"Mardi Gras!" Honey exclaimed happily as he spun around in circles. The young blond giggled and hugged his bunny.

Kyouya elaborated. "Mardis Gras is literally translated to 'Fat Tuesday'. It is the last day of indulgence before Ash Wednesday and then Lent, which leads into Easter. It is also known as Pancake Day."

"Pancakes!" Honey exclaimed with exuberance.

Kyouya went on. "We have chosen as our inspiration the most famouse of Mardi Gras locales: New Orleans in America. We have an authentic Mardi Gras celebration-minus the debauchery."

Tamaki went on where his friend had ended. "We will have French-American cuisine, French pastries, and King Cake! There will also be various jazz musicians performing in the courtyard for the pleasure of all. The school has also happily afforded us floats for a parade through campus thanks to the Fine Arts department."

"Wow, this is really incredible, Senpais." Haruhi blinked.

"A parade and everything. This is going all out." Hikaru voiced as he stood with crossed arms.

His twin leaned against him. "How are we paying for this anyway?"

Tamaki held up his arms which were now covered in red, green, gold, and purple plastic beaded necklaces. "Beads!"

"Beads?" Haruhi, Hikaru, and Kaoru asked in unison.

"Hmm..." Voiced Mori.

Kyouya explained. "The sale of beads. Colored, cheap beaded necklaces are a coveted prize for reasons that I cannot comprehend. Each of the girls in attendance has paid for a bundle of beads. The object of the day is to somehow get rid of all of her beads by putting them around her favorite host's neck. The young lady who rids herself of her bundle first will be the lucky lady to accompany that host to the ball at the end of the night."

"Which is awesome!" Tamaki held out a thumbs up.

Haruhi smiled. "Tamaki sure is enjoying this."

"He's been in a really good mood lately, but we can't help but notice all of the French themed parties we've been having." Kaoru remarked to Haruhi. "We think he's missing his mom." Haruhi frowned then.

The host club then dressed in their mardi gras costumes, which basically looked like their regular uniforms but with mardi gras colors and masquerade masks. They went out onto the courtyard where young ladies with far too much time on their hands held armfuls of plastic beaded necklaces.

Tamaki tipped up the chin of a rosy cheeked brunette. "Place the red one around my neck, a symbol of my passion for you."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Tamaki, I want all of my beads to be for you."

Elsewhere, in the garden, Hikaru and Kaoru were performing their own brothery love for a group of ladies. Kaoru leaned into his brother. "Brother, you have more beads than I. I am afraid some lovely lady will catch your eye and take you from me."

"Oh, Kaoru, you know that no one can make me feel the way that you do." Both of them smiled as the girls squealed with delight.

Haruhi was counting the necklaces already around her neck when Kyouya approached. "There is a play that the Theater Club is performing tomorrow night. I would like you to accompany me."

"A play? That sounds like fun." Haruhi smiled, thinking nothing more of the invitation.

'It does sound good. Maybe we can all go together!" Tamaki appeared from out of nowhere right between them.

Kyouya glanced in Tamaki's direction, irritation prominent on his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wasn't making this a field trip."

"A field trip! That's a great idea, Kyouya. I'll tell the others." Tamaki ran off to the other host club members.

Haruhi chuckled at Tamaki's antics. "Well, it's always more fun with a crowd. Right, senpai?"

Kyouya looked after Tamaki. "If you insist." He walked away then and Haruhi couldn't help but notice that Kyouya seemed disappointed. Did he really not want Tamaki to come along?

The next night, Haruhi dressed in one of her nicer dresses for the play. She didn't usually dress up, but going to a theater production, even if it was just the high school, was a pretty big deal. She was still surprised that Kyouya requested it, but she hadn't thought too much about it, honestly. She heard the door and when she opened it, she found both Kyouya and Tamaki behind it. Both men looked dashing in dark suits. Did these guys ever look bad?

"Just you guys?" Haruhi asked.

Tamaki's eyes widened. "Haruhi, you look so cute! When you put on a dress and do your hair, you even look like a girl!"

"Um...thanks? Do you guys want to come inside?"

"Of course, thank you, Haruhi." Tamaki was the first to step inside the apartment.

Kyouya followed, answering her question. "Mori and Honey were busy tonight. Hikaru and Kaoru expressed their repulsion of the theater and opted to play video games at home."

"Oh. Can I get you guys a cup of tea?" Haruhi offered.

"Commoner's tea?" Tamaki made a face of disgust.

"I'm not forcing it on you."

"I suppose it will do." Came Kyouya's response.

"Don't strain yourself from the excitement." Haruhi said sarcastically. She did make a pot of tea and after having a cup they went out to the car and then to the theater. The Ouran Academy auditorium was gigantic, but it didn't surprise her at all that Kyouya had gotten them all very good seats. Tamaki, still, ended up a few seats away from Kyouya and Haruhi since Kyouya originally meant it to be just he and Haruhi and not Tamaki or the others, so he'd had to get an extra ticket from the seats still available. They'd spoken about it in the car.

"Why would you invite her and not the rest of us?" Tamaki insisted.

"Is it really that important?"

"Yes! I'm your best friend, you should invite me before anyone."

"I thought it would be something that she would enjoy. You, on the other hand, scream and cry at the theater during children's movies." Kyouya replied to his closest friend.

Tamaki had let it go, but he eyed Kyouya as if trying to get in his head. Kyouya had been spending an awful lot of time with Haruhi lately, and Tamaki needed to know why.

After the show, Kyouya and Haruhi spoke about the performance, the actors, and the plot. Tamaki was silent as he listened to them speak. He then announced, "Who wants ice cream?" Just to get in the middle of their conversation.

Haruhi looked at him and smiled awkwardly. Kyouya replied, "There's a small shop nearby. We can go." Then they all started walking.

Haruhi looked to Tamaki and frowned. Throughout the performances, she'd noticed Tamaki looking over to them every once in awhile. The look on his face had been pitiful and sad. "Tamaki, I'm sorry that I didn't pay more attention to you. I didn't want you to feel like you were the third wheel."

"He never did upgrade from a tricycle." Kyouya quipped.

Tamaki burst in between them and put his arms around their shoulders. "It's okay. Besides, there's no other place I'd rather be than with my two best friends: Mother and Daughter."

"I'm not her mother." Kyouya insisted dryly. "Though sometimes I feel like I'm yours."

"Kyouya, this is why we get along so well. You are so funny." Tamaki responded, though his face became serious as he said, "I'm so glad that we are so close that there's nothing we keep from each other, right, Kyouya?"

"Yeah, right." Kyouya arched a brow at Tamaki. Tamaki then hurried ahead, spying the ice cream shop mentioned.

Haruhi looked up at Kyouya then. "Does he seem to be acting strange? I mean, more so than usual."

"Not particularly." Kyouya watched as Tamaki forged ahead, the call of ice cream awaiting. "He acted in the same manner when you went on a date with Hikaru. The only difference was that there were four of us to keep him from interfering."

Haruhi blinked up at him then as the meaning of his words hit her. "Is that what this is, Kyouya-senpai? A date?"

The question momentarily caught Kyouya offguard. In fact, he even lost his pace for a second. The Shadow King quickly recovered. "I suppose that it is, in a manner of speaking. Technically."

Haruhi smiled brightly as she noticed that Kyouya said no more and looked ahead. She'd never seen Kyouya look flustered before. Just that she had witnessed it, however brief, made her spirits soar. It was a good evening.