things older brothers should never have to see

Studying was one of the things that Eli Virgo found really difficult. The work itself wasn't hard, it was actually getting around to actually doing it. Especially for this one project that was due tomorrow. He had actually reached a level where he was productively procrastinating, in the sense that he was doing all of his homework except for that one project. It was worse cause he had an entire month to do it.

After staring at his computer screen for a half hour, Eli had officially given up for the moment. It was almost 9pm, and he hadn't eaten dinner yet, he figured maybe if he found some food first, then he would actually be capable of typing something worth the grade he needed to pass this class. He half slammed the laptop shut as he stood up and made his way downstairs. He could hear the movie that his sister and her current boyfriend were watching in the entertainment/living room, he stuck his head in for about half a second to find out if his guess was correct. It was, they were watching The Step Brothers. What movie the two were 'watching' wasn't the only thing he noticed. The first thing he had noticed, was his sister's face basically being inhaled. "Gross..." He said, way louder than he had meant. But like, come on? The Step Brothers wasn't even a kissing movie...

It wasn't typical for Christian to make his way over to New Rome on weekdays. It had been rare enough on weekends for him to visit the Virgo Residency, but as the past few months came and went, Christian found that he was spending a lot more time with Aspen. A lot more public time than private time too. What had been late night walks and meet-ups had turned into walks back to New Rome together, after their duties were done. Christian thought it was nice to have someone to share the same schedule with. Roz and him had to work around one another, and he just didn't see her often. But then again, Christian's feelings for Aspen were far different than the former. 

He'd really intended to keep things early, and be back in camp before lights out, but that just wasn't the way things were going. As far as Christian was aware, Julia was still at work and he hadn't seen Sophia the entire night. It had been just him and Aspen, which was the way he liked it. They'd put on one movie after duties, and Christian seriously enjoyed the first half. Then one thing led to another, and they hadn't really watched the second half. Christian wasn't even aware of whatever was playing on the television at this point.

Christian heard the voice, and almost panicked, but realized it wasn't Julia. Of course, that didn't mean Christian could very well carry on business as usual. Whether or not he liked Eli, and he definitely didn't, there was still a code to follow. Christian did withdraw his lips from Aspen, leaving his thumb to gently roll passed her cheek as a "goodbye" for their current kiss.

"Eli." Christian half-greeted. "Hope the not-legion stuff is going well. Is Julia keeping you on your toes?" Christian didn't in particular care about generating a grand conversation. The air was pretty awkward. He had just been kissing this person's sister after all, and even he could get why it would be disturbing.

Aspen Virgo had been spending a lot of her time with Christian for the passed while. It had usually started with them meeting up in the middle of the night and sneaking around. Their relationship in some ways you could say had been more physical than it had been otherwise. Slowly those tables had turned a little and they saw more of each other in public, whether that was making the occasional flirt or if that meant holding hands. Eventually there had been some transition and he started to come over to her house a bit more.

Most of their time spent together at the house was either him being over for dinner or him being over for a movie, sometimes they could get away with the odd sleepover here and there, but it was usually when her mother spent the night at the office or worked super late and would likely just pass out as soon as she made it close enough to the couch and then Christain could sneak out early enough in the morning before her mom caught him.

Tonight it had been a movie night. They hadn't really paid attention to the whole move, it had started out with some cuddling when it had first started, but it had shifted to something else. There was a sense of panic that had gone into her immediately as she heard her brother, it wasn't that she had cared so much about him, but the voice in the midst of everything had started her.

Aspen looked over to Eli as Christian asked him a question. "Mom left dinner in the fridge for you unless you ate that already."

“Don’t go to college. It’s not worth it.” Was Eli’s answer to Christians question. It wasn’t that he hated Christian, he didn’t know the younger kid well enough to know whether or not he hated him. Was he fond of the fact that the kid had just been sucking on his little sisters face, of course not. So you can assume that Christian really wasn’t his favorite person at the current moment.

“Yeah, I ate that when I got back from class...” Eli answered his sister as he walked out of the living room to the kitchen, “don’t do anything too crazy while I’m gone.” He told them. He didn’t do it as often as he used to, but it was still fun to mess with his sisters, and this was going to be great. Eli smirked, as he entered the kitchen to find something to eat.

Christian wasn't exactly expecting Aspen's comment to come out so blunt. He wasn't sure if he felt himself become more attracted to the Virgo, or if he was just in shock. He let out a grin at Aspen's response, but given her brother still standing there, he didn't want to be too smug. At least, not while he'd caught them kissing. Julia had already cut Christian more slack than he would have if he had a daughter, and the last thing he wanted was to set himself up for failure by pissing off someone who had the power to make his life harder.

"I'll take you at your word." Christian had replied. He hadn't planned on NRU thus far anyway, not that he wasn't interested in life after the legion, but that he couldn't imagine any major doing him any good. He liked what he did now. He wanted to do it forever. He wasn't sure if there was anything else after that would make him feel the way he did as Centurion. "Shoulda taken a gap year." Christian haphazardly replied.

When he'd left, Christian had leaned in closer to Aspen before leaving a quiet peck on her lips. "Did you want me to dash?" He whispered.

As Eli had mentioned that he had eaten already she shook her head a little. "Then you shouldn't be hungry, have a glass of water and go to bed." Aspen commented. It wasn't that she didn't love her brother or anything she did, but it also didn't mean she had to like when he was a pain in the ass. She was sure if the roles were reversed and it was Eli on the couch he wouldn't be acting the way he was. "At least I have company over!" Aspen called out to Eli as he left to go towards the kitchen.

Under her breath the demigod had mumbled something about no promises to Eli's comment about not doing anything while he was gone. There had been a little bit of silence before Christian had pressed his lips to her in a quick peck, she returned it back to him after he asked her question. "Gods no, I want you to stay. I'm trying to get him to leave." She said with a roll of her eyes.

A smirk had slipped on her face as she had an idea pop into her head. She looked at Christian in the eyes for a moment before she lowered her voice and spoke, "You know how we could mess with him? and he wouldn't come back in here?" She had a few ideas in mind, but knowing her luck he would get out the phone and call their mom at the office.

“Oh thanks for the suggestion, mom.” He answered. As if a cup of water would do him any good for the next five hours it would take him to finish the project. No he needed an energy drink, and food. Two things the kitchen was currently out of. Except for that nice bowl of half eaten popcorn that was sitting on the end table in the living room. Yeah he was staying downstiars, not cause he wanted to, but out of the nessesity of needing food.

He actually hadn't been planning on staying downstairs, food then booking it back up to finish his homework. Their mom had told him to keep an eye on them anyway, he was only doing his job as a normal older brother. Did he have to remind her about every time he had a girl over, cause she was way worse than he was with the jokes, and being annoying thing. At least he had left them alone for the first hour.

“Gap year would’ve been a wonderful idea.” Eli finally mumbled, as he picked up their bowl of popcorn and went to sit down on the opposite couch, far away from the other two.