I don't own Ouran High School Host Club.

Set during the very early, still private days of Haruhi and Kyoya's relationship...

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Walking back toward the school, there was a sense of relief to be coming indoors from an afternoon of participation in Tamaki's rendition of the commoner game known as Red Light, Green Light. It was only upon Haruhi's confession that she had never played the game in her youth that he began to foster delusions of grandeur that she would come to appreciate him for being the one to enlighten her on of all things, the games of "her people."

Keeping to the court yard's pebbled path, the group had no interest in stepping back onto the still-springy earth as it engaged in its mid-spring thaw. Crossing her arms inside her coat and still looking for a viable source of warmth, Haruhi made an inadvertent step closer to their vice president, who in turn did the same.

Having come to enjoy the trek, several minutes came to pass before the feeling of eyes began to impress upon her. Gazing toward the side, she found the inimitable Takashi Morinozuka throwing her a friendly, if not imploring, stare. Offering her own glance of question, Mori's answered in glancing toward Kyoya, before raising a singular eyebrow back at her.

Without missing a beat, Haruhi raised two eyebrows of her own, to which her tall friend discreetly smiled. Momentarily looking away from her senpai, there was no doubt in her mind that she, along with the male walking alongside her, had yet to leave his mind. Words be damned, this tense-yet-light-hearted conversation was far from over.

It was in the name of personal discretion that she then gave the slightest of shrugs before looking straight forward. But then, there remained the feeling of that knowing gaze. Had he given up? Had he received well enough an answer? Or did this mild paranoia now exist solely within her head?

The moment in which she decided to glance back in his direction occurred in the same instance that Ouran's American football team emerged from a nearby field, now set to run right by. Directing her own playful, innocently raised brow at Takashi, he acknowledged her message simultaneous to the quiet nod he had been given by none other than Takeshi Kuze.

His eyes wide for barely an instant. It was enough of a message for Haruhi to catch the accidental information being contained in an otherwise innocuous gesture between the two athletes, confirmed to her by Takashi having then moved his own focus forward.

Respectfully pulling her attention forward, Haruhi dared to have one more side glance in Takashi's general direction. Finding his peripheral vision to be fixated upon her, Haruhi offered her own quiet nod and a hint of a smile before closing their conversation altogether.

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:D Thanks for reading!

So, yes. Technically this story is over. However, having worked on The Funeral Party for the better part of a year, I'm simply not ready to let this particular version of their world go. All the minor details and what-ifs that helped shape everything that's been published thus far, still runs around inside my head. I'd like to share those little bits from time to time, and this just happens to be one of them that made me smile tonight. I hope you enjoy!

Also: I'm updating to add some clarification. My little head canon does not see Takashi actually hooking up with Kuze. I more or less see him having discreetly confessed to the football player that he had feelings for him. Or is attracted to him. However, Takashi more or less informed him as a means of getting that off of his chest and moving on. Besides, Kuze is engaged, right?! And just because he's an inconceivable jerk toward Kyoya, doesn't mean he can't appreciate that level of honesty coming from other people... So yeah. I just that I'd clear that up...