Alex was last in the club room today. Haruhi had to visit the school library, Kyoya had home work and a test to study for, and Tamaki had left to study with Kyoya. No one she usually liked to bother. The only light in the whole, huge club room was from the open windows and a table lamp sitting on the side table next to the couch she was laying on. She liked being at the club room more than at her apartment. Here she had memories. She could just remember teasing the twins, eating snacks with Honey and Mori, chatting with Kyoya, or on her off-time talking with Tamaki or Haruhi. It was easier than being at alone at home lately, where she was trapped in a tomb of memories from her last breakdown.

You're foolish.

stop it.

You really think you deserve anything that you have? You don't.

please stop it.

I made you. I made you everything you are. Without me you'd have been nothing. You'd be nothing.

that's enough.

Without me, you are nothing!

Stop it! Things were a little better now at the apartment after Kyoya had stayed the night but, before... When she was alone there for so long..

Your mother thought so, too.

don't say that.

You reminded her of me! You made her sick!

no i didn't

You did! You disgusted her! You're trash!

i'm not

You're worse! You're nothing, useless!

Stop it.

You're utterly dull and replaceable.

Please stop!

Completely incapable of doing anything on your own, you're a parasite.

PLEASE

You'll never be anything more than what I made you.

"Alex? Hey are you okay?" She looked up to see Kaoru standing above her, eyebrows knitted together in concern. He reached down at first to cup her face, then to wipe tears she hadn't known she'd shed from her cheek. "And why are you here alone?"

"Why are you here?"

He tilted his head towards the front of the room and at Hikaru, who was searching ravenously through the couches by pulling all the cushions off of them. "Hikaru lost his game cartridge and he thinks he left it here. And he absolutely needs that or he'll die of boredom while I write out cheat-sheets for the both of us." He draped his arm around her shoulder and they both watched Hikaru getting more and more flustered as the cushions piled up. "So. Your turn." He gave her a reassuring smile but her depressed face stayed the same.

"I really don't uh... I don't like being at home when I'm alone. It's okay when someone's with me, but... I just feel like I'm being suffocated by myself. When I'm there alone I just remember being there alone after the fight with Ayanokouji and it was... bad. And I'm alone because everyone else all had more important things to do than stay here and do nothing."

"More important than you?" Kaoru feigned looking offended and placed his hand on his chest before taking her hand and pressing it to his lips. "What could be more important than you?"

Alex playfully gagged and punched his shoulder. "Eww. That was disgusting, don't ever host me again!"

Kaoru continued his snicker. "But it's too much fun-" Kaoru grunted as Hikaru practically jumped onto both their laps, resting his head on Alex's thighs.

"Enough chatting behind my back! I know I have a great ass but I appreciate compliments more when you say it to my face!"

Alex giggled and pinched his cheek. "It's painfully small, I'm afraid."

"Major Sterling, How's our 'Red Head Supremacy for World Domination' plan going?" Hikaru crossed his arms behind his head.

"I'm afraid so far we've only gotten the school, and we're becoming extinct."

"Oh no! We can't have that!" Like the snap of a finger Hikaru cupped his hands around Alex's cheeks and pulled her head down so their foreheads met. "That means you and I have got to start making babies!"

She playfully covered his face with her hand. "Oh god no. But try saying that in front of Tamaki! He'll explode I'm sure."

A grin crossed Kaoru's face. "Hikaru? Our apprentice here has learned well, hasn't she? If we try hard enough she might join the darkness completely."

"Oh most definitely, Kaoru. In fact, in light of how advanced Alex has gotten, I say it's high time we celebrate." Alex had seen the look in the twins eyes before, and it was absolutely terrifying. They were holding each others hands in excitement and spoke in unison yet again. "I think we need to party."

Alex sighed in relief. "I'm down."

he twins smiled and swapped positions, Kaoru now settling his head on Alex's lap and Hikaru's on her shoulder while he booted up his game boy. "Sounds like a plan."

Hikaru smiled and began mashing buttons. "God, it's so nice to finally have something to look forward to. Everything's been so dull."

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah, you've been busy for a while, Alex. That makes things so boring." Alex shrugged and ran her fingers through his hair, trying to make it stick out as fluffy as she could. Kaoru practically hummed in pleasure and nuzzled Alex's hand. "So when can we come over, huh?"

Alex shrugged and continued to pet Kaoru.

"Yeah! You've got to show us how a commoner lives, Alex. Haruhi won't tell us anything." Hikaru pleaded.

Kaoru leaned down toward her ear and whispered. "And we've got to take care of those memories of yours. We'll replace them, I promise."

Alex's face filled with bliss as she pulled Kaoru into a tight hug. She nuzzled her face in the crook of his neck and pressed a long kiss onto his cheek where she could feel the heat of his strong blush. She whispered "Thank you" in his ear.

Hikaru pulled on the fabric on her shoulder. "Hey! Where's my kiss?"

"Make it worth it and I might give you a kiss."

"Would you do it in front of Tamaki?" A devilish grin crossed Hikaru's face.

Alex smiled and tilted her head from side to side in thought. "...mmm. Yeah, maybe."

"I'll do anything!" He chuckled and glanced knowingly at Kaoru before they both stood up. "But wait there's something I wanna do." Hikaru looked seriously at his brother and nodded, before they both smiled and pulled out matching hats. Standing back to back they were quite loud in the empty club room.

"Let's play the 'Which One is Hikaru Game?'!" They took her by the hand and pulled her out of her seat before surrounding her like vultures. "So? Can you tell who's who?"

"Let's play the 'Which One is Hikaru Game?'!"

Alex looked over to the twins again. That's the third group of customers they had asked to play. She rolled her eyes and cleared off an empty guest table, collecting the silverwear and china and setting up new placements. She was heading to the backroom when Tamaki pulled her by the back of her collar and ran with her in tow to the twins. Half way there, he'd hooked Haruhi with his other hand.

"Hikaru, Kaoru! When I gave you control of the club's website, I did it so on one condition that you take it seriously!"

"We take our job very seriously, boss."

"Yeah! In fact, last night we worked on it till dawn!"

"Is THIS what you worked so hard to create?!" Tamaki whipped open a laptop to the club's website were there were two new photos posted, one of Alex and one of Haruhi. Haruhi was standing shirtless and with her back to the camera and Alex in a seductive pose and wearing a bunny outfit. "When? When did you take such risque pictures of Alex and Haruhi!" A strange vision filled Tamaki's mind: The twins, with their devil faces shooting pictures of Alex and Haruhi and bribing them with fancy food and novelties. "You bribed them, didn't you?"

"You're imagining things, boss."

"Yeah! It's obvious the photo's been altered."

"It was" Tamaki tilted his head. "Photoshop?"

"Yeah! We did a pretty good job huh?"

"We've got some major photoshoping talent-" Tamaki dove at the twins.

"You idiots! That's a waste of your skills! Have you no shame?" He crouched and presented a magazine filled with models in pretty, modest, girly dresses. "But if you're going to do it anyway, can you photoshop them into this idol photo book? Hmm? Please?"

"Don't be ridiculous, boss. Why don't you just ask them if they'd wear those?"

"I never thought to ask them." Tamaki turned silently and slowly towards the girls, the twins grinning and popping out from his either side. In a flash he towered over them and held up a frilly dress each. "What do you think about these, my dears?" Haruhi gave up and just walked away but Alex held a pitiful expression shook her head "no".

Haruhi rolled her eyes and tugged Alex with her to confront the twins. "Seriously, cut it out you guys. No more making weird pictures of us. You got that?" Alex playfully glared at them as Haruhi scolded them, but to tell the truth, She was a bit uncomfortable with the edit. Alex didn't expect that from the twins, she thought they were good friends.

"Just what do you guys take us for, anyway?"

The twins smirked and Kaoru stood tall over Alex as Hikaru stood over Haruhi. "Isn't it obvious? You're our toys."

Toy. The word rang in Alex mind. That's what she was. That's all she was. Her father dressed her up and posed her and now the people she thought were her friends called her out on it. They knew it. She was just a toy.

Alex needed to walk away from this now. While Haruhi bickered with the twins Alex resigned herself to lean on the back wall of the club room next to Kyoya. It was such a big room Alex could hardly hear the words they were shouting at each other. She crossed her arms and huffed loudly.

"Well? Something the matter, Alex?"

Alex pondered her ridiculous question for a moment, but asked anyways. "Am I just a toy?"

Kyoya was dumbfounded by the question and he stopped writing on his book to question Alex. "Are you just a toy?"

Alex nodded with a pout on her face.

Kyoya ran his hand through his hair and closed his book before setting it to his side and leaning on the wall to mirror Alex. "No, I don't think so. Why, are you worried that you are?"

"I mean..." Alex looked at the floor to avoid his eyes. She felt embarrassed to have asked this of someone as reasonable as Kyoya. "You know who my dad was, he used to parade me around all his friends and make me do whatever he wanted, he was a control freak. I don't know... I just feel like a pushover sometimes. Or maybe just empty."

Kyoya smiled and pushed his glasses higher up his nose. "Well if it's any consolation, you've never done anything the way I wanted it done. And your brain may be empty of any valuable knowledge but I know there to be a stubborn person in there."

Alex laughed and bumped her shoulder into Kyoya. "That's so sweet of you Kyoya, thank you... You're my favorite toy."

Kyoya rolled his eyes before glancing back at the twins, who even from far away could be heard screaming at each other. He frowned and stood straight. "That's not good."

"Sex pixie!"

"Sicko!"

"Your mama wears too much makeup! That's it. We're over!"

Alex heard her phone vibrate while walking with Haruhi to school the next morning, and she stopped in place to find it and pull it out. Evil Shadow Man has messaged you, the notification read.

Keep me updated on the twins please

need to know if they're still fighting.

Alex sighed and typed.

will do sir

over and out

When Alex approached her classroom building, she noticed Kaoru waiting just outside the door by himself. He smiled upon seeing her and rushed to her side, pulling a bright blue mop of hair from his pocket. "Alex! I need your help to get this on!"

Alex winced. "Why do you need my help with that? What are you doing?"

His signature mischievous grin crossed his face. "You want in on it?"

Alex shrugged and nodded before being whisked away to the men's bathroom inside. Kaoru pulled a stool in front of a mirror and sat, studying his own face and prodding his skin. "Come on, Alex. Hurry up."

"What do you need me for? It looks like you're busy ogling yourself there." Alex rested her hands on her hips disapprovingly.

Kaoru stopped making faces long enough to hand her the wig. "Me and Hikaru are having a fight... and last night I noticed that he dyed his hair pink. Now I don't know anything about hair but I know I won't be permanently disfiguring it just to get back at him." He looked back at the mirror. "You shouldn't mess with perfection, after all. So I had my maids find me a wig that looked like my hair and made them dye it for me."

Alex shrugged and twisted the wig around to lay on his head properly. "It's well executed, if nothing else."

"What do you think, Alex? Aren't I perfect?" Kaoru winced while Alex angled his head this way and that, tucking his hair into the wig and placing it properly. "Hey be gentle! I have sensitive skin!"

"Oh shut up. Don't be a baby, Kaoru. I think pink hair looks cooler anyways. You should have just dyed it, it'd be real punk of you."

"Alex-" Kaoru pouted and looked back at her. "Come on, you're on my side right?"

"Why are you guys fighting?"

"He's just an idiot! What can I say?"

Alex sighed. "Well you're not wrong, I guess. Come on, we gotta get to class." As they approached the class room, Kaoru began speaking very loudly.

"You know, I had the scariest dream last night. I dreamt that my stylist had dyed my hair pink. It was so garish and ridiculous looking I woke up screaming." Kaoru stopped to smile at Haruhi before sitting down beside her. Alex strolled to the back of the classroom and leaned on the wall while crossing her arms. She'd never seen the twins fight really ever before, and Kaoru wouldn't even say what had happened to start it. She wasn't sure their beef was real at all. She watched, unimpressed as the twins knocked each other out of their chairs and began throwing things from across the room.

Haruhi didn't even move, still paying attention to the teacher at the front, giving a lecture to no one. Alex pulled out her phone.

Animal from the muppets:

they're still fighting

don't know what about \_(ツ)_/ i think they're faking it

Evil Shadow Man:

I'm not so sure.

keep me updated

Alex sighed and slumped into her nearest chair. It was going to be a long day.

Lunch hour couldn't come soon enough, and though Alex wanted to get away from the twins, Haruhi insisted on following them to the dining hall to watch over them. She watched Haruhi stand in line with them, getting distracted when a small crowd of other students began to ask to eat lunch with her. Alex tried to look over the crowd when she heard the twins yelling over one another at the front of the line

"Stop copying me! Why don't you just leave me alone?"

Alex finally started addressing the people around her.

"What about it, Alex-sama?"

"I'll buy you lunch! Whatever you want!"

"Please come sit with us!"

"I'm sorry-, I'm sorry-, Excuse me-" Finally, just as she noticed Tamaki swooping down on Haruhi, she felt a heavy hand on her own shoulder, and looked up in surprise to see Mori with Honey hanging off his shoulder.

"Why don't you come sit with us, Ale-chan?"

Alex felt Mori's hands securely under her arms as she was lifted above the crowd in front of himself and suddenly the people split apart to create a path for him.

She heard someone mutter "well if I knew it was that easy."

Alex was set down at the same table as the rest of the hosts, Hikaru and Kaoru now fighting on who would get to feed Haruhi or get her food. Tamaki had foolishly joined in. Alex frowned a bit when she saw Tamaki waiting expectantly to feed a spoonful of his own food to Haruhi. She'd never felt so ignored by someone she liked before. She had to be honest, this far she'd had it easy and had never really gotten so flustered by someone.

Alex rested her head on her hand and stared at their food plates just as her stomach rumbled loudly. She usually got to help herself to peck on some of Haruhi's food, but she didn't feel like joining in at the moment.

She looked down in response to the sound of dragging porcelain on wood and saw a plate of food slid in front of her. Kyoya sat down to her left, opposite of Honey and Mori, and leaned his head on his own hand. "I could hear your stomach from across the hall. That's quite obnoxious of you."

"Oh shut up. I don't need your charity, you'll just charge it to my club tab." Alex shoved the plate in front of Kyoya.

He rolled his eyes. "Please, this isn't even worth my time." Alex still didn't move. "I'll make it easy for you." He scooped a large spoonful of his curry up and held it for Alex. "First one's free. The next one's a dollar. Just eat it, dummy."

Alex gave in and opened her mouth for Kyoya to feed her, and from across the table Kaoru had noticed while he himself was holding a spoonful of his own food for Haruhi to eat. A twitch of a frown flashed on his face and when he saw that Hikaru had taken the bite for himself, Kaoru rushed to smash his plate into Hikaru's with more force than he was meant to. Lucky for Hikaru, he had pulled Tamaki in to take the hit by his tie, and the force of the food splashed back onto everyone at the table. Kyoya wiped his glasses on a napkin and stood up in anger.

"That's enough, you two! This is ridiculous!"

Neither of the twins had even spared him a glance and were already beginning to throw anything they could get their hands on at each other. Mori grabbed Haruhi out of the line of fire, but Alex had to pull Kyoya away. They watched the twins for a while, until Alex noticed that Kyoya hadn't calmed down at all. She tugged on his sleeve.

"Come on, they're not gonna stop. Let's get out of here." Kyoya obediently followed her out of the dining hall and to a bench in the empty hallway. "What's going on, Kyoya? I wouldn't expect you to be so worked up over two other people fighting."

"Alex, they're being foolish. They're being destructive, and annoying, and they're going to end up costing the club."

"I know you're lying."

Kyoya's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh,
is that so? Think you can read my mind, do you?"

"Yeah". Alex crossed her arms defiantly. "You and I both know if you thought they were costing the club you'd make them pay for it somehow. And it's not reputation either, we both know you could spin the drama angle, and reunited twins special, whatever it is you do. Would you please just be honest with me for once?"

Kyoya's eyebrows lowered and his face turned vulnerable. "I'm usually a bit jealous of them."

"Jealous? Of the twins?"

"Oh shut up for a second, will you? I'm just... a bit jealous of how close they are. I have brothers myself, but..." He sighed and looked off in the distance, unable to meet her eyes while being so open and vulnerable. "They wouldn't know me from any other high school kid with short hair and glasses. Hell, they're hardly brothers, they're closer to competitors... and they have a huge head start on me. I feel like i'm fighting this invisible war with these people I barely know... Hell, it'd be nice to fight with them over something petty like those two are. But they're really taking it too far. Those damn twins don't know how great they have it and they're just sitting there fighting. And making me think about my own fucking brothers..."

"What about your sister?"

"My sister?" Kyoya was caught off-guard. "How'd you know about her?"

"Like you're the only one who can look people up. I googled you, dummy. Rich people's lives are all over the internet, it's crazy."

"Well." Kyoya shrugged. "She's the only one who talks to me at all really, so the bar's pretty low. Pretty much all we do is bicker... but she's alright I guess."

"Well that's just fine. Fuck your brothers, you have us. The club. We're your family." She wrapped her arm over his shoulders. "I mean, I know you've been with them longer, but I can feel how much they all care. How close everyone is. I mean, if I'm in it, you have to be too, right? And I'll bicker with you every day if it'll make you better. And even if it won't."

Kyoya gave Alex a dry laugh and he put his hand over Alex's on his shoulder. "You're too kind. Thank you, Alex."

The club room was early quiet without the sounds of guests, or two too-close-twins.

"You know, Looking at the numbers, if the situation isn't resolved, I'm afraid we're going to have to stop offering our brotherly love package. We're down one pair of loving brothers." The taps coming from the keyboard of Kyoya's laptop came to a close. Alex was sleeping at the table next to him, leaning on her arms and taking quiet breaths. Haruhi across from Alex, snapped her head up. Kyoya smirked and turned to Haruhi. "Oh, and Haruhi, I just want you to know there's no reason for you to feel responsible. Even though it was your tactless comment that started this whole feud between the twins in the first place, right?"

Haruhi's face drooped and Alex woke for a moment to angrily grunt and swat at Kyoya's arm. She turned her head towards Haruhi and smiled. "Is that true? Did you start all this?"

"It wasn't on purpose or anything!" Haruhi whined. "I swear! We were just playing 'Which One is Hikaru?' again, and I picked Hikaru out and they asked how I did it... and I said it's because Hikaru is more mischievous than Kaoru... But he is! That's not mean or anything, is it? Or wouldn't they be mad at me instead?"

Alex nodded. "He is. This is so stupid, I don't think it can last for much longer, those two idiots are at least gonna run out of ideas."

"But... What if they don't know how to stop fighting?" Haruhi looked seriously worried. "What if they don't know how to give in and forgive each other?"

Alex patted Haruhi's back. "Haruhi... I don't think they're really-"

Before Alex could finish, the twins loudly entered the club room, fighting as usual.

Tamaki, having noticed Haruhi's worries stood up quickly from his seat. "Don't you two think it's time to call it quits already? All this fighting is driving us insane!"

Tamaki stomped his way over the twins while Hikaru loudly rebuffed him, harshly jabbing his finger into Tamaki's chest. Alex watched the three yell loudly over each other with a bored expression, until Haruhi stood up in a huff to join them.

"I've had it!" Fists at her sides, Haruhi yelled loud enough for all of them to silence themselves. "If both of you don't just make up with each other right now, I'll never let you come to my house! Have I made myself clear?"

The twin's angry frowns were replaced with sinister grins. "So then what you're saying, Haruhi, is that if we make up, we can come over to your place?"

Alex giggled as she saw Haruhi sink to the floor in disbelief. Alex knew the twins were making up this feud for something, but she wasn't sure what it was about. She knew they were up to something from the day before when they were so concerned with visiting commoner dwellings. Alex averted her eyes when the twins began once again holding and caressing each other.

Haruhi muttered to herself. "T-They had me fooled the entire time."

Alex gave Haruhi a pitiful pout and stroked her hair. "It's ok, I think they were doing it for you anyways."

"Yeah!" Kaoru came to Haruhi's other side, arm across her's and Alex's shoulder. "Mission completed!"

"I think now it's time to celebrate." Hikaru surrounded Alex and held her chin in his hand while the other hosts watched. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Kyoya dropped his notebook and Tamaki began to run towards the gaggle of too-close-first-year, but was too late. Hikaru pulled her into a long, deep kiss in front of the whole club.

Alex's eyes stayed open in surprise, studying the twin just centimetres away from her. She wasn't expecting Hikaru to make good on their agreement so soon, but then she noticed a thin line of auburn hair peeking out from under the pink roots of a wig. Who she thought was Hikaru with a head full of flamingo pink hair was actually Kaoru wearing a pink wig. How could she have been so foolish.

Tamaki fell to his knees on the floor and dramatically sobbed. "H-how could you, Hikaru?"

Kaoru pulled away finally and looked from Alex's eyes to her lips and back to her eyes while catching up on his breath. He spoke low, so that only Alex could hear. "Did I make it worth it?"

Alex's mouth hung slightly open while she tried to figure out what to say.

"Alright, Alex. Which one's Hikaru?"

The twins invaded the table Alex and Haruhi were clearing. "Come on guys, why just me? I'm terrible at this game and you know it."

"Haruhi can already tell the difference" Hikaru pouted.

Kaoru nudged Alex's shoulder. "We wanna see if you can."

"Fine." Haruhi stood back and watched as Alex sighed and stood to face and study both twins. It had been a couple days but they were still wearing their "dyed" hair, though Haruhi had already exposed them for switching colors every so often. Alex stepped slowly in front of the one wearing pink hair.

He smiled and spoke low. "Come on, I know you like pink hair, right?"

A corner of her mouth twitched and she pointed at him square in the chest. "It's you."

"Uh oh! Wrong again!" Kaoru, wearing the pink hair, chided Alex with a playful affectation, trying his best not to show his disappointment.

"You always it wrong, Alex. Come on!" Hikaru crossed his arms.

"I know, I know. I'm just terrible at this guys. Sorry." Alex shrugged and took her dishes away to clean them. Haruhi watched her leave and crossed her arms while turning back to the twins with a big grin on her face.

"What's so funny, Haruhi?" Kaoru grumbled.

"You guys look so sad. You're both so dumb, it's funny."

"If anyone's dumb it's Alex! And she doesn't even care that she always gets it wrong!"

"Of course not! You guys, it's a 50/50 chance that she guesses right, if she's completely guessing. It should be impossible to get it wrong every. Single. Time. Unless she actually knows who's who." Haruhi laughed again and followed Alex back with more dishes.

Hikaru watched them both leave with his arms crossed, a small crooked grin on his face. "She's been messing with us."

Kaoru nodded and pressed his lips together while he tried to figure out what to say.

Alex couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. She sat in her bed, stared at the ceiling and ran her fingers over her lips. She hadn't been kissed... well, intentionally in quite a long time. Did Kaoru like her? Was he just messing with her because he could? She wouldn't put it past him, after all. The ring on her phone interrupted her train of thought.

"Hello?"

A few seconds of silence passed "Uh... Hi." She heard Kaoru's voice, unsteady over the phone.

"Hi..." Alex wasn't sure what to say. The empty space between words felt heavier than usual. "What's up?"

"We're in the neighborhood... Hikaru wanted to drive around his new car."

"That's cool..." Alex sat up.

"Do you... maybe want to hang out?" Kaoru waited with baited breath for her response.

Hikaru watched a bead of sweat drop down Kaoru's forehead in between watching the road. Kaoru sighed and rolled his eyes. "Dude, why'd you even kiss her? Kyoya-senpai won't let her be more than five feet away during club, and don't even get me started on Tamaki-senpai-"

"Sure... When are you coming?"

"T-That's great!" Kaoru's eyes were large as dinner plates, and he practically jumped out of his seat. "We'll be there in five minutes! Is that alright?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you guys soon..."

"Yeah!" Kaoru couldn't contain his smile.

"Dude, are you really gonna have me third wheel- doh!" Kaoru had elbowed his side.

"We'll see you soon, Alex."

"Bye."

"Bye..." Kaoru fell limp in his seat and hung up the phone. His face fell into his hands. "Dude, what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know man, you're the one who wanted to head out to see her..." Hikaru trailed off as he stared out the window. "Maybe we can pick up Haruhi, too..."

"Fat chance! You know Ranka wouldn't let her out so soon."

Hikaru tsked and kept his eyes on the road.

To be fair, Kaoru wasn't quite sure what he was doing, either. He'd had a lot of fun play flirting with Alex all the time, but so did Hikaru, and he wasn't even jealous of him or anything. But then again, whenever he wasn't preoccupied by guests at the club, he hated seeing Kyoya-senpai hog up all of her time. And how was he supposed to date and host at the same time?

But Kaoru was glad he had done it, nonetheless. He grew excited when he spotted her apartment, familiar from giving her more than a few rides home. He was practically vibrating by the time Hikaru stopped the car in front of Alex's apartment. He shot out the car and ran to her door, pausing just before he knocked to compose himself. He took a deep breath and knocked.

Alex opened the door slowly, peeking just over the edge and smiling politely when she saw him.

"Hi."

"Hi." Alex stepped outside and waved at Hikaru in the car. With a neutral expression he gave her a small wave and continued relaxing in his luxury car.

"So..." Kaoru shoved his hands in his pockets and bounced on his feet.

"So... What are we gonna go do?"

"Uh..." Kaoru still didn't have a plan, or know why he even asked to see her. "I just... wanted to see you."

"Oh." Alex crossed her arms to hug herself. She bit her lip. "Well, it's good to see you."

"Yeah... you too." Kaoru sighed and his shoulders fell as he hunched over in defeat. "Look, I hate that things are kinda weird right now, but I don't regret the kiss."

Alex tried, and failed, to hide her smile. "I mean... it was nice and all." She looked down and nodded, letting her smile grow wide out of his view. "It was a good kiss. It was funny... but... what are you trying to do, Kaoru?" Alex looked up at him with her eyebrows knitted together. "What's supposed to happen now? Do you want us to date? Do you wanna hook up? What's your plan here?"

"I don't know, Alex. I wasn't thinking about any of that, it just seemed like a good idea at the time and... I like you. And I wanted to do something about it."

"Well that's all well and good, but what now? You want to go public at the club? Do you want to keep hosting? What would your customers think? What do you want to happen?"

Alex watched and waited for Kaoru to respond. Technically she could date, since she wasn't an official idol or anything. She knew Kyoya would be enraged if Kaoru suddenly showed off his new girlfriend. How would he be expected to continue to keep up his brotherly love act or host at all with one?

"I don't know, Alex. But I don't like what's happening now either." Kaoru's voice cracked and he covered half his face with his hand.

"I like you too Kaoru, but I just don't think this is possible right now. And if it's friends or nothing... " She reached out to grab his arm. "I'd rather have you around as my friend. Is that okay?"

Kaoru nodded somberly while Alex maneuvered her arms under hi to give him a tight hug. He sunk into it, resting his head on her own. "Yeah, that's fine with me."

Alex entered the club room later the next day to find a boy crying in a cage while Tamaki yelled at him.

"Tamaki! What the hell is this?" She ran to the cage to look inside. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

"This kid's a brat! He called Haruhi a cross dresser!"

"I mean... He's not wrong." Alex winced and sighed before turning to the kid. "But that's not a bad thing! What's going on, why are you here?"

"I just wanna learn how to make a woman happy." The boy slumped to his knees. "I'm gonna run out of time... I just wanted him to teach me how to... You know, bring a smile to a girls face. Please!" He looked up to Tamaki. "Please teach me how to be like you! You're a genius at it! You're the king!"

"Well!" Tamaki lightened up immediately. "You may be a brat, but I admire your desire to become a host, so I'll teach you-"

"You're kidding!" Alex smacked him in the chest with her book bag. "He's in elementary school! He's like ten! You're not teaching him how to seduce women!"

"It's not that simple!"

Alex looked back at the suddenly stage-lit center of the room where Renge began to rise from her pedestal.

"That little boy can totally seduce women!" The little boy perked up as the cage began to lift. Renge continued her tirade. "You all may have your incredibly simple archetypes, but you can really rev some girls engines if you get more specific with it!"

Renge jumped from her pedestal and began circling the boy to inspect him, continuing to scream her thoughts into the loudspeaker. She began barking orders like a army sergeant and Alex smacked her face into her palm.

Tamaki playfully prodded Alex. "Isn't it great? We're mentoring the next generation of hosts."

She sighed. "Let me know when our generation of hosts is ready."

"You don't think we're good hosts?" Tamaki leaned closer to do his signature sideways look. "Are we not effective enough?" He emphasized his point by blowing in her ear.

With a red face, Alex huffed and shot her arms down in frustration. "Don't you care about anything else? I know you say the job of a host is to make every girl happy but is that really all you want? All this artificial flirting, just for the fun of it... don't you ever want more?"

Tamaki was dumbstruck by her earnest confession. His cheeks started dusting with pink and and his eyes fell. "Alex..."

He tried to touch her arm gently, to soothe her, but she pulled away. "Kaoru does."

The kiss. Tamaki remembered the scene from a few days ago, something he'd actively tried to forget. Even though he was already furious at the time, he hadn't even realized that it might have been a serious confession, or even that it was Kaoru.

"No." Tamaki took hold of her arm tightly, forcing her to face toward him again. "That is not happening. Not in this club, not ever-"

"Ugh! What do you know!" Alex ripped her arm away in time for the young boy to run between the two, shouting all the way.

"I've had enough of you people! None of this is ever gonna make her happy!"

The two looked to each other in surprise, having lost momentum in their argument from the interruption. Alex opened her mouth to say something, but pressed her lips into a frown instead before turning to run after the young boy.

"Hey! Little boy!" Alex ran at her full speed to keep up with the boy, huffing and puffing the whole time. "Wait up!"

The boy stopped running and watched as Alex leaned over, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. "Jeez. I didn't know Americans were really all fat."

Alex glared up at him and muttered between shallow breaths. "Oh shut up... you try running... in one of these". She fluffed her dress out.

"Well? What do you want?"

"At first I was just trying to get away from those assholes," Alex finally stood up straight, leaning back to stretch before facing the boy properly. "But I mean, why not help the helpless little boy?

"Stop calling me that. My name is Shiro, and I'm not helpless!"

Alex crossed her arms and smirked. "Who but the helpless would go to those idiots for help?"

"And what were you doing there? Are you some kind of groupie for them all, waiting for one of them to bite?" Shiro smirked. "Or do they keep you around just for being fun to look at?"

"Alright that's enough!"

"loser."

"Whatever!" Alex threw her hands in the air and turned away. "Deal with your problems yourself! Good luck making your girl smile all on your own! Fat chance with that nasty little attitude of yours!"

"No, wait." Shiro mumbled defeatedly. "I'll take all the help I can get."

Alex led Shiro outside the building, to an ornate bench outside facing a wading pool.

"So? Explain yourself. What's the deal with the girl?"

"This girl in my class, Hina Kamishiro, I really like her. I think I might love her, but she's leaving to Germany at the end of this week."

"Geez dude... that's tough."

"I know that, idiot!"

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" Alex sighed crossed her arms behind her head for cushion. "I mean hell, what is there to do?"

"I don't know! That's what you were supposed to be helping me with!"

"Well... Have you told her how you feel yet? That's kind of step number one."

"No." Shiro moaned with affectation, sounding very much like a kid. "I don't know what to do."

"Well that can be what you do for the rest of the week, spend time with her. Figure out what she likes and use that."

"Sometimes we play piano together in the classical music club, but I'm only ever there for her. She's a lot better than I am."

"That's perfect. When's your club?"

"...right now."

"Well go, dummy! Let me know what you find out and we'll figure out a plan!"

"O-Okay!" Shiro stood up and gave a cautious smile. "But... why are you helping me? What's in it for you? I mean Tamaki-senpai is obviously a narcissist and wanted to teach me how to be like him, but why would you want to help me?"

Alex smiled and shrugged half-heartedly. "It's a little superficial, but you remind me of my younger brother. I don't get to see him anymore so... this is nice. And all your trash-talking reminds me of my sister." Alex stopped. "Well go! Get your girl!"

"What are those idiots doing now?" Alex's voice crackled through the speaker in Haruhi's cheap phone.

"Well to be fair I didn't want anything to do with this, but, we're doing reconnaissance on Shiro. Collecting information." Haruhi hung behind the rest of the club, all preoccupied with nostalgia from their old elementary school building.

"That's not such a bad idea. I could use some information, too."

"They snuck us into the elementary school building-"

"dumb."

"-And they made me dress up in a middle school uniform and a wig."

"They're geniuses. All of them. I'll call you back... I need Kyoya to get a picture of something."

Haruhi giggled and shook her head disapprovingly, even though she knew Alex couldn't see. She didn't mind the uniform so much if Alex liked it. "What did you figure out with Shiro?"

"He's there at the school with his girl now... I'd try to stay clear of him. He's still pretty ticked off at the club."

"Yeah well, who can blame him..." Haruhi watched the twins etching inappropriate things onto the school desks while Honey bounced around. Kaoru perked up and turned to Haruhi. He sat down his pencil and leaned into Haruhi, doing his best to seem innocent.

Kaoru whispered. "Is that Alex?"

Haruhi covered the phone microphone with her hand, a mild frown on her face. "What's it to you?"

An evil grin crossed his face and he put a deep voice on. "Young lady, no phones in my classroom." He snatched the phone from Haruhi's hand and held her at arms length while she continually swiped at him. "What are you doing calling my student during class?"

"I think there's been a misunderstanding, sir-"

"If the young lady goes on her phone again I'll have her in detention."

"And if you don't and my daughter back her phone, I'll have your head!"

Kaoru rolled his eyes, Alex was as quick as ever. "Jeez, Alex. It's only me."

"Kaoru? What do you want?"

"What, I can't talk to my friend?" Kaoru glanced back at Haruhi, who was glaring back at him with her arms crossed, before Tamaki literally pulled her away for help on Shiro's case.

"What now, Tamaki-senpai?"

"You don't want to hang out with daddy either, Haruhi?" He was giving her his signature puppy eyes, and practically sitting like a dog too.

Haruhi sighed and complied, kneeling next to him to watch through the window at Shiro's class. They watched him at the piano, playing and laughing with a young girl his age. Before long, the girl was called away, and both of the young lovers looked quite dismayed.

"I think that's the young lady our Shiro's so broken up about!" Tamaki announced, looking quite proud of himself.

"Yeah, that's Hina Kamishiro." Haruhi glanced back at Tamaki. "Alex said her family's leaving at the end of the week."

"How did Alex find that out?"

"She asked him."

Tamaki jumped back to his feet, exclaiming incoherently. Even Kaoru across the room stopped wandering around to look at him.

Alex's voice echoed softly from the phone speaker. "What? What is it?"

Kaoru rolled his eyes and turned back away from Tamaki. "Just the boss flipping out again-"

"Kaoru!" Tamaki pointed and stomped over from across the hallway. "You put that down this instant!"

"Tamaki? What do you want?"

"Yeah, lay off boss." Kaoru spoke softly. His face hardened, he no longer looked like he was in a playful mood. "We're just talking."

"Don't be smart with me! I know what your game is! You cannot date anyone in the club! Alex and Haruhi are off limits!"

"Come on, boss. You can't be serious." Kaoru looked at Tamaki in disbelief, as did all the club members surrounding the two arguing in the middle of the elementary school hallway.

"Yeah, boss. Isn't that a little harsh?" Hikaru stepped up next to Kaoru, glancing at Haruhi.

"Tama-Chan, that's a little selfish, don't you think?"

Tamaki's eyes began filling with tears. "Et tu, Honey-senpai?" He turned back at Kyoya desperately, who's expression was quite grave. "Mommy!"

"I suppose it should be against the rules for hosts to date." Kyoya's face didn't change, but he gently pressed his glasses higher up on his nose, flashing the club with it's shine and gathering all their attention.

Kaoru stepped forward toward Kyoya. "But Alex isn't even a host!"

Kyoya glared over his glasses. "But she is an idol. It's commonplace for idols to be contractually forbidden from dating."

The distress rose in Kaoru's voice. "That's stupid! She probably doesn't even know-"

"It doesn't matter." Kyoya began retreating into his black book, succeeding in hiding the disappointment he was feeling. "She signed the contract. It's out of our hands."

"Ha!" Tamaki shouted gloatfully, shoving his finger in Kaoru's face, just loud enough to alarm Shiro from inside the classroom.

Haruhi backed away from the door just in time to get out of Shiro's warpath. He ran to Tamaki and shoved with all his might. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay the hell away from me!"

"Shiro, We just want to help you-"

"I don't need you anymore! Alex is helping me! You wouldn't know how to make a girl happy if your life depended on it."

Tamaki held his hand over his heart while he watched Shiro run away, trying to soothe a bit of the pain he felt from Shiro's jab. He sighed in dismay, and stepped clumsily over to Kyoya, resting his head on Kyoya's shoulder. He spoke softly.

"Am I losing my touch? What have I done? I... I feel faint." Tamaki picked his head up and began making his way from Shiro's classroom aimlessly. "What's wrong with me..."

One by one, the hosts began following after him, sensing that their club activities were done. Kyoya stepped past Kaoru and spoke just loud enough for him to hear, stopping him in his tracks.

"You're lucky no one else saw."

Kaoru watched Kyoya step away and into the darkness with concern etched into his face, Hikaru and Haruhi waiting for him on either side of him.

"Are you alright, Kaoru?"

"I think the Shadow King just put a curse on me."

Hikaru took both Kaoru's shoulders and shook playfully. "Come on, you know it's not the end."

Kaoru shook off the concern with a shake of his head. "I know". A smile rightfully reclaimed his face and he pressed Haruhi's phone into the palm of her hand. Alex had long since hung up, no doubt infuriated to no end by Tamaki's shenanigans. "Thanks for letting me use your phone. Sorry if I drained the battery."

"It's fine" Haruhi waved her hand dismissively while the trio followed the others from far behind.

"Alex! I don't know what to say to her!"

"Tell her how much you care about her!" Alex laid on her back on a bench outside the building the music room sat in. Her legs were crossed and she absentmindedly kicked her foot in the air.

"Isn't it to late for that?"

"Then what do you want?" Alex let her head hang off the side of the bench, getting startled to see Kyoya glaring down at her. The blood drained from her face and she stumbled to get

"Let us pay you back!" Hikaru jumped back in. "We'll go somewhere to eat!"

"No thanks, guys. I think I just wanna go home. It's been an exhausting couple of days."