Even the cold couldn't dampen Riley's spirits. The clip clop from the horse seemed almost to echo out into the still frozen night. In fact, the silence seemed to be almost deafening. That's when Riley realized that neither she nor Mori had said anything almost since the sleigh ride started. She cleared her throat, "Takashi this is so amazing. I still can't believe you did this." It was so cold out that both baker and host had red noses and rosy cheeks but neither seemed to notice the below freezing temperature. "Um... and I-" Mori leaned in for another kiss, silencing her immediately.

When he pulled away, a small smile played across his features, "Do you hear that?" Unlike before there was now the faint sound of music playing through the crisp air.

The more the sleigh trudged through the snow, the louder the music seemed to get. "What is that?" Mori shrugged his shoulders. "Liar," she immediately thought but left it alone. She didn't want to ruin his plans. "Well then," she smiled at him, "should we cocoa up?" Just the thought of the hot chocolate made her almost feel it pooling in her belly, warming her without the liquid substance. Being the gentleman that he is, Mori immediately picked up the container and unscrewed the cup attached to the top to fill it with the chocolatey drink. Once she was holding the plastic cup in her hands she kept an eye on the host as he froze for a second, suddenly realizing that he forgot to bring an extra cup for himself. Though she tried not to, she chuckled quietly into her cup and kept her eyes downcast.

The look on his face said everything without him having to say anything. Panic spread across his features while a thousand thoughts raced through his mind starting from how he could have forgotten an extra cup to how this one flaw could ruin his perfect plan. Almost feeling his anxiety, Riley took a sip from her drink then offered the cup to him. "Don't worry about it," she said with a smile, "I'm sure you're not too worried about cooties at this point." And so they sat in a comfortable silence, sharing their one cup of hot chocolate and listening to the faint music that continued playing quietly. It didn't take long before Riley's curiosity got the better of her. "I can't wait," she confessed and turned to face Mori, "you have to tell my something the suspense is killing me!"

His whole plan revolved on surprise, on the curiousity that was rapidly growing in the young baker. Despite these facts, Mori still found it impossible to not respond to her plea. "Alright," he agreed. With a simple tap of his foot on the back of the driver's seat and the sleigh came to a halt. The scene itself was romantic enough that the host was willing to divert from Tamaki's very thorough and complicated plan. It was now dark enough that lamps were lighting up in the softly floating snowflakes that the cold gentle breeze blew. To top it off, the area their sleigh stopped in was a small courtyard with a snow covered fountain of a person skiing in the middle. Since the snowfall, the couple were the first two there. Lastly, aside from the sleigh driver and two workers clearing the snow from the paved sidewalks, they were alone.

"So this was your plan?" Riley asked and accepted Mori's hand when she stepped off their sleigh, "Bring me here?" Her eyes scanned the mostly secluded courtyard and smiled, "I like it."

"Let her think that," Mori thought.

Meanwhile a few blocks away Tamaki still sat waiting with the rest of the host club. There were cannons filled with confetti, monstrously big flower arrangements, an orchestra, streamers and any other over the top decoration he could find. "Where could they be?" He wondered aloud. Haruhi, who was nearby, walked up to the self proclaimed "King" and said, "It's probably for the better they're not here." At her words Tamaki felt like his confidence in himself was being ripped in two and was sure to make a very dramatic display to show how he felt. "How could you say that?" He cried, "After all this work that I put into making sure Riley would see just how much Mori-senpai likes her! Now how is she supposed to know if they don't show up what an awful thing to say!"

Haruhi was unphased by Tamaki's outburst and shrugged, "I don't think Riley would appreciate all of this as much as you think she would. This all might seem a little overwhelming for her. I mean this is their first date."

When her advice seemed to settle in his mind, Tamaki nodded and held his index finger in the air, "Alright time for a new plan!"

The twins, who were across the street with the confetti cannons playing games in the snow, stopped. "Is that the signal?" Kaoru asked.

Hikaru shrugged, "I can't remember. Why did he have to make this all so complicated?"

Kaoru remained unconvinced and took a step towards the cannons, "I think it is."

Not five minutes later confetti began shooting out into the empty street, setting off the rest of Tamaki's once dormant plan. "What are they doing?" Tamaki yelled and looked to the twins. They were just setting off the last cannon by the time the remainder of the hosts arrived. "What are you two doing?" Tamaki demanded.

"I told you that wasn't the signal," Hikaru muttered.

Kaoru crossed his arms, "It looked like the signal."

"Were we not supposed to start?" Honey asked quietly.

Haruhi shook her head, "Riley and Mori-senpai aren't here yet."

Honey looked to Kyouya, who started quickly scribbling in his notebook. "Well, we're about to have some company."

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked.

Despite knowing what was going to happen, Tamaki turned and asked, "Yes. What do you mean?"

Honey gripped Usa-chan close to him and closed his eyes, "We're sorry we thought we were supposed to!" Before anyone else could react, they could hear a marching band large enough to completely flood the vacant street with band members making its way toward them.

Back in the courtyard a few blocks away from the other hosts, Mori and Riley were standing by the fountain. The two were completely oblivious to the troubles the other hosts were having and were cemented in their own world. Static cracked from the speakers surrounding the fountain before a slow melody rang out. Listening to his instincts, Mori held his hand out to the short baker, "Would you dance with me?"

Despite the cold and her still wounded foot, the baker placed her bandaged hand in his but not before saying, "I can't say I know how to dance..."

The two began to easily twirl around the fountain, "Just follow me," he reassured her. Even with her foot still in its cast, she found it remarkably easy to follow the walt Mori was leading her through. Snow picked up by their feet seemed to cling to the air, leaving a sparkling cloud in the wake of the two. In those moments when Mori was twirling her around in the winter wonderland they found she felt as if all the anxiety she felt just twenty minutes before was miles away, leaving her and the man holding her in their own bubble of bliss.

Everything about their first date was so magical Riley couldn't stop herself from giggling when Mori lifted her into the air and put her back on the ground without missing a beat. "Mori I didn't know you were such a romantic," she said with a smile. The tall host dipped her just as the last notes played over the speakers, bringing with it the end to their dance. His hand pressing against the small of her back kept her in the dip, giving him the opportunity to kiss the tip of her rosy nose. "Or such a good dancer," she continued when he pulled her upright and held her close.

Hoping to divert the conversation from himself to her, he cupped her face in his surprisingly warm hands which instantly flooded her numb cheeks with heat. "And I don't know what you're going to school for."

She raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? I talk about school in 95% of my conversations."

"But you haven't said what you're trying to be."

This surprised her. There had been so many conversations about her schooling but had she really never mentioned what her goal was? "I wanna become a vet," she confided, "I figured I may as well help out the world a bit by helping out animals." Feeling a little awkward, she turned away from him and turned her attention to the blanket of undisturbed snow behind them, "Let's build something before it gets too cold out." The weather was perfect for making the snow more compact than powdery which meant the baker had one thing on her mind. "Let's build a snow fort!"

It wasn't long before the two were building up a small snow wall. Mori molded together snow bricks that Riley carefully placed on her snow wall. "This is delightful you're doing great Mori! If we get just a few more bricks we can start the other side."

Their snow fort's wall had gotten pretty tall by the time the couple heard voices in the distance. Mori recognized the voices of the other hosts and felt ashamed that he forgot to tell them about his change in plans. Riley ducked her head and hid behind the wall while also pulled Mori down with her. "We have an opportunity here," she started when he gave her a slightly confused look, "we finally have the upper hand. Start making snowballs! And here's the plan..."

Meanwhile the rest of the host club wandered into the courtyard, each one feeling drained and covered in confetti. Tamaki sighed, "That marching band just wouldn't stop..."

Haruhi nodded in agreeance, "They were very dedicated to finishing their songs."

Hikaru brushed out confetti from his hair, "I thought that plan was too complicated."

At that, Tamaki stopped walking, "It was your fault this all happened!" he said while shaking his clenched fist at the redhead.

Kaoru stepped in for his twin, "I'm pretty sure all of it was just a little too much. Face it boss, it was your plan's fault."

Just as Tamaki was about to make his rebuttal, a snowball came flying and hit him in the shoulder. It wasn't until right then that the hosts noticed a lone wall of snow jutting near the frozen fountain. Riley and Mori were sitting just out of sight of the others, Mori making a small pile of snowballs and Riley holding a snowball in each hand. "It's okay if you wanna give up already," the baker yelled out to the others, "but if you wanna fight, we call Honey!"

Honey responded by easily hopping over the top of the wall and coincidentally landing on Mori's lap. Haruhi was the first of the others to speak by saying, "But that would still be five against three. It wouldn't be fair."

Riley poked her head over the top of the wall and waved, "It wouldn't be... if we didn't have the deadly aim of Mister Takashi Morinozuka!" She looked down at her date, "Right?" He looked at her for a moment before throwing a loose snowball without looking, still managing to hit Hikaru in the chest. That action set off a full scale war between the two groups. Even Kyouya participated, making snowballs for his team.

An hour later Mori was walking Riley back to her door with a sleeping Honey in his arms. "It looks like he should've been asleep hours ago," she said and gave Honey's hair a little ruffle. "And I guess," she looked down from Mori's gaze, "that was really fun. All of it. Even if it wasn't your 'plan'." An immediate look of surprise flickered across the host's features. "Well what'd you expect?" The baker asked with a shrug, "What 'plan' could those guys have been talking about? I can put two and two together sometimes." She looked back at him and smiled, holding his free hand in hers, "I had fun though. With you."

Her words ignited a very new flare in his veins that he was slowly learning how to control. "I had fun too," he said with a smile. To help cool the fire burning through him, he held her chin in between his thumb and finger to lean down and kiss her but no matter what angle he tried he couldn't lean without disrupting Honey's position. Giving up, he kissed her forehead and stepped away, "Good night Riley."

Before he could go she took his hand back in hers and gave it a small squeeze, "Good night Takashi." Once he turned and made his way down the hallway Riley managed to pull her eyes off his retreating figure and go back into her room. Ghost stood slowly from his bed and stretched, his tail wagging with excitement. "Well," she said when she knelt down to greet her furry companion, "that was a night and a half." She held a hand against her still chilled cheek and smiled, "He definitely... makes me feel a little giddy... I'm not gonna lie." The husky pressed his head against her chest and accepted her hugs. "I may not have gotten as much love from him as I wanted... so I'll just have to give it all to you!" She exclaimed and hugged her dog tightly to her.

Not too long later Riley was standing outside in the winter air again but this time to let her dog go to the bathroom one last time before she went to bed but for some reason he was taking his time. Sniffing here, sniffing there and making a very precise decision on where to go. Feeling just a bit impatient, Riley rocked between standing on her toes to her heels and sighed, "Hurry up mutt it's cold out." After finally finding the perfect spot, the two returned to their room. It wasn't until Riley was already in her pyjamas that there was a quiet knock at her door. "Who could that be?" She muttered to herself before going to open the door.

Before she had a chance to even recognize who was waiting, Mori stepped into her room and cupped her face in his hands before bringing their lips together. The intensity of his kiss sucked the air from her lungs and ceased her brain function enough that all she was able to do was grip onto his jacket. Normally he would be able to give her a quick kiss and feel appeased however this time he couldn't contain himself enough to stop reconnecting their lips over and over again. When he finally broke apart from her his own breathing had accelerated and his mind seemed foggy. Suddenly feeling bashful for his actions, Mori looked down and took a step from her, "Good night Riley."

Riley stood completely still with a smile she couldn't seem to wipe off her face, "... G-good night Takashi." Just as quickly as he came he was gone, leaving the baker a little stunned in her bedroom. "Did that..." she turned to her dog who didn't even rise from his bed, "did that just happen?" At first her instinct was to call her friend Dakota but restrained herself. "It's pretty late..." So reluctantly, she crawled into bed but tossed and turned for hours, her mind plagued with thoughts of Takashi and his desperate kiss.