Next in my list of updates is Fast as a Heartbeat! Yay! I'm probably going to have a couple more chapters but not too many because I don't want to leave people waiting for chapters all of the time, if I finish my other fics there may be a sequel though.

I hope you haven't forgotten the story, I've really let myself and all of you down :|

Please don't kill me, I was stuck on what to write so it's a couple of weeks later than expected *kills self Dx* anyway... MERRY BOXING DAY!

After gifts were stored safely in bedrooms they were eating light snacks and lazing around the fire when Tamaki barged in after having disappeared to do Tamaki-like things, nobody gave him a second glance. Haruhi flipped another page of her book and Kaoru leant over her shoulder reading her book, Kyouya sat on the same sofa, playing chess with Mori. Hikaru and Huni sat at the small breakfast table in the corner, now covered in fake snow, one playing a video game and the other eating through his second layer of a five tiered chocolate box he had been given as a gift.

Tamaki cleared his throat.

Haruhi turned another page.

Kyouya moved a chess piece.

Huni popped another chocolate in his mouth.

'What are you all doing?' he shrieked, causing half of the people in the room to groan and the other half to glared at him, 'it's Christmas and you're all being so boring,' he whined. Haruhi looked up and slammed her book at the same time.

'What do you want us to do then?' she asked apathetically. Tamaki's face lit up.

'You're giving in so easily?' Kaoru asked in surprise.

'Like I have a choice,' she muttered, standing up from the warm sofa and brushing down her dress automatically. The rest of the hosts seemed to follow her, dropping their things reluctantly to go and entertain their childish king while he babbled excitedly about the different things he wanted to try.

'I thought we could have a snowball fight,' he practically bounced up and down, Haruhi realised he was already wearing his outdoor gear, 'He knew he'd get his own way the sneaky bastard,' but she saw her chance of escaping.

'Well if you want to,' she shrugged, 'but count me out,' she continued before there were any protests, 'I'm not going to ruin the dress you forced me to wear plus I want to make the cake Huni asked for,' surprisingly she managed to get to the kitchen without too much resistance, she wondered if they were really that perverted they'd rather she stayed in the tiny dress.

She had just tied a pale blue apron around her waist when Kyouya slipped in through the door, 'helping me cook again?'

'It's far better than getting pelted with snow,' he smirked, 'especially if it ends up the same as the last time I helped you cook.'

Haruhi raised an eyebrow at him but couldn't keep a smile from creeping to her face. She turned away to hide her smile and started to systematically take ingredients out of cupboards, 'thank you for the present, it can be scary how well you know me. I know hardly anything about you.'

'You'd be surprised,' Haruhi almost jumped at how close behind her his voice was, she could practically feel the warmth of his presence, 'you know more about me than most,' his hand appeared over her shoulder, casually helping her pour ingredients into a mixing bowl. Haruhi hummed questioningly, leaning back ever so slightly to see if she could catch the smell of his cologne.

'You see,' Kyouya explained, his breath tickling her hair, 'no matter how hard I try you always seem to know what I think or feel, sometimes I wonder if you know more about me than I do.'

Haruhi nodded slowly, 'I guess that means I know you but not about you if you understand me.'

'If you are talking about things such as family life then there isn't much to talk about, I'm sure you know the basics of my family,' Kyouya didn't go into much detail, showing his dislike of the topic, 'I'm not close to most of my family apart from my sister, Fuyumi.'

'I'd like to meet her,' Haruhi said, almost to herself.

'She'd like to meet you, I'm sure,'

Their tone of voice when talking to each other was barely different to how it had been a week before, maybe a little more informal and personal but it sounded like any ordinary conversation. But body language had changed quite obviously, Haruhi didn't know which one of them had moved but she felt a comforting pat as her back lent gently on Kyouya's chest. She relaxed instantly, tiredness from her lack of sleep washed over her in a small wave and if she hadn't been cooking she would have happily fallen asleep.

'By the way,' Haruhi could hear the smirk in his voice, 'that is such a flattering dress,'

Haruhi gave a short laugh, 'I think the word you should be using is 'disgusting','

'Not at all, I have to admit Tamaki has ... interesting taste in clothes sometimes. I'm not complaining though,'

Haruhi placed the now finished cake mix into the oven and turned to face him, 'I'm not even going to ask what you mean by that, I just hope there are no more dresses involved today, they're impractical,' she ended in almost a huff.

'I have a feeling you're going to have to wear another one this evening, Tamaki has organised to give all of the staff the evening off and the ones that are too far away from home are joining us in a party of some sort,'

'Ah,' Haruhi said, unsurprised, 'I should have known that moron was up to something this morning.'

'I think his grandmother put him up to it because some families staying in the area are invited too, inviting the servants is Tamaki's little act of kindness and rebellion. None of the families have children at Ouran though.'

'I see, so I get to dress like a girl without being found out. Lucky me,' Haruhi deadpanned. She felt slightly sorry for Tamaki being used by his grandmother for publicity but she guessed he was so vain that he would probably enjoy the whole event.

They had both settled down into the lounge on a sofa, they sat in silence for a few minutes until Haruhi spoke, 'I still don't understand how you knew what I wanted for Christmas, your skills as a psychic amaze me,' she grinned slightly and Kyouya laughed quietly.

'Observation,' Kyouya insisted, 'I am pleased I observed correctly though,'

'So your hobbies are running a company and observing,' Haruhi stated rather than asked.

'Do you think that's odd?' Kyouya titled his head slightly, Haruhi tried to work out his expression from behind his glasses.

'Yes,' she said simply then laughed when she saw his brow furrow, 'but I'm hardly normal, is anyone in the host club?'

'I doubt it; they must be the only group of idiots who could get away with sexual harassment,' Kyouya stated dryly. Haruhi laughed earning a sulky stare from Kyouya, 'I'm serious; I'm surprised you don't press charges on the twins, they seem to get worse every time I see them,'

Haruhi smirked, 'do I sense some jealousy there?' Kyouya didn't reply, 'is the amazing Kyouya Otori really jealous?'

Haruhi hid a giggle then was pushed against the arm of the sofa, Kyouya's hands on either side of her, 'I don't see what's so funny,'

'Are you trying to intimidate me?'

'Is it working?'

'No,'

'Good,' Kyouya said simply. Haruhi looked at him questioningly, a small smile on her lips. He moved hesitantly closer rather than further way.

'Hi Haru-chan, Kyo-chan,' Huni called loudly to them from the doorway, Kyouya sat up brusquely and turned as if nothing was happening and looked rather put out, 'did you have fun making cake and doing absolutely nothing suspicious of any kind?'

'Like you're not acting suspicious, Huni-senpai,' Kaoru muttered, shaking snow from his hair. Huni gave him a cute grin before skipping over to his half finished chocolate box.

'Your cake is in the oven, Huni-senpai,' Haruhi told him while sitting up and picking up her book from the table, 'I'll take it out in half an hour to ice it,' Huni cheered happily. Haruhi looked around the room; everyone seemed to be getting on with what they had been doing before Tamaki had interrupted, 'where are Tamaki and Hikaru?'

'Getting changed,' Kaoru was reading over Haruhi's shoulder again, 'Tono put snow down Hikaru's back so Hikaru put snow down his trousers (A/N: pants, whatever),' Haruhi rolled her eyes and Huni giggled.

'Tama-chan made such a funny noise,'

'I can imagine,' Haruhi muttered as Hikaru and Tamaki both came through the door, still bickering until Hikaru seemed to get bored and drifted over to his discarded game. Tamaki looked lost for a moment before beaming and clearing his throat to gain attention.

'I have a surprise for you all! This evening we're-,'

'Going to have a party?' Kyouya finished. Haruhi had a feeling he enjoyed spoiling Tamaki's fun but this time he had failed.

'Yes! Some families staying in the local area are coming and the servants are joining us after cooking a western Christmas dinner and it will be so much fun and you have to wear another dress, Haruhi,' the girl in question blinked at him and shrugged, already accepting her fate, 'you have to go get ready now,' he pulled her up.

'It's only four thirty!' Haruhi protested, 'and I have to ice Huni-senpai's cake.'

'You mean already four thirty,' Tamaki said, grinning and then he shoved her out of the room into the waiting arms of two maids, 'I'll have somebody sort out the cake.'

'I was looking forward to icing that cake,' Kyouya muttered to himself, earning an amused glance from Mori.

~.~.~.~

Haruhi was sitting in a chair with a dark look on her face, the maids we busy pulling and twisting her hair while giggling at her expression and chatting to each other. Haruhi stared at her reflection in the mirror, seeing her hair being tugged then falling around her face in perfect ringlets, I look weird, Haruhi thought to herself. Sometimes when the hosts dressed her up for costume days at the host club she didn't recognise herself.

What will it be like when we go back home, and to school? She couldn't imagine anything changing, especially if not all of the hosts knew, he did say he'd take me on a date.

Haruhi smiled, feeling unfamiliarly excited at the thought, when you dressed like a guy it wasn't often you felt like a girl.

Why did Kyouya like her? The thought had passed her mind on the odd occasion but she had never really thought about it. There were plenty of attributes on Kyouya's half, his looks only being one, he was intelligent and had an interesting sense of humour hidden under his serious persona, he wasn't all about money and profit even if his actions only seemed to be those that would merit him.

'What merit do I bring?' Haruhi muttered, not worried but merely curious.

'Excuse me, Haruhi-sama?' one maid frowned at her.

'Nothing, just talking to myself,'

'Well,' the other maid smiled, 'would you like to get changed?'

It turned out it wasn't even a question as the two maids nearly threw her into the bathroom to get changed; a dress was already hanging on the door waiting for her.

'Tamaki-senpai owes me for all this dress-up today,' she sulked. She checked the label of the dress and was unsurprised to see the Hitachiin label.

Haruhi slipped the fabric over her head and pushed her arms through the long sleeves, a black ribbon cuff just brushing the tops of her hands with a red carnation pinned to the left sleeve. The dress itself was a deep red with a slightly poofed skirt ending just before her knees; the top half was off the shoulder, the same black ribbon around the top of the dress. Haruhi merely wondered the purpose of translucent sleeves when they didn't keep her warm. She decided to keep the black tights she had been wearing earlier on.

After she had neatened the creases and tugged the dress into place she sighed and opened the door, preparing herself to be subjected to whatever torment was coming next.

~.~.~.~

Huni sighed contentedly as he watched the cake being iced by the chef; the small boy could already imagine what it would taste like.

'Would you like some strawberries as well, Haninozuka-sama?' the chef asked politely, it was his last job for the day before he would return to the separate servant lodging situated around fifty metres down the road.

'Hai!' Huni grinned. He would make sure there was a slice left for Haruhi with extra strawberries.

'If you wait in the front room I will bring it in as soon as I'm done,'

'Thank you,' Huni smiled then left the room, padding down the wooden hallway in his bare feet, as he had been doing since discarding his sodden shoes after the snowball fight. He paused for a moment when he saw two familiar red heads in the formal dining room.

'Tama-chan said he didn't want us to come in here until the party,' he spoke out, gaining the twins' attention, they quickly stopped moving and grinned angelically at him. That could only spell trouble, 'whatcha doing?' Huni asked in a sweet voice, they merely smiled but Kaoru sent Huni a desperate look.

'Just helping with the decorations,' Hikaru answered vaguely, waving a piece of mistletoe around casually. Huni pursed his lips. This was either going to end really well, or really badly. More likely the latter of the two.

'Why?'

'No reason,' Hikaru said with another grin before tying it to a ribbon above the door, 'don't you think it looks nice?'

'I supposed,' Huni mused, trying to think of a way he could make sure everything would end well. His train of thought was cut off as the chef approached with his cake. Hikaru continued to grin at his little plan while Kaoru watched hopelessly. He knew his brother loved Haruhi and Kaoru did as well in some way, how could he stop anyone from getting hurt?

Huni was halfway through his cake before he realised he'd forgotten about Hikaru's plan, whatever it was. He hoped Kaoru had worked out a way to stop his brother from causing disaster.

~.~.~.~

Haruhi was relieved that the maids had finally left her alone and she sat on the chair in her room feeling exhausted before the party had even started. She was thankful she had only been given a light covering of makeup but she wasn't happy about the shoes she was wearing. She hadn't tried to get out of the chair yet to see if she could walk in the heels but how hard could it be? Hopefully she wouldn't make a fool of herself, as usual, she thought, it's normally Tamaki-senpai's fault though, I hope he organised food for this party, I'm starving.

In response to her thoughts her stomach growled, Haruhi sighed and glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was seven so she had fifteen minutes to kill; she picked up the phone from her bedside table and called home, if she was lucky she'd catch her father on his break at work.

Unfortunately the only reply she got was her father's overexcited voice pre-recorded asking her to leave a voicemail. She ended the call and sent him a text instead.

Merry Christmas dad, don't drink too much like last year, I'm not there to look after you in the morning!

I'll see you soon, love Haruhi.

PS: Remember when we last talked? You teased me about dating Kyouya*. I am surrounded by psychics.

Meanwhile the other hosts were in their respective rooms either being handed clothes by the maids that had finished torturing Haruhi or taking the clothes that had already been picked out for them from their beds.

'Here's your suit Otori-sama,' the maids presented the suit to him beaming so cheerfully it was hurting Kyouya's eyes, 'we picked it especially,' one of them told him, pushing the clothes into his hands. It sounded like they were flirting with him but they were just smiling at him, as if they knew something he didn't. Not knowing things annoyed him but he was more creeped out by their super happy smiles.

He mumbled a confused thanks; the maids just laughed and disappeared from the room. Kyouya knew he shouldn't have let the twins bring those two maids; the two identical girls were almost as bad as the Hitachiin twins themselves. He didn't see what was so special about the suit they had picked out anyway; the jacket, trousers and tie were all pure black with a deep red shirt and red rose corsage. Kyouya could see this was definitely going to be a hosting event. He sighed,

The other hosts had similar suits with different coloured shirts apart from Tamaki who was wearing his signature white suit.

Haruhi looked at the clock one more time and sighed, pushing herself out of the chair. She attempted to walk confidently towards the door, attempted being the key word in that sentence.

'Right,' she whispered to herself, 'time to try and not to make a fool of myself.'

She half expected a smart-ass comment from a certain someone but the bedroom door was open and the bedroom itself was empty, the same as the other hosts' rooms along the corridor, clothes strew around the floor. She smiled as she gently shut all of their doors; the mess they had left behind made them seem like almost ordinary teenage boys. Haruhi was taking the steps down the stairs very slowly, one at a time so she didn't fall and hit her head for the second time that week, she touched the slightly tender spot on her head automatically, she was glad to see the bump had reduced to almost nothing.

'My my, Hikaru, I think the maids outdid themselves this time,' Kaoru slid an arm around her waist, flicking a piece of curled hair in Haruhi's face.

'Indeed, and I think the dress choice was perfect,' Hikaru grinned mischievously, copying his brother, 'we've achieved perfection yet again.'

'Come on you guys,' Haruhi deadpanned, half-heartedly shrugging them off, 'I suppose the dress is nice but did you have to pick heels? I'm going to kill myself in them.'

'One must suffer for beauty and posture,' the twins sighed dramatically, brushing down their own suits, they had matching emerald shirts each with a red bow tie around their necks.

'Whatever you say,' Haruhi muttered quietly, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, then she noticed they were going toward to dining hall where the party was being held, 'I thought we were supposed to be greeting guests at the front door.'

The twins both laughed, 'aren't you cute,' Haruhi's eye twitched in annoyance, 'there is a second front door in the dining hall for the guests, we can't let the guests go running around the building can we? Hurry up; the other hosts are in there already.'

Excuse me for being normal, Haruhi sulked silently.

'Wow, would you look at that,' Hikaru looked up innocently at the mistletoe in the doorway, Haruhi eyed him suspiciously, so did the rest of the people in the room.

'Yes, it's mistletoe. What about it?' she had an uneasy feeling starting to grow.

'Aaaand, we're under it,'

'So is Kao- where did Kaoru go?' she looked around and saw him miraculously already in the room, shuffling uneasily next to Huni and Kyouya.

Oh god. Kyouya was staring straight at her. She could keep staring back, his gaze was no longer lessened by his glasses which were replaced with contacts. She turned away... and found Hikaru's grinning a blushing face far too close for comfort.

Kyouya felt the stem of his wine glass start to crack under his grip.

*shocked* I finished it and it only took me three freakin weeks of rewriting to produce this an I'll probably have to do it again, *sigh* oh well.

*Remember when Haruhi called her dad and then blushed and yelled at him? I didn't forget, he was teasing her about if she was dating Kyouya, I could just imagine him doing that. Oh! And I have actually planned the next two chapters so updates won't take so long, I am really sorry, please don't hate me! I haven't tried my best and I feel really guilty :'(