Nick woke a little confused. He was only a little confused because he’d woken in more than his share of strange beds in his lifetime and had gotten rather used to it. What was odd was that he was fully dressed, more so than he wore when sleeping alone, and the sheets were amazingly smooth and soft.

He sighed a little and let his hand glide against the very warm, flat stomach it was pressed against. The ribs he touched were a little too sharp under the skin, and that was more surprising then the strange bed. He tended to go for a man with a little muscle on him, a little meat to him, not the scrawny waifs he had to worry about snapping in two. He liked a man to feel like a man when he held him.

Except for Epi, he seemed to be the exception to the rule. He was too skinny because of illness, but even in the few months he’d known the man he was slowly putting on muscle. He’d never end up a manly man, but he wasn’t going to be scrawny. No, not his Epi, he was going to end up sleek like a greyhound, all focused direction and lean muscle, sleek and beautiful.

His hand petted the slender ribs as his mind wandered. Hair tickled at his nose and that was odd too because he never picked up men with long hair. He opened his eyes and a tangled black wavy curl was across the bridge of his nose. His eyes focused beyond the hair and it all came back. It wasn’t someone that was slender like Epi in his arms, it was Epi. He was curled around Epi like they were lovers, his face half buried in the thick dark hair that was too long and unstyled. His hand was under Epi’s shirt, softly petting his stomach and ribs. Nick’s chest was pressed tight to Epi’s back, his groin pressed hard into Epi’s ass, their legs tangled together.

That was an odd feeling. Epi had tied his pants leg into a knot where his leg was missing to keep from being tangled in the pant leg, but it was painfully obvious the leg was missing. Strangely, Nick’s first thought was how little difference it made excepting the fact that one of his legs was unable to find a matching leg to snuggle against. It didn’t unnerve him once he remember it wasn’t supposed to be there and it just seemed right to have it missing.

What wasn’t an odd feeling was how right it felt to wake up wrapped around Epi like some lumpy blanket. They fit together nicely and Epi was oddly pliant in his arms. His shoulders were relaxed as they never were when awake, his body still and limp instead of tense and uneasy. There wasn’t any underlying tension from being crammed together on the sofa, and Nick thought for a moment that they were so well molded together that when he exhaled, Epi’s breath mirrored his own.

It was hypnotic. The warmth of their ridiculously fancy sheets and blankets and bodies pressed together merged with the feel of skin to skin and tangled in the smell of Epi’s skin and hair. It felt right and good. It felt safe and proper. Part of him could have lain there for hours, drinking in that feeling of human contact, but Nick wasn’t wired that way. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to keep things snuggled and stable, his body took the sensations and took them down another path.

Nick didn’t mean to, but he found himself painfully hard. Worse, he found himself painfully hard and pressed tight against Epi’s bony ass. His hand stopped stroking the warm skin of Epi’s stomach and ribs and went still. He was frightened that if he kept that up he’d be rubbing his hard on against Epi next, and that would surely wake the other man up.

His mind wondered if that would be a bad idea. The hand on Epi’s stomach could easily drift lower, slip below the elastic of his waistband and follow the hot skin down. They wouldn’t have to do anything more. Nick would be happy to just take the proud man’s length into his hand, wake Epi up that way. He could hold him as he writhed, his ass would rub into Nick’s own erection. He could close his eyes and let the scent of Epi’s hair fill his mind. Would Epi make noise? Would he moan as he came? Would he call out Nick’s name?

That was it, he was going to have to get out of bed. There was no way he could physically lay there, wrapped around Epi and his own fantasies, and not do something. Epi was his friend, a real friend like he hadn’t ever had. He wasn’t going to mess that up by molesting the man in his sleep simply because he had no self control. It wasn’t Epi’s fault he had a loose wire in his head that seemed unable to care about people unless sex was involved. The last thing he was going to do was ruin what they had, and certainly not while they were staying with Epi’s family.

Very carefully, he slipped away from Epi and escaped from the bed. Maybe it was the movement or the sudden loss of a warm body pressed to him, but Epi rolled over onto his back as soon as Nick stood up. Nick froze but Epi was still asleep, his eyes shut, his hands limp, his lips parted as he snored softly. He was splayed out now, exposed, vulnerable and tempting. Nick shook his head to clear it of thoughts about stolen kisses and hurried to the posh bathroom.

Nick stripped off his clothes and gratefully slipped into a very hot shower. He had a moment of guilt as he jerked off, but it was a passing moment. He doubted a little masturbation was the worst thing the house had seen, especially with the hot tub on the deck right outside of the bedroom. That was a thought his fantasies didn’t need, the cold snow around but naked in the hot bubbling water, Epi so close at hand. The water could be therapeutic in more than one way.

He showered as quickly as he could, suddenly uncomfortable being naked with Epi sleeping unaware a room away. It wasn’t until he stepped out of the shower that he forgot that all his clothes and things were out in the bedroom. He didn’t quite creep, but he moved as quietly as he could out to grab his bags and didn’t breathe again until the bathroom door was shut behind him.

Shaved, teeth brushed, hair combed and properly dressed, Nick felt able to face the day. He crept back out into the bedroom. Epi was snoring louder now, but Nick still slipped carefully into the hallway. The house was brightly lit from the tons of windows everywhere and the bright sunshine reflecting from the snow outside. The house was still beautiful and there were even more Christmas touches sitting about, but it was oddly silent.

Since he desperately needed a cup of coffee, Nick headed toward the kitchen. It was there that he finally found someone, and the last thing he expected to see was Epi’s mother chopping vegetables.

“Morning.” She chirped with a smile. “Wondered how long you’d sleep.”

“Ma’am.” Nick nodded back and moved into the kitchen that would have been better suited for a cooking show set than something in a home. “Jet lag, I guess.”

“Jet lag and my son no doubt. There’s coffee in the pot and mugs in the cabinet above. Sugar bowl is over there and should be plenty of milk in the fridge.”

“Black’s fine.”

“Epi still sleeping?”

He poured coffee into the found mug and nodded. “Snoring soundly, Mrs. Whitmore.”

“Please, call me Tilda, come have a seat at the counter and keep me company. Everyone else is out shopping or skiing. Tell me about yourself, Epi has been very tight lipped about you but we were so glad to hear he’s met someone.”

“We’re not…it’s…we’re just friends.”

“Oh.” She looked up from her carrots. “Well, I’m sorry, I’ve just come to assume my son’s friends are gay as well.”

He nearly chocked on his coffee. “No, no I am, it’s just, we’re just friends.”

“Ah.” She glanced back to her work. “What is he paying you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Come now, it’s just us. He is paying you, isn’t he? I know my son, he’s not the easiest of people, even before his accident. Patrick wants to know so that we can double it. It’s good for our son to have a stable help on hand, even if he won’t admit it, but I doubt he’s paying you enough to make up for how difficult he can be.”

“Ma’am…” He didn’t want to be rude to Epi’s parents but he wouldn’t tolerate that assumption from anyone else. He wasn’t sure if they just assumed Nick was the hired help that drove him around and carried things, or if they were assuming he was hired to do more than carry things, and he didn’t care. What Nick didn’t like was the assumption that Epi wouldn’t have a friend that wasn’t a lover and not on the payroll. “Epi owns the apartment I live in, in exchange for rent I help him out. He doesn’t pay me and I wouldn’t accept pay from him or you and your husband. I helped him to get here because he is my friend.”

Her eyebrows rose as she kept chopping. “Proud one aren’t you?”

Nick didn’t answer, he just kept sipping at his coffee.

“Not like that last one Epi brought home. I know he cared for him, but Timothy was not the sort of man I would have picked for Epi.” She placed her knife on the cutting board and openly studied Nick.

Nick didn’t quite glare back, but he didn’t back down.

“You don’t talk much either.” She waited, but Nick didn’t flinch. “Good. Epi needs a man with a spine to stand up to him, and for him as well.” Tilda reached over and patted Nick’s arm. “You may be just his friend, but forgive me for hoping your relationship evolves to something more. I think you’d be very good for him and we’d be glad to have you in the family.”

“You just met me.”

“Yes, but Epi had one friend and Timothy, and now he has one friend and you.”

“We’re just friends.”

She waved his words away. “Friends or more, it’s good for him. We might not be the tightest of knit families but all Patrick and I ever wished for any of our children is for them to be happy.”

Nick had to study his coffee to keep from telling her that Epi wasn’t happy and he doubted the other man had been happy for a very long time.

“He’s too much like Patrick’s father. He was a grumpy, snide, difficult man too.” She grinned. “It’s the name, not easy for a boy to be named Shannon. I was so hoping Epi would be a girl and I could throw my hands up to him and say 'sorry Dad, it’s a girl, but Shannon is a great name for her and no, we won’t be having another baby'.”

“It’s a family name?”

“Oh my yes, we’re not that sadistic. There has been a male Shannon in every generation of Whitmores for ages. It was his father that stuck him with that middle name, family tradition says that Shannon’s middle name must state our family’s success. Since Patrick figures it’s all down hill from this generation on, he came up with Epitome. It hasn’t quite been true, but I’m not holding out much hope for the grandkids to be anything more than the children of a wealthy family.”

“Stop boring the man, Mom.” Epi was moving better today, but Nick could see the slight scrunching around his eyes that betrayed the truth. Things still hurt and it didn’t seem fair that Epi would be rested from traveling to almost turn around and leave again.

“I’m not bored. Coffee?”

“Please.”

Nick didn’t wait for Epi to make it to one of the chairs by the counter to go get the man’s coffee for him. It was something they were used to now and he missed Tilda’s look of surprise. “Did you sleep well?”

“Like the dead.” Epi didn’t miss how she dropped her eyes at the casual phrase.

“I tried not to wake you when I got up.”

“You didn’t. I just woke up. Thanks.” He accepted the coffee and was glad the smell alone was able to half wake him up. “The wonderful story of my blessed name. May as well have tattooed 'kick me' on my back at birth.”

“Don’t be unpleasant, dear.”

“Of course not, Mother.”

Nick just hunkered his head down and stayed out of it.

 

“What are you doing in here?”

Nick jumped a little, startled from being caught staring at what were obviously family photos by a female voice behind him. He turned to see Epi’s sister, Amanda, standing in the small study’s doorway. “Sorry, I was just…” He held up his cell phone. “Looking for a quiet place.”

“It’s alright, just, this room is normally kept locked when family isn’t here. I didn’t know anyone had opened it.” She stepped into the room and came to where Nick had been standing. “It’s family photos and things. Looking for Epi?”

“He’s not easy to miss.” Nick grinned and turned back to the line of framed photos. Epi’s dark hair and sarcastic smirk hadn’t changed from when he was a small boy.

“True. It’s pretty obvious to tell he’s a fag when you look at old photos.” She stepped back a half step. “No offense intended.”

Nick shrugged. “Been called worse. Who’s that?” He pointed to a group photo of the children, but instead of four smiling faces, there were five.

“Stevie.” She sighed. “Epi didn’t mention him?”

“He doesn’t talk about his family often.”

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