In the back room, Ran was currently slumped against the wall, her hands buried in her short hair and her chin set on her knees. It hadn’t even been that embarrassing; all she’d done was drop a box or two and yet everyone stared at her like she’d toppled the Eiffel tower or something. She sighed into her knees. Okay, maybe that hadn’t been quite the reason she was so embarrassed. It’s not as if anyone could read her mind, so she cursed that she was being so self-conscious, but the whole reason she’d fumbled with what she was holding was because she was getting irritated with the attention that one long, wavy-haired brunette was getting. It was Valentine’s day, and she hadn’t even had one, single moment with Tamaki as of yet. And frankly, it was really, really starting to wear on her last nerves. Just as she pulled out the small heart shaped box from her pocket, the door was pulled open and the shadow of a human appeared on the wall in front of her.
“Ran-Ran?” She sat up straight and tucked the box back into her pocket quickly, seeing Hunny’s face poking through the doorway at her, face curious. “Are you all done?” It was obvious in the Senior’s eyes that he knew something was actually wrong, but he had graciously chosen not to call it out. Ran smiled widely and pushed off the wall, dusting off her outfit.
“Definitely, Hunny-senpai. So, should we start cleaning up?” The blonde nodded vigorously and ran out into the main room, a hyper shout reverberating off the walls. Ran laughed while she followed him, taking stock of the amount of work they would need to do. Dirty tea cups, wrapping paper overflowing from the garbage cans, pieces of ribbons strewn about here and there, piles of wrappers on one side of the room- Oh wait, that was Hunny’s pile of eaten gifts, so he’d take care of that on his own. Besides that, the floor was a little dusty and a few table cloths and centerpieces would have to be fixed. Ran nodded once and rolled up her sleeves. She pulled up a broom and began sweeping all of the dust into manageable piles, collecting garbage as she went. Hunny was jumping around in his pile, playing with Usa-chan while Mori picked up most of his mess. The twins were still occupied with cleaning up and dividing their gifts; which usually consisted of an argument over whose gift it was in the first place. Kyoya and Tamaki were nowhere to be found, she noted. Just as she thought that, the twins shrugged at the same time and stuck out their tongues.
“Mom and Dad ran off~” Ran rolled her eyes at the pair and continued cleaning, only for Mori to steal her broom and start sweeping things into the bins for her.
“Mori-senpai!” He only smiled, faintly, and returned to wordlessly doing her work. She guessed he was just being courteous to a lady, but it did pick up her mood a little while she straightened some tables. Just as Ran was tying the garbage bags into knots, Haruhi grabbed them from her hands and smiled widely.
“I do this all the time at home, let me.” Before Ran could even think to interject, Kaoru and Hikaru had her under the arms and were in the middle of dragging her away at high-speeds. She peeked back at Haruhi, who appeared to be grinning secretively. As quickly as she’d turned back around, the twins had spun her into a changing room, tossed over a bag resembling something from a dry-cleaners and started causing a ruckus from the other side of the curtain. Ran merely crossed her arms and stood on the other side of the curtain staring at the bag.
“Hikaru, Kaoru, what are you doing now?” Something clunked against the floor loudly and she jumped.
“Ranny, just put it on, or we’ll come in there-”
“And put it on for you!” With a heavy sigh, she pulled a long piece of silky fabric from the bag. Holding it to her chest she noticed it was a long purple dress with a lacy layer draped over the silk bodice and a flowing A-line skirt. There were no sleeves, but the shoulder straps were thick enough that they fell off the edges of her shoulder just a little. She had nothing to lose, so she stripped down and switched out her uniform with the stunning outfit. It fell to the middle of her calves and hugged her waist in a way that was flattering but not making that fact obvious. Alongside the dress, a pair of sweet white ankle-boots was included, and she slipped her feet into those, zipping up the sides so that they fit snugly. A white long-sleeved cardigan was also in the bag, wrapped around a diamond heart pendant on a silver chain. She didn’t feel like putting those two items on at the time, instead choosing to spin once in front of the mirror to appraise the outfit. Her only thought was that it was perfectly suited to her, and that maybe, just maybe, she looked absolutely beautiful in it. Of course, as if by some magic or telepathy, the twins had the curtain drawn back, Ran by the waist and an entire vanity set up right outside. Kaoru took the necklace and cardigan from her while Hikaru sat her down and began playing around with the make-up sets.
“You guys, what’s going on?” She tried to tilt her head up to look at Kaoru as he started combing through her short hair, but Hikaru grabbed her chin and began examining her face. She just decided sit quietly and wait; the twins had their serious looks for once, so it had to be important. She closed her eyes while Hikaru dusted eye-shadow on her top eyelids and waited for Kaoru to finish with the pins on the back of her head. Hikaru moved on to dusting a hint of sparkling blush onto her cheekbones as Kaoru clipped the necklace around her neck so that the pendant nestled just below her collarbones.
“This has to be perfect.”
“And speaking of which…” Hikaru draped the cardigan over her shoulders and juggled Ran’s chocolate box with his twin. Her face fell completely and she tried to reach up and grab it fruitlessly. The pair leaned in and tucked it into one of the cardigan’s pockets.
“We’ll keep it a secret, don’t worry.”
“But you’ll owe us some chocolate!” Ran just laughed and she tapped them both on the forehead. In that moment, Mori decided to arrive. Ran was beginning to wonder if this was all some strange series of coincidences, but knowing the host club, it was probably planned. What exactly was planned still escaped her, but she allowed Mori to lead her away by the hand anyway.
