He was staring intensely at the other person at the table. His hazel eyes bore into the very flesh of the older teen, and his fingers tapped a steady rhythm in an impatient beat. What should he do? He has been thinking of it since morning, and he can't make up his mind.

Should he ask…or should he not?

He was at a loss as he listened to the repetitive tick of the clock in the room.

Tick, tick, tick—

The clock nearby seemed to echo its ticks throughout the empty third music room. His twin brother had left, chasing after his crush and his love rival. Now why was he here alone with a potential homicidal person? Perhaps he needed to journey down the road of love and learn how it feels like to actually be in love before he makes fun of his flustered older brother.

However, although it might look like two companions in a room…

They did not advance anywhere ever since the stage where he marched up to his sempai and demanded: Be my boyfriend. Maybe he…did it wrong. But the second-year only smiled and his glasses gleamed—

'Sure.'

What was wrong with such a demand?

But they didn't do anything yet. This—this…boy has no emotions for romance at all! Should he personally walk up to his lover and ask him for that certain request?

He smashed his head onto the shiny, smooth wood of the table, his light brown hair crumpled against the surface. 'Oh, Hikaru, it's just damn hopeless…'

There was deadened silence. But not awkward, for the silence had been stretching ever since the club had left, leaving only the two of them alone.

He, the upperclassman, was working on the profit made by the club.

He, the underclassman, was occupying a good portion of the table with his head.

Okay…

To the point—

He wanted something from the almighty and fearless boy dubbed as 'Ohtori Kyouya.' But how shall he attain it? Shall he open his big fat mouth and demand it-? And risk being punished by this all-respected teen?

No, he thought to himself. Kyouya was unpredictable and doing that is equivalent to agreeing to get into a bikini. He shivered. No, hell he wouldn't risk it. But how…how can he get such a simple thing from Kyouya?

He lifted his head and propped it up with a hand. His brows furrowed and he concentrated hard on the boy's typing form. Should he ask nicely? But then again…he won't do it. Kyouya was not the type to easily fall for requests.

The raven-head may be angry too, judging with his snappy comments towards the president of the club. Maybe he should try to get on Kyouya's good side. After all, a good-mooded Kyouya is a happy Kyouya. Which means that Kyouya would be more likely to even follow with it, meaning…

He clapped his hands gleefully. It means that Kyouya would do it for him!

"Kaoru," the deadpan came. Oh crap, he found out. Now with the mind-reading thing, Kyouya would probably see it, and end all of his hopes and— "What the hell are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," the twin replied as nonchalantly as he could. The raven orbs of the Ohtori swept up and down Kaoru's form, before resting onto his eyes. With a quick calculating look and a mental 'beep', and he turned back to his laptop.

"Ah. Okay."

The taps of the laptop resumed, and Kaoru relaxed slightly.

Okay.

Back to thinking.

Should Kaoru charm Kyouya? Charm…? But how? It's not like Kyouya would easily agree to his appeal after he charmed him. Hmm. Screw that. OKAY! He'll charm him.

Giving tea to Ohtori Kyouya should be easy…right?

Kaoru had excused himself from the lone table and wandered off to a separate room, and hopefully Kyouya's analytical eyes didn't follow him. Kaoru crept along the room and flicked open the lights. His hazel eyes scanned the racks of delicate china, as well the different cupboards of tea—

What kind of tea does he like anyways?

He walked to a random cupboard and opened it. He took a small paper package and looked at it, examining the label on it. 'Chrysanthemums?' he asked himself, wondering if Kyouya liked this type of tea. He shrugged and opened the parcel, a dry and herbal scent wafted to his nose, and he smiled.

Of course! Tea is always soothing to the mind, and knowing Kyouya, his mind must be reeling for a long while. Kaoru skimmed the racks of tea cups and pots, and his gaze landed on a rough, smooth brown pot. He carefully grabbed it and set it on the smooth counter underneath the long rows of cupboard.

He prepared boiling water and scooped several teaspoons of the dry herbal leaves into the pot. Kaoru hummed to himself a cheerful tune as he boiled it with the scalding liquid.

Kaoru waited while watching the rough brown pot cook the leaves in the hot water. He wondered if his plan would work. It should be that hard to get on Kyouya's good side.

But then again, if he got him pissed off…

Kaoru shook the thought away from him and took the pot and poured the light goldenrod liquid into the teacup. Steam emitted from the cups and he set it on a tray and placed his hands on a handle. His eye stopped at one of the cups and he felt his nervousness die.

A small stalk of the leaves was floating upright, swirling around slightly. This means that he'll have good luck right? Kaoru began to feel confident about completing his first attempt at charming Kyouya.

"Alrighty," he said with a small murmur, as he hauled the heavy tray into his arms. It was quite heavier than what he thought it would. The younger twin filled himself with determination, as he staggered towards the door. Once out of the room, he adopted a sing-song voice, "Kyouya-sempai—!"

The second-year looked at Kaoru behind the glaring glasses, as the Hitachiin teetered this way and that with the tray. "Kinda…heavy…but—"

Kaoru accidentally stepped on his leg sleeve midway there—

"GAH!"

Kyouya watched nonchalantly, as the tray fell out from his hands as he fell down, and the hot scalding pot spilt burning tea onto his clothing and arms. The water burnt Kaoru's hands and arms, and he collapsed on the floor after yelping painfully. He bit on his lower lip, trying to hold back more cries.

'Shit. Shit. Shit. Kyouya-sempai's going to kill me!' ran through Kaoru's mind as he stared at the crashed teapot and cups. From the pain, small beads of tears started to leak out. The chair screeched and footsteps sounded, coming closer and nearer. Kaoru swallowed thickly, and wanted to prepare his death by digging his grave…

"Kaoru…" Kyouya knelt down, avoiding all the broken pieces of the teapot. Kaoru anticipated the Shadow King's calm yet lethal talk about how much the certain tea cup was.

'Crap, I bet I have to work like a dog to pay off the expensive tea set!'

A hand gingerly grabbed his burnt arms and pushed up the soaked sleeves. Kaoru stared at Kyouya who was inspecting the red skin. There was a long, extended silence before he abruptly stood up.

"The burn…isn't going to get any better if you stay on the ground like this." The stern stare that he had softened, as he bent over slightly, putting his hands on Kaoru's shoulders. "Can you stand?"

"I…uhm…I'll try…" Kaoru said, blinking. He struggled to get onto his feet without having his hands touch the broken glass. A hand grabbed his arm and hastily pulled him up. "Ack—"

"Let's go," Kyouya said solemnly, as his grip on Kaoru's arm tightened slightly and his dragged Kaoru out from the room.

"But, sempai—the glass-!"

"I'll have someone clean it up later," he tsked impatiently, as he led—no…practically pulled the younger boy towards the infirmary. Kaoru chanced to look at Kyouya for any sort of expression displayed on his face, but only his blank features shown.

'I think I pissed him off,' Kaoru thought glumly.

"Excuse me, nurse, I have a friend who has burns on his hand…"

Kaoru was standing up from the infirmary bed. The nurse had just finished bandaging his hand and had given him a certain cream for his burn. The Hitachiin was now staring at his fingers, and slowly he flexed them. He cast a look towards Kyouya who was standing nearby, writing in his notebook.

"Hey…uhm…sorry about the teapot," Kaoru started. Awkward silence ensued when Kyouya didn't say anything to his apology. He stopped writing and placed his pen down; the Ohtori looked up, his glasses glared off the lights that dare hit it.

"Don't worry about the teapot. The amount is small equivalent to the loss that the Host Club will experience. With you injured, the brotherly love act can't properly carry out, and there will be less customers," Kyouya said in his stoned voice. He snapped the book closed and stared at Kaoru critically. "Which means, your simple slip will cause a major decrease of profits."

"I know! I know! Jeez, don't rub it in my face," Kaoru spat crossly. He glared stubbornly at the floor and continued, "And now you're expecting me to grovel on the floor and beg for mercy, right?"

His charming failed. And cheers to having his hands wrapped in bandages just because he spilled hot tea all over himself. Damn, his plan was foiled; he won't be getting what he wanted anytime soon. Kaoru wanted it so badly! He even burned his hands and shit it hurts! What will he get out of all this pain? Unbeknownst to himself, moisture started to bubble at the corners of his eyes.

Kyouya's eyebrow rose slightly at this, but Kaoru, himself, haven't realized his own facade. That Shadow King must be angry at him, and the burning in his hands just added much more agony!

"…Kaoru. What is it that you want?"

"Er…what?" Hastily, Kaoru wiped away the tear drop with his sleeve, thinking that it was an eye irritation. Kyouya's onyx-gray eyes were fixed sharply on Kaoru's face, reading every twist of emotion that happened behind those hazel orbs.

"You want something from me right?" he asked, advancing towards the boy. Kaoru watched with confused eyes as Kyouya forced him to retreat back until his back hit the doorway. Kyouya's hands were deposited in his pockets casually. "Why else would you brew tea? Last time I checked, Hitachiins never do anything for someone else unless it'll benefit them."

"…uhm." Kaoru was at loss of words. That Ohtori could tell that he wanted something. Should he tell him? But—it's not like he's going to grant his request! Kyouya would probably want something out of it too, but…

Shutting his eyes, he blurted out:

"Canyoukissmepleasesempai?"

Kyouya blinked. "…what?"

He breathed in and out before saying, "Can you kiss me?"

Silence.

Dot, dot, dot.

And finally Kyouya's mind digested it.

"Eh. That's it?" Kyouya asked. Kaoru nodded furiously. The vice-president ran his fingers through his raven hair as his orbs wandered around the infirmary. 'Kiss…Kaoru? Is that all he wants?'

"I mean, if you don't want to—"

His speech was cut off when gentle lips pressed against his own. Kaoru's eyes widened. "MMF!" he hummed, waving his arms around. A strong pair of hands gripped the sides of his arms, preventing the younger twin from breaking away.

After a while of struggling, Kaoru gave into it and his eyes closed slightly, a heated blush was on his face. Kyouya's mouth was just melting him; kami…he never knew a kiss felt this good. They broke away after what seemed like forever; the younger boy's face was painted red. Kaoru blinked stupidly and his boyfriend only smiled in his usual host way.

"You know if you wanted me to kiss you, you could've asked," Kyouya said against Kaoru's lips, before he lengthened the distance between him. The vice-president walked out of the infirmary, with Kaoru's eyes following him.

The Hitachiin blinked.

"Eh? What-? What?"