As soon as the movie finished, someone's stomach let out an impressive growl; the culprit's face quickly turned a bright crimson, and suddenly she was smothered in Tamaki's chest. "My poor daughter, we've been so cruel to ignore your needs all morning! Of course you're hungry, we whisked you here almost immediately after waking up! MOTHER! QUICKLY! LEAD THE WAY TO THE KITCHEN!"

Haruhi couldn't keep her eye from twitching through this over-the-top display of idiocy. "Get off me, Tamaki-senpai. I'm fi-..." Her sentence trailed off with a small gulp as she noticed a certain pair of gray eyes narrowed while watching her intently from beside where she'd settled in during the movie, one eyebrow disappearing into the ebony hairline. That look meant trouble, no two ways about it. Strangely, she also found herself blushing under Kyoya's scrutiny. "Er, I mean, if everyone else is hungry too, I guess I could eat, it is almost lunch time…"

Apparently that appeased the Shadow King, as his eyebrows returned to their customary places on his face. "Better answer, Haruhi." Gracefully, Kyoya extricated himself from the soft cushions of the couch. He always does things so gracefully, damn rich bastard, Haruhi thought to herself, more annoyed at herself for letting her eyes linger than she was at him for intimidating her into accepting lunch- not that she'd ever admit to her wandering eyes, if someone ever asked. "I'll go downstairs to the kitchen to see what I can have thrown together and brought back up here. It will be far more pleasant than going to the dining room." Kyoya's face was set into his typical smirk as he turned to walk from the room. Mori rose quietly and followed him, Honey waving goodbye in his cousin's the space between the two young men and the room containing their friends widened a bit, Mori looked over at Kyoya. "You're not wasting any time, are you?"

The younger man knew something along these lines was coming when he heard Mori follow him out of the room. Strictly speaking, Kyoya could have called down to the kitchen, but he needed a moment away from his exuberant friend group; he should have known Mori would follow him regardless. So, instead of answering right away, he attempted to test the waters, see where his friend was going to go with this conversation. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

Mori looked at him sedately, an eyebrow raised. "You know what I mean. I was there this morning too, you know."

"Would you believe me if I said that was an accident? The storm last night had her terrified. I tried to take her mind off of it by talking, and we fell asleep. Ranka must have put the blanket on us when he came home. I didn't even notice we were holding hands until a fraction of a second before you all came spilling through the door." Kyoya sighed and ran a hand through his hair, and a hand landed on his shoulder.

"I'm not saying that you were trying anything perverted, or whatever the twins and Tamaki would say. I'm just saying that whatever it is you're doing, seems to be working. Good for you." The older boy nodded firmly, one side of his mouth twitching up in the vague hint of a smile, truly happy that things were apparently working out for his friend.

Kyoya allowed himself a small smile, aimed in his friend's general direction, and a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, one Ootori could get his happy ending.

After a lunch that left Haruhi in a slightly worrying state of utter bliss, the gang reconvened in the same room as before, the twins sprawled all over each other on a loveseat, Mori in a maroon wingback chair to the left of the twins, Honey at his feet. Tamaki stood before the group, gesturing animatedly while trying to decide further activities for the rest of their free afternoon. Kyoya leaned against the wall behind him, shaking his head at the unending well of energy that was his best friend. Haruhi placed herself next to Kyoya- since she figured she'd probably not have to deal with any strange behavior from him- standing with her hands behind her back, smiling at the show in front of her. They might be idiots, but she had grown so fond of the Host Club after her forced induction. Almost at the same time as she had that thought, she immediately regretted it; Tamaki had decided what their next activity would be.

He pointed his finger at her, grinning like a madman. "Haruhi! You're going to teach us how commoners dance!" Instantly, Haruhi felt a headache coming on.

"Senpai, I'd really rather not. It's nowhere near as dignified as waltzing or whatever." Haruhi really hoped he'd drop the subject, but knew she couldn't get that lucky. Especially after what he had seen that morning; he was bound to try to assert his claim, or whatever. It didn't seem to matter that he had no claim whatsoever to Haruhi. That was another thing she appreciated about Kyoya, she thought, as an unwelcome blush touched her cheeks; he never forced her to do anything she didn't want to do, and respected her as a person, while the others seemed to think of her as a possession, or a doll who would just mindlessly agree to whatever scheme they'd dreamt up. Well, other than always threatening her with more debt, that is.

Unfortunately, Tamaki didn't notice her train of thought, and took her blush for embarrassment at being asked to dance, and being Tamaki, he decided to push the point. "Come, Haruhi! Don't you wish to make your father happy?!" He pulled out the puppy dog eyes and the quivering lip he knew Haruhi always gave in to. And, as per usual, she did. But, she figured if she scandalized them all, maybe they'd stop asking her to teach them "commoner things" altogether. It was probably a moot, point, but she'd try anything some days. She wracked her brain for an appropriately risque song and then grinned, thinking of one she had heard in middle school. It was an American song, if she remembered correctly, and it stuck out to her mostly because of how the other girls had listened to it, whispering about how bad it was. Yes, that one would be perfect.

This was going to be a bad idea, Kyoya could already tell. This was just going to be another excuse for Tamaki to stare at her, or worse- touch her. Kyoya's hand twitched at the thought. He wasn't prone to violence, not really. He'd rather show power through professional means, like buying a company out from under someone, or banning them for eternity from somewhere with the right words whispered to the right people. He left the acts of force to his bodyguards. But damn him if the thought of Tamaki's hands on Haruhi didn't make Kyoya want to rearrange his friend's face. Just a little. And then Haruhi smiled. Shit. Not only did the smile not bode well for Tamaki's plan, it made Kyoya's hand twitch again for a completely different reason. He wanted to grab her, kiss that evil little smile off her face. His Shadow Queen.

He blinked. His what now? That was a new one. However, before he had time to ponder that reaction, Haruhi spoke up.

"Fine. I'll do it. But I'm picking the song. And my partner." Tamaki began to protest, and Haruhi held up her hand to stop him. "If you insist on this nonsense, then this is how it's going to go, Senpai. No arguments." Tamaki's shoulders slumped, but he gave in.

"Good. Now…" She turned on her heel, and faced the last person anyone expected her to. "Kyoya-senpai, if you wouldn't mind?"

Kyoya blinked. This was going to be… interesting. He had been to a club once or twice, for a business deal or another, and knew the kind of dancing Haruhi must have had in mind. He bowed his head to her in agreement. "Certainly, Haruhi. Which song do you have in mind?" She went to him, and whispered the name in his ear. If he were any other man, he'd be grinning wildly now, simply from the fact that he knew this was going to just about kill Tamaki. As it was, the corner of his mouth tilted up and he nodded to Haruhi, and attended to his sound system, queueing up the request.

He returned to the small woman's side, unsure if she knew what exactly she was going to do, both to the onlookers, and to Kyoya himself.

The music began and the sweet, innocent Haruhi they knew and loved was replaced. Kyoya was mesmerized when she took his hands and placed them on her hips as she pressed close and began moving her hips seductively to the beat.

Do the Helen Keller, and talk with your hips…

Kyoya moved with her, more subtly, while she most certainly did talk with her hips. She turned around, eyes closed. She gyrated her hips, her hand on the back of Kyoya's neck, her ass a heairsbreadth away from his own hips. Closing his eyes, he had to focus to keep the separation between them, what little there was. This is only a show. It means nothing. But he enjoyed it just the same. He found himself smiling, a real smile, as Haruhi looked up at him, smiling too, as the song ended. They froze for a moment, then Kyoya coughed and backed away. Haruhi turned bright red, back to herself. They both turned to the rest of the crew standing behind them.

Mori had dragged Honey into his side so that he couldn't see the display, despite the smaller man's protests and attempts to extricate himself-and Mori's eyes were large as he met Kyoya's. The twins and Tamaki seemed to be having out-of-body experiences, because none of them were moving. The lights were on, but there was nobody home, apparently.

"Are you happy now, Senpai?" Haruhi asked the blond club president, hands on her hips. Tears began to stream down his face as he came-to.

"I AM MOST CERTAINLY NOT HAPPY! MOTHER, WHY DID YOU AGREE TO GO ALONG WITH THIS? OUR POOR DAUGHTER…" Kyoya and Haruhi rolled their eyes in tandem.

"Tamaki, stop being an idiot. You wanted her to show us, and I was the choice she could trust to both cooperate and not be all over her. You don't always understand the concepts of boundaries and personal space." Kyoya's mask slipped back into place as easy as drawing breath. He didn't want any of them knowing how a simple dance affected him. Especially not Haruhi. He would not scare her away. He ignored the daggers Kaoru was shooting his way, and the confused numbness from his best friend. They didn't own Haruhi, or Kyoya. They could make whatever choices they wanted.

And Kyoya didn't want to be alone anymore.

Internally, Haruhi was a mess. She was panicking, first and foremost. I did not just do that with Kyoya-senpai. Please tell me that didn't happen. Oh God. Kill me now. I'll never be able to look him in the eyes again.

Secondly, she was confused as hell because a back of butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach. He was so gentle, that must be it. And his cologne has always smelled wonderful, so maybe it's just that, it gave me a headrush or something. And we just ate so maybe I didn't wait long enough, like the hour you're supposed to wait before swimming. She was trying to talk herself away from the obvious reason- Kyoya was an attractive man, and she had enjoyed the feeling of being so close to him that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. Shadow King he may be, but he was far from cold.

The most prevalent thought, though, was that she wanted to touch him again. Her fingers tingled where they'd rested on his neck, and her hips where his hands had been still felt hotter than the rest of her body. And now she had to face him again, when all she could think about were his gray eyes burning into hers, and the first true smile she'd ever seen on his face.

She wanted to make him do that again.

A/N- hey guys! Surprise! I'm not dead, and neither is this story! I apologize for the long absence; Last November I got a new job that was incredibly stressful and occupied almost all of my time. On top of that, it was very mentally exhausting, and the only thing I wanted to do when I got home was sleep. But! I no longer work there, so hopefully I'll have more time to devote to this! I am looking to be moving several states away in the coming couple months, so if there's a bump, that's probably it. Anywho, I hope the wait was worth it for this chapter. Our dynamic duo saw some more action! I'm hopefully ramping the tension up more so that we'll finally get to the long awaited "kiss kiss fall in love" scene haha! We're about four days from Christmas right now in my family, so Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays to the numerous people who observe their own unique and wonderful holidays, religious or otherwise!

Until next time, everyone! –Waterlilies