Deep (Zarry AU)

Revelations

"How's your Dad, Val? Is he still unwell?"

Valentin exhaled smoke in a feathery rush down into the space between the low table and the sticky, red couch we were perched on. He didn't meet my gaze.

"Yeah, well, what can you do?" he said, eventually.

"They still don't know what it is?"

"No. He is havin more tests this week - some other hospital this time. God knows what they are doing actually."

I remembered when Val had told me - in a DM - about the constant pain his father was in, how the doctors had no idea what was causing it - and how his Mum had given up her job to look after him. It wasn't like they'd had much money to start with, so her giving up work had hit them hard. At least Val was doing well - but giving most of his money to his parents, I guessed. I saw him bite his nails and decided to change the subject.

"What about that brother of yours? Is he still working at the hotel?"

"Yes. My fuckin excuse for a twin is still workin there."

Valentin had drawn in a long breath, closed his eyes and shaken his head before responding to the question. It was getting late and the bar was about to close, but (quite apart from wanting to change the subject from his father's illness) I had known all along I couldn't end the evening without talking about Val's brother Andrej. And other related topics.

Valentin slugged back the remains of the crushed-lemon-and-mint-with-gin thing that he was currently into, the ice rattling as he did so. He studied the glass. "He's ok," he said.

*

Nobody believed they were twins. Andrej was twice the width of Valentin. Worked out a lot. I suspected it was to prove his masculinity. You see, Andrej had never been comfortable with his brother's sexuality. Nobody had the heart to tell Andrej that by bulking up he'd ended up looking more like a gay guy and not less. But still - working out, being the tough guy - well that had led Valentin's twin brother into the classic tough guy jobs: bouncer outside a nightclub, doorman; and finally "security consultant", as he called himself. More commonly known as security guard. You know - the guys that sit there in a uniform, looking bored, playing Candy Crush when they're actually supposed to be watching banks of screens. Yep, big, muscular, homophobic-even-though-his-twin-brother-was-gay Andrej was one of them.

But of course I couldn't complain about Andrej. Because that single fact - the fact that my shipmate's brother was a security guard - that was what got me to be the luckiest shipper who had ever shipped a ship.