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Rejected again.
Tamaki hung his head with a large pout on his face as he wandered through the halls of his family's second mansion.
Haruhi had flatly told him “not to come over, at all” before hanging up with annoyance. The twins had groaned at him and told him to amuse himself. Mori and Hunny weren’t even around, so their siblings explained, Satoshi politely and brightly at the receiver and Yasuchika rudely calling from the background: “get a life, you queer!”
Tamaki gazed with sad eyes at the giant portraits of his friends on the wall when his eyes found the portrait of Kyouya. That was it! Kyouya would hang out with him this beautiful Sunday afternoon!
An hour later Tamaki was sitting on a plush couch waiting for Kyouya to come and happily whisk him away to do something amusing.
‘What do you want?’ Kyouya sighed as he came through the doorway and approached his blond friend.
‘Mother!’ cried Tamaki with a pout, standing up and holding his arms wide, ‘all the children were very rude to Father, and even the neighbors are away!’
‘Mori and Hunny have been planning their trip to the mountains for months, now, you shouldn’t be so surprised.’ Kyouya calmly explained, ignoring the sad eyes and expecting arms of Tamaki. ‘The twins’ mother has also been planning a party to promote her company and specifically asked for their help; you were even invited to help, but declined claiming that you had something booked for today.’ Kyouya raised his eyebrows questioningly at Tamaki who frowned as he thought back. Kyouya could just see the light bulb above the blonde’s head as the blue eyes widened and the lips parted to allow a large grin.
‘That’s right! I remember that now! I couldn’t do it because I was going to take Haruhi to a new park…’ Tamaki trailed off and hung his head, saddened again.
‘You hadn’t consulted Haruhi about these plans at the time, had you?’
Tamaki avoided looking Kyouya in the eyes, shying away a bit as his cheeks turned a light pink, ‘well, no…but I thought…’
With a heavy sigh Kyouya motioned for Tamaki to follow him out of the room, ‘you’re a clueless fool. Well, you’ve disrupted by train of thought, so I’d might as well accept that I am to entertain you for the afternoon.’
Tamaki brightened at Kyouya’s words, despite the way the young man didn’t seem to be enthusiastic about the whole situation at all. ‘Thank you, Mother! You truly are a wonderful person!’ Kyouya was just able to stop himself from rolling his eyes and offer Tamaki a winning smile as his father walked by.
‘I must thank you for your kind words. You’re always such a good friend to me.’ He noted the satisfied look in his father’s eye as they passed and Tamaki continued to gush romanticized words of friendship and such, oblivious to it all.
‘It really is a shame that we cannot use the kotatsu,’ Tamaki sighed when they had reached Kyouya’s room. On the table was a neat mess of work, clearly only about half finished, but left to be ignored until the unexpected company left.
‘So, you were rejected by everyone else, so you decided to just show up, uninvited and unexpected, to my house?’ Kyouya speculated with raised eyebrows.
‘Yes! That’s it! I mean, we’ve been such good friends all these years…’
‘Is that really an excuse for just barging into my house?’
‘B-but, Mother…’
‘You can call me “Kyouya” when you’re here, at the very least.’ Kyouya shrugged as Tamaki pouted at him and sat himself heavily on the couch. He kept his elbows and head rested on the back and his legs spread wide; the posture of perfect comfort.
‘You really have no grace when you’re at home, do you?’ Tamaki sat softly beside Kyouya who turned his eyes to look at his blonde friend.
‘Why should I? What’s the merit?’ Tamaki looked into his eyes for a short while before assuming the same pose.
‘You’re right; this feels kind of nice.’ Kyouya lifted his head and looked at Tamaki with a low degree of surprise, and a little bit of confusion. Tamaki wasn’t usually one to ignore etiquette, even in casual situations. Tamaki was a host at all times of the day, whether it lead to benefit or not.
‘What were you expecting from me, exactly?’
Tamaki stared into space for a short while, but it was clear that he was thinking about the answer to that question. ‘I suppose…just some company.’ Tamaki’s eyes clouded with sadness, ‘even with all the employees, and Antoinette, Suoh Mansion number two always feels so…empty.’ He screwed up his lips into a slight grimace for a short moment before turning an ironic grin to Kyouya. ‘I bet it’s nice to have your family all living together under the same roof.’
I would argue that point Kyouya thought, and yet found that, somehow, Tamaki was probably right. Even with all the tension present in the house, and even though it was usually very quiet, Kyouya was certain that if he were living estranged from his family and surrounded by no more than maids, pleasant as they may be, and a pet, he’d probably want some company once and a while as well.
The two boys stared at each other for a long, silent moment; then, their lips touched. Neither was aware of how that had happened, but they made no move to stop it, either. It was gentle and sweet, very innocent in its chasteness, but very meaningful. Kyouya brought one hand to Tamaki’s face and traced his knuckles lightly down the blonde’s cheek. When they broke apart Tamaki was blushing and looked like, for once, he had nothing to say. They remained staring at each other silently for a few moments, then Kyouya stood up and walked over to the door before he turned around and raised his eyebrows at Tamaki.
‘Are you coming? We were going to get a late lunch, weren’t we?’ Tamaki, put at ease by the way Kyouya gently pushed the kiss to the side, stood up quickly with a bright smile.
‘Of course, how silly of me!’ Kyouya offered one of his rare, genuine smiles that never seemed more than a curving of his lips. He would not talk about what he had just done, not now; it was the last thing Tamaki needed on top of all his other worries.
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