Page 113 of Psync
He wiped a tear from his eye and looked up, realizing someone was standing in from of his door.
“Juniper?”
Arms went around him as his sister proceeded to try and squeeze the life out of him. He tried to reciprocate, but he’d long ago given in to the fact that his sister had beaten him thoroughly in the genetic lottery. She wasn’t as tall as Haruka, but she wasn’t much shorter.
“Eli!” An angry, confused voice rang out down the hallway. Haruka was frozen in the act of rubbing a towel through his hair, but only briefly.
He let the towel drop onto his shoulder and began stalking toward them. There was a mixture of emotions on his face, but the only one Eli paid attention to was the sharp stab of fear he felt emanating from him.
“Haruka, this is my sister, Juniper,” Eli said hastily. While he loved to fuck with Haruka to get a rise from him, fear was never an emotion he wanted to inspire.
The fear cut off, and Haruka’s face rearranged itself into its usualtoo cool for everythingexpression as he met them at the door.
He flicked his wet hair at Eli and turned to give Juniper a bow. “Nice to meet you. I’m Haruka.”
“Is this the friend you’re bringing home?” Juniper poked Eli in the chest, causing Haruka to flinch. Juniper eyed his reaction with interest and did it again. This time Haruka didn’t react, but somehow, he managed to do it loudly. “Interesting.”
Eli waved a hand in her face to bring her attention back to him. “What are you doing here? We were going to see each other tonight. I’m already packed—well, mostly.”
Juniper’s eyes shuttered. “Why don’t we go into your room, and you can finish packing while I explain.”
“Ooookay.”
She knew. Eli didn’t know how she knew, but she did. Stupid insightful twin sister! Well, he wasn’t going to let her be the one to bring it up. Fuck Antarctica, they were doing this now.
The second the door closed behind them he blurted out, “I’m gay and he’s my boyfriend and if you give me any shit about it, I’m going to hit you with the bag of old Chinese food we have in the refrigerator.”
Juniper blinked at Eli.
Haruka blinked at Eli.
Eli dropped down in the closest chair and concentrated on breathing.
Haruka came around behind him and rubbed his back using large, slow circles. “It’s okay, chibisuke. I’m here.”
Which made Juniper’s eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. “You’re . . . He’s . . . What the fuck, Eli?”
Haruka made to stand in front of Eli, but he put a hand on the man’s arm.
“She’s not mad, just confused. Give her a minute.”
Juniper needed more than a minute. She plopped down on the bed, making Eli doubly glad they changed the comforter after their morning’s recreational activities. Then she sat there for an eternity, letting her eyes dart back and forth between Eli and Haruka. The longer the silence drew out, the closer Haruka got to Eli. Each passing second seemed to make her eyes grow even wider.
Finally, Eli got sick of waiting. “Come on, Berry. You had to know this was going to be a possibility. The odds of me being straight weren’t good.”
Tears welled in Juniper’s eyes.
Oh no. Crying. He wasn’t prepared for crying.
“I’m just so happy for you!” She flung herself off the bed and onto Eli’s lap, nearly crushing him. Eli saw Haruka flinch out of the corner of his eye.
“You’re happy? Really?”
“Of course I am, stupid! I was so afraid you’d be too stressed out to make friends, let alone have a boyfriend. And one who can touch you—who I will kill if he ever bad touches you.” Juniper did the thing where she became terrifying in the blink of an eye and then shifted back to friendly like nothing had happened. “I just can’t stand it.” Then she hugged Eli until he squeaked.
“Breathing . . . I like breathing.”
Juniper thumped him on the head, and Eli was fairly certain Haruka was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the amount of twitching he was doing.
