That evening, Kaoru found himself on Huni's doorstep, a box of fancy cupcakes in hand. Why is it that all I seem to do these days is mooch dinner off my friends? At least this time, he'd actually received an invitation rather than just showing up on the spur of the moment. Huni had called him up in the afternoon, and it didn't take much badgering to get him to admit that Kyoya had told him Kaoru could use "a friendly chat, right?" That smug bastard. For someone who accuses anyone with an interest in his life of not respecting his privacy, he sure is fast to meddle in my affairs.
When he was shown into the living room, Kaoru was more than a little surprised to see three people waiting for him instead of the two he'd expected. "Haruhi! What are you doing here?" he asked as he kissed her cheek.
Haruhi shrugged. "Tamaki and Laney are at a sumo exhibition, and I figured if I hid out here my father can't find me and fuss over me." She rubbed her stomach. "He keeps trying to spoil this kid before it's even born, and it's driving me stark raving mad."
"Also, Kyoya told her that you could use her advice as well as mine," Huni put in, grinning cheekily. Reiko smacked him lightly.
"Yes, thanks Huni. I wasn't exactly going to mention that," Haruhi said, sitting back down. "But as long as that cat is out of the bag, he asked me to pass on a message—It's not as fun when the shoe is on the other foot." She looked at him appraisingly. "I take it that means something to you?"
"Yeah, it means Kyoya is a sadistic son of a bitch," Kaoru grumbled, sitting next to Haruhi on the couch.
Reiko tried, rather unsuccessfully, to hide a laugh. Huni didn't even bother to try. "Well, Kao-chan, you have to admit, you do kind of deserve it."
"Deserve what? It's not like he and Laney would even be together now if it wasn't for us. Remember the time he called her a prostitute? Who dug him out of that hole?"
"If it wasn't for me and Haruhi, you mean," Huni answered, a note of steel entering his voice. "And he asked for our help. Neither of us would ever have gotten involved in that fight if he hadn't reached out to us."
"Also, he never called her a prostitute," Reiko put in diffidently. "It was Mitstkuni who made that jump."
"I would never call Laney a prostitute!" Huni protested. "I just said he was going to give her that impression if he wasn't careful."
"Anyway," Haruhi broke in, as Kaoru buried his head in his hands, "we're not here to talk about Kyoya's messes. Are we, Kaoru?"
"Why do we need to talk about anyone's messes?" Kaoru asked plaintively. "Why can't we just eat dinner and talk about why Tamaki and Laney are at a sumo exhibition? Don't you guys think that's weird?"
"Now that you mention it …" Haruhi started thoughtfully.
"No, don't change the subject," Huni interrupted. Kaoru stared at him. Even at almost 32, Huni was still so cute most of the time. It was all too easy to forget that he was at least as stubborn as anyone else in the club. Once he got a bone between his teeth, he didn't let go. And evidently the bone tonight was Kaoru. "Tonight we're working on Kaoru. If you want an intervention for Tama-chan or Laney, you need to schedule it separately."
"An intervention?" Kaoru asked. A headache was starting to lurk in the back of his head.
"Don't be overly dramatic, you two," Reiko said in a soft voice. "Kaoru, of course this isn't an intervention. This is just a few friends getting together over dinner. If you'd like to talk about your problems, we're happy to listen. And honestly, Mitskuni," she said, scolding her husband, "if you're going to do an actual intervention, you need to have everyone here. The rest of the guys, his parents, and maybe a co-worker or two. We need specific crystals to absorb the negativity. You'll have to give me at least a week to get everything in order."
"I do not need an intervention!" Kaoru exploded.
"Oh?" Huni asked. "What do you need, then?"
Kaoru massaged his temples, trying to figure out what to say to that. Well, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it? What do I want? Finally, he looked back at Huni. "Honestly? I don't know. And I think that's the problem."
"Okay." Haruhi said crisply. "Let's look at this objectively. What would you say are the major areas of your life right now?"
"Where I'm having problems?"
"Not necessarily. First let's just look at what is going on. Before we start worrying about how to fix anything, let's just try to get a handle on the big picture."
Kaoru felt a rush of gratitude for that we. He smiled quickly at Haruhi, then furrowed his brow, thinking. "Work, obviously. Friendship. Family. That's about it." He looked around. "That doesn't seem like much, does it?"
Huni started to open his mouth, but Reiko beat him to the punch. "What about art?"
"That's included in work," Kaoru answered quickly.
"Hmmm," Reiko exchanged a quick glance with her husband. "And Megumi and her class?"
Kaoru found himself smiling at the thought of her, but the smile faded as he tried to classify where Megumi fit in. Friendship? There's not really any other place for her, right now.
Seeing his consternation, Haruhi put a hand on his arm. "Not everything needs to fit into one little box, Kaoru. Forget about Megumi for a second. What about teaching in her class?"
"I love it," he admitted, not even having to think about it. "It's honestly the most fun I've had in a couple years. I don't know if its talking to Megumi, or just being able to talk about art without the pressure of the next show or the next line, or working with the kids, or what. But I really, really love it."
"You've been taking over the more and more of the artistic vision and design work at Hitachiin Industries, while Hikaru has been dealing with most of the travel, right?" Haruhi asked.
Kaoru flushed. "It's not Hika's fault. He's not slacking off."
"No one said that, Kaoru," Reiko said gently.
"No one except you," Haruhi pointed out. Kaoru remained silent. "Okay, let's move on. If there's trouble between you and Hikaru, I don't think it's particularly productive for us to get in the middle of it. Just remember—he can't read your mind, Kaoru. If you need something from him, you need to tell him. I know you don't want to add stress to his life, but think about how he's going to feel if you hide your feelings from him."
Kaoru stood up, pacing around the room. She's right. She's absolutely right. I am mad at Hikaru. I didn't even realize it until Haruhi pointed it out. But it's not fair that he's picking and choosing exactly what he wants to work on, and I have to deal with the rest. He probably doesn't even know he's doing it, but it's not fair and it's been making my life hell. I keep thinking I can't do anything I want because I never have the time, but I've been ignoring the fact that he picks up and goes off to New York whenever Jen crooks her little finger. He flushed darker, the mere thought of Jen bringing out a rage he hadn't been aware he'd harbored.
The other three occupants of the room watched him silently, giving him the time and space to work through these new revelations in his head. After another minute of pacing, he pulled out his phone and texted Hikaru.
-We need to talk.
The answer was almost immediate. -What's wrong? R U OK?
-I'm fine, nothing's wrong. Don't worry.
-Then Y the cryptic text? What's wrong, rlly?
-OK, maybe I'm not fine. But it will keep until you're back in Japan. We just need to talk face to face.
-Ur rlly worrying me, Kao. OMG, u don't have cancer, do u?
-Don't be an idiot. I've just been doing some thinking, and I need to talk to you.
There was a long pause. –Is this about Jen?
-OMG, Hika, not everything is about you and your fucking girlfriend. No, this is about ME.
Another long pause. –Shit. I'm sorry. You're right, and I'm sorry. Look, I have one more meeting here, and then I'm flying out first thing tomorrow. My tomorrow, not yours. I'm coming straight to your apartment, ok? Whatever you're going through, we'll figure it out together. I love you.
-Sounds good. And thanks, Hikaru. Love you too.
"Okay," Kaoru said, putting his phone back in his pocket. He felt lighter already. "Okay," he repeated "Hikaru and I are going to talk when he gets back from New York."
"Good job, Kaoru!" Huni enthused. "Now what about you and Megu-chan?"
Kaoru shook his head. "No, I'm not ready for that one yet. Kyoya said I needed to figure my life out before trying to figure out if she could fit into it." Haruhi, Huni, and Reiko just stared at him. "What?" he said defensively. "That makes perfect sense."
Haruhi sighed. "Okay, let me get this straight. You're going to take relationship advice from Kyoya. From our Kyoya. Not some other mysterious Kyoya you've been keeping in your back pocket. Is that right?"
"Kyo-chan's a genius, but he's shit at navigating interpersonal relationships," Huni said cheerfully. Not for the first time, Kaoru marveled at how the slight man could manage to say something so vicious in such a sweet manner. "He always has been."
"He's seriously the last of us I'd ever think of taking romantic advice from," Haruhi added. "Remember when Laney flew in and he was too busy talking to his father to pick her up from the airport? I've always been amazed she didn't just turn around and fly home, to be honest."
"Yeah, but that's what he meant. He needed to get himself figured out first before he could fix things with Laney." Kaoru looked around at his married friends. "That's how it works, right?"
"Kaoru, Kaoru, Kaoru," Haruhi sighed, shaking her head. "Do you honestly think Tamaki had anything figured out when I started dating him?"
"Well, he knew he what he wanted to do inside the Suoh Corporation."
"That's true," Haruhi admitted. "And I guess to a certain degree, I understand what Kyoya's saying. I don't disagree that you need to be a complete person, in and of yourself, if you want to have a truly successful relationship."
"But you don't need to figure that out on your own," Reiko broke in. "Remember when Mitskuni and I first started dating? I was so shy I could barely talk to anyone outside the black magic club. And quite frankly, if Huni had waited until I'd overcome that completely, we might never have gotten together."
Huni reached over and took his wife's hand. "Even after you figure out whatever's bothering you right now, Kaoru, you're still going to grow and change as a person. Marriage isn't about finding someone who's already perfect; it's about finding someone you can grow with. Finding someone who will help you to become the best version of yourself." He smiled fondly at his wife. "It's a lot more fun that way, too!"
Kaoru must have looked as dazed as he felt, because Haruhi took pity on him. "We're not saying you should run out and confess your feelings to Megumi right now, Kaoru. We're just saying that allowing yourself the space to figure out where you want to go with her is something that should probably go hand in hand with figuring out everything else you're dealing with. We've been talking about different parts of your life—your work, your teaching, Megumi, Hikaru—but it's not so neat in the real world. It's all connected. Fixing one part might help clear up the other parts as well. Just let yourself be open to what happens, rather than closing yourself off to opportunity."
"That sounds like it's easier said than done," Kaoru grumbled. But still—he felt considerably easier in his mind than when he'd first walked in. He still didn't feel like he knew exactly what was causing this sense of dissatisfaction, but at least now he had a couple areas to explore. I think talking—really talking—with Hikaru is going to help put everything in perspective.
"So that's enough serious talk, right?" Huni said brightly, bounding to his feet. "Now let's have some cake, and try to figure out why Tama and Laney like sumo so much."
"We're going to have some actual dinner before the cake, right?" Kaoru whispered to Haruhi as they followed Huni and Reiko out of the room.
"It's Huni and Reiko," she whispered back. "Who knows?"
Author's Note: Thanks so much to Dreamingmydaysaway for the favorite, and to Izzyboopers, No-Time Lord, and mutemuia for the reviews! And thanks so much to everyone who has followed this story! I realized as I wrote this that this particular chapter contains a ton of references to my earlier story, You Know the Night. If you haven't read it, and don't want to slog through the whole thing, the pertinent chapters are 9 and 10 (for the time Kyoya asked Huni and Haruhi for advice) and 30 and 31. Or, if you want to know the background without reading more, just PM me and I'll shoot you the dirty deets. :)
The sumo reference here is a nod to the fact that the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament is coming up (this weekend!) and I FINALLY have someone who will watch it with me-the kid. :) This will be the first time I'm able to watch a basho in something approximating real time, and I have no one to dork out with over this (aside from the kid, who doesn't really care much about rankings and grips), so if you are also a sumo fan, please feel free to PM me.