When he woke up, Tamaki was in control of their- his body. He yawned, rolling over in his bed, eyes rising to his large windows where a familiar girl rested on one of the chairs from his little rendez-vous the previous night. She sat primly, a pair of opera glasses raised to cover her eyes and her perfectly made-up lips in a curious pout.

"Good morning madam. I apologize for my state of undress, I was not prepared for visitors until noon," Tamaki said calmly, but suddenly very awake and internally screaming.

"I see you are awake, dear Tamaki," she said, unaffected by his polished charm. "Shall we skip the pleasantries? I hear you had a busy afternoon, but I trust you set aside some time to consider my offer?"

Tamaki brought up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, Edward's urge to swear growing in his mind as the other boy watched through his eyes. "To be honest, I've had a really busy day. Days? You'll have to excuse me, Mademoiselle, I've been under a lot of stress and I can't quite remember our time together. Also, are you quite sure it's appropriate to be in my room? Watching me sleep...?"

Eclair lowered her opera glasses and rolled her eyes. "Tamaki. Seriously?"

Tamaki stared at the girl, dead-eyed, reclining on his luxurious bed in powder-blue pajamas. "Yes."

"Fine then, whatever I guess," Eclair tossed her perfectly coiffed hair and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Marry me so you can come to France. Meet someone who may or not be your mother."

"Oh worm that sounds pretty great-"

"Swell! Also, you're never allowed to leave me ever, let's leave for the airport in 20 minutes, but yayyy you get to see your mom who you never thought you would see again woohoo!"

"Aw dip guess I'm in- wait what was that bit about never coming back, also I have some things to do and I won't be free until like a week after school goes on break-" Tamaki is cut off by a blinding headache, his vision pulsing the color red. Tamaki hears Edward's voice faintly: There was a time... I would have done anything to see my mom again. And in pursuing that, I committed an unforgivable sin and nearly destroyed all I had left to care about. I'm not saying not to go with her, but you'll be sacrificing all you've built here to do it. Think very carefully about what you want, Suoh Tamaki.

Tamaki heaves a sigh and starts muttering under his breath. He wants to meet the person who may or may not be but definitely is his mom. He hasn't seen his mom in years, after his father took him to Japan to succeed the company or some shit because his Grandma is a bi- um, demanding. But if he leaves, he might not be able to get Ed home before whatever catastrophic failure macguffin is heading their way. He won't be able to see his friends again. Well, unless they come visit him in France, which is very possible, but Haruhi doesn't have that kind of money, unless one of the other guys just takes her with them on their private jet. Point is, Eclair wants him to cut his ties (he thinks?) and up and leave for France. But his mother!

Even though I figured out that trick with the gate, I didn't fully expect to survive that encounter with Truth. Ed speaks solemnly. And yeah, I would love to see Al again, but I also know what it means to lose a mother. I thought I would do anything to see her again, but all my efforts amounted to was despair and a seemingly endless quest to restore my brother. Even though it led to us... probably saving the country, I wouldn't try that transmutation again. It's not worth losing Al. He's all I have left. So Tamaki... I'll respect your decision. Whatever it is. Because I made a similar choice once. And I know what it's like to have regrets.

"Even if I love and miss my mom... I also love the host club, the family I've built for myself, and I'd miss them too. I think I would regret losing the family that I chose and that has chosen me. Also, marrying Eclair, a person I just met, don't know very well, and have a strained relationship with doesn't seem like a recipe for a healthy marriage. Also also, my princely persona is mostly a character- uh, partially pretend- hmm, an exaggeration of myself, and not the best for pursuing a long-term relationship with."

Yeah that sounds about right.

"Okay Jesus Christ I have no idea what the fuck just happened," Eclair says, pulling a Jafar after watching Tamaki have possibly the weirdest one-sided conversation with himself ever. She felt like she had just watched Tamaki have a super-heartfelt phone call, if the phone was his head and the other person a disembodied voice within it. "But you're rejecting me, yes?"

"That sums it up pretty nicely, yes." Tamaki made eye contact with her, not having moved an inch from his bed his entire interaction with her and follow-up conversation with Ed.

"Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed," Eclair sighs, lifting her opera glasses back over her eyes as her bottom lip trembles. "I'll- be taking my leave then, I suppose." She chokes out, and elegantly sashays to the room door, giving away none of her inner tumult probably. "Might want to do something else to get your grandmother off your back."

"I will take that under advisement."

"Then, I suppose-" Eclair sobs once, the picture of cool and collected. "I suppose this is goodbye!"

"Adieu, Eclair," Tamaki says. And then, the part of his brain that makes him follow Edward's habits chimes in, "deuces, I guess."

And just like that, Eclair, and the opportunity for Tamaki to meet his mother again, are gone. Now they just need to see what's up with Kyoya...

A/N: Happy FMA day, everyone! Probably only a chapter or two left now. Life has been hard lately, and I almost put off writing and posting this, but when you only update consistently once a year I think it's important not to miss your deadlines, so here I am, writing fanfiction, instead of my five-page paper due in three days that I've outlined but not done much else for yet. I hope my frazzled brain produced something you enjoyed.

Thanks for everyone's continued support, every kudo and favorite and comment makes me smile, and get more determined to finish. If I don't update anytime soon, I hope everyone has a good, safe year!