“Giovanni Sanchez,”

Heath answered immediately, pulling out his smartphone and quickly pulling up an image of him. He's handsome, looks a bit on the taller side, slim-bodied and toned, wearing a pair of swim shorts with a fluffy beach towel draped on a shoulder.

Terry leaned forward to get a good look, his cheeks tinting as he felt the stirring of arousal. The dude's offering the Vulcan hand sign for “Live Long, and Prosper,” and wearing a goofy grin, the sun in his black hair, his dark eyes on the camera.

“Oh. He's cute,” Terry murmured appreciatively, and Heath grinned. As he did, Terry's tablet emitted an unfamiliar chime but didn't light up. For the moment, Terry ignored it, but it registered he'd never heard his tablet make that chime before.

“So, Giovanni Sanchez,” he repeated, “What's his deal?”

“Dude's a surfer and a swimmer, tutors people in both,” Heath replied, “He's a lifeguard during the summer, at the beach. Kind of less call for lifeguards in October, obviously, so, you know. Goes to the same university as us. Got a class together.”

“He's super nice, too,” Heath continued, as Terry listened, “He's in his fourth year, took me under his wing, in a manner of speaking. Asked if my roommate was working out, admitted he assumed I was at the dorms, too, and he would've taken me in, happily, if needed.”

“If your current roommate were an asshole,” Terry surmised, and Heath nodded, “Sounds nice.” Possibly too nice. He kind of wanted a man who could be rough. He wanted someone who already knew there was a very real line, and respected it.

“Sure. Set us up. No promises but it's worth a shot,” Terry turned his palms up, “No harm trying, right?” Heath shook his head promptly in answer, supporting the notion of at least giving his little brother's new friend a chance, and just seeing.

“Exactly! So, if you want, Marguerite and I can go with, as moral support. Keep it low-pressure, back off if you two hit it off, ” Heath said, thinking, “You know, increase the space if you signal us that you're liking him and want a little more.”

“You know, kind of ease you into this whole dating thing,” Heath said, and Terry nodded quietly.

“I would appreciate the moral support, yea,” Terry nodded, “as an introvert going out in public to meet a total stranger.” He could tell that Heath appreciated that, and appreciated the trust Terry was investing in him, flustered though he felt.

“Done, and I totally understand!” Heath assured him, “I've got you! I know Marguerite will be totally down, too!”

Even if it felt a bit awkward, Terry loved having a little brother and a little sister that would be in his corner. He knew his fair share of guys whose younger siblings would be ridiculing the shit out of them if they were really getting more action.

“So, how much of your, uh, personal preferences, or whatever, are you comfortable sharing?” Heath asked, chewing hard on his lower lip. “I mean, I don't wanna make you uncomfortable, or make this unnecessarily awkward, or anything.”

“How much do you wanna know?” Terry asked in response, “I mean, I may not have a lot of experience, but I have a fairly solid grasp on what I'm into, but do you really wanna know all the intimate details of what I'm into?”

“Mm,” Heath's mouth pulled to one side, and his eyes averted, classic thinking Heath behaviour, before he took a breath and then nodded, “Yes. Only way I'm going to be able to try to help you out here is if I know what kind of a freak you are.”

“Okay,” Terry answered, his cheeks reddening, especially when Heath described it as being a freak, and he couldn't really argue. The things that turned him on the most were things that were not by any stretch of the imagination mainstream.

“I like the idea of someone being aggressive with me. You know, forceful,” Terry admitted, quietly, “Someone who would, uh ... well ... uh ...” He paused when Heath reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, and he made eye contact.

“No shame. I'm not gonna judge you, bro,” Heath assured him, and Terry nodded. “Tell me everything you're comfortable telling me, everything you're ready to tell me. I promise, I'm not gonna make fun of you for whatever you're into.”

“I don't think I'm quite ready for this conversation, Heath,” Terry admitted, more than sufficiently embarrassed for one afternoon. “Could we maybe table this for after the date thing?” Heath, to his credit, nodded immediately in response.

“Absolutely! Hell, no, bro, you don't even have to ask!” Heath replied promptly, “You are my brother and I love you. You have been absolutely awesome and supportive all my life. Anything I can do to return the favour, you know, absolutely!”

“Let's talk about something light, then,” Heath proposed, “The date. Do you have any preferences for where we should go? Arcade, movies, roller skating, having him teach us how to surf?” It helped that Terry already knew how to swim, at least.

“Learning to surf could be fun,” Terry hummed, though his cheeks remain tinted as he realised what came with that idea. It meant Giovanni would see most of his body on the first date, if innocently, and have an excuse to put his hands on him.

“Wait, does he know about ... ?” Terry briefly worried, but Heath quickly held up both hands.

“Yes. I knew Elvestad Syndrome could be a deal breaker,” Heath assured him, “so I felt him out about it, and I'm like 90% certain he's at least theoretically okay with an intersex partner. I also let him know it's why our mother is ... well, absent.”

Absent was a nice way to put it. She'd abandoned them shortly after Heath was born, according to their father. She simply couldn't handle having two of her three children be anatomical anomalies, it wasn't the family that she had “envisioned.”

He felt a little startled that Heath felt comfortable enough with this man to mention their mother. Then again, maybe the man had simply asked about his parents, or Heath had mentioned Dad and Giovanni noticed the lack of a mother mention.

Suppose it doesn't really matter, Terry mused, internally, Not as if I remember her, either, so it scarcely matters.

“Okay, good,” Terry sighed with relief, “I mean, even if it works out and he's great, I'm not confident he'll want a second date instead of letting me down easy.” Heath nodded, and Terry leaned back and propped himself up on with both hands.

“I love you, too, Heath,” Terry volunteered, looking at the ceiling, trying to expel the flustered emotions and get his damn cheeks back to their proper fairness, “You really are an awesome little brother to have in my corner. So many would've ...”

“Been absolute assholes, I know,” Heath interjected, and the chair creaked as he got up and came over, sitting on the bed, too, “Fortunately, Dad raised us to be more considerate, yeah?” Terry smiled, then flopped back on his back and sighed.

They may not have ever had a mother that any of them could remember, but they had one hell of a bad-ass Dad. It helped that Aunt Julia lived nearby, and their cool Uncle Benedict, too. They'd really never wanted for appropriate role models, at least.

“You know, we should probably go shopping tomorrow morning for surfboards for the three of us,” Heath said, looking over at him, “I've been to the beach with him and if we're gonna learn to surf properly? We should have our own boards.”

“Why?” Terry asked, reflexively.

“The rental boards are kind of awful, like, seriously just bad,” Heath answered, “and it's better to have a board that's really custom fitted to your height, weight, what kind of waves we're going to be expecting, and skill level. That last being zero.”

Terry couldn't really argue with the evaluation of needing a board suited to unskilled newbies. Surfing would really be an experience none of them had ever had before. “Yea. Good call. So how are your classes going? You having any trouble?”

“Eh, you know how it is. First year at university's a bit of an adjustment,” Heath gestured grandly, “Campus is gargantuan. Well, compared to high school, anyway. I'm always late to some classes as I'm not used to dashing six hundred metres.”

“Do me a huge favour, next summer?” Heath prompted, and Terry lifted one eyebrow and made a questioning face.

“What's that?” he asked.

“Sit with me while I arrange my class schedule and smack me in the back of the head if I have classes back to back that are on opposite sides of the campus!” Heath grinned at him, but he knew he was serious about Terry reminding him of that.

“Sure thing,” Terry replied, “Anything I can do to help my super cool little brother. I mean, I maintain a rather light class schedule, mostly for that reason.”

“How many classes are you even in?” Heath asked, “I mean, you're home a lot for a dude attending the local university.” Terry rolled his shoulders and held up one hand. He really only had one class per day, some of which being mandatory.

“I hate that the university forces me to take a math course, I'm not good at fucking math,” Terry griped as his cheeks got back to their normal, fair colouring, “I guess I should be thankful mathematics and science are so academically broad.”

“Which ones did you pick?” Heath asked.

“Astronomy and Statistics,” Terry held his hands up in a shrugging kind of gesture, “Statistics is at least useful, and figure if I'm going to take a science class it should be something I enjoy. Stargazing is pretty relaxing, so it felt more reasonable.”

“As opposed to trigonometry and molecular biology, at least,” Heath chuckled, nodding, “Gonna be honest, Physics is a lot harder than I thought it'd be. You think I'll make it?”

“Tsch, of course you will, don't be dumb!” Terry answered immediately, “You're one of the smartest guys I know, Heath. Anything I can do to help you with your goal of becoming a physicist, I've got your back.”

When his tablet chimed again, Terry looked over at it, his brows knitting, but Heath didn't seem to notice. When Heath continued, undistracted, Terry looked back at him. “Thanks, Terry. I'll let you know if I need anything, I promise.”