The twins plopped on their bed and kicked off their shows then yawned simultaneously.
"It's creepy the way you guys do that, y'know?" Sonic pointed out, closing the bedroom door behind him.
The twins' heads popped up at the same time, their irritated expressions mirrored off the other.
"What are you doing here?" they both questioned.
The hedgehog blinked. "This is my room too, remember?"
"Yeah, but you never stay in here," Hikaru noted laying his head back down.
"What makes tonight different?" Kaoru asked, propping himself on his elbows.
Sonic shrugged and sauntered to the empty bed. He hopped onto the mattress and continued bouncing, making the bed squeak in protest.
Hikaru groaned. "Don't you ever get tired?" he whined, covering his eyes with his arm.
The blue Fuzzy's expression turned thoughtful, his jumps uninterrupted. "Sometimes," he answered.
"So little Sally doesn't find your practically constant movement at all annoying?" Hikaru asked from under his arm.
Kaoru chuckled and lay back down. "She must be pretty strange herself if she ever found you appealing."
Sonic stopped his mattress torture and stood on the ruffled covers, his face unusually stern. "There's nothing 'strange' about Sal'," he rebutted.
There was a knock at the door, and before anyone even thought about considering asking "Who's there?" Tamaki barged in with a not-so-happy looking Antoine at his heels.
"Good evening, my comrades! I've decided we're all having a slobber party!"
The twins sat up and blinked, confused.
"Do yo mean 'slumber' party, boss?" Kaoru asked.
"Isn't that what I said?" His Majesty leaped onto the bed Sonic was standing on and sent the little blue alien in the air to land on the twins', which made the red heads stifle laughter.
"Of course I finally find some civilized company, and theez eez where he would rather stay. With theez hooligan and heez accomplices, no doubt." Antoine made a displeased face at the messy bed that Tamaki was sitting on, the club leader's eyes wide with excitement, and sighed. "Oh, well."
"Knuckles and Kyoya should be here soon," Tamaki announced.
"What about Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai, and Tails?" Kaoru asked.
"Wouldn't want to mess with Honey's sleep schedule," his brother cleared up, to which Kaoru simply replied, "Oh."
"Why is everyone in our room?" the twins then protested.
"Our room." Sonic waved a finger between the three of them, but the twins shoved his face back in the mattress with a "Shush, hedgehog!"
"Because you two delinquents wouldn't ever listen if I told you to meet in my room," Tamaki explained.
The twins looked as though they would protest, then shrugged, accepting the truth but still annoyed nonetheless.
And without a knock, Kyoya walked in, a pillow and his notebook tucked under his arm. But Knuckles was nowhere in sight. When Tamaki questioned the red Fuzzy's absense, Kyoya simply said he couldn't find him. Hikaru couldn't imagine Kyoya looked too hard to begin with, though.
Tamaki pouted as Kyoya tossed his pillow on the bed the blonde was sitting on and sat in the chair in front of the desk in the corner. The king's frown disappeared in an instant, and he began explaining his wonderful slumber party plans with everyone.
"Hey, boss," the twins interrupted. "Why'd you make a big deal out of us not having enough rooms if you were going to stuff us all in one like sardines anyway?"
"How dare you question your club leader!" Tamaki shouted, a tiny amount of pain evident in his voice.
Antoine turned to Sonic who was picking something off his sneakers. "How have you put up with all theez nonsense?" the coyote questioned, gesturing to the twins who were making faces at Tamaki behind his back.
Sonic looked to the ceiling and thought for a moment tapping his chin with his finger. "Practice. Lots of practice," he finally decided with a smirk. But Antione just groaned and shook his head, slumping his shoulders.
"So, our new Fuzzy friend!" Tamaki yelled, taking the little coyote into his arms and spinning around the limited space of the room. "Tell us how you got here! Aren't all the pretty teleportation gems here?"
After Antione fell on his rump with a light "thud" on the mattress not inhabited by the twins and Sonic, he smoothed his jacket and hair and cleared his throat. "Well, you see-"
"Are you seriously asking Antione? He'll start with Adam and Eve!" Sonic complained from between the twins. "Long story short," the hedghehog interrupted again, "Sally has a super-smart computer named Nicole, and Mobius probably isn't the calmest place right now, so they came looking for me to clean it up."
"You are so self-absorbed," the twins mused, petting the blue Fuzzy's head.
"Actually, zat was rahzer accurate," Antione agreed. "And ze princess meesed you, though I can't imagine why." He shrugged, and Sonic resisted the urge to stick out his tongue. Antione continued, "She said somesing about just getting you back, and you left again. She called you a fuel many times." He grinned.
"'Fuel?'" the twins asked each other, shrugging.
"Fool," Sonic corrected.
"Is what I say. Fuel," Antione explained, a bit exasperated.
"What's so not-calm about this Mobius?" Tamaki asked, looking worried.
Sonic and Antione shared a glance before the hedgie said, "Oh, nothing. Just some mad scientist. Nothing we haven't dealt with before." He shrugged.
"Many times." Antione emphasized.
"Way too many times," Sonic added, stonily.
"Well if you're such a big shot hero why does it keep happening?" Hikaru asked him, his sarcasm practically visible as he looked down at the Fuzzie on the edge of the bed.
"Because the guy's insane and wants nothing more in his cold, little heart than to enslave our 'fuzzy' little race." Sonic explained, either not noticing or ignoring the eldest twin's tone.
"What'd you do to tick him off so bad?" Kaoru asked out of pure curiosity, and in far less bitter tones then his brother.
"It eez a long story," Antione stated, sighing as tought just thinking about it was too much effort. "But let us just say zat we Mobians 'ave not alwayz gotten along with the Overlanderz."
"Humans," Sonic clarified before anyone could ask what the coyote meant. "It's one of those 'we're better than you' kinda of deals, and it only just stopped a few months ago, more or less. Thanks to us." He gestured to himself and Antione, before adding "and the rest of our friends."
"Really?" Tamaki squealled in delight, like he was being told a particularly fasinating bed-time story.
The coyote nodded. "Oui, and eez waz about time too. Eleven yearz of fighting theez tyrant has beginning to taken a toll on my good health."
"Eleven years, you say?" Kyoya repeated from his corner chair, looking up from his notebook to Sonic. "But that would have made you at least five-years old when he took over."
"Yeah, that's about it." Sonic shrugged. "Time sure flies."
"I, for one, am glad we have ended the fighting. Unlike someone I know…"
"Yeah, well the most excitement we've gotten in our lives is school." Hikaru
"Minus our little mishaps before." Sonic added, making the twins roll their eyes and Antione tilt his head curiously.
Karou nodded in agreement with his brother. "And school starts again soon. I'll be glad to get out of here."
"It gets boring not being able to understand anything that's said around here." The twins finished together with identical shrugs.
"I, for one, will be truly sad to leave such a wonderful country behind!" Tamaki declared waving his hands through the air as if he could gesture throughout the entire country. "I just wish we could have experienced more of the famous night life of America!"
"That can be fixed." Sonic stated simply.
"How so?" The twins asked in confusion.
"We can have a party?" The hedgehog said in exactly the same tones.
"A party?" Tamaki echoed, a mix of happy and puzzled lining his voice.
"A big party." Sonic highlighted with a smirk, then considered before saying, "but don't worry, we're not talking those crazy college parties you see in movies and all that jazz….Well, not entirely." He added quietly.
Antione folded his arms, looking unpleased at the hedgie's idea. "And how do you expect us to be setting up theze party?"
"He has a point. We would need food-" Hikaru began.
"Entertainment-" Karou added.
"Invitations-" Hikaru continued.
"And decorations." Both of them finished pointively, though there was an obvious approving gleam in their eyes towards the whole idea. It did sound fun, and there was no better place to cause an uproar or mischief then a party and they had long fallen behind their usual quota.
"Precisely." Antione said, looking at Sonic and twisting a finger by his head. "I theenk you are having a screw loose."
"Ant, Ant, Ant, it's like you forget who I am." The hedgehog hopped over and clapped the coyote on the shoulder and smirked. "Trust me, I know people and these kids deserve one night of living the dream, if anything. And so do we."
"Well.." Tamaki said slowly, then looked at the vice-president. "What do you think, Kyoya?"
Kyoya looked at the blonde for a second before shrugging. "I see no harm in it, so long as the costs are keep at a bare minimum. We can't afford to splurge after today's events."
"It won't cost you guys a dime, promise." Sonic stated.
That being said, the twins felt it was time to turn to a completely different topic before any further plotting could be done in the very near future. "So are we going to get anymore insight on you and—" They began slyly, looking at the hedgehog on the bed next to them with a wicked gleam in their eyes.
"No." Sonic snapped, having already seen it coming and with finality that the twins ignored.
"But—" They tried again only to get cut off this time by Tamaki who grabbed each of them by the arm and dragged them over to the other side of the room.
"Listen up you two." He whispered to them, glancing back to their blue Fuzzie. "If he doesn't want to talk about, then we won't. Can't you see you're going to cause nothing but trouble if you bring up a tremendous heartbreak like that?"
"I can hear you." Sonic said flatly, his ears flattening in irritation. "And for the record, it was 'tremendous'."
"You see? Now he's in denial!" Tamaki cried.
The hedgehog sighed heavily. "Suddenly, I have the feeling this is going to be a loo-ooong search…" he muttered.
"Well, the bright side is we have only three emeralds left to find. One more vacation and we'll all be able to get on with our lives." Kyoya pointed out.
"Yeah…" Sonic supposed.
"Something wrong with that?" Kyoya glanced at the hedgie from over his glasses and raised an eyebrow.
"Not really," was the response he got as the hedgehog lookeda t the twins. "I just can't help but wonder if they'll go back to the same way they were before, is all."
"I hardly believe so." Kyoya said ernestly, looking at the Fuzzie with a small smile. "Believe it or not, though they have a funny way of showing it, the twins have grown quite attached to each of you. No need to point out which one they're most fond of, but, like us all, they find cooping with the fact you guys won't be around for ever is best done by acting as though nothing's changed between you since they announced their hatred back in Okinawa."
Sonic pondered this for a second. "You really have them pegged, don't you, Specks?"
Kyoya looked at him, unchanged. "It's no different then you and you little band of heroes, now is it?"
"Maybe, but we don't hide things like that from each other." The hedgehog said before noticing the look the vice president was giving him. "What?"
Kyoya stared for a few more seconds before returning to his notebook and sctraching down more notes. "Nothing." He said at last, much to Sonic's confusion. Kyoya keep writing for a few minutes before glancing back at where the hedgehog had rejoined with the other four and were now talking about something beyond his caring. While there were still a great number of things about the Mobian part of the club he didn't understand (and probably never would) he couldn't figure out why, for all their perks, the club had so many dense members residing within it who couldn't see things that were right under their nose.
The party turned out to be as free as Sonic had promised. The decorations were all borrowed from the sets Chris' parents used to work on as a favor and all the food was prepared by Ella, Chris' maid, and she surprised the club by preparing all their favorites. Haruhi especially reveled in the fact that there would be fancy tuna, and her mouth watered ever so slightly every time the thought of it crossed her mind. It was about time she would get to enjoy that tasty delicacy without something, anything getting in the way, and tonight felt like a good night for just that to happen. And while everyone else was getting ready and decorating the house, she helped Ella prepare everything. She told herself it was because she knew her way around the kitchen, but she always caught herself staring at the tuna when she was supposed to be stirring something.
"Oh, Haruhi, you are such a little darling, you know that?" Ella grinned over the sushi she was rolling, and Haruhi smiled politely back. She never knew what to say when people complimented her like that. "It's just so nice of you to help me in the kitchen. I do love cooking, you know. It's very relaxing."
"Yeah, my dad and I like to experiment in the kitchen every once in a while," Haruhi tried adding to the conversation. And suddenly she felt the tiniest pang of homesickness. It was quiet in the kitchen for a moment, the only sounds the bubbling pot in front of Haruhi and Ella's humming, when there was suddenly a very loud bang at the front door. Haruhi threw her hands over her head, sending her mixing spoon through the air and tossing over her pot of miso soup with another loud crash.
Mr. Tanaka walked calmly to the door, but before he could reach for the handle, a rather large man wearing bug-eye sunglasses slammed the door wide open, his arms outstretched. "Tanaka, my man!" The large man stepped forward and hugged the butler, lifting him a few inches off the ground. "How've you been? Looking spiffy as usual, I see."
When he was back on his feet, Tanaka brushed off his jacket and smiled politely. "Mr. Rocque, you seem to be in a good mood this evening."
"Gustavo Rocque!" Ella shouted from the kitchen, slamming a mop and bucket next to the sad puddle of soup and confused Haruhi who looked away from the loud man up to Ella with even wider eyes than was ever thought possible. "I'm getting tired of you stomping around this house like you own it!"
Gustavo turned to Ella, his huge sunglasses glaring in the sunlight coming through the wide open door. "Hey, Ella, you mind making me some snicker doodles? Unless you want Mrs. Knight to handle it." And with that, he turned quickly and stomped into the living room, shouting something like "Where's this party at?"
Haruhi watched as Ella lifted the mop and started mopping up the wasted soup and muttered something in a language Haruhi guessed wasn't English since she couldn't catch a single word when someone else walked through the front door.
"Good afternoon, Tanaka. How've you been?" Haruhi turned back to the door, curious as to why a female would ever accompany that loud and very large man. She spotted a lady with long, wavy hair who had a clipboard in one hand and a phone in the other. Her smile was genuine as she lowered her phone to her clipboard and waved.
Tanaka's smile seemed a little sheepish as he wiggled his fingers in a manner that should have been considered a wave. "Good afternoon, Kelly." When he noticed Haruhi staring in their direction however, his face quickly became solemn as he cleared his throat. He bowed at the waist and waved an arm through the air, showing Kelly the way to the living room where it sounded like Gustavo was yelling about there not being enough snacks.
Kelly rolled her eyes at the shouting and headed for the living room doors, smiling and waving at Haruhi as she passed. Haruhi waved back, wondering who in the world these strange people were. Before Kelly made it through the door, she stopped and announced, "The boys will be here in a minute. They got sidetracked again."
But before the door closed behind her, a tall, blonde boy faceplanted on the floor right at Tanaka's feet. Haruhi jumped as three more boys piled on top of him, shouting incoherently. The female scrunched her face in confusion when she saw one of them was wearing what looked like a helmet for what seemed like no apparent reason. But when one of the other boys slapped him in the back of the head, she figured it wasn't so pointless after all.
Kelly stepped back into the foyer, put two fingers to her lips, and whistled so loud, Haruhi covered her ears as reflex. The bustle at the front door immediately stopped, and the four boys quickly scrambled to their feet.
"That wasn't fair!" the boy in the helmet shouted. "Tripping is totally against the rules, and you know it!"
"It's not my fault you can't walk a straight line without falling on your face," the blonde one said, patting the shorter boy's helmet with a smirk. Helmet Boy glared up at him for a moment before tackling him, shouting something about always getting cheated.
The two boys left standing glanced at each other for a moment, shrugged, then each grabbed a fighting boy by the waist trying to tear them apart.
"Guys... Guys! ... Guys!" Kelly shouted, and the boys froze. "Will you please just go get ready to perform?"
And with that, the group got to their feet and headed to the living room, chattering excitedly about the party.
Haruhi had never been so confused in her life.
Kelly sighed and turned to Haruhi. "Sorry about that. They're a little... rowdy."
Haruhi blinked then realized she was supposed to say something back. "Oh, uh. I don't-"
"Oh, actually, Kelly, she's just visiting and doesn't understand much English," Tanaka interrupted. Kelly half-nodded, trying to figure out why they invited these boys when the visitors wouldn't even understand, when Tanaka continued, "But I'd be happy to translate."
"Yeah, that'd be great, Tanaka." Kelly smiled, then turned to the living room. "We'll do introductions in a minute." And she disappeared behind the doors.
Haruhi blinked a few times, trying to understand the scene that just played out before her when she heard Tanaka sigh. She saw him walk through to the living room and shrugged to herself. He didn't look unhappy. He looked pretty happy. So why would he sigh?
"Haruhi, dear, we need to start a new batch of miso soup!" The female heard Ella call from the kitchen and turned around to go help when she heard a loud crash from the living room and more shouting. Tonight would be anything but peaceful.
"Ella, who are those people?" Haruhi asked, placing a new pot on the stove.
"Oh, those boys? They're just a little boy band that works for a record company that's friends with Chris' parents. They're no harm." Ella paused from chopping vegetables. "Well, maybe they are. But they don't mean it. They're very talented and smart, but they just want to have fun." She turned to Haruhi who was chopping bits of tofu. "They're just your average teenagers."
Haruhi sighed. Her idea of average teenagers had nothing to do with boy bands or rich people, but they seemed to be all over the place lately.
So she figured she might as well get used to it.
After the last of the food was made, Haruhi helped Ella set it up outside where (in her opinion) an unnecessarily large buffet had been set up. Like the inside of the mansion, the backyard had been turned into a wonderland of decorations and festivity and Haruhi couldn't help but think of it as a larger host event. Still, she was interested to see how this last minute thing would turn out.
"Not bad, eh?"
Haruhi turned around to see Sonic and Tails behind her, looking just as amused by the décor as she did, but that wasn't what caught her eye. She stared at them for a second before raising an eyebrow. "What's with the get ups?"
"Kyoya said we might as well take this time to get used to them." Tails replied, gesturing to the little black suits he and his adoptive brother were wearing, though the latter was more preoccupied with trying to correctly figure out the tie around his neck. "Luckily, these aren't the worst ones."
"And ticking off Specks isn't high on my to-do list," the hedgehog added absent-mindedly.
"Speaking of everyone else, where are they?" Haruhi asked, more to herself than the Fuzzies, but that didn't stop them from answering.
"Well, Honey and Mori are helping Chris with decorations." Tails began.
"The King and Vice Pres are upstairs with some stranger helping the other girls 'get fitted', whatever that means." Sonic continued without looking up from his sad attempts. "No idea where Knux went off too, and the twins are…come to think of it I have no idea where those two went either."
Shocker. Haruhi thought before noticing the hedgie's tone in that last part. "Why do you sound so worried by that?"
"No reason," was the simple answer she got.
Haruhi looked at Tails, who just shrugged, then back at the hedgie and his losing battle before sighing and kneeling down to help him with the air of a professional.
"Thanks," he told her before gestering back to the house."Anyway, what's up with the people running around here like they own the place?"
"Apparently they're some kind of boy band that your friend's parents know or something like that." Haruhi tried to explain, already forgetting what it was Ella had told her but still wondering what was so great about them.
The hedgehog snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot about them." He said before turning and darting away after saying, "talk to you guys later."
Haruhi shook her head. "Is there anyone in this country he doesn't know?"
"Not really,"Tails replied honestly. "But it goes both ways, so you shouldn't be so surprised."
"I'm not." Haruhi grunted.
"Well, that's good because if you weren't used to it by now that'd be weird."
"This whole thing is weird."
Tails looked at her, ears flat in confusion. "But that's half the fun, right?"
Haruhi looked down at the fox, seeing the mix of concern and perplexity in his blue eyes before realizing what he was really asking and sighing. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she answered at last with a half-hearted smile.
Satisfied, the fox smiled back. "I'm glad. Besides, we're not going to be here forever and we have to enjoy the time we do have." He considered for a moment. "Even if it is weird."
As if on cue, one of the band members suddenly appeared out of nowhere and ran to the buffet, where he promptly squealed in excitement as he held up the same strange food on a stick Haruhi had been given at the carnival. "They have corn dogs!" He shouted excitedly.
Haruhi watched as the band member shoved the odd food in his mouth before grabbing as many as he could fit in his fists and running off in the direction he came.
"So weird," the female repeated, shaking her head. But not a second later, another one of the band members was on the stage, in a suit just like the Fuzzies, tapping a microphone.
"Hey, everyone!" the blonde boy said as the others made their way to their microphones, also dressed up in what looked like their Sunday best. Haruhi was a little surprised to see the corndog loving member in a suit when he was in his street clothes not very long ago. The crowd around the stage cheered, and the band smiled and waved.
"Good to see everyone here tonight," the other shortish boy said into his mic.
"Yeah, we missed you guys. How you been?" The tall brunette waved and the crowd cheered. Haruhi watched from the house's back door, her arms folded, watching as some of the girls in the crowd seemed to squeal. She rolled her eyes. Girls were the same everywhere.
"That's great!" the helmet-wearing member nearly shouted into his microphone. "We're just gonna sing a few songs to get this party started, then we're gonna party too! How's that sound?" And with that, the crowd nearly exploded, and Haruhi flinched. She would never be able to get used to this lifestyle, she concluded to herself.
"But apparently we have some guests tonight that need a little translation, so we have a little guest of our own," the blonde member explained. "You all know him, you all love him, he drives us crazy, but he's pretty cool considering he's blue. Say hi to Sonic the hedgehog, everyone!"
Haruhi squinted when she noticed Sonic walk on stage, waving. "Oh, great. Another hedgehog musical number," she mumbled to herself. Oddly enough, Hikaru was thinking the exact same thing from the upstairs balcony. He had no view of the stage, but he could see Haruhi just fine. He found it rather amusing that she wasn't blown away being around celebrities, even if she had no idea who they were. She was a commoner; weren't the supposed to get excited?
The music started, and the crowd cheered as Sonic took the first verse in Japanese. Just like at the fair, no one seemed to notice because they were all singing along in English.
'Cause the world stops when I put my arms around you, around you. Woah-oh. And nothing even matters. Nothing even matters.
Hikaru groaned internally. It's like that stupid hedgehog was trying to drive him crazy with his stupid music and his stupid singing. He tried to ignore the rest of the song, but some lyrics made their way through.
I don't care about the money, don't care about the clothes / When we're together, baby, anything goes / 'Cause we don't even need to prove what we feel in our hearts.
Haruhi sighed. She thought it was very strange even imagining a girl wanting to be that weird helmet boy's "girlfriend." Music didn't really make sense to her sometimes.
Sonic spotted Haruhi in the crowd and resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he realized Hikaru was nowhere in sight. That boy would never learn.
The band continued playing through their set which included songs with silly lyrics (in Haruhi's opinion) like "I know you know you got my heart thumpin'" and "if you could read my mind, all your doubts would be left behind." Haruhi always figured if you have something to say, you should say it. There's no point in hiding stuff. Songs like that were just ridiculous.
And when the set was done and the band hopped off stage, Hikaru practically had the same idea. But before he could make it down the steps, the female Fuzzies finally emerged from Haruhi's room all dolled up in cute little dresses.
Sally looked rather uncomfortable, but Bunnie had a triumphant looking smile on her face. Kaoru sauntered out behind them along with some strange person Hikaru had never seen before. Hikaru gave his brother a confused look to which Kaoru said, "What? You know we have a knack for this kind of stuff. They look great."
The stranger sort of pouted then stormed off, and Kaoru chuckled. "He's just jealous my little additions look good."
Hikaru shook his head and watched as the female Fuzzies made their way down the stairs ever so carefully. Kaoru elbowed his brother's side and motioned from Sally to Sonic who was walking through the guests into the house, smiling and waving at everyone who noticed him. Hikaru watched the hedgehog zigzag through peoples' legs until he caught sight of Haruhi walking into the kitchen.
"Yeah, just a minute, Kaoru." Hikaru patted his brother's shoulder and raced down the stairs, leaving Kaoru standing alone to sigh and shake his head.
Before Hikaru made it to the kitchen, one of the band members, who seemed to have been doing a conga line backwards, rammed right into him. "Woah, my bad, bro," a shortish brunette said, straightening the strange top hat that lay on his head. He showed a rather crooked smile before saluting and dancing away.
Hikaru blinked, not really understanding what the boy said, then decided it would be best to just let it go, smile, and walk away. But before he could, another taller, blonde band member grabbed his shoulders and shouted, "Join the fun, buddy!" before shoving him in the reverse conga line the other was supposedly leading.
The redhead was forced into the dancing madness but tried desperately to get to the kitchen before he lost what little nerve he had. He didn't really know what he was going to say to Haruhi, but he was pretty sure it was important.
Someone screamed in Hikaru's ear which made him flinch. "Calm down, man!" a different band member wearing a helmet shouted in his ear. "It's a party!" He and the taller member cheered and gave each other high fives before dancing off.
Hikaru honestly believed he was stuck in madhouse, and when he finally escaped from the conga line and made it to the kitchen, he noticed Haruhi talking to someone already. Since the suit he was wearing looked familiar, Hikaru figured he was part of the band too. Something inside the twin fumed at his cocky grin, and he started marching to where they stood when a blue blur stood before him.
"Hey, twinkletoes." Sonic tugged at his collar and grimaced. "Where are you headed in such a hurry?" He turned around, trying to find what the redhead was focused on (even though he tried to quickly redirect his attention to his shoes), and when he spotted it, he let out a low whistle. "Haruhi looks like she's having a good time with James over there," he said, pointing his thumb to the people mentioned and turning back to Hikaru who was frowning at the floor.
"James is a stupid name," Hikaru muttered.
"Yeah, well. No one ever said he was the brightest of the bunch," the hedgehog said, shrugging his shoulders. He smirked and whipped behind Hikaru and started pushing his knees, making him step forward. "You should go meet him. You'll be fast friends. Just go talk about how great-looking you both are."
Hikaru protested and tried stepping away, but before he could get a firm step, he bumped into Haruhi who looked like she was being awoken from a daze. Before he even considered apologizing, Sonic greeted the tall brunette with a silly fist bump. "James, hope Haruhi here isn't boring you too bad," he said, causing the female to roll her eyes.
Hikaru jumped when something in Haruhi's hands spoke in a language he could actually understand, translating the hedgehog's words. Noticing his surprise, Haruhi explained, "This is Nicole. Sally let me borrow her to translate. She's really nice." She paused. "For a computer."
"Thank you, Haruhi," Nicole responded. "And hello, Hikaru. I've heard a lot about you."
Hikaru halted for a moment, actually debating whether he should answer what looked like a really old cell phone. "Um, hi," he settled with, slapping his forehead internally.
James wrapped an arm around Haruhi's shoulders that sent some weird rage surging through Hikaru's chest. "Yeah, me and Haruhi here were just chatting it up," the band member explained. "She's teaching me all about Japan." As Nicole translated, he shot a flawless smile down at Haruhi who gave a tiny smile in return and quickly looked away.
Hikaru frowned at the friendly embrace and the fact that Haruhi didn't move away. This guy, whoever he was, was way too close. Before he even knew what he was doing, he grabbed Haruhi's free hand and pulled her out of his reach.
"Nice meeting you, James, but I have to uh... show Haruhi... something. Bye." His words were rushed, but for once in his life, he didn't know what to say. He shimmied through the crowd, Haruhi following him, holding Nicole close as to not drop her.
"Hikaru, what do you need to show me that's so important?" the female asked, a little concerned for the redhead's sanity.
Hikaru didn't answer. Instead, he stopped in his tracks, turned around to face her, and said, "You don't even know that James guy. Why are you telling him your life story?"
Haruhi blinked, confused. "I wasn't telling him my life story. He just reminded me a lot of Tamaki-senpai, so I figured I'd be nice." She looked down at Nicole, but nothing came from the little handheld computer.
The twin huffed, then exhaled slowly. What is wrong with me?
But before he could answer his own question, someone bumped into him from behind. He turned around to see a rather disheveled band member, the same one that Haruhi had seen running around with "corndogs."
"Oh, man, bro I am so sorry," the member laughed.
The taller, blonde boy appeared at his friend's side and stuck out his hand. "We have got to stop running into each other like this. I'm Kendall, and this doofus is Carlos."
Hikaru stared at the boy's hand for a moment before Nicole translated. When he finally understood, the twin smiled a bit and grasped his outstretched hand. "Hikaru." He pointed at the female. "Haruhi."
"Oh hey! It's the girl James said he was gonna ask out!" Carlos revealed, pointing at Haruhi who looked rather dumbstruck at the boy's finger.
Before Nicole could even translate, Sonic appeared between the two different, tiny groups, hopped up in the air lightly, and thumped Carlos in the head. The singer gripped his head and shouted something about this is why he always wore his helmet while the hedgie and Kendall had a bit of silent communication. Kendall pushed Carlos back into the crowd, telling him to dance since he was a party king after all, and Sonic turned back to Hikaru and Haruhi. "Why don't you guys go get some food or something? The chili dogs are awesome." And with that, he zipped back into the crowd and disappeared.
The two who were left glanced at each other. "These guys are so weird." She rolled her eyes before turning to the refreshments table. She was ready for some fancy tuna, and she was going to get her hands on some if it was the last thing she did.
From the stage, Sonic was watching as Hikaru slumped his shoulders a bit and followed her. "See that kid there?" he asked, pointing in the twin's general area.
"The one in the purple pants? Yeah, he's a little weird. He smells like cornchips like that guy at the Palmwoods," Carlos answered quickly, to which the other three guys quickly agreed.
Sonic resisted the urge to slap his forehead. "No, dunderheads, the one with the orange hair."
After a brief pause, they all answered in unison. "Twinkletoes?"
"I know, right?" the hedgie laughed. "Well, anyways, here's the deal..."
"There's no more fancy tuna," Haruhi whined.
But before Hikaru could respond, Sonic stage-coughed into the microphone onstage. "These guys want to perform one last song before they go!" He motioned to the boy band who waved to the cheering crowd, huge smiles on each of their faces, except for James who seemed to be pouting just a bit.
"This one goes to all the couples out there! It's an oldie but goody!" Kendall said into the mic, positioning himself with his guitar as the rest of the boys got situated on stools from off the stage. Hikaru shrugged at Haruhi, waiting for a translation from Nicole, but none came.
When the first chord was played, the crowd exploded, but even over all that, Hikaru could still hear Sonic singing over the band in a language he could actually understand.
You'll never know how much I really love you / You'll never know how much I really care / Listen / Do you want to know a secret? / Do you promise no to tell? / Woahh-ohh / Closer / Let me whisper in your ear / Say the words you long to hear / I'm in love with you
Hikaru groaned and looked away from the stage contemplating how many different ways he could kill the hedgehog without leaving any evidence. Kaoru would probably think of something.
"What's with all the love songs tonight? Don't they know anything else?" Haruhi questioned, standing at Hikaru's side.
I've known the secret for a week or two / Nobody knows / Just we two
Hikaru looked down at Haruhi, taking in how adorable she looked in the little party dress Tamaki bought for her during their shopping trip. With its stupid frill everywhere, it just seemed to suit her nicely. Then he noticed he was staring. He swallowed loudly, but his throat was dry. He sort of knew what he was doing, but he couldn't believe he was actually going to do it. He started leaning towards her, not completely aware of the fact that she wasn't paying any attention to him in the slightest, when his brother grabbed his shoulders and pulled him aside.
"What are you doing?" Hikaru shouted, mostly from surprise.
Kaoru blinked. "Sorry, were you busy? I was just going to tell you the plan I had for Sonic and miss Princess Sally. Ready?" A sly grin crept on his face, and Hikaru held in the need to scream.
"Lay it on me," he said instead, trying to mirror his brother's enthusiasm.
Kaoru did and in the end, Hikaru was more than just impressed and looking forward to putting it into action, but there were a few things to do beforehand.
And one of those things was to recruit a few pawns.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the chaotic setting of the Thorndyke's property, another part of the host club had gathered around another table bordering the bustling crowd of people dancing (or some movement resembling it) near the stage where another band had taken over the stage in a manner of minutes with lyrics none of them could quite understand. Though Tamaki announced he would soon find out what the "Moves of a Jagger" were, but for now he was stuck with another problem. Namely why their new female echidna companion wouldn't agree to dress in the adorable outfits like the others.
"But why?" Tamaki whined.
With a much-irritated look on her face, Julie-Su folded her arms and glared at the King from across the table. "Listen, Blondie. I'm not here to be your dress-up doll. Don't expect me to start anytime soon either," she added in case there was any confusion left behind.
Next to her, Kyoya smirked at the look that came over the blonde's face. "You heard her Tamaki. You can't force everyone to play along in your little game."
"Funny, isn't that what you did?" Knuckles asked Kyoya, sounding more bored than anything.
The Vice President simply looked at him. "You three have no choice in the matter. Or have you forgotten the fact you happen to owe me and my family a large sum of money?"
"Hard to when you keep bringing it up." Sonic murmured.
"Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" Julie-Su eyed the hedgie somewhat confused, not noticing him there before. Or rather with someone else…she added inwardly.
"Not that I can think of." He replied after a quick thought then looked over to where Haruhi was making her way rather despondently to the group. "What's your problem, Buttercup?
Before Haruhi could open her mouth to explain the lack of the one food she never seemed to actually be able to eat, a voice, and a highly squeaking one to the point where the club thought their ears had gone wacky, rose up from behind her. Turning around to see who it was, Haruhi nearly did a doubletake.
Behind her, standing on a nearby table looking back at her stood three small animals, wearing either a red, blue or green sweater and staring back at her with big, curious eyes.
"What the heck is this?" She asked the other hosts flatly after a long silence, pointing to the mysterious trio.
"Who, actually Haruhi." Kyoya corrected plainly. "I'm surprised you don't recognize these particular stars, considering their worldwide pop icons."
"They're so cute!" Tamaki squealed excitedly, rushing to Haruhi's side and kneeling down to look at the little stars at eye-level.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" The red-wearer one asked, eyeing the blonde in a way that dared him to make another comment.
"No need to get hostile, Alvin." The blue, and tallest, one said calmly, pushing up its round glasses before looking at the hosts. "You'll have to excuse him. He's people skills are…questionable."
Haruhi looked to the last one, expecting some say in the matter and just received a small wave, and sighed. "Is someone going to explain what's going on here?" She asked, generally curious this time.
The three little creatures looked at each other before nodding in unison.
"Sure thing, Sweet Cheeks." Alvin told her with a grin that mirrored the one on the other two as he bowed slightly. "Allow us."
Wondering what the heck was going on, Haruhi got her answer a second later when the trio arranged themselves in a rough police line-up and began singing.
Watch out cause here we come / It's been a while but we're back with style / So get set to have some fun / We'll bring you action and satisfaction / We're the chipmunks / C-H-I-P-M-U-N-K / We're the chipmunks / Guaranteed to brighten your day
Despite the fact that she was currently watching a trio of singing chipmunks (granted singing animals weren't exactly uncommon in her life anymore, but at least these ones were normal sized) perform on a table, Haruhi actually found that she, like everyone else around the group, was smiling by the time the trio hit their last lines. Something in their enthusiasm was catching, that much was obvious.
When you feel like a laugh / Give us a call we'll give you a roll / And if you feel like a song / Tune in to us and sing right along / We're the chipmunks / Coming on stronger than ever before / We're the chipmunks / Alvin, Simon, Theodore
"And there you have it," Sonic said at the end, raising his voice to compete with the rising applause. "Any more questions?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with you?" Haruhi questioned, shaking her head and wondering what has been going through the hedgehog's head when he picked the musical talent for this shindig, yet some part of her was curious to see what was next.
"That, my friend, we will never quite figure out." He responded in even tones and Haruhi just rolled her eyes when she spotted another group of what she also guessed were singing chipmunks on the ground, though these ones where obviously female and looked a little less than happy.
"Alvin!" One of them, in a pink dress, shouted instantly drawing the attention of the crowd as well as The Chipmunks.
"Oh, hey guys." Alvin waved as he peered over the edge of the table, receiving a narrowed eye glare.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, jamming her hands on her hips and glaring up at Alvin. "We're supposed to be performing!"
Alvin scoffed. "Keep your fur on, we were getting there."
"There are more?" Tamaki asked in excitement, practically jumping with giddy.
"Of course." Sonic said, pointing to each of the new arrivals. "Brittany, Eleanor and Janet."
"The Chipmunks and The Chipettes have a rather extensive music career, granted the former hasn't been around quite as long but both are famous for obvious reasons." Kyoya told them, while Knuckles and Julie-Su just looked at each other obviously uninterested in the whole situation to the point where they just got up and walked away from it.
"Well I've ever heard of either of them until right now," Haruhi stated, still puzzled by that fact.
"Hold on second." Brittany began, scurried up the nearest thing almost eye-level with Haruhi (which in this case was a rather surprised hedgehog) and fixed her with a stunned look. "You seriously haven't heard of us?" She asked in shocked tones to genuine to be faked. "We're celebrities whose faces are all over the world! What rock have you been living under?"
"She doesn't get out much, don't let it get to you, Brit." Her pedestal informed her, not noticing the slight flush that came over her face at her nickname.
"Um, hello? Are we going or what?" Alvin asked after a few silent moments had passed and no one had moved.
"Oh. Right." Brittany blinked and scampered back to the ground where the two trios disappeared into the crowd for a second before reappearing on the stage as upbeat music began to play.
"C'mon, Kyoya!" Tamaki shouted, dragging the Vice President close to the stage for a better view as the song continued.
I whip my tail back and forth / I whip my tail back and forth/ I whip my tail back and forth/ (Just whip it) / I whip my tail back and forth
"So is there any particular reason you're avoiding your girlfriend?" Haruhi asked before she could really stop herself, though she made a point not to sound as interested as she really felt, which was rare for her.
"She's not my girlfriend and nope." The hedgehog answered without missing a beat, stopping the conversation dead.
From the other side of the yard, Hikaru and Kaoru stood just out of sight of the pair and ready to put their plan into action. Spotting Sally and Bunnie off in another direction, the twins exchanged entertained looks.
"Is it time?" Hikaru asked impishly in an aside.
Kaoru looked past the crowd to where he could make out Chris, who flashed a thumbs up before disappearing into the mass of people.
"It's time." Kaoru grinned.
A few moments later, when the chipmunks had taken their final bows and left the stage to apparently raid the buffet tables, another song rose from the surrounding speakers. The sudden switch from the chipmunk's fast paced pop to what sounded like an anticlimactic movie scene caused most of the guest to look around and exchange confused looks as slower lyrics drawled.
There were nights when the wind was so cold / That my body froze in bed / If I just listened to it / Right outside the window
It says something about the adaptive nature of parties, the twins thought, when one second the guests go from utterly confused to pairing up and slow dancing as if the last hyperactive hours hadn't even existed. In almost a flash the mood had completely changed, and all in the twin's favour, as couples gathered in the center of the yard.
But when you touch me like this / And you hold me like that / I just have to admit / That it's all coming back to me / When I touch you like this / And I hold you like that / It's so hard to believe but / It's all coming back to me / There were moments of gold / And there were flashes of light
Hikaru looked over to where Chris was currently talking to Sally (Antoine had pulled Bunnie to the floor just seconds earlier leaving the princess alone on the sidelines) before he grabbed her hand and proceeded to the center of the couple crowd.
If I kiss you like this / And if you whisper like that / It was lost long ago / But it's all coming back to me / If you want me like this / And if you need me like that / It was dead long ago / But it's all coming back to me / There were those empty threats and hollow lies / And whenever you tried to hurt me / I just hurt you even worse
"Hey, what's Haruhi doing?" Kaoru asked, gesturing to where their female comrade had imitated Chris' actions with their blue pest. "Did you tell her the plan?"
"Of course not," Hikaru told him, not bothering to tell him that he had hardly been able to talk to her all night or that this minour set back in could easily be fixed. The plan in itself wasn't as complex as their others, in fact it was almost horribly cliché, being that it was just to lure the two Fuzzies to the center of the inevitable couple mob, where escape was practically impossible, with the help of Chris and Ella (who they now noticed had been caught by a would-be suitor of her own) and with a gentle bump have nature take course. Easy, and as far as Hikaru could tell, Haruhi seemed to have the same idea they did.
He soon found that was only part of the case. In fact, Haruhi did just the opposite and physically shoved the hedgie towards the princess, nearly knocking both of them over before retreating back to the side by the simple means of pushing past the couples smaller than herself.
"Well, that's one way to get it done," Kaoru said between laughs as he and his brother struggled to compose themselves after seeing the looks on the pair's faces at their abrupt meeting, a comic mix of revelation and royal awkwardness.
But you were history with the slamming of the door / And I made myself so strong again somehow / And I never wasted any of my time on you since then
"Wait, what's he doing?" Hikaru asked confused, seeing the hedgehog take a few steps back from Sally. His question was answered a second later when, in a purely host way, the hedgehog bowed and offered a hand to the princess.
But if I touch you like this / And if you kiss me like that / It was so long ago / But it's all coming back to me
Much to the twin's satisfaction and somewhat surprise, the offered hand was taken and judging by the sudden "aww!" that followed, Tamaki more than approved the action.
"I can't believe that worked." Kaoru admitted, leaning back on one of the tables and watching the others as his brother did the same. "Even if it wasn't quite the way we planned it, it was a pretty good night."
"I guess," Hikaru really didn't have an opinion of the whole thing, the only thing he had gotten out of the night was confusion and frustration and all of it was directed at his feelings, or whatever they were, towards Haruhi.
Kaoru looked at his brother before sighing and looking up at the sky where he could just make out a few stars. Now, the youngest twin had never bothered with the age told myth of wishing on stars to have a wish come true but, for his brother's case, he was pretty much considering anything now.
And who knows, maybe the stars in America had some mystical power behind them.
Whoop! And another chapter is up after another long wait. Sorry guys XD Needless to say we jammed 3rd party characters into this chapter and I hope it fulfilled one (or two) of your requests ;)
We will be answering reviews again, we promise! There's just so many we can;t keep track of them all XD