Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/13932357. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: M/M, Multi Fandom: Ouran_High_School_Host_Club_-_All_Media_Types Relationship: Hitachiin_Hikaru/Hitachiin_Kaoru, Fujioka_Haruhi/Hitachiin_Hikaru/ Hitachiin_Kaoru Character: Hitachiin_Kaoru, Hitachiin_Hikaru, Fujioka_Haruhi, Suoh_Tamaki Stats: Published: 2018-03-11 Chapters: 1/? Words: 5262 ****** Ouran's Polyamorous Hosts ****** by Rumplerarry Summary Kaoru and Hikaru start to realize that they have more intense feelings for each other than just platonic brother love. This is spurred after the date Hikaru has with Haruhi, it helps both brothers to realize that they are a little jealous of the idea of their twin dating someone. However they also feel very close to Haruhi, especially after she listens to Kaoru about his growing feelings towards Hikaru. Notes I usually end up writing late into the night which means I sometimes get a few typos. Please forgive them! Thanks! Hikaru’s date with Haruhi hadn’t been the most successful but it had definitely had its moments. Hikaru had started to realize that it didn’t necessarily have to be him and Kaoru against the world; maybe, just maybe it could be the three of them against the world together. Haruhi was the only person, besides that one maid, who had been able to tell them apart. That fact alone set Haruhi apart from the rest of his world in his mind. Hikaru had also managed to learn more about Haruhi on his date. Kaoru might have set it up, but Haruhi was happy to be out with Hikaru regardless. However Hikaru had let his jealousy and other feelings get the best of him and had then had to run back to comfort a terrified Haruhi inside the church, seeing Haruhi like that had opened up Hikaru’s eyes a little more. Other people had feelings, which Hikaru had always known but now he was starting to care more about those feelings. And not just with Haruhi but his brother Kaoru as well. Hikaru promised himself that he would start paying better attention to the feelings of those around him. Hikaru started working on that promise to himself once he finally returned home that night. Kaoru was up waiting for him as always, a nervous look on his face. Kaoru was lying on their bed, staring at a manga but not reading it when Hikaru entered. Kaoru looked up at Hikaru, trying to read his brother’s emotions before speaking. “So,” Kaoru started gently, “I heard that you found Haruhi and were able to comfort her through the storm. I am glad you were able to find her and help her Hikaru, I really am. I am also sorry I tricked you into going on a date with Haruhi…but I thought it would be good for you. I understand if you are upset with me, but I hope that you can forgive me. I was just trying to help Nii- san.” Kaoru finished speaking, watching his brother’s face uncertainly. “I still feel bad for not understanding her feelings sooner…” Hikaru started as he looked down at his feet, to ashamed to face his brother. “I got upset at first thinking she only wanted to be on a date with you and that was why she was acting so strange…and then I realized what was going on and I did everything I could to find her. I can’t believe I left her alone like that. I will have to remember her fear of thunderstorms from now on though, and maybe between the two of us, we can help her stay comfortable in those situations from now on. What do you think Kaoru? Also why did you set me up with her? Did you plan on being sick today? If so, why Kaoru? I was beginning to think you really liked Haruhi…” Hikaru finished letting his voice trail off. Kaoru sighed a little at his brother’s questions before responding. “I agree that with us being in the same class as her, as well as being in the Host Club and just in general getting along well with Haruhi that we should do our best to help her feel safe as often as possible. But at the same time we will have to be cautious not to offend Tamaki as he might see it as us encroaching on his “little girl”. Kaoru finished with a slight scoff on the word. He didn’t like the way Tamaki treated Haruhi as his property but at the same time he wasn’t sure he could do anything about it without causing more Tamaki drama in the Club. Or drama between he and Hikaru, which was the last thing he wanted. “Fair point about Tamaki, but if she were to choose to hang out with us, it’s not like Tamaki owns her…she can make up her own mind. And we already hang out with her a decent amount, if she decides to hang out with us more than that is her choice. And if it leads to…ummm something else then the boss will just have to deal. Also Haruhi can take him in a fight of words and probably get him to back down with a well timed look, so I am not too worried about it.” Hikaru finished feeling a blush spread across his face. It hadn’t slipped his mind that Kaoru hadn’t answered his question about setting up a date with Haruhi. “Yeah you are correct about Haruhi being able to control the boss and I agree with you about Tamaki having to deal with it at some point.” Kaoru started off slowly, noticing the blush on his brother’s face Kaoru decided to address Hikaru’s questions. “It’s not necessarily that I like Haruhi in that way, that’s not why I asked her out. I had planned to get sick all along; hoping that you would agree to go in my place, because if you did I figured you could patch things up with Haruhi. And I was right, though it took you a while to warm up to her, I just wanted you to work on opening up to others and allowing them to open up to you. I know you feel that you blew it for a little while, but I also know that you apologizing and Haruhi forgiving you made a difference in your relationship. As much as I would love for it to be the two of us against the world together forever, we can’t continue to live that way. We need to start opening up so I thought this date excursion would be a good place to start. I am not sure how you feel about Haruhi, but I know that we both enjoy her company and appreciate the fact that she can tell us apart. So I figured that if you were going to let your guard down around anyone else, it would be her. Please don’t be mad at me Hikaru, I just wanted to help.” Kaoru finished speaking a pleading look on his face. Hikaru stared at Kaoru, seeing the emotions on his face, and something inside Hikaru broke a little. His internal walls fell down around Kaoru frequently but right now they were shattered completely. Hikaru wasn’t sure he would be able build his walls back up around Kaoru after this moment, but at that point in time he didn’t care. Hikaru closed the space between Kaoru and himself quickly and pulled his brother into a hug. Hikaru held his brother close to him, doing his best to comfort Kaoru. Oddly though, hugging wasn’t enough for Hikaru, he got the strange urge to kiss his brother’s cheek as he held Kaoru close to him. Hikaru almost acted on his urge but stopped just an inch short of his goal, realizing what he was about to do. Hikaru changed ideas and instead whispered into Kaoru’s ear. “I am not mad at you Nii-san, I could never be mad at you, at least not for long. You are my brother, and my best friend. I don’t care if we grow apart but I will always need you, so I hope we will always be together in some way, shape or form. And when it comes to Haruhi, I don’t really know how I feel about her…but I like to hang out with her and I also find it comforting that she can tell us apart. It helps me trust her, but I still have walls around with her, she isn’t like you. With you Kaoru I never feel the need to have walls and I guess that’s what scares me most about branching out, having to take down my walls for more people.” Kaoru started to relax a little inside his brother’s arms even though some of what Hikaru was saying worried him and made him both happy and sad at the same time. Kaoru was glad that Hikaru was starting to learn about other’s feelings and that he wanted to trust Haruhi. But his insistence at needing Kaoru made him a little on edge. Kaoru never wanted to leave or lose Hikaru either, but did Hikaru feel the need as deeply as Kaoru felt it? “Well I want you to know that you don’t need walls with me Hikaru, we have been together all our lives, you don’t have to hide anything from me, and honestly I am not sure you could if you wanted to.” Kaoru chuckled a little at that before continuing. “I am not saying that we will always live together but I think we should enjoy living together while we do, and as for Haruhi…I think you should start letting down your walls with her. She has proven herself to be a good friend and to be worthy of our trust. But don’t rush it and get worried. Open up at your own pace, though keep in mind she will start opening up to you in return so you have to pay attention.” Hikaru chuckled a little as his brother stopped speaking. “Maybe someone could give me lessons in paying attention…I definitely could use the practice.” Hikaru hugged Kaoru tighter before letting go of his brother. Kaoru and returned the hug enthusiastically and as they broke apart both of them felt cold and alone. Hikaru felt a blush heating his face as he realized what he was feeling and he looked away from Kaoru…but not before he thought he saw a blush creeping up on Kaoru’s face as well. Hikaru headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed, he was exhausted after the day’s events and knew he needed sleep to be in a decent enough mood to actually apologize to Arai the next day. Kaoru felt his face heat up and as his brother headed towards the bathroom, Kaoru gently pressed a hand to his face. It was definitely a little warm, but why was he blushing? It was natural to feel the lack of warmth after a hug is broken…nothing weird about that. Kaoru changed into his pjs and then headed into the bathroom he and Hikaru shared, Hikaru nearly walked into Kaoru on his way out of the bathroom and the two of them did a funny little dance about who was going which way. They laughed at themselves and some of the tension between them melted away. “Hurry to bed Kaoru, yeah?” Hikaru said as he headed to the bed they shared. Kaoru murmured he would and Hikaru got into bed and made himself comfortable, knowing that Kaoru would turn off the lights before he got into bed. Kaoru took his time brushing his teeth, replaying those words in his head. Usually since their shared a bed the brothers went to bed at or around the same time. But rarely did one of them ask the other to hurry to bed…it seemed like more than just Hikaru being tired. The way he had said it, triggered something in Kaoru’s mind, a feeling that maybe their relationship was changing somehow. Kaoru thought about it and swore he thought earlier that Hikaru was going to kiss him as they were hugging. He hadn’t been sure then how that made him feel. Now that he thought more about it however, Kaoru felt a little excited by the idea of kissing his brother, or being kissed by him. They did the whole “Brotherly Love” act all the time in the Host Club, what if one day it was no longer an act? What if it became their new reality? Kaoru finished brushing his teeth and otherwise getting ready for bed and checked himself in the bathroom mirror. His face had become flushed again, probably due to the thought of potentially kissing his brother. Kaoru splashed some water on his face, dried off and walked back to their bedroom. Hikaru was snuggled into the covers on “his” side of the bed, they usually started off falling asleep on their own sides, but sometime in the night their bodies would migrate to each other and end up intertwined. It was something that neither brother seemed to mind, but now Kaoru felt himself hoping that it would happen again that night. Or…maybe Kaoru wanted to start off with both of them in the middle of the bed. Kaoru stared at his brother lying inside the warm covers for a few minutes, drinking in the adorable sight before him. Hikaru turned to look at Kaoru, wondering what was taking him so long to find his brother staring at him. “See something you like Nii-san?” Hikaru asked Kaoru with a smirk. Kaoru shook himself slightly and headed over to the bed, hitting the lights as he walked. Kaoru hoped that the lights shut off in time to hide most of the blush he felt spreading to his cheeks yet again. Hikaru was really getting to him for some reason tonight and Kaoru wasn’t sure how to deal with that. Kaoru climbed into bed, wrapped himself up in the blanket, and moved his pillow towards the center of the bed. There he turned onto his side to face his brother, not sure if he should reach out to Hikaru or not. Hikaru rolled over to face Kaoru almost as if he could feel his brother staring at him. “So are we sleeping in the center of the bed now Kaoru?” Hikaru asked, his voice dripping with curiosity. “Well, umm it’s been a long and rather intense day, I thought the closeness might be nice. But if you don’t want me here I can move…” Kaoru answered as he started to move his pillow back to “his” side. Kaoru had barely started to move however when Hikaru’s hand grabbed Kaoru’s pillow and held it in place. Kaoru stared at Hikaru, wishing that he could see his brother’s face better in the darkness. Kaoru would have given anything to be able to read Hikaru’s mind in that moment. Hikaru whispered “No Kaoru, stay…” Kaoru nodded in response and then remembered that Hikaru probably couldn’t see that so he said, “Ok Hikaru, I will stay here, with you.” Hikaru sighed in relief and moved the hand that held the pillow down to find Kaoru’s hand, while Hikaru’s other hand moved his pillow towards Kaoru. Kaoru’s hand twitched slightly as Hikaru’s hand found his, but he didn’t pull away. Kaoru didn’t want to pull away; his heart however, was pounding in his chest. What could this mean? This hadn’t really happened before today, so Kaoru wasn’t sure what to make of this new feeling. This electricity he seemed to feel whenever Hikaru touched him now, was this just because Hikaru was debating opening up to other people? Was this Kaoru’s way of coping, to feel more attached to his brother? Or was he somehow finding his brother…attractive? Was that possible? Kaoru didn’t know but he squeezed Hikaru’s hand, and tried to focus on his breathing, hoping it would help him fall asleep even though his body felt wide awake, especially where Hikaru’s had held his. Hikaru squeezed Kaoru’s hand in return and felt his breath leave him a little when Kaoru squeezed back. He was getting a weird sensation from their joined hands, but he couldn’t let go. Hikaru didn’t want to and even if he did, his heart wouldn’t let him. Hikaru couldn’t understand what he was feeling and he really wanted to know if Kaoru was feeling something similar, yet at the same time Hikaru was terrified to hear the answer. He knew that Kaoru would hate it if he found out, but Hikaru started to try to build a small mental wall as he focused on his breathing and fell asleep. If he didn’t get a wall up Hikaru was worried that he would kiss Kaoru soon, and that wasn’t right was it? Could they do that? What would their friends say? What would Haruhi say? Didn’t both of them kind of like her? There’s no way they could be together then. Granted Hikaru hated the idea of Haruhi with Kaoru unless he was able to be with Kaoru at the same time…come to think of it he wouldn’t mind being with both of them, but that wasn’t possible, was it? Both brothers fell into troubled sleep that was somehow deep at the same time. They tossed and turned but at the same time neither of them woke up regardless of how odd their sleeping positions got. The sound of Haruhi knocking at their door woke them up. Kaoru had managed to roll onto his back at some point in the night and so he woke up to find Hikaru on top of him. Seeing his brother on top of him, only just starting to wake up, filled Kaoru with joy and love, so much so that Kaoru gently pressed Hikaru into his chest in a hug. Hikaru stared at Kaoru with a bemused expression before hugging his brother back. “Morning Nii- san” Hikaru said before rolling off of Kaoru’s chest. Kaoru sighed at the loss of his brother’s weight, but tried to play it off as a weird yawn, which wasn’t really convincing. “Hey are you two awake yet? We still have some work to do today.” Haruhi’s voice reached them through the door. Hikaru and Kaoru burst into laughter at the slight annoyance in her voice, both brothers could picture the face she was giving them as well. “We’re up Haruhi, don’t worry. We’ll be out soon ok? But you can come in and talk to us while we get ready if you want. Kaoru finished with a laugh knowing that it would get Haruhi to leave. Haruhi snorted at him and said “Did you and Hikaru swap humors last night? Fine I will leave you be but I will be back if you don’t hurry up. Good morning you two.” The brothers collapsed into a fit of giggles as they heard Haruhi’s footsteps retreat from their door. Both of them got up though and started to get dressed. Usually neither of them paid much attention to what the other one was doing, as they got ready. But this morning both brothers seemed to be on high alert, it was as if they could feel it when their brother looked at them. Hikaru and Kaoru both had to work hard not to stare at each other; worried they would freak out the other if caught. After ten tense minutes, both Hikaru and Kaoru were dressed and ready to get to work, well breakfast and then work. “Morning sleepy heads!” Haruhi greeted them both with a happy smile, before going back to work clearing up her dishes and those of the rest of the Host Club. Tamaki was playing the piano and the other hosts were doing different chores around the house. The twins sat down to their own breakfast, thanked Haruhi and Misuzu for their food and then ate in relative silence. Everyone around them was working and neither brother wanted to discuss their current feelings this out in the open. It would have to wait until they were alone in their room again. Hikaru tried to use the silence to put some more bricks on his mental wall, even though if he was honest with himself, he didn’t want to hide from Kaoru, not anymore. But he was too scared to start the conversation with him, especially when he didn’t really know what he was feeling yet. So instead of coming clean right away Hikaru promised himself that he would talk about these new feelings once he could understand what they meant. But for the rest of their stay at the inn he wanted to play it cool and try to figure out what was going on with him. Kaoru felt that Hikaru might be feeling the same way he was, whatever that meant. But Kaoru also didn’t want to try and bring up the subject on his own, worried that he would make their relationship awkward. So for the next few days, Hikaru and Kaoru slept closer to each other than usual, while acting a little out of sync outside of sleeping. Haruhi ended up being an amazing buffer between the to brothers, which they were both secretly grateful for. However she could tell something was off between them and urged both of them to talk to each other whenever she had them alone. Haruhi hated seeing them so out of sync. Both Hikaru and Kaoru promised to talk about it once they got home, and Haruhi agreed to let them be for a while, but she also promised that if this didn’t get resolved soon after school started back up, that she was going to have to force a twin intervention on them. Kaoru made a mental note to talk to Haruhi about his feelings before they left to go home, he needed a soundboard, and Haruhi was the only Host Club member he felt he could trust. Their final day at the inn Kaoru got his chance to talk to Haruhi alone. He was incredibly nervous but he needed to get this out. Maybe just expressing his feelings aloud would help him to make sense of it all. Now his only struggle was figuring out how to talk to Haruhi about his feelings. Should he come right out and say he felt something new towards Hikaru? Or should he try to be subtle about it? In the end Kaoru settled on a little bit of both. Haruhi had asked for help making up some of the newly vacant rooms, and Kaoru jumped at the chance to help her, hoping they could talk as they changed the sheets and such. Kaoru took control of the laundry cart and followed Haruhi from room to room. As they worked together in the first room, Kaoru slowly worked up his courage. “Hey Haruhi, can I talk to you about something? It’s private and a little embarrassing, but I really need someone to talk to, would you be willing to listen?” Haruhi stopped stripping the bed and looked Kaoru up and down before responding. “Sure Kaoru, I will listen, if you are sure you wouldn’t rather talk to Hikaru that is.” At the mention of his brother’s name Kaoru felt his face flush slightly. He swore he heard Haruhi make a noise of understanding as she went back to taking off the sheets. Kaoru nearly lost his nerve, but focusing on the work at hand helped him regain control of himself. “So there’s this person, who I have always been really close to, and that has always seemed normal to me and felt like enough. But lately, everything about our relationship feels different somehow. Like a touch of their hand feels electric instead of normal and comforting. I don’t know what to make of this new development. Especially because of…ummm who it is, and I don’t want to come out and say who it is so please don’t ask. But I don’t know what to do. Should I keep quiet about these feelings I am starting to experience? Should I try to shut them out? Is there a way to make sure the feelings are real and are different than what they used to be? What would you do Haruhi?” Haruhi looked at Kaoru closely before responding. “Well I won’t ask who it is, though I have a feeling I might know who you are talking about. Now as for what I would do, honestly I am not sure. I think that if you still aren’t sure how you feel about this person you should find a way to be sure before you talk to them. Have you umm tried thinking about them when you are…ummm aroused?” Haruhi blushed at her own words and Kaoru felt his face heat up at the same time. Kaoru looked at the ground and shook his head in answer to her question. “I know this is awkward but if you think about that person and it helps you ummm stay that way then it might help you understand how you truly feel about them. As to keeping quiet about your feelings I wouldn’t. Maybe try the umm thing I just suggested to help you better figure out you feelings, and then you should talk to the person about it. I realize it sounds scary but I could be there with you if you want? Or I could try to ask that person out? If they turn me down then I could report that to you, and then maybe that would help you see whom they are interested in. I don’t see them saying yes to me, or at least not over you that is. I really don’t think you should shut out your feelings towards this person regardless of what else you chose to do Kaoru. That in my opinion will only make it worse, it could hurt your current relationship, and you might crack under the pressure of it and do something you wouldn’t normally do that could jeopardize your current relationship. I honestly think that you should go ahead and tell them how you feel. They might surprise you and feel the same way. But if you want someone there with you when you talk to them let me know, I will gladly come with you or you could come talk to me after you talk to them. What do you think Kaoru? I am here for you, I really am.” Haruhi said looking at Kaoru with concern over her features. Kaoru started to put the clean blankets on the bed as he thought about everything Haruhi had said. The more he thought about it the more sense her words made even though the idea of trying to think about his twin brother while aroused made him feel a little nervous yet oddly not really ashamed. Even though Kaoru was really nervous about eventually talking to Hikaru about all of this, he was glad to know that Haruhi would be there for him regardless of what happened. “Ok Haruhi, I think I know what I am going to do. Would you be willing to come over to umm my house at some point after school when we get back? I will text you to let you know when I plan to have the conversation with the person, and then you could come over in like thirty minutes? I could even send the chauffeur to pick you up? What do you say Haruhi?” Kaoru looked at Haruhi nervously. “Well instead of doing all of that extra work…what if I just come home after school one day with you and Hikaru? Then we could all just hang out and at some point I could leave you two alone and come back in a little while. I can bring my own homework to work on and goodness knows that your house is big enough for the three of us to still have privacy. So pick a day and I will ride home with you, ok? It’s not like I can’t do my schoolwork at your place just as easily as mine.” Haruhi finished speaking with a shrug. Kaoru stared at Haruhi in amazement. “How did you know I meant Hikaru? And aren’t you disgusted to hear about my feelings for him? He is my twin after all.” Haruhi looked at Kaoru, and unable to help herself, pulled him into a quick hug then released him before speaking. “Oh Kaoru, I am not disgusted by you. I honestly can’t say I am surprised. Since you two have mostly been on your own for your lives it makes sense that your love maps would essentially revolve around in each other. It was only a matter of time before one or both of you started to have more romantic feelings toward each other. Combine that with your “brotherly love” routines in the Host Club I was beginning to think you two were already involved romantically. I am sure a few of our guests might be wondering that as well, of course since it’s taboo they would never admit to it. Now as to the taboo of it all, you are both over the age of consent, neither of you are abusive to each other nor could you bear children in this relationship. That is the main concern usually when it comes to familial sexual relationships because of the genetic repercussions the children could suffer. But as guys can’t carry children you are in the clear there as well. So as long as you both consent to your relationship and treat each other properly I don’t see an issue with your relationship progressing into something more than platonic love. But I also want to caution you to talk about this in detail with Hikaru so that neither of you feel any guilt about it, or feel pressured into it. Make sense Kaoru?” Haruhi finished speaking, looking earnestly at Kaoru, hoping that she had helped him. Kaoru stared at Haruhi in disbelief. He knew that she could be trusted and he knew that she was a good friend. But to be this understanding of his feelings, Kaoru couldn’t help but feel a little amazed. As he stared into Haruhi’s understanding eyes, full of caring Kaoru started to think that maybe Haruhi and he could be more than friends at some point as well. Kaoru shook the thought away, he needed to sort out things with Hikaru before doing anything else and it’s not like Haruhi, as open minded as she was, would be open to dating them both if they got together. Kaoru allowed himself to entertain that idea for a few minutes before responding to Haruhi. “So sorry, my brain wandered there for a bit, lots of feelings swirling around in there. But thank you so much Haruhi, for listening to me and for giving me the courage to talk to Hikaru about how I feel. Would you be up for hanging out with us after school the day we get back? Our parents will be away so if there are any adverse reactions or shouting it won’t be a big deal. Do we have a deal Haruhi?” Haruhi chuckled at the formality of Kaoru’s statement but held out her hand to seal the plan. “Sure thing Kaoru, now let’s get back to turning these rooms or everyone will think we took a break. What do you say?” Kaoru nodded at Haruhi and they got back to work on the rooms that needed turning. The next morning the entire Host Club returned to their homes and got ready for school to start back up the next day. Hikaru and Kaoru returned home and slept in their shared bed as normal; Kaoru and Hikaru both only had a little bit of trouble sleeping so close to each other. Yet they were both glad to be home and to be able to go back to school so that life would seem a little more normal again. Though with how Kaoru was feeling about his brother, there was a good chance tonight would be the last time that things were truly “normal” between the brothers for a while. Yet with Hikaru next to him sleeping peacefully, Kaoru couldn’t allow himself to worry about it. 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