A/N: Happy Easter, everyone! I'm at yet another convention this weekend, so I was lucky just to get a chance to update. So consider yourselves lucky to get one! ;)

It was lunchtime, and I was scanning the cafeteria for a spot. Usually I sat with the twins, but today I saw a rare empty seat next to a familiar blond, surrounded by a familiar crowd of fangirls, and I decided to take it.

When I reached the table, I tapped Tamaki on his shoulder.

"Hey Sempai, mind if I–" I was interrupted by a flash of yellow and brown, a brunette moving at inhuman speed, squeezing into the spot next to Tamaki.

"Tama-chaaaaaan!" she squealed.

"Good morning, Fujioka-san," Tamaki greeted her cheerfully. Turning around, he added, "Oh, Boushi, did you need something?"

"Um…" What was I doing over here? Since when did I sit with Tamaki? He had his guests to entertain, even at lunch, and I had mine. "No, never mind," I said, shaking my head and going over to my usual table. Tamaki shrugged and waved as Fujioka made annoying squealy noises and hugged him.

"Hey guys, girls," I said to my table in general as I sat down across from the twins.

"Hey Boushi," Kaoru returned the greeting, elbowing Hikaru, who was deep in conversation with Kairi.

"Hi," Hikaru said, quickly glancing in my direction before returning his focus to Kairi. Kaoru was obviously annoyed at his brother, but I smiled. They were cute together, and sooner or later Kaoru would find someone of his own and understand.

"So, who's that girl over there by Tamaki-sempai, the one with the long brown hair?" I gestured in their direction, taking a bite of my sandwich. "I haven't seen her before."

Kaoru looked over at them. "Haruhi Fujioka…I think she's a transfer student from Lobelia or something, but I'm not sure. Kyoya could probably tell you. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, not really sure why her sudden appearance bugged me. "No reason."

Later that afternoon, Haruhi was the first to arrive at Host Club and glommed onto Tamaki the entire time, fawning over him and squealing and generally being annoying. Her incessant cries of "Tama-chaaaan!" made it rather hard to concentrate on my own guests.

"And when we get married, we'll have twenty children, and live in a big house, and eat fancy tuna at every meal!" she cried, clutching Tamaki's arm and gazing up into his eyes, her own brown ones wide.

"Twenty children? That seems like a lot," Tamaki chuckled.

"However many you want is fine with me, Tama-chan," Haruhi cooed complacently, and I felt a little part of my brain curl up and die on the spot.

"Are you okay, Bou?" Shizuka asked, evidently having adopted Hunny's nickname for me.

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Well, your eye was getting all twitchy…"

I shook my head to clear it. "Um, no, I'm fine. Anyway, where were we?"

Unfortunately, Haruhi wasn't just a fly; irritating, but gotten rid of as easily as with a shake of the head. A whole week dragged by, the most excruciating of my life. I felt like punching something every time I saw Haruhi with Tamaki. Finally, one night, it hit me – there could only be one explanation for Haruhi's inhuman fangirl noises, her supernatural powers of annoyance, and the sudden violent urges I got when she was around. Heart sinking, I sent out a mass text to all the hosts, leaving Tamaki's contact out of the recipient list.

Meet at school ASAP. Urgent!

…

"I call this top-secret, impromptu meeting of the Host Club to order!" I cried when everyone, sans Tamaki, had gathered in Music Room 3.

"Sheesh, Boushi, chill, you're acting like Milord," Hikaru said.

"As queen of the Host Club, I call this meeting to order!" Kaoru mimicked in a high-pitched voice, cocking his hips to one side in what I assume was his imitation of a girl. Normally I would've been able to laugh along with them, but this was serious business.

"Speaking of, where is Milord?" Hikaru asked.

"He wasn't invited to the top-secret, impromptu meeting because the matter we're discussing concerns him," I grumbled. "He's in danger, but the female attention being showered on him is blinding him to the truth – that Haruhi Fujioka is, in fact, a demon!" I declared, pointing straight ahead of me, my other hand coming to rest on my hip in a fist as if I was in a front stance.

Dead silence followed my words for a moment, then the twins burst into hysterical laughter, leaning on each other so they didn't collapse. Even more irritating was Kyoya's look of detached amusement at my announcement.

"What…are you serious?" Hikaru asked, howling with laughter. "Oh boy, if only you could see yourself right now, Milord is rubbing off on you…"

"A demon? Seriously? And what's with that pose?" Kaoru cackled.

"It's not funny! How can you not see it? She's all over him, all the time, always making weird noises and…" I was racking my brain, but I couldn't think of anything else. "…just being creepy! She's evil!"

Hikaru wiped a tear of mirth from his eye and shook his head. "No, she's a teenage girl. More annoying than most, but not evil. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"Because she has to be a monster, why else would her being around bother me so much? Maybe I'm developing a sixth sense for –" Suddenly, I could see light bulbs going off over everyone's heads. "What, what is it?"

"Boushi..." Hikaru began slowly.

"Do you think maybe..." his twin continued.

"Just possibly," Hikaru added cautiously.

"You're..." Kaoru glanced at his brother nervously.

"Jealous?" they asked together.

I was momentarily stunned into silence. "Jealous? Me? Me, jealous?" I finally sputtered. Hunny and Mori exchanged infuriatingly knowing looks. "That's completely absurd!" I cried, my voice reaching a pitch only the Host Club could bring out in me. "Fine, if you're not going to take me seriously, I'm going home!" I stormed out, ignoring the protests of the hosts I left behind. Suddenly, I just wanted to be alone.

Jumping on my bike, I raced home, concentrating on the sting of the cool night air on my face, trying to ignore the twins' jealousy comment. I got to my apartment complex, hopped off my bike, ran upstairs, crept through the front door, and locked myself in my room, collapsing fully clothed on my bed.

"Jealous," I scoffed to myself. I couldn't be jealous, that would mean I liked the blond dolt or something. Tamaki was stupid, narcissistic, annoying, maudlin, manic depressive...but...

He was also one of the kindest people I'd ever met. He made me laugh, he always knew what to say to make me feel better, and even had moments when he seemed wise beyond his years. I remembered his birthday present to me, our trip to Mood Japan, the night the umiza had tried to kill us and he had protected me, comforted me, let me open up and didn't judge me…

I sat straight up in bed, eyes wide, as something clicked. Wait…how…when had I started thinking like that? The last thing I remembered, Tamaki was some idiot who thought I was a boy…and now he was kind, funny, wise? We were going shopping together?Had something happened in the short time in between that I hadn't noticed?

But no, it hadn't been such a short time after all…a quick glance at my calendar confirmed it, it had been almost six months now, the school year was nearly halfway over.

As I recalled everything I'd been through with the Host Club in the time that had seemed to fly by so quickly, a reminiscent smile crossed my face, occasionally souring into a grimace. Sure, when I had first joined the Host Club, I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do less, but gradually, I had gotten used to it – pretending to be a guy, fighting monsters, everything. More than that, I had grown to enjoy it, and to love those idiots.

"Gah!" Caught off guard by my own thoughts, I fell out of bed, flustered. I had almost forgotten what had me so stressed out in the first place until the word love crossed my mind.

"Okay, so I don't hate him," I mumbled to myself, standing up and beginning to pace. "Maybe I like him. But there's no way I could have fallen for him! I'm nothing like those dopey girls who fawn all over him at the Host Club just because he's good looking. I mean, it's not like that's his only good trait or anything, but –" Suddenly realizing where I was going with this, I stopped myself from finishing the thought. There I went again!

"Ohhh no," I moaned, slumping over in defeat. This couldn't be happening. Why hadn't I seen it coming? Hugging him when I'd lost my memories should have been my first clue. After all, when I didn't have any preconceived notions of his idiocy, and I just thought he was just a nice guy who would do anything to protect his friends, I felt a rush of affection towards him. So knowing everything I did about the amazing person he was, I realized that if I could just look past his stupidity, the emotion – stronger than just fondness for a kind stranger – growing inside me without my notice made sense.

Sighing resignedly, I collapsed backward onto my bed. "Fine. Whatever. Let's just…see where this goes," I decided, climbing under the covers. There was nothing to do for now except wait for something to happen, for better or for worse, so that's just what I was going to do.

…

The next morning, Tamaki wasn't at school. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed, but settled on worried when Hikaru commented, "That's odd. Milord prides himself on having never missed a day of school before, and he didn't even let anyone know he wouldn't be here today."

"Really?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

My voice must have betrayed how I was feeling, because Kaoru added, "Don't worry about it. You know Milord, he probably just got sidetracked by something shiny."

I laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I just hope the fangirls don't start a riot."

So I put it out of my mind, assuming Tamaki would show up later, or call someone to tell us he was sick or something. When club came and went, and no one had heard from Tamaki yet, I started to wonder if something had happened, but I tried not to think about that as I said good-bye to the rest of the hosts and made them promise to call me if they heard anything.

I got home, grabbed our mail on the way in, and threw it on the counter. I was going to get a snack from the fridge when a letter in the stack of bills and ads caught my eye. It was addressed to me, which was weird, because no one ever wrote me, and even weirder was the labeling – it was so gold and loopy I could hardly make it out, for one thing, but what really shocked me was that it was from Haruhi Fujioka.

"Why would Tamaki's fangirl be writing to me?" I wondered out loud as I opened the envelope and slipped the letter out.

As my eyes scanned the paper, my jaw dropped. I knew she was crazy, but…no way. This couldn't be serious.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Miss Haruhi Fujioka and Mr. Tamaki Suoh, to take place promptly at 6:00 tonight at the Fujioka mansion. Don't be late!~

As if I wasn't already freaking out enough, scrawled at the bottom was a single word in Tamaki's handwriting:

Help.