Fic: My Valentine
Title: My Valentine
Rating: R
Pairing: Claire/Bryan
Word Count: 2,346
Summary: Claire and Bryan, already too close, grow even closer.
Warnings: Dubious consent, underage (Claire is 15/16 and Bryan is 17/18 here)
Claire is washing her hands when she becomes aware that the two older girls fixing their makeup are talking about Bryan. They seem to realize who she is at the same time.
“Hey, Clara, what kind of cookies does your brother like?”
“My name is Claire,” Claire replies.
Claire doesn’t know the girl’s name, but she decides to think of her as Ms. Push Up Bra because if her shirt was cut any lower, the principal would have sent her home to change. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and Ms. Push Up Bra wants to bake cookies for Bryan. Wants to get in his pants, more like.
Plenty of girls like Bryan. He’s handsome and athletic, and he can be charming when he wants to be. But he doesn’t date much; he doesn’t have the time for it between work and Dad wanting him around in case he needs him. Claire doesn’t date at all - Dad won’t allow it and anyway Bryan scares off any guy who shows interest in her.
Ms. Push Up Bra gives her a fake smile. “Sorry, Claire.”
“Oatmeal,” Claire tells her. Bryan hates oatmeal cookies. He’s a traditional, chocolate chip guy. He loves them freshly baked. He used to buy the frozen cookie dough they sell at the supermarket, until Claire learned how to bake them from scratch.
“Oatmeal,” Ms. Push Up Bra repeats. “Thanks, Claire.”
Claire isn’t sure why she lied. Bryan deserves to have a life, and if he’s busy with girls, then he won’t be around to scare off that boy in her math class who’s always doodling caricatures in his notebook. She knows it’s not normal how close they are, knows that other brothers don’t masturbate while lying beside their sisters and other sisters wouldn’t simply pretend to be asleep.
She spends her lunch period in the library, reading the Constitution. She won’t have Government until senior year, but Bryan has a paper due tomorrow and he hasn’t even started it. It won’t be the first time Claire’s done Bryan’s assignments for him. Bryan’s not stupid, but he just can’t seem to muster interest in schoolwork.
“You got the book smarts and I got the street smarts,” he likes to tell her.
Sophomores don’t get to choose their gym class, so Claire’s got Volleyball next. She hates it. Her forearms feel bruised by the time the gym teacher dismisses the class, leaving them with just enough time to change before the bell rings. She never gives them enough time to shower.
English is Claire’s favorite class. It’s just reading and talking about what they’ve read and writing about the deeper meaning of writers’ words. She’s digging in her backpack for the school-issued copy of Jane Eyre, navigating the crowded, noisy hallway on autopilot, when she feels someone pull her ponytail.
Bryan never just walks past her. Some people pretend not to know their younger siblings at school, but not Bryan. He’s a good brother. Claire reminds herself of things like this when they’re cuddled and she feels him get an erection and she tries to pull away and he holds her trapped tight in his arms.
“Babysitting tonight,” Claire informs him. “Bring home a burger for me?”
The fast food place Bryan works at after school gives him one burger, one serving of fries, and one drink per shift. That’s usually his dinner. But sometimes he steals extras for Claire.
“Sure.” He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Most of the other students are used to them, and the only second looks they get are from girls who are jealous of Claire. Girls have tried to befriend Claire because they had crushes on Bryan and thought getting close to Claire would get them closer to Bryan. They usually dropped the pretense of being her friend when it became clear she wasn’t going to invite them to her house.
Once, though, Claire had overheard a new guy comment to his guide, “I thought that was his sister.”
The guide was a girl who’d given Claire a Christmas card and a candy cane the year before. “She is. They’re really close, I guess because it’s just the two of them.” She’d tried to lower her voice, but Claire had heard the loud whisper. “Their dad is a drunk and their mom ran off years ago.”
Claire goes home to put down her backpack and check on her father before heading across the street for work. “You okay, Pop?”
“I’m thirsty. Get me a beer, sweet pea.”
She gives her father another can of beer and sets a second one within his reach. She heats up a frozen dinner for him too, then it’s five hours of helping the two Clapper siblings with their homework, fixing them dinner, and putting them to bed.
She always feels bad about accepting the twenty dollars Mrs. Clapper pays her for the evening’s work, even though both Bryan and Dad insist she’s being taken advantage of and underpaid. Mrs. Clapper works two jobs, but Claire’s never heard her yelling at the kids for no reason or calling them worthless.
Mrs. Clapper is half an hour late tonight, but she looks so weary that Claire assures her it’s okay so she’ll stop apologizing, even though Dad is not going to be happy she’s late.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demands. He looks suspicious, like she’s been out getting pregnant instead of babysitting across the street.
“Mrs. Clapper was stuck in traffic. There was an accident blocking the road.”
“Did she pay you overtime?”
Claire sighs. “I don’t mind helping her, Pop.”
“I needed help here! Leaving your old crippled father to crawl to the fridge while you help strangers.”
You didn’t need another beer, she thinks, but of course Claire knows better than to say it. She kisses his cheek and bids him good night because he’s already nodding off. She doesn’t bother offering to help him up to his bedroom; he’ll refuse. He’ll insist on sitting in that chair until Bryan comes home.
Claire strips the sheets from everyone’s beds and gets a load of laundry going before she puts fresh sheets on all three beds. She’s craving a milkshake so she texts Bryan - Bring me a milkshake? I <3 you - and hopes he checks his phone before he leaves work.
By the time she’s showered and washed her hair and gotten into her pyjamas, Bryan’s home. She can hear Dad hassling him, but he comes up to bring her the burger and shake before he begins the process of cleaning Dad up and putting him to bed.
“You’re the best big brother!”
“I know.”
She really shouldn’t eat like this if she’s serious about becoming a professional dancer, but she’s pretty sure she burns it off with all the work she does. She re-reads a few old childhood favorites before deciding to call it a night.
Then a floorboard creaks and she feels Bryan’s weight settling on the bed.
“Sorry,” he whispers. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“It’s okay.” She turns to face him. “You’ve got a paper for Government due tomorrow; you finished it?”
“I’ll write it in the morning.”
“No, you won’t. But I wrote it for you.”
“Thanks, Claire.”
Bryan’s arm around her feels heavy, but Claire likes the weight. It’s comforting.
She has a really nice dream that night. She dreams she’s dancing on stage in front of a huge audience and they’re looking at her and really seeing her.
But then it’s morning and before her alarm clock has a chance to go off, she’s awoken by Dad shouting.
“BRYAN! YOU GONNA MAKE ME PISS THE BED? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!”
Bryan groans. He’s not a morning person.
“Pancakes or eggs?” Claire asks him.
“Eggs and bacon.”
Claire makes breakfast while Bryan gets Dad situated in his chair. Dad’s still mourning the Super Bowl outcome, and he makes Bryan put in the tape so he can watch the game yet again, like he’ll spot something he’s missed before.
Bryan’s first class isn’t until third period, but Claire has Music first period so she takes the bus today. It isn’t until school that she remembers what day it is. The older she gets, the more she’s growing to hate Valentine’s Day.
All the girls are showing off cards and flowers and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and tacky teddy bears. No one gives anything to Claire. She tries to be a nice person, and she’s prettier than some of those other girls, but there must be something wrong with her that everyone else can see.
It is not a good day and Claire’s happy to go home at the end of it. She gets Dad to agree to let her bring the Clapper kids over to their house so she can bake while she’s watching them. Dad’s not bad with the kids, telling them dumb jokes and asking them questions about their day at school that he never asked her and Bryan. She thinks that maybe he’ll be a better grandfather than he was a father if she or Bryan ever have kids.
She makes a double batch of cookies so she has enough to give to the kids and still have plenty left for Bryan.
He’s surprised to find the still-warm cookies waiting for him when he comes home. He crams a whole cookie into his mouth before handing a small paper bag to her. “Here. I saw this and it made me think of you.”
It’s a little glass ballerina figurine. Claire loves it. “Thanks.”
The chocolate chips are gooey and Bryan’s gotten chocolate smeared on his lips. Claire wipes it away with her thumb. He nips at her finger playfully, like he’s done plenty of times, but it makes Claire feel weird this time.
She’s still feeling weird hours later when she turns off the bedside lamp and tries to sleep. She thinks about going to sleep in Bryan’s bed and she’s still deciding when Bryan comes to sleep in her bed.
It’s familiar and comfortable at first, but then something about the feel of Bryan’s warm breath in her ear makes Claire uncomfortable. It makes her skin feel flushed and super sensitive, like all of her is straining to feel more.
“Can’t sleep?” he murmurs, clearly wide awake himself.
Claire tries to shift so her ear won’t be against his mouth, but Bryan shifts too and now his arm around her has become his arm across her chest.
“I think I want to sleep alone tonight,” she says. “I’m overheating.”
“Me too,” he says, and his voice sounds different, deeper.
“Bryan.”
“It’s okay, it’s just us,” he whispers. He cups one of her breasts.
Claire likes the feel of it, though she knows it's wrong. It’s wrong of him to do it and it’s wrong of her to enjoy it. He squeezes her breast gently and she wonders if that boy from her math class, if his hand would feel this good on her. Probably not. Bryan has large, strong hands, and even though she shouldn’t, Claire wishes he’d use them both.
She rationalizes that at least the fabric of her t-shirt is between them; it’s not like her brother is touching her bare breasts. Then he slides his hand lower.
He slips his hand beneath the waistband of her pyjama pants, and Claire intends to push him away when she grabs it, but instead she finds herself guiding his fingers, showing him how to touch her there. She appreciates that he doesn’t comment on her being aroused.
It feels so much better than when she touches herself. She’s gasping, forgetting to breathe, as an orgasm begins to build. It’s a surprise when Bryan kisses her. They’ve kissed before, but not like this, not with tongues.
Knowing this is wrong and bad doesn’t stop her from coming. Claire knows this will change things between them and there’s no going back. She wants to talk about it, but Bryan’s taking off his clothes.
Claire thinks he’s going to masturbate or maybe ask her to do it for him. She doesn’t mind the thought of doing it. She’s curious about his body now that she has no choice but to think of him sexually.
However Bryan grabs her hips and begins peeling her pyjamas off.
“Bryan, no!”
“I’ll be gentle,” he says, like that’s what she’s worried about.
“Bry-”
He kisses her, silencing her as his penis begins to push into her. There’s none of the terrible pain Claire has read about, only a slight discomfort as her vagina adjusts to having something inside it for the first time.
“You okay?” Bryan asks.
“Yeah,” Claire answers, even though nothing about this is okay.
She listens as Bryan’s breathing turns into panting and he starts saying her name over and over. Thankfully the bed doesn’t make too much noise, or at least she can’t hear it. Maybe no one’s ever aware of the tell-tale sounds the bed makes when they’re one of the people in the bed.
Bryan’s moving faster and her body is moving with him, learning the rhythm of a new dance. It’s exciting, even though she’s almost sick with worry that Dad will hear and know what they’re doing.
Claire clamps her hand over Bryan’s mouth when it seems like he’s going to say her name way too loud. Then he’s sliding off her and pulling her against his chest.
“I love you,” he says, his arms so tight around her that she couldn’t get away if she tried. He sounds contented, as if he doesn’t understand the magnitude of what they’ve just done.
Claire is almost surprised that an earthquake isn’t swallowing their house or lightning isn’t striking them. She wonders if Dad will be able to tell, if everybody at school will know as soon as they see them. They’re marked now, branded with each other the way a sister and brother shouldn’t be, and she just hopes that it’ll be invisible to everyone else.
Rating: R
Pairing: Claire/Bryan
Word Count: 2,346
Summary: Claire and Bryan, already too close, grow even closer.
Warnings: Dubious consent, underage (Claire is 15/16 and Bryan is 17/18 here)
Claire is washing her hands when she becomes aware that the two older girls fixing their makeup are talking about Bryan. They seem to realize who she is at the same time.
“Hey, Clara, what kind of cookies does your brother like?”
“My name is Claire,” Claire replies.
Claire doesn’t know the girl’s name, but she decides to think of her as Ms. Push Up Bra because if her shirt was cut any lower, the principal would have sent her home to change. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and Ms. Push Up Bra wants to bake cookies for Bryan. Wants to get in his pants, more like.
Plenty of girls like Bryan. He’s handsome and athletic, and he can be charming when he wants to be. But he doesn’t date much; he doesn’t have the time for it between work and Dad wanting him around in case he needs him. Claire doesn’t date at all - Dad won’t allow it and anyway Bryan scares off any guy who shows interest in her.
Ms. Push Up Bra gives her a fake smile. “Sorry, Claire.”
“Oatmeal,” Claire tells her. Bryan hates oatmeal cookies. He’s a traditional, chocolate chip guy. He loves them freshly baked. He used to buy the frozen cookie dough they sell at the supermarket, until Claire learned how to bake them from scratch.
“Oatmeal,” Ms. Push Up Bra repeats. “Thanks, Claire.”
Claire isn’t sure why she lied. Bryan deserves to have a life, and if he’s busy with girls, then he won’t be around to scare off that boy in her math class who’s always doodling caricatures in his notebook. She knows it’s not normal how close they are, knows that other brothers don’t masturbate while lying beside their sisters and other sisters wouldn’t simply pretend to be asleep.
She spends her lunch period in the library, reading the Constitution. She won’t have Government until senior year, but Bryan has a paper due tomorrow and he hasn’t even started it. It won’t be the first time Claire’s done Bryan’s assignments for him. Bryan’s not stupid, but he just can’t seem to muster interest in schoolwork.
“You got the book smarts and I got the street smarts,” he likes to tell her.
Sophomores don’t get to choose their gym class, so Claire’s got Volleyball next. She hates it. Her forearms feel bruised by the time the gym teacher dismisses the class, leaving them with just enough time to change before the bell rings. She never gives them enough time to shower.
English is Claire’s favorite class. It’s just reading and talking about what they’ve read and writing about the deeper meaning of writers’ words. She’s digging in her backpack for the school-issued copy of Jane Eyre, navigating the crowded, noisy hallway on autopilot, when she feels someone pull her ponytail.
Bryan never just walks past her. Some people pretend not to know their younger siblings at school, but not Bryan. He’s a good brother. Claire reminds herself of things like this when they’re cuddled and she feels him get an erection and she tries to pull away and he holds her trapped tight in his arms.
“Babysitting tonight,” Claire informs him. “Bring home a burger for me?”
The fast food place Bryan works at after school gives him one burger, one serving of fries, and one drink per shift. That’s usually his dinner. But sometimes he steals extras for Claire.
“Sure.” He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Most of the other students are used to them, and the only second looks they get are from girls who are jealous of Claire. Girls have tried to befriend Claire because they had crushes on Bryan and thought getting close to Claire would get them closer to Bryan. They usually dropped the pretense of being her friend when it became clear she wasn’t going to invite them to her house.
Once, though, Claire had overheard a new guy comment to his guide, “I thought that was his sister.”
The guide was a girl who’d given Claire a Christmas card and a candy cane the year before. “She is. They’re really close, I guess because it’s just the two of them.” She’d tried to lower her voice, but Claire had heard the loud whisper. “Their dad is a drunk and their mom ran off years ago.”
Claire goes home to put down her backpack and check on her father before heading across the street for work. “You okay, Pop?”
“I’m thirsty. Get me a beer, sweet pea.”
She gives her father another can of beer and sets a second one within his reach. She heats up a frozen dinner for him too, then it’s five hours of helping the two Clapper siblings with their homework, fixing them dinner, and putting them to bed.
She always feels bad about accepting the twenty dollars Mrs. Clapper pays her for the evening’s work, even though both Bryan and Dad insist she’s being taken advantage of and underpaid. Mrs. Clapper works two jobs, but Claire’s never heard her yelling at the kids for no reason or calling them worthless.
Mrs. Clapper is half an hour late tonight, but she looks so weary that Claire assures her it’s okay so she’ll stop apologizing, even though Dad is not going to be happy she’s late.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demands. He looks suspicious, like she’s been out getting pregnant instead of babysitting across the street.
“Mrs. Clapper was stuck in traffic. There was an accident blocking the road.”
“Did she pay you overtime?”
Claire sighs. “I don’t mind helping her, Pop.”
“I needed help here! Leaving your old crippled father to crawl to the fridge while you help strangers.”
You didn’t need another beer, she thinks, but of course Claire knows better than to say it. She kisses his cheek and bids him good night because he’s already nodding off. She doesn’t bother offering to help him up to his bedroom; he’ll refuse. He’ll insist on sitting in that chair until Bryan comes home.
Claire strips the sheets from everyone’s beds and gets a load of laundry going before she puts fresh sheets on all three beds. She’s craving a milkshake so she texts Bryan - Bring me a milkshake? I <3 you - and hopes he checks his phone before he leaves work.
By the time she’s showered and washed her hair and gotten into her pyjamas, Bryan’s home. She can hear Dad hassling him, but he comes up to bring her the burger and shake before he begins the process of cleaning Dad up and putting him to bed.
“You’re the best big brother!”
“I know.”
She really shouldn’t eat like this if she’s serious about becoming a professional dancer, but she’s pretty sure she burns it off with all the work she does. She re-reads a few old childhood favorites before deciding to call it a night.
Then a floorboard creaks and she feels Bryan’s weight settling on the bed.
“Sorry,” he whispers. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“It’s okay.” She turns to face him. “You’ve got a paper for Government due tomorrow; you finished it?”
“I’ll write it in the morning.”
“No, you won’t. But I wrote it for you.”
“Thanks, Claire.”
Bryan’s arm around her feels heavy, but Claire likes the weight. It’s comforting.
She has a really nice dream that night. She dreams she’s dancing on stage in front of a huge audience and they’re looking at her and really seeing her.
But then it’s morning and before her alarm clock has a chance to go off, she’s awoken by Dad shouting.
“BRYAN! YOU GONNA MAKE ME PISS THE BED? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!”
Bryan groans. He’s not a morning person.
“Pancakes or eggs?” Claire asks him.
“Eggs and bacon.”
Claire makes breakfast while Bryan gets Dad situated in his chair. Dad’s still mourning the Super Bowl outcome, and he makes Bryan put in the tape so he can watch the game yet again, like he’ll spot something he’s missed before.
Bryan’s first class isn’t until third period, but Claire has Music first period so she takes the bus today. It isn’t until school that she remembers what day it is. The older she gets, the more she’s growing to hate Valentine’s Day.
All the girls are showing off cards and flowers and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and tacky teddy bears. No one gives anything to Claire. She tries to be a nice person, and she’s prettier than some of those other girls, but there must be something wrong with her that everyone else can see.
It is not a good day and Claire’s happy to go home at the end of it. She gets Dad to agree to let her bring the Clapper kids over to their house so she can bake while she’s watching them. Dad’s not bad with the kids, telling them dumb jokes and asking them questions about their day at school that he never asked her and Bryan. She thinks that maybe he’ll be a better grandfather than he was a father if she or Bryan ever have kids.
She makes a double batch of cookies so she has enough to give to the kids and still have plenty left for Bryan.
He’s surprised to find the still-warm cookies waiting for him when he comes home. He crams a whole cookie into his mouth before handing a small paper bag to her. “Here. I saw this and it made me think of you.”
It’s a little glass ballerina figurine. Claire loves it. “Thanks.”
The chocolate chips are gooey and Bryan’s gotten chocolate smeared on his lips. Claire wipes it away with her thumb. He nips at her finger playfully, like he’s done plenty of times, but it makes Claire feel weird this time.
She’s still feeling weird hours later when she turns off the bedside lamp and tries to sleep. She thinks about going to sleep in Bryan’s bed and she’s still deciding when Bryan comes to sleep in her bed.
It’s familiar and comfortable at first, but then something about the feel of Bryan’s warm breath in her ear makes Claire uncomfortable. It makes her skin feel flushed and super sensitive, like all of her is straining to feel more.
“Can’t sleep?” he murmurs, clearly wide awake himself.
Claire tries to shift so her ear won’t be against his mouth, but Bryan shifts too and now his arm around her has become his arm across her chest.
“I think I want to sleep alone tonight,” she says. “I’m overheating.”
“Me too,” he says, and his voice sounds different, deeper.
“Bryan.”
“It’s okay, it’s just us,” he whispers. He cups one of her breasts.
Claire likes the feel of it, though she knows it's wrong. It’s wrong of him to do it and it’s wrong of her to enjoy it. He squeezes her breast gently and she wonders if that boy from her math class, if his hand would feel this good on her. Probably not. Bryan has large, strong hands, and even though she shouldn’t, Claire wishes he’d use them both.
She rationalizes that at least the fabric of her t-shirt is between them; it’s not like her brother is touching her bare breasts. Then he slides his hand lower.
He slips his hand beneath the waistband of her pyjama pants, and Claire intends to push him away when she grabs it, but instead she finds herself guiding his fingers, showing him how to touch her there. She appreciates that he doesn’t comment on her being aroused.
It feels so much better than when she touches herself. She’s gasping, forgetting to breathe, as an orgasm begins to build. It’s a surprise when Bryan kisses her. They’ve kissed before, but not like this, not with tongues.
Knowing this is wrong and bad doesn’t stop her from coming. Claire knows this will change things between them and there’s no going back. She wants to talk about it, but Bryan’s taking off his clothes.
Claire thinks he’s going to masturbate or maybe ask her to do it for him. She doesn’t mind the thought of doing it. She’s curious about his body now that she has no choice but to think of him sexually.
However Bryan grabs her hips and begins peeling her pyjamas off.
“Bryan, no!”
“I’ll be gentle,” he says, like that’s what she’s worried about.
“Bry-”
He kisses her, silencing her as his penis begins to push into her. There’s none of the terrible pain Claire has read about, only a slight discomfort as her vagina adjusts to having something inside it for the first time.
“You okay?” Bryan asks.
“Yeah,” Claire answers, even though nothing about this is okay.
She listens as Bryan’s breathing turns into panting and he starts saying her name over and over. Thankfully the bed doesn’t make too much noise, or at least she can’t hear it. Maybe no one’s ever aware of the tell-tale sounds the bed makes when they’re one of the people in the bed.
Bryan’s moving faster and her body is moving with him, learning the rhythm of a new dance. It’s exciting, even though she’s almost sick with worry that Dad will hear and know what they’re doing.
Claire clamps her hand over Bryan’s mouth when it seems like he’s going to say her name way too loud. Then he’s sliding off her and pulling her against his chest.
“I love you,” he says, his arms so tight around her that she couldn’t get away if she tried. He sounds contented, as if he doesn’t understand the magnitude of what they’ve just done.
Claire is almost surprised that an earthquake isn’t swallowing their house or lightning isn’t striking them. She wonders if Dad will be able to tell, if everybody at school will know as soon as they see them. They’re marked now, branded with each other the way a sister and brother shouldn’t be, and she just hopes that it’ll be invisible to everyone else.