A/N: Another double upload, especially since this is the shortest chapter in this story. If next week has a double upload as well then I'll be done then and can finally properly work on my next story!
Chapter 20. New friends.
Kaoru was quite appalled by the hand grabbing his. Not because he wasn't used to affection like that (him and Hikaru were very close after all) but because of the look on the boy's face. Eyes small, eyebrows angled, forehead scrunched up and lips tightly pressed together; the appearance of anger but leaning towards determination if you took a closer look into his eyes. The boy looked so confident in his goals, but the hand holding onto Kaoru for dear life made Kaoru take a closer look. Hands shaking, sweat from his palm, lips tight enough for them to look like the thinnest and palest straight line, avoiding looking anyone in the eye…
"Oh".
Kaoru tightened his grip around the other boy's hand and gave him a half smile and a nod to show that he was there for him. The boy looked away from him but the squeeze back said enough.
The tall man taking a look at the new members stopped in front of the boy.
"You have a celebrity name too, right? More famous than the twins?"
"Baisotei Botan", the boy responded, as confidently as possible.
Perhaps he was gaining some courage from Kaoru. At least Kaoru hoped so. Even if the man looked disappointed.
"No, no, that name is not gonna work", the man told him with an eye roll, not caring if it was impolite to insult someone's name or not. "It's the same name as your daddy".
"Unfortunately", Botan agreed, biting back disgust towards his absent father.
"Then you should be fine with me changing your name, right? We wouldn't want the two of you getting mixed up".
Another man a few meters away decided to step in for a chaste quip:
"Yeah, people would get really confused if his name popped up as a casualty and people would worry until they realize that it wasn't the human millionaire who died".
He did come in with a smile, like the intention was to be funny but no one was laughing so he disappeared again.
"Anyway", the first man sighed. "How about the name Jiro. Is that one okay?"
"Better than Botan".
"Then it's decided then", the man announced, clasping his hands together. "You boys should probably go to sleep. The day starts early tomorrow".
"The days start the same time every day", Kaoru whispered to Jiro, confused, and Jiro chuckled.
Hikaru yawned loudly as the children went to go to bed. The twins, Jiro and another boy shared a room. The beds were more uncomfortable than what the twins were used to but they didn't want to complain too loudly about it since it would make the other children dislike them. Hikaru and the fourth kid took the top bunks of the bunk beds while Kaoru and Jiro begrudgingly took the lower bunks.
Another adult stepped in to say goodnight before turning the lights off. Hikaru mumbled a goodnight to Kaoru before lying down to sleep but Kaoru was still not under the covers since Jiro was sitting up in bed still.
"Aren't you tired?" Kaoru whispered.
"I can't sleep".
"Don't you like your new name?"
"I do but… when that man said millionaire, he meant non zero. People would only care if a non zero died. Even if I still had money no one would care if I died", Jiro quietly explained with a forlorn look on his face.
Kaoru wanted to argue but he couldn't. Him and Hikaru had escaped from home and joined 0 Light because they knew that they were useless in the eyes of society.
"I have thought about this", Jiro continued while fiddling with his blanket. "Kaoru, what do you think is the difference between a dead zero and a normal dead person?"
"What?"
"What do you think is the answer?"
"What do you think?"
"I asked first. Don't be annoying", Jiro rolled his eyes.
"But didn't you just say that? People care about one death but not another?"
"But what do you think? Do you agree?"
"I… I would care more if you died than your dad?" Kaoru responded, uncertain and confused.
Jiro was silent for a few seconds before he started to laugh. He quickly covered his mouth to not wake anyone up.
"What?" Kaoru asked, cheeks tinted pink from embarrassment over his supposedly stupid answer. "I don't know what you want me to say… ".
"I don't think you got the question, but that's alright", Jiro explained and wiped some tears from his eyes. "I don't think I really get it either. Let's try again one day".
"... okay"...
Kaoru woke up with a yawn and he stretched his arms. Another night, another returned memory. This one was particularly difficult to process since it was about Jiro, someone he thought that he should have been over by now (even if Kyoya assured him that he didn't need to be over it).
He looked at the clock and sighed in disappointment at him managing to wake up just a few minutes before he was supposed to. Either the bright sun shining through the blinds or his emotional memory was to blame for the sleep he had lost. Atrocious.
However, as soon as he remembered what day it was, he felt too nervous to even attempt to catch even just a little more sleep. Instead he sat up and went to the bathroom. He was only wearing underwear since it was way too hot in the summer. Technically he could wear his old beloved friend shorts again but he was still paranoid about people seeing his scars… not that his insecurities meant anything today.
When he opened the bathroom door Kyoya was already in there since it was the closest one to both of their bedrooms. To Kaoru's surprise Kyoya dared to be shirtless even if there was a possibility that Hikaru could walk in on him. Perhaps he had forgotten to lock the door?
Kyoya looked away from what he was doing and smiled when he saw that it was Kaoru.
"Good morning. You're up a little early", he greeted.
"Yeah. Memories again, but nothing traumatic so don't worry", Kaoru assured and walked up until he stood behind Kyoya's scarred back and wrapped his arms around him. "Do you think it's a good idea? Today I mean?"
"We are going to go somewhere far from here and it's outside so you don't have to dress down more than you are comfortable with. Not that you would be visible under water if we're far away enough from the others".
"Is a beach really the right place for someone like me?" Kaoru almost whined and nuzzled into Kyoya's shoulder blade.
He was too short to be able to rest his head on top of Kyoya's shoulder.
"You boys really want to swim and a beach is the best choice since we don't have a pool".
"I need to have a talk with your sister. What rich people don't have a pool? Even if they don't feel the need to use it?"
"It really is too bad", Kyoya fake lamented before spinning around and wrapping his arms around Kaoru's waist. "Because a pool would have given you more reasons to dress like this".
He started to kiss and suck on Kaoru's neck. Not hard enough for hickeys to form but enough for Kaoru to giggle and moan at the sensation.
"You really need to sleep in our bed more often", Kyoya groaned against the skin in between the light assault on Kaoru's throat.
"Y-yeah", Kaoru agreed while making it easier for Kyoya to do what he wanted.
A sting of guilt did hit him at Kyoya's words since he did sleep in his and Hikaru's room eight out of ten times and he knew that Kyoya had more nightmares without him there. Still, Kyoya had never pressured him. This was the first time he had ever said anything like that. In a way, Kaoru had been worried about waking up as a child next to Kyoya, which the older man understood, but at this point they could guess pretty well which age would show up. At least it was certain if he had just been a toddler then he wouldn't become a toddler for a while. It was because of that they chose to swim today on a whim because they could guess that he would fall asleep as a toddler the day before (which he did).
"Well, I'm awake now", a voice interrupted the couple before the door slammed shut.
Kyoya removed his eager mouth from Kaoru and both stared at the door silently before laughing at Hikaru's reaction.
"God, I don't look forward to the day he will take out his revenge on us", Kaoru stated.
"He needs a girlfriend first to do that so don't worry".
They all decided to take a cab to the beach since it was much too hot for Kaoru to wear pants instead of shorts. The cab driver stared at Kaoru when he could, making Kaoru squirm in his seat. Kyoya politely reminded the driver to look forward with that damn smile that seemed to make anyone sweat, which worked wonders. Kaoru wondered if it was the sweetness of the smile that was scaring people or if he was missing something. Maybe Kyoya did have magical powers?
When they were at the beach, Kaoru immediately started to feel nauseous. It wasn't crowded due to it not being a vacation period yet, but there were still enough people there to make him self-consciously tug down his shorts or hide behind his brother or boyfriend. Since most of his scars were fairly old they weren't sticking out enough for people to see them from far away, but he was very paranoid every time a stranger walked too close.
"Do you two see a good spot?" Kyoya asked Hikaru as just those two looked around since they weren't the ones freaking out.
"Yeah, over there...let's go before Kaoru buries himself in the sand".
"I'll bury you in sand".
Quickly as to not prolong Kaoru's uneasiness, they went to the spot and laid down their things. Hikaru almost immediately discarded his shoes and shirt and ran over the sand to enter the water.
"Is the temperature okay!?" Kaoru called out to him while playing with the ropes at the front of his bright green swimming trunks.
"Maybe soon!" Hikaru called back, shaky in the voice.
Slowly, with arms in the air, he made his way farther and farther out. He squealed a little as his nether region disappeared under the water.
"He must be overreacting", Kyoya told Kaoru, sceptical, while gesturing towards a pair of dry children gleefully running into the water without any fuss.
Kaoru chuckled and shook his head at his brother's ridiculousness.
"He also left us to unpack everything".
"You can go ahead and join him. I can take care of it", Kyoya suggested with a smile as he took out the blanket, but Kaoru just shook his head shyly and helped him with the unpacking regardless.
After everything was done, Kyoya once again asked if Kaoru wanted to swim with his brother, who started to look a little alone out there, but he said no again. To Kaoru's confusion Kyoya sighed deeply like he was mentally preparing himself for something before removing his glasses… and his swim shirt.
"K-Kyoya?" Kaoru said in disbelief as Kyoya, shirtless for all to see, walked into the water while looking straight forward.
Slack jawed, Kaoru stared after him as he went over to a distracted Hikaru (who was looking at a couple of girls around his age) and pushed him into the water. Kaoru assumed that Kyoya playfully called Hikaru out on his gawking because redness was present in Hikaru's face, but he couldn't see any hint of anger. If Hikaru noticed the scars when Kyoya moved around he didn't say anything.
Swallowing some of his fear, Kaoru pulled off his own shirt, swiftly like a bandaid. Then he threw it on the blanket and ran as quickly as he could to the water. Both to reduce the chance of chickening out and so he would get covered by the water before anyone could take a proper look at him.
Hikaru and Kyoya studied him as he went up to them and threw himself into the water.
"So, you decided to join us?" Kyoya teased but Kaoru could tell by the less tense body language and softness in his eyes that he was very relieved and proud that his own "stripping" worked.
"Yeah, and you really were a bitch about the water, Hikaru", Kaoru told his brother with only his head above the surface and soaked bangs plastered onto his forehead. "It's not that cold".
"You were too scared to feel anything! Probably all that adrenaline", Hikaru huffed. "And you look like a sea turtle like that".
"Am I at least a cute sea turtle?"
"No".
"Yes", Kyoya disagreed.
"Kyoya is biased".
"Or you are", Kaoru pointed out and spat out some water.
Kyoya stayed with them for a short amount of time since he wasn't actually that fond of swimming, but to Kaoru's relief the young doctor still kept his shirt off as he was sitting and reading on the blanket. It made Kaoru incredibly proud of him even if his absence did make it a little more difficult to be exposed. But Hikaru squirting water at him shifted his attention rather quickly and the two started to play around like little kids.
Kyoya eyed Kaoru approvingly as the twins walked up to him; liking how the water was dripping down his chest. Something told Kaoru that he might not be able to sit comfortably tomorrow. Hikaru didn't seem to notice this time around, too preoccupied with fanning himself with his hands.
"God, it's warm even when I'm soaked".
"There is a stand over there if you want to get something to drink", Kyoya suggested as Kaoru sat down next to him.
"Sounds good", Hikaru nodded and Kyoya handed him some money before he left.
"He was too thirsty to remember to ask me if I wanted something", Kaoru complained.
"Blame the dehydration", Kyoya murmured absently and leaned closer until his lips were on Kaoru's neck again. "He would be delighted to find out that he had some girls staring at you two. In a very interested way".
"You're sure it wasn't out of disgust?" Kaoru asked, uncertain about how to take that information.
"If I wasn't sure they didn't like what they were seeing I wouldn't have said anything about it".
"You only saying this in front of me and not Hikaru could prove your claim… ".
"You two would have noticed them watching if you weren't so busy".
"You seem very sure for someone who supposedly read all this time".
"Well I stared at you too of course. How could I not?" Kyoya teased with a smirk and wrapped his arm around Kaoru to pull him closer.
"What about onlookers? Are you sure this touch isn't 'too gay?'" Kaoru asked but leaned into the touch regardless.
"I could just say that we are brothers, they won't fact check if Japanese siblings are a lot more affectionate… not that you can tell from looking at us where exactly we come from… ".
"I don't know about that. Pointing out that Hikaru and I are brothers doesn't always seem to sway the assumptions… ".
"Well that's a different kind of crowd".
"Perhaps… I'm proud of you, you know", Kaoru murmured in his ear and placed a quick kiss on his neck in an attempt to distract him enough so he wouldn't downplay his own actions. "And thank you".
It did work since Kyoya was taken aback at first and looked like he wasn't sure if he could get away with kissing him back or not. He settled on resting his head on top of Kaoru's with a content sigh.
"Don't expect me to go pantless too next time though", he murmured and Kaoru laughed.
They separated when Hikaru approached to not be disrespectful and he had actually bought a soda for Kaoru too, a raspberry coke. Which pleased Kaoru immensely.
After an hour, they left to return home. Hikaru immediately went into the bathroom on the lower floor while the other two shared the other one… Kaoru had to stand up as much as possible afterwards, especially around Hikaru.
"You don't have to stay in our room tonight", Hikaru told Kaoru just as the young twin entered after brushing his teeth. "I'll be too exhausted to notice that you're gone anyway".
"No, I want to sleep here", Kaoru assured and lied down on his bed. "And I know you're just trying to be nice. I appreciate it".
Hikaru smiled at him before turning off the lights and burying himself in the fluffiest blanket he had ever had. Kaoru closed his eyes to try to fall asleep.
"Hey, Kaoru".
"Yes, Hikaru… ?"
"... if you're too tired I'll try to remember it until tomorrow".
"That would require you to stay up too late. I would know because that's how I would try to remember something I really wanted to ask too".
"Alright… so Kyoya… What happened to him? I didn't want to ask at the beach since we had such a good time… ".
"I don't think that I should be the one to tell you that-".
"Yeah, you're right. He wouldn't be happy about that, would he?"
"-And I don't know what happened".
Despite not having his eyes open, Kaoru could almost swear that he could hear Hikaru frown.
"That… doesn't sound very fair", Hikaru muttered. "I understand completely why he wouldn't want me to know, but think about all the things he knows about you. Sure, the story behind your scars is common sense from where we come from, but just because your personal business isn't allowed to be personal does it not mean that his personal business has more worth. And I don't just mean that you two need to be equally open with each other, I also mean: what if those were caused by a crazy ex who wants to hurt anyone Kyoya dates? Does hiding that kind of information feel fair to you?"
"I suppose not… but I don't think he would ever do anything to put me in danger! He is just sensitive about it. I would be about my scars too in a different world. I won't pressure him".
"And that's your decision, and yours alone", Hikaru stated nonchalantly with a long yawn. "I obviously won't pressure him either, even if I am curious. But think about if you would be okay with him never telling you the reason".
Kaoru didn't need to think about it because he knew that he wouldn't be okay with that. He hadn't allowed himself to ponder too much over this since he knew that Kyoya wasn't comfortable talking about it. Like Kaoru had told Hikaru, he wouldn't push Kyoya but his curiosity would surely grow with time and he didn't know what would happen then.
A couple of weeks later, the twins felt ready to have another outing, but just by themselves, which awoke an "overprotective mother"- side in Kyoya.
Ever since Kyoya mentioned that he noticed a skate park, when he needed to go to a certain store, the twins had tried to muster up the courage to go there and try to mingle (since Kyoya did confirm that he saw people looking to be around the twins' age there). It was a big risk, especially since they would try to skate as well (increasing the chance of embarrassment) but they wanted to find more friends so they didn't just have to depend on Kyoya, Tamaki and Haruhi (three adults).
"You both have saved me as your emergency contact?" Kyoya asked to make sure and Hikaru rolled his eyes and reminded him that it was one of the first things the twins had to put in their phones as soon as they got them. "And you know our address if you have a difficult time finding home and need to use google maps-".
"Kyoya", Kaoru admonished softly and Kyoya closed his mouth. "We will be fine. Now go. You'll be late for work".
Kyoya sighed in defeat and kissed him goodbye before finally leaving.
"What does he think we'll do?" Hikaru asked his twin, annoyed.
"Fall on our faces or become friends with potheads?"
"No, he is definitely conjuring worse scenarios in his head".
"Probably but this is our first time being social outside of the base without him. You didn't even socialize much inside of the base so this will be even worse for you".
"Thank you… you're nicer when you're 18".
"I don't believe I am".
"... okay, you're not… ".
They made sure to lock the door before leaving. The summer sun pleasantly burned the exposed skin on Kaoru's legs, reminding him that he was taking risks again. But since he almost got heat stroke once, they decided to come up with an entire backstory for him that he could use if anyone dared to ask him about his scars. It was quite extensive, much more than what was probably necessary.
The twins' hearts sank when they only saw younger kids at the park. It made them want to turn around and walk back home again, but they ultimately decided to stay anyway and laugh at each other's failures on a skateboard.
Eventually (several bruises later) they just resigned and played with the children, trying to run up the ramp or just gliding down from the edge.
It was fun until the older people arrived and gave them weird looks. At least until one of the kids, a young girl, went over to one of them (presumably her older brother) and assured that they were just having fun.
"Well, I suppose mom won't scold me since I didn't leave my sister with pedophiles… or?"
"Hell no", Hikaru responded quickly. "We just gave up on trying to skate and they looked like they had a better time".
"Yeah. We are not sporty people so it was a stupid choice from the get go", Kaoru chimed in.
"Stupid indeed".
The guy eyed them with an amused look.
"Did you expect to just learn by standing on a skateboard?"
"Because it takes more than that", the girl standing next to the guy teased and the twins couldn't be angry since they weren't that far off.
"We have no idea what we are doing", Kaoru confirmed and received some laughter from the newly arrived group. "I'm Kaoru by the way, this is Hikaru".
"Are you twins?" The little girl asked and both answered "no" unanimously on instinct.
"They are just kidding", the big brother explained to his actually confused sister.
"We are clearly lesbians", Kaoru fake huffed and they laughed.
"What's that?" One of the other children asked but no one wanted to answer.
"I'm Frankie", the guy finally said. "These are Lucy, Liz and Brooks. Annie is my little sister here. I've never heard your names before.".
And the twins guessed that he couldn't remember them either, which they could understand.
"We are half Japanese", Kaoru explained. "So… I suppose you guys actually know how to skate?"
"Perhaps. Want to learn?" Lucy asked and Kaoru thought she looked flirty even if her (and everyone else's) eyes discreetly darted towards his scarred legs (he felt happy that he decided to still wear a long sleeved shirt).
"I'm not sure that would end well", Hikaru quipped and looked a little flustered when she gave him the same look. "But we are up for hanging out if that's okay".
"Yeah, sure", Frankie beamed. "As long as you're not super old… ".
"We're only 18".
"What? Really!?" The girl in the back, Liz, exclaimed.
"Yeah, I was just joking, you both look younger… ".
"Are we too old then? We can't tell your ages", Kaoru said, feeling disappointment grow.
"We're 16 and 17 so you're golden".
"Great", Kaoru smiled.
Despite the fact that the twins made it clear that skating wasn't for them, the group still insisted on trying to teach them. Originally the brothers assumed they wanted to make fun of them (and they did laugh many times) but it quickly became obvious that this is how the group knew how to bond. Lucy was also flirting with the twins playfully the entire time. Kaoru took it well, mostly being disinterested, even if the female attention was something he wasn't used to while Hikaru sometimes forgot how to speak. Everyone seemed to generally be polite and respectful… with one exception.
"Have you lived here for a while? Your English is pretty good", Brooks asked and both Lucy and Liz looked like they were preparing themselves to silence him, but weren't sure if he was overstepping yet.
"We have lived in America for some time, so yeah", Kaoru answered, not quite understanding what was wrong. "But not here here. Haven't lived in this town for that long. First time at this park".
"Did you two come from a cult or something?" He asked and all of his friends were speechless.
The twins were uncertain about what to answer… since that was actually part of their made-up backstory, and since Brooks looked serious it couldn't have been that stupid of an idea.
"... kinda?" Hikaru responded and Frankie and the girls turned pale.
"Makes sense", Brooks continued with a content smile over his own good guess. "It would explain why you look like that".
He was gesturing towards Kaoru who was halfway, and discreetly, taking shelter behind Hikaru and pulled on his own shorts again.
"You're doing that bad thing again, Brooks", Lucy hissed at him, his eyes widened and she gave the twins an apologetic smile. "I'm really, really sorry. He doesn't mean to be rude, he just doesn't have a filter".
"I'm sorry", Brooks murmured, ashamed.
The twins told him that it was alright but they could sense that this would be interesting.
"We don't like to talk much about ourselves", Kaoru told them, deciding that it wouldn't be realistic to lay out their entire made-up backstory. "But I can say that we have a lot to learn, especially about this town".
"Yeah, we don't know much about any of the fun places here. Only been at the arcade", Hikaru added.
"Then we have a lot to show you", Frankie assured before looking at Kaoru with a frown. "Are you alright, mate?"
Hikaru noticed how Kaoru was staring into space for a few seconds before he looked around like he was confused about where he was. He stepped even closer to Hikaru and grabbed his arm.
"He is fine", Hikaru assured and prepared himself for the next part of their "life story". "He just has this condition, I believe it's called D.I.D so he kind of becomes other people from time to time".
Hikaru wasn't sure if he explained it well, or well enough, but as long as he sounded unsure it could be taken as a diagnosis Kaoru had only recently received. Kyoya was the one to suggest using Dissociative identity disorder as a cover for Kaoru's age changing. As a medical professional, Kyoya wasn't happy about using something so misunderstood and stigmatized that also wasn't very alike to what Kaoru had, but he justified it with that it was for Kaoru's safety and as long as everyone was vague about it then it shouldn't be too damaging. However, he still clearly felt bad about it. The twins, with no medical experience or knowledge, weren't sure how to feel about it besides relief that they could find some way to explain Kaoru's problems away as a "non zero condition".
"Oh, like that movie split?" Liz beamed, pleased that she wasn't in the dark, and her friends looked like they were slowly realizing after her comment.
"I… we haven't seen that movie".
"Better that way. I don't think it's known to be very accurate", Lucy pointed out. "Unless Kaoru has superpowers".
Hikaru laughed a little later than the others since his heart almost skipped a beat at that; nearly fearing that they had figured it out, but he realized quickly that it was silly.
"That does sound weird", he said as convincingly as he could.
"Yeah. So, every person has a different name, right? What's this one's name?"
They had convinced most of Kaoru's ages to have a fake name but they hadn't been able to properly have that conversation with toddler Kaoru yet, the one present now. They settled on "buddy" since that wasn't necessarily just a name so Kaoru wouldn't be too confused.
"We call him buddy. He is pretty young, a kid".
"Oh, hi there, buddy", Lucy greeted and Kaoru turned to Hikaru.
"Who is this? Where is Kyoya?"
Hikaru cursed internally, having forgotten that toddler Kaoru didn't speak English. The others looked confused at the sudden change of language.
"These are new friends. They are nice. Kyoya is working", Hikaru responded quickly in their native language before turning his attention towards the others. "Buddy doesn't speak English. Sorry, I forgot to mention that. We might not be as fun to be around now".
"Do you have to leave?" Lucy asked, sadly.
"If you translate then he can borrow my DS if both of you still want to stay", Brooks suggested, finally daring to open up his mouth again.
"DS?" Hikaru repeated and the others looked shocked. "We didn't have those at the... at the cult".
"Oh man, we have a whole world to open up for you", Frankie said with a bright smile.
And indeed they did. Hikaru was in fact a little jealous when Kaoru was set up to play some game, but it dissolved as soon as he remembered that he needed to be social without his brother.
"Does it feel like you have many different brothers sometimes?" Brooks couldn't help but ask and Hikaru, amused, noticed how everyone was looking at him warily once again.
"Kind of. Right now he feels like a younger brother", Hikaru agreed while glancing at his twin who was having a scrunched-up, focused, face as he was playing whatever game Brooks had put on for him.
To Hikaru's surprise, things went mostly smoothly. There were some mess ups but they were mostly caused by Brooks and not him. It was awkward at times when the group fell into conversations Hikaru couldn't join due to either lack of outside experience or not having been present for when their inside jokes were created. Lucy was touching him a lot which was very nice, especially since Kaoru wasn't interested in the "older kids activities" and therefore didn't notice or care.
Kaoru stopped playing after a while and just stared at the display before putting it down. Being a little more mature, he didn't freak out at the new setting and looked around with mild disinterest; telling Hikaru exactly which age he was.
"Harry?" Hikaru asked and confusion was only apparent on Kaoru's face for a second.
"Yeah… Why am I blue?"
"We pushed you when you stood on a skateboard".
"Ah… that sounds stupid", he chuckled and then returned to the game with piqued interest.
"I suppose you want to get back to that?" Frankie chuckled.
"If I can… ".
"Sure. I can put on something more difficult for you", Brooks suggested and did so.
"He is still a little too young, probably shy", Hikaru explained quietly to not make Kaoru hear.
"It's fascinating, he speaks English again but it isn't that good anymore", Brooks couldn't help but comment and if Kaoru heard it he didn't visibly react.
Brooks' friends were giving him glares to silently warn him again.
"Yeah, we are teaching Harry English and he is learning fast, but he doesn't like to say long sentences yet".
"I can imagine… or I suppose I can't since I only know one language".
They continued to talk for a while until Liz had to leave and everyone agreed to switch numbers. Hikaru was a little embarrassed that his and Kaoru's phones were significantly older models than the others but no one commented on it, not even Brooks (but Brooks did receive a look from Frankie as soon as Hikaru brought the phones out).
Kaoru had been a little more reluctant to give his phone number to a bunch of strangers but Hikaru assured, with purposefully chosen words, that Kaoru would appreciate it later.
"We don't have many contacts, we know", Hikaru explained, feeling the need to when Lucy was the one putting her number in his phone.
She was standing much closer than the others had when they had his phone and, from a painful amount of time of watching his brother and Kyoya and the fact that she had been very "friendly", he could guess what she was interested in him (or at least that she wasn't necessarily seeing him as just a potential friend, but that didn't tell him if she wanted a relationship or just a hookup).
"You don't need to feel insecure about it", she told him with a soothing smile.
He was smiling bashfully back and had to look away for a moment to calm down his beating heart. His smile immediately disappeared.
"Fuck off with that look", he groaned.
She and the other new friends looked shocked until they noticed the guy on the ground next to the ramp who was smirking at Hikaru.
"I'm just so proud", Kyoya responded and Hikaru glared at him. "Where is Kaoru?"
"He is over here but why are you here?"
"Well, you didn't answer the texts I sent you some time ago and… ".
Kyoya gestured around them and Hikaru finally realized how dark it was outside. He also noticed that Kyoya had indeed texted him. Supposedly, Kaoru was too submerged in the game to pay attention to his phone too.
"I'm not trying to be hovering but I hope you can understand my predicament", Kyoya added and Hikaru did to his credit feel a little guilty for worrying him.
Kaoru, having noticed the "commotion", had stood up and walked over to the railing. He smiled as soon as he saw Kyoya.
"Hi, Kyoya! How was work?"
"It was good, a little stressful but good. Do you two want to stay? I just wanted to make sure that something hadn't happened since you said you would be home earlier".
"I'm sorry about that!"
"It's fine, it's fine".
Frankie told them that it was alright if they wanted to leave since he needed to bring home his sister anyway and the rest agreed. Hikaru was a little sad that they had to leave, but he knew that they probably had more things going on in their lives and actually needed to go to bed early. It made him start to consider for real if he was ready to try to start working or getting an education. His therapy had helped him greatly but he was still a bit worried about his temper, especially if he had to work in retail.
After some chaste goodbyes, the twins followed Kyoya home. Hikaru was mostly silent, deep in thoughts, while Kaoru was excitedly talking about the games he played to an exhausted-looking Kyoya.
It wasn't until they stepped inside that Kaoru actually turned back to his present self and needed a moment to get over the disappointment at switching age so soon into the hangout. But he still had things to talk about.
"It's really nice to finally hang out with guys- that isn't my brother- that won't try to sleep with me or something like that. It feels very cool to finally see real straight boys in the wild".
"Straight to your knowledge", Hikaru pointed out as he was getting himself a soft drink from the fridge.
"Well, if they weren't they sure were more subtle than that girl", Kaoru shot back, grinning, and Hikaru turned away and mumbled something to himself.
"Whatever their sexualities are, I believe the most important thing is that they are tolerant", Kyoya interrupted. "I'm not saying that you need to tell everyone that we are together but it won't feel alright in a friendship group if you feel like they won't accept you".
"Don't we always have to feel like that as zeros?" Hikaru asked. "We can't really be open about that even with friends, right?"
"This is different and you can tell friends if you feel like they deserve to know and won't jeopardize your safety. Even so, isn't it bad enough to hide one thing?"
"You're right", Kaoru relented. "It won't feel right to purposefully hide you either".
"I'm not forcing you to come out".
"But I should. Early on so I know if they are worth keeping or not… hopefully they are okay with it so Hikaru can keep his girlfriend".
"Fuck you".
Hikaru's phone pinged. He brought it out without stopping fixating his brother with a glare.
"Is it her?"
Hikaru rolled his eyes but had to fight a small smile when he actually looked at the display. He then marched out of the room with the other two's eyes following him with knowing looks.
Kyoya suddenly grabbed Kaoru's hand and squeezed it.
"Remember, you deserve this kind of life".
"... what did that come from?" Kaoru chuckled with a raised eyebrow.
"I know you still feel useless and tainted sometimes. I want to remind you that this is okay".
"Thank you", Kaoru responded with more emotion in his voice than he intended and squeezed Kyoya's hand back.