Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club does not belong to me. Don't sue.

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Notes: Gift-fic for XOiHeartMiloOx. Hope you like!

Tamaki liked to believe he knew his best friend more than anybody else did. He was sure nobody else understood the shadow king as well as him. Knew all his acts, his fake smiles, and all his master plans.

So Tamaki was very sure Kyouya was harboring a crush on Haruhi. He just didn't know it yet. But Kyouya never seemed to have a problem with Haruhi. He seemed to actually like talking with her and never really objected to spending time with her. He'd actually throw little compliments about her when she'd come up in their conversations. For Kyouya, it had to be a crush.

Usually, he would have said Haruhi deserved the best and would chase away any possible suitors (he was her daddy! Who else would protect her?!), but as far as he was concerned, Kyouya was the best choice for his cute and innocent little daughter.

Kyouya had done more than enough for him to be owed this little favor.

Tamaki would make sure Kyouya and Haruhi were a beautiful couple by next week.

----

"You think Kyouya has a crush on Haruhi?" Hikaru whispered in disbelief.

Tamaki had ushered the host club--excluding Kyouya and Haruhi obviously--into a closet to tell his master plan.

"Know! I know Kyouya has a crush on Haruhi! Kyouya is my best friend and nobody knows him better than I!" Tamaki explained, a little louder than a whisper. He wasn't very good at staying quiet.

"Tono, this is stupid," Kaoru replied, frowning. "I can't believe you pulled me into a closet for this."

"Tama-chan is right! Kyou-chan definitely has a crush on Haru-chan!" Hunny suddenly piped up. He hugged his stuffed rabbit to him tighter and smiled to his cousin. "Didn't I say it before, Takashi? Didn't I?"

"Mm."

Hikaru shrugged. "Well, if Hunny says he does, then maybe Kyouya does have a crush on Haruhi."

"I think I can buy it now," Kaoru agreed.

Hunny grinned from ear to ear, Tamaki felt himself ready to cry.

"How come you won't ever agree with me?!" He cried out. "This hurts! My word is just as good as any other man's! My word is pure and untainted! How could you not believe me when I say Kyouya is in love with--"

"Oh, there you guys are. Are you trying to play hide and seek or something?"

Tamaki, who had had no idea how loud he had become, was interrupted by the door opening. He looked over his shoulder to see Haruhi and Kyouya standing behind him. Haruhi not looking the least bit phased and Kyouya, who definitely seemed to be glaring.

"Ah…ah! Yes! Yes, my precious daughter! We were playing hide and seek! And you have found us! Such a clever daughter I have!"

"Okay then," Haruhi said in a tone that showed she just didn't buy it, but had learned long ago not to question anything that went on when it involved the host club.

"I think it's pretty odd you all decided to hide in the closet," Kyouya spoke up, adjusting his glasses. "And that Haruhi and I were never informed of this little game."

Tamaki gulped at the sound of Kyouya's voice. He definitely knew something was going on. Tamaki looked behind him, in hopes he would be offered some help, but saw none. Hikaru and Kaoru were looking idly at nothing and Hunny was playing with his Usa-chan. Mori never really said anything, so Tamaki knew he wouldn't help.

"I forgot?" He offered feebly.

Kyouya frowned ever so slightly. "Then I'd suggest not 'forgetting' next time?"

Tamaki gulped again.

Yes, his dear friend definitely

----

"I cannot believe you are calling us, Tono. I thought after we were caught in the closet, you were going to stop with this thing."

"You really like wasting time, don't you?"

Tamaki cleared his throat loudly, stopping before Hikaru and Kaoru decided to make a game of insulting him. "Now, since Kyouya has caught onto my little plan, I have edited it just right! I am very sure this is completely foolproof! But I will need all of your support."

"I'll do it!" Hunny said in between his bites of cake, making his response sound just a little muffled.

"Mm."

"Sure, why not? We don't have anything planned."

"Splendid! Let 'Kyouya and Haruhi start dating and become very, very happy' plan commence!"

"I think we need a new name, Tono."

----

Spending two years with Tamaki had given Kyouya a sort of 'Tamaki sense'. He knew when the idiot was going to do something dumb, and at the moment, his senses were going crazy. Usually, he didn't worry. He could easily turn whatever nonsense his friend was planning into something valuable for himself. But Kyouya was certain he was being involved, along with Haruhi. It was at least a little better it was somebody smart enough and actually interesting than some nameless stranger, he thought.

Unfortunately, and rather surprisingly, Kyouya found he couldn't think up a Tamaki enough reason for what he could possibly be doing, though. That was the most irritating thing of it all. He could usually figure out things so easily and Tamaki was not that great at plans. He was a very simple person.

At the moment, he was supposed to meet everybody at a commercial theme park. Ones with tourists, greasy food, and vomit inducing rides. Kyouya didn't see why they had to go somewhere so disgusting, even if it was apart of the commoner lifestyle Tamaki had become so obsessed with. There were definitely cleaner places to go that had poor people. But it seemed innocent enough, just like so many of the other things Tamaki suggested.

Something was still warning Kyouya in his mind he really should just avoid the whole thing, though, and nicely hint to his best friend that he should just stop whatever he was doing.

But whatever Tamaki wanted, Tamaki got.

And strangely, another part of him that rarely showed itself was also telling him that maybe going on this little trip wouldn't be so bad at all.

----

"This is a really stupid plan."

"I agree."

"Well, could you two do any better? I think not!"

"Actually, I think we could."

"But I gotta give you credit, Tono. For a minute, I thought you'd just try locking them up in a closet or something else really stupid."

Tamaki's eyes widened and he gasped. "How did you know my first plan?!"

"They're here," Mori said, pointing to Kyouya and Haruhi who were walking together.

Step one of the master plan: Make Kyouya give Haruhi a ride to the theme park. If lucky enough and if Kyouya had enough of a character change, he'd announce his feelings right then and there!

"Kyouya! Haruhi! I hope the ride was pleasant!" Tamaki smiled to Kyouya, who scowled back. Haruhi didn't seem phased at all.

"It was fine. But why did I have to take Haruhi again? Did something happen to your limo? Or anybody else's?" Kyouya asked.

"Uh, there wasn't enough room?" Tamaki tried, almost pathetically. Wasn't he supposed to have teammates in this plan of his?!

"But it's a limo," said Haruhi, who frowned in confusion. "Aren't they always big?"

Kyouya's eyes narrowed, light glinting off his glasses momentarily. "Yes, aren't they always big?"

Tamaki knew it was time to go to step two of his master plan.

"Kyouya! Haruhi wants you to take her on the Ferris wheel!"

"I do?"

"She does?"

And Kyouya wasn't sure how, but in some way, everybody had disappeared. Leaving only him and Haruhi. Now he definitely knew something was up. And it definitely, beyond any doubt, involved Haruhi.

Haruhi sighed. "You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to this. What just happened?"

"I have no idea," Kyouya muttered, looking around for his soon to be ex-best friend, who was nowhere in sight. He let out an irritated breath and sent a warning to Haruhi. "I'm not going on the Ferris Wheel. Or any other rides."

"That's okay. I don't really like rides." She looked back to him. "Is there anything you want to do, Kyouya-senpai? Or do you want to go home? I don't mind either way."

Kyouya went over everything in his mind, finding some way this could benefit him. He could go home and go over the budgets and ideas for the Host Club. Staying at some useless commoner place had no gain.

But he did remember when he had been at the mall with Haruhi, and how it hadn't been bad at all. Haruhi was easy to get along with and did not expect the world or more, as some of the girls he had met did.

If Kyouya was honest, he didn't like being around girls too much. He could never relate to anything they said. But Haruhi was different. Being around her wasn't annoying. It was actually nice to spend time with her and sometimes, talking to her was interesting. Haruhi was intelligent and thoughtful.

"I might as well see what this sort of place has to offer." What weak reasoning.

"Oh, you want to stay then? Okay. Well, come on. Maybe there's some kind of food here you'd like."

Kyouya doubted he'd find anything worthwhile, but he found that wasn't so bad.

----

"They're not going on the Ferris Wheel," Tamaki noticed, pointing it out to his other friends. "I thought a Ferris wheel would be a perfect environment for love!"

"What have you been reading? Shoujo manga?" Hikaru asked.

"No! I was watching romance movies!"

Kaoru nodded. "That explains it."

"Look! They're going somewhere!" Hunny shouted excitedly, directing their attention to the couple with a big grin.

"Ha!" Tamaki felt his confidence return. "I was right! My plan is going perfectly! A king is always right and always knows his subjects! Never doubt me!"

"They're not going to the Ferris Wheel," Kaoru said, smirking.

"Would you look at that?" Hikaru said, smirking along.

"My plan! It is being destroyed!" Tamaki sobbed.

"We should follow along, shouldn't we, Takashi?" Hunny asked his cousin.

"Mmhmm."

The two walked from their hiding spot, Hikaru and Kaoru trailing behind with a depressed Tamaki in their grasp, muttering about the world's great injustices to himself.

----

Kyouya had just tried some food he couldn't name, and he wasn't sure he was a big fan of it. It tasted cheap and he just didn't like cheap. It hadn't even cost that much and so he had had Haruhi buy it. There was no point in wasting his own money on something so second-rate.

"Why do people eat this?" Kyouya asked, mostly to himself but Haruhi heard and so she decided to answer his question.

"It tastes good." She took a bite of her own whatever it was called. She didn't seem to mind it tasting so substandard and enjoyed it.

"Good? Hmm." He took another bite and frowned. Good really wasn't the word he'd choose.

"Stupid rich bastards…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Kyouya smiled a little.

Yes, being around Haruhi really was almost nice.

----

"He had her pay! He had her pay!" Tamaki was ranting. "My poor daughter! Can she even afford to buy that food?! And what about the romantic mood? The environment! Oh, my plan! It is in shambles! Complete disaster! Oh, Mother! Why must you destroy my creations?!"

"What is he talking about?"

"No idea."

"Rome is burning! Masterpieces are being ruined! Beauty means nothing anymore!"

"No, seriously, what is this idiot blabbing about?"

"I don't even think he knows, Hikaru."

"And he is a host! What about the perfection a host brings?! Oh, it all means nothing now!"

Hunny, who had been keeping his eye on the couple, finally smiled and pointed to them. "I saw Kyou-chan smile! I think Haru-chan did, too!"

Tamaki stopped crying to smile and jump up before looking determined.

"But brilliant plans always come through in the end! My genius idea could never be destroyed!"

"I still can't figure out what he's talking about."

----

Kyouya had noticed that Haruhi's feet had seemed a little sore and he had suggested they sat down. Currently, they were on a bench, watching people go by. Yet Kyouya was sure he felt somebody was watching them. It was making him feel on edge.

"Haruhi?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think it was odd how Tamaki just made us come here together and then left us alone together?"

"Well, to be honest, I think everything that goes on with all of you is odd," she answered, blunt as usual. In a lot of ways, Kyouya found it admirable. She wasn't the type who would lie needlessly. It was a little refreshing.

"But," she continued, bringing Kyouya out of his thoughts. "Yes, I did think it was weirder than usual. It kind of reminds me when Kaoru asked me to go somewhere with him when he suddenly got sick and Hikaru went with me instead."

Suddenly, all the pieces clicked together and Kyouya knew exactly what was going on. Why he was feeling as if he was being stalked. Why he hadn't been able to drop everything into a 'useless' category.

"Can you excuse me for a minute, Haruhi?"

"Huh? Oh, yes."

He wasn't sure where they were, but he'd been through this before and he knew they couldn't be too far away. Tamaki was not very good at being subtle. He also wasn't very good at plans either, it seemed.

Kyouya walked around, his darting to every available hiding place before he found his target.

His eyes met Tamaki's.

----

"He saw me! We've got to get out of here!" Tamaki turned around, expecting to see his friends with him, but was only met with a blank space where they should have been.

"What about teamwork?!"

"Hello, Tamaki."

Tamaki screamed before turning around slowly and seeing a very menacing looking Kyouya. He stood up, smiling and putting a hand up in a suave greeting.

"Hello, my dear friend. Fancy seeing you here." He was a king! He could play this part! Aloof! Innocent!

"Please. Cut the act, Tamaki. I want to know what you're trying to pull here, setting Haruhi and I up in this makeshift date. If this is your idea of a joke, I'm not laughing and I don't think I'm going to any time soon. Or at all, actually."

"Me? You? Haruhi? Date? Haha, Kyouya!" He started laughing, but stopped as soon as he saw there was no way his friend was going to laugh along. Or even pretend to be friendly. "Kyouya, um, are you angry?"

"I don't know. I'm waiting for you to explain yourself before I make my verdict." He pushed his glasses up. "But I cannot say I am a very fair judge. So, please, Tamaki. Make your case."

Tamaki gulped. Kyouya would just get angrier if he tried to dodge the subject or play it off as a cute little joke he thought would be funny, which it wasn't. The only choice was the truth, and unfortunately, he just didn't know if Kyouya would actually listen to him without brushing off everything he said as something useless.

"Kyouya, I'm your friend. I want you happy."

"Really? With your actions, it screams otherwise."

Tamaki ignored that, knowing how his friend was when it came to things like this. He didn't take it personally. Kyouya would be grateful for this in the end.

"You like Haruhi."

"I'm hoping you mean that in the friendship sense. If you think I'm in love with Haruhi, you're delusional. Or too romantic. Most likely both."

"I don't mean friendship!" Tamaki said. "And maybe you aren't in love, but she can make you happy. You could make her happy. You don't mind talking to her, you've actually said she's interesting, and you like looking at her!"

Was Tamaki actually…?

"It's all the signs of the classic crush in all the romance movies I've seen!"

No, Tamaki was never making any sense. He never would.

Kyouya sighed and turned around. "If you're going to compare me to a romance movie with bad acting and improbable situations, I'm just going to go home and do something worthwhile. Standing here, listening to you go on about me having a crush on Haruhi is just--"

"But would it be so bad?"

Kyouya stopped what he'd been saying and turned back around, facing his friend again. "Would what be?"

"Liking Haruhi as more than a friend. Being around Haruhi. Dating Haruhi. Maybe even marrying her! Would something so nice and beautiful be so bad, Kyouya?"

He had earlier thought spending time with Haruhi wasn't bad. It wasn't. But spending time as her friend wasn't bad either. Dating meant spending more time and…

Maybe Tamaki had some point because spending more time with Haruhi didn't seem like such a horrible thing.

He looked hard at his friend, frowning again, but this time, not in anger. No, he wasn't angry. Not anymore. But confused because how could an idiot have figured all this out before him? He wasn't supposed to be some small-minded fool who couldn't recognize the beginning of an infatuation, yet that seemed exactly what he was. The situation seemed reverse somehow.

"I can't believe you were ahead of me this time," he muttered to himself in disbelief before shaking his head and smiling. "Every dog has their day, I suppose." He began to walk away before Tamaki called out.

"Kyouya! Where are you going?"

"To go take Haruhi somewhere where good food is actually good," Kyouya answered. "Oh, and Tamaki?"

"Yes?" A big, hopeful grin was on the blonde's face. Finally! His plan hadn't gone perfectly all the way through, but the outcome had become what he had hoped it would.

"Never do this sort of thing again, understood?" He gave his friend a cold glare before smiling pleasantly. "I'll see you again, soon, Tamaki."

As Tamaki gulped and nodded, watching his friend walk away to hopefully begin a long-lasting relationship, the people who had abandoned him before walked up next to him.

"Well, what would you know?" Hikaru said, his hands in his pockets.

"It actually worked." Kaoru walked up next to his twin.

Hunny was perched upon Mori's shoulders, smiling. "I knew everything would be happy in the end! Didn't you, Takashi?" He was answered with a nod from Mori.

Tamaki turned around, pointing to them and gasping. "Abandoners! You left me when I needed you most!"

"Sorry, Tama-chan!" Hunny apologized, jumping off his cousin's shoulders to run up to Tamaki and smiled cheerfully at him. "I'll let you hug Usa-chan if it'll make you feel better!"

"We couldn't just let ourselves be killed. It was you Kyouya was after anyway."

"It was just easier to run away and hide." Hikaru and Kaoru didn't seem the least bit phased, even if what they had done could have been considered cowardly.

"Betrayal! Et tu, mon amis?" Tamaki whimpered, and fell to the floor, crying to himself. Whatever happened to the caring and supportive team he had thought he made?

"Usa-chan won't make him feel better?" He glanced up at Mori, who shook his head.

"Want to actually go do something, then?" Hikaru asked everybody else. "This is already boring. I think whatever our job was is done now, so…"

"I want to go ride the merry-go-round like we did that one time!" Hunny stated. "And then we should go eat some cake! I saw some when we were watching Kyou-chan and Haru-chan!"

Hikaru and Kaoru looked to each other before shrugging. "Okay, sounds good."

Hunny began running towards the direction he last saw the kiddy ride, everybody following behind as Kaoru dragged Tamaki behind him once again, who was trying to remember the best way to grow mushrooms in this type of environment.

----

When Kyouya found Haruhi where he had left her, he slowed down his steps, just taking a moment to watch her.

He couldn't say he was sure how things would go. He knew he'd ask her out on a date, but after that? He wasn't certain if she'd say yes. Was she even interested? Haruhi never seemed to care about anything other than her education and father. From his research, she never even had been interested in anybody in her old school.

But there was never any gain if you did not act, so he walked to her again. She noticed him before he could say anything and she stood up, smiling.

"Was everything okay?"

"Perfect, a little problem, but it smoothed itself over. All is well."

"That's good." Things went quiet shortly, before she began talking again. "Do you want to go home? This seems like a waste of time."

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd go somewhere with me."

"With you?" She questioned. "Nobody else?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?" He had never let anything hurt his confidence. Himself, his family, or any judgmental stranger. Not even Haruhi, although he knew she was beginning to have the power to do so, would do it as of now.

She replied with a shake of her head. "No. Actually, being around you is nice. You're not overdramatic like Tamaki-senpai, and not as hyper as Hikaru, Kaoru, or Hunny-senpai. Mori-senpai is nice, but it's hard to talk to him. I like everybody, but it's all a lot to handle sometimes."

Did she just compliment me, he wondered to himself. He smiled and then grabbed her hand. When she looked down at it, and then to him, he was certain he had seen a faint blush shortly. She did not seem uncomfortable or disgusted, but curious and just a little confused.

Maybe this would not be one-sided at all.

"Shall we go?"

She smiled and didn't pull her hand away.

"Yeah, let's go."

Notes: Constructive criticism would be really nice. :3