Work Text:
Suguru's cursing his life. He had woken up late, completely messing up his morning routine. He was in such a rush, he forgot to tie his hair up in his signature bun.
And now he keeps getting mistaken for his twin.
Suguru doesn't know how many times he's been called by his twin's dumbass nickname 'Kenjaku' and they've only been at school for two periods (one of his classmates was even dumb enough to think he's Kenjaku when he was sitting in his own seat in 1st period. The twins weren't even in the same class. Suguru was in class 3-A while Kenjaku had 3-C). No one can tell them apart now that the identifying feature of Suguru's black gauges are obscured by his long hair.
He thought about asking a girl for a hair-tie when he couldn't find any in his bag or desk. Unfortunately, the only girl he's close enough with asking for a spare is Shoko but she didn't have any since her hair is short. Her girlfriend, Utahime, kindly extended one of her bows to him, but he declined. Kenjaku would never let him live that down.
By lunch time he was seriously debating on taking Utahime up on her offer though. He'd always hated getting mistaken for his brother. Even when he was a small child, he'd throw fits when his parents couldn't tell them apart. No one could tell them apart. It was one of the reasons he begged for permission to get his ears pierced. It was one unmistakable feature that was purely him. He always made sure to wear his hair up so no one would think he was his twin.
He even stamped down his pride enough to ask his brother for a hair-tie when he sat down next to him at lunch (they typically didn't sit together but Kenjaku thought the situation was hilarious and kept perpetuating it whenever he could). Kenjaku had laughed in his face and told him he didn't have any and even if did, he wouldn’t give one to Suguru. Fucking asshole.
Suguru had given up tucking his hair behind his ear only for it to slip every time he moves his head when he hears his name being called. He knows that voice anywhere. It was Satoru. He hadn't seen the other all morning since he had a doctor's appointment. The white-haired boy comes bounding up to them, bright and sunny like always. The smile on his face has Suguru’s heart skipping a beat.
Suguru wasn't looking forward to this. Sure, it was annoying and kind of infuriating when everyone else mistakes him for his brother. But Suguru knew it was going to kill him for Satoru not to recognize him. Satoru was his best friend, confidante, his other half. Suguru was so in love with the other boy it was embarrassing.
Almost as embarrassing as how scared he is to tell Satoru about his feelings. He couldn't bear to lose him. He couldn't risk their friendship, their closeness because Suguru was dumb enough to catch feelings.
Satoru plops himself down across from the twins and looks right at Kenjaku. Suguru braces himself for his heart to shatter as Satoru's mouth opens to inevitably call his brother 'Suguru' with his perfect voice.
"Why the hell are you sitting here Kenjaku?" Satoru asks, sneer marring his features as he mocks Kenjaku's nickname. Kenjaku's smug ass smirk falls to a frown. He was waiting for Satoru to call him 'Suguru' just so he can be a haughty bitch about it for the rest of the day (and probably forever). Suguru’s never admitted his feelings for Satoru to his brother, but Kenjaku dropped hints constantly that he knew. Twin intuition, maybe? Though, Suguru was pretty obvious. Everyone seemed to know about how down bad he was for Satoru except for the blue-eyed boy.
"You can tell us apart?" Kenjaku exclaims. They looked identical currently. Kenjaku even went as far to button his uniform all the way. Suguru's heart pounds in his chest. Can Satoru actually tell them apart?
Satoru regards him with a look of irritation and says, "duh." Kenjaku scoffs at him.
"Yeah, whatever, not even our parents can tell us apart. It's only a fluke." Satoru bristles like an angry kitten.
"No, it isn't! You two look nothing alike.” Satoru says, crossing his arms over his chest and looking particularly smug.
“Suguru’s way more handsome than you." Satoru makes the landing blow for the K.O. Kenjaku’s mouth falls open, expression of offense and shock.
"No, he isn't! We're identical.” He points between him and Suguru. They were mirror images of each other. Hair down, uniform button properly, same slight smile and narrowing of the eyes. Kenjaku was mimicking Suguru to make a point.
“We look exactly the same!" Satoru actually looks like he's offended by the words.
"No. You. Don't." Satoru grinds out through his barred teeth. Kenjaku’s throws his hands up in the air, exasperated before he turns to his twin.
“Suguru, tell him we look exactly the same!” Suguru averts his eyes from Satoru’s face, knowing he would fold immediately to whatever the other boy wanted if he looked at him. Suguru couldn’t just... Lie. They did look exactly the same. Well, Suguru knew his dick was bigger but that isn’t really the point. Satoru couldn’t see that (as much as Suguru wanted him to).
“I mean, we do. We are twins.” Satoru pouts at them and grumbles about Suguru taking Kenjaku’s side. Suguru wasn’t really sure there was a ‘side’ here. It was a factual statement. He and Kenjaku were identical. Their own mother couldn’t even tell them apart.
“Don’t degrade yourself like that Suguru,” Satoru says softly as he reaches over to pat Suguru's hand in comfort, he looks at Kenjaku with a nose crinkled in disgust. Kenjaku growls at him, looking ready to pounce over the table.
“You little bit-” Suguru cuts him off with a sharp look. He wouldn’t stand for Satoru-slander. He’ll allow his brother to have petty little fights with Satoru, but he is never allowed to call him names or trash talk him. He’d take the suspension and his parents punishments for slamming his brother’s face into the table for even thinking about calling Satoru a ‘bitch.’
Kenjaku rolls his eyes but backs off, the dangerous aura of warning coming off Suguru is palpable. He picks up his bento made by their mother and slinks away from the table like the snake he is. Suguru watches him go with a bland look before he turns back to Satoru. The blue-eyed boy has a small frown on his face. Suguru’s eyebrows furrow.
“You two really don’t look alike, though.” Satoru murmurs, small and soft. Suguru isn’t sure if he's talking to himself or to him, but it has his heart melting just the same. The bell for the end of lunch rings. Suguru doesn’t mention it as they walk to class together. As happy as he was that it seemed like Satoru could tell them apart... A small, nagging part of him thinks it was just a good guess.
For the rest of the day, Kenjaku is on a mission to prove that Satoru couldn’t tell them apart. A mission he continuously keeps failing when Satoru picks Suguru out correctly every single time. Kenjaku was sure that Satoru was cheating somehow. There was no possible way he could tell the difference. Suguru was reeling from all of it, feeling warm and fuzzy over the fact that... Yeah, Satoru really could tell them apart. It’s been so many times now. How could he guess right that many times?
Kenjaku even went so far as to sneak into their classroom and take Suguru’s seat while he was in the bathroom. Satoru had ran an errand for the teacher and when he came back into the room, Kenjaku turns to him and did a perfect imitation of Suguru’s smile and said:
“Hey, Satoru.” He was met with a look of pure disgust from white-haired boy.
“Ew.” The white-haired boy said. Suguru walked back in right after that. Kenjaku’s eyes dart to him and silently plea for him to keep quiet. Suguru sticks his hands in his pockets with a roll of his eyes but doesn’t say a word. Pathetically, he was curious too.
“What’s wrong, Satoru?” Suguru stamps down the urge to punch his brother for daring to call the other boy by his first name and... Did he just try to purr it? Jealously and possessiveness rear their ugly heads inside Suguru, threatening to claw their way out. His hands clench in his pockets, knuckles turning white.
“Yeah, it’s so creepy when you call me that. Don’t.” Satoru says with his arms crossed and hip cocked to the side, staring down Kenjaku with an unimpressed look. Kenjaku frowns and presses his thumb to the crease of his brows, Suguru hates to admit how much it looks like one of his mannerisms.
“I always call you Satoru.” It’s such a soft admonishment, overly fond and so very 'Suguru.' It honestly makes Suguru a little nauseous. Wow. That’s really how he talks to Satoru? Jesus, he was so obvious that it hurts.
“Oh my g-” Satoru cuts himself off with a groan.
“Ken, I know it’s you. Stop.” Kenjaku bristles at the use of his real name. Well, the jig was definitely up. Suguru deemed it fine to make his presence known. He walks up to stand beside Satoru, placing a hand on the small of the white-haired boy’s back. Satoru leans into the touch, automatically relaxing at Suguru’s presence. Suguru melts a little at display of total trust from the other boy.
“How are you doing this?” Kenjaku exclaims, shoving himself out of Suguru’s desk so noisily the girl that sits in the seat in front of Suguru’s looks back at him with a glare. Kenjaku rudely ignores her, completely done with acting like his twin at this point. If he was still trying to pass off as Suguru, he would have smiled politely and gave her a ‘sorry’ he didn’t really mean but she would believe anyway.
“I keep saying you two aren’t alike at all.” Satoru speaks like he’s talking to a child. Kenjaku’s glare deepens even more.
“I could even tell you apart blindfolded.” Satoru brags. Suguru mentally fights away images of Satoru splayed out on his bed, blindfolded and handcuffed. Yeah. Not the time for that. His teenage hormones were not doing him any favors right now.
“We’ll see about that! Come over after school and we’ll test you.” Kenjaku says it like Satoru didn’t come over to their house every day. The last time he didn’t show up because he was sick, their mother gave Suguru the third degree about why Satoru wasn’t there. Suguru would bet money that she liked Satoru more than her own sons.
“Yeah, whatever,” Satoru says with a nonchalant wave of his hand before walking over to his desk that sat to the side of Suguru's. Perks of their names being so similar, they were typically really close together when lined up alphabetically. Kenjaku ambles out of Suguru’s desk and makes his way out of the classroom with a stank face. As he bumps into a girl from Suguru’s class, she apologizes and calls him ‘Suguru.’ Kenjaku proceeds to throw a smug grin over his shoulder before he heads out of the door. When the girl’s eyes land on Suguru, they widen in realization of her mistake.
“I can’t believe no one else can tell the difference,” Satoru says, sounding testy, as he glares at the girl who just mistook Kenjaku for Suguru. He looked like an angry kitten, and it was adorable. Suguru leans forward in his seat, tilting his head towards Satoru to catch his eyes. Pretty blue eyes focus on him, and he smiles.
“It’s really that easy for you?” He asks because he really wants to know. It’s driving him crazy. His friends. His family. His parents. No one else could do it. How could Satoru? How was it so easy for the other boy to look at one of them and instantly know it was or wasn’t Suguru. Satoru scoffs at him.
“Of course it is,” he says it like he thinks Suguru is being dumb. Maybe he is being dumb. Suguru sits back in his seat, shoulders slouched in and hands in his pockets as his mind tries to come up with how exactly Satoru can tell them apart. How he’s so confident that he thinks he can do it blindfolded.
After school the three of them walk home together, the entire way Kenjaku eyes Satoru like he’s some kind of alien. Suguru pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache forming in his right temple. His brother could be exhausting. Kenjaku, of course, wastes no time when they finally get home. He grabs Suguru and Satoru to drag them up to Suguru’s room. Their mother watches them zoom past the kitchen with a look of confusion.
“Here.” Kenjaku shoves a black tie at Satoru after he digs it out of Suguru’s top dresser drawer, holding it up to his eyes for a moment to check it’s opacity. Satoru rolls his eyes again but ties it around his head anyway.
“There, happy?” He asks. Kenjaku’s eyes narrow and he shoves Suguru around until they’ve shuffled enough to make him happy. Suguru doesn’t pay much attention to his brother. His entire attention is focused on Satoru. Sitting on his bed with a blindfold on. Yeah, that’s going to fuel his wet dreams for the next week.
A few moments of silence pass. Satoru groans in irritation, leaning back on his hands as he crosses his legs. Suguru follows the motion, entranced.
“Say my name.” Satoru orders, tone blase. He looked so relaxed. The exact opposite of how on edge Suguru feels. This was pretty impossible. Even their voices sounded the same. Their speech patterns were different but either twin could imitate how the other spoke with ease. Kenjaku turns a shit-eating grin to Suguru before he opens his mouth and says:
“Satoru.” It was perfect. It sounded exactly like Suguru. If Suguru, himself, heard it on a recording he probably wouldn’t be able to tell. He refrains from letting out a disappointed sigh.
“Satoru,” he says with the same roll of the ‘R.’ Satoru’s head jerks in his direction so quickly he jolts, startled. Satoru points at him with a wide, toothy grin.
“Suguru.” His breath catches in his throat. There was no hesitance. It was like Satoru knew in an instant.
“What the fuck?” Kenjaku growls, infuriated. Satoru pulls off the blindfold and drops it next to him, he looks insanely smug.
“Suguru says my name a certain way.” He admits with a nonchalant shrug. Suguru blinks. He does? But.... It seemed like his brother imitated him perfectly. Suguru couldn’t even tell the difference.
“Fucking whatever! I give up. Have fun making out or whatever you two do.” Kenjaku grumbles, throwing his hands in the air in defeat before stalking out of Suguru’s room with the slam of the door. Suguru hears his mom yell at his twin for doing so. Any other day, Suguru would be having a mental break down over his brother alluding to them making out. Today though, he was too focused on Satoru being the only person he’s ever met that could easily tell the two of them apart.
“Are you going to put your hair up?” Satoru asks, breaking Suguru out of his spiral. The black-haired boy blinks at him, hand going up to grab at the strands of his hair without thinking.
“Huh?” He asks unintelligently before the words finally compute in his brain fully.
“Oh... Yeah.” Not like it matters all that much now but... Yeah, he is more comfortable with it up nowadays. Satoru nods then pulls his right sleeve up to reveal a black hair-tie around his pale wrist. Suguru stares at it.
“You had one the whole time?” Even though he asks the question out loud, it wasn’t really to Satoru specifically. More like a ‘oh, wow, I can’t believe it was right there’ kind of realization. He didnt know he could have asked Satoru for a hair-tie. He could have been free from the torture of being mistaken for his brother since lunch. Satoru’s head tilts to the side in question.
“Wha-” He starts but he catches up quickly.
“Oh yeah! I always keep one on my wrist for you!” Satoru pulls the hair-tie off his wrist with a toothy smile and spins it around on his pointer finger. Suguru watches the motion.
"I guess I should have mentioned that today..." Satoru says sheepishly. Suguru can't be mad at it though. Namely because being mad at Satoru was physically impossible for him.
“Come here~” Satoru calls, beckoning Suguru to his own bed with a curling finger. It was pretty hot. Suguru stops in front of him and lets himself be pulled down by the collar of his uniform. He stands before Satoru, bent over, their faces so close he would just have to tip forward to kiss him. God. He wanted to kiss him so bad.
"It is nice to see you with your hair down every once in awhile." Both of Satoru’s hands card themselves through Suguru’s hair. The brown-eyed boy has to stop himself from full body shivering at the action. Satoru pulls Suguru’s hair up into his usual bun. Suguru watches his face in rapt fascination, eyeing the cute, pink tongue that sticks out the side of Satoru’s mouth in concentration. The white-haired boy’s hands fall away when he’s done and he admires his work.
“I do like it down but-” Satoru smiles brightly up at Suguru and he wants to pinch his adorably flushed cheeks. Satoru looked so damn cute it had Suguru feeling a little violent. Cuteness aggression was real.
“This feels more you.” Satoru leans back on his hands. Suguru has to stop himself from leaning forward to lessen the space between them by standing up straight. He looks down at Satoru, regarding him with a look that has Satoru tilting his head again. Suguru can’t help it... He has to ask.
“How can you tell us apart, Satoru?” He kicks himself for sounding so much like a lost little child. Satoru shrugs, mouth falling open to give him some vague answer. Suguru shakes his head.
“Really, tell me.” He’s basically pleading. It’s pathetic, but he has to know. It's a needful thing.
“Because Suguru.” Satoru’s voice is so soft and sweet that it has Suguru swooning.
“My soul knows it’s you.” Satoru says, regarding him with a small smile. His expression is tenderly fond. Suguru lets out a sharp exhale. He can feel his hands trembling.
“Satoru, I-” love you, he wants to say but the words get caught in his throat. Satoru huffs out a soft sigh like Satoru thinks Suguru is a big dummy, but he still finds it so endearing.
“Suguru.” The way Satoru says his name means something. An underlying meaning Suguru can’t quite put his finger on. Then, he sees it... Suguru’s breath hitches as he stares at Satoru’s shining blue eyes. The look of realization passes over Suguru’s features and Satoru tilts his head to the side again, the smile on his face saying, ‘I’ve been waiting.’
Ah. Satoru loved him too.
“Well, kiss me already, you idiot.” Satoru laughs, eyes teary and full of emotion. With shaking hands Suguru reaches out and cups Satoru’s face gently, like he was the most precious thing in the world. To Suguru, he was. Then he leans in and presses a kiss to Satoru’s mouth.
Suguru found that as long as Satoru could always tell it was him, he didn’t really care if everyone else mistook him for his brother.