"We think he has a girlfriend." Honey said. He was looking straight at Tamaki when he said this, but it was clear the King wasn't really there. His mind was racing, heart thumping fast. Kyoya... had a girlfriend?

"What?" Kaoru asked. He and Hikaru looked surprised, but it was nothing compared to Tamaki's look of bewilderment. "Why do you think that, Honey-senpai?"

Honey smiled. Sometimes his friends could be so oblivious. "How often has Kyo-chan been around the past week?" Honey asked. His friends exchanged glances, but stayed silent. "How many times has he left early?" still nothing, "Gone to back to his apartment before 11, claiming to be headed to bed?"

"Okay, sure! But why does any of that mean he's got a girlfriend?" Hikaru asked, growing bored of Honey's question game.

"I thought he was sick. But, this morning, Mori and I were walking past the door to his apartment on our way to morning training and we heard… singing." Honey said. "It was quiet, but I could hear it. And it was definitely coming from Kyo-chan's apartment. So we knocked. And it continued. And we knocked again. And, eventually, a girl answered the door!"

The room was quiet. "Well?" Kaoru asked, looking eagerly at Honey. Honey tilted his head. "What did you say to her? What did she say? Who was she?" Kaoru pressed. He and Hikaru were on the edge of their seats, while Tamaki was… frozen, it seemed, eyes still wide as saucers.

"Oh! She was very nice! Her name is Elizabeth, and she's American! It was clear she hasn't known Kyoya for very long, though, because she even tried to wake him up for me when I asked to talk to him." Honey laughed a little at this.

"She tried to wake him up? Was she okay?" Hikaru asked, concerned.

Honey laughed, and nodded. "She was. She told me that Kyo-chan told her to 'tell the bastard to bother someone else'. I think he thought I was you, Tama!" Honey giggled, smiling at his still bewildered friend. "I invited her to come to lunch with us all today. That's why I wanted to tell everyone now- so there wouldn't be surprises at lunch." Honey finished, beaming.

"So," Tamaki breathed, coming back to life. "Kyoya has a girlfriend?" he asked.

Honey nodded.

"And… she spent the night in his apartment last night?"

Honey nodded again.

"Well, you did the right thing, then, Honey-senpai!" He stood up suddenly, springing into action. "If Kyoya has been too shy to tell us about his lover, than we will show him there was nothing to fear!" he shouted, looking up towards the ceiling as if in a victory-stance.

"Right!" the twins said, nodding in agreement and taking similar poses.

It was Honey and Mori's turn to exchange looks. "Just be sure not to scare her off." Mori warned, eying the three. Honey could be carless when it came to people, too, but not as bad as those three. Mori stood up and smiled at his friends. "Now that our work is done here, we've got to get to training." he told them, though it was more directed at Mitskuni.

Honey smiled up at him and they said goodbye to their friends. "We'll see you at lunch!" Honey called before closing the door behind he and Mori.

"Well, boys. Let's get to work! Operation: Make Kyoya's Girlfriend Feel Welcome is a-go!" Tamaki said. The three huddled together and began planning out their afternoon.

10:30am

Kyoya's apartment

"Shit, Elizabeth, you used all the hot water!" Kyoya shouted, angrily shutting the shower off. He wrapped a towel around his waist and could hear Elizabeth laughing from the kitchen.

"Well, you should have showered with me like I suggested!" she called back. Kyoya rolled his eyes. Well, at least he had been able to wash the shampoo out of his hair before the water turned to ice. He got dressed and made his way to the kitchen, where Liz was making breakfast.

She brought a pan over to his spot at the table and scooped some eggs into his plate, then kissed him quickly. "I'm sorry I used up all the hot water. I'll be more careful." she told him, before moving to the other side of the table and putting the rest of the eggs onto her own plate.

They ate in silence for a while, until Kyoya noticed the amount of eggs on Liz's plate. "Hungry today, are we?" he asked.

"Oh, well… you're going to laugh at me." Kyoya raised his eyebrows at this, and she sighed. "I wanted to fill up now so I don't look like a pig in front of your friends." Liz said.

Kyoya wasn't sure what surprised him more, the fact that she had mentioned seeing his friends, or that she was worried about something like that. Elizabeth was usually very confident, he had never imagined she would even think about things as trivial as what some high school students thought of her.

He decided to focus on the part about his friends first. "My friends?" he asked. A blush grew on her cheeks.

"Yeah. When Mitskuni came to the door this morning, he invited me to come to lunch with everyone today." she explained. "But, if you don't want me there, I understand. It's not a problem."

Kyoya shook his head. "No, it's alright. You can come if you wish. It's just…" he trailed off for a moment. She looked curiously at him. "They're a bit… much. A lot to handle, if you will. I'm not sure if you'll be comfortable." Kyoya gave her a small smile, and she returned it.

"I can handle it." Liz assured him. "And besides, you haven't talked much about your friends before. I would like to get to know them."

Kyoya chuckled. "Oh, you may have a different opinion on that once you meet them."

"Oh, come on. They're your friends, they can't be that bad." Liz said, digging back into her eggs.

"Ah, but you underestimate them." Kyoya said. He stood up from the table, taking his empty plate with him, and grabbed Liz's on the way by. "And, for the record, your appetite is nothing compared to any of them. They never would have thought you were a pig." he assured her. Kyoya brought their dishes to the sink and turned on the water, but Liz rushed over and pushed him aside with her hip.

"Nope! I do the cleaning, remember?" she said.

Kyoya chuckled. "Of course I remember. I just thought I'd pitch in a little today to make up for whatever idiotic things my friends are going to put you through at lunch." he explained.

"Kyoya…" Elizabeth said softly, turning off the sink and turning to him. "I don't have to worry about any of them, do I?" she asked.

Kyoya pulled her into a hug. "Of course not. They wouldn't be my friends if they were like that." he promised. Holding her like this made him think of the night they had first met...

A/N: YES I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUT THE SEPARATING LINE THANK GOODNESS!

Anyway... for hints of sexual themes, and what will be occurring in the following chapter, I have changed the rating of this story to M. I ended this chapter where I did because I wish to keep what comes next in an isolated chapter, so that people who it may trigger or might not like reading that sort of thing will be able to just skip it. I will put a summary of Chapter 5 at the beginning of Chapter 6, that way those who weren't able to read it won't be entirely lost. The next chapter of this story will include a short, not very graphic but still potentially triggering scene of domestic violence. I will put indicators before the scene begins and once it ends, so those possibly triggered still are able to read the following scenes in the chapter.

Also, please let me know what you think of Elizabeth! It's my first time ever writing an OC into a story, and I wasn't expecting to use one, but it just sort of happened and I really liked it? Love it or hate it, let me know! I'm still not entirely sure where this story will go, or what role Liz will play in the big scheme of things, but I do know that she will be in the rest of the story.