The car ride wasn't too long, but I could see Haruhi starting to get a bit fidgety. "Is something wrong?" I asked her, glancing over for a moment before looking back to the road.
"Ahh…just nervous. Are you sure the shoes aren't too much?" She asked.
"I still think you look stunning, and I will remind you of that as many times as you need."
"… Are they going to be staring at me all night?"
"As much as I'd love to tell you no…"
She groaned. "Are they going to be creepy about it, or awkward and flustered about it?"
I took a moment to think. "Flustered. But the twins will eventually try to play it off and be creepy."
"And if Kaoru's creepy, you'll hit him, right?" She smirked.
"With the heaviest chair I can find, Love." I said, not looking away from the road. She laughed.
"Who do you think would win in an honest fight, Hikaru or Kaoru?" She asked jokingly.
"Hikaru would have more power, but Kaoru would be able to think faster on his feet. It'd be close, but I believe Kaoru would be victorious in the end." I answered.
She nodded. "Do you think the guests would love or hate that?"
"I could sell an arenas worth of tickets within the day." I told her, confidently.
"I can already see the marketing, now." She waved her hand in front of her in a banner shape, "Little Devils: Hitachiin v Hitachiin…"
"Hunny-Senpai would make for an excellent referee."
"He'd love the little stripy shirt!" She laughed. "I love you, Kyoya." She said, reaching her hand over to hold mine.
"Of course I love you, too, but I must know how Hunny-Senpai in a striped shirt made you want to say it." I smirked.
"I've always wanted to talk to someone about my weird thoughts about you guys. Like what's on Mori-Senpai's playlist. Or who'd win in a fight. Or how Mori-Senpai and Hunny-Senpai fit into the whole 'mommy daddy' thing." She smiled. "Or anything really. I don't think you've ever made fun of my stupid thoughts before. It's nice."
"Well, you just haven't presented me with one stupid enough, yet." I laughed, quietly.
"Try me." She said, sitting up in her seat a bit. "Tamaki looks the best in a dress."
"I'd have to agree."
"Hunny-Senpai could absolutely beat you in an arm wrestling match."
"Hurtful, but also probably true."
"Who in the club do you think would be the most into feet?"
I physically winced. "Okay now that one is too far."
"It's Tamaki."
"Oh it would absolutely be Tamaki, but still too far."
"Who has the biggest feet?" She asked, as we pulled into our parking place. I parked the car and looked at her.
"Me." I smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"Haaaahaaa…." She fake laughed. "Wait, really?"
"Well now I'm not telling you."
"Oh, come on!" She protested. "You can't just answer all of my stupid questions and then leave me on an unsure answer!"
"Oh, I absolutely can, my dear." I laughed, as I stepped out of the car. I walked around to open her door and helped her out. "Give me one moment, Love. I'm going to text Tamaki to figure out where they are. I've never actually been here before."
That was a lie. I was texting him, but just to tell him, we were there. We were scheduled to get here much later than everyone else, and I'd actually helped Tamaki pick this place out. My message to him read, "We've arrived and will be inside shortly. Please prepare yourself and everyone else."
"Is this going to be awful?" She asked me.
"I certainly hope not." I told her, smiling. I'd ordered all of her favorite foods, made sure the song catalog was full of music she liked, made sure no one had gone too overboard with gifts… Except myself of course. I had quite a few gifts hidden for her up high in my closet already, with a few more on the way. I only had one sitting inside, though. A nicer new schoolbag. Something still nice, but something that wouldn't look suspicious.
"Are you ready?" I asked her.
"Can I say no?" She asked back.
"You most certainly cannot."
I guided her towards the door, catching myself trying to hold her hand more than once in the brief moment it took to walk from the car to the building.
I pushed the door open for her and let her walk in ahead of me. The room was dark. Tamaki had clearly decided to make this a very television-esque surprise party.
"Surprise!" They all yelled as all of the lights came on, revealing all of the decorations with "Happy Birthday" plastered on them, the food, the gifts and themselves, who were all standing on the small stage together.
Haruhi's eyes went wide. "But my birthday isn't for another two weeks."
"Wouldn't be much of a surprise if you saw it coming, hm?" I said quietly from behind her.
She turned around to look at me with a face that clearly said "Traitor! How could you not tell me about this?" But she just stared.
"Yeah! We figured you'd guess it really easily if it was actually your birthday!" Hunny-Senpai yelled from the stage. He quickly ran down the stairs to come hug Haruhi. "Are you surprised?!" He asked, excitedly.
"Extremely." She said, finally smiling. I knew she'd hate this at least a little. But I also knew she'd be able to tell I planned it if I'd changed anything, which I believe would have annoyed her even more.
While she chatted with Hunny-Senpai about all of the food, I glanced back up to the stage, where the other four of them were still just stood in absolute silence. Staring. I looked back at Haruhi. The light made her look even more incredible in this outfit.
Mori-Senpai made the first move, coming down the stairs to also come greet Haruhi. The other three still stood up there, whispering among themselves. I took it upon myself to walk up there to them.
"You all look like morons, you know this, correct?" I asked them.
"How are we supposed to function when she's wearing THAT?" Hikaru sort of whisper-yelled.
"Well, by not doing exactly what you're doing, first of all." I somewhat aggressively whispered back to him.
I looked at the other two. Kaoru was making a never-ending, burning eye contact with me. I'd never seen a person swear with just their eyes before. Tamaki looked broken. Hikaru took it upon himself to smack Tamaki upside the back of the head. "Get it together, Boss!"
"Have you seen yourself, dude?" Kaoru snickered at him.
"You know, she's looking at you all right now." I told them, pointing over in her direction. They all swiveled their heads to her in perfect unison.
Haruhi looked from them to me. "Told you." I mouthed silently to her. She smiled.
"Are you all just staying up there or what?" She yelled up to them. They quickly responded by running down to her, pushing each other the whole way.
I followed behind them. Of course, Haruhi looked incredible, but because of her, I could not stop thinking about Mori-Senpai's music taste. I walked up behind her, as every spot in front of her was currently occupied by an idiot.
When I found a moment of them arguing between the three of them, I leaned down to her and whispered to her, "What if he's into the music from that game with the arrows on the floor?"
She laughed, out loud. Everyone went quiet and looked at her. She just looked back at me and said, "Yeah, I could see it."