Haruhi stayed crouched below him, looking up at him with that sweet doe-like gaze. He could have looked at her forever, diving beneath those chocolate brown waves until they drowned him, made himself at home within the whites of her eyes.

“You’re bleeding,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his face.

He didn’t even know he was injured until her hot fingertips traced the cool blood on his cheekbone. With a soft grunt, his own hand moved upward to join hers, gently probing the skin before capturing her hand in his.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m glad--”

“Kaoru!”

Hikaru’s panicked shriek laced through the garden. A flock of birds disappeared from their nesting trees as the boy raced across the lawn, breath heaving as he found them and tackled his twin to the ground. Now it was Kaoru’s turn to wince as his brother buried his face in his shoulder, dry sobs vibrating from his whole chest as he came to grips. He smelled like sweat, but Kaoru clung to him anyways--the sobbing felt extremely realistic and was certainly not included in the plan.

“What happened?” Hikaru demanded with all the anger of a thousand burning suns. The feral look in his eyes indicated that he’d do anything to wrong this right; had Kaoru said the moon attacked him, he’d throw a lasso and pull it down to grind into dust himself. “How did you get hurt?”

“I’m fine, Hika,” he explained. “Just a little cut on my cheek. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Hikaru squinted at him, pulling away with a grip on his shoulder rivalling Samson. For a moment, his eyes flicked back to Haruhi, now watching them curiously, before travelling back to him. A moment of doubt crossed his face, as if he had forgotten his line, but he quickly clamped the doubt back down into a pitiable look of concern.

He leaned forward and nestled his face into Kaoru’s shoulder, eyes drooped closed. “Don’t scare me like that,” he mumbled.

Karou reached a hand to his brother’s hair and scratched gently, soothing the strands falling to the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Will you...forgive me?”

Hikaru pulled away, stared at him for a beat, and then leaned in to rub their foreheads together. A soft, muted laugh lept from their throats, restoring the fanciful halos above their heads.

“ONE HUNDRED POINTS FOR REFRESHING BROTHERLY LOVE!” Misuzu screamed somewhere in the distance, no doubt twirling and dancing at the sight. “A PERFECT SCORE! AND THE WIN GOES TO THE HITACHIIN BROTHERS!”

Back in the house, a sour set of squashed piano keys announced Tamaki’s despair. Hikaru dipped his head onto Kaoru’s shoulder to hide his smirk.

Everything goes according to plan.

Haruhi got to her feet, fluffing out her apron and studying the scene before her. “Wow, you guys really gave everything you had for that, huh?”

The twins pulled each other to their feet before turning to her, hands entwined and cheeks squished together. Without even trying, their pinched brows shadowed their faces, a menacing aura radiating from their conjoined words.

“Oh, it was nothing,” they said in sync, innocent tones betraying their strategy.

Haruhi visibly shrunk back in horror. “What the--”

“Now, now, Haruhi, would you be so kind as to show your newest guests to their room?” Hikaru asked, dragging Karou by the hand and taking Haruhi’s arm. “Serve us well, and we’ll leave you a handsome tip.”

With his nose stuck high in the air, he didn’t notice the wink Kaoru tossed her way, a subtle signal that everything was going to be okay.

------------ -- --- - - -- - ---------- - - -- - -- - - - -- ----- ------ --

Hikaru hadn’t let go of Kaoru’s hand since he grabbed it on the deck. Even settled in their room, their luggage unpacked and relaxing on the bed, he was shaking, keeping his tight grip on his wrist. Lunch lay abandoned on its tray; the curtains swayed with the wind bearing a fragrant garden aroma, ruffling the hair of the two silent boys.

Though his voice had remained proper and detached while instructing Haruhi how to unpack their belongings, Hikaru now fell silent save for the shivering sob racing up and down his spine.

Kaoru could only rub his brother’s knuckles back and forth, cooing and gently reassuring him. “For a minute, I really thought the Boss was going to take it from us,” he said. “You should be glad we didn’t have to resort to the quarrelling brothers act.”

“I’m not glad you got hurt,” he whined.

“It’s not that bad.” With his free hand he traced the band-aid Haruhi had applied after cleaning and medicating the scratch. Having her so close, wedged between his knees as she tended to his cheek and dug the wood out of his hand, nearly drove him crazy with want. Her look of concentration, pursed lips and tender eyes sweeping over his face made the incident almost worth it.

Hikaru tensed, though his leg still bounced up and down. “That’s not how it was supposed to go!” he said. “That wasn’t part of the script! I didn’t have a plan for that! You moved without thinking. What if that pot had landed just a few inches to the left? It would have smacked you on the head and you could have died.”

Kaoru didn’t appreciate the heat in his voice. “You said we needed to get this room at any cost,” he spat, jerking his hand away. If Hikaru was well enough to argue, then he didn’t need his comfort anymore. “So I did what I had to do.”

“Haruhi was out of range of the pot seriously hitting her,” Hikaru seethed. He jumped up from the bed and began pacing, arms bent tightly behind his back. “The shattered pieces might have scratched her, but she wouldn’t have been hit. You took one look at the situation and decided that this room was worth risking your life. You jumped without thinking about the consequences.”

“Oh, I’m the one who jumps without thinking?” Kaoru yelled back, bunching the sheets in his fist. “I’m the illogical one in this relationship?”

“Yes! Why would you ever do such a reckless thing?”

Kaoru bit his tongue until it bled, knowing the answer would only make the situation worse. At his silence, Hikaru stopped dead in his tracks, staring directly into his identical soul.

“Oh my God,” he breathed. “You’re in love with her.”

He viciously shook his head. “I saved her because if she had gotten hurt, it would have destroyed you. I love you too much to let that happen.”

“I was over on the bench!” Hikaru said. “I didn’t see what happened, I only saw the aftermath. She wasn’t within striking range. You acted on instinct because you love her.” He ran a hand through his hair and perched the other on his hip, huffing out a laugh, as if he had finally solved some great enigma. “All this time I thought you were trying to help me win her over, yet you were the one stealing my spotlight all along.”

“That’s not--”

“Deny it,” Hikaru ordered. His amber eyes flashed gold in the dying sunset. Standing straight and tall, despite his casual clothing, he looked akin to some lost and forgotten war god. “Tell me you don’t love her. Then go down and tell her it was all a big mistake, that you feel nothing for her besides friendship, and see what she says.”

Karou shook his head, dusting off his hands and standing to his feet. “You’re projecting. You’re upset that she has feelings for the Boss, and you’re taking it out on me.”

“The Boss?” Hikaru snorted, face scrunched in genuine offense. “Please, she hates him. But I’ve seen how she interacts with you. I saw how you were hovering over her, protecting her, even when the danger had passed. I saw the way she looked at you as she was tending to your wounds and ignoring my existence completely.” He swallows, sparks and embers of anger quickly turning to sprouts of pain. “She was soft. Gentle. I had never seen that side of her before, but apparently you draw it out of her.”

“I was bleeding,” Kaoru retorted. “Of course she was being gentle.” He pretended that the blush staining his cheeks was still from excessive blood flow and not the memory of her fingertips brushing his lips as she worked. “You clearly need time to calm down.”

As he reached for his tennis shoes, Hikaru asked, “Where are you going?”

“For a run.”

“A run, where? To Haruhi’s room?”

That’s it. Kaoru held the door open with his palm, cutting a glare back at his brother. “Maybe. And if you want to be a real man, you can try and win her heart like the rest of us, without my help.”

Before he could respond, Kaoru dashed down the hall and down a flight of stairs, heading to the back of the house where woods and a jogging trail awaited him. I do love her, he thought, but quickly put the notion aside as he picked up a steady pace. With the other hosts at their own cottages, away from the drama and unable to mediate between the three, he had no other routes for perspective, no one to calm his brother down.

They both loved the same girl, but could they love each other more?

This was going to be a long, long summer vacation.

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