Like Twins

So much for that idea. All Zekkai wanted was to get to Nebraska and see Kazuya. There wasn't a single man alive that could possibly compare with Kazuya, but some men came close. Until they arrived in the states, he figured he'd find someone so he wouldn't have to be so damn lonely. Jin was closest to the one he wanted; sadistic, confident and extremely sexual, but he lacked the dark emotion his father had. Kazama was the second closest. Well, he wasn't really that close at all, but he was damn hot. For a while Zekkai had thought Kazama was interested, but making an advance that night had ended up being a failure. Maybe that guy was too vanilla anyway.

Zekkai sat in the hotel lobby, chewing on a toothpick, and trying to decide who to try next. Hiro was too nice; would never satisfy him in bed, and Hwoarang just plain hated him after what happened the night before. That left three choices.

Then he spotted one of the three through the windows. Blood Talon. He looked positively pissed about something. Couldn't possibly still be mad from breakfast, though? He had seemed rather bothered by the fact that Zekkai had gone to train with Kazama. But no, the guy was a lot angrier now. As the other redhead pushed the hotel doors open, he did it so roughly the glass could have shattered. Not in a good mood at all.

Maybe it was stupid to get in the path of destruction, but Zekkai stood up anyway. Getting hurt didn't exactly scare him. He frowned with concern and moved in the other man's direction. "Hey, Blood Talon. Are you okay? What happened?"

The man didn't look happy to see him, but nevertheless stopped. "Zekkai," he acknowledged, then let his eyes take in the other redhead, "how was your day?"

"That's about the most insincere question I've heard all day. Of course, I'm discounting everything that comes out of Hwoarang's mouth." He paused and frowned. Was still weird to call someone else by that name. It was his name, not that idiot's! Oh well, he wasn't that unhappy with the name he chose. Before his thoughts ran too far away, he put his attention back on the other Korean. "I'll help you clean out that cut, if that's okay with you. Not so easy to do it yourself. You should have seen my lame attempts at cleaning off scratches on my back this morning."

Holding his breath for a moment, the Blood Talon eventually let out a loud sigh. "Alright, but I think our room is kind of... inaccessible at the moment."

What did that mean? Someone was getting laid in their room? Must have been Jin again. Zekkai glanced around, spotting the public bathroom and then heading in that direction. "You gonna tell me how you got that or should I mind my own business?"

Blood Talon smirked. "Let's mind your business instead." He caught up, then wrapped an arm around the other man. "Seriously, how was your day?"

"I don't know. Boring, I guess." He walked into the bathroom and went straight to the sink, snatching up paper towels and wetting them under warm water. "I called ahead to Nebraska to see what kind of deals they had for places to stay."

With a grimace, the other Korean shook his head. "We might never make it to Nebraska. My guess is, without a leader, our group will end up in-fighting, fucking and whatnot around here until that organization decides to terminate us."

That created a spark of panic. Sure, he was right, the social issues in the group were getting out of hand, but they had to get to Nebraska! He had to see Kazuya again. He clenched the towels in his hand and turned to face the man, bringing the wet paper up to cautiously dab on the cut. "Then I guess someone needs to take the lead. I thought Hiro was going to, but for some reason he doesn't seem to want to... If we don't go to Nebraska as a group, I'll have to go there on my own."

"Hiro?" The Blood Talon sneered before he could catch himself, then took a deep breath. There was still a touch of venom in his voice as he added, "I'm not following Hiro's lead if my life depended on it." As he glanced idly over at the mirror, he chuckled. "You don't have to be that careful. I can handle a bit of pain."

Zekkai shrugged and became more thorough with his cleaning, still somewhat careful to be gentle. Maybe Hiro and BT had a fight or something when they went to dinner. Great. More of that in-fighting. That was all they needed. "You know," He said in the hopes of lightening the mood, "some people think cuts like this are really sexy."

"Oh yeah?" The guy flashed a mischevious smirk. "Like who?" Apparently that was funny, because he broke out into light laughter, making careful cleaning a whole lot harder.

"I do." He winked playfully and put his free hand on the other side of Blood Talon's face to try and steady it. At least the cut and that hot outfit made them look less alike. "You should have seen the first guy I was ever with. He was covered in scars!"

"Had he been exposed to one of the Jins?" The Korean groaned, then gazed thoughtfully at their mirror image. Eventually, he broke into a light chuckle. "You're hitting on me, aren't you?"

"If it's working, then yes, I am hitting on you." Zekkai held the paper under the faucet for a moment and then looked the guy over. "Wish I had some alcohol on me to disinfect. Can deal with that when we get back into the room, though."

With an amused grin, Blood Talon rested a hand on Zekkai's shoulder, exaggerating a once-over. "Dude, we're more or less twins. Now I would be lying if I said I wasn't horny, but something about this doesn't feel appropriate."

He couldn't help but snicker at that. That guy was seriously worried about incest? Zekkai shook his head and leaned against the seat, crossing his arms as he tried to think up a good argument to that. "I never thought about that. I figured since we're supposedly clones, it would be like masturbation. After all, we didn't grow up together or anything."

"Masturbation, eh?" Blood Talon laughed, pulling up Zekkai's shirt to run two fingers teasingly over the skin underneath. "Somehow I'm sure I'll never think about that as masturbation." Retracting his hand, he met the other's eyes. "I don't know about you, but I've fought for years to be considered the leader of my peers. Any chance I could convince you...?"

Zekkai shrugged, feinting nonchalance, and glanced around the bathroom. "I don't know... That's going to take an awful lot of convincing. I assume there's something in it for me?"

Smirking at him, the other man tilted his head to the side. "Let's say that there was..." He said slowly, trying for eye contact, "what would you want it to be?"

There was his chance, but he wasn't entirely sure what he was giving away or what he should ask for. He smirked and ran his hand over the man's arm, mesmerised by the smooth feel of leather. "Well, I want to get to Nebraska as fast as possible. If I'm really a clone, I want to know if something there is the same as my memory... But that's a given and we're headed there anyway. If you tell me what letting you be the leader implies, then I'll try and come up with a fair price."

The other redhead needed a bit of time to ponder that. He lowered his head with closed eyes, drawing a few deep breaths. When he straightened up and resumed eye contact, the gaze was unwavering. "You will refer to me as 'boss' and you will take care not to humiliate me or undermine my authority in public." He paused, moving a hand to rest on Zekkai's side. "That's the minimum. If you're offering me more, I'll accept a higher price as fair. Make me an offer."

No, he couldn't ask for what he really wanted, if those were the only terms. They weren't high enough that he could be sure BT wouldn't betray him. That redhead just wouldn't provide that support, but there was always another way he could come in handy. His hand slipped up to the man's shoulder and to the neck. "Well, if that's all you want, if you actively aim to get us to Nebraska, that should be enough. But... I'd really appreciate a bit of company tonight, boss."

"That can be arranged..." The Blood Talon smirked, sliding a hand up into Zekkai's hair. "But I'm dead serious about this," he said in a stern voice, "don't count on getting off the hook if you break the deal."

"I don't make a habit of humiliating anyone unless I'm specifically asked to, and I don't think the one I answer to will give a damn if I answer to you as well." Zekkai smirked and dropped the paper towels so he could bring both of his arms around the man's waist. Even if it made him feel like a bit of a whore, it was better than having no one. He pulled the other Korean closer and nuzzled his neck. "And I'm good at taking orders when I want to be. I won't break the deal."

"Alright." His companion let out a sigh, seeming to relax. Didn't argue the touch either. "So, what kind of company were you thinking about? A fruit dessert and a card game?"

Apparently the guy wanted him to say it? He knew the Blood Talon was aware of what he meant; there was only one member of the group that he wasn't sure would catch on to that. Fine, if he was expected to say it, he would. Zekkai briefly brushed BT's lips with his own and then met his eyes. "No, I was thinking of something a little more intimate."

Or maybe he didn't catch on? The other Korean pushed him gently away, reclaiming eye contact. "A little more intimate can mean so much in this group... don't you think we should make a few things clear first?"

Damn it! With a sigh, Zekkai leaned back against the sink once again. Sure, he had considered the possibility that being with the Blood Talon was a bit of a long shot, but it was still a bit disappointing if he wouldn't get anywhere. "Alright what should we clear up?"

The Blood Talon sighed. "For one thing, there's no way I'm bending over for you, Zekkai, so if that's what you're thinking about when you say 'intimate', you can just get that idea out of your head right now. And I'm not willing to bleed, nor drinking your blood. And yes, I do think it's a strange group when I have to point these things out."

That was cute and funny in some ways. It was hard to take that seriously, but Zekkai completely understood why the guy would bring that up. "You're the boss. I can survive a night without S&M; I won't ask you to get into that kind of stuff." His eyes drifted down, admiring the Blood Talon's outfit. He added in a quiet voice, "I only want your company and there's no strings attached."

With a smirk, the Blood Talon nodded. "Right." He brought two fingers up to trace Zekkai's cheek. "Do you want to head up to our room? I have a feeling that if our roommates don't want to be disturbed, we'll hear them."

"We could always kick the doormat and Babo out of their room." He paused and shrugged, slipping a hand around the Blood Talon's waist. If the way BT reacted that morning was any indication, he probably wouldn't be too keen on getting in Kazama's way. "Yeah, we should probably go to our room. I know we've got alcohol there at least... So we have a deal, huh?"

"If you mean that I'm your boss and will try to get us to Nebraska, sure. If I can pull together the authority, we're as good as on our way." He turned to face the door, wrapping an arm being Zekkai's back and nudging him in that direction. "About tonight... we can go to our room and see what happens."

~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here:
http://games.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260