"The feathers were insane," Liz said. She grinned. "Especially when those two models tried to one-up each other with the ostrich feather pieces."

Honey promptly gave her a 'who, me?' look and started on his piece of cake.

"We are glad you could make it," Mori said, looking at her.

"We remember that," the twins said with identical grins.

"That was fun," Hikaru said.

"They didn't even need a push." Kaoru grinned.

Lucy looked at Mori and smiled. "It's always a pleasure to spend time with you two."

"I love it when rival models go at it," Liz said. "The results are so entertaining."

Mori just gave Lucy a small smile and poured her some more tea.

"Yes they certainly are," Hikaru agreed.

Liz stretched a bit.

"So," she said. "Are you both going to the winter launch?"

"We have to," they replied. "Our mother is going, and she's making us go."

"Same," Liz said. "My mother is going." She grinned. "Maybe when we get there we can sneak out and get some coffee or something."

The twins grinned. "Sounds good to us," the chorused. Much better than sitting or standing around, certainly.

"Great," Liz said, grinning. "As soon as we're able to sneak away, then."

The twins nodded their agreement. They glanced around the room habitually and blinked when they saw Mori actually talking to Lucy.

"Say, your friend is over there a lot," Kaoru said speculatively.

"Over where?" Liz asked, looking around. "Oh, there." She shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that, is there? They seem to like each other's company."

"No, no, nothing wrong," Kaoru agreed.

"It's just that Honey and Mori don't normally pick favorites." Hikaru grinned.

That made Liz pause.

"Really, now?" she mused. "Good to know." She watched Lucy and the other two for a few more moments before turning her attention back to the twins.

"Time's up for today," the twins said as the bell rang to signal it was time to change. "We'll see you soon."

"Have fun," Liz said as she gathered her things and got up. "Try not to dazzle those poor girls too much."

The twins just grinned. "We make no promises." But they did watch her go before slipping back into their routine easily.

A few weeks later, Liz was sitting backstage at the winter launch, helping some of the models with last-minute wardrobe prep. Everything was running fairly smoothly, and she was able to slip away fairly quickly.

The twins had already been shooed off for causing mischief, and they grinned as they went to go peruse the area and find a good coffee shop.

It wasn't difficult to spot them, really; even when they dressed differently, they tended to match, and a matched set of troublemakers was never hard to find.

"There you both are," Liz said when she caught up to them.

"Here we are," Kaoru agreed with a grin.

"We were told to stay out of trouble," Hikaru said with a snort.

"Gosh it's like they don't know you two at all," Liz teased. "Telling you to stay out of trouble."

"Clearly they haven't learned yet," the twins chorused with identical evil grins.

"Clearly," Liz agreed, grinning. "So. Coffee? I would do a lot for a good-quality flavored roast right now."

"What a coincidence," Kaoru said.

"We just found a place." Hikaru grinned.

"Shall we?"

"Lead on," Liz said, keeping pace between the two.