasn’t as much a choice as it was deciding how to speed up a
process they were already going through to suit their current situation. For
months they had been trying to figure out how to balance and spread themselves
out over what was now three major organisations, after finally agreeing to take
up command of FOXHOUND again. Neither of them were keen to get mixed up with
the US government, or any government for that matter, but FOXHOUND had belonged
to Snake in the beginning - and it would mean that much more influence for Big
Boss as a whole.
Figuring out how to be in three places at once was difficult. Being in two at
once they could manage, but their presence at FOXHOUND had to be near constant,
as they understood it. At the same time they couldn’t just abandon their posts
at the mercenary strongholds. On top of all this only one of them could
physically make an appearance at their newest station – they may be
doppelgangers, but they were easy to tell apart because of the scarring. If one
turned up after the other it wouldn’t go unnoticed and unquestioned.
The only solution Snake could see was to merge Diamond Dogs with Outer Heaven,
as the former was the smaller of the two. V had agreed with him, knowing full
well this would mean he would lose his position as commander there and take it
up at FOXHOUND. Quite the demotion, but one he was willing to accept. It wasn’t
as though they wouldn’t be involved in one another’s business anyway.
Although Venom was already spending a lot of time setting up in Alaska the
process of combining the merc armies was ongoing. It would be slow, of course;
a lot of moving around and records and briefing and logistics. Mother Base was
half a continent away from Outer Heaven, which may not have been the handicap
it sounded. On a global scale they were close by, and having a spare base meant
they could delegate soldiers, units and resources between them.
This all tied into the twin’s situation with where they were going to stay
while they recovered. Ocelot assured Snake it wouldn’t take long at all
(although he wouldn’t specify beyond ‘I can’t be sure’), and he was tempted
just to let George do it despite what he had thought initially.
But, after hearing the feedback from Ocelot on how his young sons felt about
him, he was compelled to take a different route. Ocelot’s point had been that
his absence as their father was effecting them greatly, and if they continued
to grow up to resent him they could end up turning on him in the future – even
trying to kill him. An extremely paranoid prediction, but a logical one all the
same.
Their loyalty to him aside, he was far more haunted by the picture they had
painted of him in their minds. David was frightened of him, apparently, and
that much he didn’t know how to help. He could possibly help the fact that he
wanted him around more, though. And then there was Eli…who ‘wept his lil’ heart
out’, according to the Russian. ‘He just said that he didn’t understand why
you’ve always hated him, and he felt weak because he still wanted you to love
him back’ Adamska had said without sympathy.
Thinking about how much his sons were hurting disturbed him. He had had no clue
they felt that way at all. Snake could barely comprehend it – he himself had
never had, wanted or needed a father figure in his life, so the idea that his
clones needed it was alien to him. Was it really that important? Then again…he
had been devastated when The Boss had left him, many many years ago. Perhaps
they felt the same, in a way. No, this is different. She was gone for years…
(but so was I, for the first 12, 15, 18 years of their lives)
He knew they were his 'children', and yet he still struggled with the fact that
he was their father. What was he supposed to do?
The term ‘abandonment issues’ flashed in his head for an awful moment, and he
had the epiphany of: could all of this be his fault, somehow? Is that why
Liquid got so attached to people? No, it couldn’t possibly be because of him.
He had to tell himself that to numb the guilt he felt regardless.
Perhaps more surprising than anything was the fact he didn’t realise he cared
so much.
So, he had to remedy this. Both he and V were going to be extremely unavailable
with work; they physically did not have time for them. George was going to
leave again soon too, and the twins would be all alone together. But…there
could be a way to keep them closer, and have someone watching over them.
Miller.
Following the decision to get involved in FOXHOUND again Snake had got Venom to
get into contact with him, offering him a place among the ranks (V had to be
the one to do it because he knew Kaz would rather gouge his own eyes out with a
rusty fork than hear from him). It had taken a while and some insistent
persuasion, but he’d finally agreed. A good thing too, he couldn’t think of
anyone better for the job.
Having started there alongside his phantom, Kaz had already moved further into
Alaska to be closer to the base. As far as Snake knew he had been spending his
time in the northernmost state instructing Marines and Green Berets on
survival, so the switch in job wouldn’t be too drastic for him. As far as his
personal life was concerned he didn’t know a thing, and he imagined Kaz would
prefer it to stay that way.
Of course if he wanted his plan to work he’d have to hand things over to Venom
to sort out. Originally he’d thought to send the twins to live alongside V at
the heart of FOXHOUND. That way they’d get to see their father every day, which
would apparently be good for them…but they’d also be living at the heart of
FOXHOUND, a militarised training base - at least in Outer Heaven they had been
unable to move after being doped up. It could be good for them to get some
exposure to the training early, though he couldn’t help but imagine all the
ways they could get in trouble there. In light of recent events he was probably
right to be apprehensive.
If they stayed with Miller for a little while however, just as they got their
heads together and everything got settled in with FOXHOUND, they’d be out of
the way while the adults did their job and still be close by. It wasn’t the end
of the world if Miller refused, they still had plan A to fall back on, but
Snake doubted he would. He’d always had a soft spot for Eli from his time as XO
of Diamond Dogs. This was the perfect opportunity to gain more leverage in
Kaz’s life too – the twins could end up being excellent bargaining chips if
Snake ever wanted something from him. A way back in.
Reflecting on his options made things seem a lot less stressful.
                                       ~
The next time Eli opened his eyes he was in the car. He couldn’t remember
getting in. David was beside him, belted in as he was and slumped in the seat.
Willing his heavy eyes to stay open he scanned around for the driver. His
vision was unfocussed, but he still recognised Snake sat at the wheel up front,
his back to them. They were all going somewhere together.
“Uhh…” he croaked, clearing his sore throat. Eli shuffled to stretch his limbs
in the cramped space. Everything was aching and stiff. It felt like he’d had
the flu for ages. Snake heard the movement behind him, and readjusted the rear
view mirror to look back at him. “Where are we going?”
“We’ll be home soon for tonight.” Home? Then where had they just been?
“Where were we?” Eli could only see a dark blur when he tried to think back in
his head. Snake kept his eyes on the road, mulling over his words carefully.
“You and your brother…got sick. You’ve been with the medical team.” That
explained the bruised feeling all over his body.
“How long?” he looked back at David and saw that he was wearing Outer Heaven
fatigues. “Uniform?”
“Ten days, I think. Oh, and your clothes are still dirty.” Ten days?! How
sickwerewe? Based on the fact that Snake had actually decided to take them to
see a doctor, and the fact he couldn’t remember getting ill or leaving the
house, he guessed very sick.
“It hurts…” Eli mumbled to himself. The sunlight piercing the dusty windows was
far too bright, and the persistent thumping behind his eyes got sharper with
each passing second. There was a cramp in his neck from sleeping with his head
hanging. Now that he was conscious all of his pains could only get
progressively worse until he passed out again. Why are we going home? I still
feel ill…A hand was brought up to shield his eyes and rub the bridge of his
nose simultaneously.
“Do you still have your winter coat? From your last birthday?”
“It doesn’t fit anymore.” In fact it had only fitted for about a month until
he’d had a mini growth spurt that made the sleeves too short.
“Does David have one?” Snake hadn’t seen them speak a word to each other since
he’d first dropped them off in Ocelot’s capable hands.
“I don’t know.” Eli was having trouble sifting through the murk of his brain
for the simple answers. It was too much effort. Snake got the hint.
“I think you’ll be cheered up tomorrow.” Eli didn’t know it, but he wasn’t
talking about his health.
Back at the house, finally, the twins had to be herded in on their unsteady
feet. David lost his balance on the steps and Snake could already see him
falling over flat, darting out to catch him before he managed to right himself
on his own. It wouldn’t be fair to just let him fall when he was in that state,
especially onto concrete.
The TV was on when they got in, turned up much louder than was necessary.
Passing through the porch he couldn’t see anyone sat there watching it – the
living room was empty. David and Eli automatically went on ahead to their beds
while their father stayed behind to turn the television off.
At the sudden void of sound George poked his head out of his room to
investigate. The twins passed by, looking like death with their pallid faces
and purple eyes. Their older brother stopped the blonde by holding onto his
forearm.
“Eli, you ok?”
“I got the flu or something. I’m going back to bed…” George let Eli go. He
hadn’t been short with him, or tried to shrug him off…whatever happened must
have worked, as far as he could tell from that exchange. Snake came up the
stairs after them, watching them head into their respective rooms alone from
the landing.
“What’s up with them – why are they like that?”
“It’ll take a while for them to get that shit out of their system. Plus their
brains are fried out.”
“How long will it take?”
“You don’t have to worry about that, I’m moving them on tomorrow.” George was
about to ask if it was wise, and stopped himself to rephrase it.
“As long as you think they’ll be alright.”
“Ahab will be there with them.” For a split second he forgot who Snake was
talking about.Venom. I wish he’d just say that.
“Ok. I trust you.” and with that he backed into his room again. He liked to
think it was possible for him not trust his father after his discovery in the
study. He knew he shouldn’t completely, anyway, but his faith didn’t waver
easily.
***** Bread *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
David was confused upon waking up without his twin. They’d been having
sleepovers each night recently…so where was he?
Time ticked by as he lay still in the dim light of his room, warm and
oblivious. A deep fatigue had settled over him, like he’d never felt before. It
didn’t feel physical, the way it did after a long day of activity. He recalled
Eli mentioning they had gotten ill at some point, which would connect the dots.
Nearly 24 hours after shuffling up there, he emerged from his room. David kept
a hand on the bannister as he descended to use the bathroom. Catching sight of
himself in the mirror above the sink was a shock – he looked so bad. His skin
was off-colour making him look grey, and his cheekbones stood out more than he
remembered from the last time he’d seen his own reflection; despite the food
he’d been given at Outer Heaven he’d lost a little weight.
“Ew…” Now that he was aware of his sickly appearance he wanted a wash. He felt
stale. There was a pile of clean towels on top of the spare hamper, so he might
as well take a shower while he was there. David unbuttoned the unfamiliar
outfit he’d woken up in the previous day; he hadn’t had the energy to strip out
of it before collapsing into bed before. Worryingly he had no idea how he’d
ended up wearing it. At least he recognised the winged skull insignia
embroidered on the sleeve.
The hot spray of water was a welcome feeling. For a while he just stood under
it, soaking it up before he actually started to wash himself. As the layer of
grime rinsed away he swore it made him feel better. He thought about food and
got hungry, his stomach gurgling. Then he got nauseous and any delusion that
the shower was making him better quickly vanished. His wash was soon finished
up.
With a big towel wrapped around him he gathered up his strange new uniform and
left to go back to his room. David couldn’t wait to be back in bed. Man…I
haven’t even done anything and I wanna go to sleep! He made sure to dry off
before he let himself sit down, in case he passed out in his towel. A shirt and
some underwear was pulled on from the cupboard, slowly because he was dizzy
again after taking the stairs. He didn’t bother to brush his mop of wet hair,
dampening the pillow from the cursory drying.
Rolling to face his door, he had a sudden great urge to see his brother in the
neighbouring bedroom. In fact it surprised him just how much he wanted to see
Eli. The craving brought him back to his feet again, across the tiny loft
landing to the blonde’s room.
David knocked quietly. There was a noise from the other side. Permission to
enter.
At the sight of Eli cocooned in his duvet he was filled with what he could only
guess was relief. A tightness in his chest that he hadn’t noticed left his
body.
“…What is it?” Eli murmured, opening an eye to take him in. I don’t know.Why
had he been so compelled to go into his room?
“Um…I just wanted to see you.” Feeling just as puzzled as his twin looked, he
backed out of the room to leave him in peace.What the hell was that all about?
 The compulsion had been so strong - in fact it came back as soon as he turned
away, as if he hadn’t just gone into his room to see him two seconds ago. It
was too late to do it once more, he’d already closed the door. What was he
going to say if he did anyway, ‘sorry I felt like I needed to look at you
again’? That didn’t sound weird or clingy at all.
                                       ~
George was told to go check on the twins and bring them food. He did so without
complaining or rolling his eyes; he wanted to see for himself again how they
were. The blonde was first.
Eli was much the same as David had left him, tucked snugly in his quilt. On the
slanted ceiling the blind was down to keep the light out, so it took him a
second for his eyes to adjust and spot him amongst the heap of bedding.
“Hey.” George called out, shaking the mattress with a foot. His younger brother
groaned and pulled the covers over his face. “Get up. You got something to
eat.” At the mention of food Eli peered out of his den and extended a hand
toward the tray George was holding.
“Give it.” The tray was set down on the bedside table, pushing some old dirty
dishes aside to make room. Eli squirmed out into the open like an eel to
inspect the offering. It was just a bread roll with some butter on it, but it
was enough to make his mouth water. He was starving. George had never seen
someone eat so fast: one second the roll was on a plate and the next it was
disappearing into Eli’s mouth. How on earth he managed to chew and swallow it
so quick he had no idea. “Is that for me?” the blonde pointed to the other
bread roll on the tray.
“No!” George put a hand between him and the food to stop him snatching it up
again. Eli slowly retracted his arm and narrowed his eyes at the roll
jealously.
“I’m still hungry.” As if on cue his insides grumbled.
“Take it easy, you haven’t eaten properly in a while.” The elder brother could
see the weight he had lost, like his twin, with his torso exposed from the
duvet the way it was. He was almost tempted to give him David’s half of the
tray, if only to see the healthy flesh that had melted from his lean body
return. It always disturbed him to see Eli like that...it reminded him of when
he first moved in to be separated from V. When he was sick. “I’ll get you
something else in a minute, just wait for that to go down. And wake yourself up
a bit, you’re supposed to be travelling today.”
George left to feed the other sibling, using his elbow on the handle of the
door after knocking. David was sat on his bed reading one of his books. He
looked up and nodded in greeting when George stepped in, completely unfussed
that he was in his underwear in front of his big brother.
“‘The Man-Eating Myth’ – you’re not that hungry, are you?”
“Hm? Oh!” David saw that he was reading out the title. “No, I- actually I
thought it would be a monster story or something but it’s just about people
eating each other. I found it in that room downstairs…sorry that I took it.”
“That’s ok. You can take whatever you want, but you’ll probably find it
boring.” The room in question was along the same side as George’s bedroom. It
wasn’t being used for anything, so he kept bookcases in there to unclutter his
own space. Like a small glorified library. “You want something to eat?” David’s
face lit up, and he eyed the tray with new interest.
“Is that for me?” the question came again in the same voice Eli had used, minus
the accent. George handed him the plate and watched as he devoured the roll
almost as fast as his twin had. Somehow he’d half expected David to be a bit
more controlled than the blonde, but they must have been more alike than he
knew. That didn’t exactly bode well.
“You’re lucky I managed to rescue it from Eli.” David tried to say something
past his full mouth, caught himself and tried again after swallowing.
“Is he awake?”
“Barely. You better stay up too, father wants to move you two later. I’m sure
he’ll let you stay another day if you’re not up to it though.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’re staying with Venom again I think.” David smiled to himself. He’d
enjoyed his time on Mother Base before; it would be nice to go back, especially
to see the animals. Eli hadn’t gone with them…but he couldn’t remember why.
George took the plate back. “You’re off to Alaska this time, so make sure you
pack something warm.”
“Alaska?” Jeez, I don’t think I have anythingthatwarm, Solid thought. “I don’t
have any gloves.” But Solidus had already left with the empty tray, pulling the
door so that it was ajar for when he came back with more food.
                                       ~
Obviously things would have to wait another day. Liquid was still comatose, and
his twin could barely keep his eyes open - not to mention neither of them had
any proper winter clothes. Snake knew they were supposed to be ‘recovering’,
but he hadn’t expected them to be turned into a pair of narcoleptics. How
strong had those drugs been?...It wasn’t just that - he knew that the mental
strain that the therapy had put them under would take longer to get over.
Ocelot had told him as much. That was the reason he was doing this after all.
On the other point, Snake would have to get someone to buy the right clothing
for them. No, it would be better for V to send someone. There would definitely
be a shop in the area that stocked cold weather clothing. All he had to do was
tell them the size and the twins could get their new wardrobe when they
arrived. Now he just needed to find out what size they actually were.
Solidus had been loitering around him all day. Usually he did that when he
wanted to say something, but whenever he asked what he wanted his son would
insist that it was nothing and disappear. It was about time to get him back in
the field anyway, he’d been back for more than a fortnight already.
While he worked at his desk he asked his eldest to get the boys food and ask
about their clothes to give him something to do. Solidus was like him in as
much as he liked to keep busy, especially when he was stressed; and Snake could
tell that he was, even if he wouldn’t speak up.
Strangely enough he found himself at a loose end too after reading through the
latest envelope of invoices. He sat back and realised he had nothing else to
do, he’d already made the necessary arrangements and checked over expenses. It
was rare that he had a spare moment in his own house. It made him uneasy, as
though he were forgetting something – there was always work to be done.
The first thing he did on his own time was light up another cigar and lean back
in the chair with a long, drawn out sigh. God, he needed a rest. He’d been
running on fumes for so long, he hadn’t actually slept properly since…well
since he’d taken Solid and Liquid to Ocelot.
Hopefully moving them on would take the weight of - whatever this was - off
him. They would go tomorrow and he could get back to whatever job offers were
bound to roll in by then, without having to worry about them. Until then he
continued to be troubled. If all of this had taught him anything it was that
his children were a lot more fragile than he’d thought.
He kept thinking about what Ocelot had told him back at Outer Heaven. He knew
the long and short of it was that…he was a bad father. Certainly not a good one
at the very least. Snake didn’t know if he could give his sons what they needed
from him. But Venom could.
Once at the end of the cigar he got up to check on the twins himself. There
hadn’t been a sound from them in a while; not even the slightest rustle. George
had last been up there over an hour ago.
Going quietly so he could to listen at the same time, Snake climbed up to the
loft and opened David’s door. He was slumped on his bed with a book by his leg,
asleep. One of his hands still kept the place between the pages, so he must
have drifted off reading it. Snake crossed to the bed to push him over gently
so he could lie down properly, spotting a streak of red on the side of his
thigh. David was bleeding.
As he inspected it another drop fell from his face to join the rest. A
nosebleed. Snake craned his neck to see the underside of David’s lowered head
and tried to swipe it away with his thumb, but all that did was smear it on his
face and make even more trickle out.
He shook him awake and gathered the towel that had been forgotten at the foot
of the bed to bundle it up and push it under his nose.
“What’s…going on?” a dazed David obediently held the towel in place as his hand
was guided. At once he tasted the blood and pulled the towel away to look at
the dark stain forming there, noticing the same on his bare thighs. Torpidly he
put two and two together. “I’m bleeding?”
“Keep that there. No don’t pinch it, just let it come out…No, don’t tilt your
head back either.”
“I’m bleeding.” he said again, voice stifled by the previously white towel. The
situation was a jarring one to wake up to.
“It’ll stop in a minute.” Snake used the other end of the towel to mop the
blood from his lap.
“Does this mean I have to go back to hospital?” Did George tell him that?
“No. Do you still feel sick?” Either way he’d already resolved to send them to
V the next day. David would just have to feel sick there instead.
“I don’t think so…”
“Good.” Snake, at a loss for what else to do after cleaning him up, patted him
on the head and left to check on Eli.
Chapter End Notes
     I'd appreciate you guys' comments, especially now I'm taking the
     story somewhere new
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***** New Room *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
It was very cold. They trotted along behind Venom in the thickest clothes they
had -  hoodies -  that they’d put on to protect them from this very problem,
only to find that they may as well have been wearing tissue paper for all the
warmth it gave them. Perhaps the worst part about it was that it wasn’t even
snowy. At least that would have added some fun to the suffering.
“Where are our coats?!”
“Where do you think we’re going?” V called over his shoulder at Eli. All three
of them were walking fast to get to what was going to be their new home for…who
knew how long. The twins certainly didn’t. Nobody told them anything.
Just minutes ago they had touched down at FOXHOUND in the chopper, where Venom
was waiting for them. Eli had pulled David over with him for a hug, and the
brunette could feel the prosthetic leeching the heat out of him where it was
pressing into his back. The metal had been chilled by the air until it was like
ice.
Snake hadn’t gone with them in the helicopter; his goodbyes had been said as
they got in. It had been quick and unceremonious, with the twins expecting to
be whisked back in the near future and him not knowing what to say. He watched
them fly away, and knew he wouldn’t get to see them again anytime soon.
“Is this place nice?” Eli asked as they crunched over the gritted path. “Is it
big?”
“Don’t expect much.” V warned them.
“It’s rubbish then.” the blonde muttered to his brother.
FOXHOUND looked like an interesting place. The buildings they were walking
between were identical, two storey, set out in rows and divided by dark trees.
They must have been barracks. There weren’t a lot, and they passed by them
quickly. The path cut through a uniform rectangle of grass, one of many,
crusted white with frost until it branched off in different directions. Again
they passed close to another long building, much larger than the others, until
Venom led them down a different route. It was quite the maze.
“What’s in there?” Eli pointed at the structure, though V had his back to them.
“Nothing for you.” He didn’t want them sniffing around here, so he dismissed
it. Inside was a gym and a pool – but he expected the mention of it would make
them want to use it. Someone pushed out of the double doors at that moment and
waved to another smoking outside their barrack across the grass. Eli, who had
one previous visit to Outer Heaven not stolen from his memory, already found
the atmosphere of this place more relaxed. Then again this was just a training
facility; Outer Heaven was a full blown mercenary fortress.
“Is it far?” David finally spoke up. Their belongings had been crammed into a
pair of bulky camo backpacks this time, getting heavier with every other step
under their waning stamina. V’s lack of an answer wasn’t promising.
Together they made their way through the complex, purposely avoiding the busier
areas wherever they could and taking the quieter route. With the position of
the landing pad they only had to cross one corner of the facility to reach
their destination.
Every now and then in the distance Eli could see activity, and always made sure
to mention it to his dad. He had an awful feeling that this place would be
boring, so he was eager to hear something of interest; though Venom would
always brush it aside in one way or another. Occasionally over the calm they
would hear a voice barking orders from afar, or a burst of controlled gunfire.
V’s place was set on the periphery of the complex, between a line of ammunition
igloos and an unused patch of land thick with conifers that were yet to be cut
down. Far behind it the trees had been cleared to make way for the chain-link
fence inside of a tall stone wall that marked the border of FOXHOUND.
The house itself was a brick square of two storeys, with small windows and
metal stops on the roof to fix heavy snow drifts in place during the winter.
“Take your shoes off.” Venom told them as he reached the door. Grit from the
pathways was a pain to get off the carpet when it was brought in. The first
floor was entirely open plan; only a small kitchen in the corner and a living
room, with basic furniture that looked like it had never been touched. Inside
the walls were all wood panelled.
“…Is this it?” the blonde grumbled after scuttling in behind him. He’d stayed
in worse, but his standards had been raised over the years of living with Snake
in the nice California house. Venom was already at the stairs, guiding them up
and ignoring the comment.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” he turned at the top of the
stairs to the twins.
“Good.” David offered.
“Alright, the good news is you’ve got the TV in your room, and it’s the bigger
room. The bad news is that there are only two rooms so you’re both sharing.” V
motioned to the door at the far end of the hall.
“Aw what!” Eli piped up, pouting.
“Bathroom’s there…that’s about it. Make yourselves at home.”
“Is there anything to do here?”
“No.” Their father stepped aside to let them pass and begin their small
exploration. “I know you won’t listen but keep out of my things.”
“Where are you going? Let me guess – work.” Eli spied him going back down the
stairs.
“PX actually, we need some food.”
“Oh. Carry on then.” He could do with some snacks. With his twin following him
he went to their bedroom for their first look. It had been dubbed the ‘big
one’, but inside it was only just larger than either of theirs in California.
When V heard that they were going to be staying with him he swapped rooms and
beds so they had more space to share. At the end of the two single beds a
television was pushed against the wall on its stand by a single chest of
drawers.
“It’s our coats.” David noticed the piles of clothes folded on the beds. “Whose
is whose?”
“That one’s mine!” the blonde went in to pick up the closest coat. Both of them
were blue and purple, but he snatched up the one with green accents instead of
the pink.
“Says who?”
“Says me because I’m touching it.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Hehe, what’s the matter? There’s nothing wrong with the other one.”
“Then why don’t you take it?”
“Stop fighting!” Venom called below from the door, hurrying to leave so he
didn’t have to listen to them bicker. They waited, paused, until they heard the
door close and continued.
“I think we should toss a coin or something.”
“It’s too late! You snooze you lose, brother.”
“Hmph.” David shuffled in past his twin and accepted his new outfit. There was
more than just the coats on each bed, they had a few new long sleeved shirts
and waterproof trousers, thick socks, thermal leggings, gloves, a scarf and a
bobble hat each. At least he preferred his hat and scarf to the ones Eli got.
“I’ll take the top drawers and you can have the bottom ones.” Eli lifted his
new garments and carried them to the chest of drawers, squeezing them in
haphazardly. Then he sat suddenly and huffed, rubbing his eyes slowly. “…I have
a giant fucking headache.”
“Me too.” He’d had a headache since he had first woken up yesterday. At one
point it had gotten so bad that it’d made his nose bleed. At least that’s how
he guessed it was started, Snake hadn’t shed any light on the situation. Being
the one closer to their little window David closed the curtains to make it
easier on their eyes. “Are you really tired as well?”
“Yeah…”
“Me too.” Before their conversation sucked all the motivation out of him he put
his clothes away, sitting down next to his twin on the floor.
“I feel like I’ve been in a coma for ages…I can’t remember getting ill…I can’t
remember being ill.”
“Me either.” David took more care placing his new clothes in the drawers than
his sibling had.
“I wish I was better already. Isn’t that the whole point of coming home from
medical?” The drawer was closed and the brunette settled back alongside him. “I
hope V brings back something sugary. Never thought I’d say this but I’m sick of
sleeping.” He’d come so close to calling him daddy in front of David. Boy that
would’ve been embarrassing.
“I might go see what the bathroom’s like. Or I’ll just end up going bed again.”
“Same here – I’ll do it anyway and wake up when there’s food.” Neither of them
moved on their little plans. It was so warm in the house that it was relaxing
after the freezing trek across FOXHOUND.
“Goodnight. Uh, middle-of-the-day night.”
“Night.” Eli eventually made to get up, automatically leaning to the side to
plant a kiss on David’s lips as he did. It wasn’t until his twin flinched away
that he even understood what he’d done, and drew back as well with an equally
stunned look on his face. “…I didn’t mean to do that! I-I don’t know why I did
that!”
“Dude what the hell?”
“It was an accident!”
“What?” David snorted behind the hand he’d raised to cover his mouth and
started to chuckle shakily.
“I didn’t mean to do that…” he repeated and tried to join in with a nervous
smile. Luckily his brother was trying to laugh it off. “Please don’t tell
anyone I did that.”
“Yeah, whatever.” The laughter died off far too quickly and Eli stood up in the
strained silence that followed, this time without humiliating himself, and
scurried over to the bed he’d found his clothes on – his bed, now. There was no
way he was taking anything off after that, so he got in dressed as he was.
David got up too to look around the rest of the house. “Night.” he mumbled
again as he shut the bedroom door behind him.
Dammit I wish he hadn’t done that… The whole reason he’d wanted to see the
bathroom was because he needed to jerk off; it felt like it’d been months since
he last came. And it had been perfect timing too: V was out and Eli was going
to be napping. That was obviously going to be the closest thing to privacy he
would get here now that they were sharing a room.
Would it be weird to rub one out after that? Yeah, it fucking would. Eli
wouldn’t not suspect something if he went into the bathroom for a few minutes
now, and it was right next to their room so he could probably hear him…Of
course he’d try his hardest to be quiet, but he expected Eli would have his ear
pricked. Or he was just thinking into it too much. Probably that. I’ll go
downstairs first so he’ll be sleeping when I come back up.
There wasn’t much to see on the first floor that couldn’t be seen at a glance,
but he made a point of going through all the cupboards anyway to waste time.
The kitchen cabinets were all made from faux wood veneer, and the countertops
were marble finish plastic. Affordable, unlike the real granite and oak kitchen
in his real father’s house. He imagined that someone in charge of a place like
this one – he couldn’t see Big Boss being subordinate – would have a much nicer
and bigger place to live. Maybe he just didn’t like expensive, the rooms on
Mother Base had been the same; not cheap, but purely practical.
V had been right to get more food for them all. There was nothing in any of the
cupboards or the small fridge-freezer except for a box of energy bars that
David pilfered for a snack. It wasn’t like anyone would notice, the box was
huge. As he munched on the bar he did slow circuits around the sofa and
daydreamed. There were four grooves in the carpet where he guessed the
television had been. Hopefully there were some tapes too or they’d be watching
static – he hadn’t seen any cables. He doubted there would be anything to
attach them to anyway all the way out here, from the helicopter he’d seen
nothing but a sea of black treetops on the way in.
The snack was finished off and still he waited even more. He could feel his
body getting hot in anticipation of the relief, distracting himself with the
pacing until he decided it had been long enough and climbed the stairs in a
tiptoe. David wanted to check that his twin was unconscious so he bent down to
look through the keyhole in case the sound of the door woke him up. Eli was
fast asleep on the other side, breathing slow and deep. Perfect.
He thought back to the kiss and grimaced; he didn’t want that memory in his
head right at that moment.
With the stage set he finally went into the bathroom. It was dark without a
window, long and narrow with a bathtub along the end wall. There was a bolt
lock on the door, and he slid it across immediately. He couldn’t pull himself
out fast enough, already halfway hard and desperate to get to work.
Perched on the lid of the toilet David pumped himself fast, careful to keep
everything quiet. It wasn’t easy though, he was so worked up from teasing
himself with the wait. Barely a minute in he had to use some tissue to mop up
the clear sticky liquid dribbling out of him, keeping his mess to a minimum.
All he could think about was how good it would feel to cum at long last, until
Eli’s accidental smooch cropped up unexpectedly and made him falter with a
frown. Not right now, for god’s sake. It hadn’t been a particularly fraternal
kiss either, he’d closed his mouth over his proper to mould them together.Why
the hell is he so weird?
He pushed it from his mind and sped up again, feeling the pull of the finish in
his gut. It didn’t take much until he was squirming and sighing. I need this…I
can’t…wait… In the build up to his orgasm he had to turn his head into his
shoulder to cover up his whimpering, but it wasn’t enough to mute his outburst
when he came. “Mmh!” David squirted into the ball of toilet paper, seizing up
with pleasure. After going so long without it was intense, like he was
literally bursting.
When he floated back down enough to start cleaning up the front door opened and
Venom announced the arrival of food to the house. David rushed to get rid of
the tissues and wash his hands before his father noticed he was even in there.
Chapter End Notes
     I'd like to know if you're still enjoying this mess
***** Igloos *****
Chapter Notes
     Thanks for the comments, I'm ready to go again :3
Eli was shocked awake by his twin pinching his ear. At first he couldn’t tell
what it was, but he heard David’s voice when he tried to swipe his attacker
away sluggishly.
“Hey get up, dinner’s ready.”
“Noooo.” he protested, pulling his quilt over his head as best he could to hide
himself. “Five more minutes.”
“You said that last time, and I left you for hours. C’mon, it’s getting cold!”
The blonde peeked out from the bed, squinting in the light that had been
switched on moments ago (it was dark behind the drawn curtains) and wondering
when he’d supposedly tried to wake him last. Then he remembered – he’d been so
out of it he thought he had been dreaming when it happened.
“Oh yeah. Can’t you bring it up here or something?”
“No way.”
“…Fine.” Peeling back the duvet and releasing precious sleepy heat he noticed
that he was still dressed, and again recalled kissing his brother. Right on the
lips. Oh yeah…Shit. Eli cringed behind the safety of his messy bangs, willing
David to go away so he didn’t have to be embarrassed around him. Little did he
know that David was trying to make a point of not avoiding him to stop things
from getting awkward, as they no doubt would if they didn’t act like it never
happened. Best to just forget about it.
In the end was it really as strange as them cuddling in bed at night? Eli
couldn’t remember what had started that habit off, but they did do it. Was it
because Snake had told him off for something? That sounds about right. Yeah…I
killed that guy for David. I nearly forgot.Now that they had small beds they
would have to stop. Eli was oddly disappointed; he liked having David there
with him. It was…comforting.
They all ate together at the small square table, huddled around their plates.
Venom had made something easy for them to stomach (and easy for him to cook)
that would hopefully fill them up - spaghetti. Despite having the much larger
portion he finished before they did. He had to tell Eli to stop slurping his
food twice. Neither of the twins could finish their meals and forfeited the
rest to their father.
Liquid was stuck taking his turn to do the dishes, but after his chore he was
free. He asked moodily if the dishes needed drying too and his father told him
to run along. Liquid did just that, moving at an unnecessary speed through the
small house.
Upstairs in his shared room his brother was already in his pjs, testing out his
new bed.
“Did you think your bed was comfy?” Solid elbowed the mattress beneath him to
level out the springs.
“It was alright.”
“Um, he – V,” he wasn’t sure if he should refer to him as ‘dad’ or not, “said
that it was forecast snow this week. Sounds pretty cool, huh.”
“I guess.” Finally! I thought it was meant to do that in Alaska anyway. Solid
saw his coy little smile, though he wasn’t exactly facing his way now that he
was sat on his bed too, and decided to carry on with the topic.
“Have you ever been in the snow before?”
“Well…” It didn’t snow much in the old city he was raised in, and it definitely
didn’t fall during his stint in Africa. “It would snow on the moor in winter.”
The brunette didn’t know what that meant, but he didn’t bring it up in case it
made him look ignorant in front of his twin. “What about you?”
“It snowed real hard in some of the places I’ve lived.” He stretched and
Liquid’s eyes were instantly drawn to a swathe of skin that appeared as his top
was pulled up. “V said we’re not allowed to walk around too far from the
house…so let’s hope it’s deep around here.”
“When exactly did he tell you all this? I can’t remember it.”
“Earlier on. You were asleep up here.”
“Oh.” The same sense of jealousy that had materialised during their trip to
Mother Base crept up on him once more. He didn’t like being left out. “I’m
going to take a bath.” Liquid pulled his backpack out from under the bed to
find the pyjamas he’d been told to bring – not the duck ones this time, all his
decent clothes had been cleaned before coming here so he had a normal pair.
Solid was lost as to why he’d left when they had been in the middle of talking.
It wasn’t easy to strike up a conversation that both of them could keep up
with.
Next door and faced with the tub the blonde wondered if his father could even
fit in it; his shoulders had to be too wide. He, on the other hand, fit
perfectly. It had been so long since he’d last had a bath…he’d been accustomed
to the shower in ‘his’ washroom at the big house, and it was the only option on
Mother Base. The stillness and heat dulled the perpetual headache he was
suffering at ever varying degrees. Venom had brought some painkillers back as
well, lucky for him.
At the back of his mind he imagined falling asleep in the peacefulness and
drowning, quickly sitting up to carry on washing.
As he was lathering his hair up (with product that was way below his hair’s
standard, in his opinion) he let himself muse over his little slip up with his
twin. It mortified him so much that he could feel his face burning whenever he
thought about it, but since he couldn’t stop he decided to get it out of his
system.
He was very confused. With his perverse predilection for his brothers wiped
from his mind the unintentional kiss only served to unsettle him. What on earth
had possessed him to do it?
To think, he’d wasted his first kiss on his idiot twin – it had just occurred
to him that, as far as he knew, he’d never done it before.Not that I care about
lovey-dovey schoolgirl crap like that anyway. I bet David hasn’t done it yet
either.He could still picture the bewildered look on his face clearly, so close
to his own, rushing to cover his mouth. What, did he think I was going to do it
twice?
Once his bath was done he stayed to dry and dress himself before going back to
his room. Thankfully he’d had the foresight to bring his pjs in with him or
he’d be changing in front of his brother. He’d got naked to dress in front of
him before, but in light of recent events he’d prefer not to do it again that
night.
Solid had decided to get under the covers by the time the blonde got back. “Are
you going sleep?” he paused by the light switch, ready to flick it off.
“Yeah.” Liquid spared him one last glance before the light went out, having to
stop to take in the sight at the other end of the small room.
“What…the hell is that on your head?”
“Don’t laugh ok, I have a headache.”
“HAHAHA!” The brunette had a teddy bear draped over his forehead, with a
patchwork heart sewn into its chest and a pyjama hat onto its head. “Oh my
lord!” he darted forward, crawling over his own bed to grab it off his twin.
The middle of the teddy was hot. “What’s the deal with this? It stinks like
oatmeal.”
“It’s from when I was a kid, alright!”
“Sure it is. Why’s it boiling hot?”
“You’re supposed to microwave it.” The fit of laughter started anew, and Solid
had to grin at his pure amusement. “Why is that so funny? It helps with my
head.”
“Oh my gooood.” Trying to compose himself he held his breath and took another
look. Its fur was getting coarse with age, and the glass eyes and nose had long
since fallen off. ‘David’ had been stitched poorly onto the little stripy hat.
“You are such a big baby. Why haven’t you thrown it out yet?”
“Because,” Solid took the opportunity to steal it back while his guard was
down, “it’s mine. Turn the light out already would ya?” The bear was laid back
in place.
                                       ~
In the morphing bubble of his dreamscape he was suddenly stirred from the
unknowing blackness and sat in a place he knew: his hideout in a lifeboat on
Mother Base. He felt safe there in his secret place. In his private place.
David was with him too.
“Do you like it here?” he asked, somehow already knowing the answer would be
yes. David smiled and nodded. “I like you.” Even in his dream he wasn’t sure
why he’d felt the need to tell him so.
“I like you too.” A strong sense of déjà vu pierced into the unconscious
fantasy from a part of him that had been erased.
“Can I kiss you?” Eli blurted out, surprising himself. Somehow he obscurely
sensed that he was dreaming. The short distance between them was closed by his
unfazed sibling until their lips were touching, the rush of excitement making
his body flush and sweat in the waking world.
 
Their meeting was cut short before they even broke away when he surfaced from
the dream, utterly awake. Even lying still he could feel his clothes sticking
to his damp skin. The distress he had been experiencing over his embarrassing
mistake came back, radically intensified. It certainly didn’t help that he had
an erection. Because of David? But...I don’t like him that way!
(Then why did I kiss him? Why did Idreamabout kissing him?)
…Do I?
A pale morning light was seeping under the curtains. Faintly he could see his
sibling beside him, underneath the microwaveable teddy. No I’m just imagining
it. I’m fine.
                                       ~
It didn’t snow the next day, or the one after that. The twins watched the skies
darken with thick promising clouds, only to be let down when it refused to
fall. They tried on their new clothes to go for a walk around the tall trees
outside, but didn’t wander far in any other direction. Things got a lot more
interesting when they found an axe in the cupboard under the stairs, smuggling
it into the small wooded patch by the house to take turns hacking away at the
limb of a fallen tree. When they broke all the way through they both cheered,
distracted from the tedium of their empty day.
The newfound activity was short lived though, as Venom caught them marching
home with the axe. They spotted him at the door and tried to slink off before
they realised it was too late to get away undetected. He didn’t have to call
them, they just went up to him and handed the hatchet over sheepishly.
On the third night the clouds burst, covering FOXHOUND in a blanket of white.
It wasn’t the first snow of the year, but it was the deepest. David saw it
first when he opened the curtains after rolling out from under his duvet,
telling his brother through the bedroom wall between them into the bathroom.
Forgetting their breakfast they hurried to get dressed and headed out into the
crisp day in their new moon boots.
The surface of the snow was unbroken save for their father’s footsteps that had
been trodden into the thick layer long before they had gotten up.
“Don’t just stand there, move it!” Eli urged his sibling out of the door
impatiently. He tumbled out behind and headed to step on some fresh snow. The
powder, which was most of the way up his shin, engulfed his stamping boot.
“Woah it’s so deep!” David had to fight down the impulse to say ‘yeah I get
that a lot’ again. That joke hadn’t been well received last time.
“Think so? I’ve seen more bef-”as he had fully been expecting Eli thrust a
handful of snow into his face. Since he hadn’t been expecting it so soon the
icy shock, paired with the fact that Eli had all but slapped him, made him
stumble and fall onto his butt. There was a split second while on the ground to
make the decision to be angry about it, but the blonde looked so proud of
himself he resolved not to ruin the fun right away.
Eli bounced off in anticipation of his retaliation. Snow was already being
gathered in the brunette’s hands as he got back on his feet to chase him.
The first throw missed completely, and the second glanced off of his arm. “Eli
stand still or it’s not fair!”
“HOW?!”
“I wasn’t moving when you hit me!”
“So I should let you get me while I’m just standing there?”
“That’s what you did to me!” While he was trying to negotiate Eli was getting
further away, always in a zigzag to avoid any frozen projectiles that might be
lobbed at him. It was hard work for both of them, having to lift their knees up
high to clear the snow.
Once he felt that he was far enough, Eli looked back to watch his sibling’s
pitiful effort to catch up. Every time he got too close for comfort he plodded
away again. The cycle looped them around the back of their house, allowing
David to get closer while hidden behind one side. He squeezed his handful once
more to pack it tighter and got his brother’s attention. “Eli!”
As the blonde was turning the lucky snowball hit him square in the face. It
wasn’t enough to knock him down, but he did wobble. “Yes!”
“That went in my eye.” he whined, looking and sounding very sorry for himself.
The slush was wiped off with a sleeve.
“Payback.”
“Can’t we do something else?”
“Why, because you’re losing?”
“No! Because – this is boring!”
“Fine.” David couldn’t be bothered to deal with his bad temper by provoking him
further. “Uh…what about those?” he pointed behind his twin. “We can use an oven
tray or something to sled down the sides of those pyramids.” Does he mean the
bunkers?the blonde thought. Pyramids. That’s cute.At the mention of them having
fun together his mood quickly lightened again.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea!” Together they went in to raid the kitchen cupboards
for a flat surface big enough for them to sit on. The only item to fit the bill
was a single plastic serving tray that they would have to share.
Back out in the cold, trudging toward the ammunition igloos, they heard a voice
rise somewhere in the compound. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence but they both
turned their heads to look anyway, the pompoms on their hats bobbing.
“I wonder what it’s like in the rest of this place.” The house wasn’t exactly
far from the rest of FOXHOUND.
“I don’t know, I’ve never been here.”
The igloos were a lot bigger – and steeper - up close. David got the first go
because he had managed to grab the tray before his sibling (who always fought
to be first). He scrabbled up the sloped side of the bunker and moved along the
spine to find a path he hadn’t ruined with his climbing. It took a bit of
manoeuvring so the tray didn’t skid down before him, but he eventually plonked
himself on it. The snow wasn’t packed hard enough, so most of it sloughed off
with him when he slid down with a little ‘woo!’. “That looked rubbish.” Eli
remarked, stood with his arms crossed at the foot of the slope.
“It was pretty fun.”
“Alright hand it over then.”
They took turns until one side of the bunker had been stripped of snow, and
moved on the other. Then, once that too had been depleted, they had to move
onto the next one altogether. More than once they lost control and spun down
like a top, the momentum made worse by the feet they had to stick in the air
because the tray wasn’t big enough for them.
Time moved fast for them, especially compared to the monotony of their Alaska
lives so far. Just after midday their hunger tore them away from their
makeshift sledding to get some food, which ended up being the energy bars the
brunette had found tucked away. Crouched on the kitchen floor, eating them
right out of the box like a pair of animals, the exhaustion from running and
climbing gradually caught up with the brothers.
Both of them gradually fell back into a sit, their chewing getting less and
less frantic. “I thought these were supposed to have caffeine in them or
something.”
“Yeah. I’m gonna go take a nap.” David said past a mouthful. His twin was
reluctant to join him; he didn’t want to make it seem like he was following
him. There had been a subtle tension between them for the past few days, at its
worst when they were in silence or close together, and Eli was sure he wasn’t
only one who felt it - that is, he didn’t want to be the only one who did. He
had convinced himself it was his fault for starting it when he kissed him.
“Uh…me too.” The wrappers were collected and thrown away before they left.
Their wet waterproof coats and trousers were hung off of the door to dry out.
Eli had managed to avoid changing in front of his twin, but when David started
taking his kit off he didn’t want to seem suspicious and leave to do the same
in another room. It wasn’t like they were naked underneath anyway, they had
their thermal tops and leggings on. He couldn’t help but notice how nicely the
brunette’s underclothes fit him.
Especially in the ass department.
“We need an alarm clock. I don’t like sleeping all day.” David thinking aloud
snapped his sibling’s attention back to the task at hand.
“T-totally, me neither.” When he climbed in bed he made sure he was facing the
opposite direction.
***** Temptation *****
Venom was hesitant to ask Kaz about the twins (he wanted them to stay with
him), but he did so anyway because he was sure he’d refuse. Just as he
predicted Miller spat ‘what, so they can watch me get fucking drunk every
night?’ down the phone.
“Is that a no?” V answered facetiously. Kaz just hung up, he didn’t have the
energy nor the insobriety level to deal with it. That was a common routine for
them now: they would call most nights despite seeing each other at work hours
before; he would be varying degrees of pissed off depending on how much he’d
had to drink before the call and Venom would occasionally be sarcastic back
when he wasn’t quietly listening to him rant.
Recently every unhelpful comment he supplied felt more and more like a barb. It
had everything to do with the fact that he’d spotted Venom smoking an actual
cigar between pummelling his rookies with CQC as a lesson. When had he started
doing that? Was it just to fuck with him or something? The sight had been so
jarring. And the smell…it was
like him
and he hated it. It was as though he was becoming more like the original. What
if, one day, he couldn’t even tell the difference anymore?
                                       ~
Eli ended up turning around. A short distance away David was on his back trying
to fall asleep, opening an eye when he felt the blonde’s gaze boring a hole
into him.
“What?”
“What?” Eli parroted.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Because you’re looking at me.” David didn’t bother to correct him, closing his
eyes again to ignore him. After a few seconds had passed he relented and
checked to see if his brother had even looked away. He hadn’t.
“What is it?!”
“Nothing - I’m not doing anything!”
“Just go to sleep, I thought you were tired.”
“I am.” he huffed, covering his green eyes with his hands.
“You know you can just use your eyelids for that.” David did what his twin
couldn’t bring himself to do – turn his head away. There was no snarky comment
thrown back for once, leaving him to drift off in peace. Or so he thought.
At the very moment he got nice and relaxed, long after they had stopped
talking, Eli brought him back to the present with his mumbling.
“Psst. Are you still awake?”
“I am now.” the brunette hissed. His tone must have put Eli off because he
didn’t elaborate on the interruption without prompting. “What is it?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“How is that my problem?”
“It’s not. Just…can I like…sleep in with you?” Seriously!
“No, there’s no room.” David could almost hear him pouting, but he refused to
glance back at his sulky face.
“Yes there is, if you lie on your side!”
“And get squished against the wall?” There was a second of quiet before he
heard Eli fussing with his duvet. Is he getting up? Good, maybe I’ll actually
be able to sleep! He jumped out of his skin when he felt his twin’s hand on his
shoulder, pushing him out of the way to make space for himself. “Eli!” The
blonde payed him no mind, shoving his way into bed until he was tucked in next
to him, back to back. “Are you happy now?”
“Yep.” As he had pointed out there wasn’t a whole lot of room for the both of
them on the single mattress. They had to lie flush against one another, which
David had never really had a problem with. This time though…there was something
sort of weird about it; more so than the way they were used to sleeping, with
their arms around each other. Through their touching ribs he could feel an echo
of Eli’s heart, hammering.
“…Are you sure you’re ok?” It hadn’t escaped his attention that he’d been
acting strangely recently. Well, strangER than usual.
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?” I don’t know, why wouldn’t you be?
                                       ~
The clouds rumbled overhead, the great growling slowly getting closer and
blackening the sky. They stayed blissfully unaware through the approaching
storm, even when the sleet started battering the roof, until a mighty clap of
thunder sounded over the entirety of FOXHOUND.
Solid and Liquid lifted their heads in unison. Past their curtains the world
was flashing and roaring. The lightning abated for a short while, allowing them
to notice another sound they weren’t all that familiar with. A telephone,
struggling to be heard over the commotion. Solid had to push his sibling out in
order to get up himself to answer it.
It was difficult to track where it was ringing from underneath the barrage of
noise. They found it downstairs, set up on the carpet in a corner with an
answering machine that picked up before they were able to.
“Boys, it’s me. I’m gonna be home later tonight because of this weather so make
sure you eat something. Please. And don’t go outside.”
The set beeped as Venom ended the call.
“So we have to cook tea?” Liquid was right behind him, looking glum from his
sudden awakening. The brunette was too busy looking at the wire the phone was
attached too – if they had a landline, surely they could get TV too. Eager to
shirk the duty of preparing food Liquid starting rummaging through the
cupboards to find something easy. In the low light he almost missed a packet of
popcorn. All he would need to do is chuck it in the microwave.
Equipped with their Tupperware tub of popcorn a few minutes later they went
back into their room to watch the storm from the little window. The air was
blurry with the icy deluge, but every now and then they would see a streak of
lightning strike below the cloud cover. Their impressed oohs were muffled by
the thunder that followed immediately after.
As fascinating as the weather was Solid had detected his brother taking
occasional peeks at him, apparently no longer interested in the food or the
view outside. It was making him uncomfortable. It occurred to him then that
that was the issue - everything his sibling was doing made him uneasy, which
was a problem in itself because Liquid hadn’t been doing anything he hadn’t
done before; apart from when he’d given him that especially ardent kiss. And
that should have been hilarious. If he’d heard such an embarrassing story from
anyone else he would have been in stitches. So what was different? Something
had definitely happened to make him skittish with Liquid, and it wasn’t just
the damn kiss.
It’s got to be me. Overthinking it. Maybe he was right:I’mthe one looking
athimall the time. Does this mean I was the one who made it weird? Pointedly
focussing on the lightning he could still see the blonde flicking his eyes back
and forth from his face to the window at the edge of his peripheries. No, he’s
definitely looking atme. Should I say something? Nah that would probably make
it worse. “Do you have a headache again?” Liquid had to lean in slightly to be
heard, his warm breath puffing in his ear. Solid had been grimacing, clearly
not enjoying the storm anymore.
“Er, yeah. Back in a sec.” the brunette shot up off his kneeling rest by the
windowsill and left for the bathroom. He was so jittery that his hands were
trembling as he ran the cold tap to drink and splash on his face. As strange as
it sounded admitting it to himself he couldn’t wait until Venom came back home,
so they weren’t alone. I’m getting worked up over nothing. What am I so afraid
Eli will do?
When he re-emerged his twin was gone too. Outside FOXHOUND had reached the eye
of the storm, becoming tranquil again for a while. Solid resolved to lie back
in bed, though he wasn’t planning on sleeping again. They wouldn’t be able to
go sledding again that day. The downpour had likely washed the snow away
anyway.
Liquid came back in holding his old bear carefully; looking, perhaps for the
first time, somewhat apologetic. At least, that’s what he thought his
expression was displaying. Liquid spoke up before he was questioned.
“I cooked this thing for you. For your head. Here.” The teddy was flung onto
the pillow. “Is it bad?”
“It’s not burning.”
“I mean the headache.”
“Oh.” That totally real headache. “It’s alright. Thanks.” Solid lay it over his
brow and watched his brother stand over him awkwardly, as if he expected him to
say something more.
“So. You’re going back to bed?”
“Yeah, for now.”
“Ok, cool.” Why’s he acting all spooked? What is it with him? “Hey do you mind
if I do too? I’m uh, still tired.”
“…You don’t have to ask permission dude.”
“Alright.” The brunette hadn’t realised he meant getting into his bed again,
but by the time Liquid was under the covers it was too late. Solid scooted to
the wall, turning away. This time though Liquid stayed facing him. There was a
palpable moment of hesitation while he hovered his hands over him; finally
taking the plunge and looping them around Solid’s middle.
…This doesn’t feel like it used to. With Liquid’s face resting at the nape of
his neck all his hairs stood on end. “I had a lot of fun today, David.”
“Me too.” The arms tightened as his sibling made himself more comfortable.
“You know…I’ve been meaning to ask you something, actually. It’s a bit dumb,
but it’s been on my mind.” God - where is this going?
“What is it?”
“The other day when you came into my room and said you wanted to see me…what
did you mean?”
“I guess I wanted to check you were ok. We were still pretty sick.”
“Ah.” It almost sounded as though he had been expecting a different answer.
Solid remembered how surprised he’d been at himself that day, suddenly
desperate to be in the presence of his twin. Had that been what triggered his
nervousness around him - some kind of subconscious self-doubt surrounding his
feelings?That can’t be right. I don’tfeelanything. Eli’s my brother.
As far as he could tell his company wasn’t attempting to sleep either. His
eyelashes tickled his neck whenever he blinked behind him. “You feel really
warm, are you too hot in this?” the blonde tugged on the material of his top to
indicate what he meant. “Maybe you should take it off.”
“No.” Solid choked, quickly adjusting his tone to make it less forceful. “N-no
it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? It is a thermal-”
“-It’s not bothering me, really.”
“…Good.” Not even Eli knew what he was doing. He’d had another rather
questionable dream about David, this time undressing in front of him, well on
its way to becoming a wet one before the storm had interrupted it (in the faint
light he nor his twin had noticed the dark spot of precum on his leggings). I’m
not doing anything wrong, he reminded himself, it’s only a hug… Eli needed to
touch him, badly.
He arched his lower body away to keep from prodding the dark haired sibling
with his prick. It was still mostly soft, but one could never be too careful
with it. Under his palm he could feel a nipple peaking from the contact, and
was glad he had the foresight to move his groin back because it jumped and
flooded to life. It’s just a hug. It’s just a hug.
“Um…isn’t your arm getting dead?” David wanted him to stop before he noticed
the result of his tingling chest.
“Not at all…” he sounded considerably more breathless than he had moments ago.
“You’re holding too tight-” With a wiggle he tried to shrug the arms off their
target, but they stayed fast. A hand was stuck back to push him, landing on his
thigh dangerously close to his hard-on. At that Eli finally lost his nerve and
let go, slipping out of the bed to get away from David’s blind fumbling.
“Fine, I’ll go in my own bed.” Eli turned immediately to hide the excitement
between his legs.
"C'mon, you don't have to leave altogether!"
"It's too late, I'm up now." The brunette didn't argue the point further so he
got under his own duvet. Eli swallowed a lump in his throat, abruptly ashamed
with himself.
***** Games *****
Chapter Notes
     Remember to check out this adorable art that hellojoyfulblazebouquet
     did for the fic on tumblr!
     http://hellojoyfulblazebouquet.tumblr.com/post/168349985632/hhh-some-
     fanart-of-a-scene-from-serpentine
Eli didn’t get introspective very often, but he had a few big questions to ask
himself after that. The fact that he could still hear David noisily flicking
through pages beside him didn’t make it any easier to concentrate. He was a
loud reader, he’d come to realise. Whenever something happened on the paper
he’d audibly acknowledge it with a hmm.
Usually Eli would have twisted to glare at him, but he didn’t think he could
take seeing his face right then. He caught himself and sternly told himself not
to be so stupid, it was only David. Then he glanced at him over his shoulder
and the brunette, noticing the movement from his otherwise still twin, gave him
a small smile and asked:
“Can’t sleep?” Eli nearly snapped his neck whipping his head back, his cheeks
burning. Dammit.
He tried to think back on a time he had ever been so attached to someone that
it made him feel what he was experiencing now. His memory was more greatly
affected than his brothers, with Ocelot having to manipulate years’ worth of
pining for George as opposed to a few weeks in David’s case, rendering it
physically painful to try and recall anything that had happened to him after
turning twelve.
Eli battled through the migraine-inducing process only to come to the
conclusion that he hadn’t. He’d been attached to his other brother and to
Venom, but not in the same way; not to the point of making him flustered. So
this was new to him.
I could really use some help here…
                                       ~
Their troubled minds hadn’t cleared by the next morning. V had come home late
after the storm with a box full of games that he’d asked Miller to get for them
since he didn’t have the time to drive out himself. They were all from a second
hand shop, but he was assured that they were intact – and they’d hopefully stop
the twins from going stir-crazy in the little house.
Playing screwball scramble around Eli proved impossible because he would get
frustrated watching his sibling guide the ball around and try to push the
buttons himself. Battleships was a lot more popular with them, though to start
with the blonde was convinced the other had been cheating when he went a few
turns without a hit.
“My strategy is just amazing.” David had explained, smirking to himself.
“You’ll feel like an idiot when you figure it out, if you ever do.” Sadly for
him Eli never caught onto the secret – he’d arranged his ships into an ‘E’ for
him. He still felt a little guilty for pushing him out of bed. Replaying the
events of the previous afternoon over and over in his head he figured that it
was his own fault for overreacting, and Eli had obviously been upset by it, if
his subsequent silence was any indication. It wasn’t only quietness, he just
didn’t answer him when he spoke.
David had been so glad when he finally said something to him that morning; he’d
gone to sleep worrying about how things would be if he continued to ignore him.
It would be a very ridiculous thing to do considering their living arrangement,
but he could imagine Eli being stubborn enough for it. He didn’t think he’d be
able to stand how lonely it would make him. As trivial as it was in hindsight
the incident reminded David just how much he didn’t want to lose his
friendship.
The fun started to dry up after a few hours of swapping between boards to keep
it interesting. They had had an act – well, David’s had been an act, but he
didn’t know if he could say the same for Eli – of boasting about their skill at
each game, and laughing at the other’s show of over-competitiveness. Slowly the
joke began to peter out until they were sat playing Ludo automatically, barely
saying a thing.
“Wow.” Eli yawned and straightened out from wilting on the flimsy kitchen
chair. “I bet you never had such an exhilarating time with your other friends
before.”
“No, I didn’t,” he countered immediately, “I like it with you a thousand times
more.” Eli nearly dropped his counter as he was stepping it along the board,
putting on a very sceptical scowl and flicking the dice toward him.
“…Sure you do.”
“I do!” David took his turn, looking at his sibling’s odd expression. Does he
really think I’m lying? The blonde wasn’t even watching the action on the
board, he had his eyes trained on the faux grain of the table top. He’s
blushing. “Why are you goin’ all red? Did I embarrass you?” he teased.
“No! The only thing embarrassing me is how terrible you are at this game!” The
dice was swiped back up and rolled with unnecessary force.
“I am telling the truth. I’d rather be with you. They didn’t like me much back
there, anyway.”
“I find that one even harder to believe.” Eli’s frown had swiftly turned into a
little grin that he was trying to hide by lowering his head. He had unwittingly
set himself up to compliment his twin, and now he was desperately trying to
gather his courage to do so.
“How come?” Another counter was added to the centre and the brunette tutted.
“Why wouldn’t anyone like you?...Y-you’re per -”
“- You didn’t like me to start with.”
“Yeah…that was…a mistake.” Don’t change the subject.
“Hehe, sure.” David held his palm out for the dice. After handing it over Eli
clasped his hands, which were starting to sweat, together. Had he ever been so
nervous just to speak?
“Uhh.” he started shakily, trying to add more strength to his voice. The
brunette was too busy arranging his pieces to notice his struggle. “I don’t see
how anyone couldn’t like you.” Say it! “You’re perfect.”
“Yeah, I know.” David smiled wide, proud of his quick answer. It was getting
easier to act the cocky games champion. Eli didn’t think it was funny, but he
forced out a weak laugh nonetheless. He definitely hadn’t expected – or wanted
– David to react like that. Wasted. His compliment had been absolutely wasted.
“Ha…that sounds like something I would say.”
“Let’s hope I’m not taking any more leaves out of your book or I might start
losing the game.”
“Very funny.” The board had his attention again, and he found that he was in
fact losing. “Maybe then the score will be even.” he muttered to himself.
“I don’t think it’ll be even unless I French kiss you back.” Eli didn’t laugh
at his terrible joke, but his skin did turn crimson. There it was again – the
distinct feeling that David was trying to lead him toward something. Playing
with him, saying those nice things to him, mentioning the kiss…he had to mean
something by it all. It couldn’t be a coincidence. But if he meant what Eli
thought he meant then it was beyond inappropriate. He knew it was
inappropriate, yet he still felt a vice grip on his chest when he glanced at
the brunette from behind his hair. And he hated it. For him the past 24 hours
was like living through one long panic attack that worsened whenever he saw him
or heard him.
He lost after a few minutes of tense exchanges, leaving to go back upstairs
without offering to help tidy up. David was left behind to think about his
flushed face and his awful choice of words.
                                       ~
Solid went up after him a while later, having packed away their mess. Their
bedroom door opened a crack and he poked his head through. Liquid was lying on
his belly on his bed, twisting a Rubik’s cube. He noticed the toy, his toy, and
was about to sardonically ask his sibling where he’d found it (he knew it had
been packed in his bag) before Liquid beat him to it.
“Can you come help me with this puzzle?” The blonde surprised himself with his
sudden dose of bravery. He’d been picturing them both lying and solving it
together, and instantly wanted to make the image reality; but he knew what he
was trying to do was wrong - the reasoning behind it was wrong, at least. In
that moment he felt the same compulsion that had driven him to get in bed with
his brother the night before. He just…wanted to be close to him.
“Yep.” Solid stepped in and reached for the puzzle, which was snatched away
from him before he could grab it.
“Lie here and do it,” he shuffled over on the narrow mattress, “there’s enough
room.” There was some clear hesitation from Solid, which he found a little
discouraging. His twin saw it in his expression and got onto the bed at once to
placate him, remembering the cold shoulder he’d received after pushing him away
the night before.
Now side by side on the bed and pressed together in order to fit, Liquid handed
the cube over. Their fingers grazed as it was swapped over, but, unlike him,
Solid looked unaffected by the contact. Not wanting seem like he was hogging it
the brunette held the puzzle between them so Liquid could watch what he was
doing.
“You’ve already got most of this side so I’ll finish it off.” The blonde rested
his cheek on a hand, admiring his skill at shuffling the arrangement. “It gets
harder when you have two sides, because you can’t move them much.”
“Mm-hm.”
“…There, that’s one. Do you wanna have a go?”
“I think I need to watch some more first.”
“Okay.” Solid’s uncertainty over their close position was forgotten as he
focussed on his task. Every so often he would give his brother some advice that
he wasn’t listening to; he was too busy admiring the concentration on his face.
A small crease had appeared between his furrowing brows. He’s really trying at
this…Is he showing off for me?
“You’re good at this.” He had to at least pretend he was following along.
“T-thanks. I guess I’ve just had a lot of practice.” Back to being modest,
then. Liquid nudged him playfully through their touching shoulders.
“Come on, you can be proud of it. Turns out you’re really good at board games
too, huh.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“So I just kept losing because I’m really bad?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know, I know. I’m just kidding.” The puzzle-solving hit a snag, so he
rotated the cube to find a new starting point. There was no need for his
brother to praise him like that…maybe he was looking for the favour to be
returned. Now that Solid thought about it, he was being especially nice to him
today.
“That doesn’t matter, you’re better than me at more important things.”
“Like?”
“Swimming.”
“Is that all I’m good at?”
“…Sleeping?” They both snorted and Liquid nudged him again.
“Aw, I thought you were being serious.” Even so his insides fluttered, his
already high heart rate thumping faster as he watched his twin wet his lips
with his tongue absently. He felt so sick…he couldn’t take it any longer.
“David…” the blonde whispered, gulping his nerves down.
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell me…am I a good kisser?” Solid’s preoccupation with the Rubik’s
cube ended abruptly, his hands freezing. At once his body started burning,
especially where it was touching his brother all along his side. His stunned
silence dragged on a couple beats too long.
“…I-I don’t know.”
“Oh.” This is what his gut was telling him to do. I want this. “Then let me
refresh your memory.” Liquid moved his face closer until they were touching,
planting his lips where he’d been aching to place them. With the other’s head
at a right angle to his own he only managed to catch the corner of his mouth,
but Solid didn’t move a muscle this time. The contact was over as soon as it
had started (though it felt like much longer to the two of them) and he pulled
away again. It wasn’t enough. He needed more.
“Why did you do that?” his twin asked quietly, finally letting their eyes meet.
“I wanted to see if you liked it.” You look so sad, David. “Did you?” The
brunette opened his mouth to speak and closed it again, lost for words. Liquid
leaned in for another kiss, meeting the mark dead on and pressing in, trying to
replicate the perfect technique he had somehow achieved when he’d done it
accidentally days ago. Something snapped in his brother then, and he felt the
moment he pressed back against him, reciprocating.
The door sounded like a gunshot below them, heralding the arrival of their
father from his work. They yanked away from each other so suddenly that they
both fell off the bed, hitting the floor hard.
“Boys, I’m home!” Venom called up to them. Solid was the first to his feet,
brushing himself off. The other snake sat up, but he wouldn’t look at him. He
left their bedroom swiftly before Liquid could say a thing.
***** Speechless *****
Chapter Notes
     Overuse of the word 'felt' ahead
One of his sons came down right away to greet him. Surprisingly this time it
wasn’t Eli, sniffing around for dinner.
“Hey kid. You hungry?” Their appetites had been gradually returning to them, so
he was eager to feed them up while he could. They still looked so ghostly.
“No. Thanks.”
“Is that one of your new things?” Venom nodded to the colourful puzzle he was
holding.
“Eh? Oh, no…this is old.” David plopped himself in one corner of the settee and
curled up. Judging by how spacey he was acting V guessed he had just woken up
from a nap.
“Is Eli asleep?”
“Uh…n-no, I dunno what he’s doing.” he cleared his throat uncomfortably. He
would much rather be alone, but he would just have to put up with the company.
Sitting with his father was much more appealing than going back to his room –
plus Venom’s presence acted as a deterrent to his twin. Or so he hoped.
David needed to think about what he’d done; what the two of them had done,
together. Eli may have started it, but he certainly finished it with him. And
he hadn’t exactly been tripping over himself to stop him in the first place.
More and more frequently over the past few days he had been battling with his
own thoughts. They were obscene and intrusive, as though they actually speared
their way into his head, wholly without permission. Sometimes when he looked at
Eli he got the most obscure sensation – like a longing, or a hunger that tugged
at his chest and his groin and made him disgusted at himself. Pinching himself
made for a good enough distraction at first, but soon even that couldn’t help
it.
Eli… He brought a hand to his mouth unconsciously. The first peck was so bold,
chaste though it may have been, he could scarcely believe the blonde had done
it. Instantly he’d known that the strange and sometimes strenuous friendship
between them had been severed in a way that would never allow it to be fixed in
the same way again, and he mourned for it. It wasn’t until Eli was eagerly
melding them together that it occurred to him that maybe his twin was offering
him something better than they’d had before. Now, when he remembered Eli’s
touch from barely a few moments ago, and how shy but eager he had been to kiss
him it made David feel oddly privileged.
‘Can you tell me…am I a good kisser?’
‘I wanted to see if you liked it. Did you?’
“Feel sick?” his father’s concern brought him out of his reverie. V thought he
looked like he was going to vomit - pale and clammy with his hand clamped over
his mouth. It would be just his luck to have the boy get it all over the
carpet.
“I’m alright.” David lowered his palm to fake a smile. He wished again that V
was somewhere else, he felt weirdly dirty even thinking about it in front of
him.
Eventually the attention turned from him (but not before the plastic washbasin
from the sink was placed at his feet in case he really did feel ill) and he was
free to bring the subject back up in his mind. David licked his lips
deliberately, unsure if he could actually taste his brother there or if it was
his imagination. Either way it made him shudder.
He was stricken with the feeling that he’d made a mistake by rushing out of
their room so hastily. It had been his unthinking response to run from their
little misdeed when their privacy was so suddenly ruptured – except it hadn’t
been really, Venom wouldn’t have come upstairs to interrupt them. They could
have carried on, staying quiet to make him think they were sleeping.
The brunette kicked himself. He shouldn’t have left and made it awkward to come
back. No doubt Eli would have been hurt by it too, and he didn’t want him to
misconstrue his departure as rejection. “I’m going back upstairs.” David
announced, trying to be nonchalant. His father grunted his response,
concentrating more on trying to fix a jammed gun. V yanked so hard on the slide
with his prosthetic that the metal screeched and dented, ruining the component
completely.
“Shit.”David heard him hiss to himself as he disappeared back up to his
bedroom.
                                       ~
David tiptoed as slowly as he could across the landing, realising too late that
he hadn’t thought about what to say when he went back in. If he was lucky his
twin would start the ball rolling for him, but it was also just as likely that
he would give him the silent treatment. Perhaps the latter wouldn’t be so bad,
if they just didn’t talk and address it that evening he’d have all night to
think of how to explain himself.
For the first time he knocked on their door, immediately feeling ridiculous. He
didn’t wait for an answer in case he didn’t get one.
Eli was still lying on his bed with his back to him. After no one announced
themselves the blonde looked over his shoulder at the doorway, expecting the
intruder to be his father and being greeted instead by his brother. Said
brother was struggling even more for words now that he was being watched than
he was in the hallway. So…he’s gonna make me speak first,the brunette caught
on.
He waited and waited for something to pop into his head, anything to break the
awful silence, until Eli got fed up and turned back around with a quiet sigh.
Great. The window had been missed. Well, maybe not. It might be easier if he’s
facing away.
David closed the door as he wracked his brain again, his attempt at forcing
himself to speak resulting in an almost inaudible ‘ummm’. It was no use. He
wasn’t going to be able to articulate what he was feeling; he couldn’t even
manage it coherently in his own mind.
If he couldn’t use words he might as well act on how he felt instead.
Striding forward, David sat heavily at his twin’s back. Eli twisted slightly in
surprise, and he grabbed his face carefully to keep it still as he clumsily
brought them together to continue the kiss that had been cut short not long
before.
Judging by the small (and extremely cute, in the brunette’s opinion) squeak Eli
made in his throat he was just as surprised as David was at himself. Arms
fumbled to wrap around him, pulling him closer until David fell from holding up
his weight to lie on him.
Eli truly felt like he was going to burst. His elation bubbled in his chest
until he was giggling against his brother, who tried to break away to see what
he found so funny. The blonde moved quick to cup the back of his neck and halt
him.
“No, don’t stop!” he whined into him, and David was more than happy to obey.
Very swiftly the kiss started to dissolve the world around them, until David
forgot about V downstairs, forgot entirely about where they were and how they
shouldn’t be doing this, and let himself be wholly absorbed. Carefully he
readjusted his position so that he wasn’t contorted by sitting on the edge of
the bed, getting on his knees to straddle the blonde. Eli responded in kind by
squirming his own legs up between them, folding them around David’s waist to
join his arms.
The brunette could feel how hard Eli was against his stomach. At least I’m not
the only one. Both of them had been holding back and inevitably building so
much tension that they were desperate to release their pent-up sexual
frustration. Eli dove into his mouth with his tongue, feeling David falter at
first and humming when his brother caught up to attempt to mirror his actions.
Both of them groaned softly, gripping onto each other tighter.
Their fleeting breaks for breath weren’t giving them enough oxygen and after a
while they had to part, panting and dizzy. David rested his face on his
brother’s shoulder, still unsure of what to say. I guess it doesn’t matter that
much…I think he got the message. The blonde was still clinging onto him albeit
slightly looser than before, having more difficulty catching his breath
underneath his weight.
“Do you want me to get off you?”
“No.” The tan bare skin of his neck was so close, David wanted nothing more
than to dip forward and run his lips over it but he didn’t know if it would be
too much. He nestled his face closer still and yearned for it. A hand that had
been idle reached up to feel his twin’s fair hair on the pillow. Eli sighed
after his panting had died down, sounding much more content than he had before.
“Can we do it again?”
                                       ~
The brothers kept making eye contact over the table at dinner and smirking at
each other. Venom inquired about their new box of distractions, satisfied with
the positive feedback they gave and oblivious to the fact that they were now
entirely distracted by one another.
After being trapped in the kitchen on dish duty, David scurried up to be with
his sibling only to find that he had already got in the bath. There was no
point in calling through the door to see if he was in there, he could hear the
water running.
Eli had been practicing a new ritual he’d developed in the tub, where he would
get washing himself out of the way as fast as he could to give him more time to
masturbate there. With all the cleaning out of the way he didn’t need to worry
about scrubbing himself with watered-down semen either.
This time though he was hit by some inspiration when he started running the
water through the single faucet. His new plan would require him to save the
actual cleaning until last, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. With
the water level in the basin barely at a puddle he got in, ignoring the icy
metal sides of the bath on his hot skin. In his haste he forgot that he still
had one of his socks on until he’d stepped inside.
The lingering sock removed, Eli started touching himself with one hand while
adjusting the water temperature with the other. This better feel good. Once he
was sure it wasn’t going to burn him – he usually liked it scalding hot – he
scooted forward on his knees until he was close enough to let the stream fall
onto his cock.
The position wasn’t the most comfortable. He was too tall on his knees to get
it under the faucet, but if he sat down he’d be too far away to reach it. Eli
grumbled in annoyance, re-evaluating his approach.
…What about on my back? Lying down he wiggled himself toward the faucet again,
having to plant his feet on the wall. Eli held his cock up into the flow so
that it ran over the tip, gasping and curling his toes at the warm pleasure it
gave him.
“Fuck…” Goosebumps rippled along his body. God, this was such a great idea! The
hand that was propping his shaft up began pumping it tentatively. Closing his
unfocussed eyes, Eli let his mind wander back to making out with his twin.
Nearly the whole time he’d been pressing his clothed erection into him, and
David didn’t even care. The joy he’d felt then surfaced in him again, and he
couldn’t help but beam to himself.
His throbbing reached its peak much sooner than he’d hoped. Eli climaxed with a
grunt, his noises drowned out by the splashing water. It suddenly became too
intense after, and he moved back from the faucet to save himself from
discomfort. All around him the depth had risen and he hadn’t noticed. “Fuck.”
Now he had to wash his hair in dirtied water, but he couldn’t care less.
***** Gunpoint *****
Chapter Notes
     The writing on this one is messy, sorry
Solid’s face was cold when he woke up. The wall heater in their room had been
turned off completely the night before since they were getting so hot together.
He glanced over at the other bed, his twin buried completely by his duvet
except for a single foot that was poking out from under the side of it.
The brunette got up as quietly as he could to turn the unit back on. His wheat
teddy, which had been resting in the crook of his arm, slipped out of place and
would have thudded heavily on the floor if he hadn’t caught it. Good reflexes.
With the unit humming lowly again he got himself back into bed while it was
still warm under the covers. The bear was fished out for an inspection. He’d
had it almost as long as he could remember, and it was still with him. There
wasn’t an overwhelming sentimental value attached to it, but it had just enough
to keep him from getting rid of it. It would be fair, after it’d followed him
all this way.
Solid handled it gently, turning it over in his hands and running his fingers
over the old re-stitching done by countless foster mothers over the years. He
would never need another one now. He’d found his real family. All the lonely
tears he’d cried into his bear, thinking he’d never live to see the day when
they would be reunited.
The reminiscing gave him a lump in his throat, and the teddy was tucked back
under the duvet. He wanted Liquid to get up and make him feel better. Surely he
wouldn’t be that annoyed if he woke him.
“Eli? Eli?” Something stirred in the other bed, and the stray foot disappeared.
A face wormed above the covers, still half asleep.
“Hmm?” Liquid rubbed an eye drowsily. “It’s bloody freezing in here.” His
brother’s appearance made the brunette smile immediately.
“Hi.” Solid searched for something to add so that he wasn’t just staring at him
like a bashful idiot. “Did you sleep ok?”
“Yes.” The blonde sat up to stretch, his quilt falling away to reveal his bare
torso.
“What happened to your pyjamas?” Not that he was complaining, he was actually a
fan of the view. He could look without fear of being spotted.
“I was too hot.” As soon as he was done he cocooned himself again, much to
Solid’s disappointment. “I’m certainly not now.” Get in bed with me, then. I’d
love it if you did.Solid paused to convince himself to bring it up; he didn’t
want to be too forward.
“If you want…you can always come in with me.” Liquid was on his feet at once,
all but diving under the covers. So he’s got something on after all. The
brunette had thought he’d stripped all of his pjs off, but his bottoms were
still there. His heart jumped imagining the blonde get into bed with him naked.
They shuffled around to get comfy together and enveloped one another in their
arms. It was so familiar to lie with him like this, as if they’d been doing it
their whole lives. “Eli…do you reckon, maybe…” Solid had to stop, feeling very
self-conscious under the intent green eyes. Obviously they both knew exactly
what he was going to ask, but it still made him sheepish. Was he even allowed
to ask for it? “Do you think we can kiss again?”
“Absolutely.” As soon as they brought their faces together Liquid jerked his
head back again. “Ah, your face is frozen!”
“Is it that bad?” he moved to try again and his brother wriggled away,
laughing. “C’mon, I need you to warm me up!” In the end he had to hold him from
falling backwards off the small mattress. “Please?”
“Oh, alright then.” Liquid nuzzled in and braved the cold for a kiss.
If Solid had known the morning before that he would be running his hands over
his twin and smooching he still wouldn’t have believed it. Feeling the exposed
skin under his fingers sent thrills through him. It wouldn’t take much
stripping for them both to be naked, squeezing each other in bed. So many
things he wanted to do with him but he assumed he should hold back for his
brother’s sake, despite the fact that Liquid had instigated the whole thing.
Rushing will only make problemskept repeating itself in his mind.
Going one little step further this time couldn’t hurt though. Timidly the young
snake took his hand away from Liquid’s back to smooth along his front instead.
The fingertips traced up his toned stomach and over his ribs, exploring. His
light touch tickled the blonde’s side, an arm snapping back to protect it from
the onslaught. “Don’t!” he was warned jokingly. Solid tried again, keeping away
from the restricted area.
Eventually he reached his chest, running his hand over a nipple that was
already hard and tingling in anticipation of being touched. Liquid’s subsequent
mewl was so loud that the brunette thought he was asking him to stop at first.
It soon became clear when his palm was guided back to the chest that he wanted
more.
Encouraged by the petting, Eli trailed his hands down his brother’s back with
the intention of feeling his butt, and was greeted with something that
definitely wasn’t what he was looking for. He extracted it from under the quilt
and held it up between them. “Look who it is.” It was the teddy bear, jostled
around and forgotten by their activity in the bed. David took the offered teddy
and reached over his twin to sit it on the low end table set between their
beds. “How come I never saw it before we came here?”
“Because I didn’t have a reason to unpack it. Plus you probably would’ve done
something horrible to it.”
“That’s true.”
“You’re not supposed to admit it!” David stayed hovering over him, settling his
upper body above his sibling. Eli liked it when he got on top of him. Something
changed in the brunette’s expression when he glanced back at the bear and Eli
frowned along with him. “…Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Do you know who our mother is?”
“We don’t have one.”
“…Oh…so she’s dead?” He whispered the last part and regretted it; David didn’t
want to upset him, although the blonde didn’t look like he cared at all.
“No she doesn’t exist. We just don’t have one. Technically.”
“That’s not – you do know how it works, right? You need a man and a woman to
have babies.”
“Yeah, I know how it works!” Eli huffed. “I’m not making it up, it’s just a
long story.”
“Can you tell it to me?”
“Now? Can’t we just do this instead?” A pair of arms wound their way around his
neck sneakily.
“Okay!” David chirped, dipping his head to continue mouthing at him zealously.
When he stopped to speak again a second later Eli pouted. “Tell me later,
alright? I have a lot I wanna ask.”
“Oh, great.”
                                       ~
As neither of them had bothered to look out a window they hadn’t noticed that
it had started snowing again all of the previous day. It was still falling in
thick clumped flakes when they emerged from the house with the tray, ready to
play again.
They marched toward the bunkers, buried much deeper than before.
“Are we still gonna be able to do this?”
“Sure we are. Look.” Eli volunteered to go first, taking the tray and
clambering up. Each time he put a hand down to steady himself it fell into snow
elbow deep. Under the powder the concrete was icy from the rainfall and it was
proving increasingly more difficult to get up the steep slope. Eli lost his
footing and slipped back down, not even wasting a second before trying again
with stubborn determination.
After a lot of skidding he made it to the top, setting himself down on the
tray. With the added glide of the ice he shot down, taking masses of snow with
him. He landed with a muffled thud and squealed, shooting back to his feet
again.
“What happened?!”
“AHH it’s all up my back!” Eli had collected the sleet inside his coat, giving
his warm body a shock. David snorted at him holding his arms out in distress.
“I thought you’d hurt yourself.” The rest of the frost was brushed out by the
brunette. “Maybe we’ll give this one a pass today.”
They got to work on a new project after calling the sledding off. Setting up
between a pair of bunkers they began building a circular wall using the snow
gathered from the slopes – their very own igloo amongst the concrete. There was
no real aim to it other than to keep them busy. Together they took turns at
each of the jobs: one would pack rudimentary bricks and the other would seal
them in place.
In no time at all the wall was high enough for them to crouch behind. The twins
sat inside the tiny fort for a break, huddled up against the falling snow. It
was much colder than the last time they had gone out, and their inactivity gave
them a chance to notice it properly. “You’re shivering.” David noted.
“No, I’m just…getting used to it.”
“‘Getting used to it’?”
“Sure. This is nothing really, I could walk around topless in this.”
“Yeah right!” The wind picked up outside their wall and flooded in over it,
making them nestle closer.  “So, are you gonna tell me this story or what?”
“Oh yeah! Ok, so,” Eli sat a little straighter and cleared his throat in
preparation, his brother grinning at his enthusiasm, “let’s start at the
beginning. Our father can’t actually have children -”
“- Why not? I mean, how does someone find that out?”
“Oh I don’t know, maybe a doctor told him or something. You get really good
physicals before a big mission.”
“How is that relevant at all to a mission?”
“I don’t know, the point is he definitely can’t have children!”
“So how are we…?”
“I’m getting to that. The organisation, whatever you want to call it, that he
was working for years ago was bummed out that he would never pass his natural
talents on, so they decided to do it for him by cloning him.” David snorted.
“Uh-huh.”
“That’s us. George too. We were made to carry on in his place.”
“Right. And how do you know all this?”
“I’ve always known – in fact no one would fucking shut up about it.”How is he
saying this with a straight face?If he had to guess the brunette would've said
that he was making up a fantastical story to amuse him, but it was looking more
likely that someone told him this when he was younger to keep him quiet and
never said it was a lie. Oh my God…he actually believes this.
“How exactly did they manage to clone an entire person again?”
“Well, I don’t know the specifics. They used his DNA and…built us out of it I
guess. They gave you everything that’s good about him, everything that makes
him a good soldier; and gave me all the leftovers.” David snorted again,
holding back his laughter. His brother sounded so sincere and sad, he felt
guilty for finding it funny.
“Eli…that’s not how science works…”
“What?”
“There’s no such thing as good and bad DNA.”
“I just worded it wrong – I meant they gave you all his dominant genes and me
all the recessive ones.”
“Have you ever been to school?”
“Why, are you calling me stupid?!” Eli leaned away from his twin, scowling.
"I'm telling you exactly what happened!"
“No no no! I just think you’ve been…umm. Misinformed.”
“That’s just another way of saying I’m an idiot!” He folded his arms and turned
away grumpily. There was no point in falling out over it, he realised, but he
was still insulted. “Look, if you don’t believe me then ask Venom when he gets
home. He’ll say the same thing.”
“Ok.” David wished he could go back in time and change what he’d said; the last
thing he’d wanted to do was hurt his brother’s feelings. The wind blew down
into their hide again, piercing through their winter clothing. Eli must be
freezing, he’s still wet from sliding down the pyramid. “Should we go inside
for a bit?”
“No. We just need to get back to work.” With that the blonde crawled out of the
opening to carry on patting snow against the structure.
“Wait, one more thing.”
“What?” Eli stuck his head back in and David darted forward to plant a peck on
his lips, catching him unawares. The surprise made him shrug his coat collar
up, blushing past his chilled cheeks.
“I don’t think you’re stupid. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok.” He smiled from ear to ear, trying to hide it behind his collar.
David got up to help with the igloo.
“HEY!” The companionable quiet was shattered by a yell that made the both of
them jump, whipping around to face their aggressor. A man in FOXHOUND uniform
appeared from around the corner, raising his assault rifle at the twins. “How
did you kids get in here?!” The brunette seized up when he saw the weapon
trained on him. “This is private property!”
“We live here!” Eli called back angrily.
“This isn’t a playground; you’re trespassing. Come with me, I’m gonna escort
you out.”
“We LIVE here!”
“Come. Here.” The man repeated tensely, taking a step forward. Eli eyed the
gun, but the man was still too far away to disarm. If he tried he would get
shot down before he could reach.
“Are you deaf?”
“Eli.” David hissed warily.
“Are you?” he countered. The rifle was lowered and he sprayed a volley of
bullets into the twin's igloo, packed snow bursting into dust under the fire.
As soon as it stopped the muzzle was aimed back at the brothers, who were
scuttling back in a panic. “This is your final warning.”
“Are you fucking insane?!” Eli barked.
“I-I think we should do what he says.” his twin had grabbed onto his arm in the
commotion, holding on to it tight. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was scared.
“Please, Eli.”
“We live in that house over there,” the blonde tried again, “we’re not
trespassing. Our fath-”
“- Don’t make me start counting, kid.” Defeated, they started ambling out from
between the bunkers at gunpoint, giving the FOXHOUND soldier a wide berth.
“That’s it. Get in the car.” There was a pick-up truck loaded with boxes from
the ammunition shelters waiting, fitted out with new snow chains. It had the
same emblem on the side that David had seen what felt like an age ago in the
shed of Snake’s house. The same badge was sewn onto the sleeve of the man’s
uniform, he noticed. A fox.
Once at the front of the vehicle he gave them a cursory search. “Turn out your
pockets.” Eli scoffed, but he did as he was told. “Alright. Get in.”
They were ushered into the passenger seats like hostages. A moment after the
soldier got in and stowed the gun at his left, away from them. He pushed a
button on the dash that locked the doors, seeming more relaxed now that they
had been detained. “How did you even get in here? Your parents will have to pay
for any cut fence. You’re both in a lot of serious trouble, you know that?”
“You’re going to be in trouble when our father hears about this.” Eli had sat
himself in the middle, protective of his sibling. He’d decided to play along so
he could prove him wrong and see Venom beat the guy up for shooting at them,
warning or no.
“Whatever, kid. Do your seatbelts up.”
The twins ended up getting an impromptu look around some of the compound. As
they got further in it became busier, with more clusters of buildings and
people appearing. They passed by a daunting assault course that piqued the
twin’s interest, the snow along the course stamped to slushy mud. More than
once they had to slow down to overtake some trainees running in full gear along
the road.
From the glove compartment the soldier produced a radio. “I’ve come across some
kids at the ammo igloos. They’ve sneaked in from outside. I’ve got them in my
car now, I’m taking them to the police in town, over.”
“Copy that. Make sure you finish the stock take by 1800, over.” A static reply
came through a second later.
“You’re taking us to the police?”
“They’ll call your parents to come get you, they’re not arresting you. You’ll
probably have to pay a heavy fine though.” Eli looked sidelong at his brother
in alarm. If they were breezing right through FOXHOUND they’d have no way to
get a message to Venom. He pictured them spending the night in custody as the
local police scratched their heads, trying to find out who they were – V would
come home, see that they were missing, have to figure out what happened and
then drive into town to collect them.
“We don’t live in town, we live here! Taking us there won’t -”
“- Shut it boy, I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Fine.” he mumbled through gritted teeth. Your punishment is only going to get
worse, dickhead. David squeezed his arm in an effort to be reassuring, though
he was sure that he was more comforted by Eli’s presence than the blonde was by
his.
The radio volume had been turned down but they all heard the soldier being
addressed through it.
“Vulture, respond.” it crackled, immediately getting snatched up again.
“What’s up?” They’re not using the right etiquette. He must know whoever’s
talking to him.
“I hear you have two children with you?”
“Teenagers. I’m driving them out now.”
“Is one of them blonde with a bad attitude?”
“What the...fuck.” The driver muttered to himself, catching the extremely smug
and satisfied look that the fair brother directed at him. “How did you guess?”
“Bring ‘em here would ya?”
“Be there in a minute, over.”
“I told you.” Eli reminded him in a singsong voice. He was ignored. The truck
gave a U-turn and carried on back up the road.
They continued along until they passed the assault course again, veering off
the tarmac road and up a gravel one, revealed under the white blanket by
previous tire tracks. On their left a group of people were standing in the
field behind the course, stamping their feet against the chill.
“Right. Stay here.” The vehicle stopped abruptly halfway down the road and
‘Vulture’ got out, slinging his rifle into the truck bed. There was no need for
it now. Someone broke away from the group, heading toward them across the
field.
“They knew who you were – over the walkie talkie.” David whispered
unnecessarily; the closed doors muted the sounds coming in and out of the truck
cabin.
“V must have heard and sent someone to get us, thank God.” Their saviour drew
closer, crunching over the snow, and Vulture spoke up:
“You know these kids?”
“Might do.” came the reply. It was hard to get a clear view of them inside the
vehicle.
“They yours?”
“HA! God no. Let’s take a look.” He stepped around the soldier and tapped on
the window with the handle of his cane. Two identical faces turned to look at
him. One stayed blank, but the other lit up in recognition.
***** Limbs *****
Chapter Notes
     I feel like this one's kinda bleh again
See the end of the chapter for more notes
 “Kaz!” Someone cheered from behind the door. The voice had dropped, but it was
still recognisable to him.
“That’s them, alright. Let ‘em out, I’ll take it from here.”
“Yessir.” The twins didn’t need any direction though; David was already being
urged out of the truck. Vulture got in as they exited to take his leave. The
blonde clone rounded the bonnet and skidded on the gravel just short of bowling
into Miller, grinning brightly. He wasn’t sure if he should hug him or not,
deciding against it because of the eyes watching them from across the field.
“Eli.” Kaz greeted him warmly, giving an equally heartfelt smile. It had been
years since they’d last seen one another and he was still struck by how much
he’d grown. In his mind’s eye he was still a little boy. “I see you’ve calmed
down a lot since I saw you last.” he quipped, raising a hand in farewell as the
truck backed up to the road.
“What are you doing here?”
“Boss never thought to mention that I work here, then.” David inched toward
their conversation shyly, sticking behind his sibling. “You must be the brother
I’ve heard so much about.”
“Hi…” V said he was a quiet one, Kaz recalled.
“This is David.” Eli stepped to the side to present his twin, feeling oddly
proud of him. Miller extended a hand to shake, noticing David hesitate at the
prosthesis.
“I’m afraid you’ll both have to wait a while before you can go home, I’m in the
middle of instructing a session right now.”
“You teach? Do you get to punch people with your new arm?” Eli snatched the
metal limb up in both hands, manipulating the digits curiously. The brunette
was dismayed by the sudden ignorant gesture, feeling relieved on Eli’s behalf
when he realised that Miller looked perfectly comfortable with it. They must
know each other pretty well.
“Sometimes.” He pointed behind himself, back toward the group, to a bench set
against a block of changing rooms. “Sit over there so I can keep an eye on you,
ok? Be good for me.”
“Ok.” They trudged over to their bench obediently, sitting together to keep as
warm as they could. It had been heated inside the truck, so they had to adjust
to the bite of the cold all over again. The trainees that Miller was coaching
regarded them with intrigue, standing to attention again when their Master made
it back to them.
“How do you know him?” David questioned.
“He used to live on Mother Base, as second in command.”
“Oh, right.” From their spot they strained make out what was being said in
Kaz’s lesson. Something interesting no doubt, the cadets were fixated. Every so
often they managed to pick out a few words, but not enough to give it context.
Just as the brunette was about to ask his twin what he thought was being said
Kaz reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife, unsheathing it and holding
it up for the group to see. "Ooh.” the snakes murmured in unison.
“Do you think he’s going to stab somebody?”
“I dunno.” David had no idea what kind of man he was. “Will he?”
“I was joking.” Eli snickered, nudging him lightly with his elbow. The knife
was used to point at a trainee who started and spoke up, presumably to answer a
question. “Did you see the look on his face then? He probably thought he was
getting stabbed, too.”
“Hehe.”
                                       ~
It was strange to watch Miller give his demonstration; Eli wasn’t used to
seeing him in combat. He’d changed a lot. Of course there was the new arm, his
limp had become subtle and balanced enough to let him walk on a cane, he was
dressing much more casually with his FOXHOUND tracksuit (though that was
possibly more to do with the change in role and practicality than anything) -
in fact everything about him seemed more casual, even down to his body
language. It was nice change to see, a far cry from how he had been as
Commander Miller…outwardly, at least.
Half an hour of watching the cadets rather impressively disarm each other with
fake blades later and the brothers were nodding off, snuggled together under
the shelter of the overhanging roof above them. David fought against his heavy
lids, shaking himself back to the present whenever he closed his eyes for too
long. Beside him Eli was doing the same, slumped against the wall at their
back.
The end of the session perked them up. After being dismissed the trainees filed
into the changing room doors either side of the twins, males in one and females
in the other. All of them had blue lips, joints stiff from the freezing
conditions, long tracksuits wet from being thrown on the snow, but none of them
were sullen. Kaz followed up behind them, holding his cane under one arm as he
lit himself a cigarette.
“Are we going back now?” Eli queried. He’d had enough of waiting in the cold,
as exciting as their little excursion had been.
“Yeah, c’mon. Let’s get you home.” Kaz ushered them to the back of the changing
block where his own vehicle was waiting. They marched on just ahead as he
continued to observe the two of them together. What good fortune that they got
along, he knew how difficult Eli could be with others. It would be a disaster
if they didn’t, stuck together in their house.
Miller unlocked the doors for them and hoisted himself into the driver’s seat,
wincing as his prosthetic pinched at the raw scar tissue off his leg. Standing
for too long in this weather made him cramp all along his thigh and severed
calf, to make matters worse. As he was adjusting the rear-view mirror he caught
a glimpse of Eli glowering at where he was gripping his leg in pain, turning to
give the twins his most disarming smile. “Alright, we ready?”
“Yep.” David piped up, copying the chipper tone. His brother wasn’t so easily
fooled. The wheels skidded into motion on the ice in spite of the chains.
Miller was confident that it wouldn’t happen again but he slowed down slightly
anyway, mindful of his precious cargo.
“So. You boys like it here so far?”
“Yeah-“
“-No.” the twins spoke over each other. David and Kaz both looked at Eli for
some justification. “It’s just…there’s not a lot to do here. But I like it more
than the alternative.”
“I don’t blame you.” Kaz murmured to himself, pleased that Eli showed the same
distain to his father that he did. Coming towards them down the road the
exhausted running cadets were still going, waving as they passed by when they
recognised the car.
“Is everyone here training to be mercs?” Eli watched them go, choosing not to
wave back like his brother was. That would be him one day, although he was
certain he’d be ahead of them all. Unless David is there. If he didn’t work
hard his brother’s natural talent would surely overtake him. Looking at him
now, greeting the group of strangers while wearing his near permanent sweet
face, it was hard to envisage being outdone by him.
“No, these are all U.S. military.”
“What? I thought this place belonged to Dad.” Somehow he’d imagined it to be an
incubator for future Outer Heaven soldiers.
“He’s the commander alright. It’s not standard military – these lot are here to
be elite. Part of the FOXHOUND unit.”
“FOXHOUND unit.” he parroted. “You teach them CQC?”
“Only the basics, like you saw today. Some of it they’re already familiar with.
V beats the more advanced stuff into them once they progress.” David was only
half listening to them talking, focussed instead on the view out the window.
Their voices blended into the background noise of the engine, and before he
knew it they were already back at the ammunition bunkers. “Here we are kids,
home sweet home.”
“Thank you.” the brunette offered, followed clumsily by his twin as usual.
“Thanks. Are we going to see you again soon?” Eli paused as he was shutting his
door.
“Of course.” Miller told him, fully aware that he would likely have to break
that promise. There wasn’t a lot of spare time in his life that he didn’t
already dedicate to his work or solitude…but he could at least make an effort
to spend an evening with the family. For V and his sons. He waited until they
had gone into the house before he drove away.
                                       ~
Venom half expected the twins to be missing again when he got home, relieved
when he found them sat at the table in the living room playing Battleships.
While David was distracted by his return Eli used the opportunity to try and
sneak a peek at his pieces. The attempt failed and the board was protected from
view by David’s hands, who accused him of being a cheater.
“I see it’s impossible for you boys to stay out of trouble.”
“It wasn’t our fault this time.” Eli came to his own defence. “We weren’t doing
anything wrong, and that guy shot at us!”
“He wouldn’t have shot you.”
“He nearly did!” David leaned to the side to get a look at Eli’s board while he
was talking. If his brother was going to play dirty he would repay in him kind.
“Aren’t you going to do something about it?”
“I could reward him for doing his job.” V suggested, much to the blonde’s
displeasure.
“Forget it. A5.”
“Miss. G8.”
“Ugh, hit. Erm…A9.”
“Miss.” he sighed and sat back, studying the counters on the opposition’s map
to find a good target. There was no way to determine a pattern so early in the
game, and he’d only managed to see one corner of a ship. “C…” David watched
Eli’s face to see some reaction. Behind his sibling Venom was watching him
purposefully, waving his hand slightly to get his attention. He’s holding his
fingers up. Is he helping me?“3?”
“Damn! Are you cheating?”
“It was just a lucky guess.”
                                       ~
By nightfall the brothers didn’t even have the energy for their newfound
favourite activity. The kisses eventually petered out until they were just
lying together quietly in David’s bed. Eli felt his twin’s breath slow down
until it was a peaceful rhythm against his skin. He admired his sibling’s face,
unable to resist the urge to touch it and accidentally waking him up in the
process.
“I think I‘m gonna go to bed.” David stated the obvious in a whisper as he
stirred.
“Ok, sorry.” The blonde scooted out to get up, not wanting to disturb him
further. A hand darted out to grab his wrist, stopping him.
“Where are you going? I didn’t mean you had to leave.”
“Oh – you don’t mind sharing to sleep?”
“Not with you I don’t.” Eli rolled his eyes at the sickly sweet comment, but it
still made his cheeks hot.
“I’m gonna get some water.”
He navigated his way to the stairs in near dark, with the light coming from the
living room to guide him. Venom was winding down for the night too, having
taken his eyepatch and prosthetic off to clean the socket of the latter. His
father gave him a tired smile.
“Ok baby?”
“I’m getting a drink.” It wasn’t the first time he’d seen V without his
signature gear on. He’d only ever seen Snake without his eyepatch on once
before, however. The injury itself wasn’t as gruesome as one would expect from
a gunshot wound. There was some scarring, barely noticeable unless you got up
close, and unlike V his eyelid had been stitched together long ago. Snake had
let him gawk for as long as he wanted, pretending he didn’t notice him staring.
As he was running the tap the image of Miller’s white-knuckle grip on his leg
came back to him. “Hey Daddy…does your arm hurt?”
“No, I’m just cleaning it.”
“I know; I meant, like, in general.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Today it looked like Kaz’s leg was really hurting him. Is it still painful?
Even after a few years?” Venom took his time in replying.
“You don’t have to worry about us.” I do anyway. Eli knew he shouldn’t keep
pressing when he was obviously dodging his questions.
“Ok. One more thing – Kaz said that you train people here?”
“Yeah.” V sighed, already knowing what he was getting at.
“When are you going to start training me?”
“Let’s give it a few more years, yet.”
“Years?But that’s such a big waste of time! Think of all the things I could
learn between now and then!”
“There’s plenty of time for you, Eli.”
“No there isn’t, I’m gonna be old by the time you get round to doing it.” he
moped.
“If you’re so desperate why don’t you ask John?” V heard the blonde pretending
to vomit behind him and rolled his eyes. “Why not ask George, then. I’m sure he
could show you a thing or two.”
“He wouldn’t take it seriously Daddy.”
“Those are your options.” Eli groaned, but he had hope that he would change his
mind with some persistence.
Back in his room David had fallen asleep waiting for him. As much as he wanted
to get in with him he thought it would be better to get in his own bed and let
him rest, for tonight.
Chapter End Notes
     I don't know if the story is going on a bit long but I also don't
     know a good way to end it, I'm trying to keep it somewhat interesting
     so don't be afraid let me know either way <3
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