"Morning Key. Hey, Kibum," called Donghae as he walked past the pair into his office.

"Uh, I'm Kibum. He's-" Kibum said, but Donghae was already out of earshot.

Key shook his head. "Forget it. That happens every time."

The two detectives could never tell why their colleagues had so much trouble telling them apart. Besides their hair color, height, and overall Asian appearance, they looked completely different. Their personalities could not have been more contrasting. And yet-

"Key, thanks for letting me borrow your pocketknife," Eunhyuk said as he came up to them and handed the knife to Kibum. "See you guys later!"

Kibum passed the knife back to his partner, who angrily shoved it back into his pocket. It was like their colleagues saw them as a unit, as "Kibum squared", rather than as two separate individuals.

"Forget about it," Kibum said as they approached the lab. He knocked before pushing the door open and nodding politely to Yoona and Kyuhyun. Key bounced past him and perched onto the nearest chair.

"So, how's it going with those fiber samples?" asked Key.

"The fibers on the victim's jacket match ones from a sweater that the suspect has," Yoona replied.

Key grinned. "Well then, there we go."

"The problem is, he picked it up at a secondhand shop only last week. There was a receipt in his wallet confirming the purchase," Yoona replied. "And the crime happened-"

"Two weeks before that," Kibum said slowly. "Which means that-"

"He's not the killer," Key finished. "The killer sold or donated the sweater to the store to get rid of the evidence-"

"-and it was a coincidence that the man we arrested knew the victim. So all we need to do-"

"-is find out who donated the sweater to the store and we'll be on the track of our killer again. Yoona-"

"-where's the shop that the sweater was bought at?" Kibum finished.

Yoona was speechless for a moment, eyes darting between the two of them, while Kyuhyun's cheeks were puffed up as if he was trying hard not to sneeze. Or maybe laugh. "What's wrong?" Key and Kibum asked at the same time.

The senior lab analyst shook her head. "Nothing, nothing. The secondhand shop is called 'Trash to Treasures.' Here's the address." She handed Key a slip of paper. "I'll keep working on that hair sample we recovered from the body."

"Great," said Key.

"Thanks," Kibum added. As they turned to leave, Key caught the look that passed between Yoona and Kyuhyun.

"What do you think that's all about?" he asked.

"Who cares?" replied Kibum. "Do you really think it's a coincidence that the man we arrested used to harass the victim at work?"

Key slowly shook his head. "No, not really. It sounds more like he was-"

"-framed." They spoke at the same time and looked at each other, matching frowns forming on their faces.

The silence was broken as Jonghyun breezed by, calling out, "Hey, it's Thing 1 and Thing 2!"

Key scowled after him as Kibum sighed. "Ignore him. It's just Jonghyun."

"It's not just him though," Key retorted. "None of the others can tells us apart! Why is it so hard?"

"Well, we can't exactly bully an answer out of them," Kibum said. Key raised an eyebrow. "Oh...good point."

A few minutes later, they had walked into Luhan's office and slammed the door behind them. The rookie looked up with a shy smile. "Hey guys. What's up?"

"Alright. Pop quiz time. Which one of us is Kibum and which one's Key?" asked Key.

Luhan glanced from one to the other nervously and shrunk further down in his chair. "W-why are you asking me?"

"Just to see if you've gotten to know everyone yet," Kibum replied. "So?"

"Um...I think you're Key...and you're Kibum..."

"You think?" Key snorted at the same time that Kibum sighed, "You're not sure?"

"You were wrong, by the way," Key said. "I'm Key and that's Kibum. Okay, second question. Short answer. Why do you always get us mixed up?"

"How are we-"

"-in any way whatsoever-"

"-similar?"

Luhan's eyes darted between them, his brow furrowing slightly in bemusement. "Is this a trick question?"

"No. Why would it be?" asked Kibum.

The door opened and Haruki blinked at the assembled group. "Hey guys. Luhan, are these two bothering you?"

"Nope!" Luhan said as he sprang to his feet and ran to hide behind her. "Are you going now?"

"We need to stop by the morgue first," Haruki replied. "See you later, you guys."

"'You guys'," Key repeated with a sigh. "That didn't help."

"I don't think he knew what we were talking about," Kibum said. "Why did Chief Park put us together, anyway? It just makes things that much more confusing for everyone else. I bet they wouldn't have trouble telling us apart-"

"-if we worked with other partners," finished Kibum.

At that moment, Chief Park walked by and frowned at them. "Isn't this Luhan's office?"

"Hey Chief, we wanted to ask you something," Key said.

"Sure. Shoot."

"Why did you put us together?" asked Kibum. "Wouldn't the others have an easier time telling us apart if we worked with different people?"

Leeteuk grinned broadly. "Are you kidding? And miss out on the fun of making things that much more confusing for everyone else? No way!"

He walked away laughing at the partners glanced at each other, shaking their heads. Once again, they spoke at the exact same time. "He's evil." 

A/N: Double post tonight. I got home really late yesterday and didn't have to post what I wrote before now.