Kaoru checked his watch, annoyed. He looked towards the front of the restaurant, craning his neck to see if Kyoya had arrived yet. He was the one who wanted to meet for lunch, and now he's over 10 minutes late, he thought, with a somewhat equal mix of irritation and trepidation. Kyoya prided himself on strict punctuality; if he was late, there was probably a damn good reason. Like perhaps he was still aggravated by what Megumi had termed as "sticking his oar in." In which case, he's almost definitely going to stick me with the bill. I might as well get an appetizer so I'm not starving by the time he decides to swan on in, Kaoru decided, studying the menu.

Before he could flag down a server to place his order, Kyoya had arrived. "Sorry I'm late," he said, not sounding particularly sorry in the least. "My meeting ran over. Some people evidently need to learn that discretion is the better part of valor."

"In other words, they weren't doing what you want, and you're going to make them pay for that insolence."

"I wouldn't put it quite like that, Kaoru," Kyoya said, pushing his glasses up. "Rather, let's just say that I'm going to do them the enormous favor of demonstrating how their business could be made more efficient."

Kaoru laughed. "Just when I thought I couldn't be any more grateful that you and I occupy entirely different professional spheres."

Kyoya smirked, studying the menu.

"I have to admit, I was surprised when you wanted to meet for lunch. Pleasantly so, but you've been back for almost four months, and this is the first time we've managed to grab a bite together," Kaoru plunged ahead. Better to get straight to it. Spit it out, Kyoya.

"Yes, well, the wife's been on my case about eating regular meals. Thanks to you." Kyoya kept his eyes on the menu.

Kaoru grinned. "Well, they say communication is the key to a successful marriage."

Kyoya looked up, his expression serious. "Kaoru, I know you meant well, but you were out of order."

"You two weren't talking to each other. Someone had to do something."

"First of all, you had no way of actually knowing that. We don't tell you everything, you know. And second, just because we don't talk on your schedule doesn't mean you should be interfering. Laney and I are perfectly capable of handling it on our own."

"Yeah, but—"

"No 'buts,' Kaoru. Laney adores you, and I don't find you entirely odious, but you crossed a line. If I need help, I will ask. Until then, do not interfere in my marriage." Kyoya's tone was even, but Kaoru didn't miss the undercurrent of real irritation. Almost as an afterthought, Kyoya added, "Please."

Kaoru sighed, looking down and twisting his napkin. "It's just … Everything is changing. The Boss and Haruhi are having a baby, and Hunny and Reiko probably aren't far behind. Hikaru is always so angry these days. Even Mori spends more time worrying about patents than he does about Huni. And you and Laney—I just didn't want to see you guys get into another huge fight and break up."

"Kaoru," Kyoya took a deep breath and held it for a count of five. "That is not going to happen."

Kaoru didn't look up.

"Not that this is even remotely any of your business-" Kaoru recognized this as Kyoya-speak for I'm not really comfortable with how personal this conversation is getting, but I can see we need to go there regardless, "—but I am actually capable of learning from my mistakes. The circumstances of that particular fight are unlikely in the extreme to replicate themselves, and even if they did, I would handle things very differently. As would Laney. Who, by the way, was actually angrier than I was about your interference this past weekend."

"Shit," Kaoru said. "Did I really piss her off?"

Kyoya shrugged. "I did some damage control on your behalf, but an apology probably wouldn't go amiss."

"Shit," Kaoru repeated. "Sorry."

"I meant an apology to her," Kyoya said drily. The server finally came by, and both men gave their orders. Kyoya waited until she had left before continuing, "She's worried about you, you know."

"Who, me?" Kaoru laughed. "I'm fine."

"Oh, clearly. You're so fine you occupy yourself in trying to manage everyone else's lives so you don't have to deal with yours." Kyoya studied him, and Kaoru shifted, not entirely comfortable under his friend's penetrating gaze. "It's not just Hikaru, is it?"

"Everything's changing," Kaoru repeated, giving in. "Except me. I'm … stagnant. It's like there's something missing," Kaoru admitted. "I've tried talking to Hikaru, but he just keeps insisting that I need to get a girlfriend. Or at least get laid on a more regular basis."

"Is he right?" Kyoya asked neutrally.

"I don't think that's it," Kaoru said, furrowing his brow. "Or at least, not all of it. I mean, who doesn't want to get laid more often? And yes, it would be nice not to go to bed alone every night. But I don't think that's the root of the problem here. There's something missing in me, I think." He sighed. "I don't know how to explain it. I just feel … unfulfilled. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Did this start before or after you met Hisakawa Megumi?"

Kaoru narrowed his eyes. "Before. And why would you ask that?"

"But she seems to have exacerbated things, or am I wrong?" Kyoya pressed.

"You can be really nasty when you're pissed off, you know that?"

"Well, look who suddenly doesn't want his personal life picked over. Turnabout is fair play, Kaoru." Kaoru glared at him, and Kyoya appeared to relent. "I'm not trying to be an asshole here. Believe it or not, I'd actually like to see you happy, and it's glaringly obvious that you haven't been in some time. It's just as obvious that there's something more than a purely professional relationship between you and Hisakawa. I'm wondering how that plays in to the feeling of stagnation you described."

Kaoru sighed. "I don't know. She's attractive—really attractive—but I'm such a mess right now. Yes, half the time it's all I can do not to grab her and kiss her, but what would that do to our friendship?"

"Your friendship," Kyoya repeated.

"Yes. It's this bizarre new-fangled relationship where two people spend time together because they enjoy each other's company. Occasionally they even say nice things to each other. You ought to consider giving it a whirl."

Kyoya ignored this outburst and stirred the ice in his water, clearly mulling over their conversation. Finally he said, "I think you should talk to Huni, or Haruhi. I'm sorry, Kaoru, but I'm honestly just not very good at teasing out tangled emotional threads." He thought for a moment more, and added, "What I do know is that if you think you might have feelings for Hisakawa—beyond friendship, I mean—you owe it to her to figure all this out before you start thinking about a relationship."

"I agree," Kaoru nodded.

Author Note: Thank you so much to whenthesheepsaysbaa, Izzyboopers, Guest, No-Time Lord, GlassytheRosePen, and mutemuia for the kind reviews. And huge thanks to Sara2o2, Izzyboopers, and Agent-Freelancer-D.C for the favorites. So remember when I said I'd likely update once or twice a week? Yeah, that clearly hasn't happened. But the good news is that my highly adorkable child has two weeks of math camp (which he BEGGED for-is this really my crotchfruit?) so I have three free hours every day to try to get some actual work done on this, rather than just writing scenes in my head while I fold laundry and let the cat in, and out, and in, and out, ad infinitem. Thanks, y'all, for your patience!