"Absolutely not."
"Please, Kyoya?" Tamaki's indigo eyes pleaded with him. "I'm not asking for much, here."
"I, under absolutely no circumstances, will be confessing to Haruhi for you. Do it yourself or not at all." The clubroom had emptied for the day and only the Host Club Kings were left behind.
"But, it's Haruhi, so even if I confess properly, she won't have an opinion! She's so apathetic!" Tamaki whined. "You know how to make her listen, though! So if you say it, surely she'll say: 'Oh, Kyoya-Sempai, you're right. Tamaki and I were obviously destined for each other. I should have realized it sooner!' And then we can start living happily ever after!"
"Excuse me, but when exactly did you even become aware of your feelings for Haruhi?" Kyoya asked suddenly, not even bothering to pick up his black book. This wasn't any new information. He had always known Tamaki was in love; the question had always been when he would realize it.
"At the graduation ceremony for Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai, I suppose," Tamaki walked to the window. The sunset sent streams of amber light to reflect off the water in the fountain. "We, um…"
"Yes?" Kyoya was well aware of how short Tamaki's attention span was and was therefore often the one to have to prompt him back into reality.
"That is to say, we…" His voice trailed off with embarrassment.
"You… What, exactly?" Growing impatient, Kyoya rested his arm on the back of the long sofa. He reached for his book and readied himself to write. Things were getting interesting as he saw his friend go from energetic to embarrassed.
"We accidentally… kissed." Tamaki's face turned as pink as the paint on the clubroom walls.
K-i-s-s-e-? Kyoya stopped as he realized what he was writing, and stared at Tamaki, heart pounding. That couldn't be. "Graduation was weeks ago. Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" He asked urgently, trying not to show too much emotion.
"Because I didn't know what it meant. I always thought of her like my daughter, but when that happened, I suddenly remembered what Hikaru said: that we're not a family and even though it made me mad at the time, I understand now." He reclined on to the sofa where Kyoya was leaning.
"There's no way that Haruhi would accept you." Kyoya found himself saying without realizing that he was saying it. He wasn't sure why he was saying it, as he knew it to be a total and complete lie.
"Despite that, she still has the right to know, doesn't she? I think I'd want to know if someone loved me."
"Don't say 'love' so easily, Tamaki. Can you even imagine how your grandmother would react?"
"Despite that, I still feel the way I do. Can it be helped?"
"I THINK IT CAN!" He was shouting. Suppressed thoughts and feelings were boiling to the surface of Kyoya's formerly frozen heart. He tried to reason with himself to calm down, but he began thinking thoughts he'd never thought before. Haruhi had been off-limits to the host club. Her happiness hadn't ever mattered to him before that moment. "She could do better than, you, Tamaki!"
"Despite that, I can't ever do better than her." Tamaki's eyes were closed, as he laid on his back, not letting Kyoya's anger get the best of him.
"Why can you only think of yourself? Why can't you look around you every now and again?"
"I guess that love makes you a little selfish." He said after a moment of thought.
"Love is supposed to make you selfless, you idiot. And don't say 'love' so easily!" Why was he so mad? Why did it even matter? What was wrong with him? For the life of him, Kyoya could not figure himself out. That was always the problem, after all. Understanding other people is simple. It had always been his own brain that was too difficult to unravel.
"Kyoya." Tamaki sighed. "I don't understand why you're so mad."
"Neither do I." He said breathing deeply to regain composure.
"Isn't love a beautiful thing? Shouldn't it be shared with everyone? Even if Haruhi wouldn't have me, I think that being in love with her has changed me in someway."
"Why do you keep saying 'love'?" He concentrated on inhaling and exhaling, trying to lower his blood pressure.
"Because," Tamaki said as though it were obvious as he sat up. "That's how I feel."
"How do you even know what love feels like?"
"It's the way my heart beats when I hear her name in everyday conversations. It's the way my face gets hot when she looks at me. It's in her smile and in my heart. The way her chest moves as she breathes, her face in my dreams, every word she says: all of that is how I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that 'love' is the right word to use." He breathed unhurriedly, letting Kyoya process his words. "Haven't you ever felt that way, Kyoya?"
"Now that you mention it," He quietly said, opening his notebook to a heavily scrawled on page. Haruhi's picture stared back at him from the top of the page. "I think maybe I have."
A.N.: I know that I should be updating "Shadow King of Anything". I know that. But my muse has died in a tarpit or something so instead I offer another One-Shot about Kyoya and how clueless he is about his own feelings. Please accept this fluff as an apology!