Hi guys, it's Pandora! I wrote this fic for Holly when she gave me this prompt for her birthday fic. I've never played any Kingdom Hearts games, so all my knowledge of Roxas is informed by Holly and the Internet, so if he seems somewhat out of character you might understand why. :P Even if he is a little OOC, I hope you all enjoy this!

"I heard he used to be in jail."

"I thought he killed a guy?"

"No, that's not right, he comes from a yakuza family."

Roxas kept his head down and continued down the corridor, through the sea of powder blue blazers and yellow dresses. He wasn't going to try and talk to anyone about the whispers that followed him throughout the school, despite some of them having a ring of truth to them. The students of Ouran Academy wouldn't give up on the gossip even if he did – he figured he should just save his breath and let them carry on.

He turned a corner, finding the classroom for Class-1A and sliding in through the door. He gazed around the room, eyes eventually falling on an empty seat near one of the windows. He crossed the room, avoiding the stares of those around him, and sat down heavily. He rummaged in his bag, more for something to do rather than because he needed anything, until he was interrupted by the sound of a voice addressing him.

"You don't look like much of a criminal."

Roxas looked to his right and met two pairs of golden eyes looking back at him.

"I agree with Hikaru, your baby blues look way too innocent," said one of the two identical boys staring at him.

"Er..." Roxas looked taken-aback. This was the first time anyone here had bothered addressing him directly since he'd arrived. "I'm... not?"

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a harried-looking, dark-haired boy, who greeted the other two.

"What's wrong Haruhi?" asked the one the other had called Hikaru.

"My alarm clock didn't make a sound this morning," explained Haruhi. "I overslept and thought I was going to be late so I had to run here."

"Well you're okay," said the-twin-who-was-not-Hikaru. "Teach isn't here yet."

"This is the new you," said Hikaru, gesturing to Roxas. "He says he's not a criminal."

"New me?" asked Haruhi.

"New 'new student'," said Hikaru. "Maybe he'll break a vase too."

Haruhi rolled his eyes. "Hikaru don't be a butthead." He turned to Roxas and bowed briefly to him. "I'm Haruhi, and this is Hikaru and Kaoru. Don't let them bother you."

Roxas stood and bowed too. "I'm Roxas," he said. "It's nice to meet you."

Haruhi smiled. "And don't worry too much about the rumours, they eventually subside once people get bored."

"Rumours?"

"The whole school is buzzing about you. Like I said, it'll pass."

"Oh." Roxas could feel his face blazing pink.

Soon after, the teacher arrived and attendance was taken. Afterwards, Roxas followed Haruhi (and consequently the twins) to their next class, Mathematics. Haruhi was easy to talk to – he was a scholarship student from a less affluent background, Roxas found out, and thus was far more relaxed and significantly less gossipy than the rest of the students at Ouran. Hikaru and Kaoru seemed friendly enough in their own way, though more interested in talking to one another than chatting to him. Strangely, the presence of these guys seemed to have reduced the whispers and glances thrown Roxas' way. He looked around himself as they walked together from Maths to Gym and saw that people around them were gazing at him less furtively and more in wonder now, particularly the girls, who formed small huddles of open-mouthed gapes.

"Err, Haruhi?" he leaned forward to speak to him. "Why is everyone looking at us like that?" He was starting to wonder if he'd fallen in with the wrong crowd.

"Oh..." Haruhi was flushing uncomfortably. "Well, it's a bit weird but we're in this club together, the Host Club..."

Roxas supposed that Haruhi continued explaining what was going on but he failed to register any more of his classmate's words as the most beautiful person he had ever seen rounded the corner ahead of them. With light coming in from the window behind him his golden hair became a halo around his exquisite features and deep violet-blue eyes. He was tall and slim, but with broad shoulders that filled out his school blazer neatly. He was walking to his next class alongside a guy with silky black hair and glasses, but then seemed to wave to the guys Roxas was with and the two came over to them.

"Hi all!" The blonde guy seemed to have boundless enthusiasm as he greeted Haruhi and the twins with a huge, beaming smile.

"Hey senpai," said Haruhi. "Which class are you headed to?"

"Chemistry," said the blonde boy. "You guys?"

"Uhh... Gym," replied Haruhi, before turning to include Roxas in the conversation. "This is Roxas, he's a new student in our class. Roxas, this is Tamaki and Kyouya."

Roxas could feel his face flushing as the blonde – Tamaki – gave him a quick bow and Kyouya nodded in his direction while flipping through a notebook in his hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Tamaki. "You must be the guy who people have been saying came from another country after killing a girl you used to know."

"That's... weirdly specific," said Haruhi.

"Yeah I didn't think that could be true," said Tamaki with a laugh. "Well, see you at Host Club later!"

Tamaki and Kyouya walked away and Roxas walked with the others to their next class. The twins had gone oddly silent in the last few minutes and Roxas could feel their eyes on him. He glanced over at them to see both looking at him intently.

"What?" he asked as they got to the locker room.

The two broke into identical Cheshire Cat grins.

"He's adorable," said Hikaru.

"Completely," agreed Kaoru.

Roxas could still feel the furious blush on his face and said nothing, deciding to ignore the comments. He turned to look for Haruhi but found he had vanished.

"Uhh," he said to the twins. "Where's Haruhi?"

"He sometimes skips out on gym, he's a scholarship student so he has to stay on top of the class," said Kaoru as he and Hikaru began to get undressed.

"About once a month," muttered Hikaru with a quiet chuckle.

Roxas blinked and shrugged, changing into his gym kit. As they started doing laps of the vast field, Roxas settled into a comfortable rhythm, mind still on the beautiful blonde boy from earlier, Tamaki. He felt his heart skip at the memory of the smile that came to Tamaki's face when they met and failed to hear the running footsteps coming up behind him until the twins were flanking him.

"Dude, you're fast!" panted Hikaru as they drew level.

"I... I like running," said Roxas.

"Well you're good at it!" puffed Kaoru.

"Err... thanks," replied Roxas, slowing a little to allow the other two to catch their breath and fall into step with them. They jogged together in silence for a few minutes before...

"We noticed you earlier," said Kaoru.

Roxas felt a jolt in his stomach. "What?"

"With Tamaki," said Hikaru.

"Uhh..." Roxas considered speeding up again to escape the unwanted conversation.

"We just wanted to tell you not to lose hope," said Kaoru.

"Yeah, Tamaki bats for both sides," put in Hikaru.

"I don't know what you're talking about," lied Roxas.

The twins laughed.

"Come on," said Hikaru. "We're not stupid."

"You don't need to be embarrassed," said Kaoru. "Tamaki gets a lot of that."

Roxas felt his heart sink a little and his pace slowed slightly. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Hikaru. "There's a reason he gets so many customers at Host Club."

Roxas frowned. "Is this supposed to help me feel better?"

"Well no, not really," admitted Kaoru. "But we've taken a liking to you."

"We want to help you," said Hikaru.

"Help me?" asked Roxas.

"To get your man," said Kaoru. "Win his love, make him fall for you."

Roxas looked between the identical boys. "Why?" he asked.

"Well like we said, we've taken a liking to you," said Hikaru.

"And Tamaki's happiness is similarly close to our hearts," said Kaoru.

"Aaaaaand we figure since we know Tamaki well from Host Club we'd be in prime position to aid you in your quest," said Hikaru.

Roxas considered the proposal. "And you're willing to just help me?"

"Yup," said Kaoru.

"No strings attached," said Hikaru.

"We're generous people," said Kaoru.

"Utterly," said Hikaru, exchanging a grin with Kaoru behind Roxas' head.

"Well..." The jovial tone of conversation between the twins and himself had put Roxas at ease. The twins seemed to genuinely care about Tamaki – he was their friend after all – and if they felt the match was good enough to offer their aid to him then...

"Okay," said Roxas.

"Excellent," the twins said together.

At lunchtime, Haruhi appeared behind Roxas in the line at the cafeteria, carrying a bento.

"Hey, sorry I skipped out on you earlier," he said. "I had to go to the library to study."

"It's okay, the twins told me," said Roxas.

"Right..." Haruhi looked over to where the twins were choosing drinks. "Did they give you any trouble?"

"No they were really nice," said Roxas with a smile. "They said they could help me."

Haruhi paused, then said, "Help you with what?"

"Well, you know your friend Tamaki?" Roxas could feel his face flushing at the mention of him.

"Yeah..."

"I uh... well, I really like him," said Roxas. "And Hikaru and Kaoru noticed and said they would be happy to help me to like... get his attention."

Haruhi looked concerned. "Are you sure? I mean... are you sure you want them to help you?"

"Yeah they said they really wanted to help me, and that they wanted Tamaki to be happy."

Haruhi looked doubtful but before he could say anything Hikaru and Kaoru came up behind him, each prodding him in the side. He let out a high yelp and jumped away.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Kaoru.

"Just saying hi," said Hikaru.

"We have an idea for you," said Kaoru to Roxas.

"It'll definitely get his attention," said Hikaru.

"Yeah, about that," said Haruhi. "What are you doing? He's literally been here three hours."

"He wanted our help," said Kaoru. "Right, Roxas?"

Roxas nodded. "Only if you still want to help though," he said.

"See, Haruhi?" said Hikaru. "You don't need to worry, he said he wants our help."

"And yeah, we still want to help," said Kaoru to Roxas. "Like we said, we like you."

"So what's the plan?" asked Roxas. "I didn't think we'd have anything yet."

"Oh we work fast." Hikaru put his free arm around Roxas' shoulders and leaned in conspiratorially, Kaoru moving to do the same on Roxas' other side. They grinned at Haruhi, who looked between the three of them before rolling his eyes and shrugging.

"Whatever, don't say I didn't warn you." He wandered away to find somewhere to sit, leaving Roxas with the twins.

"So we thought now would be a good time to strike," said Kaoru.

"Right now?!" Roxas' voice faltered on the words. He hadn't been expecting things to move so quickly... or to not be involved in the planning process. "Shouldn't we plan more before we make a move?"

The twins shook their heads. Hikaru said, "No it's got to be now."

"Oh..." Roxas looked between the two of them. "Well... if you say so I guess we should."

"Great!" said Kaoru. "Put this on."

Seemingly from nowhere, Kaoru produced a lobster costume and he and Hikaru dragged him behind a large pillar. They began to help Roxas disrobe, tugging his uniform off and replacing it with the lobster costume. Roxas paused when they put the lobster claws on his hands.

"Is this really necessary?" he asked as Hikaru advanced on him with a headpiece that had long red antennae attached.

"Definitely," said Kaoru. "He'll think you look adorable. Lobsters are Tamaki's favourite animal."

"He loves them," said Hikaru. "And he'll be here soon, so put this on." He pushed the headpiece onto Roxas' head and the twins shoved him back out from behind the pillar.

"So... what, I just... stand here?" asked Roxas. "Or... like... talk to him?"

"No we've got that covered too," said Kaoru. "Just take this..." He shoved a microphone and a sheet of paper into Roxas' hands. "And go stand there..." He pointed to a large red X on the floor in the middle of the cafeteria.

"Okay..." Roxas wandered away to stand on the X, a look of confusion on his face. He looked back over to where the twins had been but saw that they had vanished. He gazed all around the room for them but couldn't see them, instead meeting the gaze of the other students in the cafeteria. Most were looking amused, confused or a mix of the two and Roxas could feel himself turning the same red colour as the lobster costume. As he was beginning to wonder if he should just run off, music began to play loudly over hidden speakers. Roxas recognised it as the tune of a nursery rhyme. He looked down at the microphone in his hand and the piece of paper – a lyric sheet it turned out – and understood what Hikaru and Kaoru's plan was. Was this Tamaki's favourite song? He took a deep breath and raised the microphone to his mouth.

"You are my senpai, my only sepai,

You give me dokis and shades of grey,

You'll never notice me but I still love you,

You are sugoi, kawaii desu ne."

Roxas had a decent voice: he had sung at family gatherings as a child and people had always been complimentary of his performances. Nowadays he tended to only sing in the shower but it seemed to be enough to have kept his performance now from being terrible... but the lyrics. He was singing them without thinking too hard about them, not having had time to read them through before starting. Once the song was over, the music died away and he stayed standing on the X. He cast his eyes nervously about, trying to see if Tamaki was around. Instead he saw the students in the cafeteria staring at him silently. Someone dropped a fork and it clattered loudly in the silence. Then uproarious snorts of laughter started from somewhere in the crowd and Roxas bolted, wanting to be out of the cafeteria as soon as possible.

Outside, he practically ran into the twins. He grabbed his clothes out of Kaoru's hands and tore away down the corridor to find somewhere to change.

"Sorry the plan didn't work," said Hikaru as the three of them and Haruhi sat in their afternoon History class. Roxas had chosen a seat in the back of the classroom and was hiding his face behind his text book. After he had changed in a quiet bathroom, he had spent the rest of his lunchtime hiding in there, the sounds of everyone's laughter echoing in his reddened ears.

"Yeah we didn't realise Tamaki wouldn't be coming to the cafeteria today," said Kaoru. "We thought his interview with the school newspaper was next week."

"You're both awful," said Haruhi. He had caught up with Roxas in the bathroom after the cafeteria and had been chastising the twins since. "You're not allowed to make any more plans."

The twins laughed darkly as the teacher entered the room to start the lesson. Roxas busied himself with following the class and tried to put the memory of his horrific lunchtime out of his head. By the end of the lesson, the flush had receded from his cheeks somewhat – though he still couldn't quite meet anyone's gaze he didn't feel his instincts telling him to run away as fast as possible. The rest of his afternoon passed as normally as he supposed he could expect in a rich-kids school where everyone was talking about him and his past even though he hadn't even been there for a full day yet.

On his way home from school he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see a message from Hikaru:

'Hey we wanted to apologise again for the whole singing lobster thing, we really thought it might work.'

Roxas stared at the message before sending back a reply:

'How did you get my number?'

Hikaru responded: 'I had Kaoru do it while we had your blazer and stuff at lunchtime.'

'That's really sneaky.'

'Whatever. We have another plan.'

Roxas frowned.

'I don't know if I trust your plans anymore.'

'It'll be fun.'

'The last one wasn't.'

'Oh please? We really think this one will work.'

'You said that about the last one too.'

There was a longer pause before the next message appeared.

'So you don't want our help anymore?'

'Maybe.'

'But what about Tamaki?'

Roxas' heart skipped a beat.

'What about him?' he asked.

'Well we're hanging out with him right now, setting up for Host Club this afternoon.'

Roxas felt a flush come to his face.

'So?' he sent.

'So we can put in a good word for you.'

Roxas hesitated but then sent, 'You'd do that?'

'Sure, anything for a friend.'

Roxas felt a small smile on his face despite everything.

'Thanks, that's really nice of you.'

'We have only your best interests at heart.'

The next morning at school Roxas was walking to Class-1A when he felt two people catch up with him and begin walking along beside him.

"Morning," said Kaoru brightly.

"Hey..." Roxas looked between the twins. "Did you guys talk to him?"

"Yup," said Hikaru.

"He was very interested in you," said Kaoru.

"Really?" Roxas felt a hopeful flip-flopping feeling in his stomach.

"Yup," said Hikaru again. "But we didn't know much about you so we had to make some of it up a little bit."

Roxas' anticipation faltered. "What?" he asked. "What did you tell him?"

The twins looked thoughtful before Kaoru said, "Well we know that you're good at running so we told him you must have been on a track team of some kind before."

"Right..." So far so painless.

"And that it helped when you had to escape from the law," said Hikaru.

"What?"

"Well we had to give you a bad-boy streak," said Hikaru. "If your past is as sweet and lovely as your face you're a very boring guy."

"But I'm not a criminal!"

"It's fine," said Kaoru. "We just said you were caught defacing public property with graffiti and weird art."

"Oh god..."

"And we said you were into reading," added Kaoru. "Tamaki loves reading."

"We made sure to tell him about your wide collection of European literature," said Hikaru as they reached their classroom and went to sit down.

"Okay..." said Roxas. "That sounds less bad."

"He asked about specific books," said Kaoru.

Oh no.

"So," continued Hikaru, "we mentioned The Sorrows of Young Werther, Les Misérables... The 120 Days of Sodom..."

Roxas' mouth dropped open. "No..."

"Yup," said Hikaru brightly.

Roxas put his head in his hands and groaned. "I regret ever talking to you."

At that point, Haruhi appeared and sat down in the seat beside Roxas. "Morning," he said.

"Hi Haruhi," said the twins together, their grins evident in their voices.

"What have you done?" asked Haruhi.

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Kaoru genially. "We were just filling Roxas in on how we talked to Tamaki for him."

"Yeah I overheard some of what you told Tamaki," said Haruhi. "The part about the drug dealing was really unnecessary."

"Seriously?" Roxas asked. "Drug dealing?"

"I think you'll find we said 'pug dealing', thank you very much," said Hikaru.

"Either way it wasn't true," said Haruhi, prodding Roxas in the shoulder. "I cleared it up for you though. Tamaki was struggling to believe it once they got to the stuff about you having been a porn star anyway."

Roxas sighed in exasperation. "Thanks Haruhi."

"I'll talk to Tamaki some more for you," said Haruhi. "Don't get disheartened."

With Haruhi's promise to help him out, Roxas stopped accepting "help" from Hikaru and Kaoru with regard to Tamaki. Not that it stopped them trying to offer.

"I am not wearing that," he said firmly when the pair approached him at school the following week with a furiously pink dress.

"Why not?" asked Kaoru.

"We chose the shade specially to match your colouring," said Hikaru.

"And we spent all night making it," added Kaoru.

"It would be such a shame to waste all that work," said Hikaru.

"Yeah, not happening," said Roxas. "Too much of that before."

He turned away from them and walked off, hearing the two of them making sounds of confusion from behind him.

"What happened before?" they asked together, but Roxas had already walked away. Haruhi would help him, he was sure of it.

He didn't see the twins exchange a look behind his back, nor one of them pulling out his phone and dialling someone.

That Friday, the bell rang for the end of school and Roxas wandered away down the corridors towards the exit. The prospect of a relaxing weekend cheered him and he thought briefly that he might call his friend Xion or catch up with his cousin Sora... at least he was thinking of it before he felt two bodies slam into his and throw him into a rather roomy storage closet. He looked up in time to see the two grinning faces of the Hitachiin twins before the door was slammed shut and he heard a key turn in the lock.

"Let me out!" he yelled, jumping up and running to the door. He hit his hands against the wood. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Just have faith!" called back Kaoru.

"Yeah trust us, this'll be great!" called Hikaru.

They both laughed and Roxas heard them leaving. He banged on the door a few more times and desperately shook the handle to no avail. Sighing (and hoping that this was just some prank and the twins would be back for him soon), he sat down heavily on an upturned bucket and started scrolling aimlessly through his phone.

A few minutes later he heard the turn of the key in the lock but before he could do any more than stand up the door opened and Tamaki walked in, illuminated from behind by the light coming in through the door. Roxas shrank back instinctively – he wasn't sure how much Haruhi had managed to talk to him yet and he wasn't even sure if he could talk to him without making 'bweh' sounds. Tamaki seemed to be looking for something, surveying what looked like a shoddily-drawn map as he walked. He stopped and looked over his shoulder to someone outside.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" he asked. "The map's not very clear."

"Positive," came a voice from outside that sounded like the guy with dark hair and glasses – Kyouya. "This is the place."

"But this i–" Before Tamaki could finish his sentence, the door slammed shut again and the key turned in the lock. The closet was thrown into dimness once more and Tamaki let out a howl of annoyance.

"Kyouya! What are you doing?!" he demanded, sounding like he was flailing his arms dramatically.

"You'll find what you're looking for in there," came Kyouya's voice. "I'll let the patrons at the Host Club know that you're busy this afternoon."

"What?!"

Kyouya's footsteps were retreating.

"Don't you dare!"

The footsteps faded completely and Roxas heard Tamaki trying the door several times before sighing.

"What is he playing at?" muttered Tamaki as he gave up on the door. "There's nothing in here but buckets and stuff... Unless..."

There was a shifting and then a light as Tamaki retrieved his phone and turned on the torch. He shone the light around, the beam eventually falling on Roxas' feet. Tamaki gave a start of surprise but cast the beam up Roxas' legs and body to his face.

"Oh my god, how long have you been in here?!" asked Tamaki. "Are you okay?"

Roxas squinted into the light. "Yes... can you point the light somewhere else though maybe please?" Yeah Roxas you sound so eloquent, well done.

"Ah, of course!" Tamaki cast the light upwards so that it bounced off the ceiling and dimly illuminated both of them. They surveyed each other and Roxas prayed that the hard, fast beat of his heart wasn't as loud as it seemed to himself.

Tamaki looked at him in some confusion but then a flash of recognition crossed his delicate features. "Oh, you're the new guy," he said in understanding. "You probably don't remember me, my name is Tamaki."

He offered a hand to Roxas, who shook it and hoped his palms weren't too sweaty.

"How did you end up in here though?" Tamaki asked, a look of confusion passing across his face.

"Uhh... Hikaru and Kaoru shoved me in here," explained Roxas.

"Oh, that makes sense," said Tamaki. "They were talking about you a lot by the way, it was kind of weird."

"Oh, right..." Roxas prayed to whatever gods there were that the light of Tamaki's phone was not bright enough to show the blush on his face.

Tamaki nodded. "I don't tend to believe a word they say any more though," he explained. "It works out better that way. Haruhi said some stuff too, she made more sense."

"Huh?"

"Hmm?"

"'She'?"

Tamaki sputtered. "Uhh, did I say 'she'? I meant 'he', sorry..."

Roxas raised an eyebrow but found he was less bothered by the revelation about Haruhi's gender than he was about what might have been said to Tamaki. "So... what did Haruhi say?"

"That you were nice and smart and interesting," said Tamaki. "It was stuff I'd already figured out though."

"Yeah?" Roxas was practically holding his breath.

"Yeah," said Tamaki, sitting down on another upturned bucket. "I was meaning to see if you wanted to come and hang out with us sometime but you're difficult to get hold of."

"Oh..." Roxas let out the breath he'd been holding and flopped back down onto his bucket.

"So how long do you think they'll leave us in here?" asked Tamaki. "I'm guessing this is some horrible collaboration between Kyouya and the twins."

"I have no idea," said Roxas. "Hopefully soon."

"You don't think we'll run out of oxygen do you?" Tamaki suddenly looked wide-eyed and a little panicked.

"Uhh..." Roxas glanced at the gap under the door where a small amount of light was slanting into the closet. "No I think we'll be okay."

"Ah, good," Tamaki smiled, his face lighting up with the expression.

"So..." Roxas was finding it easier to talk to Tamaki now that they had established a rapport. "What do you do in the Host Club?"

Tamaki became very animated and they passed the next hour in conversation by the dim light from Tamaki's phone. Eventually they heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside and then the key turning in the lock. The door opened and Haruhi appeared, looking annoyed but relieved.

"Oh thank god I found you guys," she said. "No one would tell me where they'd put you until Hani eventually said he thought you were somewhere on this floor – do you know how many store cupboards there are in this school?!"

Tamaki picked up his phone and turned off the torch. "No, but thank you for coming to rescue us! We had no idea how long they were going to leave us in here."

"Knowing the twins? Probably all weekend. They already left," replied Haruhi. "Come on, let's go."

Roxas got up and followed the others out of the closet and down the corridor, heading for the front entrance and home. Outside, Tamaki opened the door to a sleek white limousine but turned before he could get in.

"Hey, if you want to hang out sometime, it'd be cool to talk to you again," he said to Roxas. "Here..."

He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, soft around the edges and the pencilled phone number on it smudged from having been in there for a while. "I had meant to give you my number for a while, but I kept forgetting."

Roxas felt a pleased flush on his face as he took the paper and watched Tamaki pull away in the limo with a wave. He waved back and started walking down the road with Haruhi. Maybe this new school wouldn't be so bad after all.