your whispers are voiceless

Brother

Greg glares hotly at Liam. “I don’t like you,” he seethes, quiet and deliberate and spiked with icy venom.

 

Liam flinches, swallows, throat dry as if the heat in Greg’s glare had smoldered into his skin. His palms turn clammy and his guts twist over the contents of his stomach. “Uhh—“

“Okay, I’m ready.” Liam almost sighs in relief, his breath dangerously close from bursting out his lungs, when Niall walks in the room, the tension collapsing, shattering—it would’ve been embarrassing to have Greg know how all this alone time with him is pressing hard into his knees, buckling them; he hates him enough and he doesn’t want to add fuel to the fire. Doesn’t want him to think that he’s too weak, can’t even handle his boyfriend’s brother’s disapproval. “Come on, Liam.”

The said boy wipes the sweat that had collected between his fingers over the thick fabric of his jeans. Nods. “Yeah,” he breathes, the relief in his voice painfully eminent.  

 

Niall grins. “Great. Bye, Greg.”

 

Greg unknots his arms from where they’ve been crossed tightly over his chest, leaning forward some, and wraps them over Niall in a bear hug. The heat in his eyes melts, softens, as if he’s chocolate in his younger brother’s touch. When they pull away his immediate words are, “You better bring him back before eight or I swear I will crush you.” They’re directed toward Liam, heated again. 

“But it’s just seven,” he replies quickly, without much thought, voice strained and a little panicked because, one hour?! Would the movie even finish in 60 minutes? And then he adds quickly, “Sir.”

Greg’s about to say something, but the words on his tongue are cut off by Niall’s voice. “Greg, please, this is our first night out in weeks because school had been extremely busy with the finals and all. I even had to decline Dad’s offer to kick back in Europe, remember, and you know how much I’ve been wanting to spend time with him and Mom. And Liam. I mean, we’ve barely talked in person for more than five minutes. Please, Greg?” Niall looks up at Greg, pleading, and despite Greg’s absolute distaste of him Liam’s still kind of amazed how Greg had lasted through 17 years Niall’s puppy look. “This is the only real freedom I’ve had in weeks, Greg. And we promise we’d be extremely careful and stay out of trouble. Right, Liam?”

 Liam scrambles for his words.

 “Uh, yes, sir. I’ll take care of Niall and I’ll protect him with all that I am. I’m prepared to risk everything for him, sir.” Was it too much? Liam thinks it’s too much and he starts to panic, but it completely dissolves when he realizes how liberating it feels to say those words out loud, especially when Niall flashes him a blush-y smile. He smiles in return.

Niall turns back to his brother. “See?”

Greg’s hard shell wavers, falters. “Okay,” he breathes finally. “Nine.”

“Greg,” Niall complains. “It’s a Friday.”

“What? It’s not like you’re gonna have sex in some cheap motel somewhere.” Greg’s eyes widen, wild. “Are you?”

Niall’s jaws drop, gasping, and Liam blushes so hard he fears his cheeks would melt. “Greg, no! We haven’t—God!” Niall looks completely, utterly horror-struck, the immediate drain of color in his face now replaced with a thick flush of red. “Shit!”

 “You haven’t what?”

 Liam, blushing deeply, decides to step in, to save what’s left of his boyfriend’s dignity. “We haven’t done it, sir. I-I haven’t touched him. I want to, uhm, to wait when he’s ready. And… and I’m perfectly content with what we have, sir.” And Liam wishes the sincerity in his heart would’ve flowed through his words, through every beat of the syllables, because he truly, extremely meant all of it. And plus he doesn’t want to provoke Greg or something.

 “Really?”

 “Yes, sir.”

 “And how true is that?”

 “A hundred percent, sir.”

There’s a pause. Greg must’ve found what he’d been looking for in Liam’s eyes when he frowns, must’ve detected something there. And it’s unbelievable that he actually believes Liam. Not that he’d lied, of course, but considering his disapproval of him, it’s amazing. Greg sighs. “Okay, ten. But that’s final. And no sex.”

“Okay!” Niall cuts sharply, a blush so deep on his cheeks Liam thinks it’s permanently carved into them now. And it's kind of cute. He reaches to hug his brother, a little stiff but true all the same, and bids his goodbye. “Come on, Liam.”

 When they’re halfway through the door, Greg stops them. “You better bring him back in one piece, Payne. Not a scratch on my brother or else.”

Liam nods. “Yes, sir.”