Almost all of the original Host Club sat around a large round table outside of a small restaurant. The boys were all laughing, and Haruhi would throw a laugh in whenever she heard the others laughing, but she wasn't truly listening. She was glad that they were all together, because it had honestly been far too long since their last gathering, but she couldn't focus on the conversations at hand. Her mind was a thousand miles away, thinking about what she was about to do.
She had orchestrated the entire vacation in Karuizawa, making sure that all of their friends were at their families cottages at the same time. It had been her job to make sure that René had a safe place to be with his grandfather because she didn't want him to see what was going to happen. Tamaki was going to end up being extremely angry, she just hoped that things would work out for the best, and that he could find it in his heart to forgive her.
Right now, Tamaki was ecstatic to be back with all of his friends at once. He was acting like he was sixteen again. His laughter was carefree and lighthearted. The only other times she had heard him so happy was when he was playing with their son. He was truly and utterly over what had happened all those years ago, and here she was about to reintroduce the pain he had felt. Maybe he shouldn't forgive me for what I'm going to do.
"Well what about you, Kaoru? Are you and Hikaru still doing the twin shtick?" Honey had said, snapping her back to the conversations that they were having.
She decided that she had to say at least something soon or else everyone would think that something was wrong, which honestly was the truth. "Yeah," she said, "they are. And they're still doing it on me."
It always made everyone laugh when she was able to pick on the twins. She playfully glared in the direction of the twins, who had since left their seats. Shit, I just brought this onto myself. I deserve what they're about to do to me.
They were on either side of her quickly. This was one of their favorite things to do and always had been. Whenever it came to being around her, the preferred to pin her in so she couldn't move. It was like they were making her into a sandwich, with her being the meat that everyone seemed to still want a taste of.
"Well you know Haruhi," Hikaru started., placing his hand on her cheek with a devilishly smile across his face.
"You could always come home with us," Kaoru finished, mirroring the same smile and hand gesture.
She sighed, "I've said this a thousand time before, and I'm going to try and make it clear, again. Not. A. Chance. In. Hell."
There was laughter again, and she allowed herself to slip into her own mind for a moment. He was so happy right now, should she do this? She had made a promise to Kyoya that she would at least get them to talk to each other, but at what cost? It would be her fault that Tamaki would be in pain. No one would fault her if she went back on a promise, especially one like this. She could just pretend like they had never talked and leave him standing somewhere alone, but she could never bring herself to do something as low as that.
"...speaking about the heroes of her youth. Something about the gentlemen that only want to make woman feel special and wanted," she heard Honey saying. The conversation must have turned to Renge. She knew that their old manager had been off traveling telling their story to guests all over the country, and it was soon going to be a world tour. Through her, their legacy would live on, though it would be her interpretation of all of the Host Club's adventures, which would of course be somehow more over the top and ridiculous than the actual events had been.
Mori was looking at Honey. "Wonder where she got the idea from."
Haruhi snorted, bemused by the whole idea of it, "Guess that rotating stage she always managed to have is doing her a lot of good now."
Everyone chuckled a little, but she allowed herself to sink back into her mind to overthink everything that she had done in the last few weeks. Kyoya had been growing happier and more hopeful with every conversation that they had, but part of her felt like he didn't deserve any happiness. No matter what, it would always be his fault that they had gotten into this predicament. He still had not told her the whole story, but the longing in her eyes told her all she needed to. And yet, I am going to help him try and back into my lover's life. I can only hope that our love is strong enough to withstand this.
She anxiously sat in her chair while the boys discussed all of there memories that they had together. Time was slowing down for her, with minutes lasting for hours. No one seemed to notice that she was growing impatient, which was fine by her. It would make it easier for when Kyoya finally contacted her. He was going to be waiting somewhere in town for them. It was why Karuizawa was the perfect location for them to be. He had been spending a lot of his time at his family's cottage anyways, and it was a great getaway for everyone else. That, and there would be a lot of witnesses if Tamaki lost his temper, though that was something that he rarely did.
Her phone vibrated, showing the text from Kyoya that she had been waiting for. So what's the plan? it read. She quietly excused herself to be able to call him, but she didn't say that part out loud. Tamaki watched her walk away, concern flashing in his eyes before he turned back to his friends at the table
Another text came through moments later as she was walking to a secluded area to call him. Haruhi! What's going on? Please answer me.
She dialed his number and held the phone to her ear. It clicked, and before Kyoya could even said hello, she said, "Dammit! Just calm down. I needed a minute to be able to get away from the table. I couldn't just call you from next to Tamaki, could I? No, because that would have been rude."
"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm worried about what is going to happen. Do you think that he will be angry with me?"
"I could care less if he's mad at you, honestly. Frankly, if he doesn't talk to you again I would stand behind it. You hurt him."
"I know, I know. You've brought it up every single time that I have spoken to you."
"Well, I just like to make sure you it is completely and utterly clear to you. My husband will always come first to me."
"That's where he should have come with me too," he said softly, almost low enough that she couldn't hear him, which was probably his point.
"Where are you? This way I can bring Tamaki to you and you can have your little conversation."
"There's a little park a few blocks away from the restaurant that you're at. I'm kind of hiding in the shadows, chickening out."
"Don t you even dare! I put a lot of work into this and I will hunt you down if you run."
"I won't, I promise,"
"Yeah, cause your promises mean sooo much anymore," she said before hanging up.
Mustering all the courage she could, she walked back to the table where all of her friends where sitting and laughing. It was now or never. Never sounds really, really good.
She walked up behind Tamaki and leaned down close to him. "Can you come with me?" she said softly into his ear.
He tensed, nervously standing. She had no idea what was going through his mind, or what he thought she needed him for. Whatever it was, she was probably leading him to something worse. She gripped his hand tightly, trying to steady her shaky breath. Inhale with one step, exhale with the other. Inhale with one step, exhale with the other, she repeated over and over. It wasn't putting her at ease though.
They rounded a building together, and there Kyoya was, leaning casually against a tree. He looked indifferent as though he wasn't panicking at all. The pose showed confidence and arrogance. He's a great actor.
This was the moment of truth for them. She stopped a good distance away, not wanting to hear anything that was said between them. "He wants to talk to you alone," she stated quietly, then cringing at the words. Fifteen years, and here she was using the same words that were said then.
"He's who the message was from, isn't he?" he said, his voice hollow and face devoid of emotion.
She nodded slowly, unable to look her husband in his eyes. Shame was flowing through her veins as his footsteps began to fade. Every moment that passed was absolutely painful. It was her turn to want to run away, but her feet were cemented to the ground. This is going to end badly, so very, very badly.
Her eyes glanced up to see the two men under the tree, Tamaki's voice raised enough that she could tell he was screaming. His exact words where not clear, but he was clearly angry. Kyoya was a little pale, his lips hardly moving with no chance for him to speak. So badly.
She could only imagine how this conversation was going. Kyoya would say, "But, Tamaki, I'm really sorry. You need to know how sorry I am and what an asshat I have been. Please forgive me!" and Tamaki would reply, "Sorry doesn't mean a thing. What should make me forgive you?" They would look at each other a long while, debating their feelings, and one of them would eventually give up, and it would probably be Tamaki because he didn't know when to cut a selfish jerk off.
Tamaki's voice could no longer be heard traveling over the air to her ears. Maybe that was a good sign. If it was her, she wouldn't forgive him. It wasn't worth the pain to be relived, even if it meant she could get her emotions out. For her, it would be like having a cut almost be healed and then ripping the scab off, just to make it bleed and scar worse than it would have before. And I did this to him.
They had been talking for a while now, or maybe it was only a minute. Time wasn't flowing the way it should be. Hours were minutes and seconds were days. She didn't want to be standing here any longer. All she wanted was to be with her son and husband, playing somewhere together and smiling. This could have been a happy day with the members of the Host Club that had stuck around. Everyone would be spoiling their son, and all would be well.
Nope, she was just standing across the street from two former friends who had not spoken to each other formally in over fifteen years. This might be the actual definition of hell. There was no fire and brimstone, just awkwardness and discomfort. Yay.
She didn't like that she had no idea of what was going on. They could be making amends, or getting ready to have a fistfight. If she was over there, she could at least be helping to keep Tamaki calm and not hurting. Or maybe she could be helping him beat Kyoya to a pulp, both seemed like a good option.
This anger she was newer. She hadn't really been angry at Kyoya before he reached out to her. Most of her time had been spent consoling her lover, and now he would potentially do it again. That was probably where the anger was coming from. Even though he had walked away from both of them, it hadn't really effected her, but she had to live with a mobbing shadow of a human. She never wanted to have him like that again.
If it happens, this time it's as much your fault as Kyoya's. Her brain was not leaving her alone. She only could hope at this point that Tamaki would remember that she was the one next to him through it all. Despite his depression and pain, she was the one that had stayed.
Tamaki began to walk back across the street towards her, his face unreadable. Kyoya still stood under the tree, looking torn and not moving. Her breathing became to come rapidly, bordering on hyperventilation. This would be it. He was going to go straight past her, pretending that she wasn't there. She would have to spend days finding ways to make him forgive her as well.
He did walk past her, but he grabbed her hand while he did so to have her come with him. She was so thankful that he didn't appear to be mad at her. With her breathing coming back to a normal pace, she was able to match his strides as they walked away. One last glance backwards at Kyoya still showed him at the edge of the park, rocking back and forth on his heals. They hit the corner of the building and turned, not giving her the chance to see if he was moving.
Thank you for sticking with the story. Haruhi's part may not be the most important in these events, but I felt it was important for her feelings to be expressed. Stay tuned for the third PoV.