5311km [closed] [M]

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett had never been a fan of technology. It was probably because of the fact that it somehow seemed hard to, well, use. Usually he was a quick-learner, but where technology was involved, he was quite the opposite. Skype was perhaps the only thing in his laptop that he actually learned to use at its fullest, and all because of, and thanks to, his sister. She had even taught him how to use it, in fact, all so they could talk to each other on constant basis while the two were in different continents.

At this moment, though, they weren't. Rhett was in France, spending the holidays with what little family had left, whom he had gotten reacquainted with not a year ago. This Christmas was officially Rhett's best Christmas ever, and even though he wasn't catholic nor liked festivities as this one, he had learned to love the season only because of the smile it formed in his little sister's face.

But there was another face he was eager to see.

Rhett: Hey.

He managed to write in between yawns. It was about to be 7:00 a.m. of the 26th, and Rhett hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because of playing with Rosette all day with her new dolls and that plastic kitchen set she got for Christmas.

Rhett: You still there?

In the other side of the puddle, in Maine where Ulrich was with his family, it was about to be 1:00a.m., of the 26th as well. Both boys had actually planned to meet online one hour before, but Rhett had slept through it, so he didn't know if Ulrich was still online even though the green dot appeared next to his name.

[Ulrich Schneider]

Ulrich had waited all day to chat with Rhett, but when the time came, Rhett was nowhere to be found. The German boy was a bit disappointed, but he was understanding. He knew that Rhett probably had jet lag and needed to sleep. Plus, it was early in the morning in France.

But then, Ulrich heard a beep come from his laptop which he had set up on his bed in his bedroom. He was in a bathroom across the hall, brushing his teeth. After quickly finishing up, he bolted back to his computer and saw a green dot by Rhett's name. He also saw that he had a message from the older boy, and all the disappointment he had disappeared.

Ulrich: Hey
Ulrich: Yeah Im still here
Ulrich: Did you have a good xmas?

[Rhett Goddard]

A small smile painted the blonde's face.

Rhett: Yeah.
Rhett: Rosette got many dolls.
Rhett: A kitchen set.
Rhett: And a bike.

The last gift was Rhett's. One of the time they had talked, she had told him she didn't know how to ride a bike and thus Rhett bought her one with the intention of teaching her how to ride it. Day one was not very fruitful, as not once she dared to take the learning wheels off, but at least she now knew how to... pedal and brake.

Rhett: Trouble's very happy too.
Rhett: He's here with me.
Rhett: Want to see him?

Rhett clicked in the videocall button and listened to the sound of the outgoing call while rubbing the back of his dog's head.

Rhett: How was yours?

[Ulrich Schneider]

Ulrich was happy to hear that Rhett had a good Christmas and he was enjoying spending time with his sister. Family was important.

Ulrich: Great! Im glad youre having a good time

When Rhett mentioned Trouble, Ulrich was a bit confused at first. Then he remember, it was the dog. That reminded him of the time with the bird and how Rhett and him argued over animals. Ulrich felt bad about it now, but he had something planned to make it up to the boy. It was a secret though, not to be revealed until they see each other face to face in the same country.

Ulrich: Sure Id love to see him

Ulrich took a moment to wipe his bangs away so they were out of his eyes before clicking the "answer" button. Ulrich appeared on webcam seconds later. He looked at Rhett and Trouble and smiled

Ulrich: Aww hes cute!
Ulrich: Id show you our dogs but they are sleeping in the shed

That's where his family's hunting dogs slept. They were a bit too rambunctious to keep inside the house.

Ulrich: It was good
Ulrich: We had to wake up early and open presents from "santa" because Leo still believes in him

Leo was Ulrich's younger cousin.

Ulrich: I got a cool flashlight attachment for my revolver

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett: He is.

Rhett hugged Trouble and landed a kiss on top of his head, to which the dog responded by licking Rhett's face from cheek to cheek and chin to forehead. Rhett only smiled and continued rubbing him.

Rhett: You'll show me later.

The blonde said about Ulrich's dogs, of which he had talked about before. He barely saw the point on it, though, as there was no possible comparison between Trouble and Ulrich's hunting dogs, as Trouble was, pretty much, a part of the family and perhaps the living being that the French boy loved the most in the world, even surpassing his feelings for his sister.

"Can you hear me?" Rhett said softly after hitting the microphone button. "I got you a gift as well, you know?"

[Ulrich Schneider]

Ulrich giggled at the sight of Trouble licking Rhett's face. He never let his dogs do that. The weren't clean, insides dogs like Rhett's. Ulrich shrugged his shoulders when Rhett said that he'll be shown them later. He figured it would be one day, months, possibly years before that would ever happen.

And then he heard Rhett's voice. Ulrich checked to see if his computer's built in microphone was connected to Skype.

"Yeah, I can hear you," he replied with a smile.

"I have one for you also, but I don't want to show you what it is until we are on the same continent."

Ulrich stretched his arms in the air and yawned. He was tired, but nowhere near ready to sleep. He usually went to bed much later than this on the holidays anyway. Sleep and Ulrich didn't get along well a lot of the time.

The German boy was wearing a plain white t-shirt and camo pajama pants, but only the upper half of his body was visible on webcam. The weird lighting of his dark bedroom and the glow from the computer screen made the blue color of his eyes pop out. "I uh... I missed you..."

[Rhett Goddard]

"Hmm..." Rhett let out loud while rubbing Trouble. "Then you'll have to wait for yours as well."

What Rhett's cam showed was him, shirtless with a plain and uninteresting white well-lid bedroom as background. It was a guests room, after all. Behind Rhett, his bed, disorganized managed to stand out, and in the corner, the boy's bag and some clothes laying around.

"Give me a hint at least, though." Rhett asked with curiosity, trying to figure out what it was.

He was, of course, not used to the guessing game, as his ESP would cheat for him in these things, but not only Ulrich was far from Rhett's sphere of meta-influence, he was also apparenly immune to it. The blonde had grown accustomed to trying to guess things through skype, though, (which was probably the only way it was actually fair), as his sister always played games with him all the time. Normally, not knowing things made Rhett feel weak or vulnerable, but weirdly, feeling like that with people he cared for, didn't make him feel like that, and he seemed to enjoy it.

"Is it something you bought or something you did?" He figured it was a nice to know what type of gift was.

[Ulrich Schneider]

Ulrich couldn't help but let his eyes wander at Rhett's shirtless body. It was just a natural reaction, but he didn't want to ponder on it long. He didn't want to make the situation awkward... if he hasn't already.

"I don't know," Ulrich replied, "I don't want to give it away." He put his hand on his chin and thought about it. "Well, I bought it, and it's pretty complex, like you are. If I knew how to make one though, I would."

He actually thought the gift through and gave it some meaning. Now though, he wished he would have made something by hand for Rhett. He might just surprise him with something like that the next time they meet as well.

"Is that a good enough hint?" he asked with a smile. "Now are you going to give me a hint?"

[Rhett Goddard]

"For now, I guess." Rhett said as he started to ponder unto what kind of gift was.

He gave it some thought while playing with Trouble's hair, who had now found a way to lay down in Rhett's legs, out of the cam's range, even though he was probably far too big for such position to be comfortable for any of them, but Rhett didn't actually care and neither did Trouble apparently.

The first thing that came into mind with Ulrich's hint was a Rubik's cube, but didn't that make quite a boring gift? Maybe it was better if he didn't gave it thought and left it as a surprise.

"Nope." He shook his head in response to Ulrich's question. "It's a surprise and it'll stay a surprise."

[Ulrich Schneider]

"Okay, a surprise it is then."

Ulrich didn't like surprises in life, but gifts were a different thing. He could handle a surprise gift, especially one from Rhett. It probably didn't what the French boy got him, he would most likely end up liking it no matter what it was.

"You look really good, by the way," Ulrich mentioned a bit out of the blue. He bit his lip while he let his eyes wander. "I can't wait for you to get back."

Ulrich wished he could be with Rhett right now. He longed for the physical contact that they shared, the holding hands, the touches, the kisses... and even the thing Rhett did in the bathroom at the airport. He was astounded by how much sheer pleasure the older boy could give him in a matter of seconds.

"This is probably the only year I've wanted Christmas and stuff to be over with early... just so I could be with you again."

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett acknowledged Ulrich's flirts with a small smile and locked his eyes on the other's blue ones. He even felt like he blushed a bit as he continued talking in that rather sweet and cute manner.

"It'll be over soon..." He said softly as his eyes darted to the source of a sound coming from one side.

<Brother?> The voice of a little girl spoke softly and in French through the door as it opened.

Immediately, Trouble jumped out of Rhett's lap and not a second after, Rhett was jumping away from his seat and into the small pile of clothes in the corner, forgetting for the small instant that Ulrich was seeing him on cam, but full aware that he was only wearing very small briefs, and so, he put on the first shorts he found in the pile on top of his underwear.

<What are you doing up?> She approached the center of the room, while rubbing her eyes, clearly just woken up. <It's so early...> The young girl's face turned and noticed the laptop's screen and Ulrich's cam displayed on it. <Who is that?>

<No one!> Rhett quickly jumped and minimized the Skype window.

"Is that you, Odi?" She asked in English trying to approach the laptop, but Rhett wasn't letting her. "Brother! Let me pass!" Rhett still blocked her way. "I want to practice English with your boyfriend!" She whined. "Come'on! Let me pass! Odion, tell him to let me pass!"

In a quick movement, Rhett leaned down and grabbed the young girl by the hips, lifting her to the air and walking out of the cam's reach. It took Rhett a couple of minutes to come back to his laptop, having settled Rosette down back in her room, and hoping Ulrich hadn't left.

"Hey..." He said as he opened the Skype window again. "Erm... sorry about that."

[Ulrich Schneider]

Ulrich watched closely as Rhett jumped into action and quickly put on some shorts to cover himself. Ulrich blushed at the sight of it. However, he didn't have long to think about it because a little girl with blonde hair appeared on screen, first talking in what Ulrich guessed was French, and then in English.

She asked about Odion... Rhett's boyfriend.

Ulrich wasn't too happy about that, but he kept on a happy face and waved at the little girl before she was taken out of the room by Rhett.

"It's okay," Ulrich replied. "That's your sister, right? She looks like you."

Ulrich sighed, trying not to let the Odion stuff bother him. He couldn't blame Rhett for not telling a little child that they are no longer together. Children don't quite understand things like that anyway. He took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm glad you got the chance to see her again."

With that out of the way, he began thinking back again to seeing Rhett in his underwear. "I... uh..." he laughed, "you're really hot." Ulrich blushed again. It was the first time he used the word 'hot' and wasn't talking about the temperature.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Yes," Rhett nodded to Ulrich. "Rosette."

Rosette and Rhett did look alike, even if there was a big difference in age and, well, in gender: the blonde hair, the white skin, the gray eyes and the sharp features were distinctive in both and if anyone cared enough to know the two, they would notice that personality-wise, there was a bit of resemblance as well. Rosette was very smart and observant for her age, just as Rhett has always been. The blonde was thankful, though, that the resemblance stopped there, as he wouldn't want her to be like him. She deserved being a better person.

"She's far prettier." Rhett said simply, but then Ulrich gave Rhett and adjective that surpassed "pretty" in big ways.

He stared a moment or two at the screen. Now, like Ulrich, he was wishing "Christmas and stuff" to be over as well, as he wanted to respond to Ulrich's comment with actions and not with words, and even though there were several actions that could be done through Skype, he decided to leave to only words. Take it slow... Rhett reminded himself.

"You are too." He had confidence in his voice. "And cute most of the times. I miss you too, in fact." He had also warmth in his voice. "Your hands... your lips... your neck..."

[Ulrich Schneider]

"Rhett and Rosette," Ulrich said aloud, "your names go well as brother and sister names."

Ulrich always wondered what his brothers and sisters would be named if his parents didn't disappear. He wouldn't mind having a little sister like Rhett's to protect and take care of. Instead, he had his cousins, who he was extra close to. His older cousin, Derek, joined the military not too long ago, and his younger cousin, Leo was still living at home with Ulrich's aunt and uncle.

Again Ulrich blushed when Rhett began complimenting him. It was then that an idea popped into Ulrich's head... one he was nervous about doing.

"I... I uh... I'll be right back."

Ulrich stood up and moved out of the webcam's view. He walked back a forth in his room for a second before deciding to go through with his idea. He slipped off his shirt and his pants, leaving him in only his black Call of Duty boxers.

He then got back into his back and laid back with the computer beside him. It was obvious how loosely clothed he was. "I wanted to get comfortable..." he said with some confidence.

[Rhett Goddard]

"It's of family custom to have repeated letters in the names." Rhett said as Trouble managed to find himself in the blonde's lap again. "Me and Rosette got double tees." He shrugged lightly while rubbing his dog softly. "Guess my... mother..." It felt so weird saying that noun out loud. "was being sentimental when naming us red and pink, but doubtedly she knew any English. I'd have to ask."

But he wasn't going to. Rhett's mother had already died, and although he was told that in her last years, after Rosette was born, she was seeking redemption, and seeking Rhett, the blonde was probably never going to forgive her for his childhood and what had happened. She, and her existence, was still a very touchy subject for Rhett, and he always decided not to wander too close to it. As much as his grandmother had told him the history of their family, he always tried to keep himself away from listening the history of his mother. A part of him wanted to, somehow, always hate her. The day he stopped, would officially be the day Rhett has changed to a better person. But that day was far from close.

"Ok." Rhett nodded at Ulrich leaving and instead focused his attention to Trouble who hadn't stopped being as playful and attention-seeking as Rhett remembered. "I..." Rhett blinked rapidly as he saw Ulrich's camview. "yeah, I see that..." Lifting Trouble from his lap, Rhett placed him back in the floor, where he stayed, and rearranged himself in his chair before arranging a bit his shorts and underwear, as they were not bugging him slightly thanks to Ulrich. "Is that all..." His eyes stared at the screen, detailing Ulrich's body up and down before swallowing saliva. "you're doing?" Rhett made his lips wet. "Getting comfortable?"