Into Temptation (3/?)

[inmyth]

Title: In to Temptation
Author: inmyth
Pairing: Original male/male slash
Genre: Drama, Angst
Summary: Kevin O’Shea and Connor Ferrera shared a mutual hatred, that is until their parents decided to marry each other. Now forced to live as step-brothers under the same roof, their hatred is starting to reach new heights but after a few secrets unwillingly revealed, they find their relationship taking a most unusual turn.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I, Nada am the sole owner of the characters and plot line. Do not claim anything as your own. No PLAGIARISM.

Chapter One
Chapter Two 
Chapter Three

Connor sneezed into consciousness and as his eyes opened to look into wide, blue ones; his head was pulled back into the pillow with the force of another loud sneeze.

“Bleshshou,” he heard someone say before the child - as it sounded like one - burst into giggles. Only to be joined in by another voice.

Connor rubbed the sleep from his eyes, trying to sit up and see what the fuck was going on, but only to realise that he had two solid weights sitting on each of his legs. He pulled his legs against his chest in alarm, toppling off the two boys.

He gaped at them in astonishment while they both giggled behind their hands, rolling around his bed. Connor noticed that the boys couldn’t have been more than four-years-old and were identical twins. They both sported wide, blue eyes that shone with mirth as they continued to regard him in, what he could only assume, was hilarity while their tousled blonde heads bumped against each other as laughing sobs wracked their small bodies. They were dressed in identical clothes too and a thought occurred to him that the only thing missing from this picture was two pairs of devil horns on their heads.

So, either Connor was having some sort of fucked up dream or there really were two little boys - ahcchooo.

“Bleshshou,” one of them said again.

Definitely not a dream. He scratched at his chest and yawned, peering under the covers to see if he was suitably covered at least. He stared at them, trying to make sense of the situation and why the hell did he have two brats bouncing on his bed at - he glanced at his bedside clock - 10.47 in the morning?

“Who are you?” His voice was hoarse from sleep and he cleared his throat.

“I’m Harley,” one of the boys said before pointing at the other and adding, “and he’s David.”

“Like the -”

“Vroom vroom. Yep.” Blonde number one - Harley - smirked at him.

“Right - ahcchooo. Shit.” He couldn’t possibly be coming down with a cold; he was perfectly fine yesterday after all.

Maybe he had some adverse reaction to bratty little boys and he glanced at them again, trying to discern if they were covered in anything that might be the cause of his sneezes. Just then he heard a small mewling sound and he looked down to see a fat, white fur ball climbing up on to the foot of his bed.

His body immediately spasmed as he went into a fit of sneezes, the little boys jumping on his bed every time he would sneeze, shouting, “Bleshshou.”

Fuck. He was severely allergic to cats. Years of being pushed face down against a scratchy carpet was bound to leave some lasting side effects and as such, anything with fur, anything with fur and alive sent his allergy into sneezing seizures.

“Get that thing away from me,” he rasped, holding off against another onslaught of sneezes.

The boys just giggled, and one of them - he didn’t know which, seeing as they were identical and all - picked the cat up. It struggled and hissed in his grasp but apparently the boy was used to its antics and just held on tighter. The boy hugged the cat against his chest, jumping on the bed, making the springs creak and as Connor watched in horror, fearing the inevitable, it happened.

The boy lost his balance and stumbled towards Connor’s chest, cat still wriggling furiously in his arms, and sure enough, Connor had an arm full of cat, brat and the other brat who decided it looked fun and therefore joined in the struggle.

“Gaahh,” he groaned, biting his lip to hold on to the sneeze waiting to erupt. The cat hissed and dug its claws just above his left nipple. Connor let out a screech of pain and threw the cat on the floor with all his might but the cat just landed softly and gave him a look of pure loathing before sauntering towards the door.

“Stop manhandling my cat, you dick,” came a growl from the doorway.

Connor looked up to see Kevin leaning against the doorframe, cooing at the cat as it snuggled happily against his chest. He was wearing a sleeveless vest that clung to him tightly over low slung jeans that exposed a slice of his sharp hip bones and Connor was chagrined to notice that the cat obviously had no plans of scratching him. Kevin’s eyes roamed over his form as he stroked his cat, looking the perfect picture of villainy. “Not going commando under there, I hope.” He raised his eyebrows.

Connor glared at him and suddenly feeling self-conscious pulled up the sheets so it covered his chest. He was about to tell him to fuck the hell off when the twins made their presence know once again by resuming their previous activity of jumping on his bed.

“His name is Bazzuneh,” one of the twins wheezed out, panting from the exertion of jumping up and down.

“But we call him Bazz. He’s Uncle Kevin’s,” the other chimed in.

Uncle Kevin? Connor didn’t know Kevin had any nephews, but he must’ve, after all, the evidence was jumping on his bed as he spoke.

Just then a woman walked into the room, her blonde hair was a shade darker than Kevin’s but the resemblance was unmistakeable. She seemed like the older, female version of Kevin, right down to the smile lines around her mouth. She had a pair of those blue eyes that never stopped twinkling… like, like Dumbledore or, or Gandalf! She was wearing a sleeveless, knee length summer dress with large flowers printed all over it.

She hurried towards the bed and swiped the two boys off the bed, tucking one under each arm. They giggled; swinging their legs while she held them in her grasp and as Connor watched, she looked down at him and smiled.

“I’m so sorry about them. I tried to stop them but they’re an absolute menace. They’ve always been fast.” She shook her head ruefully. “They were born a month before their due date. A month!” She laughed. “Couldn’t wait to get out, cheeky monkeys that they are. Oh, I’m so sorry,” she suddenly apologised. “Look at me! Babbling away like an idiot and you’re not even dressed. Well, I’ll just take these two and be off. Hurry up and come downstairs before all the waffles are gone.” She winked.

And in a whirl, everyone was out of the room. Connor sat there for a moment, dumbfounded, trying to process what exactly had just happened. In all the… confusion, they’d skipped over the introductions.

Connor sighed and swung his legs off the bed and stretched, wincing as the skin where that damn cat had scratched stung when he moved. He touched it gingerly and saw that the wound was oozing drops of blood. Stupid cat, and what was worse, it was Kevin’s cat. The stupid bastard probably put his cat up to it, and then had the nerve to chastise Connor after probably being witness to the whole scene.

With hateful thoughts in his head, Connor quickly practised his morning ritual before slipping on a plain white t-shirt and jumping into some old jeans. Deciding that he looked respectable enough for any more guests or surprises that might be sitting downstairs, he walked out of his room and down the stairs.

Everyone was assembled in the large kitchen, the sun streaming through the window above the sink, and the twins running around the table, chasing the cat.

“Good Morning, Connor,” Eric greeted him.

“Didn’t you have work today?” his mother asked.

Connor shook his head and glanced at the clock that hung above the door. “Not for a couple of hours yet.”

“That’s mighty good of your boss. Letting you sleep in on the weekends,” said Eric while passing Connor the plate of waffles.

Connor nodded, forking two waffles on his plate and squirting chocolate syrup on them. He’d gone to bed without dinner last night, so exhausted he had been after the first day’s activities. As he chewed on his waffles, the woman, whom Connor suspected to be Kevin’s sister, cleared her throat in a conspicuous manner.

All eyes turned to her and she grinned at Connor, whisking her hand out towards him and in doing so, she knocked over the carton of orange juice.

“Oh God, Linda, I’m so sorry!” Her eyes widened and she frantically righted the carton and dabbed at the juice with a towel.

“It’s no problem, Jessica,” Linda reassured her, taking the towel from her hands. “It’s fine, honestly.”

She looked extremely sheepish as she settled back into her seat, and one glance towards Kevin confirmed that this wasn’t out of the norm seeing as the boy was rolling his eyes in familiar exasperation. Connor turned to smile at her and they both silently came to the conclusion that perhaps, shaking hands right now wouldn’t be the most practical of things considering there was a whole table filled with stuff between them.

Jessica cleared her throat again. Pink staining her cheeks, or was that make-up? Connor hadn’t really examined her properly, not that he had the habit to do that with everyone he came across, but there was something about her face that seemed to draw him in. Her lips were slightly glossed, giving her an almost girlish charm and there was a faint dusting of pink covering her cheekbones. She was quite beautiful, and Connor didn’t usually use that phrase to describe anyone but in one, long glance, he was able to discern that there was something almost… radiant about Jessica. The corners of her eyes were starting to get crow’s feet and as she smiled, her face shone, but there was something in her gaze still. Something not quite there.

It was then that he was snapped out of his thoughts, and found that everyone was looking at him expectantly. He felt his face grow hot under their scrutiny and ducked his head, taking another bite of his now cold waffle.

“So, as I was saying before that little disaster occurred.” Jessica grinned. “I’m Kevin’s older sister. I got all the looks and the goods, obviously. I didn’t get the chance to meet you at the wedding. It was a bit of a slap dash job for me, I had to leave the twins with their grandma and well, you saw how they are.” She glanced at Linda and winked. “Clearly everyone failed to mention how hot you are.”

Connor gaped at her. Did she just call him - was she trying to - what?

“Oh don’t look so shocked, kiddo. I was joking! I’ve had quite enough of little boys to last me a life time, I’ll have you know.” She laughed. “But you are quite hot. I bet the girls are all over you.” Jessica went on to elbow Kevin in his side, eliciting an annoyed grunt from him. “You’ve got some competition there, princess!”

“Don’t call me that,” he muttered and then looked up at Connor, before turning back to his sister. “And the only reason chicks would flock up to pretty-boy here is to probably exchange make-up tips.”

Connor glared at Kevin who just shrugged and continued digging into his cereal. An awkward silence settled on the table and Connor glanced at his mother who was staring ahead of her, tight-lipped. Eric seemed to be frowning, unsure as to whether to reprimand his son for such an insult or perhaps, seeing as it might just be true, ignore the comment and carry on.

Jessica decided to break the spell with her chuckle. “My best friend from college would devour you!” she squealed in delight, her eyes lighting up. “Of course, it would be illegal for him to lay a hand on you, or I would have definitely hooked you two up. Eddie’s an absolute darling!”

“He hasn’t died of aids yet?” muttered Kevin.

Jessica smacked him upside his head, making his blonde bangs fall in front of his eyes. “Your hair’s getting too long. Maybe, I should get Eddie to share some grooming tips with you.” She smirked.

“Keep your fag-hag tendencies to yourself, woman,” Kevin told his sister in an annoyed tone. He pushed away from the table and stood up. “I’m out.”

“Where are you going, Kevin?” Linda asked, concerned that all this talk about homosexuals might have offended his sensibilities.

What the hell? Connor thought. She was concerned for him? He restrained himself from commenting and glared at the remaining waffle. When he looked up, Jessica was regarding him silently and offered him a small smile. Connor missed what Kevin said next before walking off, the twins trailing after him, but he didn’t need to have heard it as his mother went on a tirade about him anyway.

“He’s such a good boy, Eric,” she said in dulcet tones. “And to have to grow up without a mother, too.” She glanced at Connor. “I wish you’d learn a bit from him, Connor. Why don’t you do voluntary work like him? It will keep you away from those people you call friends.”

Connor’s mother believed that Zafir hailed from some anti-Christ cult due to his eccentricities and religion and that Daisy wasn’t the, “sort of girl that comes from a respectable home.” And Andy, well, the less said about that subject the better, not that it stopped her any. She had quite a bit to say about Connor’s choice of friends, and he wondered what she would think if only she knew about the low-life-junkies perfect Kevin O’Shea chose to associate with.

“Voluntary work?” he asked testily.

Eric chose to answer the question, obviously noticing that the conversation was turning towards a different kind of disaster. “He volunteers at the hospice where his mother passed away, Connor.” He smiled sadly. “The place, St. Mary’s Hospice, it - it holds a special meaning for him. He spent quite a bit of time there with her during those last months and has volunteered there ever since.”

Connor was speechless. He would never have pegged Kevin to be the sensitive kind, well, not so much so that he would start volunteering at the hospice where his mother died. Kevin O’Shea doing something to benefit another human being? Pfft. But then again, Connor couldn’t exactly claim to really know the other boy, apart from their frequent, yet fiery, encounters. He never really wanted to know him or anything about him, but he had to admit that Kevin had gone through a rough time, from what Eric and his mother had told him anyway.

Kevin’s mother passed away from Leukaemia when he was fourteen and ever since then, it has changed him, apparently. How? Connor had no idea; he couldn’t really remember him being any other way than he’s always been. Bigoted and spiteful.

“He’s a - troubled boy,” Jessica said and then smiled apologetically at Kevin. “He didn’t used to be like this, I assure you. He was this geeky little thing that I had to protect.”

Eric laughed. “Oh yes. I can’t remember the amount of times Jessica had marched up to some poor kid a decade younger than her, threatening to beat them to a pulp.” He looked towards Connor. “It’s hard to believe now, but actually, Jessica here was our trouble child.”

“Children do grow up, darling.” Linda smiled, placating.

“Be glad you didn’t have the same problem as Amanda and I. She was ready to give Jessica up for adoption by the time she hit the terrible twos.” He chuckled.

“No, but, we had our own problems,” his mother replied.

Another awkward silence fell upon the table; it was especially embellished by the lack of screams and giggles that the children had emitted throughout the morning. Just then, Kevin walked in, buttoning up a white, half sleeved, starched shirt. On the breast pocket of his shirt was some version of the medicine logo: a cross with two serpents wound around it, and underneath it was sown the name, St. Mary’s Hospice.

“My, don’t you look handsome,” cooed Linda.

The twins appeared from between his legs, each waving around a lollipop as if it was some grand prize they had won.

“Mummy, look! Uncle Kevin gave us pollypops!” one of the boys exclaimed in pleasure and Connor had to admit, they were kind of adorable.

Jessica rolled her eyes and glanced sneakily at Kevin. “Well he can pay for your dental bills too, then.”

“Yeah right.” He snorted and then looked at Connor. “You gotta drive me.”

Before he could protest, his mother had already walked around the kitchen and picked up his car keys that hung beside the door that led to the garage.

“Of course he will, Kevin,” she said before turning to Connor and placing the keys in front of him. “Finish up your breakfast first, Connor.”

His appetite was completely gone and he just shook his head before grabbing his keys. “I’m done. I’ll just go change into my work clothes.” He stood up and made his way to his room.

His work clothes only complied of a dark blue jump suit with ‘Duke Motors’ written in bold, white letters on the back, and black Vans on his feet. He quickly shucked his pants and pulled on the jump suit, and soon his t-shirt followed his pants before he zipped up the jump suit.

He dropped down to look under his bed for his Vans when he saw movement at the corner of his eyes and found Jessica standing there, leaning against the doorframe in a perfect imitation of Kevin’s earlier position.

“Quite a show, that was.” She winked.

Connor coloured in embarrassment, a bit annoyed that she had watched him undress, and even more annoyed at himself for not locking the bloody door. Again. Last night he’d been too knackered to care about the door, but this time there was no excuse. Did he want to become an exhibition to all and sundry?

“Don’t worry. I was just kidding! I just got here.” She laughed. “Princess downstairs is calling for you to hurry up and so, to save you from his wrath, I decided to come up and check on you.”

“Sorry, I’ll be down in a moment,” he muttered, finally spotting his shoes and quickly pulling them on. “Ok, I’m ready.”

They both made their way down the stairs in silence; Connor trailing down behind her, and true to her word, Kevin was standing impatiently in the kitchen doorway.

“Today, please?” he growled before turning away and stomping through the kitchen, towards the garage.

“Drive safely,” Jessica called to him as he too, followed Kevin out of the kitchen.

Kevin cast a mournful glance towards his own parked Sedan before sighing and getting into the passenger seat of the Hummer. Connor started the engine before buckling his seat belt and reversed out of the garage. Eric and his mother’s cars were parked in the other drive way so for once; he didn’t have to wait for someone to pull out form behind him before he could drive away.

“Where is it?” Connor asked, adjusting his rear-view mirror as he drove down the street.

“Just out of town a bit.” At Connor’s alarmed look, he just shrugged and added, “Doesn’t take longer than forty minutes.”

Great. Forty minutes of stony silence. Well, isn’t he going to be a happy puppy at work today, thought Connor spitefully, cursing his mother for readily volunteering him to drive Kevin out of the fucking town. Now if only he could dump him there and never have to see him again. He wished.

Kevin reached towards the stereo system in the car and turned on the cd-player. He fumbled with the knobs and dials but no music came on.

“The ipod’s in the glove compartment,” Connor suggested.

Kevin took out the ipod and there was a cable already attached to it, he leaned forward and plugged in the other end to the little switch underneath the stereo system. He searched through the ipod until he settled on a song by The Strokes and put the volume up.

The intro to 'You Only Live Once’ started through the speakers and Connor eased a bit, at least they won’t be fighting over what music to play. After all, it was his ipod and so, only held music that he liked.

“You don’t seem like a fan of indie rock,” Connor spoke after ten minutes of driving.

Kevin shrugged. “You don’t look like a faggot but hey, you are.”

Connor’s jaw clenched and his fingers stiffened around the steering wheel. He didn’t want to start a fight, not when he was driving, at least. But his anger got the better of him.

“Can’t you be fucking civil for once?”

“Can’t you just shut the fuck up and drive?”

“You should be grateful I’m driving you in the first place.”

“I’d be ever so much more grateful if you’d stop talking to me,” Kevin replied in a sweet tone, which came across as anything but.

Fine, if he wanted to be an asshole, Connor wouldn’t step in his way. The rest of the journey was spent in, what Connor had predicted earlier on, stony silence. Well not exactly, because after their brief exchange, Kevin had turned the music to ear shattering levels and even if Connor did get some inexplicable urge to converse with Kevin, the other boy wouldn’t be able to hear him anyways. Fine by me, thought Connor viciously.

He dropped Kevin off at the hospice and the guy got off without hinting whether he would need a ride back. Connor was in no hurry to remind him, either way. The moment the door closed, he was speeding down the road, back towards the town centre where his own work place was located.

The detour out of town had made him late and so when he arrived at the garage where he worked, he quickly parked the car in the plot reserved for employees and made a run inside.

“You’re late!”

Connor groaned as he turned around and came face to face with his boss, Duke. That obviously wasn’t his real name and despite Duke’s fervent claims that he really was the Duke of some place back in the North of England, no one was in too much of a hurry to believe him. Especially not with that fake English accent he put on when he’d had a beer too many.

Duke of North England or not, he was a swell guy and a reasonable boss. He was a short, round man, the zip of his jump suit straining against his beer belly and his grey hair was sparse on his shiny head.

“Sorry. Had to give someone a ride out of town,” Connor told him. “Won’t happen again.” He grinned.

Duke just hmph’d and moved away towards his office and motioned for Connor to follow him. They both stepped into the tiny office and Connor sat down on the chair facing the large wooden, and badly worn, table without asking for permission.

“Your gal workin’ fine?” he asked, referring to Connor’s Hummer.

“Smoothly. Needs a new paint job, though. Badly.”

Duke nodded. “Alright then. I’ll see what I can do ‘bout it. Your big day soon, ain’t it?”

Connor would have given anything not to be reminded of that, but it wasn’t Duke’s fault, of course. The man didn’t know about - anything, and Connor preferred it that way. “Yeah,” he said. “You gonna let me have the day off?” He knew he was pushing his luck and well, he wasn’t really bothered about having the day off seeing as his birthday fell on a Sunday and he worked both days of the weekend.

“You think I runnin’ a circus here, boy?” Duke growled. “Go find Romeo. He was bitchin’ about you bein’ late an’ all.”

“Yes, sir!” He saluted before walking out of the office.

He jogged around the car park where the used cars were put out for sale and into the work station. He went inside the large garage where two cars were completely pulled apart, their cages taken off and work being done on their engines.

Off to the left of the large room was a parked Range Rover with a solitary guy lying under it on a wheeled platform. The guy, dressed in identical attire, pushed out from underneath the car and pulled off the safety face shield, wiping the sweat from his brow. He looked up at Connor and his dark face broke into a blinding smile.

“Yo, gayboi!” he exclaimed as he got up and wiped his hands against the pants of his jump suit.

Connor was amused to notice that his hair was, once again, braided tightly against his skull in another crazy design. The guy strode up to him lazily and clasped his hand, pulling him into a one-armed hug.

“Where you been, bitch?” he asked, appraising him with dark eyes.

“Around, man.” Connor grinned. He nodded towards the Range Rover and asked, “What’s the deal with that? Duke said you were bitching about me. I’m hurt, man.”

“Yeah well you shouldn’t be slacking off then, innit.” Romeo dropped down and pulled out a metallic cylinder type thing from underneath the car and waved it around. “Spark plug busted.”

“So?”

“Needs to be up and running by tomorrow morning.”

Connor raised an eyebrow in scepticism. “You’re kidding me. Didn’t Duke go on a rant about the three days rule?”

If there was internal damage, the garage retained the car for at least three days, even if the job would have taken a day or less initially. Just to be sure. Duke didn’t believe in doing things half-arsed.

“Ask me, I’d say there’s some fishy business about it. But the chick offered to pay three times the service price, even Duke ain’t a saint, gayboi!” He grinned.

Connor sighed. “Fuck.” He moved towards the tables pushed against the wall where all the tools were spread out. He grabbed a face shield and Romeo threw him the spark plug. “Let’s get to it then.”

Chapter Four