So, I'm a horrible person for not updating anything, but college happened, and, well, college happened. I'm going to try to update at least some of my fics, so I figured I'd start here, since this one was a dedication and while my own personal problems have been troublesome and then some, I think it's most important I start with this one.

Chapter 2

It was well after midnight before anyone bothered to come looking for Kyouya. He wasn't upset by it- Mori probably thought he'd wanted some time alone, and the others were likely caught up in the whirlwind of sparkles, roses, and utter chaos that was Tamaki Suoh.

In any case, he was actually glad they'd taken so long to come looking. (Of course, none of them had tried to reach him on his cellphone- that would have been logical.)

But as the clamor that generally surrounded the Suoh heir approached, Kyouya sighed softly.

"Those your friends?" asked Renji sympathetically.

Kyouya nodded. "Yes, they're making quite the racket, aren't they?"

Renji chuckled. "At least they're not drinking, too. I've got a coupla drinking buddies in Seireitei, and we get up to all sorts of things after a few bottles."

Kyouya's mouth twitched up at the corners. "That sounds... nice," he murmured softly, taking another sip of sake.

"Yeah," Renji agreed. "But... This is good, too."

And that was all it took to turn Kyouya's half-smile into a full one. "Agreed. We'll have to do this again, sometime," he decided, silver eyes narrowing in thought.

Renji nodded. "Hey, got a cellphone?"

Kyouya slid his personal phone (not his work one) across the table, and raised a brow as Renji pulled one out of the front of his shihakshou, safe within the Light Palace Kyouya had set up around their table.

Renji punched his number in quickly, surprisingly confiedent- Kyouya had half expected him to have trouble with the technology.

"Call me, okay?" he muttered, handing it back to Kyouya. "I have more free-time than I know what to do with."

"Will do," Kyouya agreed, smiling crookedly

And he did.

More than once, too. Renji would sneak through the Senkaimon, a trick he'd picked up from Urahara, and Kyouya would suddenly be conspicuously absent as whatever evil he'd wrought that day unfolded upon his unlucky victims.

They went out for drinks a few times, free to do whatever they felt like under the protective bubble of Kyouya's Light Palace, unbothered by superiors and paparazzi during their revels.

It was nice, Kyouya thought, to have a friend like this. He wasn't as demanding as Tamaki, and despite his gruff demeanor he was genuinely friendly under the snark. It was a nice break from his usual stress, and he enjoyed every visit.

Renji was incredibly curious about the human world, and Kyouya, in truth, wasn't half as clueless about commoner life as he pretended to be. It was just too much work to constantly correct Tamaki and the twins, and besides, watching Haruhi put them in their places was always enjoyable.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd talked for so long and so honestly with someone, neither distracted by Tamaki's excessively emotional behavior nor having to watch his words in his family's presence, constantly on guard for verbal attacks from his brothers or father.

Fuyumi wasn't bad; she was probably the only family Kyouya really got along with, but she was like a dog with a bone sometimes, constantly nosing around in his business and trying to give him advice he didn't actually need.

Kyouya broke from his thoughts, lips curling up into a slight smile, and glanced out the window, catching the flash of Renji's red hair outside.

Smirking, he opened the Monopoly box and started setting up.