"What do you want for your birthday Mitsukuni?"

Without pause, Hunny answered his favorite grandmother's question. "I don't want to grow up. It's less fun every year."

--

Hunny could sit in the Host Club, enjoying the simple pleasure of chaos about him. Everyone there was interesting to watch. None there could say the Ouran Host Club was anything less than entertaining. It was fun. Hunny took a large bite of cake and watched Haruhi ruin the recent 'Which One is Hikaru' game.

"Oh, your cakes and sweets always look so cute Hunny," one of the girls praised Hunny's snacks.

"I want all things cute," Hunny replied.

Hunny sat Bun-Bun up on the table so that the stuffed bunny was positioned next to a slice of cake. The girls about him squealed at the cuteness of the childlike action. Hunny grinned and nodded at the approval about him. He thought Bun-Bun looked cute sitting there too.

"Mitsukuni."

Hunny turned to look at his cousin standing beside him. Mori simply pointed down at the table. Bun-Bun was falling.

--

She smiled. "I know my favorite grandson, so I got you exactly that. No high tech items from me, not from me. I have exactly what you want, go ahead tear away."

"Quit spoiling him mother. He is eight years old, well past--"

"You can't force the boy grow up," she snapped.

A squeal of excitement interrupted the usual argument. "It's so cute! I love it, is it really mine?!"

His father's face fell at what his eldest son held. "Mother..."

"Yes, it is all yours Mitsukuni. You don't have to grow up if you don't want to. Other people will grow up, but you can stay a child with that bunny. It's a special bunny," she teased and gave the blonde boy a wink.

--

"Ah! Bun-Bun," Hunny cried out. "I'll save you!"

Hunny dove and caught the pink bunny just before it reached the floor. A beaming smile grew on his face. It would not have been as entertaining if he had simply grabbed Bun-Bun before falling off the table. The approval of 'Aww' 's and claps surrounded him. His special Bun-Bun was safe.

Hunny blinked as he realized something. His chair had been knocked over somehow and his shin was beginning to throb. Perhaps diving wasn't the best idea in the world...

"It hurts Takashi," Hunny's sad voice spoke. He saw Haruhi look over from watching the other Hosts arguing. The others turned as Hunny sniffed miserably. He looked up to his tall cousin with watery eyes.

His cousin swept him up and Hunny wondered exactly how tall Takashi was.

--

"I don't want to grow up Takashi," Hunny said. He stared at the rows of silent blackness. He hugged Bun-Bun close.

"It's like they don't care about grandmother dying. Why do I have to grow up? Its all my father says! Grow up and be a man. I don't want to grow up. Grandmother was the only one who let me be myself! And now she's gone!"

Hunny burst out into a fresh wave of tears. His father shot him a dirty look from across the room. Yasuchika followed his father's look to his elder brother. Mori placed a hand on Hunny's shoulder and looked up at his cousin.

"I'll grow up for you Mitsukuni."

Hunny's wails were stunned into silence at his cousin's words.

--

Hunny looked down from his perch, amazed at how far below the floor was. There were some days when Hunny wondered exactly how tall Mori was. And there were some days when Hunny did not even want to ponder his cousin's height. There was that time, so very long ago that he was taller than Mori.

"How is it, Mitsukuni?"

Hunny blinked and stretched out a leg. "Well," he began. Hunny didn't was to admit that his leg felt fine now. That was not very enjoyable or fun. It was rather anticlimactic and Hunny did not like that feeling at all. Anticlimactic was on his dislike list. Same with bluntness, but Haruhi seemed to be the exception to both. Reactions to it were very entertaining. "Could you can kiss it better Takashi?"

Activity inside the Third Music Room came to a halt at Hunny's request. Mori simply turned his head, pushed up the legs of Hunny's pants, and kissed the extended leg.

"Thank you Takashi!"

Hunny leapt off of his cousin's shoulders and tested out his legs by hopping about.

"My leg is all better now!"

The girls squealed at Hunny's display of childlike nature and Mori's display of guardian like nature. Hunny could count on Mori to allow him to stay young. It was because of Mori that he could. And Bun-Bun, the special bunny his favorite grandmother gave him a few weeks before her death.

Hunny didn't doubt the words and story he received with his special Bun-Bun.

It was also why he didn't want to focus on his cousin's height.

--

"Mother, don't feed him that type of nonsense. It is only a stuffed animal to hug for some...emotionally starved child. Mitsukuni is no such child."

"I'll name him Bun-Bun!"

"No, you'll do no such thing Mitsukuni. We will be throwing it away when we go home."

Hunny clutched the pink bunny close and glared up at his father. "I'm not throwing away Bun-Bun!!"

His father sighed, but let the matter be. Certainly the boy would grow out of the phase and if not he could ban such items from Mitsukuni. "All right Mitsukuni. We are going home now."

"'Kay," Hunny chirped out. "Thank you for Bun-Bun grandmother!"

"Keep that special bunny safe Mitsukuni. Someone else can grow up but you can stay young. That special bunny will help keep you young with its matching cuteness to you."

"Let's go Mitsukuni. Don't believe your grandmother's tall tales."

--

It wasn't a tall tale.

Someone else grew up while he stayed young because of his grandmother's special bunny. Mori offered and Bun-Bun took Mori up on the offer. Mori grew taller while Hunny grew nothing at all. Mori took on the role of being 'grown up' for Huni. Mori offered. Mori offered to grow up for him. He offered to do so.

But Hunny didn't want to know exactly how tall Mori grew. He simply did not want to know.

Hunny flung Bun-Bun into the air and caught the special bunny with a twirl. He caught sight of Haruhi looking his way and grinned. He liked Haruhi. Haruhi was cute.

"Haru-chan," he called out. "Do you want some cake?"

Mori watched Hunny cheer as he managed to get Haruhi to sit down and try a new snack. She tried not to look excited at trying the new type of cake, but Hunny could tell. Even his customers around the table could tell. Haruhi's attempts to hide her more glutton and greedy nature made the girls smile. Hunny loved seeing this side of Haruhi.

Hunny squealed. "Haru-chan looks so cute trying my cake!"

Off to the side, Mori wondered if his thoughts about Haruhi had anything to do with Hunny's unrealized feelings of a more grown up nature. Was his childlike cousin's unnoticed crush on Haruhi somehow projected or transmitted to him? He stared at Bun-Bun's cute little face. The stuffed bunny remained as it always had, an unanimated object staring right back at him.

It's just a story, Mori hastly reminded himself.

--

Author's Notes:

Child. I defiantly made Hunny a child in here. It is so difficult to tell if Hunny is calculating with his "cute" factor. Well, he is calculating, but it is an innocent calculating. No child likes it boring.

Hikaru and Karou are children as well; the minute it's boring, they move on to the next interesting thing. Hunny is different in his childlike nature. He is okay with sitting and watching interesting and entertaining things, but he also likes to jump in on the fun as well.

Such as doing an unnecessary dive to catch a falling Bun-Bun just before Bun-Bun hits the ground. He could have simply stopped it from happening, but he decided to do his little feat and get the approval…not to mention attention. He also didn't want to give up the spotlight too early in the fact his leg was perfectly fine. Mori 'kissing it better' was the perfect way for Hunny to get out of the fact it didn't hurt anymore and to keep the spotlight for a wee bit longer.

Hunny also feels guilty. He doesn't want to admit it though. It is why he doesn't want to know Mori's exact height. It would be like telling Hunny exactly how much Mori grew up because he did not. "Mori offered and Bun-Bun took Mori up on the offer…. Mori offered. Mori offered to grow up for him. He offered to do so." In other words, Mori offered and it is not Hunny's fault he didn't grow up.

Hunny's favorite grandmother. Ah, we can see why she was his favorite grandmother. Instead of giving him a high tech present for his eighth birthday like other family members probably did, she gave him something more suiting. She gave him a stuffed animal, something cute and really not practical for everyday use. Something only a child would like and she tailored it to Hunny's likes. Then she gave him the fabricated story of how it was a special bunny.

His special bunny. It is never really said straight out that the bunny is magical; literally keeping Hunny young while Mori grew up for Hunny. But this is definitely a special bunny.

In any case, Hunny defiantly believes Bun-Bun to be magical. Mori acknowledges the fact Hunny's mindset is defiantly one of a child, but notes how Hunny is always glancing to Haruhi. (Do note that in every present day scene, Hunny will take notice of Haruhi) It is possible Hunny is growing up with looking over to Haruhi all the time. However, Hunny seems oblivious to the fact he is doing so. Mori seems to be in denial of Bun-Bun's 'magical' nature but seems to believe there is something to the bunny. Either Mori's feelings for Haruhi come from Hunny or they originated from him.

Ack-hem. Scroll back up and take note of Hunny's first spoken sentence and his last spoken sentence.

--

BONUS! This is the flashback I cut out.

"These are my two sons. Mitsukuni and Yasuchika," Hunny's father introduced the two young boys to an older man, the man in charge of Ouran's small Karate Club.

"Ah, yes they are two fine boys. Yasuchika certainly looks serious, which will be good for the future of Haninozuka. It was brought to my attention that a Haninozuka wiped the opponents clean out of competition this year. Was it Yasuchika's first year of competition?"

Hunny's father cleared his throat and gestured to the smaller blonde boy. "It was Mitsukuni's first year of competition. Yasuchika will be competing two years from now."

"Oh. I didn't realize... I thought Yasuchika was your eldest."

Huni merely beamed at the man's mistake, clutching Bun-Bun tightly. It never bothered him that people thought him younger. If anything it pleased Hunny. He didn't want to grow up. Not if it meant being serious, no fun, no entertainment, no joy in the simple things, no sweets, and no cute things.

No, he didn't want to grow up