Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction and all potential resemblances to real people and events is purely coincidental. This story and the characters in it are owned by me and can not be reposted or re-used without my consent under copyright law. All characters in this story are over 18 years old.
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Julian was home alone, in his room, enthralled in wrapping the Christmas presents he had bought for his family, when he heard the front door slam shut and a familiar voice announcing its presence in the house.
"I'm home!" Brayden yelled to whomever could hear him, stomping his feet to get the snow off his boots.
It was Christmas break and Julian had been anticipating the arrival of his older brother Brayden for the last few hours as he was coming home from college today for Christmas break. Julian's stomach had been in knots the entire day, whether for excitement or fear of having his brother back home, he was unsure of. Brayden hadn't been home since thanksgiving and except for a phone call and a few texts here and there he had heard little from his brother since the night in the car. Now he was once again returning, and Julian didn't know what to feel. In any sense he had no rush in greeting his brother and therefore made no effort to move from the floor of his room.
"I've brought someone!" Brayden announced again when no one immediately came to greet him.
This made Julian jump to his feet. Who had Brayden brought? Did he have a girlfriend no one knew about? Or boyfriend? As far as Julian knew Brayden was straight, he had only ever had girlfriends before, and he had spent many hours recounting his escapades with girls in high school and now, college. Of course, there was evidence to the contrary, mainly the things that Brayden had done to Julian the last few times he had been home, but Julian had never considered that to be an expression of Brayden's sexuality, more of a way to mess with Julian.
All these thoughts flooded Julian's brain as he left his room, curious of who Brayden could have brought with him.
When Julian reached the bottom of the stairs a wide grin broke out on his face upon seeing Brayden's plus one.
"MATT!" He yelled as he ran over to hug his oldest brother.
Matthew was Julian and Brayden's older brother, he was twenty-four, two years older than Brayden and six years older than Julian and had moved out a few years ago after graduation. Since then, he had gotten himself a corporate job and a steady girlfriend and had as a result hardly been home since he left, way too busy to take the time off for anything other than the occasional holiday.
"I thought you weren't coming!" Julian said as he let his brother go, allowing him to remove his snow-covered coat, hat, and boots.
Matt had, to the great sorrow of their mother, announced a few weeks ago that he was to be spending Christmas with his girlfriend, who didn't want to make the drive all the way to Matt's childhood home, when her own parents lived so close.
"Plans change, kid." Matt said as he put his bag on the ground and ruffled Julian's blonde hair.
"Did you get taller? You look taller!" Matt teased, reminding Julian once again off his small statute as he sauntered to the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge.
Julian followed him, choosing to ignore his other brother left standing in the hallway. He had momentarily, upon seeing Matt, decided that he was to pay Brayden no mind for the duration of their stay.
"So kid, how've you been? How's school?" Matt leaned against the kitchen counter as he drank his soda, looking like something out of a nineties teen movie. Matt was taller than both Brayden and Julian, but other than that he looked like a perfect mix of the two of them. When they were younger many had not believed Julian and Brayden were brothers when they were together just the two of them, they looked so little alike, that was until they saw all three of the boys together, suddenly everything made sense.
Matt's hair was curly and fluffy like Julian's but had the color of Brayden's. He had Brayden's defined muscles but was still on the cleanser side like Julian. Even his face was a mix between them, with Brayden's strong eyebrows, nose and jaw and Julian's eyes and mouth. The combination made him look like a young movie star, an image he had exasperated by keeping his hair longer than their mother liked and speckling his body with the occasional tattoo, also to the dismay of their mother.
"I'm good! School is also good! Everything is good" Julian replied, not keen on talking about himself.
"Good!" Matt said with a teasing smile on his face.
"So..." he added after a moment of silence "You've got a girlfriend yet?"
Brayden, who had now joined them in the kitchen, let out a loud snort at this. Julian could feel his face flush, suddenly aware of his brother's presence in the room.
"I-I don't... n-no, no I don't have a girlfriend" Julian sputtered, suddenly finding it hard to talk as he felt both his brothers' eyes linger on him.
Julian's eyes went automatically to Brayden, who was looking at him with a mocking grin, before settling on Matt, who looked confused.
"Sorry, did I say something wrong?" Matt asked, his eyes flickering between his two younger brothers, his brow furrowed in confusion as he picked up that something he wasn't aware of was unfolding.
"No, no I just don't have time for a girlfriend, that's all.'' Julian muttered, avoiding eye contact by fixing his stare to the floor, his cheeks hot and flushed.
Matt opened his mouth as if to say something but was cut off as their parents suddenly arrived home from grocery shopping, the excitement of seeing their oldest son again leaving no room to continue the conversation.
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur of dinner, shoveling snow, and Christmas preparations until finally, in the evening, the entire family was gathered in the living room, talking and half paying attention to a movie playing on the tv screen. The entire afternoon Julian had done his best to avoid Brayden, a task he accomplished by focusing all his attention on his other brother instead. Now however, Julian could feel his brother's eyes on him from across the couch.
Their mother was once again prying to find out why Matt had canceled Christmas with his girlfriend, not getting one sound answer out of him, when Julian excused himself to go to the bathroom.
Julian did his business and washed his hands but as he opened the door to leave, Brayden was suddenly there, pushing him back into the bathroom, before quickly closing the door and locking it behind him. The bathroom wasn't made for multiple people and there was hardly room for both boys at the same time, so Julian ended up way closer to Brayden than he would have liked given their history.
"What are you doing?" Julian hissed as he tried to get past Brayden to the door. Brayden however, just leaned against the door, making it impossible for Julian to get out.
Realizing Brayden wasn't about to budge, Julian settled for giving his brother an icy stare.
"What do you want, Brayden?"
