Tamaki sighed heavily. College was NOTHING like he'd expected. He had slumped forwards on his desk, his arms flung out before himself. Slowly, he glanced over his arm to look across at his best friend who was sat beside him. Kyouya was busy taking notes and working hard as always. Tamaki had taken business studies, wrongly mistaking it for fun, as both Kyouya and Haruhi had taken it. Unfortunately now he was regretting it. It wasn't that he found it difficult or that he was bad at it, quite on the contrary, he proved to have quite a knack for it... much to the annoyance of Kyouya and Haruhi who would often find themselves bugged by the bored Tamaki.
Today was no exception. "Kyouya... Pssst! Kyouya...!" he tried to get the youngest Ootari brother's attention. "Psst! Kyouya!" he tried harder, as blind as ever at the annoyance that he was causing his friend. "PSST! Kyouya!" he hissed through his teeth in an attempt to get his attention without being caught talking. "What!?" Kyouya finally snapped irritably. Tamaki hid behind his arm in the face of Kyouya's anger. "I'm bored..." he finally dared to utter. "If you're bored then get on with your work! Or take a nap! Or email someone! Just bother someone else instead of me!" Kyouya growled.
Tamaki puffed out his cheeks and frowned but he let Kyouya get back to work. With a pout and a a sigh, just in the off chance that Kyouya didn't notice his mood, Tamaki pulled out his mobile phone and started trying to find someone else to 'bother'. Surely there was a friend somewhere who wanted to spend time with him... wasn't there?
As though to answer his silent plea, an email came through on his phone. Kyouya glanced across, planning on 'shush'ing Tamaki because of his disruptive phone noises but stopped with his finger to his mouth as he saw the oddly serene and tender smile on his face. What or who had brought this on? Kyouya glanced across at Haruhi, wondering what she thought but by now she had mastered the difficult art of ignoring Tamaki. He looked back at Tamaki just in time to see his blonde friend rise from his chair and, just as silently, leave the room.
The look on Tamaki's face, the calm nature, the silence in which he had left the room and in that he had left alone... it all confused Kyouya no end and even worried him some.
It was only once Kyouya and Haruhi had met up with Hikaru and Kaoru for dinner, while waiting for Hunni and Mori that someone openly questioned Tamaki's whereabouts. "Anyone seen Tono today?" Hikaru asked as they spotted the still short and adorable blonde Hunni on the shoulders of the tall, dark, silent Mori walking towards them. "He was in class with us but I don't remember seeing him when we left." Haruhi said as Kaoru shook his head in response to his twins question though it was hardly needed as the two spent almost all their time together. "It's true, he was, but he got up and left in the middle of class after receiving an email." Kyouya filled them in on what he knew. "You guys talking about Tama-chan?" Hunni asked as and Mori caught up with them. Mori removed Hunni from his shoulders as the others nodded. "We saw Tama-chan just a few minutes ago, right Takashi? He was helping a girl out of a limousine and talking to her lots. We weren't close enough to see who she was but Tama-chan seemed to know her really well!" Hunni exclaimed. "They hugged." Mori clarified, as blunt as ever. "I wonder who she is?" Hikaru mused. "Maybe it's a secret girlfriend?" Kaoru added in the same tone. "Haruhi has competition?" Hunni asked innocently and all the guys instantly looked at the only girl in their group. "Well she's not very girly." Hikaru said. "She's kinda cold and even harsh towards Tono." Kaoru added. "She is always pushing him away." Kyouya agreed. "She makes up excuses to not do things with him like go to dinner." Hunni piped up. "Friend-zone." Mori said finally and they all nodded.
Haruhi looked at them in complete shock, "What? I'm not mean!... He's just a pain in the neck! It's not that i don't like him! But going out to dinner is too much for me to stand. I'd rather stay home." she uttered. "While I don't blame you in the slightest, do you think that Tamaki would stay around forever with such an attitude? Especially if someone is being nicer to him? Kyouya asked softly. Haruhi played with her fingers like she did when nervous, "I guess...but surely he'd tell me to my face." she uttered.
Hikaru and Kaoru looked at one another and grinned, "Sounds like this needs investigating!" they chimed together with an air of mischievousness. "Fine... Investigate it all you want. I'm going to lunch." Haruhi grumbled as she walked off. The guys looked at one another. "Lunch does seem like a good idea." Kyouya said, following Haruhi. "I'm hungry and Takashi needs to eat to keep his strength up!" Hunni agreed, following Kyouya with Mori right behind him. The twins looked at each other before shrugging, "When in Rome," Hikaru started, "Do as the Romans do." Kaoru finished and the two hurried after their friends, all thoughts of Tamaki and whoever had peaked his interest gone from mind for now.
Once they were all seated and eating in the college's canteen, the talk turned towards things they had done that day or that they wanted to do later or other classes they had to take. The usual basic talk. Only without Tamaki the conversation didn't really last long and soon dried up. Fortunately it didn't last too long. "HEY Guys! Sorry I'm late!" Tamaki said hurrying over to them with a huge grin. His smile was short lived though as everyone at the table outright ignored him. Tamaki pouted and sat down, "Hey i said i was sorry." he whimpered as he poked at his omelette with his puppy-dog eyes staring at his meal now. When he looked up he found everyone glaring at him. "And what, pray tell, makes you think we will accept you back when you so happy and casually ditched us?" Kyouya asked with a forced fake smile that made Tamaki shrink in his seat. "B..because.. I was greeting my friend Vivi... and she needed help getting to her apartment." Tamaki whimpered from behind the table, his eyes just peeking over the edge.
Haruhi sighed and picked at her food again, "Then next time, how about saying something to someone before going off hu?" she said as she took a bite. "I was going to, trust me Haruhi! But... Kyouya was getting annoyed with me trying to get his attention... so I didn't want to bother anyone..." he uttered. "So, when do we get to meet her?" Hunni asked eagerly, already forgiving him in the excitement of the possibility of meeting someone new.
"Well she's not exactly settled in yet but I guess you could meet her tonight. I'm going over to help her finish unpacking after my final lesson today." Tamaki explained with a smile, recovering from the animosity towards him before. "Well I'm interested in meeting this mystery woman." Kyouya said. "Count me in! And Takashi too!" Hunni chimed in. "Guess it wouldn't hurt and I've nothing better to do." Haruhi shrugged, "Well we might as well tag along too." Hikaru said, Kaoru wasn't so keen but silently agreed to attend. "Then its settled. We'll all go and meet ms. Vivi after the final lesson." Kyouya said with a sly grin that made Tamaki feel nervous. Not that he could have possibly been able to say anything at all once everyone else had decided on it so all he could do was to sit and silently pick at his lunch and worry about the meeting between his friends and Vivi.
The group talked openly about what 'Vivi' would be like. It was finally decided that she would be tall like a model and wear a reasonable amount of makeup. She'd have light brown hair that was long and always tied up. She'd have brown eyes and glasses and maybe a few freckles. She'd have AMAZING fashion sense and would be quite the socialite. Though they agreed she was probably something of an airhead. And all these guesses were based upon the single fact that Tamaki was, apparently, a good friend of hers.
The thoughts continued through the last class of the day, which dragged like nothing else but came far too quickly for Tamaki's liking, resulting in an exasperated sigh from the tall blonde as the bell ended the college day. "Erm... I was thinking... It'd be a bit rude for us to all turn up without warning so... so how about you guys go back to your own rooms, drop your bags off and get changed or something?" Tamaki asked openly, trying to buy more time. No one took any notice of what he said until Kyouya repeated it, "I know, how about we go back to our respective apartments, drop our bags off, get changed and generally freshen up? We can meet up with Tamaki afterwards and then head over to meet his friend." Kyouya suggested. At Kyouya's suggestion the group agreed unanimously and departed, deciding to meet in front of the apartment block after half an hour or so. Tamaki waited until they had all gone inside their respective buildings before running off across the courtyard towards the building at the far end.
The building in question was built specifically for the rich and famous students who had come to study at the college and university. He showed his I.D. card to the door man and he let Tamaki in, bowing as he opened the door with a tip of his hat. Tamaki bowed slightly in response but bolted up the stairs as fast as he could towards the penthouse suite as fast as his legs would carry him, in order to warn his friend that his fellow friends would be joining them.
After the suggested half an hour the group gathered in front of the fountain in the middle of the courtyard which the apartment buildings surrounded. Finally, fifteen minutes late, Tamaki came jogging over. "Hey! Sorry I'm late!" he panted. "Took you long enough." Hikaru said, "Yeah we were getting bored." his twin agreed. "Well now we're all here lets go!" Hunni exclaimed excitedly. Tamaki nodded, wiping his brow with the back to his hand and started off back the way he'd came. He went slowly, much to the annoyance of his friends though they grumbled to themselves rather than voice their annoyance... or rather they all did bar the twins who were happier voicing their boredom.