Caged Mentality

POV: Khristos Larkin

“What the fuck?!” Riel yelled, causing Eli to pull away abruptly. I backed away a bit, not sure what to do. Did I really just kiss Riel’s brother? “I thought you were fuckin straight, you bastard!” Riel picked up a pillow, chucking it at Eli.

“I am straight, dammit!” Eli insisted. Didn’t seem so straight to me.

“How the fuck is that possible? You just fuckin kissed my boyfriend!”

“He kissed me. I can’t help I’m good at pretending to be you.”

“You kissed him back!” Riel yelled, lightly pushing Eli.

“I did not… And if I did it was because I was pretending to be you, Riel. So don’t get pissed.”

“How can’t I be?! You always said I wasn’t gay cause you weren’t. You were just afraid admitting I was gay meant you were too!”

“I’m not stupid. Twins and triplets can have different orientations. I’m not gay!”

“But we’re always alike. You were afraid this was in common too!”

“I’m not fucking gay!”

“Well, I think I figured out who’s who…” I stated. I looked from Riel to Eli and back to Riel, finally noticing the things that should’ve been obvious. A bit late, but whatever… “And, apparently, discovered Eli’s true sexuality.”

“I’m not gay!” Eli insisted with a stomp of his foot.

“Yeah… You just kissed my boyfriend… You’re fucking gay.” Riel argued. I liked how he was actually referring to me as his boyfriend for once.

“Or bi.” I added. “But yeah, you’ve got to be either gay or bi.”

“I am not gay or bi! I’m fucking straight!” Says the one who just kissed another guy. “Why won’t you listen?”

“Yuck…” Riel turned to me, ignoring Eli’s question. “I can’t kiss you now or it’s like kissing my brother…” He returned his attention to Eli. “Well, I’ll say you’re bi, Eli.”

“I’m straight.”

“We could always test again.” I smirked at Riel, then glanced at Eli. I was probably just gonna make Riel more pissed, but hey. I was just having some fun, like they were earlier.

“Why the hell do you wanna kiss my brother?!” Yep, I pissed Riel off more. He glared at me. “Fuck you.”

Well, if you insist, Riel.

“I don’t wanna kiss some guy anyway.” Eli stated, covering up his mouth with his hand. He really wanted to be straight, huh? “Gross…”

“Yeah, sure.” I chuckled, kind of amused by his denial. I turned to Riel, wrapping my arms around him. “Chill. I was kidding.”

“Yeah… Okay…” Riel muttered.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Eli commanded. Riel was probably glaring at Eli with all the wrath of hell. There was probably also a violent red aura around Riel, and fire in his eyes. “I’m not gay.”

“Just shut up and get out.” Riel ordered. I heard Eli leave the room, then I pulled back enough to be able to look at Riel, my arms still around his waist.

“Damn, Riel, what’s your problem? I really don’t want to kiss your brother. I promise.” I told him.

“I feel lied to and hurt. He always says I’m not gay, but he’s bi! And I don’t see why you had to do that to figure out who was who.” He complained, glaring at nothing in particular.

“Hey, you wanted me to play your game. It was the first solution that I thought of. It’s not like I wanted to kiss your twin brother.”

“I have snakebites, he has three studs. He also has plugs. I don’t.” Yeah, I knew that now… He should’ve just told me that sooner. “He’s a triplet, not exactly twin… It’s more him being a jerk that’s bothering me.”

“Well, I’m sorry. You need to talk it out with him, not me, I can’t fix things for him.”

“I will later…” Riel let out a sigh and leaned on my shoulder. My poor Riel’s having a bad day… “You need to wash your mouth…”

“Jeez, It’s not like I was making out with him… Is it really that bad?”

“You wanna kiss someone after your brother’s kissed them?” Riel questioned, then disappeared before I could even reply. I sat on the bed to wait for him to come back. A moment later, he returned, dressed in a plain white tee shirt with blue skinny jeans. “I don’t like dressing the same as him if I’m doing nothing productive…”

I stood. “Well, I still haven’t met your mom. After that, we can go if you want, and I’ll wash out my mouth.”

“My mom’s the only decent one.” He said with a smile. Smiling while indirectly putting down his siblings and father… Nice. He led me downstairs to the kitchen, where we found his mother. “Hey, mom.”

“Hello, honey.” She greeted sweetly. Already way better than my mom… “Who’s this young man?”

“This is Kris.” Riel replied. Of course, not giving her the whole story either.

“I’m his boyfriend.” I stated smilingly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Boyfriend?” She repeated, just staring at me blankly for a moment. I couldn’t tell if she liked or disliked that thought. But then she wrapped her arms around me, so I guessed it was a good thing. I hugged her back. “I’m so happy he’s dating! You must be special if you got him to stop messing around!”

“Mom, calm down and stop it!” Riel ordered, his face turning a bit pink. He was so cute when he blushed.

“I guess I am pretty special,” I laughed lightly, grinning at Riel, “The only one able to tame Dr. Manwhore.”

“Oh fuck off!” Riel’s eyes narrowed, though I couldn’t take him seriously with such a red face. He turned away from us, probably hiding the fact that he was blushing. Unfortunately for him, it was too late for that.

“Don’t talk like that!” His mom scolded, then returned her focus to me and kissed my cheek. “I’m happy you’re with my son. Grateful, actually.”

“Yeah, well, it took long enough to finally get him to stop making excuses and date me.” I smirked in Riel’s direction. “Jeez, Riel, can’t you at least watch your mouth around your mom? And why are you so red?” I questioned teasingly as I wrapped my arms around his waist, laughing lightly.

“Leave me alone. You two are embarrassing…” He spoke quietly, then pushed me away. He kept his gaze on the floor.

“He was always embarrassed easily. Such a sensitive kid.” His mother giggled. Mentioning him as a kid made me wonder what he looked like when he was little.

“You’re so adorable sometimes, Riel.” I chuckled. I wanted to kiss him, but I knew he wouldn’t let me, since I had washed out my mouth yet. I turned to his mom. “You got any baby pictures of him?”

“I do. But it’s hard to tell which is Riel and Eli… Unless one’s crying…” She laughed, as did I.

“No! He can’t see them, Mom.” Riel objected, glaring, blushing even deeper. I was having the hardest time resisting kissing him. Dammit…

“I want to see them.” I stated, grinning.

She walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a picture album, then held it out to me. I reached out to take it, but it was snatched away before I could get close.

“No.” Riel hugged the book tightly so I couldn’t take it.

“Aw, come on, Riel!” I frowned, trying to pry the book from his hands. He was being too stubborn.

“No!” He backed away.

“What’s the big deal? It’s just pictures.” I tried to get it again, but he jerked it away as soon as I got a hand on it. “Don’t make me kiss you with your brother’s germs!”

“You won’t. That wouldn’t be fair.” He said with a slight whine to his voice, then ran upstairs.

“Riel!” I chased after him, but I got the door slammed in my face. “Let me in!” I pounded on the door after hearing it lock. I just wanted to look at pictures…

“Not yet.” He said from the other side of the door. Not yet? What was he doing, scanning through the album to see if I could look or not? What the hell was the big deal? They were just baby pictures. Was that really so bad?

After another moment, he unlocked the door.

I walked in to find him sitting on the bed empty-handed, an innocent look on his face. Like he was such a little angel who never did anything to anyone… Who did he think he was fooling?

“Where did you put it?” I sighed.

“I’m not telling you. You don’t need it.”

“I wanna see the pictures, Riel, please?” I begged, straddling him and laying my head on his shoulder, my hands rested on his waist.

“No.” He shook his head. “You don’t want to.” He started blushing again, his gaze fixed on the floor.

“Yes I do.” I insisted softly, my lips close to his ear. I was hoping maybe messing with his mind would help. I ran my hand from where it was on Riel’s waist across his torso and up to his hair, gripping his hair and kissing his neck. It seemed to be working, until he suddenly pushed me away.

“Keep your contaminated mouth to yourself.”

What the fuck…

“Oh come on…” I groaned, then decided to pin him to the bed. “Where’s the book?”

“I’m not telling you. You don’t need it. Let me up.”

Damn his stubbornness!

“Tell me or I’ll kiss you.” I threatened, pressing my forehead to Riel’s.

He shook his head no, then turned his head as far away from mine as possible. “No. I won’t let you. You can’t have it.”

“I want it.” I nudged Riel’s head forward again, then quickly pressed my lips to his before he could look away.

Immediately, he broke the kiss by turning his head. “Aw, come on! You kissed my brother!” His eyes narrowed as he tried to get free. I didn’t let him. I liked being stronger, it was helpful.

“Let me look at that book or I won’t let you up and I’ll kiss you again.”

“No. You don’t need it.” He repeated. “Get off me right now.”

“No. Not until you let me look at the pictures.”

“I won’t.” He shook his head again. So stubborn… But I did like that about him, as much as I complained about it.

“You have to. I’m stronger than you, you’re stuck here until I get what I want.” I pointed out.

“I’m more stubborn.”

Touché.

“Well, I really wanna see those pictures. So I guess we’re sitting like this for a while.”

He just stayed silent, continuing to glare at me. I swear his eyes are gonna stay like that permanently from how much he does that.

“It’s just pictures, Riel, come on. What’s so bad about it?”

“I don’t want you to. Respect that.” He attempted to push me away, but failed.

“Nah. I wanna see them.”

“Tough shit.”

“It’s not fair. Just let me see them. Why is it so bad?”

He completely ignored me, staring at the wall. Jeez…

“This is ridiculous…” I gave up, climbing off the bed, starting to search the room for that picture album. I wanted to see really badly, more than I would if he didn’t say I couldn’t.

He propped a pillow up against the headboard of the bed, sitting back against it, watching me look around.

“I would let you see pictures of me as a kid if you wanted to… I mean, they’re just pictures.” I ranted as I went through multiple things in search of that damn album. “You’re overly stubborn, Riel.” I returned to the bed, standing at the edge of it with my hands on it as I leaned toward Riel. “You just like making people with anger issues mad, huh?” I smirked slightly, then had an idea. I reached under one of the pillows, and there it was. Such a simple hiding place… I pulled it out. “Aha!” I grinned and darted out of the room before he could stop me.