#polyhosts

"We're making a cake boss! It's gonna be sweet either way!"

Haruhi sighed, they were supposed to be making a birthday cake for Kyoya… but it was dissolved into messes and fighting. Honey and Mori were working on making little purple roses out of icing, well Honey was, Mori was more focused on stopping Honey from eating any of the ingredients.

The twins were fighting with Tamaki over how to decorate the cake, meanwhile poor Haruhi was the only one actually making the cake. Dark chocolate, with some cherries in, Haruhi couldn't help to notice how it was practically a black forest gateau but with some alterations to make it more enjoyable to the shadow king. She found it rather funny how Kyoya preferred a sharper taste to something sweet, it fit him so well, she was happy to use some tricks her mother had taught her; such as adding a pinch of salt with the sugar to keep the taste less sweet, or melting the butter a little before adding it so it's easier to mix. The hosts would probably be very confused by it, if they were paying attention to the actual cake instead of the decorations of it.

The twins were still arguing with Tamaki, they had been for around twenty minutes now. Haruhi sighed and walked over, arms crossed. "Are you three finished with your arguing yet? I need the cake bases now."

They glanced at her, and Tamaki practically melted into whining, "Haaarruuuuhuiii! Tell them we can't use icing! Kyoya doesn't like sweet things!!" He clung to her, pouting and just doing those horrid puppy eyes.

Haruhi just rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, "not liking sweet things doesn't mean we should leave the cake plain, we can just use a drizzle… how about a caramel sauce?"

The trio watched closely as Haruhi mixed the cream with the sugar and caramel, adding salt in spite of the concern that the hosts had. "Have you boys never cooked before? Of course you put salt in, otherwise it'd be too sweet," she didn't know why she'd even asked that, of course this gaggle of spoiled brats had never cooked before, they all had gourmet chefs working for them. She let the twins put the cake in the oven, barely glancing to make sure they got the settings right, as she was preoccupied with the huge bowl of caramel sauce. Tamaki however, was just sat there doing nothing, so Haruhi sighed, turning to him, "senpai, can't you think of something to do?"

The king pouted, resting his head on the counter, "noo… I'm bored…" he glanced up at Haruhi, big puppy eyes on full blast.

She sighed, rolling her eyes at him, "why don't you just make some little marzipan balls for decoration? That should keep you busy." She slid the tray of marzipan towards him, smiling softly when he instantly got to work, rolling little orbs of white and black.

After the decorations were all ready, sitting on their trays, ready for the cake to finish baking. Tamaki perked up slightly, "do you think Kyoya's back from spending time with his brothers yet? I wanna give him his cards and gifts!"

The twins shrugged, "we don't know, we asked him to text us but he hasn't yet."

Honey giggled, "his brothers probably don't want to stop hanging out with him! I know I wouldn't want to stop spending time with Chika." Oh yeah, Honey definitely had a unique perspective on this situation, having a younger sibling of his own, Mori, having one too, nods in agreement.

Haruhi sighs, finally relaxing, "we've only got an hour to wait until the cake's done, then we wait half an hour before we decorate it, so we wouldn't even be able to spend that much time with him without leaving again."

At these words, the hosts all collectively pouted, it was Kyoya's birthday after all, and all they wanted was to spend time with their beloved shadow king. They sat and waited in silence after that, staring at the oven as the cakes were baking. As much as they joked that Kyoya was heartless and cruel, he was mommy for a reason; he went out of his way to make sure everyone was doing the best they could, he took care of 80% of the duties that were really supposed to be Tamaki's job, he always had a bag or two of sweets in his bag- even though he wasn't that big of a fan of sweet things, really he was the mother of the group, no matter how much he tried to deny it. They all loved him with all their hearts, and wanted The best for him, unfortunately Kyoya isn't very open to love and affection, so the hosts have to be sneaky when showing their care with him.

The more Haruhi thought about it, the more Kyoya was like a particularly feral cat- one that was suddenly been shown affection and warmth; he was entirely self-sufficient, he treated literally everyone as if they were incapable and needed him to keep them going, was disgusted by the idea of affections, but silently craved being seen in a positive light, he was loving and caring but denied ever being such things, hiding it behind a rough and cruel exterior. The thought made her smile fondly, though she did wish they could just tell him how much they cared, instead of having to dance it around and hope he understands.

She knew what almost everyone had bought Kyoya, they'd all shown off happily. She felt a little bad about her measly little scarf she'd made him, but he always seemed too cold, hands shaking almost every time she saw them, he did so much for everyone- Haruhi just wanted to do something considerate back. The boys, as is typical of rich people, used gift being as an unwitting display of wealth; each gift more ornate and expensive then the next.

The twins had gotten him a four piece suit, complete with a male corset and rather impressive shoes. It was black and purple, with silver details, they'd even bought practically a bucketful of accessories, stating that Kyoya's outfits were always so plain. The accessories were quite tasteful, although some may be too feminine for Kyoya's tastes.

Honey of course, had gotten Kyoya many different squishies and stress balls and other fidgety, stimulating toys. Haruhi thought this was a great idea, even if some of them are a tad cutesy, Kyoya's always so angry, he's definitely going to appreciate them! Then she saw him pull out a fidget toy with opals on it, sure it was pretty, but do they have to flaunt wealth at every point? At least Honey had a good reason, stating that black opal was Kyoya's favourite gemstone. Another good thing about these toys, is that honey had them custom made, and claimed that they were made to be practically indestructible, which was rather impressive- and needed too, Haruhi had seen Kyoya dent an armoured car in a fit of rage, any toys he had would have to be able to put up with that level of violence.

Mori had bought a couple of books he thought Kyoya might find interesting, as well as a new usb with pdf copies of each book, Haruhi honestly thought that was one of the best gifts, thoughtful and subtle, then Mori showed them the books and they were all first edition copies. Haruhi had sat there, cursing the frivolous spending of these boys, was this a competition to them?

Tamaki had happily shown off the gift he'd gotten for Kyoya, pens, lots and lots of pens, a whole briefcase of them; fountain pens, gel pens, erasable pens, gold, diamonds, opals- just the most decadent set of pens you've ever seen, the fountain pens had refilled in every known colour, and the briefcase itself had gold embellishments. Haruhi was, in all honesty, blown away even imagining how much that had coated, did he have to spend so much money on pens? Although she knew Kyoya would appreciate pens, he broke one practically every week, and wrote like nobody's business. He was the only person haruhi had even known to actually run out of ink in a pen.

So it was clear the hosts were vying for the most expensive gift, and Haruhi couldn't help but feel slightly inferior for the little purple and green scarf she'd made Kyoya, it was rather nice looking in her opinion, and it has taken her quite a while… she really hoped Kyoya would appreciate it.

By now, the cakes had not only finished baking, but they'd cooled as well, so the twins placed the first layer, about the size of a wheel, on the plate. Honey added the whipped cream before Mori put the second layer on top, there were four layers in total, stacking up nice and high. Haruhi had got a chair to stand on and poured the caramel sauce over the cake, making sure it was entirely coated, with a nice pool at the bottom. She'd then stepped back, letting Tamaki and the twins place the marzipan balls that Tamaki had made whilst Mori and Honey placed the little purple roses made out of icing, life size and miniature too.

When they were finished, the cake looked beautiful, they were all so proud of it. Proud… and covered in the ingredients, they really looked a mess, they should probably clean up before leaving the kitchen. Haruhi was the least covered in eggs and flour, she only had some caramel on her sleeve. So she was the one to add the candles, purple and white striped ones, all 18 of them. God, this was a big birthday huh, he was an adult now. No wonder his family finally wanted to spend time with him.

Kyoya had returned, rolling his eyes at how excited Tamaki was, the blonde hanging off his arm. He glanced around the room, clearly taking in the sigh of all the gifts and cards gotten for him, there was a table full of things from the guests, and each host was holding the gift they'd gotten for him. He just sighed, adjusting his jumper, it was big, grey and oversized, not the kind of thing he'd normally wear. He put his shopping bags down, glancing over at the hosts, "why are we making a fuss about this? It's just getting a little older."

"But Kyoya! Don't think of it like aging! Think of it more like… surviving yet another year? Isn't that something worth celebrating?" Tamaki smiles, hugging Kyoya's arm.

Kyoya visibly pauses, thinking over what Tamaki had said, almost looking sad, just for a moment, then he smiled slightly, nodding, "ok, sure… You know Tamaki, you sound just like Fiyumi sometimes, she says that, every year…" Tamaki stops for a moment, turning and looking at Kyoya in silence, he then rushed over, hugging Kyoya.

"Hey come on! Let's not focus on the idea of the other end of things! Let's celebrate! We all got you something!" He beamed, stepping back and gesturing to the other hosts, "come see what we got you!"

They had Kyoya sit down in Tamaki's big chair, handing him gift after gift after gift. They had opened the ones from the guests first, all sorts of cute and shiny nonsense, too many chocolate boxes to count- for the last requested host, Kyoya sure had a lot of fans. Then they came to the gifts gotten by each host, the gift the twins had gotten Kyoya made him smile, he'd rolled his eyes, "god, Yuuichi tells me that every day, he says I dress strangely, he got me this jumper, he says I look better when I dress cutely." They'd laughed at that, and Honey had handed him the gift he'd gotten.

That gift had made Kyoya pause for a bit, picking some up and looking at them, before fiddling with one of the fidget toys, and getting entirely engrossed in it, until Tamaki shakes him gently. Kyoya sighed then turned to Honey, nodding gently, "thank you." Honey had beamed at that, happily pointing out that it was indestructible, because he'd seen how destructive Kyoya can be without even realising. Kyoya had frozen at that, looking down at the toy in his hands, something seemingly coming to mind, something he very openly didn't like, dropping the toy back into the box. It seemed Mori had noticed that, nudging the box aside with his foot and placing the gift he had gotten, onto Kyoya's lap, a little hum of assurance.

Kyoya opened the gift, looking at it for a moment before picking one up, running a finger along the spine before reading the blurb on the back of the book, then another, then another. Slowly, Kyoya read the blurbs of each of the books, before carefully placing them all back into their box, he turned to Mori, nodding, "these all seem like very interesting books, Thank you." Mori hums again, placing a gentle hand on the top of Kyoya's head, a gesture that did not go unnoticed. Kyoya sighed softly, closing his eyes for a second, the closest any of the hosts had ever seen to him reciprocating affection, and Tamaki's eyes lit up, if just for a moment. But the king stepped aside, and let Haruhi hand Kyoya her gift first.

The shadow king looked down at the brown paper wrapping, nothing he was at all used to, he used his nails, surprisingly sharp as they were, to tear into it, playing around with the texture for a moment or two, before tearing into the paper. He looked almost surprised at the soft wooden scarf that lay across his lap now, the greens and the purple sitting in unison, he picked it up, testing the feel of it in his fingers… he smiled. He slowly wrapped the scarf around his neck, clearly pleased by how soft it was, he glanced at Haruhi, curiosity clear in his eyes, "did you make this?" Haruhi had nodded, telling him how it took her over a month, he glanced back down at the scarf, rubbing the wool between his fingers, "hm, it's very good quality, welldone Haruhi, and thank you." These words sent Tamaki into a frenzy, going on about how Mommy and darling daughter were getting along so well, and Haruhi noticed how Kyoya just smiled softly at that, watching the king flounder about with adoring eyes.

Haruhi had paused, she'd glanced across at the twins, then to Honey, then Mori, then finally to Tamaki, she was beginning to notice how much all of them loved each other, how much she loved all of them. She wondered if they were aware of how much they loved each other, or was that just a Tamaki thing… she wasn't even sure Tamaki was all too aware.

When Kyoya saw the pens Tamaki had bought him, he was near tears- of course that was an exaggeration, an Ootori never cried, they were infamous for such, but Kyoya's eyes were certainly wet as he stared down at all those shimmering beauties, his hand twitched, clearly wanting to hold them, but he glanced up at Tamaki instead, "I can't take these, I break pens so easily, I'd just ruin them…" his voice, it was shaking, if Haruhi didn't know any better, she'd say Kyoya sounded scared of breaking the pens.

Tamaki had smiled softly, putting a gentle hand over Kyoya's shaking one, "don't worry Kyoya! I don't mind if you break them, as long as you enjoy writing with them. Not everything is meant to stay forever, no matter how beautiful!" Kyoya clearly didn't believe him, so Tamaki sighed, continuing, "and even if they do break, they'll still be beautiful, I know beautiful things that break and break and break and they're still as beautiful as the day I saw them first, even if they can't be used for their original purpose, besides, you can always fix them can't you?"

She'd been suspicious of something for a while now, since that night near the beach, with that thunderstorm… and Kyoya, being just as much of a feel as the other boy's… she'd thought about her theory as he'd told her how the club was formed, when Kyoya's father had slapped him, as she watched him watch Tamaki's car leave during the festival, when they stood together under the fireworks and Kyoya had kept a couple of steps distance, and right now… She hoped to god Tamaki didn't mean what she thought he did, standing next to Kyoya, her hand went to his forearm, smiling at him as he looked at her, "those are pretty pens senpai, I'd be a shame if you didn't write with them. If you break them then that's not your fault, pens aren't anything like people, so you shouldn't feel too bad if you break it."

Kyoya had paused for a moment, ruminating on something, before he nodded, "you're right, both of you, I'd love to write with these pens, thank you Tamaki- it's a wonderful gift." There was silence, just a comfortable, soft silence, everyone was smiling, everyone was happy.

Then Honey piped up, jumping up and down, "cake time! Cake time!"

Kyoya had glanced back at him in alarm, "cake? But I-"

The twins shrugged at that, speaking in unison, "well you have to have a cake, it's your birthday." Kyoya didn't seem to want to argue with that, so he just let Haruhi turn the lights off, and take out a camera as Mori brought the cake in, with Honey hopping around behind him.

They sang happy birthday, though Tamaki had decided to make his way to the piano, playing them a melody to sing to, he himself was singing the words in french, that blended into the Japanese to create a strange sound, one that felt comforting to them all, they didn't understand the words Tamaki sang, but they knew their meaning. Mori brought the cake over and placed it on a table in front of Kyoya, who looked at it, in… what had to be awe. Everyone knew Kyoya wasn't one for sweets, but the way he stared at that cake, Haruhi had to wonder if it wasn't so much a dislike, as it was a show, a character he was building.

He stood up to blow the candles out, rolling his eyes as everyone clapped, but when they had finished he did have one question, "did you make this?" Everyone nodded, happily explaining the things they had done, and the steps taken to make sure that Kyoya enjoys it. With every word spoken, it's clear that Kyoya becomes more and more touched by the notion, then when he would argue the need for a cake not five minutes ago.