Once was Enough - Part 1
"Love you, too," Joe mumbled sleepily as he curled more snugly under the covers of their hotel room in Italy, Nick in the other bed and already snoring. It didn't take long for the twenty year-old to fall asleep. He had weird dreams where he was in a white room, completely white, the walls and floor and ceiling all stretching in an endless blankness of white. He saw one other person a few feet away, the only problem was it was himself, a younger version of himself. Similar hairstyles, he went to move towards the seventeen year-old him, but the closer he got the further away that boy seemed. "I'm sorry," the younger him mouthed, sound apparently not traveling through the vast and empty white.
Joe woke up slowly, eyes shut tight as he tried to chase the last remnants of a bizarre dream that had started out white and ended in swirling blackness, but the warm body pressed against his made him forget it entirely. Nick must have snuck into his bed last night while he'd been sleeping, maybe had a bad dream or something. Whatever the reason, Joe definitely wasn't complaining as he just snuggled closer to that body heat. Then Nick sighed, a bit higher in pitch than he was used to, but it was morning and he felt disoriented enough already.
Fluffy, curly hair brushed against his neck and he inhaled, the scent of coconut and orange hitting him and his eyes opened. Coconut and orange, Nick hadn't used that shampoo since - but the Nick in his arms was definitely not the Nick he was used to. Instead of the muscular, seventeen year-old he held a small, almost fragile looking fourteen year old boy. Letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, he looked around the room and he definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore, let alone Italy. No, this was their old house in Jersey and they were in the room he and Nick had shared, the other bed in the room rarely saw use in those days.
"Joe?" he heard, Nick's voice muffled from sleep and sounding oh so young it made him curious as to what he looked like. But he didn't have to wait for long as that more delicate neck tilted that precious face surrounded by messy curls and then those brown eyes widened, a hand coming up to stroke Joe's cheek. "Joe?" Swallowing past the sudden lump in his throat, he only nodded, a hand coming up to wrap around a muscled but thin arm and he marveled at how small Nick had been. There was also something else about this Nick that was smaller than his Nick: the erection pressing firmly against his thigh. "Why do you look so different?" Nick asked, tilting his head this way and that before pulling on a few strands of Joe's hair. "At least your hair is still mostly the same, just a bit shorter. What did you do last night? Did you get taken by aliens or something?" Joe shook his head, not really sure how to answer, and he sat up, disentangling their legs as he did so. "Whoah," Nick said, eyes trained on Joe's bare chest and the hair that curled there.
"Nick I don't think I'm supposed to be here. Where's your Joe? Where's the Joe who is crazy and outspoken and only seventeen?" With a bewildered stare he stood up, ignoring as Nick gasped at his added height and the hair on his legs visible beneath the hem of his shorts, and he headed into out of the bedroom and into the hallway beyond. Everything was just how he remembered it right down to the carpeting and the wallpaper, as well as the chunk of banister missing from when he and his brothers had been playing with Nerf guns indoors. Nothing was out of place. The only trouble was that Joe was out of place.
He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Nick walk out into hallway, staring at him as if he were some kind of Greek God stepped straight out of the Heavens and he knelt, opening his arms as Nick rushed into them. "Joe you look so, so, you look so grown up!"
He took a deep breath and pulled away so their eyes could meet. "That's because I'm twenty years old, Nick."
The whole situation is fucking weird, and it's only made weirder when no one else seemed to notice he looks any different. His whole family, aside from Nick, seem to have thought he looked the same and he wondered if he did, to them. But he looked in the mirror and saw himself as twenty, muscles rippling, and when his mother spoke to him she had to look up rather than eye-level or down. Nick, though, wasn't as freaked out about it. That night when they settled into bed Nick automatically joined Joe and with a jolting pain the older man realized how much he had missed this. He thought once had been enough, that it would be difficult being back here like this and that he wouldn't be able to wait until he got back to his own time, but the way Nick watched him and clung to him like a second skin - Joe had missed that more than he realized.
"Joe," Nick said a, a shy quality in his tone and they made eye contact. He'd told Nick he was from the future and the minute the boy had started asking a million questions, Joe had told him he wouldn't say anything that had the potential to ruin how anything turned out. "In the future," Joe tensed, "I was wondering if I, uh, ever get hairy like you."
He couldn't help it, he laughed, pulling Nick into a tight hug and kissing his forehead. "Yeah, yeah baby boy, you grow up real nice," he whispered finally and felt the heat of Nick's blushing cheek against his neck. He let himself picture what Nick looked like at seventeen compared to fourteen, and the differences still amazed him, even holding the younger Nick like he was at the moment. He felt those soft lips brush over where his pulse was beating then press against it and he froze, feeling his heartbeat quicken as he held his breath and waited. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, maybe for his brother to pull away - for Nick to take it further?
"Nicky," he breathed and the warm feeling left his neck but not his groin when they just looked at each other, Nick blushing even more furiously than before. "What, I mean, I know that you and I never - why did you do that?" When Nick looked away, burying his face into Joe's chest, he ran a soothing hand through those curls and said, "No, Nicky, it's okay I just-" but he was cut off as in a movement that was almost too quick, those lips were pressed against his. It felt so weird, this was his brother, this was his Nick, and he'd have been lying to himself if he said he hasn't wanted exactly that since, well, forever. But this Nick was a little kid and it kinda felt really, really weird. It was still Nick, but he sort of felt like maybe he was taking advantage?
"I don't know," Nick whined, finally pulling away so they could make eye contact again. "I just, you look so, I mean, you're so you but you look so amazing and I just have all these feelings and I want you. He pressed his hips against Joe's thigh and he could suddenly feel just what Nick had meant by want. "I mean, I wanted you before, but Joe, with you like this how do I not act on this in the future?"
He felt dumbstruck as his mouth dropped open. Nick always wanted him? He'd always felt it was one-sided, always thought he never stood a chance; maybe his kid brother just outgrew it at some point. He cleared his throat and debated on what he would say before shaking his head and just shrugging, really not knowing how to answer Nick. After all, the boy in his arms should know better than he would.
"Nick I just, I mean," but Nick cut him off again with another kiss. "Please, Joe? Please just can we just kiss a little?" He swallowed thickly, that voice and those eyes, he just could never say no and that pleading, helpless tone in his little brother's voice. He bent and just kissed Nick like he'd asked, just pressing their lips together firmly, small, chaste kisses that left him burning for more but he wouldn't push it. There should still be some limits, right?
Joe woke up slowly, eyes shut tight as he tried to chase the last remnants of a bizarre dream that had started out white and ended in swirling blackness, but the warm body pressed against his made him forget it entirely. Nick must have snuck into his bed last night while he'd been sleeping, maybe had a bad dream or something. Whatever the reason, Joe definitely wasn't complaining as he just snuggled closer to that body heat. Then Nick sighed, a bit higher in pitch than he was used to, but it was morning and he felt disoriented enough already.
Fluffy, curly hair brushed against his neck and he inhaled, the scent of coconut and orange hitting him and his eyes opened. Coconut and orange, Nick hadn't used that shampoo since - but the Nick in his arms was definitely not the Nick he was used to. Instead of the muscular, seventeen year-old he held a small, almost fragile looking fourteen year old boy. Letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, he looked around the room and he definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore, let alone Italy. No, this was their old house in Jersey and they were in the room he and Nick had shared, the other bed in the room rarely saw use in those days.
"Joe?" he heard, Nick's voice muffled from sleep and sounding oh so young it made him curious as to what he looked like. But he didn't have to wait for long as that more delicate neck tilted that precious face surrounded by messy curls and then those brown eyes widened, a hand coming up to stroke Joe's cheek. "Joe?" Swallowing past the sudden lump in his throat, he only nodded, a hand coming up to wrap around a muscled but thin arm and he marveled at how small Nick had been. There was also something else about this Nick that was smaller than his Nick: the erection pressing firmly against his thigh. "Why do you look so different?" Nick asked, tilting his head this way and that before pulling on a few strands of Joe's hair. "At least your hair is still mostly the same, just a bit shorter. What did you do last night? Did you get taken by aliens or something?" Joe shook his head, not really sure how to answer, and he sat up, disentangling their legs as he did so. "Whoah," Nick said, eyes trained on Joe's bare chest and the hair that curled there.
"Nick I don't think I'm supposed to be here. Where's your Joe? Where's the Joe who is crazy and outspoken and only seventeen?" With a bewildered stare he stood up, ignoring as Nick gasped at his added height and the hair on his legs visible beneath the hem of his shorts, and he headed into out of the bedroom and into the hallway beyond. Everything was just how he remembered it right down to the carpeting and the wallpaper, as well as the chunk of banister missing from when he and his brothers had been playing with Nerf guns indoors. Nothing was out of place. The only trouble was that Joe was out of place.
He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Nick walk out into hallway, staring at him as if he were some kind of Greek God stepped straight out of the Heavens and he knelt, opening his arms as Nick rushed into them. "Joe you look so, so, you look so grown up!"
He took a deep breath and pulled away so their eyes could meet. "That's because I'm twenty years old, Nick."
The whole situation is fucking weird, and it's only made weirder when no one else seemed to notice he looks any different. His whole family, aside from Nick, seem to have thought he looked the same and he wondered if he did, to them. But he looked in the mirror and saw himself as twenty, muscles rippling, and when his mother spoke to him she had to look up rather than eye-level or down. Nick, though, wasn't as freaked out about it. That night when they settled into bed Nick automatically joined Joe and with a jolting pain the older man realized how much he had missed this. He thought once had been enough, that it would be difficult being back here like this and that he wouldn't be able to wait until he got back to his own time, but the way Nick watched him and clung to him like a second skin - Joe had missed that more than he realized.
"Joe," Nick said a, a shy quality in his tone and they made eye contact. He'd told Nick he was from the future and the minute the boy had started asking a million questions, Joe had told him he wouldn't say anything that had the potential to ruin how anything turned out. "In the future," Joe tensed, "I was wondering if I, uh, ever get hairy like you."
He couldn't help it, he laughed, pulling Nick into a tight hug and kissing his forehead. "Yeah, yeah baby boy, you grow up real nice," he whispered finally and felt the heat of Nick's blushing cheek against his neck. He let himself picture what Nick looked like at seventeen compared to fourteen, and the differences still amazed him, even holding the younger Nick like he was at the moment. He felt those soft lips brush over where his pulse was beating then press against it and he froze, feeling his heartbeat quicken as he held his breath and waited. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, maybe for his brother to pull away - for Nick to take it further?
"Nicky," he breathed and the warm feeling left his neck but not his groin when they just looked at each other, Nick blushing even more furiously than before. "What, I mean, I know that you and I never - why did you do that?" When Nick looked away, burying his face into Joe's chest, he ran a soothing hand through those curls and said, "No, Nicky, it's okay I just-" but he was cut off as in a movement that was almost too quick, those lips were pressed against his. It felt so weird, this was his brother, this was his Nick, and he'd have been lying to himself if he said he hasn't wanted exactly that since, well, forever. But this Nick was a little kid and it kinda felt really, really weird. It was still Nick, but he sort of felt like maybe he was taking advantage?
"I don't know," Nick whined, finally pulling away so they could make eye contact again. "I just, you look so, I mean, you're so you but you look so amazing and I just have all these feelings and I want you. He pressed his hips against Joe's thigh and he could suddenly feel just what Nick had meant by want. "I mean, I wanted you before, but Joe, with you like this how do I not act on this in the future?"
He felt dumbstruck as his mouth dropped open. Nick always wanted him? He'd always felt it was one-sided, always thought he never stood a chance; maybe his kid brother just outgrew it at some point. He cleared his throat and debated on what he would say before shaking his head and just shrugging, really not knowing how to answer Nick. After all, the boy in his arms should know better than he would.
"Nick I just, I mean," but Nick cut him off again with another kiss. "Please, Joe? Please just can we just kiss a little?" He swallowed thickly, that voice and those eyes, he just could never say no and that pleading, helpless tone in his little brother's voice. He bent and just kissed Nick like he'd asked, just pressing their lips together firmly, small, chaste kisses that left him burning for more but he wouldn't push it. There should still be some limits, right?