23A/N: Hello, people!
I don't own OHSHC or Harry Potter.
I have no beta.
ENJOY!
CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR! HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!
-For TyLeeTy who wanted a Hikaru/fem!Harry/Kaoru fic! It was supposed
to be 2K words and it became this because of course it did.
TAGS: fem!HP, AU-CD HBP, H&K POV only, potential for sequel, Drama,
Humor, Jealousy, Flirting, Angst, Mild Language, Eventual Romance, a
weird amount of stalking, Harry using magic around muggles*le gasp*
Future F/M/M Relationship!
"What's got him so down?" Hikaru asked the moment he saw Tamaki once again crouching in a corner and trying to grow an entire fungal forest on the crown of his head. "It seems even worse than it usually does. Did Haruhi dare to be herself and he just couldn't handle it?" It wouldn't be the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
Kyoya-senpai didn't even pause in his typing as he moved to explain. "There was a new student introduced to our class this morning. She is a transfer from England and has become the subject of interest among many of the students in Class 2-A. Tamaki tried his usual flirtations and was ignored. Then decided to amp up the strength of said flirtations and ended up with a bruised ego alongside the bruise no doubt forming on his arm from where she punched him."
Hikaru looked at Kaoru, who seemed just as interested as he was by this news. "And you didn't try to blackmail and guilt trip her, senpai?" Kaoru asked, making a very good point. They knew Kyoya-senpai very well and he would use anything as a chance to get someone indebted to him or the club. They had many examples to choose from after all.
The brunet looked up from his laptop finally, a light smirk on his face. "I did point out how Tamaki is the Chairman's son and how she could get expelled for laying hands on someone, and she looked me dead in the eye and simply said, 'sexual harassment'."
"What?!" the twins gasped.
Kyoya used a finger to better adjust his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "To be clear, Tamaki really pulled out all the stops, grabbing her by the hips, spinning her around a bit, and then dramatically dipping her, all without consent. Our sensei was quite annoyed and told him to back off even as the other young ladies nearly expired from their jealousy."
Hm... He tended to do that all the time and no one but Haruhi had ever had an issue with it before? Surely it's just overreacting?
"There is a significant difference in Tamaki doing such things to young ladies he knows personally and knows would welcome it and even more in an instant. Even though he should get more into the habit of asking permission first," Kyoya-senpai stated simply, casting a glare to that blond-inhabited far corner.
"She is from another culture entirely and was no doubt raised very differently. We don't know what her beliefs are or how she operates in high society. Despite being wealthy, she doesn't particular seem like it judging but how she holds herself. She also chose to buy the male uniform, citing the rule book never stated girls had to wear the dress, only that there are two uniform styles in general. Tamaki probably hasn't been faced with someone like this before so he is incredibly out of his depth."
Wow. Hikaru couldn't help but find this unknown girl interesting himself. He had so many questions and Kaoru seemed to be of the same mindset. If she was like that with Tamaki and Kyoya-senpai, how would she be with the rest of the Host Club?
The door to the clubroom opened in the afternoon about a week later, revealing Haruhi holding a massive paper bag no doubt filled with commoner coffee as they'd told her to get some more. Behind her was another person also carrying two paper bags as well. Both seemed about equal height considering their hips seemed to be able the same height.
"Thank you for helping," they heard Haruhi say. "You didn't need to do all of this. It isn't exactly a short walk."
"No, it's fine," an accented, raspy voice answered. "It would be really annoying trying to carry all three of these by yourself. Is there no form of trolley you could possibly use? A wheelchair or a scooter maybe? Such a wealthy school and yet not one accessibility option for the disabled or disadvantaged?"
"I have no idea, but there was no aid given when I was too blind to see anything on the black board," Haruhi noted. "I got contacts by chance, but before then I had to study extra hard to make up for what I couldn't see in class. But, you know, the whole being rich thing kind of implies that they don't really care about others so I'm not surprised that they don't care about the disabled."
As one body, the Hosts all turned to look at Kyoya, who was staring very intently at the pair of students as they headed for the Club's personal kitchen so they could put the coffee away. They couldn't see his eyes because of the glare on his glasses, but it was easy to tell that he was very deep in thought and not happy in the slightest. Meaning Haruhi and her guest had given him something to consider.
When the two returned, they were able to see Haruhi's companion clearly for the first time.
A young woman, dressed in the male uniform, with long, curly black hair flying every which way around her head. Her eyes were a startling green and even from a distance and the fact that she was wearing rectangular frames, it was easy to see the silvery scar stretching across her forehead and down her right cheek. She looked to be a teenager even if she was obviously foreign.
"Wouldn't expect prissy rich people to want instant coffee," the new girl stated with a frown. "Surely it's too far beneath their delicate sensibilities to be able to even stomach such things."
"It's a gimmick," Haruhi mumbled. "They like to pretend to be interested in 'commoners' to put on a show for their guests about how they're learning the hardships of the poor because these are instant and therefore ground already. Poor people have no time to grind their own beans, how sad for them, and stuff like that."
"Ah," the stranger nodded. "When rich people start treating the results of hunger and poverty as a trend to hop on, you know it's bad."
When they reached door to Music Room 3, Haruhi bid the other girl farewell which involved some kind of weird handshake, and then returned to her own business of preparing the coffee for the incoming guests.
Once again, Tamaki sent himself into a nearby corner in order to bemoan the 'bad influences his poor daughter was surrounded by', Kyoya returned to his own work though not without a frown of his own, Hunny and Mori continued to eat cake and mind their own business, and the twins... decided to bother Haruhi with questions, because what else could they do?
"Hey, Haruhi, who was that girl you were just with?" Kaoru asked, draping himself against her left side so Hikaru could take the right side. "Since Ouran only accepts one scholarship student at a time, there's no way she can be as poor as you and still attend here right?"
Their Natural Host sighed as she set up the man coffee pots they had available. "That's Potter Harry," she said in heavily accented English. "For the ease of others, she's fine with being called Hari and really doesn't mind if people test their English on her."
So she was the person new to Kyoya-senpai's class then. It was kind of obvious to be honest.
"Anyway, she grew up in poverty because her wealthy relatives hated her and didn't want her to benefit from their privilege. It wasn't until she was emancipated that she learned that the executor of her parents' Wills was keeping a secret from her relatives that her parents were even more rich than they were and had an entire inheritance for her. Her aunt and uncle would have stolen the money otherwise, so the knowledge was kept under wraps for years until she could legally claim everything. So she is rich, but she actually has common sense and common decency."
The twins shared a look between them. One that spoke of concern and curiosity.
Their toy was interested in someone else now. And that new person seemed to be of a similar mindset, which gave them an even stronger connection than Haruhi had with anyone in the club. Despite their efforts, there was still a very clear line between Haruhi and the other Hosts because she was poor and they were not. They grew up in two different worlds and were influenced differently as a result.
More often than not, Haruhi was frustrated by them for one reason or another. Usually because she considered them to be inconsiderate and tone deaf. Judging by this Potter Harry's reaction to Tamaki, she was not so easily impressed either and also found the wealthy to be obnoxious and callous.
If Haruhi spent more time around her, she might have less time for the Host Club!
The twins immediately ran for Tamaki. Enough manipulation and he'd get on his usual bullshit once again, forgetting why he was sad and steamrolling over everyone else like always.
"Tono!" Kaoru called. "Don't you think we need to have more club events in the future?"
"Yes," agreed Hikaru. "Perhaps more themed days where we all have to participate."
Tamaki looked up from his moping, a look of pure questioning on his face.
"Don't you want Haruhi to spend more time in the club?"
"Don't we need to have more reasons to spend time with her? We barely see her enough as it is."
With a dramatic gasp, Tamaki was on his feet and rushing off to Kyoya-senpai's side with a scream of, "Mommy!" in English.
The twins shared a smirk, knowing full well that no matter what the two cooked up, Haruhi wouldn't have time to spend with this Potter Harry in the coming weeks.
Seeing Potter Harry sitting among the girls that solicited Haruhi's time the next week, was almost soul crushing. It was actually a whole week of club activities dedicated to the fashion and food of imperial Russia during the dynasty of the Romanovs. So not only did it attract Nekozawa-senpai of all people, but it also seemed to bring in a new client entirely.
"Is she even paying?" Hikaru demanded of Kyoya-senpai the moment he took note of Haruhi's new guest. "She's never been here before and she's new to the school so what would she know about the host Club?"
"Indeed she is," the older teen said while writing in his precious black book. "yet that did not stop her. She paid for the entire week in advance even. As far as I'm concerned, she is a paying customer and can do as she pleases since the transaction is completed and she is abiding by our rules." There was a veiled threat in his words that made both twins uncomfortable.
Kaoru placed a hand on Hikaru's back to calm him down, knowing full well that he tended to be the more explosive between them. Their idea fell apart and unfortunately didn't seem like it would do as intended. Any future attempts of the same type would also probably fail, so it would be pointless to approach the problem from the same angle in the future.
"Maybe we should just try and get to know her, Hikaru," he suggested. "We can judge her in our own way then." Like they always did with people in the past. Like they'd continue to do in the future.
His twin sighed, but nodded. "Fine."
Resolved, the twins sneaked around the room so they could carefully get closer to Haruhi's table without any of the girls noticing. Of course, it was immediately obvious that Potter Harry was aware of them because she looked right at them as they moved, her left eye trailing their path while her right remained fixed on Haruhi's talking figure.
Freaky.
"It's okay for us to test our English on you?" one of the other customers asked as she tried hiding her bashful expression behind her cup of tea.
"I'm fine with it," Potter Harry said, accent almost gone by this point, which was interesting. "I'm already giving Haruhi-san pointers. However, be aware that I speak British English, not American English, so I cannot help you with American slang or idioms and the like. I'm also not someone who went to school to teach anything, so while I can tell you if you've used the proper tense or not, or if you've pronounced something correctly, I won't be able to give you a full breakdown on the ins and outs of it."
Haruhi was beaming. "I not only aced my English Exam, but I even got all of the extra credit options correct as well. Johns-sensei was very impressed."
The girls tittered in excitement, asking all sorts of questions about either school work or business. Some wanted to know if Potter Harry was fluent in other languages. Some wanted to know what kind of music she liked. Others wondered if she was considering any business opportunities.
She knew Latin apparently, which had Kyoya-senpai writing madly in his black book. She liked punk rock music more than anything and was collecting vinyl records of various bands.
"Technically I'm already involved in a business even if I don't work personally. I'm a third-party private investor to a business my friends started this year. I gave them the start-up loan and in the months since it's opened, the doubters were proven wrong... namely their family who never believed in their dream to own a joke shop."
"A joke shop?" Haurhi asked. "As in, like, fake gum packets that electrocute you when you try to take some gum?"
"Along those lines, yeah. My friends were inventing since childhood and used each other as experiments to make sure their products were safe. They then started a secret business at school selling their wares to kids who wanted to play pranks or get out of class early."
"How would that work?" their class vice-president Momoka-san asked, looking baffled. "Are there truly products capable of getting a class let out early? Ones that won't destroy anything?"
Potter Harry nodded, an mad grin on her face, which made her eerie eyes all the more creepy. "They invented something called Puking Pastilles, which is basically a two-piece sweet treat that will make you vomit after eating it. In concern, you're sent to the school nurse. Once your parents are called and encouraged to pick you up since you haven't stopped vomiting, you eat the accompanying piece of the treat and by the time you're home, you're all better and get a free day."
The girls, and even the twins, gaped at such a description.
Kyoya-senapi, who had managed to slip on over at some point, was writing down madly, looking just as mortified. "Such a thing shouldn't be capable of existing. To basically instantly cause the stomach to regurgitate its contents and then to instantly make it stop..." he muttered to himself.
"Of course this kind of thing wasn't considered legally safe to sell officially so they no longer make it as too much vomiting can make you dehydrated and if that gets too serious it can potentially kill you. This was long before they knew such information of course. They are put through rigorous health & safety checks monthly. Many items they used to sell in school did not pass the checks and they're not willing to challenge anything when they've finally achieved their dream."
Haruhi was smiling her Natural Host Smile. "You care very much for your friends."
"They're great people," Potter Harry said. "They've started a business that is flourishing, are making sound investments and getting sponsorships all the time, still inventing new products in their free time, and genuinely feel happy with their lives. They intend to take care of their entire family for generations to come, even when no one but their younger siblings had faith in them. They are stellar examples to look up to and I'm very proud of them."
It was obvious, at least to Kaoru, that Potter Harry was definitely the kind of person Haruhi would like to be friends with. In her eyes, the foreigner was definitely worthy of friendship, which meant she was already attached despite knowing her for so little time already.
Hikaru wouldn't like it once he finally realized what all meant.
He bumped his twin with his hip, and pulled out their favorite pair of hats. "A test?" he offered.
With join snickers, the twins forced themselves into Haruhi's hosting space with a declaration of, "Let's play the Which One Is Hikaru? game!"
The girls squealed, while Haruhi sighed and sat back, apparently resigning herself to the interruption. She also didn't seem like playing herself, since she'd no doubt know who was who easily and would ruin the fun of the game.
Many suggestions with incorrect reasonings were thrown around. Hikaru stared down at Potter Harry and asked, "Too scared to participate?"
"...I don't even know you. Why would I participate?"
Huh? Everyone's confusion was loud in the now silent room.
No one had ever said that before.
"I don't know your names or anything about you besides the fact that you're mostly identical save for the fact that one on the right has thicker eyelashes. I could tell you your personality traits based on your auras though, if you'd like that instead."
"Auras?" Haruhi asked. "You believe in that kind of thing, Hari-san?"
Potter Harry hummed, staring the twins down with intense green eyes. "It's easy to tell things about people once you understand the colors and shapes of their auras. Curious, boys?"
The twins shared a look, before giving simultaneous nods of agreement. If only so they could better form an opinion on the girl. Though to be honest they'd already formed an opinion and the chances of it changing were slim to none.
"The one on the left is calm and quiet. Less likely to take charge despite being the more mature twin. Easily offended but harder to enrage. Easily resigned when situations seem like they can't be changed. When on his own, he feels the need to make himself smaller to avoid having to deal with people at all because it makes him uncomfortable. He can do it if he has to, he just doesn't want to." Her plain way of speech made Kaoru nervous... because she was right about him. Completely.
"Conversely, the other twin is loud and brash and quick to anger and to express it. He jumps into trouble without thinking and offends people deliberately to push them away before they can push him away instead. If it's just him and his brother, then he can't be disappointed or let down. When alone, he becomes even more obnoxious, incapable of handling the silence at his side, so he makes up for it by expanding his own personality to make up for his twin's absence."
Hikaru's reaction ended up being much like described. If Kaoru hadn't held him back by the blazer, he probably would have said or done something terrible. Something that can't just be overlooked or bribed into silence. Something Haruhi certainly wouldn't let go of in the long run.
Potter Harry stared them down evenly. "If you actually want people to figure out how to tell you apart and treat you like individual humans, and bother to get to know you for who you both are, then there is no reason to be offended when someone points out the glaring differences in your personalities. Otherwise, it's a pointless kind of game to play and just proves that you're willingly othering yourselves from everyone else."
A glance at her phone had her standing, once again showing how short she was. "Being known is quite the mortifying ordeal, huh?" She then sent Haruhi and the other girls a smile. "I have to leave early. I have a meeting and unfortunately can't avoid it or foist the responsibility off onto anyone else as it has to do with my estate and there are a bunch of greedy, old men involved."
"Good luck," Haruhi said softly.
Potter Harry's smile softened considerably. "I'll call you later."
The twins gaped! Haruhi already gave this new girl her number when they had to work so hard just to find out where she even lived?!
It was unfair that with so little effort, this strange girl was able to get everything they wanted!
And it was obvious, at least to Kaoru, that Haruhi really seemed to like her. Almost in a sisterly sense. Because judging from how they'd interacted in public so far, Haruhi seemed to really admire Potter Harry, and Potter Harry seemed to be rather afflicted with a need to help others.
Hikaru probably wouldn't realize that she wasn't competition for Haruhi's affections for a while. He'd walk around bitter and angry for weeks to months if he wasn't enlightened soon.
Kaoru sighed, unsure of how to handle this new situation. His entire personality was exposed to the whole club, alongside his brother's, and it was all because they tried to drag a foreigner into their usual game.
'Being known is quite the mortifying ordeal, huh?' Such a suggestion made him uncomfortable inside.
The next time the twins saw Potter Harry, she had Nekozawa-senpai trailing behind her, begging for something. She didn't seem scared or annoyed, and remained her usual calm self even as the taller teen pleaded and cried.
"Nekozawa-san, I'm not doing it."
"But you can see auras!" the Third Year blurted. "You can see into the Beyond. What others cannot! You can understand me."
Right... he'd been in the club when she'd dug under Kaoru and Hikaru's many layers and exposed them to the world. Of course he'd be interested in such things considering it seemed to fall in line with his obsession with Black Magic and stuff.
"I'm not interested in helping someone who has an odd fixation on Necromancy. Dark Magic, fine, whatever, not all of it is dangerous or evil, but Necromancy is a million steps too far." She was so serious about it too. As if she believed that Dark Magic or whatever was a real thing.
"It's not just that!" Nekozawa-senapi blustered. "I'm interested in anything involved in the Occult! I want to know about all of it, but it doesn't mean I want to actively practice all of it."
Potter Harry stopped in the middle of the corridor and turned, fixing the Third Year with her intense glare. "Nekozawa Umehito, you are a troubled soul, forever terrified of the opinions of others and cursed to wander in shadow for all your life. To hide your true feelings about this, you developed a personality to wear, that pushes others away so they can't get close enough to learn the truth. In doing so, you've both ostracized yourself and added to your own loneliness. You don't like darkness and the Occult as much as you claim, but you're so steeped in this act that you don't know how to be anyone else. And it annoys you when people misjudge your true intentions and desires. One day, someone's misconception is going to make you snap, and I have no guarantee that you wouldn't use anything I taught you to harm others should that happen."
It was obvious her words terrified Nekozawa-senpai, as he stood stock still, hands and shoulders shaking as she dressed him down soundly.
The twins watched on in awe and confusion, trying to find out how she knew such things about someone she apparently didn't know at all. Just like with them.
"Could you honestly swear on your life that you wouldn't harm someone unjustly? Misunderstanding you isn't a good enough excuse to kill, curse, or dismember someone."
They were really taking this whole Occult thing way too seriously!
"I would swear it!" Nekozawa-senapi told her firmly. "You may be right about how this all started, but I honestly feel more comfortable this way than any other way. I have friends now, and we all have a shared interest. I get to be around others who understand and have my back and I wouldn't jeopardize that for anything. Not even for knowledge on the Occult."
Both students stared one another down for several moments, before Potter Harry sighed. "Fine. We'll work out something."
And then she was walking away, leaving the President of the Black Magic Club shaking in the corridor.
The twins shared a look between them, trying to make sense of what they'd witnessed.
The foreigner was confusing.
"Haruhi, your friend is weird," Kaoru announced in lieu of a greeting that afternoon. "She spends her free time with Nekozawa-senpai talking about the Occult like it's real or something."
From across the room, just like any other time the Black Magic Club is brought up, Tamaki was instantly on the alert, scare and aware at the same time. "She associates with them?!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes with a sigh. "I thought you'd come around to Nekozawa-senpai after the Kirimi Incident, senpai."
"Newkozawa-senpai himself is definitely a good big brother and an awkward but gentle soul at heart, but still!" their blond leader gasped. "His hobbies are not the sort I think are safe for my darling daughter to be exposed to though!"
Like a champ, Haruhi easily side-stepped the fool's attempt at an embrace, eyes rolling toward the ceiling once more as he face-planted. "Not your daughter. Also, I don't believe in that kind of stuff and it doesn't matter to me if there are people out there who do. You can't be influenced by something if you're indifferent to it, senpai. Out of everyone here, you're the closest to falling prey to such beliefs because you honestly believe it's real and can hurt you."
Such words had a profound impact on their leader, forcing him into another dramatic spiral into a nearby corner to try and grow some depression mushrooms again.
With a blank look, Haruhi fixed her attention on the twins. "Hari-chan is indeed a bit odd. She carries crystals around and believes in jinxes and good and bad luck. I don't share the same beliefs of course, but it isn't as if she's being a nuisance about it. She's far less obvious than Nekozawa-senpai himself and rarely brings it up except the occasional 'Merlin' instead of like 'goodness' or 'god' or something similar. In fact, for a few days I had assumed she was practicing for a role in a play or something because she kept calling out to a fictional wizard whenever surprised."
And then Haruhi pretended to be surprised by something, hands pressed to her chest as she exclaimed, "Merlin's beard!" in near-perfect English with an English accent. "It was a bit weird but I'm not sure she realizes she's doing it. It could even be some kind of thing the British do that we just don't know of. Either way, I don't mind and neither should you."
Well... there went that idea. Haruhi was simply too practical as a person to care about such things.
They'd have to think of something else.
Another ball. The Host Club's ability to just throw massive parties for their clients was mostly because of Kyoya-senpai's ability to micromanage anything and everything. It was a Black & White affair, and everyone in attendance - in which attendance was open to the whole school on suggestion from Haruhi who said including more than just girls, let alone those who came to the club, would bring in more money - had really shown out.
There were several men in the audience as well, which made things a lot more interesting overall.
Casanova-senpai even showed up and was surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls simpering over his feelings for Haruhi.
Hikaru and Kaoru watched with keen eyes, trying to spot their recent prey among the attendees.
"She's over there," Haruhi interrupted their thoughts, motioning off to the left. "If you want to see Hari-chan so much, go talk to her already."
Hikaru scoffed. "We don't want to see her of all people."
"Riiiiight," Haruhi nodded, obviously not believing them. "You've just been obsessively following her around, watching her every move, asking me about her all the time, and compiling personal information about her because you're bored and have nothing else to do."
Well... when she put it like that it did sound a bit like they were interested. Maybe even infatuated, which was absolutely absurd! Kaoru didn't think he could have a crush on someone he didn't know. And he knew Hikaru better than anyone else too. At least, between the two of them, he'd be able to recognize such thoughts if they'd been honestly displaying them!
And yet... he couldn't help but look over to where Haruhi had directed their attention and did indeed find Potter Harry standing against the wall, looking through a cellphone. She wore a floor-length, empire waist gown with an asymmetrical neckline. One side was black and the other was white with the colors blending messily in the center. Almost as if someone just threw paint on the dress from either side and let it dry that way.
Her messy hair had been pulled into a messy bun with a pair of black and white chopsticks holding it in place. She wore simple white pearl earrings and an elaborate black ring on her left middle finger. She also made no attempt to speak to anyone or dance and seemed to be totally focused on whatever was happening on her phone.
"She thinks she's too good to dance with anyone," Hikaru sneered.
"No," Haruhi refuted, "she's just a terrible dancer. She had one lesson two years ago and it lasted about half an hour in a room of a hundred students. She had no personal direction and was just doing what she saw others doing. I even tried to show her what Kanako-chan taught me and she has no sense of rhythm at all."
Kaoru frowned. "Then why come to a ball if she won't even participate?"
Haruhi pointed to Kyoya-senpai, who was busy taking notes like usual. "He told her that attending would go toward lessening my debt and since I won't accept her just paying it off for me, this is the next best thing in Hari-chan's opinion."
Indeed, Haruhi would never accept something she'd consider to be a handout. But this also proved that Potter Harry had offered to pay for her... None of the Hosts had made such an offer. Kaoru was certain such an option never crossed anyone's mind in the least. She was the one to break the vase after all.
But Tamaki was the one who wouldn't stop being all weird and touchy, his conscience reminded him. If he had just kept a respectable distance, Haruhi never wouldn't have bumped into the stand and knocked the vase over.
Secretly, he thought their precious King should shoulder half of the debt, but kept his observations to himself.
On Hikaru's end, he found himself frustrated because of Potter Harry. It seemed at every turn she had inserted herself into Haruhi's life and was steadily taking her attention more and more as the weeks passed. Soliciting her at the club, coming to club events for her, getting her phone number, studying and dancing together. There was just so much!
She wasn't even in their class! How did she manage to get so close to Haruhi when Hikaru and Kaoru had the most time out of the day with her out of all the Host Club members?! It's wasn't fair!
Why was Haruhi so interested in her anyway? She was boring. Any of their clients were prettier and had more to offer in terms of friendly relationships. If Haurhi needed a female friend, Renge was literally right there! You couldn't get more girly than that!
"Maybe you both just need to talk to her personally," Haurhi suggested. "If she's truly uninteresting, then you won't feel the need to stalk her from a distance and complain about everything she does like it's something personally offensive to you."
And then she left them there, stewing in their thoughts.
"I'm going to ask her to dance," Kaoru decided, much to his brother's horror.
"Why?" Hikaru demanded. "We rarely ever dance with our own customers let alone someone else's customers."
But Kaoru was already halfway over to Potter Harry's side, the girl's gaze honing in on him instantly in that weirdly eerie way of hers. Hikaru wasn't too far behind, but it was more because he was offended and wanted to smack some sense into his brother.
"If you're going to ask for a dance, I'm going to have to refuse. With my luck you'll break your leg or something," Potter Harry said simply. "Or I'll end up stepping on your foot so hard you'll never walk again. Or lightning will conveniently strike us indoors. I'm taking no chances when it comes to your well-being or my wallet."
"Just a small dance?" Kaoru asked. "We don't even need to go out onto the dancefloor, we can just stay here."
She looked as it he'd given her the more difficult puzzle in the world. As if the prospect of a dance was truly so mind-bendingly difficult to parse through.
If they didn't already know that she didn't like being touched without consent, they probably would have tried their usual flirtatious behavior by taking each of her hands and attempting to coax her onto the dancefloor. However, Tamaki and his daily whining were living testimony to why that was a terrible idea and neither twin was looking to get hit.
Why did she have to be so damn annoying!? Hikaru much preferred it when girls were simple and easy to understand. A few pretty words and they just fell in line like sheep.
While he couldn't be exactly sure if Kaoru agreed with him, Hikaru knew at least deep in his heart that he did not view people the way Tamaki did. Tamaki thought every girl was beautiful and amazing or whatever, while Hikaru was more realistic. They were not. Save for their mother, they'd rarely encountered women in life who weren't simpering sycophants.
There was mom, that maid who taught them such a valuable lesson in life, and that one girl in Kyoya-senpai's class who refused to just accept that she has natural curls. And then came Haruhi who was just so very different from everything they knew because poverty made her that way through experience. Four whole women out of hundreds. And yet, even those four were easy enough to get through to once you knew them well enough. Mention fatty tuna and Haruhi caved instantly.
This girl... this foreigner was just weird.
Maybe it was because she was foreign. They'd been to England before though and women there weren't all too different from Japan's women. Even more forward to be honest.
Frustrated, Hikaru just decided to go for it since the indecision was beginning to annoy him more than anything else did. He grabbed her hand, "What was the least dangerous dance you've danced? And what made it different from the other dances you've had?"
Potter Harry stared down at her captured hand for a moment, obviously considering her options. Hikaru was just bracing himself for a punch when she finally sighed and shrugged. "I don't know... it was with the twins."
"What?" they asked in unison, wondering if they'd misheard her. She said 'twins' and they certainly hadn't danced with her before.
She nodded. "Yeah, my friends who started their joke shop are identical twins. No one besides me can tell them apart, which is frankly baffling as their differences are not subtle. Anyway, George and Fred are very tall so it was less of me dancing and more of them taking turns holding me up as they spun in circles. It was fun but it made me feel short."
What were the chances that this girl already knew a pair of twins?
"In fact you're the fourth set of twins I've encountered in a school setting."
Four sets!? They had never even met another set of twins before!
"So you have experience," was Kaoru's take away from such revelation.
Her gaze became challenging. "The twin-thing doesn't work on me and I've had years to get used to it. You have no hope in hell, so you might as well go try it on someone you'll get the right reaction out of."
The twins bristled a bit at the suggestion that they were only doing this for a reaction... even though that was technically what they were always doing. Still! It wasn't as if they appreciated people just calling out their habits in such ways! Even Haruhi managed to not make it sound so cheap and ridiculous.
"One dance each," Kaoru stated, "and if it doesn't work out, then you can go back to moping in a corner. If it goes well though, you need to interact more with everyone."
Potter Harry sighed. "Fine. I'm going to tread on your toes and then you'll realize I'm a lost cause you shouldn't bother with."
Her wording unsettled Kaoru, but he decided to keep quiet for the moment as he watched his brother lead the foreigner in a small dance of their own. She knew the proper positioning of her hands at least, so already this was better than she'd claimed it would be. And then, in an odd moment of utter charm, Hikaru lifted her with ease and settled her on the toes of his shoes.
The small squeak he got for his efforts was kind of... cute.
It was as close to a dance as they could probably get from her since she insisted her dancing was so horrible. And neither of them were strong enough to just hold her up for the entire length of a Waltz so this was the next best option. He had to admit that he was shocked Hikaru had thought of it first.
"Okay, but does this even count when I'm not even doing any work?" Potter Harry asked doubtfully. "You're dealing with all of my weight while controlling the whole dance."
"You aren't heavy so it's not like it's hard," Hikaru mumbled as he spun them around. "How come you go to club events and solicit Haruhi's attention when you obviously don't like crowds or socializing?"
A surprising moment of insight. Kaoru could admit to himself that what Potter Harry had said about them was true. Hikaru wasn't often the one who thought things through or was emotionally sensitive to others and their plights.
Seeing him display such things was always a pleasant surprise.
"I'm a bit popular back home and it's annoying," the girl confessed. "I only ever wanted a family and a home, and instead I got the press up my ass every minute of the day, people staring at like I'm some kind of celebrity, and the most annoying assortment of men demanding to marry me so they can have my fortune. I can't go anywhere without being stalked by fans or marriage proposals. In childhood I hated attention because it meant abuse and now I hate it because it means harassment. Japan has been a pleasant change, but one doesn't just drop all their reservations learned over the years just because things seem better."
Haruhi did suggest that her relatives weren't very good people.
It was a bit sad to consider that people in general are what made her dislike crowds.
"I'm here to help Haruhi because she won't let me handle her debt despite how that cub leader of yours should be shouldering half of it as he can't seem to keep his damn hands to himself at any time of the day."
She really didn't seem to like Tamaki.
And Kaoru did agree about the debt part.
"I think you need to make more of an effort," Hikaru decided. "From what I've seen, people seem to like you pretty well and they want to get to know you as more than just someone they can study with. You have to meet them halfway if you want things to change, and sometimes that means putting yourself out there."
She was passed into Kaoru's hands then, leaving both his brother and the foreigner in astonished silence at such profound advice.
Right before his eyes, Hikaru was growing and changing, even if it was slowly, it was amazing to witness.
"He's right," Kaoru murmured and he mimicked the position Hikaru had her in when they danced. "Everyone else had made the effort to meet you and many want you to join their clubs. We can't go anywhere without hearing about you... but it always seems like you think you're too good to be friends with anyone but Haruhi. Maybe that's not the impression you mean to give but it's the impression everyone does get. You're friendly but not a friend if you will."
Potter Harry frowned at that. "Another thing I'm not good at. I've learned that putting myself out there results in usually pretty terrible things. I'm not like some amazing person worth all this worry either. I'm just Harry. The most interesting thing about me is that I'm foreign, I have nothing else that worth knowing."
Hikaru almost snorted, but managed to hold it in time lest he risk Kaoru's wrath. It seemed her opinion of herself was even worse than what the twins had initially believed.
Something about that... just made him feel uneasy.
He'd never met someone so negative. Well, to themselves to be clear. He knew a lot of people who were just depressing and made sure to bring everyone else down with them, but she didn't seem the type. Too concerned with keeping other people happy versus her own comfort. Hence the whole helping Haruhi despite having to deal with the socializing and crowds part.
"I see you're all getting along!"
The three of them started at the sound of Haruhi's voice. The Natural Host was only a few feet away now, a smile on her face and a glass of sparkling juice in hand which she promptly handed to Potter Harry. "I never thought I would see the day."
"I'm not that much of a recluse," Potter Harry murmured, accepting the drink. "I do know how to talk to people, I just don't like doing it."
While she may have taken Haruhi's words as a tease regarding her personally issues with other people, the twins were well aware that it was aimed at them specifically. Haruhi had encouraged them to come over and get to know Potter Harry after all. She'd accused them of stalking her and being obsessed with her in the unpleasant sense. So to see them not being rude or obnoxious to her had to have been a surprise.
Kaoru felt bad that her faith in them had been so fragile, but he couldn't deny that her concern was unfounded.
"At least you didn't have to do any of the work," Haruhi commented with a smirk. "My toes are still bruised from how badly you stomped on them. You get nervous too fast."
Potter Harry scowled and slung back her entire glass if sparkling juice. "Obviously with good reason. I'm not a great partner as evidenced by the tiny limp you're walking around with."
"Totally worth it though," Haruhi told her with a smile. "And I think tonight was a big step for everyone here."
Hm... perhaps.
"Hika-chan, Kao-chan, we saw Hari-chan out by the fountain on the northside!" Hunny-senpai announced the moment he and Mori-senpai entered the club room. "She's actually in the fountain and helping Neko-Chan find Beelzenef if you're curious!"
Kaoru sent the tiny Third Year a look of confusion. "You know Harry, Hunny-senpai?"
He dismounted from his usual position atop Mori-senpai's shoulders, landing perfectly on the balls of his feet. "Sure do!" the petite male nodded. "She repaired a tear in Usa-chan's seam! I don't know how she did it but it was perfectly mended with no proof of there ever being a tear to begin with!" He presented the stuffed rabbit in question so they could inspect whatever it was that he claimed had been ruined.
Of course no proof of such a thing remained. While they might not be that interested in sewing, the twins were the sons of a designer. One of the most popular in the world, so they knew about costuming, decorations, and quick fixes to fabric or clothing. The fact that Harry was capable of fixing along the main seam, hiding evidence of a tear so easily without having to sacrifice fabric, stuffing, or appearance was impressive.
"Why would we care that she's in a fountain with Nekozawa-senpai?" Hikaru demanded once he was done marveling at the seam work. "That's got nothing to do with us."
Hunny-senpai grinned in his usual cute way, but there was a hint of mischief to it that made both twins wary. "I just thought Hika-chan and Kao-chan would be interested to know that Neko-chan has a crush on Hari-chan and is trying very hard to woo her. Enough to put his own hand puppet in the fountain and beg her for help in locating and then treating it."
Kaoru wouldn't be able to explain it if asked, but something about that annoyed him very much! Like, the lamest way to get a girl's attention ever! For fuck sake, Nekozawa!
"If you don't do something soon, Neko-chan is going to eventually win her over," Hunny-senpai warned before grabbing Mori-senpai's hand and dragging him over to their usual section of the club room.
The twins stared at each other, trying to come up with something to say in light of recent... revelations.
Finding words to describe their feelings was impossible though.
Another day, another sight of Harry sitting among Haruhi's customers and silently absorbing everything around her.
After paying so much attention to a single person for the past several weeks, it became dead obvious to the twins that she really liked blending in to her surroundings. She didn't volunteer information or conversation and waited for someone to speak to her first. As she was no longer new-new, the hype around her transfer had died down considerably.
It didn't sit right with Hikaru, who couldn't even begin to explain why.
Even after that small talk they had, she still kept to herself and Haruhi and didn't seem to be making any efforts herself. It was always everyone else approaching her for help or something else.
And so came the usual Which One is Hikaru? game they liked to play, springing it on the customers so suddenly in order to change things up and making the day little more interesting.
As one body, all the guests turned to Harry, expecting her to make the decision for them.
She quirked a single, finely arched brow, and said, "Hikaru-san is on my right and Kaoru-san is on my left. I know I'm right so there's no point in trying to argue with me otherwise I'm going to start spilling even more embarrassing reasons on why you're so easy to tell apart."
Damn! She got them!
"Was it this easy for you to tell your twin friends apart?" Haruhi asked her, looking curious. "I remember you said you met them when you were eleven. You've known them for quite some time already."
The Second Year hummed. "I spent a lot of time watching them actually, since I'd never met a pair of twins before." She then snorted to herself, as if remembering something amusing. "They were always up to mischief. Exploding school toilets and then mailing the seats home to their little sister. Pranking people with their products. They were two years older than me and were in different classes so it didn't get to see them often, but when I did, I just noticed that despite being twins, they had separate interests and focused on different facets of their business plan. They even chose different elective courses to work through to better help their end goal."
She was smiling fondly. "It took a bit of time to be fair. Their voices are exactly the same unlike Hikaru-san and Kaoru-san. I had to look really hard for any differences in appearance and it's mostly just eye color. Both have heterochromia but only in one eye and they're on different sides. From there, I looked for differences between behavior from Left Eye George and Right Eye Fred, and noticed how Right Eye liked painting his nails while Left Eye liked singing. When speaking, they alternate every other word and just seemingly know what they're going to say before they say it. Right Eye always speaks first though. When they pretend to be each other, they call themselves Gred and Forge. Gred is Fred and Forge is George. I noticed that at the end of their shenanigans, Left Eye always called himself George before they'd both giggle and run off."
"That's amazing!" Momoka-san said in awe. "You know them so well."
Harry shrugged. "Actually they both confided in me that they can't remember who is who," she said softly, eyes downcast. "Some families will put different colored wrist bands on their twins to tell them apart. Sometimes even write their names on the bands. No one in their family thought to do that for them and spent their entire childhood misnaming them at every turn, which was very confusing. Eventually they became the entity Fred&George. Never mentioned separately, only together, because no one knew who was who and didn't want to try and figure it out. I found out that they actually really hate being referred to as a single person all the time and if someone ever tries calling one by name, they would always sound unsure of themselves."
The Hitachiin twins shared a look. One that spoke of familiar understanding. While never having met these twins Harry spoke of, they couldn't understand where the two were coming from. After all, they hated it that no one could tell them apart either. And people were always wrong, but like in a proud way. As if not knowing someone's true identity was just a big joke to them.
"I know who is Fred and who is George because they decided between themselves who was Fred and who was George, and then announced it in my Third Year of Secondary School. By then I had already picked out Left Eye and Right Eye's differences, so I just committed the names to what I knew and that was that. Should they ever decide that Fred it actually George and George is actually Fred, I still won't be confused because I know enough about them to tell them apart now."
One thing this conversation managed to bring back into the light was that Kaoru actually harbored a deep concern that... he wasn't actually Kaoru!
Because no one, not even their parents apparently, could tell them apart and just referred to them as the 'entity' of Hikaru&Kaoru. There would always be that minor concern that the one who claimed to be Hikaru wasn't actually Hikaru and one who claimed to be Kaoru, wasn't actually Kaoru.
But... if they just decided to choose who had which name, then did anyone else's opinion truly matter in the end?
They could just be who they wanted to be.
Why did this foreigner have to make them think so much about things that made them uncomfortable!?
"If you wanted me to solicit your services for the day you could have just asked."
So here's the scene... Haruhi didn't get a perfect grade on her History Exam and needed to study so she could re-take the exam when it rolled around. This was vital as she was the Honor Student and was in Ouran on scholarship. As such, she had to be the very top of Class 1-A in all subjects, to maintain her scholarship. She would not be available all week.
So the twins, specifically Kaoru, had placed a note in Harry's bag at lunch, saying she was desperately needed at the club anyway for reasons.
No reason was actually given though.
Anyway, she ended up joining them for the afternoon because Hunny-senpai had been really useful in using his cuteness to guilt trip her into 'helping' the twins out with their work of the costumes for an upcoming club event.
There was no actual club meeting today after all, just working hours.
"An air of mystery makes things more fun," Kaoru decided simply. "Besides, we need help in sewing these things homemade costumes for next week's club events."
Hikaru nodded. "We're going the natural course according to Kyoya-senpai. While it's all the best of the best fabrics, we have to do the work ourselves and as our mom is a designer, we have the most skill out of everyone when it comes to clothing."
"We've even designed some clothing lines with her in the past," Kaoru said, trying not to brag too much. "Anyway, Hunny-senpai said you're good with a needle and we thought of asking you for help. Kyoya-senpai said you'll get premium discounts on club merchandise if you'd like anything."
Harry easily accepted the fabric handed to her, giving it a clear once-over as she got a good feel for it "And you just assumed I know how to make clothes?"
"Call it an educated guess," Hikaru murmured. "You feel like someone who can not only take care of clothes but also make them."
She nodded slowly and sighed. "I can probably do this better at home. You've got two whole sewing machines and I've never seen anything this intricate. I wouldn't know how to use this," she said, patting the machine nearest her. "Mine is really old. In fact, a lot of my possessions are passed down from like two hundred years ago or whatever."
Both twins couldn't help their reaction to such news. It wasn't often that they came upon something so interesting after all!
"You have a vintage sewing machine?!" they asked in unison.
She shrugged. "From 1830s France or around there. I know my godfather's family history began in France and it's been in the family for a long time. Still in immaculate condition of course. Same with the gramophone I have. Passed down for a long time and still in perfect condition."
The chance to see a real, vintage sewing machine... it was too good to pass up!
Obviously Kyoya-senpai had been listening because he was suddenly in their space, black book on display as he wrote something down madly. "Would I be correct in assuming that you have a great many vintage items to your name?"
"Yes."
"Would it be possible for the Host Club to rent some of your vintage pieces for a sort of exhibit I've been thinking of holding in the future? Anything you have that is older than the 1900s would be appreciated. You don't need to have any paperwork for them either, I can certainly procure information about them and have appraisers evaluate them if necessary."
Wow, he didn't even hesitate at the chance to make money. Kyoya-senpai was certainly not lazy in the slightest.
Harry hummed, looking very interested in his suggestion. "That sounds pretty awesome, Kyoya-san. I don't mind at all, and I'm now very glad I chose to bring a lot of my possessions with me. I've become a bit obsessed with not only learning how to use such old mechanisms, but also learning how to use the new technology of today. I think both should endure, so this sounds like a great event to host."
And somehow that ended up with them hammering out the details on what she'd contribute to the event and when it would happen.
The twins were simply excited to see an old sewing machine. In fact... they should invite their mother to the event so she could see it herself!
Sewing might not be all too interesting to them, but it wasn't as if they hated it or anything. Any chance to see something so old still in action would be worth it!
"You own all of these things?!"
Traditional Victorian Era garb. Specifically, several different styles as the Victorian Era spanned many decades and fashion never stayed stagnant. Things phased in and out of popularity with each decade, making people in the modern day all have different ideas of what they think of Victorian clothes.
Harry had donated several full outfits, all in perfect condition, all passed down in her family. Alongside the old technology she had brought as well, the clothes were the most fascinating. All coming from before the 1900s as requested.
Their mother was currently foaming at the mouth over the boning styles done in traditional Victorian corsetry. When they'd invited her to the event, she'd been excited just to get an invitation, but when she'd learned about what would be there, she'd cleared her entire schedule for the day just to see an old sewing machine. To come to the event and see such old clothing so well-preserved... it was like a dream come true.
Hitachiin Yuzuha was not one to play around when she was in the zone. She found something fascinating and was doing nothing but hyper-focusing on it. If there was a chance she could learn something, then she would observe with all her might. Her four assistants who were there to witness were also losing their minds with excitement.
Harry stood nearby, watching the women inspect her possessions with keen eyes. "Yes. I have many more, but these looked to be the most interesting from their styles and the choice of fabrics use in making them."
Their mother spun in place to take the girl's hands between her own, eyes practically sparkling. "Would it be possible to rent these from you? I've find my mind positively filled with inspiration for a whole new line, maybe even two! I just know that all of my precious workers would love to see these in person!"
"Sure, Hitachiin-san. Just let me know when you'd like to have them brought over and I can ship them to the location desired."
"Oh, no, dear Hari-chan, you can call me Yuzuha! I have a feeling we're going to grow very close in the future," their mother said, sending a suggestive look toward her sons who were watching on in fascination.
Hikaru shifted in unease. Their mother was often very insightful despite her happy-go-lucky demeanor. She probably noticed something before either of them had and was interested in seeing it come to fruition.
"Okay... Yuzuha-san."
The fact that even their mother liked Harry should have been a sign. Unfortunately, they couldn't claim to be geniuses, could they?
What made it all come to a head was Nekozawa. Again.
His weird obsession with Harry was becoming really annoying. It was like everywhere that she was, he was following. He wanted more lessons about Dark Magic. He wanted her to fix his stupid puppet, which they now knew he did himself because of Hunny-senpai's gossip. Sometimes he even tried asking her out to dinner but she simply didn't understand the offer and told him she could just just cook dinner for his club so why spend money going somewhere?
This time however, he was encroaching upon their club time and bothering Haruhi and her customers because he wanted Harry's attention.
And that was when Kaoru brought out the high-powered flashlights and Hikaru's words gained a level of venom not normally found, all because they were rightfully annoyed. "Don't you have a club of your own to go to?" he demanded of the older teen. "Harry isn't a Host, she is a customer, and you're bothering all the other customers who are uncomfortable when you come around." Kaoru's flashlights basically blinded him from two angles for extra effect.
Was it cruel? Hell fucking yes it was. Hikaru wasn't there to be everyone's friend of to care about everyone's feelings so it didn't matter to him.
"If you want to date Harry so badly, how about you catch up with her during personal time and stop getting in the way of another club's business," Kaoru added, flicking the lights on and off for good measure. "And stop breaking your own things just so you'll have an excuse to get her to solve all your problems for you so you can ask her out. It's pathetic coming from an eighteen year old man."
Nekozawa had managed to withstand the lights up until that moment. The mortification of his attempts at flirting being revealed to everyone, added to the pain of the lights, drove him to flee from the room like the hounds of hell were at his heels.
While Tamaki wailed about being cursed for the twin's actions, said twins were basking the feeling of success.
Maybe it'd finally get him to grow up and stop being so damn weird about his crush.
"Neko!"
What they didn't count on was Harry abandoning her tea and cake, bidding Haruhi a farewell, and then blowing by the twins in pursuit of Nekozawa. She didn't even look at them in passing!
Haruhi was shaking her head as her guests watched on in gaping horror?
"You two are the biggest idiots I've ever known," their Natural Host stated with a frown. "If get that you're jealous of all the time he gets to spend with Hari-chan, but that was just childish. Nekozawa-senpai actually has the guts to go after what he wants unlike the two of you who have done nothing but stalk her from afar and get angry when other people interact with her. Sure, his methods were pretty abnormal, but at least he was willing to put himself out there. You can't even bother doing that."
Their jaws dropped in unison, and the whole room went deathly silent in the process, proving that they'd been the subject of everyone's attention. And not in the good way either.
"Please go back to your own guests," Haruhi demanded. "You're 'bothering all the other customers who are uncomfortable'," she said, throwing Hikaru's own words back in his face before returning her attention to Momoka-san. "So you said your parents thought about transferring you to Lobelia?"
The sting of both rejection and embarrassment hurt more than expected. In which they hadn't expected to feel either in regards to Harry and yet... it was always a new experience she was making them face that she was mostly unaware of. Because they rarely approached her personally and just watched from afar. Haruhi called them stalkers.
Could it be that they'd been even creepier than Nekozawa had been?
And if so... what did that meant for them in the end?
And why did they care so much?
No one was talking to them.
Tamaki was angry for his own dramatic reasons that honestly barely pinged their radar because behind him with eyes hidden by the glare on his glasses, was Kyoya-senpai, who looked livid. The Shadow King in the flesh.
Basically, they had permanently burned a bridge with Nekozawa-senpai and if so, it would affect all of their families. Annoying though they found him, the Nekozawa family were still incredibly wealthy and decent people. They had a lot to offer in terms of business connections and favors. The second, and mostly unacknowledged point of the club was to better help people make connections with those in other future trades and such.
Ouran students weren't just rich kids after all, they were heirs to important businesses. Those in the Host Club were of some of the most important ones in Japan. Having connections everywhere was essential for smooth business in the future.
The twins, by not thinking things through, could very well cause issues not only for their own families, but for the families of their guests, because of how terribly they embarrassed Nekozawa-senpai that day.
While he wasn't a popular student by any stretch, it was shocking to see how many people supported Nekozawa-senpai and didn't like what the Hitachiin twins had done. So they'd essentially been 'soft-blocked' by the entire school as a result.
Haruhi wasn't speaking to them at all. Hunny-senpai kept aiming watery, offended eyes their way, and the look of disappointment from Mori-senpai was heartbreaking.
And finally... Harry wasn't talking to them either.
And the thing was, the news had already spread that she'd told Nekozawa-senpai that she wasn't interested in him in a romantic way, and told him that they'd only ever be good friends. And even still, with all of that, she just spent more time with him and Haruhi and even a few other students!
"It's not as if we were wrong!" Hikaru hissed in annoyance as they pouted on their bed, having come home early to avoid everyone as there was no point in going to the club if no one was going to solicit them for the day anyway. "He was being weird and was making the others uncomfortable. Also, again, he wasn't actually a club patron so he was interrupting business!"
Kaoru, a lot less hotheaded than his twin was, sighed. "I think the issue is the whole, exposing him in front of everyone since Harry obviously wasn't aware of his flirting. Also, it wasn't as if we set out nicely, our tones were deliberately venomous. Furthermore... we used his illness against him." Kaoru didn't feel as proud about that now that things were over.
Whether a real illness or not didn't matter, Nekozawa-senpai literally collapsed under too much exposure to bright lights. It wasn't okay for Kaoru to do what he did and he knew it. He also couldn't ignore it because overall, before Harry came to Ouran, they'd never actually had an issue with this specific senpai before. So it was as Haruhi said, they were just jealous and were taking it out on a relatively innocent person who was just awkwardly approaching the girl he liked while they stewed in their jealousy and did nothing about their own interest.
"Haruhi was right and we both know it," he chose to say, knowing Hikaru had to hear it out loud so he couldn't run from it. "We're jealous. We like Harry and we're jealous that we get no time with her, so we stalk her every move and then degrade everyone she shows favor to if they aren't us or Haruhi. We've been doing it for the past three months."
Somehow they went from thinking she wasn't interesting to being so interested in her they'd almost ruined their relationships with everyone else in the process.
How the tables turned in the end, huh?
Hikaru threw himself on the bed, pouting up a storm in the process. "I hate this! I hate feeling all these stupid feelings!"
"Same."
The worst part was that once they pulled their shit together... they would have to apologize to Nekozawa-senpai. The most trying part of it all was verbally acknowledging to the wronged party that they'd done wrong.
"It's fine, really!" Nekozawa-senpai said with an awkward laugh the moment that corned him to apologize. "I mean, you were right even if you were rather rude about it."
The twins sighed at the memory of them attacking the Third Year in the middle of the Host Club. It was even more embarrassing to think about now that they'd acknowledged their own faults.
"It isn't fine," Hikaru grumbled. "Maybe we were right and you believe that wholeheartedly, but the part that's wrong is how we went about it. We used your illness against you and then embarrassed you in front of fifty-seven people. You became the speculation of the entire school as a result when we could have just approached you in private and handled things maturely. No matter how you spin it, we are in the wrong and don't need you to ignore your own feelings all because our family is richer than yours. You're allowed to be hurt, you know."
"We'd like to think we've grown past the immaturity of using our wealth and connections to threaten friends into compliance," Kaoru added with a frown of his own. "If we hurt your feelings you shouldn't be scared to tell us that."
Nekozawa-senpai seemed to just instantly tear up and yanked them both into a tight hug. "You both really have matured! Thank the dark forces for touching your hearts so tenderly!"
And he was still a weird one no matter what happened.
"I appreciate your candor and apology. And I promise to get everyone to leave you alone. Hari-chan and I have actually been working on that already so hopefully things improve soon." And then he smiled, a hint of his natural charm that could rival Tamaki's, shining through for a moment, "And thank you. It takes great strength of will to admit your mistakes and seek to rectify them. I'm proud of your efforts to improve and even more proud to have friends like you."
Who knew Nekozawa-senpai would be the first person, in literal years, to get them to cry?
There was a knock at their bedroom door the next evening, but Kaoru was buried deep in an audio book and Hikaru was actively ignoring anything outside his own head. Just because Nekozawa-senpai forgave them didn't mean everything was all fine again. The news had yet to spread of course, so people were still hostile in ways never before encountered for them.
It wasn't until an unfamiliar weight joined them on the bed that both twins looked up in shock at someone so daringly inviting themselves into their bedroom!
Harry stared back at them, seated on the very edge and clad in normal clothes for once. A simple grey t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
To Kaoru... she looked amazing. In Hikaru's eyes, he just wanted to play with her hair and possibly give it a little trim to make it more even and get rid of some of the flyaways.
"I heard what you both did," she said softly. "Neko called me up and asked me for help in addressing everyone about it. In fact, he got over the situation the day after it happened and was baffled by everyone else's response. In his words, 'they never supported me before so it feels weird that they all now suddenly care'. And he was right. A majority of the people targeting you didn't give a damn about what happened and were just jumping on the drama because they had it out for you. I may had gotten Chairman Suoh involved and he may have scheduled a school-wide seminar on bullying for the upcoming week as well as tightened the rules on harassment and bullying overall."
Kaoru had to pinch Hikaru to stop him from proclaiming how much he knew that to be the case. Now was not the time for bragging after all. The object of their... obsession... had come to visit them in person.
"...If you guys wanted to ask me out you could have just asked. I don't understand why you just stood by all angry and annoyed this entire time. I'm not exactly someone with dating experience but to me it seems like a waste of time and an unnecessary amount of stress to put on yourselves."
Her words made them both flush because yeah, it was embarrassing to think about once they actually sat down and pondered the sequence of events for themselves.
"I can't explain how our minds work," Hikaru grumbled. "We're just this way naturally, I guess."
Their guest hummed. "I suppose I can understand. You're only fifteen too so there's that as well. You've never fancied someone before, right?"
"No," Kaoru agreed. "Hikaru had a crush on Haruhi for a while there though."
While his brother sputtered with denial, Harry simply nodded. "Understandable. She's definitely someone easy to fall for. Unfortunately for her many potential suitors, Kyoya-san seems to have staked a claim that has already been accepted so no one is getting anywhere there."
Wait! Kyoya-senpai liked Haruhi!
Tamaki was going to lose his shit once he finally found out! Either because his secret crushwas taken or because 'mommy' was dating their 'daughter'. It's been funny to see the fallout.
"So we're all pretty new to this then. I mean, I went on a date once but it was terrible and I'm pretty sure dates don't end up like that so I really don't want to count it at all."
And that's when Hikaru just had to ask... "Was it with those twins you know?" He got a smack in the arm from Kaoru but regretted nothing!
Harry merely snorted. "No. It was with a girl I liked. We were both going through some things so it was a disaster, whatever it was."
Before either twin could sigh in relief, she just had to go and add, "George did teach me how to kiss though."
There was a pause, as if she wanted to say something else, but then chose not to. Kaoru, hating his curiosity even more by the minute, found himself asking, "And what did Fred-san teach you?"
All they got was a wink in return.
Well shit. That was answer enough, huh?
"Speaking of my best friends, they'll want to meet you. Maybe put you through some tests. Judge you to see if you're good enough to date or something. The twins are very much interested in you both."
Oh! That didn't sound fun.
Wait! "You told them about us?" the twins demanded, looking shocked and both feeling some odd warmth forming in their centers. She told her friends about them.
"How could I not tell them about these devilishly handsome twins I encountered? Always up to their usual mischief and always flirting with each other. They were quite interested to know about how deep your obsession with each other goes, wondering if it's just like their own."
She told her friends about their 'Forbidden Love' Act?! Despite how they acted, they were fully aware that people outside of the loop would not take such a thing well. If anything, it would probably get them in trouble at the very least.
"They got a kick out of it, don't worry. Though I must be honest when I say I'm a little miffed that you never bothered to show me your little act. Am I not allowed to experience your legendary wiles?"
Her request brought them up short, realizing that they had never actually tried their usual flirtations with her. A game was a game, but a play was a play. Very different. Somehow, in all the months they'd known of her, they hadn't tried to mess with her in such a way.
With permission practically granted, the twins crawled on over until she was sandwiched cleanly between them. "What do you think, Hari-chan? Do you find the idea of being the lover of a pair of twins to be... arousing?" Hikaru asked, trailing his fingers down her exposed forearm. "Or the potential that they are lovers as well?"
Kaoru, taking direction from his beloved twin, took the attempted seduction a step further, placing his lips against Harry's cheek and tracing the shape of her jaw in the process. "Maybe Hari-chan likes the forbidden aspect of it. Maybe she wants us to have our wicked way with her too."
And just when they thought their efforts were working... she had go and laugh!
"I'm sor-ry!" she cackled, holding her stomach as she fell back onto the bed. "You're fif-teen and talking like that!"
Kaoru flushed, not used to someone not even taking them seriously. Haruhi at the very least just accepted it and moved on. Their flirting didn't affects her in the slightest and she said she didn't really see the appeal in it, but she hadn't laughed or mocked them for it!
Harry snorted once more before pulling them both down to lay beside her, leaving her firmly between them still. "I know you tried your best but that was kind of funny. I guess because I've got some experience at least, with older twins no less, that it's a bit difficult to take you seriously right now. Maybe, in another two years, your seduction skills will be unstoppable but for now it's just a bit weird hearing you talk like that."
She thought they were too young.
But she also thought there was potential!
"I wouldn't mind getting to know you both better. Your mother is a delight and has been quite a sweetheart to me. And no offense to your friends but you're the most interesting members of your club besides Haruhi, so I can definitely see the appeal in you as people. The mystery and drama are a nice touch as well."
"I'd... I too would like to know more about you," Hikaru said quietly, trying not to feel self-conscious. "You're... weird. In a weird way. You got Nekozawa-senpai to fall for you and that isn't an easy feat I'm certain."
"Also you sometimes know too much which isn't natural," Kaoru said, voicing one of his many observations. "Several things surrounding you make no sense and I've been wanting answers."
"Yeah, the Occult stuff is definitely part of it," his twin agreed. "I want to know what lead you to believing in that kind of thing and if there's really any merit to it."
Harry smirked and stood, abandoning them on the Double King Bed they'd had since forever, leaving them cold and empty in the process. "I guess you'll just have to woo me properly if you want all my deep, dark secrets."
That sounded like a promise. The Hitachiin twins didn't often put their faith in promises... but Harry didn't seem the type of make promises she didn't intend to keep.
"We're looking forward to it," they told her.
She winked, one oddly green eye vanishing with the motion as she blew them a kiss. "Then as a small hint for you, now you see me, now you don't."
And then, in a move that left them wondering if they'd been dreaming the entire discussion, Harry's body seemed to twist on itself, shrinking in an odd swirl and leaving behind nothing but the sound of a balloon popping.
Nothing but questions struck them the next day when they saw her in the school corridor and received another wink and a blown kiss. "Hello, boys," she practically purred at them. "Still interested in getting to know me?"
Hikaru cut a glance to his twin, finding him gaping as openly as he was, the golden glow emanating from Harry's eyes reflecting easily in Kaoru's. They were witnessing the same thing, and yet no one else seemed to notice...
Maybe it was stupidity, maybe it was bravery; he didn't care. He wanted answers, and it was obvious that Kaoru did as well. After all, she'd only shown this strange side of her person to them of all people.
"You're not getting rid of us any time soon," he told the Second Year. "You can count on that."
A/N: FINISHED!
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