"You have to tell people how you feel about them or they'll never know."
Damn Kaoru. Why did he always have to have a point?
The days following the Ouran fair were quiet ones. Normal classes and activities resumed unceremoniously, the only signs that an event had taken place being the lingering clean-up crews and the elevated spirits of those who had enjoyed it. So quiet though the days may have been, there were still pleasant ones.
Well, pleasant for most people.
Hikaru would not classify this day as a pleasant one. In fact, if he wanted to be a bit more immature about it, he would classify it as a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. And technically speaking, he was already being more than slightly immature about it, because the thing that qualified this day for terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day-ness hadn't even happened yet. But it would. He knew it would. Unless of course he decided to forget about the whole thing and run away now, which he had been seriously considering for the entire day leading up to this point.
But was he really going to back out now?
Really, he'd made it this far. He'd managed the entire school day and even gotten through club activities without mentally calling it off. He'd even managed to get rid of Kaoru with a minimal amount of difficulty.
"You're not coming?" The other Hitachiin brother had asked earlier that day, tilting his head quizzically to one side.
"No, uh... why don't you go on ahead, I'll call another car or maybe even walk. I need my exercise, you know. There's, uh... something I have to take care of."
"Something you have to take care of?"
"...Yeah."
"... Ooookay."
Okay, so maybe he hadn't exactly been smooth about it- surely his brother was wondering what on earth he was up to and would no doubt have questions later. But still, he'd gotten rid of him in a timely fashion. Plus, if he was going to get questioned about it anyway, he'd might as well actually do the thing that had earned him the questioning in the first place, right? Having made it this far, was he really going to back out now? Could he?
Hell yeah, he could. In a heartbeat. This was going to be weird and embarrassing and horrible and he could totally go the rest of his life without this memory to forever haunt him until the day it flashed before his eyes for one final time on his death bed.
But he wouldn't. He was going to go through with this.
Or at least he hoped so.
"You have to tell people how you feel about them or they'll never know."
Hikaru gulped and tightened his grip on the flower in his hand. Then he promptly relaxed it again as he realized he was squishing the poor thing.
That was another thing. A flower. A bloody flower.
A rose, to be precise. Why, of all things, had he brought a flower? What was he, a third grader?
But for the life of him, he hadn't been able to think of anything else. After all, what do you get a person like that?
He supposed maybe he could've done something else, looked around a bit more, scoured a few stores to see if he could find a better idea, but that would've required way too much effort- no, scratch that, it wasn't how much effort it required that bothered him- it was how much effort it implied. Why, if he'd showed up with some perfect, well thought-out, expensive gift, that would clearly imply to any receiver or anyone even observing such a gift exchange that he liked them or something and that clearly wasn't the message he was trying to send.
At all. Because it totally wasn't like that. It's not like he liked anyone. He didn't have a crush, and he definitely didn't need anyone thinking he had a crush, and the fact that he was giving someone a flower was not in any way, shape, or form meant to convey romantic affection!
Lord, he should've brought chocolates.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The red-haired boy felt his heart catch in his throat. Footsteps, from behind the club room door, rapidly growing louder as they neared his position, still standing in the hallway like an idiot.
The plan had initially been to actually open the door and go inside. It looked like now, the person he'd been planning to approach within was going to beat him to it. Not that he could blame them- he was a solid twenty minutes late. The person behind the door had likely assumed that whoever had left that mysterious note on their desk wasn't going to show up- Hikaru was not even going to stop to think about, and thus go through all the mental cringing associated with, the fact that he had actually sneaked a note onto someone's desk telling them to meet him after school so they could talk in private.
He could still run. There was plenty of time, his brain told him. He could totally make it down the hallway and out of sight before that door opened, leaving no trace that he'd ever been there. No one would ever suspect him of anything, either. Hell, they probably had a million notes from love-struck girls show up on their desk every day...
"You have to tell people how you feel about them or they'll never know."
… No. He was going to do this.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The door opened.
"... Hikaru?"
The Hitachiin in question slowly raised his head to meet the eyes of the person standing before him.
"What are you still doing here?"
This was it.
Hikaru opened his mouth to speak...
"We're not slowing down until we get the boss back!
"If it wasn't for Tamaki, then the two of us would still only be lost souls. We were able to become friends with Haruhi and the others because the host club brought us together! To think that all of it could end so suddenly like this... is something that I can't tolerate!
"This just can't be the end, boss... it's not fair. The host club was the only thing that made us happy..."
… And no words came out.
… How? How could it be that those words, those desperate, embarrassing words that he'd spoken so easily in a time of such chaos, spoken in front of other people, even, now refused to come out when he needed them most?
Tamaki blinked large, blue eyes at him curiously.
"Hikaru? Are you okay?"
Those eyes... those piercing blue eyes... with just a hint of lavender... so pure... so sincere... almost like they were staring right into your soul... Those eyes he once thought he may never see again...
… He couldn't do this.
He tore his gaze away, away from that deep blue stare. He didn't care how weird it must look. He didn't care that he was running away like some frightened school girl. To hell with this. He quickly spun around, fulling intent on running the other way and not looking back...
"Hikaru?!"
And he stopped.
His heart pounded in his chest. The delicate stem of the rose in his hand was now beyond squished. Tiny beads of sweat began to break out on his forehead. Good lord, he was pathetic.
Slowly, he turned around to face the other.
"... How did you know that I'm Hikaru?"
He had never identified himself to the blonde standing before him. Kaoru wasn't with him either, so there was no way he'd have a chance of guessing who was who by comparing voices or the way they parted their hair.
… Could it be... that another person could...?
"Hm?" The host club prince stared at the other for a moment, puzzled. "Oh, it was easy."
"... Really?"
"Yeah. You're holding an orange rose. Kaoru has always seemed to prefer blue."
… Nope.
"Moron." Hikaru grumbled, eyes downcast once again. He mentally kicked himself for even thinking that the arrogant host club king, of all people, might've ever paid enough attention to him to be able to tell him from his brother.
"Hey, what was that for?" Tamaki replied with a hurt expression. "Sheesh. So what're you still doing here, anyway? To tell you the truth, I was actually expecting someone..."
"... N-nothing." He muttered, feeling any courage he might have built up slipping away. This was a bad idea. He never should've come here, or left that note, or... anything. Clearly the other boy didn't feel the same way... not that Hikaru felt anything toward him, either. No sir. Not at all. But even if he ever did feel something towards the other boy, which he didn't, clearly the other boy didn't return the feeling. He couldn't even tell him from Kaoru. Well, not that anyone could besides the two of them and Haruhi, but...
Tamaki, for his part, was busily studying Hikaru, who completely failed to notice where his attention was directed, since the red-haired boy was too busy staring at his own feet. The blonde felt some small measure of concern. Something appeared to be troubling him...
He opened his mouth to ask once again if the other boy was alright. Before he could however, a small click sounded from inside his head.
He stood quietly for a moment. Then, slowly, he smiled.
"Is that for me?"
"W-what?" Hikaru stammered, the question wrenching him from his depressing thoughts.
"Your rose. Is that for me?"
The Hitachiin's eyes traveled to the flower still clutched in his hand, as though having forgotten it was even there.
"Uh... Well, uh..."
"Thank you."
Before Hikaru could try and fail to articulate a response, Tamaki gently plucked the rose from his hand, fingers brushing against his own just ever so slightly. The prince brought the delicate flower to his nose and inhaled its sweet fragrance, before drawing it away again and chuckling softly.
"You know Hikaru," He began, leaning in close to the other boy's face, no differently than he would with one of the club's many guests. "If you didn't spend all your time acting like a prickly little pear, I think everyone- yourself included- would realize that you're actually very sweet."
Hikaru felt his cheeks heat up. His already pounding heart threatened to burst out of his chest. Oh lord, he was blushing and freaking out and oh lord...
"Meh... er... uh... W-w-what do you know?!" He stuttered out desperately, moving away. "M-moron!"
"Hikaru, wait!"
The cry fell on deaf ears. Before even Hikaru himself knew it, he was down the hallway, around the corner, and out the door. Screw walking home- it looked like whether he liked it or not, he was going for a jog.
Tamaki shook his head and sighed, staring at the spot where the other had been just moments ago. Then he glanced down at the rose in his hands, and chuckled softly once again.
Meet me in the clubroom after school.
Love, Tamaki
Hikaru couldn't believe it when he'd found the note lying on his desk that morning. What he couldn't believe even more than that, was that he was actually standing in the clubroom now, after school.
And what he couldn't believe even more than that was... whatever was presently going on.
"I don't understand..."
He stared down in confusion at the orange rose that Tamaki had placed in his hands. It wasn't the same one that he himself had given the other boy yesterday, it was fresh. But why...
"Well, you see, I just thought it would be more convenient this way."
What...?
"The florist that does the arrangements for my house already gave me a really good deal on orange roses. From this day forward, I'll have an orange rose to give you every day, Hikaru."
"... Why?"
"For you to wear, of course!"
"Wear? … Boss, I don't get-..."
Gingerly, the blonde boy took the rose from Hikaru's hands and set about the task of gently affixing it to the front of the red-haired boy's shirt.
"You see, this way, we make sure that I don't end up accidentally kissing Kaoru. Although I suppose you can take it off to play the 'Which-One-Is-Hikaru' game and all that fun."
"Kiss Kaoru? Why would you end up accidentally ki-..."
The younger boy found himself abruptly cut off as a pair of lips firmly planted themselves over his. They were soft, and warm, and inviting, and everything Hikaru had imagined them to be and then promptly denied that he'd been imagining...
The senior of the Hitachiin brothers felt his heart rate increase and his cheeks flush once more as the blonde boy broke the kiss. The redness in his face only grew darker as he stared up into a pair of gentle, smiling eyes.
"M-moron." He muttered, before he was kissed again.
And this time, he totally didn't kiss back. Not at all. Not even a little.
"You have to tell people how you feel about them or they'll never know."
It was a good thing for Hikaru that sometimes, you could tell people things without words.
Hey guys! Ignoring the fact that I have another fic I should be updating instead of writing this one, I think it came out pretty good for having been written at 3 AM whilst hopped up on cold medicine. This is my first time experimenting with this pairing, but it has a certain charm, I think. Thanks for taking the time to read, and please tell me what you thought. I hope to really get back on my game once I'm free of my various medical maladies, so stick around, 'cause I'll be turning out more fics for you lovely people!
- YummyYaoiSandwiches
P.S: I will be eternally grateful to anyone who can tell me how to get the site to stop screwing up my formatting.