Chapter 3 - Operation Confess to Honey-senpai Part 1!

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"

"SHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tamaki flailed his arms frantically, trying in vain to get his beloved daughter to lower the volume a bit. When she only continued to sputter in shock and confusion, he whipped around and locked the closet door, pushing and pulling a few times to make sure it was really locked. Once he was sure the door wasn't budging, he turned back around to try and calm Haruhi down. Despite his best attempts it was going no where and as it turned out, once again a palm pressed firmly over her mouth was the only way to silence the brunette's astonished, semi-coherent ramblings.

"Haruhiiiiiii!" He whined in a low voice. "Pleeeeeeease!"

Eyes wide, Haruhi continued to struggle against his hand for a few more moments before finally seeming to regain her composure, closing her eyes and sucking in a deep breath through her nose. She let it out slowly after a few seconds and opened her eyes, looking up at the president of the host club and waiting, somewhat impatiently, for him to remove his hand.

He watched her carefully and hesitated a little. Finally, seemingly satisfied that she was at least semi-calm, slowly removed his palm and watched her expectantly, dreading what she might say next.

"... Wow, senpai." She muttered, still getting the last of her thoughts together. "I never had any idea you were-..."

Unfortunately, it seemed it was now Tamaki's turn to lose his marbles.

"I KNOW I KNOW, I'M SICK AND CREEPY AND IT'S WRONG AND YOU NEVER KNEW I WAS SUCH A HUGE PERVERT! I didn't mean for this to happen, it just did! I tried everything to try and get rid of it but I didn't know what to do! He's gonna hate me and Mori-senpai's gonna pick me up and throw me out the window and then leap out after me and catch me before I hit the ground just so he can drown me in the fountain and then he'll leave toss my lifeless body to the stray dogs-!"

He stopped to gasp for air, hunched over panting with a look of utter shame adorning his gorgeous face. This was all a mistake. He should've just jumped out the window himself and saved Mori-senpai the trouble.

"... actually I was gonna say 'into that'. I never had any idea you were that way. I mean sure, you have that whole 'mommy' thing going with Kyoya-senpai but I didn't think..."

The blonde froze. What? She... didn't think he was a pervert?

Slowly, timidly, he raised his head and looked at her. She appeared to be in thought and was staring off into space with a thoughtful look on her face.

"I mean, it's not like I care or anything. After all I always say it's who you are that matters, not what sex you are..."

She turned back to him.

"... Still, I have to say I'm surprised that of all people you'd fall for Honey-senpai. I mean, since when? Does he know?"

"Of course he doesn't know!" Tamaki cried. "Does it look like I'm stray dog food to you? That's the whole problem! I don't know what to do-!"

"... So, you wanna tell him then?" Haruhi thought for a moment. "Well... why not just do it? I'm not sure I heard all of your crazy rant exactly right senpai, but if you're worried about how he'd react, I'm sure everything would turn out fine. Come on, we're talking about Honey-senpai here. It's not like he'd go psycho martial arts master on you over something like that."

"That's not what I'm worried about!" He dropped dramatically to the ground, drawing his knees up to his chest and looking ridiculously depressed, as he was prone to doing. "I'm not afraid he's gonna hurt me. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter as long as we could still be..." Tamaki paused to gulp loudly. "-... friends. But what if I told him and he hated me for it? What if he thought I was some kind of sick freak? I AM some kind of sick freak! Besides, it's Mori-senpai who's going to put me into the wall."

"What are you rambling about?" She sighed, staring down at her senpai in mild exasperation. "You're delusional. Honey-senpai could never hate you, especially for something as trivial as that. I can't speak for Mori-senpai but even if he didn't like it I'm sure he'd never over-react like that. You're the only one here who's over-reacting."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, lifting his head ever so slightly, just the tiniest glint of hope shimmering in his eyes. "Do you really think so, Haruhi?"

"Well, yeah. Besides I really don't see what's supposed to be so wrong about it. Honey-senpai may look like an elementary school student but you know just as well as I do that he's a whole year older than you, if that's what you're worried about. If it's because you're a guy I already said, it's who you are that matters. If you really feel that way about him I say you should just tell him."

"So... so you really don't think I'm weird?!" Tamaki sprang up happily, staring at Haruhi like an excitable puppy before enveloping her in a near suffocating hug. "Thank you Haruhi-!"

"I never said you weren't weird..." Haruhi muttered under her breath. "But you're weird for different reasons. So is this all you wanted to talk about senpai? 'Cause we should really both be getting back to work."

He reluctantly let go, still smiling but now it wavered a bit, his uncertainty creeping back to his attention. Could it really be so simple?

"Yes, yes I suppose you're right... but... you really think I should just...?"

"I don't see why not. You're not gonna get anywhere from waiting around."

Tamaki nodded slowly. This plan seemed to have worked out well after all. And yet, somehow, he almost wished it hadn't. Why did she have to be so right? We did she just have to go and reaffirm what he truly already knew?

"Tamaki, a word?"

Kyoya's voice sounded from behind him. The prince turned around slowly to meet his friend's eyes, who was looking at him with a look of suspicion, slight irritation and just the barest hint of confusion. He had been on his way to sit with yet another table of customers when the bespectacled boy had stopped him, and he was tempted to say he was too busy to talk. Of course, he knew Kyoya- that was not gonna fly.

"Sure." He responded cooly, trying to keep any hint of nervousness out of his voice and mostly succeeding. Mostly. And Kyoya being Kyoya, even that tiny shred was not missed.

He quirked an eyebrow at his friend, sending him a look that said he wasn't in the mood for any silly games the prince might decide to try and play. Tamaki swallowed, focusing on maintaining a nonchalant expression.

"Not that it's any of my business..." The other boy began slowly. "But the other hosts and I couldn't help but notice you've been behaving even more bizarrely than usual. Is there something going on that you aren't telling us?"

Panic rose in the blonde's throat. Stay calm now. Everything was totally fine. He could totally get through this as long as he acted normal. Anything even slightly less would only alert Kyoya more.

"Wha-what are you talking about? Everything's fine."

"I see. Would you perhaps care to share with us exactly what you and Haruhi were conspiring about in the closet?"

"Hurk-!" He flinched, his cool facade dropping like a pillow case full of bricks out a window. He was in trouble now. There was no way he was getting away from Kyoya if he couldn't come up with some kind of decent excuse and fast.

"... Ahem... well you see Kyoya, me and Haruhi were simply having a very important discussion about..." Think, think, think! This had to be good! Think, darn it! "... cabin fever."

The black haired boy stared at him. "... Cabin fever?"

"But of course!" Tamaki flashed his best handsome grin, slipping into his role of simple excited idiot as quickly as he could, gesturing dramatically with a finger pointed towards the ceiling.

"You see Kyoya, cabin fever is a commoner's illness. They say it strikes when a person is stuck in a confined area with nothing to do for an extended period of time. I just so happened to hear about it one day and found myself intrigued! As it is a commoner's illness, I felt it only appropriate to ask our darling commoner Haruhi for more information on the subject! It truly is fascinating! However I didn't want to risk frightening the guests with the idea that such horrid boredom could possibly exist, even if it only effects commoners, therefore I simply moved our discussion to a more private location. Tell me, Kyoya! Would you like to know more about cabin fever?"

Kyoya blinked. "No, thank you. I think at this time I would rather remain in ignorance." He replied dully, not at all convinced but thoroughly annoyed and secretly slightly impressed that his friend had managed to pull that out of thin air so quickly.

"I see! We'll simply have to discuss it some other time! Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off! The ladies are waiting!"

He spun on his heel and took off towards his destination, oblivious to the cold stare of irritation Kyoya was still giving his retreating back.

He sighed and adjusted his glasses. He would have to find out what was wrong with that ridiculous moron later.

Not that he was worried for Tamaki personally, of course- it was just that the host club's princely character completely losing his mind would be bad for business.

Slowly, discreetly, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the table in the corner of the room.

Honey-senpai sat there, happily scarfing down cake and chatting with some guests while Mori stood by, watching silently, both seemingly oblivious to what was going on.

He studied the small blonde boy for a moment.

It could just be his imagination, but...

... it couldn't be...

Tamaki breathed a quiet sigh of relief once he was a good several feet away, smiling and praising himself for getting out of THAT situation. For a moment there, he'd thought he was busted for sure.

"Pssssssst!"

He stopped in his tracks and frowned, confused. Huh. For a second there he thought ht'ed heard a strange sound...

"PSSSSSSSSSST!"

Now he KNEW he heard something that time. He looked around, wondering where on earth that noise was coming from...

"Senpai! Over here!"

The prince jumped and whirled around to his right, eyes darting around wildly for a moment before they settled on Haruhi, peering out from behind a conveniently placed giant pillar a few feet away.

He blinked, before sweeping a glance around the room to make sure no one was watching. As casually as possible, he slowly began to make his way over to the pillar, whistling a tune and making sure to look at anything else besides the pillar. As soon as he was close enough he dodged behind it as fast as he could, bumping Haruhi and nearly knocking her out into the open in the process.

"Ouch!"

"What is it?" He said in a loud whisper, looking from side to side nervously.

"Isn't there something you're supposed to be doing?"

She gave him a pointed look before peering out from behind the pillar, looking at something across the room cautiously. Tamaki followed her lead and slid up behind her, following her gaze.

His eyes bulged out and his heart jumped into his throat. He'd been doing such a good job all day of ignoring him, too...

Honey-senpai. Smiling that adorable smile, laughing that adorable laugh as he continued to chow down on cake. There were crumbs and icing all around his mouth, big brown eyes sparkling with utter delight as he chatted with the guests. He looked so truly happy, sweet and innocent that Tamaki's heart almost exploded right then and there. His boy-... er, that boy. That boy. That wonderful, incredible boy...

"Senpai? Hello, senpai!"

It took a few moments for Haruhi's voice to register before he shook his head, breaking his eyes away from the angelic sight to look back at Haruhi, trying to concentrate despite the fact that the image still lingered in his brain.

"Look senpai, I don't wanna butt in but if you're gonna do this, you might wanna hurry up. I saw how Kyoya-senpai stopped you, and no offense, but cabin fever? REALLY? He's gonna get you later and I really have no clue what he's gonna say if he finds out."

Gulp. Was it true? Kyoya had seen through his clever ruse! Argh, now what was he supposed to do? What if Kyoya thought it would be bad for business and decided to lock him up in the medieval dungeon Tamaki just KNEW the Ohtori family secretly owned?!

"Now's your chance!" The brunette pointed across the room at the table, pulling the prince out of his thoughts. "See, those girls are leaving! Go talk to him!"

... T-talk to him? Now? As in right now? No, no, this was too sudden, he couldn't! He still didn't know what he was going to say! What should he say? He couldn't do this now, he just couldn't!

He couldn't...

... No. He had to. Haruhi was right. He'd known all along what he needed to do even before he'd decided to talk to her. Things would only get worse. Waiting wouldn't solve anything. Especially considering if he waited too long he would end up in the dungeon and then he'd never get another chance. Now or never... now or never...

Legs shaking, he made his way out from behind the pillar and awkwardly across the room, trying to look normal and utterly failing. His heart was racing, his mind going blank of all thoughts not pertaining to receiving grievous bodily harm from Kyoya or Mori-senpai or maybe even both as once.

The chatter in the clubroom began to die down as heads began to turn towards the prince, the guests staring at him in confusion. The chatter then began anew as they started to share theories amongst themselves as to what he was doing.

Haruhi watched him from behind the pillar, biting her lower lip. Come on senpai, don't make a complete fool of yourself...

Hikaru and Kaoru's heads turned in perfect unison, big question marks practically written across they're faces. They looked at each other and shrugged before turning back to the odd sight before them, confused and curious.

The increased chatter caught Kyoya's attention and he looked up from his little black book, only for his cool to waver ever so slightly as he caught sight of the host club president. Now what was that idiot doing?

Mori noticed him first. He looked up from watching Honey devour cake and watched their leader curiously, but said nothing.

Just a few more feet to go. Just keep walking, Tamaki. Just keep walking...

Finally, his adorable blonde senpai noticed him.

He blinked his big brown eyes once, twice, before breaking into a happy smile.

"Hey, Tama-chan!"

That adorable voice sent chills up his spine. Steady, now. Stay calm... almost there... just a few more steps...

Unfortunately for poor Tamaki, he didn't notice the banana peel laying in his path...

DUN DUN DUN! Oh magical teleporting banana peel, you card, you! What horrors will you inflict on our poor, love-struck prince? Well, I assure you we'll find out soon! We should be finished in just one or two more chapters folks, so please stick around! Special thanks to the two people following now, and our first reviewer who also favorited! See you next time!

Next chapter: Operation Confess to Honey-senpai Part 2!