Just a Bit Unhealthy

Alexander Sheldon glanced at his cousin out of the corner of the eye.Jared is sitting in a loveseat under the Christmas tree with his new boyfriend.

"Stop staring at them." With an arm wrapped around Alexander's waist, a pair of soft lips pressed against his cheek.

Alexander turned to face his boyfriend, raising an eyebrow. "I'll just stare at you."

Christian smiled dimpled and kissed him on the lips.Alexander had to work hard not to kiss him deeply; someone else was there. "Remind me again, why do we invite so many people here?"

"Oh, not many people!" Christian opened his eyes innocently. "It's just that there are about thirty."

"Too fucking much," Alexander grumbled.

"Stop being an unsocial weirdo. Don't worry—nobody spills a drink on the rug."

Alexander responded to his boyfriend with a blank face, but Christian just smiled and blew him a kiss.

"Besides," Christian said, his thumbs on Alexander's belt, and he approached him slowly. "You want to make Jared happy, don't you?"

Alexander looked back at his cousin, Jared and his boyfriend were fucking screwed. "He doesn't need me to coax him."

"Hmm...," Christian said noncommittally.

"Oscar looks nice."

"uh-huh."

"Jared was laughing the whole time. He looked happy."

"uh-huh."

Alexander looked at Christian and said. "It's not our turn to intervene."

Christian bit his lip. "Maybe. But I don't think it's quite right. Seems a little too fast after all..."

"It's better than him staying at home drinking alone until he loses consciousness."

"Well, that's true," Christian said, and they exchanged glances.

Alexander had a troubled look on his face as he thought about Jared's first month back from England.The situation was... bad.He'd never seen his always calm and composed cousin like that.Jared doesn't shave, doesn't eat much, and drinks all day long.It wasn't over until Alexander himself threw out all the booze in the house, pushed Jared into the cold water for a shower, and told him to pull himself together and stop wasting his life over some jerk who wasn't good enough for him.Jared punched him in the face and kicked him out of the house, but later, he seemed to recover: he stopped drinking and found work at a football club.Alexander is relieved - but then finds out that Jared is starting to have one-night stands everywhere.Christian also said that this is inappropriate, which sounds ironic, after all, Christian has a wonderful past.But Christian believes there's a difference between flinging around because you love having sex and throwing it out because you want to forget someone.Christian thinks it's unhealthy for him, but Alexander thinks it's a good thing, at least Jared has started to work hard to forget the past and get out of the past.

Alexander was relieved when the media released photos of Jared and Oscar Moen together a few weeks ago.They were photographed hugging each other, looking very affectionate with each other.It's clear that this is more than a normal sexual relationship.Oscar looks like he's having fun and Jared...

Alexander looked at his cousin again.Oscar kept laughing and whispered something in Jared's ear, and Jared smiled a little dotingly while listening.

"He really looked happy," Alexander murmured. "He's smiling."

"Yes," said Christian.

Alexander wanted to say something more, but Mira came over and gave them both a bear hug. "Hey, guys!" She kissed both of their cheeks and looked at them appreciatively. "Damn, miss the good old days when you two were in my bed."

Christian smiled. "Are you sure you want to talk like this in front of your boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend says he's used to it," Fred, her boyfriend, replied dryly.

Alexander admired this guy very much: Not every man is so comfortable when he sees his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend had a threesome.

Mira looked at Christian. "How did you convince him to throw a party? He's never interested when we're together."

Christian smiled at Alexander and winked.

Mira rolled her eyes and patted Alexander's chest. "You're eaten to death, baby."

Alexander didn't deny it.that is the truth.

Doorbell rang.

Alexander looked at Christian. "Do we have anyone else?"

Christian frowned and shrugged. "No. But Beth said she might come."

Alexander nodded and walked over to open the door.

It wasn't Beth who came.

"Hi," Gabriel Duval greeted, and the emerald green eyes met his, and the pupils were extremely bright. "Merry Christmas?"

Alexander looked at him for a while before coming out and closing the door quickly. "What are you doing here?"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "It's nice to see you again, too."

"What are you doing here?" Alexander asked again.

Gabriel put his hands in his trouser pockets. "I want to talk to Jared. My detective says he's here."

"The detective you hired—forget it." Alexander shook his head. "You can't see him."

Gabriel squinted and folded his arms across his chest. "Why?"

Alexander stared at him fiercely. "Don't you think you've gone too far? He doesn't want to go through it again. He has a boyfriend now. Just let him go."

Gabriel opened his mouth and said. "I--"

The back door opened. "Alex, who is it?"

"No one," Alexander said.

Christian rested his chin on his shoulder from behind. "Nobody? 'Nobody' looks like a human. Hello, 'Nobody'!"

"Hi."

Alexander sighed. "That's the French kid. The ball player."

"Football," Gabriel retorted. "And I'm not some brat."

"The one from Jared?" Christian whispered in Alexander's ear. "So that's him? I thought he was handsome. Well, he's cute, but Jared is so much better than him. Why don't you let him in, baby?"

"Because Jared doesn't want to do it again."

"Jared can take care of himself, even if this kid is more difficult than he looks."

"Chris—"

"Let him in," Christian said. "Believe me."

Alexander squeezed the space between his brows and stepped aside.

After Gabriel disappeared at the door, Alexander said to Christian. "Why take the risk? Jared is much better now, he is very happy now."

Christian gave him a soft smile. "You don't believe it yourself. If Jared really loves Oscar and has already walked through the past, this meeting is harmless. Look..." Christian supported Alexander's neck, reached out to stroke his hair, his eyes Suddenly became very serious. "You thought you and Mira would be happy before. I know the situation is different but..." Christian licked the corner of his lips. "I was happy in the past, and I am happy now, but it's different, right?"

"Yes," Alexander said, drawing him in some.He rubbed Christian's face, sniffing at him.He thought that every morning, when he woke up and saw Christian's saliva dripping onto the pillow - just looking at Christian's sleeping position, he would feel a sense of peace of mind all over him.Before meeting Christian, he thought he was happy with his girlfriend.But compared to his happiness with Christian now—compared to his feelings for Christian—his feelings for Mira before were a joke, a pale imitation of reality. "You're right," he said again. "But that kid is just causing Jared pain. He's straight."

"I vaguely remember you used to think you were straight, too," Christian said with a laugh.

Alexander shook his head. "It's different. He's [-] percent straight. Jared's best bet is with a good guy who loves him."

"But it's not okay to be with someone you don't love," Christian said.

"I know." Alexander grabbed him tightly, suddenly feeling that he was so happy to have all this now. "But this kind of thing happens."

"Can--"

"Listen," Alexander said, stepping back and looking him in the eye. "I know you like Jared and you mean it well, but trust me, that guy... he's twisted. He looks like a poor innocent kid, and he's doing fine most of the time, but there's A lot of ugly and evil stuff."

Christian smiled incredulously. "Come on, it's impossible—"

"Chris," Alexander said gravely. "A year ago, he told me that he would never let Jared go, no matter what. He threatened me that if I told Jared the truth, he would find a way to make Jared never be with me again. Talk. What he meant was that Jared would always choose to take his side, even with his closest cousin."

Christian's mouth fell open.

"Good," said Alexander. "Hope he's wrong. When Jared left England, I thought that would prove Gabriel wrong, but..."

"Stop worrying about Jared, he's an adult."

"I don't know what Jared thinks is good about him."

"What's the point of love?" Christian shrugged. "Otherwise you wouldn't be with me."

Alexander moved closer to him and kissed his soft lips.God, he loves his lips so much.

"I can't tell," he muttered, before finally ending the kiss. "I think my choice is quite wise. After all, you are the same."

Christian smiled, a warm mist floated in his eyes, and his face was slightly red. "You didn't think so when you first met me."

"Ah, because you were annoying."

Christian stuck out his tongue. "At that time, you still looked like you had something stuck in your ass. Also, it's been a year, and the thing hasn't been fully taken out yet."

"I retract my statement," Alexander said. "You're still annoying."

"Love me no matter how annoying you are." Christian showed a big smile and kissed him quickly. "Are you totally crazy about me?"

Alexander sighed. "I guess," he said unconvinced, and finally smiled and kissed him back.

He was truly fascinated.