damned_institute | Day 41: Sun Room

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Day 41: Sun Room

Haseo's steps were heavy with the weight of righteous anger as he was escorted into the Sun Room, his posture so sullen and reluctant you could almost hear the nostalgic cry of an electric guitar. He was seething, and though perhaps it was a bit harder to be intimidating while wearing the uniform of an insane asylum and flanked by a bored-looking orderly, it was not for lack of trying.

Unfortunately, his nurse seemed unaffected by the act, and even with the cloud of failing to keep "Kai" away from "Peyton" hanging over her, remained determinedly cheerful. She merely said something about receiving a lecture later on, ignored his retorts, and assured him that it would be alright even though his internet stalker was in the same building. For the most part, Haseo tuned her babbling out after that, dismissing it as hopeless.

"...and usually this would be the time children would be taking showers, but you don't have to worry about that right now. Now then, le--"

"Wait. What?"

"Oh, all the children seventeen or under are separated right now while the adults go to the courtyard..."

"Hey, I'm not a kid you old--!"

"Oh of course you aren't dear, but you're not eighteen yet either, now are you?"

Haseo resisted the urge to do something rash, literally biting his tongue to keep quiet. But upon having the bulletin board pointed out to him, he shrugged off his anger for the most part and headed that way, fully intending to get more answers than he'd had time to receive during breakfast.

Well... at least Endrance is in another shower group, he thought, Thank god.

[Closed to Tsukasa, for now!]

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Honey hesitated when Kaoru seemed to retreat like that. Had he said the wrong thing? He knew the twins were fairly closed off, but the host club was different and especially with Kaoru, he'd not had much trouble before in speaking with the boy. Maybe he was getting rusty. Then again, most of the problems he'd dealt with before were minor things; drama at school, love triangles or quadrilaterals or whatever sort of polynomials they were now a day.

"Kao-chan," Honey said, drawing his own legs up into his chest, "I get scared just being in tiny rooms. Or of being alone in the dark. I know it's silly, but I can't help it."

Even if it seemed small or stupid, it could still have a profound effect on someone. That was just the nature of fear. He could try to control it, but even he had trouble not breaking into tears just by getting stuck in the washroom at Haru-chan's house.

"But th- I'm scared of eating Honey-sempai. It's stupid. I-I-," he cut himself off with an angry, Hikaru-esque sound. He knew it had gone too far. He could barely stand without the world spinning suddenly. And then he did eat, he felt sick. He just didn't know what to do and the new pressure wasn't helping. let alone Hikaru's note. The jerk. Now it felt like EVERYONE was watching him.

"I don't know what to do," he finally sniffed.

"Kao-chan," Honey said, placing a hand on his friend's. He hoped the boy wouldn't get too upset, as much for his own sake as for the sake of the cherished toy he was squeezing so tightly. "It's not your fault, okay? Definitely not."

As for ways to fix it, that was the difficult part. The good thing though, was that Kaoru did want to fix it. Lots of times, it was just getting them to admit it was actually a problem that was the hard part.

"Facing things that scare you can be really, really hard," he explained. "But... I'll tell you a secret, okay?" He folded his hands in his lap, trying to gather his thoughts for a second.

"Even though he can be really annoying sometimes, my father said something smart once in a while." Honey offered Kaoru a smile, hoping once again, that his friend would be able to take the advice he offered. "He said that no matter what, there's always things that are hard to do. But the more we do them, the easier they get. Even little things."

He scratched his head, unsure of himself as well. This problem was a lot more serious than just mending up broken hearts or bruised egos. "There's a lot that you have to decide yourself Kao-chan. This place is like nothing Host Club has ever encountered before. We need everyone at their best so we can all get home safely, you know?"

Kaoru tensed for a bare second when Honey touched him, but relaxed, grateful for the touch. It felt....weird to have finally said what was on his mind. Most of it. Better in a way, but not good. Just....pathetic.

Kaoru was the creative mind driven by logical emotions. Hikaru was the practical thinking emotionally illogical twin.

He let himself laugh a little about Honey's dad. Guy really did seem annoying.

"They took me away from Hikaru. For two days," he said quietly. All the terrible things this involved came down to that. Yes, he wanted independence from his twin. He wanted Hikaru to survive without him. But not here. And not so...suddenly. There was no goodbye, no 'take care', no word. He was just ill one night and they didn't let him go.

From there, it spiralled uncontrollably. His stupid panics and the idiotic theories running through his head. That they were experimenting. Poisoning Kaoru. Kaoru never got sick from food, hardly ever. They were doing something, that had been his first thought after he'd been returned to Hikaru. His brother had been fine. They were the same. They should feel the same.

And then the other day, Hikaru had gotten ill. Because Kaoru wasn't eating? They had to test things on Hikaru? It was always like this. Everybody experimented on twins! IT MADE SENSE.

Only in a completely irrational way.

Tears were soaking into Usa-chan a little by now, but he wasn't going to let on, so the bunny better keep his damn mouth shut too.

"I was getting better," he admitted. "But they're watching me now. And Hikaru posted a stupid notice and now everyone's going to think I'm an idiot." He was sounding more and more like Hikaru. "I just... it hurts when I eat and I'm scared of what might happen... What if... they're doing it on purpose?"

He nodded against Honey's leg. "We need to teach Hikaru to stop freezing when he sees a monster," he said sadly, trying to be funny. only it really pissed him off. His stupid goddamn twin like a deer in headlights. And Kaoru had felt ill, he was too lightheaded to protect his brother properly.

"You have to look after him, ok? Promise me. If I'm...not around. You HAVE to be."

So that was the real problem. He could easily see how Hikaru missing would adversely effect Kaoru, especially for so much time. The twins were never apart for more than a few hours most days, so that kind of anxiety... well, he knew how worried Takashi could get when he wasn't around too.

It was good to see Kaoru laugh though, even just a little bit. That was enough to make Honey smile. The boy was holding onto the stuffed rabbit tightly, but at least he hadn't started pulling at him or tearing him just yet.

"I'll make a deal with Kao-chan, okay? Our secret," he promised. "If Kao-chan will work hard to conquer his fear, then I'll help Hika-chan with his too. Promise." Honey nodded solemnly and held out his little pinky finger for the sacred vow. Would that be enough to motivate him? This was going to be a lot of work, he could tell, but what were friends for?

"M'already working hard," he grumbled, "maybe we can throw something extra in for me?"

He reached out and linked pinkies though.

"Thanks, Honey-sempai... Sorry for venting on you. I just can't talk to Hikaru in case something happens to him because of me, you know? And...I want him to think it's getting better already."

So far so good. he attempted a light hearted but incredibly sincere "maybe they're just experimenting on me?"

"Eheh, sure we can throw something in for Kao-chan too. What would be a good reward?" he asked after they'd locked pinkies and shook on the deal. They'd both have to work hard, but Honey knew well enough how treats could motivate a person.

"Sure, you can come talk to me anytime you want!" he said, making sure the other boy knew. It probably didn't need to be said, but repetition never hurt.

At Kaoru's suggestion that they might be experimenting on him, even if it was given in a joking way, caused Honey to frown and look at him thoughtfully. The truth was, it was completely possible that it might be happening right under their noses. Honestly, it made him want to tear into someone, but freaking out about it now would only give Kaoru more reason to worry. "Hnn... maybe they want to steal our abilities so they can make an army of Super Hosts!" he said jokingly.

"...well...can me and Hikaru get to the kitchens with you guys next time?" Maybe then they'd actually make it...

"Likewise," he muttered, knowing that Honey would go to Mori and, well, Kaoru probably wasn't any good at advice unless it was for Hikaru.

"Damn these supermodel diets," he deadpanned.

"Yeah, we can all go together, that's fine!" Honey nodded enthusiastically. Without the cooks, they'd have to do their best with the recipe, but that could be an adventure all its own! "It'll be fun!"

He was pretty sure he could put the two cooks, Anise and Wonka together and maybe even Kio. He'd have to check with Takashi though and see if the man was any good with combat or just with cooking.

"Oh, oh, that's right! There was something I was going to talk to Kao-chan and Hika-chan about!" he sat up straighter, remembering one of the reasons he'd meant to meet with the twins in the first place. "Me and Takashi tried to get to the phones at night, but all we got was funny static. So I thought um... that maybe we could do it in the daytime? So we could try to call someone to help. But we'd need a really good distraction."

Kaoru wiped his face on usa-chan before sitting up to look at Honey. He was pretty sure it was obvious that tears had been shed (even without the fact that Usa-chan was going to be returning to Honey a little...damp) but he was pretty sure Honey wouldn't say anything or judge him. Honey was...alright. That's why Kaoru had gone to him. Even if he'd had the entire club to chose from, it would have been Honey. Hikaru would have flipped, Tamaki would have overreacted, Kyouya would have been a little too blunt, Mori too quiet and Haruhi.... she'd probably have been blunt too. Just a little nicer about it.

Honey was sweetly mature and it just worked better for Kaoru. He already knew he was an idiot and was beating himself up. He just needed someone to listen and know and help.

He looked at his friend curiously, smiling when he revealed the plan. Or the plan so far. Today was full of offers!

"Alright! We'll do it, we've been needing some motivation," he laughed.

Though the tell-tale signs of tears were there, Honey said nothing about them. His own crying was probably second only to Tamaki, so it wasn't as if he had much room to say anything even if he'd a mind to.

"I knew I could count on you!" he nodded with enthusiasm and clapped his hands together.

"I didn't want to post about it on the bulletin cuz... well, I thought the nurses would get mad if they found out. But we'll plan it all in secret, okay? Just let me know when and I'll be ready!" Even if it failed spectacularly, at least it would give them all something to focus on for the next few days.

"As soon as he's stopped being a jerk, we'll plan something," kaoru sighed, shifting up and laying back down, this time with his head on Honey's lap and Usa-chan sat next to him.

"Hey, maybe he'll start a fight and that'll be the distraction." Their fights, though they'd always been fake, always caught people's attention.

Honey was pretty sure Hikaru's actions, whatever they might be, were only because of worry for his brother. Honey couldn't guarantee he wouldn't have been just as overprotective of Chika if he wound up here.

"Okay," he agreed, patting Kaoru's head when he'd gotten comfortable. He reached to pat Usa-chan too, missing him for the few minutes he'd been out of reach.

"I'll leave it up to you two, but try really hard not to get sedated, okay? That doesn't look fun at all."

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Day 41: Sun Room

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I need to upload the woe and usa-chan abuse icons again :|

Do not abuse the Usa-chan!! ;-;

What is he for if not abusa! HUr. ab-usa-chan

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