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Memir stirred from his nap at the sound of rapid, insistent knocking. Zaafani huffed and shot him a sleepy glare for moving from their comfortable position on the couch.
"Sorry," Memir muttered as he prepared to stand, scooping up the large cat and depositing him on the warm cushion. "Go back to sleep, Zafa."
Getting off the couch required a bit of effort as stiff joints protested, and a moment to balance through the tremors while his body readjusted to being upright. He grimaced at another round of loud knocks but continued to shuffle to the door. He knew who it would be, and while it wasn't necessarily unwelcome, he wasn't at his best right after waking up. He glanced out the peephole. Exactly who he expected.
Memir unlocked the door and leaned against the frame to greet his visitor. "Bele."
The tall blond stopped his pacing and dropped the hand that had been raking through his hair, blue eyes laser focused on Memir. "Can you come up? The light is just— I have this idea in my head, and I need to get reference photos before it's gone."
Not for the first time in the past few months, Memir sighed and grabbed the cane next to the door before locking up to head upstairs with Bele. Though it had been an uncomfortable change from routine at first, he found that he didn't mind so much that his brother's only tenant continued to seek him out. It had been a long time since anyone but Malus honestly wanted his company.
Despite the restlessness obviously buzzing through him, Bele stayed by Memir's side on their way up the stairs, matching the slow pace of Memir's labored climb. One of his hands hovered awkwardly behind Memir's back any time his gait faltered, so Memir tried his best to keep steady and ignore the jolts up his back and the grinding in his hips and knees.
When they entered the second floor of the converted warehouse, split between living space and studio space, Bele hurried ahead to arrange the furniture. Memir sat on the bench by the door, using the time to observe.
He could see what Bele meant about the light. He'd had the curtains closed in his apartment, but up here the sun shone through the huge, bare windows with a white-gold glow, split into discrete beams by the clouds against a bright blue sky.
Bele was busy draping a chaise in white and red sheets, fussing with the folds, so Memir used the time to take off his hoodie and pajamas, leaving them set aside with his cane.
"How do you want me?"
With a startled blink, Bele stood and whipped around to face Memir. He opened his mouth, shut it, then pointed at the chaise. "Lay down, and I'll direct you."
Memir nodded and stretched out on his side, relieved that the texture of the sheet wasn't irritating his skin today. Bele used fleeting touches and brief verbal directions to adjust Memir's pose into something that must have resembled the image in his mind, checking in to make sure the position didn't aggravate Memir's pain. It would be fine for the moment, though Memir could tell an extended period like that would put too much pressure on his aching hip and troublesome shoulder.
Bele grabbed his phone for a few quick photos. Memir consciously did his best to remain relaxed and keep his pose, making only minor adjustments as Bele requested. It was over in a few minutes.
As Memir sat up carefully, Bele's thumbs were already flying over his phone screen, sending the batch of photos to the tablet he kept propped on a music stand next to his easel. Memir covertly stretched a kink out of his back and settled more comfortably against the arm of the chaise.
"Okay. Okay, yeah, this is—thank you, by the way—this is great," Bele said, swiping through the images on the tablet's larger screen. He scrolled back and forth a couple of times as he decided on the one he liked best, which he then brought over to show Memir. "This is so close to what was in my head."
"I'm glad," Memir said, glancing over the image. He didn't find himself particularly remarkable, but the overall composition was nice.
"Seriously, you're way too patient with how often you let me use you as my mannequin. People don't usually want to stop and come over at random hours when inspiration strikes, especially not for free."
Memir shrugged. "It's nice to have something to do besides watch tv with the cat. You're not bad company."
"What, your boyfriend doesn't count?"
"Boyfriend?" Where in the hell Bele had gotten the idea that Memir had a boyfriend, he couldn't fathom. It was fairly obvious that Memir stayed home most of the time due to the chronic pain and fatigue, and Malus kept most of his socializing outside of home as his friends could be rowdier than Memir tolerated. Surely their small handful of occasional guests couldn't have given Bele such an idea.
Bele furrowed his brow. "Yeah...? You know, the huge, buff guy you live with? Always looks excited to see you? Also my terrifyingly generous landlord?"
Memir's confusion morphed into amusement, and he couldn't hold back a sharp bark of laughter.
"What?" Bele asked, arms crossing defensively. "Should I call him your significant other or something?"
"Malus isn't my boyfriend." Memir paused to snicker behind his hand, only a little sorry at the pink flush it caused to crawl up Bele's face. "Bele, he's my brother."
The way his face went slack with surprise only made Memir laugh more.
"You really didn't know?" he asked Bele.
"I don't, like, spy on you or anything! But what else am I supposed to think of the hot guy who's always being touchy-feely with the even more insanely hot guy he lives with downstairs from me? It's not like you look all that much alike. You don't have the same last name, either!"
Memir reached out to gently tug one of Bele's hands out of the tight clench against his body. "We only have the same father, and he had weak genetics. Mal and I didn't meet until we were adults. I didn't even know I had siblings before that."
"He's literally your brother from another mother," Bele muttered, staring blankly down at their clasped hands. His gaze jerked up to meet Memir's, eyes going wide. "Oh my god, I could have asked you out so long ago!"
"Better late than never."
The determined set returned to Bele's jaw. "Thursday, then. Your brother works late on Thursdays, so let me take you out. Or bring over take-out, whatever. I really want to spend time with you. Can I kiss you?"
"I wish you would," Memir said, leaning in. "I'm already in my underwear on your couch."
Bele paused in moving forward to meet Memir, dropping his forehead to Memir's shoulder. "I can't believe how out of order I'm doing this," he whined.
"Well, it must be working for you. Clearly no one who tried it in the 'right' order stuck around."
Their eyes met for a brief moment when Bele lifted his head, and the next thing he knew, Memir was being kissed within an inch of his life. Time went a little soupy for a while after that.
Bele eventually escorted Memir back downstairs, trading a few more kisses at the threshold until a grinning Malus opened the door behind them.
"Not a word," Memir warned.
"You would deny me the simple pleasure of finally getting to tease my little brother about his love life? I am wounded," Malus said unconvincingly.
"You're gonna be wounded." Memir made a swipe at Malus's shin with his cane for emphasis.
Bele retreated a couple of steps and motioned at the stairs. "I'll, uh, let you go. I need to get back to work."
"Don't forget to eat something," Memir reminded him, while jabbing Malus with an elbow.
"Yeah. Have a good night. And uh, nice to see you I guess, Malus." He flinched when he backed into the bottom step and almost lost his balance, then gave an embarrassed wave before he turned to head up.
"See you later," Memir said.
Malus leaned into Memir, one arm slung around his shoulders and the other hand returning the wave. "Good night, Bele."
As they stepped inside and closed the door, Memir jostled his smug brother one last time. "I won't forgive you if you scare him off."
"I wouldn't dream of it."