beta
I think this was the only way the older brother could have made peace with what happened. It's true he was violated and he knew it too, but he also sincerely(?) loves his younger brother...so I guess he didn't want to deny himself that. I think I get it, at the end of the day, his brother is someone he cares about, and perhaps he cares about him more than he hates what he did.
So much has already happened between them, none of it they can undo. There really is no going back unless he does something drastic like making himself and everyone around him believe that he's forgot about what happened. But in the end, they're still in some sort of play, and this time it was initiated by the older brother, [because now he knows that the younger bro won't hurt him like he used to (because of guilt)] and I think that's genius on the author's part.
Please, and thank you