Double Dare

4

"Beau." Benji peers through the doorway into the gloom of his brother's room. "Get up and eat something. Mom's worried."

Beau stirs in his bed, slowly sitting up, reaching instinctively to smooth his hair. "Okay. I need to clean first. And shower. But I'll be down." After his brother disappears, Beau carefully removes himself from where he'd slept atop the sheets. Smoothing them, he mists them with Lysol, then air freshener.

Beau slides on his house slippers, wiping various surfaces as he passes them on his way to the bathroom. Satisfied that nothing is marred with dust, he proceeds to the bathroom he shares with his brother. It is orderly, as it always is, and Beau sighs gratefully. He picks up his toothbrush, reminding himself to throw it away afterwards when Benji's voice sounds from downstairs.

"Danny just called me and asked if you're alright! What should I tell him?"

Beau panics, starts toward the door, stops himself, sticks his brush in his mouth. Danny has inquired about him. It makes him smile, but he can't do anything about it until he's finished his routine.

He brushes his teeth, taking care to polish each one, taking exactly two minutes. Then, he methodically removes each piece of his clothing, folding them and sitting them by the sink. He hears Benji knock on the door before peeking his head in.

Beau's hands fly to cover himself. "Don't just walk in!"

Benji rolls his eyes, not bothered in the least. "Please, we're twins. It's not anything I haven't seen before." He averts his gaze anyways. "Danny asked if it would be okay for him to come check on you. I said that he should bring his cute ass over immediately. So, he's gonna show up soon."

Beau flushes pink. "H- he'll be here? What do I do?"

Benji shrugs. "I dunno. Think of something." Turning to go, Benji leans back into the door so that his voice can be heard. "Or... I'll steal him."

Beau huffs, reminds himself not to pout. "Oh, shut up. Go... I dunno. Do whatever you do." He turns to continue starting his shower. "I'll be out soon."

Once the door has shut, Beau goes through the remainder of his morning tasks with ruthless efficiency. He hears the doorbell, and tries to make himself move faster, but the thought of accidentally skipping a step drives him to nausea. It's nearly fifteen minutes later when he emerges, riding a cloud of steam.

Danny sits on the stairs just across the hallway from the bathroom door, picking at the grey carpet fibers and humming under his breath. He wears a thick coat that makes him look like a little blue marshmallow. His hair flips out of his face when he looks up, and then his cheeks turn a burning red. "Uh, Beau. You're... In a- a towel."

Beau flushes pink all over, and runs into his room with a called, "Sorry, just a second." The door slams behind him, rattling the shelves. Beau covers his face, groaning in embarrassment. He hurries to grab clothes after carefully folding the towel and placing it in his clothes basket.

Once he is reasonably dressed, he bursts back out of the door. "Danny. Hi. Um, my apologies about the whole towel situation."

Danny stares distractedly at someplace below Beau's chin. "It's, ah, okay. Hi. How are you?"

"I'm okay. Sorry about lunch." Beau sits on the step next to Danny, leaving around six inches of space between them.

Danny shakes his head, hands twitching at his sides. "It's okay. Your collar is crooked. Can I fix it?"

Beau clears his throat, nods, then, nearly uncontrollably, blurts, "Have you washed your hands?" Immediately after, he pushes his hand over his mouth. "I'm sorry, that's a bit rude to ask."

Danny shakes his head quickly, looking at the ground. "No, no, that's reasonable given your, um... Preferences. I have hand sanitizer, if that'd help?"

"Yes, please."

Danny brings a small bottle out of his pocket, and coats his arms up to the wrist, keeping gentle eye contact the whole while. "Good?" Beau nods, wipes his hands on his jeans. His heart rattles around in his chest, pulse ridiculously fast. He isn't sure that Danny's germs would've bothered him in the first place. Slowly, as though Beau were a frightened animal, Danny places his fingers around Beau's collar. "Still okay?" Beau nods again, swallowing roughly. Danny wiggles the fabric around, knuckles ghosting along Beau's neck. Though something unpleasant squirms around in Beau's chest, he forces himself to keep still. Soon, the brushing touched becomes more soothing, warmer.

When Danny begins to pull his hands away, Beau catches his wrist. The two of them stare at the area of contact for a tense second, two, three. Beau's heart skips a beat, and the thing in his chest yelps. "Um." Beau slowly releases the other boy. "Sorry. I just haven't touched anyone in a while. I think I missed it."

Danny nods, looking away. His hand twitches toward Beau's, laying on the stair. "Can I...?" He gestures vaguely towards Beau's hand.

Beau says,"Yes," though he isn't exactly sure. Danny slides his hand on top of Beau's, and the two sit like that in silence for a moment. Beau takes deep breaths until he adjusts to the warmth, the feeling of something living against his palm.

"I'm glad that you're alright. I was a little worried."

Beau bites his lip, glancing at Danny. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "I didn't mean to worry you... Panic attacks can get sorta ugly."

"Oh, don't I know it." Another span of quiet unfurls, this one a little more comfortable. Beau shifts Danny's hand to that their fingers just barely overlap, then notches them together. A wave of burgundy heat sweeps between the two of them. Beau decides that he likes it, though it feels like teetering on the edge of a tightrope. A red cheeked Danny says, "S-so, um, I was wondering--"

Benji's door flung against the wall, and he tumbles out of it. "Beau, did you- Oh, ho, ho, what do we have here?" He smirks, leaning against the railing.

Beau pulls his hand back into his lap like it's on fire, and Danny tucks his face into the puffy collar of his coat. Beau's face burns crimson, and he wonders when he'd started blushing so much. "Sh-shut up, Benji. Nothing's happening."

"Hm, I see. Danny? Nothing's going on here, love?"

Danny shakes his read rapidly, eyes squeezed shut. "N-no, nothing at all." He has a brief moment of electric eye contact with Beau, then glances away. "Don't c-call me love," he whispers.

Beau smiles at his lap. "Would you like something to eat, Danny? For breakfast?"

"S-sure, yeah." Danny pushes himself to his feet, unzipping his coat. He stops halfway through, brushing his hand through his hair. "If it's not, uh, a bother, o-or anything."

Beau shakes his head, ushers him towards the kitchen. Once he is sure Danny was no longer looking, he shoots a dirty glare at his twin.

Benji pokes his tongue out in response. Breakfast will be fun.

A/N: Yay! D^2 is back! I'm actually pretty excited about this now that I've figured out my direction.
I'm curious... Who are you guys rooting for? Benji, or Beau? (I've made things pretty biased, to be fair, but I want to know what you guys think...)
Love y'all! Fun stuff to come this month!

xx