Day Twenty Five - All I Want For Christmas Is You

Characters: MoriHaru

Genre: Fluff

Triggers: None

Haruhi looked around the club room and sighed, not sure what she expected but still disappointed with the mess their guests and hosts left behind. She carried a broom and dustpan in hand as she decided her best approach in cleaning everything up. Torn wrapping paper laid sprawled across the floor, cookie crumbs littered the tabletops, and half finished tea cups remained on their saucers where their guests had been sitting.

Usually they were considerate with cleanliness, mindful to keep their seats and table space free of mess, but an hour into hosting Tamaki announced a special surprise waiting for their princesses outside. He quickly ushered everyone out the door, shouting instructions to direct them to the front entrance. Waiting in the driveway was a horse drawn carriage ready to escort their guests through a winter wonderland the hosts spent days setting up and decorating. They had spent three evenings and one morning erecting a white canvas tunnel with swirling blinking lights, red bows, large glittering ornaments hanging on wire from a ceiling beam, and a special mistletoe at the very end that granted each guest a kiss on the cheek. It was, of course, another one of Tamaki's grand and wonderful ideas to spoil their guests for Christmas, but they had left whie Haruhi was busy in the kitchenette preparing more tea, accidentally leaving her behind.

By the time she realized what happened they were already boarding the carriages. She decided to leave it be, if her guests hadn't noticed her gone by now then there was no point in rushing to their side, and that was when she noticed the room's disarray.

So, while the hosts showed the ladies of Ouran a magical Christmas time, Haruhi was intent on making the club room presentable again. Better to do this than having to sit outside in the cold anyway.

She snapped a trash bag open and began stuffing wrappings inside, grumbling about the wasted paper they so carelessly threw on the floor. Her father had always used newspaper to wrap her gifts, from necessity rather than aesthetic, so to see the red and green foil ripped and shredded irked her in a way she couldn't explain.

"These rich people, even their wrapping paper screams money." She complained to herself, reaching underneath a table for a lone scrap of paper.

She heard a grunt from behind her, startling her enough to accidentally bump her head on the table. She crawled backwards until she could sit up and see what she heard.

Quietly standing behind her was their silent host, hands in his pockets and a small questionable frown on his lips.

"Mori-senpai?" She asked, sitting up on her knees. "Why are you back here? Did you forget something?"

"Mitsukuni needs his coat." He answered, looking at his and Mitsukuni's table.

Haruhi turned to look and indeed saw his coat hanging on the back of his chair. How he forgot to bring his coat outside was bizarre yet she could see how. The boy lolita was probably too excited to remember to grab it on his way out.

At least Takashi cared enough to return for it.

Takashi draped the wool coat over his forearm and turned to leave, however he looked back at Haruhi who had returned to shoving wrapping paper into a trash bag. He paused, watching her work for a few moments, before deciding last minute to change his course of action.

He joined Haruhi on the floor and grabbed a handful of wrapping paper.

"You don't have to help me, I'm sure Hunny-senpai needs his coat." Haruhi offered, sliding over an inch to make room for him as he kneeled beside her.

Takashi shook his head, "It's not his coat, it's Usa-chan's."

Haruhi had to stop herself from scoffing, not wanting to be rude, but the idea of a stuffed animal owning such a pink wool coat was more ridiculous than cute.

"You can laugh." Takashi said quietly, slightly smiling, "Usa-chan doesn't need a coat."

"I didn't know stuffed animals could get cold." Haruhi humored.

Takashi softly chuckled, quiet enough for only them to share, "They also don't eat cake but Mitsukuni still likes to serve him cake."

Haruhi looked up at her senpai feeling something was off. His stern eyes focused on the task at hand which was very much like him yet something about him felt off…

Then it dawned on her. "Are you tired Mori-senpai? You're pretty talkative today."

Takashi stopped mid reach and seemed to consider her question. After a moment he nodded yes before continuing.

"Do you want to take a nap?" She asked, still watching Takashi work beside her.

Takashi shook his head, pausing to return her stare. "Haruhi, what do you want for Christmas?"

Her eyes grew wide as subtle shock washed over. No one in the host club has asked her what she wanted for Christmas yet. Although the holiday was still a few weeks away she half expected Tamaki and the twins to bombard her with questions until she gave them something to work with. Surprisingly they haven't brought it up yet.

That made Takashi the first to ask her this year. Why he wanted to know puzzled her. It wasn't that they weren't close, in fact they were very good friends who shared mutual respect and understanding, but she didn't expect him to care about her gift.

Haruhi shrugged, not sure what to say, "I'm not sure, I haven't thought about it."

Takashi nodded, accepting her answer. He knew better than to pester her. He wasn't like their friends who wouldn't accept an indecisive answer. It was better to let her think about it than force a suggestion she wouldn't even want in the end. He wanted her to like her gift, love it even, and he planned on putting a lot of care and dare he say love into it.

Haruhi teetered onto her toes and stood up from her knees, using the table to help her balance. Takashi soon followed her lead and stepped alongside her to the next hosting table where more wrapping paper littered the floor.

They worked in comfortable silence as they grabbed handfuls of colorful foil, spiraled ribbon, beaten bows, and empty card envelopes into the trash bag, minding to squish the pile down so they could finish with the same trash bag. One, two, three hosting stations were picked up and swept back into presentable order. They were finally kneeling on the floor in front of Tamaki's hosting couch repeating their actions for the fourth time. They continued to work in silence until a thought crossed Haruhi's mind.

She turned to Takashi, "What would you like for Christmas?"

He stuffed an empty cardboard box into the trash bag and sat upright on his knees, looking at her as he thought. Without speaking, he reached for a red bow that had fallen underneath the table, checked the tape underneath, and softly pressed it on Haruhi's head. He used his fingertips and gently massage the tape into her hair to make sure it stuck before retreating his hand and approving his handiwork with a smile. However Haruhi was deeply confused.

"Um… What is this about?" She asked, pointing to the white bow teetering on the top of her head.

"That's what I want." He answered, looking from the bow to her chocolate eyes drenched in bewilderment. After she stayed quiet for a few moments he realized she was waiting for him to explain what he meant. In his tired state he didn't mind speaking honestly with this rare courage. It was time she knew anyway.

"All I want for Christmas is you."

Haruhi's eyes grew wide as the weight of his answer soaked in. She never expected her senpai to have feelings for him. Not when she had felt the kindlings of feelings for him as well over the past few weeks. She didn't know how to explain her strange attraction to Mitsukuni's table that often kept her distracted but in this moment she could finally name the emotions she's tried to reason and squash.

Perhaps she was truly returning his feelings.

Haruhi allowed a smile to spread across her supple lips, swallowing her nerves as a warmth swelled in her chest. She hadn't noticed Takashi's concerned eyes carefully watching her expression until now but once her smile broke through, so did his and the weight quickly building on his shoulders.

"I think… maybe… that's a nice wish because… I… It's nice... " She confessed quietly, hearing how the words spilled from her tongue. She wasn't sure how to express what she was feeling and hoped his intuition wouldn't fail him now. She wasn't one to be lost for words so easily but right now words wouldn't come easy.

It was a good thing Takashi wasn't one who needed words.

He leaned forward and kissed her head, cradling her flushed cheek in his palm. He barely caught her brief gasp as he melted into magic that was her; her strawberry shampoo, her soft skin, how small she felt even with him on his knees.

"Mori-senpai…"

Takashi leaned back and used Tamaki's couch to stand up. "I should give Usa-chan his coat. Mitsukuni is probably wondering where I went."

Haruhi nodded, not wanting to push her many unspoken questions. Before he left he leaned down again to pat her head, letting his palm linger a few seconds longer than what could be considered friendly. Surprisingly, even to her, she felt herself lean into his touch just before he pulled back. Her reaction didn't go unnoticed as proven by one of his rare genuine smiles.

"Tell me what you'd like for Christmas Haruhi when you decide." With that he took his leave, disappearing behind the host club doors.

This time she had a pretty good idea of what she'd want.