I wasn't sure why I was so worried. In reality, they were harmless. Or mostly harmless anyways. I recognized Haruhi immediately, along with the one in the center as the guy who was rambling at me when I first met all of them. "Welcome Caelie," he says with a dramatic bow. "To the Host Club. We used to be called the Ouran Host Club, but now we're not at Ouran, so we had a vote to shorten it." Then, almost inaudibly, I hear him murmur, "I wanted to call it the Room 407 Host Club, but that apparently 'sounds stupid'."

"Uh huh," I nod, pretending like I know exactly what's going on. "So I've been told. It's nice to meet you all again?"

"But of course," he takes a few steps forward, his previous mood forgotten, and I fight my initial instinct to run away again. Haruhi gives me a look that seems to be begging me to stay. Tamaki takes both of my hands and pulls me towards him. He spins me around and throws an arm around my shoulder. "Now, let's give you a proper introduction. Club!" Everyone seems to take this as an instruction for something and moves into a line, Kyoya included.

"Now tell me," he says with a flourish of his hand. "What do you care for in a man?" What kind of question is that? "We have Mori and Honey-senpai," he points at two boys on the end who were the complete opposites of each other. One small and blonde who is smiling widely at me, the other tall with dark hair and was quietly observing. "There's Hikaru and Kaoru," the next two boys in line couldn't be more different from the first two. They were identical, save for the one on the right having hair that was slightly darker than the one on the left. "And of course you've already met Haruhi and Kyoya," I start to nod but pause, still not really sure where this was going. "And then there's me," he turns me to face him. "Their fearless leader, Tamaki Suoh. But they call me King."

"No we don't," the twins speak up. In that moment, the lights fade from Tamaki Suoh's eyes and he slumps to the floor. That seems to trigger some kind of string cutting, as the whole group of them disperses at that moment. They ignore their friend on the ground.

"I think he's dead…" I say, poking him in the arm. He doesn't move, but this close it's easier to tell that his blonde hair comes from some kind of european heritage. "Um… excuse me… Tamaki?"

"Oh just ignore him," the darker haired twin, Hikaru I believe, says. "We do that for long enough he'll get over it faster." I'm skeptical of those words, mainly because once he says them Tamaki starts rolling back and forth on the floor. "Ignore him," he repeats, and I finally pull my eyes away from that fiasco. Haruhi waves me over to join them

I cautiously step around Tamaki and sit down with the rest of them. "It's… nice to meet you all," I say cautiously. "I will admit you all gave me a fright when I first met you all," I try laughing, but it sounds more like a forced attempt to be light and merry than genuine.

"Did you make these?" the little boy, Honey, asks. He holds up a tray that seems to have the cookies I made on it. "They're really good."

"Well, I put them in the oven," I laugh a little, this time sounding a bit more real, "but I didn't make them from scratch or anything. They're just ordinary slice-and-bake ones I found at the grocery store."

"Slice… and bake?" Hikaru asks, and looking around the only one who doesn't seem surprised is Haruhi. "Is that some kind of code for something?"

"No, you buy the cookie dough in a tube, then you cut it into slices and bake them in the oven," I say. Their minds all appear to be blown as they stare at the tray. Honey hesitantly takes another one and bites into it. My cheeks start burning and stare at my knees.

I hear Haruhi audibly sigh, "Really guys, you were raving about them 10 minutes ago. Did you really think she was going to spend hundreds on fancy chocolate chips or something?" Nobody says anything, but the tension I'm feeling seems to vanish after a moment and I look up. Other than Honey stuffing his face with cookies the others seem to be smiling genuinely save for Kyoya, though he was never one to smile much. "Don't worry about them," he laughs, "they're too rich for their own good."

I laugh too, "I guess I just have a hard time imagining it. I mean, people as rich as you don't normally rent places here. What brought you all around?"

"Well I'm here on a study program," Haruhi laughs, "the rest of them thought it would be a great idea to follow me here."

"Whoa now, don't wrap all us up in the same group as your boyfriend!" Kauro says, "we only came along cause we thought it would be fun!" They all start arguing about why they had all found their way to Boston, and I take the moment to get a better look at them without someone being in my face.

Hikaru and Kauru were as I had assumed, twins. They seemed to mirror each other in a lot of the stuff they did, even the little things like the way they sat and the way they put things on their plates. Honey ironically enough was the oldest of the group. He certainly didn't act like it though, the way he finished all the cookies by the time everyone else had one. Mori appeared to be his foil, silent with eyes that seemed to be scanning everything and everyone. Haruhi appeared to be the most normal of the group, and she formally introduced herself to me. I will admit for a second I was really confused, but then they started talking about everything that led up to her joining the club in the first place.

The more they talked, the more I settled into my seat. I could almost feel a smile starting to form on my face. "So," I jump a little in my seat as I realized Kyoya had moved to sit next to me. I hadn't even noticed? How had I not noticed? But unlike earlier when he seemed more interested in just getting me here, now he seemed… nicer? Bit odd knowing how he is most of the time. "What do you think so far Caelie?"

"It's," I start, but stop once I look at him and see the reflection of everyone looking at me in his glasses. After thinking it over for a few moments I start again, "I suppose it depends on what you mean. You guys," I wave my hand around the room, "are pretty cool. The Host Club thing," I stop again, taking some time to think with everyone staring at me. "I suppose that's something that I'll have to get used to."

"Does that mean you'll come back when we're open?" Honey asks.

"Well, I wouldn-" "Of course she will," Tamaki seems to take that moment to jump back into the conversation, cutting me off. His hands clamp down on my shoulders, making me flinch as he continues, "In fact, I've decided that she'll get her first week free. Just so she can really understand the experience." Okay… maybe the whole 'entertaining women' thing isn't so far off from what I was originally thinking.

I twist my torso from his grip and stand up, "That's very thoughtful of you, really. But I'm not really interested in this whole thing. Not that I'm trying to judge you," I add hastily, though I can see Honey's face fall even as I do. "But…" I look at everyone else. They're not as expressive as Honey is, but I could even see the slight trace of disappointment in Mori's eyes. "But… but… but I'd also be very rude to flat out deny your offer…" I finally say. But before they all can start talking over me again, I hold up one finger, "I'll give you one day, okay? After that I'll just come see you guys after you're done for the day."

I'm afraid for a second that I've said something that'll make Tamaki shut down again, but Kyoya speaks up before he can, "Honestly Tamaki I'm surprised you got her to agree to even one day." Everyone starts laughing this time, even me.

"Well then," Tamaki bows, then takes my hand in both his own. I look from my hand to his face. He smiles, "We'll see you there Lady Caelie."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello readers! Sorry this took so long to finally post, I had finals and graduation to worry about. But with that done and over with, now I'll be able to spend more time writing and will be able to give you more frequent updates! Thanks for taking the time to read this.

~ aWritingSparrow