And Thus They Met

"It was one afternoon, after classes. Tamaki had been called out of class in the last half hour or so." Kyoya started, his hand running delicately through Tamaki's golden hair, caressing the head resting gently on his shoulder.

"You came looking for me. You were worried." Tamaki added in a mumble. He could quite easily fall asleep there, in Kyoya's arms.

"Yes, but I'm the one telling the story, Tamaki. I went to the Third Music Room. It was empty. But along the northside hallway of the top floor of the south building, I heard music. Not much, only short phrases, broken up with silence. So I followed them."

Kyouya hesitated as the brief snatches of music reached him.

It had only been a few months since his life was drastically refined. Far too short a time to truly understand a person. That is, if that person wanted nothing from you but to call you 'friend'. But Kyouya's mind was trained to detail. And what was worth remembering, was worth recording. On the shelf by his bed, three bound books were filled with his neat writing, every day he had spent with the Suou heir – Tamaki. Every meticulous detail he could remember. Some things weren't worth forgetting.

He had quickly learnt that Tamaki was as good as blanking out his emotions as Kyouya was – his true emotions, anyway. But his one weakness, the one thing he could not do without letting his feelings shine through, was playing the piano. And when doing so, his focus never broke.

Which was why Kyouya had paused as he heard phrase after phrase - each short gasp of music from a different piece as if the pianist couldn't decide what to play. As if Tamaki couldn't decide. He had, really, no factual evidence that the pianist was Tamaki. But then, he had no evidence that it wasn't either. Only instinct, pushing him forward. And it was instinct that drove him onwards to the door, instinct that placed his hand on the handle of the door and instinct that made him slip into the room and close the door behind him.

He leant back against the hard wood of the door, instinct having deserted him as soon as fact had taken over. It was Tamaki.

Tamaki sat at the piano, his hair shining gold from the afternoon sun reflecting off it. His fingers rested lightly on the keys but he made no move to play.

"I can't…I can't think of anything." He mumbled, lifting his fingers momentarily to gesture at the piano. Tamaki looked up and in that brief second, Kyouya caught a glimpse of the desperation and panic, the tears and the…thing he couldn't quite name lurking just beyond Tamaki's eyes.

Kyouya took a slow breath before moving to stand at Tamaki's back. His arms dropped around his best friend, tugging Tamaki gently into a hug. He could feel Tamaki relaxing in his arms, the tension visibly seeping away from his shoulders. Thu sun had dipped visibly lower in the sky when Kyouya released Tamaki and whispered simply, "Play for me." And Tamaki did.

Kaoru blinked. "Is that…is that it?" he asked, when Kyouya paused, readjusting himself around Tamaki's drowsing form. He felt almost inadequate, sitting opposite such understated love – what with the whole drama he and Hikaru had caused.

"Well, no. Not quite." Kyouya smiled, "But it was definitely the beginning."

A/N: Well...It's been almost three years since I started this. And this final instalment was meant to be a lot longer. But Kyouya...he doesn't really talk. So while I could go on and force the story out, I figured it'd be better to go for the compromise and end it here with something sweet and - in Kaoru's words - understated.

This was the first fanfic I'd ever written. So to those who read it, to those who liked it and to those who reviewed it: thankyou.