So, ladies and gentlemen, here is the first chapter of my new series, Host Panic! I will warn you that I have very strong opinions about who should end up with who, and what relationships should go with what. Some questions may be left unanswered, and some may be answered very specifically. There will be cliffhangers, confessions, and maybe even kissing! So, with all that in mind, enjoy!

HOST PANIC

Chapter 1: Together twins

Hikaru Hitachiin was in the worst of all moods. He stormed about his room in a rage, throwing things at the walls and watching them shatter with satisfaction...until he realized that he was breaking priceless antiques and quickly swept up the mess.

He flopped onto the bed with a groan. How was he supposed to stay calm when Kaoru was only a floor below him, suffering from some disease? And worst of all, their mother had forbid Hikaru from entering Kaoru's temporary sick ward until the origin and type of the disease was discovered, fearing that the disease was contagious.

Hikaru rolled onto his stomach and rested his chin on one hand. It had been a long time since he and his twin had been separated for more than a few minutes. Already Hikaru was experiencing that familiar sense of being shorn, crippled. He didn't dislike being by himself per se...but there was something so usual and comforting about having Kaoru next to him, bouncing ideas off him and seeing those sweet smiles that only Kaoru had. Kaoru insisted that, since Hikaru was his twin, he must have the same sweet smile. Hikaru knew better.

And then there was the fact that he worried about his brother. Kaoru seemed so helpless sometimes, so trusting. And now it was worst of all, because Kaoru was actually sick. Without Hikaru. Why couldn't their parents understand that, when one of them was sick, the only medicine they required was the company of the other?

Hikaru pounded his fist into one of the pillows. "You don't get it!" he had shouted at his mother as she barred entrance to the room where Kaoru was. "He needs me now more than ever! Let me in!"

"I don't want both of you catching this," she'd said calmly, crossing her arms. "Kaoru will be fine without you for awhile, at least until the doctor gets here and tells us if whatever he's caught is contagious."

Hikaru had put up such a fuss that his mother had banished him to the bedroom until the doctor had been and gone. Which is why he was stuck there, throwing things and punching bedclothes.

He pressed his face into the pillow and took a deep breath. The pillow smelled like Kaoru. Hikaru relaxed a little and turned over to stare at the ceiling. It had only been yesterday that Kaoru had started acting a bit strange: being quieter at the club and letting Hikaru do most of the talking, not laughing over one of their favorite movies yesterday evening, and falling asleep far earlier than normal. And then Hikaru had woken up in the middle of the night with Kaoru plastered to his side, clinging onto his twin in an effort to get warm, his teeth chattering and his face flushed with fever.

Of course, Hikaru spent the rest of that night taking care of Kaoru. He brought him more blankets and a pill to bring down the fever, and sat and talked to him while Kaoru shivered and flashed weak versions of the sweet smile at him. When their parents had arrived at the scene, they were furious at Hikaru for not waking them when Kaoru had the fever. Hikaru didn't care at first--he and his brother had never needed the help of adults before--but he had cared when his mother took Kaoru away to set up a sick ward.

There was a light knock on the door and Hikaru turned his back on it. "Unless you've come to tell me you'll let me into Kaoru's room now, I don't want to hear it!" he yelled.

"You're going to hear it anyway, young man." His mother slipped in and sat down on the side of the bed. "The doctor just left."

Hikaru couldn't help turning his head to look at her. "And...?"

"It's a bad case of the flu." His mother sighed. "He should pull through all right, but he'll need at least a week to rest and recuperate. We'll get him started on medicine right away so he isn't contagious too much longer."

"So he is contagious?" Hikaru asked, dreading the answer.

She glared at him. "If you're asking whether you can go see him, the answer is still no. And it will be no for at least three days."

"Three days?! I thought you only had to be on medicine for twenty-four hours before you stopped being contagious!" Hikaru said indignantly.

"Your brother needs peace and quiet, young man, and neither of those are words I'd use to describe you. You'll just have to do without him for a few days until he's gotten some of his strength back."

Hikaru slammed his fist into the pillow again, trembling with fury. "It's not a question of me doing without him. Are you stupid or something? He needs me, get it?"

His mother stood up and looked at him coldly. "That just earned you more time in solitary confinement." She crossed the room to the door and paused. "I know you're worried about Kaoru," she said, "but you don't have to take it out on us." Then she had shut the door behind her.

Hikaru's fingers were hovering over another breakable object before he realized what he was doing. He fell onto the bed on his knees and instead began to beat a tattoo into the pillow.

Three days.

Three days was a long, long time.

Hikaru spent a lot of his twinless time lying listlessly on his bed, worrying and thinking and breathing in Kaoru's scent from his pillow. Sometimes he stormed and cursed just because it made him feel better. He wanted to give his parents the silent treatment, but only by asking them could he gain precious insight into how Kaoru was doing.

He was excused from school after putting on a tearful show for his mother about how his concern for Kaoru would affect his schoolwork. Of course, he had to compose an email to Kyoya telling him why he and his brother wouldn't be at the club for a few days. Once his cell phone rang with Kyoya's ringtone, but Hikaru let the voicemail get it. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with the club's shadow king.

Finally, four days after Kaoru had originally fallen sick, Hikaru was allowed in to see him. His twin was asleep when Hikaru burst into the room. He was wrapped in a comforter on the bed, so pale he looked white and his eyelids flickering uneasily. Hikaru sat down next to the bed, just happy to see his face.

Suddenly, Kaoru sat bolt upright and screamed, "HIKARU!"

"Geez, calm down!" Shaken by the sudden outburst, yet pleased that it had been his name that was called, Hikaru firmly lay Kaoru back on the pillow. "Mom'll have my head on a platter if she thinks I'm riling you up."

Kaoru's chest heaved as he tried to clear away the remnants of his nightmare. "Hikaru?"

"It's okay. I'm here now." Hikaru slipped easily into his usual role of comforting protector. "Went off and got the flu without me, eh? How could you?"

Kaoru relaxed and flashed the sweet smile at his brother. It was so easy for Hikaru to make him smile.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." Kaoru coughed. "Just tired, mostly. And you?"

"Furious at our parents for keeping me away so long."

Kaoru looked pained. "I wouldn't want you to get sick because of me."

"Don't be an idiot." Hikaru punched his brother's shoulder playfully. "You were probably contagious before you got any symptoms. Plus I've been all over your pillow for the past three days. If I was going to get sick, I would have by now."

He raised his hand to brush a strand of hair out of Kaoru's eyes, but his twin caught the hand and squeezed it. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." Hikaru brushed his lips against Kaoru's knuckles--an act which would have prompted a lot of squealing and fainting at the club. Hikaru didn't do it for looks. He didn't really care whether people thought he was in love with Kaoru or not...weren't siblings allowed to kiss each other without causing a national incident?

"Hikaru, I..." Kaoru looked at his brother with eyes so sad that Hikaru looked away. "...I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?" Hikaru scrutinized his twin with concern. "That nightmare still bothering you?"

"No...yes...sorta." Kaoru shook his head. "Hikaru...what would you do if you thought I had a crush on a girl?"

"Whaaat?!" Hikaru searched Kaoru's face for laughter, but found none. Shaken, he replied with a nervous grin, "I dunno...maybe tear her head off, for starters."

"That's what I thought you'd say." Kaoru sighed wearily. "What if it were the other way around? What if it were you that had a crush on some girl?"

"What are you getting at?"

Kaoru sighed again. "I...Hikaru, how do you feel about Haruhi?"

"Our toy?"

"Don't be an idiot. You know what I meant."

"Okay, okay." What game was Kaoru playing here? "She's...a fellow member of the club...a friend, I guess. Was that the answer you wanted?"

"There's nothing else?"

"Should there be?"

"Urrgh." Kaoru sat up despite Hikaru's protests. "No, there's more to it than that. There has to be." His eyes pleaded with his brother. "She's so different from any of the other girls we've met. She can even tell us apart! She's different, right?"

Hikaru finally connected two and two. "Kaoru...do you think I have a crush on Haruhi?"

Kaoru's eyes told all.

"B-but...Kaoru, that's crazy...I never...you're the only..." Hikaru's mind was reeling and dragged his mouth along for the ride.

"It was bound to happen eventually." Kaoru smiled sadly again. "You're such an idiot, Hikaru. I've been thinking about this a lot recently...and really, better Haruhi than one of the customers or something, right?" He lay back against the pillow and looked up at his twin. "This has been preying on my mind for ages."

Hikaru struggled to slip back into his normal routine. "You--you should get some rest. You've had a hard couple of days, and you're still sick..."

"No, listen. I have to say this. If I don't say it now, I may never have the courage again." Kaoru caught Hikaru's hand again. "I want you to know that if you ever decide that you like Haruhi enough to ask her out, you have my blessing. I don't want you to miss out on this because you're worried about me. We can't share everything. Just know that."

For a moment, Hikaru was struck with how similar this discussion was to one of Renge's Uki-Doki-Memorial scenes. She would eat this stuff up if she were here.

Kaoru was falling asleep again, despite everything. "Think it over, okay?" he murmured, his eyelids drooping. "Promise me."

"I...I can't even..."

"Hikaru." Kaoru forced himself awake and gripped Hikaru's fingertips. "Promise. Please."

"I--okay, I'll think it over."

That was all Kaoru had needed to hear. Smiling sadly, he finally let go of Hikaru's hand and drifted into a peaceful sleep, this time untouched by nightmares. And Hikaru was left staring down at his twin with a head full of questions, questions that his head had yet to ask his heart.

I did warn you about the cliffhangers. :P Just so's you know, I have no idea how this is going to end yet. I mean, yes I know who will end up with who, but I don't know exactly how it's going to happen. So if any of this stuff surprises you, I'm probably more surprised than you are:D Keep an eye out for chapter 2, it will follow a different character(s)!