Title: A July Tradition
Fandom: NUMB3RS
Pairing/Characters: Don Eppes/Charlie Eppes
Rating: FRAO, NC-17
Summary: The Eppes brothers set a pattern, and embark on a long, hazardous tradition.
Part 1 of 3: Too Young for Beer
19-year-old Charlie drives to Stockton to watch Don play baseball.
Word Count: 1299
Sequel to:
Starting a Tradition and
Continuing a Tradition
Prequel to:
Holiday Traditions and
New Year's Traditions
Warning: Brother/brother incest
Part 1: Too Young for Beer
The third Holiday they added to their growing tradition was the 4 th of July. It was 6 months after they'd kissed the last six
days of Hanukkah and again for their second Christmas. For Independence
Day, Charlie had come to watch Don play baseball. Stockton was hot in July,
but it had been more than temperature that had gotten Charlie sweaty while
watching Don on the diamond. Since Charlie had kissed Don, he'd done a lot
more than just kiss a fellow male student. He now knew how good it felt to
have a man's cock in his hand, a man's mouth on his cock, as well as the
reverse. He couldn't do that with Don, that would be going too far. Don was
his brother, for God's sake, and it could never go past kissing. They would
be roundly condemned for just kissing, but maybe that be forgiven. Not
anything further.
That didn't mean that Charlie couldn't watch Don play, watch his shoulders
and legs and ass in that uniform. Think about what might be protected by
that athletic cup. Charlie's own cock was getting hard and uncomfortable.
Shaking himself, Charlie put his mind into baseball statistics and was able
to watch the rest of the game with detachment.
"Charlie!" Don called with a smile.
For a second, when Charlie looked up, his face was a stranger's, his eyes
dark and knowing.
Then Don blinked and Charlie was just Charlie, his brilliant, often
annoying little brother.
"Good game!" Charlie said, straightening up from where he'd been leaning
against the fence outside the player's exit. "Makes you .301 for the
season!"
"Too bad it wasn't enough," Don said with a shrug. He'd done his part, so
he hadn't been the one coach reamed out in the locker room.
"Yeah," Charlie agreed, but didn't seem to really care. "I wasn't sure if
you were going to stay for the fireworks, so I came out to wait right
away."
Don shrugged again. "Did you want to stay for the fireworks?"
"Not really. I get to see a lot of fireworks in the chem lab."
"Ah," Don said. Shuffling his own bag to his other shoulder, Don put his
arm around Charlie's shoulders and for some reason that felt different than
it had the hundreds of other times that Don had done this in their lives.
Shaking off the notion, Don said, "I'd invite you to go with everybody to
the bar, but you're only nineteen."
"For a little while longer," Charlie said. "Old enough to be drafted but
not old enough to drink."
"Are you looking forward to drinking?" Don asked curiously.
Charlie shrugged slightly, something Don felt more than saw through his arm
that was still around Charlie's shoulders.
"Looking forward to be able to go into any place," Charlie said. "Hang out
with 'everybody' like you do."
"Hey, who's your date?" a voice called behind them.
Don turned around, still keeping his arm around Charlie's shoulders. He
wasn't going to spring apart like he'd been doing something wrong. "Hey,
Heath, meet my baby brother."
Heath grinned and shook Charlie's hand. The big third-baseman looked
Charlie up and down and Don's arm tightened.
"He's not old enough to go to the bar with the team," Don said, trying not
to bristle. He knew Heath liked them young - and gender didn't much matter.
"So we're just going to go back to my place."
"Aww," Heath said, his eyes sharpening. "We could sneak him into the bar,
no problem." He touched Charlie's hair. "C'mon 'baby brother.' Come have
some fun with the big boys."
Don heard Charlie take a breath to respond, but he spoke first. "Don't you
have some groupies to grope?"
Heath raised his hands, laughing wryly. "Okay, Eppes, okay. I can see
you're one of those big brothers."
"I am," Don growled.
Health stepped back and moved away. Don saw a few more teammates coming and
he didn't feel like introducing Charlie again, though to be fair, Heath was
probably the worst.
"Let's get out of here," Don said.
"I wanted to meet some of your team," Charlie protested.
Don moved Charlie forward. "You can meet my roommates. They're good guys."
"And Heath is not?"
Don hustled Charlie towards the player's parking lot. "He just wants to get
in your pants."
"Oh?" Charlie said, turning his head to look behind them.
"Do you even know what I mean?" Don snapped.
"Of course, I do," Charlie said huffily. "I'm not completely unexperienced
about such things."
Don stopped and stared at him. "You're not?"
Charlie flushed but shook his head. "I've been in college since I was
thirteen, remember?"
Don went very still, his heart hammering. "You… thirteen? With
an…adult?"
"No, no," Charlie said quickly, as if he saw the suddenly conjured
nightmares in Don's eyes. "Not until I was of the age of consent. Like she
was." He added quietly, "And he was."
Don's eyebrows shot up. "You… with a man?"
Charlie nodded, his cheeks turning pink. "I like both."
Don had to give a wry snort. "Must run in the family." He pushed and got
Charlie walking towards his car again. "Not that anybody can know. Would
kill my career."
"What about Heath?"
"He's heading for the Bigs, no doubt. The people that know will quickly
'forget.' Just how it is."
"Shouldn't be that way."
"No. But it is."
Don removed his arm from Charlie's shoulder to fish out his car keys. They
walked in silence through the parking lot. They got to Don's old car, but
before he unlocked it, Don looked up at Charlie and held his eyes.
"I'm glad that you were the 'age of consent,'" Don said fiercely.
"Otherwise there are some people that I'm going to have to track down and
hurt. Because, well, I am one of those big brothers."
"I know." Charlie smiled warmly at him. "I know."
Charlie quietly looked out at Stockton while Don drove, thinking about big
brothers. They had gone to a grocery store - two grocery stores because the
first one was closed early for the Holiday - and gotten some steaks to
grill. They'd also gotten a six-pack of beer that Don promised to share
with Charlie, if he wanted it.
Their ultimate goal was Don's apartment, which Charlie had only seen
briefly when he dropped off his bag there before the game. Charlie had
offered to stay in a hotel overnight, but Don wouldn't hear of it. Don
shared the place with two other players but assured Charlie that the couch
was comfortable. It was a three-bedroom apartment and Don's roommates
changed often, as the tides of minor league baseball ebbed and flowed.
Charlie couldn't remember who Don's roommates were at the moment. Charlie
was glad that Don had stayed in Stockton for as long as he had, since it at
least was within driving distance of CalSci.
When they pulled into a parking lot of the non-descript apartment complex,
Don swore under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Charlie asked.
In reply, Don pointed across a patch of lawn to what looked like the
apartment complex's common area. It was full of athletic men that Charlie
couldn't place until he pictured them in baseball uniforms. They were
standing around two smoking grills, beers in hand. There were also a few
women, scattered among the men.
"Guess they decided to bring the bar here," Don grumbled.
"Your roommates invited them?"
"Half the team has apartments here," Don said. "I doubt it was McBride or
Vasquez's idea."
Indeed, Heath was standing there, grinning as Don and Charlie got out of
the car. "Don't drink anything he offers you," Don said quietly, then put
on a smile and began to introduce Charlie to his teammates.