Laney stared at her phone. She'd started to text Kyoya about five times, but had wound up erasing every one. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, deciding to take the coward's way out for now and just text Tamaki instead.
-At the airport. I'll be in Tokyo in 14 hours. This does not mean I'm not still furious with him.
The reply was almost immediate. -Send me your flight details. I'll have someone pick you up and bring you to my house.
-He's still there? He really hasn't patched it up with his father yet?
-You'd know the answer to that if you'd bothered to pick up a phone.
Laney winced. -OK, I deserved that one.
- Yes you did.
- Look, I can always just go to my grandparents instead. I'd understand if you're mad at me.
- Sorry. It's just that I've just spent the last 36 hours putting him back together. You blindsided him.
Laney sucked in a breath. - That one goes both ways, Tamaki. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him, and he told me that wasn't enough and then he left. I know now that's not what he meant, but it doesn't change the fact that that's what happened. So yeah, I'm sorry the past few days have been shitty for him, but they've been some kind of fresh hell for me.
- I know. He knows that too. That's why he's been in such despair.
Fuck, Laney thought. She was still angry with Kyoya, yes, but the thought of him in despair was acutely painful.
- My flight's boarding. And honestly, Tamaki, as pleasant as it's been, you're not the one I need to talk to.
- So why are you texting me instead of him?
- I think we need to talk in person instead. I don't know how to pick back up after the way we left off. In a fit of honesty, she added -Tell him I still love him; I'm just not sure where we can go from here.
Laney turned the phone off to board the plane. She knew asking Tamaki to tell Kyoya anything was completely unnecessary-there was no way Tamaki wasn't sharing every one of their conversations with him. It's what she and Jen would have done if the situation were reversed. But keeping up the illusion that she wasn't talking to Kyoya through Tamaki made it easier to be honest.
XxXxX
"Good news." Tamaki slid his phone across the breakfast table to Kyoya, who grabbed it like a lifeline. He glanced back up from the phone almost immediately.
"She's coming here?" Hope flared in his voice, but he wasn't smiling. "But she's still texting you, not me."
Tamaki sighed. "She should have had more faith in you, I'll be the first to admit that. But …" he trailed off, not wanting to say it.
"But I'm the one that screwed up by leaving. I know," Kyoya sighed, looking back down to read the rest of the text conversation. His mouth twisted up when he read Laney's last message. "She knows I'm reading these, right?"
"I don't see how she doesn't. She's too smart to think that I'd be hiding any of this from you." Tamaki yawned, pouring another cup of coffee. Laney's texts kept waking him up in the middle of the night, but this was too important to worry about missing a few hours of sleep here and there. "You're sure you don't want to put off meeting with your father until tomorrow? You could pick her up at the airport."
Kyoya thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. No, I need to talk to my father. This is a conversation that is years overdue."
"Kyoya. You got into this mess in the first place by putting Laney second. Do you really want to make the same mistake again?" Tamaki asked, watching his friend closely.
"I'm not putting her second, Tamaki. This whole time, my sense of duty to my family has kept me from fully committing to her. I need to figure that out before I see her again. She deserves no less than that."
"I can't imagine Laney would want you to cut ties with your family," Tamaki said cautiously.
"I don't want that either. But my father needs to understand that this is a package deal. Either he accepts that Laney is going to be a permanent part of my life, or I walk." Kyoya said, pushing his glasses up. "Assuming she still wants me."
Tamaki considered his friend. Was Kyoya even aware that he kept shying away from words like wife and marriage and love, not to mention all eternity and happily ever after? Then again, he was gearing up for another confrontation with his father. Maybe pushing sentimentality to the side for the moment wasn't a bad idea.
"I need my phone back." Kyoya said, holding out his hand.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
Kyoya made an impatient noise. "She's coming to Japan, so she's obviously receptive to communication."
Tamaki raised an eyebrow. "She's not the one I'm worried about."
"One text, then I'll turn it off until after I meet with my father. I promise."
Tamaki pulled the phone out of his pocket and passed it to Kyoya. Kyoya typed rapidly for a minute, then held up the phone to show Tamaki it was powering off. He slipped the phone into his pocket and stood up, draining the last dregs of his coffee.
"You're sure you're ready for this?"
"Confronting my father is going to be the easy part," Kyoya said, the calm, confident smile Tamaki knew so well back on his friend's face. "I've already won; he just doesn't know it yet."
XxXxXxX
Kyoya sighed and looked at the clock, resisting the urge to get up and pace. He'd been sitting outside his father's office for over two hours. His secretary was very apologetic, but Ootori-sama for some reason seemed to have a long string of critically urgent phone calls this morning. Kyoya recognized the delay for what it was; an opening salvo. Kyoya had come prepared for this; he'd already finished writing up the book review he'd been working on before he left the States, and now he was catching up on the Japanese medical journals thoughtfully scattered around his father's waiting room. He shifted, feeling the small bulge in his breast pocket. He hadn't been completely honest with Tamaki; he'd sent one more text before turning off his phone.
-Kaoru. I need a favor.
-Way ahead of you, senpai. Stop by my office—I have just the thing.
"Ootori-san? Your father should be able to see you in another hour," the secretary announced.
Kyoya smiled coldly, not deigning to reply. If his father was resorting to these tactics to try to rattle him, he must be more worried than Kyoya had originally thought.
XxXxXxX
Laney collapsed gratefully into the backseat of the car Tamaki had sent for her. She pulled out her phone and read the texts from Kyoya again.
-Laney. I hope you can understand this. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But I have some housekeeping I need to take care of first. You deserve all of me, but I can't give you that until I've straightened things out with my father. Please know you come first in my heart.
-You've unblocked me, right? I really hope so.
She was furious at him. She flew all the way to Japan to talk to him, and once again he was telling her he needed to talk to his father first. But she couldn't help smiling when she read his last message. The juxtaposition of the two texts was just so … Kyoya. He was equal parts arrogant confidence and boyish exuberance. Granted, one might be buried a little deeper than the other, but still. He can be a major asshole, but damn if I don't love him.
Author Note: A chapter on Saturday? WHAT WHAT? It's heading into the home stretch, and I can smell the stables. Many, many thanks to KyoyaOotoriLover, a person, mutemuia, and morganville101 for the reviews. It's primarily due to your encouragement that I'm posting this chapter today. I'm hoping desperately to get this story finished in the next week, as I'm heading out to Shenandoah National Park a week from Monday with the Little Man for spring break. Sadly, Mister Man is staying to do actual work.
