None the Wiser (Dom)

[Carter Chevalier]

There was shouting from the other side of his bedroom door. Normally it was the kind of thing that would abruptly wake anyone up from their midday nap, but Carter had learned in his youth to sleep through the occasional stint of domestic violence.

After a while he'd been jolted abruptly out of his slumber. And he was pissed.

But he wasn't about to track the source of it all. He felt rested enough and would call it a personal victory. He sat up and leant against the wall, opening the safety box and producing one of the perfectly cut malachite spheres and rolling it between his hands. Sure enough, the door opened minutes later and his twin appeared. Instinctively he tossed the thing towards him without a second glance, taking the second one from the box and staring down at it.

Carter pushed off the wall when he noticed that Dominique's cheekbone had reddened. He rushed to stand before his brother, his eyes scrutinising the thing that would surely bruise. "Who did this to you."

[Dominique Chevalier]

Dom's fingers curled around the ball of smooth, polished rock as he caught it with a glance. His fingers flexed around it, carefully, not too much pressure. Turning his head slightly as Carter headed towards him with intent in his eyes, Dom sighed and held the cool stone to his cheek with a wince.

"Some girl," he said, "and no, I'd never slept with her," Carter and Dom were both aware of the hazards that could come with. Dom's personality was still rough and sharp too; he couldn't smooth things over like Carter could.

Carter would have known how to handle that.... whatever, thing, with Luce.

"She's some girl who's been kissing Lucy," he said, and shrugged with hard shoulders. "And, judging from her vehement reaction," his cheek throbbed, "I suppose she didn't appreciate Lucy kissing me not," he thought, "fifteen minutes ago. Maybe a little longer."

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter's free hand grazed across his brother's shoulder, resting behind his neck. Some girl punched him? He instinctively looked at the door. Who was she? And was she still there? He fought the temptation to go out there and verbally rip her to pieces; never hit a lady.

Never hit a lady.

"A little violence is alright if you'd been in the act." He pointed out, so now he was gloriously pissed. But no, he wouldn't chase after her. If he really wanted to, he'd find a way to get back at her.

And he really wanted to.

Because no one got to punch his brother and get away with it. Woman or not. "Lucy... Let's girls kiss her?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's hardly fair. She never lets me kiss her." Which - if she did turn out to be a lesbian - was ironic, given her overt desire to call everyone a homosexual. "Wait-" He dropped his hand. Now he was confused.

"Luciella... Kisses you?"

What?

[Dominique Chevalier]

Rolling his eyes, Dom's lips curled up and he offered his quartz stress ball to his brother. Wasn't like he was the only one angry; one twin's problem was the other's. Same went with anger, mostly.

He huffed a laugh at Carter's complaint, raising his eyebrows. "We were tainted by Tak," he explained, grimacing slightly even in remembrance of that particular event. The smile slipped then, sliding off like a drop of oil on water.

"Some stupid dare," he muttered, eyebrows coming together in confusion. "I didn't think she'd actually do it, I just thought she would, you know, punch me." The irony was not lost on him, and he looked up and helplessly held out a hand.

He felt very lost.

"C'était plus que ce que j'attendais," he said quietly, and shook his head until his hair flopped over his eyes. "Je ne sais pas quoi ressentir."

[Carter Chevalier]

"Never a dull moment." Carter chimed in lightly. And while he could face the seriousness of his brother's comment, he chose not to. Tak was better remembered as a joke; the kind that can't keep their legs together long enough to realise they're pregnant.

Ha, ha, ha.

He let the corner of his mouth twist into a frown. How unfair it all seemed, that she might take the task seriously. Carter would have assumed her flare for violence would have been unleashed. "Doesn't she know where it's been?" Carter chided, gripping his brother's cheeks between his hand before letting go. A teasing word among brothers, because it was so funny to have people assume they were dirty.

The dirtiest ones were always the cleanest.

Well, par the aforementioned joke.

But he let the more serious note take over, because it had to eventually. "Était-ce plus qu'un baiser entre amis?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity. "Pour qui? Les deux?" It had to be, right? He couldn't assume anything less.

[Dominique Chevalier]

Dom pulled a face as Carter took hold of his face, features squeezing up in a way that he'd never allow them to if he was in public. He chuckled, teeth flashing as he pursed his lips, before shaking his face free. People could judge if they wanted;

It only made it funnier when you saw them in bed.

At first, the only reply Carter got was a shrug as the quartz sphere spun quickly in Dom's hand. A noncommittal 'don't know maybe doesn't matter' that could not hold up under his brother's eyes. "Oui," he said, raising the sphere to his lips. "Pour moi..." he stopped and squeezed his stress ball. "Maybe. I don't know!"

He broke away from his place between the door and Carter to drop onto his brother's bed. "It's Lucy," he exclaimed. "We are hardly what you would call romantically compatible." Dom didn't really see himself as being romantically compatible with anyone. He'd thought Lucy felt the same and that was safe. "I didn't know she was even looking to date," he said, sitting up. "But then I see some blue haired pute with her on the street-"

He made a frustrated noise and fell back again, throwing an arm over his eyes. "And now I have been punched in the face by someone who is not Lucy for the crime of kissing Lucy." His lips twitched. "It was just a dare. Perhaps that is all it was to her. Perhaps that should be all I consider it."

[Carter Chevalier]

Alright, now this was serious.

Carter took a small step away from his brother, pursing his lips in a moment of confusion before turning away and moving towards his desk. He was clearly looking for something. But where it was, he didn't know. "Vous êtes malade." He said simply, riffling through the idle papers before turning away again. Perhaps in a bedside table drawer?

"You are not romantically compatible." Carter pointed out as lightly as he could, swinging one of the drawers open before sighing in disarray. Climbing over the bed - and careful not to intrude on his brother's personal space - he moved towards the other side. "Blue hair." He said to himself. The girl that fluttered around Luxanna from time to time? Huh. "Ah-ha!"

Success. He reached into the drawer and produced a half-empty - or half-full, depending on your preference - bottle of Bastille whiskey.

What, it was French. The best things in life always were.

"Wait." Carter paused, sitting on his desk chair and wheeling himself over. He took a painfully long swig of the burning alcohol. Drawing back, Carter made the move to hand the bottle over to him. "Here. Now." Another pause as he collected his thoughts for the time being. "Did it... Did you have... Feelings?" He asked, raising his eyebrows sharply. "You know. From the kiss, I mean. What was it like?"

[Dominique Chevalier]

Raising his hand in a silent cheer at the appearance of the bottle from where he lay on the bed, Dom sat up and accepted it and took a long and satisfying swallow. Smacking his lips, Dom considered the question, and then grimaced and took another swig.

Feelings. No. Just no.

"It was a kiss," he said slowly, offering the bottle back. "No tounge. Just..." Rubbing a hand over his face and wincing as his fingers rubbed over his still-sore cheek, Dom closed his eyes. "Her technique was alright," he said finally, "but it was different, you know?"

Resting his face on his hand, the terrakenetic tried to figure out how to put it, whatever it was, into words. "It sounds so fucking stupid when I try to say it," he started, finally looking up, "but I felt sort of light... Like, when you're on a roller coaster and it's just started to drop and you feel a bit weightless? Fuck."

Yeah, it sounded stupid. It sounded really stupid. He shouldn't have said it.

"Doesn't matter," Dom reached out a hand again, asking for the bottle. "As I said, it's stupid and whatever the fuck is wrong with me will pass." With a grin that might have fooled anyone else, he gestured to his face. "No girl is worth messing this up."

[Carter Chevalier]

First and foremost, Carter fought a grimace that crept onto his features when his brother mentioned no tongue. What a waste of a chance. But perhaps that was more worrying than either were admitting. The older twin found himself stuck on key wording;

It wasn't just a kiss. It was a kiss.

At least he didn't say it was good. But by a Chevalier's standards, alright was good. Because there was no good. Most people Carter encountered were god awful kissers in his book. And in that book, good was a feat within itself. "I don't know." He replied simply, prompting his brother for a better explanation as he took another swig from the bottle. It was beginning to become a heavy conversation, and they both needed it.

He raised his eyebrows at the explanation. A feeling of weightlessness - when had he experienced that? He shut his eyes quickly. This felt a little like a repeated memory.

"You don't think so?" Carter asked curiously as he handed the bottle off. "Better men have been fooled by women before." He offered, knowing there were only two men who Carter would ever think were better than himself or his brother. "How else would we be here, had a woman not been worth it all?"

[Dominique Chevalier]

"Ah," Dom said, his lip twitching. "Mother." Glancing at his twin, Dom frowned even as he occupied himself with the whiskey. Mother was the last person Dom wanted to think about while talking about kissing Lucy. She was the last person he wanted to think about while talking about kissing anyone, actually. Actually, she was the last person Dom wanted to think about. Full stop.

"I am not about to be fooled by anyone," he murmured, brow still creased. "We can learn from historical mistakes, surely."

Passing back the bottle, Dom reached up to ruffle Carter's hair. He managed to make it still look stylish, which is what should be expected. "You're the best thing she was ever responsible for," he said honestly. "And me, of course. But I do think our uncle had the better idea."

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter simply replied with a shrug, knowing he didn't need to go into detail. He hadn't intended to turn the conversation the way he did - if nothing else, he was working to prove a point. But she was a tender subject for them both, especially Dom. And she likely would be for years to come.

He frowned for a moment; the thought of being fooled didn't sit right with him.

Taking hold of the bottle, he cringed slightly as his hair was ruffled. With a simple shake of his head he tried to put it all into place again. But Dominique would never make it look wrong. "I was first." He pointed out, running his hand across the bottle as he studied the label. It was Uncle Seb's choice.

"But... What if it's not always a mistake?" He asked, genuinely this time. Usually his questions were designed to help the other navigate through their issues. "Have you ever felt weightless with another person before?"

[Dominique Chevalier]

"But I'm taller," Dom said automatically, with an accompanying grin. Holding onto a handful of minutes or an inch and a bit might have seemed weird to most people but when you were identical twins you held onto the points of differentiation you could find.

They also had a score board but that was private.

At Carter's question the grin dropped; they never lasted long on Dom anyway.

"I'm not sure," Dom said seriously, because Carter had meant the question seriously. "You live happily ever after, with his and hers, or his and his places in the family vault I guess? And you don't have to divide up your stuff, and then spend thousands of dollars on younger girlfriends." It was pretty matter-of-fact; that was how these things went, after all.

"No," he said flatly. "Except for that one time with that gravity manipulator."

[Carter Chevalier]

"By an inch." Or was it two? "And not where it counts."

As of late, he had been wondering. His mind had contemplated the proximity of love and relationships over and over, always finding the same outcome. The in-depth belief that it wasn't for everyone. Or anyone, for that matter. Too many times had a twin been privy to a relationship's demise; it isn't their fault some people cheat with them. That some people can't help themselves. That's not there burden to wear.

And they don't feel bad about it.

"You don't feel the pressure sign a prenuptial." He added with importance. "You probably don't even think about it."

The admittance - coloured with an off handed remark - brought a kind of curiosity out of Carter's eyes. The feeling of weightlessness; he was sure he'd felt it once or twice - aside from the moments of perfection with the aforementioned gravity manipulator; "What does that tell you? If anything..?"

[Dominique Chevalier]

"Always sign a pre-nup," Dom said, mimicking their uncle as he pulled a face. "Always always always." The idea of being that besotted, that you'd forget to protect yourself? The idea was horrifying. How could anyone be so stupid?

Dom ducked under Carter's eyes, rubbing the back of his neck in a rarely seen display of unease. "It tells me trouble, in big neon letters across my eyelids," he said honestly. "I don't like it. I feel like our friendship's gotten messy and strange."

But his brother had always been... better at the emotional side of their affairs. Dom generally didn't even bother talking much. "Have you ever felt that?" he asked. "What would you do?" It wasn't that he wanted to copy his brother's suggestions, but knowing what Carter thought would help, Dom was sure. It would help him understand.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter wouldn't argue the concept of signing a prenup. Their father and uncle would be disappointed if they skipped a step, no matter how in love either boy would seem to be. And surely, whoever they might end up with should know that already.

"Trouble..." Carter repeated, running his fingers across his jaw as he stared at the bottle in his other hand. The burning liquid swirled in slow circles with the subtle movement of his hand. He was inclined to agree.

At that posed question, Carter almost instinctively took a swig. Because it was painfully necessary. "More than once." He admitted, glancing at Dom very briefly before tearing his attention away. "Recently, I-" He paused suddenly, shaking his head and running his hand through his hair. "We don't talk anymore. Not since she got the perfect boyfriend." He looked at Dom with a weak grin; they and boyfriends - or girlfriends, for that matter - didn't mix.

"We used to be friends, though. Well..." He waved his free hand. Friends who had sex - Dom would understand that without Carter having to use the words. "Last time I saw her, she didn't understand why I wasn't speaking to her anymore. We argued and... Then I kissed her." He indicated towards Dom.

The feeling of weightlessness. "I left. I haven't seen her since."