Chapter Twenty One

One Of Us! One Of Us!

"Come on! Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Still no, Honey, and would you please take your customers back to your table so I can do my job?" Honey's eyes widened until they glistened with tears and he scuffed his toe on the floor, the very picture of adorable misery. I ignored him, putting my boots up on the table and scrolling through the music on my phone. I could see Mori watching from a distance, debating whether to interfere. The girls surrounding Honey gave me an evil look. How dare I upset their adorable host?

"I'll come with you, Honey-kun!" One girl said quickly, in an attempt to placate him. It didn't work and he kept staring at me, hoping to make me give in. I raised an eyebrow and put my headphones back in, playing music just quiet enough to hear what was going on but loud enough to give me an excuse not to.

"Look, Honey-kun, I made you a cake!" Another said, producing said treat from somewhere about her person. His face lit up and they went back to his table in a cloud of excitement, with only a half begging glance in my direction. I sighed and rocked back on my chair, tapping my fingers on my knee. The host club was as quiet and drama-free as it had ever been – it seemed like I was the most drama they'd had since last year's Tamaki-leaving catastrophe that had been briefly mentioned. In fact, the last week had been so quiet that I was starting to suspect the universe had forgotten about me. I wouldn't mind that, but it just seemed incredibly unlikely.

I had become, however, an official member of the host club, in a way. I was still the security and I was still completely confused on a regular basis but somehow I was part of the group. Tamaki wasn't entirely pleased, as he couldn't figure out where in this weird family of his I fell, but seemed delighted at my friendship with Haruhi. I was actually spending quite a bit of time with her. I think our initial misunderstanding of pretty much everything Ouran bonded us in a way that none of the others quite understood. She was tutoring me in Japanese, for which I visited her house, and her father had taken a liking to me. Apparently he enjoyed the fact I could probably beat up his future son-in-law.

Kaoru caught my eye and grinned across the room as Hikaru span some elaborate tale that would, inevitably, end up showcasing their closeness. I refused to go pink and smiled back. That one in particular was driving me crazy. We hadn't really spoken about… well, anything that mattered. It was hard to find any time when he was alone and even then, it was unlikely I'd be around. As much as I'd started to find a place to fit in, I still slunk back to my little poverty stricken apartment block every night to drive Yuri insane.

Speaking of Yuri, he was mad at me again. All the Sato family were absolutely furious. It was something to do with taking their troubles onto my shoulders and I shouldn't have dealt with that because of them and blah blah blah. Mrs Sato kept alternating between wanting to hit me with a spoon and folding me into those great big hugs of hers. I was under orders that if anyone tried anything like Tsubame's little trick again, I was to tell them and apparently Yuri's five older brothers – yes, five – would sort it out for me. I wasn't going to say no to that, especially if they all resembled Daisuke. I wasn't too worried. The only trouble I'd had with Tsubame recently were evil glances from afar. It was only a matter of time before she started her campaign of vengeance but this time.

This time, I thought, grinning wickedly.

"Well, that's a kind of a terrifying expression," Hikaru commented, knocking one of my headphones out. I rolled my eyes.

"What're you thinking about?" Kaoru asked, leaning on the back of my chair.

"Cold revenge," I said lightly, sliding my phone back into my pocket. "Is the session over already?" They shrugged as one.

"For us," they said.

"Haruhi's stretching the last customer out a bit," Hikaru said, pushing my feet off the table to sit down.

"She doesn't like karaoke," Kaoru told me. I made a face. I knew why – Haruhi could not sing. At all. She was tone-deaf and completely blank-faced. For saying she was dating someone with such musical talent, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover this. Some people were made to perform; Haruhi was definitely made to watch.

"So why is she going?"

"Tamaki asked her to," Hikaru explained. Ah, yes. That old trick. It seemed to work on Haruhi almost every time, unless his idea was completely and utterly ridiculous, at which point she would shoot him down with no hesitation. It was one of the reasons I really like Haruhi. She was brutally honest. I picked up my bag without looking, accidentally dumping my things on the floor.

"Smooth," I muttered, bending down to shove it back in. The twins helped, collecting the pens and pencils that had rolled to escape.

"What's this?" I looked up and my mouth went dry.

"Oh. That." I took the slightly dying flower from Kaoru and stared at it. I thought I'd been so lucky this morning when there hadn't been a rose delivered. How the hell did that get in my bag? Had I walked past someone without realising? I thought I had learnt all the members. What if they'd got into the apartment? I felt colder. They couldn't be doing that. The Ootori landlords had redone the front door with new locks and a keypad and even I messed up getting in sometimes. This made ten flowers, one for each day since I'd got home. Was he never going to leave me alone?

Hikaru coughed slightly and I landed back in reality.

"Just a weird guy I know," I said with a shrug, snapping it in half. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either. My slight horror must have shown on my face because Kaoru's expression more closely resembled worry than curiosity.

If I ever got the chance, I was going to kick Jai so hard in the balls he'd be spitting semen for a month.

"You okay?" I smiled at him, trying to diffuse the situation, and replace the last few things in my bag.

"Of course I am," I assured him. "Why wouldn't I be?" He folded his arms, looking thoughtful.

"What about your injuries?" My hand rose to my chest automatically.

"They're fine. They're healing faster than I thought they would," I said, completely honestly. What I wasn't honestly about was how I'd got them. Falling through a window was one of the oldest excuses in the book but I'd learnt a long time ago that simple but detailed lies, repeated perfectly often enough, tended to be believed. I didn't want any of these guys involved with Jai. This wasn't a problem money or status could fix. This one I was sorting out by myself.

"Really?" His fingers tingled on the back of my hand. I looked up at him and he pulled his hand away, as if surprised it was there at all. I let my hand drop to my side. These moments were what was driving me insane and giving Yuri much more fodder for the mockery cannon. He grinned almost sheepishly and I bit my lip, looking anywhere but him.

"Almost," I heard Hikaru mutter, his eyes on Haruhi. The other hosts were tensed. I frowned. What were they doing?

They were waiting until Haruhi's last customer had graciously taken her leave. In an instant, they pounced on her before she could run, inducing yells of protest from the pile. I smirked from my chair as she sulked, caught in Tamaki's loving arms.

"To the karaoke bar!" He said happily.

"Kat-chan, are you coming yet?" Honey said, leaning over Mori's head to stare at me.

"For the hundredth, Honey, no, I am not." I swung my bag onto my shoulder. The twins looked at me.

"Why not?" Tamaki asked, shocked.

"I don't do karaoke," I said shortly.

"Nor do I," Haruhi said, glaring. The hosts were expertly ignoring the slightly chilling look on her face as they lead her towards the door, chatting over her head.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Hikaru said, darting in front of me before I could leave. I shook my head, trying to get around him. Honey appeared in my way, staring adorably at me over Usa-chan's head. He should, logically, have been impossible to resist. I'd always been particularly good with kids, which may surprise everyone I knew, and I had a weak spot that Suzu exploited on an almost daily basis. Honey, though, I was finding very easy to resist. It probably had something to do with the fact he beat the ever-loving shite out of me.

"Please, Kat-chan!" He begged.

"Honey, no matter how big you make your eyes, I am still going to say no," I groaned. The twins grinned, exchanging a glance, and I suddenly felt like I should have said nothing at all. There was a particular look that those two got when they were feeling distinctly mischievous and it never boded well for anyone but themselves.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really," I retorted.

"What about how big Kaoru makes his eyes?" He teased. I opened my mouth to make a hopefully snappy comeback but was span around. Kaoru caught my chin and locked eyes with mine.

"Please," he murmured. I tried to reply but all I did was go pink and open and close my mouth like a moron. His amber eyes shone like stars and my heart started up its own jazz band, bashing around my ribcage.

I also may have melted.

"You guys are assholes," I muttered, embarrassed, turning away and storming towards the door. Hikaru cracked up and Kaoru grinned, rubbing the back of his neck as if suddenly self-conscious. Honey ran ahead of me, arms spread like an aeroplane, chanting 'Kat-chan's coming!' over and over again until Mori told him calmly to save his voice. I fell into step next to Haruhi, folding my arms.

And I had mocked her for exactly the same thing.