At Least There's Always Cake. (Ouran, the whole host club)
Title: At Least There's Always Cake.
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club.
Warnings: Follows manga continuity more than the anime.
Characters/couples: All the host club, through Haruhi's POV.
Summary: Hikaru thinks Kaoru is dating someone and not telling. Tamaki also thinks that Kyouya is dating someone and not telling. Coincidence?
Rating: G.
Notes: Written for cliche_bingo: Secrets and lies.
At Least There's Always Cake.
“Eh? Kaoru is dating someone?”
Hikaru sighs for the third time in the less than half an hour he's been there. He looks sad, dejected and he reminds Haruhi a little of a kicked puppy under the rain. Sometimes it's scary how similar Hikaru is to Tamaki.
“I think so, but I don't know.”
“Why? Hasn't he told you?”
He winces again, slumping further on the couch, groaning miserably, his head on his hands..
“No. And it's just a hunch! But he's been all happy and gloaty and just chirpy! He even changed his ringtone!”
Haruhi considers the thought for a moment, sipping her iced tea, a hand on her belly, the baby thankfully calm for the moment. While he texted her almost every day and he also sent frequent emails just to be sure that she was resting, taking her vitamins and in no way, shape or form she was injuring the baby (an email that she also basically gets from Hikaru, Honey, Mio and her dad, as well as Mori-senpai sending fruits and vegetables basket, plus Kyouya coming with his personal physician every other day and Tamaki phoning her almost every hour when he's not at their house to make sure she's okay, and then Haruhi has to remember that she loves that idiot and that she wants their child to have a father), she had last seen Kaoru about four days ago, when he brought her some cookies from his last trip. He had seemed happy, now that she thought about it. Well, happier than usual. Haruhi couldn't really be sure about gloaty, really, but he had seemed content enough for her to be happy for him as well.
“Isn't your work going fine, though?” Haruhi asks, cocking her head to the side, tapping her finger against her chin a she considers. “Maybe it's just that.”
Hikaru moans sadly, shaking his head, still looking dejected. “It's not that. Or not just that. Work's going well and all but...”
He doesn't continue, but he just sighs. “... I've got this hunch...”
Because even though they now live two lives each, they still live in the same apartment and though they don't always travel together they're still first on each other's cellphones lists, and they've both dated before but they are always, always the first ones to find out about a new possible crush.
“Have you asked him?” Haruhi asks, moving a hand to touch Hikaru's arm.
Hikaru's eyes go panic-wide and he waves his free hand in front of her face, except for the fact that he's still puppy-eyeing her.
“I can't do that! If he hasn't told me he has his reasons for sure! I don't want him to think that I'm forcing him or that I doubt he'll tell me or anything!”
And it's with comments like this one, Haruhi thinks as she sighs, patting Hikaru's arms a little that she remembers that at least Hikaru and Tamaki will always be idiots no matter how much they grow or how much they mature, really.
*
“Really? Kaoru too, uh?” Tamaki says, pausing as he undoes his tie. But then he smiles, gentle and soft, truly and honestly happy, even if it's just a rumor and they're not sure if Kaoru actually has a girlfriend. “If it's true, I'm glad! I hope he'll introduce us to her soon enough, no matter what.”
Haruhi smiles as well, her eyes going back to the book she's reading before she actually thinks of what Tamaki said, and then she blinks, looking up again.
“Tamaki, 'too'?”
“Mmm?”
“You said 'Kaoru too',” Haruhi repeats, putting the book face down against her belly. “Who else is possibly dating?”
“Ah,” Tamaki chuckles, shaking his head, and Haruhi almost feels a headache starting as her husband flicks his head unto the perfectly angled lights. “Kyouya.”
“Eh? Really?” She blinks. Kyouya, most of the time, seems to be busy working, and although he has dated a few times, he mostly didn't seem interested in it so far, even more than Kaoru.
She's almost sure that Tamaki doesn't hear her as he drops to one knee, a hand to his chest.
“As if it was possible that I, who is married to the love of his life, wouldn't recognize the signs! The way a smile lingers hidden in the corners of your mouth as you think about your love! The way you pause to look at the cherry blossoms and sigh at the tragic beauty of it all! How could I who has shared a kotatsu with mon ami Kyouya so many times before, be unaware of the fact that he has fallen in love!”
Haruhi doesn't throw him her book, but she considers doing so for long, long seconds before she just sighs.
“Who is he dating, then?”
“Mmm? Oh, I don't know,” Tamaki chirps as he stands up, finally getting inside their bed, moving until he's snuggling close, a hand to the curve of her belly where the baby isn't thumping just yet. “He hasn't actually told me he's dating, but I've got a love-love hunch. Those are never wrong!”
“A hunch, huh...” Haruhi considers Tamaki's words before looking at him again. “Have you thought of asking him?”
Tamaki gasps.
“Haruhi! I can't believe my wife would ask me to betray the sacred bonds between men just to find out about Kyouya's loved one! Even if he hasn't told me, his best friend in the entire world, about who he's dating, I can't possibly think about doing something so callous and impatient as--”
“Basically, you don't dare ask him because you want him to tell you first,” Haruhi deadpans.
Tamaki freezes for a second, and in the time it takes Haruhi to blink, he has moved over the far corner of their room, sobbing, and she sighs as she stands up to talk her husband out of transforming their bedroom into a mushroom cave again.
*
If Haruhi had to choose one thing to be grateful of to the Host Club - besides Tamaki and her friends, of course - it would be just how incredibly patient it has made her for these social gatherings. Never mind that she's actually thinking of her job load and how instead of making small talk she would rather be sitting down with some iced tea and the window open as she goes through her case instead of answering the same questions over and over.
“-- in about three months, more or less,” she answers for the nth time about the baby delivery, a hand to her belly, glancing towards Tamaki, who is talking with some of his investors, laughing away, Kyouya by his side making small remarks as well.
“My brother and I will have a duel to see who of us will marry the baby once she's born,” a voice behind Haruhi says, and she's not surprised when arms wrap around her waist, a pointy chin setting on her shoulder.
“Kaoru, don't say things like that.”
“But it's the truth! Since the little princess has all but stolen our hearts before she has even looked at us, it only seems fair. We're only lucky that Morinozuka-senpai and Haninozuka-senpai are already married, or we'd invariably lose,” Kaoru pouts, making the rest of the women around her laugh, which, Haruhi supposes, had been what he had wanted to do. “Now if you'll excuse me, ladies, I have to steal the future mom for a short while.”
Once the - charmed - wives wander off, Haruhi allows herself to roll her eyes, turning to look towards Kaoru.
“You shouldn't do things like that, now they won't let you alone all evening.”
“It might be good for business,” Kaoru says, shrugging.
Haruhi sighs, long used to this as well, but then she smiles as Kaoru moves away from her.
“I thought you weren't going to come? Hikaru said as much.”
“Eh, the 'meeting' was over sooner than I thought,” Kaoru rolls his eyes. “It wasn't even a meeting, just a costumer throwing a temper tantrum, so they needed a little bit of charm thrown their way.”
Haruhi shakes her head, smiling, then taking a long look to see if whatever it is that's obvious on Kaoru's face to Hikaru is obvious to her as well, but Kaoru simply looks... happy, which she supposes is telling as well. It's not him just showing he's happy, but a deep, warm satisfaction that makes him look... well. Perhaps not gloaty, as Hikaru had said, but cheerful, optimistic.
“You should go and sit down for a while,” Kaoru reprimands her. “Do you want something to eat?”
“Don't you start with that, these are the first five minutes in which Tamaki hasn't sent a waiter with food on me,” Haruhi mutters, shaking her head. “Actually, I wanted to ask you--”
“Kaoru! There you are!” Hikaru approaches them both, handing Haruhi a plate with fruits and candies, making her roll her eyes since he's not even really paying attention. “We have possible investors, Kyouya-senpai's talking with them right now.”
“Is he? Oh, well, then... is it okay, Haruhi?”
“Go ahead,” Haruhi says, shrugging, before she rolls her eyes. “I'll go and seat down before you all have a heart attack about me being up.”
It speaks of the years she has had to get used to this the fact that even though these parties almost feel like normal, sometimes, even watching from the sidelines to make sure how everyone's doing, sending waiters towards Hani-senpai with more napkins, or accepting the cake Mori-senpai brings her at once, and it's normal enough that she forgets about asking Kaoru if he's dating or not until Kyouya, when the brunch has finally finished but before any of the once Host Club members have managed to actually talk among them - since these days it's harder for all of them to be together at the same time - announces he has to go.
“I thought your meeting wasn't until next Monday?” Kaoru says, interrupting even Tamaki's pout.
Kyouya nods, pushing hi glasses up his nose. “It's not, but I have to go and check some contracts.”
“Say it with me, Kyouya, 'assistants',” Kaoru shakes his head. “They can do wonders.”
“Once I find an assistant I can actually trust with these things, I promise you'll be the first one to know,” Kyouya says with a small sardonic smile, but there's amusement in his eyes.
Kaoru just rolls his eyes. “I'll walk you out, then. But you owe me dinner! Don't think I'll forget it, either.” and then, looking behind him, Kaoru smiles. “I'll be right back. Save me some cake, Hani-senpai!”
There's a few moments of surprised silence (well, surprised from Tamaki and Hikaru, since Hani-senpai is eating and Mori-senpai drinking coffee) and then, Hikaru says:
“You don't think...”
Tamaki and he look at each other with surprise and shock and they both run out the door, Haruhi doing her best to follow despite the six months pregnancy-weight that slows her considerably down.
“KAORU!”
“KYOUYA!”
The doors are slammed open, and--
It's not a passionate kiss, really. It's pretty much a 'see you later kiss', a gentle brush, sharing a smile and wishing that you didn't have to break apart just quite there. It's when you just linger, fingers barely touching your partner's face, or when your hands are barely on their waist, just enjoying the moment before it lasts.
Even so, Haruhi can hear the way Tamaki's and Hikaru's jaws hit the floor, even before Kaoru and Kyouya actually break apart, blinking. They're not breathing just yet, just staring, frozen over. She takes a few steps backwards before the inevitable shrill breaks through.
Kaoru looks at Kyouya with a sort of giggly smile, and Kyouya sighs, looking at his driver, who was most definitely not looking at the scene at all.
“Never mind, something has come up, so we'll stay for a while longer.”
*
“About six months.” Kaoru starts once the surprise has wanned for a bit (and Tamaki and Hikaru have stopped shouting), leaning an arm against the backrest of the couch. “Or seven, if we're counting the first dinner. Kyouya, are we counting the first dinner?”
Kyouya hums, thoughtful. “I'm not sure.”
“We did date around those four weeks.”
“You were dating around. I had business dinners.”
“Po-tei-to, po-tah-to...” Kaoru does a handwave, humming as well. “It wasn't really a date, after all. We went halves on the tab.”
“We always go half on the tabs.”
“Well, yes, but--”
“Could you focus?!” Both Hikaru and Tamaki asks, interrupting them, once they've caught their breath once again. Kaoru and Kyouya turn to look at them with identical blank expressions, a whole lot of 'oh, you're still here?' on their faces. “How can you have been dating for over six months without telling us?!”
“Oh, I knew about it!” Hani chirps. “Kao-chan asked me if I knew the name of the patissiere that makes Kyou-chan's favorite chocolates a while ago.”
“Mmm,” Mori answers with a grave nod.
Tamaki and Hikaru both turn towards Haruhi with identical kicked-puppies-under-the-cold-rain expressions, and she curses the fact that she's a) sitting down and b) six months pregnant and thus can't simply run away as easily as she would have, before.
“You didn't know, right, Haruhi?” Hikaru asks.
“There is absolutely no way that you could have known this without sharing the truth with me, right, Haruhi, mother of my child, beloved wife of mine?”
She feels herself shrinking under that stare. The silence stretch on and on and on.
She ventures a: “... um...”
Then there's a long stretch of despair and accusation in the air.
“BUT I ASKED YOU!” Hikaru shrills, pointing a finger towards her. “JUST YESTERDAY!”
Tamaki, however, has gravitated towards the corner, and he's pulling off the petals of a daisy.
“Doesn't love me, no trust, vows broken,” he seems to be muttering.
Haruhi sighs. “I wasn't sure, and I didn't know when you asked, Hikaru! But when I told Tamaki, you both used the word 'hunch' and it made me curious. And today, well. When I saw Kyouya-senpai and Kaoru at the party, they were... not obvious, perhaps, but if you knew what to look for, they were... ah, I suppose they were kind of obvious.”
“Thanks, Haruhi,” Kaoru adds, sounding amused. Kyouya is smiling as well.
Haruhi smiles at him, a bit sheepishly. “I was going to ask you today, but then you were busy and it just...”
“It's okay,” Kaoru says, waving a hand.
“It's not okay!” Hikaru asks again, sounding hurt this time. “Why didn't you tell me? Kaoru!”
“It's not like that, Hikaru,” Kaoru says, standing up to go towards where his twin had crossed his arms, looking at the floor. “I didn't say anything at first because it wasn't really anything to say,”
“We were both at the same time in Montecarlo: entirely a coincidence,” Kyouya adds, perhaps for Tamaki's sake. “It was supposed to be a one time thing.”
“And then we sort of had dinner together a few weeks after that, and then again and, well. We sort of found us in this... thing.”
“It's still very new,” Kyouya says with a sigh, but he smiles at Kaoru. “We're both busy, after all, and we know each other enough not to impose.”
“We only started using the term 'dating' about three months ago,” Kaoru says with a smile to answer that gesture. “Before that it was, ah, what to call it... friends with benefits, I suppose?”
Kyouya nods before Tamaki adds. “It still doesn't explain why you didn't tell us! Oh, the betrayal...”
“We didn't want to cause too much expectations on this,” Kyouya says with a sigh. “Which you, Tamaki, would have undoubtedly raised.”
“Me?! What makes you think that I'd--” a look from Kyouya. “Well... I'm sure I wouldn't have--” a look from Kaoru and Kyouya. “I wouldn't have made much noise about this at al--” Haruhi looks at him as well. “BUT!”
“Still, Kaoru...” Hikaru adds, pouting a bit. “You didn't have to keep it a secret.”
“I don't think it was a secret,” Hani adds again, thoughtful. “When Kao-chan asked, I asked him if he and Kyou-chan were dating or if it was just a gift and he said they were.”
“Kyouya as well,” Mori adds with a nod.
“It wasn't a secret,” Kyouya says, his lenses glinting with a smile that makes Haruhi remember the club all too well. “We just decided to wait until you actually asked.”
The silence stretches again and again. Haruhi allows Mori-senpai to move her away just before Hikaru and Tamaki recover from the shock and start shrilling again.
“Cake, Haru-chan?” Hani asks. Haruhi looks at her husband, still ranting at his best friend, and at Hikaru, who has put himself between Kaoru and Kyouya, half glaring at the ex-Shadow King and half clinging to his twin, and she looks at the amused smiles Kyouya and Kaoru share above Hikaru's head.
She sighs.
“I'd love some cake, Hani-senpai, thank you.”
OMAKE: The first not-date:
“Kyouya-senpai?”
Kyouya smiles as he looks up, leaving his wine glass on the table, smiling at Kaoru with a much warmer smile than he'd give to most people. But Kaoru is a friend, and there's no reason why to take out his frustration on him.
“I've not been your senpai for years, Kaoru.”
“Habit,” Kaoru says with a shrug and half a grin. Kyouya offers him a chair with a hand gesture, lest they keep on talking like that; Kaoru takes off his leather coat and giving it to one of the waiters in one fluid movement before he does. “Are you expecting anyone, senpai? I just thought I'd say 'hi', but I can leave--”
Kyouya shakes his head a little and he takes another sip from his glass, smiling as he hopes that his face isn't doing that pinched look that Tamaki keeps telling him will cause him wrinkles.
“I got stood up.”
The intrinsic quality of silence is that there is no noise in it. And they are in a pretty full restaurant with the chink of china and silverware and glasses and gentle murmurs from the guests, as well as the violinist playing La Resercada.
Kaoru's silence, for the whole minute that it lasts, is loud and grating to Kyouya's already tried patience.
“... you kidding?”
Kyouya takes another sip from his wine, longer this time, before he puts it down. He pushes his glasses up his nose, barely resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It's not Kaoru's fault, he tries to remind himself.
“Duke Charles Beaumont asked me if I could, perhaps, entertain his daughter if I had the time to spare. Miss Clarice, my date, wasn't that interested.”
Or she had agreed because daddy dearest had made her agree, but she had looked absolutely miserable when they were at the opera, so Kyouya had pretended not to notice that when she said 'she'd go to powder her nose', she actually had sneaked outside. Sure, he's already expecting gossip about this, and that would be mildly annoying, but her father is, most likely, going to feel embarrassed by his daughter's behavior and he will, most likely, finally agree to sign the damn contract.
Knowing that makes the whole waiting he has to do in the restaurant to be seen a little bit less annoying, but not by much.
Kaoru still looks at him as if Kyouya had told him him that he had actually owns the sun now, so Kyouya decides to change the topic.
“And you? A date?” Kyouya nods towards the waiter, and another glass is brought, Kaoru nodding to Kyouya's wine selection with a nod.
“Not exactly. Dinner with a model we're trying to get to sign with us,” Kaoru says with a shrug. “Hikaru was here, too, but he's escorting her to her hotel.”
“Will you go and meet with them, then?”
A shrug that, Kyouya knows, means 'no'. “Hikaru kinda fancies her.”
“Won't that affect the deal?”
And a hand wave, dismissing that thought as if it was absolutely silly, taking a sip of the red wine. “There's models a dozen. And she's got the wrong complexion for this collection.”
Still protecting his brother. Kyouya supposes that it won't ever really change, that, for all the things the twins had changed about them. It works, though, so he can't really blame them for this balance they have found.
“Senpai, have you had dinner yet?” Kaoru asks then, still holding his wine glass. “Because I'm actually starving. You know, models.”
Kyouya smiles at the way Kaoru rolls his eyes, but then he considers. He hadn't actually thought about eating at the restaurant, more or less deciding that once he was back at his apartment he could order some food. But if he and Kaoru were already there, then, it'd be a waste just to go away.
“I was told the Coq au Vin is truly divine,” Kyouya says with a soft nod, his mood improved.
Kaoru grins. “Then let's find out if that's true.”
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club.
Warnings: Follows manga continuity more than the anime.
Characters/couples: All the host club, through Haruhi's POV.
Summary: Hikaru thinks Kaoru is dating someone and not telling. Tamaki also thinks that Kyouya is dating someone and not telling. Coincidence?
Rating: G.
Notes: Written for cliche_bingo: Secrets and lies.
At Least There's Always Cake.
“Eh? Kaoru is dating someone?”
Hikaru sighs for the third time in the less than half an hour he's been there. He looks sad, dejected and he reminds Haruhi a little of a kicked puppy under the rain. Sometimes it's scary how similar Hikaru is to Tamaki.
“I think so, but I don't know.”
“Why? Hasn't he told you?”
He winces again, slumping further on the couch, groaning miserably, his head on his hands..
“No. And it's just a hunch! But he's been all happy and gloaty and just chirpy! He even changed his ringtone!”
Haruhi considers the thought for a moment, sipping her iced tea, a hand on her belly, the baby thankfully calm for the moment. While he texted her almost every day and he also sent frequent emails just to be sure that she was resting, taking her vitamins and in no way, shape or form she was injuring the baby (an email that she also basically gets from Hikaru, Honey, Mio and her dad, as well as Mori-senpai sending fruits and vegetables basket, plus Kyouya coming with his personal physician every other day and Tamaki phoning her almost every hour when he's not at their house to make sure she's okay, and then Haruhi has to remember that she loves that idiot and that she wants their child to have a father), she had last seen Kaoru about four days ago, when he brought her some cookies from his last trip. He had seemed happy, now that she thought about it. Well, happier than usual. Haruhi couldn't really be sure about gloaty, really, but he had seemed content enough for her to be happy for him as well.
“Isn't your work going fine, though?” Haruhi asks, cocking her head to the side, tapping her finger against her chin a she considers. “Maybe it's just that.”
Hikaru moans sadly, shaking his head, still looking dejected. “It's not that. Or not just that. Work's going well and all but...”
He doesn't continue, but he just sighs. “... I've got this hunch...”
Because even though they now live two lives each, they still live in the same apartment and though they don't always travel together they're still first on each other's cellphones lists, and they've both dated before but they are always, always the first ones to find out about a new possible crush.
“Have you asked him?” Haruhi asks, moving a hand to touch Hikaru's arm.
Hikaru's eyes go panic-wide and he waves his free hand in front of her face, except for the fact that he's still puppy-eyeing her.
“I can't do that! If he hasn't told me he has his reasons for sure! I don't want him to think that I'm forcing him or that I doubt he'll tell me or anything!”
And it's with comments like this one, Haruhi thinks as she sighs, patting Hikaru's arms a little that she remembers that at least Hikaru and Tamaki will always be idiots no matter how much they grow or how much they mature, really.
*
“Really? Kaoru too, uh?” Tamaki says, pausing as he undoes his tie. But then he smiles, gentle and soft, truly and honestly happy, even if it's just a rumor and they're not sure if Kaoru actually has a girlfriend. “If it's true, I'm glad! I hope he'll introduce us to her soon enough, no matter what.”
Haruhi smiles as well, her eyes going back to the book she's reading before she actually thinks of what Tamaki said, and then she blinks, looking up again.
“Tamaki, 'too'?”
“Mmm?”
“You said 'Kaoru too',” Haruhi repeats, putting the book face down against her belly. “Who else is possibly dating?”
“Ah,” Tamaki chuckles, shaking his head, and Haruhi almost feels a headache starting as her husband flicks his head unto the perfectly angled lights. “Kyouya.”
“Eh? Really?” She blinks. Kyouya, most of the time, seems to be busy working, and although he has dated a few times, he mostly didn't seem interested in it so far, even more than Kaoru.
She's almost sure that Tamaki doesn't hear her as he drops to one knee, a hand to his chest.
“As if it was possible that I, who is married to the love of his life, wouldn't recognize the signs! The way a smile lingers hidden in the corners of your mouth as you think about your love! The way you pause to look at the cherry blossoms and sigh at the tragic beauty of it all! How could I who has shared a kotatsu with mon ami Kyouya so many times before, be unaware of the fact that he has fallen in love!”
Haruhi doesn't throw him her book, but she considers doing so for long, long seconds before she just sighs.
“Who is he dating, then?”
“Mmm? Oh, I don't know,” Tamaki chirps as he stands up, finally getting inside their bed, moving until he's snuggling close, a hand to the curve of her belly where the baby isn't thumping just yet. “He hasn't actually told me he's dating, but I've got a love-love hunch. Those are never wrong!”
“A hunch, huh...” Haruhi considers Tamaki's words before looking at him again. “Have you thought of asking him?”
Tamaki gasps.
“Haruhi! I can't believe my wife would ask me to betray the sacred bonds between men just to find out about Kyouya's loved one! Even if he hasn't told me, his best friend in the entire world, about who he's dating, I can't possibly think about doing something so callous and impatient as--”
“Basically, you don't dare ask him because you want him to tell you first,” Haruhi deadpans.
Tamaki freezes for a second, and in the time it takes Haruhi to blink, he has moved over the far corner of their room, sobbing, and she sighs as she stands up to talk her husband out of transforming their bedroom into a mushroom cave again.
*
If Haruhi had to choose one thing to be grateful of to the Host Club - besides Tamaki and her friends, of course - it would be just how incredibly patient it has made her for these social gatherings. Never mind that she's actually thinking of her job load and how instead of making small talk she would rather be sitting down with some iced tea and the window open as she goes through her case instead of answering the same questions over and over.
“-- in about three months, more or less,” she answers for the nth time about the baby delivery, a hand to her belly, glancing towards Tamaki, who is talking with some of his investors, laughing away, Kyouya by his side making small remarks as well.
“My brother and I will have a duel to see who of us will marry the baby once she's born,” a voice behind Haruhi says, and she's not surprised when arms wrap around her waist, a pointy chin setting on her shoulder.
“Kaoru, don't say things like that.”
“But it's the truth! Since the little princess has all but stolen our hearts before she has even looked at us, it only seems fair. We're only lucky that Morinozuka-senpai and Haninozuka-senpai are already married, or we'd invariably lose,” Kaoru pouts, making the rest of the women around her laugh, which, Haruhi supposes, had been what he had wanted to do. “Now if you'll excuse me, ladies, I have to steal the future mom for a short while.”
Once the - charmed - wives wander off, Haruhi allows herself to roll her eyes, turning to look towards Kaoru.
“You shouldn't do things like that, now they won't let you alone all evening.”
“It might be good for business,” Kaoru says, shrugging.
Haruhi sighs, long used to this as well, but then she smiles as Kaoru moves away from her.
“I thought you weren't going to come? Hikaru said as much.”
“Eh, the 'meeting' was over sooner than I thought,” Kaoru rolls his eyes. “It wasn't even a meeting, just a costumer throwing a temper tantrum, so they needed a little bit of charm thrown their way.”
Haruhi shakes her head, smiling, then taking a long look to see if whatever it is that's obvious on Kaoru's face to Hikaru is obvious to her as well, but Kaoru simply looks... happy, which she supposes is telling as well. It's not him just showing he's happy, but a deep, warm satisfaction that makes him look... well. Perhaps not gloaty, as Hikaru had said, but cheerful, optimistic.
“You should go and sit down for a while,” Kaoru reprimands her. “Do you want something to eat?”
“Don't you start with that, these are the first five minutes in which Tamaki hasn't sent a waiter with food on me,” Haruhi mutters, shaking her head. “Actually, I wanted to ask you--”
“Kaoru! There you are!” Hikaru approaches them both, handing Haruhi a plate with fruits and candies, making her roll her eyes since he's not even really paying attention. “We have possible investors, Kyouya-senpai's talking with them right now.”
“Is he? Oh, well, then... is it okay, Haruhi?”
“Go ahead,” Haruhi says, shrugging, before she rolls her eyes. “I'll go and seat down before you all have a heart attack about me being up.”
It speaks of the years she has had to get used to this the fact that even though these parties almost feel like normal, sometimes, even watching from the sidelines to make sure how everyone's doing, sending waiters towards Hani-senpai with more napkins, or accepting the cake Mori-senpai brings her at once, and it's normal enough that she forgets about asking Kaoru if he's dating or not until Kyouya, when the brunch has finally finished but before any of the once Host Club members have managed to actually talk among them - since these days it's harder for all of them to be together at the same time - announces he has to go.
“I thought your meeting wasn't until next Monday?” Kaoru says, interrupting even Tamaki's pout.
Kyouya nods, pushing hi glasses up his nose. “It's not, but I have to go and check some contracts.”
“Say it with me, Kyouya, 'assistants',” Kaoru shakes his head. “They can do wonders.”
“Once I find an assistant I can actually trust with these things, I promise you'll be the first one to know,” Kyouya says with a small sardonic smile, but there's amusement in his eyes.
Kaoru just rolls his eyes. “I'll walk you out, then. But you owe me dinner! Don't think I'll forget it, either.” and then, looking behind him, Kaoru smiles. “I'll be right back. Save me some cake, Hani-senpai!”
There's a few moments of surprised silence (well, surprised from Tamaki and Hikaru, since Hani-senpai is eating and Mori-senpai drinking coffee) and then, Hikaru says:
“You don't think...”
Tamaki and he look at each other with surprise and shock and they both run out the door, Haruhi doing her best to follow despite the six months pregnancy-weight that slows her considerably down.
“KAORU!”
“KYOUYA!”
The doors are slammed open, and--
It's not a passionate kiss, really. It's pretty much a 'see you later kiss', a gentle brush, sharing a smile and wishing that you didn't have to break apart just quite there. It's when you just linger, fingers barely touching your partner's face, or when your hands are barely on their waist, just enjoying the moment before it lasts.
Even so, Haruhi can hear the way Tamaki's and Hikaru's jaws hit the floor, even before Kaoru and Kyouya actually break apart, blinking. They're not breathing just yet, just staring, frozen over. She takes a few steps backwards before the inevitable shrill breaks through.
Kaoru looks at Kyouya with a sort of giggly smile, and Kyouya sighs, looking at his driver, who was most definitely not looking at the scene at all.
“Never mind, something has come up, so we'll stay for a while longer.”
*
“About six months.” Kaoru starts once the surprise has wanned for a bit (and Tamaki and Hikaru have stopped shouting), leaning an arm against the backrest of the couch. “Or seven, if we're counting the first dinner. Kyouya, are we counting the first dinner?”
Kyouya hums, thoughtful. “I'm not sure.”
“We did date around those four weeks.”
“You were dating around. I had business dinners.”
“Po-tei-to, po-tah-to...” Kaoru does a handwave, humming as well. “It wasn't really a date, after all. We went halves on the tab.”
“We always go half on the tabs.”
“Well, yes, but--”
“Could you focus?!” Both Hikaru and Tamaki asks, interrupting them, once they've caught their breath once again. Kaoru and Kyouya turn to look at them with identical blank expressions, a whole lot of 'oh, you're still here?' on their faces. “How can you have been dating for over six months without telling us?!”
“Oh, I knew about it!” Hani chirps. “Kao-chan asked me if I knew the name of the patissiere that makes Kyou-chan's favorite chocolates a while ago.”
“Mmm,” Mori answers with a grave nod.
Tamaki and Hikaru both turn towards Haruhi with identical kicked-puppies-under-the-cold-rain expressions, and she curses the fact that she's a) sitting down and b) six months pregnant and thus can't simply run away as easily as she would have, before.
“You didn't know, right, Haruhi?” Hikaru asks.
“There is absolutely no way that you could have known this without sharing the truth with me, right, Haruhi, mother of my child, beloved wife of mine?”
She feels herself shrinking under that stare. The silence stretch on and on and on.
She ventures a: “... um...”
Then there's a long stretch of despair and accusation in the air.
“BUT I ASKED YOU!” Hikaru shrills, pointing a finger towards her. “JUST YESTERDAY!”
Tamaki, however, has gravitated towards the corner, and he's pulling off the petals of a daisy.
“Doesn't love me, no trust, vows broken,” he seems to be muttering.
Haruhi sighs. “I wasn't sure, and I didn't know when you asked, Hikaru! But when I told Tamaki, you both used the word 'hunch' and it made me curious. And today, well. When I saw Kyouya-senpai and Kaoru at the party, they were... not obvious, perhaps, but if you knew what to look for, they were... ah, I suppose they were kind of obvious.”
“Thanks, Haruhi,” Kaoru adds, sounding amused. Kyouya is smiling as well.
Haruhi smiles at him, a bit sheepishly. “I was going to ask you today, but then you were busy and it just...”
“It's okay,” Kaoru says, waving a hand.
“It's not okay!” Hikaru asks again, sounding hurt this time. “Why didn't you tell me? Kaoru!”
“It's not like that, Hikaru,” Kaoru says, standing up to go towards where his twin had crossed his arms, looking at the floor. “I didn't say anything at first because it wasn't really anything to say,”
“We were both at the same time in Montecarlo: entirely a coincidence,” Kyouya adds, perhaps for Tamaki's sake. “It was supposed to be a one time thing.”
“And then we sort of had dinner together a few weeks after that, and then again and, well. We sort of found us in this... thing.”
“It's still very new,” Kyouya says with a sigh, but he smiles at Kaoru. “We're both busy, after all, and we know each other enough not to impose.”
“We only started using the term 'dating' about three months ago,” Kaoru says with a smile to answer that gesture. “Before that it was, ah, what to call it... friends with benefits, I suppose?”
Kyouya nods before Tamaki adds. “It still doesn't explain why you didn't tell us! Oh, the betrayal...”
“We didn't want to cause too much expectations on this,” Kyouya says with a sigh. “Which you, Tamaki, would have undoubtedly raised.”
“Me?! What makes you think that I'd--” a look from Kyouya. “Well... I'm sure I wouldn't have--” a look from Kaoru and Kyouya. “I wouldn't have made much noise about this at al--” Haruhi looks at him as well. “BUT!”
“Still, Kaoru...” Hikaru adds, pouting a bit. “You didn't have to keep it a secret.”
“I don't think it was a secret,” Hani adds again, thoughtful. “When Kao-chan asked, I asked him if he and Kyou-chan were dating or if it was just a gift and he said they were.”
“Kyouya as well,” Mori adds with a nod.
“It wasn't a secret,” Kyouya says, his lenses glinting with a smile that makes Haruhi remember the club all too well. “We just decided to wait until you actually asked.”
The silence stretches again and again. Haruhi allows Mori-senpai to move her away just before Hikaru and Tamaki recover from the shock and start shrilling again.
“Cake, Haru-chan?” Hani asks. Haruhi looks at her husband, still ranting at his best friend, and at Hikaru, who has put himself between Kaoru and Kyouya, half glaring at the ex-Shadow King and half clinging to his twin, and she looks at the amused smiles Kyouya and Kaoru share above Hikaru's head.
She sighs.
“I'd love some cake, Hani-senpai, thank you.”
OMAKE: The first not-date:
“Kyouya-senpai?”
Kyouya smiles as he looks up, leaving his wine glass on the table, smiling at Kaoru with a much warmer smile than he'd give to most people. But Kaoru is a friend, and there's no reason why to take out his frustration on him.
“I've not been your senpai for years, Kaoru.”
“Habit,” Kaoru says with a shrug and half a grin. Kyouya offers him a chair with a hand gesture, lest they keep on talking like that; Kaoru takes off his leather coat and giving it to one of the waiters in one fluid movement before he does. “Are you expecting anyone, senpai? I just thought I'd say 'hi', but I can leave--”
Kyouya shakes his head a little and he takes another sip from his glass, smiling as he hopes that his face isn't doing that pinched look that Tamaki keeps telling him will cause him wrinkles.
“I got stood up.”
The intrinsic quality of silence is that there is no noise in it. And they are in a pretty full restaurant with the chink of china and silverware and glasses and gentle murmurs from the guests, as well as the violinist playing La Resercada.
Kaoru's silence, for the whole minute that it lasts, is loud and grating to Kyouya's already tried patience.
“... you kidding?”
Kyouya takes another sip from his wine, longer this time, before he puts it down. He pushes his glasses up his nose, barely resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It's not Kaoru's fault, he tries to remind himself.
“Duke Charles Beaumont asked me if I could, perhaps, entertain his daughter if I had the time to spare. Miss Clarice, my date, wasn't that interested.”
Or she had agreed because daddy dearest had made her agree, but she had looked absolutely miserable when they were at the opera, so Kyouya had pretended not to notice that when she said 'she'd go to powder her nose', she actually had sneaked outside. Sure, he's already expecting gossip about this, and that would be mildly annoying, but her father is, most likely, going to feel embarrassed by his daughter's behavior and he will, most likely, finally agree to sign the damn contract.
Knowing that makes the whole waiting he has to do in the restaurant to be seen a little bit less annoying, but not by much.
Kaoru still looks at him as if Kyouya had told him him that he had actually owns the sun now, so Kyouya decides to change the topic.
“And you? A date?” Kyouya nods towards the waiter, and another glass is brought, Kaoru nodding to Kyouya's wine selection with a nod.
“Not exactly. Dinner with a model we're trying to get to sign with us,” Kaoru says with a shrug. “Hikaru was here, too, but he's escorting her to her hotel.”
“Will you go and meet with them, then?”
A shrug that, Kyouya knows, means 'no'. “Hikaru kinda fancies her.”
“Won't that affect the deal?”
And a hand wave, dismissing that thought as if it was absolutely silly, taking a sip of the red wine. “There's models a dozen. And she's got the wrong complexion for this collection.”
Still protecting his brother. Kyouya supposes that it won't ever really change, that, for all the things the twins had changed about them. It works, though, so he can't really blame them for this balance they have found.
“Senpai, have you had dinner yet?” Kaoru asks then, still holding his wine glass. “Because I'm actually starving. You know, models.”
Kyouya smiles at the way Kaoru rolls his eyes, but then he considers. He hadn't actually thought about eating at the restaurant, more or less deciding that once he was back at his apartment he could order some food. But if he and Kaoru were already there, then, it'd be a waste just to go away.
“I was told the Coq au Vin is truly divine,” Kyouya says with a soft nod, his mood improved.
Kaoru grins. “Then let's find out if that's true.”