Brothers Shouldn't Feel Like This

Rating: T+

Summary: They really shouldn't, but they did. Follow the twins' story as they try to find acceptance in a world that only knows how to condemn.

Yes, I've finally hoped the fence over to the KouKou fangirlsism side. *bangs head against wall while the twins plot my murder in the background* I was borderline to begin with, and I've decided I do actually like it. I wouldn't go so far as 'fangirl' (yet) but I'll admit I'm a fan. Though at first I wasn't sure if I was going to write this, I started writing it in my head the night before last and decided 'okay, yeah, let's write it.' And since I've plotted out a good chunk of the story and I want to get it down before I lose it, this will be most likely all I update for a while.

First segment is taken from the last episode, then the rest is all post cannon.

And to Felicity: Enjoy the KouKou puffs! :3 (That still sounds weird)

If love knows no bounds and the heart cannot be fenced, why is it so wrong to love your own flesh and blood…?

Chapter 1: They Would Say It's Wrong, I Don't Care

He knew then – no, he'd probably known before that, when they first met even, but without really knowing. He'd known an empty void within him had been filled when he heard their supposed enemy claim to be his brother. Now having seen his brother die before his eyes – twice almost – then be brought back to life, he knew. He also knew that a brother shouldn't feel like this. But, nevertheless, he did. He knew people would call it 'wrong' and other fouler names but, strangely, he found he didn't really care. His emotions were his alone and, no matter what anyone said, what he felt wasn't either right or wrong – it just was.

And least that's what he convinced himself to believe as he held his brother tightly, the tears of sheer joy and relief and the pure incredulity of the moment streaming down his cheeks.

"Koji…"

The word was soft, muffled.

"Koji."

Still muffled, but louder this time.

He pressed a hand to the other's chest, gently pushing away. The younger sighed, his breath cascading over the elder's face, and let himself be pushed away. The hand slid to the lap of the person it belonged to. Koji stared at his brother expectantly, pretty sure he knew what would come next.

"We really shouldn't…" Koichi said softly, not making eye contact.

Koji sighed again. Just what he'd expected. This wasn't the first time his brother had said those words, and probably wouldn't be the last. Even after two months… "Why?" Koji posed the question, just to see how the elder would answer.

Koichi blinked in surprise. This was the first time his twin had asked why; the usual response would have been, 'It doesn't matter.' Though, faced with the question, only one answer came to mind, so that's what ended up coming out.

"Because…it's wrong…"

Koji flinched slightly at the words, though not enough to be visibly noticeable. He was good at that. Most would never notice his changing emotions from the outside, as now; he felt the small twinge of pain but didn't let it show in his face, and only slightly in the words he spoke. It had been the answer he most expected but, nevertheless, he'd hoped his twin would have a different one.

"So, what I feel, what we feel, is wrong…?"

"N-no, I didn't—" But the elder stopped abruptly, realizing that while that may not have been what he'd meant, that's what the words implied. He fell silent, his eyes trained on the floor.

The younger sighed once again. "Emotions have no right or wrong label; what you feel or don't isn't right or wrong – it just is. Society is what places the labels on everything, and frankly, society's stupid," Koji scoffed.

Koichi looked back up at his twin, an understanding smile turning up the corners of his mouth. He wouldn't deny that he agreed with the statement, but that didn't change the fact that society – whether it should or not – had a lot of control over the lives of those who lived in it, whether they wanted to or not.

"'Love knows no bounds,'" Koji continued before the elder could respond, quoting an unknown and/or forgotten source, "and yet people still try to put a fence around it and say you can love this, but not this. It's so stupid!" he exhaled in exasperation, allowing himself to fall back on the bed the two sat on.

Koichi grinned again. This wasn't the first time he'd been subjected to one of Koji's 'society's stupid' tangents, although this time it was related to the subject. Sometimes the younger's rants strayed so far by the time he was done, the twins weren't even sure what the original topic had been.

"And they call it a crime against nature!" Koji ranted on. "Hello? Most of us were born this way. I don't think nature would create something that was a 'crime' against itself. Do you?" he then asked, turning his eyes to his twin above him.

Koichi merely shook his head. He didn't really disagree with anything his brother was saying. "But still…the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. They'd—"

"I don't care," the younger snapped, but not harshly, cutting the elder off and sitting up again to look his twin in the eye. "What I care about is my tongue in your mouth."

The blunt statement accomplished it goal, as Koichi blushed rather darkly, quickly averting his eyes downward again and taking refuge behind his overgrown bangs. Koji smirked, placing a hand under his twin's chin and gently turning the elder's face to look at him again.

"But…if anyone found out…" Koichi began again meekly.

"They're not going to." Koji brushed a few misplaced raven bangs aside and pressed a kiss to the elder's forehead, before pulling back and saying softly but firmly, "I love you, Koichi. Nothing anyone says or does is going to change that."

"And, damn, you look hot like that," he added under his breath so his twin didn't hear.

"But- but the others have already started to suspect that something's going on," Koichi protested.

Koji began to reply, but then the twins heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Koji growled softly under his breath, pulling his legs up under him and turning around on the bed, so he was facing the opposite wall, before letting his legs dangle over the side again and flopping back on his back. Koichi quickly looked around for something to busy himself with, willing the blush to subside. Eyeing a book sitting on the dresser, he grabbed that and opened it to a random page just before the twins' father open the door.

"Hey, what are you two doing up here?" he asked in that fatherly way.

"Nothing much," was Koji's feigned bored replied. 'Feigned' because he was, in actuality, annoyed with the intrusion. But fathers will be fathers.

Kousei gave his sons a teasing grin. "Care to let me in on what that 'nothing much' is?"

Not really, Koji thought. Now could you leave? You're kind of interrupting. Of course, that was something he'd rather his father didn't know.

Koichi looked up from the book he hadn't been reading. "It's really nothing of importance," he said with a convincing pleasant smile.

Their father studied the elder for a moment, before grinning. "Alright. Bed in an hour," Kousei told them before leaving again.

Koichi let out an audible sigh once the door was securely shut again. "What is this?" he then wondered out loud as he looked down at the book again with a puzzled expression, turning back to the cover. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He cocked an eyebrow, but before he could ask, the book was plucked from his hands and set back on the table, a rather seductive grin on the younger twin's face.

"Now, where were we?" he asked mildly, before a brief "oh, yeah…" and leaning in towards his brother.

"Koji—!" the elder began to protest, but nonetheless didn't fight as their lips melded together again, the younger's tongue probing into his mouth.

And there you have it. Chapter one of the reason the twins want to kill me, and why I'm hiding in the closet so they can't. And I feel there are some things to explain:

1) The twins' conversation about love – Koji, you could say, represents my idealistic side and the beliefs I hold while Koichi is my practical side reminding me, and his twin, how the world really works. *shrugs* That's just how it came out.

2) Huckleberry Finn because that's what we're reading in English class. No other reason.

3) I honestly didn't put much thought into their personalities before deciding the sides of the relationship. It just kinda ended up the way it did. And I can't really see Koichi being seme… *bangs head against keybord* God…I'm a fangirl! Say it ain't so!

4) This is taking longer to write than Misleading Conversations, mainly, I think, because I'm being a bit more particular about the details in this and keep rewording it 'til I know I've got it right. Yeah, less spur-of-the-moment writing; more planning.

5) Oh yeah, Koji's "tangents" – I do that a lot.

6) The italicized quote at the top – Kind of a focus/theme of the story.

I'm hoping I can get the next chapter out by the end of this week. I've been practically living in this story. It shouldn't be too hard. ;)