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Chris scrolls away on his phone absentmindedly, mostly running on autopilot as he sits in the living room bored out of his mind. His day had been incredibly mundane as Nick and Matt went out together earlier without him. They didn’t even tell Chris what they planned, and it wouldn’t usually bother him on any other day. Except, they had been gone for hours and the lonesome triplet was quickly becoming restless the longer he was separated from his brothers.
He couldn’t take it anymore and was just getting ready to text them, but then at the perfect moment Nick and Matt, in a fit of laughter, waltz right into their house.
"Finally, Chris groans, "What the hell were you guys doing?"
Matt just looks at Nick with a mischievous grin, and it only makes Chris feel more alienated.
"We were just gonna get food at first, okay?" He inhales, trying not to burst out laughing again, "Then I got an idea." Chris wonders how Nick hasn't started babbling yet, until he opens his mouth and reveals a shiny metal piercing attached to his tongue.
Chris is understandably shocked; this was something very out of character for Nick to do. It wasn't the type of decision he would ever make on a whim, though he didn't show any regret in his expressions. It was honestly quite captivating.
"He's not gonna be able to speak while it heals, I mean—he could but he sounds stupid." That earns him a light slap to the arm, which he winces at very dramatically. Unless...?
“Did you get something too?” Chris asks.
“Oh yeah, a new tattoo. Nick picked it out for me.” He shows off his forearm and there is a small N sitting right in the middle. Of course.
“Let me see that thing again.” Chris walks over to Nick who coyly sticks his tongue out to show off the sparkling new jewelry. It takes a lot of willpower to not make a joke about it, all they could do was gawk at Nick. Chris had a heap of questions readily plaguing his mind, many of which made his heart start racing. He didn’t realize when his gaze lingered on Nick’s mouth for a bit too long, or how Matt left the room to put the food away. It was just him and Nick, and that enticing new tongue piercing.
Nick doesn’t say anything, doesn’t want to with how numb his tongue still feels, and tries to nudge Chris on the arm to snap him out of it.
“Sorry, that’s just—that’s so sick.” He says frazzled, and he zooms out of the room to avoid any further embarrassment.
Two weeks passed, and Nick had been talking again, which no one in the house was excited about. In all seriousness though, Chris felt like he was losing his mind day by day hyperfocusing on Nick’s piercing. He didn’t even see it much, only making an appearance when the older laughed or gasped—anything along those lines. Yet still, Chris found himself staring at his brother more often than normal, like he was a zoo animal. It didn’t bother Nick really; he kind of loved the piled on attention on him.
The problem started when one day, Chris and Nick are sitting at the kitchen island enjoying some leftover lollipops they reviewed from one of their previous challenge videos. The room was mostly silent, with an exception to some licking sounds here and there, and Chris knew he was so close to breaking.
He couldn’t stop stealing quick glances at Nick, observing how the piercing slightly flicked up and down whenever it was tapped by the candy. This was so weird, he shouldn’t be looking at his brother like that. He was just sitting there on his phone, somehow oblivious to Chris’ incessant staring.
“What, do you wanna take a picture or something?” Nick suddenly speaks up, not even turning to look at Chris, and it makes the younger jolt up in his chair.
“You don’t think I can’t tell when you’re looking at me like a freak?” Chris stays quiet, too stunned to think of an excuse on the spot. Nick puts his phone down and scoots closer to Chris while holding eye contact.
“You wanna look at it?” Chris nods shyly, feeling like a kid who just got caught cheating on his test. Either way, Nick opens his mouth and allows Chris a peak, reveling in the way Chris’ lips slightly part in awe. He subconsciously leans in to get a better look, making Nick smile nervously.
Nick’s tongue is tinted blue from his lollipop, Chris notices. He lets his mind wander again, and right now he doesn’t think he can make it stop, his mouth is faster than his head at this point, “I wanna feel it.”
Nick’s jaw drops then, and he already feels his cheeks heat up especially considering how Chris sat a mere few inches away from him. It’s kind of ironic, he’s caught staring at him now.
“Don’t make it weird!” Chris spouts, like he wasn’t just thinking about the craziest thing he could do to his brother right now. Denial works wonders sometimes.
“How is that not weird?”
“It just looks fun to play with.” Nick has to scoff at that, there was no way Chris was suggesting what he thinks he’s suggesting, right?
“I’m straight so it doesn’t count.” Chris says, trying to convince himself too.
“That’s still weird!” Nick feels a little bad for raising his voice, but Chris was clearly not in his right mind.
“Can I just… feel it once and then we don’t have to mention it ever again.”
Nick is baffled, not just at the suggestion but in how desperate Chris sounded. He really didn’t want curiosity to get the better of him, but nothing felt more dire than this for some reason. Nick wanted to consider it, and now his mind was filled with even wilder thoughts. To even consider his proposal was outrageous, though… The idea sounded enticing. Nick had been bold enough to get his tongue pierced in the first place, why not add a sprinkle of incest to the plate?
Oh god what was he thinking?
He makes eye contact once again, which he avoided for the latter half of conversation, and Chris is glaring back at him with big, pleading eyes. It makes Nick’s heart swell, and it infuriates him how easily won over he is without Chris having to say another word.
“Fine… Just be quick, okay?” Nick huffs. He can see the moment Chris’ eyes light up, and it just deepens the red blush on Nick’s face. It’s unbelievable how excited Chris is as he moves even closer to Nick with both hands firmly pressed to his sides. He looks silly like this, squirming in his seat like a kid. It calms Nick down enough to forget about what they were about to do for a second.
They slowly open their mouths, Nick’s wider to make sure Chris has enough room. He swallows as Chris sticks his tongue out and goes straight for his brother’s piercing with the tip. Their lips barely graze, and Nick tries his best to stay still—usually a problem for Chris—and awkwardly widens the gap. He feels Chris’ tongue lap around the ball, immediately tasting a bit of the cherry flavored lollipop Chris had left abandoned on the table.
Nick swallows, afraid to move a single muscle. He feels like the room is getting hotter the more Chris swirls his tongue around the metal, even teasingly pulling at the stud a bit. Nick tries, he really does, to not let this get to his head. He wants to think it’s disgusting, wants to listen to his head, find any logic he had left in there. But his body was telling him a completely different thing and he couldn’t ignore it.
Chris almost seems to forget what he’s doing, and tilts his head to push his tongue in deeper. It startles Nick, though he’s quick to adjust his head as well, kindly moving his tongue up onto Chris’ to get some more friction going with the metal ball. Their lips are fully connected with the change of positioning, and their tongues start to swirl around each other, not even paying attention to the piercing that originally brought them here. Nick grips onto Chris’ shoulder, and he realizes about thirty seconds in that they were just making out now.
“Oh my god—” He pulls away and stands up in shock. Chris just blinks, breathless and confused as to why the moment had to end so soon.
“Woah, why’d you stop?” The brunette asks sincerely.
“You—We—w-we just made out?” Nick sounds horrified, but his disappointment is abundantly directed at himself. He can’t look Chris in the eyes anymore, or even at his general direction. He stares down at the floor in utter shame. He feels like he could cry.
“That felt really good, actually.” Chris mumbles, and Nick wants to punch the casualness out of his voice. Or better yet…
“No! I mean, yeah, I-I mean no—” His hands slam onto the table, “—I mean, it did feel good. Fuck. Why did that feel so good?” He turns to Chris, who doesn’t appear to be panicking in the slightest, instead he’s disturbingly zen. It starts to piss Nick off.
“What?” He snaps, and Chris just smiles wider like a maniac.
“You wanna do that again, don’t you?” It’s smug but simultaneously so alluring. Nick can’t yell at him, not when he’s feeling the exact same thing. They both know the gravity of the situation, yet Chris is acting like he’s already dealt with the confusing emotions that arose.
“Oh wow, how long have you wanted to do that?” Nick asks as his breathing regulates.
“Since you got that damn thing.” Now, Nick isn’t one to judge, but really? Chris really wanted to kiss him for that long? His supposedly straight brother?
Though, as Nick thinks on it a bit more, he soon comes to realize how obvious it was. Chris was always attached to his brothers, not even in a weird way, at least to them. If he had a crush on any one of them it really would have been so easy to point out by anyone else. But Nick wanted to think it was just how Chris was, he was just overly affectionate because he loves his family. That’s all it ever would have been, if Nick wasn’t in even deeper denial.
It’s not like he was actively thinking about it, but he couldn’t get past how warm and tingly he felt whenever Chris held his hands. How he kissed him before so many times—on the cheek—when the cameras were off, or how he would practically look at Nick with hearts in his eyes. He really should have known sooner, but it was easier to pretend it didn’t mean anything more. He had to pretend it didn’t mean anything.
“Do you think Matt knows?” Chris rolls his eyes and laughs, “Oh definitely. He literally asked me a few days before you got it pierced if I was into that stuff—”
“Oh he’s crazy.” Nick butts in. It’s not that surprising for Matt to conceive such a plan, honestly.
“I know, right? But whatever, I’m so glad he made you do that.” They sit in silence for a moment, Nick needing to collect his thoughts as he feels his stomach sink.
“What do we do about this?”
“About what?”
“Us. This thing. I don’t know. We… like each other? Like a couple.” Nick stutters trying to find the best way to say it. Though, they’re both quick to notice there was no good way of saying it, “Do you want us to be a couple?”
It sounds insane coming from Nick’s mouth. He struggles to meet Chris’ gaze again, everything dawning on him so fast.
“Only if you’re okay with it.” Nick’s chest hurts just thinking about it.
“Fuck, coming out the normal way was easier than this.” He laughs, though it comes off shaky and like he was on the brink of tears. Chris rests his hand on Nick’s thigh, making Nick’s head instantly shoot up to look at him. His eyes were watery, but he fought hard to keep them in.
“We don’t have to tell anyone—” Chris reassuringly rubs his hand up Nick’s arm, “—what the people don’t know won’t hurt ‘em.” Nick can sense that he’s just trying to calm his nerves, but he’s still hesitant and scared.
“B-but, it’s okay. We have time to figure it out.” Chris pulls his hand away, picking up on the fact that Nick probably wasn’t as eager as him to jump into a new, weird incestuous relationship.
Nick isn’t sure how to feel, well, he’s very sure that he feels romantic love for Chris now too. His heart breaks a little when the younger creates more space between them, looking more guilty than ever.
“But, I really do wanna kiss you again.” He blurts out while reaching for Chris’ hands. It’s about time he starts being honest with himself.
“Are you sure?” Nick gives him that same loving look Chris is always generous enough to give him and tugs at his shirt to connect their mouths again, although more gentle and tender. The softness of it contrasts the first, awkward kiss that was mostly just them using their tongues. He feels somehow more flustered at this, with Chris’ plush lips pressing into his repeatedly. He never kissed anyone before, and he made his mind right then and there that Chris was his perfect first.