Hey, sorry it's taken a little while to post a second chapter. I got my internet back and got distracted. Luckily, work is boring enough to make me write. Hooray!
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. :)
Kaoru still wasn't sure about whether or not Kyouya would want to kill him after this, but he was pretty sure the plan would work. Hikaru, after all, was rather evil, and could come up with the most deliciously twisted plans.
Throughout the day, the twins avoided each other carefully. They didn't talk to one another, look at one another, or acknowledge the other's presence in any way. But, they also didn't act like anything was wrong. Subtlety was key when dealing with Kyouya.
He could feel Haruhi's eyes on him halfway through the day. She asked Hikaru what was going on, but he played at ignorance. She didn't buy it, but neither of them was going to reveal their plan, so she just let it slide for the time being.
Kaoru had expressed the obvious flaw in the plan when they were discussing the night before. If they didn't interact during Club hours, Kyouya would kill him before he could get any kisses. The younger twin was pretty sure that, dark as Kyouya was, he probably wasn't into the whole necrophilia thing.
The excuse they came up with was that the girls had likely noticed their avoidance during the day, and that they could convince Kyouya that it would bring up revenues in the end. Of course, they'd have to do the convincing separately, and Hikaru suggested that Kaoru "convince" Kyouya "in private," but no matter how they did it, they would make their act believable. They always did.
Just as they'd predicted, Kyouya approached them about their disagreement.
"Don't worry, Kyouya," Hikaru assured him, "We've got it under control. Just be patient for a few days, and you'll see."
Not satisfied completely with this answer, Kyouya went to Kaoru.
"What's going on? Why aren't the two of you talking?"
"Well, if someone had let me help with Bun-Bun's outfit, we wouldn't be having this problem. Nevertheless, you really shouldn't worry. Everyone loves a little drama now and then. The girls will want to hear each of us. Remember the last time we separated?"
The older boy regarded him for a long moment before agreeing. He obviously wasn't sure exactly was happening, but he trusted the twins' slyness enough not to question it too much.
For a brief moment, the twins' eyes met.
When they set up that day separately, the girls had swarmed nearly twice as much as before. Kaoru caught Kyouya's approving glance and smiled. He'd thought about giving him a flirtatious grin, like he used when he and Hikaru were working together, but figured that would be pushing it. Slow and steady, otherwise he might fall on his face.
At the end of the day, Hikaru loudly attached himself to Hunny and Mori, who had come over after finishing their classes for the day, claiming that they had more work to do on Bun-Bun's costume. Hunny had been excited about working on it, but he'd expressed a little concern about Kaoru's lack of involvement.
"He doesn't have anything to add, anyway. His creativity has completely left him. Bun-Bun will be better off without his stale ideas."
Kaoru looked down at the ground, appearing to everyone to be ashamed and miserable. Tamaki yelled something about the children fighting, and even Haruhi looked a little alarmed.
Before Hunny could say anything about it, Hikaru pulled him and Mori out of the room towards the parking lot. The twins had realized that they wouldn't be able to pull anything completely over the oldest members' eyes, so they decided to let them at least partly in on their plan.
Hikaru had also said he'd deal with Haruhi if need be. It was possible that she and Tamaki would be so busy together that it wouldn't be necessary, but Kyouya was Tamaki's best friend, and if Kaoru was messing with Kyouya, Tamaki might get involved. Hikaru promised Kaoru that he'd keep Tono out of it. For a brief moment, Kaoru felt bad about all of the secrecy, but then he figured that it would be better for them in the long run.
Kyouya worked on calming Tamaki while Kaoru made small talk with Haruhi. She was still suspicious, but she figured it was one of their grand plans like always, and wasn't too worried. Haruhi was smart like that.
When the couple left, blushing, Karou approached Kyouya. The senior was hard at work on his laptop, as always, and Kaoru was content for the moment just to watch. Thoughts of Kyouya had been tickling his mind for a while, but it wasn't until last night that he'd finally recognized it for being a crush.
Now it seemed particularly dense of him not to have noticed sooner. Light from the laptop cast soft shadows on Kyouya's face, making his pale skin seem unearthly. His glasses reflected the screen but the eyes behind them were all human. People called Kyouya cold, but at least he was passionate; Kaoru wanted to see if he could be passionate about anything else.
Kyouya looked up from his computer at the other boy. A bit of heat found its way to Kaoru's cheeks, as he'd been caught staring. He continued to stare bravely at Kyouya, until the Shadow King's unblinking gaze proved too much for him. Looking down, his cheeks reddened further.
"So are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Kaoru shook his head, looking down. It wasn't time yet. Although he was pretty sure that Kyouya was a little suspicious after the staring match.
"You planned this, didn't you? You and Hikaru. What are the two of you hoping to accomplish? Are you trying to mess with my head or something? Because, let me assure you, I am better at that game than you are."
Kaoru risked a look up, jumping when he saw how close Kyouya was standing.
"We're not messing with you. Just trying something out. I'll let you know how it goes when we're finished, if you'd like."
Kyouya didn't look very convinced. In fact, he looked a little angry, thinking that Kaoru was outright lying to him. He stepped even closer, resting his hand on Kaoru's shoulder in a way that most would see as gentle, but Kaoru knew better.
Pulling the shorter boy close, arm now around his narrow shoulders, Kyouya leaned in and whispered, breath moving the auburn hair by Kaoru's ear. "If I discover that you have been attempting to screw with me, I will end you."
Kaoru cursed his teenaged, over-reacting hormones and suppressed a shiver, hoping that Kyouya would misinterpret it as being from fear. But MAN, that voice! It was low and husky and dangerous and Kaoru was glad that the blue blazer covered the front of his pants.
"D-don't worry, Kyouya! We're not screwing with you," no matter how much I may want to, he added to himself. "Honest. I don't wanna die."
Kyouya looked slightly appeased, and Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief.
"So if you're not trying to mess with me, why are you still here? I thought you would jump at the chance to work on something as whimsical as a Halloween costume for Bun-Bun."
"Oh, well, actually, we've pretty much completed it already. That was just to get everyone out of the club room."
"You contrived a reason to be left alone with me, assisted by your brother, but you swear the two of you aren't messing with me?"
Kaoru grinned, now confident that Kyouya wouldn't kill him. "We're not messing with you, but we might be observing you. Just so that we can better understand how you tick, you see. You're such a mystery, and we were a little bored, even with the costume, so we decided to see what goes on behind that cool facade."
"What makes you think it's a facade?"
Leaning close, nose almost touching his upperclassman's, Kaoru whispered, "Last night, when you laughed. There's more to you than you let on. And I want to see it."
Black eyebrows furrowed in confusion. This wasn't normal.
"So, Kyouyaaa, what do you want to do tonight? Do you have a Halloween costume picked out yet?"
Kyouya was thrown off balance, and Kaoru allowed himself a small smile of victory, as that was no easy task.
"No, I don't. Not yet."
"Well, let's work on that, then. What do you think would be something cool to be this year? Are we doing an event for the club, where you'd need to dress to impress the customers?"
Kyouya answered the questions suspiciously, but eventually calmed down. Things returned to normal between them, and they worked for several hours together.
Kaoru found that he really did enjoy spending time with Kyouya doing normal things. He'd enjoyed that before, of course, but he had worried about that changing, now that he was aware of his crush.
This time when they left, Kaoru risked giving Kyouya a friendly hug. After all, they were both guys, and Kyouya was his pal. He wasn't exactly a very huggy person, but Kaoru figured it wouldn't matter. Besides, he wanted to touch.
Kyouya had been stiff in the hug, but that didn't dampen Kaoru's spirits any. The older boy was all wiry muscle and strong frame. Grinning as he said goodbye, Kaoru ran off before Kyouya could say anything else.
Yeah, so he showed some of his hand to Kyouya. Wouldn't you, if he were threatening your life? Review if you want to (I hope you want to...). I love confusing the Shadow King, though.