Disclaimer: I don't own Galactik Football or its characters.

Omg an update in slightly more than 24 hours? This is a first for me. XD Ahito/Thran this time, indirect D'Jok/Mei.

Just an idea that popped into my head. Still no strings attached. But I'd love to write a lime for next time, if the boys prove to be ready. Do you think they are? Please review if you have any questions/suggestions/constructive criticism. *bows* Thank you!


Of Firsts and Fourths
#3 – Symmetry is Skin Deep
~ Kitsu

Thran's tray was roughly pushed to the side, the soup splashing, and suddenly there was a lap in its stead. Male lap, as far as he could discern. He looked up to meet one heated short player's determined glare boring into him.

"Okay," Micro-Ice crossed his arms on his chest sternly, "either you tell me what's going on or I'll get Yuki pregnant."

Thran blinked, once, before leaning back and away a little from the other's personal space. In case Micro-Ice knew of that concept. Because the concept of Yuki was obviously lost on him. "I do think you'd end up a eunuch if you tried, not that I'd need to lift a finger about it."

He tried to move to the side and finish his meal, but the short boy caught him in a leg-lock, trapping him. "That doesn't change the fact that you're acting weird," he was pouting, his male pride offended, but he was too good a friend to jell and curse back. "And I'm worried," he confessed.

Thran looked up at him in momentary silence, weighting his options. Okay, so maybe Micro-Ice was loud and obnoxious most of the time, but he really did mean no harm. They had always chatted so easily, joked and laughed. No wonder he started noticing the twins were now retreating to spend quality time among themselves more now. D'Jok was, after all, preoccupied with Mei (willingly or not) most of his free time and he never was exceptionally close to either Tia or Rocket, so it was only a matter of time before he'd come crashing over for some answers. Maybe even literally, considering the spilled tea on Thran's tray…

His eyes slid slowly to Ahito's form sitting next to him and dozing off on the table, letting his meal cool. To anybody it might have looked like one of his usual sleep attacks, but Thran knew he was faking it this time. He had more than heard Micro-Ice crash their trays together. He was just obviously leaving the talking to him. He would have felt proud for the trust put into him, if it wasn't the consequence of Ahito being lazy. Besides, maybe it was about time Ahito woke up and…

"… it's got to do with the two of you, I know it," Micro-Ice went on, pointing an accusing finger at Thran. "You keep looking at him all the time. And don't try to tell me it's because you think he'll collapse from one moment to the next, it's not worry you're looking at him with!"

Thran looked at him sharply, calculating. He couldn't tell the truth. Maybe Micro-Ice didn't have a mean bone in his body, but he did have one of the fastest mouths in the galaxy. And yet Thran hated lying no matter how good he had gotten at avoiding all sorts of questions. He had always been slightly irked at having to make up things… but when Ahito would back him up against the wall and kiss him out of his mind he'd find total Zen in a millisecond, and all was right with the world until next time.

"There's nothing wrong," he repeated himself, "it's a twins' thing…" he kneed Ahito under the table, making him give a slight hiss of pain, but he obediently straightened just in time to voice the affirmation Thran needed him to. "Right, Ahito?"

The younger twin was looking at him in slight annoyance, as was Micro-Ice. But such was life sometimes, he, too, had his bad days – he was human, too, despite the computer-like brain. And all he really wanted was to finish his meal in peace. He made a grab for the tray, but suddenly his hand was caught.

Thran watched in shocked horror as Ahito drew his hand into his, bringing it up to kiss it lightly. "It's okay, 'nii-chan," he was smiling softly now, before turning his ebony eyes from his frozen brother over to their friend, no less stunned. "We can tell him, he's our friend," he supplied, pulling on the hand he was holding, enough to wrap his arms around a stunned Thran, tongue tracing up his jaw languidly, "he can even come have some fun with us..."

"Uh," Micro-Ice added intelligently, eyes widening in shocking apprehension. "F… fun?"

Ahito nodded. He traced a finger across Thran's lips, as though showing him. "Yes, fun. I kiss him here," he instructed, before his finger danced down the line of his neck, to the middle of his chest, "here," he continued cheekily, letting his fingers drop low, lots lower, to trace over the zipper of Thran's jeans. "and here it where he likes it most," he concluded, giving his fingers a double tour, enjoying way too much the bewildered look on their team-mate's face.

Which is where Thran realized what was his brother doing. He was lying, of course. They had never kissed nowhere pass the face area, never really… gotten far with hands. Despite the obvious attraction, they did realize they were siblings and the fact that it was supposed to be gross and awkward but wasn't was still somewhat enough to keep them rooted. But that wasn't the eye of the matter now. Now Thran needed to do his part.

"Oh…" he moaned, throwing his head against the other's shoulder and catching his wrist bashfully, "Ahito, don't… not in front of others…" he pleaded, meek suddenly, and Ahito's hand closed over him, cupping him deliberately. He buckled up into that hand, gasping in shame.

"Wh-whoah, whoah!" Micro-Ice let go of his leg-lock on Thran as though he burned, blushing. "Guys that's not-" he tried, faltered, tired again. "You're not supposed to- You- You, you…" He was backing up on the table, eyes wide, but still too stunned to bolt.

Thran sneaked a hand up Ahito's thigh, kneading it reproachfully now, eyes veiled with something akin to resignation and shame. "We know it's wrong," he mouthed quietly, "And we really didn't want anyone to know…"

Micro-Ice was still staring, mind blank and overloaded with shock. "You're… you…" he pointed at them weakly.

Ahito's arms grew tighter against Thran, and he eyed their team-mate with a serious expression worth a Nobel prize. He also palmed Thran quite deliberately, and this time the moan the other gave was a little less acting than the previous one and more of a real thing, especially since the handful had bolded out slightly. He knew they needed to stop before it got out of hand… also because, all things considered, this was technically the first time he was groping his twin, publicly or in private alike. It was blasting his brain, fast.

"Yes, we're…" he trailed, nuzzling into Thran's neck without taking his eyes off of their team mate, before continuing. "Joking."

They burst out laughing, more at the bewildered expression on Micro-Ice's face than at anything else, because to them, the prank wasn't exactly funny. It wasn't a prank at all. It was partly a way of testing how Micro-Ice would take it, if he would ever find out.

Sulking, the short player, shot them a glare and slid into the seat next to Ahito, refusing to look at them. "That's one sick joke to play," he commented, crossing his arms over his chest sternly.

Thran was patting him on his shoulder, choosing his wording carefully, but he never managed to say anything.

"I think it would be cute."

All three of them glanced up to see Tia holding her tray beside them, a slightly weary Mei just a step or so behind her. The latter was still frowning at them even after both of them sat down. "I fail to see the cute part of two guys being together," she huffed. "Girls are supposed to make the cute happen."

Tia looked at her, conversing as though the boys weren't there to hear it. "It's aesthetic," she countered thoughtfully, "even the Ancient Greek were blessing it and the world culture is based on theirs. There really has to be something to it."

Mei made a face, dropping the spoon into her soup with distaste. "I still fail to see the appeal. Ew."

Tia tapped her index finger against her lip, thoughtfully. "Well… try to imagine D'Jok kissing Micro-Ice," she supplied.

"What?!" Micro-Ice stood sharply, his cry higher for a full octave. "Like that would ever happen! Gah!" he sighed, crashing down into his seat like his knees suddenly gave way and beating his had against the smooth surface of the table. "Oh ew. The mental image – it burns!"

Cringing at him, Mei stifled a giggle. "Yeah, that would never happen," she said dismissively, "D'Jok's too hot to go as low as to kiss somebody like Micro-Ice. Literally."

Micro-Ice lifted his head enough to glare daggers at her, but Thran rubbed soothing circles against his back between his spoon-fulls, keeping him subdued somewhat.

Tia, however wasn't done yet. "Fine, then… Rocket and D'jock?"

Mei seemed to think for a second, before she cringed her beautiful face in distaste again. "They would never kiss. D'Jok's subtly craving the captain's position, I don't think he'd ever like Rocket enough to even remotely consider it…"

But Tia went on. "Sinned and D'Jok?"

"Hey," Mei now turned towards her, brown pony-tail flying. "Why are you trying to gay D'Jok up? Last time I checked, he was perfectly fine kissing me, thank you." She hissed indignantly. "Besides, we're not talking about D'jok, we're talking about them groping each-other for a joke," she huffed, chin nudging towards the now frozen twins.

Thran had been hoping they had forgotten about it already (yes, he was such an optimist at times, he knew...). He looked up from his plate into Mei's searching blue eyes, brain working a thousand miles per hour for something to say. Fortunately enough, Tia was the one to divert the suspicious brunette's attention again.

"They can pull these jokes off because theirs is an aesthetic symmetry. Hairstyles aside, they look exactly the same, it would be like loving oneself," Tia elaborated thoughtfully.

Mei was not convinced. "It would make them narcissistic, then," she shrugged, "as though gay and incestuous wouldn't have been enough."

Micro-Ice crashed his head against the table again. "Ew," he whined, "I don't think I'll be able to sleep in the same room with D'Jok now. I keep getting flashes of him waking me up Sleeping Beauty style, gown and armor and everything." He gagged.

Laughter sprung over the table, heartily. But no one noticed Ahito wasn't joining in.

I wasn't until later that evening that Thran realized something was truly off. He was flipping through the holo-TV channels in their room, waiting for Ahito. He still wasn't used to the whole… 'we're kissing now' ordeal, it felt slightly silly to just sit there dressed to a minimum of T-shirt and boxers and waiting for his twin of all people and see him being deliberately… sexy? Thran wasn't sure he knew how to be sexy. He didn't even want to be trying to look sexy. He just wanted Ahito to give him a random reason to drag him to his bed, climb on top of him and kiss him silly until they both fell asleep, exhausted.

But Ahito was late today. He had hit the showers before him, and while his hair was longer than Thran's, he had never taken this long to get showered. Frowning, Ahito tried to pinpoint what was wrong. Maybe he was embarrassed? Earlier he had promptly groped him, and felt up, too. Not that Thran minded. They hadn't yet breached the waistband-line, but it wasn't like Thran had never felt Ahito stiff against his thigh while kissing, he was also pretty sure Ahito had felt him, too. So what was wrong?

Sighing he let himself fall backwards against his covers, gazing up at the ceiling. Maybe nothing was wrong. Maybe he was just imagining things. Maybe Ahito had been overwhelmed by feeling him up and was now guiltily taking care of it in the shower…

He bet Ahito looked nice in the shower. All wet and dripping, hair plastered over this chiseled face, falling into his eyes till he arched back for a wordless cry or elation, when the spray would wash it back and soothe the straining muscles of his pumping arm…

The sliding doors opened with a hiss and Thran looked up, still half lost in imagination, but sobering up fast. Something was wrong. Very wrong. "Ahito…?" he next to whispered, trying to pin point it, but his twin only walked over to his own bed, not even bothering to look over, but rather keeping his eyes fixed on the floor, guiltily.

Thran sat up fully, calling him again, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. He watched him throw the towel onto his bed sternly. Was he mad…? Why as he not looking at him? Not talking to him? Why was he…

Suddenly he saw it.

Jumping up from the bed he grabbed the younger one by the shoulders, spinning him around to face him, fingers reaching for his chin. The skin was smooth under his fingers, hairless and soft. "Ahito…" he barely breathed out, suddenly feeling numb.

The younger jerked his chin free, looking away.

It felt like they were suddenly miles apart, and Thran could feel his chest constrict. This was not alright. This was not how it was supposed to be… he grasped for his twin's arms, urgently. "Ahito, why…?" he tried to get him to look at him, but the other wouldn't budge. "Ahito, what's wrong all of a sudden?"

The younger closed his eyes momentarily, maybe gathering himself, before turning to look at his older twin head on, with all the determination it had taken him to shave his goatee off. It was a sacrifice he need to make in order to know. "We'll always look alike," he told the other mournfully, "so maybe I'll never know, but…" he faltered, swallowing slightly before continuing, "Would you still like me if we weren't twins?"

Blinking, Thran let his words sink in. Like him if he wasn't his twin? Could he? He liked him because he was his twin, because he was the closest to him. If they weren't twins and grown up as they had, they'd be two different people. How could Thran know what would they be like… he didn't even know what was he inclined to fall for in the first place. It had only ever been Ahito…

"What… are you talking about?" he frowned, eyes showing all the panic that was gathering inside him. "You'll always be my twin, we'll always be together in everything," he assured him.

Ahito's face darkened slightly. "Would you still like me if we didn't look alike?" he asked firmly, swallowing bitterly.

Oh. Ooh. Tia's aesthetic symmetry theory. Narcissism.

What a silly little brother he had…

Crushing him into a tight embrace, Thran kissed the other's ear, hair, whatever came first. "You're an idiot," he told him adoringly, "I'd like you just the same even if you looked like Clamp," he assured him.

Reluctantly, Ahito drew his arms around his twin, as well. "I hope I'll never look like Clamp though," he made a face in Thran's shoulder, but his voice was lighter, more relaxed. And suddenly he was melting against Thran, bonelessly, with all his weight. It took all of Thran's quick reflexes to catch him, gently laying him onto his bed, sleeping like a log.

Straightening him against the mattress, Thran pulled the covers over him, sighing. He must have been thinking about it ever since lunch, feeling nervous and unsettled and thus, unable to nap. He had missed far more goals than usual on the afternoon practice, Arch had even told him to focus more, but they all had their off-days, so Thran had not put much thought into it. Let alone think something like this could be bothering his otherwise always cheery and laid-back twin.

But he guessed it was important to him, knowing that he liked him for him, no matter what he looked like, he was always Ahito. And climbing with him under the covers, Thran wormed himself to spoon against him, arms pulling him into a back-to-chest embrace.

It was in the early morning hours when his dream turned sharply from something undefined that had to do with the upcoming finals to this pleasant, slightly wet feeling and he was dimly aware he was gradually waking up. As though surfacing from the depths of the ocean, he was more and more aware of his form digging into the mattress and the bulk above him pressing him there. He was also being kissed. Yes, Ahito was kissing his brains out, slowly, deliberately. It was probably one of the most wonderful wake-ups he had ever been submitted to, Thran had to focus hard to remember he was supposed to be mad about the godforsaken hour.

"Mmmito… Ahi-…" he managed to get out before his lips were assaulted more firmly and Ahito's form slid slightly against his own, tongue shoving in mercilessly before retreating with a small lick. Then it thrust in again, retreated, lips nibbling at his, before the tongue would thrust in again, in a silent simulation of another thrusting he was sure the other was eager to get going. Thran could feel it, could understand it, could yearn for it as well, and did.

He wondered who in their right mind woke up at three AM to have a mind-numbing make-out session. Probably nobody sane.

But they were different.

"A… hito," he gasped in a rare moment in which his lips were released. Ahito's chin was so smooth, so alien... but still Ahito's. It made sense to him.

They had a symmetry of their own. And it wasn't skin-deep.

-End #3-

Okay… should I go on with this? If I do the story' rating is surely gonna go up. I hope I pinned the characters okay… I'm not used to writing stuff so clustered together. And please excuse any misspellings or grammar mistakes, English is not my first language and I still have no beta. T_T

Wildcard: FIX'D! 8D Thank you so much for the wonderful review. Your review on the first chapter was the main why I even continued this... you're really sweet. ^^

Destiney Hope: ?_? Annoy you? Why would I write to annoy you... I don't even know you? I'm sorry if it looks that way... but thank you for saying my story was fluent. ^^ I'm sorry the pairing bothers you. But I can't see this fic without it, it's the main lifeline of it...?