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Michele winced as he took off his shirt. It was hard to be mad about it, but these scratches on his chest and back… how the hell was he going to explain them to Emil? His boyfriend had the patience of a saint, and Michele already felt horrible about what he’d done. Not horrible enough to come clean. Emil was a forgiving sort of man, but this one, this might be a bit too far.
What could he say about the scratches, though? It was going to be hard to pass them off as anything but what they were, a woman’s fingernails dragging along his skin. This kind of thing didn’t happen on the ice, and Emil would never believe he’d run into a tree or gotten into a scratch fight. He kept thinking, trying hard to come up with some excuse. Anything to explain these scratches without actually having to explain the scratches for real.
The door opening told Michele he was out of time, unless he put his shirt back on. That was no good – the shirt was bloody, and Emil would never believe he was sitting around in blood-stained clothing for no reason. Shit. He turned for the door and waited.
Emil stared at him, a low whistle escaping. “Wow. You, uh… what the hell happened to you?”
“I can explain,” Michele stammered out.
Emil burst into laughter. “If that’s how you’re starting out, then no, you really can’t explain, can you. No good explanation ever follows those words. So how about this: we start with the premise that you cheated on me and you explain yourself from there, okay? That way you don’t have to say the hard part, you can just get on with trying to convince me I shouldn’t kick you out.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… this was….” Michele stopped, closing his eyes to force himself to calm down. Emil deserved the truth, and if he was going to kick Michele out, he might as well do it for the full reason he should. “This wasn’t something I planned. I had no intention of cheating on you when I left practice this afternoon to meet up with Sara for some Christmas shopping.” Emil raised an eyebrow at the mention of Sara, but he didn’t interrupt. “Sara called while I was taking a break during practice and said she’d just gotten into town, and asked if I wanted to meet up with her. Well, you know me.”
“Sara asks you to do something, you do it,” Emil agreed. “And you didn’t call me because you knew my practice was going to run longer, and you wanted some Crispino time anyway?”
“Exactly. This was a good chance to hang out with Sara while you were busy anyway, and Sara’s going to be here for a few days, if you want to hang out with her too there will be plenty of time for that.” If Emil wanted to, after Michele finished his story.
A soft smile crossed Emil’s face. “You know, there was a time, not very long ago, that you would have hidden Sara being in town to keep me from spending any time with her. I’m glad you’ve figured out that I see her as a sister, not as a potential sex partner.”
Michele flinched at that. This conversation was about to take a turn for the very, very awkward. “So we did our shopping, got presents for everyone back home, and then stopped off for some hot chocolate. The barista commented on what a cute couple we were, and didn’t believe that Sara is my sister, even when we pointed out the eyes.” It had been one of the most surreal moments of Michele’s life, when the barista claimed that the matching eyes didn’t prove anything, and hey, who was she to judge even if they were telling the truth? “Then I took Sara home, she offered to take the presents I had bought with her when she went back to Italy to save me the shipping, and…”
“And?” Emil said, eyebrows climbing ridiculously high. “Where… wait. Are you… no, you…” Emil stopped and shook himself. “Go on.”
“And Sara invited me to come inside so she could give me my Christmas gift early, since she didn’t think I’d want to unwrap it in front of our family.” For years, Sara had given Michele porn magazines and videos, claiming that maybe if he got some he’d leave her alone. Last year, after the Rostelecom Cup where she’d instituted the new rules in their relationship, she’d gone with spending the day together like it used to be. Only one day, but it was a good one, and as it turned out with having put some space between them, they were both so much happier than they had been before. Since then, Sara had found any excuse she could to find a day or two to spend with Michele, and they were the best days of the year. Emil was sometimes welcome, but not always, as was Sara’s girlfriend Mila. With that no longer being an option, Michele had assumed Sara was returning to the porn, now that she knew to give him gay porn instead of the straight stuff.
It seemed that Emil had figured out that no, Sara had not given him porn for Christmas. “You and Sara. You cheated on me… with your sister. You had sex with your twin sister Sara.”
Michele let the silence answer for him. What was there for him to say? He certainly hadn’t expected it, even after Sara’s declaration that any time he wanted her to stop, all he had to do was say so, or say no, or anything else that would indicate he wasn’t on board with things. Then she shoved him into a wall and kissed him, and his upstairs brain had completely shut down. His downstairs brain, well, Sara knew perfectly well exactly how to keep that one on board, it would seem.
Emil just shook his head, staring at the scratches on Michele’s chest. “I’ve heard some things from Mila about how much of a freak and a wildcat Sara is in bed, so I think I’m going to have to believe you. Damn. Does Mila know about this?”
“I honestly have no idea. When we were finished, Sara told me Merry Christmas and that I should get home to you, and that’s when my brain turned back on.” Michele took a step toward Emil. “I’m so sorry, Emil. If you need some time, or you’re disgusted with me and want me gone, or…”
“Oh, shut up.” Emil grabbed his wrist and pulled him in for a kiss. “I’m not thrilled with how it happened or that Sara didn’t talk to me first so that I had some warning, but you’ve wanted Sara for a very long time. You’d never ask me for a hall pass because how in the hell do you ask ‘hey are you cool with me banging my sister?’, but you’ve never had to.”
“What…”
“You remember how it wasn’t until about a week after we first slept together that you realized that hey you love me, you think I’m hot, and you might want to be in a relationship with me? You are the densest human being I have ever known, and it’s just lucky for you that like any good massive object, I am strongly attracted to dense objects.” Emil kissed Michele again. “You and Sara have been so tangled up with each other for so long that you kind of lost track of normal boundaries between siblings long ago, it just took you both not being miserable to realize you wanted it. And, in your case, it actually happening.”
“This… you…” Michele could feel his brain shutting down in rebellion again. “You knew this would happen.”
“I didn’t know so much as suspect, and if I’d had a problem with it, I’d have talked to Sara myself and explained that if she chose to pursue it she would be ruining your happiness. Unless she was planning to leave Mila to be with you full-time, but I don’t think either of you really want that. Too easy to fall back into the misery of the old days if it’s not a special time when you get time to be together as much as you want.” Emil smirked at the look Michele knew must be on his face. “I have no idea if Sara ever plans for it to happen again or if this is going to replace the porn as your traditional Christmas and birthday present, but as long as it’s only for special occasions, I’m fine with things.”
“You have got to be the coolest boyfriend a man could ever have,” Michele breathed in relief. “Will you be my boyfriend forever?”
“Oh hell no. Fuck that. No way I am going to be your boyfriend forever. There’s a time limit on that. I don’t know exactly what it is, but we are not boyfriends forever.”
Michele’s jaw dropped and he stared at Emil in shock. “What… why? You… I don’t understand…”
Emil scooped Michele into a really tight hug. “Baby. You are so dense. At some point, I’m making you my husband. That’s what I meant. I don’t want to be boyfriends forever, because at some point in the next few years, I am so putting a ring on you.”
“I cannot believe you. You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Yeah, well, until you got around to confessing to sleeping with Sara, you gave me one first! You deserved a little vengeance, I think.” One more kiss. “I love you.”