You Kiss People You Love
I’m pretending they’re, like, I dunno, 18 and 16 here ——————- Linka strolled towards the living room with excitement in every step. How often did the stars align so every last one of her brothers were out of the house at the same time? The TV was hers and hers alone for two glorious, potato-inducing hours. The fact her parents were gone as well was a little bit of icing on the cake. They weren’t as likely to interrupt her TV experience as her brothers, but it was definitly nice not to have to worry about a potential “Linka, can you do this?” echoing from another room.
Reaching the couch, she leapt onto it and landed with a bounce. The remote was thrown spiralling into the air and Linka, with closed eyes and a confident smile, held out her hand to catch it as it fell. Snapping her hand forward, she cut the TV on and prepared for some uninterrupted-
*KERCHAK*
Linka ignored what was surely a figment of her imagination and not the front door opening. Fate wasn’t doing this to her. One of her brothers hadn’t just come home. And if they had, which they hadn’t, then it was surely just for a brief moment that she shouldn’t even bother to notice.
Floorboards creaked under the loving room carpet and Linka inwardly sighed. So much for her plans. Annoyed, she decided to try pretending it was still just her. Hopefully, whoever it was would catch the hint and let her watch in peace.
“Whatcha watching, sis?” Loni asked, sitting down on the other side of the couch.
“Nothing. I just turned it on.”
Linka had mixed feelings about it being Loni who had showed up. He was certainly preferable for a viewing experience to, say, Lynn, but he did have a tendency to be absentmindedly chatty. It would be hard to focus on the show with words pour out of his mouth the whole time. There were definitely other brothers wgo would be less intrusive.
“Wait,” Linka said, turning to him. “Weren’t you going on a date today?”
Loni really should have been the most unlikely member of the family to come home early once she thought about it. Perhaps she was too focused on herself and the TV. Her brother did have a kind of shadow over him once she looked.
“She stood me up. It’s no big deal,” Loni shrugged.
Linka sensed that wasn’t the full story and she wiggled over towards his side. She set a hand on his shoulder and looked him meaningfully, willing him to go on.
“And she called me stupid online. I don’t think she was ever planning on actually showing up to the date…”
“I’m sorry,” Linka said. She knew being called “stupid” was a bit of a sore spot for Loni, even though he pretended it wasn’t. “Do you wanna watch anything in particular?”
“Nah, whatevers on is good.”
Linka still felt like she should put on something he’d like and searched through the guide to find a fashion competition show. It wasn’t her sort of thing by any stretch, but she didn’t mind it. As much as she regretted losing out on the TV time, she hated the thought of her sweet older brother feeling down in the dumps because of some jerk.
And she actually started having fun with the show. She wasnt great with fashion, but chatting with Loni about the different outfits the contestants made was pretty interesting. He might be a bit of a ditz, but he was definitely not stupid considering the level of insight he had about what did and didn’t work with each dress. She actually felt a little self-concious about her relatively simple blouse and skirt combo and wondered if maybe she should ask him for a bit of help next time she went clothes shopping. They could do that silly dress-up montage like in the movies. Linka giggled a bit at the thought.
“Something funny, sis?” Loni asked, reaching an arm over her shoilder and pulling her closer.
“Nah, it’s nothing. Just maybe a future plan.”
“A funny one?”
“Not really,” Linka said. “I was just imagining if you came clothes shopping with me.”
“Oh! Really? You want to do that?”
“I mean, uh, maybe?” Linka felt a bit embarassed at his sudden enthusiasm.
“We totally should! I’ll pick out something great for you! You’re so cute, I’m sure you’ll look great in everything.”
Linka buried her face in his chest and bopped his side. She didn’t know what else to do since he was flustering her. It was just a silly thought that crossed her mind and he was getting all excited.
“Aw! What’d I do wrong?” Loni asked, sounding dejected.
“Nothing, nothing. It’s just me,” Linka said, looking up at him.
“Hm? But you’re great!” Loni replied cheerfully, pecking her on the lips.
Linka froze. She felt a deep crimson come over her face as she stared wide-eyed at Loni. He cocked his head, raising a confused eyebrow as he looked back.
“Are you sick all of a sudden?” he asked.
“Y-you kissed me!”
“Yup!” He swooped in and kissed her a second time. “And I did it again!” A third kiss. “And again! You have soft lips, sis!” he laughed.
Linka’s mind short-circuited a bit. “Wh-what are you doing? You’re not s-supposed to kiss me!”
“But you kiss people you love.”
“It’s a different kind of love!”
“What?” Loni said, seeming genuinely confused. “Love is love. You don’t need to make it so complicated.” He punctuated his point by kissing her again, letting his lips linger a moment before pulling away.
“Loni, you aren’t supposed to kiss your sister!” Linka said, panting a little as heat filled her body.
“But we do it all the time.”
“We’ve never kissed before?” Linka said, not feeling totally sure. He said it so casually that she wondered if maybe she was the incorrect party.
“Really? I thought we had. I mean, I know I’ve wanted to kiss you before. I guess I didn’t do it, but thought I did?”
“What?”
Things were moving kind of fast and Linka was having trouble processing her brother’s words. Everything felt fuzzy and she was a little woozy all of a sudden. She tried running a checklist of her body parts in a random hope it’d bring some sort of sense back into her life. It backfired, though, since she realized she’d wriggled closer to him and was clinging to his shirt with both hands. It was almost like she was asking him to do it again and the way his arm pressed her from behind showed he was willing to oblige.
“I guess I better make up for lost time,” he muttered against her lips.
Linka squeezed her eyes closed as she felt him push in. She kept reminding herself that this was wrong, only to forget again the very next second. All she felt was the passion in his lips, the tingling electricity of their connection as his tongue somehow slipped through her defenses. She was on her back. When had that happened? Did she care? Probably not, she decided, moaning into his mouth as his tongue played with hers.
They broke for air and Loni looked down at her with a smile. He supported himself with his elbows and Linka felt his fingers in her hair, gently scratching her scalp.
“You look really pretty right now, Linka. You’re always pretty, but definitely right now.”
She looked away bashfully, unable to meet his eyes. “Loni, we can’t let the others know about this.”
“Why not?” he murmed, kissing her cheek. “I’m just showing I love you.”
Linka closed her eyes, shivering as he pecked her ear. Bless this silly child and his lack of understanding for social mores. It was going to take some effort to get the numbskull to understand why they shouldn’t be doing this. She had a few hours before the others were supposed to get home, though, so she could take her time with it. Just a few more kisses and then she’d get started.
