(A/N) a very very very long apology is due but i'll tack that onto the end because i know y'all are probably impatient lol

"I assure you, everything is going just as planned." Yoshio sighed, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger. "So far, the trial run has been coming along extremely well, and the results are promising. Dr. Alleman has been of the utmost help in the development."

Yuzuru cracked a smile. "Thank you so much, [[name?]]. "You're a wonderful business partner, and I'm sure that if our relationship weren't strictly professional we would be great friends as well."

"That's what our sons are for, aren't they?" Yoshio slid his business counterpart a manila file folder and folded his hands. "I'm not only thankful for our partnership, but for your help with the trials. It's a monumental help."

"Can you hear it?" Haruhi looked at Tamaki with a less- than- impressed expression, and he briefly lifted his head to make eye contact with her before resting it back on top of her stomach.

"It's bonding, Haruhi. It's important to bond with the baby even before it's born."

Haruhi frowned. "You're doing a better job at bonding with it than me, and I'm the one carrying it. I haven't even felt it move yet…" She paused, her eyes widening. "Oh, my god, I haven't felt it moved yet! Something's wrong!"

"You're, what, twenty weeks? That's completely normal to not feel anything yet, especially since this is your first pregnancy and don't know what to look out for." Tamaki briefly kissed Haruhi's stomach before sitting up on the couch. "Anyway, c'mon. Let's see if everyone's finished decorating yet!"

He grabbed her hands and helped her get up, then led her out of the sitting room and down the hallway. The two were met with a colossal Christmas tree that grazed the ceiling, decorated with large, shiny baubles and garland that made it look like something out of a department store catalogue.

Tamaki smiled. "What do you think?" he asked, glancing at Haruhi to see her reaction. "Decorating the Christmas tree with my mom is one of my favorite memories from France. It's not the same, but it still brings back some sense of normalcy."

"Tamaki, it's…wow." Haruhi didn't quite know what to say—sure, it was beautiful, but almost obnoxiously so. Just like someone else she knew…

Her face immediately grew warm and she shook the thought from her head. "It's gorgeous."

The two admired the tree for a few more moments, soaking up its ornate magnificence. Suddenly, Tamaki spoke up, breaking the brief moment of serenity.

"On this note…" A large smile spread across his features. "...I have a surprise for you tonight."

Haruhi tried hard to suppress a laugh, but failed to do so. "What, like this wasn't enough of a surprise already?"

Tamaki blinked. "Haruhi, this wasn't a surprise anyway. You watched them put it up."

"Okay, but that's beside the point!"

The blond chuckled softly before continuing. "Anyway, back to the surprise. Tonight, there's a really big Christmas lights display in one of the parks, and we—along with the rest of the Host Club—are going to go."

Haruhi's face began to light up, but quickly fell instead. "Wait. Aren't you forgetting something?"

Tamaki frowned. "What?"

"We're going out in public—with the rest of the Host Club, mind you—and I'm pregnant. Isn't that a cause for concern?"

"Of course not," scoffed Tamaki. "Remember, you're in Boston. And besides—" He paused, cheeks beginning to flush. "—what you've been wearing lately, um, how do I put this…accentuates your figure. In other words, you don't look like the Haruhi everyone else knows."

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying I'm fat?"

"No!" Tamaki briefly panicked, and Haruhi smirked while she briefly savored in his shame.

"I'm just teasing," laughed Haruhi. "But anyway, I'm serious about people finding out. We're going to have to be extra careful if we don't want suspicions to arise."

"I promise, we'll be extra careful. Though it might take some convincing and several reminders to get everyone else to cooperate…"

Haruhi snickered. "I don't think everyone else is primarily responsible for the attention-drawing."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb." Haruhi smiled coyly and turned around to head back upstairs, Tamaki at her heels. "We all know you're usually much more enthusiastic than everyone else…even the twins and Honey-senpai."

"Are you sure about that?"

"One-hundred percent sure," said Haruhi, turning to face her bedroom door. "Let me finish getting dressed before we go." She practically slammed the door in Tamaki's face, leaving him standing in the hallway, dumbfounded.

"O…kay."

Of all Tamaki's ideas, Haruhi had to admit this one was the most well-thought out and reasonable one he had come up with yet. Everywhere she looked, her field of vision was filled with sparkling lights and glowing dioramas, and despite the December cold she didn't mind. The rest of the Host Club was thrilled to see her, too; Haruhi sometimes hated to admit it, but she actually missed the craziness that came with being a part of the club. Tonight would give her just a sliver of that, and it was something she was actually looking forward to.

After arriving at the park, she and Tamaki immediately met up with the remaining Host Club members, who were even more excited to see her than she was them.

"Ha-ru-hi!" the twins exclaimed in their typical fashion, immediately throwing their arms around her shoulders. "What's up? How's the baby?"

"Guys!" shushed Haruhi, lowering her head a little in fear of anyone outside the group hearing them. "We're not allowed to talk about that here; we're in public!"

The twins simultaneously rolled their eyes as they each removed their arm from around Haruhi's shoulder. "Haruhi, you're literally wearing a coat from our mom's maternity line," Kaoru snarked.

"And," added Hikaru, "it's not like people can't tell now, anyway."

Haruhi was sure that, at this point, her eye muscles had stretched out enough that if she could roll her eyes all the way back into her head if she tried hard enough. "Okay, shut up!"

"I'm with Haruhi on this one," agreed Tamaki. "That was rude and uncalled for."

"Okay!" Kyoya exclaimed in his matter-of-fact way, signalling a subject change. "Haruhi, it's so nice to see you again! How have you been?"

After the uncomfortable segue into actual conversation, the group began to explore their surroundings, making small talk and goofing off along the way. As usual, after some time the seven split up into their own little groups, but eventually Tamaki wandered away altogether.

It didn't take long for Haruhi to notice his absence, and after a few quick words to Kyoya she began her search. However, her search was brief: Standing on the terrace adjacent to one of the park's buildings was a familiar figure, blonde hair tousled in just the right way, designer coat wrapped around his body like it was made for it (which it probably was).

"Hey." Haruhi smiled and leaned against the balustrade next to Tamaki. The terrace overlooked the park and provided a dazzling view of the lights, which Haruhi regarded without giving a second thought. "Admiring the scenery?"

Tamaki cracked a smile. "What else?" The two softly scoffed, both continuing to stare at the magnificence.

They spent a few moments in silence before Haruhi said something. "I have to say, this is probably the best idea for a club outing you've had so far," she told him, tearing her eyes away from the view to look at him.

His eyes met hers. For a brief moment, they gazed into the other's eyes, oblivious to all other sights and sounds around them. Tamaki felt his face warming and his heart began to pound, his pulse so loud in his ears he wasn't sure if it was audible. His entire body grew heavier and heavier, knees beginning to buckle under this newfound weight… It took all his might to keep himself from succumbing to whatever was going on. The slightest of knots formed in Haruhi's stomach—but not the bad kind. She blinked rapidly as she tried to make sense of what was happening, the rest of the world melting around her as she stared into Tamaki's eyes.

The two stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity, completely silent, each just focusing on the other's face. The December cold whipped against their cheeks, but they didn't care—the only important thing was each other.

Finally Haruhi broke the silence.

"Tamaki?"

"Hm?"

"I don't mean to add fuel to the fire, if there is any, but…" Haruhi inhaled. "...what exactly happened at your dad's business dinner?"

"Haruhi, it doesn't matter now, and—"

"Of course it matters!" Haruhi noticed she unintentionally raised her voice and coughed, lowering the volume before continuing. "Tamaki, I know you've been upset over it. I want to help, and I can't do that if you won't tell me what's going on. You can trust me with stuff like this."

Tamaki opened his mouth, but no words came out and he let out a sigh in defeat. "I fucked up," he simply said, the final word breaking.

Blinking, Haruhi took in a deep breath, preparing for the worst. "How so?"

Tamaki unfocused his eyes and looked out into the distance. "It needed to go well," he told her. "The dinner needed to go well, and I fucked it up! I never should have gone, because at this point, there's nothing I can do to make my grandmother like me!"

"Tamaki, you know that's not true—"

"—And I want to get to know my grandmother because I'm her grandson, for God's sake, but she rejects literally every friendly attempt I make, and I love our baby so much, Haruhi, and I just want to give them the life they deserve, and that'll be so much easier to do if my grandmother decides to name me as the heir, and technically she doesn't have a choice because I'm her only grandchild, but I still want to do it in a formal, legitimate way, and it's stressing me out because you're already halfway through the pregnancy and I have made literally zero progress on the matter, not to mention getting her to actually like me, and the dinner only solidified that even more—"

"Stop!" shouted Haruhi. Several people in the vicinity glared at the two, but she didn't care. "I know you're upset, but you aren't doing yourself any favors by freaking out like this!"

Tamaki took a deep breath, calming himself down for the moment. "I know," he said, shoulders dropping and his demeanor losing all defining characteristics of what made him him. "I just—I just don't know what to do! I keep doing what my dad suggests I do, but something always comes along and ruins it!"

The two stood in silence, Tamaki wallowing in self-pity while Haruhi thought. "Maybe…you should take a step back and refocus," Haruhi suggested. "If you stop trying so hard you might be able to figure out a better way to go about all this."

Tamaki paused for a few moments. Maybe she's right, he thought. Maybe I amtrying too hard… It might be a good idea to step up more and be more involved with her and the baby… It ismine after all…

A grin formed on his lips and he promptly scooped Haruhi up in a hug, spinning her around in circles. "Hey, what are you doing? Put me down!" Haruhi squealed, and she began to laugh as her feet met the pavement once again.

"You're right, Haruhi." Tamaki's smile grew larger as he removed his hands from around Haruhi's waist. "This isn't about me, it's about you and our baby. I know I've said this a million times, but I love our baby so much, Haruhi, and I want them to have the best dad ever. And I'll do whatever I can to make sure that happens."

Unbeknownst to the two, the rest of the Host Club had regrouped and were standing off to the side, obscured by several tall shrubs as they watched the scene unfold.

Hikaru scoffed. "There's no way they don't realize they like each other," he remarked, crossing his arms with a bemused gleam in his eye.

Kyoya lightly chuckled in response, his lip curling upward into a smirk. "You'd be surprised."

(A/N) here comes that very long apology

(1) I am not deaad obviously because i posted this
(2) I am an officer in 2 student organizations so I've been super busy since like March and havcen't had a ton of motivation
(3) I really tried to write over the summer but I got a Summer Job From Hell and was too mentally and physically exhausted to do anythiing except watch TV and sleep when I wasn't working
(4) I'm getting close to graduating and I'm going to grad school so I'm really trying to focus on internships/grad school applications/GRE/scholarships/all that fun jazz
(5) Really I just suck at time management

so now that this is back in business i hope to have the next chapter up around christmastime. i have 3 papers due within 5 days but that's thanksgiving week so i'll have free time and stuff! anyways i'm really sorry i neglected this for so long but i promise it was on my mind and i feel really bad about it