Haruhi had never slept with a man before, but she had always had her theories about what should or shouldn't happen. Likewise, she had certain expectations for her wedding night that were so far not being met. But then, Kyouya Ohtori was not a normal man in any sense of the word, and business came before pleasure. She could respect, and appreciate, that viewpoint, but this was their wedding night!

It was 2:30 in the morning, and Kyouya sat at the desk typing away on his keyboard as though nothing in the world was more interesting. Haruhi had to admit that she found it somewhat discouraging. She sat kneeling on the bed, her brow furrowed, watching him, as she had been for nearly two hours.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself off the mattress and stormed up to him, slamming his laptop shut, almost clipping his fingers. The look he gave her could have frozen hell, but her glare was similarly frightening. They squared off, each eying the other in silence.

At last, Kyouya inquired, "Why did you do that?" His tone was calm, and yet rich with venom and promise of punishment.

Haruhi folded her arms. "Kyouya, we were just married this morning. You made us leave the reception early and then you ignored me for the rest of the night! What kind of wedding is this? I thought you wanted to get married!"

Kyouya looked slightly taken aback. "Of course I wanted to marry you. I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

"Then why are you ignoring me?" she asked acidly. "You tried to get me into bed before we were married, but now that we are, you're not interested?"

"Who said I wasn't interested?"

Haruhi groaned in frustration. "You could act at least a little excited."

"I am," he said, smiling one of those horribly fake smiles.

Haruhi sighed. "Never mind, Kyouya. I'll just go to bed."

"So early?" he asked in surprise.

Haruhi stared blankly. "It's 2:30," she whispered.

Kyouya frowned and glanced at his watch. "No, it's not," he said firmly.

Haruhi grabbed his wrist and jerked it up to her face. "Your watch is wrong," she said. "But even so, how could you think it was 9:30 instead of 2:30? Don't you have any sort of biological clock? Thank God Tamaki was with you, or you may not have shown up in time for the wedding. Baka."

Kyouya was still frowning at his watch. "I set it this morning," he murmured. "How could it be wrong?"

"Did you leave it anywhere near the twins?" she suggested.

Kyouya gave her a look. Sighing, he undid the clasp and slipped the watch off his wrist, setting it down on the desk. He rose from the chair and put his hands on her shoulders. "I owe you an apology, Haruhi."

"You owe me more than that," she muttered, folding her arms angrily.

A familiar smirk settled onto his face as he leaned towards her, one of his hands shifting into her hair, the other slipping down to her waist. She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" she asked flatly.

He tugged her a little closer. "Wasn't this what you wanted?" he asked slyly. The hand on her waist was inching dangerously low so that his fingertips had slipped into the rim of her pajama bottoms.

"No," she replied matter-of-factly. "I wanted to be more interesting than your computer for at least our wedding day. If you can't even think of me today, then what does that suggest for our future?"

"I was thinking of you," he replied as though she should have known as much. "You were hard to ignore since you sighed every five minutes."

"Kyouya, trying to ignore me is as bad as actually doing it," she said, resisting the urge to smack her forehead. She pulled herself away from him, trying to tame that feeling of rejection that was sinking into her gut. "It doesn't matter. You can go back to work if you want."

"You're angry," he stated.

"No, I'm not," she told him truthfully. "I just didn't expect to regret marrying you so quickly."

He made a movement as if to grab her, but then refrained from progressing further. Slowly his hand dropped to his side. "Haruhi..." he said quietly, in a voice far meeker than any she had ever heard come from him. "I am not used to begging, but understand that I cannot let you leave me so easily."

"I'm sure you'll barely notice the difference," she said bitterly. "You can take your laptop to bed with you, snuggle it, tell it how much you love it..."

"Haruhi, are you jealous of my computer?"

"I thought I had made that clear," she said pointedly. "On a wedding day, the groom should see only his bride."

"I see only you on a daily basis," he replied. "I had to learn to control those urges which arise from thinking of you or else I would never get anything done."

The way he said it was simple and orderly, like he was answering a question about the weather, yet the effect it had on Haruhi was alarming. It was no passionate confession, but it was a statement of his love for her. Relief swept through her as she closed the distance between them and hugged him fiercely about the waist.

Kyouya's hands hung in the air as his eyes stared down at her with nothing short of alarm. "Haruhi, what did I...?" he began, but she cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth.

"Baka!" she growled. "I never though I'd say this, but Ohtori Kyouya, you have too much self-control! I'm your wife, not your co-worker! You're supposed to give into your desires, particularly on our wedding night."

"I always planned to," he assured her. "I lost track of the hour..."

She let out a noise of disapproval as she grabbed a hold of his tie and jerked him forward. "Kyouya, let's get something straight. On the wedding night, I come first."

"You always come first," he breathed, drifting towards her.

Haruhi gave the tie another jerk, preventing him from getting too close to her face. "When you ignore me, it makes me think you don't want me," she said.

"Is that why you're angry? Because you think I don't want you?"

"Why are you laughing? It's not funny."

"On the contrary, my dear Haruhi, it is very funny."

"No, it's not."

Kyouya closed his hand on her wrist, making her release him. "Yes, Haruhi, it is," he said firmly. "You, who can see through every facade I build, cannot see that you are the single most important thing in my life?"

Her breath hitched. "More important than becoming heir to the Ohotori fortune?" she asked.

"Significantly," he replied.

Haruhi smiled in a way that only she could. Kyouya leaned down to kiss her, but her eyes narrowed abruptly. She quickly stepped out of his embrace.

"There's still the matter of your punishment," she said.

"Punishment?"

"For ignoring me. Tonight, you can sleep on the couch."

"What?" His voice was deathly calm.

"I said, you will sleep on the couch. Make love to your computer for all I care, but you won't get anything from me."

xXx

Haruhi and Kyouya learned something very important that night.

Kyouya learned never to ignore Haruhi.

Haruhi learned that Kyouya does not take no for an answer. He did not sleep on the couch, but in his own bed with his wife curled contentedly in his arms.

And somewhere, someplace, a watch-maker was fleeing the country.