Welcome to Gaia! ::

That Björn didn't know of the actor wasn't precisely a surprise to Colin; he was pretty well versed in the blond's habits by then and hadn't figured he would due to his lack of interest in watching TV or suffering through endless movies and things. They both had better things to be doing...including each other.

Colin stayed where he was, settled against the blond's side. He didn't know what to say after admitting that he'd once been part of some sordid media affair due to a very unhealthy and illicit relationship with an actor. Of course, he ended up moving on with his life, while Gray ended up ruined and in prison for the rest of his natural life (longer, actually, but even if one was given sequential life sentences...could one really serve more than one? That had never made sense to him, but whatever).

While he knew Björn cared deeply for him, some tiny part had been afraid to talk about the sordid afair in case it changed things between them; hearing the saddened, kind words coming from his lover brought his head up. "I didn't want to tell you and have you think badly of me...and I...it's not something I like to think about."

"What a thing to throw at you right now...I have really bad timing." But he was relaxing again, meeting Björn's eyes again - he needed to know that even with that sort of crap in his past, there'd never been a doubt but that Björn was a good guy that wouldn't hurt him like that. Colin's hand slipped up to hold the other's hand against his face, "Of course I trust you - trusted you. It never crossed my mind not to."

Maybe they would have sat there, going back and forth with soft touches and gentle words, each one trying to reassure the other that all is well and nothing bad will happen so long as they two are together, but as Fate would have it, Colin's family took that very moment to arrive. It shouldn't have been startling to either blond, but it was, for they had been quite deep in private conversation whilst in each other's arms.

"Collie, we're ho~me!" Mrs. Hargrove's voice came after her daughter's lilting call, "Boys? Are you awake--" Words died before their birth as both women came to a halting stop at the scene in the living room; it wasn't every day that they came home to find a giant taking up most of the couch...let alone one coddling their Colin. "Oh...um.."

Miriam gained her tongue first, "WOW, Collie, you said he was big, but you didn't tell us he was huge." The vivacious girl cautiously came closer as her sibling shifted so that he wasn't quite in his boyfriend's lap anymore, though he did not let go of Björn's big hand. Before either could say anything, Rebecca Hargrove finally shook some sense back into herself.

"Oh, you must be Björn...Colin has told us so much about you...Welcome to our home, dear. Please make yourself at home while you're with us." She swatted her daughter gently so that she could move forward and properly meet-and-greet her son's Herculean companion. In her mother's heart and mind, she could see that this boy was very kind and cared for her son, but she was also just a bit taken aback because he dwarfed her precious, baby boy and she was quite well aware of what teen-aged boys tended to get up to when no parents were around to shame them into behaving.

"I hear you had a competition of some sorts before your trip here?" Colin was Colin. If he wanted to be with Björn...he would be with the boy, come hell or high-water. Miri piped in after that, her voice light and sweet.

"Did you pick up elephants and bend cars in half?" Colin, pink-faced and silently praying that his family wouldn't keep calling him 'Collie' or do anything else that was crazily embarrassing, tossed a dvd-cover at his sister. "Don't be a pest, you know that's not humanly possible." Poor Björn...Colin's family was high-energy and liked to talk, at least the dancer wasn't going to leave him alone with them just yet; no, he was firmly at the strongman's side.

Perhaps it was grating, that both Colin's mother and sister seemed wholly uncaring at the dancer's tense and raw state, but truthfully having them bowling him over, kicking him out of the bad memories, was probably the best thing they could have done. Since he couldn't spend time curled with his boyfriend, talking about things or working past the upset in more athletic (and fun!) ways, that is. Miri hadn't noticed anything her young mind couldn't attribute to her brother being caught in his boyfriend's lap...but his mother absolutely had; she just knew - from seeing the actor on the screen - that the best, quickest way to get past it was to focus on other things. Collie wasn't exactly the most forthcoming about such things with her - even so, she was certain that her son's distress had nothing to do with Björn (or anything they'd been doing)

"Oh not at all dear, we're very happy you could come. Well, if you're anything like Collie, you'll spend hours practicing until you drop...the last time he didn't get the part he wanted? We ended up practically having to club him over the head so he'd stop." Björn greeted, Mrs. Hargrove slipped around the living room so that she could turn the television off, remove the tape and put it away. Out of sight, out of mind, right? And so much the better, in this case.

"I think it's more myfault, this time. I've distracted Björn pretty badly." Colin stretched on the couch, watching his lover making joking threats at his sister, smiling. "He's really handy for practice, so I've been monopolizing his time. Gotta stop doing that." Not that he was going to give up all of his monopolizing, oh no! Nights were all his, dang it.

Miri's eyes went wide at the bigger blond's words, but then she stuck her tongue out a little bit - at her brother or Björn, either was possible. "I'm not a pest."

"Yes, you are."
"Nu-uh."
Colin rolled his eyes and tossed the remote at his sister in a half-hearted attempt to silence her.
"Mo~om!"
"Don't even start, young lady. Björn is Colin's guest, don't be a pest or I might let him squish you...and Colin too." She disappeared into the kitchen, chuckling to herself and - perhaps - dreaming of a life without two energetic children.

Best to let sleeping dogs - and wounds - lie, really.

The siblings would have continued verbally fencing if not for Björn's timely intervention. Okay, so it was more like those wimpy little "sissy-girl fights" where both parties kind of fwapped their hands ineffectually at each other while saying things like "Poo-head!" and "Scuzzwarbler!" and "Boogersnorting Carpathian Slime!" than actual "verbal fencing" but really, who's counting? Not me. Not you. So there.

Miri's eyes went huge and startled when she felt Björn's hands upon her waist and being hoisted into the air a-la-Dirty Dancing sent her squealing in mock terror - a sound that only drew her mother's head briefly from the kitchen to ascertain that she was fine and that caused her brother's usual bright smile to come back in full force.

"Hmm...I wonder." Colin was laughing as his sister flailed her arms ineffectually at Björn, proclaiming loudly that he should put her down or "he would be sorry". Neither boy seemed to believe her in the slightest...likely because there was no way she could get away from the strongman's grip. "I think trapping it in a blanket and tickling it until it begs for mercy sounds like a great idea."

Being bounced about, lifted like the sack of flour Björn claimed she resembled, made her mock-afraid squeals dissolve into delighted giggles. "No tickling! I'll bite--" She wouldn't, but she would make like she would (naturally).

"You bite and I'll shove one of my dirty socks in your mouth." Yum yum, wouldn't that be appetizing?

...Ew. Siblings. From the kitchen, the sound of long-suffering sighing could be heard, and Mrs Hargrove's eye-roll could almost be felt/heard/seen, even without a glimpse of the food-preparing parental unit.

Ask him on a good day and Colin would tell you that he loved his baby sister, even if she was unbelievably obnoxious and drove him absolutely insane nearly every moment that she was involved in. Ask him when she was driving him crazy and he might offer to sell her to you - or maybe even pay you to take her, if she'd been particularly wretched that day! But even with all the typial sibling warring and woes, there wasn't much that Colin wouldn't do to keep her safe and happy; he had gotten into more than a small handful of fights in her name. That was what Big Brothers were good for, right?

Tiny, feminine fists beat a pitiful tattoo against Björn's shoulder as she struggled against the band of iron holding her like a sack of lumpy potatoes to the youth's broad shoulder. "Put me doooown~!" Miri said one thing, but she was having too much fun right where she was; she didn't really want down. Colin had brought home someone that she could have fun with, finally! Not one of those snotty, snooty dancer girls, or the sullen, sulky guys that wouldn't give her the time of day if she were dying for it.

"I do not!" Colin was indignant; the brat had started it all! He was just defending himself against the evil wiles of his sister, damn it! Okay, okay...so he was acting like your typical brother fighting with his sister - but with less noogies, because Björn was holding Miri away from him. Björn was reaching for him, but he danced away from the first swipe - and the second. "Hn...I don't like that look..."

When he turned his head away from the hulking blond to check how close he was to knocking into something (he wasn't), he put himself into a position where he wasn't able to slip away fast enough, even with Miri slowing Björn down.

"He-eey! What're you up to?" Colin was caught!

Unbelievable! Colin blinked stupidly at his little sister from where he hung across the Swede's shoulder; Miri looked no less dazed and incredulous than he did. "Put me down~!" The girl squealed; she could kick her legs and flail her tiny fists all she wanted at the broad and unyielding expanse of Björn's back, it did no good. The same could be said for Colin, who was trying not to accidentally hurt his boyfriend and so wasn't kicking or thrashing about wildly (but was still muttering threats and shoving against the big brute's back and shoulder in an attempt to get free).

The most effective threats were ones he couldn't use in polite company, let alone when his sister was hanging not a foot away and his mother was in the next room to hear!

Wait, not the next room. Miri's eyes got huge when she realized what was happening; her brother however was trying not to laugh at his sister's expression...and also having a hard time believing that his boyfriend was offering to hold him (and Miri) for spanks! "Oh, I am so gonna make you pay for this later!"

Mrs. Hargrove, having heard the commotion coming closer and closer until it was smack in the middle of her kitchen, couldn't help but laugh in a delighted manner when Björn knelt down with both her children secured, one on either shoulder. "Why thank you Björn." She swatted Miri first, then Colin; not to hurt of course, but because it was funny as hell and when would she get such a chance again? Colin was as tall as she with the possibility of getting taller and Miri...well, they were good kids but it had been years since either had gotten a good hiding! Not that they'd ever really required many of them - Colin had been the worst, when he'd been getting into all those fights...but putting him into Hillworth seemed to have taken care of that!

Being spanked sent Miri into a whirl of indignant complaints and the launching of half a dozen "You big meanie"-s at Björn's blond head.

Colin agreed. Big meanie, indeed!

Feet planted firmly on the ground once more, Miri skittered out of what she hoped was Björn's immediate reach; Colin didn't bother making an escape - he'd already delivered his threat and would make good on it in private, where he had more of an advantage...and definitely when his family wasn't around to be scandalized (or traumatized?).

Instead he elbowed the big blond playfully, "No more 'Colin'-Stories for you." But the bright-and-kinda-hopeful way Björn had looked toward his mother made him relent inwardly. It helped that his mom chimed in, vetoing his statement wholly.

"Oh, you want to here about Collie when he was younger?" Mrs. Hargrove's smile was clearly something she'd passed down to both of her kids - and perhaps her petite size too, since neither sibling could boast much in the way of height. Lunch would be potato and leek soup, toasted homemade bread and, for everyone but Colin, leftover slices of ham. Yeah, she was making a bit more than she might have usually, since Björn was there, but not by much. Rebecca made food like her mother had (enough to feed three bottomless pits and herself growing up) and just saved the rest for left-overs. "Pull up a chair, dear."

"Mo~om." Colin put forth a token protest, but then sighed, got two glasses of iced tea and sat himself at the kitchen table - arm-less, high-backed, sturdy chairs because Colin would have destroyed anything with arms or that couldn't take the abuse) "I can't believe I thought I'd be able to bring someone home and not have embarrassing stories told." Oddly enough, Colin was finding he didn't really mind - after all, this was Björn. A guy weirdsweet enough to actually want to know for the sake of knowing, not just for potential blackmail material.

Miri washed her hands so she could help her mother; they'd prepare lunch together and Björn would get stories about Colin's younger years...like when he'd demanded to be a princess for his fourth Halloween, or the way he spent the entire summer of his seventh year as a nudist because he'd heard that some famous dancer had said doing so had "put him more in touch with himself and blahblahblah dancing blah blah blah". "Poor Colin used to be so gullible...when he was eleven or twelve, his cousin Ian convinced him that he was really a vampire and that Collie had to do his bidding. We only found out about it because of the bru--"

He'd put up with the nudist story, with the princess Halloween debacle (which he was pleased to note his mother had forgotten part of - it hadn't just been Halloween, oh no - it had been most of the year, starting with his birthday!) and sooo many others, but the Ian-Vampire story never failed to make him squirm uncomfortably. "--do we really have to? I can't believe you're telling him this one--"

"It's cute, shh." By that point, really good smells danced around the kitchen; the soup never took too long and the bread was already made, just needed toasting in the oven; lunch was nearly ready to be served - which also meant more stories for Björn! "Colin and his cousin used to play together all the time, they practically glued together for years in grade school. One year Suze - that's Colin's aunt, Ian's mother - well, she and I started noticing that Collie was always covered in these little bruises when they played, especially around his neck. When we asked, of course they just said it happened while they were playing and didn't tell us. But one day while we were visiting Ian came running in with a bloody nose, but before we could get anything out of him, here comes Collie: angry and with the neck of his shirt stretched out so much it was falling off one shoulder, a big bruise on his neck."

Colin sank into his chair, shaking his head and groaning as though in pain; "Mom, I love you but you're killing me." Leaning back so his chair was on two legs instead of four, the dancer ran his hands over his face. "I punched Ian in the nose because he'd finally admitted that he'd been lying the whole time. And it was a lot more than just the hickies - which is what they were, by the way. Not only was my cousin biting my neck and telling me I had to do everything he said, he was using me to keep out of trouble." He explained that every time something "bad" happened, like something breaking or getting lost, he had to own up to it. "I spent so much time in the corner or being spanked that year..."

Dropping the chair back to all fours, he ran both hands through his hair, messing it up, "Augh, I still want to kick his a** for that!"

"Colin! Language!" Rebecca threw a towel at her son, catching him right in the face.

"Well, I DO!" Towel removed from pinked face, Colin sort of puffed up a little, "But at least I got the last laugh. I have pictures of him measuring his..er..." A glance at Miri and then his mother, who was giving him the 'Don't you say it!' look and spoon-waggle-threat and he faltered, "Uhm, anyway. I have some really horrible photos of him that I super-glued into his mom's scrapbook - the one she takes out to show all the family and friends every chance she gets." Under his breath, so Björn could hear but his mom couldn't, "I also glued them into his locker at school...and at the sports center where he plays soccer."

Vindictive little s**t, innit he?

Eh hem, anyway, Björn got his stories...cute and also some not-as-cute - and he would likely get more, all through lunch. Because that's what Moms and little sisters do when older siblings bring home Important People: they embarrass the ever loving s**t out of them. Right?