The words are never spoken, that would only invite misfortune and he's not sure he would believe them anyway, but they are there none the less. They live in Kyoya willingness to indulge in Tamaki's lighthearted whims and in Tamaki's smile that isn't a show or his tears that he cannot stop or start at will. It is something they dance around, something that Tamaki begins to whisper in French when he thinks Kyoya won't hear but never finishes. Most the time Kyoya is thankful for this, afraid of what those words would mean if they were made audible, but sometimes Kyoya has to restrain himself so he doesn't finish Tamaki's sentence.
Kyoya knows the absence of the words gnaw on his friend's French heart. That his friend is a love song with its mouth taped shut and this feeling, those unspoken words, are a poem given to an illiterate poet. And it is this knowledge that almost moves him to speak.
Tamaki knows his friend is afraid of the unspoken words, because the one time he dared to whisper them against Kyoyo's neck the boy tensed even in his sleep. So while he may long to say them so badly his jaw aches from clenching it shut, he keeps silent.
Yet even as these words bind them together they drive them apart. What once was a warmth from a hidden heater vent becomes a lurking sickness. Tamaki longing morph and contorts into an oily resentment. Kyoya fearful misgivings become twisted and ugly till they are almost all he sees when he looks a Tamaki.
Their fever has become a virus. There is a coldness to Kyoya's indulgence now, as though it is an annoying habit he's been too busy to break off, and Tamaki's smiles become forced and showy. They both see these changes, both know the poison they've taken, and they both stubbornly refuse the cure.
So it comes as no surprise to Kyoya when Tamaki's eyes turn elsewhere. To people not so afraid of the words, to people who will gladly accept them. The words that they won't say don't stop being true, they just stop being relevant.
Surprise or not it still hurts to see Tamaki walk out the door and know that he's going to see her, and to know that if he whispers the words to her she won't reject them.
"I'll be back later." Tamaki calls and Kyoya feels the words swell within him.
"I-" but they have tied their nose and now must hang. "might not be here, there are something I need to see to." Tamaki nods and leaves. Kyoya rises and places his head against the door.
"I love you." He says to the empty room and leaning against the other side of the door with his hands clenched around a small box, Tamaki wishes the words hadn't come so late.
AN: One day I'll write something happy and fluffy for them. I'm not sure what I think of this one, but I liked the idea and I'm posting it so I'll stop messing with it. Oh and the title was borrowed from the Depeche Mode song "Enjoy the Silence"