Poppy

A.N: As a disclaimer this story doesn't have any incest, it just takes the context of a family reunion.

My laptop fried a month ago so things are a bit complicated, but country boys make do. Here's a long slow-burney one shot to make up for my silence. Might write those characters more in the future because I got attached, We'll See.

Feedbacks are an author's lifeblood, blah blah, you know the drill.

***

My cousin Will was what my brother would call "a normal gay guy." He wasn't outspoken about his sexuality past some little arguments with my uncles on the topic of marriage equality and right to adoption from time to time, was not the most masculine guy in existence but was enough to get a surprised reaction from people when mentioning he was gay, and was pretty private about his relationships. An attitude my family found honorable and acceptable, not acknowledging he has never been the type to make waves in general. My aunt Suzie had always been a wild car and a bit of a black sheep, loud and proud in everything she's ever done, married too early for the sake of her accidental pregnancy, divorced young and never remarried, she'd bring a new boyfriend at every family meetings to the disapproval of everyone. She was often a source of mean gossip between my aunts and uncles. With the baggage of her explosive reputation, I could understand why Will would try to play it subtle when it came to our family.

Will was about a decade older than me so he would babysit me sometimes as a child, he was one of the rare cousins I still found bearable talking to. When I was around sixteen we'd sneak away in the garden during family meetings. He'd make me taste wine behind the gardening shed, he would ask how I was doing with girls and sometimes give me -very unhelpful- dating advice. He'd roll himself a joint and when I'd ask if I could smoke too, tell me there was a time for everything and I was too young for this yet, he'd get in enough troubles if my mother found out he made me drink alcohol. They were the only familial memories I was really fond off.

Considering his discrete nature, my whole family got shaken to the core when two years ago, out of nowhere, he married Poppy. None of us were invited to their wedding, he came around one holiday, Poppy, whom no one ever heard of before, clinging to his arm and told us, "this is my husband."

Poppy was not the type of guy you'd expect a guy like Will to be into. They were a funny yet charming sight to behold, Will with his rather average but toned build, always dressed smart casual, then Poppy next to him, skinny with endless legs, long honeyed hair softening an already pretty round face. Poppy was soft-spoken and delicate but he made his presence known, when he stepped into a room he would make heads turn and conversations stop. He was always the best dressed in the room when they were invited to holidays, his suits were beautiful and interesting looking, he wore them like a second skin, like high fashion was created for him. Before Poppy I didn't know a man could be so femininely handsome.

My family, tragically but expectedly from what I gathered earlier, didn't like Poppy at all. It may be because we shared the same roof, but I was under the impression my older brother Alex had the most scorn for him. He would often complain the day before a holiday meeting if Will and Poppy were coming. He had a lot of reasons to dislike Poppy and each time he would list them all: he didn't even go by his real name and the name he went by was stupid, he never cut his hair, he thought he was better than everyone with his fancy suits, he'd speak too femininely, he'd be too affectionate with Will and call him pet names making everyone uncomfortable, he wouldn't respect our uncles personal opinions, his cologne was too expensive and it was annoying. A long winded and badly coveted way to say the problem with Poppy was he was too much of a fag and reminded the family the uncomfortable fact Will was one as well.

Because I've always been contrarian regarding family matters, I liked Poppy a lot. He was an ethic professor at university level and it was a delight talking to him. I had a lot of respect for him, he didn't seem to care about anyone's opinion on him, for the exception of Will whom he seemed to adore. I was jealous of their dynamic as I've never seen before, two people so in love they'd look like they were on the verge of devouring each other of pure intense desire and adoration for their beloved. I never had that with any of my girlfriends and knew I'd probably never will.

My grandmother was hosting yet another one of her yearly summer family reunion in which the house was packed for a whole week. I was twenty-one, freshly out of college, single as can be, and was a bit bitter being pressured by my family into staying for that reunion. I had to decline a friend's invite to his beach house because if I missed this, I knew my mother would make me pay.

***

The events turned for the better learning for the first time for that week long reunion, Will and Poppy would be there. I had to admit I was always pretty excited to see them. They were hosted in aunt Suzie's (who couldn't have come as she was in vacation abroad with her new lover) old bedroom. I personally was in the room nearby, grandpa's now fairly unused office. I had the luxury of being allowed this lone room, with the only inconvenience of having to sleep on a air mattress on the floor. For long I used to sleep with Alex in mom's old bedroom but since I've been diagnosed with serious sleep issues in my teenage years, it had been decided I should have a room for myself.

I was already at the door, ready to help them carry their luggages when Will's car pulled up in the driveway.

"Isaac it's good to see you again," Poppy said as I was offering to carry the baggage he was taking off the trunk, "oh you're such a dear but don't worry about me, we didn't bring that much."

"God you took some shoulders, didn't you?" Will said in my direction.

"Finally found out this year the campus had a gym," I said with an embarrassed smile.

"Well it did you good, I'm sure you could carry Poppy with those puppies," Will kept on playfully.

"I'll be impressed when he'll be able to carry you," Poppy answered on the same tone. I just chuckled nervously in between their banters.

I was forced sitting next to Alex for dinner, which I was displeased about. As every first day of the big family meeting, the mood was pretty convivial and even if we all knew who hated whom and which old vendetta were going to bubble up, we all celebrated in our rejoining.

I went to bed early, the agitation of family embraces overwhelmed me a lot. I just settled back in grandpa's office with my laptop and caught up on some TV show I meant to watch for a while. I heard Will and Poppy get into their room three episodes later. I made nothing of it, with all the road they could only be falling head first on their pillow. I watched one last episode and decided to try to sleep.

Around 2 AM I went down the kitchen to see if there was any leftover roast. I saw Poppy from the back, wearing an oversized t-shirt revealing his shoulder on his supermodel frame, his hair tied in a loose ponytail, busy working on whatever on the counter.

"Hey," I said.

"Oh my God Isaac," he said turning over, he put a flour covered hand to his heart, "I almost got an attack babyboy, don't sneak on people like that."

"Sorry," I replied while getting myself a glass of water. It felt nice when he called me babyboy, it may have been an infantilizing nickname but it was most of all the sign Poppy liked me enough to give me a cute little pet name. I sat at the bar, Poppy worked back on the big piece of dough he was kneading.

"Would some delicious fresh bread convince your family to hate me less?" he asked.

"Well, I, uh, I mean I'm sure they'll appreciate the gesture," I said hesitantly. Poppy could make the most perfect bread ever done, they'd probably find a way to call it stale.

"I'm just kidding, the only way they'd hate me less is if I stopped fucking your cousin," he chuckled, "were you seriously trying to let me down softly on that one? I bet you're the type of guy who says you don't think you're right for her when you're breaking up with a girl."

I took a silent sip as it was verbatim what I told my last ex-girlfriend.

"I'm obviously not making bread for your folks, I'm not that self-flagellating," he said, "I've always felt anxious at night, bad insomnia y'know, and about five years ago I was forced to find a more constructive way to deal with it than drinking myself to sleep so, bread."

I was recalling how I actually never saw Poppy drinking to all the holidays he's been invited. Strangely I never truly noticed even though I knew Will to be a wine enthusiast and connoisseur. I would have never imagined.

"It keeps your hands busy, you get to blow off some steam on that dough and you get to create something," Poppy exposed while gesturing at the dough like he was presenting a masterpiece. I was sure it was about to be one.

"What are you making?" I asked.

"Uhm, right now I have my focaccia dough rising in the back and I'm working on a sweet soft bread," he answered while getting back on his kneading, "uhm, maybe I should have put raisins in this one..."

"Grandma really hates raisins," I warned him.

"Your grandma hates a lot of things," he chuckled, "it's not for them though, it's only for Will and I, and you."

"Why me?"

"Well you caught me flour-handed so I must buy your silence into our bread conspiracy," he said with a little smile, "I'm just kidding, I would have given you bread anyway, we weren't going to eat all that just the two of us."

Even though I was the only one from the family who shown himself friendly to Poppy, I was still flattered to be part of the bread conspiracy.

"What's your plan for tomorrow Isaac?"

"Staying in my room I guess," I shrugged.

"We're going to picnic with Will at the river nearby, do you wanna come?"

***

I felt safe with Will and Poppy, being allowed a timeout from my family was always nice, but especially in the presence of such refined soft-spoken people. We sat near the river, enjoying the garlic focaccia with the many homemade dips Poppy prepared. I hogged the babaganoush but the guacamole was also pretty good.

They told me about the lovers trip they took in Canada last winter, exchanging knowing looks from time to time when retelling some episodes, hinting me some parts were kept private.

When we were done, Will pulled out a book out of his backpack and went to sit against a tree. Poppy took me by the hand.

"C'mon Isaac, let's swim in the river," he said in a light joyful tone.

"I haven't taken my swimsuit," I answered a bit panicked.

"It's fine just keep your undies on, they'll dry in the sun later."

I nervously followed Poppy next to the river, he removed his clothes revealing his smooth body, so thin his ribcage would pop out when he breathed in. I hesitated a second before undressing myself, a bit self conscious about my broader build.

"Ah shit!" Poppy cried out while getting carefully a foot into the water, "It's cold as fuck!"

"What were you expecting?" I teased him. Alex and I used to come there every summer and I couldn't remember a year the river wasn't freezing cold.

"Making fun of an old man about to freeze to death, kids these days," Poppy protested.

"Oh c'mon Poppy you're not an old man, you don't look a day past seventy."

"You're a brat," he grumbled while looking nervously at the water, "uhm, nah the water is too cold I'm going back to-AH"

I pushed Poppy into the river, making him fall head to toes in it. I laughed at my cruel prank then joined him immediately by jumping in the water.

"ISAAC IM GOING TO KILL YOU," Poppy yelled in my direction, his long wet hair sticking to his suddenly red face. He furiously moved in my direction, I tried to stop him by splashing water on him, laughing so hard I had trouble walking backward. He jumped on me and got me underwater, the cold felt like a tight band around my skull.

I tried to fight back by grabbing Poppy, getting him out of the water, bridal style. We looked at each other in disbelief for a little second.

"Easy there cowboy, where I'm from we buy a girl a drink first," Poppy chuckled.

"Oh here's your drink then."

I threw him back in the river. He got furious again.

We roughly fooled around in the water, getting used to the cold. I had to stop the game, taken by an awful realization.

"Wait Poppy!" I cried out in panic, "I lost my boxer!"

"How?"

"It's an old one the seam's kinda lose," I said embarrassed.

"Alright it shouldn't be far, the stream isn't that hard, I'll help you find it."

We didn't find my boxers after looking for long cold minutes in the river. I was mortified.

"Isaac I'm getting cold, it's not that bad babyboy, we're all guys," Poppy said while getting back on the edge of the river. "I can give you mine if you're really too embarrassed."

I was indeed embarrassed, not that I had much of an issue regarding nudity. It was just different being forced into it by the circumstances rather than choosing to be dick out for the hell of it. I was also falling into a spiral of unneeded worry, afraid if I shown myself too modest around Poppy and Will they'd think I didn't trust them because they were gay. I was really getting worked up over nothing.

"It's fine, I'm coming," I said hesitantly while leaving the river. I faced Poppy, he took the quickest glance at my cock before forcing his eyes back to mine. "It's okay if you look, it's always weird to see someone naked for the first time," I said, aware as I was saying it I was just making things even weirder.

Poppy giggled in this charming, feminine way of his. "You're not going to make me feel less of a pervert by inviting me to look at your junk, alright let's go back to Will."

Will was perplexed looking at me coming back fully naked.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The river and his boxer got into a fight and the river won," Poppy explained.

"Are you going to be fine Isaac?" Will inquired.

"Not gonna die over my dick being out, I'll dry quicker under the sun that way anyway," I said trying to sound more relaxed than I really was.

"If you say so."

Will took out a pack of cards and we played some summer camp games. I was getting more comfortable in my nudity as the afternoon sun was delightful on my bare skin, I felt like lying down like a lazy cat to enjoy the most of it.

Sometimes I caught Poppy looking back between my legs, averting his eyes as quickly as they fell here. With the warmth, my cock was taking back its honorable size so I felt less embarrassed being ogled down. Maybe I should have, but I knew Poppy meant no harm, I wasn't even upset at the idea he might find my cock to his taste. It was just some organ anyway, it's like how he got pretty plump lips and it didn't mean anything to acknowledge it.

They took a little nap against the tree, Will holding Poppy tight in his arms. They made a charming scene and yet again I felt that sting of jealousy not having this in my life.

We came back as the sun was just starting to set.

***

"Where were you?" Alex asked as I was getting into his bedroom, hoping it was empty to steal mom a cigarette in her purse. Clearly no luck there.

"Picnic by the river with Will and Poppy," I said while pretending to look for something in the dresser.

"They didn't rape you?" Alex snickered. I froze then glared at him.

"What the fuck is your problem?" I exploded. I couldn't even believe I was related to that guy, what happened in his education so he would be such an asshole?

"Chill, it's a joke," he said, "he'd be too pussy to do it anyway."

"I'm gonna tell grandma what you said about Will," I wasn't really the snitch type but I knew Alex like every single member of my family, was terrified of grandma. I was just throwing that threat out there.

"Not Will, his girlfriend."

"Poppy wouldn't hurt a fly." I was getting more and more flustered in anger.

"Why are you whiteknighting like that? You wanna fuck him?" he said while raising an eyebrow. That was usually his defense when I was calling him out in his awful jokes, accusing me of being gay and most specifically being gay for Poppy.

"I'm not the one completely obsessed with him," I retorted.

"Whatever you say sissy, close the door behind you."

The dinner was quite bitter as I was still sat next to my brother. Poppy was facing me, probably on purpose, it was hard having a real conversation as his voice was so soft and my family so loud.

Yet again, finding back the solitude of my room was a delight. I enjoyed the quiet for some time while chatting up with my online friends, we were mostly exchanging tales about our shitty families and I was comforted to see they could relate to my current situation.

I plugged in my headphones and looked for a podcast to listen to while I would play video games. Wine tasting podcast, they really do whatever the fuck they can think of nowadays. Will and Poppy got into their room, I was too focused on my game to acknowledge it. In the meantime the hosts of my podcast were getting wasted on the wine they were supposed to comment on, how many bottles of Chateau Victoire were they downing?

Thund.

My blood froze at that gentle hit against the wall, muffled by my headphone. Were they? I felt embarrassed by my own embarrassment, I was a sexually active adult man, getting flustered over a married couple having some intimate time for themselves. Get a grip, Isaac.

The podcast rolled its credit then silence. I deactivated the autoroll on my app, my headphones were silent just reducing the sounds of my surrendering but didn't conceal them fully. I heard another thund against the wall, I should have played the next episode to let them their privacy. I didn't. I kept hearing those muffled hit through my thick headphones.

I wondered how two men having sex looked like, I could imagine it but it was only my imagination. I never watched gay porn, the most I had was when a movie or a show had a gay sex scene. But well, that stuff was like any sex scene, made all pretty and aesthetic. I just wondered what the real deal was like. How it looked like or, how it sounded like.

I removed my headphones with guilty hands, aware of my crime. Well, I was allowed to do what I wanted in my room, the thin walls weren't my responsibilities. My camping mattress was against the wall the thunding resonated into.

Oh that was clearly Poppy's moaning. I tried to not picture myself anything distinct regarding the scene because Will was still my cousin so that'd be super weird, I still pictured Poppy. He probably also looked annoyingly good during sex, I couldn't imagine him doing any weird faces, I was sure even his o-face didn't look awkward.

Both the plummering against the wall and Poppy's whimpering intensified dramatically. He even let out little feminine cries sometimes. Jesus, he was getting railed. Will really had his little secret side, uh?

Probably because Poppy's moans had this feminine note to them and because the situation had some raw sexual energy, I was getting hard. It disturbed me, I thought I was already leaving that awkward adolescent period I'd get a raging boner at the drop of a pen. Maybe I should put my headphone back on.

I heard Will let out a groan, a moan, another groan, some more moaning from the both of them. Then nothing.

I was almost shaking, taken over by contradicting feelings. My cock was just half hard but it was hard enough to make me question some stuff. I decided to let it die and try to go to sleep, still desperately horny.

***

I, like usual, woke up earlier than the rest of the house. I enjoyed the early morning so I can get the kitchen for myself. The week of intense heat finally climaxed in a pretty violent storm, I looked at the grey sky by the window while making me coffee. I was good for a day in.