So... Hi!
First of all, as a fellow avid reader who despairs over abandoned fics, I would like to sincerely apologise for not updating in... 6 months? (Holy shit I'm really sorry!)
I don't have much of an excuse, I haven't been writing for a while and I miss it so much, but my mental health and therefore inspiration kinda went to shit and I pretty much forgot all about this fic. I really want to get back into writing, and since I only have like 2 chapters left of this story I decided I really didn't want to leave it unfinished, so I'm going to do my best to get those last parts out ASAP, but I can't make any promises of regular updates atm, just not in the right headspace. I'm sorry for disappointing you and hope you can enjoy the non-open-endingness.
Sleep. Eat. Study. Repeat.
Sleep. Feed and change the baby. Eat. Study. Repeat.
Sleep. Feed and change the baby. Distract/entertain the baby. Study. Eat. Repeat.
Sleep. Feed and change the baby. Distract/entertain the baby. Study. Repeat.
Study. Feed and change the baby. Distract/entertain the baby. Study. Repeat.
Study. Get Tamaki. Study. Repeat.
Study, study, study…
"Haruhi, I'm worried about you."
A bleary-eyed Haruhi looked up.
Tamaki was eyeing her down with a concerned look, but his arms crossed to indicate that he wasn't going to just let this incident go.
"When's the last time you ate?"
"I… huh?"
Impatiently, he repeated himself.
Haruhi blinked. "This morning." She was sure she did. Didn't she?
"It's seven am" Tamaki deadpanned.
"O-oh" Haruhi looked around slowly, only just realising that it was in fact dawn rather than dusk. "I, um," she sighed, "I had a lot of coffee last night, I guess I didn't realise."
Tamaki frowned. "So will you take a break now? You've literally been studying all night and you need to at least eat if you won't sleep. In fact why don't you take the day off school, you're probably ahead of the class by now-"
"Don't be ridiculous," she waved him off, "I have my final exams in two weeks. Two weeks! I can't afford to take a break" she said with an air of finality, which Tamaki promptly shattered by slamming him hand down on her books and sliding them across the table.
"No. It's not healthy what you're doing to yourself. You're practically guaranteed an offer from Ouran university, so there's no need to work yourself to death. You don't want Kotoko's early memories to be of you stressing until your hair falls out, do you?"
Haruhi simply glared at her boyfriend, stewing over him pulling the Kotoko card. However, she relented and allowed him to make her breakfast (cooking being something he was quickly excelling at, to her surprise).
"Ok, will you at least quiz me?"
Tamaki sighed, but agreed to the compromise. "Fine. Ummm" he glanced down at her meticulously annotated notes. "Who was the first Japanese Prime Minister?"
Haruhi blinked. "Um-"
"See!" Tamaki interjected quickly, "you're sleep deprived and hungry! Not good for the brain!"
Haruhi just rolled her eyes and made a quick note to study up further on Japanese history, seeing as Tamaki clearly didn't intend on being helpful at all today. Though she had to admit, the stress had been getting to her recently.
As she tapped her pen against the paper impatiently, Haruhi felt a small tug at her pants leg. Looking down, she smiled to see her own brown eyes staring up at her inquisitively.
"Kotoko, what are you doing up?" She tutted. "You're supposed to be taking a nap."
Kotoko shook her head. "Mummy up!" She demanded, holding her arms expectantly.
Haruhi shook her head. "I'm sorry Kotoko, mummy needs to study... Come on, go back to bed"
The blonde toddler shook her head and raised her arms again. Haruhi sighed.
"Ok, do you want to play with the toys daddy bought you? They're in the basket" she pointed to the basket in the corner of the room dedicated to Kotoko's many toys and plushies that had quickly begun to overwhelm her and Tamaki's bedroom.
Kotoko glanced over briefly, but only held her mother tighter and burying her face in her leg.
"Mumum... Love you..."
Haruhi bit her lip. Kotoko was such a smart little girl, and she was so proud at the rate she was learning, but also acknowledged how cute it was that she'd picked up what 'I love you' meant from the sheer amount of times it was said in their household.
"Oh, Ko" Haruhi gave in and swept Kotoko off her feet and into her arms, setting her on her lap and hugging her tight. "I love you too"
Now happy, Kotoko leant in to her mother's chest for comfort and begun babbling happily.
Haruhi smiled and started stroking Kotoko's hair gently. Maybe a quick break wasn't a bad idea.
Kotoko had been growing up fast, something Haruhi had almost cried over at her first birthday party a couple of weeks ago. She couldn't believe how much her daughter had grown in what felt like such a short amount of time, and while she had promised herself to make more of an effort to spend more time with her daughter, the upcoming exams had pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, much to Haruhi's shame.
"My sweet little girl, we did such a good job on her, didn't we Tamaki?"
Tamaki simply smiled at the adorable scene of his girlfriend and daughter cuddling as he set down two plates of breakfast on the table.
"I don't know how we could've done any better!" he said softly, also quietly wondering if Haruhi was open to the idea of having any other children – not that he was in a rush at all either.
Haruhi simply made a noise of agreement and propped Kotoko on her hip as she began to eat.
"So," Tamaki said, after a beat of silence – something rare in their home – "would you like to take a look at another apartment this week?"
Haruhi groaned.
Tamaki couldn't blame her.
The two had been apartment hunting throughout Toyo for their little family over the past few weeks, and while there had been plenty that they liked, Tamaki was still struggling to stick to their budget, and Haruhi was adamant about staying close to her father and Ouran, so they had remained in the Fujioka's seemingly shrinking apartment.
"I know… but what do you think of this one?" he slid an apartment ad in the newspaper towards her, "it's a little closer to the city than here, but that will be good for university and public transport, and it's even within walking distance of a couple of good day cares and elementary schools."
As he spoke, Haruhi took the paper and flicked through the pages, inspecting the quaint-looking apartment. It was nothing spectacular (and Haruhi was honestly quite surprised that Tamaki had been able to restrain himself from poring over the more luxurious houses they'd come across), but it certainly wasn't run-down, and certainly a viable option for their first home.
When she met Tamaki's eyes, he was watching her nervously.
"What do you think?"
"I like it" she replied softly. "Are there any viewings coming up?"
Relieved, Tamaki's face broke into a giddy smile. "Yeah, there's one tomorrow actually. I was thinking we could have a look around in person and then speak to the landlord if we like it."
Haruhi nodded. "Sounds like a plan!"
Despite everything happening so quickly, Haruhi couldn't help but feel content. She had become accustomed to being forced to adjust quickly, and she so far nothing awful had come out of it – in fact, it would be quite a blessing if they returned the next day with their own place to call home.
The apartment was nothing like what Tamaki had imagined his first house would look like. For starters it wasn't a house, or his really, since they would be renting.
Then there was the more obvious physical differences, as the small apartment looked nothing like any property the Suoh family owned. It was hardly flashy, with Tamaki's typical marble floors switched out for creaky hardwood, and decorate wallpaper replaced with bland, slightly cracked off-white walls.
Instead of a penthouse loft with a minimum of five bedrooms and two bathrooms, there was one dingy little bathroom with leaky taps, one 'master bedroom' with barely enough room to fit a double bed, and a small office that could pass for a nursery. Thankfully the kitchen, dining, and living area were open-plan and could fit the rest of the furniture.
While both Tamaki and Haruhi recognised that it was nothing spectacular, it was certainly good value for money. Of course, with Tamaki's positive thinking, he assured Haruhi that most of the apartments needs were purely cosmetic, and that they could decorate however they liked (within the owners rules, Haruhi quickly reminded him, though with a smile).
"So," the realtor showing the couple around the apartment said, turning from the bay windows to acknowledge the two, "what are you thinking? The rent is 30,000 yen (about $300 USD) a week, and you'll also be responsible for bills such as electricity, water, etc. The owner is a very kind, negotiable man so if you have any qualms, I'm sure we'll be able to sort something out" she added with a smile.
Haruhi glanced at Tamaki.
"No, I think we're good" she said happily as he nodded. "How soon will it be available?"
Somewhat taken aback, the realtor fumbled with her papers as she looked for a date.
"Well, the current tenant has a week left on their lease, so you should be okay to move in in a couple of weeks!"
"Perfect."
They said that moving was one of the most stressful things you could go through in life.
Haruhi would rather give birth again.
With no time to celebrate the end of her exams, she went from one stress from the next, immediately taking of the hassle of moving all of their belongings from Ranka's apartment to the new one before purchasing brand new furniture to fill up the rest of the home. Haruhi found the whole process unnecessarily difficult and not helped at all but her too eager to please boyfriend ("Haruhi where do you want this?" "are you sure Kotoko should have her own room, what if she gets lonely?" "okay, but consider this: we put the fridge in the bedroom")
Thankfully, they were able to persevere with their relationship still intact, and they were simply relieved that the whole process was over.
"Oh thank god that's everything!" Haruhi exclaimed as she flung herself onto the couch. "We have a house!" she mock-cheered, the tiredness clearly evident in her voice.
Tamaki couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous sight before joining his girlfriend with their daughter on the couch.
"Apartment" he corrected gently.
"A home" Haruhi replied happily, throwing her legs over his lap. "Has Mori senpai called you yet?"
Tamaki nodded. "He texted me an hour ago, but I didn't want to leave you until we were finished. I can't wait to get Antoinette back!"
Haruhi smiled as she watched Tamaki brighten up.
They had been so lucky to find out that their new building just so happened to be pet-friendly, so Tamaki would be able to get his beloved golden retriever back, having put her in Mori senpai's capable care when he'd had to move out of the mansion and into the Fujioka's.
"Perhaps she can sleep with Kotoko so neither of them gets lonely!"
"Maybe" Haruhi yawned. "You don't mind if I stay here while you pick her up? I think Ko and I are both in need of a nap."
"No problem. Would you like me to carry you to bed too?" he joked as he stood up with the tired baby in his arms.
Haruhi chuckled. "No need. I think I'll sleep right here!" she declared.
Smiling, Tamaki left the room to put Kotoko in her very own bedroom for the first time, and sure enough, when he returned he found his girlfriend passed out on the sofa and was therefore obligated to indeed carry her to bed as well.
It was the small things that made him appreciate his little family the most.
I'm sorry if this seemed really short and more like just tying up loose ends than anything else and I know it could've been done more organically, but you guys deserve answers without having to reread the whole fic. In the past couple of chapters everything was winding down to pretty much just fillers which I was doing to not have to do a ~time skip~ but idk maybe I'll do some editing in the future. I hope this satiated your curiosity for now. The next and last chapter will be out soon, hopefully (not in 6 months!) but I now work weekends (yay, money!) so I can't give you a day to expect ATM. Maybe reread the first chapter in the meantime
Thank you all for your continued support, you're all fantastic, please comment anything you want answers about because I'm sure I've forgotten something and I'll answer that next time