Please note that as of 04 March 2015 Chapters One through Six have all been rewritten. There aren't any plot changes per se, but there have been edits. Chapter Seven is brand new.
I do not own Ouran.
Remember Me
Chapter Two — Next Time I'm in France
"How was the meeting?" said the voice over the phone flatly.
"Fantastic. They ordered even more than we offered," Kaoru replied, checking his watch.
"Is that because you offered them a discount?"
Kaoru grimaced, imagining the face his lover was making. "Well, technically, but the amount—"
"Kaoru," Kyoya growled, "how many times have I told you not to offer deals without consulting me first; we're in this for profit!"
Kaoru rolled his eyes, "but I did the math!"
"And we both know how that ended up last time." There was a pause, and Kaoru briefly wondered, as he always did, why he put up with it. "Look, just come home. We'll talk about fixing this later. I have to go."
"I love—" Kaoru started to say, but he was met with a dial tone. "You," he finished, disappointed, closing his phone and putting it back into his pocket. "I have to stop wasting my time with people who don't care," he muttered.
"What?" Tamaki said, approaching with a coffee for himself and a green tea for Kaoru.
"Nothing," Kaoru replied, taking his cup from Tamaki. "Thank you."
Tamaki nodded. "Look, I...I know you wanted a decision. But I just don't have one. I don't want to just call you up for a fuck when I'm feeling horny, but I'm really not ready to come out. I just...isn't there some sort of compromise we could get to? I mean..."
Kaoru watched Tamaki and sipped his tea, then replied simply: "Call me when you make a decision. I'll see you next time I'm in France."
Tamaki watched, dumbfounded, as Kaoru walked away, his suitcase rolling behind him.
"How was your flight?" Kyoya asked, not looking up from his newspaper.
"Fine." Kaoru slipped off his shoes in the entryway and continued through the sliding door into the house, closing it behind himself.
"You slept through it, didn't you? After I told you it would ruin your sleep schedule." Still, he didn't look up from his reading.
Kaoru rolled his eyes, retorting playfully, "Afraid I'll keep you up at night?"
"No, I just don't have the time to make you tired."
"I'm taking that as a compliment on my stamina." Kaoru sat beside Kyoya on the couch.
"You should," Kyoya replied, finally folding up his paper and looking over at Kaoru.
"I was beginning to think you didn't want me anymore." Kaoru put his arms around Kyoya's neck and pulled himself onto his lap. "Maybe I'll be tired by tonight if we start now."
Kyoya smiled and put his arms around Kaoru's waist, pulling him close. "You'd love that kind of distraction, wouldn't you? So then we wouldn't have to talk about how you pulled that deal I didn't authorize."
"Oh, come now," Kaoru purred, running his hands through Kyoya's hair. "Don't ruin it. We can deal with that later." He kissed his neck and sucked on the pale skin gently.
"Hello? Oh, sorry! I didn't know that I was interrupting." The boys looked up from the couch.
"Hello, Nadine," they both said, Kaoru's voice distinctly brighter than Kyoya's.
"Hello, boys." She was tall and voluptuous, with smooth, dark skin and thick, long, brown wavy hair that reached just past her buttocks. "Kaoru, how was your trip, my dear?"
"Would have been better with you, darling," he smiled. Nadine being Kyoya's wife was one of the nice things about whatever sort of relationship this was. He could always count on her to be his friend. "That dress is looking worn; please let me give you something new."
Nadine giggled. "Maybe you could dress me later, Kaoru. But right now, I have to dress myself, for a certain dinner party that my husband is supposed to be attending with me. Or was he suddenly called into work?"
Kyoya sighed. "I can be ready by seven." He nudged Kaoru off of his lap, who pouted and slumped back into the couch.
"Fantastic. I'll get ready, then." She turned back up the stairs, Kyoya trailing aways behind her.
"Nadine," Kaoru called out, "you should really wear the turquoise mermaid dress!" She giggled again in response.
"Kaoru," Kyoya said quite seriously, pausing on the staircase. "We aren't done."
Kaoru picked up the abandoned newspaper to keep his hands from shaking. "Well, you are." He knew he was walking a fine line, talking back to the Shadow King himself like this. "Let me know when you get back from the party. Maybe we can spend some more time not sleeping together."
"What are you doing?" Kyoya said flatly.
"Trying to sleep, I guess," Kaoru replied, his words muffled by the pillow his face was pressed against.
"I told you it wouldn't work," Kyoya sighed tiredly, turning on the light and loosening his tie. "I think we have some business to attend to, though."
Kaoru rolled over to face the other man. "Fuck me," he said, spreading his arms and legs out across the bed with a lazy smile.
Kyoya sat down on the bed. "I'm surprised you're not already satisfied."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Kaoru asked genuinely, rolling again to his side and propping himself up on his elbow. He put his hand on Kyoya's thigh with a devilish smile. "If you didn't want me to use toys on myself, you shouldn't have bought me them."
It was obvious that Kyoya was in no mood for messing around. "Well, I'm wondering if maybe you think I'll be happy with this because we haven't slept together in a while, and you could tell I was getting frustrated. Or if maybe Tamaki has lost his touch."
Kaoru shot up to a sitting position. Every hair on his body stood on end. "Excuse me?"
"Maybe is it both? You think that maybe having sex will make me forget that I'm angry about you sleeping with him."
The nervousness was starting to turn into fear. "Kyoya, I—"
"Did you think I wouldn't notice? Why would you go to France and not visit him? You always visit him."
Kaoru waited a beat. For a moment, he'd wondered how Kyoya could know that, because Tamaki certainly didn't. Then again, this was Kyoya, who knew everything somehow. "T-true as that may be..."
"I could tell," Kyoya spat with disdain, not looking at the redhead at all. "You're quite the actor. Always have been. But you can't hide the air around you. The look in your eyes. The spring in your step. I could tell. It's the way you always have been with him. When everyone else was blind, all through high school, since the day things changed—I've always noticed. He makes you happy, in a way that no one else can. In a way that I cannot."
Kaoru sighed, pressing his chest to the dark haired man's back and wrapping his arms around him. "Don't get sentimental on me now, babe. I love you because you're never like this." With any luck, this wouldn't be a repeat of that incident. "Let's just have meaningless sex."
"Who are you kidding?" Kyoya turned and pushing Kaoru back down onto the bed, leaning over him menacingly. "You crave affection. That's why you slept with him, because he adores you." His grip on Kaoru tightened painfully. "Affection that I won't ever give you."
Kaoru's eyes watered. "He wouldn't even take empty sex from me, Kyoya. He didn't want what I offered. At all." He tried to take a deep breath, to calm down, but instead ended up with a short, sharp intake of air. "I don't know what to do. He won't fight for me."
"No, he won't," Kyoya muttered, beginning to undress Kaoru. "But I fought for you. I married a woman for you. I'm living a lie for you."
Kaoru's breath caught in his throat. "Kyoya, I—I love you for that."
"That's right," Kyoya breathed against Kaoru's pale skin. "You love me."
"I love you," Kaoru whispered, letting the other man handle him like a doll.
Always like a doll.