The Eye of the Beholder [boyxboy]

Chapter XI

~Saturday 4th June 2016~

"Have you played Until Dawn? Riv is too much of a pussy to sit through it with me," River rolled his eyes at his little brother, although he didn't make any comments. It was the first time in months, maybe even years, that he had seen Evan so excited. And all it had taken was River bringing a guy home.

"I've racked up a couple hundred hours on it, still haven't got all the endings though, I screw up with Jessica all the time," Gray seemed happy too, running his fingers through River's hair whilst the boy laid with his head on his lap. Evan had taken surprisingly well to Gray, he had barely even batted an eyelid. It seemed too good to be true, and River was assuming that, once they were alone, that would be when Evan would really voice how he felt. River wasn't exactly looking forward to the conversation.

"It's Emily that gets me," Evan was practically beaming, sat cross-legged at the foot of River's bed, eyes gleaming as though he was a kid in a candy shop, "maybe we could trade tactics sometime."

"God, you'd think he was the gay one," River muttered sullenly, scowling at the movie playing across the room, having to put subtitles on to hear over his brother and Gray's incessant video game drabble.

"Are you jealous, baby?" Gray crooned, smirking down at River, tracing the boy's bottom lip with his thumb. For a brief second, River thought about biting it off, although he knew that was a bit of a rash decision given the context.

"Riv just can't cope with not being the centre of attention," Evan chimed in, an impish grin on his face, "he's used to everyone practically dropping to their knees for him and kissing his ass," oh, how Evan had a poor choice of words.

"Gray drops to his knees for me all the time, Ev, he can deepthroat like a god," River saw his brother turn a few shades paler, the mischief slipping from his face to an almost nauseous shock, "as for kissing my ass, well, I haven't had the pleasure of receiving a rim job from him yet but I imagine-"

"Alright, alright!" Evan interrupted swiftly, holding up his hands in surrender, "I yield, jesus, Riv, I fucking yield. I don't care if you like being with guys, just, for God sake, leave me with some sense of innocence. I don't need to know the details," River smiled a triumphant smile, leaning his cheek into Gray's hand and pressing a kiss to his palm, "how did you two meet anyway?" clearly, Evan had thought changing the subject would help any, not that it did. It was a good thing River was well versed in making up lies on the spot, Gray just tended to freeze up and stutter.

"That dinner dad hosted back in May. We just, I don't know, clicked," River didn't want to go into the details, that would mean more aspects to remember and more opportunities to slip up. It was easier to just remain vague, it wasn't like Evan ever really needed much convincing anyway. River could just pay him off if needs be.

"What would happen if dad found out?" River's eyes snapped to his brother, narrowing as he stared at the boy.

"For one, I'd fucking kill you-"

"I didn't mean from me, moron," Evan muttered, with a roll of his eyes, "I meant in general, what would happen if he found out about you and Gray? I mean, does he even know you're into guys? Does mom?"

"No," River decided he was done with the conversation, standing up and walking over to the window, "and, once again, if you tell them, I will castrate you," River took a cigarette from the packet next to the ashtray, lighting it and taking a drag.

"Don't you want-"

"You can go now, Ev," River leant against the window sill, scowling at his brother who looked a little disheartened at the prospect.