08

Chapter 7: Crossing the Line

Kendall's first week back to work was going well. Being a nurse was not easy, but she loved it. Her education was a challenging road that pushed her to her limits and beyond, but once out in the field, there was no place she would rather be. She loved caring for people and thrived in fast-paced environments that challenged her exceptional work ethic. She strived to be the best nurse she could be. Her co-workers were glad to see her back. They valued her greatly due to her dedication and reliability.

Everyone who knew about her breakup with Bradley agreed he was a scumbag and wouldn't miss him. He wasn't the worst boyfriend on the planet, but Bradley exposed his true colors with their family-building situation. Kendall was still not fully healed from the damage of being abandoned for simply not getting pregnant with his child fast enough. They were together for four years, and she loved him very much, and his decision to end things the way he did almost ruined her. Kendall was almost excited to return to work to stay busy and keep her mind off the breakup and growing tension with Shawn.

Shawn's week was going painfully ordinary. Kendall's returning to work had taken a lot of pressure away from their daily interactions, which Shawn felt was good because of the recent escalation between them. They were over halfway through the week, and there had been almost zero intensity between them since their last kiss. Kendall did not advance on him further, nor did she attempt to kiss him again. However, she was still nervous about her feelings and decided it was best to remain "normal" until they talked about it.

Kendall was feeling very conflicted about pleasuring herself to thoughts of her brother. She knew it was wrong to think about Shawn that way, but something was different between them now. Their usual closeness was somehow amplified, and a clear sexual tension formed. Shawn's touch had become abnormally rousing to her since that night, and she didn't understand why. Something as simple as their arms brushing together on the couch felt like electricity to her, and their lips touching was like wildfire. How he manhandled her in a play fight now made her nipples hard and her crotch ache. She knew this was abnormal, and they needed to discuss these things before anything else happened.

Shawn kept his distance and tried to be as expected of a sibling as possible, not wanting to give her the wrong idea. He had concluded that it was best to let Kendall control the speed of their developments, if any. Shawn was not counting on them advancing further, but his heart silently hoped for it. He knew that the fantasy world his mind lived in could never become real, but his desire for it was, and that worried him. As unnatural as their behavior had become, Shawn knew it was still dangerous to act on his feelings. Even though he had felt this way for many years, he still didn't fully understand how Kendall felt and was too afraid to ask her.

After a tough Thursday, Kendall walked through the front door around six in the evening. She was exhausted. Shawn was playing his favorite fighting game in the living room as usual. Kendall surprised him with a fresh copy of the new game on launch day, and he was having a blast playing through it. She wanted to find a way to thank him for giving her the last of his cash on her night out and couldn't think of a better gift. He even made it to the tournament on time to join his friends.

"Hey," he greeted her without looking, knowing it was Kendall.

"Hey," she sighed, kicking her shoes off and carrying her bags to the couch.

Kendall usually brought her things upstairs when she got home, but she was too tired and just wanted to relax on the couch with Shawn. So she sat them on the ground beside her spot and exhaled audibly. Shawn glanced at her and noticed she was pretty run-down as he fought.

"Did work kick your ass today?" He asked casually.

"That's an understatement," she sighed, "I love my job, but I just wish people would stop being so stupid sometimes," she responded, sinking into the couch, "we had someone with fucking lion wounds who climbed into the pen at the zoo! Who does that!?"

Shawn smirked at her frustration as he played.

"I guess it's true what they say," he joked, "anything for the views."

"Oh my God, you're right," Kendall snapped forward and grabbed her phone, "if that one doesn't come up on my feed, I'll be upset," she finished, scrolling through her media.

They both laughed with each other on the couch. Despite the strange tension looming between them, they still loved being around each other constantly. Kendall knew that Shawn could always brighten her day if she was stressed or sad about anything. She reflected on how supportive he had been to her during her breakup as she watched him fight. Her mind couldn't help but wonder what kind of boyfriend Shawn would be, as wrong as that was.

She watched him pound his opponent into dust before sitting back up and scooting closer to him. He finished his fight and reached for his glass of water on the table, noticing she was suddenly much closer than before.

"What?" He asked because she was staring at him so closely.

"What do you have going on this weekend?" She asked with a hesitant look, her eyes scaling him.

"Not a thing. Why?" He responded.

"You know Mom and Dad are gonna be gone all weekend to see Grandma and Grandpa, right?" She asked, trying not to let her hands start fidgeting.

"Shit, that's this weekend?" Shawn asked as he finished a gulp of water.

"Yeah," Kendall continued, "you know they love that dumb house on the lake."

"Mosquitos and humidity. What's not to love?" Shawn rolled his eyes, remembering how much he hated it there.

Kendall snickered through her nose at his attitude. Then she looked down at her hands, searching for the courage to initiate her plan.

"Well..." She said nervously, "I thought maybe you and I could do a classic movie marathon or something in the basement like we used to. I found all those scary alien movies in my stuff at Bradley's. You know, the ones with the spider things?"

"So

that's

where those were! I was looking for those!" Shawn replied excitedly.

"Is that a yes?" Kendall asked as a slight fidget began with her hands.

Shawn looked down and saw her hands begin to pick. He couldn't think of why she'd act like this. Perhaps going back to work was tougher on her than she expected.

"Yeah!" He answered suddenly, reaching over and placing his hand over hers to stop her fussing, "yeah, of course."

"Okay," Kendall smiled softly.

His touch was warm and gentle, and it made her entire day melt away. Kendall gripped his hand, causing Shawn to look down at their hands together. His eyes wandered back up to hers. They stared at each other, sitting closely on the couch. There was tension in Kendall's eyes as they scaled him nervously. Shawn couldn't help but glance at her lips. At that moment, they knew they were thinking about the same thing.

"Um- I'm pretty hungry," Shawn said as he softly pulled his hand from hers, "wanna help me with dinner?"

"Y-Yeah! Sure," Kendall looked away awkwardly, folding her hands back together.

Shawn stood up and headed for the kitchen. Kendall watched him leave, closing her eyes and sighing stressfully to herself. Her chest thumped, thinking about his lips, making her wonder if they would even make it to movie night before something else happened. She followed soon after to help him with dinner.

They had a particular routine when cooking together. To decide who got to choose the music playlist, Shawn invented a unique game that consisted of who could collect the most ingredients first once he revealed the recipe. It made them laugh as they slid across the kitchen, trying to grab things and bring them back to their pile as quickly as possible.

"Aaaand,

eggplant parm

!" Shawn yelled as they both burst into action.

Both flew across the kitchen, grabbing things out of cabinets, the fridge, under the counters and everywhere else they could think of as they collected ingredients and cookware. They usually always picked recipes they knew by heart and had fun cooking. For example, eggplant parmesan was a massive hit in their house, and they usually tried to make it at least twice per month.

Shawn counted their ingredient piles side by side with his fingers as Kendall stood there trying to eyeball it and see if she'd won.

"Shit," he mumbled in defeat, "you got me."

"Hah!" Kendall hopped excitedly as she began pairing her phone with the speaker.

"Bummer. I wanted to listen to the thall," Shawn sighed.

"Oh, relax," Kendall countered, "I'll play your weird, gothic djent if you chop the onion for me," she finished with a smirk as she headed for the sink to wash her hands.

"We've been over this," Shawn retorted, pointing his chopping knife menacingly at her, "thall is not djent."

"Whatever," Kendall brushed him off playfully, "it all sounds the same. Now hurry up with that onion!"

"Does not..." Shawn grumbled as he began chopping with his giant knife.

Kendall's usual alt-rock music began playing as they started to prep ingredients. Shawn didn't mind her music, but she didn't enjoy his. Most of it was too heavy for her liking, and she didn't understand the appeal of its strange, dark sound.

The evening was quiet as they finished their dinner and cleaned the kitchen. Shawn and Kendall went to bed at a reasonable time that night so they could finish the last day of their work week strong. Kendall anxiously awaited their approaching movie night, and Shawn was ready for the weekend.

The following morning, their parents packed and loaded the car early so they could say goodbye to Shawn and Kendall at the same time. They would return on Monday, giving Shawn and Kendall the house to themselves all weekend. Kendall followed them out the door shortly after to go to work as Shawn focused on getting caught up today so he wouldn't have to worry about putting any fires out over the weekend. As they moved into the fall, his job started to pick up again, so he was busier than usual. He loved working in the fall because his checks were always the best between October and January, and the busyness made his days fly by.

Kendall got home later than usual that night. Fridays were often relentless in her field, so she worked some overtime and stayed late. Finally, after a long shift, she walked in the door just before eight in the evening. It surprised her that Shawn wasn't stomping people on his new fighting game on a Friday night. He was nowhere in the house as she went upstairs to change out of her scrubs and rinse off.

As she felt the soothing, warm water pour over her, Kendall began thinking about how Shawn must have been feeling lately. Nothing strange had happened between them in an entire week now. He seemed fine as far as she could tell, but she knew he struggled to communicate his emotions. It was just who he was. She hoped he wasn't feeling strange lately because they had suddenly stopped kissing. It made sense, given his personality, but Kendall couldn't help but feel like Shawn was embracing their new layer of closeness as if he had been waiting for it. She questioned how deep this went for him, too, and for how long.

Everything went back to the porn she found on his laptop. Out of everything that had happened between them since she returned, that bothered her the most. Every scenario she imagined, and every theory she pondered left her stumped as to how far Shawn's kink went for him. Finding out how her brother felt sexually toward her was the final piece to the tension puzzle.

She slipped into a fresh pair of panties, slid on sweatpants and a t-shirt, and finished drying her hair. Shawn would have made some noise by now, but the house remained silent. She thought about grabbing her phone to send him a quick text to see if he was even home, but his car was out there, so that seemed pointless.

Kendall wandered her bedroom, nervously stalling as she tried to think about how and when she wanted to confront Shawn. Eventually, she had a rough idea and agreed to let her feelings guide her through the rest when the time came.

Once she felt ready for movie night, she headed downstairs to find the main level of the house still dark and empty. So where the hell was he? He wasn't in his room when she peeked in there. Kendall hesitantly entered their freaky basement that she hated going into alone. She thought the least she could do was set up their movie while waiting for him. The entire collection of Shawn's favorite space-horror films in a single night would be a challenge, but they loved these movies and had watched them dozens of times together.

Her idea was immediately interrupted as Shawn stood waiting for her in the basement dressed in his alien-hunting Halloween costume, complete with a toy plasma rifle.

"Halt! Prove you're not one of them," he said in his best movie voice, pointing his toy at her.

"Oh. My. God." Kendall mumbled as she raised her phone and immediately took a picture of his ridiculous outfit.

"Hey, you can't post that on anything!" Shawn called out as he stumbled towards her, almost tripping over the coffee table.

"So this is where you've been," Kendall giggled at his clumsiness, looking around the basement.

Shawn already had the first movie of their lineup on the main menu, and he even loaded the table with their favorite snacks and drinks. He was living for this marathon, and Kendall loved it.

"Took you long enough to get home," he replied, pulling his helmet off and sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, sorry. It was pretty busy today, and the next shift needed help, so I stayed for a bit," Kendall said, taking a seat and reaching for a bag of pretzels.

"Well, you're home now. So it's movie time," Shawn chirped with excitement.

He reached for the remote and hit the play button. The familiar music and intro credit sequence got him excited as memories of watching these same movies with Kendall in the past came to mind. Kendall was easily frightened by scary movies, while Shawn couldn't contain his excitement during a good creature feature.

"You're not gonna throw up during the egg-laying part this time, are you?" Shawn asked with a snarky tone.

"Okay, that was an entire decade ago, you moron!" Kendall said with a mouthful of pretzels, "and you know I hate spiders!"

"Spiders don't jizz down your throat and kill you with their offspring!" Shawn contended, motioning his hands toward her in a creepy fashion.

"Whatever," Kendall said, giving his hands an uncomfortable look, "they all suck and should stay far away from me," she retorted, shoving more pretzels into her mouth.

The two of them enjoyed the movies as if they were teenagers again. They cheered during the gory deaths and chanted their favorite iconic lines together.

Shawn would occasionally get down on the floor and imitate the sequences on the TV, making Kendall laugh. They had seen these movies a million times, so Shawn knew how to act out every scene, including the disgusting noises. For example, during one scene, Shawn put an empty popcorn bowl over his face and mimicked the twitching motions perfectly on the ground, despite being unable to see the screen. It made Kendall laugh until her sides hurt.

By the last film, Kendall assumed her favorite cuddle position and was underneath Shawn's arm. She had since discarded her sweatpants and was down to panties and a shirt like usual. She periodically looked at him during each movie to see how fixated he was. It was things like this that made him so enjoyable to be around. His enthusiasm was contagious.

In a way, Shawn was responsible for many of Kendall's interests. As they grew up, she often gravitated towards anything that excited him, resulting in them having many things to bond over today. She thought about how misunderstood Shawn was over the years because he was shy and reserved. He always struggled to make friends and connect with others, but his heart was made of gold, and he loved making people laugh. It made Kendall feel grateful that she always had access to his funny, open, enthusiastic side. The side of him that no one else ever got to see was the side that made her love him so much.

They powered through the collection like true fans as the night went on, realizing they were getting pretty tired as the clock approached the early morning hours. Shawn had fully expected Kendall to be unconscious under his arm by now, but she held fast and stayed up with him.

There was a slight pressure between them all night, and both could feel it. However, neither of them made any unnatural advancements throughout their marathon. Shawn tried to remain as neutral as possible while Kendall kept thinking about how she wanted to ask him how he felt toward her. Her anxiety started to build as the end of their marathon grew closer, realizing she would need to confront him soon.

The credits rolled in the final installment. It was painfully late, and their eyes were heavy. As the white font moved across the black screen with familiar music, Shawn reached for the remote and muted the TV, sighing with fatigue. They made it through the entire collection as they said they would.

Kendall sat beside Shawn with her knees up and her arms around them. She was getting sleepy, but now was the time to do what she had intended from the moment she suggested movie night. She was out of time. But unfortunately, the anxiety was constricting. This conversation was a dangerous one to have, and she knew it. She breathed in and decided she had to say something now. It had to be now.

"Hey..." Kendall mumbled as the basement fell silent, "can we talk?"

Shawn looked over at her and saw that her face was rather severe. Something was bothering her, and he had seen this look before. It immediately shifted the energy in the room.

"Yeah. About what?" He responded, bracing for something heavy.

"First, you have to promise me you won't get mad," she said defensively, holding her pinky towards him.

"Mad?" Shawn asked in confusion as he looked down at her hand.

"Promise me!" Kendall demanded with a dire expression, raising her voice.

"Okay, okay! I promise I won't get mad!" Shawn submitted, gripping her pinky with his own.

Shawn grew anxious as their pinkies unlocked while he waited for Kendall to start talking. He didn't understand the sudden seriousness. They had just finished a fantastic movie night, and things seemed okay between them this past week. What was so important to talk about that made her act this way? He began to feel nervous. His stomach told him this had to be about their recent behavior change, and if Kendall had to arm herself with the best friend's pinky promise, he knew it was serious.

Kendall exhaled hard as she searched for the courage to become the most vulnerable she would likely ever be with Shawn.

"So... You know that stuff I saw on your laptop?" She asked nervously.

It took everything she had to look him in the eye while she asked. Shawn didn't respond. He remembered his discomfort when she told him she had found his incest porn collection. He sighed, cringing with embarrassment and clamping his eyes shut as he looked away from her.

"You promised you wouldn't get mad!" Kendall cried out, leaning forward on her hands.

"I know, I know! I just..." He stuttered, trying to stay calm, "fine... What about it?"

He was becoming more uncomfortable by the second now that he knew Kendall wanted to discuss this. The idea of her knowing that he pleasured himself to such obscenities was already difficult to stomach, and he wished she had just forgotten about it. But, to his significant discomfort, it had been on her mind. So what reason could she possibly have to bring it up again, and why now?