Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 21:25:16 +0800
From: Lady Poetess <egiggles@moose-mail.com>
Subject: The Gentlemen's Club: The Hall Twins

THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB
Bruce

By and Copyright Lady Poetess

http://www.gentlemensclub.cjb.net

Disclaimer
This story is fictitious and bears no resemblance to anyone dead or alive.


ONE

The young man sighed in frustration and pushed away the thick textbook he
was trying to study. The clock indicated that it was almost two in the
morning. He had a big exam in a week's time, he wasn't even halfway through
his preparations for it, and he would be placed under probation should he
fail this big one. He was also dreadfully homesick, lonely, and miserable.

   Home was across the ocean. A hundred times a day since he came to
Strathmore two weeks ago he wondered whether he had done the right thing.
Being admitted to the elite, exclusive medical school that produced the
best doctors in the world was an honor he could not deny when he received
the scholarship a month ago.  Now, he was more aware than ever that not
only did he arrived very late in the term and still expected to excel (or
be expelled, only they called it 'dismissal'), he was also all too aware
that he couldn't fit in here.

   The people are too... he didn't know how to describe it. Only that he
just didn't know how to add to any conversation or even understand these
people. They work too hard, they had a single-minded dedication to
graduating with flying colors to the point of ostracizing those they felt a
potential threat to their academic achievements, and they looked upon him,
a late newcomer, with suspicion and even hostility.

   Bruce would say, "Give it time." And the young man, Seth Hall, smiled to
himself at the thought. True, he had just arrived. Give himself time to get
settled, and he would be okay.

   He missed Bruce. He had no idea how much, until he was actually away
from Bruce. It was sobering that throughout their childhood and even
through a brief phase in their adolescence where they tried to hate each
other, they had actually rarely been apart, coming home to the same house
after trying to live separate lives and keeping separate identities. Seth
wasn't able to comprehend the cause of the hollow coldness he felt daily
since he arrived that seemed to sap away his enthusiasm, making him
listless and irritable, until these few days when he got an email from
Bruce.

   Right now, however, he wanted to just roll up in a circle and hide under
the sheets. No, he wanted his old life back.

   Someone knocked on the door. "Pizza," came a muffled voice.

   "Didn't order any," Seth called. He paused. What the fuck... pizza
delivery at two in the morning?

   "Pepperoni pizza with extra anchovies and cheese-filled crust. Your
favorite."

   Impossible. Only one guy alive knew Seth's preference in pizza.

   Seth threw open the door, not daring to believe it.

   "No pizza, but just me," Bruce Michael Hall said, his silly, goofy grin
in place as always. He opened his arms. "Hey, no hug for your little
brother?"

   Bruce, despite the early hours, showed no sign of fatigue. His elfin
face, handsome if viewed in a certain perspective, was practically glowing
with joie d'vivre and irrepressible good humor that made many consider him
the no good, mischievous brother. Seth knew that face, for it was the same
one that looked back at him in the mirror every morning. Unlike his
identical twin brother, however, Seth was a darker, more serious
version. Or so people always thought.

   "How -- what are you doing here?" Seth almost yelled. Not that he
wanted to disturb the other people living in the hostel -- no one was
asleep in this hour, probably, mugging for the exams, but dorm rules also
forbade outside visitors after ten in the evening. He tampered his voice in
time.

   "Hey, I decided to see what England's like, too. No fair you get to see
life outside Missouri." Bruce, also the larger and beefier of the two
despite being born three seconds later than Seth, roughly grabbed his
brother in his arms when Seth made no move to fall into them. "You look
like you don't want to see me."

   "I don't expect to see you here," Seth corrected him. "I'm stunned. I
mean, are you staying around here? How long? And how the hell did you get
in here?"

   "I told the gate guards I'm you and I passed him some cans of beer. No
big deal. And I have a temporary work permit, which, if things go my way,
will be extended into a yearly permit after I start work."

   "Work? Where?" Seth couldn't imagine Bruce actually working. The latter
spent his time back home making furniture and selling them, but that was
when the mood hit him. Most of the time Bruce preferred to screw and party
around.

   "Well, I got several jobs on the line, but I'm pretty sure I'll be
working at the furniture design mill. I did what you said, bro, I sent some
of my work into the expo, and there was a bidding war on them."

   "Yeah, yeah," Seth said, shrugging off Bruce's sheepish admission. He
always knew Bruce had it in him. "And you'll be working here?" And he would
get to see him? He was being selfish, but he was too overwhelmed by this
fortunate turn of events. Bruce... here? He couldn't believe it. He wanted
to believe it.

   "Yeah. Why else do you think they will give a nobody like me a work
permit?  They think I have it in me to make big, nice, stupid chairs and
table. Says I have an eye for fine wood. But I'm here for the money. And
you." Bruce grinned that cocky grin that had broken down the defenses of
too many sensible people who should know better. "I don't have much money
right now, and I'm only renting a small room down town, but -- "

   "Yeah, the last time we stayed together we almost killed each other,"
Seth said gently. "Oh fuck, come on in," he said when he realized they were
still standing at the doorway. "My roommate won't be back until next
Sunday, but don't mess up his things. He gets very grouchy about space
issues."

   "Oh come on, that guy will never know." Bruce jumped and all his weight
landed on the bed of Seth's roommate Peter with a loud crash. "So how's
life, bro? Come on, let's play catch up."

   "I have to study," Seth said reluctantly. "I have a test soon and if I
flunk it they will put me under probation, man. If I can pull this through,
I can relax a little for the rest of the term."

   "Okay. I may have walked all this way just to see you, when I could be
taking some nice guy I met at the pub home, but that's okay, I'll just go
home and leave you in peace -- hey!" Bruce easily caught the pillow Seth
threw at him.

   "Don't go," Seth couldn't help asking. "You can sleep here."

   "And you, Seth, work too hard." Bruce easily reached out and pulled his
brother, who protested weakly, down beside him on the bed. "Fucking hell,
what will you do without me, huh?" With a mock roar, he reached out and
started tickling his brother mercilessly. Oh, he knew where Seth would be
most ticklish.  "Huh, Seth? You need me to show you how to have fun, yeah?"

   "Stop that," Seth managed to sputter, and pushed Bruce off him. He fell
atop his brother, and roughly caught the other man's hands before they
swooped in for another assault. "I hate you."

   "Yeah?" Bruce moved slightly, allowing Seth to fall and rest on his body
more comfortably. "And I think you have stopped working out," he pointed
out, reaching out to rub and feel his brother's shoulders.

   "Who has the time?" Seth answered, resting his chin on the hard crook of
his brother's shoulder. "God, it's good to see you again, Bruce. I miss you
so much."  The last came out in a sob despite his best attempts to control
his voice.

   "Hey, love," Bruce said tenderly. "You're supposed to be the stronger
one here, man. I miss you too. That's why I come all the way here. I --
fuck, do you know we are being like those fucking mushy family on Full
House?"

   Seth chuckled. Bruce was right -- they hadn't actually talked like
this, in an introspective manner that was all about them and only
them. Usually Bruce would talk about sports and guys and teasing Seth about
his more reticent nature, and Seth would hit back by bossing around Bruce
because both of them knew Seth was the smarter one.

   "You're my smart big brother," Bruce said without any envy that one
might expect. His hand reached behind Seth and started rubbing along the
muscular length of the man's back soothingly. "You can't be missing
me. That's my job."

   "Oh shut up," Seth answered.

   Bruce's hand pushed Seth's shirt up so that it now touched bare
skin. Seth didn't say anything -- he just raised his hands and let Bruce
tug the shirt off him.  He let Bruce when Bruce's knee gently eased between
Seth's legs or when Bruce's other hand rubbed at the skin dangerously close
to the waistband of Seth's loose shorts. To them, this was nothing --
their bodies were so alike that they sometimes forgot where one ended and
another twin began.

   "Aunt Simone will take a belt to us when she sees us like this," Seth
said, but he was too intoxicated by the comfort offered by Bruce's presence
to be anything but sedate. "But she's not here."

   "But she's not here." And they chuckled when they realized they said the
same thing at the same time. Bruce gently lifted Seth off him slightly, and
frowned when he saw the imprints of his shirt buttons on the man's chest
and stomach.  Fluidly, he pulled his own shirt off, his hasty fumbling with
his buttons aided by Seth's steadier fingers. "You really have lost some
muscle tone," Bruce said disapprovingly, absently massaging Seth's
pectorals. "There's a gym in this fucking school, right? Use it."

   "Aye, aye bro," Seth said. Outside the room, a door slammed shut. "I
really have to get back to my studies," he said reluctantly, moving off his
brother. "I don't want to be put under probation. My tutor told me openly
that he expected me to fail."

   "And you're gonna prove him wrong," Bruce finished approvingly. "Now
that's my big bro. Give them hell." But he only let go of Seth's hand a
heartbeat too long later. At Seth's look, he answered his brother's unasked
question, "Okay, I'll just sit back and take a quick nap. Wake me up when
you leave for class, okay?"

   For whatever left of that morning, Seth didn't sleep. Instead, he
studied, taking notes and quietly reciting what he had read to himself in
an effort to blaze them in his memory. It occurred to him that he didn't
feel that cold anymore. And there was no empty feeling inside or heavy
weight around his shoulders. Listening to Bruce's soft snores, Seth lived
the night, at peace for the first time since he left home.


TWO

Bruce Hall stepped back and admired his handiwork. Putting aside his
hammer, he had to admit that he was actually pretty good at furniture
carpentry. Maybe after a few more years he would even believe that he was
good like Seth said he was.

   He didn't care what people say about him. He only cared about Seth's
opinion.  That was the most important and only consideration he had in his
life's decisions.  He never told Seth how crushed he was when Seth got the
scholarship to England, leaving him for the first time in his life without
a role model to emulate. It was Seth who suggested all the things Bruce did
now -- job choices, saving up for the future, and other life decisions
the usually lackadaisical Bruce Hall wouldn't consider.

   Bruce looked up from his ruminations to see Luke Wilson walking into the
workshop. Bruce liked that man. Luke was nice, unaffected, and he was
American, so at least Bruce could understand this man's accent. He also
felt a kinship to Luke, mostly one-sided (on his side), because Luke had a
guy studying medicine in the same college Seth was studying. Luke's man was
smarter -- Alex was some sort of doctor who was actually pursuing a
higher course in some medical field Bruce couldn't pronounce. Alex taught
part time in the college too, and Seth might knew that guy, Bruce
thought. Hence, Bruce thought Luke as a fellow buddy in a same
semi-dilemma.

   Luke lived with his boyfriend, however, and Bruce was determined to be
like Luke -- he would get a place here to share it with Seth. They would
live together.  Bruce didn't care if his guardians had beaten into him
during his days that he was a drunkard, oversexed useless fool and that he
was probably too attached to his twin. All he learned was to suppress it
inside. Seth liked him, and that was all that mattered. And Bruce would do
anything for Seth. He had crossed an ocean for Seth, hadn't he?

   "Howdy," Luke Wilson said, placing their lunch on the work desk. Luke
was technically the supervisor of Bruce and a few other furniture workers,
but like the man said affably, he had no idea how to behave like a
supervisor. Everyone was like a peer to him. Yet Luke was charming -- or
devious -- enough to command his underlings' attention, respect, and
loyalty despite such unorthodox democracy. "If you're tired, take a few
minutes off. How's your brother?"

   Oh yeah, and people found it very difficult not to spill out their life
story two minutes into meeting Luke. Bruce was no less immune to Luke's
quiet calm that promised a listening ear. Coffee, and Luke's sympathetic
hangdog face, and Bruce was soon telling his boss almost everything in his
sorry life.

   "He's good," Bruce said guardedly, not wanting to repeat his
mistake. Some things were best left unsaid, and his ambiguous feelings for
Seth, which confused even he sometimes, were best left to him and him
only. "Studying like mad to be a doc, you know?"

   "I know. It's almost that time of the year when the exams start. I'm
lucky Alex even remembers my name." Luke took a sip of his coffee.

   "Seth's like that ever since we were kids. Does all his homework and
studies in advance for exams. Smartest and most hardworking guy I know. And
he lets me copy him in exams." Bruce looked at Luke. "How do you handle
this, anyway?"

   "Handle what exactly?"

   "Trying to make someone like Alex still stay focused and not overworked?
And have fun. Seth has been skipping gym sessions, man. And he never misses
gym unless it's big time serious." Bruce was on the roll. "But I can't
blame him. By the time the paperwork was done, Seth was already two months
behind when he enrolled. He has to work harder to keep up."

   "I wouldn't worry too much," Luke cut in. "People like Alex and your
brother, they have been doing this for so long. Hell, Alex studies all the
time. They'll do fine. All you have to do is to help him stay on track, you
know what I mean?  When he wants some, praise him, even if you have to
lie. Let him be irrational a bit -- it's the exam season and he needs to
let off steam somehow. And stay out of his way when he's mad."

   "Sounds like you're setting yourself up to be bullied," Bruce commented
wryly.

   "I don't know how it is between siblings, but between me and Alex, that
guy is crazy about me." Luke winked, thus crushing his rare arrogant
statement. "He knows I'm probably the only guy who can stand his
bullshit. Sometimes he even asks me to stay in the same room as he is in
when he is studying. Seems I give him a calming presence."

   Bruce grinned. "I know what you mean."

   Luke's look was one of puzzlement. "We were talking about your brother,
right?"

   "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

   Luke hesitated, then shrugged. "Nothing." He looked up at the clock at
the wall and chuckled. "Take it easy with the doughnuts, Bruce. It's just
five minutes more until lunch break."


Dr Alexis Denisof looked up at the young man walking into his study. He
sighed and put aside the book he was reading. He was an oddity of sorts: he
was a student in Sheffield but he also lectured here, at nearby Strathmore
College of Medicine to make some money to supplement his living. Sure,
people had said that he was too smart (and smug) for his own good, and Alex
inadvertently made sure everyone knew it despite his best intentions. He
wasn't a popular, likeable man, but he was a brilliant teacher and student.

   Hence, this man walking in. Alex racked his memory -- ah yes, Seth
Hall, who started late in the term and was struggling way behind. Alex
wasn't fond of the militant environment of Strathmore that made its
students' life a veritable pressure cooker: in fact, he despised it. It was
only because the money was good.

   "Seth," Alex said, standing up to greet the man. "How can I help you?"

   "I'm going to fail," Seth said simply.

   Seth attended Alex's basic biochemistry course. Alex didn't find Seth
exceptional. Brilliant, yes, but everyone was brilliant in
Strathmore. Hence just mere brilliance was one step ahead of
mediocrity. Only in Strathmore. "What do you expect me to do?" Alex asked
bluntly. "You have access to one of the best medical libraries in the
world. If you need time, you can make time. What do you want from me?"

   Seth hesitated. "I am not sure how things are run, Dr Denisof. I don't
know the exact format of this exam, I have no idea how much I should
learn."

   "I don't spoon feed examination tips to students," Alex said.

   "I'm not asking you to. I am -- " Seth hesitated once more. "I'm
really lost, Dr Denisof. There are four more days to the exam, I have read
the recommended texts from cover to every fucking cover -- sorry, and
still I can't keep it in." Seth tapped at his left temple. "I need
advice. On how to survive in this place."

   Alex studied the other man silently. They were only probably ten years
apart in terms of age, Alex being some sort of prodigy in his younger
days. It was his first instinct to refer Seth to the local counselor, but
he hesitated. Maybe it was the softening influence of his partner Luke, but
he nowadays thought twice and tried a little harder to be patient with
people and lent a helping hand where he could.  "The students here are
bastards, aren't they?" Alex commented wryly.

   Seth looked stunned, but he recovered quickly. "Yeah," he said. "They
wouldn't help me at all."

   "Okay. Here's what I do when I am stuck in my studies and the exam is
coming too fast for me to handle," Alex started to say.

   "And that's what he said," Seth told his brother Bruce later that
night. "Can you believe it? He first told me I would fail days earlier, and
now he is helping me."

   Bruce leaned forward and rested his chin on Seth's shoulder as he
watched the latter doodled what seemed like a kidney on a sheet of
paper. He let his hand hang down Seth's chest to rest on the other man's
thigh. "Bet he can't resist your charms, bro," Bruce said to Seth's
derisive snort. "Anyway, small world. I work under your doc's
boyfriend. Luke, that's his name. Nice guy, looks sad most of the time, but
he's good for listening if you need that sort of thing. Want me to get us
both invited to Luke's place for dinner?"

   "No way. I'd like to keep my school life in school -- period," Seth
told Bruce, absently tilting his neck as Bruce's fingers teasingly toyed
with the skin of his nape. "Bruce, you really shouldn't touch me like
this," he said.

   "Like this? Why not?" Bruce asked. "We're brothers, right? It's not like
I am trying to get into your pants."

   "Oh yeah, I bet that's what you told those poor boys that ended up being
nailed by you," Seth said. "Say," he remarked, turning to look at
Bruce. "Is that a love bite on the side of your neck?"

   "No way," Bruce said, reaching up to touch the area regardless.

   Fucking bastard, Seth thought, of course that was a love bite. "I don't
believe me. You just got here and you're getting laid already."

   "Just someone I met at the pub," Bruce said. "Nothing serious, bro. It's
not even memorable. Quick wham bang -- " Bruce made an obscene gesture
with his hands -- "and that's it. I'm pretty sure he's a married man,
since I remember seeing a ring on his finger."

   "This is a small town. Don't get into trouble sleeping around, okay?"

   "How about you?" Bruce asked. "You getting any?"

   "Nope. Don't have the time."

   Bruce made a sound of disgust. "Come on, Seth, we always have time for
sex.  You may be a hardworking freak, but I know you always get some back
then.  Even if it's in the form of boring relationships."

   "I like boring," Seth told him. "I'm looking. There's this guy in my
class who is showing signs that he may be okay with me asking him out."

   "That's more like it," Bruce said. He lay back on Seth's bed and made
himself comfortable. "You done studying?"

   "An hour ago, since you came in like that." Bruce actually sneaked in,
climbing the fencing in the dark. That was so typically Bruce. "So I guess
that's why you didn't show up last night."

   "Yeah. I hope you don't expect me to show up every night," Bruce started
to say, when he saw Seth's expression. Shit. "Okay," he amended. "I'll come
every night if that's what you want. But what's in it for me?"

   "My company?"

   Bruce snapped his fingers. "Come here."

   "What?"

   "I said come here."

   Seth sighed as he fell onto the bed beside Bruce. This was becoming a
ritual every time they met in his room. Bruce's arms went around Seth's
waist and the man made a playful laugh/growl as he snuggled up to
Seth. This was just like when they were kids, before their parents
died. This time, their nightly meeting had a secret, illicit rendezvous
thrill to make it even more exciting to Seth. He never knew how much he
missed his brother until these last few days, and he still felt this hollow
ache in his chest whenever he saw Bruce slip out the window right before
dawn. Was it possible to want someone's comforting presence this badly?
Would that make him weak? In Bruce's muscular embrace, Seth didn't care
-- he was at peace. Tranquil and calm.

   "Sometimes I wish I can find someone who is just like you," Bruce
murmured.  "Smart and sensible. There's no one like you."

   "Hmm," Seth murmured, not really listening. Weary from his reading, his
eyes were starting to ease into sleep.

   He felt Bruce pull his shirt up, and as was always, he lifted his hands
and let Bruce remove his shirt. The heat of the hard wall of Bruce's
muscular chest against his bare back made his senses flare to life, which
was always a hormonal reaction followed by hard denial and suppression of
those feelings he knew were forbidden. Bruce never had such reservation,
and he was always the one who was freer with his hands, hands that even now
slowly slipped down Seth's shorts.

   "What are you doing?" Seth asked, his voice husky from fatigue.

   "I miss you so much, Seth. It was pure hell those weeks without you,
bro, it's -- it's -- fuck!" Bruce smothered his sob by burying his face
in Seth's shoulder even as his hands now cupped Seth's butt cheeks. "God, I
miss you so much. I love you so much, Seth, I just never knew -- and I
wish -- "

   "Sssh," Seth shushed his brother softly. "It's okay. I'm here now." He
shuddered and bit back a cry when he felt a thick digit -- Bruce's thumb
-- penetrating the warm, yearning moist groove between his thighs. This
was wrong, this was -- what he was seeking for all his life, this sense
of safety, completion, and yes, loved.

   "You've been without, Seth. Let me fuck you. Let me please you,
brother," Bruce said shakily as he lifted his body to look at Seth's
face. "I can satisfy you.  Just let me. Please."

   No. Seth should say no. Yet, the stroking of Bruce's thumb, slowly
penetrating the muscular ridges of Seth's anal ring to rub and massage the
smooth walls of the clenching anus, that sent chills of arousal and
excitement as well as a sense of calming peace in Seth. And Seth's instinct
was to part his legs wide to allow Bruce more access.

   He wanted to say no, but his lips parted only to meet Bruce's. At the
sensation of Bruce's lips grazing his shyly, all sense of right or wrong
deserted Seth. This was Bruce, his brother, his soul -- this was Bruce,
who knew him like no one else in this world. His tongue soon rubbed and
slid in maddening abrasion against Bruce's. Bruce's other free hand now
pinned Seth down the bed even as the man now moved over Seth, his thumb
reluctantly pulling out of Seth's now gaping anal grip. Seth whimpered,
wanting completion, and he found it when Bruce replaced his thumb with the
broad, fast moistening tip of his cock. He groaned, lifting his hips,
demanding surcease, but Bruce only deepened his kiss as he slowly,
tantalizingly penetrated Seth... but only with his cock crown and no more.

   "Bruce, please..." Seth had been without for too long, he couldn't
control himself. He needed that thick cock, every inch of its glorious,
pulsing length, embedded deep up his ass, filling him.

   "Relax, bro -- I'm here. You'll get it, just take it easy and enjoy,"
Bruce said.

  And damn that man. He had been teasing Seth since they could talk, and he
teased Seth mercilessly now. Grasping his cock in one hand, Bruce teased
Seth's pulsing pucker with his coat, slowly rubbing the smooth tip along
the circular ridge, spreading his lubricating droplets around the burning
flesh until Seth wanted to scream. Even when Bruce penetrated him, it was
only with the half of his cock head submerged, his hand deftly manipulating
his shaft so that the cock head stretched Seth's anus wide, teasing it with
promise of deeper penetration that never came.

   Even as he toyed with Seth that way, Bruce kept Seth at the brink by
simultaneously kissing and gently biting his neck, shoulders, before
suckling and teasing Seth's nipples one by one. It was evident now that
while Seth was older, Bruce knew more sex tricks, damn that man. Seth's
fingers clawed into Bruce's shoulders, urging him to take him. Bruce's only
response was to plunge only a fraction deeper, his pre-ejaculate now
copiously moistening both his own cock crown and the skin between Seth's
inner thighs with each stroke of play of that cock. Only when Seth
ruthlessly plunged his fingers up Bruce's own anus, all four fingers, two
from each hand, did Bruce let out a yelp and instinctively thrust his hips
forth, tearing Seth open so that the anguished cry of pleasure of the
latter muffled Bruce's pained moan in a bruising kiss.

   There was a brief heartbeat when they both paused, as if at that moment,
they were finally aware that they had committed the ultimate taboo. But
Bruce's cock, stretching his brother's convulsing anus, drove the man on,
and Bruce pumped his hips, driving his cock savagely up his brother's anus
in short, stabbing thrusts. Seth bit down his moans and cries, arching his
back as he lifted and wrapped his hips around Bruce's waist. Both of them
were lost in their savage fuck, thrusting and reaching out, until in that
one unbearably pleasurable moment of completion, Bruce harshly cried out a
loud roar and his hips buckled, thrusting one last, tearing time up Seth so
deep that the latter's hips arched off the bed.  Bruce's arms tightened
around Seth's, his eyes staring into Seth's equally deep blue eyes, almost
green with the pleasure he was experiencing, until Seth closed them in his
own private orgasm. Bruce buried his head in Seth's shoulder, his hips
still coring into his brother's body, until he too came in a searing
climax, his semen scorching his twin's insides.

   "I love you, Seth," Bruce whispered harshly as he fell heavily onto
Seth. As he luxuriated in his sweat-soaked body's slippery caressing of the
man under him, he kept whispering that. He loved Seth. He meant it. And he
would give anything he had for another encore of fucking Seth.


THREE

Seth didn't dare face the next time he would meet Bruce. That night, he
tried to study, but couldn't. Consigning the night as a loss, he paced his
room, terrified that Bruce would show up, craving for him to. Bruce had
left before Seth woke up, but the traces of their fuck were unmistakable on
Seth's body and on his bed sheets. Seth could barely untangle the confused
cacophony in his head.

   Fucking Bruce was heaven. There was no other way to describe it. Seth
had never felt so filled, so light-headed, and he had never felt so much
felicity before.  It was so right, even if his head told him they had
committed a heinous transgression. Hadn't they? He could still feel every
imprint of Bruce's hands and lips all over his body, in every expanse of
skin left bare to his twin. From his forehead to the intimate crevices
between his thighs, he burned still. While attempting to study earlier, he
instead found his own hand reaching between his legs, trying to soothe the
raging fever between his thighs that still even now cried for Bruce's cock.

   Last night, they had somehow crossed a line in their admittedly
tenuously platonic relationship. Seth admitted that he and Bruce had played
fast and loose with each other's body with loose touches that strayed to
dangerously intimate areas, but they had never crossed that line -- until
last night. It was easier than they'd expected, when both were particularly
vulnerable in their loneliness and missing each other. Somehow the need for
completion had resulted in literal completion of each other.

   Sure enough, Bruce appeared at his window at around ten in the
evening. And Bruce didn't waste time, reaching out to steal a kiss from
Seth, emboldened by last night. Seth turned away, pretending not to see his
twin's look of bewilderment, however.

   "Last night shouldn't happen," Seth said shakily. The sight of Bruce
now, wearing loose tee shirt and shorts, was an instant turn-on. Seth's
mind supplied what was hidden from his view -- the tightly muscled body
and the powerful thighs, the latter felt so good between Seth's own
thighs. "It's a mistake."

   "No," Bruce protested. "Come on, Seth. It's not like we're brothers and
sisters.  We can't make lil' fuckers and we don't hurt anyone. And I love
you, man. You love me, I know. What's wrong with what we did?"

   "You make it sound so easy," Seth said somewhat bitterly, sitting down.

   Bruce got down on one knee and looked up at his brother pleadingly. "It
is.  Fuck what people say, Seth. We can do this in secret. You and me,
together forever."

   "You wanted this all along," Seth asked, stunned at his sudden
insight. "You always wanted this."

   Bruce didn't blink. "Yeah. Can you blame me? There's no one like you,
Seth.  Every man I meet, date, fuck -- they all come wanting. You're
smart, you're practical, and you are perfect." Bruce said it as if he
believed it sincerely, it pole- axed Seth. Bruce continued, "I don't care
what our aunt and uncle say, or what anyone say. Please don't tell me you
are ashamed of me."

   "No, Bruce. But what we did -- it's so wrong. It's incest." There, the
ugly word was out.

   "So?" Bruce asked blankly.

   And Seth had to laugh. "You don't care, do you? No, don't answer. You
never did care what people say, and I envy you. But I care, Bruce. I need
time to think about this."

   "And if you think, you'll say no," Bruce stated bitterly. "While me, the
brainless one, will stoop this low for my happiness. You must think me an
idiot. A sick, twisted idiot."

   "No," Seth said, genuinely caught off-guard by Bruce's depreciating
bitterness.  "I never think that. I just thought what we did last night was
because of weakness of both our parts, Bruce. I was so stressed out and
lonely and you -- you are lonely too, I guess. We are still suffering
from being separated for so long."

   "And we are always too close for our own good," Bruce finished, his
voice hard.  "Yeah, that's what everyone says to us. And you believe
them. It's okay, Seth. I know -- I'm the moron here. I actually think
nothing of sleeping with my own brother. I don't even have regrets. I ran
all the way here because I wanted to fuck you again." Bruce flinched when
Seth tried to touch his hand. "God, what must you think of me?" he asked,
his voice slightly rising in his hysterical fear and self- loathing. "I'm
so sorry, Seth. I'm so fucking sorry. But I'm an idiot. You always know
that, right?"

   "No," Seth said quietly. "I never think that."

   Bruce couldn't see, and he angrily wiped his tears with the back of his
hand.  "Fine, we won't do this. I won't even bother you again. Here," he
said, flinging the handwritten note to the table. "This is my new phone
number. Call me, okay, when you think you can stand talking to me."

   "Bruce," Seth started to say.

   But Bruce only gave a wounded whimper and scrambled to climb out the
window. "Bruce!" Seth called, leaning out the window, but Bruce didn't care
to listen. The man just kept running down the street, until Seth couldn't
see him anymore because of the dark, because of his own tears in his eyes.


"Hey, what's wrong?" Luke asked, switching on the lights.

   Bruce closed his eyes against the sudden blinding brightness. "Nothing,"
he said defiantly.

   Luke hesitated. He was probably on his way home when he heard Bruce
sulking in the dark of the workshop. "You want to talk about it?"

   "No." Tempting, but no cigar. Luke, a nice guy, would probably throw up
and throw Bruce out of the mill if he knew. Seth was disgusted enough,
wasn't he?  "No," he said again, fighting the weakening of his control, as
people were wont to do when faced with Luke's silent, actually intimidating
air of seeming infallibility.

   Luke pulled up a chair and sat down, facing Bruce. "Now, tell me about
it," he said softly in that gentle Texan-accented voice.

   Bruce told.

   Luke didn't blink. Bruce fidgeted when he finished, and finally asked,
"Well, aren't you disgusted?"

   "No," Luke answered. "It's not my place to judge people, there's someone
upstairs," Luke rolled his eyes upwards in an exaggerated, even mocking,
gesture, "who gets paid to judge you."

   "Man, you are weird," Bruce said, shaking his head.

   "I know. I have an unorthodox upbringing," Luke answered easily. "I
don't mean to say that I approve, I just say that it is your life and
Seth's, and its not my place to say that your behavior is reprehensible. Am
I making sense here?"

   "Somewhat."

   "Okay, I see that you want advice. Fine. Here's what I say: lay off your
brother, let it cool a little. Try to find someone to make you happy. Go
back to Seth only as a last resort. That's what I'm suggesting." Luke stood
up. "Maybe you want to join me and Alex for dinner?"

   "No," Bruce said. "But thanks, Luke. Thank you, really."

   "No problem." Luke shut the lights and closed the door behind him,
leaving Bruce to his own darkness.


"How did you do in the exam?"

   Seth placed his forehead against the wall. "I'll pass," he said.

   "Good. I know you can do it."

   The way Bruce said it, always confident in Seth's ability, always
threatened to break Seth into pieces. "How are you?" Seth asked, his voice
barely steady. A week -- an eternity -- of not seeing and listening to
Bruce; it was pure hell. "I hear you are seeing someone," he tried to
tease.

   "Yeah," Bruce said simply.

   Seth's hand tightened around the phone. "Good," he said.

   "He's a nice guy. Smart, funny, and..."

   "Great in bed?"

   "Haven't gone that far yet."

   "You? I'm surprised," Seth said, hating the way relief swamped his
insides at Bruce's confession. He didn't like the thought of Bruce doing to
someone what he did to Seth, despite everything. Doomed, staked at the
cross, and without hope of salvation -- that was what he was.

   "It's hard to sleep with someone after you have slept with your own
brother, you know what I mean?"

   "Jesus, Bruce, do you have to say it out loud?"

   "Nobody's around me," Bruce said. "And I mean it. How can I fuck someone
after fucking you, Seth? It's like settling for some second rate shit after
a taste of heaven. You want me to let you know when I fuck him?"

   "I just want my baby brother back," Seth confessed. "I miss you."

   "Yeah, me too. So, you fucking that nerd in your class yet?"

   "No. I don't feel like going out with him anymore." Seth closed his
eyes. "You want me to let you know when I fuck him?"

   "I'd rather not."

   "I miss you. I want to see you," Seth said. "Please, Bruce?"

   Bruce answered a few seconds later, his voice strangely hoarse. "Okay,
Seth.  Just name the place and time."


"Oh fuck, fucking holy mother of Christ!" Bruce gasped, his grip bruising
Seth's thighs as he drove him one last hard thrust that caused his hipbone
to smash against Seth's pelvic girdle in a loud wet slap of sweaty flesh.

   Seth's fingers clawed into Bruce's buttocks, causing Bruce to arch his
back to drive his cock even up deeper up Seth as he came hard and
fast. Bruce pushed deeper, relishing the wet smooth slide of his still hard
cock up the semen-flooded anus of his brother, until a soft cry from Seth
told him that he had hit Seth's magic spot. Bingo. Grinning to himself, he
resumed his fuck thrusts.

   "No more," Seth pleaded an hour later, scrambling away from Bruce who
lay on the bed, sated and pleased with himself. Seth deftly evaded Bruce's
lazily grasping hand. "I'm sore. One more come and I think my heart will
give way."

   "Where are you going?" Bruce asked indolently, only lifting his neck to
see his brother.

   "To the toilet."

   Bruce swung his shapely hips off the bed. "I'm coming with you."

   "I have to take a piss."

   "So? Let me watch. You wanna piss on me?"

   Seth gave Bruce an incredulous look, to which Bruce's response was a
shrug.  "Suit yourself, Seth. But I want to watch you piss."

   His brother looked intrigued, despite himself. "You want me to piss on
you?"

   "If you want. And maybe you can let me suck out all those juices from
your ass afterwards." Bruce reached down to cup and pinch Seth's naked butt
cheek. A trickle of fluid seeped down the inside of Bruce's left
thigh. "And then we can take a shower together after."

   Seth let Bruce push him into the shower.


"So I take it we're, you know..." Bruce made a banging gesture with his
hands.  "Friends?"

   Seth looked at his brother beside him. They had changed Seth's soaked
bed sheet and now cuddled up together, naked with only the blanket covering
them from the cold outside. Bruce's body heat was more than enough to warm
Seth anyway. "Yeah," Seth said. "I've been thinking."

   "Ah," Bruce teased.

   "Shut up, Bruce. Anyway, it hurts to be away from you. It hurts so
much." Seth let Bruce tighten his arms around him comfortingly. "I don't
think our too strong bond is normal. I know we shouldn't do this."

   "Too late," Bruce murmured. "Four times too late."

   "Yeah." Seth looked at Bruce's steady, confident eyes and wondered how
his brother could want this incestuous love affair between them so
unwaveringly that Bruce didn't seem to consider that what they were doing
was taboo. Or maybe, knowing Bruce, he liked this because it was taboo as
much as he needed Seth to complete him. "I tried, but I couldn't fight
it. I want this -- it's the only way I feel..."

   "Whole, complete, and happy," Bruce finished for him, his hand now
playing with Seth's hair fondly. "I know, big brother."

   Seth buried his head in Bruce's shoulder and smelled the man's hair --
of sweat, male virility, and Bruce, all Bruce, always Bruce. It had been
Bruce all along, Seth realized. His own soul mate in this relationship that
in all probability would be damned. Yet, even if there was a way to fight
this and sever his emotional bond with Bruce, Seth couldn't do it. And
there was no other way in his estimation. He was damned, and he was a
happy, damned man.

   "Nobody has to know," Bruce whispered. "Just you and me."

   "Yeah," Seth agreed.

   Bruce pulled the blanket higher and sighed as he felt Seth move to rest
more comfortably on him.

   "Bruce?"

   "Hmm?" Bruce murmured, looking at his brother. This was perfect. His
heart was beating so thunderously in his ribcage in its rare moment of
pure, unadulterated rapture.

   "Tell me how you sneaked into my room. I have to get back in before
everyone awakes," Seth said sleepily.

   Bruce laughed. Let them be damned then. This was right. It had to be. He
wondered what their late parents would think of their kids screwing each
other, and then shrugged. "I love you, Seth," he said unnecessarily. And
for good measure, one more time: "I love you."

   And then he told Seth how he sneaked into the dorm room.