~Insomniac, an Ouran High School Host Club Fanfiction~

Haruhi shuffled unenthusiastically through the doors of Music room #3. Luckily, for once she was on time. The moment she set foot in the room, she was nearly tackled by Tamaki, who was gushing about the day's costume.

"Not today, senpai," she muttered, seeming slightly more irritated than usual. "Just give me the costume and I'll change into it." You could almost hear the glass shattering as Tamaki retreated to his corner, sulking. Honey approached Haruhi, already knowing something was wrong.

"Haru-chan, how much sleep did you get last night?"

"I got enough," she responded evasively. Mori knelt down in front of her, looking closely at her eyes and examining her face gently with the pads of his thumbs. When he was satisfied, he stood and spoke:

"Somehow I doubt that." Kyoya merely glanced at her before agreeing.

"A tired host is all but useless."

"Oh, what, you're telling me you've never hosted while tir-" she didn't even finish her sentence before Kyoya had shortened the distance between them from half a room to six inches, silencing her.

"Just how much sleep did you get last night, Haruhi?"

"I... well..."

"That's what I thought. Even a natural type won't be at their best on little to no sleep, and the girls are more intuitive than you give them credit for. They'll notice something's wrong with you, which would only worry them We're here to entertain them, not give them anxiety."

"Now," he continued after a brief pause, "isn't there a couch in the room where you change into your costumes?"

Haruhi nodded, still speechless.

"But senpai, if you're going to do that, why don't you just send me home?"

Kyoya looked amused at the question.

"Don't be foolish, Haruhi. Not only would sending you home put Tamaki into a funk that we don't need right now, but I know without a doubt that if I send you home you're just going to work on schoolwork and that would only defeat the purpose of the whole thing. Counterintuitive, don't you think so?"

Haruhi grumbled, but only half-heartedly. She turned around and walked off towards the room she had been ordered to. She paused only to say,

"Just so long as you don't add it to my debt, Kyoya-senpai." With that, she shut the door behind her. Kyoya smirked before going back to his laptop.

"Why is that funny?" Honey whispered to Mori, earning the slightest of smiles from the taller boy.

"Because she doesn't have a debt."

"Oh, right. I knew that. But I still don't get why it's funny."

"The joke wasn't meant for you, Mitsukuni." Honey seemed satisfied with this answer and didn't ask again.

it was only a few minutes later that the girls came flooding in, a good portion of them disappointed to discover Haruhi would not be hosting. Tamaki brightened up once guests started arriving, and so business in the Host Club continued as normal.

Well, almost.

"Kyoya-senpai? Senpai?" Three sweet-looking first years sat opposite the dark-haired host, trying to get his attention. He was currently filling in for Haruhi and not doing the best job. Finally, the faraway look in his eye vanished and he looked at each of the girls with his patented charming smile.

"My apologies, I'm afraid my mind was somewhere else."

"Oh, that's all right. Whatever you were thinking about must've been important," one of the girls chimed.

"Hm, yes. I suppose it was important, in its own way."

Tamaki gazed at him from across the room. It's not often Kyoya gets distracted, he thought.

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" He called each of them. They snapped to attention immediately.

"Yes, boss!"

"Kyoya's bizarre lack of focus is affecting his hosting. I'm counting on you to find out what's wrong and fix it if you can."

"Sure thing, boss," they replied in unison.

They already had a good idea of what was distracting their undistractable vice president, and they only had to share a glance to put their plan into action. They got as close to Kyoya and the first-years as they dared without making it look like they were approaching them. Symmetrical as ever, they pulled out their hats and called,

"Who wants to play the 'Which One is Hikaru?' game?" Just as the brothers had planned, the first years with Kyoya turned in their direction.

"Why don't you ladies go play? I have something I'd like to check on anyway." The girls made no protest and went to see if they would have any luck distinguishing the twins.

Kyoya stood up, brushed himself off, made his way to one of the side doors in music Room #3 and stepped inside.

Haruhi was only half-asleep when someone opened the door, but she figured if it wasn't a club member then they would soon be escorted out. And if it was a member, then they could wait. This whole thing was their idea anyway.

She heard the sound of a chair being placed softly next to the couch and was tempted to open her eyes, but what pulled her from the brink of sleep was hearing the voice she least expected.

"Oh, Haruhi," Kyoya sighed. "How can you be so brilliant and still be so stupid?"

This really got her attention, but she kept her eyes closed and her breathing even. What was Kyoya-senpai playing at?

Kyoya took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he continued to speak to the sleeping (or so he thought) girl.

"You work yourself ragged trying to do everything yourself. Those boys on the beach, every thunderstorm that comes to Japan that you endure on your own. When are you going to realize that you don't have to? You never did. All you have to do is say the word and the whole club would be there in an instant. You're just so stubborn. You insist on being so thickheaded that you don't realized how much every single member of this club cares for you. Your intelligence may be incredible, but you demonstrate the emotional capacity of a fish, and so I don't understand how, brilliant and beautiful though you are, I could have ever let myself fall in love with you."

Haruhi didn't even have enough time to resent the fish comment before he dropped the bomb on her.

Loves me? His last five words swirled around her, bouncing around in her head until she was almost convinced she was dreaming, except her head was too clear for that. Love. Such a serious, and yet such a wonderful word. Her father had loved her mother. She knew that from the moment she understood what love was. Just thinking about it made her emotions jumble up into happiness, sadness, and fear.

She'd always been so leery of entering into a relationship that eventually, it got to the point where she didn't recognize the signs of someone else's interest anymore.

Even more so, she couldn't recognize the signs when she was falling for someone else. At the time, she hadn't given a second thought to the joking and banter she shared with Kyoya after her debt was paid. But thinking back on it, they gradually began to spend more of their time at the Host Club together. It seemed natural, really. Because there wasn't the conflict of money separating them, Haruhi wasted no time in becoming closer to Kyoya, as she had with the rest of the club members.

Funnily enough, it actually didn't surprise her that the thought of having earned Kyoya's affection delighted her or that she returned his feelings. While she didn't have the strength to admit her emotions consciously, her love for the Rubik's Cube that was Kyoya Ootori wasn't sudden at all. Not that just the thought of a committed relationship didn't terrify her, but if he was willing to try it, then she would put everything on the line for him. After all, that was what love was really about.

She sifted through all of these thoughts as Kyoya sat back in his chair, thinking about the comment Haruhi made before disappearing into the side room.

"Just so long as you don't add it to my debt, Kyoya-senpai."

The word "debt" became somewhat of a private joke between the two of them in that past month, after Éclair Tonnere's family paid it off. Kyoya had mentioned it informally after the fair and Haruhi had just as informally given them her decision on staying in the Host Club.

And these things were, of course, not informally received from the rest of the club. They actually insisted upon celebration, ad both Kyoya and Haruhi had begrudgingly given in. He would've rather not attended to the budgeting, and she hated being in the spotlight.

Still, as indifferent as he had acted about the whole thing, he had to admit how shaken he was that day when he spoke the words he'd hoped he would never have to.

"Thank you for all your hard work, Haruhi. After that request from Lady Éclair, your debt has been paid. You finally repaid us for that Renaissance vase you broke. So, you're free to quit the Host Club, if you want."

It wasn't until some time afterward that he realized that the reason he hoped never to say those words was because he never wanted to watch Haruhi walk out the doors of Music Room #3 for the last time, just as he didn't with Tamaki.

And it wasn't until a day after that realization that he found the courage to admit something to himself: somewhere along the crazy ridiculous road they were on, he'd fallen in love with her.

He took a deep breath. Seeing her actually asleep instead of working gave him some peace of mind. He stood once more, slipping his glasses back on.

"Someday, I'll say all that to you when you're awake," he promised her, brushing her bangs out of her face. His fingers were surprisingly warm and gentle, sending shots of electricity down her back. Haruhi was suddenly very grateful for the boy's uniform that covered the goose bumps appearing on her arms.

"All the same," he said as he reached the door, "I'm glad we had this conversation."

It was now or never. If she was ever going to take a risk, this was the time.

"So am I."

Kyoya's hand that was previously halfway to the doorknob dropped to his side. Carefully, slowly, almost disbelievingly, he turned around to see Haruhi's eyes fluttering open as she sat up.

Oh, he contemplated blankly. That seemed to be the only coherent thought he could form.

"You know, I'm beginning to think the whole nap thing was a good idea after all." Blushing, but confident, she recalled something from a story Kyoya told her a while ago.

"I know! To make us closer, would you let me call you by your first name from now on, mon ami?" She started relatively quiet and straightforward, but as she finished, both her smirk and the impishness in her voice grew. Kyoya returned a small but equally mischievous smile.

"I think simply 'Kyoya' would be fine."

Haruhi could barely hold back her laughter.

"No mon ami?"

"You can leave the French terms of endearment to the king." Haruhi hummed in response.

"Yeah, I guess. But there's no way I'm leaving this to Tamaki," she murmured as she wrapped her arms around his chest and leaned into him, simply enjoying sitting next to him.

"I should hope not," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Not so thickheaded now, am I?" Kyoya chuckled.

"Not in the slightest."

They lounged there for a moment in comfortable silence.

"Did you mean what you said?" Haruhi finally asked.

"About what?" he replied, eyes closed.

"About loving me. Did you mean it?"

At this, Kyoya opened his eyes and turned to face her. He knew based on her family history and the relationships she'd had with her father and mother how much the word "love" meant to her. He knew that she took it seriously, and to say it would be one of the most important things he could promise to her. It didn't scare him in the slightest- after all, Ootori boys were not ones to shy away. He didn't wonder if it was too early to say something so bold nor did he bother wondering if it would be reciprocated. Rather, he didn't think at all. He merely looked her straight in the eyes and said,

"Yes."

Smiling, Haruhi decided to do something she hadn't done in a long time: trust someone else with her feelings.

"Good," she said simply and closed the space between them.

Kyoya responded almost automatically, winding one hand through her hair and pulling her closer to him with the other, angling them both so he could deepen the kiss.

It wasn't clear to either of them, nor did it matter how much time had passed when they separated- it could have been seconds, or it could have been days. The world had slowed for an instant for them.

The moment their lips touched, it became obvious just how desperately the two needed each other. Haruhi was so stubborn in her self-imposed separation from others that she needed someone equally as stubborn to pull her back and give her the help she needed but wouldn't admit to wanting. Kyoya was closed off, always trying to see through people. He needed someone who could see right through him to bring him back down to Earth and remind him of what was really important.

"Kyoya?"

"Yes, Haruhi?"

"I love you, too."

His eyes widened- he had not expected such barefaced and easily granted trust from her. But, he decided with a smile, it was not easily granted. It never had been. He had been building her trust from the moment they met without the manipulations he so habitually used on others.

He kissed the top of her forehead and stood up.

"Unfortunately, the others will be wondering why I've been in here so long. I have to go back out, and you ought to go back to sleep."

Ironically, neither of them had any idea that Kaoru of all people had ensured their privacy by mentioning something brief and just specific enough to Mori that the older host was guarding the door from intrusions by Tamaki and Hikaru.

"I understand," Haruhi nodded, speaking with such sincerity and willingness that the little willpower Kyoya built up fell apart. He shook his head to himself, marveling at how easily Haruhi had shattered his resolve without even meaning to. He sat back down on the couch next to her.

"On second thought," he murmured, tilting her chin up ever so slightly, "they can wait."

"So can sleep," Haruhi agreed.

My turn, Kyoya thought. Without hesitation, worry, or planning for later, he wrapped her up and kissed her.

Their affections were long-awaited and treasured.

Kyoya smiled against her lips as he decided that if this was where lost sleep led them, then he was going to become an insomniac.

So, this was my first Host Club fiction. I love writing and posting first fictions- they give such a rush of happiness and sense of newness, like "Where will I take this next?" Please let me know what you think! Personally, I loved every minute of writing Insomniac and I hope you enjoyed reading it. I ship Kyoya/Haruhi with a ridiculous intensity, because they're just so gosh darn unpredictable and cute, plus they seem to complement each other perfectly, in my eyes. This was just a sample, a little lighthearted fluff for you all... but then again, what did you expect? I think this story will be the beginning of a beautiful series of oneshots to come. Until next time!

Thanks for staying at the Fluff Factory, and I'll see ya next time!

Much love,

The Fluff Machine