Author's note: Hello all! Sorry, another short little update. :/ But I think you may like where things are going, yes? I'm excited to get into things now. I want to down play drama though. I know I do lots of fluff and stuff but I don't want dramatic fan fics. Those make me tired of writing. And tomorrow (story wise), everyone is going to Puerto Rico! YAYAYAY! That'll be cool. Like I said before, I think Aria's family may make an appearance... Maybe? I don't know yet. Anyways, please enjoy. hopefully you will. Love you all, and remember! Review, yes? Itd make this little author so very excited!

I don't own anything OHSHC. Just my OCs and plotline.

Chapter Fourteen: Playing Games

"Less distractions if we're alone…"

That sentence hummed vaguely through her brain throughout the rest of the day. Whenever she had just a moment when no one was harassing her or talking to her, her mind would wander to later that night. It caused her stomach to fill with butterflies so Aria was always grateful for someone to pull her away from her thoughts.

Haruhi and Aria were getting ready for yet another formal night. By now, Haruhi was use to the routine and did far less complaining about hair and make-up.

"You're zoning out," noted Haruhi as Aria was applying primer on Haruhi's eyelids for her eyeshadow. Aria's emerald eyes cleared and she looked at Haruhi.

"No, I'm not," she lied. "I'm concentrating. There's a difference."

Haruhi scoffed. "Right," she said cynically but she changed the subject anyways. "Anyways, which dress are you wearing?"

Aria smiled. "My short dress."

"Oh, the black and white one?" Aria told her yes and they fell silent.

About a half hour later, they were ready to go to the dining hall. No one was supposed to escort them today…but Haruhi had a feeling someone would probably show up for them both. Aria was not so sure.

Tonight, Haruhi was wearing her light yellow cocktail dress. It stopped just above her knees and had a one-shoulder neckline. At the strap was a satin bow embellishment as well as a brooch under it. She paired it with a pair of white heels that had been her tallest ones yet. Aria had styled Haruhi's hair to be a little more voluminous and gave her natural make up, using brown eyeshadows, to play up the dress more.

Aria's dress was strapless and stopped at about mid thigh. Down the middle was a zig zag like pattern to separate the black from the white. It was simple and edgy. Aria had styled her hair in a very sleek, polished ponytail. Where the band was, she tied hair around it and added a sparkling pin. Her make up was quite dramatic and she wore little black booties for shoes.

There was a loud couple of knocks at the door downstairs. The girls glanced at each other before they went to get the door.

Aria opened it up and found Tamaki standing there, beaming at them, in a normal tux of black on white with a black tie. He obviously was very happy that he was seeing the girls before anyone else, because he looked like he just may explode from excitement.

His blue-purple eyes grew big and watery as he grinned. "Aww, you two just look so pretty!" he squealed, putting his hands up to his mouth.

"Please stop doing that, senpai," said Aria, with an eyebrow raised. "You remind me of a girl sometimes, I swear."

Tamaki immediately dropped his hands but his eyes were clearly stuck on Haruhi…who was refusing to meet his gaze. Aria took this opportunity to instigate.

"Isn't Haruhi just the epitome of beauty, senpai?" she said, smirking to herself. Haruhi shot a death glare at Aria but she could tell Haruhi was somewhat blushing.

"Shut up," she mumbled, uncomfortable under their gaze.

Tamaki's eyes were soft. "You do look beautiful, Haruhi," he said, his tone gentle so she wouldn't think that he was teasing her. "Although…the word hardly does you justice."

Aria rolled her eyes and wanted to gag but she remained still and continued to smile to herself.

Haruhi murmured out a small statement of appreciation before it went silent. Tamaki hadn't torn his eyes away from Haruhi…and it was sort of making Aria uncomfortable with how they were looking at one other.

"Well if you're gonna stare at each other like that," sighed Aria, walking past Tamaki to get into the hallway to relieve the heavy awkwardness, "you may as well kiss her."

Both Tamaki and Haruhi exploded at this. "What!" they shouted before they both started talking over each other. Aria laughed, because both of them were red in the face from embarrassment.

"I would never do that to my little princess! I'm her daddy!" said Tamaki, waving his hands in front of him vehemently as a sign of his anxiety. Aria had to scoff at the last statement.

Meanwhile, Haruhi was growing rather dark red. "Why would you even say something like that, Aria?" she cried, looking horrified.

Aria smiled to herself again. They're so oblivious to their own feelings, it's ridiculous, she thought, amused.

"Oh…it was just a thought," she replied with a wink. "I wasn't trying to give you both heart attacks, jeeze…"

Aria let out a sigh, as if she was surrendering, before she heard a small click behind her and she turned to around. Honey had just come out of his room, shutting the door behind him, and was adjusting his tie. "Honey-senpai?" said Aria, causing the other two to stop talking.

"Hi!" he said brightly, walking towards them. "I was running behind…but it worked out, didn't it?"

Aria was confused. "What worked out, senpai?"

"Well, since Tama-chan came to escort Haru-chan," explained Honey, "I can escort you, Ari-chan!"

She couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. Tamaki was trying to explain that he hadn't come specifically for Haruhi but Aria and Honey ignored him.

"Let's go," she said, cutting him off. "We're going to be late."

Honey was holding Aria's hand as they walked down the hall, even though she towered over him. "Where's Usa-chan?" she asked absently.

He didn't reply immediately. "I left him in my room. He was tired," said Honey with a grin while tightening his grip for a second on her hand.

"They're so cute together," he whispered, glancing behind him to make sure that Haruhi and Tamaki were far enough behind so they wouldn't hear him. Aria giggled and glanced down at Honey affectionately.

"I know. They're impossibly adorable," she replied, her voice kept low. "I wish they'd quite playing games and tell each other how they feel."

Honey laughed quietly. "Who knows, Ari-chan? They might just do that before the trip ends!" he hissed.

"I hope so, Honey-senpai." She smiled. "I'd be happy."

Aria glanced at the clock. It was almost eleven; she had fifteen minutes until she had to meet Kyoya at the aquarium. At dinner, after complimenting her on how nice she looked, he told her he planned on meeting her around eleven.

She wondered why so late…. Everyone decided to crash early for an early start the next day, which tomorrow they were going to be docking in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

She tossed her XBOX controller on the couch and turned off her game of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Aria went quickly up the stairs and turned on her bathroom light. Aria had showered after they had come back to their rooms for the night so all she did with her hair was tie it back in a low ponytail and slightly to the right so it hung over her shoulder.

Aria dug through her make up bag and applied some light make up.

She paused half way through lining her eyes with some eyeliner. What am I doing? I'm just showing Kyoya pictures…she thought, feeling sort of retarded.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked down the steps into the aquarium with her laptop bag slung around her shoulder. She didn't see Kyoya right off the bat…and for whatever reason, her stomach was filling with butterflies by the second.

Aria walked around for another minute and found Kyoya looking at some deep sea fish, with his hands in his pockets. He hadn't heard her behind him so she continued to watch him for a minute, for whatever reason.

Kyoya was wearing some jeans, a long sleeved white button down (the sleeves were rolled up to just below his elbows), and some shoes. Aria wondered vaguely why he put on a nice button down and some jeans. Looking at him made her glance at her own attire subconsciously.

All she was wearing was some shorts, a red camisole that was paired with a black, off the shoulder shirt of her favorite superhero, Deadpool, and some simple, black sandals. She suddenly felt a little underdressed…seeing her shirt had a superhero with a sarcastic attitude on it. Then she was confused as to why they needed to be dressed up in the first place.

I'm over-analyzing this too much…she thought almost desperately as she continued to watch him.

He wandered a little further down the line of wall tanks before he audibly sighed through his nose and then checked his watch at the time. After another moment, he went back to staring at the fish.

She smiled to herself. "Sono i pesci che interessante?" she said teasingly. (Are the fish that interesting?)

Aria couldn't be sure if he had jumped a little at the sound of her voice but he turned to her, looking as though he wasn't at all taken aback by her sudden appearance.

"Difficilmente," he replied, smirking at her. (Translation: Hardly.)

She loved that smirk…so much so that she lost herself by staring at him.

"Tutto bene?" he asked. (Translation: You okay?)

Aria's face cleared a little and she felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. "Mi dispiace," she said quickly. (Translation: Sorry.)

Kyoya chuckled. "Let's take a look at your work then, shall we?" he said in Italian after a moment of somewhat awkward silence.

"Lead the way," she said, trying to reign in her stupidity and bring out her nonchalant attitude.

It wasn't working well.

"You look cute, by the way," he said offhandedly, not favoring her with a glance. Aria attempted to control her blushing.

"Thanks," she said, forcing herself to sound cynical so it wouldn't give away the fact that she felt a little pleased. "Like you even know who Deadpool is."

He paused mid-stride and turned to her with that smirk she liked. "Is that a challenge to the knowledge of the Marvel superhero?" he asked, almost darkly. Aria narrowed her eyes.

She was thoughtful for a moment; she figured he did know something…even just a little. "It would be if we didn't have other matters to discuss," Aria said finally, "…and it's a wasteful topic to discuss anyway."

Kyoya looked a little put out because she didn't test him but he just smiled and then continued to walk in front of her, the same air of indifference enveloping him like it had when she first had been introduced to him.

Aria could see he was definitely playing up his "cool type" side right now by being more aloof with her than he had been for the last few days.

They went to sit down at the table they were at the other night and she set down her bag. Kyoya pulled out her chair for her automatically, which caught her off guard. When she glanced up at him, he didn't look like he cared whether or not she wanted him to pull out her chair; again, he seemed a little more proud tonight. Aria sat down awkwardly, feeling slightly uncomfortable as he pushed her chair in for her before moving to the seat on her left. He looked like he was debating on moving the chair closer to her but he didn't, all with a rather distant looking smile on his face.

Two can play this game…she thought. If he is going to be Ice King, I'll be Ice Queen.

"What are you smirking for?" he asked wryly, as if he wasn't going to care what her answer would be. Aria shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied innocently. He didn't look convinced.

She pulled out her Mac and a wireless mouse to plug in. It took her a few minutes to turn on and set up her computer. Aria opened up Adobe Flash and Photoshop so she could show Kyoya her work on the pictures and some of the footage she had to work with.

Aria hoped it would be to his taste, despite the little game they were playing…whether it was unsaid or not. For whatever reason, she really wanted to impress him…and if he didn't like it…she felt like it would be a huge blow to her ego.

"Mmkay," she said, sounding rather uninterested as she clicked on a few things. "Would you like a slideshow version of this? Or just-"

"A slideshow is perfect," he cut in smoothly. Aria felt her irritation spike for a moment but she remained outwardly unfazed.

She glanced at him, wondering if he was purposely goading her before she clicked on the mouse a few more times. "Alright, but just warning you," she replied, glancing at him, "it's not that long. I only have about thirty pictures edited and one film clip done."

Kyoya waved his hand dismissively and stood up again. Aria lifted an eyebrow, curious to what he was doing. He went behind her chair and leaned forward over her to press the enter key to play the slideshow.

She felt herself freeze at the proximity of how close Kyoya was. He was hovering right over her…she could even hear his soft breathing above her right ear as he watched as the pictures flashed on the screen at five second intervals. His right arm was bent on the back of chair while his left was extended on the chair's arm. The top of Aria's head was even brushing up against his chest.

Stop freaking out!

Aria kept reprimanding herself mentally because her heart was involuntarily pounding against the wall of her chest.

"Is there any point in standing over me like this?" she forced out right after the slideshow finished.. She sounded irritated and amused at the same time…which was what she was going for.

Kyoya chuckled above her. "I find amusement in seeing you internally panic."

Aria basically glared at the screen but decided to put on a childish face. "How unkind," she replied, faking an upset tone as he stood up and went back to his chair. "You find enjoyment in toying with girls' emotions? Oh, the cruelty…"

Kyoya smirked at her while he leaned back in his chair. "That was terrible," he said, amused. "You should probably not pursue any acting career, Aria."

She stiffened slightly; hearing the use of her name, something he rarely ever said, was quite strange to her.

"Anyways," he continued airily while leaning back in his chair and looking absently around at the fish, "what you've shown me was adequate. It'll have to do."

Aria felt herself burn up…but not with embarrassment. "Adequate?" she snapped, angry that he didn't appreciate the time and effort she spent working on these pictures…as well as actually taking them. She didn't think he truly understood the inconvenience of having Haruhi dress in men's clothing half the time when she wanted to wear her own.

Kyoya's gray eyes met hers. Neither of them said anything for a minute before he smiled almost arrogantly. "Did I hit a nerve?" he asked with a chuckle, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I can assure you, it wasn't intentional."

She clenched her teeth, unsure why she was angry. "You're insufferable," Aria spat, shutting her laptop before actually turning it off. She stood up abruptly and gathered her things. She shoved her mouse into her bag almost viciously before zipping it up.

The truth was…she was more so hurt. Hearing the word "adequate" about her work…and then for him to act so apathetic, cut her deep. She didn't know exactly why it was so painful…but it was just the same.

Maybe it was just because it was Kyoya; he had a way of saying things, no matter how short the sentence was, that could hit every heartstring a person had…and make them feel insignificant, even if he didn't mean it to be so. He just had some natural talent for making others feel down on themselves.

"I will work on the album so as to get out of the range of 'adequate' and into something more of your tastes," she said scathingly, bowing at him. Kyoya raised an eyebrow, but still had a trace of a smirk on his face despite being confused.

She then bade him a quick good-night and turned to leave.

Before Aria was three steps away from the table, Kyoya caught her arm and cornered her against the tank behind her. Both his arms were outstretched, his hands planted firmly on the glass slightly above her head.

Aria stopped breathing all together since his face was only about a foot away from hers. "I see my task has been accomplished," he said quietly in his velvet voice. She was too distracted with how his lips moved when he spoke to have anything of real importance to say.

The corner of his mouth twitched into another infamous smirk. "It seems I was able to get you to crack, so to speak."

She was confused. "I…don't understand…" she admitted breathily. Aria was too perplexed as to why Kyoya was standing so close to her. She felt a mixture of emotions…one being that of uneasiness and another of happiness.

He chuckled, a dark undertone prevalent. "I am not fond of your mask…you know, the one where you play 'hard-to-get' and act distant," he replied. "Nor am I very fond of someone trying to play mind games with me."

Aria blinked, a little understanding coming to her.

Kyoya knew this game…he played it all the time with girls in Ouran and here she was trying to play it on him.

He saw right through it, of course. He knew that she was trying to play "hard-to-get" but Aria didn't think he knew why.

She didn't know what to say. Kyoya was staring into her eyes, searching for something. After a moment, he started to lean in closer; she could feel his breath on her skin.

Aria's heart leapt to her throat.

"I-I…I have to go!" she said quickly, ducking out from under him, bright red even through her tan skin. "Good-night, Kyoya!"

She walked away from him as fast as she could without running, with Kyoya watching from behind. He was smiling wryly to himself, not feeling at all rejected or put out.

Turn around…he thought.

After a moment, she turned to see if he was watching. He was, of course, and he was standing at the table with his hands in his pockets, looking unconcerned with her behavior. He noticed she had a smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she turned away again as she walked. She turned the corner and was gone.

Well, he thought, tomorrow is another day. Probably best not to rush her.

Kyoya chuckled to himself, pushed up his glasses again, and then strolled to the elevators.