| Primary Characters: | Vince Teague, Dave Teague |
| Rating: | M |
| Spoilers: | not really |
| Warning: | m/m sex |
| Description: | It’s 1983. Vince and Dave go out, hoping to pick up some female companions, but as usual return home alone. Naturally, they’re disappointed, but they still have each other. |
While Vince was getting ready to go out, he left the radio on at quite a high volume. Even at his relatively mature age, he still loved the hit songs playing on this channel and they took his mind off other, more serious matters. This evening, his brother Dave would be coming along too. Vince knew it was a waste of time, but even now, after more than ten years of going to bars, hoping to find and pick up some woman, any woman, he couldn’t quite give up hope.
He smiled wryly as the radio played Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. The Teague brothers would never be able to dance like Michael Jackson or indeed dance very much at all. It was the slow songs Vince preferred anyway. As he put on the after shave, the song tuned out. He was hoping the next song would be a slow one, but instead Irene Cara’s Flashdance…What a Feeling came on.
Dave looked in, checking if Vince was done. Vince waved at him to come through.
”Yes, I’m done.”
He left his brother to put on the finishing touches on his appearance, knowing that it wouldn’t make any difference, but it would be quite fun anyway, to get away from things at the paper and to have a few drinks, listen to the music and check out the women. It would keep their minds off – what they preferred not to think about on a Friday night.
Now the dance music tuned out as well and finally, Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart came on. Vince loved that song. He caught himself almost singing along, but stopped himself in time. No need to act even more square than necessary.
Dave was done in no time and they set out together. The bar was a new one, had only been around for about three weeks, and they had been meaning to check it out for some time now. Vince had heard that it was here that all the cool people went. Which might not be such a good idea, but they could always have a look. If anyone asked, they would say they were reviewing it for the paper. Which they could do. It was a good idea. A local paper should keep an eye out for the local establishments.
They walked out to the last notes of the song.
When they came to the bar, it seemed no one recognized them, or even paid any attention. As Vince had known, they were at least ten years older than the majority of the guests. They sat down at the bar and ordered drinks.
Sipping his drink, Vince glanced around the bar and the part of the dance floor, that was closest to the bar. The women were all young, cool and were wearing – Vince felt his cheeks heat up. That was really hot. Was that a corset the girl was wearing? He noticed that Dave was blushing just like he was. Even if nothing more came of this evening, they would at least have food for thought for weeks to come. And that girl – her top was deliberately torn, making parts of her skin show through the holes. The same went for her jeans shorts. Vince fancied he could even see some of her underwear, but that might be a bit much to hope for. If she was even wearing any. He was wondering if he’d dare to ask one of them to dance later on, or if he’d only be inviting ridicule. With a sigh, he pulled out his notebook and a pen. He might as well take notes. Jotting down a few words, he began to outline the text in his mind. Not first page material of course, but somewhere in the back would do.
The dance floor was teeming with young, energetic people. Vince heard several familiar songs – Maneater, Maniac, Sweet Dreams Are Made of This. Later on he also heard Little Red Corvette and Africa. Shamefacedly, he had collected some of the albums and hid them under X in the filing cabinet.
Towards the end of the evening, Vince could once again sum up his experiences. He hadn’t asked any woman to dance and no one had even caught his eye. It was as if he and Dave were invisible. Just as he had known from the start. Despite that, he didn’t feel that the night out had been a total waste of time. Just being here, made him feel less alone. And the women he’d seen – even now, glimpses of memories flew through his mind, brightening the familiar road back home.
If only he hadn’t been so –
The let themselves in and began to get ready for the night. It was only about midnight, but they would be working the next day, so they might as well make it an early night. What else would they do?
Well, there was just one thing –
Once Vince had made sure Dave was in his bedroom and had closed the door behind him, he sneaked out again, silently, keeping a close eye on the floor boards. By now he knew perfectly well which ones creaked and which ones didn’t.
In the office, they had a set of archive boxes, for research material and the Z box was all but empty too, just like the one for X. That was where Vince kept his collection of – magazines. He would have liked to be able to say that they were solely about photography, but that wouldn’t have been strictly true. There were a handful of them, dedicated to photography – working for a local paper made it necessary to know a little bit of everything – but the great majority were rather more exotic. He knew exactly which issue he wanted – and hastily riffled through the piles of magazines until he found the right one.
Then he heard the door creak and Dave furtively glanced inside. Again, Vince felt his cheeks heat up. Of all the bad luck. So Dave knew about his porn stash. He should have known. Dave’s face was no less red.
”Oh.”
With an effort, Vince decided that they were both grown up. Why should it bother them that they had come at the same time to pick out a bit of – reading material – for the night?
”Do come in. I’ve already found mine so go ahead.”
”Right.”
Dave looked so downcast, Vince felt sorry for him. It’s ok, he wanted to say. I never get laid either. You’re the only one who thinks so, and that’s one of the things I love about you. But how could he say that? If Dave thought that he actually did get laid once in a while, he couldn’t bring himself to contradict him. Only Dave thought Vince looked even remotely cool. The women certainly didn’t.
Vince would never know where the impulse came from, but in the doorway, he turned and after a moment’s hesitation, he returned and stood so close to Dave, his brother looked up.
Afterwards he told himself that it was just the physical needs that had prompted his actions, but somehow he found himself bending down over Dave and – surely not? – kissing his brother on the lips. But it was true. He did do it and he knew that he wasn’t imagining things when he felt the response as Dave returned the kiss. A tingle spread throughout his body and moments later they were on Vince’s bed – doing things two brothers should never do. And it felt good. Great, in fact. Vince didn’t know where he got it from. He had more heard of than seen the ‘lesbian’ porn that was becoming more popular now in the 80’s but – this – how to satisfy a man – he had no idea where it came from. Of course, he had always known how to satisfy himself so maybe it wasn’t that strange, after all.
All these years of looking at his brother and never once feeling even a spark of desire for him – and now –
When it was over, they lay on their backs staring up at the ceiling, wondering how they would go on from here. How they would be able to face each other in the morning. This – could change everything.
Then Vince turned and faced Dave and suddenly he knew that it was ok. It would be ok. This would be their special secret. After all, whose business was it anyway? They would leave their love inside the house. Out there, in the world – or at least the small part of it that was Haven – they would still be what they’d always been – two quirky, uncool brothers, working in a local newspaper – and a little more than that, but most people in Haven didn’t know that and that was as it should be.
Dave hadn’t known he could love his brother even more than he already did, but somehow this had only served to increase his feelings. He could tell that Vince felt the same way.
Leaning over for one last kiss – he found that the touch sparked another flare-up of passion and they were once again lost in each other. If they kept this up, they would be late for work, for the first time since – ever. The Teague brothers were never late for work. Except there had to be a first time for everything.
When they walked to work, half an hour later, Dave had to do his best to hide his smile. Anyone who saw him, would be able to guess that something had happened. When he glanced up at Vince, he could see a glint in his brother’s eyes that spoke of the same feelings. He couldn’t wait for tonight. But first they had work to do. Important work. More important than big city people could imagine. Perhaps more important than most of the people of Haven could imagine. All the secrets buzzed through Dave’s body and put a new spring his step.
When they got to the office, they turned on the radio. Prince was singing 1999. Dave was wondering what the world would look like then. At least he knew one thing, he and Vince would still have each other and that was good enough for now. Although he didn’t know it, Vince was thinking much the same thing. For now, the 1980’s would do nicely. They had everything they needed right here in Haven. There was no need to look elsewhere for anything.
FIN
© Tonica