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A call at two in the morning is never a good sign. Eddy sat up in bed and squinted at his phone. It was his brother.
He yawned and held it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Is this Eddy?” The voice on the other end was definitely not Sieger. Another bad sign.
“Yeah,” Eddy answered. “Who’s this?”
“Uh it’s Marc. I’m here with your brother.”
Marc. The boyfriend. Eddy hadn’t actually met him, but knew who he was. Sieger was supposed to be spending the night at Stef’s. Why was he with his boyfriend? Why was this boyfriend calling at this hour? “Okay. Is he alright?”
“Well, it’s just that he’s…” There was murmuring on the other end of the line. “Can you just come pick him up?”
Eddy groaned and started pulling on clothes. “Where are you?”
“Stef’s girlfriend’s house,” Marc replied. “I’ll text you the address.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay so when are you going to tell me why I needed to come over to pick up my brother at two in the morning?” Eddy asked as he followed his brother’s friend (what was his name, Tom, maybe?) inside. “I thought he was sleeping at Stef’s.”
“Well that was the plan; he was supposed to go back with Stef. But Sieger got… a bit carried away,” Tom explained, leading Eddy up the stairs.
By this point, Eddy had worked out what was going on. Sieger had told their dad he would be staying at his friend’s as a cover so he could go to a party. It was such an un-Sieger thing to do that Eddy was almost proud of him. “What, is he drunk or something?”
“Very,” Tom said. “He’s in the bathroom.”
He opened the door to find Sieger on the floor, unconscious. Stef, and a girl Eddy didn’t recognize were coaxing him to drink some water. A boy Eddy assumed was Marc held Sieger’s head in his lap, looking concerned.
Eddy knelt next to his brother. “Jesus, what happened to him?”
“Finished off half a bottle of whiskey by himself,” the girl answered. “I think he was trying to prove a point. I’m Kim, by the way, Stef’s girlfriend. We’ve met before, I think. This is my house.”
“Sorry we had to call you,” Stef apologized. “It’s just that my parents don’t know we snuck out, and he’s sort of, um, conspicuous in his… state.”
Eddy sighed. “Don’t worry about it. He’s my little brother; I can take care of him. Has he been sick?”
“He said he threw up earlier in the night when nobody was paying attention, but apparently he felt better so he kept drinking until he was like this,” Marc supplied. “At least, that’s as much as I could get out of him before he lost the ability to form coherent sentences.”
“I’m just grateful my dad is out of town so I don’t have to explain this when I get home,” Eddy said.
“I’ll help you get him to the car,” Marc volunteered.
Eddy regarded him carefully before ultimately deciding Sieger, who was now taller than him, was too heavy to carry to the car by himself. “Alright. Thanks.”
Eddy pulled Sieger’s arm over his shoulder and Marc grabbed the other.
“What’s happening?” Sieger slurred.
“I’m taking you home,” Eddy answered. “Please help us walk.”
Sieger began moving his legs clumsily, less of a walk and more a suggestion of walking. “We can’t tell Dad.”
Eddy snorted. “Damn I was about to call him. ‘Hello Dad. Sieger snuck out and got wasted. How’s your trip coming along?’”
“No, you can’t,” Sieger whined, his head lolling to the side. “Don’t do that, Ed.”
“He’s only joking, Sieg,” Marc said softly. “Nobody is calling anyone.”
“Oh… good,” Sieger said firmly as he closed his eyes and went totally slack.
“Well he’s out again,” Eddy stated, waving his free hand in front of his brother’s face. “Not like he was helping much anyways.”
Marc opened the door of Eddy’s car. “Do you need me to ride back with you? Make sure you get home safe?”
“You don’t have to,” Eddy responded, lowering his brother onto the back seat. “I think we can manage.”
“Could you just give me a ride home?” Marc replied. It wasn’t a request. He was already sliding into the seat next to Sieger. “It’s near your house.”
“Alright,” Eddy said with a shrug.
As they drove towards home, Eddy studied Marc in the rear view mirror. It was one thing to learn that his little brother preferred boys, and another completely to meet the guy he was dating in the flesh.
“So I’m finally meeting the boy who turned my brother gay,” Eddy mused.
Marc looked indignant. “I didn’t turn-”
“I know,” Eddy interrupted. “I’m just teasing.”
The truth was, Eddy was still struggling to understand Sieger. It had been a few months since Sieger had come out. Their father had immediately gone out and bought all the books and pamphlets, but Eddy was still figuring out how to deal it. At first, he wanted to find this guy his brother was seeing and kill him, because surely Sieg wouldn’t have done something like this on his own. He must have been coerced. And then Eddy had been convinced that this was just an odd phase his brother way going through and essentially refused to acknowledge it. But as the weeks went by, and he saw the way Sieger lit up when Marc texted him, Eddy realized this wasn’t going to pass, and that if he couldn’t accept it, he’d lose his brother. And that wasn’t something he was willing to compromise, not for any amount of discomfort, no matter how many guys at work whispered about it behind Eddy’s back. Eddy didn’t exactly understand it, but he was ready to knock the teeth out of anyone who gave Sieg grief. But still, it wasn’t really something they talked about. They hadn’t talked about much at all since Sieger had come out, actually. And he hadn’t met the boyfriend yet. It seemed far too real. And yet here he was, Sieger slumped drunkenly against his chest as Marc ran a hand gently through his hair.
“How did he get so drunk anyways?” Eddy asked after a while.
Marc rolled his eyes. “He said he wasn’t drinking much and some asshole called him a lightweight and said something like ‘the homos can never hold their liquor’. So of course he decided to prove him completely right by not holding his liquor because Sieger is a lightweight.”
“Doesn’t that stuff bother you though?” Eddy asked. He had no idea who this asshole was and already he wanted to kick him in the ribs.
Marc shrugged. “Not really. I’ve got a thick skin. Sieger’s, um, still working on it, I suppose. Does it bother you?”
“Well, yeah. He’s my little brother and I don’t want… I mean, I just don’t-”
“You don’t want him… dating me?” Marc finished, as though confirming his worst suspicions.
“No!” Eddy said quickly. “Or well, yeah, but not like you think, anyways. I mean, I might not totally understand all of this, but that’s not it. Honestly, I don’t really want him dating anyone. Like, uh, do you have any siblings?”
He nodded. “Younger sister.”
“So you get my point then,” Eddy said. “How would you feel if your little sister came home tomorrow and told you she’d gotten really serious with a guy? And you’ve never met this person, and you didn’t know anything about him?”
Marc met Eddy’s eyes in the mirror. “Well, Neeltje is seven, so I guess I’d be pretty concerned.”
Eddy sighed. “Okay, but you get it, right? Because, I’ve been looking out for Sieger his whole life. And I think I know him, but then, one day, I figure out he’s completely different. And he never told me about it.”
Marc nodded like he understood.
“So what do you guys… do,” Eddy asked. “You know, when you’re together.”
“What do we do?” Marc repeated. “Um, I don’t really know. We just… hang out I guess. We hang out at my house mostly. We, uh, play video games and talk and stuff. Sometimes we go out for food, or we work out, or go swimming, though less now that it’s fall. There’s really not much to tell.”
“So just normal guy stuff, then,” Eddy said, a bit surprised.
Marc smirked. “Well not exactly all the same stuff you’d do with a friend, if you know what I mean.”
Eddy could connect the dots.
Sieger stirred and mumbled something incomprehensible. Marc shushed him and put a hand on his back, which seemed to placate Sieger. It was a small gesture yet oddly intimate; Ed felt almost like he was intruding by watching them interact through the mirror.
“My house is up there on the left,” Marc said.
“Oh,” Eddy said, pulling into the drive. “Well thanks for riding back with us.”
“Yeah I’d let him stay over with me, but my parents don’t really… like him,” Marc said.
“Why not?” Eddy asked, trying to push aside the rage he felt at the thought of Sieger spending the night at a significant other’s house.
“It’s a long story. When we first got together he sort of dumped me to make out with some girl and, you know, broke my heart and stuff. But that was only for like a week though and we totally worked it out after. Except my parents haven’t really forgiven him yet. They think he’s a bad influence.”
The idea of someone not wanting Sieger dating their kid because he was a ‘bad influence’, or furthermore Sieger dumping someone and hurting them, baffled Eddy. His brother was so… nice and quiet. “Huh. I didn’t know that.”
“Well anyways, thanks for the ride,” Marc responded. He kissed Sieger very quickly on the forehead and stepped out of the car. “Tell him to call me in the morning, alright?”
“You can stop by to check on him tomorrow, if you want,” Eddy suggested. “Maybe I can meet you properly.”
Marc smiled. “I’d like that.
As they drove away, Eddy looked back at his brother, sprawled across the back seat. “How are you doing, Sieg?”
Sieger groaned in response. Eddy recognized that look from enough ill-fated nights out with friends and was suddenly very glad their house has only a few minutes away.
They pulled into the drive and Eddy walked around the car to help Sieger inside.
“Don’t feel good,” Sieger slurred.
“Yeah I’ll bet.” Eddy pulled him out of the car just in time for him to vomit on the concrete instead of the floor mats. He rubbed his brother’s back. “There you go. I’ve got you.”
When he finished, Sieger groaned and sank into Eddy’s arms. Eddy lifted Sieg onto his back as he’d done when his brother was much smaller and carried him into the house. He set him down on the bathroom floor and began pulling off his shoes. “I’m going to get you some water, alright?”
Sieger nodded without opening his eyes. Eddy determined he was probably fine to be left alone for a minute and fetched a glass of water from the kitchen, as well as aspirin, a box of crackers, and a few towels. And to think people said he learned nothing getting too drunk with friends as a teenager.
Eddy found Sieger curled up on the floor, one arm thrown over his face. Eddy knelt next to him. “Are you still feeling sick?”
As if in response, Sieger sat up and threw up all over his clothes.
Eddy sprung backwards. “Shit!”
“Where are we?” Sieger asked desperately, struggling to stand up.
Eddy attempted to mop up the floor while simultaneously pulling Sieger back to the ground. “Sit down, asshole. You’ll just fall.”
“I want to go home,” Sieger whimpered.
Eddy sighed. “We’re already at home, Sieg. I’m going to take care of you, okay?”
“Okay,” Sieger agreed miserably.
“I’m going to get you some clean clothes,” Eddy said. “I’ll only be gone a minute. Um, please don’t throw up on the floor again.”
“Sorry,” Sieger apologized. “I didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah I figured,” Eddy said. “Don’t worry about it. What are older brothers for?”
Eddy woke the next morning to find Sieger not in his bed where Eddy had left him. He’d slept at the foot of his brother’s bed to make sure he didn’t choke or have a seizure or something while he was sleeping. Eddy checked the time: seven thirty. He didn’t get Sieger into bed until after four, when he determined Sieg was coherent enough that he was no longer at risk of vomiting whiskey all over his bed. Eddy stretched and walked to the bathroom, where he found Sieger sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.
Eddy leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms. “Well good morning, sunshine.”
“What happened?” Sieger groaned. “How did I even get home?”
“Your boyfriend called after you got blind drunk at a party,” Eddy explained. “So I came to pick you up. And then I watched after you while you threw up and cried all night.”
Sieger glared. “I did not cry.”
“Unfortunately yes.” Eddy had asked him to please sit up and drink some water and Sieger had gotten really emotional about it. “It was exactly like looking after you as a two-year-old.”
“You never did that. You would have been, what, seven?”
“I was very responsible as a child.”
Sieger smirked. “You were never responsible.”
“Touché,” Eddy said. “So how are you feeling, anyways?”
Sieger rested his head on his knee. “Like I’ve been run over by a truck. The light hurts my head, but closing my eyes makes to room spin.”
“Did you throw up this morning?”
“Definitely.”
“Baby’s first hangover,” Eddy cooed. “I feel so blessed I got to experience this with you.”
“Fuck you.” Sieger pressed a hand to his temple. “I’m never drinking again.”
“Yeah as bonding as this was, I don’t think I want a repeat performance any time soon. Next time someone makes an obnoxious remark, just punch him instead of drinking yourself into a coma, yeah?”
Sieger looked confused. “How did you know about that?”
“Marc filled me in.”
“You met Marc?” Sieger asked.
Eddy nodded. “I drove him home.”
“Oh.”
Eddy paused thoughtfully. “He… um, he seems nice, Sieg.”
Sieger looked relieved. “Yeah. He is.”
“Oh, he wanted you to call him,” Eddy mentioned, tossing his brother his cell phone. Sieger winced at the light of the screen. “You know, to confirm you’re alive. He also might be stopping by to check up on you.”
“Stopping by… our house?” Sieger asked, clearly surprised.
“Yeah I said it was alright,” Eddy said with feigned nonchalance. “You should shower before he does, though. You smell like the alley behind a nightclub.”
Sieger rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Eddy.”
“No really he may dump you on sight.”
“If you don’t leave I’ll throw up on you and I won’t even feel bad about it.”
“Fine, fine I’m going.”
“Is he asleep?”
Marc looked away from the TV and down at Sieger, whose head was in his lap. “Yeah.”
“Well that’s probably good,” Eddy said with a shrug. “He was up sick most of the night and, uh, didn’t sleep very much. Probably dehydrated and stuff as well.”
Marc nodded and went back to watching TV while stroking a sleeping Sieger’s arm with his thumb. After a moment of silence, Eddy backed out of the room uncomfortably. He wasn’t going to lie; it was all still super weird for him. This was different from how he’d pictured it. Actually, he hadn’t ever pictured meeting his brother’s boyfriend at all. Eddy really didn’t know how he was supposed to act, but he was learning. He figured that if he pretended it wasn’t weird for long enough, eventually it wouldn’t be. And he liked Marc. Really, he seemed like a nice guy; definitely not the worst person Sieg could have picked. He could have been seeing a criminal, or a con artist, or a drug addict; certainly there were worse people than a nice boy who made sure Sieger got home safely. And Sieger seemed happy. The happiest Eddy had seen him in a long time. And that was all Eddy really wanted.