Tom didn't do thoughtful and cute. He could pull thoughtful out of the hat every once in a while, but just the word 'cute' made him bristle.

He hummed softly to himself as a pair of socked feet dragged through his field of vision, accompanied by a heavy sigh, watching them make for the tiny bathroom and Tom lay down his guitar and started for his bunk.

He had kept this idea in the back of his mind for a couple of weeks already. Saved it for a rainy day, kind of.

Rainy days had definitely come, both metaphorically and literally. It had rained excessively these last couple of days, washing away the layers of snow that had covered everything with a thin blanket of white, as if someone had covered the hills around them with powdered sugar. Now everything was drenched in grey-brownish slush, that splattered against the side of the bus with a dull whipping sound whenever a truck overtook the bus. It was cold, the air on the bus stiff and the mood had taken a nose dive a couple of days ago already.

Bill had taken to haunting the swaying bus, shuffling trough the aisles with a despondent look on his face, the rings under his eyes getting darker every day; every single one of Tom's attempts at cheering up his baby brother had either been greeted with a heavy sigh or a semi-annoyed growl.

Damn their group dynamics but whenever Bill was this down, he was dragging all of them right with him.

Tom found the little box exactly where he had left it; safely tucked into a small compartment in the side of his bunk, together with the handwritten note he had prepared in a weak moment.

Folding up the little square of paper and stuffing it into the box, he made for the tiny bathroom, where he had seen socked feet vanish minutes ago.

When he opened the bathroom door, he found Bill sitting on the sink, his feet propped up on the lid of the closed toilet, clouds of smoke wafting around him.

“Hey!” Bill carelessly waved a fresh strand of smoke, headed in Tom's direction, away taking another deep drag before he extinguished it under a stream of tap water.

“Dave always launches into his Thou shall not-litany when he sees me smoking...”

Tom uttered a sympathetic grunt, leaning against the shower stall opposite his brother, feeling the sharp edges of the box digging into his thigh.

“Smoke?” Bill offered his carton, pulling it back with a confused look settling on his face when Tom just waved the offer off and fidgeted nervously with the hem of his shirt instead.

“Anything you want to tell me?” Bill prompted, arching one eyebrow in interrogation, twirling an unlit cigarette between long fingers.

Tom bit down the lump starting to form in his throat and pulled the tiny red box out of the front pocket of his jeans, holding it out to his brother. Bill's eyebrows shot up into the bangs hanging into his face.

“What's in the box?” Bill rattled the empty box, giving Tom a curious look.

“Just open it, okay?” Tom couldn't hold back that slight whine that crept into his voice. It was a box. He had given it to Bill. As a present. How hard could it be?

He received a glorious eye roll from his twin and Bill removed the lid of the box carefully as if he expected something to jump out of the box right into his face at any moment.

The paper crinkled as Bill unfolded the sheet and then a really uncomfortable silence settled over them as his brother took his precious time reading the few lines scrawled on the paper. Tom found himself chewing vigorously on his lip piercing, looking anywhere but at his twin.

“There's a thousand kisses in this box?” Bill's eyes flitted over the small square of paper again, a reluctant smile starting to tug one corner of his lips upwards.

“I figured you could do with some extra...” Tom mumbled, intently watching the path the tip of his sneakers drew over the bathroom floor.

“You've been so down lately...” He added, praying that Bill would react in some way soon because this kind of tension was killing him.

Bill turned the box, seemingly weighing it in his hand, his fingertip running alongside one of the corners of it.

“That's quite a small box for a thousand kisses, huh?” Chewing on his bottom lip, Bill looked up at him, a delighted twinkling in his eyes and Tom couldn't suppress a quiet sigh of relief.

“It's exactly 1.44 cm² for each kiss,” Tom whispered, a quiet chuckle lacing his voice as he leaned in and brushed a soft kiss against his brother's cheek, hearing Bill make a surprised sounding cooing noise.

“How do you know that?” The anticipated question came moments later.

“I knew you'd ask something like that, so I did some calculations before...” Planting another light kiss on the other cheek, Tom took the paper from his brother in one fluid motion, letting it slip into his pocket. No need to leave behind evidence...

Bill socked him gently in the arm, giving him a slightly exasperated look.

“I'm that predictable?” Bill quipped, stemming his hands into his hips, lips curling into a amused little smile.

“I just know you very well...” Tom mumbled, feeling the inevitable heat gather in his cheeks. He just wasn't good with the emotional stuff.

“It's perfect...” Bill announced, prodding their noses together before he brushed past him, the tiny red box clutched in his hand and left the bathroom again.

* * *

“God!” Bill dropped onto the couch with a heavy sigh, kneading the bridge of his nose with pointy fingers.

“What happened?” Georg asked, without bothering to look up from his video game.

“Dave. Orders from above. That's what happened.” Bill groaned.

“Don't wanna talk about it,” he added, effectively cutting off any further questions.

Tom patted his brother's ankle in a show of subdued sympathy before he returned his attention back to the TV screen.

If Bill wanted to be ignored for a couple of minutes, they would all do him the favour.

It was good thirty minutes before Gustav's question made Tom turn to look at his brother again.

“Bill...what exactly are you doing?”

Tom turned around to look at his twin. Bill was still laying flat on his back, clutching the red box to his chest. It was opened.

Bill smiled that ominous, little smile of his. “Getting kissed.”

* * *

“Tom?”

“Nngh...”

“Tomi...” Tom turned around reluctantly, his feet kicking against the end of the bunk as he got tangled in his sheets. Squinting into the dark around him, he saw a vague shadow sitting at the edge of his bunk. The shadow came with that special kind of soapy and warm smell he knew only too well.

“Hey, Bill...” Almost reflexively he turned up one corner of his duvet, holding it open for his brother to crawl in as he scooted towards the other side of the bunk.

Moments later, Bill slid under the blankets, snuggling up close. Peeling his arms out from under the convolute of blankets, Tom attempted to drape his arm around his brother's shoulders, but Bill was faster and propped himself up on Tom's shoulder.

“Ummm...” Bill's hand appeared in front of his face, holding something small and square, wriggling it back and forth. Blinking through the dim light surrounding them, Tom discerned the little box he had given his brother not two days ago.

“Are there like...refills for this box?” Bill asked in a subdued voice, depositing the box on Tom's chest, looking at him with big doe eyes.

For long moments, Tom was too perplexed to say anything.

“You went through a thousand kisses in less than three days?” he finally asked, nudging the red box with two fingers. “How?”

Bill huffed quietly, laying his head on Tom's shoulder, a wistful sigh working its way out, before he started.

“Okay, so that's two nights I'm sleeping alone in my bed and I need my kiss good night or I can't really fall sleep. Then mum called yesterday afternoon, remember? She told me about Kas and Scotty and that really made me miss home, so I needed a couple after that phone call to cheer me up again. To top things off, Andi called right afterwards, going on and on and on about that oh-so great, new girlfriend of his yadda yadda yadda and I was kinda down after that because, let's face it, I can never call him or anyone else for that matter and tell them how cute you are. I mean, I could but...yeah, let's not go there now. So I needed loads after that phone call.” Tom heard his brother inhale audibly, launching into his tale straight away again.

“Then Dave took me aside for some serious “pep talk”,” Tom felt Bill's arms move as he supplied the quotation marks with his fingers, his voice dripping acid, “and, ugh! he can just be such a total ass at times and sometimes I just want to tell him I'm going to quit and that he can find someone else to boss around and then I feel guilty for even thinking that and yeah...” Tom thought he could hear his brother sniffle quietly but decided not to say anything; instead he just rubbed his flat palm in soothing circles over Bill's back.

“Massive amounts of kisses needed to make that one better again. And then, to crown it all,” Bill shuddered theatrically, “you looked so god damn edible tonight while we were watching movies I just wanted to jump you but I couldn't because...”

Bill chuckled quietly, bunching up Tom's sheet in his fist as he snuggled up even closer, starting to mutter rapidly under his breath, “because we have to share the bus with other people and you turnedmeintoawalkingtalkingandbreathingtripod, which was more than just a little frustrating...” Bill sighed deeply, burrowing his face in the nook of Tom's neck. Tom could feel the heat radiating from his brother's cheeks and knew he was blushing wildly right now. Bill was quiet for a couple of moments.

“A thousand kisses is nothing.” It was a moist whisper, washing against the side of his neck.

“A million wouldn't be enough,” came the quiet admission moments later and Tom smiled to himself, tickling his fingertips alongside Bill's bare arm as it lay draped across his chest. “Not when they come from you...”

“I'm sure I can get you a refill...bigger box, too.” He mumbled, smoothing away the goose bumps popping up on Bill's arm. Next to him in the dark, Bill practically purred in satisfaction.

“Good. I need every kiss I can get...”