Came up with this one while reading "Bread & Butter" (manga) and thought there wasn't enough average sized OC characters being paired up with Honey. Everyone always seems to make his match short like him and/or with an obsession with sweets and some stuffed animal of some kind and trained in martial arts. I hoped this would be different from the norm. PS. I know very little about actual baking, so my bad if there's something wrong. Warning: there is mentions of homophobia in this. None of it is my opinion. All of this is fiction.

The scents and smells of freshly baked bread swirled throughout the bakery as I took the trays carefully out of the oven and placed them on the counter. My stomach growled and my mouth watered, but I pushed through my hunger and began setting up the front for when the shop opened. The coffee maker was turned on and I set out the baguettes and bagels, the anpans and bread rolls, pretzels and scones, donuts and sourdough, French bread, croissants, and many other varieties of bread. All freshly baked, myself having started early this morning so that they would all be finished by the time we opened. I say 'we' but for the most part, I'm the only one running this place.

It's a small bakery/café that most would pass if they hadn't caught scent of the smell. A hole-in-the-wall store with not much more than bread, drinks, and the occasional sweet to be sold. There were diligent customers that came often though. People who, after having tried the bread, would come again and again claiming that it was different from other bread they've had. I didn't mind. More work, sure, but that also meant more money to keep the shop going. That, and I enjoyed the pleased expressions that the customers made while eating from my shop. It was nice to feel as though something I did made a difference in someone's day.

I stretched my arms over my head with a yawn and went back into the kitchen, pulling out the items to be in the refrigerated display and carefully carrying them to the front. Tarts, pies, cakes, cookies, éclairs, cheesecake, and other such items joined the bread and I started wiping off the counter from all the flour that had come off my apron and dropped on the smooth granite surface. Checking the clock, I noticed that I had maybe twenty minutes before the shop needed to be opened and I frowned. Where is that idiot Chiharu? She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. I groaned, questioning why my parents hired her when all she does is sit around on her phone.

Shaking my head, I grabbed myself a cup of coffee and stripped out of my apron, heading to the backroom and grabbing my school bag, digging out my clothes and changing. Once I was dressed in my black pants, white dress shirt, red tie, and black jacket I went back out to the front just in time to catch Chiharu trying to sneak in.

"You're late." I growled, not pleased as she tilted her head back and groaned loudly.

"Ugh, I swear you've got like a sixth sense or something!" She complained, tossing up her hands. "You always catch me!"

"That's because you're always late." I said with a roll of my eyes as I grabbed a croissant, dropping my own money into the cash register and cut the bread in half, filling it with some cheese and lettuce and turkey I'd grabbed from the fridge. "At least take down the orders this time. I know my parents pay you to spy on me, but you could at least do that much."

"I'll think about it." She said, going to her usual chair behind the counter and pulling out her iPod and a magazine from her purse; a loud 'snap' coming from the gum she was chewing making me wince.

"And stop chewing gum at work! It's freakin' rude!"

With that, I stormed out of the shop and began my trek to school, muttering under my breath.

"Stupid parents, hiring someone like her. I don't need babysitting. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'll flirt with the customers. I'm not stupid. Che." I pulled a hand through my black and dark violet streaked hair.

I had every right to be upset. I had come out to my parents last month and they completely hated that fact, practically disowning me and kicking me out of the house to fend for myself. They still wanted me working in the bakery though, because I brought in money when they needed it. My mother is a magazine editor and my father is a police officer. Neither of which made a whole lot, thus explaining their need for me to keep working. The shop wasn't even ours, technically. It was my grandfather's, who'd passed away a year previously. I had been working there since I was about 8, having always loved helping him carry out the bread and smelling the scents and such. He was the one who taught me how to enjoy even the smallest things in life, but ever since he passed away, I felt like I've lost sight of that. The only thing I had left was the bakery that he left behind for me, but I couldn't even have that until I was 18 and independent of my parents.

And that's still a whole two years away. I sighed, lifting my gaze from the sidewalk and finding a curious sight not far from me. A young blonde kid was humming cheerfully eating a—rather large—ice cream cone as he crossed the street. Behind him were a group of high school students, wearing the same periwinkle uniform the blonde boy was, who had stopped to apparently shove their faces up against a glass window displaying children's toys. I couldn't quite figure out what they were so excited about and shook it off, getting ready to cross the street myself adjacent to the blonde kid. Unfortunately, I'm a nice person. So when I hear the screeching of tires and shouts, I turned to see what was going on.

"Mitsukuni!"

Quickly spotting the car rushing towards the small blonde and seeing him only just barely notice it, I ran over, dropping my bag, and diving across the street for him. I felt my arms wrap around him and ignored the squelching of his ice cream hitting the street, I protected him the best I could as my body collided with the concrete and the car sped away. I groaned quietly as I sat up, one arm still wrapped around the blonde's waist, and I checked him over.

"You alright?"

"Ah, yeah! I'm okay!" He said, looking over himself briefly before turning to give me a grin. "Thanks! You saved me!"

"Yeah, it was, uh, no problem, I guess." I said as he got off me and I went to stand, only to cringe as I did so.

My forearms were scraped pretty badly, as were my knees and my left shoulder, thus putting holes in my uniform. I could also feel areas where I knew I'd be bruised later and I frowned, knowing that my parents weren't going to be pleased at all, but I tried to not really think about it too much as I headed back to where I dropped my bag and picked up my things. Already, I could hear the blonde meeting up with the other high schoolers I'd seen earlier, but I'd rather not deal with all the drama and quietly snuck away to hurry to school, hoping that I wouldn't be late.

Unfortunately I was, but the moment I showed up to class battered and bruised, the teacher excused me and told me to hurry to the infirmary. Once I was patched up as much as the nurse could, I was sent back to classes begrudgingly and went on with my normal routine of trying to pay attention and not fall asleep or doodle in my notebook. I'm not normally a hard working A student. The best grades I used to get were the occasional B+, but I thought that if I worked hard and kept my grades up, that perhaps my parents would realize that me being gay doesn't have to be a bad thing. It was stupid thinking, personally, and despite the fact that I'd been studying hard for the past year they hadn't paid one bit of attention to what I had to say about anything. And yet, I couldn't help but think, maybe if I get into a good college they'd finally listen, so I continued to struggle with my studies in an attempt to make them notice me. Eventually, school was out and I left with a sigh, my only friend hurrying over to my side.

"Kosuke! Kooooosuke!"

I stopped walking and turned my head, waiting for the pouting brown haired idiot to catch up with me.

"Mo, you walk too fast! Why didn't you wait for me?" He whined as we started walking again.

"Because I need to go to work. Who knows what Chiharu did while I was gone."

"Ehhhhhh? That's it? And here I was worried thinking you were going home to rest after saving some kid from getting hit." He leaned forwards, eyeing the bandages along my forearms that were visible since I rolled up my jacket sleeves. "You got pretty banged up, after all."

He poked my arm, sending a spike of pain up to my shoulder and I punched him in the back of the head.

"The hell! That hurts you know!"

He rubbed the lump forming on his head with a chuckle, grinning playfully. "Heh, just checking~"

"Well stop checking." I scolded, rubbing the area with a wince as I grumbled under my breath. "Baking is going to be a pain."

"Leave it to me!" He said loudly, holding up a fist with his other hand on his bicep. "I'll do all the heavy lifting!"

I sweat dropped. "There's almost no heavy lifting in baking, you idiot, and I already told you before that my parents won't let you come in the bakery after what happened."

He pouted, stuffing his hands deeply into his pants pockets. "That sucks. They really think you'll end up flirting in the workplace or something? You're the last guy I'd see doing that. You're about as emotional as a rock."

"Oi." I muttered with a glare, but I couldn't really hate him.

After all, Hayato was my old time friend and completely straight, so no getting any crazy ideas. Sure, he was quirky and a little off sometimes, but he was the one who convinced me to come out to my parents and supported me the whole way. I didn't know anyone who would do half of what he did for me, especially not my ex, who dumped me that very same day. My parents banned Hayato from entering the bakery though, because they wouldn't listen when I told them he was straight and we didn't have any interest in each other. So the only time I saw him was at school and the few times I let him sneak over to my house when I lived with my parents—who were either not home or asleep—or vise-versa. All around though, he was a good guy, even if he was an idiot sometimes.

"Well, let me know if you have any cute girls for customers, neh?" He said cheerfully as we approached the store. "I could always do with a girlfriend, so no holding out on me."

I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. "Yeah, yeah. If I see anyone, I'll let you know."

He laughed before waving and heading home and I sighed again as I entered the shop and headed to the back, apologizing to some of the people waiting in line and putting on my apron. Chiharu was obviously taking her time with everything, so it was up to me to get things moving again.

"It's about time you got here." She complained, handing the man on the other side of the counter his bag and shoving a notepad into my chest as she walked past me, not even caring about my beat up appearance. "I'm going on break."

Yeah, thanks, leave me with everything. I mentally complained, though outwardly, I put on a small smile for the customers.

"So sorry about the wait. What can I get you?"

I was forced to dash around the shop, getting customers what they wanted and starting up the ovens to put in more bread as we started to run out of things. It took forever to get everyone satisfied, but after a long while of working, the shop was nearly empty with only a few people still sitting around and conversing at a table. Going into the back room, where Chiharu was messing on her phone, I caught her attention as I went over to the shop's phone.

"Hey, did you do as I asked?"

"Hm, oh. Yeah. It's over there." She said, waving a hand nonchalantly.

I felt my brow twitch as I picked up a flimsy piece of paper with pen scribbles on it. "Is this a napkin?"

"Sure is."

"You're lucky I know how to read idiot, or I'd have a real problem with this." I grumbled under my breath, before turning to her. "Can you watch the front while I get started on these orders?"

"If by watch, you mean call you when someone needs something, sure." She said, getting up and moving into the front as I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

Just don't think about it. Stay calm and just… move on. Letting out the breath I had been holding, I moved over to the cupboards and dug out the ingredients I would need for the first order. Three tier, black forest cake for an anniversary. Whipped cream frosting and chocolate syrup along with the usual cherry filling, and fondant roses? Geeze, that's probably going to be a little tough, but it's not something I haven't done before. I'll save the roses for last. I pulled out my iPod and stuck in one headphone, leaving my other ear open should Chiharu call me for something, before getting to work. Eggs, sugar, flour, chocolate; everything was mixed diligently and when it was just the right consistency, I poured it into three pans and stuck them in the oven.

As the scent of chocolate cake began to fill the bakery, I moved onto the next order, two strawberry cheesecakes. Right as I was getting into the swing of things though, Chiharu called from the front.

"Oi! Cake head! Customers!"

"I'm in the middle of something! You get it!" I called back, but she wasn't having that and stood in the doorway with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Table three wants more tea, and there's a group of hot, high school guys asking for you. Now, unless you want me talking to your parents about them showing up here, I suggest you go and find out what they want."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, not knowing any group of hot, high school guys that would be looking for me; at least, none with any good intentions. But I'd rather just go deal with it than have Chiharu spouting some bull crap to my parents and making things worse. So I set down my things and wiped my face with my shoulder—probably smearing the flour on my face instead of getting rid of it—before heading out to the front and heating up the tea on the stove as I moved behind the cash register and called out to the regulars at table three.

"I'm reheating the tea! Give it a minute or two!"

They nodded, not looking rushed or anything, which made me smile slightly as I turned to the cash register and spoke to the group in front of me.

"What can I get you?"

When I looked up though, I paled, not expecting the excited looking group of high schoolers I saw this morning on the way to school.

"Wah! Look at all the bread! They even have baguettes, Kyoya!"

"And a wide variety of others as well. Hm."

"The inside's pretty nice too, though the outside isn't very eye-catching."

"Huh, I actually think it's pretty nice. Cozy, kind of."

"Ah! Look at all the sweets, Takashi!"

"Ah."

I blinked at the group, none of them really coming forward to order anything and just all around being loud and obnoxious as they found various things to criticize in the shop. A tall blonde pointed out the French bread to a dark haired, glasses fellow. Beside them a smaller brunette—and rather feminine—boy looked at things calmly next to a set of red headed twins. And then the little blonde kid I had helped earlier was there looking at the sweets with his tall, stoic companion. Chiharu was right when she said they were hot, but I was just going to keep that fact to myself. Other than that though, I didn't really know what to do, but the other customers already seated in the shop didn't seem to mind their enthusiasm and, as the whistle from the tea pot let me know it was done, I went ahead and took it to table three and refilled their cups.

"Looks like you have a rambunctious group of customers, neh, Kosuke?"

I chuckled nervously. "Seems so." I stood upright with a small smile. "Just let me know if there's anything else you need. Or let Chiharu know, if I'm back in the kitchen again."

He bowed his head and I bowed as well, before walking to put the hot tea back, only for one of the boys to grab me and start shaking me.

"You work here, right?! What else do you have?! These selections are très bon!"

I winced as his violent movements made me loose my grip on the tea pot and I accidentally dropped it, shattering it on the ground. Sighing, I pulled a hand through my hair as the blonde apologized over and over again.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have been shaking you while you were handling that!"

I waved him off, pulling a rag from my apron pocket and starting to clean up the spill, before picking up the larger of the glass pieces. "It's fine. Just stay away from here until I get it all cleaned up and… try to settle down a bit." I stood up and gave him a dull expression, trying to hide my annoyance. "This is an eating establishment, not a playground."

He cowered a bit and I walked off, dropping the pieces in the trash and the rag in the sink in the kitchen as I grabbed a broom.

"I heard something break." Chiharu said, though not sounding the least bit concerned. "I'll let your parents know to take it out of your pay."

I frowned, not pleased about that. Especially since it was my tea pot in the first place.

"Thanks." I grumbled sarcastically.

Once I walked out and started sweeping, I noticed the blonde who'd made me drop the pot, sitting in a corner with a dark cloud above his head. I shook it off with a sigh and finished cleaning up the mess, before dumping it off in the trash and moving behind the cash register again, this time in the hopes of getting the group out of my shop before they broke something else.

"I'm going to have to ask that you please order something."

The group was still goofing around, though I noticed a majority of them over by the blonde in the corner and I felt a little guilty as my grandfather's words came to mind.

"Remember why we make bread, Kosuke, to make people happy."

Begrudgingly, I got up and went to the back, grabbing what I needed to make something to cheer him up, and coming back out to the hot plate in the front and heating it up. Moments later, I poured out some batter and used a trowel spreader to flatten it out thinly. I put it to the side on a piece of paper, once it was cooked, before sprinkling it with powdered sugar and putting a strawberry spread over it; cutting slices of strawberries and laying them out on it and adding my own special mix of whip cream, before folding it carefully and wrapping it. I then picked it up and carried it over to the group, moving past them to the depressed blonde and kneeling down, holding out the crêpe.

"Here. Sorry about my rude comment before. So please stop…" I waved a hand at him nonchalantly. "…whatever this is."

He peeked out at me with teary eyes, hesitantly taking the crêpe as I stood and went back to the cash register. Give it a minute. I told myself, getting behind the counter and counting down in my head. Three, two, one…

"C'est délicieux!" The blonde shouted, standing up quickly and rushing over. "This crêpe is amazing! How did you do it?!"

"Very carefully." I said, unable to hide the hint of a smile on my face. He's like every child that comes in here for the first time. "Now, is there anything else you'd like?"

"Oh yes! I'll take a croissant, and a baguette, and a—"

"Tamaki." The dark haired boy with glasses walked up, distracting the blonde. "Remember why we came here."

"Right! Honey-senpai." He turned to the little blonde kid I had helped out earlier, but I mentally paused.

Did he call him 'senpai'? I looked down at the kid as he approached the counter and gave me a big grin.

"Thanks a lot for saving me!"

"Welcome." I said, just sort of staring at him a little lost.

He chuckled. "You don't talk much, do you? You're like Takashi!"

I raised a brow in confusion, before the rather tall guy walked up behind him. He's a lot taller than I thought… I shakily pointed to him.

"I'm guessing that's Takashi?"

He nodded. "Uh-huh! But most people call him Mori! I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can call me Honey!"

"A-Ah… Kosuke… Kosuke Saito." I blinked again in confusion, before deciding to get right down to the point. "You're… older than you look, aren't you?"

He nodded, looking really happy, for some reason. "Yup! I'm 18!"

E-Eighteen?! He's a whole two years older than me, but a near two feet shorter than me! I shrugged the thought off, before dropping my chin in my hand.

"So I'm guessing you came here for a reason then?"

He nodded, as cheerful as ever. "To say thank you!"

I sweat dropped. "You said thank you three times now."

"Because I'm really grateful!"

"R-Right…" He's so… happy. It's a little weird, but also a bit… endearing, I suppose. "So, are you going to buy anything? Because if not, I kind of have a bunch of orders I need to work on getting done."

"Ah! I want lots of stuff!" He said, something telling me that this order was going to be big, so I slowly brought out my notepad and a pen. "I want a piece of chocolate cake and strawberry, and cheesecake, and apple pie, and blackberry pie, and cherry pie, and three cookies, and ten cream puffs, and a cinnamon roll, and two donuts… with sprinkles! And—"

The list went on and on, and as I jotted everything down, I wondered silently where he was going to shove all this food. Perhaps he's sharing with his friends o-or maybe he'll take most of it home, because there's no way he can—

"Did you get all that?" He asked, still grinning brightly.

"Y-Yeah. Um, just curious, but… are you taking some of that home with you?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "No, I'm going to eat it, silly!"

I sent Takashi a look, questioning if what he was saying is true, and he nodded, not looking the least bit surprised.

I scratched the back of my head, looking down at the notepad. "Alright. If it makes you happy…"

I went around, picking up what he asked for and packing it away on a number of trays as he went to sat down, before taking the orders of the other high schoolers and doing the same. I had to push a few tables together to fit them all, but I didn't mind and I pushed the carts full of food over to them and began passing things out. About half-way through though, I suddenly stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Honey asked, but I wasn't paying attention, closing my eyes and lifting my head a bit, sniffing.

I stopped and looked over at them, bowing slightly. "You'll have to excuse me a moment, my cake layers are done."

With that, I hurried away from their table and rushed to the back, pulling out the cake pans and inhaling deeply as I set them carefully on a few wire racks, on the kitchen counter to cool. I then turned in search of Chiharu, but she had disappeared and only a note on the center counter remained. Picking it up and reading it, I frowned, before crumpling the paper in my hands and slamming it back on the counter.

"That little wench!"

Chiharu had left, apparently, to go on a date with her boyfriend and being sure to let me know that she was still going to tell my parents about the broken tea pot, though it seemed she would leave out the group of high schoolers who'd come by, oddly enough. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I went back out front and gave the group a small smile, hoping that my frustration wasn't showing through.

"Sorry about that. I had to get them out or they'd burn."

Honey smiled, practically bouncing in his seat. "That's okay, Ko-kun! Could you tell they were done by the smell? I didn't hear a timer."

I nodded. "When you've cooked things a number of times, you know what they smell like when they're finished just right. That, and I have a good nose."

"Wow! But… you look super busy, Ko-kun."

I nodded, handing out the rest of the orders to his friends. "I am… quite busy."

The glasses wearing one, Kyoya, spoke up then. "Do you run this shop with the only one other employee?"

"Technically? Yes. In reality… not so much."

The blonde, Tamaki, tilted his head in confusion, still chewing on his crêpe. "What do you mean?"

I began filling up cups of water or tea, passing them around as I spoke. "I do the baking, the finances, the table waiting, and the over-the-phone orders on my own. Chiharu works the register while I'm at school and answers the phone to take down the orders sometimes."

"Woah, you do all of that by yourself?" The pair of red-headed twins asked. "What about your parents?"

"They're… busy and don't care for me too much." I said, not liking where the conversation was heading. "This was my grandfather's shop before he passed away. He gave it to me, but I still have another two years before I get full ownership. Until then, I have to go by my parent's rules and they don't help much."

"Poor Ko-kun." Honey said, looking upset, but I shrugged.

"It's a lot of work, but it pays off. I like seeing people enjoy my food." I smiled softly, handing Honey his drink to find him giving me a big smile.

"Neh, Ko-kun? Can we come here again?"

I blinked. "Sure. I mean, it's not like I'll lock the doors when I see you coming or anything."

He laughed, before looking at a plate of cake in front of him and licking his lips, quickly digging in. The first bite though, made him stop and turn to me with wide eyes.

"It's super good!"

"Thank you." I said, watching as the others of his group finally began eating with surprised looks as well.

"Woah! It's great!"

"Even the store by my house isn't this good…"

"It certainly is… unexpected."

"Mon ami! This is the best bread I've ever eaten!"

I thanked them again, before giving them a small bow. "I appreciate it, I work hard to make my customers happy. If you need me, just call to the back. I have a number of orders I must finish."

I left them to enjoy their food and went back to the kitchen to finish up the cheesecake and the black forest cake I had started. It took a while, and I only got an occasional call from the group out front, but eventually, I had nothing to do while some of the orders were baking. The only thing left, were the fondant roses needed for the black forest anniversary cake, but the area to prepare those was in the front. I hesitated, knowing that the group was still here to have a club meeting—or so they said—but I gathered my courage and grabbed my iPod, putting in my headphones in the hopes that some music would help block out any sounds from them and help me focus.

I stuffed my decorating bag with fondant that I had prepared and made sure I had the flat tip put on it, before I moved to the front counter were a small stand sat with a tray beside it, already covered with wax paper to put the finished roses on. I hummed quietly to myself as I worked, carefully spinning the small stand as I added petal after petal of the rose before cautiously placing it on the paper covered tray. I hadn't noticed the others watching me after a while, nor when they came over closer to watch, until they were right across from me and I had finished over a dozen fondant roses.

"Wow! That's really cool, right Takashi?!"

"That's a lot of roses."

"You would think it would be more time consuming, but he managed to do it in a short amount of time."

"Just shows how skilled he is as an artisan, Kyoya!"

"I'll admit, they're really neat, but I think you guys are over-reacting just a bit."

I pulled out one of my headphones and shook my head, still a little surprised. "No. It's alright. I, uh, don't mind the praise." I told the brunette as he tried to calm the others down. "But could you guys introduce yourselves again? I think I'm missing some names."

"Ah! How rude of us!" The blonde said loudly, gathering everyone up and giving an overly elaborate bow. "I am Tamaki Suoh. This man—" He gestured to the glasses guy. "—is Kyoya Ootori. Beside him is Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. Then, Honey and Mori, as you already know. And finally Haruhi Fujioka."

I glanced at them each, once again taking in their rather good looks, before giving them a small bow as well. "Kosuke Saito."

I wasn't really sure what to do once more, glancing down at the left over fondant in my bag and the lack of room on the tray, before I thought of something.

"If you want, I have enough fondant to do a few more." I said, looking back at the group as some of them grew excited. "I can let each of you have one, probably. I don't want the fondant to go to waste."

"Really?!"

I nodded, backing up a bit as Tamaki leaned over the counter. "S-Sure?"

"Yay! We get yummy roses, Takashi!" Honey cheered as I started making them, the tall, stoic man just giving a grunt of a response.

Once I finished handing out the roses to the group, I took notice of the clock on the wall and sighed, looking back at the group.

"I apologize, but I need to close up."

A majority 'aw'-ed in response, but they eventually headed out with kind waves and thanks. I still wasn't too sure what to make of the odd group of guys, but there was one thing I knew for sure.

"They really are hot." I muttered under my breath as I went back to the kitchen with a light blush on my cheeks.