a/n: fluff. After bouncing around from Special A to AOT to Blue Exorcist, I found myself missing my favorite anime. KyouyaxTamaki, if you squint.
Two identical hands clapped down on Kyouya' s shoulders, and he started out of surprise. With the club still in full swing, he hadn't anticipated being disturbed while he allocated funds out of the club's budget to costume shops and tea shippers. In fact, every host knew better than to disturb him at this time. After all, time spent not working was money lost, and Kyouya hated losing money.
"Kyouya-senpai," Hikaru droned, leaning in close. "Tamaki-senpai won't play..."
Kyouya frowned. Something was up. "Play? Aren't all three of you supposed to be working?"
Hikaru slid Into a seat in front of him, and Kaoru followed close behind. "All of the guests have gone home already," he shrugged, and Kyouya looked up from his notebook to realize they were right. The room was empty, save for the hosts. Honey was chowing down on cake in the corner, and Haruhi and Mori were idly chatting nearby. Kyouya glanced at his watch: he'd burned away two hours already?! What a waste. "Tell Tamaki-senpai we want to play..." Kaoru whined, but Kyouya didn't miss the glint in his eye. They were up to something. Sliding his notebook shut, Kyouya's eyes raked the room. Last time he'd seen the blond, he'd been lecturing on about the pinky cushion, but his spot on that couch was empty. Kyouya's gaze passed on, over the tables where Honey sat, to the large windows on the far side of the room - there. A distinctly blonde mop of hair sat in one of the windowsills, long legs stretched out so his whole silhouette was lit up by the afternoon sun.
"Why don't you go ask him yourself?" Kyouya muttered, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from Tamaki. Something was different about him.
"Don't you see what he's doing?" Kaoru prodded.
Kyouya did see. It was the reason he couldn't pull his eyes away. For, splayed open in the boy's lap was a thick book, and Tamaki was scanning down the pages with the same loving intensity he gave to playing the piano. Every page was carefully regarded, then long fingers would splay out and turn under the next thin sheet up to the very last word, after which he flipped the page over as though he feared he may lose the story if he took too long. It was mesmerizing to watch, and Kyouya was absolutely hypnotized. "He's reading," he murmured.
"It's so strange to see," Kaoru started.
"And it's not even a picture book," Hikaru added.
"He's been doing that all day. Says he has to finish it."
That shook Kyouya out of his daze, and he turned to look at the twins, who had identical smirks on their faces. "What book is it?"
Both of them shrugged, throwing up their hands. "No idea."
Kyouya's gaze turned back to the blonde, whose lips were forming the words he read on the page. "I'll take care of it," he said quietly, barely a whisper.
"What?" Kyouya was already on his feet, but turned back to see the twins grinning.
"I said, I'll take care of it. Go home." The twins exchanged glances, then floated away without another word, taking the other three hosts with them. Kyouya hesitated; that was too easy. What did those two little devils want? They were usually as easy to remove as a superglued leech. The sound of a page turning jerked him out of his thoughts, and his gaze fell on the blonde again. Reading. The man was reading. Those large blue eyes were half-lidded, pale pink lips forming letters and altogether he was the perfect picture of a man in the afternoon sun. Before Kyouya could stop himself, he was crossing the room and coming to a stop in front of his friend. "What are you reading?" he asked quietly, almost afraid to disturb the scene.
Tamaki didn't look up for a moment, but when he did, the golden sun caught those blue eyes, and Kyouya had to sit down on the ledge across from him. "Pride & Prejudice. You said I should read it."
Kyouya's eyebrows shot up. "I did?" He found himself unable to look anywhere but those iridescent eyes.
"Don't you remember? A year ago, we had lunch together and you said I should read it. "
Kyouya was surprised the blonde had remembered, for someone so spastic and dramatic. It felt as though nothing Kyouya said ever sank in, but apparently he was wrong. "I suppose I did." Although, back then, the intent of recommending that book had been entirely different.. Tamaki had been interrupting his budget analysis most of the lunch period, and Kyouya honestly believed getting the boy to read would silence him for a few hours. Pride & Prejudice had been the thickest fiction book he could recall on such short notice. A smile crept on his lips; now the tables were turned, and he was the interrupter. Funny how things worked like that.
"What are you smiling about, Mommy?"
Kyouya blinked; his next words completely automatic. "Have you ever thought that you are the reason I smile?"
Tamaki stared at him, the book falling shut in his lap. For a split second, Kyouya panicked. What had he done? Then, a brilliant smile split Tamaki's face, and a few moments later the boy was laughing.
"What?" Kyouya frowned, a little bit hurt.
"You make daddy so happy!" the boy grinned. His smile was brighter than the sun, but it dimmed as soon as his eyes fell on his book. "But now I've lost my page..."
