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Haruhi sighed and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. It was one thing to want to focus on school work to the exclusion of everything else, but quite another to have it enforced by an outside entity. Her eyes hurt, her back hurt, and good lord, her ass hurt.
“Haruhi?” she heard her father softly say. “Come away from there for a bit. Come sit with me on the patio.”
She groaned, and arched her back, forcing a pop. She stood up from the low table in their borrowed guest house, feeling more like sixty, instead of sixteen. She shuffled like an old woman through the guest house, finally joining her father at the patio table.
He smiled at her, and poured her a cup of tea. She murmured her thanks, and looked out over the extensive gardens of the Ootori main estate.
The second Ootori Yoshio caught wind of a new virus of pandemic potential, he and his sons had exploded into action. Yoshio and his two older sons poured everything into their work, expanding emergency services at their hospitals, pushing their suppliers to manufacture more ventilators and protective equipment. The three of them took turns falling into exhaustion, the others picking up the slack when exhaustion forced a break.
Kyoya’s energies focused on a smaller scale. And as always, he was three steps ahead of anyone else. He first focused on his sister’s family, and moved them to an appropriate location of safety. Then as the scale of the pandemic became more apparent, he knew the first people who would lose their livelihood were service workers.
Such as Fujioka “Ranka” Ryoji.
He didn’t even tell Haruhi his plans, knowing he didn’t have time to play their usual games. He went straight to her father and told him that the Fujioka family was moving to the Ootori family's smallest guest house, effective immediately.
Haruhi knew that she should have objected on principle, but she was terrified to lose her father. He was still pretty young, as far as fathers went, but the years had not been kind to him. A round with the virus would kill him.
Accepting a friend’s charity with grace seemed like the least thing she could do.
She rolled her shoulders, even as she held the teacup. Online school was brutal for the young woman. She didn’t even have a laptop until her last birthday, when Hikaru gave her the one he had built for her.
She tried staring into the distance, trying to keep her eyes as unfocused as possible, straining for relief. She startled when her father spoke.
“Hey, babygirl, I know you’re exhausted. Why don’t you go lay down for a bit? I can handle dinner.” He smiled as she blinked bleary eyes at him. “You won’t be doing your best work if you go back now, Haruhi.” He hid a grin when her eyes widened at the truth in his word.
He knew how to handle his Haruhi.
“Well, maybe a small nap won’t hurt,” she allowed, a yawn already cracking across her face.
“Go on, then,” Ranka urged. “I’ll get you up in time for your call.”
A tiny smile appeared on her face, and she rose and went inside without a word.
And Ranka thanked all of the spirits in their lives that forced those boys into her life.
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Morinozuka “Mori” Takashi sat at the large conference table in the business wing of the Haninozuka-Morinozuka compound, his small cousin by his side. Their fathers sat on the other side, and everyone’s attention was focused on the monitor stretched along one wall.
With the lockdown in place, their schools and dojos across the country were closed, the ancient families wanting to be an example for their fellow aristocrats. They could afford the financial loss, their holdings were vast and diverse.
What they could not afford was the loss of health and life of the employees of their security firms.
Takashi’s father stroked his beard. “We need to make a decision, Takashi, Mitsukuni. As you are the heirs, this will affect you greatly, so it is your right to help make that decision.” The two boys looked somberly at their fathers.
“Yes, Uncle?” Haninozuka “Huni” Mitsukuni asked, all cuteness stripped away, looking every inch the man and patriarch he would become.
Huni’s father sighed softly. “We think we need to recall our employees from assignments, for their own safety. This will greatly affect our reputation, and break several contracts and agreements that have been in place for decades. There is a chance we won’t get those contracts and agreements back.”
“Then it is not an agreement worth having,” replied Takashi, slow and even.
Huni nodded, agreeing with his cousin. “There is no honor in breaking our employees’ spirit.” He tipped his head to the side, thinking. “Obviously, we can’t recall everyone. That would destabilize several countries.”
“Ah,” Takashi agreed. “But we can tell our partners that we are activating the hazard clause. They want us there, they will have to pay greatly.” He looked at his father, who was looking at him fondly. “We will distribute the hazard pay directly to the employees affected.”
“And the employees who are nonessential?”
“We pay them their full salary until they are needed once more, on the agreement that they continue to train and stay ready,” Huni replied.
The two men exchanged smiles, and stood as one, their sons a heartbeat behind them. “We will do as you advise. You both give wise counsel,” Mori’s father smiled.
“You can use the room for your call, boys,” Huni’s father grinned. “Tell those rascals to exercise more.”
Huni, the cuteness bleeding back into him, bounced on the balls of his feet. “I bet I learn a new swear word if I say that to the twins!” The men laughed as they left the conference room.
Huni was now bouncing around the room, from handstands to cartwheels and more. Takashi sighed, and caught the rambunctious boy by the middle. “Settle,” he told him.
“But I’m so excited, Takashi! I haven’t seen anyone in a MONTH!” Huni climbed to Takashi’s shoulders. “Let’s go get snacks before the call!”
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Kyoya sat in his room, habit making him check behind him for anything that could distract the participants of his upcoming call. He cleared up behind, absently, the little task now second nature since they had placed any staff not live-in on paid leave.
The online school was not the same burden on him as it was Huruhi. He was used to long hours in front of his laptop, and he already had conducted his business remotely.
He checked his watch, amused that he was still programmed to look at it five minutes before the host club shut for the day. He left his room to wander the house, as had become his habit.
His father and brothers were each living at the office/hospital full time now, their calling as doctors overriding any selfishness they once had. His father remembered to check on him quite often, which surprised the teen quite a bit, until he managed to catch sight of his father in the background of a television news story.
The news story was all too common these days, about overwhelmed hospitals and grieving families. But this particular story was about a seventeen year old boy, named Kuze Takeshi, who died from the virus, leaving behind a grieving family and fiance. Kyoya stared in shock as his father embraced Mr Kuze, and held him as the man mourned his teenaged son.
The calls from his father came more often starting that night. They had morphed from a simple check in, to emphasizing his expectations as an Ootori, to a surprisingly deeper dynamic.
He and his father were growing closer, and Kyoya found himself pouring out his fears and anxieties, and his father actively listened, and gave real advice. And sometimes, Yoshio would talk about Kyoya’s mother.
Kyoya treasured those moments the most.
Kyoya found himself standing and staring in front of the vast windows of one of the living rooms. The room that overlooked the vast gardens and, if you squinted, the roof of the smallest guest house.
Kyoya had shared that dream with his father, too.
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“Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you.” A quiet Hitachiin Kaoru sat on a couch, nervously twisting his fingers in his lap. His twin, Hikaru, laid his head on Kaoru’s shoulder.
Yuzaha looked at her husband hiding a smirk, then turned slowly back and gave her nervous son her full attention. “You can tell us anything, pumpkin, you know that,” she told him. She knew what this was going to be.
Kaoru took a shuddering breath, and looked at Hikaru. Hikaru petted his arm, soothingly. “Mom, Dad. I’m-” he stopped himself, a sob escaping him.
“Oh honey,” cooed Yuzaha. “You can tell us. We’ll understand. I’m in fashion, darling!” She reached out and grasped her husband’s hand.
Kaoru hiccuped. Hikaru kept petting Kaoru’s arm. “Just tell them, brother.” Kaoru nodded, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.
“Mom, Dad,” he started again. “I’m going to FIT.”
“OVER MY DEAD BODY, YOUNG MAN!” Yuzaha exploded off of the couch and launched herself at Kaoru. “YOU WILL GO TO LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION AND LIKE IT!!!”
The twins had collapsed into a pile of laughter, and it took her a minute to realize that she had been had. Always quick to calm, especially after such a good joke, she rejoined her husband on the other couch. “I thought for sure you were going to tell me you were gay,” she told them with a chuckle.
The twins started to laugh again when their father interrupted. “No, not Kaoru,” he told the room. ”Hikaru is bi.”
All three of them stopped laughing and stared at him.
“How- how-,” Hikaru stuttered. Kaoru’s jaw dropped, and he swung around to stare at Hikaru, who was doing his best impression of a landed fish.
“Seriously?!” Kaoru asked his twin. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Yuzaha started smiling so hard it looked like her cheeks would split.
“I, I,” Hikaru stuttered, “I just figured it out myself.” He stared at his father. “How did you know?”
Hayato chuckled. “I know you boys better than anyone else. I knew.”
Kaoru, always the more sensitive of the twins, pulled on Hikaru’s arm. “C’mon, brother. Let’s head to our room and get ready for our call. We can talk later.”
The adults watched their sons leave the room, and Yuzaha laid her head on her husband’s shoulder. “Seriously, how did you know?”
He chuckled, bringing her hand up to his lips to kiss. “I didn’t. I was planning on extending the joke.”
They laughed merrily together, and Yuzaha once again marvelled at the mixed blessing of the lockdown.
It was the first time their entire family had been in one place for longer than two weeks.
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Tamaki was once again back in the second Suoh mansion, only this time, by choice. He didn’t want to risk his grandmother’s health, and he insisted that he take the second mansion. The staff that decided to stay embraced their young master once more, and natural effervescence of the Suoh heir soon spread throughout the manse.
Tamaki was a bright young man, and easily adapted to the new grueling school schedule, although Kyoya now passed him in the rankings.
His father had agreed that the headmaster’s son sliding in the rankings would show a certain acknowledgement of the difficult times they were all in.
Tamaki was sad that they had to shut the host club down, but it only made sense. Everyone was being stretched thin, and more and more of the Ouran students were finding themselves pulled into more active rolls of their family’s businesses. Even girls who were slated to be merely married off to form alliances were being put to work.
He liked the changes, but he missed the fussing, if he was honest about it.
Knowing what it was like to be isolated, with no clue about what the future held, he made sure to call everyone he knew at least once a week. Kyoya had put his foot down when he had tried daily, and Haruhi simply never picked up the phone.
After about a month of individual phone calls, Tamaki realized that the only people he really wanted to talk to were in the Host Club.
Using his new found skills from working with his father, he scheduled and set up this Zoom call all by himself. He didn’t even ask Kyoya for help! Everyone agreed to attend at once.
He sat in the empty board room in Suoh Mansion #2, and hit connect on the control panel.
Immediately, smiles greeted him from four different panels on the monitor across the wall.
“TAMA-CHAN! HI HI HI HI!!!” bounced a hyper Huni, a smiling Mori sitting next to him.
“Hello, Huni-senpai! Mori-senpai!” he called, happily.
“Tono!” Twin grins shined from the screen.
“Haruhi, you look like crap,” Hikaru frowned.
“Thanks, jackass,” grumbled Haruhi. The girl was letting her hair grow out, softening her face, but it did nothing to reduce the circles under her eyes.
“That’s not nice, Hika-chan!” scolded Huni. “Haruhi is taking more classes than any of us!”
Unperturbed, Hikaru continued. “I’ll have mom send you some of that face crap she uses before a show.”
“Hikaru,” Kyoya smoothly interrupted, “can we possibly have a conversation with you where it doesn’t devolve into a brawl?”
“Hey!” shouted Kaoru, “Hikaru needs to tell you all something! It’s important!”
“Oh, knock it off, Kaoru. I’m not telling anyone I’m bi!”
Silence reigned for a full ten seconds, before everything exploded.
“Do you need to talk to my dad?” “We love you, Hika-chan!” “Bisexualality is completely normal, and won’t affect your standing as heir.”
Hikaru’s face took a comical turn, and Kaoru was beside him, holding his stomach, laughing himself silly.
Hikaru immediately turned on Kaoru, and started punching him in the side. Catcalls from the rest of the watchers flowed loudly and hilariously.
Tamaki sat back in his chair, a small smile on his face.
Family was pretty great.