Dinner had been pleasant, for the most part. Huni mostly alternated between talking to Mori and heaping more delicacies on his wife's plate. Hikaru and Laney traded good-natured insults until Haruhi finally threatened, in what was clearly becoming a standard threat, to go into labor if they didn't stop. Tamaki kept jumping up to greet various people, and Kaoru busied himself by whispering tidbits about them in Megumi's ear, growing more and more implausible each time. Imemura Noriko has an entire room in her mansion devoted to banjos. Kazamu Shinobu owns an entire herd of camels in Australia because camel milk is going to be the next big thing in cosmetics. Takimoto Daisuke has hair plugs, but they harvested the hair from his dog. Fukuyama Taichi conducts experiments involving genetic manipulation on roses.
"Oh come on, Kaoru. You'll have to do better than that. Who on earth would bother trying to genetically manipulate a rose?"
"No, I swear. That one is actually true. He's trying to create a black rose. Reiko, back me up here."
"Fukuyama's been trying to create a true-black rose since college," Reiko affirmed. "The results have been less than spectacular, though."
"Who would want a black rose?" Megumi was bewildered.
"There's a market," Huni said, smiling fondly at his wife.
"Last I heard, he was trying to splice in some squid genes," Kaoru said.
"Really?" Laney looked a little starry-eyed. "Any luck?"
"Kaoru, how do you even know that in the first place?" Megumi asked.
"Lunchtime conversation with Kyoya is incredibly boring, that's how."
Laney turned on her husband, clearly hurt. "I can't believe you told Kaoru about that and not me."
Ootori sighed. "We happened to see him at a restaurant last week. It was a throw-away comment. I wasn't deliberately concealing his freakish experiments from you." But she was already leaving the table, making a beeline for where Tamaki and Imemura were talking.
Kamigamo laughed. "Honestly, Kyoya, I never would have predicted you'd wind up married to a nerd, but I guess it fits. Like attracts like, after all." She turned to Megumi. "Although I'm not so sure about you and Kaoru. You seem like the responsible type."
"Give it a rest, Carmen," Kaoru said. He stood up. "I need some fresh air before the auction starts. Megumi?" She took the hand he offered.
"Make certain you're back in 15 minutes," Ootori said, smiling. "I'd hate for you to miss any of the auction. I believe you had your eye on a few of the Kim Young Soo pieces. It would be a shame if anything prevented you from getting your hands on them." Kaoru ignored him, towing Megumi through the maze of tables toward the far side of the salon.
"Is he serious?" she whispered as they made their way past another table.
"Nah, he'll probably just drive the price up," Kaoru replied over his shoulder. "His bark is worse than his bite. Usually." He opened the double doors, and ushered her before him out onto the balcony. The air was heavy and sweet, redolent with the scent of night-blooming jasmine. Kaoru rested his forearms on the stone railing, looking at the campus below.
"Miss it?" Megumi asked lightly.
"No." He sounded almost surprised. "We had good times here. We've had better times since. I'm grateful for my years here, but I don't miss it."
"When you say we …"
"All of us. The Host Club, in all our erstwhile glory." He looked at her seriously. "It wasn't just me and Hikaru, you know. We all went through some pretty profound shit in those years, trying to figure out who we were."
"I think everyone did, Kaoru," she said gently. "It's kind of a universal adolescent experience, you know." Then, remembering the days Tamaki was sequestered in his house during his senior year, she added, "Although some people did have a little bit more dramatic flair about it than others, I suppose."
He gave a small huff of laughter. "Tamaki, you mean? Milord never does anything by halves. Although, to give him credit, once he got things straight, they stayed straight. Unlike others I could name."
"I don't think it's that unusual to have to figure yourself out over and over again."
"You don't." He turned his back on the campus, leaning against the stone balustrade.
"I've spent my whole life on this campus, Kaoru. You think I have everything all figured out?"
"If you could do anything, anything at all in the world, what would you do?"
"Anything?"
Kaoru nodded.
"I'd love to do some work teaching underprivileged children. Maybe in Thailand, or Vietnam. Or maybe even here in Japan, although the need isn't quite as dire." She shrugged. "But I'm not qualified for it."
"Why not?"
"I've spent my whole life with the over-privileged. I don't know anything about how to relate to children in serious poverty."
"That's a lame excuse, Megumi," he said, sounding a bit stern. She looked at him, surprised. "You could learn. You're smart, you're compassionate, you're tough. There's absolutely no reason in the world why you can't pursue that dream."
"Are you calling me a coward?" she asked, laughing.
"Maybe?" He grinned at her, reaching out and pulling her close against his body. "I'm not exactly in a rush to see you go charging off to save the world, leaving me behind to decorate it. But if you have dreams, you shouldn't hold yourself back. I'd support you. You know that, right?"
"I know." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "But I'm only 28, Kaoru. There's no rush. And I have other dreams, too. Ones that can happen right here, in Tokyo."
His arms tightened around her. "Oh? Care to share?"
Megumi smiled up at him. "Maybe later."
He was bending to kiss her when Kamigamo appeared at the French doors. "The auction is about to start," she called to them. "Glasses won't let Hikaru leave the table, and he said if you left him alone in his hour of need he was never going to forgive you and he would make a sex tape and force you to watch it."
Kaoru sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. "And you thought Kyoya was ruthless," he said to Megumi.
"I made that last part up," Kamigamo said as they passed by her into the grand salon. "I can't believe you actually fell for it."
"Carmen, if I promised to reimburse you plus 5%, would you bid on the Kim Young Soo for me?"
She favored him with a withering glance. "I might not have married the way my father wanted me to, but I'm not entirely insensible to the concept of family duty. Which, in my case, rules out pissing off Ootori Yoshio's favorite son." She shrugged. "Plus, Haruhi told me not to."
"It was a joke."
"And a pretty stupid one. Me, married to Glasses? It positively sends shivers down my spine—and not the good kind."
"That's why it was funny."
"Kaoru?" Megumi looked up at him. "This is the part where a wise man would apologize and let the subject drop."
"Yeah, but think how boring our lives would be if I were wise instead of interesting."
The auction went about as well as Megumi had anticipated. The whole table participated in the bidding, with the exception of Tamaki, who was helping to showcase each item on the block. Every time Hikaru or Kaoru bid on an item, Ootori drove up the price, smiling calmly all the while. He seemed to have a sixth sense for when the brothers were ready to give in, letting them take almost all the items they had bid on. There had been one piece by the Korean artist that Kaoru had been particularly enthusiastic about, but Ootori matched him bid for bid, until, with ill grace, Kaoru finally threw his paddle down. Hikaru lost out on a first edition of T.S. Eliot, and growled at Ootori. "I was going to give that to Jennifer."
"And now I will give it to her instead," he said, the infuriatingly smile never leaving his face. "Think of how happy she'll be! It warms the heart, doesn't it?"
Hikaru looked like he was going to argue more, but caught Laney's eye. She shook her head warningly, and, huffing, he turned his attention back to the auction.
Megumi hadn't been going to bid on anything; although she still had access to her family's money, she preferred to live off her teaching salary. But when a small seriograph came up on the block, she couldn't resist. It had golden poppies against a thickly forested background, and a small inset of a bird's nest with three speckled blue eggs. The colors, though muted, seemed to shine with a luminous intensity. She fell in love with it immediately. Kaoru had fidgeted uncomfortably when she raised her paddle. "I'd buy it for you in a heartbeat, but I don't think he'll let me," he whispered in her ear.
"He probably won't," Megumi said, not bothering to keep her voice low.
Ootori rolled his eyes. "I'm sure this isn't the only piece this artist has ever done, Kaoru. Buy her something another time." He put his paddle down on the table, nodding pleasantly at Megumi.
As Megumi raised her paddle, she caught a flash of motion from the other side of the room. Chiyo was also bidding on the print. She smiled at her, part of her happy that, despite the growing rift between them, the same piece caught both of their eyes. Chiyo smiled back, but there was no warmth in it.
The three others bidding on the piece dropped out quickly, and it was just Megumi and Chiyo. She started to get a little worried—Chiyo showed no signs of quitting, and the bidding was rapidly approaching the limits of what could be considered reasonable. Finally, with obvious regret, she laid her paddle down on the table.
Kaoru had been looking in Chiyo's direction, and didn't miss the flash of malicious triumph that crossed her face. He grabbed Megumi's paddle and raised it again before thrusting it into her hand.
"Kaoru! What are you doing? I can't afford this!"
"I don't care," he whispered through gritted teeth. "I'll give you the money. She's not going home with your seriograph."
"It's not mine yet—or at all, obviously," she protested. Kaoru poked her, and she obediently raised the paddle again. "You're just being petty."
"I'm being petty?" He twisted around in his seat, glaring at Chiyo. "Look at her, and tell me she doesn't want this just for the thrill of taking it away from you."
Megumi turned and looked at her old friend. Chiyo's attention was focused solely on her, ignoring the seriograph on the block. She couldn't quite mask the rage that was clearly simmering under the surface. Megumi knew she must be furious at being outbid. Something snapped in her. "Fine," she said, swiveling back in her chair to look at Kaoru. "Tell me when you want me to stop."
He gave her a feral grin. "Honey, trust me. I'm pretty sure I have a lot more money than the Matsudas."
"It's actually not even comparable," Ootori put in diffidently. "They're far more bourgeois than they'd like to admit. You'd bankrupt them before noticing anything more than a slight strain on your pocket." He looked at Megumi. "And if by some remote chance Kaoru hits a ceiling, I'll back you."
Megumi gaped at him, shocked.
"Kyoya doesn't like anyone messing with his friends except him," Huni said smugly. "It's a big no-no."
Kaoru poked her again, murmuring "Focus." She raised the paddle.
After trading bids back and forth for another five minutes, Kaoru shifted restlessly. "This is getting boring," he said, bending low to Megumi's ear. He whispered a number that made her eyes widen.
"Kaoru, that's obscene!"
"Good," he said, stretching his legs out. "She deserves a little fuck you for this bullshit." He gave her an encouraging nod, and, hestitantly, Megumi raised her paddle and announced her offer. It was met with dead silence from Chiyo's corner of the room.
"Don't look at her," Kaoru advised, even though she was dying to see Chiyo's face. "Don't give her the satisfaction."
As the auctioneer announced Megumi's win, Hikaru lifted his phone up and snapped a picture. He handed it to Megumi. Chiyo's face, contorted with rage and jealousy, filled the screen. Megumi felt a little sick. "She's going to be furious with me," she whispered.
"So?" Haruhi spoke up. "All you did was buy a painting you liked."
"Seriograph," Hikaru corrected.
Haruhi ignored him. "She can't reasonably be mad just because you outbid her when she was trying to do the same thing to you."
"I'm not sure reason has a lot to do with it," Laney observed, looking at Chiyo.
Haruhi made an impatient motion with one hand. "Of course it doesn't. But you shouldn't let it bother you, Megumi. Don't let her make you feel guilty."
Kaoru put his arm around her shoulders, bringing her in close to him. "You have better friends now, honey. People who actually give a damn about your feelings."
"It's not that." Megumi shook her head. "Chiyo and I have been friends since preschool. It's not easy to throw away a friendship with that kind of history."
Kaoru pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. "I'm sorry. If you really want to try to keep this friendship, I'll support you. But I think you need to ask yourself some serious questions about what both of you get from this relationship."
"You can look back at the friendship you shared when you were young with gratitude and nostalgia," Mori rumbled unexpectedly. "Just as the problems you have with Matsuda now don't cancel out the happier times you had when you were children, those years don't cancel out the disrespect she showed you tonight. If she doesn't show a willingness to change her behavior, you're better off leaving your friendship in the past."
"Thanks, Mori." Megumi tried to surreptitiously wipe tears from her eyes.
"Besides, there is literally nothing you can say to convince me that we're not way more fun than she is," Hikaru said, lightening the mood. "I bet she never once played a prank that scared someone so much they slept with the lights on for over a week."
"Hikaru!" Megumi pretended to be aghast. "That's not fun, that's horrible!"
He shrugged. "Milord's an easy mark. Besides, even Haruhi thought it was funny."
Megumi looked at Haruhi for confirmation. An unwilling smile played around her lips. "Well," she prevaricated, "I wouldn't say funny, necessarily. But on the other hand, it is hard to muster up an excess of sympathy for someone terrified of a Centipede Ghost."
"Good times," Kaoru reminisced. "Good times."
Author's Note: Thanks so much to xKANAN, No-Time Lord, FinalFantasyCrazedGirl01, Guest, Kirorokat, Smokingsomething, and Mairelle for the very kind reviews, and to Alpacarama, Ergelina, FictionalAffluency19, FinalFantasyCrazedGirl01, GidgetCyon, I am a male reader, and cathyisapotato for the favorites. You guys are 50 shades of awesome. OK, I am TOTALLY no longer making promises that shall quickly be broken regarding update frequency. I forgetting how absolutely insane the beginning of the year is, particularly this year with the holiday season coming at the same time as the start of school (so many holidays!). I will say, though, that I had written myself into a corner and it took a while to figure out how to get out of it. I think the rest of the story is laid out pretty clearly now, but that's also what I thought at the beginning of September. What I can promise is that I will keep plugging away and trying to trim this story into something people actually want to read. As always, your feedback is invaluable in letting me know whether this story works.