Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran

Chapter 2: Gravitational Pull

Kyouya continues to make no effort to communicate with Tamaki the following days, as has become usual in recently, and this time the blond follows his lead. The Host Club's vice-president acts like nothing at all has transpired and Tamaki does the same, if only for the sake of his friends. Since when it is absolutely necessary he does have a conversation with Kyouya, albeit slightly more formally than before, the other members of the Host Club are mostly unaffected.

At least, Tamaki thinks so until the twins one day after closing propose going somewhere for the weekend in front of the rest of the hosts. Tamaki is halfway through listening to their excited planning when he realizes that he just does not feel like it. He agrees anyway, feeling wretched at the idea of more days of Kyouya mostly ignoring him and pretending that he is not there, as if this attitude in school hours is not enough.

Maybe it was his tone; perhaps simply that he had shown no sign of his usual enthusiasm, but Hikaru narrows his eyes at him when Tamaki accepts their proposition.

"You don't have to inflict our company on yourself if you do not feel like it, you know."

Kaoru looks at his brother warily when the slightly older twin lets these words out, and places a hand on his shoulder. However, his action does not stop Hikaru from barreling on.

"I've noticed how you act lately. You don't put any emotion into anything. You never propose going anywhere with the Host Club anymore. You never react at anything. You struggle to act as a host when before it came naturally. The costumers don't notice, but it is only necessary to know you a little to realize how hard you're trying to do something that should come by itself."

Tamaki hurts at these accusations, and at the distress that Hikaru tries to hide behind annoyance. But the predominant emotion in Tamaki when he hears this is shock. He had not realized that he was acting different.

"If you are tired of this Club, of all of us, just have the guts to admit it!"

For a moment, silence louder than an explosion follows Hikaru's shout. Honey directs them a worried look from his place atop his cousin's shoulders, and even stoic Mori appears a bit worried. Kaoru tightens his hand, knuckles bleaching white, where it is still grabbing his brother's arm, while Haruhi's brown eyes stare at Tamaki's face intently, as if searching for something. Kyouya, slightly separated from the rest, is looking down at his notebook, but his hand is still, pencil pressed against the paper where he stopped abruptly writing at Hikaru's outburst.

And Tamaki is feeling defeated, because he had tried to act normally even in the face of his problems with Kyouya, and failed dismally. He is still trying to form an answer, to try to tell Hikaru how much what all of them have means to him, but a gentle voice comes first.

"Hika-chan, Tama-chan doesn't want to close down the Host Club." Honey explains without a hint of doubt in his tone.

"I didn't see him deny it." Hikaru shoots back, and leaves the room, his twin trailing behind, and after Haruhi stares at Tamaki hesitantly for a moment, she follows them both.

"Tama-chan, we'll talk to him." Honey tells him as he clenches his bunny tightly in his arms, and he leaves with Mori, but Tamaki is sure he spares a hard stare for Kyouya before they abandon the room.

The dark haired boy has not moved since the disheartening exchange, and is now staring at Tamaki expressionlessly.

"What are you waiting for?" Tamaki asks. "You should be off, you have been too much time alone with me already, and you don't want to accidentally talk with me or something."

Tamaki hates it, how spiteful he sounds, but there is a painful emptiness in his chest when he looks at Kyouya, and he lashes out rather than break apart in the other's presence.

For a fleeting instant, Tamaki thinks he sees something behind his eyes, thinks Kyouya is going to speak, but then his expression closes.

Please let me in, Kyouya

The spark of hope Tamaki had allowed himself to feel dies away. He only watches as the other disappears through the threshold without a backwards glance.

Tamaki can hear dying footsteps, and then there is silence. It is starting to get dark outside, and the third Music Room is filling with gradually lengthening shadows. Without any beforehand planning Tamaki pulls apart the curtain that hides it, sits on the stool, and starts playing the piano.

His fingers press the keyboards, and music starts flowing around him, enveloping the space with its rhythm. Tamaki forgets about Hikaru's words, about his inability to act normal around the club. He forgets Kyouya's sealed face, and immerses himself in the melody he is creating.

For a while, Tamaki is happy. He only sees the black and white keys, only feels their texture against his digits as they sink under the lightest pressure, and his ears flood with the sound coming from the instrument. For a while, Tamaki is only aware of the movement of his arms and hands, of the music that surrounds him. The rest of his existence is obliterated, replaced by pentagrams fluidly traveling through his mind.

He is so concentrated that he does not feel the presence of another person until they sit down next to him on the stool in front of the piano, their thigh touching his own. The blond shifts slightly to make room, but he does not look up, because there is no need. Warmth is seeping through his clothes at the point where there is contact, and Tamaki knows who is sitting next to him. It reminds him of a similar sensation when his fingers were holding anther persons chin so that they could not hide their gaze behind the sparkle of a pair of glasses.

Tamaki does not stop playing, but the cadence changes, and the melody becomes the song he was playing the day he went to the Ootori residence and his first friend in Japan entered the room where his older brothers were crying, tears in his own eyes that he had not been able to hide before Tamaki had seen. Later, when they were alone, said friend had exploded, and Tamaki had found himself of the floor, Kyouya on top of him, furious but open, and breathtaking. The mask was ripped off, his façade blown, Tamaki had then thought forever. For the first time, he had really seen Kyouya, the good and the bad, more beautiful and human than Tamaki could have imagined.

The light outside fades, but nobody else comes, and Tamaki continues extracting music from the piano. Next to him, the person does nothing to interrupt his activities. Only when the crescent moon is clear in the night sky Tamaki lets his hand fall, last notes vanishing into the ether, and turns his head towards Kyouya's stare, his face shadowed by the scarce light from the satellite above them, pale skin contrasting against dark hair and eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Tamaki gazes at Kyouya, and realizes he is not going to need to try to read him, because for once, the other boy's expression is completely open. Something loosens in his chest that Tamaki had not realized it was choking him.

"Hikaru… He blamed you for acting strange, and it was my fault"

"So that is what you are sorry about. Hikaru being angry at me." Tamaki feels disappointment in the pit of his stomach.

Kyouya's eyes flash behind his glasses "No. I'm sorry for trying to push you away."

He is already forgiven, too fast and too soon, but Tamaki cannot help, it, nor the relief at having his friend again. Tamaki leans towards Kyouya, their legs touching, and he feels warm at the proximity.

"It's fine. It's all fine. I'm just happy you are back."

Kyouya looks at him disbelievingly at those words, but with affection.

"How can you forgive me with such ease? Tamaki, you're incredible, because you actually mean it, don't you?"

"I forgive you, but please, just answer something. Why would you do pull away? Did I do something?" Tamaki asks with honest curiosity.

"I told already you had no blame. I did it because I wanted to alienate myself from you when you cast me away, so it would hurt less. My plan backfired, because the more I tried to put distance between us, the more I missed you, and so the more I feared being completely away from you."

"Kyouya I don't want you away. It was hard enough this past weeks. Why did you think I would want you to leave?" Tamaki is sincerely confused.

"I shouldn't tell you. You'll probably discover soon enough." Kyouya laughs mirthlessly, and it makes Tamaki's heart clench. "Some in the club already did."

"Tell me. I don't care what it is, I won't hate you." As if Tamaki could, even if he tried.

Kyouya is squinting at his face, searching for something. "You sure you want to know?"

Tamaki nods, he needs to understand to have his friend back.

The dark haired boy shrugs. "I can hardly cover it up anymore, anyway. You are too dense, or you would have realized by now."

Before Tamaki can say anything to that, Kyouya is moving. He turns his body in Tamaki's direction, placing one hand on the stool they are still sitting on and the other on the piano's keys. For a moment notes sound before dying away, but all Tamaki can see is Kyouya's face coming closer to his own. He is moving deliberately slowly, giving the blond time to pull away, but Tamaki does not, even when he finally realizes what Kyouya is about to do. Partly due to Tamaki being paralyzed by surprise, but also because Kyouya is near, and even when the other boy tilts his head, he remains frozen.

It is the softest press of closed lips against Tamaki's ones, and it is short lived. When Kyouya breaks contact and reclaims some distance, staring at the blond with careful grey eyes, for a moment Tamaki feels the pull to lean back in to kiss him again.

"I like you, and more than just as a friend." Kyouya admits then, something in his stare, and Tamaki's eyes widen. Because it is that soft gaze that he sometimes gave Tamaki over his notebook when he thought nobody was watching in the Host Club, when they were both alone and Tamaki said something incredibly crazy with an excited smile, the same stare that had so long been absent.

Silence falls, and Tamaki assumes that Kyouya is waiting for an answer. Or rather, a rejection, because his expression looks resigned. The problem is that Tamaki has no response, is not sure what he is feeling.

Finally the dark haired boy gives up when he says nothing, and stands up.

"It's late; my father is going to wonder where I am."

Kyouya's phone is out, as he makes a call. But Tamaki hardly listens as he starts speaking with whoever is at the other side. He does not, because he is still lost, and confused, and unsure about what he is feeling exactly. He also hopes Kyouya's father isn't too hard on him for not being at home in time.

"Tamaki?"

Violet eyes look into worried grey. He had not realized he had been so immersed in his thoughts while Kyouya was talking on his mobile.

"They are coming to pick us up. A car will be waiting outside soon."

That is when Tamaki becomes aware that he has not uttered a word since the kiss. Kyouya looks as if he were about to be sick, and Tamaki realizes how concerned his friend is of having ruined everything for ever, now that he finally has decided he wants to maintain a bond with Tamaki one way or another.

Kyouya turns to leave, and for a moment Tamaki is terrified to lose him all over again. He runs, and grabs the other boy's hand. It is cold, but where their skins touch Tamaki feels as if his burns. He intertwines their fingers, smiling at Kyouya, and his Vice President visibly relaxes.

"I was sure you had gone before." Tamaki tells his friend as they leave the Third Music Room.

"I wanted to talk with Hikaru, to explain things, because I did not want him to blame you for something that you did not do or feel. But when I got there Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai were already with him. They had already left clear that you were not at fault, just having a difficult time. They did not say I had anything to do with it. But then Honey-senpai saw me. He just asked why I wasn't with you. He did not look judgemental, or angry. He was disappointed. Mori-senpai and Haruhi were not looking happy either."

"I just turned around and went back for you. Not because I cared what they thought, but because I have already failed you a lot lately, and I did not want to do it again. Then I saw you there, playing the piano, and I knew that I had no more force of will to stay away from you unless you forced me too."

"I never will." Tamaki said.

Kyouya's grip tightened around his hand.

"Not even after what I just told you?"

"No. You say you didn't want to stay away from me anymore. I don't want to be away from you either. This separation took its toll on me too, you know. I missed you every day. And what you just told me, it changes nothing. You're still my friend."

Kyouya looks at him, eyes happy and amazed. Also if Tamaki is completely honest with himself there is something else there that maybe he is not completely ready to face yet. So he lowers his gaze to their linked hands, Kyouya's fingers not longer cold after absorbing the warmth from his own.

"Thank you Tamaki."

It is like there is much more that Kyouya wants to say, but is not able to put into words. It does not matter, he is not good with expressing his feelings, he has already done enough tonight, and Tamaki understands.

Later, when Tamaki is finally home and in bed, he closes his eyes and thinks about a pair of lips pressing against his own.

/

The next morning dawns cloudy and rainy. There are no classes, but Tamaki still leaves the house fairly early.

His chauffer takes him to Haruhi's neighborhood, and during the journey Tamaki leans against the window, pattered with falling raindrops, the image of Kyouya leaning closer towards him clear in his mind.

Just as they are nearing Haruhi´s home the rain stops, even if it remains overcast. Haruhi does not look thrilled to have Tamaki there, but she still gestures for him to enter with a half-fond half-exasperated smile.

"Would you come take a walk with me instead?" Tamaki ask her seriously, lacking the usual enthusiasm he would have usually displayed. She shoots him an evaluating look with those piercing brown eyes of hers but accepts.

"So how is Hikaru?" Tamaki questions her anxiously as they head through her street without any real destination in mind.

"He's fine. He wasn´t angry with you, not really. He was terrified."

Tamaki frowns slightly "Terrified?"

"Why do you sound so surprised, Tamaki-senpai? You know better than anyone just how small the twins' world was before you and the Host Club came along. He probably panicked when he thought you were planning on closing the club or something, and he might have to return to his solitude of two."

"Oh" Tamaki exhales softly, and feels bad. He has been so centered about his problems with Kyouya he had not even been able to understand Hikaru and miss his signs of distress, what probably would not have happened before.

"He was much better yesterday already though." Haruhi informs him. "But you should probably talk with him."

"I had already planned that." Tamaki assures her with a smile that Haruhi returns

"You look happier." Haruhi suddenly says. "Lately you seemed different; you still did things as before, but… I don't know how to explain it, but you weren't exactly yourself."

"Yeah, I know, and it took me too long to realize."

Haruhi's tone is soft then. "Did you and Kyouya finally talk about everything yesterday, did he tell you everything."

"Yes." Tamaki hesitates before plodding on. "But I still owe him an answer, even if he hasn't actually asked anything in words"

"What answer will you give him?" Haruhi is not pressing for details, only for a yes or no.

"I don't know."

Tamaki thinks about how Kyouya's proximity feels, about how much he missed him those last weeks, he thinks about his smile when he is honestly happy. He remembers how Kyouya followed him along with the crazy idea of a Host Club and made it possible as much as himself.

Tamaki stares and the sky, dark and grey like a pair of eyes that have been haunting him lately. And he makes a decision.