One last thank you to everyone who has reviewed throughout - they always make me smile!! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out...
Nope, even after five chapters I still don't think I own OHSHC
Epilogue
The unlikely pair paused in front of the wooden door leading to the Third Music Room. Glancing sideways at each other, they both nodded, mostly in an attempt to boost their own resolve. As Tamaki's right hand stretched out towards the doorknob Haruhi touched his left, twining their fingers together, her small hand nearly lost in his much larger one.
He stopped mid-reach, his hand suspended in mid-air and she watched the deep blush crawl up his neck, over his face, all the way to his scalp. His light hair fell over his forehead, obscuring his eyes as he stared at the floor, clearly embarrassed.
Surprised, she blinked at him questioningly, "Ano, Tamaki, it isn't as though we haven't held hands before," she lifted their clasped hands as if to emphasize her point.
He looked up, fixing her dark eyes with his. "That may be true, but this is different – this is an important step for us. This is like..." he struggled for the precise verbiage, "...our official declaration to the world that we are madly in love!"
"Or five of our closest friends." She interjected dryly, knowing she had already lost him to another farfetched daydream.
Grandly he brushed his hair back from his eyes, already considering the many possibilities as he gazed unseeing into the distance, "Perhaps we should have arranged some sort of ceremony or service…maybe even a small reception…"
They had been hiding their relationship for two weeks now and had finally decided to tell the rest of the club. They simply couldn't hide it from their friends any longer – it wasn't fair and it wasn't honest. In reality, she was amazed they had made it this long – her significant other not exactly one for secrets… or subtlety.
Haruhi only hoped things would go smoothly, with a minimum of mayhem. Unlikely with this group, she knew – although it was going to be significantly less disruptive than if the situation were reversed and she were behind the door with another club member. Actually, she corrected mentally, if that had happened they would never be able to break it to Tamaki. Raising a thoughtful eyebrow, her mind's eye pictured an image of her and Hunny-Senpai holding hands; he still clinging to Bun Bun and she towering over him even with her decidedly small stature.
She shook her head at the implausibility of it – besides, there was nobody behind those doors she would prefer to the one standing next to her.
Even if said male was currently pondering the logistics of an "Official Dating Announcement Ritual."
She sighed, but not unhappily, having already accepted him along with his widely varying moods and outbursts. Continuing through the doors on her own, she was halfway across the room before he even noticed she had abandoned him.
Not appreciating being left behind, he burst through the doors, long legs allowing him to easily catch up with the petite girl. "Haruhiii!!" he protested, "How can we make a Formal Courtship Proclamation if you are missing the other member of the –"
He stopped mid-stride, realizing that five pairs of eyes were now locked on him. Not counting those of his girlfriend which were currently blinking at him in her usually unruffled way. His expression was so mournful, she couldn't restrain a slight smirk from breaking out on her face. Too wrapped up in his own remorse, Tamaki failed to notice her amusement as he continued to hang his head, "Gomen nasai, Haruhi – I didn't mean to spoil the announcement."
From the table, Kyoya waived an uninterested hand in their direction, bespectacled eyes still focused on his notebook, "There's no sense in announcing something we already know."
Mouth agape, Tamaki robotically turned to face his friend, the shock draining his face of color, "W-what?"
"It's true, my lord!!" the twins intoned from across the room, "We figured it out a week and a half ago."
Hunny bounced up and down next to Haruhi, "Uh huh, uh huh – why else would Haru-chan let Tama-chan take her home every night?" Mori nodded in silent agreement with this logic.
Her Tamaki-sense kicking in, Haruhi instinctively grabbed the back of the blonde's shirt, effectively preventing him from sulking off to the Corner of Woe. Though it didn't stop him from continuing to peddle his legs, making him appear much like a runner on a treadmill. Looking around at the grinning faces, she realized it really had been uncharacteristically optimistic of her to think they would ever fool this group. They were entirely too close... and much too meddlesome to have expected anything else. But it was definitely a relief to have everything out in the open - even it appeared it had never really been hidden. Finally releasing the back of his shirt, the still-moving teen plowed face first into the expensive tile floor.
Unperturbed, she offered a hand in assistance and didn't let go even after he was upright, once again at ease with the group. His face turned slightly pink. Well, she was at ease... even if he wasn't.
Slightly less than two weeks ago, Kyoya had initially noticed the change in the two, not at all surprised at what he had foreseen as the obvious outcome. Impassively he had observed the slight differences in behavior that exposed their relationship to a sharp eye.
It was subtle... Tamaki's enthusiasm hadn't lessened; it had merely been redirected. And this wasn't to say he neglected his host duties - but as someone who knew him well, Kyoya could tell his heart wasn't quite in it. At least not the same way it had before.
And he hadn't called her "Daughter" in two weeks. That alone had been a dead giveaway.
Overall, Haruhi's behavior had remained largely the same; the only indication being the occasional glance in Tamaki's direction which tended to cause her expression to soften momentarily before she returned to her former task. The whole process happened in less than a second, but once he knew what to look for, he realized it was occurring more and more often.
Since the very beginning, he had known that if Haruhi were to just open her eyes, the rest of them wouldn't really stand a chance. And judging from the sparkle that appeared any time those deep brown eyes found Tamaki, she had clearly made that realization. He sighed under his breath, Tamaki always had been a lucky bastard. No pun intended, of course.
He continued to observe as they made the rounds: Mori's silent but approving nod contrasted with Honey's gleeful spinning hug with Haruhi. And the inevitable argument between Tamaki and Hikaru which would have ended in a tug of war over the tiny brunette had Kaoru not stepped in.
With a final note in his ledger he closed it and headed over to join the crowd.
The shadow king was fully aware that things would probably be a little different from now on. And though he knew this wouldn't be the last of the changes yet to come, especially since with each passing year more of them would graduate and move on, as he watched Mori and Honey return to their snack and Haruhi fall into comfortable conversation with the twins, complete with Tamaki loudly fighting for the spotlight, he felt at ease knowing the things that mattered would remain the same.
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A/N - hopefully this isn't too abrupt of an ending - but I really just had it planned for the five chapters since the beginning... and although I'm moderately pleased with this story as a whole, I much prefer one-shots and I'm ready to get back to those.
Wow, I just realized I ended this story with the longest run-on sentence I've ever written - whoops! And I have no idea why I finished with Kyoya's POV... it just sort of happened... weird.
And even although this one is done, I'm definitely not finished writing for the fandom! More already in the works... XD