Hosting wasn't fun for Haruhi that day. Though it had never been her favorite thing to do, usually she could find a way to enjoy it. She liked most of the girls who saw her regularly. They were starry-eyed, sure, but they also had a lot to say underneath. They liked to talk about their home lives and what they wanted for the future. She found she could learn a lot about who they really were. They were always so open about their feelings. So aside from the whole 'gushing over her' thing, it was often a pleasant time.

Not today.

Today, the girls were the same as always. One wanted to know about Haruhi's plans for the weekend, one was engaging in some obvious, yet gentle flirting with her, another was telling a funny story about her father's last company get-together at her house. The difference was that Haruhi could now see their Life Threads, their bright orange Life Threads. The looks of longing they always gave Haruhi now took on a different meaning, one that probably should have been clear from the start when she thought about it. It was all Haruhi could do not to look at the clock every couple of seconds. She wanted today to be over hours ago.

"So that's when I said to him, 'You can't do that, red and yellow do not go together!'"

"Unbelievable," the flirty girl shook her head.

"What do you think, Haruhi?" the storyteller asked, leaning in close. Her hand edged towards Haruhi's, the end of her string coming to rest on her lap. Haruhi flinched, but kept her calm enough that she didn't jump away screaming.

"Oh, uh…" Haruhi swallowed something back. "It sounds very interesting."

The girls blinked, furrowing their brows at her nervous behavior. Haruhi stretched her neck to one side and offered up a smile, the faux charm of which eased them and got the storyteller to move away. Relieved, Haruhi was more than happy to bid them farewell a few minutes later when their appointment ended. As they disappeared out the door, Haruhi glanced to the side at Ozzie. The miniature Cupid had been busying himself with picking at the cushions for the last hour. He appeared not all that amused by it, just doing whatever he could to stave off boredom. At least he wasn't talking anymore.

"In case you were wondering," he said, not looking up. "Those orange Life Threads were definitely for you."

Haruhi sweat dropped and sunk back into her seat. "Thanks. Good to know."

More of her guests were quick to arrive, and once again, it was orange Life Threads galore. Ozzie made a sound like he was going to say something, but a quick glare from Haruhi shut him up. She really didn't want to hear about anymore girls and their lust for her.

She excused herself to get some fresh tea cups, even though she still had a few unused ones on the table. It didn't matter; anything to get a reprieve from those telling Life Threads. Over by the kitchen area, there was nobody close by. Kyoya-senpai, his Life Thread white as snow, was in the far corner, too busy with whatever he was writing to see her. Hikaru and Kaoru were doing their act for a pair of highly appreciative fangirls, Hunny-senpai was being cute and fawned over, Mori-senpai was ever the stoic one.

And then there was Tamaki-senpai. Haruhi hadn't been sure how to handle Tamaki-senpai. All of the strange feelings he'd been bringing out in her paled in comparison to the shock his Life Thread put her through.

It was pink.

Pink!

Tamaki-senpai was in love! Or at least, his Destined Love was nearby. The girls around him unsurprisingly sported orange. Haruhi didn't even need to ask Ozzie who the target of their affections was. She wondered how her Senpai would've reacted to it, had he the power to see the Life Threads. Knowing Tamaki, he'd be much more open to the role of a Cupid than Haruhi would ever be. He'd probably be a lot better at it too. She could just see him, prancing about and using flowery words to wrap potential couples around his little finger and steer them in the right direction. Perhaps he had missed his calling.

Haruhi watched as her senpai offered the girl next to him a refill of her coffee mug, saying something that made her face flush. She felt a stab of something in her stomach, something that made her want to smack the girl over the head until she lost consciousness. Haruhi shook her head, surprised at herself for thinking such a thing about Tamaki-senpai's guest. She looked away, her eyes finding Kyoya-senpai again. He was chatting casually with a girl she vaguely recognized as a classmate of hers. Predictably, this girl had an orange Life Thread, and the way she looked at Kyoya betrayed exactly who she was after. Haruhi turned that notion over in her mind, of some random girl flirting with Kyoya-senpai. It was amusing to her, since she doubted Kyoya would ever respond to something like that, but otherwise gave her no strong emotion one way or the other. Haruhi found she really wasn't bothered by it, nor by the girls who wanted Hikaru, Kaoru, Hunny, or Mori.

It was only Tamaki's fangirls that made her feel so inexplicably frustrated.

Then there was his Life Thread to think about. How was she going to find his Destined Love? So many girls came to see him every day. If it was one of them, how would she figure out which?

'Well, they'll have a pink Life Thread, for starters,' Haruhi's inner voice, which was starting to sound annoyingly like Ozzie, spoke. 'So I think we can rule out… everyone here at the moment.'

Haruhi pursed her lips and nodded. She eyeballed her empty table and knew it wouldn't be so for much longer, she couldn't afford to waste any more time. The cupboard door opened and Haruhi removed three clean teacups. Stacking them neatly, one on top of the other, Haruhi made sure they were steady, then firmly grasped the bottom one and slowly pulled it out.

"Haruhi?"

The cups shook as she bolted upright, the one on top coming dangerously close to falling off. Haruhi whirled around and pressed her body against the counter. From this close, she had to crane her neck all the way up to look Tamaki in the eye. It was times like this that she marveled at how much taller than her he really was. Haruhi felt her heart rate increase along with her breathing. She struggled to keep it under control and made a mental note to look up those symptoms online later; there had to be something really wrong with her.

"Hey, Senpai," she greeted him, reaching behind her to make sure the teacups were okay. "I'm just finishing up here. You can go ahead."

She started to walk away, nodding goodbye to Tamaki first. She'd barely put a shred of distance between them when his hand wrapped around her wrist, holding her in place. Haruhi stilled, his strange behavior, coupled with the serious look he gave her when she turned her head, bewildering her.

"Senpai?"

He frowned. "You didn't answer your phone this morning."

Haruhi stared blankly at him, then her eyes widened slightly as she remembered his promise from last night. He had said he would call her, and Haruhi had been so busy dealing with the winged man on her porch that she'd completely forgotten. Of course, that was easy to understand given the situation, but still.

Haruhi cleared her throat. "Yeah, sorry about that. I overslept and I had to really hurry to get to school this morning. The train isn't going to wait for me after all."

Tamaki's face softened a bit, but he didn't look convinced.

"Hikaru and Kaoru said you were complaining this morning about a lack of sleep."

Haruhi clenched her fists tightly. Maybe if she did that hard enough, all of her reaction would be diverted there and nothing would appear on her face.

"Haruhi," he reached for her again, this time taking her with both hands by the shoulders. Haruhi was reminded of the time at the beach, when he'd been so angry at her for trying to fight a pair of boys much bigger and stronger than her. "You really were scared last night, weren't you?"

She blinked, not understanding what he meant until another important memory hit her. There had been a storm yesterday. It was the whole reason she was in this mess with Ozzie. How could she have forgotten?

Coming back to reality, Haruhi took a deep breath and let it out to try and calm herself.

"Senpai," she started softly. "I'm sorry I didn't answer, but really, I was fine last night. Nothing went wrong."

"Then why lie?" he asked.

'I'm starting to hate his serious side,' Haruhi thought to herself. 'Why can't he just overreact and go to the corner like he usually does?'

"I'm not lying," she insisted. "I had a hard time going to sleep last night, and when I finally did it was already early morning. That's why I woke up late and to rush to leave the house and that's why I missed your call."

He faltered, pouting like a lost puppy, very much like the Tamaki she was used to. Relieved, Haruhi fidgeted a little, hoping that would prompt him to let her go so she could say goodbye for real and go back to her table. She knew they both had guests waiting for them. Tamaki didn't let up, however. His head covered his eyes in shadow. Haruhi had no idea what he was thinking.

"I was very worried…" he said softly.

She could feel her resolve crumble. Tamaki looked so sad and hurt, she almost wanted to hug him. Controlling those urges was harder than she'd expected, but Haruhi managed it.

"I'm sorry," she answered. "I really would have called you if something went wrong."

Both their eyes widened, but for different reasons. Tamaki's were out of shock and awe, and Haruhi's was disbelief that she'd actually said something like that, and out loud even. Her Senpai broke out into a grin, demonstrating his amazing ability to swing between emotions instantaneously by shoving his bright and gleeful face into hers, close enough so that their noses were touching.

"Really?" he squealed. "You mean it?"

"E-eh?" was all Haruhi could manage.

As usual, Tamaki didn't notice her less than warm reception of his so-called 'fatherly' love. He just went on with the dreamy looks while a pair of identical shadows slinked up on either side of them. With them came a darkening of the atmosphere around them. Their Cheshire cat grins were wide and filled with shiny white teeth.

"Are they making out?" Hikaru asked his brother.

"I think so," Kaoru answered.

"I must say, I'm shocked."

"Never knew the boss had it in him."

"Smoochy-smoochy," they sang together.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Tamaki screamed, hatefully snarling at the snickering brothers. "DEMON TWINS!"

Tamaki ran after them when they took off, screaming the entire way. It ended when Kyoya took notice, and stopped Tamaki in his tracks to say something to him. Haruhi was to far away to hear what it was, but as her Senpai spent the next few minutes crying in the corner while Hikaru and Kaoru went with raucous laughter back to their table, she got a good grasp of what it amounted to.

Sighing, Haruhi got back to her table, where a group of giggly fangirls, all with painfully orange Life Threads, awaited her. Haruhi sat down and greeted them, masking her torrid emotions with a care free smile that made them all blush. She paid no attention to Ozzie, and as such, missed the thoughtful way he spent the rest of the club meeting watching her.

"So, are you enjoying my powers so far?"

The question came randomly when Haruhi was crossing the street a block away her apartment complex. With any luck, she'd be home in less then five minutes. At this time of day, it would be empty, and Haruhi badly wanted to be away from people right now.

She had been walking all this time as if she were wearing horse blinders. Not once did her eyes stray from what was straight ahead. It was only by doing this that she was able to mostly avoid looking at the mixture of colorful Life Threads that surrounded her on all sides. That was the last thing she needed when she had so many other things on her mind, like homework and getting dinner started and annoying blonde idiots who gave her odd feelings she couldn't explain. Ozzie was lounging on her shoulder lengthwise, very quiet up until now. Haruhi almost made the mistake of turning when he spoke, but caught herself at the last minute and simply glowered at his cheekiness without looking at him. This was the only answer she was willing to give him, and Ozzie scoffed when that became clear.

"You don't need to be such a pessimist," he said.

"These powers of yours get old fast," Haruhi said out the corner of her mouth.

"Oh come on," Ozzie stood, making him much easier to see as he threw his arms outward. "You could try being a little more happy. I mean, look around you! Valentine's Day is upon us and love is in the air!"

Haruhi growled.

She stopped at the curb in front of a DON'T WALK sign. Since no one else was nearby, she glanced to the side experimentally. She immediately regretted it when a small crowd walked by, going in the opposite direction. Though there was one couple with a red Life Thread, it was mostly more of the same. White, blue, orange, orange, white, orange, blue, orange…

'How is this town a hot spot again?' she wondered, not sure yet if she should say this for Ozzie to hear.

The people passed, leaving Haruhi to see a small café across the street. It wasn't too fancy, not like anything the host club would frequent, but nice enough. Fresh flowers were planted on the window sill and the building itself was made of fine red brick. Enormous windows took up most of the space, sparkly clean and giving a perfect view of the people inside. That a pair of pink Life Threads were visible had to be a coincidence. What were the odds that they'd belong to a potential couple and not just two random strangers who just so happened to both have pink Life Threads? At least, that's what Haruhi thought until Ozzie started pulling at her hair and pointing.

"Those two," he said.

Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, thought so."

She eyed the sign again, it now read WALK. With a tired sigh, she stepped into the street the other way and crossed towards the café. Her ears filled with the sounds of cars and people talking, the latter of which got worse as soon as she opened the door and stepped into the café.

Inside, it was warm and a bit cramped. The female half of the perspective couple sat right up next to the day, at a tiny roundtable in front of the window. She wore a baggy shirt with skin tight jeans, and her hair was cut short, even shorter than Haruhi's Her eyes were on the people outside, her expression one of boredom.

Haruhi watched her for another moment, then looked at the man in the far off corner. He was dressed plainly and had his nose in a book and headphones on. Uncaring of the world around him, he bobbed his head to the music and tapped his fingers against the glass.

A nervous cough disrupted Haruhi's observations. She glanced to the side at Ozzie and found him kicking his legs out and staring at the floor.

"What's wrong?" she asked, not too worried about being overheard amidst all this noise.

"Nothing," he answered unconvincingly. "It's just… you know, if you don't want to do this, we can call it a day and try again tomorrow."

Haruhi stared at him.

"Because you know, one of my co-workers will probably be around eventually and they could probably handle this. These two look like they frequent customers, so they'll be back eventually. You know?"

Ozzie shrugged, smiling apologetically and in generally acting like he didn't see the intense glare Haruhi was sending him. He may not have realized it yet, but something had ignited inside of Haruhi the second she heard his suggestion. It was something she'd felt many times before, usually when faced with a particularly difficult test or a twenty page essay on economics. This need to succeed no matter what, to never give up and to keep trying until she got it.

"No," she said firmly.

Ozzie blinked. "Are you sure?"

"I want to try again," she answered, in a way that left no room for argument. Ozzie silenced immediately, and remained as such while Haruhi walked down the length of the room towards the back. The man sat right beside the napkin dispenser, so Haruhi stood there for over a minute, pulling out several napkins as slowly as she could while glancing at the man's table.

His book appeared to be in another language, either French or Italian from the looks of it. Though Haruhi had no idea just what he was reading, the language alone told her that he was some kind of intellectual, because everything about his physical features was purely Japanese. When he made a sudden movement, she jumped, scared for a moment that she'd been caught staring. Then the man switched his walkman open and pulled out the CD inside. He reached into his knapsack for his case, replaced the old one and removed a new.

This one was a store brand blank disk, words written big at the top and bottom in black sharpie.

"Flying Goats in Paris?" the perplexed Haruhi mouthed the name.

Ozzie snorted. "Wow, band names really suck nowadays."

Haruhi ignored him and walked away, stopping at an empty table in between the man and woman. Seating herself, she ordered a plain latte from the waiter who approached and sipped it slowly when it arrived five minutes later. She stayed there for almost twenty minutes, alternating between watching the man and watching the woman. Neither of them looked like they'd be leaving soon, so Haruhi had no problem taking her time. The same couldn't be said for Ozzie.

"So are you just going to sit here and let them get away, or what?"

Haruhi gave him a flat look, one eye twitching slightly with annoyance.

"I am not just going to charge in like last time," she said. "That's why it didn't work. This time, I'm going to watch them first. Try and get in idea of what they're like before making a move."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Ozzie admitted with a nod. "Just be quick. They could leave at any moment, and I'm pretty sure she's almost finished with her drink."

Haruhi turned her head to the girl and found that Ozzie was indeed correct. Barely a quarter of her coffee was left in the clear cups the café offered.

Haruhi got to her feet immediately, Ozzie clamoring to get back on her arm as she started forward towards the young woman. She was drinking the last of her coffee when Haruhi stepped into view. She glanced at her for all of a second before looking away, completely disinterested.

"Hello," Haruhi said.

"…hi," the young woman answered after a pause, during which she gave Haruhi another, more bored and annoyed, once over.

Haruhi shifted her weight from one leg to another. The awkwardness was growing fast and barely two words had been exchanged between them.

"Are you enjoying your coffee?" Haruhi asked, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"It's okay."

"Yeah, mine wasn't that good either," Haruhi chuckled, her poor attempt at a joke falling flat before she'd even finished it. "So… you here alone?"

The woman glanced in all directions, making a bit of a show of it.

"Gee, what do you think?"

Haruhi made a face, not liking this woman's tone at all. She was prepared to just walk off and let her go on without her supposed Destined Love, but Ozzie would never allow it, and she knew it. Not only that, she really didn't like the idea of just giving up all because of one rude person.

"I was just thinking, if you were alone, that would be pretty sad, you know? Valentine's Day is coming after all."

"Oh yeah," the woman looked up with false joy at the prospect of the holiday. "Valentine's Day! Such a wonderful day for candy companies to manipulate the masses into wasting all their money on whatever random dumbass you have a crush on this week. It's all capitalist bullcrap."

"Hey, say that to my face, why don't ya! Nobody talks about my day like that!" Ozzie shouted at her, leaning so far off of Haruhi's shoulder that he was almost horizontal. "Haruhi, slap her for me!"

'Actually, I kind of agree with her,' Haruhi thought to herself.

"Besides," the woman continued with a smirk. "I don't go for younger guys. Sorry, junior."

Haruhi closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, a trick her mother had taught her long ago for when dealing with people like this. Her flippant attitude and snide comments were getting on Haruhi's last nerve. She reminded herself why she was doing this, repeating it again and again in her mind like a broken record. She was suddenly not all convinced that it was worth it.

"That wasn't what I meant," she said, controlling her wavering tone as best she could. "Actually, I was thinking that guy right there. He's not with anyone either."

The woman raised an eyebrow, clearly wanting Haruhi to leave now. Still, she spared a glance for the man, but didn't appear all that impressed. In fact, she scoffed at him.

"That guy? Please, he has preppy written all over him. No thanks."

She turned herself back towards the window, everything and everyone else out once again. This wasn't about to deter Haruhi though.

"What makes you say that?" she asked. "He might be a nice guy."

"Here's a question," the woman whirled back around. "Who are you? Why are you bothering me?"

"I'm just saying," Haruhi snapped, feeling embarrassment wash over her along with fast growing disdain for this stupid job she'd been saddled with. "He seems pretty smart. That book he's reading is in a whole different language."

The woman rolled her eyes and grabbed her jacket. Ozzie gasped and tugged at her hair more, frantically hissing "Emergency! Do something!" over and over again in her ear until she jerked her shoulder up and down to shut him up.

"He was listening to some pretty exotic music too," she kept going. "You know, he's a cultured type. At least I think his music was foreign. I know I've never heard of… Flying Goats or whatever it wa-"

"Wait a minute," the woman had stopped right in the middle of putting her jacket on. With only one arm in the sleeve, she grasped Haruhi by the shoulders tightly, her hand going right though Ozzie as she stared at the much smaller girl with wide eyes. "Flying Goats in Paris? That guy is listening to Flying Goats in Paris?"

Haruhi paused to share an unsure glance with Ozzie, who probably wasn't going to be of much help right now anyway.

"Uh… yes?"

The woman's jaw dropped. When it came back you, she was grinning so hard, it would tear her face in half if she wasn't careful.

"Oh my god!" she cried. "I thought I was the only one who knew that band!"

She let go of Haruhi without another word and charged at the guy. Her Life Thread moved with her, reaching outward as she stopped to say something him. He looked up from his book after first removing his headphones. He was initially baffled by the complete stranger coming up to him, but then his face lit up. Before Haruhi knew it, they were chatting like old friends and sharing a pair of headphone, bobbing their heads with the music, smiling joyfully at each other.

Ozzie was tense for a moment, as if not believing what had just happened. Then he gave a loud whoop that made Haruhi's ear hurt and jumped up and down several times.

"That was great!" he cheered. "You did it, Haruhi! You really did it!"

"Did what?" Haruhi asked, looking away from the happy couple. "I told her he liked the same music as her. That's not really anything to get worked up over."

"Are you kidding?" Ozzie cried, spreading his arms out wide in a showy manner. "You've just ignited the spark of their love! I know it sounds cheesy, but this is how it all begins. They have something in common, soon they find more things they have in common, then a couple of things they don't. That starts them on the process of learning from each other, and eventually, it leads to love. All because of you."

Ozzie sighed and flopped down on his back, dreamily staring at the ceiling fan.

"It's moments like this that really make the job," he said happily.

Haruhi said nothing and tried not to acknowledge him as she left the money for her drink on the table and left the café. She took one last look at the pair before stepping outside. They looked so happy, the woman in particular.

'I still don't feel like I really did anything.'

Ozzie was humming a song to himself the entire rest of the way home. After a few minutes of hearing it non-stop, Haruhi came to the realization that he was repeating it endlessly. And by the time they were at her front door, she was absently humming along with him, much to her consternation.

"By the way," she said while putting the key in the door and unlocking it. "You still haven't told me where you've hidden yourself."

Ozzie's humming stopped. "Oh that? Well you see…"

He trailed off , as Haruhi had gotten the lock undone and thrown open the door. In an instant, words were no longer necessary. Haruhi could see with perfect clarity her father in the kitchen, this time stirring a soup pot. In the living room was Ozzie, at regular size, sitting comfortably in the armchair by the corner. Haruhi's eyes bore into him, so she couldn't see that the miniature Ozzie on her shoulder had vanished.

"Hey there, Haruhi!" life-sized Ozzie greeted her with a weak grin and wave.

The bag fell from her hand, collapsing on the ground and making her father lean over to see what had caused the noise.

"Haruhi," he said simply.

"Dad, I can explain!"

"Well, I hope so," Ranka said, placing his hands on his hips and in general appearing ready to deliver a harsh punishment. "What do you think you're doing, leaving your school bag there were anyone walking through the door could step on it?"

Haruhi's face didn't go back to normal right away, so she was stuck staring back at her father with a needlessly frightened and pale face as he reached down to pick up her bag. All the while, he was muttering to himself about tidiness and responsibility. Placing the school bag beside the couch, Ranka proceeded into the living room and went to sit down. Right in Ozzie's chair.

"DON'T!" Haruhi shouted.

Ranka, who had been just about to crouch down, shot back up straight.

"What is it?" he asked, becoming guarded. "Did you spot an intruder?"

'You have no idea,' Haruhi thought, looking to Ozzie for some sort of explanation and getting nothing in return except another wave and a tiny head gesture at her dad. Just what was going on now?

"There uh…" Haruhi paused to think. "I thought I saw a spider on the wall, but-"

"SPIDER!" Ranka screeched, jumping away from the armchair and scrambling for his room.

With him gone, Haruhi's pent up anger and panic burst free. She directed all at Ozzie.

"What are you doing out in the open like this?" she demanded, making a beeline for the chair and standing over him, glowering.

He scoffed.

"Come on, I wasn't born yesterday," he drawled. "I've made myself invisible and inaudible to everyone but you. Just another awesome power of mine."

He pushed the chair back as far as it would go, looking very pleased with himself as he rested his head on his hands and closed his eyes.

"Trust me, you don't have to worry one bit about anything."

The door to Ranka's room burst open, and out came Haruhi's wild-eyed and red faced father. He wielded a broom with a metallic silver handle and spun it around in front of him like a samurai sword. This almost knocked over a vase of flowers, but Haruhi caught it in time, only spilling a few drops of water.

"Alright," Ranka growled, crouching low like a hunter on the prowl. "Where is that spider? I'll make it pay for setting foot in this house!"

While Ozzie snickered behind her, Haruhi let out a groan and went to begin the daunting task of calming her father down and getting the broom away from him before he took out a window in his excitement. Hopefully, if she got it done fast, she could still get some rest before starting on her homework.

"Oh by the way," Ozzie called out. "I just saw another pair of pink Life Threads go by and they are definitely supposed to connect. Get out there when you're done here, okay?"

'I hate Valentine's Day,' Haruhi thought.

A/N: And Haruhi has her first success! Bringing together... a pair of hipsters.

Well, I guess hipsters need love too.