As the doors closed behind the Host Club's final customers for the afternoon, Hikaru and Kaoru slumped simultaneously onto their couch. Akari, Yuna, and Nanami hadn't been the only girls curious about the twins' garden escapade. Kaoru, especially, was exhausted from so much of Hikaru's teasing. There had come a point at which the topic of Kaoru's punishment had come up so much that Kaoru's brain seemed to shut down, unable to withstand any more of the racing heartbeat and shaky nerves that came with that subject.

The younger Hitachiin leaned his head on Hikaru's shoulder and closed his eyes. "Are you that tired, Kaoru? You look like you've run a mile!" Hikaru stifled a laugh. I think running a mile would've been easier, Kaoru thought.

"You two were popular today," Haruhi noted, sitting down on the couch across from them. Her dark brown hair had fallen into her eyes, giving her that innocent, sweet look that had caused so many of the Hosts to fall for the maiden.

"Thanks," the twins said together. Kaoru opened his eyes and sat up a little bit. Quickly, he glanced at his big brother, trying to gauge how Hikaru was reacting. Some small, hidden part of the younger twin seemed to be holding stubbornly onto the hope that maybe today's events would've had some kind of effect on his sibling.

"Haruhi! Why did you abandon Daddy for the evil doppelgangers?" The King of Host Club came running across the room, stopped behind Haruhi's couch, and leaned down to wrap his arms protectively around his girlfriend. Haruhi rolled her eyes and said, "Relax Senpai, I just wanted to talk to them."

"But I want to talk to you! And who knows what kind of nasty prank they're planning!" Tamaki argued. The blonde's violet eyes scanned the room suspiciously for any traditional Hitachiin pranks.

"Actually," Kaoru paused to allow Hikaru to finish the sentence, "We're too tired for pranks today."

Tamaki's eye twitched. "Too. Tired?"

Honey materialized beside the twins, offering up a strawberry cake and a childish grin. His flowers had appeared around his head. "Cake will help!" Mori just patted Honey's head sympathetically.

"The girls all seemed pretty worked up over what happened out in the gardens there. It's no wonder you're tired. It was a pretty moving scene," Haruhi admitted. Though she would never admit it to the twins, (they would tease her about it for all eternity) or anyone else for that matter, the brunette had felt a twinge of that "moe" the Host Club customers were frequently afflicted with. She reasoned that it came from having recently gotten to know the twins so much better, but it hardly held a candle to the feelings she had discovered for Tamaki.

"Even Haruhi's smitten, huh?" Kyoya smirked, scribbling in his notebook. Minor waves of anger rolled off of Tamaki. Mommy is teasing Haruhi… Daddy will not allow this…

"That's it! Daddy is taking Haruhi home!" Tamaki declared, leaping to his feet and dragging an annoyed Haruhi behind him as he left. Kyoya stared after them and pushed his glasses up his nose. The couple was already out the door, and thus didn't hear Kyoya say quietly, "Knowing Tamaki, it'll be a miracle if we can't hear them from here."

The Hitachiins burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs and trying not to fall off the couch. Mori, meanwhile, tossed Honey onto his shoulders and walked out the door, presumably heading home as well. Kyoya watched the twin gingers with a somewhat disdainful expression for a moment or two before leaving silently.

When they could finally stop laughing, the twins exchanged a look of Haruhi would kill the Boss if he tried anything. It might've just been a continuation of their previous outburst, but the lady manager didn't think so. Both Hitachiins looked up in surprise as the lights of Music Room #3 flickered and a powerful motor raised Renge up into view. Isn't this a music room?

"I applaud you, boys, for your excellent showing this afternoon!" Renge cried, "But alas, I am still not satisfied!"

"Who asked you if you were satisfied anyway?" Hikaru retorted so that only his brother could hear.

"If you insist on increasing the magnitude of your 'brotherly love' angle, you cannot just go through the motions! You may be hosts, but you are not actors. I, as an experienced shipper and otaku, was able to see right through that façade this afternoon. To really captivate your audience, your feelings for one another must be real! Follow through with your promises! To leave your fans hanging like this, on the edge of something real, is absolutely cruel!" Renge explained passionately.

The twins squinted suspiciously at Renge, at each other, then at Renge again. "So you want us to commit incest?"

"That's a fairly big step, don't you think? And besides, in your case we would call it 'twincest'. But anyways, I'm just saying you should start small. Have the two of you ever kissed each other?" Renge put her hands on her hips and stared at them expectantly.

"Don't you think this is getting a little personal?" Kaoru asked at the same time as Hikaru said, "Well, sure, when we were little…"

Renge threw her hands up victoriously. "But you have never kissed in Host Club, or at school, correct? It's not that hard to understand, boys! Can you imagine what just a little more romantic effort on your part would do to your fanbase?"

"Renge-san, isn't it taboo to kiss your brother? In a romantic way, I mean?" Hikaru asked.

"One of the main draws of your relationship is the fact that it's taboo! And look how many customers you get for it!" Renge pointed out.

She's really serious about this. She's even crazier than I thought! Kaoru shifted on the couch. The lady manager's unwavering look of pure triumph was getting on his nerves. And really, his nerves had taken an awful lot of stress today.

Hikaru had an entirely different take on the situation. I suppose it can't be all that different. We already come so close to kissing most days, especially today. And I've kissed Kaoru's fingers and such before. How can just a peck on the lips hurt?

"Well, it's getting late, and I'm sure you two have things to be doing. Just remember to think about what I've said, m'kay?" Renge twirled around like a four-year-old girl as her powerful motor lowered her back down into… wherever that thing came from.

There was a long silence before either twin said anything. The elder Hitachiin was trying to figure out whether or not kissing his brother would actually be crossing the line of taboo. (Not that he was thinking about kissing Kaoru. They were brothers. It was almost as ridiculous as, say, marrying your cousin.) (But then again Edgar Allen Poe married his cousin, and he was a great poet.) The younger Hitachiin was going back and forth on whether or not Hikaru would really kiss him. Sure, they'd always been close, even for twins, but were they really that close?

A horrible thought occurred to both twins at the same time: What if we did kiss, and it wrecked our relationship? They shivered simultaneously, neither noticing the other's somewhat visible state of distress. That's it. There will be absolutely no kissing between us. It's just too risky. Life without him… It just wouldn't be life.