50 Ways to Express Love and Affection Without Having Sex
#11 Give hugs and/or kisses
"C'mon, Kyouya! Give me all you got!!" Tamaki was, obviously, too excited about this whole thing. Tiredly, Kyouya tossed the small baseball into the air multiple times; just trying to remember how exactly the whole Host Club had managed to throw together a baseball game in one of the courtyards. He managed to just sigh, irritated at the obnoxious king and his crazy, last minute desires.
"Whatever you want…" He muttered, slightly chuckling at how Tamaki was just too in the simple game; concentrating on the ball with his tongue peaking out of the corner of his mouth, ready to swing the bat he held like a mad man. Typical, and of course, expected.
"I can't believe this…" The older of the Hitachiins sighed, ticked off about their current situation. As the rest of the Host Club happily played their little game of baseball, the twins had managed to get themselves "banned" from the game—as Tamaki so simply put it. Being a distraction for the opposing team's batter was fine and legal in the game, as far as the two cared. But maybe being a distraction for your own batter wasn't that good of an idea. Or the marbles in the outfield. Or the orange that was painted white and switched with the actual ball. No one noticed until Tamaki swung at it. When it was Hikaru's turn to pitch.
"I know…" Kaoru sighed too, equally irritated about having to sit as far away from the game as possible, without being too far to disappoint their regular customers. Kyouya decided that just beyond outfield would be best for the two troublemakers; able to still watch the game, yet safe from any flying balls that would head in that direction. Takashi was really the only big threat to that. "You'd think Tono would be able to take a joke."
"Yeah, really." It was painfully obvious that the two were completely and totally bored. They had been sitting under that tree for only about ten minutes, but that was more than enough. With yet another irritated sigh, Hikaru leaned more against the tree, pulling Kaoru back with him in his lap. His grip around his younger brother's lean torso tightened just a bit more as Kaoru slid down, rested between Hikaru's legs as they watched the game.
"There's no way Tono's going to be able to hit anything like that," Kaoru's voice was bland, simple. It lacked any real interest, but he thought, maybe some small talk would pass the time? It was worth a shot. "Kyouya-sempai is surprisingly good at pitching, ne?" The two just continued watching—staring, really—as their sempai, yet again, got another pitch past the King of the Host Club. He had one last chance, but at the moment, he was having a bit of what looked like a fit about it. Kyouya just stood there, calm as ever.
"Yeah," Hikaru muttered softly, resting his chin on top of his brother's head, "No way in hell Tono's gonna be able to hit anything period." When Kaoru started laughing at bit at that, Hikaru couldn't help but laugh with him, too. Not just the fact that picking on the Suoh could provide hours of fun, but because when Kaoru started laughing, he could feel it. Being able to feel his brother's emotional reactions to things always brought a slight sense of security to him. Hikaru sometimes wondered if Kaoru thought the same thing. Probably.
"Hey, Kaoru?" Hikaru's voice was soft, though still tinted of boredom.
"Yes, Hikaru?" It was automatic; though Kaoru still gave his brother the full attention he wanted. Even when it didn't seem like it sometimes. The younger soon stretched his legs out of the shade of the tree, and rested his hands on Hikaru's, which were on his stomach. It was mostly to say, "I'm still listening even if I'm not looking at you".
"Later this week, maybe, you want to—"
The sound of Tamaki finally hitting the ball caught the attention of everyone out in and near the field. Even the twins; they couldn't stop laughing at his face as their sempai just watched the ball fly higher, his eyes sparkling with child-like delight, and Haruhi who started pushing him to start running to first base. It took them awhile to realize some of the girls were calling out to them.
Kaoru was the first to see. He wasn't the best at physics, but he could tell that Tamaki had hit the ball too hard for any of the players—even Mitsukuni—to catch. Which was how they were playing for the sake of the girls. It was obviously going past everyone. Except them.
The first thing Hikaru registered was Kaoru tensing up in his arms, his brother's hands tightening around his own. The second thing was the entirety of the situation. His brain finally managed to piece everything together and it simply came down to the fact that unless they moved—and rather quickly—that homerun would hit him square in the face. The only thing left to do now was react. He didn't hesitate like he normally would have when he heard Kaoru gasp as he pushed them both forward; he didn't move away when he landed on top of him, both hitting the ground harder than what Hikaru planned.
THUNK. Once the sound of the ball hitting the tree stopped echoing in his ears, Hikaru quickly sat up off his brother and stared at the bark where a small indentation was. He was right. It would've hit him in the face. But at that moment, that didn't matter. Hikaru was just a tad more concern about how he was going to handle their blond sempai. It just didn't seem fair to have a cheap shot like that, he figured. Quickly standing up and grabbing the ball only a few yards away, the older of the two soon whipped it back at Tamaki who was standing at second base, seeming worried about the two. He wasn't worried them anymore.
"Stupid Tono!" The ball slammed into Tamaki's face as he yelled, sounding more pissed off than he really was. Everyone around gasped—except for Kyouya and Takashi—worried about the bumbling second year twitching occasionally on the ground. All Kaoru could do at that point was just laugh and choke out what a great shot that was to his brother. Hearing that, Hikaru felt a surge of over-confidence, and an idea popped into his head that he felt would tie everything together.
"Kaoru," Hikaru called out, fake concern drenching his voice. In all honesty, he was a little worried about his brother's well being, but he'd really look into it later. Right now, they had some of the girls watching. When he dropped down to his knees, he grabbed Kaoru's face and pulled him a little closer, trying to hold back the little fits of laughter he wanted to let out. The girls, with this distance, would surely see it as worried concern. "Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" He knew for a fact that everyone watching—those not concerned any longer about the boy with the ball lodged in his face—could probably not hear them. But if one is going to act, Hikaru thought, one has to go all out with it.
"Hikaru," Kaoru fell into the act like he always did whenever he got the hint from Hikaru. Besides, it wasn't like the two had anything better to do, anyway. Holding back a soft sob—laugh—and quickly reaching up to grab his brother's hands on his cheeks, Kaoru blushed just slightly and lightly bit his lower lip. "Of course I'm not hurt. But I was more worried about you." In truth, that wasn't a lie. But it fit the moment, Kaoru concluded, so there wasn't a need to totally make every thing up. "I would've gladly taken the hit if it meant your safety…!"
"Kaoru, don't you dare say that!" Closing his eyes, Hikaru brought Kaoru closer, pressing their foreheads together. Some of the girls had crept closer, a few actually worried about the two, others just trying to get a good view. "I don't know what I would do with myself if you got hurt by something I could've prevented…!!" Hikaru's eyes met with Kaoru's and they almost burst out with laughter right then and there. Fortunately, the girls weren't right up in their faces like they normally were during the Host Club, so they simply saw it as them holding back tears. Hikaru couldn't take it anymore, "Oh, Kaoru!" His arms flew around his brother's neck, bringing him closer as he nuzzled into the red hair, trying to control his laughter.
"Hikaru—!" Kaoru whined, throwing his arms around Hikaru's torso, tightly griping the white dress shirt with his hands, and shoved his face into the crook of his brother's neck.
The squeals of excitement and incoherent blubbering of the girls finally subsided as they were called back to the game; Hikaru still refused to actually let go of the other. Kaoru didn't really mind. He enjoyed the feeling of his brother slightly rocking the two of them, his soft breathing, and his fingers running though his hair. It was always relaxing.
"Kaoru?" Hikaru whispered into his ear, not in the tone he would use during the acts. Kaoru knew it was going to be a real question, and just hummed a bit as a reply. "Don't ever take a hit for me. Seriously." Kaoru was just silent for a moment, letting Hikaru tighten the hug. "You're too special for that." A small laugh escaped the younger Hitachiin, and as he pushed away from the warm embrace gently, Kaoru could only smirk and shake his head at his brother.
"Try harder, Hikaru. That's not going to stop me."