The Usual Disclaimer: This is a work of fantasy. All characters featured in sexual situations are over 18. The characters in these stories are fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons living, dead or undead is purely coincidental. Do not try this at home.
* * * * *
All my life I've had a terrible temper. It isn't what I'd consider my defining characteristic, but it has been an issue as long as I can remember. Little things would bother me a lot more than they should, and then I would suddenly fly into a rage and break something. I got into a lot of fights in school as a kid. Somehow I never managed to get suspended, but I certainly got sent to the principal's office a lot. I couldn't begin to guess how many of my favorite toys I broke as a result of those temper tantrums.
Mom would cluck her tongue and shake her head, muttering, "Temper, temper, young man! Go to your room and think about what you've done."
That never seemed to help. I'd just sit or pace around in my room, seething until she deemed I'd "thought about it" long enough.
My older sister is less than a year older than me. She was a year ahead of me in school, and she loved to antagonize me when we were growing up. Our parents decided to wait on having more kids after I was born, so our younger siblings are all considerably younger than I am. My baby sister was only two when I started my senior year of high school, and my little brothers were four and six.
I think it was having those little guys around that helped me control my temper better. I felt like a shitty human being when one of my outbursts made my baby brothers or sister cry. Still, I had trouble keeping my cool when my older sister needled me.
Becky was never what I considered a stunning beauty. She was all long limbs and awkwardness, topped by long, straight brown hair. At her core was a malicious bitch. Becky was taller than I was until I was fourteen or fifteen, and she always referred to me as "little" even after I grew taller than she was. When no one was around to overhear her, she often referred to me contemptuously as a "little faggot."
I wasn't gay, of course, which was why I found it so infuriating. Unfortunately, I was also a virgin until almost the end of my junior year of high school, so I had trouble proving that I wasn't. In retrospect, I realize she would probably have stopped doing it if I hadn't gotten so defensive and overreacted.
Just as an example, there was one time when I was doing our laundryβthe whole family's laundryβand I brought a basket of her clean clothes into her bedroom after I had sorted them out. She reached into the basket and held up one of her skimpy thong panties, looking at me with narrowed eyes.
"Were you playing with my panties, you little faggot?" she asked.
I blushed and stammered, "No! Of course I didn't! IβI would never..."
Then I saw her look past me and a thin smile came to her lips. My eyes narrowed, and of course I was
pissed.
"You fucking bitch!" I shouted.
I was ready to punch her in her teasing face, but Mom was right behind me and I heard her gasp as soon as I spoke.
"Jason!" she hollered at me. "You know better than to talk to your sister that way, young man! Go to your room and think about what you've done. I expect you to apologize. That sort of behavior is just unacceptable. I know we raised you better than that."
Now, I don't want you to get the idea that I'm some sort of misogynist who likes to hit women. That's certainly not the case. At that moment, though, as I watched my sister's gloating smile, I wanted to beat the shit out of her.
Instead I clenched my fists at my side, muttered, "Sorry," and went back to my room to pace and fume until dinner was ready two hours later.
There was an incident like that with my sister almost every week. When she left home for college, I was glad to see her go.
* * *
Over the course of my senior year, Becky came home to visit for each of the holidays. I had gotten much bigger, since I was playing football and lifting weights almost daily. That didn't stop her from lighting into me mere minutes after she walked in the front door. However, I'd been babysitting our younger siblings, dating, getting ready for college, and I was driving all the time. I had too many responsibilities to lose my temper, and with my sister gone I didn't have that constant antagonistic presence in my life.
When she glanced around before speaking, I half expected what was coming. I was shaking my head before she even said a word.
"Well, what have you been up to, you little faggot?" she hissed. "Seeing any cute high school boys?"
"Wow, Becky," I replied evenly. "I thought you might grow up a little after you left for college. It's sad to see you haven't changed at all."
It was incredibly satisfying to see her eyes go wide. She looked like I had slapped her in the face, and she spluttered indignantly as I turned and walked away. That was the first time I'd ever come out ahead on one of our exchanges, and it changed things between us.
Becky felt like I had insulted her, and she was determined to "get even." She was even more insufferable than normal for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, but I managed to keep my temper and smile at her before walking away each time. Oh boy, did that ever piss her off!
Two days after Christmas, I got my greatest Christmas present. Our mother finally overheard Becky insulting me and calling me a "little faggot." I could tell from her reaction that Mom figured out it wasn't a one-time thing. She spent three minutes chewing out my sister, and then turned to me with a deeply humiliated look on her face.
"Oh, Jason, I am so, so sorry," she said softly.
I gave her a huge hug, driving the breath from her lungs in a surprised gasp.
"It's okay, Mom," I murmured into her ear. "I'm just...I'm so happy you finally saw what's been going on."
She tentatively returned my hug for several seconds, and then pulled back to look into my eyes.
"How long has this been going on?" she whispered.
"Years," I replied drolly. Then I had to chuckle. "It's a good thing you raised me never to hit girls. Otherwise, I would have punched her in the face so many times..."