Day 40: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

[clockmongler]

Well, that was... special. No wonder he was losing respect for this place--the fearful Martin Landel was coming undone, most probably with boredom. So scary. Even Nursey seemed a little exasperated, though that most likely had more to do with X's constant insistence to stay in the Sun Room rather than go inside the Greenhouse

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[totallytheseme]

Hikaru was still in a very good mood after lunch. Sure, Tamaki hadn't been there either and fuck, that was worrying, but some girl had gotten onto the table and said everything Hikaru had wanted to say and more. She was, for the moment, his Landel's hero. Unfortunately, she was surrounded and sedated before he could tell her so. He really hadn't wanted to deal with the nurses, especially not when he moved at approximately the speed of stink, thanks to his crutches.

So he did the next best thing: wrote a note on the bulletin. It was a nice change from the depressing haiku and increasingly pointless "surveys" that were normally up there. He signed it with his name and Kaoru's, figuring his twin wouldn't mind in the least. Knowing him, he would've thought that this 'Yuffie Kisaragi's' stunt was as completely awesome as Hikaru did. Now that that was accomplished, he decided to find a place to sit. Standing still took a lot out of him.

Hikaru's favorite spot in the Sun Room was already taken. The girl was pretty cute, though, in a rather moe sort of way, and he figured a little harmless flirtation wouldn't go amiss. Not until Kaoru got here and they could properly Host her, at least.

"Hey, can I join you?" It was much more direct than what Tamaki would've done. Tamaki would have produced a rose out of hammerspace and then, getting on one knee, would then proclaimed his undying love for the poor girl.

Hikaru's method was a lot more direct and slightly less creepy.

[rope_victim]

"Oh, certainly!" Miku nodded and scooted herself into the corner of the couch, offering Hikaru wide berth. She hadn't been thinking very much, reaching for the quiet spot in her mind seemed to put other things to silence. The boy had been around a long time - just like she had, if she remembered correctly, and she smiled at him.

Nothing bad had happened to him, at least, nothing that she could see. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Hinasaki Miku," Miku bowed her head politely, and kept her feet curled under her. And then shot him with the long-inactive moebeam.

[totallytheseme]

"A pleasure, Hinasaki-san," Hikaru said with a slightly more Tamaki-esque bow. "I'm Hitachiin Hikaru. Nice to meet you." He shot her one of Tamaki's thousand-watt smiles and then decided that he needed to ease up a bit. He didn't want to come off as a complete skeeze.

"...Or that's what I would say if I were working, anyway," he amended cheekily, looking a lot more natural. "But I've been off the clock for...oh...three weeks now. So. Nice to meet you."

[rope_victim]

At first, Miku was completely taken aback by the boy's sudden, megawatt smile. She'd never seen anything like it before, except maybe drawn on the cover of Margaret or in a Calvin Klein photo. But then he dropped it and Miku felt relieved. Her cheeks burned pink.

"What work do you do?" He seemed a little young to be a host, after all.

[hangenki]

Kaoru shuffled by and did a double take. Looking from his brother to Miku as though surprised and a little hurt. Neither was true, of course, but she looked like she could be hosted.

"Oh... Hikaru. Who's your friend?" he asked, quietly, trying oh-so hard not to sound hurt.

[totallytheseme]

Oh, Kaoru was here. Perfect.

"It's part of a club I'm in at school. We--" Then Hikaru appeared to notice Kaoru for the first time and started, a slightly guilty look on his face. Oh man, this was going to be awesome. It had been way too freaking long since they'd done this. "O-oh, Kaoru. This is Hinasaki-san. Hinasaki-san, I'd like to introduce you to my brother, Kaoru." Still looking like a little kid who'd been caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar, Hikaru scooted closer to Miku on the couch in order to give Kaoru room to sit down. His crutches were kicked under the couch for the time being.

"How've...you been, Kaoru?" he asked timidly.

[rope_victim]

Miku wrinkled her brow in confusion. Hikaru had gone from cheerful and a bit cheeky, to drawn and sad in seconds. She looked between the brothers and blinked rapidly. Was she interrupting something? Miku turned her attention back to Kaoru before piping up, "Hello, Hitachiin-san," she said and bowed her head.

One should always be polite, after all. "It's nice to meet you." Miku brought her head up to between the boys, "...Should I... should I leave you two alone?" She certainly didn't want to interrupt anything, after all.

[hangenki]

"Twin," Kaoru said, a little too quickly and defensively. How dare Hikaru minimalise their relationship down to mere brother! His cheeks flushed as his brother moved closer to this so called Himasaki-san. But, after a few moments, he sat down, apparently trying to keep a little distance from his brother and practically hugging the arm of the chair.

Kaoru loved playing the jealous little brother. It was so needy.

"I've been fine," he said, shortly. "You seem fine too."

He smiled brightly at Hinasaki. "Just Kaoru. We're not the same person so it's easier to call us by our seperate names." Ah, the spiteful stone and smirk at Hikaru.

"Please, don't leave on my account. Of course, if you wanted to chat alone...?" And ease back into the dejected, sad little brother, ready to stand up and leave, reluctantly.

[totallytheseme]

"Yeah," Hikaru replied, not making eye contact with either Miku or Kaoru. "Yeah, I'm okay. My leg isn't really hurting anymore."

Ouch. Kaoru's little barb was particularly well-aimed. Hikaru winced as if he'd been struck. He'd have to remember that one in the future. Maybe next time they decided to switch roles a bit (once his leg was all healed up), he'd be able to use it. Tamaki had freaked out in a particularly beautiful way when the twins had pretended to fight a few months ago. Maybe they could get a similar reaction here.

"N-no, it's okay. Kaoru." Looking up, Hikaru reached a tentative hand towards his brother's. "Please. Don't go."

It was really too bad that Renge and the Moe Squad weren't here to see this performance. Even though they hadn't really gotten to practice lately, the twins were in top form today.

[rope_victim]

Miku looked between the twins and felt slightly uncomfortable, she shifted in her seat and looked away from the both of them. "If you say so..." she murmured under her breath and looked past Hikaru to Kaoru. "Kaoru-san, why are you hugging the couch? There's plenty of room."

[hangenki]

"I'm glad," he said quietly, though his gaze did flicker to Hikaru's leg as though double checking it was ok.

Kaoru went back to hugging the chair, apparently trying to avoid looking at his brother, but Miku's question caught his attention and he looked at her confused. It turned to embarrassment and then something slightly defensive as he frowned and eased his grip. "I'm not. I just... feel more comfortable like this."

He looked at his brothers knees sadly, as though he really wanted to stretch out against his dear twin.

"So...how do you two know each other?"

[totallytheseme]

Once again, Hikaru became very interested in his knees. The 'guilty kid' look lingered, but it had morphed into something that looked slightly more like annoyance. "We just met about five minutes ago," he muttered hotly, almost as if to himself.

"Kaoru...have I done something wrong? Why are you so...?" His voice broke slightly. "I'm sorry. If I did anything, if this is my fault, I'm so, so sorry."

Cue the tearful reconciliation in 5...4...

[rope_victim]

What in the world was going on?! Miku thought frantically, trying to remain placid and polite on the outside. Had her eyebrow twitched? She wasn't sure. "It's true, he just sat down and was explaining what kind of work he did." Miku raised her hands defensively, trying not to further provoke Kaoru.

...Why were her days becoming as weird as her nights?

[hangenki]

Kaoru looked away a little sharply when he caught his brother's look. But the sadness that followed....

3.... Kaoru looked back to Hikaru, mirroring his expression.....2.....his eyes welled up.....1......

"Oh Hikaru, I'm sorry! When I saw you with a girl...I....I thought....you might like her better than me....!" Kaoru wrapped his arms around his twin.

[totallytheseme]

Liftoff!

"Kaoru," Hikaru said huskily, tilting his brother's chin towards his face, "I will never like anyone better than I like you." Distantly, he felt a little bit sorry for poor Miku. She obviously had no idea what was going on and was barely struggling to maintain her composure. Poor thing had absolutely no experience with this sort of thing, did she?

Hikaru held the pose for a little bit longer, staring lovingly and longingly into Kaoru's eyes, before he just couldn't take it any longer. He gave Kaoru a very subtle cue and then turned around, facing Miku. He just couldn't hold it any longer. "Oh, right. Hinasaki-san. I never told you what I do in school." He gave her the biggest shit-eating grin he possibly could.

"We're Hosts."

[rope_victim]

"Ee...eh..." Miku's eyes became larger and larger as the scene continued, most of her mind flailing in confusion and one teeny, tiny, itty bitty part teeming with curiosity. Her face felt redder than it had been eight days earlier in Doyleton. "Hosts?!"

JUST WHAT KIND OF SCHOOL DID THEY GO TO?! AND HOW DID SHE ENROLL, PAST THE GRADUATING AGE?!