A/N 1x5 'The twins fight!'. Post-episode. References to 1x16.

Our world

"Kaoru?"

"Hikaru?"

The twins lay next to each other in bed staring up at the ceiling. They did have their respective rooms and they often slept apart (despite what they implied at the Club) but once in a while something would happen and they needed to feel the other's closeness. Once in a while something would happen that made them need to reassure themselves that their bond was still strong, still unbreakable. That something could include pretending to have a massive fight in public. That something could also include their world being broken into.

The twins simultaneously reached for the other's hand and gave a squeeze.

"It's going to be different now, isn't it?" Hikaru whispered into the darkness. Kaoru squeezed his eyes shut in denial but he couldn't lie to his twin.

"Yes. How could it ever be the same?"

There was a pause that stretched out and could have indicated the end of the conversation, but they both knew this was far from over.

"She's different, isn't she? From the other girls."

Kaoru twisted his head on the pillow so he could just see Hikaru's outline in the dark. The wistful tone in his brother's voice could have been easily missed by another but Kaoru heard it. It made his gut twist and his heart thud. He paused a whole minute before answering, before could be sure the same tone wasn't going to be in his own voice.

"Yeah, she is."

Kaoru waited in the following silence. He knew his brother wouldn't leave it unbroken for long.

"No one's ever been able to tell us apart before."

Kaoru held back his feelings with a firm hand, refusing to let them have any control over him. Anyone else would have gritted their teeth, tensed their muscles, or let their emotions leak out in their words. Kaoru knew that he couldn't afford to; not if he didn't want his twin to notice.

"No."

There was another long pause before Hikaru added, "What do you think that means?"

Kaoru squeezed his eyes shut again, inhaling shallowly and exhaling slowly. He could almost feel tears prick at the corners of his eyes. 'It means that I'm losing you,' he wanted to whisper into the stillness. 'It means I'm losing her.' No girl had been able to tell them apart before; none of them had tried, they'd made sure of that. Yet, almost effortlessly, Haruhi had slipped into their lives, into their world and under their skin. She wouldn't be deceived by one brother pretending to be the other, and she would never settle for one instead of the other. She was like no other girl they'd met.

"It means she's different. She's special." His voice was flat; calm and emotionless. Just like he needed it to be. He was always able to contain himself better than his brother.

"Yeah...yeah she is."

The hush of wonder in his brother's voice confirmed already what Kaoru knew. With a determined push he slammed the lid down on the chest of his own budding feelings for the brunette that had stumbled into their lives. Her smile, her sparkle, her genuineness making her the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. 'Stay in there,' he whispered in his mind as he locked the chest, walked out of the room and turned off the light.

"Hey...Kaoru?"

"Yes Hikaru?"

"We better make sure not to fall in love with her." His voice was joking, jovial and light. He didn't know, Kaoru realised, but then was not so very surprised at that. He smiled softly at his twin, although the darkness obscured it.

"Fall in love with a commoner?" he quipped back, "as if."

Hikaru chuckled in the bed next him and Kaoru joined in until the laughter faded into the even breathing of sleep. 'We'll see,' Kaoru thought at his twin. 'We'll see.'