When Haruhi returned to her room, she found the twins still asleep, wrapped around each other under the blankets of their bed. She momentarily thought of how much their designators would pay to see them like this. If only she had a camera, she might be able to decrease her debt. Oh, how Kyoya was rubbing off on her! Shaking her head as if to rid the thought from her mind, Haruhi tossed a quick glance at the clock situated on the table between her bed and the twin's bed.

"8:13 A.M."

They still had several minutes before they had to meet up with Tamaki and Haruhi figured that the twins would have just enough time to go about their morning routine without making the three of them incredibly late to the club's first activity of their second day on the cruise. From the amount of products the twin's had scattered around the bathroom and their impeccable appearances on a day-to-day basis, Haruhi could only assume that the brothers would take far longer getting ready than she had earlier.

Now, she just had to go about waking up the twins; something she had avoided like the plague only a few hours ago.

Deciding that she would start with Kaoru, the less violent and more understanding twin, Haruhi wandered over to his side of the bed. She hovered over his side, and briefly wondered if she'd end up waking Hikaru in the process because of how close together the two were.

She extended her hand, laying it against Kaoru's shoulder and began to gently shake him.

"Kaoru," she said, still rocking the younger twin back and forth.

Kaoru merely snuggled further into his brother's embrace, ignoring her completely.

"Kaoru," she repeated, but a bit louder this time and with a bit more force.

Haruhi released a sigh as she realized Kaoru wasn't out of bed yet. Not even close. She had taken such great lengths to avoid waking the twins up earlier with her morning routine, and here she was now, failing miserably in her attempts to rouse either of them from their slumber.

Deciding that she would try to wake up Hikaru instead, Haruhi leaned over his younger twin and shook the eldest member of their group of three.

Hikaru, however, reacted by grabbing hold of her arm and practically throwing her onto the bed. She flew over Kaoru, landing in a heap of limbs between the two brothers. She'd been tricked.

"Good morning, Haruhi," Kaoru said brightly as he wrapped his arms around the girl. With a lazy smile, he buried his face into her hair.

Hikaru draped one of his arms around her and pressed the girl against his bare chest.

"You know," Hikaru said in a breathy whisper and Haruhi briefly wondered if he was going to fall asleep again, "if you wanted to get into bed with us, you could have asked."

"I was actually trying to get the two of you out of bed," Haruhi deadpanned.

"No fun," came Kaoru's muffled voice.

Far too acquainted with their antics, Haruhi stared at the ceiling and waited for them to let her go, but they decided to keep her trapped in their embrace for awhile longer.

"You picked out this outfit?" Hikaru asked after a few moments of shared silence, tugging on the strap of the pale blue dress.

"It was dark," Haruhi admitted.

Kaoru stifled a laugh as he glanced over at his brother's face.

"He designed it," Kaoru supplied.

"Oh."

Haruhi managed to shift her weight to the side until she was able to catch a glimpse of alarm clock.

"There's only thirty-two minutes left for you two to get ready."

They shrugged off the comment and continued to hold her between them.

"Why would we want to watch some boring, old movie when we have you all to ourselves?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi was silent for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I didn't think that the theater would be playing old movies."

The twins looked at each other. For a genius, she really was clueless.

"Ah... Hikaru," Kaoru started.

"Yes, Kaoru?" Hikaru inquired.

"Want the first shower?"

"Or shall we take one together?" Hikaru added with a wide grin.

"Haruhi can come, too," Kaoru said, playing along. He brought a finger to his chin as if imaging the possible scenario, "I don't mind sharing you with her."

Haruhi rolled her eyes, not being able to do much else because she was still trapped between them. The twins were shaking against her; laughter wracking their bodies. After a few more moments of hearty chuckles, Hikaru ended up abandoning his spot on the bed as he padded his way towards the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Although she was no longer stuck in the familiar three-person embrace, she was still denied any means of escape from her position on the bed. Kaoru had latched onto her, his strong embrace vaguely reminding her of Hikaru's.

"You used our shampoo," Kaoru stated, inhaling the cinnamon scent, "and our conditioner," he sniffed, "and soap."

Haruhi shrugged, "I couldn't find my own."

Kaoru smiled mischievously and she gazed into the golden orbs.

"So," Haruhi said, "where exactly are they?"

"Being held hostage by a mermaid?" Kaoru offered. Her toiletries had actually been tossed into the trash bin as of yesterday, courtesy of the two Hitachiin twins. Maid service had already paid them a visit.

Haruhi sent him a dull look.

"Hikaru and I don't mind sharing with you," Kaoru said, stroking her cheek affectionately. She looked at him with her wide, chocolate eyes. He was momentarily lost in the color, but then reality hit him like a train and he was left trying very hard to restrain the blush threatening to creep onto his cheeks. Kaoru let his arm fall back to his side as if the contact with her cheek had scorched his fingertips.

She didn't look taken aback or anything by his actions. She was just indifferent. Kaoru propped himself up onto his elbows and leaned over to grab the remote from the nightstand.

"Let's watch T.V," Kaoru said, the light tone returning to his voice in a painfully forced manner. If Haruhi noticed, she didn't comment.

Hikaru found the two sprawled across the bed watching a singing elephant dance across the screen of the plasma screen television when he emerged from the bathroom nearly twenty minutes later with his damp hair styled and parted to one side. He donned a pair of white shorts and an orange jersey; "Hitachiin" labeled across the back in bold, white lettering.

"Left today, Kaoru," Hikaru said nonchalantly, referring to the side his twin should part his hair.

Kaoru nodded, slipped off the bed and ventured past his brother. His eyes were downcast as if ashamed to meet the identical gaze he knew was trying to figure out just exactly what had occurred in the eldest twin's short absence.

Hikaru joined the girl on the bed after Kaoru had disappeared behind the bathroom door. He crawled over to her side and collapsed onto his stomach, a position that allowed him to face the television. Still unsatisfied with his placement, he propped himself up with an elbow and placed his chin on his hand, tilting his head to stare at the girl next to him.

"What is this trash?" Hikaru drawled as he stared at the elephant that was gaily singing about the jungle.

"No idea," Haruhi said with a humorous tone, her eyes shining brightly as the elephant tripped and fell to the ground. A monkey rushed to its side, attempting to help up its fallen companion, but the elephant only rolled over and squished the monkey beneath its weight in the process.

Sometime during watching the elephant, which the two found to be surprisingly funny after some time, and waiting for Kaoru to finish with his shower, Hikaru had subconsciously scooted closer to Haruhi so their sides were pressed against each other.

Kaoru slipped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, joining the two on the bed as he reclaimed his usual spot on Haruhi's opposite side. The three of them, together once more, fell back into their usual routine.

Hikaru wrapped his arms around Haruhi, Kaoru wrapped his arms around Haruhi, Haruhi ignored the arms in general and continued on with life which, at the moment, consisted of two pairs of arms and a musically inclined elephant.

After all, they were all notorious for being late.