It never surprised Haruhi anymore; she would either end the day by leaving first of the hosts to avoid the crazed pleas of Tamaki and the twins to follow along in some outrageous request, or she stuck around until the very end, practically on her own, all the cleaning detail dropped onto her shoulders.

Of course, she was only practically on her own because there was always one other host that stayed behind after the motley crew left to work, insisting that, no matter how many times she offered to lock up, he liked to be the sole holder of the club room key (since Tamaki had misplaced and forgotten his own copy of it enough times to have had that privilege revoked), and that he didn't mind staying due to the quiet, undisturbed work environment that was left behind when the music room was near empty.

And so, more often than not, club activities ended with Haruhi cleaning tea sets and Kyoya sitting with his laptop. There was a sort of usual routine that had developed between the hosts through the silence.

One afternoon, Haruhi had been feeling fairly sluggish after a long night of studying and knew that cleaning would take quite a while longer at that point. Figuring that the caffeine would help, she decided to brew a pot of coffee rather than tea. It was one of the few times that she didn't touch the instant grinds despite the fact that she still wasn't all that familiar with the fancier beans yet, knowing that Kyoya, who wasn't like their beloved president in his adoration of the "commoner" beverage and did not actually like it himself, may have appreciated the pick-me-up as well to get through the workload he had. He gladly accepted a cup.

Since then, whenever the after hours seem to stretch on for a while, Haruhi will brew a pot and, without having to ask, will bring Kyoya a cup as well, just as he liked it, refilling his portion when she noticed he'd finished it off. Sometimes she even sat across from him as she drank her own cup, mostly in comfortable silence, give or take a small conversation here and there. Usually it was about her debt, or perhaps he would suddenly ask for her opinion on a theme idea, or a possible upcoming event.

What had surprised Haruhi was when Kyoya started to actually ask her to sit with him. He never looked away from that computer of his for long, they didn't even always talk, but she came to realize that he associated her company as a welcome, although brief, distraction and mental break from work.

"Why don't you stop and take an actual break for once, senpai?" Haruhi suggested. "I know you value your work, and I do admire your tenacity, but wouldn't it go a lot more smoothly if you took a breather from time to time?"

"Haruhi," he began, not ceasing his rhythmic tapping away at the keyboard. "Time is money, and every minute is another step of progress. I'm not going to be the hare that sleeps, thinking I have time to rest on my laurels, allowing the tortoise to catch up." The glare of the bright screen light on his glasses' lens made it impossible to see his eyes.

"No, you're more like the driver in a race that refuses to take a pitstop because you're in the lead.. Your tires will wear out and everyone will pass you then anyway if you let that happen."

He said nothing, continuing to type away. He wouldn't have said it then, but she was right. Kyoya was already noticing that his hands ached a bit, eyes sore with an accompanying throb beginning to grow in his head. But there were still so many calculations to be made, messages and documents to be written and sent…

Snap.

The sound of his laptop being shut broke the silence; Haruhi kept her hand on it to keep him from opening it back up again as she looked him in his caught-off-guard eyes. It took only a second for his composure to return, however, and his usual wall was built once again.

"Haruhi, I would appreciate it if you-"

"No," she interrupted much to his surprise again. "Five minutes. At least that. Drink your coffee, which is probably cold by now so I'll get you a fresh cup if you want, I don't care, but five minutes without touching this is all I'm requesting of you."

"And since when do we hosts make the requests, hm?" he inquired with a brow raised.

She worried a little that the infamous "Shadow King" would come out just because she's dared to even touch his computer at all, but no, he was too tired for that. Perhaps if it had been one of the twins that had done so, the dark aura would have emerged, but no, not this time with her.

He sighed instead as he leaned back in his seat. "Fine," he complied, removing his glasses to tiredly rub his eyes and clean the seemingly spotless lenses. "But only five minutes. I can't afford more than that today seeing as to the fact that I have deadlines to meet."

Haruhi, not actually having expected her spontaneous action to actually work out, smiled at the black-haired host, who seemed to be far easier to read without the frames before his eyes, in her opinion.

As he looked down at the cloth and frame in his hand, she noticed just how long his lashes really were, how far his hair fell into his face. If she looked carefully enough, she could see that he was becoming ever-so-slightly worn looking, no doubt an effect of countless sleepless nights and stresses of working.

The young Ootori seemed more fierce without the wall to hide him, but also more human than "Shadow King".

Then again, with or without glasses, that dark aura was probably just as frightening to some. She laughed a bit at the thought of a certain blond senpai and red-headed twins cowering before a freshly awoken Kyoya.

"If you'd like a picture, we do have photo albums on sale, you know." His retort brought her back to her senses and she blushed lightly in embarrassment at the misunderstanding.

"Sorry, senpai, I didn't mean to stare or anything, I just sort of got distracted by my thoughts."

"Oh?" Kyoya set his glasses down on the table, deciding to give his eyes a longer break as he took hold of his cup of barely warm coffee. "You've got your three minutes left, so humor me."

Haruhi scratched the back of her head as she thought through her words, "Well, I mean, it's not because you're handsome or anything, not that you aren't, of course," she added the ending to avoid accidental insult along with the initial misunderstanding, "but because you're a lot easier to understand like this. You're more exposed, so reading your real intentions and gauging your reactions isn't so hard. I guess you could say that the mask is off."

Kyoya let out a quiet chuckle. "You make it sound as if you've never seen me without my glasses on, Haruhi. Or at least barely."

"Well, rarely, and not for long," she clarified.

A noticeable smirk found its way onto the boy's face as he looked over at her, a moderately mischievous air to his words as he then proceeded to remind her of a past moment. "The beach trip?" Haruhi could swear she noticed a small spark flicker in his eyes to go along with the short reminder.

"It certainly allowed me to almost immediately figure out your true intentions that night," she admitted. "I could see it in your eyes; there was no hint of maliciousness, just concern, mainly, behind the act."

His eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms, cup no longer in hand, not pointedly but thoughtfully (although Haruhi wondered if perhaps he'd just been squinting without his visual aid). "If you find me to be so easy to read, Haruhi, then do tell me what it is right now that you can see."

"Alright then," she agreed to his challenge. The girl leaned forward on the table a little, trying to get a good vantage point to really look into his onyx eyes. "You're tired. You're still itching to get back to work, but at the same time you seem pretty relaxed for a change. You don't really mind this break at all. In fact, you're enjoying it, so I know you aren't mad at me for making you take it. Am I right?"

Of course she was. But would he simply give her the victory? Of course not.

"Anything else?" he asked, unaware that he himself had begun to lean across the table a bit.

"Probably, but it's not like you're a book, Kyoya-senpai. I can't get all the words, just a big picture."

Well, isn't that reassuring? he thought. There were some things she didn't need to pick up on.

Like the way he didn't simply "welcome" her company, but wanted it, and the way he didn't simply take a break because he needed to, but because she wanted him to take it, among other little things that he himself was beginning to notice.

Like the fact that he was leaning towards her so casually now.

Swiftly he fixed his posture, deciding that it was a good time to get back to those calculations. The glasses went back on, and just like that, the wall was back. At least, he told himself that.

"Well, I do believe it's been over five minutes, and as much as I have been intrigued by our conversation, I need to be getting back to what I was taking care of beforehand."

"Right," Haruhi sighed, expecting as much. "I'll stop interrupting now and let you get to it."

From that point on that afternoon it was the usual comfortable silence, aside from his "Thank you" as a response to her refilling his cup and their simple goodbyes when she finished up cleaning and decided to head home.

"And, Kyoya-senpai?" she paused before walking out the door.

"Yes?"

"Please at least try to get some more rest? Don't work yourself to the bone. We all worry about you, y'know? At least, I know I can speak for myself, though I'm sure the others feel that way too."

At that, Kyoya did stop to look at the "natural" host, and she saw one of those rare, genuine smiles that were reserved and only came out on occasion. It was small, but it was enough for her to understand the appreciation he wanted to convey, the assurance. She felt, not his cool demeanor, but his underlying warmth. "I apologize for worrying you, Haruhi. I promise to try getting a bit more rest today, alright?"

At this, she smiled back at him happily. "Yeah, sounds good. Have a nice day, senpai."

"You too. See you tomorrow, Haruhi."

And with that, she left, leaving behind a Kyoya who couldn't focus quite as well as he had been earlier due to new thoughts bubbling up in his head, some old that had been long ignored and suppressed, all wanting his attention, to be analyzed.

One thing was for certain: he wouldn't be resting quite so easily that night either, and if not because of over-working himself, it would be because of his recurring thoughts of Haruhi.

Hello, and thank you for reading! I honestly have no idea where this may go. If it looks like some of you guys are actually interested, I'll try to continue it, see where I can take this. Otherwise, I suppose this could be a one shot. IDK YET BUT HEY I LIKED IT :D

I wrote this in the middle of math class so ayyy, maybe more will come next time I'm supposed to be doing classwork xD

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this, and if you have suggestions/ideas as to where this could go, feel free to let me know! It could help my imagination wander enough to actually add on to this.

Man, it's been a while since I've written. I might pick up on some old, unfinished stories I have too. Huh.

WELP, have a good one! :)

-KC