The icing on the cake

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Suzu was running doing her best to hide from all of the people. She wasn’t doing a very good job of it though as she walked down the hall slowly. She avoided all the bodies that came near her. With her yellow academy dress on and her pink hair tied back in a white ribbon she hoped to blend in a bit more with everyone. Still she kept her school bag close her body.

It was getting close to her free period and with that usually came time to cook her lunch. Today she brought the supplies to make a simple bento for more than one person, but the other person…she wasn’t certain she would actually be cooking for. It had been a while since her accidental visit to the host club and Suzume knew she made a promise to cook for Honey, but the thing is…she never knew when she would be doing it. So to be safe everyday she brought extra supplies to make the meal.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize her name was being called until someone latched on to her arm. She opened her mouth to scream in terror as she turned her head to see the very boy on her mind. ”Honey-senpai!?” She called the boy’s name out softly as a bright red blush grew on her cheeks. ”H-hello…”

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Suzu stared at the boy in amazement. Honey was such a bright little beaming ball of cute! She looked at him and smiled as he brought Usa-chan closer to her. She pet the stuffed bunny on her head and giggled softly as they walked down the hall. He was so energetic and it really could be quite infectious, even for shy little her.

As they moved though she noticed the people walking through the halls looking at them. Some of the girls would whisper a bit, while others seemed to be excited about seeing Honey outside of the Host Club room. She still didn’t understand the concept of such a club, or the fact that the school had it. It left a lot of questions in her mind and where questions remained, so did doubts for the pinkette.

She listened to the blonde and his questions, they were very normal one, like what was she doing? Would she walk with him? Because it was more fun that way. Also, he mentioned that she hadn’t come back to the host club. She bit her lower lip softly as she thought about what to say to these things. Why hadn’t she gone back? Well for one she noticed that the girls seemed to bully her more and the insults were getting worse, but she wouldn’t voice that to Honey. No that wasn’t his problem to deal with. ”I’m sorry I didn’t come back…there are just so many people that visit you…so i…” She blushed harder. Her own voice too weak to finish what she was saying. It was simple though, she was just too scared.

”I was going to make some lunch if you want to come with me Honey-senpai. I…have extra.” She smiled softly. She was happy to change the subject onto something that they could both enjoy hopefully. Sweet and food was a good topic right? ”I thought it would be fun to make it together maybe…but I’ve been…too….nervous to find you I guess…”

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Suzu looked at the lolishota host for a minute. Her face paled as she heard him talk about his clients. Panic began to set in as she found herself blurting out words rather than keeping them locked up for once. ”I-I didn’t mean it like that! Honey-senpai is very good to his clients! People just scare me a lot! So being around them makes me nervous…” Her voice was louder than she expected, loud enough to draw attention to them. She looked at the small crowd of people that seemed to stop in the hall. This felt bad to her…especially the angry gaze of the girls. She didn’t want to make anyone mad at her.

Quickly she shifted her arm and moved it so that rather than the blonde clinging to her she was holding his hand. Suzu looked at him and nodded her head. She was happy that he wanted to cook with her, but she wouldn’t be able to relax until they were out of the halls. ”Then let’s go to the cooking club’s room. They won’t be using it until after classes are over.

Carefully she led the way down the halls until they came to the desired destination. She pushed open the door and flipped on the lights to reveal a state of the art chef’s kitchen. It was what any professional cook would dream of and it was certainly perfect. Only the best for Ouran Academy students right? ”What kind of food do you like Honey-senpai? I can make just about anything. We can even bake a cake afterwards if you want, but first we have to eat some good for you food.” She flashed him a cute smile before going and grabbing a pink apron for Honey and a white one for herself. ”Here you go. This will keep your uniform from getting dirty. Maybe you should let Usa-chan sit at the table and watch us so she won't get dirty?” She handed him the apron before putting on her own.

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

He was really cute! Suzu felt her face heat up as she looked at the boy. Oh god it was almost too much to bare! Quickly she used her apron to hide her face as she giggled from the amount of excitement and nervousness. ”Honey-senpai is always the cutest!” How could one boy be so amazingly adorable and distracting, but sweet and innocent?! It just didn’t seem to make sense to her. Maybe underneath he was some kind of weapon of mass destruction?

The pinkette peeked out from behind the white cloth that hid her face at the mention of what he didn’t like to eat. No carrots, but spicy…and a bento? Hmm…that’s not too hard to come up with. Though this is his first time cooking… Suzume smiled softly and put her hands on her hips. ”Okay…we can make a number of things in a bento. We can make steamed rice, onigiri, an omelet, sushi, curry, tempura, and we will need something with vegetables…maybe just pickle some radishes, peppers, and some greens? Spicy is okay…so maybe some spicy peppers in your omlet? Or maybe make some fried rice with spices?”

There was so much she could do, but she had to remember that it was still Honey’s first time cooking. Suzu quickly went to one of the cabinets and pulled out two bento boxes for the two of them to put their food in once it was finished. ”How about Onigiri with spicy tuna inside, pickled vegetables, some tempura vegetables as well, and an omelet. Would you like that Honey-senpai?” She looked at Honey for just a moment, before hearing a familiar tone from her school bag. She quickly went and pulled out the device to answer it. ”Sorry Honey-senpai. One moment please.” With a quick glance at the name her tone of voice seemed to change as well as her confidence level. ”Yes Captain?”

Suzume stood with her back straight and her eyes focused on the wall. It was like a completely new switch was flipped in her mind as she listened to the young boy on the other end of the line. ”Practice will be starting late today, that’s all.” Her tone was so calm and serious as she thought about the boy’s words. ”Understood Haninozuka-sama.” With that the pinkette hung up her phone and tossed it back in her bag. She smiled softly. ”Sorry that was just my club’s captain. He can be a bit strict at times, but he’s a very good leader.”

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

”I admire Haninozuka-sama a lot…he’s taught me almost everything I know since I joined the Karate club.” Suzume looked over at the tiny blonde. He seemed happy, but sad in the tone of voice that he used. It wasn’t the way she was used to hearing Honey talk, but the look on his face said it all to her. Though Honey was smiling, it was like he was a little bit heartbroken inside. She felt a high level of panic set in as she grabbed the third year. She wouldn’t make him think about it anymore! She was bad for making him feel like that. No, Honey should always be happy, or at least not heartbroken. Her body acted before her mind though as she leaned in closely to Honey’s face and kissed his forehead softly and quickly. That would help him stop thinking about it right?

As soon as she realized what she did though her entire brain seemed to explode. The pinkette quickly turned to the shade of a cherry red tomato and rushed over to the sink. ”W-w-w-wash…your h-hands…then…you can h-help me…start the rice.” She scrubbed her hands at a lighting fast pace before she went and pulled the rice cooker, rice, and measuring cups from their hiding places. Suzume then went over and filled one of the measuring cups with water, only to stumble over thin air and dump the liquid on herself.

She gave up at that moment and just sat there on the floor. She brought her hand up and covered her mouth. Her face was still red, but Suzu quickly found herself shedding tears. ”I-I’m…so sorry….Honey….I just….I didn’t want…you looked so sad…I didn’t know what to do…” She couldn’t even bother to look at the third year in his eyes. It was amazing she didn’t run from the room after pulling a stunt like that. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her ears ringing. This was so silly.

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Suzume accepted the handkerchief that Honey offered her. Her vision was blurry from on the tears she was shedding, but she looked at the object. It had a bunny on it! If she wasn’t in such an emotional state, it certainly would’ve made her smile. Though it was when Mitsukuni started talking that she snapped out of her emotional rain cloud of sadness. She looked up at him and burst into more tears. His smile and how gentle he was…it was so perfect. He really was like a little angel! ”Honey-senpai!” She quickly jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck. ”Thank you!”

She held on to the host for just a few moments before letting him go. She smiled brightly at him and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the sleeves of her dress. ”You’re so sweet and adorable senpai. Now we should get started cooking.” She went over to the sink and filled up another measuring cup with water before going over and standing in front of the rice maker and waited for the blonde to join her. ”Since the rice will take the longest, we should start it first. So we need to put in three cups of water. She dumped in the water that she had prepared. ”Now we need to measure out an equal amount of rice. Will you do it Honey?"

Suzume gently pushed a metal measuring cup towards Honey. She then picked up the bag of rice and set it down in front of him. She waited for him to take care of the task when she noticed something about Honey that she never realized before. He looked almost identical to her captain, with the exception of being smaller than the middle-schooler of course. She couldn’t help but study Honey for a few moments. She opened her mouth and could only think of one question then. ”Honey-senpai. How do you know the Captain?”

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Suzu was completely shocked. Her mouth actually managed to drop open from the sheer amount of disbelief in her body at the moment. Her pink orbs were wide as she struggled to formulate some words. ”Captain Haninozuka….is…your brother…” She was just so shocked by this that it just wouldn’t process. If Honey is his older brother…that means… Quickly Suzume lifted her hand and put it on the boy’s forehead. She had to make sure that Honey was really there in front of her.

There was just no possible way right? Someone as cute and sweet as him was once known as the Crack Captain? A weapon of mass destruction?! An alien!? She was so amazed. ”Honey-senpai is really Mitsukuni-sama!? You’re a legend! How can you be this cute!? Yet that deadly!?! You’re like…An adorable demon!?” The girl certainly couldn’t hide her amazement.

Though the mention of the rice drew her attention back to the task at hand. Quickly the pinkette peeked into the rice cooker. She realized that there was more than four times the amount she suggested to the blonde. ”Honey-senpai….its…perfect. We can make onigiri with it too! How clever! We could make enough for you to share with your friends if you want.” It was certainly more than she planned to make, but there was no way she could deny the boy that he was doing a good job. Carefully though she poured more water into the cooker until it was covering the rice and shut the container.

After pushing a few buttons she figured it would be best to move on to their next task. ”Okay let’s move on to our next task! The rice will cook for about thirty minutes, so let’s start on the vegetables. Shall we go pick some out?” She smiled brightly and felt a soft blush creep up on her cheeks. She softly leaned down and whispered in the boy’s ear first. ”Mitsukuni-senpai is my hero you know? I really admire you.” Then she went across the room and began pulling out some of the foods they could easily prepare to eat, carefully neglecting the carrots that sat in a drawer.