Author's Note: Another story, so quick! This one was most definitely fun to write! It came out really quickly, too. It's cute, I believe… Not much happens, but I enjoyed it, I did, and I hope you all will as well! –bows- Please take care of me! I would love your reviews! Tell me what you think!
It's listed under Tamaki and Haruhi, but there's not reeeeeally a pairing. If you squint, though, you can see it. Yay!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Nor do I own a jar of cookies. Although I kind of wish I did.
"Haru-chan, Haru-chan, we're out of cookies!"
Haruhi looked up from the conversation she had been having with a yellow-dressed girl to see Haninozuka Mitsukuni pouting at her; the plates in the middle of the small table they had been sitting at which, usually, held all sorts of sweets, were, indeed, empty now, save for a few tiny crumbs fit only for a mouse.
"Oh," the cross-dressing girl sighed. "I guess we are; I didn't notice. Shall I go get some more, Honey-sempai?"
Honey nodded vigorously, eliciting even more squeals from the girls surrounding him, and added, "Get the ones in the big jar, Haru-chan! Those are my favorite!"
"Hai, hai," Haruhi muttered as she stood, excusing herself from her customers. She looked back at her sempai, being watched over protectively by Morinozuka Takashi, and all harsh feelings that she might have felt for mere moments at often still being treated as the host club's "dog" faded away immediately as she looked at the seemingly young boy, flowers exuding from his every motion. He was just too cute for his own good—even Haruhi would admit that.
She managed to slip into the storage room uninhibited, but not unnoticed; the curious glances of other customers in the third music room along with those of the other members of the host club followed her as she went. She felt almost relieved when she slipped in through the doorway and pulled the door shut behind her, even if it was just for a moment.
The cookies, she knew from experience, were in the fifth cabinet on the left, right next to the miniature cakes. Opening the cabinet door revealed cookies withheld in all sorts of containers; she assumed that the largest and most obvious jar must be the one that Honey had been talking about. She pulled the jar out, closing the cabinet, and weighed it in her hands. There had to be a lot of cookies in there; and she knew, by the end of the afternoon, most of them would have been consumed by Honey.
She figured she might as well bring the whole jar out.
As she emerged, the main room was full of mundane chatter; girls fluttering around the handsome men, drinking tea, eating cakes or cookies, chattering about who-knows-what. Haruhi had never much minded the whole host club experience… but she'd never really cared for it, either.
If she could have it her way… She could see herself now, at home, maybe eating some ramen. She'd be able to finish her homework before she had to make dinner; that would be a nice change. And then she'd have the entire evening to relax…
"Yayy!" Honey's flowery exclamation cut through her thoughts like a knife and she fought to regain some sort of smile upon her face (as soon as she caught sight of his expression, however, it came more naturally). "Haru-chan brought cookies! Waaaii!"
Haruhi took her seat on a couch next to her former customer and, before flashing the girl a little smile (she almost immediately went into a swoon), she wrapped her hand around the lid of the jar and twisted.
The lid wouldn't budge. She furrowed her brow; she tried again.
Still nothing. After half a minute or so of failed attempts, she started to get slightly annoyed.
"What's wrong, Haru-chan?" Honey asked, looking slightly worried (whether it was because of the agitated expression on her face or the fact that she had yet to present him with cookies, she would never know).
"Oh, it's nothing, Honey-sempai," she grunted, still trying to unscrew the lid. "The lid just won't… seem to… open…" With a hefty sigh, she gave up, settling for staring at the jar in her lap angrily.
"Oh dear," murmured the girl next to her.
"What a problem!" another across the table quietly exclaimed.
"Waaaii!" Tears were beginning to form along the edges of Honey's eyes. "We can't have cookies anymore!"
Silent as ever, Mori simultaneously set a calming hand upon Honey's head and reached over the table to take the jar of cookies from Haruhi; she obliged, thankful to be rid of the bugger.
Mori lowered himself back onto the couch next to Honey, rolled his sleeves up a little bit (Haruhi assumed that this might have just been for show), and tried his own hand at opening the container. Haruhi, along with everyone else in the vicinity who had been watching, automatically thought that Mori would be able to open it right away.
But still, the lid did not move.
This seemed to trouble Mori greatly. Though his face was stoic as it ever was, Haruhi knew him well enough to detect the small sense of doubt, the small crease in his brow, as he tried again, and to no avail.
At this, Honey only seemed to get more discouraged. He began ranting on and on about how no one would ever be able to eat cookies ever ever again, and Mori was too enthralled in his attempt to triumph over the jar that he could not quell his cousin's fear (Haruhi thought it must be getting personal now, the fact that he was unable to open a simple jar). The girls sitting around them began to worry with Honey—probably more because of the fact that he looked so heart-breakingly cute than the fact that, as he said, they would never have cookies again in their lives.
"What seems to be the problem here?"
Everyone (except Mori) turned their heads at once to see that Hikaru, Kaoru, and Tamaki, all flocked by several more girls, had noticed the stir and had come to investigate. The twins were leaning on each other's shoulders; Tamaki, who had spoken, was standing dramatically with his chin held between his thumb and forefinger and a curious look in his eyes. A collective gasp of, "Tamaki-sama!" seemed to arise from the seated customers.
Haruhi suddenly got the feeling that a simple situation was about to get a whole lot worse.
"Tama-chan! Hika-chan, Kao-chan!" Honey wailed, flinging himself at Tamaki and clutching his leg. "The cookie jar won't open! We'll never have cookies again! No more cookies!"
"Oh no!" Tamaki knelt down to Honey's level and blinked at him tearfully. "No more cookies?" he repeated, before standing up again and pointing to the ceiling dramatically. "Never fear, Honey-sempai! Let me see this offensive jar of cookies and I, for certain, shall—" But he was interrupted by the twins, who had snuck around the couch and grabbed the jar out of Mori's hands. (Mori was glaring rather furiously at the space between his hands where the jar had been moments before.)
"Ne, this doesn't look so bad," Hikaru contradicted, holding the jar so close to his face that his nose touched the glass, scrutinizing it.
"Yeah, I don't know why you were having so much trouble getting it open," Kaoru added, prodding the stubborn lid with a finger.
"We can open it!" they cried together, winking towards Honey, holding their thumbs up.
Haruhi lightly scoffed. "I'm not very sure about that," she murmured under her breath, but the room was so quiet that everyone heard her. She shrugged away from the accusatory glares. "I mean, no offense, Hikaru, Kaoru, but if Mori-sempai couldn't open the jar, then I kind of doubt you two can…"
Hikaru and Kaoru glanced at each other for a mere second, before identical evil grins slowly spread across their faces. Then the two of them both wrapped a hand around it and started to tug; everyone in the room (the entire spectacle had by now caught the attention of all) watched them with bated breath. The jar, of course, had them thwarted.
Jar: 4 Host Club: 0
It was a depressing looking scoreboard that everyone seemed to be keeping in their minds.
Now it was Tamaki's turn to laugh. "You improper twins!" he exclaimed as they yanked and tugged at the jar. "You're going about it all wrong! Let me see." He swiftly pulled the jar from their clutches and before they even noticed it was gone (a realization marked by a loud "Hey!" from both) he had braced himself against the back of the couch where Haruhi was sitting and was preparing to take his shot.
"Watch closely, dear Haruhi," he winked down at her. "If you're not paying attention, you might miss it!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes. Tamaki always got like this whenever he was presented with the chance to impress her (he took the chances out of anything and yet none of them, ever, really served to impress her).
With a theatric flourish, he flicked his wrists and settled one hand around the jar, one around the lid. He took a deep, steadying breath (the female majority of the audience seemed to intake the air along with him, and Haruhi was sure they did not let it out for a very, very long time afterwards), and then he twisted his wrist.
If the situation may have been a little less serious the look of complete and utter shock upon Tamaki's face might have caused quite the uproar. As it was, however—the opening of this jar determined the fate of the world and their cookies for the rest of eternity, so his confusion when it did not open was no laughing matter. All composure fell away as he, like so many others before him, crazily pulled at the lid.
This went on for a few minutes or so. No one cared much to stop him—the girls were too enthralled in his attempt; the twins were probably too busy enjoying the spectacle; Tamaki wouldn't have wanted anyone to stop him anyway—it was a matter of pride; and Haruhi was too exasperated. She had turned around by now and was seriously considered standing up and excusing herself from her duties for the day when a sudden thought occurred in her mind.
Where is Kyouya-sempai?
Her question was almost immediately answered when she felt that strange aura which always accompanied the Shadow King appear behind her. She flipped around in time to see Kyouya pluck the jar from Tamaki's grasp and, without any sort of facial expression whatsoever, twist the lid and pull it free from the jar.
The entire room stared at him for a moment, all too shocked to say anything.
What broke the silence was Tamaki saying, weakly, meekly, "Well… I loosened it."
After that an uproar seemed to break out; Tamaki and the twins arguing about who had the greatest hand in "loosening the lid," Honey squealing and bouncing about, so very happy that the world could have cookies again (he had quickly taken the jar out of Kyouya's hands), girls chatting excitedly about how strong and handsome Kyouya-sama was…
Haruhi, however, had merely raised an eyebrow. She had no doubt whatsoever that Kyouya had been able to open the jar entirely on his own, and she wasn't quite keen to find out how, exactly, he did it. She looked up at him, slightly in wonder (but mostly a little bit frightened).
He caught her eye before the light flashed across his glasses, making him look more formidable than ever. He held up his suddenly-appearing notebook and scribbled something in it ominously. "I hope you do know, Haruhi, that this is going to be put on your debt…"
A/N: So… what did you think? In the great immortal words of my dear Dai-san Tangmus: Please review and tell me if it made you feel happy, or if it made you feel angry, or if it made you feel like a muffin—I want to know.
I strived to keep everyone in character—this is actually my first Ouran fic where I've had real parts for all the characters, so I hope it turned out okay. Constructive criticism is welcome!!—though slightly feared. Please review, and you shall get… more cookies…!...? Maybe…?
Thank you again, thank you so much to all my readers, all the people who support me! This has been……….RIN.