It was a crisp autumn morning that Haruhi Fujioka walked around campus after her first morning class. The leaves on the trees were just starting to turn red, brown, and orange and the weather had gone from scorching heat to cooler moderate temperatures, her favorite time of the year. She wrapped her scarf more securely around her shoulders, and took a sip of her coffee, looking forward to doing some studying later in the day, but right now the 19 year old politcal science major had some grocery shopping to do.
She reached her small apartment, dropped off her books and drained the last of her coffee, before she grabbed a small bag and headed out the door once more. Haruhi had been living the college life for 3 months now and she completely loved it. The classes were fascinating, and she was surrounded by people who were there to learn. It was definitely a change from her high school experience, not that she had disliked that.
She would admit that her senior year had been a lot less stressful after the Host Club had been disbanded, seeing as the twins and herself were the only original members left, but she missed seeing her friends everyday and their ridiculous antics. But they were all onto important things now, and more importantly, she still kept in touch with every single one of them. Most of them were in school just like herself, training to be the heirs to their family businesses, getting the credentials needed to run million dollar companies.
Sometimes she was glad that she wasn't born to families that only expected one path from her, that she was free to choose her own destiny. Sure, she hadn't lived a cushy live filled with nannies and enough money to keep small countries economically stable, but that gave her motivation.
Before she knew it she had her small grocery bags completely filled and she was walking home, planning to head straight to the library for a little afternoon studying. She couldn't wait. As she walked up to her small apartment complex she noticed something interesting, a long stretch limo was waiting out front.
"No way." she said out loud. She glanced up the stairs to her small apartment and sure enough, there he was.
"Haruhi!" He yelled, waving and smiling at her, as she walked to her door. "I'm so glad you're here, I couldn't remember which apartment number was yours. It would have been so embarrassing to have gone to the wrong one!" She smiled at him, as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"29 Tamaki, it's number 29, you can never remember." she sighed, setting her groceries down and rummaging through her bag for her house key. She turned the key in the lock, pushed open the door, turned around to grab her groceries and was surprised to find Tamaki already holding them, walking inside her apartment.
"It's so cute in here!" He exclaimed, looking around in wonder as he set the groceries down on her lone kitchen counter.
"It's actually really messy. I wish I had known you were coming, that way I could have cleaned up a bit." She grumbled, starting to put the groceries away. Her apartment really wasn't all that messy, but there was the spare laundry that she hadn't put away, and everything was rather cluttered and dusty.
"I think it looks fine. A typical commoner dwelling." She rolled her eyes as he winked at her. Tamaki had hung around her long enough that he wasn't as obsessed with 'commoner culture' as he once was. But that's not to say that he didn't still have his moments.
"So how have you been?" She asked, filling a kettle with water to start some tea. Tamaki sat down at the small tabled in the kitchen.
"Good. I've been running the Suoh group with my Father for the last two years, yet it still seems that I'm learning something new everyday." he explained. "How about you Haruhi, there's certainly an impressive collection of books in here."
"Just studying," she said smiling at him, "I can't very well enter law school without a fantastic grade point average."
"If I know you Haruhi, then I know that once the time comes, every school in the country will beg you to study at theirs. I doubt you'll even have to apply."
"Thanks, but I doubt that." She tried to hide her blush as she set the tea down in front of him. The two talked for a few hours, chit chatting about the others and life in general, before Tamaki looked down at his watch and exclaimed that he had to go.
"But before I go, Haruhi," he said, standing up and putting his arms through the sleeves of his coat, "I came here to ask you something. The Suoh group is having one of it's annual parties, and I have been instructed by my father, to bring a date."
Haruhi nodded, grabbing the remnants of their tea and placing the dirty dishes in the sink.
"Oh, so did you want my opinion on who you're taking?" She innocently asked. Tamaki laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Um, no actually. I was hoping that you would be my date."
"Oh. Would that be okay with your family? I'm not exactly heiress to a Fortune 500 company..."
"It would be completely fine. You know my Father thinks very highly of you, and anyway, no one will be rude to a guest of the Suoh family, you have my word." He said, ruffling her hair and looking into her eyes.
"Than, I guess I'll go with you." she smiled, "and stop it with my hair, you're going to get it all tangled!"
~.~
"So, you've chosen someone to go with you then? Because it's only proper in these situations to attend a gathering of this caliber, with a date." Yuzuru Suoh said to his son.
"Yes, I've asked a young woman and she agreed." Tamaki replied, fidgeting with a loose string hanging off his chair.
"Excellent. Who is she?"
"Haruhi Fujioka." Yuzuru smiled.
"I think that's an excellent choice."
"But I do not." an elderly voice said from the doorway. Tamaki stood from his chair and immediately bowed to his Grandmother.
"Grandmother, I'm sorry I didn't realize that you had returned home."
"Of course not. I find no need to inform you of my every where about boy." She snapped, walking forward and standing in front of her son's desk. "I do not agree with Tamaki's choice in a partner. He's the heir to this company and as such whoever he decides to marry must be of equal status."
"Mother, it's a simple party-"
"It is not," she interrupted, "who he is seen with is of absolute importance. And I refuse to tarnish our families reputation...again."
Tamaki pretended not to notice the way she pointed this comment at him.
"Mother, Tamaki has already asked the young lady, it would be rude now to cancel. That would serve to have negative affects about us as well." Yuzuro pointed out.
"Fine then. Have it your way if you want her there so much, but know that I do not approve of this Haruhi Fujioka, and I will not condone her involvement with the future heir of the Suoh group, and that is final."
"Thank you for being so kind Grandmother, I do apologize for displeasing you."
"Stupid boy, I am not granting you a favor. As usual I am trying to fix the damage that you cause to our company." She replied. She turned around and slowly walked to the large mahogany doors, snapping at the attendant to shut them behind her. They closed with a bang.
~.~
The night of the party Haruhi was busy cleaning her apartment, and wondering to herself what she was going to wear for the night. She did have some dresses leftover from her days at ouran, but she wasn't sure what type of formal affair it was, and she didn't want to show up not properly dressed. Just like Haruhi's knowledge of 'commoners' rubbed off on her friends, their knowledge of the 'high class' rubbed off on Haruhi. Just as she had resigned to call Tamaki and ask what she shoudl wear, she heard the doorbell ring.
She placed the rag that she was using to clean down on the counter, and answered her door to find a postman standing there.
"Package for Miss. Fujioka?" He asked.
"Yeah I'm Fujioka." She responded, confusion laced in her voice.
"Sign here please." He responded, she grabbed hold of the pen and paper, wrote down her name and noticed that he was holding a large garment bag. She handed her signature back to him, as he handed the bag to her.
"Have a nice night Miss." She nodded and shut the door, smiling to herself. There was small note card attached to the bag, which she immediately grabbed and tore open.
Haruhi,
I hope you like the dress, I thought it would look lovely on you. My driver will be there to pick you up at 8. I look forward to seeing you.
-Tamaki
She placed the note down and grabbed the zipper of the dress and gasped. It was a simple blue number that wrapped around her waist and draped in a bell curve to the floor. She grimaced at the thought of what this cost, and at the same time was slightly nostalgic about it.
"Damn rich people." she laughed.
~.~
At 8 o'clock on the dot she heard the doorbell ring for the second time that day. She checked her shoulder length hair in the mirror once more and decided that she was ready to go. She walked out with the driver and got in the back of another black stretch limo. She felt silly in this giant car all by herself, she had foolishly assumed that Tamaki would send a cab or something, not an entire stretch limo. She should have known that he would send something outrageous.
When they arrived at the Suoh estate, she grabbed the door of the limo and opened the door herself, shutting it behind her. There were several people around her that turned and looked at her oddly. She wondered if she had something on her face.
"I was supposed to get the door for you Miss, I apologize if I was too slow." The driver said to her. She felt herself blush.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't realize." She apologized, embarrassed. A group of girls walking past snickered amongst themselves. She sighed. Three years in this world and she still seemed to make mistakes that practically screamed 'commoner'.
She grabbed her small clutch and headed towards the Suoh ballroom, wondering where she was going to find Tamaki in this giant place. She walked inside and saw the room was crowded with people milling around and talking, dancing on the main floor, looking like people who had taken years worth of ballroom dancing lessons, and milling around a table with food. Haruhi wasn't sure where Tamaki was, but looking at all that exquisite food, she knew where she was going to be spending the next fifteen minutes.
Holding a small plate with assorted culinary goods in front of her, Haruhi wondered which dish she should sample first.
"I should have known that I would find you over here." She heard a familiar voice behind her. "Haruhi just can't stay away from the fancy tuna."
Haruhi glanced down at her plate, and looked back up at Tamaki.
"There was tuna over there?" He laughed and shook his head.
"No. It was just a joke Haruhi, but your weakness has always been food." He took the moment to look her up and down and his smile lessened a bit, he looked at her like she was a bouquet of flowers. "You look beautiful by the way, I was hoping I got your sizes right."
"You did. Thank you so much for the dress, it's beautiful." Tamaki shook his head.
"A dress is just a piece of cloth. What makes it beautiful is the person in it." Haruhi felt her face go red. "Would you like to dance?"
She looked down at her food once more.
"Can we wait until I finish?" Tamaki let out another laugh.
"They'll be plenty of food, but we don't know for how long the good songs are going to play, come on!" He grabbed her food and placed it on a nearby table, then before she could protest he grabbed her hand and whisked her onto the dance floor.
~.~
"Thanks for -hic- walking me to the door Tamaki." Haruhi said. Tamaki chuckled quietly to himself.
"It's more like I carried you, I think you may have had too much to drink."
"I would have been fine if -hic- you had let me eat my food." She pouted. Tamaki resisted the urge to laugh again. Haruhi was such a light person that two glasses of wine got her completely hammered, not that he'd been much better, it was only due to his height that after three glasses he was only a little tipsy.
Haruhi slowly dug around in her little clutch and found her key, and after a few tries, (Tamaki had to help), she unlocked her apartment door. She hadn't really noticed int he phone calls and the few e-mails that she received, but Tamaki had really matured over the past two years. He still had his boyish looks and excitement, but there was some responsibility in him now, some deeper wisdom that he never really presented before. She really, really, liked this mature Tamaki, and she was getting the feeling, (hopefully it wasn't the alcohol), that he liked her too.
When she saw that he wasn't following her into the apartment, she grabbed his hand and weakly tugged him inside. Looking a little unsure he allowed her to pull him inside her apartment, and saw her shut the door behind him.
"Haruhi, it's really late, I think I should..." He trailed off as he looked into her eyes. He was imagining this. The look in her eyes couldn't be real. For many years when he thought of Haruhi, Kyoya had always told him that he got this lovesick look in his eyes, exactly like she was looking at him now. He knew now that all those 'Fatherly' feelings he'd had for Haruhi was actually because he liked her, he was almost convincing himself that he was imagining this look she was giving him. He had spent so many years hoping for her to like him back, that he had to be imagining this Haruhi. It was probably because he was kind of drunk.
"I think," She started, wrapping both her hands around his and tugging him closer to her, "that you should stay."
"I...sure...yeah I could stay a bit longer. But I really can't..." He trailed off again, her fingers were making a trail up his arm and onto his shoulder then around to the back of his neck. She applied pressure, making him bow down so that they were face to face. He couldn't breathe.
"Tamaki, I really like you." She whispered, her breath causing goosebumps to erupt out of every pore on his body. She took both hands and wrapped them around his face, then her lips were on his.
At first he was shocked, he just stood there, letting her kiss him, until he realized what was happening and kissed her back. When they broke apart for air she looked him deep in the eyes once more and whispered,
"Stay."
She didn't need to tell him again. He picked her up and starting kissing her once more, so that neither had to strain themselves, and carried her to her small bedroom, where both stayed the entire night.
~.~