That's What Sibs Are For

Author's Note: All characters are eighteen or older. Thanks to LizHaze for beta reading and edits. Stay tuned at the end for a bonus scene that I wrote for LizHaze, she knows why.

****

Leif burst into his sister's room, filled with the sort of petty rage that only a sibling could inspire. Celia had their shared laptop in front of her on her bed. She remained totally engrossed in the screen despite his abrupt entry.

"I don't know what's worse," Leif muttered aloud. "That you always manage to sneak off with the computer when I need it, or that it's always so you can watch porn."

Celia only barely glanced at him. Earbuds trailed from her ears down to the laptop, and her hand moved slowly, but rhythmically between her legs. "Close the door," she said.

"I'm not closing the door, dammit." Leif marched over, flipped the laptop shut, then grabbed it away before Celia could stop him. "Honestly. Some big sister you are."

"Hey!" Celia pulled out her earbuds and scrambled after Leif as he walked away. She beat him to the door and physically blocked it. "Come on, that's mean. I was busy."

"Yes. I know. I saw." Leif's eyes flicked downward. "I can still see, for that matter."

Celia flushed and tugged her shirt down more firmly over her panties, which only helped her modesty a little, given that she had nothing else on below the waist. "I let you jerk off whenever you want," she said sulkily.

Leif flushed in turn. "At least I wait until nighttime. Not middle of the afternoon."

"Well we can't both use the computer at bedtime, can we?"

Leif met Celia's gaze. They stared each other down for a tense several seconds.

"I got school stuff to do," he said.

"Yeah, well-"

"Can't you just look stuff up on your phone or something?"

Celia frowned. "The screen's so small. And then I gotta use one of my hands just to hold it, and-"

Leif threw his spare hand up between them. "Really don't want to know any details. I'm sorry I brought it up."

He tried to slip past Celia, but she was quick enough to block him. He was at a disadvantage since he was holding the laptop, and she was only half dressed and had just been fingering herself. He didn't want to get too physical under the circumstances.

"Ten more minutes?" Celia said.

"No."

"Come on. You can wait just a little bit."

"I could. But it sets a bad precedent. And besides, you weren't even that into it yet. It'd take you way longer than ten minutes."

Celia grinned impishly. "You know that much about how I masturbate, do you?"

Leif went even darker red. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Hm, does that mean you've been watching me?"

"No, just-"

"Maybe the reason you always need the computer when I have it is you want an excuse to-"

"Nope!"

"-come in and-"

"Stop!"

"-see a little-"

Leif thrust the laptop toward Celia. "Good god. Take the damn computer! Just stop talking."

Celia beamed wider as she accepted the laptop back. "I'm right though, aren't I?"

"Cel, seriously, shut up."

Celia leaned in and kissed Leif on the cheek. "I'll be quick, promise."

"Yeah, yeah. If I don't see the laptop in twenty minutes, I'm coming back, and I'm not going to be so accommodating."

"Uh huh. Looking for another excuse already, I see."

"I... you... shut the hell up."

Celia laughed as she bounced back to her bed and opened the laptop back up. Leif shook his head and slammed her door on his way out.

He really shouldn't have to put up with shit like that, he felt. Catching her masturbating should make her more uncomfortable than him. That was only right. And yet, Celia was Celia. She was just weird.

****

It was nearing twenty-five minutes later when Celia popped into Leif's room, laptop in hand. He hadn't been able to muster up enough righteous irritation to march into her den of sin a second time, so he was glad she hadn't gone even further over his time limit than that.

"Here you are," she said in a sing-songy voice. "One laptop for important school work."

"Great," Leif said with a roll of his eyes. "Thanks ever so much."

"You're welcome."

Leif cringed slightly as he opened the computer up, but Celia had been good and cleaned up whatever porn she'd been watching beforehand. He was just starting to settle in and open up the stuff he needed when she bounced onto his bed beside him. He examined her out of the corner of his eye, deciding whether he needed to chastise her some more. At least she'd put pants on. That was something.

"Can I help you?" Leif asked.

Celia shrugged. "I thought you might want help, actually."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're doing homework or something, right? Well, I've been through all those classes already. Maybe I could make it easier."

"You want to do my homework?"

"No, no. Just help. If you want."

Leif narrowed his eyes and considered. "Are you feeling guilty?"

"I wouldn't go that far."

"You are too, aren't you." Leif chuckled. "Alright, fine. How 'bout you get us a snack or something then. We'll see how it goes."

Celia flipped her hair over her shoulder, bit her lip, then nodded. "Yeah, alright."

She flounced off, and Leif got back to his work for a while.

His respite didn't last long. Celia returned with a bowl of popcorn, fresh from the microwave. She settled in next to him, propping their snack between them.

"So what are we doing?" Celia asked. "I hope it's not physics. I was never any good at that stuff."

Leif rolled his eyes. "You don't need to be involved at all if you don't want to."

"No, I said I'd help."

"Yes, but-"

Celia jabbed her finger at the screen. "Hey, Napoleon. I know that guy. History, is it?"

Leif sighed. "Yes, it's history. Got an essay due tomorrow."

"Ah. So it wasn't really an emergency. You just procrastinated."

"Like you never do."

"Oh I totally do. Everyone does." Celia shrugged. "But if you'd planned better, you wouldn't have had to interrupt me."

"Can we please not talk about you playing with yourself anymore?"

"Hey, you brought it up."

"What? No I didn't. That was you. Literally, like, twenty seconds ago."

Celia grinned and popped some popcorn into her mouth. "Oh yeah."

Despite his sister's 'help,' Leif got some progress made on his assignment. Enough that he was confident he'd be finished by sometime that evening.

Celia went quiet for a while, which went mostly unnoticed by Leif as he typed away. She lay on her back and gazed thoughtfully at nothing.

"Hey, Lee, can I ask you something?" Celia said.

Leif shrugged without taking his eyes off the screen. "I don't see why not."

"I'm not ugly, right?"

Leif turned his head to stare at Celia, hardly blinking for several seconds. "What?"

"I mean, I don't think I am."

"Then why ask?"

Celia wriggled uncomfortably. "'Cause you'd tell me if there was something weird about me, yeah?"

"Everything's weird about you."

"No, for real, though."

Leif ran a hand through his hair. "No, Cel, nothing's weird about you. Not physically. Mentally, you might want to get checked out."

"You're sure?"

"'Course I'm sure. I've seen way more of you than I ever wanted to. I think I'd know."

Celia sat up. She chewed on her lip a moment. "What about my tits?"

"What do you..."

Leif trailed off. Celia had pulled her shirt up, and was holding it above her breasts.

"Like, they aren't weird either, right?"

"I..."

"I know my left's a tiny little bit smaller than my right, but you can hardly even notice, really."

Leif shook his head, snapping his eyes shut to block out his sister's bare chest. "Dammit, Cel. Put your boobs away."

"Ok, but-"

"Now!" Leif peeked out through lidded eyes, then opened them fully when he saw that Celia had complied. "The hell's the matter with you?"

"You wouldn't have looked if I hadn't tricked you."

"You say that like it's a good excuse."

"Not 'good' exactly, but yeah. An excuse. Or a reason, actually."

Leif closed the laptop and pushed it aside. "Ok, listen, you better tell me what the hell's going on here. That, or I'ma have to seriously kick you out."

Celia twirled some of her hair nervously around her finger. "Yeah, fair enough."

Leif waited a moment. "So?"

She shrugged. "It's not that simple."

"Ugh. Just tell me why you felt the need to flash me just now. I mean, come on, Cel."

"I needed to know, ok? I'm trying to figure out if something's actually wrong with me."

"But why? Why would you suddenly think there's something wrong? And, more importantly, why ask me? Why not, like, Brian maybe?"

Celia's face clouded at the mention of her boyfriend's name. Leif, in turn, frowned in puzzlement at the reaction.

"We're, uh, not together anymore," Celia said while studiously examining Leif's bed sheets.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Since when?"

Celia shrugged. "Couple days."

"And it's, like, definitely over?"

"Yeah. Pretty much definitely."

"Shit." Leif coughed awkwardly. "So you're, uh, feeling insecure now? Or something like that?"

"Well... kinda. I tried not to be. Brian said some pretty mean things at the end. They've kinda stuck with me. I know he was just trying to hurt me, but... you know."

"Christ. Ok, seriously, forget what he said. You're right. It was all just to hurt you."

Celia laughed bitterly. "Not that easy, unfortunately."

"No, I guess not. But I really do think he's full of shit, for whatever that's worth."

Celia managed a shy smile. "For real?"

"Yeah. For real."

"Even my tits?"

Leif groaned. "Ugh, fine. Show me them again."

Celia lifted her shirt, and this time Leif looked at her breasts deliberately. He tried to ignore his sister's face and pretend he was just being shown some random boobies. In that context, it would have been quite an enjoyable assignment. As it was, he was still decidedly unsure about it.

"Yeah, they're good," he said.

"Good?"

"You've got nice tits, Cel. Promise. Put your shirt down."

Celia slowly lowered her top and smoothed it out. "Not weird or anything?"

"No. Perfectly lovely, I assure you. I'd be praising whatever gods were listening if you weren't, like... you know... my sister."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Celia brushed some of her hair back coyly. "I know it's kinda awkward for you. But hey. Boobs are boobs, right?"

"In a sense, sure. Buuuttt... sister boobs are still different."

"Have it your way." Celia hopped off the bed. "Maybe I'll let you get back to it, then."

"That'd be nice of you."

"Try not to let the thought of sister boobies distract you."

Leif stared after her long after she'd left the room. Thanks to her parting shot, he couldn't think of anything except her breasts.

"Goddammit," he muttered.

****

Leif spent the evening regretting his decisions. He regretted them while finishing his homework, through supper, and afterward. It had seemed like the right way to proceed at the time. But now...

Celia was annoyingly chipper. She'd catch his eye at times and give him a quick wink, which he found insufferable. She knew he was thinking about her chest, and it was all her fault. It wasn't right.

Leif spent some time before bed sulkily playing video games in the living room, since at least they distracted him from images of the forbidden tits. His parents seemed to recognize that he wasn't in a good mood, even if they didn't have any idea what had actually occurred. At least, he very much hoped they didn't. They left him alone, at any rate.

His sister, however, didn't want to take a hint. Celia came in and sat down on the far end of the couch. She pulled her legs up half-curled so that her feet just barely infringed on his half of their shared seat.

"Whatcha doin'?" Celia asked.

"Is that a serious question?"

"No, not really. Wanna play something together?"

Leif sighed. "Not really."

"Oh." She chewed on her lip. "Are you mad at me?"

"A little, yeah."

"Just because I-"

"Well don't say it." Leif glanced around, but he didn't see any sign of their parents. "I mean, come on. No one else needs to know."

"Mom and Dad are sitting outside drinking wine. We're fine." Celia leaned in closer. "I can talk about my boobies if I want."

"Cel..."

"Boobies boobies boobies!"

Leif glared at her. "I swear to god. If you-"

"Boobies!"

Celia grinned broadly, her expression slightly manic as her eyes dared him to do something about it.

"Why are you like this?" Leif asked. "I mean, seriously."

"Like what?"

"All weird about stuff." Leif rubbed his face. "It's been bad recently. And today especially."

Celia looked slightly hurt. "You know why. I told you."

"Yeah, Brian, I know. But, like, that doesn't explain everything. It doesn't explain why you're shoving your boobs in my face yet again."

Celia looked down at herself. As she leaned forward, she displayed an inappropriate amount of cleavage. She examined her situation, then shrugged. "That really wasn't on purpose. Not this time."

"Ah, right. Well that's ok then."

Leif went back to his video game. Celia slumped back against her corner of the couch. She pouted for a few minutes before speaking again.

"So you didn't actually like my tits at all, did you?" she said.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Cel."

"You were just trying to make me feel better."

"Yes, of course I was trying to make you feel better. But I wasn't lying. Your tits are fine. Good. Lovely, even. They're just... you're just..."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah. That."

"So you're trying to tell me you'd like my tits, except they kinda gross you out?"

"No!"

"'Cause it sounds like-"

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about them, ok? I mean, it's your fault. But just... ugh. Like, that's not what I want in my head."

Celia arched an eyebrow. "You're still thinking about them?"

"Yeah. I was distracting myself pretty well until you showed up again."

"Oh." She considered, then sat back with a satisfied smile. "Good."

"Good?"

"Yes. Good."

"You're a jerk."

"No, I'm insecure. There's a difference."

"You can't be that insecure."

"Why not?"

Leif saved his game and closed it out. He wasn't going to be getting anywhere at this rate. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think you just want an ego boost."

"Yeah. That's what I've been saying."

"No. You've been saying you think your body's all weird, 'cause of what your ex said. I think you know it isn't, but you really want someone else to tell you that, and for some reason you've picked me."

"Well... maybe."

"So cut it out, dammit."

Celia folded her arms. "Or what?"

"Or... I'll be annoyed, I guess."

They stared each other down for a moment, then Celia smirked and slowly reached for the bottom of her shirt. Leif grabbed her wrists and restrained her movements.

"No," Leif said.

"I wasn't gonna do it." Celia squirmed and tried to get free. "You're so paranoid."

"It's not paranoia if you've already done it, and were just about to do so again. That's just called learning."

"Hmph. Whatever." Celia jerked her arms again, and this time Leif let her go. "I really wasn't gonna do it again, though. Once was enough."

"Twice."

"Yeah, right. Twice was enough."

"You're so damn weird."

Leif got up and started walking out of the room.

"Hey, Lee?" Celia said in a soft voice.

"Yeah?"

"You were right. I did just want someone to tell me what I already knew."

"Thought so."

"Sorry for being weird."

Leif shrugged uncomfortably. "That's ok. I mean, honestly, I probably shouldn't be complaining about seeing tits. It's not like girls are typically lining up to show me their boobies."

"No. They probably aren't." Celia bit her lip. "If you want-"

"Please don't finish that sentence."

"It wasn't-"

"Don't care. Don't wanna hear it. Night, Cel."

"Yeah, ok. Night, Lee."

****

Leif began to relax over the next few days. Celia didn't flash him again, and she managed to be subtler about her 'computer time' too. He still had confusing images of her in his head, but he could deal with it.

He was less impressed when Celia invited her friend Kara over on the weekend, and the two of them hung out in the backyard suntanning. It had never much bothered him seeing his sister in a bikini before, but the context was different this time.

Rather unfortunately, Leif's mom, Cindy, caught him watching the girls out the window. She came to the wrong conclusion, but it was still rather embarrassing.

"You know," Cindy said, "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you went outside too."

Leif jumped and turned around guiltily. "What?"

"I'm sure Kara would prefer it to you staring at her through the window," she continued, giving him a meaningful look.

Leif wanted to protest, but what he'd actually been thinking was worse. He couldn't very well explain to his mother that he was staring at his sister in her skimpy outfit rather than her friend.

"Well, I-"

Cindy gave Leif a gentle, but quite firm, push toward the door. "Outside with you. Girls prefer you try talking rather than just peeping from a distance. It'll be good practice."

"Mom! Come on. It's not even like that. And Kara wouldn't-"

"That's why I said practice. It'll be good for you one way or another."

Rather awkwardly and miserably, Leif shuffled outside and over to where the girls were hanging out. Neither seemed to mind his approach, although they did pause their conversation when he got within earshot.

"Hey," Leif said. "What's going on?"

Celia shrugged. "Not much. Gettin' some sun."

"Wanna tan with us?" Kara asked with a teasing smile. "I think Cel's got a spare swimsuit."

Leif was a bit slow on the uptake, what with his mind being a bit preoccupied, but he belatedly shook his head. "No, that's ok."

Kara frowned slightly. "What's up? You seem a little out of it."

"I kinda am." Leif slumped down onto the end of Celia's lounger. "Maybe didn't get enough sleep," he fibbed.

"Uh huh. Sure," Celia said. She peered at him suspiciously, even as Kara continued to appear concerned.

"No, really, I'm fine," Leif said. "I might just chill out here for a while, if that's ok."

He shrank a bit as he continued to be assailed by the steady gazes of both girls, but Celia finally leaned back and closed her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. That's all we're doing anyway."

Kara nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just chilling. Hey, Cel?"

"Yeah?"

"Mind grabbing me some water?"

Celia groaned. "Can't you get it yourself?"

"I could, but I'm invoking guest privileges."

"You're a lazy bitch is what you are."

"Oh really? Well... maybe you're right. But maybe I also know what you-"

Celia bounced to her feet. "Fine, fine. I'll get you some damn water."

"I was just going to say-"

"Well don't."

Celia marched away, still grumbling to herself. Leif made a conscious effort not to watch her ass as it swayed beneath her bikini bottoms. He didn't need any mental comparisons between it and her boobs running around the mess his head already was.

"What was that about?" he asked, partly to distract himself.

"Oh, nothing," Kara said airily in the sort of way that suggested the exact opposite.

"Nothing, huh?"

"Weeelll... maybe I wanted a chance to talk to you."

"Dare I ask why?"

Kara glanced toward the house, ensuring they were alone, then leaned forward conspiratorially. "I saw you watching us," she said. "Until your mom kicked you out."

Leif tensed. "Oh. Sorry. I, uh, you know..." He shrugged helplessly. "It's a weird time, right now."

"Yeah, I bet." Kara pursed her lips in thought. "Now the real question is who were you actually watching?"

Leif flushed warmly and turned his head away in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner, but probably wasn't. "What?"

"Cel's been saying some stuff, and-"

"What kind of stuff?" Leif interrupted defensively. "What'd she say?"