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"I never said I'd leave the city,
I never said I'd leave this town.
A falling out we won't tiptoe about.
And everybody gets their, everybody gets their,
And everybody gets their way!
I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her.
Now I'm the only one to blame.
Things have changed for me and that's okay!
I feel the same, I'm on my way and I say,
Things have changed for me and that's okay!
I feel the same and I say-!" – Panic! At the Disco

It was a quiet autumn day, and I sat behind the café counter, drinking a cup of coffee as I read through emails on my phone. People chatted amongst themselves, even if they didn't know each other. The rules here? No strangers. Everyone knew one another here. You're new? Introduce yourself. You're shy? I'll introduce for you. You think it's stupid? Get out of my shop. Simple as that. I didn't tolerate idiots in this shop. It wasn't professional. This isn't the Mc. Café, it's stupidity segregated. No, by the way, that's not racist.

"Two small iced mochas, please." A boy, about the age of 12, and his friend came up to the desk. Shaking my head at them, I laughed softly, and took 3 dollars from them.

"It's decaf for you two. Cream and sugar is over there." I instructed, pointing to the west corner of the store. They took off to dump condiments into their drinks. Kids always came here, but to hell if I was having their parents calling me up and yelling for serving them caffeine. No sir, I'll stay out of that. It was an average sized café, and my friend's and my apartment rested above the store, through the staircase behind the counter. That was one thing I was a stranger about here, nobody comes in my apartment without permission. I think that's pretty reasonable.

I'd been relaxing behind the counter, playing with an old rubix cube, when a loud crash sounded. I shot up out of my seat and stared over the counter to find three people lying on the ground. They weren't familiar, and none of my other customers were hurt, so I wasn't too worried. Still, I walked around from my place behind the register and knelt to look at the fallen boys. Not sure what to expect, I asked them curiously, "Um, are you guys okay?" They just groaned. Rolling my eyes, I stood back up and walked back to my station, letting the 3 boys stand up by themselves.

Unfortunately, they immediately started freaking out by the time they stood up. "Are you guys gonna buy something or should I throw you out?" I droned, not really bothered by their intrusion. Their heads whipped in my direction, and I waved slightly, slumped over the counter and head lying in my arms. One of them, a tall, blonde one, scrambled over to me.

"You have to close the doors and get everyone out. Please, I beg of you." He pleaded, and I just stared at him, blankly. This guy isn't going to buy anything, is he?

Shaking my head slowly, I half-liddedly grumbled, "Get out of my store…" A look of shock and depression crossed his face, but his other two 'friends' stepped up to the plate.

"We'll give you 50,000 yen if you close up for a little while." The two –very, very- similar boys bribed in unison, placing money in front of me. My eyes lit up, and I stuck two fingers in my mouth a whistled loudly. All the customers turned to me, looking a little flustered, but attentive.

"I need you guys to go finish on the patio, I'll open up again later today. Sorry for the inconvenience." I ordered with little enthusiasm, waving them all goodbye. My friend stumbled down the stairs from our apartment, looking around tiredly.

"What's going on, Marina?" Abbey grumbled, rubbing her eyes roughly. I handed her a coffee mug and she busied in making herself a latte.

"Why don't you ask them?" I motioned to the three boys in front of me, who seemed to be having a private conversation. Snapping my fingers to get their attention, I motioned towards Abbey and introduced her, "This is Abbey, I'm Marina. Who are you…?"

The blonde one straightened himself, and with a wave of his hand, he dramatically pronounced, "I'm Tamaki Suoh, fair maiden. I apologize for the interruptions." He's gay, right? He's got to be gay. That, or he's mentally insane and I'm hiding escaped convicts. Rolling my eyes, I glanced at the redheads beside him, waiting for their names.

"Hikaru." One said. "Kaoru." The other said. "Hitachiin." In unison this time. So they're brothers – like I hadn't already guessed that. It was painfully obvious that they were related; now all that's left to do is keep track of who's who. The twins moved around a little, and I immediately lost track. Feeling a bit awkward, I sipped my coffee silently and tried to remember.

"So, why did you have me lock up my café?" I asked incredulously, sitting down at one of the tables in the shop. They fidgeted, but eventually sat down as well. To be honest, I couldn't have cared less if they hadn't sat down like polite people. I had 50,000 more yen.

"Um, well, you see, Marina. There's a boy out there that isn't too happy with us." Tamaki uttered, scratching his neck in an embarrassed manner. My eyebrows shot into my forehead. So they are escaped convicts? Or gangsters? Or something worse?

"Should I be worried that I'll get involved in something illegal for letting you stay here?" I asked them slowly, glancing at Abbey quickly as she took a baseball bat from behind the counter. The three boys shook their heads quickly, and put up their hands defensively.

Good thing they didn't see Abbey's bat, because the blonde, bipolar dumbass admitted hastily, "No, no! It's not like that! See, he… Doesn't like to be woken up… So, we dragged him to the commoner's park and he finally came to… It wasn't pretty. Three of our friends took off before us, and we came here."

Commoner's park? More of these idiots? What have I done? Again, slowly asking them, "Will I get sued, beaten, or arrested for hiding you people?" This is an idiot-segregated café, why am I giving them refuge?

"Nope!" The twins chimed assuredly, but I still was wary. Despite this, I offered them coffee and they accepted eagerly, though spent a great deal of time debating whether or not drink it. Abbey had gotten aggravated, and informed us that she was going to the gym. They weren't as annoying to me, but I was a very patient person.

"GAH! Shh, shhhhh~!" Tamaki exclaimed, slapping his hands across the twin's mouths to silence them, and they stared through the windows. A tall, disgruntled boy walked by the door, nearly spotting the idiots that had nearly pressed themselves to the window. I dragged them away and closed the blinds tight.

"If you don't want him to see you, don't make eye contact. You do realize you can't hide here forever?" I inquired, washing out their empty mugs. The 'don't make eye contact' thing was something I learned in school. If you don't want the teacher to notice you, don't make eye contact. Unless you have the worst luck in the world, they won't call on you.

They just shrugged and stared through the spaces between the blinds as the angry looking, glasses-wearing boy walked away down the street. Rolling my eyes, I returned to washing dishes while they chattered away at me. The blonde piped up, "So you work here?" I stared at him for a moment, suspended in my own dismay.

Shaking my head momentarily, I muttered sarcastically, "No, I'm volunteering my time and energy for nothing in return…" Tamaki seemed to take this literally, and praised my 'Good-heartedness.' I'm going to assume that the twins understand my sarcasm…?

"Milord, I don't think she really meant that." They chimed in unison, causing Mr. Insipid to pause and think things over. Soon after, he recoiled into a state of depression. Tweedledee and Tweedledum over here just laughed at their friend, mocking his naivety. With one raised eyebrow, I observed their shenanigans. Something told me these boys weren't right in the head, or spent most of their time huffing paint.

Suddenly, a cell phone went off, giving a very annoying ringtone. The blonde one pulled out a phone, and exclaimed, "It's Haruhi!" They all gasped and immediately picked up the phone. I visibly darkened. Never before have I seen somebody so excited about picking up a phone. Tuning out their conversation, I turned back to counting out bills from the cash register, trying not to eavesdrop, despite the fact that they're only a few feet away from me. There were gratuitous amounts of 'GASP!' and 'HARUHI!' to be heard, all of which made me glance questioningly at the three boys.

Eventually, the phone snapped shut, and they turned to me. Sighing loudly, I motioned for them to explain. Of course, they did… "Marina! Can we bring some friends in…?" I opened my mouth to speak, but the twins cut me off, "It won't get you into legal trouble, we swear." All I could do is manage a nod, and a few curses under my breath. I berated myself for allowing them into my café in the first place, but shut up when they placed more money on the counter. God, I'm weak.

They'll be gone soon, Marina. Don't worry about it.

By the time their three other friends had come and introduced themselves, I'd lost a few brain cells from all the tension in my head. They were still sitting around, fearing some sleepy boy, and still talking animatedly like nothing was wrong. If it weren't for bribery, they'd be outside right now. There was Haruhi, but all he did was convince myself that these boys were gay. That, or he was a transvestite. Either way, it was quite odd.

Suddenly, I realize why everyone hated me in school. I'm a rude bitch.

Shaking off my thoughts, I turned my attention to the 6 boys that were currently cowering off in the dimmer corner of the store. Carefully stalking over to them, I whispered, "What the hell are you doing?" They all but screamed, whimpering in the corner. Though, I did notice that this 'Mori' character looked rather calm, and Haruhi was sitting in mild discomfort, Tamaki attached tightly to his side.

"… K-Kyoya is at the door." Tamaki stuttered, shaking in fear. I turned around, seeing the top of a head from the small plates of glass near the top of the wooden door. Shrugging, I replied indifferently, "I told you, you can't hide here forever." Though, I was a bit concerned as to why he decided to knock on the door of a closed shop.

Before I could answer the door, the twins grabbed at my left arm, and I just raised an eyebrow in their direction. "We'll give you more money if you hide us." I visibly twitched, staring around the room as the knocking at the door became more urgent. Glancing at Haruhi, I muttered, "If you keep them from ruining my house, I'll let them upstairs." He just nodded slowly, heaving a sigh. I motioned towards the stairs behind the counter, and they scrambled up, closing the door at the top of the staircase tightly.

A questioning look came upon my face as I unlocked the door and opened it to find a very wet, angry boy. How did I not notice the rain…? My eyebrows scrunched up, and I informed him calmly, "I'm terribly sorry, sir, but we're closed." With a wave of dismissal, I went to close the door, only to have a foot in my doorway. Opening it back up slowly, I questioned him in a strained manner, "Can I help you, sir?" I'm fairly sure he's only in High School, but I feel the need to keep calling him 'sir.' What's with this kid?

He didn't even try being polite, "Have you seen these people around here today?" Immediately, there was a picture of the 6 boys I was currently hiding in my room in front my face. Of course, this 'Kyoya' character was in the background, but I figured he'd be in it anyways. After a moment of looking over the picture, I shook my head slowly.

"Haven't seen 'em before in my life." I muttered calmly, lying without hesitation. Again, foot in the door. Get out of my store, you bastard. It was clear on my face that I was becoming agitated, but he carried on.

"Impossible. Can I please step in for moment?" He asked sternly, stepping in anyways. Oh, okay, welcome in. Make yourself at home, dick. This guy might as well say, 'Yeah, bullshit, where are they?' if he's gonna be like this. I'd much prefer an idiot than an asshole any day. If this café is idiot segregated, then I give my customers the permission to pelt assholes with stones until they leave the face of the planet.

"Um, excuse me, but you can't really just barge into my store uninvited. That's kind of – I don't know – illegal…" I seethed, getting in his way to stop his snooping around my café. It wasn't that I didn't want him finding the idiots - that would probably be good anyways - It was that he just walked into my store. That ticked me off beyond belief, and I was a pretty calm person.

The boy didn't answer, but he leaned over and picked up something. An ID card?

"This is Tamaki's ID card. So you have seen them, before, then." His voice had an icy feel to it, as he turned to me, a glare covering his glasses. I crossed my arms, restraining my anger, and trying to avoid the evil emanating off of this boy.

"So what if I have? You walked into my café uninvited! I could call the cops on you!" I berated, taking a step towards him. Though staring him down, I avoided his gaze, choosing to stare at his forehead instead.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" He questioned coolly, not budging from his spot.

"Not a damn clue." I growled, sneering in his direction. The boy stuck a hand in his pocket, and walked over to my counter. He took a business card out of the little holder near the register, and stuck it in his other pocket.

"Then I don't suppose you'll mind if I take this, do you? Good day." His calm demeanor was offsetting, and I nearly shivered as he left my store. As soon as he was out of sight, I scrambled up the stairs into my apartment to check the damages. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My couch pillows were thrown around, but otherwise, they were either watching TV, playing some childish game, or whining. Sighing heavily, I shook my head and motioned for them to follow me downstairs.

"He left, but he knows I saw you. I highly suggest you guys go home, it might be better for all of us." They shivered at my words, more or less from the mention of Kyoya. Before they did anything else though, it was more questions.

"I-Is that all?" Tamaki stuttered, each of them waiting anxiously.

"Well, I might have cursed at him, and threatened him, but he took one of my business cards and left." I deadpanned, taking a sip of yet another cup of coffee. All of them gasped – save for Mori – and I was engulfed in a sympathetic hug from 4 of them. I'll give you a guess of who that is.

"God speed, Marina!" Was the last thing I heard before they exited my store and departed for home. About 20 minutes later, Abbey came home, bags of clothes in hand. "The gym my ass, Abbey. You went shopping?" I muttered darkly, before she shoved a bag in my face.

"I got some for you, too, hun! Don't worry!" She exclaimed, and tore past me to go upstairs. I simply stared into the bag she handed to me, finding various kinds of 'sexy' lingerie and immodest clothes. Inside was a small card, reading 'Sorry for leaving you, Ginger!'. Crunching the card in rage, I threw it to the ground roughly.

Oh my god, my stupid friends.

~ooo000ooo~

The next morning I woke with a jolt as Abbey sprinted into my room, landing on my bed with a bouncing slide. I roughly shoved her from my bed, covering my head with my pillow and trying to fall back asleep. "Abbey, it's your turn to run the café, go away!" Groaning, I felt her drag me out of bed and onto the floor.

"Marina, it's an emergency~!" She whispered as loud as she could, trying to exaggerate the urgency. I sat upright, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as she continued, "There's a strange boy downstairs asking for –"

"What, an extra special latte? Seriously, there's nothing important enough to wake me up on my day off!" I seethed at her, hopping back into bed before she could finish. "He's asking for you!" Abbey insisted, making me sit rigid again. I stumbled to my closet, grabbing a black tank top and some blue denim Capri, before brushing through my hair and pinning it half of it behind my head. We huddled, discussing the situation.

"Who is it, the boy?" I questioned her seriously.

"I don't know, he's new!" She admitted, waving frantically.

I stopped, thinking about the possibilities. Suddenly, it hit me. "Does he have black hair, kind of shaggy?"

"Uh, yes." She muttered, not sure what I was getting at.

"Glasses, pretty tall guy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck." I groaned, slipping a baggy yellow, off the shoulder sweater over my body and matching flip-flops before I made my way downstairs. Abbey followed me hesitantly, still not understanding. Though, I didn't expect her to. She wasn't at the store yesterday when the idiots were amongst us.

There he was, in all of his scary glory, and his odd, fearful friends in tow. He was leaned over the counter as if he owned the place, and smirked when I shoved him off of it. "What do you want?" I muttered venomously, fixing myself a drink as I always did.

"Marina Cisco, 18-year-old high school dropout that surprisingly is a bit of an egotist." He drawled calmly, as if telling me my own life story. I sat there, incredibly shocked, but soon regained composure.

"Guy standing in my store, probably a high schooler and has an authority complex." I muttered, trying my best to describe him. Sipping my coffee tensely, I let him continue.

"You not only lied to me when I asked for the whereabouts of these idiots, but you hid them in your own store." He stated, not taking his angry gaze off me when I took the order of another customer.

"That I did, good sir. There's nothing you an do about it anyways, be mad at them, not me." I said calmly, letting Abbey take over the orders again. The boy grinned snarkily, obviously knowing something I didn't.

"So you dropped out of high school?" He pressed, looking through the coffee mugs we had for sale. I nodded simply, motioning for them to follow me to the patio. All of them sat down, and I continued.

"I've always thought that the smartest ones can educate themselves." I responded calmly, then added, "Plus, I hate 'higher beings' like teachers and such." While Kyoya and I continued our conversation, the rest of the boys just stared like it was some unseen circus act.

"You must have a fool for a student, then." He remarked, smirking in my direction. I just shrugged, sipping on my drink again.

Giving a smile, I jeered, "That's not the first time I've heard that before." I could tell he was trying to get on my case, so I was trying not to let him get the best of me.

After a moment or two, Kyoya spoke again, "You left home before you were a legal adult." I nearly choked on my drink. How did he know all of this stuff?

Nodding slowly, I twisted around, pretending to crack my back while the look of shock lay on my face. My expression darkened, but didn't look so horribly surprised anymore. "What about it? It's not like they can come get me now." I seethed as lightly as I could bear, finishing off my latte in one gulp.

"Do you know what the legal adult age is in Japan?" He asked darkly, leaning forward and resting his head on his outside of his head. The rest of his friends stared wide-eyed at our conversation, barely breathing and unblinking.

"U-uh, yeah…" I stuttered hastily, scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

His smirk widened, "Do tell me, then." I couldn't even look at him, that bastard. I knew exactly what he was getting at. Clenching my teeth tightly, I spat out, "20. Fucking. Years. Old." His friends were blank-faced, each one staring at each other in fear. Save for Mori, of course.

"You're not a legal adult here." Kyoya stated simply, making me shrug defiantly, "You could've picked any other country to run off to, and you chose this one."

"I'm a pretty good liar. And a pretty good forger…" I said truthfully, not bothering to lie to him anymore. This guy isn't an idiot, not like the rest of the world. "Honestly, I just wanted to live in Japan." God, I'm gonna be arrested…

"You do realize I could call the cops on you for this?" More friggen questions.

"… Yeah."

"Good, now that we understand each other –" I cut Kyoya off.

"You're blackmailing me, I presume?"

He laughed softly, and I glared, excusing myself, "You probably already know my phone number, so I don't need to tell you. Have a nice day, dickhead."

Instead of heading back inside, I turned to the twins and Tamaki, "Oh, and I thought you said hiding you wouldn't result in legal troubles… You lied…" Finally, I was safe inside my room, already worn out.

I hate my life.

AN: I keep starting a bunch of stories on my computer. I have probably 15 unfinished ones, and this is the only one I completed the first chapter of. Anyways, don't be a silent reader! Seriously, I'll hack off your head… -_-…