Breathing In (Pepper/Björn)

[bjorn]

The rest of the walk seemed to fly by. Before he knew it, the were at his house. Bjorn opened the gate for Pepper and held his hand to the door. Allready he could here the rucus of his brothers inside. "Are you ready?" he asked Pepper. Pepper nodded his head yes, and Bjorn opened the door.

As they walked in, his brothers were having a mock soccer game with somthing that looked like a testicle, while his mother shouted at them from the kitchen. When the noticed his appearence into the house all three of them rushed to him, and bear hugged him tightly. They spent quite awhile making greetings, as they hadn't seen each other since last year.

"Hey! we have guest!" Bjorn shouted. He pulled Pepper to him, and introduced him to his brothers. "Pepper, these are my brothers. This is my brother Snorri, that's my brother Peter, and this is my oldest brother Thor." He was surprised how friendly they were to Pepper.

At the sounds of the living room, his mother came out to greet her youngest son. "Mother, this is a friend of mine, Pepper. Pepper this is my mother Bjork." She greeted Pepper warmly, "I'm so glad you could come, the more the merrier! Please, sit down. If you'll exscuse me I have to go back to my cooking.......SONS OF MINE" she shouted "BEHAVE!"

As they got to knoe each other, Bjorn wondered if Pepper noticed the difference in looks between him and his brothers. All his brothers had sandy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and tall muscular bodies. While Bjorn was more petite with black hair, and green eyes, like his mother.

He knew it was bound to happen, and he was dreading it. Then the tension broke as she shouted...."Snorri! WHy don't you take out the baby photos of Bjorn to show pepper! Especially the ones of him as an angel in the Christmas play!"

[Pepper]

Pepper had never been comfortable around women, for no apparent reason, he just couldn't function ormally near them. So when he didn't run screaming from the house, it was a great show of his unreasonable affection for Bjorn.

However, he stuck particularly close to Bjorn and unconsciously slipped his hand in the others discretly, chewing on his lip nervously.

The brothers were amazingly different from Bjorn, not looking anything like him, but he sensed discomfort on that subject and made a point of not mentioning it. Surely his new friend would tell him when he felt more comfortable, and they had only just met...

Pepper grinned devillishly at the mention of baby pictures, as his own where increasingly mortifying, and Michael had an awful habit of carrying at least one around in his wallet.

He blew softly in Bjorn's ear to catch his attention, grinning when he jumped slightly.

"Hey, I'd love to see them, but can I dump my bag somewhere first?"

[bjorn]

The breath on his ear gave Bjorn a fright! Pepper asked him where he could put his things. "Oh, follow me, i'll show you to the....." when he remmemberd his brother were in town, they had taken up the spare rooms. The only possible place was in Bjorn's room.

If worse cam to worse, he could bunk with his mother, or one of his brothers. "Follow me Pepper", he said with a smile. As they walked to his bedroom, he smiled at the feeling of Pepper's hand in his hand. "This is where I stay" he said to Pepper, as he opened the door.

"It's nothing special, just somthing I decorated myself", he saw Pepper's eye's bulge. Pepper must have though alot of the room. "Please just set you bag on the bed, bathroom is outside......NONONO just playing! It's down the hall to the left." Almost on cue, Bjorn's mother appeared at the door.

"Ahh there you are" she said to Pepper, "I've not only found the Christmas play pictures, i've found the Halloween ones, and the bath time ones!" She grabbed Pepper's hand pulling him out of the room, chatting bubbly as she went.

The next hour was a blur. Pictures of Bjorn as an angel, a lion, a witch, a viking and naked were the talk of dinner conversation. They all laughed and joked as they tended to do and as the night went on, Pepper even laughed and joked with them......at Bjorn's expense.

As they sat in the sitting room, Bjorn whispered to Pepper, "My brothers all look like my father. When you see Thor, you see the exact image of my father, when he was younger. That's why we don't speak of it much. My mother had a very hard time when he died, so Thor moved out. That way she wouldn't be reminded of him".

As the night grew colder Bjorn went and got some logs to put on the fire. As they sat and sipped tea, and ate cookies, Bjorn's mother told them of the history of Iceland. It was more directed at Pepper, but they all listened, well except for Bjorn. It was a week till christmas, and he had to knit a scarf for a cetain boy named Pepper, who he had fallen head over heels for.

[Pepper]

As the night wore on, Pepper found himself becoming more accustomed to the mother, and the family in general. He could see that their influences had rubbed off on Bjorn, which would explain his bubbliness and affection.

Listening to them talk happily amused him, and he enjoyed being included in a family almost like his. Pepper suspected that his parents would probably get along very well with Bjork, unless she was homophobic. That was also worrying, the fact that she might find out about his family life and restrict Bjorn from seeing him.

The heat of the fire was pleasant on his body, and the air of comfort that wrapped around the family made him feel comfortable with them.

Bjorn seemed fairly withdrawn, busily knitting something, which made Pepper smile at the cuteness of the whole thing. He was surprised that the other boy was so welcoming, having only met Pepper that day. It was slightly concerning that he had become so attatched to him in such a short time.

He started feeling drowsy, with the warmth and the flow of conversation, and was soon curled up in his chair and in a light sleep. His dreams were of twitching tails and a fierce protectiveness of Bjorn.

[bjorn]

Bjorn was so into his knitting pattern, he didn't even notice Pepper drift off to sleep. He wanted this scarf to be perfect for Pepper, a thing he still couldn't figure out. His brother Snorri nudged him, bringing his attention to a sleeping Pepper.

"I'll just bring him to bed, then i'll be back. I always love hearing mother's stories!" his mother smiled brighly, lightly nodding her head. He shook Pepper gently, waking him from his sleep. "Come with me, let me take you to bed" he grabbed his hand to help him up, but never let go.

As they made it to Bjorn's room, Bjorn said to Pepper, "I'll be in here in a little while, keep the bed warm for me." Pepper smiled at him as Bjorn shut the door, giving him privacy.

As he walked back to the sitting room, his min was filled with questions. "What will mother say", "WHat would father say", "what will my brothers do" but the most pressing one of all was, 'I was Pepper would bring somthing up about this, that way we could talk it over".

[Pepper]

As soon as the bedroom door was shut Pepper was pacing backwards and forwards hastily. Something really odd was going on, and it wasn't just his overwhelming attraction for Bjorn, there was something possibly more worrying...

He stopped in front of the mirror and the wall and snarled angrily. His eyes. They were changing colour rapidly, from yellow to ocean blue and back, occasionally stopping in a sort of bizarre mixture of the two. The pupils were moving too, to a cat-like slit and back again.

Unfortunately, the two seemed connected, because whenever Pepper thought about anyone hurting Bjorn - physically or emotionally, that was when the changes occured.

He focussed on the carpet until his eyes had stopped shifting and slumped on the bed.

He'd have to bring it up. There wasn't any other way he would be able to understand, and maybe something simillar was happening to Bjorn... He'd have to practice though, and not just spit it out.

"Hi Bjorn. Have you been turning into cat-man? No? Okay. I'm glad we had this talk."

"Hey, I'm turning into a cat and I want to jump your bones, whaddya say?"

Pepper palmed his head angrily and resumed his pacing.

"Hey, something strange is going on here, nothing bad, but we met just today and already I'm sleeping over at your house and ingrating myself with your family. I trust you endlessly for some reason and... ARGH!"

He found himself face down on the carpet and ridiculously pissed off at himself.

"You're so...stupid. "

[bjorn]

Bjorn walked back into the sitting room, and sat in his room. It was silent, and all eyes were on him. He really wanted to know what was up, it wasn't usually his family was speechless. "Go out of the room, I need to speak with Bjorn privatly" Bjork said to her other sons. They protested some, but in the end left the room.

"My dear boy", she began. "when I first met your father, I fell in love with him instantly." she paused, "I bet you're wondering why I say this, aren't you?" she asked him. He nodded his head yes, "There is somthing in between you and Pepper, you were made for one another. I can see it and so can your brothers. I dare say, even if your father were alive he would say the same thing to."

Bjorn was startled by this, he had no idea what to make of it. "Mother, i've never felt this way before, i'm so scared!" he sobbed. Bjork went to her son and held him. "Oh my boy, don't fear love, run to it, embrace it with all you have!" She held him for awhile before speaking. "Go to him, tell him how you feel" she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

Bjorn sprinted down the hallway. WHen he reached the door, he stopped for a bit, "it's now or never" he thought and opened the door. When he opend the door, he found Pepper facedown in the carpet. Pepper noticed he came into the room and stood quickly.

Bjorn stared into his for a minute, then with every bit of his courage, ran to Pepper and began kissing him lovingly. He pushed Pepper againt him tightly, enjoying every bit of his body warmth. He stopped kissing Pepper long enough to say...."I have no idea what i'm doing, but I love you Pepper, I'll follow you anywhere, i'll do anything for you. I've never loved this strongly, untill you. Please don't break my heart."

[Pepper]

Pepper looked at Bjorn for a moment, mouth gaping open and eyes wide, before bursting out laughing.

"I'm...sor..sorry! I'm not laughing at you, honest! Its just..."

He stood straight again, clutched the somewhat hurt looking Bjorn by the shoulders and looked him in the eye as solemly as possible, "Thank the lords."

He chuckled again, pulling the others form against his own tightly and whispered in his ear, grinning widely, "I daresay your confession was far better, even though I spent ages working on mine... Lets just say it involved cats and jumping."

Pepper took a moment to sober himself, pushing Bjorn to arms length and smiling at him.

"Me too Emerald-like Olive eyes."

He kissed him gently, revelling in the feel of those soft lips finally against his.

[bjorn]

Bjorn smiled on the inside, feeling very good about Pepper.

"Wait, I wanna hear your confesion! I love cats!"

Bjorn had a sense that therewas still somthing deeper to Pepper, somthing even Pepper may not even know. But, he was still determind to get to the bottom of it all!

"Oh, and by the way....we have the full support of my mother! I wonder what your dad will say?"

[Pepper]

Pepper bit his lip, concerned about what Bjorns reaction would be, before deciding that it would be best for them both to try and work it out then struggling through it alone.

"Firstly, my dad will be so happy, that we'll both wanna kill him, and his lazy-ass boyfriend will probably love you too. Secondly, Bjorn, don't freak out, look at my eyes."

He concentrated on the images of other people picking on the other boy, hurting him and jeering at him.

"Hi Bjorn. Have you been turning into cat-man? No? Okay. I'm glad we had this talk. Or, the far more crude one, hey, I'm turning into a cat and I want to jump your bones, whaddya say?"

He could feel his face burning, but hoped Bjorn would be focussing more on his shifting eyes then his lame attempts at confession.

[bjorn]

Bjorn was shocked to look into Pepper's eyes, he say them, yellow, like a cats!

"I won't lie, i'm a bit shocked, but I love you and I accept you for who you are and I always will!" Bjorn kissed him lovingly. Pepper could be anything and Bjorn would always love him.

"I'm so excited, I can't wait to meet Micheal, and his boyfriend.....You must invite them to dinner! I'll even cook! My mother will be itching to meet them. If you don't mind.....but do you know of ANY reason you would be becoming......cat like?"

[Pepper]

He laughed at Bjorn's carefree attitude to the amazing change occuring.

"I have no idea! It has something to do with you...no offence meant of course. But, its like, my possessive side or something...Does that make sense? Probably not, I don't even know what I'm talking about... Its not just my eyes though, its me. I don't know..."

He held Bjorn tightly, face buried in his neck and arms wrapped around his waist.

"Dad'll love you, except if you invite him over he'll probably never leave..."

Pepper laughed loudly, smiling at the thought of Bjorn trying to politely get his dad the heck out of his house.

"So I take it you aren't turning into anything feline..? That's a bit odd. I might have to ask dad, maybe its some freak mutation that runs in the family."

He grinned and bit lightly on Bjorns neck, "I vant your bloood! Geeve eet to me!"

[bjorn]

Bjorn smiled at Pepper, he was so amazing. He felt so loved, that Pepper would turn catlike at the thought of people hurting him. He nearly swooned.

"I'm sure he'll come! If not, my mother and her sisters, and my brothers can get together their old band. They can go to their house, can do their version of Värttinä over and over and over again" he smiled wickedly. The thought of the family singing annoying Scandinavian songs to the poor Americans!

"I can't say i'm going ver feline. Unless frisky counts? But, that's just a cat food" he said with a playfull giggle. "What does Micheal look like? What did Zharque look like? What does the boyfriend look like? I'm sorry, i'm just very curious" he slid his hand into Peppers, so glad that they were begining their lives right now.

[Pepper]

Pepper laughed at his curiousness, "Michael has very pale blond hair, and green-ish eyes, he always wears these ridiculously hilarious sweaters, with dinosaurs on them. He's really short too, and very thin, but not in an unhealthy way. Um, Zharque looked pretty much exactly like me, exept...tougher, and with black hair."

He laughed again, picturing his father in his mind as he described him to Bjorn, and wondering how Zharque would have reacted to his new friend.

"Ryan's papa's new boyfriend, and he's pretty cool. He laughs a lot, and let's me do my own thing. He has brown hair too, but a little lighter than mine. I can't remember what colour his eyes are...brown, I think, and he always looks really neat."

He pulled Bjorn back into his arms and murmered against his neck, "I know they'll love you."

[bjorn]

Bjorn listened intently as Pepper described his family. They sounded like a wonderfull bunch! Bjorn wished he could meet Zharque. Everytime Pepper mentioned him, his eyes lit up. Born wanted to thank him for raising this beautiful cat man Pepper. As the cold winds beat against his bedroom window, Bjorn nuzzled into Peppers embrace tighter.

"They sound wonderfull Pepper" Bjorn said with a smile, "I can't wait to meet them." Bjorn laughed when Pepper assured him that his family would love him, it was a big weight of his shoulders.

"When should we get our families together? I think we both have alot of questions to ask. Also, do you have any questions you wanna ask about my family?" Bjorn asked innocently.