Disclaimer… I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or its characters. I am only using them for my own personal enjoyment and that of my readers.
A/N: Throughout life we meet people and lose people: friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, etc. Sometimes there is no way to know when it will be our time to say goodbye. I have personally lost people I cared a lot about and this story has been rolling around in my head since the first time I heard Luke Bryan's Drink a Beer (I highly recommend listening to it) and I had to finally put it down on paper. A little over a year ago I lost a good friend who always encouraged my dreams and my writing even before I started to get serious about it, and this song is exactly what happened. We used to talk as we drank our beers and enjoyed hanging out with other friends, but the song also makes me think of the others in my life that I have lost over the years. I feel blessed that they have all been a part of my life. Enjoy the story and I hope you like it.
Promises, wishes, dreams, good intentions, wants, and needs… There comes a time in everyone's life when they realize time has slipped away and communication that once flowed freely had become a mere trickle between each other. They were going to be friends forever, a second family that no one wanted to part with… that had been their intent, but slowly through the years, the original members of the Ouran High School Host Club drifted apart and only talked periodically, keeping up with each other more through newspaper articles and magazine clippings with the occasional phone call, email, or text message thrown in here and there. This wasn't how any of them foresaw their future during their carefree days in school, but this was how they had ended up.
One of their last times they spent as a group was during Haruhi and the twin's graduation from college. They went out to the beach and sat on the pier laughing, having fun, and enjoying that moment in their young lives. Everyone got plastered that night drinking beer and partying, celebrating that the last of the original hosts had finally graduated from college. It had not been the first time they had ended up on that pier with beer, wine, sake, or other alcohol in hand, but it had been one of the last.
After that everyone seemed to get busier and busier. They each had their lives to live and their careers to build. Tamaki was forced into an arranged marriage of his grandmother's choosing and became the president of the Suoh Corporation. He hadn't seemed very happy in either one. Kyoya did not become the heir, but instead supported his eldest brother by helping to manage the Ootori zaibatsu as one of the officers. He had somehow managed to escape an arranged marriage and wound up finding love with Haruhi after she and Tamaki were forced to breakup. The former female host did become a lawyer and realized that it wasn't a certain blond idiot that had been the love of her life, but a certain Shadow King. Hunny and Mori married girls they met during an omiai and took over their family businesses. Finally the twins were single and both in the fashion industry trying to build their own name apart from their mother's.
It didn't really seem possible, but seven years had passed since that last night on the pier and in the last four years, there had only been a handful of calls or messages from each other. No one had time any longer, but today was different and by some unspoken force, they all found themselves once again gathering on that pier, a cooler of beer in each of their hands because beer is what commoners drank. Earlier that day, they had all received the message that their good friend and former leader had been killed in a car accident. Some would probably say he was the supernatural force that pulled everyone together once again, in that one spot, on that very day. If anyone could do it, it would have been Tamaki.
Regret and guilt assailed all of them as they gathered together. They had all lost touch and were negligent in their communication skills, and it had been at least two years since any of them had seen Tamaki; and yet, when they each got the call, no one called the others with the exception of Kyoya calling Haruhi, and they still found each other at the same time at the same place on the same day.
"I think if the boss were here, he would be really happy right now," Kaoru smiled sadly missing the person that first put the crack in the world his brother and he used to reside.
Hikaru couldn't help the chuckle that escaped, "He would probably want to build a sandcastle, having a drinking contest because that is what commoners do, and somewhere in there, Kyoya-senpai would have to pull Haruhi free of his death grip."
They looked at each other and snickered simultaneously, "Unless he relied on Mori-senpai to do it."
Pushing up his glasses, Kyoya could feel his eyes burning with unshed tears as he smiled thinking about his best friend and wondering where the time had gone. What had happened to them? "I think you may be right, but I would be the one rescuing her. I could always get him to listen to me after all… for the most part," he spoke softly and felt someone wrap an arm around his back. Looking down at his side, he found his wife and leaned down to kiss the top of her head grateful that Tamaki had blessed his relationship with the brunette. When Kyoya had approached the blond about dating Haruhi while they were still in college, Tamaki had looked a little sad but told him, "She deserves to be happy and so do you. If you can be the one to do it, then I probably trust you more than anyone else. Take care of her Kyoya." Taking to heart what his friend had said, he did everything he could for Haruhi and lived for her, and as a result they had a strong and happy marriage.
"Tama-Chan would be happy that we are all here," Hunny said. His friend had been the first to say that it was alright to be his true self, and he never forgot that lesson, and he liked to think he had become a lot stronger for it as well.
Mori placed a hand on his cousin's head, "I'm sure he is happy." Smiling, he thought about the day he met the blond hyper-active man as teens. Tamaki had approached him separately from Hunny and asked him to be a part of the Host Club. At first he only joined because of his duty to his cousin, but in the club he had found friends that accepted him and his shorter cousin for themselves and looked at them as individuals. They found brothers… and a sister, and it was something he never wanted to give up. He wasn't sure where the time had gone and it knew it was something he would never get back, and that pained him.
Haruhi sat there and listened to everyone speak about Tamaki and knew everyone's thoughts were sorting through the various memories they all had of him. He had always been overzealous, hyper, tended to over react; and yet he was also sweet, funny, had a good heart, and was a true friend… and her first love. It hurt knowing that this world would be bereft of his sunny disposition or excited smile going forward and that they as friends had missed it over the years. Somehow it was hard to imagine that she would never see his face again, never feel his tight glomps, and never play commoner games with him again. Looking at each man that had reunited in remembrance of their friend, she realized that she had missed Hunny, Mori, Hikaru, and Kaoru… and she missed Tamaki too, but he was never coming back. Today they had been given a chance to fix what was broken and bring each other back in their lives if they chose, and she wanted that. Haruhi didn't want any more regret or another phone call saying one of them died and she hadn't spoken to them in years. These were her closest friends and she still needed them. "I think Tamaki brought us together so that we could be a family again," she declared.
Everyone smiled at that thought and nodded their agreement. Today was a turning point and going forward regardless of how busy they were they needed to find time for their friends… their second family.
"So how does that work when you married mommy?" Hikaru teased causing everyone to laugh.
This is what Tamaki would have wanted. To have a laugh, remember the good times, and rekindle the friendship. Raising her can, Haruhi proposed a toast, "To Tamaki for bringing us all together back in high school and again today. We could always depend on you no matter what. We will miss you and await the day we are all once again united. We love you!"
"We miss you Tono and hope that you are watching over us. You will always be with us and live in our hearts," Kaoru spoke through the tears that had started to fall.
"You were always crazy and never liked to be told no, but if it wasn't for you, Kaoru and I would have never found another world to inhabit," Hikaru choked letting the salt water fall freely as he collapsed against his brother.
Hunny's tears had started long ago and they were starting to flow even stronger now, "Tama-Chan, we are going to miss you. You impacted each of our lives and we are only sorry that you left us too soon."
"You were a good friend and we will see you again someday," Mori's voice trembled ever so slightly as he looked up to the sky and made his speech.
All of them held up their cans again, and looking towards the horizon shouted, "To Tamaki Suoh." None of them were sure if they had been imagining it, and they didn't talk about it after that day, but they could have all sworn they saw Tamaki's face smiling down at them one last time from above and it gave them a small sense of peace, and they knew moving forward, they would never allow this much time to pass between talking and assembling together ever again. Tamaki had brought them together more than once, and they would always cherish his memory never forgetting the man who loved them all and created the Host Club… he was where their lives began and intersected and a part of him would live inside of them for eternity.