Congratulations to Kayy-chan for getting the song right! Thanks for reviewing, dear. :)
This fic is based around the song "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion. The chapter titles come from the song's chorus, and I matched a host to each line of the chorus, hence the order of the hosts.
Another mention goes out to BGPixieQueen77 for being the second to get the song and for writing out the whole chorus in her review!

Chapter 3: When I Couldn't See

Mori and Honey had somewhere to go as soon as the guests left, so I also used that as my excuse and slipped out of the third music room with them. Actually, I had nowhere important to get to. I really just needed to get to a restroom to take my contacts out, and I didn't want the other hosts to try and slow me down. My eyes had been bothering me all day and burning hideously throughout club hours. Dad had bought me some new, strange brand of contact solution, and it really didn't seem to be agreeing with my eyes.

I walked a little ways with Mori and Honey but then quickly excused myself down a different hallway where the restrooms were. They bid me two earnest farewells and then hurried off to wherever they were going.

When I got to the restrooms, I stood there in a moment of indecisiveness. I had always avoided the school restrooms for obvious reasons, so I didn't know whether to go in the male restroom or the female one. I almost went in the female one since it was after school, but then I changed direction and went in the male restroom in case a custodian came around or some other student came out of nowhere.

I made my way through the long restroom, going to the sink farthest from the door and trying not to glance at the urinals to my right. I pulled my contact case out of the pocket of my school bag, opened it, and placed it on the ledge of the sink, and then I set my bag on the ground.

After turning the water on full blast, I rolled up my sleeves and plucked the first contact out. I put it in its slot, feeling the start of a headache forming due to the difference between my left eye's perfect vision and my right eye's near blindness. Hastily, I plucked the other contact out, only to realize that I could barely make out the white case since it blended in with the the white sink, and I definitely couldn't see the individual contact slots.

I tried my best to make out the case, but my eyes weren't letting me. I searched for the correct slot with my hand, succeeding only at knocking the case straight into the sink and dropping my other contact along with it.

No! I thought frantically.

I put both hands in the sink, my fingers splashing through the water to find the contacts, to no avail. I couldn't see a thing. I sighed as my search slowed, figuring the contacts had long since gone down the sink.

I doubt the host club budget will pay for another set of those...

"Haruhi?" a familiar voice said from the entrance of the restroom.

I listened to him approach, stopping a few feet away from me.

"Kyoya-senpai, what are you doing here?" I asked. I then pulled my drenched arms out of the sink, realizing how strange I must have looked.

"Am I not allowed to use the restroom, Haruhi?"

"Oh," I said with embarrassment. "You are. Sorry."

He is human, after all, I thought.

"Turn your eyes to the left a little," he directed, and I wordlessly obeyed. "Yes, now up a bit... stop. There, now you're looking at me."

I bit my lip, hating my terrible vision.

"I dropped my contacts in the sink," I told him in order to explain my current state, even though he had probably already figured that out.

"Being careless again, Haruhi?" he asked rhetorically.

I expected him to scold me more, but then I felt something brush against my hand.

"Oh, thank you," I said, taking the paper towel he was holding out to me and drying my arms and hands off.

I didn't want to make him throw it away for me when I was done, so I aimed to where I thought the trash can was and took a chance by tossing it that way.

Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing if it went in, so I had to ask, "Did it go in the trash can?"

"Yes, Haruhi," he said with a sigh.

I didn't show it, but I was slightly proud that it went in.

Kyoya observed, "Your eyes are quite red."

"Oh, yes, my dad got me this new contact solution, and it's not doing so well with my eyes," I explained, hoping that I was looking at him rather than off in some other direction.

"Would you like some eye drops?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, that would be great!" I said, sounding a bit too eager, but really just wanting the burning to go away.

"Tilt your head back," he instructed, throwing me off.

"What?" I asked, clueless as to why he would want me to do that.

"I'm going to put them in for you. I don't trust you to put these in by yourself without stabbing yourself in the eye."

I was about to say something to defend myself, but the thought went away as I was distracted by him placing what felt like a silk cloth in my hand.

"It's a handkerchief," he informed me, probably seeing the questioning look on my face. "Your head," he repeated pointedly, and I tilted my head back, figuring I might as well let him do it since he was offering.

He placed a steadying hand on the side of my face and quickly squeezed the drops into my eyes.

Then he removed his hand and ordered, "Blink."

I moved my head back forward and blinked rapidly, moving the drops over the surface of my eyes. I wiped away the drops that had escaped and were trailing down my face with his handkerchief. At first, a stinging sensation that was worse than the initial burning made more tears spring up in my eyes, but it was then replaced by a clean burning feeling which then settled into a cool wave of relief.

"Thank you, Kyoya-senpai," I said, relieved and dabbing the last drops from my skin.

He took the handkerchief from my hand and then wiped away a drop on my face that I had apparently missed.

Handing the handkerchief back to me, he said, "Keep it in case you need it later. I have plenty at home. Do you have your glasses in your bag?"

Pocketing the handkerchief, I said, "Um, no, actually."

Of course. The one day that I need my glasses is the one day that I left them at home...

"Such carelessness..." he said, probably shaking his head disapprovingly. "Well, wait outside then. I'll be out in a minute."

"Huh?" I said, thrown off once again.

"You obviously can't function by yourself. Your vision is terrible. I'll get you to where you need to go."

That's when I remembered that he had come into the restroom for a reason.

"Oh- okay," I said, perilously trying to make my way out.

I slowly plodded forward, hoping I'd make it to the exit without injury.

"Let's expedite this, hm?"

He turned me toward the exit and pushed me forward with his index finger. Once we were outside, he handed me my bag that I had left on the floor by the sink, which I clutched tightly to my chest.

"Stay here," he said before disappearing back into the restroom.

My mind wandered back to the forgotten glasses case on my kitchen counter, and I mentally hit myself for leaving it there in my haste, along with the breakfast I had prepared but had forgotten to eat.

Maybe Dad ate my breakfast when he woke up. I hope he didn't let it go to waste. Then again, he might still be asleep, since he worked so late. I worry about him. He's such a goof...

"Let's go," Kyoya said when he exited the restroom, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I was wondering how I was going to be able to follow him without crashing into anything, but he, somehow a step ahead of me again, placed a light, guiding hand on my elbow and began to push me forward.

Kyoya is the least touchy of the hosts, so I was surprised by the little repeated instances of his unfamiliar, gentle touch. I keep the memory of his not-so-gentle touch locked up at the back of my mind, trying to remember more of the lesson that I was taught rather than how it was taught to me.

When we took a right in the opposite direction of the school's main doors, I asked, "Where are we going, Kyoya-senpai?"

"To the third music room," he stated, as if I should have known.

I probably should have assumed that since it would be the only logical explanation for going the way we were going, but I didn't know why we'd be going back there. I didn't question him, however.

After walking a little ways, he finally released me for a moment to unlock the door to the room. As he opened the door and started to enter, my hand reached out to grab his arm. I knew I couldn't navigate around the room that still had tens of chairs set up on the floor by myself.

Before my reach could get to his arm, though, my hand accidentally rammed into his.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, but before I could jerk my hand away, he wrapped his around mine and began to pull a bit while still being incredibly gentle.

"Careless," he muttered so quietly that I nearly missed it.

I'm so clumsy, I thought with my head hung slightly as he led me through the room. I didn't even try to deny my own clumsiness at that point.

He guided me over to one of the couches and told me to sit while he went to one of the adjoining supply rooms. I was left to sit there with my hands folded in my lap, noting the difference in temperature between the two of them and wondering what Kyoya was doing.

When he came back, he placed a small item on the table in front of me and then fiddled with some other small object in his hands.

"Hold out your finger," he told me.

I held out an index finger, and I felt him place a lens on the tip of it.

No way, I thought for a moment before popping the contact in. After I got the second lens in, my vision was perfectly restored, and I blinked a few times as everything became clearer before looking up at Kyoya.

"Try not to put these down the sink," he said, then pointed to the objects on the table.

I looked and saw a new contact case and an expensive-looking little bottle of contact solution.

"You keep extra lenses for me, Kyoya-senpai?" I asked.

That had to be the only explanation, since the new contacts were my exact prescription.

"Please, Haruhi," he said. "I am prepared for the carelessness of all the hosts, even you."

"Plus, you probably know what it's like to be blind, don't you, Kyoya-senpai?"

He paused to push his glasses up and then said, "Yes, I do."

I smiled at him. He looked toward the windows.

After clearing his throat, he said, "I assume you can make your way home on your own now?"

Following my own train of thought, I blankly asked, "Is there any way I can repay your kindness?"

He almost looked disconcerted at having the word "kindness" applied to him in such a way.

"You know that those items will be added to your debt, right?" he asked.

"Of course," I stated. "Would you like some coffee?"

I really didn't have anywhere to get to in any hurry. I think he was the one who was thrown off this time...

"No, thank you," he declined politely.

"You don't have to have instant coffee. I'm capable of making other kinds," I said with a tone of insistence.

"I suppose... if you feel the need-"

"Great!" I interrupted before he could change his mind, getting up off the couch and walking toward the kitchen.

I picked a random bag of fancy coffee from their fancy assortment and put it through their fancy coffee machine, waiting there until it was finished and then putting it into two fancy cups on a fancy tray.

Rich people and their fancy things...

When I returned to Kyoya, he was on his laptop, not wasting another minute of his time. I felt a pang of guilt as I set the tray down on the table.

"I'm sorry that I lost the first set of contacts," I apologized, "and that I wasted so much of your time."

"I decide how I spend my own time," he said, pausing briefly in his typing to look at me. "You cannot waste my time for me."

Sticking my neck out a bit, I said, "So, what you mean by that is... that you don't feel that helping me was a waste of your time?"

His eyes went back to his laptop. "Well, that's not what I said at all."

I smiled to myself and then asked, "What are you doing?"

"Host Club finances," he replied shortly.

"May I see?"

"Sure."

I sat next to him on the couch, leaving the coffee on the table to cool off some. I saw an extensive spreadsheet stretched across his screen, and I scooted closer to get a better look at it.

We sat there for a while as he patiently explained various figures and divulged little secrets about the management of the host club. It's fascinating how much he does to keep the club running smoothly. He's very good at the work he does. Well, he's good at pretty much everything he does...

After he felt he had given me enough information to somewhat satisfy my interest, he closed his laptop and reached for the two cups on the table. He handed me my cup and waited for me to taste mine before drinking it. I peered into the cup warily, not sure if I would like such expensive coffee.

"It's my favorite blend, if that helps," he said.

"It doesn't," I said honestly, eying the the surface of the liquid. "It smells too... rich."

"Is that a pun? Weren't you offended when everyone was afraid to try your instant coffee?"

I sighed. He was right.

I took a small sip, and I had to resist the urge to spit it back out.

"It's disgusting," I said, wrinkling my nose.

"You'll get used to it, commoner," he teased before proceeding to drink his coffee.

Hearing Tamaki's overused term for me, I reflexively stuck my tongue out at him while he wasn't looking. I've been hanging out with the twins too much.

"I saw that," he said between sips.

I said quietly, mostly to myself, "Rich, all-seeing ba-"

"What's that, Haruhi?"

And it went on like that for another half an hour. It was the strangest thing... Kyoya and I just sat there, talking about various little things and taking the occasional stab at each other. It was actually really fun, in an unexpected, subtle sort of way. I was surprised that he went along with it for so long. I hinted to him that he could go if he needed or wanted to, but he paid no attention to the hint for some reason. I had never talked to him so much in one sitting before, and I must say that I enjoyed every minute of it.

And I think maybe, just maybe, he enjoyed it too.

Kyoya, even though he doesn't show it, is very loving in his own way. He is very selective with his love, I think, quietly letting it spill over to a very carefully hand-picked few.

I am very lucky to be one of those people.

"Haruhi, why are you staring at me like that?" he said, breaking the silence that had come up.

"Just analyzing you," I said with a small smile, not having realized my own stare.

He raised an eyebrow. "Did you come to any conclusions?"

"Yes," I told him. "Despite my clumsiness, I am very lucky."

"What does that have to do with me?" he asked.

Staring thoughtfully at my coffee, I said, "Everything."

D'aww. Gotta love Kyoya. :3
(Has anyone read my story called Chances? Like how I reused Everything? ;D)
Review, please? Thanks!

-Skye