Haruhi

A month has passed and winter had finally begun to turn into spring. Coming with warmer weather and the sprouting flowers, Haruhi believes that she had finally fixed hers and Hikaru's relationship to how it was before all that shit that happened between them. She may even say that they have gotten closer.

They spent almost every second at school together, only separating if either of them had to go somewhere privately, but they always waited for each other. Usually, it annoyed Haruhi whenever someone was so clingy to her, especially when it was Tamaki. She had to literally place boundaries for him because he wouldn't leave her alone, but with Hikaru it was different. She didn't know why really, but she actually hated when he wasn't around her and would actually search for him if she didn't know his whereabouts. Maybe it was the protective side of her that made her feel this way. If he wasn't in her sight he could get hurt, so she just wanted to be with him so he'll be safe.

She also began making lunches for him (which he first protested her to do) and she's rarely ever done that to any of her friends, even the Host Club when she was apart of it. Though Hikaru it was as if she needed to make food for him because she knew he wasn't eating the greatest at home all the time and if she made him meals she could actually see him eat.

During their falling out, she noticed that Hikaru had dropped a significant amount of weight, which was most likely from the fact that his mother rarely fed him. He wasn't bone skinny, but just by looking at him it was easy to tell that he dropped about five to ten pounds, but he looked scarily ill some days. His skin would be pale and he'd have dark circles under his eyes as if he didn't get any sleep for days and his clothes were getting baggy when they use to firmly fit his fit body, but after they became friends again his health has improved immensely. His skin has gone back to its normal peach color and he looked well rested most of the time. He was now back to a healthy weight and fit back in his clothes, and quite good if Haruhi might add...but she wouldn't say that out loud.

Haruhi smiled as she began forming a rice ball in her hands as she began making Hikaru's and her lunch for tomorrow. He told her earlier that morning how much he was craving tempura so she decided to make that along with some Italian food because he wasn't the biggest fan of rice balls since he said they didn't have enough flavor.

'Ok, so he loves spicy food, but only if it has flavor and not just heat. He also detests cilantro, which I soon learned by making a hot pit the usual way I make it since dad loves the herb, and Hikaru literally almost spit his food out then spent the next half hour picking it out, and even though there was still some in his bowl after he made it to please me.'

Haruhi chuckled at the memory and placed the finished rice ball in her bento before closing the top of it and putting hers and Hikaru's in the refrigerator. All she had to do now was finish up dinner and start studying for next week's assignments so she could write some notes for Hikaru to help him during their tutoring sessions, but as she was about to go check on the stewpot she was making her phone dinging drew her attention away.

"I swear to God if it's Tamaki senpai again I'm blocking his number." She grumbled as she made her way to her phone on the dining room table. "I guess me ignoring him doesn't process through his thick skull that we're fucking over."

She snatched her phone off the table and was about to shut it off when she saw that the message was from Hikaru. Her glare fell and grew a bit concerned. Usually he called her to talk about whatever was on his mind and texted her whenever he was upset or he was forced to be quiet by his mother and didn't want to risk getting in trouble by calling her. She opened his text and read the message he sent her.

'Can I come over?'

This late at night? It might've only been around eight but it was rare for her to have guests over this late, but if he was asking to come over there had to be a good reason why. She replied to him, 'yes' and not even a moment later there was a knock at her door. There was no way in hell that he could've made it all the way here that fast. Was he just waiting outside her apartment hoping that she'd say yes? If so, whatever happened at his home must've hurt him greatly. She opened the door a crack to see an exhausted looking Hikaru, who had a fresh bruise on his left cheek.

"Hikaru…" She quietly gasped as she opened the door the rest of the way.

"Sorry, I know it's late but…" his eyes met hers and she could see the mixture of all the emotions he was feeling at that exact second, "I really can't handle being at home right now."

"God, Hikaru what happened?" She asked as she cupped his cheek.

He winced at her touch but allowed her to keep her hand there as he answered. "I don't know. Everything was fine at first. She was actually being caring and didn't seem intoxicated so I thought that she might've actually been sober today, but when I didn't say that I loved her back because I didn't hear her say it she snapped. Calling me worthless and other names, and even though I apologized and said I loved her back she didn't believe I meant it and slapped me. She then began acting aggressive, a complete 180 from what she was moments before and I didn't feel safe to home with her. She's been becoming far more violent and unpredictable ever since she's been back on…"

His sentence soon grew silent and he looked away.

"What do you mean 'since she's been back on?'" Haruhi asked as she drew her hand back.

"Nothing," he softly answered, "can I come in?"

"Sure." She stepped aside to let Hikaru in and followed him to the dining room, where he slumped down in one of the chairs. "Did you eat already? I'm almost done making dinner."

"I'm fine." He murmured as he laid his head down in her arms. "You should eat and leave the leftovers for your dad when he gets home. I'm not hungry."

She hated when he gave her that type of answer. That was one of the main reasons he looked so sickly before. Other than smoking, his other bad habit was that he wouldn't eat whenever he was upset and since his mother abuse began again his weight dropped. She had to force him to eat once she discovered this unhealthy habit and that is how she got him back to a healthy weight again, so she wasn't letting him go back to his old habits.

"You have to eat at least something." Haruhi encouraged, which Hikaru just replied with a shrug. "If you don't want to eat the dinner I'm making now I have some leftovers from a couple of nights ago that I think you might like." He just grumbled that he was fine as he looked at the TV that Haruhi had playing in the background, drumming his fingers on the old wood. "Have you at least eaten today?"

His silence confirmed her suspicions and she glared at him before making her way back to the kitchen. He may not be hungry now because he was upset, but she knew if she didn't make him eat it'll only backtrack the progress they made. She put the leftovers for him in the microwave as she finished up her own dinner.

Hikaru's eyes shot open and he jumped as Haruhi slammed a fork down next to his meal and gave him a stern glare. "Eat."

"But I'm not hungry." He groaned, but Haruhi didn't back down.

"I don't care. You haven't eaten all day. I'm not letting you starve yourself because you're upset."

"But-"

"No buts, now eat."

Hikaru huffed before looking at the food in front of him in disgust as if Haruhi had just served him some roadkill from the side of the road. Yeah, it might've not been the most extravagant meal in the world, just some plain noodles with some olive oil and some shrimp, but it was Italian and he seemed to like it the last time she made it. He was just being a child.

Haruhi sat down across from him and began eating her own meal. For a few minutes they just ate in silence, well Haruhi did. Hikaru just began pushing his food around and poking at the shrimps as if they were foreign objects. Haruhi let out a sigh as she put her bowl back on the table.

"Hikaru, can you just please try to eat." She pleaded, making him look back up at her. "I know you don't feel hungry but I think it might make you feel a bit better if you got some food in your system." He looked back down at his food, seeming unsure. "For me."

He rolled his eyes back up at her, meeting her eyes for a few minutes before letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll eat."

"Thank you."

She watched as he took his time to stab a piece of shrimp and held it up to his mouth. Haruhi motioned with her head for him to eat it and with a groan he did, which made Haruhi smile.

"See, that wasn't too hard." She teased.

"Fuck off," he murmured, but from the faint smile on his lips told her that he was beginning to feel better.

He ate slowly, but he finished his first bowl in about thirty minutes and to Haruhi's delight he actually asked for another serving. She happily watched his mood change from dark and solemn back to his normal self and helped her clean up after the had finished eating. She didn't know why, but she's been feeling a bit different whenever she was around him lately. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it just felt weird. It was similar to the feeling she got when she was around Tamaki when she was first discovering that she liked him, but these feelings felt more intense.

But it couldn't be the same thing, right? She might've been over Tamaki being her boyfriend but she still wasn't over the emotional scar he left her for cheating, so she definitely wasn't ready to be in a new relationship. The feelings she was probably feeling right now was probably from her getting close to Hikaru and them becoming best friends that they have a strong bond and it's making her body feel all tingly whenever she's around him. That's what having a best friend felt like, right? She never really had one before so this was a whole new feeling to her. She did remember Hikaru confessing that he had feelings for her when they were drunk. Did he still feel that way? It's not like it really mattered to her or anything but what if the time during their fall out he stopped liking her that way?

'Why does that thought make my chest feel tight?'

"Hey," Haruhi jumped a bit at Hikaru's voice as he walked up to her washing dishes with the rest of the silverware, "are you alright? You seem like you're arguing with yourself."

"Uh, I'm fine." She blurted out as she took the silverware from him. "Thanks for bringing me the rest of the dishes."

"Uh, alright…"

He walked away to put the leftover stew pot while Haruhi cursed to herself. Could she have embarrassed herself anymore? And why was she all of a sudden riled up? She was fine not too long ago, maybe she was just tired.

She finished the dishes and joined Hikaru on the couch, who was staring at his phone screen perturbed.

"Is everything alright?" Haruhi asked as she sat next to him. He didn't seem to have heard her as his eyes darted back and forth as if he was reading something. "Hikaru?" He finally seemed to hear her and turned to her. "Is everything alright? Is your mom texting you?"

"No, I don't think she even knows I left yet." He sighed out as he looked back at his phone. "It's Kaoru, the school is extending their New York trip for another semester."

"That's good, right? You wanted them extending the trip to be approved so Kaoru wouldn't have to come home to your mother's abuse."

"I know, it's just," he sighed as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "I'm glad that he's staying in New York till the end of the school year, but I miss him. This is the longest I've ever been separated from him. Before, the longest I was away from him was when he went to the hospital for about a month after mom beat him severely that one time, but at least I got the visit him. With him in New York, I can only Skype with him certain hours and it's not the same as having him here. I know I sound dependent on him, but it's just…"

"You two have been together since you were born." Haruhi finished, which Hikaru nodded to. "I completely understand Hikaru. From what Kaoru has told me, you two use to shut everyone out because they just saw you as 'the twins' and not as individuals. You only had each other until you finally joined the Host Club. I don't know the reason why you got kicked out, but Kaoru decided to stay because he made friends and didn't want to lose them."

"Yeah…" His attention turned towards the clock, seeing that it was almost ten. Haruhi noticed his jaw tensing up as he seemed to gulp. "I have to get going soon if I want to make it home before 10:30, but I really don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight in that fucking Hell house."

His eyes moved to his car keys that laid on the coffee table as if he was contemplating if he should actually go or not. Haruhi knew that when he got home and his mother found out that he snuck out he might get hurt more than he already was. What she did tonight was nothing compared to anything she has done in the past month. She had locked him in a closet for almost twelve hours with no food or water because he got marked tardy, only because she refused to let him leave for school because it was, in her own words 'too dangerous to drive in the rain. She also burnt his homework because he was doing that instead of having 'family time,' then punished him by hitting him a few times for embarrassing her because he failed the assignments.

What would she do if she was still up and saw that Hikaru had snuck out? Would his punishment be far worse than what already happened tonight? It had to be, she was already angry with him so there would be no way she'd go easy on him. Just the thought of his own mother hurting him always made her feel sick to her stomach. She couldn't just let him leave to go back to that place he's forced to call home.

"Why don't you just spend the night here?" Haruhi asked without thinking.

Hikaru looked back over at her surprised. She has never asked anyone to stay the night at her house before, let alone a guy (especially one she had slept with).

"Really?" Hikaru asked, still in a state of shock. "You're offering me to sleepover?"

Haruhi suddenly felt her face heat up a bit for some reason, probably because she just offered him to spend the night and in teen language that meant "sleeping together," but that was far from what she wanted to do.

"I don't feel comfortable seeing you go back to your house tonight. Your mom has been more aggressive than usual. From what you told me before, she usually forgets why she's angry with you after she goes to sleep. So tomorrow morning you'll most likely be safe when you get home."

"But what about your dad? He'll literally kill me if he sees me here after midnight. Kaoru told me that when he accidentally fell asleep here the time when you were helping Tamaki see his mom, your dad freaked out."

He was right. Her dad like Hikaru a lot, but if he caught him in their house when he got home around three in the morning he'll most likely be pissed. She could just imagine what she would do. He might not hurt Hikaru, but he might threaten him enough to the point where Hikaru might be too terrified to be around Haruhi anymore.

But she just couldn't let him go home knowing that his mother was most likely still awake waiting for him, so she came up with another suggestion.

"Then how about instead of spending the night you just stay here until you know your mom will be asleep." She placed a comforting hand on top of his. "I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if you went home now. Can you just stay here for a little longer?"

She could see that he was considering her request but was conflicted. She knew that if he stayed here he would escape his mom's wrath for the night but would she still be angry with him in the morning? He would still get a punishment if she did, and it could be far worse than what would have happened tonight.

"Fine," he exhaled, "I'll stay here for an hour or two."

"Thank you." Haruhi smiled, a smirk began tugging the corners of her lips, "maybe we can get some tutoring done as long as you're here."

He smirked playfully back at her. "You fucking wish." He stood up from the couch and began walking towards the direction of her room. "Since I'm the guest and I'm staying here for a few more hours I might as well snoop around a bit."

"Hey!" Haruhi protested as she followed him to her room. "Didn't you ever learn not to snoop through a girl's room?"

"I've literally seen you naked." He said as he opened her closet. "You literally have nothing else to hide."

She glared at him as she felt her face heat up. "Yeah, well...I've seen you naked too." She retorted, but it only caused him to snigger.

"Yeah, and I have nothing to hide." He chortled mischievously.

He began looking through some of her outfits she had hung up, making snide comments about all of them, saying they were either drab, cheap, scratchy, or an eyesore. Usually comments people made about her outfits didn't get to her but for some reason, it was affecting her right now. Maybe it was because Hikaru's mom was a fashion designer so he actually knew about fashion, but Kaoru was his twin and whenever he did the same thing it never bugged her. So why does it now?

"Ok, I get it." Haruhi grumbled as she marched her way over to him. "I have bad fashion sense. Now, will you stop criticizing my clothes." She slammed the door to her closet closed before Hikaru could insult anything else.

"I don't know why you're upset with me. You're the one who wanted me to stay over."

"Yeah, but I did so you could be safe for the night, not to snoop through my room."

He shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal. "It's not like you're hiding a fucking corpse in there or anything. So I don't see what the big deal is." He flopped down on her bed, laying his hand back in his hands. "But if you don't want me snooping in here than I won't."

Haruhi crossed her arms. "You know, you're a pretty bad house guest. Usually, guests don't look through their host's rooms and lay on their beds. They're actually supposed to be respectful."

He looked down at her as his smirk slowly returned. "Then why don't you join me? So then I won't be so 'disrespectful' because you'll be lying here with me."

"That's not how it works Hikaru." She rolled her eyes, but yet she actually felt tempted to take him up on his request and a part of it was because she knew that he was putting up an act for her. He was still hurting. He was usually extra clingy with her, but it would determine how severe the abuse was he sometimes wouldn't let her touch him. For the most part, he would just tense up a bit before accepting her touch but on a few occasions, he would gently push her away, saying that he was sorry. He once even had a full blown panic attack when she hugged him once, yelling at her to not fucking touch him and pushed her away. When he calmed down he was ashamed for what he did and apologized before telling her what his mom did to cause him to react that way. His mom had hugged him one night out of the blue while making dinner and within a few seconds held his head above the burning stove because he didn't hug her back quick enough, so he just reacted out of instinct that day when Haruhi hugged him.

She looked at the open spot next to him, sensing that he was pleading for her to take it.

"But," she exhaled, "maybe we can watch a movie together if you really want to sit together."

Hikaru's smirk grew and he scooted over to give Haruhi more room on the tiny bed as she joined him. She grabbed her laptop that Kaoru had gifted her last year and began searching for some movies to watch that she had downloaded on her drive.

"What type of movie do you want to watch? A drama, a rom-com, horror?" Hikaru didn't respond to her question after a few moments and when she turned to him she saw that his playful smirk was now replaced with a faraway look as he stared out the window of her room, seeming worried. "Hikaru?"

He blinked a few times as he broke out of his trance and looked back at Haruhi, giving her the best smile he could muster. "Sorry, I was daydreaming. What did you say?"

"Hikaru, you know you don't have to hide how you're really feeling around me. I'm here for you no matter what." His smile fell hearing those words and faced away from her again. Haruhi closed her laptop and pushed it to the side before turning so she could face him. "Are you still upset about what happened tonight with your mother?"

He remained silent for a few moments before letting out a quiet reply. "No, not really."

"Then what's wrong?"

"My mom," his voice was barely a whisper, "she told me last night that she always despised me. She said that she was the one who wanted to have kids so early in their marriage and when she found out she was having twins she was ecstatic." His voice turned brittle and began playing with the blanket with his fingers as he continued, "but she said once we were born I was too much of a hassle and I was the reason why Kaoru turned out 'bad' and 'disrespectful' like me. She told me that when she was driving Kaoru and me home when we were babies from a doctor's appointment late at night I was throwing a fit, and that caused Kaoru to throw one as well. She got so fed up that she thought about just dropping me off someplace alone, letting another family deal with me...and to this day she said she regrets not following through with it."

Haruhi was appalled. Yeah, parents get fed up with their children all the time, but a true parent wouldn't actually think about leaving one of their kids somewhere to possibly die while waiting for someone to take them. Haruhi was told from her father that she was an easy baby, but she did have her moments like all children do, but her parents wouldn't give her up for any other child in the world, no matter how great they were but with Hikaru's mother just saying that she thought about abandoning him so openly like that, even after all the abuse he's been through for so long. It seems this was the most painful wound she has given him.

"Maybe she didn't mean what she said." Haruhi tried to reassure. "She's just drunkenly ranting. Usually, people spew out bull shit they don't really mean."

"I know, but…" His words were like glass that was about to shatter, "usually when she's drunk she spills out everything she has been holding in while sober." He swallowed as if he was fighting back tears and placed his hands in his lap. "Last month, she confessed in a drunken rant that Kaoru and I were the reasons why our dad left…"

"Hikaru, you don't really believe that, do you?" He remained silent, looking down at his hands as he continued to fiddle with the blanket. He really did believe he was the reason. Maybe it was from how his mom always blames him that he got those thoughts in his head, or maybe he always thought he was the real reason. "Hikaru, it's not your fault why your father left."

"How do you know?" He asked, his voice cracking at the end. "What other reason could he have had to leave? He and mom seemed happy together and they always went on trips saying it was for business but what if he just wanted to get away from us?"

"Hikaru…" She gently placed a hand on his chest, immediately feeling his muscles tense up underneath. She thought that he might reject her touch by all he's been through these past few days, but to her delight, he accepted it and let her hug him.

"I may not know your father personally Hikaru, but from what you and Kaoru have told me about him, he's not the type of man that'll leave because of his children. None of this is your fault."

He was silent for a few minutes before laying his head on top of hers. "I wish I could believe that." They both remained silent for the few passing minutes. Haruhi didn't really know what to say to make him feel better since her other attempt failed. So, she just kept him locked in an embrace, laying her head in his chest as she heard the soft rhythm of his heartbeat.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Haruhi whispered as she felt Hikaru began to lay down on his back, letting her rest her head better on top of his chest.

"Yeah, I guess."

She bit her lip, hesitant to ask what she wanted to, so she decided to ask the smaller questions first. "How's the scar on your chest from last month healing? Did it go away as you hoped?"

"No," he sighed out, "I think it's going to stay for a while, if not forever."

He began playing with her hair, running his fingers through it and twirling it to most likely calm down his anxiety.

"Have you ever hurt yourself because of everything that's happened at home?"

"Other than smoking, no not really."

Haruhi began tracing designs over his shirt with her finger, stalling from asking her last two questions, but she knew she had to ask them.

"What was the worst thing your mother has done to you?"

She felt him pause from playing with her hair for a few seconds before continuing. She could hear the sound of his heartbeat quickening a bit, indicating to her that it was still a raw wound.

"She…" He swallowed again and tried to steady his breathing. It seemed as if he didn't want to tell her and he didn't have to if he really didn't want to share, but he seemed that it was better to tell her and get it off his chest instead of keeping it inside any longer. "She tried to sell me for drugs."

Haruhi tracing seized and she looked up at Hikaru horrified. She knew about the times she made him and Kaoru get alcohol for her while they were younger, but selling her own kids for drugs? It just made her blood boil that a fucking parent like her exist.

"Do you think that's why she's been acting more bipolar than usual because she's been using?"

He slowly nodded. "Yeah, when she kicked me out that one night I saw that her pupils were dilated immensely, where I couldn't see any color but black. She hasn't been acting the same since they left for London, so I think she smuggled something over if that's even possible."

Haruhi just gave a small shrug before going back to tracing on his chest. She just had one more question to ask him but was afraid to know the answer. She bit her lip as she felt tears burning in her eyes and let out a shaky breath before finally asking her final question.

"Have you ever tried to take your own life, or thought about it?"

A few more seconds of tense silence filled the room, which only made Haruhi grow more nervous to know his answer before he finally answered. "Yes."

"Yes to which one?"

"Both." He breathed out. Haruhi gripped onto his shirt as she felt some tears escape, trying her hardest not to break down right there in front of him. "I only didn't do it because if I did I would leave Kaoru alone and I didn't want that. The night he almost died though, I thought he wasn't going to make it. I blamed myself for everything and knew I wasn't strong enough to live without Kaoru, so I tried to overdose. One of our former maids found me in the bathroom and rushed in to try and help me. She forced me to throw up the pills before calling an ambulance. I had to stay in the hospital for a week and when Kaoru woke up and found out what I did he just broke down, screaming at me. Calling me a fucking idiot and how dare I almost leave him because I thought he was dead." Haruhi didn't even have to look up at him to know that he was crying. "I've never seen him that angry before. He even hit me a few times despite us both being very weak, but I also never seen him cry that much either. After a few hits, he just cried and hugged me before the hospital staff had to take him back to his room. After that day, it still comes to mind but I don't ever do it because I know there are actually people who care about me. Kaoru, Kyoya," his eyes met Haruhi's who were glistening with just as many tears as his, "and you."

"Hikaru…"

Haruhi gently cupped his cheek, wiping a tear that was rolling down his face with her thumb before wrapping her arms around in a hug, which he slowly returned and placed his head in the crook of her neck. She gently ran her fingers through his hair on the back of his head as she let the comfortable silence around them linger. She had learned from the beginning that instead of trying to keep on a conversation with him, to just allow the silence to be comfortable, which she actually like very much. Keeping up a conversation could be exhausting.

"My mom didn't even care." Hikaru broke the silence. "She just said I was doing it to draw all the attention away from her and Isao recently getting married. Only visiting me once at the hospital over the week period I had to stay there, just to tell me how shitty of a son I was. She didn't even bother to pick me up the day I was discharged because she was too busy out drinking with Isao, that a nurse had to drive me home and look after me until mom got home. Then I got punished because the nurse saw mom and Isao wasted when they returned home. She beat me and said that she wished my attempt was successful, but I was just so stupid that I couldn't even do something as easy as kill myself right."

His grip tightened around her waist as if he was trying to draw strength from her. "She even bought me another bottle of pills so I could try again and she just sat there, waiting for me to take the pills and when I refused...and I got another punishment…"

Haruhi softly cleared her throat, to make sure her voice wouldn't crack from her crying. "Do you really think that's what your mom actually wanted? Even if she was sober?"

"No," he murmured his answer, "that's why I'm still trying to help my mom get sober, but I do think that she does blame us for my dad leaving. I think she also blames herself, that's why she has random outbursts, but she takes her anger out on us instead of herself."

"Hikaru, I don't think it's anyone in your family's fault why your dad is gone." Haruhi tried to assure and cupped his face with her other hand to make him look at her. His eyes were glassy with tears that were threatening to spill out. "If your dad really wanted to leave you guys he would've taken most of his belongings with him, but he didn't. You even told me he left his phone and laptop at home, which he needs for work. Also leaving a multi-million dollar company that he helped start to just get away from his family, that's almost unheard of. You may not agree with what I believe in, but I just want you to know that there could be other reasons for his disappearance other than you."

A few tears escaped his eyes and he placed one of his hands on top of hers, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles. "Thank you."

Haruhi smiled at him, which he gave a small one in return before Haruhi hugged him again.

"Haruhi I…" His words trailed off as if he was hesitant on what to say. "I'm glad that you're my friend."

Haruhi actually felt an ache in her chest as he said those words. She tried to shrug it off as it being sadness for Hikaru's home life but as she just laid there for the next few hours, in his arms as he slept, she realized the feelings were different. A feeling that she actually only felt once before, but this time it felt stronger.

Did he even feel the same way still? It's been months since he drunkenly confessed to her and then the whole drama between them happened.

'God, what am I going to do?'

Hikaru had left before Haruhi had woken up the next morning, and who knows what type of acrobatics he had to do since they were literally tangled up together in the hug. She must've been a deeper sleeper than she thought.

However, Hikaru seemed to be in a far chipper mood this morning as she met up with him at school. He waited for her where he usually did outside the gate and smiled at her once he saw her. Did she always like his smile? He always had a nice one, but was it always that gorgeous?

Haruhi did her best to put those thoughts at the back of her mind as Hikaru greeted her. Haruhi had requested that they meet up half an hour early before school started, and even though Hikaru at first complained that she had woke him up early, he agreed to meet up. Although, Haruhi had to wake him up again a couple of times over the phone.

"Do you really have to put makeup on me?" Hikaru grumbled as he leaned back on his hands.

They had migrated over to the hedge maze so they could get out of the view of the other students. Hikaru just didn't want anyone to bother them while they hung out, and Haruhi felt the same way, but besides that reason, she just wanted to get away from all the jealous girls glaring at her whenever she was around him. She didn't care what anyone thought of her, but having people just glaring daggers at her and whispering behind her back gets annoying. Hikaru was an extremely handsome guy, and obviously so was Kaoru, but even though they were identical, Hikaru got more attention from girls because of his bad boy attitude and style. She's even heard them talk about all the...explicit things they wanted him to do to them. If only they knew that he was just putting up an act most of the time and was actually a lot softer, they probably would be disappointed. Haruhi liked Hikaru for who he really was, not who he was pretending to be at school.

He might still act a bit like an asshole to other people at school, but it was obvious to other people that he actually took a liking to Haruhi, and his demeanor has changed as well, but he still needed to work on getting along with other people. She had to stop him from getting into three fights this past week, one of them was because a guy flirted with Haruhi in an inappropriate way, and even though Haruhi would've loved to see Hikaru beat the shit out of him she didn't want Hikaru to get in trouble.

"Yes," Haruhi answered as she took out a small makeup bag. "I want to cover the bruise on your cheek."

"It's not that bad."

"It's literally two shades darker than it was last night. I don't want anyone getting suspicious."

He rolled his eyes. "They're not going to get suspicious. They'll just think I got into another fight and won't think twice about it."

"I don't care, I'm not taking any chances. Now come over here."

"Fine." He huffed. He scooted closer to her as Haruhi put a few drops of foundation on a makeup sponge. Hikaru watched her and began making a face as if he was disgusted at what he was seeing. "That's definitely not my color."

"Oh hush, it's going to look fine."

She gingerly grabbed Hikaru's chin to position his head correctly before lightly applying the foundation to his bruised cheek. He grunted a bit and winced every time she dabbed the sponge.

"It's not that bad, huh?" She mocked, earning a glare from Hikaru.

"How do you even know anything about makeup?" He grimaced. "You don't seem like the type of girl that would wear it."

"I don't wear it often, only on special occasions or if my friend Mei forces me to. I only know how to apply it because Mei forced me to sit through makeup tutorials because she wanted me to actually know how to do something feminine. However, the only things I learned was how to apply foundation and do a shitty smokey eye."

Hikaru chuckled. "Now that's a look I'd like to see."

He gave her a playful smirk, which actually made Haruhi's heart flutter, no, like actually flutter. What the fuck was happening to her? Was she actually developing feelings for Hikaru or going into cardiac arrest? The only other person she had fallen for was Tamaki, but she never felt it to this extent. Her cheeks heated up a bit and she just continued applying the makeup.

Haruhi used the remaining of the time to match Hikaru's skin tone because he was correct about the foundation she chose was the wrong shade, almost two shades lighter. But after some time, and some mixing of other products she had forgotten the name of that she had in her bag, she finally matched his color.

"Wow," Hikaru admired as he looked at his reflection on his phone, "I'm actually impressed that you were able to do this."

"Oh shut up, you're annoying," Haruhi grumbled as she put her makeup away. "Just don't ruin it. I worked too hard on it."

"I make no promises." He replied with a cheeky grin, only making Haruhi's face heat up again.

"I hate you."

…

Tutoring was difficult that day, well for Haruhi. She was having a hard time staying focus with Hikaru being so god damn close to her. His legs would occasionally brush up against hers and whenever he looked at her with those golden hazel eyes...fuck! She felt like a love-struck schoolgirl in one of those shoujo mangas. God, how was she just falling for him this strongly all of a sudden? She had noticed she had slight symptoms before, but they were never this extreme.

"Haruhi?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her break out of her reverie. "Come on. Let's get started with your dance lesson."

Even though Haruhi wasn't in the Host Club anymore, she decided to continue to keep up the dancing lessons with Hikaru. His excuse for making her keep at it was that she was a commoner here and needed some way to impress the high elites here that wasn't her book smarts. So, to stop him from making more rude comments towards her and her poor financial upbringing, she agreed to it.

She looked up at the cloudy sky. "Are you sure it's a good idea to practice today Hikaru? It looks like it's going to rain any minute."

"We'll be fine. If it starts to rain we'll just end the lesson early." He smiled as he held out one of his hands for hers. "Now let's begin."

"Alright fine." She sighed in defeat as she placed her hand on his.

Hikaru began leading her through the music he had playing on his phone. The rhythm was smooth and Haruhi allowed herself to follow Hikaru's lead, but as she looked up at him, meeting his eyes she felt herself start to feel flustered again.

"Sorry." Haruhi apologized again as she stepped on his foot for the fifth time in the past few minutes.

Hikaru furrowed his eyebrows and stopped dancing. "Hey, are you alright? You've seemed out of it all day."

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Haruhi bluffed, but she could tell Hikaru could see right through it.

"Is it because of our conversation last night?" He asked, his voice quiet as if he was afraid to know her answer.

"No, no it has nothing to do with our conversation Hikaru. I was just distracted and kept stepping on your foot. Don't worry."

Hikaru nodded, but still seemed unsure if she was telling him the truth. Though, as he was about to start leading him through the dance again, a few drops of rain began to fall.

"It's beginning to rain." Haruhi looked up at the sky, seeing the rain began to grow harder. "We should start to head inside."

"Where's the fun in that?" Hikaru smirked as he wrapped his arms back around Haruhi's waist. "A little rain never hurt anyone."

"Well, the last time you stayed out in the rain you got horribly sick."

"We're staying out here for a few minutes not the whole night." He rolled his eyes. "Let's just practice out here for a little longer then we'll cut our lesson off early and do something else if you want."

Why was he being so persistent on dancing with her in the rain? It wouldn't benefit her in any way. The grass would get all mushy and wet, which would only make her dancing worse...but, she wasn't fully opposed to the idea. Seeing him drenched in the rain while he danced with her, giving her that cute smirk her always gave her.

'Get yourself together Haruhi. What's getting into you?'

She cleared her throat, trying to not show the embarrassment she was having from her thoughts.

"Fine, but only for a few minutes."

Hikaru's smile widened and began leading her through the movements again, and even though the grass was becoming wet and slippery, she found herself actually doing better than she was before. Whatever Hikaru was doing to help her not slip while dancing was working, or maybe this was all her. Hikaru didn't seem to have that much control over her like he did when they first started their dance lessons, and by the smile on his face, he seemed to agree.

"You're doing great. I'm actually amazed."

She chuckled. "Well, I have a great teacher."

"I know, I'm the best, aren't I?"

She rolled her eyes again, but before she could quip back she felt her foot slip from underneath her. She gasped as she felt herself fall back and instantly closed her eyes as she waited for the impact of the ground, but she felt a pair of arms grab her.

"Are you ok?"

Haruhi slowly crept her eyes open to see a concerned looking Hikaru. She felt her face heat up for what felt like the umpteenth time that day as she noticed the position they were in as if he had dipped her in a dance. The way he caught her, and them both drenched in the rain made it seem as if they were in a chick flick.

"Ye-Yeah, I'm fine." Haruhi breathed.

"Maybe we should go inside." He helped her up, but Hikaru kept his arms around her waist so she wouldn't slip again. "The rain's getting pretty bad. So we probably should-"

"Hikaru?" He looked down at her, meeting her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still like me?"

He grew confused by her question. "What do you mean if I still like you? You're literally my only friend."

"I mean, do you still 'like' me?"

He remained confused for a few minutes before it finally clicked in his brain and his face turned scarlett. "Wh-What?!"

"Do you?"

Hikaru cleared his throat, the blush still very well visible on his cheeks as he looked away shyly from her eyes. "Well, to be honest, my feelings never changed about you. I just put them aside a bit because-"

"Would you like to try?"

He looked back down at her, completely in shock by what she was asking. "Wait, do you mean..?"

Haruhi nodded. "Would you like to try going out on a date?"

Hikaru was speechless but seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. Could he be having doubts? Maybe Haruhi should've waited a bit, but he did say that he still liked her. So why was he taking so long to answer? Maybe he was thinking that she'll abandon him again like the time they slept together, but she wasn't going to allow that to happen again.

The argument Haruhi was having with herself stopped when she saw the smile form on Hikaru's face, making her chest tighten up and smile as well.

"I would love to go on a date with you Haruhi Fujioka. You have no idea how long I've wanted this."