New fic! I've always wanted to write kiddy!saints. Kind of AUish, since I invented a stepfather and them and their mother living with him in America.
By the end of the fic the will end up in Boston. Apart from that? No idea where this story is heading for now. :D

Refuge
Chapter 1 - Sleeping

When he heard the gentle tap tap tap coming from the other side of the door to his room Connor let out a gentle sigh.
He raised his head to see what time it was. 2:34am. The blonde sighed once more and turned on his back.
The gentle tap tap came closer and closer until it stopped and was replaced with the creaking of the door.
The older MacManus shook his head and waited for the intruder to say something.

"Connor?" he heard his twin whisper after a while and rolled his eyes. His sibling just stood there and waited.
Connor liked this sort of game, where he pretended that he was asleep just to annoy his younger half.

"Conn?" Murphy whispered once more, this time louder.

"What?" he finally answered and looked up. The other twin just stood there in his pyjamas, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the next.
He turned around to look over his shoulder for a moment, then he looked back at his brother. "Connor?" he said again and the older twin sat up.

"I already said "what", didn' I? Ye deaf or what?" he growled, his voice thick with his Irish accent. It was worse during the night. For one
because he was way too tired to concentrate on the way he pronounced words, and also because Peter, their stepfather, wasn't there to
correct him anyway. Murphy just stood there and folded his arms behind his back. He bit his bottom lip and looked at Connor for a while.

"Can't sleep." he finally said and Connor raised an eyebrow.

"And what do ye expect me ta do about it? 's not like we can play now. We gotta go ta school tamarrow and.."

"Can I sleep with ye?" the darkhaired twin interrupted his brother and the blonde just stared at him.

"Ye know Peter doesn' want tha" he murmured and Murphy growled.

"Well fuck 'im, I don't care wha tha asshole wants. He's not da."

Connor narrowed his eyes.

"Watch yer tongue." he said and was surprised how much he sounded like his mother. Murphy just stood there and waited and the way
he kept staring at him, with his childish blue eyes and messy bed hair...Connor could feel his determination fall apart.
He chewed on his lips just like his younger half and sighed.

"Alright. Come 'ere." he said and Murphy grinned. He started running and jumped on Connor's bed.
The blonde twin got up to check the hallway in the meantime. He saw that the door to their ma's and Peter's room was still closed.
It was quiet apart from the noise outside. He closed the door behind him and turned around to look at his brother who was lying in his bed,
covers up to his chin and grinning like father christmas. Connor folded his arms and crooked an eyebrow.

"How old are ye again?" he asked and Murphy chuckled.

"Just about yer age." he answered and Connor grinned.

"Damn right just about me age. I mean with me coming out first.." he said and walked back to his bed.

Murphy growled and threw a pillow at him. "Fuck ye, I'm te older one."

The blonde twin lay down next to his younger half and slid under the covers.
"Aye, cos big brothers need ta sleep with their little brothers cos they're afraid af te dark."

Murphy boxed his shoulder and Connor kicked back.
"Fuck ye, I ain't afraid af te dark!" he protested and they both froze when they heard a noise down the hall. Both twins listened for a while,
then Murphy looked at Connor who sighed and relaxed. The twins looked at each other. It wasn't the first time that the older twin noticed
that they didn't really look alike anymore. At some point Murphy's hair had started to get darker and darker. Now it was almost black.
Even their skintones were slightly different. Connor just needed to step out into the sun and he'd get a healthy tan, whereas Murphy stayed
pale all the way through. Sometimes he would look so pale, and his dark hair wouldn't exactly improve that, that he looked like he was sick.
His brother loved to call him names because of that all the time. But he really just did that to hide the fact that it was driving him insane.
He hated how not only their stepfather was trying to seperate them, but also nature.

"Connor?" Murphy asked again and his brother rolled his eyes.

"What is it now?"

"Do ye really not want me ta sleep with ye anymore or is it just cos af Peter?"

Connor looked at him and frowned.
"Do ye really need ta ask me tha?"

When Murphy nodded his twin thanked him with a slap on the back of his head.
"Cos af Peter af course, dickhead."

"Ow!" the other complained and pouted. Connor snorted and ruffled his hair forcefully.

"Yer here now, aren't ye?" he added and Murphy nodded.

"But ye better leave in te mornin, before he gets up."

"Aye, I don't need any af his lectures again."

They both sighed when they remembered how much their stepfather "loved" it when they slept in a bed together. Since the day they'd both
turned 12, Peter had insisted on them having their own seperate rooms. He had moved all his belongings out of his old home office and made
it Murphy's room. Of course, most siblings would have been happy to get their own respective rooms. The MacManus twins, however, felt quite
different about it. For the past 12 years they had shared the same womb, the same crib and the same bed and now a man that wasn't even their
father expected them to change now? At first they had tried to sleep in the same bed nevertheless, but Peter Mills was a very strict, religious man.
Even worse, a teacher, who insisted that his "students" learned how to behave and act their age. Sleeping in the same bed with your 12 year old
brother was not considered "appropriate", which was why he had spent several nights carrying either Connor or Murphy back to their own rooms.
Connor put a hand on his younger half's chest to feel his heartbeat. Their hearts weren't beating in the same rhythm,
no matter how hard he wanted them to.

"Ye should sleep now Murph. 'm here now."

The angry frown wouldn't disappear though.

"We should just tell 'im ta go an fuck himself. Tell him tha we ain't listenin ta his stupid rules anyway."
Murphy just growled and Connor shook his head.

"We'd just make it worse. Besides, ma loves him."

"Well, she shouldn't love 'im more than us Connor"
the younger answered and turned on his back to fold his arms over his chest.

"Don' be such a hothead Murph. 's just sleepin after all."

"No, it ain't just about sleepin! 'm tellin ye, he's trying ta seperate us."

Connor chuckled and tried to calm his brother down. He wrapped an arm and leg around him and closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Well, let 'im try. Besides, he won't seperate us. No one can, aye?"

Murphy shifted his head to look at his brother. "Promise?"

Connor smirked and nodded.
"Promise. Now shut yer hole and sleep, ye dickhead."

The younger smiled happily when he realized that they had made yet another promise, another secret that stayed between them.
He was also happy that no matter how hard Peter tried, Connor was always on his side, that his brother would always give in to his needs
instead of their stepfather's demands. Murphy snuggled up to Connor's chest until they felt comfortable enough with the position they were in.
Sooner or later it would be problematic anyway, because they weren't exactly getting smaller with age. But right now he didn't need to worry about
any of that, the future, Peter, all the things and people that tried to seperate them. All that didn't matter for now, because he had done it again.
Another night they were safe because they were together.