Fic Post: Divide and Conquer
Feb. 17th, 2007 03:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
momebieGuys...why am I still up at 4am!? *whines* *crawls off to bed to die*
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Title: Divide and Conquer
Pairing/Characters: It’s a free for all of insanity! Mori/Haruhi, vague Kaoru/Hikaru, beginnings of Tamaki/Kyouya. With a dash of Honey on the side!
Word Count: 5,651. This is the longest thing I've written since Nano.
Rating: This is so PG it hurts.
Summary: Kyouya and Tamaki appear to be fighting over Haruhi, but the twins think they know what they’re really fighting.
A/N: This fic cuts scene a lot and is an experiment in being episodic in nature. It’s also my first Ouran fic so I’m worried about the tone, but I know you lot will let me know if I’ve done anything too egregious. That’s part of why I love you, after all. ALL of my love goes out to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marilla82! She not only betaed this, but stayed up late and listened to me read bits out loud and puzzle over diction. She does SO much for all of these little pieces of insanity that I don’t think I could ever make it up to her.
The Game
"And the Host Club?" Mori asked. He was staring into his tea and Haruhi wondered what there could be in the bottom of the thin liquid that could hold his attention.
"The same as those four can ever be, and Renge still pops up every once and a while of course. You should have seen the fit she threw the week after term started and you and Honey-senpai weren't there. She tried to have us recruit two new members but Tamaki told her that there was no way he was just going to adopt any old person into his family. And then they both sulked in separate corners for a bit before Kyouya distracted Renge with details from the upcoming photo shoot and the twins poked Tamaki until he moved again. So yes, idiots and evil people, as always." She smiled at that last part. It was the truth, but it didn't seem to make it any less endearing.
Mori smiled too. He looked up at her from across the table and his smile got a bit wider.
"Oh," she said. She no longer wondered why he had wanted to meet with just her on his weekend home. She widened hers in return.
...
"Incest!" Tamaki hissed. He pointed his finger at Kyouya, who was typing into his laptop and doing his level best to ignore the idiot across the room.
"Hey!" The twins objected to the negative connotation in Tamaki's exclamation. Hikaru hooked an arm around Kaoru's waist and Kaoru laid his head on his brother's shoulder.
Tamaki ignored them. "Mothers can not ask their daughters on dates, especially when Daddy disapproves!" The third music room was silent then, except for the quiet taptaptap of Kyouya's fingers on the keyboard. Tamaki waited for a reaction and the twins waited for Tamaki to explode again. Or at least to start shaking and whimpering, which was their favorite reaction from him because it kept them both entertained for a sufficient amount of time. Kyouya did nothing.
"Okāsan?" Tamaki's lower lip started to wibble. The twins smiled.
Kyouya stopped typing and looked over the top of his glasses at Tamaki. "What?"
"How could you do such a thing? Our precious daughter, our prog-"
"Tamaki, she's not really you're daughter, and you know that. And even if she was, my father has requested that I build a stronger relationship with her. That's exactly what I'm doing." Kyouya closed the laptop and then slid it into his briefcase. The snap! of the clasps on the case echoed through the room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."
Kyouya’s footsteps clicked across the marble floor. The fainter they grew the more Tamaki's face fell. By the time Kyouya had disappeared into the corridor Tamaki was on the floor, hunched over and drawing circular patterns into the dust with his fingers; his chin rested on his knees. He whimpered. The twins beamed and shared a look.
…
"A game then," Hikaru said that night as they got ready for bed with perfectly synchronized movements. It never hurt to practice.
"King of the mountain?" Kaoru suggested. He climbed into bed and scooted across so that he was closest to the wall.
"Divide and conquer," Hikaru answered. He slipped into bed after him and scooted across so that he was flush against his brother.
"Baka tono," Karou said sleepily, and placed his arms around Hikaru's chest and his forehead against the nape of Hikaru's neck.
"Baka okāsan," agreed Hikaru through a yawn. They fell asleep as they always did, wrapped around one another and devising identical plans in their dreams.
...
Hikaru and Kaoru slunk into class and sat down on either side of Haruhi at their desks. They laid their briefcases on their respective tables and rested their elbows on them, turning in to look at her from either side. "Ah, Haruhi," Kaoru began.
"How was your date?" Hikaru finished.
Haruhi looked up from her paper and straight ahead of her. She hadn’t told anyone that she had met with Mori. Haruhi didn't want to look at the twins. If she didn't see the evil glint in their eye, there was the possibility that it wasn't there.
"Date?" she asked innocently.
"Yes, with Kyouya-senpai," they said.
Haruhi blushed and let out a long breath. The twins noted this with interest and added it to the list of things that they might need to use for later. "Oh."
"Oh," the twins mimicked.
Haruhi smiled and looked from one to the other. "That wasn't a date, we just..." she waved her arms over her desk as if trying to find the rights words to pluck out of the air. "It was a business meeting," she said, finally.
"Host Club business?" Hikaru asked, eyebrow raised.
"Mm...not exactly. His family's business, and my family, whatever that has to do with it."
"He was guarded," nodded Kaoru.
“Nervous," Hikaru nodded back.
"Nani?" Haruhi said.
"His father told him to..."
"...deepen your relationship." They both leaned in a little more. Haruhi started to feel like she was caught between two very wild haired, very hungry lions.
"Its business," they agreed finally, and turned to look at the front of the room as the sensei called for their attention.
...
Tamaki paced the floor of the third music room and waited for the others to show up. This could not be happening. He was certain of it. He was dreaming. Correction, he was having a horrendous nightmare. But he would eventually wake up, right?
The door opened and he paused mid-step. It was Kaoru, and he was alone. "Oi, where's your brother?"
"Where is anyone else?" Kaoru shrugged and went to set his brief case in the preparation room. "He's with Haruhi."
"Why?" Tamaki stamped his foot. "Why is everyone with Haruhi but me lately?"
Kaoru shrugged. "I'm not."
Tamaki sputtered and flailed. "That's not what I meant!"
"Oh?" Kaoru sprawled across the couch, his eyes narrowed in predatory interest, his fingers laced behind his head. "What is it you meant, Tono?"
"I meant..." Tamaki trailed off as Kyouya entered the room. The Innocent Corrupting Evil Lord set his laptop up on a table and pointedly refused to look in Tamaki's direction. Tamaki rolled up his sleeves and refused to look away. He narrowed his eyes. "My family," he said finally.
"Hmm..." Kaoru noted. "It's business."
"What?" Tamaki didn't take his eyes off of Kyouya. He tried to burn holes into the laptop with them so Kyouya would be forced to do anything besides type. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be able to concentrate the heat particles around him into an effective enough beam. He made a note to work on that.
"I think I'll go find Hikaru and Haruhi." Kaoru slid off the couch and ambled out of the room with his hands in his pockets. Tamaki flinched slightly with the sound of the lock catching.
"You know, Tamaki,” Kyouya said. “It's not as if she's engaged to anyone," there was a pause in the typing, "yet. You could start, oh I don't know, courting her yourself."
"But, that's not it!” Tamaki’s hands fluttered to his face. “My love is pure and protective and-" Tamaki stopped as Kyouya stood from his chair and started across the room towards him. "Okāsan?"
"Then what is it, otosan?" Kyouya asked. Tamaki gulped. Of all the times Kyouya had called him ‘otosan’ it had never sounded like that, the edge smooth and dull like old cutlery. Cutlery that could still hurt if you stabbed someone hard enough.
"It's, I just..." he looked away as Kyouya stopped in front of him. Tamaki wasn't the type of person who had personal space, but he could have sworn he could feel Kyouya's being overlap with his. "Maybe I will," he said defiantly. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked back into Kyouya's eyes. He searched for any inkling indication that he was just kidding, that he didn’t really mean it. Kyouya only smiled, his eyes as calculating as ever. It was eerie to Tamaki how he could see the wheels turning behind them.
"Alright then," he said. "You're on."
"And may the best man win," Kyouya said. There was something about the smirk that crept over Kyouya's face that made Tamaki want to punch him. Tamaki didn't understand the emotion. He was a lover, not a fighter. But if the feeling rising in his gut was friendship, or love, it was too far over the line. Nope, Tamaki was violently opposed to his best friend. That had to be it.
"Yeah, the best man," he echoed. "I'm gonna…go find the twins," he said, and edged his way around Kyouya slowly. He left the music room and the overwhelming feeling of Kyouya's presence as quickly as he could.
Point
"HARUUU-HIII!" Tamaki stood on the ground beneath the railing of Haruhi's second floor apartment, arms thrown wide. It was romantic, he decided, like Romeo and Juliet. Even if it was 9am on a Saturday and he'd already had three shoes and an apple thrown at him. The door finally opened and he breathed in deeply to shout his greeting of love.
Ranka leaned over the railing. He rubbed his head and tried to smooth his hair back. "You can stop now; she's not here, so she's not going to answer."
"Not...here?" he squeaked. Tamaki let out his breath and started to panic. What could have happened? Had her father sold her into slavery? Had ninjas abducted her in the night? Even worse, had Kyouya come by earlier?
"No, she's not. She left last night to see a friend in Kyoto. She'll be home tomorrow afternoon. I'm certain you'll see her Monday."
"You let her go alone!” Tamaki hopped up and down a few times before he could compose himself. “Ah, no matter. I'll just wait here then unti-"
"NO!" Ranka threw a teakettle he must have had hidden for just such a nefarious purpose, and it bounced off Tamaki's head.
"Have you no heart?" Tamaki called. He staggered dizzily about the courtyard. "Her fathers really should stick together you know. There are all sorts of dastardly men who would do anything to have a cute little girl like ours."
"Damnit, not ours, mine!" Ranka yelled, and stalked back into the apartment, slamming the door behind him. Tamaki stumbled over to the car. He looped down and picked up the teakettle on the way, just in case Haruhi would need it back. Surely commoners didn't have more than the necessary one of any item.
He leaned against the car and pulled out his cell. There was only one person to call in a time of crisis like this. He held his finger over the speed dial button and tried to decide whether or not to do it. Were they rivals now? Could you be a friend and try to beat a friend at the same time? Tamaki decided that none of that mattered, that he and Kyouya were thicker than blood, told each other everything, never-
"I'm sorry," he said. He must have heard her wrong.
"Kyouya's not here Tamaki-kun. I believe he mentioned something about Kyoto before he left. He should be back tomorrow though. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, thank you Fuyumi-san."
"I'm surprised he didn't tell you."
Tamaki forced a chuckle. “It's ok, it's not like we're engaged or anything." Because they weren't, and it shouldn't matter where Kyouya was.
"Oh, Tamaki-kun. I'll be sure to let him know you called."
"Yes, thank you." As Tamaki hung up, he was startled to realize that of the two of them, he was more upset by Kyouya's absence than Haruhi's. That should have made sense, because he'd known Kyouya longer. But it was Haruhi he loved, wasn't it? Even if he did refuse to acknowledge it around her. She was the one he wanted, right?
He got in the car and headed back home to have a good sulk and not think about either of them.
...
"Haru-chan!" Haruhi had barely made it through the door before Honey wrapped his arms around her waist with such force that it pushed her back through it. He had gotten a little taller since she'd seen him last, but not much. She didn't feel too guilty about giving him a loving pat on the head before she hugged him back.
"Honey-senpai, how are you? Everyone misses you, you know. Customers ask after you all the time."
Honey beamed. "Taka-chan is here, and there's a karate club, so I'm having lots of fun! Aren't we Takashi?"
"Hai," Mori said. He carried Haruhi's bag around them and into the apartment. He smiled at her. It was open and entirely devoid of calculation or amusement or unwarranted devotion, and she realized how different things were since he and Honey had left. Everything that had balanced out the others was gone. The twins felt like they had free reign, and Kyouya and Tamaki were, well she didn't know what they were doing.
She'd never been on so many evening outings in her life. She couldn't really call them dates, as neither of them ever tried to get close to her. Kyouya only talked about the club and about his father, and Tamaki only talked about Kyouya and how he was undeniably wrong for her. She kind of wished they'd just tell these things to each other and leave her out of it, but if there was one thing she'd learned from the twins it was that it was never a detriment to have too much information.
Honey pulled at her sleeve. "Haru-chan, are you hungry? Takashi found the best place for cake!"
“That sounds wonderful Honey-senpai," she said, and let him drag her down the sidewalk. She followed behind him and wondered what would happen if she just opted to stay here instead of returning to Ouran.
...
"Thank you for coming," twittered Kaoru, mimicking his mother from moments earlier.
"It was ever so kind of you to meet with us," added Hikaru.
Kyouya took his glasses off and wiped them with the tail of his shirt. "It's amazing how the two of you don't put any stock in making relationships with other families. What are you going to do when you are forced to take over the business? You can't sell clothing to no one, and you can't make clothing without receiving goods from people."
They shrugged. "Who says we're taking it over?" Hikaru asked.
"And you would know all about strengthening relationships, wouldn't you?" Kaoru said. His hands were clasped to his face and he was still fluttering his eyelashes.
"Could the two of you be any more homo? You know you don’t have to pull the act with me, right," Kyouya spat through clenched teeth. Hikaru pulled Kaoru close to him and rested his hand on the back of Kaoru's neck. "Never mind, I don't need the show." Kyouya started back to the car.
"Where are you going, senpai?" Kaoru asked as Hikaru rubbed his cheek with his nose.
"Home, I've met with your mother as requested, and let her show me the new line; I have no other reasons to dawdle here."
Kaoru ducked out of his brother’s grasp and ran up next to Kyouya. He looped his arm through the crook of Kyouya’s right elbow. "But how often are you here, really?"
"Let's sight see or something, yeah?" Hikaru looped his arm through Kyouya’s left elbow.
"I've seen all the sites before with Tamaki,” Kyouya said, and tried to shake them free. “It's not as if they've changed much."
Hikaru dug his fingers into Kyouya’s arm. "Let's at least get something to eat. We're famished."
"Yes, I'm sure being ready to make out with your brother at the drop of an elegantly designed hat can be exhausting."
"Great!" Hikaru said brightly, ignoring the sarcasm in Kyouya's tone. He turned his arm loose and Kaoru followed suit. "I know just the place!"
...
At the restaurant Honey chattered away happily across from her, while Mori sat next to her in near silence. He added an affirmation or negation when Honey looked up at him expectantly, and each time Honey’s eyes lit up like a thousand light bulbs. She had never been interested the Flames of Moe, but she did see how much Mori cared for his cousin. She kind of understood the fuss, maybe.
Mori's thigh brushed hers as he shifted in his seat and she blushed. She suddenly cared whether or not he looked at her with the same calm gaze he gave Honey. After spending so much time in the frenetic pace of Ouran, it was nice to just be here and let things happen around her instead of to her for once. Mori's fingers slid across her arm as he reached for the salt and she felt her face go hot again. She had never really noticed boys before, having always been so wrapped up in her studies, but this new awareness wasn't entirely as unpleasant as she would have assumed.
"Oh! I have to be at the club to set up for practice." Honey dabbed his mouth primly with his napkin to remove any stray cake crumbs. "I'll see you later tonight, okay Haruhi? We can go to a movie or something!"
Haruhi nodded as he bounded away. Mori looked at her and she was suddenly very aware that she was sitting in the same booth as him, even though there was room to spread out. She was afraid people would look at her. And then, she hoped that they would. He made her feel oddly proud, unlike the other members of the club, who usually just made her embarrassed and sometimes a little angry. She looked back at him and tried to think of the question that would keep him talking the longest.
"Oh, Haruhi!" Haruhi blinked. Hikaru stood just behind Mori. He waggled his fingers, as did Kaoru who close behind him. Kyouya brought up the rear. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, and his eyes shot lasers like she hadn't seen since that day at the mall. Mori turned around.
"Mori-senpai!" Kaoru crowed. “I didn't recognize you! It's been months!" He pushed past Hikaru and threw an arm around Mori's shoulder.
"Hey!" Hikaru cried. He grabbed Kaoru's wrist and dragged him behind him as he dove onto the bench opposite them at the table. Kaoru tumbled into the booth on top of Hikaru and started to run his hands up under his brother’s shirt as Hikaru cupped Kaoru’s face in his palms. Several of the women in the restaurant turned to stare. Kyouya edged two steps backwards and tried to blend into the pole next to him. Mori blinked. Haruhi made a promise to herself that she would never think of the Host Club again, because obviously she had the ability to call them out of thin air.
"Where's Tamaki-senpai?" she said once she regained her ability to speak.
Kyouya cleared his throat and stepped up to the table as the twins turned their attention to Haruhi without completely letting go of one another. "Tamaki is at home,” Kyouya said. “I was here meeting the Hatchiin matriarch on business." He pushed his glasses further up his nose. Kaoru and Hikaru rolled their eyes in unison.
"So, he's all alone?" Haruhi asked. "I bet he's not taking that well."
Kyouya dug in his pocket and produced his phone. He flipped open the top and looked at it. "No, he's not." Haruhi stretched her neck and saw that there were twenty missed calls. She didn't even want to think about the time period it took to rack those up.
"Aren't you going to listen to the messages, senpai?" Haruhi wondered how dramatic Tamaki would be left alone, or if he’d even waste the effort with no audience.
"No," Kyouya said coolly before slipping the phone back into his pocket.
"So Haruhi," said Hikaru, propped his hands over the table and rested his chin on them. "What are you doing here?" He looked between Haruhi and Mori innocently. It unnerved her how he could do that, when she knew full and well the kinds of thoughts that went on behind those eyes.
"Just visiting Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai." She felt Mori’s thigh tense.
"Visiting you say," the twins said. They leaned further across the table at Haruhi and Mori. "Without us?" Mori slid his foot sideways so that it bumped into hers.
Kyouya crossed his arms. "Does it really matter?" He looked at Mori, and Haruhi thought she saw something like relief in his eyes. He grabbed the back of Kaoru's shirt and pulled him out of the booth. "Let's go home."
"But, we're hungry!" Hikaru whined.
"There are other places in Japan with food. Let's go." He marched out of the restaurant, pulling Kaoru after him.
Hikaru watched him darkly before he turned and flashed a Cheshire grin at Mori and Haruhi. "See you at home, buddy," he said. She got the vague impression that she was being spoken to by an intelligent and snarky cat. They both watched as Hikaru slipped out after his brother and Kyouya.
"Um..." Mori said.
"I don't even want to know," Haruhi thought about asking him how his classes were going, but he’d proven in the last thirty minutes that she could learn more about him by not talking at all. She pushed her plate away from her and looked up at him.
Mori smiled again and she pushed the scene with Kyouya and the twins as far back into her mind as she could.
Counter Point
Kyouya sat opposite the twins in the Hitachiin family car and stared at the window as it turned up his driveway. He was only staring out the window so that he wouldn't have to look at the twins anymore. They had fallen asleep some time before and were cuddled against each other in the corner of the seat. He had wondered before what it must be like to never be alone, but he had immediately pushed the thought away. He didn't know if he could handle it like they did. He was too cynical about people to let someone be that close to him all of the time. And strong sons of the Ohtori family didn’t need others. Not for emotional support anyway.
He had known Haruhi was keeping something from him. He could sense it in the way she looked off when he spoke to her, instead of looking him dead in the eye like she usually did. He was surprised though, to find out that thing had been Mori. They were all friends, right? There wasn't a reason to go off alone. But then, he had seen the way she was looking at him before the twins interrupted, and had realized that perhaps she and Mori had a different kind of friendship now than they'd had before. A different kind than the one she had with the rest of the club members. Maybe Mori had learned how to provide that emotional support without losing his family pride. Or maybe commoners really liked swords.
He hadn't been jealous when he had seen them together, not like he was sure Tamaki would have been. But then, he wasn't Tamaki, and his reason for pursuing her had been to adhere to his father's wishes. He knew she deserved better than that, but he had figured that it wouldn’t hurt to spend more time with her while they were still in school. They were friends after all. What had surprised him more about the whole encounter had been the small elation in the pit of his stomach when he had finally checked the cell phone he'd been avoiding all day. Even if Tamaki was an idiot, he hadn't called anyone else, which meant that he was Kyouya's idiot. Suddenly, that meant more to him than he thought it had.
The car stopped at the head of the driveway and he got out and thanked the driver for holding the door. He trudged to the front door in the dark, each step weighed down on him so that by the time he got his hand around the handle he was hunched slightly and dragging his bag behind him.
The original plan had been to come back the next day, but he hadn't wanted to spend more time than absolutely necessary in that city and leave Mori and Haruhi open to the twin’s whims. He didn't know how the twins could have known Haruhi would be there, since the lack of a comatose Tamaki suggested that she hadn’t told anyone about the fact that she would be meeting with Mori alone, but they had their ways. They all had their ways
He left everything in the front hall to be dealt with by the servants and walked to his room. He could see through the cracks in the door that the light was on, which was weird. He hadn't left it on, and none of the servants would have either. He turned the handle and gave it a soft push so that the door opened slowly.
From his position in the doorway he could just make out a mop of blond hair sticking out from underneath a blanket on the couch. "Baka," he said fondly. He was glad to see his friend, but he was even happier that Tamaki was asleep. Kyouya wasn't ready for the confrontation that would come when Tamaki woke up. He was too tired for it, too tired for anything. The hardest thing was that he knew Tamaki would be in the right to be angry with him. Tamaki really was the better man. He almost didn't want to tell him about Mori, if for no other reason than he didn't want to watch him cry in the corner. He snorted quietly, that drama queen.
Kyouya closed the door behind him and stripped down to his boxers. He left the clothing on the floor and flicked off the light. Kyouya was halfway up the staircase to his bed when he thought he heard a whisper. He paused.
"Mon ami?" It was so quiet it almost wasn’t there, and it had the undeniable French lilt that Tamaki only got when he was half asleep. Kyouya had tried to tell him to use his accent more often with the girls, but so far he and Hikaru were the only ones who had really heard it.
Kyouya sighed and walked back down the stairs. He felt his way to the table across from the couch and pulled the chair out. He sank into it as Tamaki sat up on the couch and stretched. "Yes?"
"Did you win?" Tamaki asked. Kyouya felt his lip twitch. So he had found out that Haruhi had been in Kyoto as well. Kyouya could only guess at how though, as he knew Tamaki hadn’t talked to the twins that day. His just being on the couch was proof enough of that. Anything that one of the doppelgangers could have said would have only enraged him. Kyouya suspected they did it just because they could.
"No, I didn't win.” Kyuoya leaned over and crossed his arms on the tabletop before he dropped his head into them. He eyed Tamaki’s outline in the dark. “The better man won, just like we wanted all along."
"Huh?" Kyouya saw the silhouette of Tamaki’s arms flap in the air and he imagined his face as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes the way he did after every nap.
"Haruhi went to see Mori, apparently they’ve seen each other a few times since he left. I only went because the twins are evil."
"Oh, well I knew the twins were evil. But...Mori?"
"Hai," Kyouya said weakly. He was worried about what would happen now. He really was too tired to listen to Tamaki whimper for an hour. There was a long pause and Kyouya wished he had turned a light on so that he could see Tamaki's face and assess the amount of damage control needed.
"Oh, good for Mori."
Kyouya listened for an emptiness to fall in behind the words, but they seemed sincere. His eyes fell closed and then snapped back open. He willed them to stay open, glad that it was dark because it would have been impossible for him to hide the feeling of incredulity at Tamaki’s words. "Tamaki, why are you here?”
Tamaki yawned. "I always come here when I'm lonely."
"Yeah, when I'm here.” Kyouya sat up in the chair and swayed a bit. He ran his fingers through his hair. “You come to be with someone, you don't come to be alone in a new place."
The dark outline of Tamaki’s shoulders shrugged. "I knew you'd come back eventually.”
"I didn't listen to all your messages."
"I didn't expect you to."
"What…?" Kyouya couldn't finish the sentence. His brain had started to fog up and the couch looked so comfortable compared to the chair. He stood and fell across the open space onto the couch behind where Tamaki sat. Tamaki looked at him for a bit, and then pulled the blanket back up around his shoulders and leaned backwards into Kyouya's side. Kyouya wrapped his arm around Tamaki's shoulders and Tamaki tucked his chin down onto Kyouya's forearm. Kyouya had seen Tamaki through many empty nights like this, so why did it feel different now? "What do you expect from me?" The words barely squeaked out. Kyouya had wanted to ask them a million times since their first meeting and had never found the courage to. Some strong son he was.
"I expect you to be you,” Tamaki said, as if that explained it all. When Kyouya didn’t answer he expanded on the idea hesitantly, trying to decide exactly how to word what he felt. “To tell me when I'm an idiot, and to put up with me anyway. To listen more critically than anyone else when I play the piano, to let me miss my mother without pitying me, and to fill a space identical to hers in my heart without even knowing it."
"You,” Kyouya couldn’t think of anything to say in response to that. It was a big expectation, and a big responsibility being Tamaki’s best friend. “Baka," he finished lamely.
"See," Tamaki said brightly, "you're so good at your job." They sat in silence for a while and Kyouya had almost nodded off when Tamaki spoke again. "So, Haruhi and Mori."
"Hai, Haruhi and Mori."
"I suppose this means our little girl is growing up okāsan." Tamaki stretched his feet over the edge of the couch and leaned further into Kyouya’s side. He rested his head against Kyuoya’s chest.
"It might, otosan." Kyouya rearranged himself to make Tamaki comfortable.
"You know what this means don't you. The Club needs to take a field trip. We have to go and give Mori-senpai 'The Talk.'"
Kyouya laughed then, and Tamaki smiled into Kyouya’s shoulder as the vibration shook him. Kyouya laughed out the stress of being in competition with his best friend, the weariness of having to keep up with the twins for a whole day, and the idea of Tamaki giving Mori any kind of talk at all. And he laughed because he'd just realized his best friend meant more to him than he should, and he didn’t know how to react to that with anything else. He laughed so hard he cried and Tamaki just smiled wider.
"Baka," Tamaki said affectionately, before kissing Kyouya's shoulder. By the time the laughter was finished echoing through the room, they were both asleep.
...
Hikaru and Kaoru lay in bed facing each other and not sleeping. They weren't that tired after the nap in the car.
"Tono was there, wasn’t he,” Kaoru said, as he tucked a piece of hair behind Hikaru’s ear.
"Tono had to be." Hikaru nuzzled Kaoru’s palm and caught one of the fingers in his teeth.
"Do you think Tono likes okāsan as much as okāsan likes Tono?" Kaoru’s voice was small and hopeful. He shook his finger loose of Hikaru’s teeth and traced his hand down his brother’s arm until it rested on his hip, middle finger tucked just under the waistband of the pyjama pants.
"I don't know.” Hikaru stretched out his left arm and draped it over Kaoru’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “I don't even know if okāsan knows he likes Tono as much as he does. But he'll get there."
"With our assistance." Kaoru bit his lip and looked into his brother’s eyes. They were slightly out of focus because their faces were so close their noses could touch.
"Hai." Hikaru leaned his head forward and rested his forehead against Kaoru’s shoulder.
"And everyone has someone now." Kaoru slid his hand around his brother’s middle and pulled him until their thighs were touching.
"Hai." They closed their eyes and breathed in unison, each of them counting to a hundred breaths.
"I don't like seeing people in our world lonely." Kaoru exhaled sharply a few times, trying to get Hikaru’s hair out of his nose. "If only everyone had someone like you."
"Or like you." Hikaru breathed in deeply to make up for his twins exhalations and to regain the delicate balance that they lived under.
"You know,” Kaoru’s lips quirked and a piece of wild red hair got caught in his mouth. “With all these new discoveries our family has made, we're not going to be bored for quite some time."
"Hai, I love you Kaoru."
"I love you, Hikaru."
"Good night," they said, and fell asleep as they always did, wrapped around one another and devising identical plans in their dreams.
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Title: Divide and Conquer
Pairing/Characters: It’s a free for all of insanity! Mori/Haruhi, vague Kaoru/Hikaru, beginnings of Tamaki/Kyouya. With a dash of Honey on the side!
Word Count: 5,651. This is the longest thing I've written since Nano.
Rating: This is so PG it hurts.
Summary: Kyouya and Tamaki appear to be fighting over Haruhi, but the twins think they know what they’re really fighting.
A/N: This fic cuts scene a lot and is an experiment in being episodic in nature. It’s also my first Ouran fic so I’m worried about the tone, but I know you lot will let me know if I’ve done anything too egregious. That’s part of why I love you, after all. ALL of my love goes out to
marilla82! She not only betaed this, but stayed up late and listened to me read bits out loud and puzzle over diction. She does SO much for all of these little pieces of insanity that I don’t think I could ever make it up to her. The Game
"And the Host Club?" Mori asked. He was staring into his tea and Haruhi wondered what there could be in the bottom of the thin liquid that could hold his attention.
"The same as those four can ever be, and Renge still pops up every once and a while of course. You should have seen the fit she threw the week after term started and you and Honey-senpai weren't there. She tried to have us recruit two new members but Tamaki told her that there was no way he was just going to adopt any old person into his family. And then they both sulked in separate corners for a bit before Kyouya distracted Renge with details from the upcoming photo shoot and the twins poked Tamaki until he moved again. So yes, idiots and evil people, as always." She smiled at that last part. It was the truth, but it didn't seem to make it any less endearing.
Mori smiled too. He looked up at her from across the table and his smile got a bit wider.
"Oh," she said. She no longer wondered why he had wanted to meet with just her on his weekend home. She widened hers in return.
...
"Incest!" Tamaki hissed. He pointed his finger at Kyouya, who was typing into his laptop and doing his level best to ignore the idiot across the room.
"Hey!" The twins objected to the negative connotation in Tamaki's exclamation. Hikaru hooked an arm around Kaoru's waist and Kaoru laid his head on his brother's shoulder.
Tamaki ignored them. "Mothers can not ask their daughters on dates, especially when Daddy disapproves!" The third music room was silent then, except for the quiet taptaptap of Kyouya's fingers on the keyboard. Tamaki waited for a reaction and the twins waited for Tamaki to explode again. Or at least to start shaking and whimpering, which was their favorite reaction from him because it kept them both entertained for a sufficient amount of time. Kyouya did nothing.
"Okāsan?" Tamaki's lower lip started to wibble. The twins smiled.
Kyouya stopped typing and looked over the top of his glasses at Tamaki. "What?"
"How could you do such a thing? Our precious daughter, our prog-"
"Tamaki, she's not really you're daughter, and you know that. And even if she was, my father has requested that I build a stronger relationship with her. That's exactly what I'm doing." Kyouya closed the laptop and then slid it into his briefcase. The snap! of the clasps on the case echoed through the room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."
Kyouya’s footsteps clicked across the marble floor. The fainter they grew the more Tamaki's face fell. By the time Kyouya had disappeared into the corridor Tamaki was on the floor, hunched over and drawing circular patterns into the dust with his fingers; his chin rested on his knees. He whimpered. The twins beamed and shared a look.
…
"A game then," Hikaru said that night as they got ready for bed with perfectly synchronized movements. It never hurt to practice.
"King of the mountain?" Kaoru suggested. He climbed into bed and scooted across so that he was closest to the wall.
"Divide and conquer," Hikaru answered. He slipped into bed after him and scooted across so that he was flush against his brother.
"Baka tono," Karou said sleepily, and placed his arms around Hikaru's chest and his forehead against the nape of Hikaru's neck.
"Baka okāsan," agreed Hikaru through a yawn. They fell asleep as they always did, wrapped around one another and devising identical plans in their dreams.
...
Hikaru and Kaoru slunk into class and sat down on either side of Haruhi at their desks. They laid their briefcases on their respective tables and rested their elbows on them, turning in to look at her from either side. "Ah, Haruhi," Kaoru began.
"How was your date?" Hikaru finished.
Haruhi looked up from her paper and straight ahead of her. She hadn’t told anyone that she had met with Mori. Haruhi didn't want to look at the twins. If she didn't see the evil glint in their eye, there was the possibility that it wasn't there.
"Date?" she asked innocently.
"Yes, with Kyouya-senpai," they said.
Haruhi blushed and let out a long breath. The twins noted this with interest and added it to the list of things that they might need to use for later. "Oh."
"Oh," the twins mimicked.
Haruhi smiled and looked from one to the other. "That wasn't a date, we just..." she waved her arms over her desk as if trying to find the rights words to pluck out of the air. "It was a business meeting," she said, finally.
"Host Club business?" Hikaru asked, eyebrow raised.
"Mm...not exactly. His family's business, and my family, whatever that has to do with it."
"He was guarded," nodded Kaoru.
“Nervous," Hikaru nodded back.
"Nani?" Haruhi said.
"His father told him to..."
"...deepen your relationship." They both leaned in a little more. Haruhi started to feel like she was caught between two very wild haired, very hungry lions.
"Its business," they agreed finally, and turned to look at the front of the room as the sensei called for their attention.
...
Tamaki paced the floor of the third music room and waited for the others to show up. This could not be happening. He was certain of it. He was dreaming. Correction, he was having a horrendous nightmare. But he would eventually wake up, right?
The door opened and he paused mid-step. It was Kaoru, and he was alone. "Oi, where's your brother?"
"Where is anyone else?" Kaoru shrugged and went to set his brief case in the preparation room. "He's with Haruhi."
"Why?" Tamaki stamped his foot. "Why is everyone with Haruhi but me lately?"
Kaoru shrugged. "I'm not."
Tamaki sputtered and flailed. "That's not what I meant!"
"Oh?" Kaoru sprawled across the couch, his eyes narrowed in predatory interest, his fingers laced behind his head. "What is it you meant, Tono?"
"I meant..." Tamaki trailed off as Kyouya entered the room. The Innocent Corrupting Evil Lord set his laptop up on a table and pointedly refused to look in Tamaki's direction. Tamaki rolled up his sleeves and refused to look away. He narrowed his eyes. "My family," he said finally.
"Hmm..." Kaoru noted. "It's business."
"What?" Tamaki didn't take his eyes off of Kyouya. He tried to burn holes into the laptop with them so Kyouya would be forced to do anything besides type. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be able to concentrate the heat particles around him into an effective enough beam. He made a note to work on that.
"I think I'll go find Hikaru and Haruhi." Kaoru slid off the couch and ambled out of the room with his hands in his pockets. Tamaki flinched slightly with the sound of the lock catching.
"You know, Tamaki,” Kyouya said. “It's not as if she's engaged to anyone," there was a pause in the typing, "yet. You could start, oh I don't know, courting her yourself."
"But, that's not it!” Tamaki’s hands fluttered to his face. “My love is pure and protective and-" Tamaki stopped as Kyouya stood from his chair and started across the room towards him. "Okāsan?"
"Then what is it, otosan?" Kyouya asked. Tamaki gulped. Of all the times Kyouya had called him ‘otosan’ it had never sounded like that, the edge smooth and dull like old cutlery. Cutlery that could still hurt if you stabbed someone hard enough.
"It's, I just..." he looked away as Kyouya stopped in front of him. Tamaki wasn't the type of person who had personal space, but he could have sworn he could feel Kyouya's being overlap with his. "Maybe I will," he said defiantly. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked back into Kyouya's eyes. He searched for any inkling indication that he was just kidding, that he didn’t really mean it. Kyouya only smiled, his eyes as calculating as ever. It was eerie to Tamaki how he could see the wheels turning behind them.
"Alright then," he said. "You're on."
"And may the best man win," Kyouya said. There was something about the smirk that crept over Kyouya's face that made Tamaki want to punch him. Tamaki didn't understand the emotion. He was a lover, not a fighter. But if the feeling rising in his gut was friendship, or love, it was too far over the line. Nope, Tamaki was violently opposed to his best friend. That had to be it.
"Yeah, the best man," he echoed. "I'm gonna…go find the twins," he said, and edged his way around Kyouya slowly. He left the music room and the overwhelming feeling of Kyouya's presence as quickly as he could.
Point
"HARUUU-HIII!" Tamaki stood on the ground beneath the railing of Haruhi's second floor apartment, arms thrown wide. It was romantic, he decided, like Romeo and Juliet. Even if it was 9am on a Saturday and he'd already had three shoes and an apple thrown at him. The door finally opened and he breathed in deeply to shout his greeting of love.
Ranka leaned over the railing. He rubbed his head and tried to smooth his hair back. "You can stop now; she's not here, so she's not going to answer."
"Not...here?" he squeaked. Tamaki let out his breath and started to panic. What could have happened? Had her father sold her into slavery? Had ninjas abducted her in the night? Even worse, had Kyouya come by earlier?
"No, she's not. She left last night to see a friend in Kyoto. She'll be home tomorrow afternoon. I'm certain you'll see her Monday."
"You let her go alone!” Tamaki hopped up and down a few times before he could compose himself. “Ah, no matter. I'll just wait here then unti-"
"NO!" Ranka threw a teakettle he must have had hidden for just such a nefarious purpose, and it bounced off Tamaki's head.
"Have you no heart?" Tamaki called. He staggered dizzily about the courtyard. "Her fathers really should stick together you know. There are all sorts of dastardly men who would do anything to have a cute little girl like ours."
"Damnit, not ours, mine!" Ranka yelled, and stalked back into the apartment, slamming the door behind him. Tamaki stumbled over to the car. He looped down and picked up the teakettle on the way, just in case Haruhi would need it back. Surely commoners didn't have more than the necessary one of any item.
He leaned against the car and pulled out his cell. There was only one person to call in a time of crisis like this. He held his finger over the speed dial button and tried to decide whether or not to do it. Were they rivals now? Could you be a friend and try to beat a friend at the same time? Tamaki decided that none of that mattered, that he and Kyouya were thicker than blood, told each other everything, never-
"I'm sorry," he said. He must have heard her wrong.
"Kyouya's not here Tamaki-kun. I believe he mentioned something about Kyoto before he left. He should be back tomorrow though. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, thank you Fuyumi-san."
"I'm surprised he didn't tell you."
Tamaki forced a chuckle. “It's ok, it's not like we're engaged or anything." Because they weren't, and it shouldn't matter where Kyouya was.
"Oh, Tamaki-kun. I'll be sure to let him know you called."
"Yes, thank you." As Tamaki hung up, he was startled to realize that of the two of them, he was more upset by Kyouya's absence than Haruhi's. That should have made sense, because he'd known Kyouya longer. But it was Haruhi he loved, wasn't it? Even if he did refuse to acknowledge it around her. She was the one he wanted, right?
He got in the car and headed back home to have a good sulk and not think about either of them.
...
"Haru-chan!" Haruhi had barely made it through the door before Honey wrapped his arms around her waist with such force that it pushed her back through it. He had gotten a little taller since she'd seen him last, but not much. She didn't feel too guilty about giving him a loving pat on the head before she hugged him back.
"Honey-senpai, how are you? Everyone misses you, you know. Customers ask after you all the time."
Honey beamed. "Taka-chan is here, and there's a karate club, so I'm having lots of fun! Aren't we Takashi?"
"Hai," Mori said. He carried Haruhi's bag around them and into the apartment. He smiled at her. It was open and entirely devoid of calculation or amusement or unwarranted devotion, and she realized how different things were since he and Honey had left. Everything that had balanced out the others was gone. The twins felt like they had free reign, and Kyouya and Tamaki were, well she didn't know what they were doing.
She'd never been on so many evening outings in her life. She couldn't really call them dates, as neither of them ever tried to get close to her. Kyouya only talked about the club and about his father, and Tamaki only talked about Kyouya and how he was undeniably wrong for her. She kind of wished they'd just tell these things to each other and leave her out of it, but if there was one thing she'd learned from the twins it was that it was never a detriment to have too much information.
Honey pulled at her sleeve. "Haru-chan, are you hungry? Takashi found the best place for cake!"
“That sounds wonderful Honey-senpai," she said, and let him drag her down the sidewalk. She followed behind him and wondered what would happen if she just opted to stay here instead of returning to Ouran.
...
"Thank you for coming," twittered Kaoru, mimicking his mother from moments earlier.
"It was ever so kind of you to meet with us," added Hikaru.
Kyouya took his glasses off and wiped them with the tail of his shirt. "It's amazing how the two of you don't put any stock in making relationships with other families. What are you going to do when you are forced to take over the business? You can't sell clothing to no one, and you can't make clothing without receiving goods from people."
They shrugged. "Who says we're taking it over?" Hikaru asked.
"And you would know all about strengthening relationships, wouldn't you?" Kaoru said. His hands were clasped to his face and he was still fluttering his eyelashes.
"Could the two of you be any more homo? You know you don’t have to pull the act with me, right," Kyouya spat through clenched teeth. Hikaru pulled Kaoru close to him and rested his hand on the back of Kaoru's neck. "Never mind, I don't need the show." Kyouya started back to the car.
"Where are you going, senpai?" Kaoru asked as Hikaru rubbed his cheek with his nose.
"Home, I've met with your mother as requested, and let her show me the new line; I have no other reasons to dawdle here."
Kaoru ducked out of his brother’s grasp and ran up next to Kyouya. He looped his arm through the crook of Kyouya’s right elbow. "But how often are you here, really?"
"Let's sight see or something, yeah?" Hikaru looped his arm through Kyouya’s left elbow.
"I've seen all the sites before with Tamaki,” Kyouya said, and tried to shake them free. “It's not as if they've changed much."
Hikaru dug his fingers into Kyouya’s arm. "Let's at least get something to eat. We're famished."
"Yes, I'm sure being ready to make out with your brother at the drop of an elegantly designed hat can be exhausting."
"Great!" Hikaru said brightly, ignoring the sarcasm in Kyouya's tone. He turned his arm loose and Kaoru followed suit. "I know just the place!"
...
At the restaurant Honey chattered away happily across from her, while Mori sat next to her in near silence. He added an affirmation or negation when Honey looked up at him expectantly, and each time Honey’s eyes lit up like a thousand light bulbs. She had never been interested the Flames of Moe, but she did see how much Mori cared for his cousin. She kind of understood the fuss, maybe.
Mori's thigh brushed hers as he shifted in his seat and she blushed. She suddenly cared whether or not he looked at her with the same calm gaze he gave Honey. After spending so much time in the frenetic pace of Ouran, it was nice to just be here and let things happen around her instead of to her for once. Mori's fingers slid across her arm as he reached for the salt and she felt her face go hot again. She had never really noticed boys before, having always been so wrapped up in her studies, but this new awareness wasn't entirely as unpleasant as she would have assumed.
"Oh! I have to be at the club to set up for practice." Honey dabbed his mouth primly with his napkin to remove any stray cake crumbs. "I'll see you later tonight, okay Haruhi? We can go to a movie or something!"
Haruhi nodded as he bounded away. Mori looked at her and she was suddenly very aware that she was sitting in the same booth as him, even though there was room to spread out. She was afraid people would look at her. And then, she hoped that they would. He made her feel oddly proud, unlike the other members of the club, who usually just made her embarrassed and sometimes a little angry. She looked back at him and tried to think of the question that would keep him talking the longest.
"Oh, Haruhi!" Haruhi blinked. Hikaru stood just behind Mori. He waggled his fingers, as did Kaoru who close behind him. Kyouya brought up the rear. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, and his eyes shot lasers like she hadn't seen since that day at the mall. Mori turned around.
"Mori-senpai!" Kaoru crowed. “I didn't recognize you! It's been months!" He pushed past Hikaru and threw an arm around Mori's shoulder.
"Hey!" Hikaru cried. He grabbed Kaoru's wrist and dragged him behind him as he dove onto the bench opposite them at the table. Kaoru tumbled into the booth on top of Hikaru and started to run his hands up under his brother’s shirt as Hikaru cupped Kaoru’s face in his palms. Several of the women in the restaurant turned to stare. Kyouya edged two steps backwards and tried to blend into the pole next to him. Mori blinked. Haruhi made a promise to herself that she would never think of the Host Club again, because obviously she had the ability to call them out of thin air.
"Where's Tamaki-senpai?" she said once she regained her ability to speak.
Kyouya cleared his throat and stepped up to the table as the twins turned their attention to Haruhi without completely letting go of one another. "Tamaki is at home,” Kyouya said. “I was here meeting the Hatchiin matriarch on business." He pushed his glasses further up his nose. Kaoru and Hikaru rolled their eyes in unison.
"So, he's all alone?" Haruhi asked. "I bet he's not taking that well."
Kyouya dug in his pocket and produced his phone. He flipped open the top and looked at it. "No, he's not." Haruhi stretched her neck and saw that there were twenty missed calls. She didn't even want to think about the time period it took to rack those up.
"Aren't you going to listen to the messages, senpai?" Haruhi wondered how dramatic Tamaki would be left alone, or if he’d even waste the effort with no audience.
"No," Kyouya said coolly before slipping the phone back into his pocket.
"So Haruhi," said Hikaru, propped his hands over the table and rested his chin on them. "What are you doing here?" He looked between Haruhi and Mori innocently. It unnerved her how he could do that, when she knew full and well the kinds of thoughts that went on behind those eyes.
"Just visiting Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai." She felt Mori’s thigh tense.
"Visiting you say," the twins said. They leaned further across the table at Haruhi and Mori. "Without us?" Mori slid his foot sideways so that it bumped into hers.
Kyouya crossed his arms. "Does it really matter?" He looked at Mori, and Haruhi thought she saw something like relief in his eyes. He grabbed the back of Kaoru's shirt and pulled him out of the booth. "Let's go home."
"But, we're hungry!" Hikaru whined.
"There are other places in Japan with food. Let's go." He marched out of the restaurant, pulling Kaoru after him.
Hikaru watched him darkly before he turned and flashed a Cheshire grin at Mori and Haruhi. "See you at home, buddy," he said. She got the vague impression that she was being spoken to by an intelligent and snarky cat. They both watched as Hikaru slipped out after his brother and Kyouya.
"Um..." Mori said.
"I don't even want to know," Haruhi thought about asking him how his classes were going, but he’d proven in the last thirty minutes that she could learn more about him by not talking at all. She pushed her plate away from her and looked up at him.
Mori smiled again and she pushed the scene with Kyouya and the twins as far back into her mind as she could.
Counter Point
Kyouya sat opposite the twins in the Hitachiin family car and stared at the window as it turned up his driveway. He was only staring out the window so that he wouldn't have to look at the twins anymore. They had fallen asleep some time before and were cuddled against each other in the corner of the seat. He had wondered before what it must be like to never be alone, but he had immediately pushed the thought away. He didn't know if he could handle it like they did. He was too cynical about people to let someone be that close to him all of the time. And strong sons of the Ohtori family didn’t need others. Not for emotional support anyway.
He had known Haruhi was keeping something from him. He could sense it in the way she looked off when he spoke to her, instead of looking him dead in the eye like she usually did. He was surprised though, to find out that thing had been Mori. They were all friends, right? There wasn't a reason to go off alone. But then, he had seen the way she was looking at him before the twins interrupted, and had realized that perhaps she and Mori had a different kind of friendship now than they'd had before. A different kind than the one she had with the rest of the club members. Maybe Mori had learned how to provide that emotional support without losing his family pride. Or maybe commoners really liked swords.
He hadn't been jealous when he had seen them together, not like he was sure Tamaki would have been. But then, he wasn't Tamaki, and his reason for pursuing her had been to adhere to his father's wishes. He knew she deserved better than that, but he had figured that it wouldn’t hurt to spend more time with her while they were still in school. They were friends after all. What had surprised him more about the whole encounter had been the small elation in the pit of his stomach when he had finally checked the cell phone he'd been avoiding all day. Even if Tamaki was an idiot, he hadn't called anyone else, which meant that he was Kyouya's idiot. Suddenly, that meant more to him than he thought it had.
The car stopped at the head of the driveway and he got out and thanked the driver for holding the door. He trudged to the front door in the dark, each step weighed down on him so that by the time he got his hand around the handle he was hunched slightly and dragging his bag behind him.
The original plan had been to come back the next day, but he hadn't wanted to spend more time than absolutely necessary in that city and leave Mori and Haruhi open to the twin’s whims. He didn't know how the twins could have known Haruhi would be there, since the lack of a comatose Tamaki suggested that she hadn’t told anyone about the fact that she would be meeting with Mori alone, but they had their ways. They all had their ways
He left everything in the front hall to be dealt with by the servants and walked to his room. He could see through the cracks in the door that the light was on, which was weird. He hadn't left it on, and none of the servants would have either. He turned the handle and gave it a soft push so that the door opened slowly.
From his position in the doorway he could just make out a mop of blond hair sticking out from underneath a blanket on the couch. "Baka," he said fondly. He was glad to see his friend, but he was even happier that Tamaki was asleep. Kyouya wasn't ready for the confrontation that would come when Tamaki woke up. He was too tired for it, too tired for anything. The hardest thing was that he knew Tamaki would be in the right to be angry with him. Tamaki really was the better man. He almost didn't want to tell him about Mori, if for no other reason than he didn't want to watch him cry in the corner. He snorted quietly, that drama queen.
Kyouya closed the door behind him and stripped down to his boxers. He left the clothing on the floor and flicked off the light. Kyouya was halfway up the staircase to his bed when he thought he heard a whisper. He paused.
"Mon ami?" It was so quiet it almost wasn’t there, and it had the undeniable French lilt that Tamaki only got when he was half asleep. Kyouya had tried to tell him to use his accent more often with the girls, but so far he and Hikaru were the only ones who had really heard it.
Kyouya sighed and walked back down the stairs. He felt his way to the table across from the couch and pulled the chair out. He sank into it as Tamaki sat up on the couch and stretched. "Yes?"
"Did you win?" Tamaki asked. Kyouya felt his lip twitch. So he had found out that Haruhi had been in Kyoto as well. Kyouya could only guess at how though, as he knew Tamaki hadn’t talked to the twins that day. His just being on the couch was proof enough of that. Anything that one of the doppelgangers could have said would have only enraged him. Kyouya suspected they did it just because they could.
"No, I didn't win.” Kyuoya leaned over and crossed his arms on the tabletop before he dropped his head into them. He eyed Tamaki’s outline in the dark. “The better man won, just like we wanted all along."
"Huh?" Kyouya saw the silhouette of Tamaki’s arms flap in the air and he imagined his face as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes the way he did after every nap.
"Haruhi went to see Mori, apparently they’ve seen each other a few times since he left. I only went because the twins are evil."
"Oh, well I knew the twins were evil. But...Mori?"
"Hai," Kyouya said weakly. He was worried about what would happen now. He really was too tired to listen to Tamaki whimper for an hour. There was a long pause and Kyouya wished he had turned a light on so that he could see Tamaki's face and assess the amount of damage control needed.
"Oh, good for Mori."
Kyouya listened for an emptiness to fall in behind the words, but they seemed sincere. His eyes fell closed and then snapped back open. He willed them to stay open, glad that it was dark because it would have been impossible for him to hide the feeling of incredulity at Tamaki’s words. "Tamaki, why are you here?”
Tamaki yawned. "I always come here when I'm lonely."
"Yeah, when I'm here.” Kyouya sat up in the chair and swayed a bit. He ran his fingers through his hair. “You come to be with someone, you don't come to be alone in a new place."
The dark outline of Tamaki’s shoulders shrugged. "I knew you'd come back eventually.”
"I didn't listen to all your messages."
"I didn't expect you to."
"What…?" Kyouya couldn't finish the sentence. His brain had started to fog up and the couch looked so comfortable compared to the chair. He stood and fell across the open space onto the couch behind where Tamaki sat. Tamaki looked at him for a bit, and then pulled the blanket back up around his shoulders and leaned backwards into Kyouya's side. Kyouya wrapped his arm around Tamaki's shoulders and Tamaki tucked his chin down onto Kyouya's forearm. Kyouya had seen Tamaki through many empty nights like this, so why did it feel different now? "What do you expect from me?" The words barely squeaked out. Kyouya had wanted to ask them a million times since their first meeting and had never found the courage to. Some strong son he was.
"I expect you to be you,” Tamaki said, as if that explained it all. When Kyouya didn’t answer he expanded on the idea hesitantly, trying to decide exactly how to word what he felt. “To tell me when I'm an idiot, and to put up with me anyway. To listen more critically than anyone else when I play the piano, to let me miss my mother without pitying me, and to fill a space identical to hers in my heart without even knowing it."
"You,” Kyouya couldn’t think of anything to say in response to that. It was a big expectation, and a big responsibility being Tamaki’s best friend. “Baka," he finished lamely.
"See," Tamaki said brightly, "you're so good at your job." They sat in silence for a while and Kyouya had almost nodded off when Tamaki spoke again. "So, Haruhi and Mori."
"Hai, Haruhi and Mori."
"I suppose this means our little girl is growing up okāsan." Tamaki stretched his feet over the edge of the couch and leaned further into Kyouya’s side. He rested his head against Kyuoya’s chest.
"It might, otosan." Kyouya rearranged himself to make Tamaki comfortable.
"You know what this means don't you. The Club needs to take a field trip. We have to go and give Mori-senpai 'The Talk.'"
Kyouya laughed then, and Tamaki smiled into Kyouya’s shoulder as the vibration shook him. Kyouya laughed out the stress of being in competition with his best friend, the weariness of having to keep up with the twins for a whole day, and the idea of Tamaki giving Mori any kind of talk at all. And he laughed because he'd just realized his best friend meant more to him than he should, and he didn’t know how to react to that with anything else. He laughed so hard he cried and Tamaki just smiled wider.
"Baka," Tamaki said affectionately, before kissing Kyouya's shoulder. By the time the laughter was finished echoing through the room, they were both asleep.
...
Hikaru and Kaoru lay in bed facing each other and not sleeping. They weren't that tired after the nap in the car.
"Tono was there, wasn’t he,” Kaoru said, as he tucked a piece of hair behind Hikaru’s ear.
"Tono had to be." Hikaru nuzzled Kaoru’s palm and caught one of the fingers in his teeth.
"Do you think Tono likes okāsan as much as okāsan likes Tono?" Kaoru’s voice was small and hopeful. He shook his finger loose of Hikaru’s teeth and traced his hand down his brother’s arm until it rested on his hip, middle finger tucked just under the waistband of the pyjama pants.
"I don't know.” Hikaru stretched out his left arm and draped it over Kaoru’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “I don't even know if okāsan knows he likes Tono as much as he does. But he'll get there."
"With our assistance." Kaoru bit his lip and looked into his brother’s eyes. They were slightly out of focus because their faces were so close their noses could touch.
"Hai." Hikaru leaned his head forward and rested his forehead against Kaoru’s shoulder.
"And everyone has someone now." Kaoru slid his hand around his brother’s middle and pulled him until their thighs were touching.
"Hai." They closed their eyes and breathed in unison, each of them counting to a hundred breaths.
"I don't like seeing people in our world lonely." Kaoru exhaled sharply a few times, trying to get Hikaru’s hair out of his nose. "If only everyone had someone like you."
"Or like you." Hikaru breathed in deeply to make up for his twins exhalations and to regain the delicate balance that they lived under.
"You know,” Kaoru’s lips quirked and a piece of wild red hair got caught in his mouth. “With all these new discoveries our family has made, we're not going to be bored for quite some time."
"Hai, I love you Kaoru."
"I love you, Hikaru."
"Good night," they said, and fell asleep as they always did, wrapped around one another and devising identical plans in their dreams.
