Notes: HOLY SHIT, UBER FAST UPDATE!!
Well, I've officially decided that I wasn't going to take up tons of space with useless information at the top of the document. I'm assuming that everyone who's this far along has read the first chapters – God, I hope so – so I'll just mention that I don't own Ouran (so I don't get into twouble) and that I love this paring so much, that reading anything straight involving Tamaki doesn't make me happy. Unless Bisco-sensei wrote it, of course. :D
Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed! I'm sorry I haven't been able to individually respond to all of them...I've been really lazy. TT There's no excuse. So, I'll just make it a done deal and thank you enthusiastically right here. hugs reviewers
So, this chapter starts to get...well, you'll see. :D Since it's the 5th chapter, I decided to entrust Kyouya with some extra spice. :D We're pretty far along, you see.
BTW, I'll be rewriting the entire fic eventually and posting it on my Deviantart. I'll link the finished (and betaed) copy when I'm done.
Oh, and let me know if this should get a higher rating, mmkay? In most Young Adult novels I read, there's some basic sexual stuff, so I think T's okay...but if you think otherwise, lemme know. :D
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His coffee was cold.
Realizing that he had been aimlessly staring into space for the last half hour, Kyouya wondered again where Tamaki was. Since Kyouya had mentioned that he would 'of course use his men to find Tamaki's mother,' the fool had gone missing with a 'arigato, Okaa-san!"
Where the hell is he!?
Looking unhappily into the dregs of his now-cold coffee, Kyouya stood abruptly, throwing a few Euros onto the table. He left the café, whipping out his cell phone and calling Tamaki.
"Hello?"
"Tamaki," Kyouya breathed, "where the hell are you?"
"The hotel," he said. "Where else?"
Kyouya nearly burst a blood vessel.
"You ran off – again – without telling me where your destination was."
"Aw, were you worried about me?"
"Hardly," Kyouya lied through his teeth.
"Well fine, then. Don't come back here yet though, okay? Give me another hour."
Kyouya's eyebrows shot up into his hairline.
"Why?"
"Just 'cause. Byee!" Tamaki ended the call.
The idiot, Kyouya thought. What the fuck is he doing?
But, as always, Kyouya was unable to say no to his best friend. His next hour and a half involved another cup of gradually-cooling coffee.
Kyouya entered the hotel room with a snap of cardkeys and doorknobs. To his surprise, Tamaki lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling of their room. The raven-haired teen swallowed as he took in Tamaki's shirtless form. Awkward-yet-graceful teenage muscles rose and fell as he inhaled then exhaled, his arms behind his head. A light dusting of blonde hair wrapped itself around his belly-button and drifted...downward. Kyouya shivered, forcing himself to break his habit of quelling any emotion at the sight of the finely-sculpted boy.
"What are you doing?" Kyouya asked.
"Oh, hello, Kyouya," Tamaki said, glancing at his friend. "I was just resting."
Resting, indeed, Kyouya said. What was he actually doing?
"Ah. I see."
Kyouya moved to his own bed and sat, the mattress sinking beneath his weight. He glanced at Tamaki again, who's violet eyes were staring, unfocused, at the ceiling again.
Glasses glinting sharply, Kyouya opened his laptop with one fluid movement. He punched a few rapid keys and began to update his files on Tamaki's mother.
"Tamaki," he said, "since the first health spa didn't turn out alright, how about we check these other three out this evening?"
"All right," Tamaki said sadly. "I'd really like to find my mother."
Kyouya grunted in affirmation.
Oh, we'll find her, Tamaki. I promise you.
They were silent for several long minutes, Kyouya stealing glances at his friend, not knowing that Tamaki saw each and every one.
A sharp ringtone broke the silence. Kyouya snatched at his phone and answered it curtly.
"Hai?"
Tamaki rolled over to face Kyouya, who turned his face toward his friend. Their eyes met, and Kyouya put a finger to his lips. Better to silence the idiot now, before he started asking a million questions. His lips curled as he saw Tamaki's eyes widen and then narrow in concentration. He was obviously having trouble refraining.
"Where?' Kyouya sat up.
Tamaki's eyes widened even more.
"Thanks, Tachibana," he said, and shut the phone.
"Well—" Kyouya began, but was cut off.
"Who was it!?" Tamaki said, leaping to his feet. "What did they want? Do they know anything? Tell Otou-san, Okaa-san!"
"Tamaki!" Kyouya raised one hand to his nose, pushing his glasses up self-consciously. "Let me explain. Calmly.
"That was Tachibana—and if you had been listening, you would've known that." He paused for emphasis on this last statement. It was completely ignored by the King. He continued. "He's found a hit on where your mother may be. And before you start screaming with joy, Tamaki, please let me finish."
Tamaki closed his mouth.
"Arigato. So, we're going to have to take a train to the Cotê d'Azure. Tachibana relayed to me – in strictest confidence, of course, that your mother has taken residence there, by the water."
Tamaki's eyes filled with tears, and Kyouya looked away from them habitually, ignoring the feeling of longing to reach out to his friend.
"Kyouya," Tamaki said, and for once, it wasn't spoken with melodrama. Kyouya couldn't resist looking back at his friend, who was now dry-eyed, surprisingly. "Arigato, and I'm in your debt now, I guess."
That's certainly the wrong thing to say to me, of all people, Tamaki.
He grinned evilly.
"Oh wait..." Tamaki said, cottoning on. "That's not what I...I mean..."
Those troublesome violet eyes were so cute.
"I'll have to think about your debt, Tamaki."
Tamaki sighed. "You're always good at doling out debts, Kyouya. Especially with Haruhi," he added as an afterthought.
Kyouya's eyes narrowed a fraction, chest tightening. His own personal "inner-mind theatre" flashed back to the night of the final dance party, the fireworks...Tamaki and Haruhi kissing...
"I must be precise with my calculations," he said stonily.
Goddamn him.
Before Tamaki could even respond, Kyouya calmly asked a question he'd been meaning to ask, hoping for a truthful answer.
"Are you...in love with her?"
Tamaki's eyes widened, face turning crimson.
"I...I don't know, myself," he said lamely.
"You kissed her back," Kyouya said pointedly.
"Oh, dear. You saw that."
"Hard not to—I was sitting about six feet away."
"I didn't think you were paying attention..." Tamaki mumbled.
Of course you didn't. You wouldn't know how much I watch you if it whacked you in the skull.
"Yeah, I kissed her back," he admitted. Kyouya stiffened. "But...it wasn't what I expected."
Huh?
"Meaning...?"
"I thought I liked her. Truly. But..." Tamaki paused, searching for words, it seemed. "But our kiss didn't feel right to me."
Kyouya's back tensed as he heard the words "our kiss," wishing it was his kiss...his and Tamaki's but...
It didn't feel right? His heart fluttered.
"So, you don't think you're in love with her, now?" Kyouya silently berated himself for the hopeful undertones in his voice.
"Yeah." Tamaki's gaze met Kyouya's, who looked away.
"Interesting."
"Is that all you're going to say?"
Kyouya glanced up.
"Were you expecting something different?"
"Ah...no."
"Well, I will say a few things, I suppose," Kyouya said. "First, I believe that perhaps you were merely chasing something you knew you couldn't have, just because you're a slight player. Don't glare at me. You know it's true. Second, I'm sorry for Haruhi that she will have to overcome the rejection from you. We may not see much of her in the next semester. And finally, I'm sorry for you, as well, because what you thought was love wasn't."
Tamaki gaped at his friend.
"I think that's the most I've ever heard you say in one go."
"It'll probably be the last time, too." Kyouya replied.
"Not if I have anything to do with it," Tamaki said, grinning.
Kyouya easily ignored this comment.
"Have you ever been in love, Okaa-san?"
The question startled Kyouya. He obviously knew that the answer was yes, he had been in love before...he was now. But he couldn't answer Tamaki with that answer.
"Well?" Tamaki said impatiently, eyes round and feminine.
"Yes." Kyouya said without realizing it.
Maybe I can tell him about...that one time.
"Oooh," Tamaki said, squealing. "Kyouya had a girlfriend!!"
"No," Kyouya said quickly, "not a girlfriend." He couldn't stop the heat flooding his cheeks as memories flooded his brain.
Tamaki's eyes widened as what Kyouya was saying fell into place.
"You...are you gay?"
Kyouya nodded jerkily.
"Hmm," Tamaki said, "that explains a lot."
Kyouya looked up from his excel document.
"Well," Tamaki began, "You aren't particular interested in any of the girls we host. I also – initially – thought that you might like Haruhi, because for some reason, whenever I'm with her, you seem rather...jealous."
Kyouya swallowed, but the idiot King kept on rambling, not even making the connection.
"I don't think I've ever seen you with a girl. Have you ever been with one before?"
"No."
"I see. Well then, you must tell me about this boyfriend of yours."
Kyouya's stare turned from merely listening to sharp and pointed.
"I want to hear all about it! Don't leave a single detail out" Tamaki beamed.
Fuck.
"Okay," he said smoothly, closing the laptop.
If it's details he wants, Kyouya thought maliciously, feeling as though his privacy was being invaded, then it's details he's gonna get.
"His name was Takeru, and he was eighteen. I was...well, I was fifteen. Yes, yes, I know the illegality of this, but don't look so surprised, Tamaki. I break the rules, too." He cleared his throat. "I met him at a café in Tokyo when I was staying with relatives. He's a fantastic artist, coming up with beautiful sketches and paintings...well, we became fast friends, and then one day, it progressed into something more."
Kyouya paused to look at his friend's expression, which was completely – for once – unreadable. Kyouya was slightly startled, and instantly – in a somewhat immature fashion – planned to make his friend react.
Kyouya is never rash; he's only sometimes emotionally immature.
"He was honestly one of the greatest guys I've ever known. His logic matched mine, if a little more on the creative side, and I think that's what initially attracted me to him. It wasn't the sex – although that was fantastic, I might add – it was probably the common ground we stood on.
"My father found out and had me return home. Take-kun wasn't...of noble birth, you might say. Actually, he was one-hundred-percent commoner. My father obviously didn't like this – although he didn't care about me being gay – and stopped the relationship altogether."
Tamaki was openly emotive again, and Kyouya had a rush of both satisfaction and pain as he saw the shock spread across his friend's face.
"You..." Tamaki couldn't seem to get the words out. "You had sex with him?"
"Yep," Kyouya said coldly. "I did."
Tamaki didn't say anything.
"Did you...enjoy it?"
He's like a little kid asking his parents how babies are made.
"Yes, as I stated before, it was fantastic," Kyouya said. His mind reeled as he flashed back to those night of sweat, skin, lips, teeth, hips...
"Hmm."
"What?"
"I just didn't think you had ever done it before."
Kyouya barked out a sharp laugh.
"Tamaki, I may not be the warmest person, but I'm not completely without desires."
Tamaki blushed and mumbled something incoherent.
"Just because my sexual desires don't rampage around like yours do," he said, "doesn't mean they don't exist."
Tamaki blushed harder. "But I've never..."
Huh?
"You've never...what?"
"I've never had sex before."
Now this is a new development.
"That's surprising," Kyouya said. "I would've thought otherwise. You're rather confident with your body."
As he spoke the last two words, he felt his throat constrict. The thoughts of Take-kun had left him rather aroused, remembering the intimate moments. He noticed vaguely that his pants had become rather constricting. Luckily, the laptop was in his lap still, if closed.
Tamaki didn't say anything, and Kyouya figured this was the end of the conversation.
"So tomorrow we'll get an early start – say, at eleven-ish – and we'll head over to your mother's."
Tamaki nodded and then laughed happily, but an edge crept into his voice. Kyouya stood up and moved quickly to the bathroom, trying not to let Tamaki see...well, see how tight his pants had really become.
"God, Kyouya, I don't think you know how I've waited for this day. It's been four years. Four long years."
"I know," he replied, then shut the bathroom door with a click.