No Dogs Allowed

Fangs Out, Fresh Meat

(ty for reading, i very much appreciate u :) ty for ur time and the little star is happy to see u albeit late, my bad)

(EDITED)(Note to readers: Some chapters ahead may not be in line with the new edits.)

For all I talk about my brother, and for all the chaos that follows me from his shadow, the times we've talked alone can be counted on my two hands.

My mother was constantly anxious about us talking to each other without her there, especially if my father was there, too. It was relatively common in high-on families that siblings were not close, considering the whole second birth tradition, but to separate twins, no matter the culture, was admittedly rare. Then again, it was rarer for twins to be born of such different subspecies.

One of the times my brother and I had been left alone was when we were six and he had convinced one of our father's assistants to take him to us before heading to Gangnam on his request, which had not been the first time my brother had veered away from our father's wishes to see my mother and I.

He stood at the doorway, my mother gone in the kitchen for dinner, leaving me in the bedroom, by the wide bay window facing the river. Elias stared at me with my face, half an inch taller already, mirthless.

I said, "Hi, hyung."

Elias said, "Where's Umma?"

"Dinner. What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I can't see my own family?"

"You want to see Umma?"

Elias didn't answer. He walked towards me, settling down on the opposite end of the seat. Elias imitated my position, holding his knees to his chest, his chin settled on his knees. He looked out at the river, at the miles of green and gold.

Elias said, "How is it here?"

"Quiet," I admitted. "How is Appa?"

"Not quiet," Elias admitted. "It's been a while since we talked, just you and me."

I giggled at that. "Hyung misses me?"

Elias smiled softly. "Stop calling me that. I'm only a few minutes older."

"Elias," I said, testing it on my tongue.

He laughed. It sounded like my own.

I scooted closer. "You wanted to talk?" I asked, because I had never known Elias well, but I knew enough to know he never did anything without a purpose.

Elias considered me, then said, "I...just wanted to see you." He shrugged. "Appa talks about you and Umma sometimes, but I don't know anything, I feel like I have to look in the mirror just to remember, you know?" Elias gave me a sad grin. "We're brothers who don't know each other."

I laughed again, my smile bright. "Then we should know each other."

If I was crueler, I'd think my brother only ever snuck away to see me and my mother for sake of advantage, that he'd always known about the game, about the bets, about how only one of us could be left standing in the end. But even now, to this day, I only ever remember an earnest smile on my brother's face, and a loneliness in his words.

Even if I had been set up from the start, I'd had my mother, who had chosen to hope for me even if only for a few years. Elias might have been set up to win, but my father had only ever treated him as a burden to bear until fruition, a means to his own end. My mother had treated him as if he wasn't even her son, nothing but a constant reminder of the downfall we'd both one day greet. To my mother, Elias was not her son, but her killer.