Chapter 2. – Popcorn and VideoGames

Kaoru looked cautioned out of the peephole in the door, but once he saw who it was, he quickly opened the door. He was embraced in a pair of thin arms and the smell of soap

"I thought you might need a friend," Haruhi sighed and Kaoru instantly hugged her back without a word. The feeling of someone holding him made him suddenly feel a little better and less alone – even when the person was a head shorter than himself and could barely reach her short arms around him.

"How are you holding up?" she asked when they pulled away. Kaoru shrugged and his eyes fell.

"Not so good," he admitted and made a fake laugh. Haruhi patted his shoulder friendly, but then suddenly changed her tone.

"What about going out with me? There's a coffee shop around the corner," she offered and pointed her thumb out the door. Kaoru opened his mouth to decline, but changed his mind and just made a weak nod instead.

"I need popcorn!" Hikaru yelled across the room, groaning by the noise he made. He heard Tamaki making a huffing laugh from the kitchen and throw something into the microwave. Hikaru lay clumsily splattered across Tamaki's couch, since he had lost his keys at the bar. Yeah, not cool.

Hikaru tried to relax, but he felt like his head was exploding. After a while the microwave went off and Tamaki came out with the smoking delicacies. He crossed the room in two long steps and put a bowl of popcorn harshly on the table.

"Here, don't choke on them, you drunk," Tamaki murmured and took a seat in a chair in front of him. "So, are you going to tell me why you're drinking yourself senseless on a Tuesday night? Are should I just conclude that Kaoru is the reason."

"Conclude what you want," Hikaru whispered weakly and grabbed a handful of the popcorn. Popcorn was the best thing for hangovers.

"Do you want to call him?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

"Come on."

"Stop talking, you're killing my head!" Hikaru whined and rubbed his face with his palms. He felt nauseous and ill… He knew what Kaoru would have done; he would get his hangover-pill and make him a big bowl of popcorn. Then they would put on their favorite movie and taken a whole day in bed. God, he missed Kaoru's popcorn… this was the wrong brand for sure.

Somehow Kaoru always got less drunk than Hikaru, and would take care of him. He had never thought about it before, but now he realized that it really had been a huge deal for him.

"Fine," Tamaki gave up and leaned back in his chair in annoyance. "I give up."

Hikaru didn't answer.

Tamaki mumbled something about "quitter", before he pulled up his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey Haruhi," he said cheerfully and Hikaru closed his eyes. Concentrating on suppressing the thundering pain. It was like small electric shots of pain. Bam Bam Bam. Ouch Ouch Ouch.

"I'm bored, What are you doing?" Tamaki asked her and spun his chair around while he spoke. Hikaru tried to ignore the squeaking the chair made, but it was hard. Tamaki ignored his grimace and continued speaking. "You're with, who?" he exclaimed and stopped spinning. "Really? Where are you guys? No, I'm not with Hikaru." Hikaru looked up in surprise.

"Since when have I become invisible?" he complained, but Tamaki shushed him.

"Could I met up with you two?" he asked, now drumming his fingers against his chin. Hikaru started to become alert and sat up.

"Who are you meeting up with?" Hikaru said a little louder, but Tamaki just shushed him again.

"No, that was just the neighbor being loud," Tamaki laughed and started spinning around the chair again. "Sure we- I mean I'll be there in a little bit." Tamaki closed the phone and grinned.

"What the hell? What did that mean?"

"That means: you should get dressed and take some painkillers. We're going out."

"Feel better?" Haruhi asked with a small smile while she watched Kaoru slurp some milkshake from his straw. The other teen made a small smile, which wasn't much of a smile.

"I'm feeling a little better," he told her and spun his straw around in his drink. She sighed and took a sip from her own straw. The café was filled with people and they had been lucky to get seats. A few girls gave Kaoru interested glances, but he didn't even notice them.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" Haruhi tried, but Kaoru just shrugged.

"To be honest… not much," Kaoru laughed and gave her an apologizing glance. "I'm sorry, I'm not good company."

"You're excellent company. It's nice with some calm conversations. Tamaki normally speaks like a waterfall," she said with a smile.

"Are you two dating yet?" Kaoru asked. Haruhi flushed and shook her head strongly.

"No, I wouldn't say that," she murmured flustered, suddenly her expression changed. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot to say. He might be coming by, in a little bit."

"That's fine, I think I'm going home soon anyway," Kaoru answered.

"No no! I mean, with us. so it's the three of us. I would never ditch you like that," Haruhi hurried to say.

"Oh… that's… fine…" Kaoru trailed off shocked as he saw Tamaki walk into the café… but not alone. He hissed in a breath and stared at Haruhi with angry eyes. "Is this a joke?"

"Wha-" she asked stunned and turned in her chair. Her expression darkened. "He didn't."

'Oh, yes he did.' Kaoru thought in dismay.

"Hey guys," Tamaki greeted cheerfully. Hikaru walked forward from behind the tall blonde, looking directly at Kaoru with a nervous glance. The younger twin flickered his eyes to the ground and squeezed his palms around the cold drink so hard that they almost lost feeling.

Haruhi stared at Tamaki, almost having a conniption.

"I. Don't. believe you," Haruhi said through gritted teeth. Tamaki responded with a grin. The girl immediately took the seat next to Kaoru and he gave her a thankful glance. He honestly felt the urge to run for the exit like there was no tomorrow, but when Hikaru took a seat and send him a sad glance he just kept his eyes at the table.

"So," Tamaki began and folded his hands on the table. "How is everyone?"

No answer.

"I see, interesting." Tamaki whispered sarcastically and leaned back in his chair in defeat. For the first time Haruhi and Tamaki experienced the twins sitting among them without talking at all. Hikaru and Kaoru usually had lots of pranks and topics, but right now they were silent.

Tamaki and Haruhi exchanged glances, and they slowly started stirring up small-talk. Hikaru joined half-hearted in the conversations, but Kaoru couldn't take it.

After a while Kaoru grabbed Haruhi's wrist and pulled her closer.

"Haruhi, I can't do this, I'm going home," he whispered, his voice filled with pain.

"Okay," she answered understanding, and Kaoru hurried out of his seat.

"K-Kaoru," Hikaru said and lifted his head alert. Kaoru gave him an apologizing glance before he started to stride toward the door, barely stopping to open the door. Hikaru closed his eyes for a short moment then he lunged out of his seat and followed. Haruhi rose from her seat too, but Tamaki grabbed her arm lightly.

"Haruhi, don't," he said calmly. She made a hiss and slapped his hand away.

"It's all your fault, if you hadn't brought Hikaru here. Kaoru is the kind of person who needs things to happen bit by bit," she snapped and looked up, but the twins were already gone, so she just made a loud sigh and dropped back into her seat. Violently drinking from her milkshake.

"You're over-thinking the situation," Tamaki laughed and ruffled his hair. "They just need to get on better terms. No way they're ever going to be "together" again, but I personally find them more sociable when they're friendly. I would hate for Hikaru to make my bar his second home."

"You're a jerk in so many ways, Tamaki. You can't just crash into their lives," Haruhi whispered and leaned back in her chair. He gave her a quick smile.

"No, I'm not a jerk, I'm the persistent friend."

"Wait, Kaoru! Hold on for just one second," Hikaru called after him, but Kaoru ignored him and walked as fast as he could without running. If he ran, Hikaru would run too, and Hikaru was faster – which concludes: running is not an option.

"Come on, Kaoru, Please look at me, brother." Kaoru stopped instantly and Hikaru almost clashed into him. The youngest twin spun around and glared at him with a mix of anger and pain.

"How can you even think of calling me "brother", when that's the problem in the first place!" he almost shouted, startling Hikaru. The older twin scratched his cheek and looked down.

"Um, s-"

"I don't want you to apologize!"

"Then what do you want me to do?" Hikaru yelled, flinging his hands in the air frustrated. "Gezz, Kao, I don't know how to act in this situation." He said, looking miserable. "I have tried everything, but you cut me off every time. Tell me what to do to make you trust me again, and I'll do it. I'm not good at this sentimental stuff, that has always been your good trait. Just tell me, what should I do?"

"I don't know," Kaoru snapped. "I. Don't. Know. I don't know, what I want. I don't know, what to do about anything. I don't even know, how to open those stupid pickle jars you usually open!"

"Oh, those are tricky!" Hikaru hurried to point out.

"Whatever," Kaoru mumbled frustrated and sighed. Hikaru looked around, there were a lot of people walking around, but he might not get a better chance to talk to his lov- twin.

"Listen, Kao," he began and waited until Kaoru had slowly lifted his malice-filled eyes. "The fact that we're related doesn't have to be a bad thing. I think we should go out today, as brothers."

"I don't know-"

"You say that a lot, therefore I'll think for you," Hikaru said and grabbed Kaoru's hand. "Come on, hang out with me."

Kaoru stared at their hands for a moment before he slowly let himself get dragged along.

"Awesome!" Hikaru spat, when he realized Kaoru was following him and squeezed his hand a little. "Where do you want to go?"

Kaoru pressed the controller furiously, trying like crazy to shot the assassins that had been send out to kill him. Hikaru made a stunned gasp when one of them jumped out in front of his twin with a knife.

"Press A! Press A!" He yelled and grabbed around his shoulders to shake him. Kaoru instantly pressed the button, but just as he killed the first one, a new one jumped out, slicing through him and the word "GAME OVER" shone mockingly on the screen.

"Damn it," Kaoru mumbled and threw the controller down.

"My turn!" Hikaru said cheerfully and joggled a coin in his hand before putting it into the machine. Kaoru smiled slightly. This had always been their favorite place to go before the incident and even now. They mostly used all their coins at the same machine. All the high score names were either "HikaruTheKiller" or "KaoruTheDestroyer" all the way down to 23rd place, where a kid named "Bob" had caught up to them, since they hadn't played in a while.

That had to be dealt with!

Kaoru stood behind Hikaru and watched him play. He suddenly forgot all the horrible night he had had when he fell into the familiar pattern of gaming.

"Your left! Left!" Kaoru yelled and Hikaru hurried to shot at a guy who had appeared from behind a trashcan.

"Well, isn't that the regulars?" an amused voice asked and Kaoru turned his head with a grin.

"Hey Kyouya," he said and turned his eyes back to the screen.

"Where have you two been all this time?" The tall teen with glasses asked, walking toward them.

"You wouldn't believe the drama," Hikaru answered shortly and shot an assassin right in the face. Kyouya nodded understanding, not telling that Tamaki already told him about everything.

"That's too bad," Kyouya just said, shrugging in apology. Hikaru and Kaoru nodded absentminded, their eyes fixed on the screen. "Kaoru?" Kyouya asked, finally getting the youngest twins attention.

"Y-yeah, yes," he said, flickering his eyes between the screen and Kyouya, before deciding to focus on Kyouya. "What is it?"

"I need to tell you something, in private," Kyouya told him, looking at Kaoru with a captioning glance. Kaoru nodded.

"Hikaru, I'll be right back," he told him with a small poke.

"Um, okay, I'll be right here," Hikaru told him and pressed furiously at the controller. "If you're not back in two games, I'll come and get you."

Kaoru ignored the last comment and followed Kyouya toward an undisturbed corner of the store.

"What's up?" Kaoru asked, already getting in a better mood. He liked being on friendly terms with Hikaru; it was much easier than all that love drama. Now he could finally just relax and not worry so much about-

"I love you," Kyouya whispered. Kaoru's smile slowly faded and he felt something huge get placed back on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you." Kyouya said slowly, swallowing. "I knew you were getting married and it really killed me. I felt like it would be pointless and painful to tell you then, but now that you found out Hikaru was your brother-"

"Eh! Hold on! Stop!" Kaoru said and lifted both hands in defense. "I don't know if… if I could get back on track so fast. And gezz, this is so sudden, I never noticed-" Kaoru felt a pang of guilt, but Kyouya seemed like he had expected that comment.

He nodded understanding. "But I wanted to tell you the possibilities. You don't have to be alone."

"Well, I promise to think about it," Kaoru said quietly and scratched his cheek.

"That works," Kyouya mumbled and leaned forward. Kaoru made a small gasp in shock when Kyouya's lips traced his cheek, unusually close to his lips. The taller teen pulled slightly away to watch his reaction, but he looked absolutely expressionless.

"That was... unexpected," Kaoru said quietly. He almost couldn't take this... the last thing his life needed was more drama.

"Can I call you?" Kyouya asked slowly, watching his reaction with caution.

"I don't know," Kaoru said (for the 100th time that day) and without another word he hurried past Kyouya and bolted for the exit. He knew that it was a mean move, when Kyouya had just told him something so personal, but he just couldn't stay any longer. On the way out he passed Hikaru who looked up surprised.

"Hey! What's burning?" he yelled.

"Nothing," Kaoru answered shortly, hurrying out of the front door. Hikaru threw a glance backwards and saw Kyouya staring after Kaoru with a sad expression. What the hell?

"Hey Hey!" Hikaru yelled and threw the controller to follow his twin. "What's wrong?" he exclaimed, catching him outside by the wrist. Kaoru furrowed his eyebrows and let out a deep sigh.

"I just… I'm going home," he said with a small voice. "Thanks for the invitation, it was fun."

"What did he say to you? Kaoru, tell m- hey, are you crying?" he asked stunned and grabbed Kaoru's face with his palms. Kaoru seemed as shocked as him and hurried to pull his face free and wipe off the tear that had escaped.

"Sorry, I'm just so stressed," Kaoru said, letting out a weak laugh. "I'm really fine."

Hikaru huffed in disbelieve and lifted his arms to embrace him, like he would usually have done, but stopped halfway and let them drop with a sigh. "Come on, I'll take you home."

"I'll take a taxi," Kaoru murmured, but Hikaru just rolled his eyes and leaded him toward the car. "Just let me do this one thing."

"Why do you care so much?" Kaoru whispered, now looking directly at him, not hiding the pain in his chest. "Why do you keep trying to win me back, when all I do is cut you off and am so cold all the time? You don't owe me anything."

"What, are you scared?" Hikaru asked with a smirk. Leaning against his car and swinging the keys around his finger.

"What kind of question is that? Why? Are you?" Kaoru countered. Hikaru stopped swinging the keys.

"Me? I'm scared of a lot of things! I'm scared of losing what I know, I'm scared of what I do with my life, of who I am. And most of all, I'm scared of walking away from you and never feel the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you. I need you, if I can't be your lover, I'll be your brother, but I can't be without you, and you'll just have to deal with that."

Kaoru stood stunned for a second, but then he bent his head to hide the smile that had creep on his face.

"So." Hikaru mumbled and opened the door. "Are you getting in? Or did I make that totally embarrassing speech for nothing?"

A/N: Thank you for reading and please leave a review. I'll update as soon as possible.

People That Deserve Praise:

MusicMixerGURL -(Lol! I don't think he did, or else they would probably not be on such friendly term. xD)- xdeathxbunnyx -(yay, you're reading my stuff again! :D Then you'll get a chapter 2. Thank you so much, I actually got inspired from a real story. Yeah, this is kind of based on a real story. heh. Except the twincest, lol ^_^/) - Hikaru-and-Kaoru-Love - (Sure, I'll do that. ^_^) - SweetCheri - (Actually? LOL! That's Super! :b) -KyubiKanji - (Arw, you're with me once again. ^w^ Thank you. I really like your stories so I always get so happy. ^^) - OuranFire - (hehe, yeah, they didn't see that one coming. Imagine the shock if your lover was your brother/sister... xD And I just though bartender would fit Tamaki somehow: you know? The joogling with glass, the hitting on girls... I don't know.. maybe I'm just weird like that. :)) - AngelGirl0200 - (LOL! You make me laugh. Did you see it this time? ^w^.) - Victoria62015 - (I love you tooo! :D You called me a genious! That's so nice. :D)