Author's Note: All characters over eighteen.
****
It was already hot, and only first thing in the morning. It would only get worse. The recent heat wave had been absolutely stifling.
I pattered up to my brother's room, having been sent to wake him for breakfast. He wasn't usually one for sleeping in so much, but we'd all been stuck at the house for a while with lockdown and that had certainly messed with our rhythms some. That and how damn warm it was at night.
I had been struggling as well, for that matter. I'd taken to sleeping nude with a fan on me as the only way I could stay cool enough to sleep, and even then it was a miserable thing some nights. I wasn't sure of Dess's methods, but I felt bad that he seemed to be having an even worse time of it than me.
Some summer this was turning out to be.
I thought nothing of pushing open Dess's door, inhaling and ready to cheerfully awaken him. I stopped, my breath releasing out in a soft, steady, uncertain flow instead of the morning greetings I'd planned.
Dess slept naked too, it seemed. At least he had last night. And with no covers. And... and he had morning wood.
Slowly, painfully, my brain processed the new information while I stood just inside my brother's room. I felt like an intruder, which I was. I hadn't intended to see him like this, it hadn't occurred to me that he'd be fully naked in front of me, and I didn't know what to do now.
The obvious thing probably would have been to turn around and walk right back out. I didn't do that. I just kept staring.
I wasn't sure what made Dess so alluring to me in that moment. He was disheveled and sprawled haphazardly across his bed, one of his legs tangled in his sheets. I could see damp patches on his bedding where he'd been sweating in the night.
But he was naked. That was sort of a trump card in certain situations. There was a forbidden thrill to catching him like that. Seeing something I shouldn't. And... something I was enjoying seeing.
That was the truly weird part. I'd seen my brother in so many different ways over the years. Sometimes in compromising situations, sure, that just happened sometimes with siblings living together. But never like this. Not totally unclothed and unaware of my gaze.
Why did I find it so bizarrely hot? That was the question. I wasn't sure there were any answers to be found in continuing to stare, and yet that's all I could do.
I was saved from gaping too long by Dess finally stirring awake. It was too late to flee by the time his eyes fluttered open, so I stayed right where I was, as though it was where I intended to be.
"Put some damn pants on," I said.
Dess looked down at himself and grunted. "What are you even doing in here?"
"Getting you up for breakfast."
"Funny job you're doing of it."
"You're up, aren't you?"
Dess groaned. "I'm awake. That's not the same as up."
My eyes flicked to his erection for a second. "I don't know, you seem up."
He threw a pillow at me. I ducked but it still caught me almost full on the shoulder. I just grinned at him as he swung his legs out of bed, stood up, and rummaged for clothes.
"Turning into a bit of a perv, aren't you, Rhae?" he said.
"I'm not!"
"You are."
"You think I'd perv on you?"
"I think that's exactly what you're doing."
Dess pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms. He still tented them out rather obviously, but they at least technically covered his cock. His bare chest, which ordinarily wouldn't have attracted my attention at all, now fully occupied me.
"Not my fault you were naked," I said.
"Your fault you looked," he said, pulling on a t-shirt.
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could manage. "Well a girl's gonna look, isn't she? Doesn't mean you're anything much to behold."
Dess grinned back at me. "That the best excuse you got?"
"Whatever. I think you're perving if you think I'm here just to check you out."
"My wildest fantasy come true," Dess agreed easily. "My brat of a little sister invading my privacy."
"Pff, you love it. You think I didn't see your dick twitch?"
"Heh, I knew you were looking."
I could feel my cheeks going way too warm, but luckily Dess was moving past me by then, headed to the bathroom. Probably to jerk off as much as anything. I refrained from thinking about it too much, or taunting him further on the way. I was too liable to get flustered at this point.
Instead, I took a few moments to compose myself, then went to sit down at the breakfast table. Dess was the last to arrive, after myself and our parents. As far as Mom and Dad were concerned, it was just another morning. Even Dess was acting like that was all it was. Just another too-warm morning that promised to be another scorcher later on.
I felt weird about the morning, though, and kind of hoped Dess secretly did too so it wasn't just me. It was my fault though. I didn't know what had possessed me. My sleep hadn't been much better than Dess's lately. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was just a lack of thinking clearly.
My brother was ok to look at, I could admit that. He wasn't anything special though. Not nearly enough to make me forget we were siblings. And yet... there was something. Something had happened to me while staring at him. Maybe it was just lack of sleep and the surprise nudity. Maybe that was all it took.
****
I spent a large part of my day reading in the shade. I'd donned a bikini a few times in the past few days, taking advantage of the copious sun, but today didn't seem like the day for it.
Dess didn't have any such compunctions. He went around shirtless most of the day. Out tending his plants. He had some small patches of peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, and a few other things. Fancied himself a gardener lately. He wasn't bad at it. I kept telling him he might as well try growing some pot plants while he was at it, though he kept laughing it off. Mom wouldn't have any of it anyway, we both knew, even if it was perfectly legal these days.
I kept watching him as he moved past, sometimes over the top of my book, sometimes through lidded eyes as I pretended to snooze. It was the way I might behave with a brand new crush. I knew the feeling from other boys I'd taken a liking to in the past. Any excuse to sneak peeks.
But it was fucking Dess. I was pretty sure it was impossible to crush on your own brother. So what the fuck?
Mom and Dad were pretty much doing the same as Dess and shedding clothes. Dad was shirtless, and Mom was down to only a bra and a pair of scandalously short shorts. Neither of them had ever been super into conservative dress, which was probably where Dess and I had gotten our lax attitude toward clothes. It had just never come down to full nudity before.
And maybe that was all it was, I reflected. Maybe because the only other times I'd seen a boy fully naked was when we had a real thing going, and specifically when having sex or something. Maybe lack of clothes didn't mean much to me, but total nudity did.
"Not getting any sun today?" Mom asked, casually squeezing my knee on the way by.
"Nah, not today," I said. "Kind of sick of the heat."
"Mmm, I understand. Usually you're in your bikini by this time of day though."
I shrugged. "Don't feel like it today, I guess."
She nodded sympathetically. "One of those days, huh?"
"What?"
"Where you hate how you look in certain outfits, I mean."
"Oh. Yeah, maybe," I lied.
"Well for what it's worth, and I know you won't listen to your old mom, but you're just as beautiful as ever, sweetie."
She kissed the top of my head, then pattered on by. I appreciated the words, or the spirit of them anyway, but I absolutely wasn't going to own up to why I was staying a little more modest today.
It wasn't even like I was wearing much more than usual. A thin tank top and a pair of shorts that barely covered my butt cheeks when I stood. More coverage than a bikini, but not by much.
It was only because the rest of my family was wearing skimpier outfits than me today, I decided, smiling faintly as I watched Mom bend over in her booty shorts. Usually I was cutting edge in that department. I'd set the bar too high, so that even a relatively normal outfit in this weather seemed like me covering myself up.
I didn't really need my family thinking something was wrong, but I also wasn't going to go change over it.
Dess eventually walked by me too, all half-naked and sweaty from the heat. I tried not to look directly at him, as I really just wasn't enjoying what that did to me today.
"Hey, sorry about this morning," I said.
He tilted his head. "Oh, that," he said, as though it was nothing.
"Yeah, no, I was just feeling kind of weird, I guess," I said. "Not enough sleep maybe. I really didn't think you'd be naked."
Dess shrugged. "Don't worry about. I'll just walk in on you in the shower or something and we'll be even."
I smiled despite myself. "I knew you were the one perving."
"Couldn't have been."
"You're already thinking about how to get my clothes off."
