They got up and headed to the living room. "I was thinking we could…" Haruhi started.
"...watch a movie," Kyoya finished, noting the way she was looking at a box he knew was filled with DVDs next to the small TV.
"How do you do that?" Haruhi deadpanned.
Kyoya shrugged. "You were eying that box over there." He often found it entertaining to see how people reacted when he made an astute observation, even though he decidedly did not find it entertaining when others made similar observations about him. However, he supposed that he did not particularly mind Haruhi reading into him every once in a while.
She chuckled. "Okay, Shadow King. I'd like Kyoya back now, thank you very much." He let out a chuckle. "Tamaki and I used to watch movies all the time when we were together, so I just thought the two of us could do the same. What type of movies do you prefer?"
Kyoya thought about this for a second. "Something that makes me think. I like complex characters and a plot that draws me in. I don't like sappy dramas and showy action flicks. If I can't find anything good, I usually watch a documentary." Not that he watched much TV anymore, of course, but he certainly loved good books, TV series, and movies. Death Note had been one of his favorites.
"That certainly sounds like you," Haruhi replied as she rummaged through the DVDs in the box. "I have to admit that sappy movies are my guilty pleasure, and Dad and I often watch them together. They are corny, but enjoyable. Tamaki, as you could imagine, absolutely adored them." Kyoya snorted, knowing from experience that the blond loved drama, romance, and adventure movies. Thought so...while Haruhi and I are similar, we don't have much in common. "I do sometimes watch more cerebral films every once in a while, so there might be something here that we would both like. Can't find one, though...wait...hold on." She pulled out a particularly colorful DVD case.
He read the title. "Paprika. It's directed by Satoshi Kon. I've heard that it's really good."
"It is. Let's sit down and watch, shall we? We won't be able to finish the movie now, but if you are planning to stay the night again, we can finish it before going to bed." Kyoya smiled as she set an alarm on her phone. Being the serious student that she was, Haruhi was determined to sit down and work as soon as the required break was over.
"It's better here than at the Ootori mansion, so I am actually planning to stay. Also, it's nice spending time with you." Haruhi flashed an adorable grin. Calling her cute again? She's driving me crazy…
Soon, they were both sitting on the couch, with Haruhi cuddled up next to him (it had taken a while to assure her that while he was not one for affection, he did not really mind). As Kyoya watched the colorful scenes unfolding on the TV, he thought about how comfortable and relaxing, even, it felt to be with Haruhi. Maybe, he decided, it was because he did not have a facade to maintain around her. There had never been any need to, as he knew from experience how good she was at reading into him. She saw through his smile that never reached his eyes, the hidden smirk behind his glasses, and his invisible frowns. She would find the silent spark behind his manner of speaking. She probed (with frightening accuracy) his gestures that could mean one thing but meant another and the words that conveyed a deeper meaning. She never fell for his calculating demeanor. Despite everything, she would easily grasp the undisclosed implications he thought he hid so well.
Kyoya looked down at the tanuki resting her head on his shoulder, wondering if she understood exactly how much she meant to him from the moment she had stepped into Music Room 3, how conflicted he had once felt about his feelings until a trip to Okinawa and the Izumi Shopping Center made the truth abundantly clear to him. Feeling his gaze on her, Haruhi looked back up at him with large doe eyes.
Almost magnetically, their lips met in a kiss. The scene on the screen in front of them seemed to fade, lost into the background. It felt even better than the one they had shared in the morning, and he found it impossible to stop. He felt himself grow in confidence with every kiss, and she matched his intensity. He never imagined that the afternoon would go in the way it had, but he was not about to complain. Instead, he focused on committing everything to memory: how she threaded her fingers in his hair, the slight taste of tea with the sweetness he remembered from earlier, the slightly chapped but soft feel of her lips, the emotions swirling through him as he was slightly pressed against the arm of the couch.
Haruhi sighed as the alarm on her phone went off. "It's six o'clock. Time for us to do our homework." She turned off the TV.
"You have good taste in movies, by the way, even though you do prefer more sappy ones."
"What do you mean? We barely even watched the movie, you know."
Kyoya grinned. "I had already watched it before, but I didn't want to say anything. That way, I could get distracted and not miss much. Not that I actually intended it to go like that, though."
Haruhi flushed scarlet for what seemed like the hundredth time that afternoon. "I didn't expect that, either...but it was good."
Kyoya ruffled her short hair, which she had cut after the Host Club had come back from Boston. "Hey, this is new for me, so I'm just as nervous. In a good way."
"Really? You seem pretty comfortable, though."
"I am comfortable around you, but that doesn't mean that I'm not nervous." Haruhi laughed in a way that made him smile. He put an arm around her and gave a gentle squeeze. "I love you."
"I love you, too." His heart fluttered. So that was the because earlier. "I've decided that I love you. Now let's go get some work done, okay?"
He could get used to this, he decided as they settled down with their homework in front of them. Now, he just had to ensure that Tamaki would not get too upset about it.
Haruhi got up and went to the kitchen an hour later to prepare dinner, a simple stewpot. Kyoya, unbeknownst to her, looked up from his laptop and silently watched her cook. He found that she worked quite messily in the kitchen, yet she did not seem particularly sloppy. There was an order to the chaos, he surmised as he watched her cut some shiitake mushrooms. He had not realized how long he had been staring when a sharp ping from his laptop, announcing that he had received an email, brought him back to reality. Right...I'm supposed to be figuring out what to do about the cosplay...and Tamaki.
After putting everything in the pot to simmer, Haruhi sat down next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. Her eyes fell upon the laptop screen in front of them.
"You're ordering Hitachiin brand costumes?" she asked, intrigued by the drawing of a vampire costume he was currently looking at. The Hitachiin logo on in the corner of the image marked it as a genuine Hitachiin design.
"Yes, Hikaru and Kaoru usually design costumes during the lunch break and send it to me for approval. If I agree with their designs, I pay an agreed upon amount — a slight discount from what one would usually pay for custom Hitachiin. The twins then send the designs to their mother, who has a few seamstresses prepare the costumes for us."
"Oh wow. So the costumes don't really come out of thin air?" she asked half-sarcastically and half-surprised.
His fingers stopped flying around the keyboard as he paused to smile. "Usually it would be more difficult to get custom-made costumes on par with what Tamaki wants, but there are some perks that come with being connected to the Hitachiins." He pulled up a picture of a frilly pink dress with translucent wings on his laptop. "What do you think of this fairy costume?" He already knew the answer she would give, but still asked anyway.
"Nope." As expected. Kyoya nodded as he went back to typing at a furious pace.
"Right. I'll just have Tamaki come across a different idea. After I tell him about us and sort everything out, of course." We are going with the French Polynesia cosplay, then.
Haruhi snickered at his comment. "Without your facade, you are even more calculating." This made Kyoya crack a rather demonic grin.
Then, he remembered something. "Hey, I was just thinking...I'll be graduating this year, so I need someone to manage the club when I'm gone. Unlike Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai, I don't think I'll have much luck sneaking out of university to participate in the Host Club."
He did not have to clarify further. "So you want me to manage the club in the future because you know the twins and Honey-senpai, smart as they are, will not be able to?"
Kyoya lifted his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Not that they won't be able to, but I trust you a lot more than I trust them when it comes to a job with responsibility."
The next thing he knew, he was showing her how he maintained the club's budget and planned out cosplays and events for the Host Club.
"It was actually quite interesting," she said as they ate dinner after his crash course in Host Club management. The stewpot tasted rather good, and he had to once again admire Haruhi's cooking.
"Glad you think so. Like I said, you're the perfect person to replace me when I'm gone."
Haruhi smiled. "But you'll still call me and help out if I need it, right? And you'll still be close by?"
While he liked her fierce independence, he was glad that after all the mayhem the Host Club members went through together, she understood that she no longer had to stubbornly deal with everything alone. "I'm still planning to study in America, so I'm not sure that I'll be nearby, but I promise to call you everyday." Wait...are we planning the future with each other? The second day we are together? It seemed that they were, and Kyoya rather enjoyed it, though he was not sure when he had turned into a pile of sugar (or at least that was how he imagined it). Too sweet. Get a grip, Ootori. But he already knew it was a lost cause: he could not help himself from acting that way around her. He would simply have to get used to it, or so he supposed. The thought almost made him laugh. I have to get used to how sweet I can be?
Haruhi jolted him out of his thoughts. "So you are planning on going back to America? Well, I'm glad to see that you are still intent on attending an university there. And it's rather sweet of you to say that you'd call me every day." She paused, as if pushing back what she was about to say, and then changed the subject. "But what about your family? Won't they have a problem with you dating a commoner?"
He shifted uncomfortably, as his family was a topic he did not particularly want to talk about. "Well, to be honest I don't particularly care whether they like you or not. However, I think my father is rather impressed by you. He sometimes asks me about you, in fact."
She looked surprised. "Really?"
"Really. I'm more worried about Tamaki at the moment." She nodded and took Kyoya's hand in hers.
"I'm sure everything will work out in the end." Kyoya gave her hand a squeeze and returned the smile.
"Me too," he replied, confident for once that things will pan out well.
More food, hours of studying, a bunch of planning, the rest of Paprika, and some sleep later, it was finally time for them to go to Ouran Academy. In other words, it was time for Kyoya to tell Tamaki about him and Haruhi.