Title: Shades of You
Fandom: Numb3rs
Characters: Don/Charlie
Rating: R
Warnings: Incest
Prompt: Color Prompt at eppescest
Word Count: 900
Disclaimer: Not mine, only borrowing, just fun, no infringement intended


Lead

The moment he spotted Charlie getting off the elevators, headed towards his team, Don rushed for the bathroom. It was out of his nature to hide, especially from his brother, but he hadn’t been acting in his nature, especially with his brother. He splashed cold water on his face and stared at his reflection in the mirror, half expecting to see a monster there instead.

He felt a lead ball in his stomach. Don shut his eyes and tried to will away the nausea; when he opened them, he felt dizziness add itself to the list of ailments.

Even though he’d been mulling it over all day, he still couldn’t recall exactly how it had happened. He remembered what they had done – Charlie under him, surrounding him, tight on him – but not how they got to that point. He didn’t know if it had been spontaneous or if he’d felt it all along. He prayed it was the former; at least then he could say it was an accident.

The door of the bathroom opened, and Charlie peeked his head inside.

“Don?” Charlie’s face was stricken with worry. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not fucking okay, Charlie,” Don spat, casting a brief glance in his brother’s direction; it made it only to his shoes. He couldn’t look Charlie in the eyes after what they had done. How could he have been so stupid?

“Well, I’m okay, if it’s any consolation.”

“It’s not.” Don immediately felt regret at his harsh words, but he couldn’t afford to be nice. He didn’t want to give Charlie the wrong impression. God forbid Charlie think this was alright. “This can’t ever happen again. Do you understand me? Never again.”

“Okay.”

Don ate his words that night along with Charlie’s cock.



Dusty

Don side-stepped quickly down the stairs to the basement. He moved almost frantically to the piles of boxes in search of their childhood keepsakes. He prayed that if he looked through enough photographs of them when they were only brothers, he’d get the wake-up call he needed and be so sickened by what they had done that he’d never touch Charlie like that again.

He pulled out a dusty scrapbook and paged through, reminded of past birthdays and vacations. He found himself smiling. He remembered when Charlie first rode a bike and then fell off and sobbed like a baby over his scraped knees. He remembered playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey at his sixth birthday party, and he was so upset that he hadn’t been able to get it right on his special day. He remembered the vacation they took to Florida for the first time, Snow White’s arms around the boys in front of Spaceship Earth at Epcot.

Don didn’t feel any different. They were still brothers, still the guys who ragged on each other and argued and teased their father. The had only added an element. A complicated element, sure, but no amount of staring at pictures was going to change that.



Neutral

“Charlie, I don’t want to have this conversation with you again,” their father said, arms crossed. “You need to show some responsibility if you’re going to be a homeowner.”

“Dad, I’m thirty-two years old. Do I have to remind you again that I’m a tenured professor? I get responsibility. What I don’t get is why I can’t just hire a plumber. Not everything has to be a do-it-yourself thing.”

“It’s about pride. You have to take pride in your home.”

“I am! Just let me call the plumber.”

Don had learned to remain neutral. In times before, he would have taken his father’s side, just to rattle Charlie’s cage. Now he felt compelled to stand up for his lover. To keep up the charade, he said nothing.



Coal

Don stirred the coals in the fireplace. The cabin was warmed by the fire, and there was no place in the world he wanted to be other than here with Charlie.

“Do you want some more cocoa?”

“Sure,” Charlie answered, his naked body sprawled out on the bearskin rug laid in front of the hearth. Charlie looked heavenly in the glow from the fire, like an angel in a vision sent down to him to guide him on his way.

Don poured another tall mug of hot chocolate and stirred in the Kahlua and then made one for himself. He returned to the warmed spot where his brother waited and handed him his drink. Charlie sipped at it, a rosy blush from the fire’s heat and alcohol rising in his cheeks.

“This is delicious.”

“And easy.”

“You sound like a commercial.”

“You look incredible.”



Silver

When Charlie said he was going to England, Don didn’t argue.

“It’ll only be a month.”

“I understand, Charlie.” And he did. Charlie wasn’t running from him or anyone else. Don knew he would come straight back to him. The matching silver rings they wore told him so.

“You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be?” Don had picked up on Charlie’s patience. All the time they spent together made traits of his brother transfer to him. Charlie had learned a lot from Don, too – how to be confident in the real world, how to hold himself, how to command respect. It had paid off, earning Charlie and CalSci more grants than ever before. Millie called him a miracle. Don felt the same.