Chapter Text
He gripped the soft,pink envelope between his fingers. His brother's name was written in small smooth strokes of black ink in the middle, hanging off a kiss, that was stamped in bright red lipstick.
It made him cringe.
"I'm not Kaoru," he said quietly. Well practiced disappointment dripping from his lips. "You must've stuck the letter in my desk by mistake."
His eyes narrowed. "Right?"
The girl in front of him burned an interesting shade of pink. "Right! I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"To be honest," He held the letter out of her reach, when she tried to grab it back. "I always thought you were kind of cute."
She stopped, blushing even brighter from how close he leaned into her. "...Really?"
"Do you think you could like me instead?" He asked.
"I don't-"
"I won't tell."
"Well..." the short girl in front of him twirled her finger around the tips of one of her pigtails. "I guess if... you're okay with it, then so am I, Hikaru."
The young Hitachiin twin stood up, a solemn look on his face as he turned towards the shrubs in the courtyard.
It wasn't their fault.
They were the one who just kept falling for it.
Honestly, it was starting to get old. Really.
"I see," he muttered. It didn't even hurt anymore. He was used to it. "Then... Hey, Hikaru! She said she'd be fine with you instead."
With that, the other twin stepped out from behind the bushes, the same haunting smile on his face, knowing that they've won again. It was their game. They always won.
The girl gasped. Watching the 'real', Hikaru walk up to them.
"Wait..." she whined, clutching her hands to her chest. "So you are, Kaoru?"
"No." He admitted. "But you can't tell, so what's it matter?"
"Oh well, should'a known," Kaoru shrugged, throwing himself over his brother's shoulder. "You might have a sweet and pretty face but you're a terrible person, you know?"
"W-what?"
Hikaru scoffed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "By saying you'd take either of us."
"You're really saying you don't want either of us." Kaoru finished.
"That's not fair," She cried, "Why are you so mean?"
The girl didn't even bother to wipe her tears before running off. Their other classmates watched as she ran down the corridor. They all looked at the twins, giving them a reproachful glare, but no one cared enough to be humiliated.
It was a wonder what anyone even saw in them. They were crude and manipulative. They found amusement in causing distress, as if it were their pay back to the world of people who wronged them.
They wanted to be told apart.
Yet, they didn't want to be told apart.
Maybe there was charm in their mysterious, contradicted world that made everyone so curious, that made them want to be apart of it.
"No, you've got it all wrong," Hikaru sighed, ripping the love letter in half. "You're mean."
A loud crash echoed throughout the club room. The air stilled, and for a moment, there was a pure, haunting silence. Everyone stared at the pieces of glass on the floor, not saying anything and, what it seemed to the tall boy in the corner, no one breathed either.
Hikaru and Kaoru peered over the banister, looking down at the broken vase. The horrified look on the commoner's face made them bite their tongues back from a laugh.
"You really did it now, Commoner," Kaoru mocked, hanging over his shoulder.
"Yeah, way to go, Haruhi," Hikaru taunted. "We were going to auction it off for eight million yen."
"Eight million yen?" The boy, Haruhi, whirled around, his mouth opening and closing, in a fabulous impression of a goldfish. He blubbered, and started to awkwardly pick up the pieces. "I'll-... I'll pay you back."
They finally choked out their laugh. It coming out more scornful than intended. "With what money? You're broke."
In a sad attempt, Haruhi scrambled to pick up two pieces and tried to stick them together. Maybe some glue could-
He stopped, as there was a loud, authoritative snap from behind him and a large hand placed itself on his shoulder. Haruhi's eyes looked up pathetically from behind his large glasses, to see the tall blonde. He was giving him a hard, almost mischievous stare, that harbored his impending doom.
"Cheer up poor lad, don't look as if you're life is on the line." Tamaki said brightly, clearly oblivious to the weight of the situation, at least, that's how Haruhi felt. He seemed to be oblivious to a lot of things in the room at that moment. "It was clearly an accident-"
He gawked, fighting back the urge to scream, 'it wasn't my fault!' but as it stood, his argument would probably mean nothing to them.
"We won't hold you for ransom," He added, in a tone that made it sound like he was being very generous, and Haruhi felt almost compelled to thank him. "Kyouya! What do you think?"
The boy in glasses, sighed. "That at this rate, we'll go bankrupt?"
"No, I mean, what do you think of the plan?"
"That I would much rather hold him ransom."
"Kyouya, no."
"Just for a little while-"
"Like I was saying!" After pausing to think, Tamaki stood up straight, straining a hero pose, totally not listening and ignoring everyone's glares. He spun around, as if he had just come up with the most brilliant idea. "You'll pay us back of course, but we're gentlemen so we'll go easy on you."
Haruhi shriveled up, still helplessly clinging to the broken pieces of the vase. "Can I just financ-"
"From now on, you'll serve in the host club, with us!" He paused again, for the dramatic effect he so very much loved.
He pointed his self-proclaimed royal finger, suddenly thinking of something rather clever if he did say so himself. "As... the Host club's dog!"
"Huh?!"
Haruhi finally collapsed, counting on his shaky fingers, how many years of unlawful service it would take to repay eight million yen. How many thousands were in a million?! How many... hours. The... the Days.
The twins whirled around, both in an enraged fluster.
"Wait," Kaoru lip curled. "You don't mean-"
"He's staying here-" Hikaru looked down at the dirty commoner boy in disgust. "With us?"
"Why not?" Tamaki smirked. "I mean, how else will he pay us back?"
"I suggested ransom."
"That's illegal, Kyouya."
"I know how to pull strings."
"Well I'm excited!" Huni suddenly chimed in, whooshing over to Haruhi, pulling him up to his feet. "You're one of us now, Haru-chan! I can't wait to hear all about what it's like being poor. Do you think poor people cake tastes the same as the ones we have? I'd like to try them."
Haruhi yanked his hand away, stumbling back and almost falling down again. He looked up at the circle of tall, heavily expensive boys that surrounded him, nearly feeling crushed. The two blondes wore their excitement on their sleeves, and the two darker, intimidating boys seemed indifferent, but the others. His new classmates. The... twins, sent chills down his spine. Their eyes were slanted down towards him as they hung off each other, as if gas-lighting his existence, trying to set him on fire.
He shifted away from them.
"There's no way," Hikaru argued obnoxiously. "He's hideous!"
"He'll scare customers away just by looking at him." Kaoru added. "He's a total clown."
Tamaki scoffed. Of course, he couldn't really deny it. Commoners were... well, not pretty. "Well, you're the experts, aren't you? Impress me."
"I'm not touchin' it!"
"What if it has fleas?"
Haruhi looked like he was about to retort, so one of them, the loud one, was shoved in front of him. His vision becoming full of fiery red hair. He looked dangerous just by his appearance, his eyes and the way he held himself. Haruhi took a step back, uneasy.
"Hold still." He growled.
Haruhi froze, closing his eyes tightly, until he felt his glasses slid off his face, and defensively tried to pull them back. "Wait! I can't see without those!"
"And you're nothing to look at with them on." Hikaru barked back, though, immediately silenced as his jaw locked. Anything else insulting he had hanging odd his tongue vanished, as Haruhi blinked owlishly at him. His mouth was open, but all he saw was a blurry orange blob.
Hikaru stepped away.
A strange development indeed...
Curious, Kaoru slid his arm over his brother's shoulder, to get a better look and-
Oh.
He... looked an awful lot like,
A she.
Hikaru stopped to stubbornly point out to himself that she was still ugly and poor.
Haruhi looked up, tossing her gaze between him and Kaoru, trying to grab her glasses that they just slightly held out of her reach. Her bangs fell messily over her eyes.
Well... Hikaru thought.
Maybe not that ugly.
He huffed.
But she was still poor.
Then, before Kaoru could conclude that she was still a piece of work, they were roughly shoved aside.
With a gasp, Tamaki snapped again.
"Kyouya! get this man a uniform."
Kyouya slapped his notebook shut, a glint in his glasses shining over his eyes. "You, sir, are going to be in an insane amount of debt."
Haruhi groaned.