Author's Note: Sorry it's a day late. This chapter is a little spotty, but I couldn't quite figure out how best to tell it. I may go back and edit it. I think you guys will really like the next chapter though, which will give the back-story of the Ootori-Park family dinner and just what went down that night.

I do not own Ouran High School Host Club, but my lawyer's working on it.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, messaged me, favorited, or followed this story. It means a lot that you guys would put in the time to give me the feedback. I'm almost at 100 reviews, which makes me ridiculously happy. And now, please read, review, and enjoy!

Haruhi and an Ootori

Chapter 11

Sunday afternoon . . .

Haruhi was repeatedly slamming her head into Kaoru's desk. At some point, Kaoru had slid his sketches out from under her head and replaced them with a pillow, for which she was grateful. But still. She could not. Stop. Slamming. Her. Head.

"Haruhi," Hikaru began cautiously. "What happened?"

In a flutter of hair Haruhi stopped banging her head into the desk. She slowly turned her head towards her two best friends.

"You're going to think I'm crazy," Haruhi informed them. "I've completely lost it."

"That's okay, Haruhi," Kaoru tried to joke. "I think we've all been a little crazy since that day when the Lobelia girls first showed up."

It didn't work. Haruhi didn't smile, she just groaned in misery.

"Kaoru, I—" she seemed to be stuck on her words. "I think I've got a crush on the Ootori brothers. Ah!" she cried out in a rush before resuming her head slamming.

The twins stared at her in astonishment.

"Both . . ." Hikaru trailed off.

"Ootori brothers?" Kaoru finished in questioning.

"Yes!" was Haruhi's strangled reply. "I'm twenty-two years old, and I have crushes on my friend and his brother!"

Kaoru slowly approached Haruhi and stopped her from doing herself injury. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and let her lean against his chest.

"How . . . how did this happen?" Hikaru asked her.

Haruhi groaned. "I don't know! I was so happy with Akito, but then Kyoya and I spent last night talking . . . and then before, I mean, the other day when he kissed me, I just—"

"He kissed you!" the twins exclaimed in unison.

They had never seen Haruhi look so stressed. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, as if she had no idea what to do and the weight was pressing down on her thin shoulders.

Kaoru backtracked quickly while his brother stood beside him open-mouthed.

"Haruhi . . . do you really have feelings for Kyoya? Or Akito for that matter?"

Haruhi looked up at Kaoru with the world's best puppy dog expression on her face.

"You know I had a huge crush on Kyoya, but I gave up on it. I didn't think it would happen. And it's stupid for me to think anything would happen with him now. He said himself the kiss didn't mean anything. Kyoya, as much as I love him, I don't think he'll ever feel the same way," Haruhi told them. She didn't notice the look Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged, or how Hikaru seemed ready to burst. "But then there's Akito. I don't quite feel the same way about him as I do about Kyoya, but maybe that's a good thing. There's no history, no heartbreak. It's just new and fun and easy."

"We think you should choose Kyoya!" Hikaru shouted as soon as Haruhi had finished speaking. Haruhi just stared at him in confusion.

"And when exactly did you form an opinion on this?" she couldn't help but ask.

Hikaru nearly screamed in frustration. "Haruhi, all of the hosts, except Kyoya that is, have been betting on when the two of you would become a couple. Even Kyoya's father has a couple million yen on the wedding being next summer."

Haruhi sighed. "I know Yoshio-san wants me to marry Kyoya. But I refuse to enter into any kind of arranged marriage, especially if half of the couple clearly doesn't want to be there. And Kyoya doesn't. It takes two to make a marriage or any kind of relationship for that matter work."

"But—you can't, I mean, Kyoya and you—Why can't you just—" Hikaru spluttered while Haruhi looked on rather wistfully.

"Hikaru," Kaoru interrupted his brother. "It's Haruhi's choice." He turned towards Haruhi before continuing. "I just don't get why you'd choose Akito when you're so clearly in love with Kyoya," he told her while he shook his head at her.

She looked at both the twins sadly. "The day Kyoya tells me he loves me is the day I go shopping for a wedding dress. You know," she said thoughtfully. "I was never really the plan-your-future-wedding kind of girl, but there was a time when I thought it might just be Kyoya." Haruhi got up from the chair she was sitting in and made her way to the door. "I'm not that naïve anymore," Haruhi whispered before she walked out of the room.

Monday morning . . .

Tamaki was sitting across from Mori and Honey at a little café. They all had to be off to work because, whether they liked it or not, Monday had come and they had to shuffle off to their jobs. At least they had time for a pastry and a cup of coffee before heading off to work.

The three of them were sitting around a table inside, talking casually about their weekends. It was all rather relaxing until Honey started jumping up and down in his seat screaming about something unintelligible. When Tamaki and Mori just stared at him, Honey launched himself at Mori and turned his head in the direction of the television the café had hanging from the wall. Tamaki followed suit without physical coercion.

On the television was a news broadcast. Except it wasn't so much a news broadcast as a delicious bit of gossip. A bit of gossip which left three former hosts completely stunned.

"Just this morning Park Industries and the Ootori group announced the impending nuptials of Hye-mi Park and Akito Ootori. Their engagement signifies the union of the two most prominent medical companies in Korea and Japan respectively. With the union of two of the world's most beloved singletons, one can only hope that there is love for everyone out there!" an overly enthusiastic broadcaster announced.

The broadcast faded out and was replaced with a picture of Hye-mi Park wrapped lovingly around Akito Ootori, who looked unusually uptight.

Tamaki was frozen in his seat. Mori was blinking rapidly as if hoping the picture of Akito and Hye-mi would disappear from the screen between blinks. Honey was gasping for breath and trying in vain to make words come out of his mouth.

Finally, Honey managed to say, "We've got to find Haru-chan!"

It took a while, but eventually male hosts, minus Kyoya, found Haruhi. They found her sitting on a stool at the bar her father used to work at, a very large tankard of beer in her hand as her head drooped steadily towards the counter. All of them exchanged nervous glances before approaching her; Haruhi was very much a lightweight when it came to alcohol. Without her noticing, Hikaru asked the bartender how much she'd had to drink. He was relieved to know she'd only had the one glass.

"Haru-chan?" Honey called out to her tentatively. "Are you okay?"

"You mean besides the part where my love life is the sorriest excuse for romance ever?" Haruhi said with slightly slurred speech. She hic-cupped. "I've spent the past eight years half in love with a cold, calculating guy who has the emotional range of a hamster. And then there's the part where, in an attempt to get over him, I dated his brother. His brother who happens to be engaged to a freaking Korean goddess!" Haruhi declared as she spun around on the barstool. She almost fell over, but Tamaki caught her and set her upright once more.

Hikaru and Kaoru stood on either side of her with their arms slung over her shoulders in a rather defensive manner. Kaoru had pointed out a few men at the far end of the bar who had been eyeing Haruhi. Mori's presence, however, seemed to deter them from making any sort of actual advances. Still, Hikaru and Kaoru were Haruhi's self-proclaimed body guards; no one got near her without their permission.

"And to think," Haruhi drawled out. "Just yesterday I was telling you two," she gestured towards the twins with her half-empty glass, "that Akito would be a good choice for me."

"Haru-chan, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to drink. I'm going to wallow. And then I'm going to see if I can't persuade one of those specially trained Ootori Black Onion Squad guys to cause Akito a great deal of pain. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of them who like me more than Akito," Haruhi informed them with a small hic-cup at the end.

None of the hosts said so, but they were all fairly sure she was right about the Ootori police officers liking her better than Akito. It took a while, but eventually Honey managed to speak once more.

"But, Haru-chan . . . what are you going to do? Really?"

Haruhi seemed to shrink in on herself right then. "I don't know," she whispered. "I know it's not the end of the world because I have a great job and fantastic friends, but I thought it'd be so nice if I could find a guy to go with it all. The perfect picture, you know? I guess you can love an Ootori all you want, they'll just screw you over anyways. Well, you know what?" Haruhi raved. "Screw the entire Ootori family! Yoshio-san, Kyoya, Akito . . . they can all just stay the hell away from me!" Haruhi declared. She drooped forward in her seat. "Can one of you take me home?" she murmured as all the fight went out of her.

"Of course, Haruhi," Tamaki replied. He turned to Mori. "Mori, if you would, please?"

Mori nodded his assent and scooped Haruhi up in his arms. He allowed her to nuzzle into his chest and fall asleep against him as he carried her out to the waiting string of limousines. All the hosts clambered into their cars and headed off towards Haruhi's apartment.

That night, Haruhi's bed was packed. Haruhi was curled up fast asleep in the middle of the bed, a Hitachiin on either side of her. Tamaki lay sprawled at her feet like an over-sized golden retriever while Honey lay curled up by Haruhi's head like a kitten. Mori, ever the guardian, was lying perfectly still on the edge of the bed, watching over his sleeping friends.

Hopefully everything would look better in the morning.

Author's Note: The next chapter will be a flashback to Sunday night, dinner with the Ootoris and the Parks. It's going to be interesting. Should be up later this week, after a Broken Hearts update. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think, particaularly if you can think of a way to make it flow better. Thanks!