In the Silence

Trent was twenty, and Mia was eighteen, when his sister stopped talking.

It wasn't really something that anybody noticed at first. They'd all expected the tears and quiet at the funeral. Losing your entire family in one fell swoop has that kind of effect on people.

The night after the funeral was also the first time the two of them shared a bed. Mia cried when Trent had said he was going to bed, and grabbed the elbow of his shirt. Refusing to move until he understood that she didn't want to be alone.

The two of them had ended up cuddling quietly, together and safe.

That was all two years ago.

Mia still hadn't said a word since. That wasn't to say that she couldn't communicate. The blonde bombshell had no issues getting anybody to understand what it was she wanted.

And whilst she might not speak, Trent had spent more than one night burying his head under a pillow after she brought a date home. Well, sometimes burying his head.

He hadn't had a lot of luck maintaining a relationship recently, and his sex-starved brain made it easy for him to reason away masturbating when her cute sounds filled the house, echoing from the bedroom across the hallway.

The morning afterwards was generally guilt-filled and awkward, with furtive glances and the two of them avoiding each other.

On this particular morning, Trent was having a harder time than usual. Last night, Mia had come home after he had been in bed. Waking him up with her cries of pleasure, gasping and groaning.

After he had jerked off to her sweet and cute noises, and he thought those two were long done, he had headed to the bathroom to cleanup. Except, when he opened the door to the small washroom he had found Mia by herself.

She was sitting up on the bathroom counter, a silky blue bra around her decent rack, and the matching panties hanging from her left ankle.

Her eyes were closed, and she was busy pumping a fluro pink dildo in and out of herself. Trent had frozen up, terrified, but his sister didn't seem to have heard him.

He should have left, right then and there.

"Ugh... Mmmm. Mmm." Mia had moaned, red-faced and frantic, driving the sex toy in and out of her with a desperate need. "Y-yeeeees!"

The surprise had hit Trent like a brick wall. It took him a moment to realise that Mia was cumming, having an orgasm in front of him, because he was so shocked to have heard her say anything approaching a word.

He'd eventually crept away, not to masturbate, but to fret and try and think. Mia had apparently finished playing with herself a few minutes after he had gone back to his bedroom. He heard her tiptoe into her own room, and then nothing else.

What he really wanted, was to talk to her about it. Ask her about it. Wondering if this was a one off, or if she actually did find it easier to talk during something like sex.

It'd make sense. The doctors said it was a kind of out-of-control social anxiety. That Mia simply found it impossible to trust anyone enough to speak to them.

She wasn't in control of it, and therapy hadn't yet helped.

A tablet computer tapped Trent lightly on the head, snapping him out of it, and Mia held up the recipe page for him to see. He smiled at her, "Sure. Pancakes. So... Have a good night, last night?"

She shook her head, quickly tapping on her computer again. "Jerk."

"Sorry to hear that." He replied, and began to put together breakfast for the two of them, still desperately looking for a segue into asking her about speaking. "But... I thought you still brought him home?"

"Did. He wanted something I didn't." She showed him the note.

Trent frowned, "Don't you normally bring guys home for sex? Sorry. That one's a bit hard to hide."

Mia laughed silently, a hand over her mouth, and wiggled her booty and tapped it.

He blinked, "Wow. He wanted your butt? I'm not sure if that's too much information... Or crazy bad. It was your first time sleeping with him, right?"

She made a face and nodded.

"Wow. Bullet dodged. He sounds awful. You kick him to the curb?"

She nodded and stretched, and then walked up and hugged him, leaning her head into his back and snuggling. He continued cooking, assembling the stacks quickly, "Lonely night, I guess."

She hugged him tighter, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Anything I can do to make things better?"

She tugged at the corner of his sleeve.

"You want a night in? Movies in bed?" He suggested.

She grabbed him tightly in a cuddle. "Mmm."

"Sure. But for now, get this into you." He held up a plate, which she quickly snatched and ran to the loungeroom with her pancakes. A moment later he heard the sounds of a romance drama she liked playing.

There was every chance that what he had heard was a fluke. That it didn't actually count as her saying a word. She also probably hadn't realised she'd said it.

He was still weighing the risks and benefits when he sat down on the couch beside her. Trent opened his mouth to speak, and Mia snapped up her hand, putting a finger to his lips as she stared intently at her drama.

Nobody was allowed to interrupt a major plot development.

Which seemed to happen every five minutes.

Trent ate quietly until the episode rolled credits with two people surprised to see each other in the work elevator, which made no sense to him at all, and Mia paused it and looked at him curiously.

---

Mia really did not want to talk to Trent this morning.

She was embarrassed enough that he'd stumbled in on her masturbating with one of her least subtle toys last night, and if getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar wasn't enough, her sick mind had got off on it and she'd had one of the best orgasms of her life.

She'd been hoping that he was going to pretend not to have seen or heard anything. Like he usually did when she dragged a boy into her bedroom.

Except... Explaining why she'd chosen to use their shared bathroom instead of her nice and private bedroom wasn't something that she couldn't do. She didn't know why she had.

Things had just turned out that way.

She'd tossed out the guy who kept trying to poke the wrong hole, gone to wash and clean up and... She'd still been hot and heavy. There wasn't really a reason beyond that.

She'd felt desperate, so she'd dragged down her panties. Grabbed the only toy she kept in the bathroom. She kept the bright pink one there, mostly as a ward against her brother poking about in her stuff.

Then Trent had caught an eye full.

She did not want to have a conversation about private spaces with him, right now, because she didn't know how to say that... That she wanted him to catch her, again.

God, she was a horrible person.

Wanting her brother to catch her masturbating. What kind of messed up freak was she? It had felt amazing. It was wrong. She was going to stay nice and private in the future.

She crossed her arms, waiting, as he clearly didn't know how to say what it was that he wanted to say.

"I... Uh... Heard you, last night."

She blushed and looked away. He had done a lot more than hear her, but if he wasn't going to admit walking in on her, she wasn't going to go there.

She made a fist and rubbed it in a circle on her chest, the sign for a general sorry. Whilst not looking in his direction.

"That... Happens. That's not the point." Trent took another deep breath, "Um... When you were... Yeah... You said something."

She looked back at him in concern and shrugged.

"No, Mia. You... Said something. A word." Trent said seriously, "I dunno if it counts or not... But... You might have been able to talk. It kinda makes sense. Being a trust thing."

She reached up hesitantly to touch her lips, and stared at him. What the fuck had she said? Noises don't count. She could still force a positive or negative sound, if she really tried.

"You said, yes." He looked away from her, "The actual word. Sorry. I didn't want to bring it up, but..."

Mia hugged him quickly. She'd actually managed a word! Sure, she hadn't been aware of it at all, but she had spoken. It wasn't like she didn't want to be able to speak. She couldn't.

Except, apparently, whilst she was cumming with her brother in the room.

Fuck.

Was... Was that the difference? That it had been Trent in the room? She could understand it being easier to speak if she was in the middle of ecstasy, but she hadn't ever cum like that before.

She couldn't talk to Trent normally. She couldn't say anything to him right now, even though she desperately wanted to thank him. So it wasn't just that she trusted him.

"Take it I did the right thing?" He asked her, and hugged her back. Gently, almost as if he was afraid to touch her.

That was one thing about Trent that had always infuriated the hell out of Mia. He had always, and she meant always, treated her like she was made of china. She hadn't been a fragile little doll when she was a kid, and she wasn't now, either.

She pushed out of the hug, and tapped her wrist.

"Time?" Trent failed to understand.

She shook her head and pointed towards the outside and back to him. He blinked, "Oh right. Work? I don't have work, today. Well, kinda. I'm only on call. What about you? Plans for today?"

She smiled in amusement and pointed at the paused TV, and then frowned and grabbed her tablet, opening the calendar and showing him that she also had an appointment with her speech therapist in the afternoon.

He laughed, "You going to try and explain to her you got a word?"

She shook her head violently.

He shrugged, "So, you're just having a lazy day with your romance show?"

She nodded and pulled her legs onto the couch, intending to go right back to it. He, however, seemed to have other ideas. Interrupting her again. "We could do something else. You already want a movie in bed to fall asleep to. Why don't we go out and do something? Together?"

She pictured the outside world.

Mia grabbed a blanket and whipped it over the top of her, pulling her knees up to her chin. She already made herself go out clubbing once a week. Pushing herself into a social situation to try and look like she was still putting in an effort.

Usually it got her laid, which made up for it. But just doing something with Trent? That did not sound like it would be worth it.

He dragged the blanket down to reveal her face, "Come on. It's been a while since you hung with me. You go on dates. Why can't I have one?"

Because she wasn't going to get something out of it that was remotely worthwhile. Couldn't they just have their night-in, instead?

She didn't know how to say that he wasn't better than sex. Not with her few sounds, or the way it was so easy to be misled in text. Trent found it hard to understand her tone when she wrote things.

She hated not being able to talk.

Mia made up her mind. If she'd managed a word in front of him, because of him, then she needed to explore that. She needed to work out what it took. Was it just the orgasm? Trent? Or both.

She glared at him and held up two fingers, impossibly close together.

He looked at her with a tad disappointment and hurt, as if she didn't want to be around him. Not what she'd been trying to say. "Why don't we do that train thing? I've never been on the steam train. You?"

Mia gave a small smile. She had definitely been on the steam train. And blown her boyfriend in the bathroom. Not the kind of story she wanted to tell Trent.

Or... Maybe it was?

If she could get herself in the mood, whilst Trent was around, maybe that would be enough for her to feel free enough to say something? Which meant she needed to flirt with him.

Her immediate thought to that was that it was gross. Except, she knew that was just a reaction. Him watching her... Just remembering it was almost enough to get her wet again.

He had asked her why he couldn't have a date.

So maybe she just needed to pretend that it actually was a date. Not just hanging out with her overprotective brother.

"I take it from that smile you did?"

She nodded and held up her tablet to him. He went red, and coughed nervously, "Did not need to know about the blowjob."

She grinned at him. He was actually kinda cute when he got embarrassed. Not when he was being macho and treating her like she was weak, but embarrassed, yeah. Totally.

Mia scratched her chin, glanced at the TV, and smiled again. She walked over and pointed at one of the actors and then at him. Then she pointed at one of the others and at herself.

"Huh?"

She pulled at her clothes.

"You want me to dress up like that? Shirt and jeans?" Trent said in utter confusion.

Her mental picture of it was sexy. He always looked good in a proper shirt. Not a tie. That was too formal.

She nodded and headed off towards her bedroom to get changed. He caught her wrist as she went to pass, "We're dressing up? Is there a reason for it?"

She sighed and nodded.

He winced, "One that's too complicated to explain easily?"

She nodded, again.

---

Trent was utterly confused.

He was putting on a black shirt, like she'd asked him to, but he didn't really get why Mia had asked him to dress up. Or why it was specifically something from her romance show.

Was it just revenge for making her go out, without warning?

She'd seemed grateful, if embarrassed, that he'd told her about the word she'd managed last night. That had gone a lot better than he'd expected. Focusing on the excitement of a word... Instead of realising he might have... Seen her.

He'd been hoping that would be enough to shield him from her irritation.

Apparently not.

Trent finished getting changed, and then felt his scruffy chin. He only really shaved when it annoyed him, which tended to keep it short and like sandpaper. Whereas the guys in her romance shows were always clean shaven.

He headed to the bathroom and started shaving.

He was about halfway through when he noticed her panties from last night. They were just lying on the floor, like she'd missed the laundry basket.

Except he knew that they'd just fallen off, and she failed to pick them up.

Trent picked them off the floor, and found himself immediately surprised by their weight. Even after sitting overnight, they were soaked.

"Grr."

He flicked his head to the doorway, where Mia was standing, cross-armed. Glaring at him, and sneering. She was wearing a short and light black dress, with a blue ribbon holding her ponytail in place.

"Not what you think." He protested, "You missed the laundry basket."

She rolled her eyes and snatched them from him, before tossing them in. Then she grabbed his head by the chin, and twisted it back and forth, inspecting his half-shaved face.

The blonde raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged, "You said to dress up like that guy from your show."

She stamped her foot, annoyed at him, and stormed out of the bathroom. Leaving him wondering what she'd come to even do.

He shrugged and finished shaving.

When he came out, Mia was waiting impatiently by the door for him. Her face a mixture of irritation, and anxiety. Though, seeing her and not being surprised, he had to admit that she cleaned up well.

He could tell why she managed to drag so many guys home, even as a mute. She'd gone for a look that was closer to formal than not.

The light black dress was patterned, vines and flowers embedded in it, the sleeves and bodice semi-transparent and showing her skin. It flowed tightly down her until it hit her waist, before falling loosely to mid-thigh.

He would probably have preferred her without a ribbon in her hair. He wasn't a ponytail sort of guy, but it was still definitely cute. Drawing her blonde hair back tightly, so her face was on full display. Expressive blue eyes, that he now realised shared the exact same pigment with last night's underwear.

She was wearing simple black mesh flats, that would probably start to hurt if they walked any decent distance. Probably a bad choice.

Trent frowned, "Um... Because you really hate cars, I was thinking we'd walk to the station. It's a few blocks from here. You going to be alright in those?"

Truth be told, he hated cars almost as much. Every morning, before work, when he first put his hands on the wheel, they shook. He had to take a moment to breathe, to let the memories pass him by.

Mia looked at him with a glare, as if daring him to tell her to change her shoes.

Hell, they were both adults.

"Ready to go, then? I think we can catch the next one if we hurry." He checked the time. Steam trains ran on the hour, every hour, from ten until ten, every Tuesday and Thursday. It was a tourist thing, but Trent had never done it yet.

Mia had said she'd given one of her dates a blowjob onboard.

Yeah, that image was going to be stuck in his head. Her cute face, determined as she moved her head up and down. Sitting on her knees, looking up at him with lust.

Trent shook it off and headed for the door.

Mia grabbed his hand with hers, fiercely and firmly interlocking her fingers with his before they stepped out. Maybe he was pushing her too hard.

Too late, now.

She'd be too stubborn to admit it, probably.

---

Mia grabbed his hand. This was a date. She wanted to be in the mood, the entire time. So crazy hot by the end of it she'd threaten to break off one of her toys in her cunt the moment she got alone.

His hand was too gentle on hers, holding her delicately. So she tightened her grip, but he didn't seem to get it. Still... She could feel the coarseness of his palms, coming from factory work.

She loved it when guys felt a little bit rough. Liked it when they had a sharp and bristling mess on their face that wasn't enough to be called a beard. She was annoyed that Trent had shaved, it had been damn near perfect to kiss him.

Oh my god. She wanted to kiss him.

The outfit was totally doing it for her. That had to be it. It added a few years to his look, making him less like her dopey brother and more like a mature guy who had things together.

She could see his muscles across his chest and his biceps. Pulling the shirt tight briefly as he walked naturally. Making her picture what he could do if he didn't think that she'd break.

Fuck, he was probably strong enough to hold her ass in the air as they made out.

Mia tried to force that thought down. She did want to be in the mood, but she didn't really want to be picturing Trent's face in her wetdreams. That... Would just make things awkward.

Except.

Except it was him being in the room last night that had ended up with her saying something as she came. Fuck. At least he was damn good looking.

Short and messy black hair, serious brown eyes. His chest and arms showing that he did manual labour all day, most days. His tight thighs, and awesome butt were also probably a result of that, but he'd always been like that.

She remembered from before the accident, sometimes pausing when they went rock climbing just to let him get ahead of her, so that she could check him out.

Yeah, Mia had to admit it, now.

Should have known to admit it to herself, last night. Trent was fucking hot, at least physically. The only thing she really hated about him was the way he treated her, like she was going to break if he looked at her the wrong way.

Everything else about his personality, she adored. The way he tried to think about her first. Always making her breakfast in the mornings. Knowing when to shut up when she told him to, and when to ignore her because she didn't mean it.

Mia flushed and stared at her feet.

Trent misread it, "You doing alright? We're almost there. Doesn't look like there's going to be a lot of people. We might even get a coach to ourselves."

She smiled and squeezed her hand, looking up. She didn't have a way of telling him she hadn't really been thinking about that.

Actually, instead of panicking... Walking with him was relaxing. It... Really was. She wasn't feeling like the sky was closing in, wasn't worried about people walking close to her. None of that.