Author's Note: Thanks once again to LizHaze for editing. Also, this story takes a while to get to any sexy times, so be ye warned.
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Part One: A Safe Place
It was kind of funny how it was only after we both moved out of our parents' house and into our own apartments that my sister and I bothered to purposefully spend any time with each other. Then again, there had never really been any point to it when we lived in the same house, since we could hardly help seeing each other on a regular basis anyway. If we ended up hanging out some night when we had nothing better to do, that was all fine and good, but neither of us actively sought it out. It was only when we were separated for a while that it became clear to me how much I missed having Anya around sometimes, and as far as I could tell it was more or less the same for her.
We never explicitly talked about it of course, there were some things that we just didn't need to say. Living together the better part of our lives meant we knew each other well enough not to have to explain certain things. It also meant Anya felt comfortable stopping by my apartment pretty much whenever without always warning me first and assuming it was okay. She was usually right, too; if I was home it generally meant I wasn't up to anything anyway, and I liked to try and be a good big brother when I could. It was one of the few things in life I felt I could manage pretty well most of the time and also didn't require a lot of effort. Mostly it was nothing more than listening and occasionally offering advice from when I'd been through similar experiences to her already.
Recently, the way I heard it, most of her problems were class related, as she was in year four of her university career and really getting tired of the workload. It was bad enough that one evening when she came over it seemed it was all she wanted to talk about.
"I mean, it's like I've got another paper to write as soon as I'm done with the last one," Anya told me. "I think their plan is just to kill me now that they have all my money."
"Heh, yeah could be," I said. "I'm surprised sometimes that anyone makes it through the education system. Like, any level of it."
We were sitting on my bed, ostensibly watching some show that Anya liked, but mostly I was listening to her complain. I only had a small apartment and the bed doubled as a couch for me, which was part of the reason I didn't often have people over and usually went to the other person's place if I was hanging out with someone. My sister being the major exception.
"And it's not even just my classes either," she continued. "Like every part of my life just feels like a mess, like there's always something I'm doing wrong, or something I need to do that I don't want to, or someone who's going to give me more stuff to do...." She stopped as she ran out of things to list off, then looked at me. "Seriously, if I didn't have you I swear I'd have gone crazy. This is like the one place where I have absolutely nothing that I need to worry about. No responsibilities. Even my roommate drives me insane sometimes and she's the best one I've ever had."
"That's the one good thing about this place, other that it being cheap as hell, is that it's all mine. No one to bug me," I said. "I know you're too busy to consider it right now, but living on your own might be something to think about."
"Mm-hm, it's something I do think about. But like you say, not right now. Maybe this summer of something. Until then, I'm just gonna have to hope you keep letting me come over and bitch about my life."
"What are brothers for? Actually, don't answer that."
"Aw, but I had a really clever smart-ass comeback," Anya said, faking a pout for a second. "Really though, I do appreciate it. Everything. Makes up for a lot of the shit you pulled when we were kids."
"You pulled your fair share of annoying stunts," I reminded her. "Don't pretend like it was all me."
"If you say so." She stood up and stretched, then looked at her watch. "Shit, it's later than I thought. I should probably head back to my place."
"Okay. Good night."
"Night," she replied, tossing me a casual wave before leaving.
I checked the time and discovered it was indeed getting late, and I was just tired enough to debate calling it a night. My desire for sleep won the brief mental argument and I set about getting out of my clothes and into a pair of pyjama pants. They were the sort of thing I wouldn't really want anyone to see me wearing, but, as I'd discovered, they were very comfortable and no one was going to see me while I slept anyway. Or so I thought.
I'd only just gotten changed when I heard a knock on my door. I had no idea who it could be, unless perhaps it was Anya and she'd forgotten something, though I didn't remember her bringing anything. Before I could make it to the door, it opened from the other side and I found it was indeed my sister.
"Hey," she said, looking a little embarrassed.
"Uh, hey. Forget something?"
"Sort of. Not exactly. I, um, locked my keys in my car. Not that it's a huge surprise, that's pretty much how my life's been going these days."
"So I've heard. What are you gonna do?"
"Well, my roommate knows where my spare car key is, so I guess probably get her to bring it over. Thing is, I'd rather do it in the morning than drag her over here this time of night. I don't think she'd be super pissed about it or anything, but... you know."
"Yeah I get it. You know I don't have, like, a spare bedroom or anything, right?"
"I know. You don't even have a main bedroom, let alone a spare. I guess I could probably just sleep on the floor if you give me a blanket."
"I dunno, it's not a great floor for sleeping on, even as far as floors go." I glanced toward my bed. "If it's not too weird, we could maybe share the bed."
Anya half-smiled. "I was kinda hoping you'd offer. Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to trying to sleep on the floor. Promise I'll try to stay on my side. And if I steal the blankets just kick me 'til I give 'em back."
"Deal."
I wasn't going to tell her, but I wasn't entirely certain I was completely comfortable with sharing my bed. It could be a perfectly innocent event between siblings, but it could also end up being much more awkward than that. I was just going to have to risk it, though, because I wasn't about to send my little sister away when she needed somewhere to crash for the night. Nor did I intend to make her try to sleep on the floor, which was both far harder and colder than I'd ever want to try getting through the night on.
It didn't take long for some my concern to seem justified. I'd climbed under the covers on my side of the bed, not quite realizing until I turned back to Anya that she probably wasn't going to want to sleep fully dressed. I was just in time to watch her pants slide down her legs before she stepped out of them. She had panties on but... how was I supposed to treat the sight before me as innocent? More to the point, I suppose, the act itself was innocent, but the thoughts it provoked in me were anything but.
It had been one of the more confusing points in my life when I'd first noticed that Anya was, for lack of a more eloquent phrase, hot. For a good chunk of our lives she'd just been my sister, her gender more a formality than anything of significance in my life. But things changed, and one of those things was her body. There came a time when even her older brother couldn't help but occasionally see a girl instead of any of the other things she was to me. This was one of those times.
"You know, it's often considered polite to look away when your sister's taking off her clothes," Anya said, having caught me staring. "At least until I get under the blanket."
"Sorry," I mumbled, averting my gaze too late to do much good. "Didn't expect you to...."
"To not sleep with all my clothes on? Yeah, I'm a rebel to convention alright."
