A/N: Fluff fluff fluff. (Happiness) This and 'Disaster' are some of my favourites (that I've written), I think. Alas, I don't own, but please enjoy!
#72- Lost
Passing By
1,217 words
Haruhi stirred her tea noisily. She didn't normally do this any louder then anyone else who partook in the beverage, but she was overcompensating for the silence of her companion. Kyouya, sitting opposite her, made no sound, or even any attempt at conversation.
It was excruciating.
Actually, Haruhi wasn't quite sure what he was doing there. She had specifically banned them all from visiting that weekend, with a look so scary they had all promised to comply- although Tamaki moped endlessly about it- and she though she hadn't pictured Kyouya being scared of her, she hadn't imagined him coming alone either. There had been no helping it, she desperately needed to catch up on the housework. She'd been meaning to clean the oven for weeks, but something had always come up; and just as she had been sufficiently covered in goo and the remnants of one of her father's somewhat violent curries, Kyouya had shown up on the doorstep.
She hadn't been able to turn him away, why she did not know. He didn't exactly deserve politeness, turning up not only unannounced and at a really bad time, but when she had explicitly asked them not to. She had compromised by telling him, quite sharply, that with her dad still on night shifts, he would have to be quiet so as not to wake him.
She hadn't expected him to take it so seriously. This was silent of Mori-esque proportions, but with none of the familiar comfort. She had long since realised Kyouya preferred to talk only out of necessity, was happy with that, but here expectation weighed heavily in the air. She was waiting for him to spit out whatever ulterior motive she suspected he was here for- he did nothing meaninglessly- and yet, it almost seemed he was waiting for her.
It was excruciating. She was dreading a revelation that he was keeping her in suspense over, and she was sure it wouldn't be good. Eventually, she could bear it no longer- and the oven was hardly cleaning itself- and she felt the need to ask.
"So, Kyouya-senpai, what brings you here?" She inquired.
Kyouya merely glanced at her over the rim of his cup, swallowed, and set the cup down. At last, he answered at his leisure and without quite meeting her eye: "I was simply passing by."
"Passing by…?" Haruhi repeated, sceptically. That wasn't like him at all, but she knew better than to question him. Often, she wouldn't want to know. "Where from?"
"Tamaki was so beside himself at your absence this weekend that he insisted we pursued more 'commoner culture'. He's convinced you don't enjoy the outings he arranges-"
"I don't." Haruhi answered, flatly.
"And that we should therefore adapt to activities befitting your status, that you're used to."
Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "What? Does he mean going to the cinema and things? Just because it's not private doesn't make a huge amount of difference. I just chose not to go."
"That's what I said." Kyouya smirked- no, smiled, a little. "You can imagine his reaction to my 'un-enthusiasm'."
Haruhi could. Very well. She resisted the urge to large at the imagined unimpressed look on Kyouya's face and said, in fairness, to Tamaki, "He means well."
"Undoubtedly."
Silence again.
"I take it you don't enjoy such pursuits either, Kyouya-senpai?"
Mild annoyance, as it so frequently did, passed over his features. "No, I do not. As Tamaki well knows."
"So you came here to escape, and annoy Tamaki-senpai, in one go?" She asked, still assessing his motives.
"If you wish to put it crudely, yes." Kyouya nodded his head in ascension, and finished his tea. Taking that as a signal of the end of the conversation, Haruhi stood up and collected the cups. She went toward the kitchen to wash them up and was surprised to find he followed.
"Kyouya-senpai?"
"It would be quite rude if I didn't help, wouldn't it?" He answered, picking up a tea towel. A tea towel had never looked so amazingly out of place. But, for all Haruhi's protests- and his inference of never having done such things before, as they were below him- he insisted. She recognised this as delaying tactics of presumably having to go and rejoin the others, wherever they were, and eventually conceded. However, she was not willing to bend completely to his will; and once the cups were done excused herself to go back to the oven, though he was welcome to stay. He did.
The silent stage seemed to have passed, and the conversation flowed as naturally as it could when one of the participants was busy with her head in an oven. Eventually, even that job was done, and Kyouya was out of excuses.
Haruhi, for her part, had been given plenty of time to wonder at this sudden preferential treatment over the rest of human kind, and draw two possible conclusions. The one seemed faintly ridiculous, that he preferred her company over the rest of human kinds', and moreover that he preferred her company over simply his own. Which, naturally, didn't seem fitting.
So, she reasoned, it must be her other conclusion- based on the last time she had spent an afternoon alone with Kyouya.
"Did Tamaki-senpai not expect your attempted escape?" Haruhi asked, innocently.
"I doubt it." Kyouya answered, quickly.
"Really? Then it's surprising he hasn't panicked yet and called your phone." She smirked, enjoying the single time she could get one over on him. She knew he'd make her regret it, but it was too good a chance to miss.
Kyouya answered in exasperation. "Fine. I don't have my phone, Haruhi, as you well know."
"Really? Why not?"
He glared. "Haruhi, stop this ridiculous questioning. You know the answer."
"Maybe, but I need to check." She answered, seriously. "So. I think they did the same as last time and confiscated your phone and your wallet in the hopes you wouldn't be able to 'escape' and go home until they returned them. But your pride at being kept against your will was bigger than your pride at coming here for help, and here you are- though you find it too hard to ask."
"Wrong. Actually, I fully intended to walk home."
"Then why come here?"
"I was, as I said earlier, passing by."
"When your house is in the opposite direction?"
For once, Kyouya was at a loss for words. Haruhi rubbed her forehead.
"Why not admit it? You got lost. You got lost and stumbled on this place, right?"
Kyouya merely coughed in embarrassment. Haruhi couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, I suppose you've never walked before… and I've never bussed into the rich end of town… I guess we're walking."
And so, Haruhi walked Kyouya home. It was surprisingly pleasant. Neither of them were particularly in the habit of smiling, but the expression came to both of them on the journey; a fitting ending to what had been a shockingly enjoyable afternoon. All things considered, Kyouya couldn't help think when he was alone, in spite of the wasted time and the compromises on his dignity, it had been nice.
Getting lost, he decided, was a startlingly worthwhile pursuit. He'd have to do it again, perhaps. He would, of course, only be passing by.
