"It's a masquerade ball, Kyoya, you have to wear a mask. You'll look silly otherwise."
He looks over at his wife, and she's smiling in a way that makes him knows she's half joking. It sounds like something Tamaki would have said, completely serious, but Haruhi is not a product of the same culture as he. She still thinks the "rules" of upper-class society are ridiculous, even though she has learned to play by them.
"Besides, the twins did theme costumes for all of us. I think you'll like them."
"Alright then," he says, resigned, "Let me see what the devils have come up with this time."
Kyoya is quite capable of dressing himself, of course, and even Haruhi can usually manage with a little help from the maids, but Hikaru and Kaoru still like to handle wardrobe for big events like this one. Tamaki's birthday is never a small affair, and this year's gala will be particularly extravagant.
Haruhi motions him over to the bed, and uncovers a box to reveal two masks. Kyoya picks up the smaller, more feminine one, which is covered in gold and red stones.
"Fire maiden?"
She giggles.
"Sun goddess. With dress and shoes to match."
"Ah. And that would make me…"
He picks up his mask, made in a style complementary to his wife's, but in silver and midnight blue.
"The moon god. Ruler of the night."
He raises his eyebrows at her. The Hiitachin's sense of humor has not changed much.
"There's just one problem with this," he says, placing the mask over his face. It hits his wire frames and won't sit properly on his nose. "How am I supposed to wear this over my glasses?"
"You're not supposed to wear it with your glasses. You'll have to take them off and put in your contacts."
Kyoya grunts. They've been married almost three years now; Haruhi knows his favorite brand of orange juice and where he hides top-secret files at the office, so of course she knows about the pair of contact lenses he always has on hand.
"Is there a problem with that?" she asks with sincere curiosity. In all the years since high school, she knows she has never seen her husband wear contacts, but she assumes this is just a personal preference for the effect he achieves with his glasses.
"No, I suppose not. I guess I'll go get ready."
"Your tux is hanging on the shower."
He grabs the mask and walks reluctantly to the bathroom.
"Alright."
Twenty minutes later, Haruhi has finished dressing and fixing her hair, and she realizes that Kyoya has yet to open the bathroom door. She walks over and knocks softly. When he doesn't reply, she opens the door.
"Kyoya, what're you-?"
He's standing at the counter, slightly hunched over, and staring rather menacingly at the contact lens on his right index finger. His glasses lay discarded by the sink.
"As loathe as I am to admit defeat, I can't do it Haruhi. I can't put in this damn contact."
She tries to avoid chuckling and hurting his pride, but she still smiles a little.
"Have you at least tried?"
"I've tried a dozen times! My blasted eye refuses to cooperate, and it doesn't help that I can barely see this freaking thing."
"Well," she says, with the tone of someone trying to talk a child out of a tantrum, "why don't you let me help?"
Haruhi walks over and washes her hands, then plucks the contact off Kyoya's finger. She tugs on his arm gently and pulls him in the general direction of the commode.
"Sit."
He obliges, and she uses her free hand to tilt his chin back until he's looking at the ceiling, and then holds one of his eyes open.
"Now hold still, and look up."
She tries to put the contact in, but Kyoya looks at her finger at the last minute, squeezing his eyes shut and causing her to throw it on the ground.
"That's alright. We'll try again."
Haruhi remains outwardly calm, despite her inner frustration, and Kyoya is reminded of why their marriage has worked so well. When one of them flustered, the other is usually able to remain collected.
More than a few failed attempts later, Haruhi manages to get the contact into Kyoya's eye.
"There," she says, sounding satisfied, "Now just blink a few times to get it settled."
He makes a face and starts rubbing his eye with a fist.
"It feels like I have something in my eye."
She pulls his hand away.
"Of course it does, silly. You do have something in your eye. It'll take a little bit to get used to it."
She goes to the counter and grabs his glasses. He reaches for them, half-heartedly, but she pulls them out of his grasp.
"Now, I'm going to take these, so I want you to go ahead and put that other contact in. And hurry, we don't have much time before we need to leave."
Haruhi walks out, and Kyoya groans inwardly. He thinks that he liked it better when she was too scared of him to pull a stunt like that.
He finally comes out of the bathroom, dressed and mostly put together. His eyes are red and watery. Haruhi is pacing and reading, and she looks up from her book when she hears him.
"Can you see now?"
Kyoya considers his wife through his new lenses. Where before she had appeared as a blur of gold fabric and skin, he can now see her clearly. The mask makes her eyes stand out brilliantly, and the dress is simple enough that it only points to her natural beauty, rather than covering it up with something more artificial. He smiles.
"Yes. Quite well. But it still itches."
Haruhi walks over and adjusts his tie.
"Give it some time."
She pulls his head down and kisses his left eyelid, then his right. She lets go, but Kyoya doesn't straighten.
"Actually, I think that may have helped. Try it again?"
Haruhi does, laughing a little. She is always somewhat surprised when Kyoya shows vulnerability like this, and sometimes she wishes it would happen more often. But then, she thinks, Kyoya wouldn't be Kyoya. She walks over to the bed and grabs a small purse.
"Alright now, it's time to go. And don't forget to put on your mask. We wouldn't want someone mistaking you for human."
A/N: I originally intended this to be more humorous and less fluffy, but you can't argue with the muse, I suppose. I got the idea the other day, out of personal experience. I started wearing glasses about a year ago, and I actually like them. But I recently decided I wanted to try contacts, because there are situations where wearing glasses is undesirable or inconvenient. Try seeing a 3-D movie and having to put glasses over your glasses. That's annoying. But I've discovered that contacts are also a pain in the butt. And the masquerade idea came from Halloween last year, when my roommates and I all dressed up as muses for different arts, and wore appropriate masks. I ended up walking around half-blind all night because I couldn't wear my glasses.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. R&R is always appreciated, because it helps me get better at this writing thing. If you enjoyed it, let me know why, and if you hated it, let me know why : )
Edit: To make it more apparent that they're married from the beginning.