Hello to everyone reading this! This is part 1 in a I-don't-know-how-many-chapters series with a bit of a slow burn. There's sex in chapter 1 but nothing much happens until chapter 2. I'm working on really building up to the moment of sex and languishing in little moments of sexuality. Sorry if it's boring.
As always, comments and feed back are appreciated. Thanks!
Mark listened to the woodland sounds. The stream, the birds, the wind in the leaves. He listened to the sound of wind chimes gently floating through the air as they softly kissed each other and the wind caressed sweet notes from their hollow forms.
He counted his breaths as he sat listening with his eyes closed. In. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Hold. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Out. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Again.
He lost track of time as his breath calmed his body. His subconscious mind followed suit allowing his body to relax further. As was always the case, the constant, quiet hum of discontent disappeared under the warm blanket of his meditation and Mark felt like he could really and truly relax. He felt his soul lift, he felt like he could breathe properly. Not just the discontent, but the anger and aggression that was always just under the surface quieted down and the Beast (as Mark always thought of his anger) lay down to rest for a while.
If only he could carry it like that.
The gentle tone of a meditation bowl told Mark he needed to get back to studying. He had two final exams left before he could check out and the only thing he had to worry about was Prom and summer vacation. He had fantasies of lounging by the pool and relaxing in the sun. He dreamed of getting away from school for a year. His mom had agreed to let him to take a year off from school during which he would be working with a construction company he had worked with in summers past. He looked forward to leaving the social politicking of high school behind and maybe, just maybe, the Beast would stay behind with it.
He wasn't hopeful.
He opened eyes. His room was purposefully sparse. No computer, no desk, no chairs, just a bed in the corner furthest from the door and soft carpeting on the floor. The walls were decorated with posters of Japanese wood block prints, ink paintings and watercolors. It was all designed to be peaceful and distraction free. He stretched out his long frame on the soft carpet and reached behind him to turn off the timer and the white noise machine.
Almost immediately he felt the Beast rise in his chest. He hated high school. He hated all the fakers. He hated the teachers who wasted his time, knowing they were just wasting his time. He hated the school system that made him take tests whose only purpose was to prove that he could take tests, and he hated a system about which the best thing that can be said of it was that fewer kids committed suicide over High School now than they did ten years ago.
The Beast fueled his anger, his hatred and his rage, but not as much after an hour of meditation. Mark wasn't so angry that he couldn't get back to studying. Outside his room he heard the twins talking down the hall. River and Rachel were two years older than him attending the local community college and working in the family business. Which is to say that they were interns at Mom's IT consulting firm while taking care of gen ed requirements before going to a conventional university for their degree. The house was a single-story ranch house. From the entrance there was an open floor plan into the living room, dining room and kitchen to the front and left, while a hallway to the right led to the bedrooms and the bathroom Mark shared with the twins. There was a finished basement which they used for movie nights and which Mark used to practice Akido when he had the house to himself.
As he walked down the hall to the dining room where he had left his studies an hour before, he saw his family. River and Rachel sat at the kitchen bar while Mom (Susan) made dinner. River and Rachel, though fraternal twins, were similar to the point of being near identical. They were both just shy of 5,9, had the same black hair and blue eyes that Mom said their Dad had, and if they chose to dress alike and hide their hair (River had short hair, Rachel had long, wavy hair that reached down to her ass), they could almost serve as mirrors for each other. Rachel however, had a woman's body. She had gorgeous breasts that Mark had to remind myself were off limits, curvy hips begging for attention and an ass that was so stunning she had to try to hide it. Mark had gotten into more than one fight with assholes who thought that because she was pretty and single, that meant she was eager and available. He had gotten into more fights with assholes who thought that "no" meant they had free license to call her a fat, frigid bitch.
River for all that he was so similar to Rachel, was oddly different. He was kind of androgynous looking, with a feminine face, narrow shoulders and wider hips, but none of the typical feminine curves nor the strong angular lines of a more masculine build. He had tried to grow a goatee at one point to make himself look more manly or something but that didn't take. Something about him, besides his height, had always left him on the outside of most groups, looking in. Between that and his interest in technology River had few friends, and those few he had were more interested in getting close to Rachel and Mom than River. Rachel and Mark were really his only friends, and they both had other friends besides. Rachel had even had boyfriends, although most of those had dried up when they realized that Rachel was more interested in code than camaraderie. Mark had gotten into his fair share of fights over River as well. Bullies being what they were, it wasn't surprising that they picked on him for being different. River was small and slight for a guy, but Mark knew that River also had an ass every bit as alluring and hypnotic as Rachel's. Not for the first time, Mark wondered if River would be happier if he embraced his body instead of trying to hide it. If there was ever a man who could pull of a dress, it was River. Mark shook those thoughts from his head and looked at his mom.
She was taller than the twins, but shorter than Mark's 6 foot 2. She was an IT consultant, focusing on the business side of things while employees like Rachel and River did more of the stereotypical software/hardware kind of stuff. Mom wasn't rail thin or super fit or anything, but she made an effort to exercise and stay in shape. A couple of years before their Dad had died and the IT company had really started taking off, Mom had gotten herself some cosmetic surgery to deal with the "FF back killers" she called them. She wasn't as curvy as Rachel - her bust was a modest though stellar C cup these days - but she was no less beautiful or enthralling a creature, especially when she wore yoga pants around the house.
Mark had her black hair, olive skin and brown eyes. The biggest difference between them was that Mom's eyes were always caring and gentle. Mark's eyes were always suppressing the Beast.
"Hey there, Tiger. Feeling better?" River said that Mark reminded him of a caged tiger. Rachel called him "Kiddo" and Mom called him "Baby." River's voice was a lightweight tenor and soft. River didn't like putting himself out there or being noticed and his voice was always soft, even at home. Even if he hadn't been aware of Mark's anger issues, his voice would have been soft and gentle.
The family knew better than to tease Mark about his meditation. They knew that he had anger issues. They knew the reasons behind his fights and knew how much work Mark had put in to manage the rage. And they knew that despite all the effort, Mark was still graduating a year late because he had been suspended for fighting so many times. If he hadn't taken so many summer courses, he'd be looking forward to graduating even later.
