Chapter from Brent's perspective. What he saw when he returned home from work THAT night ;-)

Brent

Lovers are strange. They don't know how to hide emotions, they have everything written on their faces. Aiden smiles non-stop and glows like a Christmas tree. Sometimes, sitting with a notebook on the windowsill, he seems to fall out of reality. A blissful expression freezes on his face, and he wanders somewhere in his thoughts or memories.

Jack hasn't visited us yet, but I know Aiden sees him almost every night.

On a weekend, I was unexpectedly called to work – some kind of emergency happened, and our aunt went to Florida to visit her friends.

I say goodbye to Aiden, who is sitting at the table and detachedly sipping coffee. Again I can't help but smile at him.

An emergency at work turns out to be a trifle. I complete the task in a couple of hours and go home. Where silence meets me.

I go up to the room, as usual, put my bag on the dresser in the hallway, open the door and take a step. Something is off.

Aiden's bed is on the right of the entrance, I usually walk by without even noticing it, but not today.

It's strange... your brother is in love with another man ... a man is in love with your brother... is it hard to comprehend?...

However, the sight of Aiden sleeping peacefully in his bed, resting his head on Jack's shoulder, does not seem wrong at all.

Well, yes, I again witnessed something that I should have not (it's good that they had finished before I arrived, and my special thanks to the sheet for the fact that the only thing it left visible was Jack's chest and my brother's shoulders). Jack holds Aiden close to him. He sleeps with his nose buried in Aiden's disheveled hairs.

I don't understand much about this, but they look good together. The last thought makes me laugh soundlessly.

I leave the room, closing the door. I can leave now and come back in a couple of hours. I can pretend I don't know anything. But I think then they will continue to hide (not too carefully, really...). So I stay, cook dinner, read a book in the living room and wait. Aiden is the first to come down, trying to smooth his unruly hair as he goes. Noticing me, he is lost.

"You... when did you come back?" He asks. I smile as I look at him over the top of the book. He quickly understands my answer and blushes rapidly.

“I've made dinner,” I say. “Want some pasta?”

I smile again, wanting to let Aiden know it's okay. That he can trust me as always.

Aiden looks away, embarrassed.

"Yes... I think," he replies and goes upstairs.

They come down in five minutes. They shine the same, only Aiden is also blushing. Jack smiles broadly as we exchange greetings and sit down to dinner.

And it's strange to say that, but it's like the good old days. And this is a good start.