A/N: Oh, lookie. A fanfic. THIS IS NOT A ONE-SHOT. THERE IS ACTUALLY A STORY BEHIND THIS, JUST WAIT FOR ME TO GET IT ALL OUT. Thank-you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or any of the characters within it.

It All Started With A No!

Padding upstairs, he sulked indefinitely. Get out! she told him, her voice firm and strict. Angry.

Haruhi would allow Tamaki to crawl in bed with her, sometimes. On weekends, when she didn't have anything to do the next morning. And, as long as he used to front door and asked first. It was all completely innocent. Tamaki never tried anything inappropriate. He honestly, with all of his heart, just wanted to be with her. He wanted to smell her hair and hold her close and tell her he loved her. All in English!

So, tonight, he figured he'd try to sneak in when she wasn't paying attention and pull it off, despite the no school-nights rule.

Mission heavily failed.

Upon reaching the top step, Tamaki used what the Host Club was calling the 'Myriad Key' to unlock the door to Kyouya's section of the apartment. They all lived in the same apartment complex with Haruhi and Tamaki on the main floor, Kyouya right above him, the twins next to the Ootori boy, finished off by Mori and Honey's apartment's adjacent to each other on the third floor. This key could unlock any of the doors to any of these apartments.

Tamaki sighed quietly as he closed the door behind him, feeling miserable. He went to see Haruhi mainly because he had a massive headache and figured she could heal it through the simplicity of her presence alone. He just wanted comfort. And she kicked him out.

She kicked him out!

With a dejected frown, Tamaki slouched as he passed through the main room and towards his best friend's lair. He opened the door and, without a word, crawled right into bed, laying his arm across Kyouya's form and nuzzled into the pillow.

Kyouya opened one eye, glancing in the blond's direction.

"What… are you doing?" he inquired in a deadbeat tone, not moving a muscle.

"Sorry!" he whisper-yelled, giving the black-haired boy's upper body a gentle squeeze. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I wasn't asleep yet, you idiot." Good thing, too. The wrath didn't need to be unleashed. "But, why are you here?"

Tamaki made a small whimpering noise, scooting closer to his friend's form and wrapping his other arm underneath him to pull him against his body. Like a teddy bear. Kyouya huffed. "Haruhi kicked me out of her room."

"I can't imagine why."

"Yeah, me neither."

Kyouya rolled his eyes. What was wrong with this boy? He was almost a fully-grown adult male and he was still sneaking into his friend's rooms in the middle of the night like he was a small child with a plethora of bad dreams.

"Fine. You can stay." Not like he was going anywhere, anyway. "But, if you do, you're not going to wake me up until my alarum goes off. Got it?"

With a shrill squee of excitement, Tamaki gave Kyouya's body another firm hug, resting his forehead against the side of the brunet's. "Thank you, Kyouya~! You won't even know I'm here!"

…Riiight. Like that was even likely.

"You're the bestest friend ever!" the Host Club King decided to point out, smiling broadly. "My bestest friend ever!"

"Great. Now go to sleep."

"What, you aren't going to say it back?"

Opening his eyes, again, with the uttermost perturbed look on his face, the youngest Ootori son took a deep, calming breath to steady himself. Won't even know I'm here, my ass.

"Good night, Tamaki."

The French boy frowned, rolling his head in up and down motions to nuzzle Kyouya's face gently like a dog with its master. "Pleeeease?"

There was no end. No end to the absolute under-the-skin, exasperating sensation Kyouya experienced when Tamaki spoke to him. He never wanted to stop making the blond happy and it was degrading. Pathetic. He loved Tamaki and he knew he was a good person who deserved good things… But shouldn't he be allowed to decline something so very ridiculous every once in a while?

"You're my best friend. Now. Go to sleep. We have school in the morning."

If Tamaki was a normal human being who simply wanted to get his way, he would've left it at that and triumphed over the fact that Kyouya Ootori said something of the sort for his own pleasure. There was even a sense of truth to the words that was very evident and point blank. However, due to the King's subconscious need to make others open up to him, he sighed dramatically and reached down to grab Kyouya's hand, giving it a squeeze. "No, no, no. Say, 'you. Are my. Bestest. Friend. Ever.'" He even finished it off by giggling softly.

You'd think the boy was trying to flaunt his power over people.

"I already said it. Stop being a child."

"Kyoooouyaaaaa…"

With a quietly frustrated growl, the brunet felt as his whole form begin to tremble in annoyance, shutting his eyes to try to make himself stop. "I said no."

Of course that was never good enough.

Tamaki's voice changed to one of less whining and more a graceful and sentimental tone, body relaxing against his friend's.

"…No one else is around, right now, Kyouya. I'm the only one here. I'm not going to tell anyone you said it," he started gently, bowing his head an inch or so to rest between the brunet's chin and shoulder. "I know I'm important to you. And you're important to me, too. Please just say it. Just once. And I'll leave you alone." A pause. "For me?"

The blond must be a god or something of the sort. His voice was musical and his features were flawless. His touch was soft and tender and he was an unbelievably genius brainwasher. If Kyouya was honest with himself, he could probably learn a lot more from Tamaki.

Turning his head away from the other boy, he felt as Tamaki began stroking his hand gentle with his thumb, enticing Kyouya to roll his eyes, once more. Fine. Fine, you win. You win.

"You…" The brunet clicked his tongue, begrudging the fact that he was actually about to let something so utterly ridiculous come from his mouth. "You are my…" Why did he have to give in so often? Maybe the boy had to be put in his place every so often. How else was he supposed to learn? "My…" Perhaps he had Haruhi for that. The girl would always keep him in line.

Deep, deep breath, Kyouya. You can do this.

He ground his teeth together and spoke through them, managing to get those six preposterous words out. "You are. My. Bestest. Friend ever."

And, as completely unexpected as usual, Tamaki simply sighed happily and relaxed, deciding not to make a big deal out of it. He didn't want to push Kyouya when he was like this, because the simple idea that the brunet cared enough to want to make him happy was breathtaking. He knew Kyouya wasn't the type to cater to the needs of others when he was getting nothing in return. He'd even spoken to the Ootori boy about the benefits of being Tamaki's friend.

Kyouya was in this for much more than making his father proud. It was far past all that. He didn't give a shit what his dad thought, any longer.

Tamaki and Haruhi and the entire Host Club… They were important to him. And their love and friendship was more than enough benefit to him. Sure, he was annoyed Tamaki wouldn't shut up and sleep, but having him like this was nice. It meant they were close enough to share anything. Almost like the twins, despite the lack of blood relation.

The brunet smiled slightly, amused by the other's lack of enthusiasm after getting the words out. He fell silent as promised.

And the both of them fell asleep.