"You're going to kill me. You're seriously going to kill me, because I'm the worst brother ever," Hikaru's distressed voice came through the phone.

Kaoru sighed and reached behind him, trying to rub some of tension out of his neck. "What now?" he asked.

"My flight got cancelled. Technical difficulties, they said. I guess the pilot's inability to pull his thumb out of his own ass because he's too drunk to figure out the difference between in and out is now considered a technical difficulty. And they can't get me on another flight until tomorrow night. Then they offered me a $500 travel voucher to make up for it. $500? What am I supposed to do with that? It's insulting, Kaoru."

"Calm down, Hikaru. Mom has the private jet in Milan—it can pick you up in a few hours, right?"

"Already called her. Mom needs it to take some clients to Ibiza. She just laughed at me and told me to go enjoy my impromptu vacation," Hikaru grumbled. "Want a souvenir? I can bring back a two-foot model of the Statue of Liberty. I'll use my travel voucher to buy half a seat for it."

Kaoru shuddered. "If you love me at all, even a little bit, you won't bring me back a two-foot model of anything."

"You sound stressed."

"I am stressed."

"Spill it, Kao. I know you said you wanted to talk face to face, but something's eating at you."

"It can keep." Kaoru said shortly.

"No, it can't." Hikaru made a frustrated noise. "Look, I don't want to force you to talk if you're not ready. But you sound like you're about to blow. Can you at least vent a little steam to relieve some of the pressure, and then we can deal with the rest when I get back home?"

"I need you to start pulling more weight around the office," Kaoru said in a rush, closing his eyes. Here it comes. Much to his surprise, his comment was greeted with silence. "Hikaru? Are you still there?"

"Hold on. I'm giving myself two minutes before I respond to that," Hikaru said. Kaoru winced. It was pretty obvious from the tone of his voice that his twin was hurt and angry. The fact that he was resorting to their old technique for teaching Hikaru how to control his temper told Kaoru exactly how bad a mistake he'd just made. Wait a second. I didn't make a mistake. Just because Hikaru doesn't want to hear something doesn't mean I shouldn't say it. Kaoru watched the seconds tick off on his clock as well, trying to rein in his own temper.

"Okay." Hikaru said finally. "What exactly do you need me to do? And I need specifics, because from where I'm standing my schedule is pretty goddamn full already."

"We need a more equal distribution of work, maybe. Because right now it feels like you're working on whatever the hell you want, and doing all the travel, and I'm stuck here in the office every single day, putting out all the fires. And coming up with all the ideas."

Another long silence. "You want to do more of the travelling?"

"I just want to feel like the whole damn thing isn't resting on my back."

"You know some of that's in your head, Kaoru. I'm not trying to diminish the amount of work you put in, or how critical you are to operations. But part of the reason why you're putting out all the fires is because you always assume you're the only one who can."

"I shouldn't be the only one who's catching them!" Kaoru's voice started to rise.

"Well, I thought that was your job! How the hell was I supposed to know it was bothering you? I thought you liked it!" Hikaru yelled back.

"Well, I don't like it." Kaoru said quietly.

"You're better at it than I am, Kao." Hikaru's voice was calmer, responding to his twin's change in demeanor. "You're much better at it. You were always the analytical one, the one who sees problems before they develop. But I never intended for you to go ahead and deal with them all on your own. Next time, pass it on to me."

"Can you handle it?"

"See, that's what I mean! That attitude right there is exactly why I don't bother to deal with any of those fires. You give the very strong impression that you'd rather do everything yourself. You can rely on me, little brother. I don't know when you forgot that. I'm not as stupid as you look."

Kaoru couldn't help but chuckle at their old joke. "All right," he relented. "Next fire that comes up, you get to put out all on your own."

"Can't wait," Hikaru deadpanned. "When I get back, you and I are going to lock ourselves in your office—or my office, doesn't matter—and go through every last ball we have in the air right now. You tell me what you don't want to deal with, and we can figure it out from there, okay? I can't promise I can take over all of it, and we may need to do some shifting around, but you shouldn't be feeling like you're alone in keeping the show running. We can fix that."

Kaoru let out a long breath. "That sounds … indescribably wonderful, Hikaru."

"Don't get too excited. It's not like I'm bringing in strippers or anything," Hikaru laughed. "Anything else you need to get off your chest?"

"No, that was the big one," Kaoru said. "I still want to talk to you, but I think the rest of it is more sounding-board stuff."

"We're good, yeah? You need to let me know if we're not, Kao."

"We're good," Kaoru assured his brother. "How's Jen?"

"Jen is Jen," Hikaru said, but Kaoru could tell from his voice that he was grinning. "But I'm not concerned about her right now. I'm concerned about you, okay?"

"Things must be going pretty well with her, then."

"Kaoru. Jen's a pain in my ass, albeit a thoroughly delightful one, and she probably will be forever, at least in some capacity. But you're my twin. You're not second to her, and I'm sorry if I've been acting that way."

"All right, first of all, I need to never again hear about Jen and your ass, because I now have a mental image that even bleach can't erase. Perv. And also, I know I don't come second with you."

"Yeah, but it's still nice to hear me say it, right?" Hikaru chuckled. "And as for the other? The things I could tell you, but won't, because I'm a gentleman."

"Stop boasting."

"It's not a boast if it's true."

"I'm hanging up now, before I need to puncture my own eardrums."

"And you call me a pervert? You are into some seriously fucked-up shit if that's what gets you off, little brother."

Kaoru groaned. "Goodbye, Hikaru."

"Kaoru." His twin's voice had grown serious again. "I don't care what time it is, and I don't care what you might be interrupting. If you need to talk, you call me, okay?"

Kaoru's throat suddenly felt tight. "Thanks, Hika. I will."

Author's Note: Thanks so much to mutemuia for the review, and to bmg20 for the favorite. I feel like the last chapters have been really dialogue heavy, and haven't done much to advance the plot. Things are definitely going to get moving again in the next chapter, but if you wouldn't mind dropping a review to let me know if these last few chapters have worked for you or have been boring, I'd appreciate it. Reader feedback is enormously helpful in determining what actually works in a story vs what I think is working. Thanks so much!