This story is the joint work of Stella Malodi and CatrinaSL. The excellent cover art was commissioned from SF (pm CatrinaSL for the link to his DeviantArt page). Special thanks to fringeperson and My Ashland for their beta work.

Disclaimer: We don't own Ouran High School Host Club, but Stella has a couple of mysterious boxes lying around- it's her birthday this week! (All reviews for this chapter should have "Happy Birthday Stella!" in them somewhere, even the key-mashing ones :D)

It seemed odd to Haruhi that she was so nervous. Hani-sempai had said that his talk with Mori-sempai went well. In fact, he insisted that there wasn't anything wrong, and hinted that Mori-sempai was planning to talk to her today. The only problem was, there was an important tournament coming up, so Mori-sempai had skipped Host Club to hold an extra training session with the Kendo Club, and had subsequently missed dance practice. Even with Hani-sempai's assurances, she couldn't stop worrying, and she knew that she wouldn't until she had seen her taller friend for herself.

After leaving the Third Music Room, she couldn't quite bring herself to go to the tree. Instead, she lingered near the school building. About fifteen minutes after dance practice had ended, she was startled by a large hand on her shoulder.

She spun around, making a noise somewhere between a squeak and a shriek as she did so. Mori-sempai raised the hand he'd put on her shoulder, ruffling her hair in greeting. She composed herself and calmed down, then peeked up at him. He stood there smiling as he always had, holding a small white box. A navy blue ribbon was wrapped around the box, holding it closed, and was tied into a perfect bow on top. He handed it to her, and she untied the ribbon, absently putting it in her pocket, and opened it to find a perfect slice of strawberry cake. She looked up at him in surprise and found him smiling at her.

"Sorry," he said. "Mitsukuni said you were worried."

She blushed, but smiled back. "Thank you," she said, "for the cake, and... well, for everything." They stood there staring at each other for a few seconds, though it felt much longer. Eventually Haruhi blinked and shook her head to clear it. "Do you want to share this by the tree, Mori-sempai?"

He smiled and nodded. She started toward the tree, but her friend didn't move. "Haruhi?"

"Yes, Mori-sempai?" she said, turning back to look at him.

"Call me Takashi."

For a moment, Haruhi wasn't quite sure how to react. It wasn't such a big deal; after all, he called her by her given name, and they were friends, so there wasn't any reason for her to hesitate. "O...okay... Takashi," she said.

A smile made a brief appearance on his face, and he murmured, "Come on," as he grabbed her hand and continued toward their destination.

She couldn't help but feel that she was missing something, but she couldn't quite bring herself to ask... just as she couldn't bring herself to let go of his hand.

They walked slowly, spoke quietly, and smiled frequently.

When they reached the tree, Mori- no, Takashi, she reminded herself- lifted her into the tree. Just like the week before, he sat next to her on the lowest branch. She looked at him, caught his eyes, and couldn't look away. They sat there for a moment before he smiled slightly, leaned forward... and snagged the box of cake from her hands. She exhaled loudly and dragged her eyes away, blushing yet again. Why was she always blushing around him? It was annoying, and she just wished it would stop!

Takashi bit back a chuckle. She was cute when she blushed!

He opened the box and looked inside. There was only one fork. He wasn't sure if he should sigh or smirk. He glanced at Haruhi out of the corner of his eyes. She was still blushing.

Hmm. Better play it safe. He didn't want to scare her off. Still, a little bit wouldn't do any harm... He loaded a smallish bite of cake onto the fork. "Haruhi," he said. When she looked at him, he held it up to her lips. Her eyes widened, but she obediently opened her mouth and ate the cake. Her eyes closed and she smiled as she enjoyed the flavor. He handed her the fork.

When he didn't produce one of his own, she looked at him. "Don't you want some of the cake?" she asked.

"Only one fork," he explained. She rolled her eyes, loaded the fork, and prepared to feed cake to him. His eyes widened slightly; he hadn't expected that, but he smiled, leaned forward, and took what she offered: a bite of cake and an indirect kiss.

Authors' Note (9.27.13): And the fluff is back! All together, now: "Aww... How cute!" Thanks for reading and reviewing. If you want to request a fic pm one of us or go to iwillwriteyourfic DOT blogspot DOT com. (And don't forget to wish Stella a happy birthday!)