Like Twins

There were times when he regretted his decision. The decision to share a room with the two most unintelligent members of the group. Hiro gazed up from his book - a thriller about a serial killer with multiple personalities - and regarded the frightened rabbit that was supposedly another clone. Someone in the lab must have contaminated that petri dish. Still, he had to live with his decision. Maybe in Nebraska they'd get three hotel rooms.

He looked back to his book. After waking up blocks away from the hotel, wearing those leather pants, the first thing he had done once he returned to the hotel was shower and change into black slacks and a midnight blue sweater. At least he didn't remember any screams, so he must not have killed anyone. That was always the best outcome, but it would've been better if he actually remembered all of what his darker half did.

A knock came on the door. "Hiro!" An angry growl was heard. "Can you hear me? Get out here!"

That didn't sound good. Maybe it was an emergency. He put the book down and hurried to the door, unable to tell by the voice which of the Hwoarangs it was. When he opened the door, he frowned at the Korean. It was not as difficult to tell them apart once he saw what the guy was wearing. Sure, BT definitely looked good - maybe even better than he remembered before - but he had to force himself not to think about that. Carnal thoughts such as those were for the more promiscuous members of the group, and he had no intention of becoming one of them. "Good evening, Blood Talon. Is something wrong?"

The man's breath was agitated and told of fury. "Wrong?" He snarled, then glanced down over Hiro's body. "I see you've changed out of the leather pants and chains," he said sarcastically, "I guess you didn't think I'd recognize you then, huh? Huh?" The Korean's hands closed to fists along his sides, glaring ferociously at the raven-haired man.

Hiro closed his eyes and sighed. It seemed his other side had offended yet another of the group. Was it just a coincidence that the two times it came out during their stay, it ran into two of the Hwoarangs, or was it actually targetting them? At least both of the victims didn't come out maimed or dead, so what was the problem? "I apologise for what happened. I'm glad to see you're alright." He turned around and headed back into the room.

"An apology is so not good enough!" The Blood Talon kicked the door so it slammed against the wall. "Come back and look at me while I'm talking to you!"

Strange that the more reasonable of the Koreans was acting the most offended by the demon. The Japanese looked over at the terrified couple on the bed and then decidedly headed out of the room, calmly closing the door when he was out there. Humouring someone's temper tantrums had never been his style, but he saw little choice. Besides, not having seen that particular one so upset before, it was sort of cute. He started walking calmly down the hallway to the staircase. "If you want to shout about this, we'll go on the roof. There's no point disturbing everyone on this floor."

Crossing his arms, the redhead scowled at him. "You're just going to walk away?" He grumbled, then his lips twisted into a cruel smirk. "I'll make you regret what you did. Don't underestimate me, Hiro. I'm not a toy, and nobody gets away with treating me like one. If you tried to make it up to me, maybe I could forgive you, but this..."

"I am not walking away. We are going on the roof so that we don't get kicked out of the hotel for creating a ruckus." He paused near the door to the stairwell and looked back at the Korean. After that, he was extra curious to figure out what the demon in him had done to the young man. "Of course I won't force you to come, but I'm sure our neighbours would appreciate it."

With a loud, exaggerated sigh, the Blood Talon started walking in his direction. "I hope you're going to let me throw you off the roof a couple of times..." He muttered, then followed as Hiro started walking up the stairs.

Not long later, they stepped onto the roof and Hiro immediately closed the door and turned to study the Korean. It was hard to keep his thoughts subjective and related to the situation at hand when he was looking at those dark eyes, the red hair, and the movements of that body. Had to ignore all that somehow. It was just a little strange, looking at that scratch on the Blood Talon's cheek and feeling a bit weird about the devil touching that face before he did. "What is it you wanted to say?"

The Korean gave him a disbelieving glare. "I should kill you for this..." he muttered, then drew a deep breath. "You weren't even listening?" He turned away, pacing over towards a bench. "I can't believe you've got the nerve to just stand there and ask such a question after what you did."

Maybe that scratch wasn't the extent of the damages, but the Korean didn't appear to be too injured. It was hard to believe a professional fighter would be so upset about a little attack. "I already apologised. If you want me to make it up to you further, you're going to have to elaborate."

Leaning against the bench, the Blood Talon rolled his eyes. "How about you let me return the favour? We could go to a factory with rotating knives and slicers, and I can play with your life? And then when I'm done playing with your life, I can pin you down and violate you. Sound good?"

Hiro's eyes widened momentarily before he forced himself to remain calm. There was no way the devil would have violated someone - he was sure something like that would be remembered. Maybe the Korean misunderstood. He cleared his throat and walked towards the edge of the roof to gaze down. "I tried to avoid problems like this. I'll have to think of some other method to prevent these things from happening again. What exactly did I do to you?"

"Oh, I see! You're just here to rub it in, aren't you?" Sneering, the Korean pushed away from the bench again, heading for the door. "My honour will be recovered. If you're not willing to help, it will be at your expense. Trust me, you'll regret every single thing you did to me back there."

"Blood Talon..." He paused, wondering whether he should just let the man go or stop him. No, if his devil had done something like that, it was unacceptable and he couldn't let it go undealt with. "Wait. I take full responsibility for what happened. I should have been more careful, but I rarely remember what I do when that thing takes over. From what you've already told me, you're right, I do owe you more than an apology."

That succeeded in stopping the Korean. He turned with a skeptical gaze, waiting for a bit and let out a sigh. Feeling guilty and somewhat jealous, Hiro bowed his head. Swallowing, the Blood Talon took a step closer. "I guess I should demand for you to bend over, but I'll be a bit more constructive than that." He paused, drawing a deep breath. "This group needs a leader, or we won't get anywhere at all. I want that leader to be me. If you'll help me with that, I will forgive you."

The first word that came to mind was a blatant 'no', but he managed to keep that in. Even the meaningless suggestion of sex made him shift uncomfortably and look away. Hiro hated that subject. Being who he was and what he was, he had more important things to worry about and was sure relationships would only get in the way. Getting attached to anyone would be a huge mistake. "You are right, they do need a leader, but I'd prefer to have nothing to do with it. If you are a true leader, you will not need the help. People will naturally follow you... There must be something else I can do to make it up to you."

Blood Talon was apparently amused. With a smirk, he shook his head. "This group has several natural leaders, a few wannabes and a couple followers. Letting nature take its course would mean the group tearing itself apart from within." He sighed, then met Hiro's gaze. "If you have better ideas, I'm ready to hear them."

"I would let you throw me off the roof as you suggested earlier, but I suspect now is not the best time to make me transform." Hiro shook his head and took a step toward the Blood Talon, speaking as seriously as possible. "If I truly did play with your life, pin you down and violate you, then that's two offenses. I will give you two favours of your choosing, but neither of them can be permanent. As for you being leader, I will support your decisions if I think they are wise, if I disagree with you, I will say so."

Dark eyes considered him for a good while, then with a deep breath, the Korean turned around, walking towards the door.

Somehow apparently Hiro had made the Korean upset? Well, that was understandable. "If a leader can't deal with opposition from the ones he leads, they'd never take him seriously. I think you are the most competent of the Koreans in this group, Blood Talon. You've shown a lot of maturity in the past, but walking away when you don't get what you want is not helping your goal."

Again the Korean stopped, this time leaning against the door frame. "I deal just fine with opposition from the ones I lead. I want to be the first among equals, not a tyrant. I appreciate differing opinions as long as they're well founded," he said calmly, "but until you consider me your leader, that doesn't apply to yours." Frowning, he reached up to scratch his head a little, then added, "two favours? I want my honour restored. I suppose that means asking you to utterly humiliate yourself for me in public. Twice. Is that really what you want?"

"I will consider you my leader when you do something to earn it." All that talk about being the leader of the group was getting annoying. Did the Blood Talon intend to go around to the others and use their faults to force them into accepting him? It surprised him a little, even though he knew he shouldn't expect much better from any of the Hwoarangs. Not this one either, despite it being by far the most... appealing. "No, I don't want to be humiliated in public, but if you ask that of me, I will."

Gradually a smirk reappeared on the redhead's face. "You know, if I was irresponsible, I'd say something like:" He switched to a funny noise of a voice, "Fuck being a leader! Let's all just watch the group go to hell!" Blood Talon laughed lightly at his own joke, then sighed. "Of course I'd have to earn it. Just forget about it. It was just an idea. And that humiliation thing; yes, that'd achieve my goal, but I'm not like that." He paused and shrugged. "Now was there a better offer coming since you wanted me to stay, or did you just ask me to so you could keep watching my gorgeous body?"

Hiro could feel his cheeks heating up, and hoped to god the lighting was poor enough to hide it if he was blushing. Had that guy noticed his interest? No, it was probably just one of those jokes. People actually found that funny? He turned away and pretended to find something interesting to stare at on the street below. "No. I thought I'd spare you the dishonour of being a hypocrite by preventing you from rudely walking away after you so avidly told me not to."

"So now I'm a hypocrite?" The Blood Talon's voice implied that was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard. "I owe you nothing, Hiro. Nothing. Maybe I did before what you did to me earlier, but not anymore. But now you owe me. Big. With such a debt, it should be reasonable to expect you wouldn't just walk away from me." With a sigh, the guy shifted, apparently getting comfortable. "I don't appreciate you calling me that, Hiro."

"I said you would have been a hypocrite, had you walked away. It's true you do not owe me anything, but that wouldn't have made an action like that any less dishonourable to leave in the middle of a conversation that you insisted on." Hiro closed his eyes, trying to calm himself so that he could think and respond rationally. His words, however, were getting too far ahead of his thoughts. "But if all you're here to do is mock me and put me on a guilt trip, your efforts are going to waste. I am already guilty and it's not exactly a pleasure to hear that I become a demon who wanders around at night molesting men!"

"In the middle of a conversation?" The Blood Talon asked curiously, although with a slight touch of annoyance. "Well, pardon me, then. I thought we were done." He took a step out from the wall. "So..." He started as he continued walking, stopping right next to Hiro. "What more is on your mind? I didn't mean to walk out on an unfinished conversation. Talk away, I'm listening."

How was it that he was freaking out when one of the Hwoarangs was able to stay calm? Hiro took a deep breath, and stayed silent until he got his mind working properly. He faced the Blood Talon and crossed his arms, speaking as articulate and calm as he could manage. "It was my mistake, perhaps we were finished. I apologise for resorting to name calling. I have nothing more to say to you, Blood Talon."

"Okay." The Korean nodded, then watched him silently for a little while. "Those favours, Hiro..." he said in a thoughtful voice, "are not enough to make me forgive you. They're a good start, though, so even though I'm still angry at you, I will not seek revenge." He took a step away, smiling lightly. "Unless I tell you explicitly that I'm cashing in one of those favours, I'm not doing it. Just so you don't think passing the salt at the breakfast table repays your debt."

He wanted to stop the Blood Talon from leaving, but why? Hiro shook his head, disappointed in himself for being so unreasonable. If it wasn't for the devil in him, he wouldn't be dealing with that. "I understand. What I did is simply unforgivable... Good luck taking control of the group. I suspect it would do the cause some good."

"Thanks, Hiro," the Korean said, still smiling, "I'll see you around." He turned, pacing over to the door, and two seconds later, he was gone.

~~~

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