AN: Ok, this is it: the last chapter. I know it took me about a million years to upload it and I'm sorry, but it's finally up and I hope it's not a horrible ending. It does get a little stupid at the end; I'll be the first to admit it, but with a saga like this, I couldn't help myself.

Eleven Years Later

"Took them long enough. God, these journalists are slow," said Kyouya, throwing the paper he'd been reading onto the coffee table.

"What is it?" asked Tamaki, reaching for the paper.

"Don't worry about it," Kyouay said, a little to quickly.

Tamaki snatched the paper from the table, dodging Kyouya's attempts to stop him. He scanned the page while Kyouya watched him.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Tamaki exclaimed. ""Suoh-Ootori Relationship Exposed."" He read aloud. ""It has recently come to light that CEO Tamaki Suoh and high-power administrator Kyouya Ootori have been living together since high school. What had been assumed to be a close friendship has been revealed to be a romantic entanglement that has cost both families dearly." What is this?" He glanced at the top of the page. "Seriously? I thought this was supposed to be a good paper."

"Tamaki-."

"I mean, they're writing this like they're a tabloid." He scanned the rest of the article. ""Cost both families dearly?" "Illicit Relationship?" "Imminent scandal?" "Unknown if either men will speak to these accusations?" "Not-so-platonic love?" It's not like they found a body in the backyard or something. Come on, grow up people!"

"Tamaki-."

"How did they find out anyway? Did someone tell them? And what took them so long? They're talking like it was some deep, dark secret. Surely people have seen us going home and stuff before? People see us in public together all the time. And they expect us to do something about it. What they think is not our problem, but if we don't say something it'll be like "Suoh and Ootori Deny Illicit Relationship." Seriously, what do you have to do to get it right? It's not like we've done something terrible. I mean-."

"Tamaki!" Kyouya practically shouted, grabbing the paper back from Tamaki and throwing it on the sofa.

"What?"

Kyouya had to take a deep breath to keep himself from smacking his endearingly clueless lover.

"Well, one, how about calming down? We both knew this would happen sooner or later."

"Yeah, but-."

"Two, I thought we decided back at Ouran that this was going to be a non-issue when it did happen."

"I know, but-."

"Three, it doesn't matter how they found out. Maybe it was a slow news day."

"Maybe, but what if-?"

"And four," continued Kyouya, raising his voice again to drown out Tamaki's protests. "What we are going to do is wait until someone asks us about it and then calmly point out that we've been living together since university, not high school, that we have never made an effort to hide it and that it's not an issue," Kyouya finished calmly.

"But Kyouya!"

"What?"

"How can they talk about us like that?"

"They talk about everyone like that."

"We haven't done anything!"

"No."

"So why are they attacking us?"

"That's how journalism works. Would it make you feel better if I got us on some high-profile talk show?" He pulled out his phone.

"No."

"Alright then, what would you like me to do about it?"

"I don't know," said Tamaki petulantly.

"Tamaki," said Kyouya gently. "We've always known this was going to happen and we agreed that it doesn't matter. No matter what they say about us, we'll always have each other and that's what counts."

Tamaki bit his lip, his mind clearly eleven years in the past.

Kyouya took Tamaki's hand. "I won't let anyone hurt you, remember?"

"I know, I just-." Tamaki sighed, unable to find the right words.

"I know, but that's all in the past now. We've got each other just like always. Nothing else matters." He gave Tamaki's hand a squeeze before picking the paper up again. "Now, do you want me to sue them for libel?"

"What? Why? It's true."

"Not entirely. We haven't been living together since high school, nor have we "shattered our families." I suppose it might not be enough to make a case out of, but it is at least enough to make sure the next article they run about us is more accurate."

"Is it really going to be Okay, Kyouya?" asked Tamaki, his lilac eyes full of a child-like fear.

"It's going to be fine, Tamaki. You've just become head of your family's company and you've already made huge improvements; you've got everyone from the board of directors to the janitors singing your praises. No one can touch you, not even with this."

"What about you?"

"Me?" He shrugged. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. I can take care of it."

"I know." Tamaki gazed at Kyouya admiringly. "So do we send out a rebuttal or do we wait?" he asked.

"Hell, we could have a massive bidding war over an interview. We wait for them to come to us."

Right on cue, Kyouya's phone rang. Tamaki's had been ringing almost non-stop with calls from his frantic secretary and family since the paper had come out several hours earlier, but, as it was on vibrate and buried at the bottom on his laundry hamper, he hadn't heard it. Kyouya had been ignoring the constant stream of calls he'd been getting up until now when he answered it.

"Kyouya Ootori. . . . Of course. . . . I was busy. . . . Yes, we'll talk to them. . . . Don't sound so stunned. We've had this planned out for years. . . . Whichever one is the least sleazy and pays the best. . . . Figure it out. . . . Call me with the numbers before you accept. . . . Okay. . . . Thanks." He hit the end button and set his phone down on the table.

"Interview it is, then?" asked Tamaki.

"She should have it set up in about half an hour, I'd say, depending on how long she has to spend on hold." Kyouya's secretary was very efficient - almost as efficient as Kyouya himself.

Indeed they did not have to wait long for Kyouya's phone to ring again.

"Kyouya Ootori. . . . Which one? . . . Alright, how much? . . . Was that the most? . . . Excellent. . . . No, I think it's best to go with a paper. . . . Yes, go ahead with it. . . . Let me know the time. . . . Thanks." He hung up. "She's going to get us one with a prestigious paper, big competitor of that rag." He jerked his head at the paper, which had slid onto the floor. "We should have it later today if that's Okay."

"Okay."

Kyouya wasn't surprised to find the paparazzi on the doorstep. He'd made sure to close the blinds and currents the second he'd seen the article and had managed to keep Tamaki away from the windows, but of course there was not avoiding the cameras as they walked the short distance to the car Kyouya had called for.

"Mr. Ootori! Mr. Suoh! Is it true about your relationship?"

"How is your family taking the news?"

"Who told the paper about you two?"

Kyouya marched Tamaki firmly through the crowd, his hand on the small on his back.

"No comment," said Kyouya coolly, when one of the many mics ended up in his face.

Once they had made it to the car, Tamaki turned to Kyouya, wide-eyed and a bit pale.

"Oh god."

"Don't worry about them."

"How?" asked Tamaki hollowly.

"Just don't worry about it."

It did not take them long to arrive at the main building of the newspaper. A curious young man met them at the door and led up to the elevator where the trio stood in awkward silence as the young man shot side-long glances at the famous couple. Kyouya ignored this, but it made Tamaki even more nervous.

"Right this way, sirs," said the young man when they got out of the elevator. He showed them down the hall to a small, but elegant room with an armchair, sofa, and coffee table that was used to interview famous people. "Here we are. Please, have a set." He indicated the sofa. "Someone will be right with you. In the mean time, can I get you anything?"

Tamaki shook his head, his eyes still wide with fear.

"Nothing, thank you," said Kyouya calmly.

"Very good sirs." The young man gave an awkward little bow and left.

"Tamaki, calm down," said Kyouya once the young man had gone.

"What was with him?" Tamaki whispered.

"Probably just some closeted kid who was too shocked by the idea that people can be open about their personal lives to know what to do with himself." He shrugged.

"Oh." Tamaki thought about this for a minute. "So are we going to be an example or something?"

"It's quite possible."

"Oh." Tamaki looked around the room. "What should I say?" he asked.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I'll do the talking if you like."

"Okay. Well, is there anything I shouldn't say?"

"Just don't say anything you wouldn't want to see in the paper."

At that moment, the door opened and a middle-aged journalist entered the room.

"Ah, Mr. Ootori, Mr. Suoh, so nice of you to grant us this interview. My name is Matsuda. I'm one of the senior editors here at the paper."

"Nice to meet you," said Kyouya, shaking the offered hand.

"The pleasure is entirely mine."

He seemed like a nice enough man and he soon had Tamaki and Kyouya settled on the sofa and he sat down across from them in the chair.

"Do you mind if I record this conversation?" he asked taking a small tape recorder out of his pocket. "I can't write as fast as I used to." He laughed.

"Not at all. That is, of course, why we are here," said Kyouya.

"Of course," agreed Mr. Matsuda, placing the tape recorder on the table and pressing the record button. "Shall we beginning?" he asked, taking a small pad and pen from another pocket and preparing to write.

"Yes," said Kyouya.

"Well, let us first establish exactly what has been said about you." He consulted his pad.

"We are well aware of what was printed this morning," said Kyouya curtly.

"Well then, permit me to cut to the chase. Are you and Mr. Suoh living together?" he asked addressing the more vocal Kyouya.

"Yes."

"And you have been living together since...?" asked the journalist, smoothly covering his surprise at Kyouya's calm declaration.

"University," he said and then added "Not high school," as if determined to correct the faulty article.

"So nearly ten years?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"And how would you describe your relationship?"

Kyouya considered this for a moment, not hesitating, just searching for the right words.

"I suppose what you are looking for is either "friendship" or "romance,"" he said slowly.

"Well, yes," admitted the journalist.

"I think it is safe to say that Tamaki had I have been best friends since shortly after we met in our last year in middle school." He looked over at Tamaki for conformation.

"Maybe a month or two after we meet?" he said, remembering the rather violent confrontation that had led to them becoming closer than either of them had ever been to anyone else.

"Something like that," agreed Kyouya.

"So you are friends?" asked Mr. Matsuda, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Yes," said Kyouya.

"Kyouya?" asked Tamaki in confusion.

"However," Kyouya continued firmly. "From that same time I have been in love with Tamaki and we have been together since our junior year in high school, so for about twelve years." He glanced at Tamaki.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," said the blond who trying to hide his glow at hearing Kyouya profess his love so openly and in such a straightforward manner.

"So you are, in fact, lovers?" asked the surprised journalist.

"Yes," said Kyouya.

Tamaki nodded.

"Alright then. You both seem very comfortable about this whole thing. Why is that?"

"Well," said Kyouya. "We agreed in high school to not hide our relationship. Although we didn't parade it around, we also made no effort to hide anything."

"And why did you decide to do that?"

"I think there's great value in honestly."

"What about you, Mr. Suoh?" he asked.

"I agree. Being honest is very important," said Tamaki, trying not to sound awkward.

"So your families are aware of your relationship?"

"Yes," said Kyouya.

"And you two are happy with the arrangement?"

"The arrangement?" repeated Kyouya, raising an eyebrow.

"I meant that there's been no problem with living together, but not allowing the public to know about your relationship?" he clarified.

"As I said, we made no effort to hide anything," said Kyouya.

"And you're happy together?"

"Of course."

Mr. Matsuda paused to think of something else to ask. The couple was not making it easy for him.

"I know I've asked you this already, but you never exactly answered me, so how would you describe your relationship?"

"We're best friends, but we're also lovers," said Kyouya. "I don't think one could ask for anything more in a relationship."

"I think it's perfect," said Tamaki boldly.

"Do you have anything to compare it to, Mr. Suoh?" asked the journalist, jumping on Tamaki's words.

"Well, not really. Nothing of this, um, magnitude," said Tamaki somewhat awkwardly.

"'But you have had a past relationship?"

"Well yeah, but it was very brief in high school before, uh, this."

Seeing the oh-so charming prince type this flustered and lost for words was almost amusing for Kyouya.

"Now, how do you think that the story about your relationship came to be printed today?"

"Someone wrote it and the paper printed it," said Kyouya, shrugging.

"But why do you suppose the story came to light now? Did someone perhaps relieve it to the media?" pressed the journalist.

"I really have no idea. I expected it to come out much sooner than this," said Kyouya. "I suppose that someone finally put two and two together."

"Some people might call this "bad press." Do you think this will damage your career?"

"The only way it which the article was bad press was that it was not entirely accurate. I think if someone does not wish to do business with either of us because of our relationship, that's their lost. In fact, if someone's going to be that prejudice, I don't think I want anything to do with them," Kyouya said. "Additionally, as both of us work for our family companies neither of us is in great danger of losing our jobs. The stories might cause some minor short-term damage, but I do not foresee any long-term injury."

"Do you agree, Mr. Suoh?"

"I can't recall Kyouya ever having been wrong when it comes to business," said Tamaki with a small laugh.

"I'm sure." He consulted his list of questions, which he had written under the assumption that the two men would deny the whole thing. "Forgive me if this is presumptuous, but do you consider yourselves to be gay?"

"We are two men in love," said Kyouya.

"But do you identify as gay? Do you still have any interest in women at all?"

"I will never have any interest in anyone but Tamaki so it's a non-issue," said Kyouya.

"Ditto," said Tamaki, blushing slightly.

The interview continued with nothing of real value being said. Tamaki was clearly getting bored with Kyouya's diplomatic answers and seemed very relieved when it drew to a close. He was still a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing. Finding himself unable to come up with his usual charming turns of phrase was very off-putting and he was glad to have Kyouya and his cool, level-headedness at his side.

"Thank you both so much for your time," said Mr. Matsuda as he stood up and turned off the recorder and put it back in his pocket. "We should be able to get this to press in time for tomorrow's paper and we shall of course send you a copy."

"Thank you," said Kyouya, standing up.

"If you don't mind my asking, off the record, do you always talk like that?" the journalist asked Kyouya.

"Depends on who I'm talking to."

"And is he always so quiet?" he asked glancing over at Tamaki, who was looking out the window at the city street far below them.

"No, definitely not. He never shuts up usually. He's just a little thrown off by all of this. Tamaki," he called.

"Yeah?" asked the blond, jerking out of his reverie.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Oh yeah, sorry."

Kyouya gave a tiny smile.

"Oh I almost forgot!" cried Mr. Matsuda. "Would you two mind doing a brief photo shoot for us? We can do it right here if that's agreeable."

"Of course," said Kyouya.

"Let me get someone from photography over here."

Soon a lovely woman with a camera arrived followed by several over-excited assistants. She assessed the lighting and then began telling her lackeys where to set up lights.

"Alright, if I could have you two on the sofa. Just a natural shoot, not too posed."

Kyouya and Tamaki sat down side-by-side and the photographer inspected the shoot through the camera, telling her assistants to change the light a fraction of an inch here and there.

"You know what? Could you two switch places?"

The two young men obeyed.

"Yes, I think that's much better like that, especially if the picture goes on the left of the article or even above it. Someone make sure layout gets that memo. Right." She peered through the lens for a moment. "Could you do something to look less awkward?" she asked. "Are you supposed to be a couple or not? I saw the article, but I wasn't sure if it was true. The picture needs to tell people if it's true or not. Is it true?"

"Yes," said Kyouya, who was finding the woman vaguely reminiscent of Haruhi in her bluntness.

"Okay then let me see that. Don't go all out and kiss or anything, but show some kind of affection."

Tamaki looked round at Kyouya who raised his eyebrows and gave a little shrug before putting his arm around Tamaki's shoulders. The blond allowed himself to pulled to Kyouya's side so that he was not entirely leaning on him, but his body fit perfectly up against Kyouya's.

The woman looked through the camera again.

"Good, good. I like it. It says "we're in a relationship, but it's nothing new." Is that the angle we're going for?" she asked Mr. Matsuda.

"Yes, pretty much."

"Good, good."

She started taking pictures.

When Kyouya and Tamaki were allowed to go, they were escorted out of the building by the same young man.

As they stood in the elevator again, the young man seemed desperate to say something. He kept making little noises like he was going to speak, but then his voice would fail. Finally, he got the words out.

"Is it true?" he said in a rush.

Kyouya considered the young man with his perfect hair and clothes and his eyes wide with fear and anticipation.

"Yes, it's true," said Kyouya.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And you told them that?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yes."

"That's got to take guts."

"It's worth it," said Tamaki.

"What do you mean?" the young man asked.

"It just feels really good to be able to say "this is who I love; this is the life I live" and not hide anything." He smiled at the awestruck young man.

"I wish I could do that," he said in small voice.

"Maybe one day you will." Tamaki flashed his brilliant, Host Club smile.

"I- I'm living with- with a guy," stammered the young man.

"What's his name?" asked Tamaki with the interest of a friend.

"Hiro," he muttered.

"Well, I hope that works out for you two."

"Thanks."

The elevator had reach the bottom floor and the doors slide open.

"Don't be afraid of what people think," said Tamaki to the young man. "It took me a long time to finally learn that, even with such a good teacher." He smiled at Kyouya. "But I'm so glad I did because I don't think I'd be able to live if I couldn't be honest about who I love. Not caring about what other people think or say is a hard lesson, but it's the most important one." He gave the young man a gentle smile, took Kyouya's hand, and stepped out of the elevator so glad that the whole world would finally be able to see the shining love he shared with Kyouya. "Je t'aime," he said as they walked to the car past the flashing cameras of the paparazzi that had followed them to the newspaper building.

"Je sais," Kyouya replied, squeezing Tamaki's hand.

AN: (Yes, again) Man, that was a long run! Thanks so much to everyone who stuck with it! I really hoped you liked it. I know it got really angsty at points and I didn't get in enough fluff, but whatcha gunna do? I'm not going to lie, I'm really glad to be done with this one and I'll probably never write any fan fic that's quite this long again. (I say that now, but who knows what will happen?) Anyway, thanks again to everyone who read this whole saga and thanks to everyone who reviewed it! You guys are awesome and I hope I didn't let you down with the ending. Long live tamaki/kyouya!

-lux-light-hell-