Art from here. Ouran High School Host Club is by Bisco Hatori. I’m just playing in their world.

“CAKIE! CAKIE! CAKIE!” Honey-kun cried as Haruhi brought the cakes to the table. The girls surrounding Honey-kun and Mori giggled while they watched Honey-kun dive into the cakes with abandon. Haruhi walked back to the prep area.

As she got out the kettle to heat the water for coffee, Haruhi mused about the mass of contradictions that each of the Host Club members were. Fierce, kind, loyal (in their own ways), and sometimes mean. But through everything, she can respect that they all remain true to themselves. (Even if they are still making her pay for that vase.)

She stopped to watch Honey-kun and Mori as they talked (well, Honey-kun talked) to the girls at their table. Haruhi couldn’t help but smile. What is it that just makes her smile when she watched them?

“Shouldn’t you be making some coffee?” Kyoya asked as he came up to stand beside her.

“Ah…right…yes, senpai…” She sighed as she plugged the kettle in. Back to it, I suppose.

“It’s amazing, you know…” Kyoya said.

“What is?”

“Just how much joy Honey-kun can bring.” Kyoya pushed up his glasses. “It doesn’t really take much, does it?”

Haruhi thought about it for a minute. “You’re right. It’s almost as if his karate skills morphed into expert-level loli-shota joy skills.”

Kyoya looked at her, wrote something in his notebook, and said, “Good observation. Hmmm…maybe we could sell that for the Christmas Host Club Picture Book!” He walked away mumbling to himself.

Haruhi shook her head and went in the back to make sure they had enough instant coffee left.