Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I do still have my graduation cap and gown, though.
Haruhi hadn't been surprised to find the eye drops in the costume room. She always knew something was up with the deluge of tears that engulfed the Club daily. Tamaki's eyes welled up at the sight or mention of something beautiful. The twins clung to one another, their cheeks wet with the essence of brotherly love. Hani wailed for comfort when he woke from a bad dream or accidentally dropped or stepped on Usa-chan. Glancing back at the bottle, Haruhi considered that Hani's tears, at least, might not have been faked.
She also wasn't surprised at the Shadow King's lack of concern when she presented the evidence to him after Club. "Haven't you heard the old saying, Haruhi?" he asked. "'Tears are the words that the heart cannot say.'"
Haruhi turned away, muttering about rich bastards, and joined the only other host that might share her opinion. He was watching his cousin enjoy some post-nap time cake, so she hopped up onto the window seat next to him to ask him what he thought.
"I could never fake tears," she vented to him. "I find that being genuine and truthful is the best way to make friends. I don't understand them at all," she gestured toward the other members of the Host Club.
He nodded in agreement, and eyed his cousin, who was wolfing down some confections. "Mitsukuni's are real."
"That's what I mean," Haruhi continued. "He's being himself. That's just the way he is." She tucked the eye drops in her pocket. "Kyōya-sempai says that 'tears are the words that the heart cannot say.'"
"Kyōya is wise," he responded.
She scoffed. "So what are their pretended tears saying? 'Pay attention to me'?" He smiled at her, some of her righteous anger dissolved, and she smiled back. "I will never cry for attention," she vowed, and then furrowed her brow. "In fact, I don't think I've cried since I was seven or eight, on the anniversary of my mother's death, at her grave."
"You missed her," he pointed out, "but you couldn't say the words."
Haruhi frowned. "I suppose that's true..." she admitted, "but I can't see it ever happening again."
"Maybe it will, maybe not," he said. "You might be surprised."
That conversation was the first thing Haruhi thought of when she found her father and boyfriend waiting outside the auditorium to greet her when she triumphantly exited with her newly received college diploma. Her father smiled, and watched as tears rolled off of Haruhi's face and dripped from her chin when Morinozuka Takashi got down on his knee and asked his beautiful daughter for her hand in marriage.
"I told you it might happen again," her new fiance whispered to her when he stood and slipped the engagement ring on her finger. "You can keep the words in your heart; I already know what they are."
She shook her head and used the sleeve of her graduation gown to wipe off her face. "I can say them," she said firmly. She looked up into his eyes as another tear escaped and slid down her cheek.
"I love you."
