Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Rubbing The Lamp ❯ Ch 2 - Kyoya's First Wish ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Ouran Host Club belongs to Bisco Hatori, not me. I make no profit off this story. If Bisco Hatori-san wishes, I will remove this from the web upon her personal request.

 

Secondary Disclaimer: All characters in this story are at least 18 years of age. While that might seem unlikely - as three of the characters are only sophomores in high school, I figure it this way: if Bisco Hatori-san can ignore the students graduating for two years in a row and keep everyone in the same grade, I can then apply that logic to their ages. Therefore, Haruhi, Kaoru and Hikaru are just 18. Kyoya and Tamaki are about to turn 19. Mori is about to turn 20, and Huni already is 20. (Therefore, according to Japanese figuring, Huni is the only adult. :P )

 

Written with response to the week 61 Makin' Lemonaide Challenge: How can you tell that someone likes you "like THAT" What signs does the character see when they're with the one they want? How can those signs be interrupted correctly?

 

And now for the story:

 

Rubbing The Lamp

Chapter 2

 

The next day, Saturday, club events occurred as usual. Each club member fell to their tasks of pseudo-seduction and entertainment.

 

At least to the casual observer.

 

But there was an air of expectancy in the air. Because after club activities were over, they would begin their requests.

 

The door closed behind the last guest leaving for the day, and everyone in the club held their breath. Until Haruhi turned to face them all. Breathing out softly, and then breathing in, she spoke, “So… How are we doing this? Who's first?”

 

There was a moment of silence. Then the boys each pulled straws out of their pockets as Kyoya explained, “For each round, we will draw straws to determine order.”

 

Grinning, Tamaki declared, “So I'm first! I got the shortest straw.”

 

The twins glared at him and said in unison, “You did not. Ours is clearly shorter than yours.”

 

Tamaki swelled up, preparing himself to verbally spar with the two again when Kyoya interrupted, “May I remind you all that the shortest straw goes LAST?” There was silence in the room, and everyone held out their straws. “So it appears that I go first. Then Mori, Huni, Kaoru, Tamaki, and finally Hikaru. I would like to suggest that, since it is Saturday evening, that perhaps Haruhi should only try to grant wishes for me and then Mori tonight. Tomorrow, she can meet each of you at a designated time.”

 

Everyone nodded agreement, but Kaoru interrupted, “Since Hikaru and I have already agreed upon what our wishes are, and it will make more sense to complete them together, does anyone mind if we share straws from now on?”

 

Everyone shrugged except Tamaki. “But wait, does that mean I go before you two or after?”

 

“Whatever you want,” they chorused.

 

He crossed his arms proudly. “Then I'm going first.”

 

Appointments made, five club members departed for home. Mori left to accompany Huni, but Huni assured Haru-chan that he'd make sure Mori came right back to pick her up. Then, he winked at her before leaving, hugging his usa-chan and humming softly.

 

As the door closed behind them, she turned toward Kyoya-senpai.

 

He had been standing behind her quietly, smiling as he saw her prepare herself for whatever eventuality was coming. Strong. Strong-willed, strong in spirit. He'd never met a girl as strong as she before. As she turned, he schooled his face to a cold cynicism.

 

“Alright then. My first wish is for you to assist me with some filing.”

 

Filing? What on earth could he have to file? She shrugged to herself then nodded acceptance and he gestured her toward the back storage room.

 

As if reading her mind, he explained, “I keep electronic files on most of our guests, but we also have some hard copies - photographs, surveillance, etc. You see, in order for us to come up with plans for our special events, we have to know our audience - know what they truly desire before they even realize they desire it.

 

“Each year, we choose first year girls who are most likely to continue use of the club throughout their time at Ouran. These girls are subject to intense background research. This year, we had more candidates than usual.” He pulled out two rather large boxes of loose papers and photographs. Then, he opened up the empty filing cabinet.

 

“You'll notice that there are duplicates of each item to be filed. One will get placed in the appropriate client folder. The other will get filed according to the appropriate topic.”

 

“Topic?” she inquired.

 

He smirked in his usual way. “Favorites. The folders are already prepared in the cabinet. Costuming, hair styles, sports, food, cultures, scenic locations… Basically, the elements that add up to the whole experience when it comes to romantic ideals. We rifle through these to spawn each event - to ensure that the highest number of clients will be satisfied.”

 

“Oh,” she replied quietly. “That… makes a lot of sense.” She began picking up items out of the first box and placing them into their assigned folder files.

 

The smile that he gave her was at once kind and amused as he began reaching into the box to file the paperwork as well. “What? Did you think that we just acted upon Tamaki's whims?”

 

She shrugged and replied, “Kind of, yeah.” She reached for more papers.

 

Kyoya chuckled and shook his head. “No. Actually, Tamaki came up with the idea for our first event based upon volunteered feedback from the clients - random comments and trends that he picked up on. We tried it out, but only to a moderate success. The girls liked the change of pace, but even though they had SAID they liked certain things, they hadn't been honest - they'd said what they'd thought someone SHOULD like.” The bespectacled young man reached into the box for his own set of papers to continue filing.

 

“Tamaki decided then that it had been a dumb idea and we should go back to the usual club routines. You know how he gets when he has an idea and it's not as well received as he thinks it should be.”

 

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “He pouts like a three-year old.”

 

Kyoya laughed outright at that. “I couldn't have put it better myself. But it really had been a good idea. If the club was the same every single time, eventually the girls would get bored. So I hired some investigators, got some real information on what would work - which movies made them cry, what turned their heads.”

 

Haruhi paused in her filing to start to scan over the photographs and papers she was filing. They were surveillance photos - like the ones a private investigator might take of someone without their knowing - and documents that clearly indicated they were summaries of investigations completed by Kyoya's private team of detectives. She cast him a look that spoke to say, “Oh my god, I thought you were kidding,” and she noticed that he was still filing the documents.

 

Wait. What was he doing? Before she could ask, he continued. “After the first batch of information came in, I shared it with Tamaki and suggested that we try again. It was a tremendous success - not only did everyone enjoy the event, but the clients' referrals doubled our business. We've been maintaining surveillance ever since.”

 

He turned to give her a quick smile and a nod and saw her staring at him, confusion painting her face. His heart jumped as he made eye contact with her. Shit. He'd forgotten what he was doing. He was supposed to be making her feel comfortable - so that she'd relax and not have a chance to worry that anything any of them asked might be something she wouldn't want to do. She was just so… pleasant to be with.

 

“What's wrong, Fujioka-kun?” he asked, trying to hide his discomfort through his normal stoicism.

 

She looked at the papers in his hand, then back up at him. “You're… filing, too? I… thought you were having me do it so that you wouldn't have to bother.”

 

He nodded at her curtly and said, “It's a large task and I only get to have you for a couple of hours.” Shit, he'd slipped again. His voice slipped into a slightly cooler register as he attempted to recover, “And sometimes looking through them gives me an idea for the next event. We do need a blockbuster idea for graduation, after all.”

 

She sighed and looked down at her own photos, beginning to file again. “Right. Graduation.” The reason she was here. With one sentence, she suddenly remembered that this was all about her debt. She'd been so enjoying the conversation she'd almost forgotten.

 

And if filing and looking through them helped him find ideas, wasn't the fact that she was helping actually HINDERING him? Not really helping? He was having her “help” only so that she could get out of her debt. It was really like Kyoya to hide it when he was being kind. Her somewhat bitter smile did not go unnoticed by the man at her side, even if he only caught it out of the corner of his eye.

 

She filed a few more documents before saying softly, “I expect you'll want the event to center on Mori and Huni then, right?”

 

It seemed she was a little depressed for some reason. He scanned over what he'd said to her to see why her mood had changed. Oh, sure. Most of the club members wouldn't have even noticed - her mood shifts were subtle unless she was angered. But something he'd said had been like a bucket of ice water. And that had not been the goal. He had just wanted to make her comfortable. But not too comfortable. But talk of graduation… Her debt. Right.

 

He nodded and continued to file. “Well, it should have something to tie to them, since it will be their last event. But it should also spur on next year's events with the remaining club members. After all, each club member is special to our clients - so we'll want to help them to remember that next year will be just as exciting.” In a split second, he decided to push his luck. “And we're only losing two members. They'll still have the remaining five of us. And of course any new members we might pick up from the new first years.”

 

She continued to file, but she hadn't missed his comment. He'd said, “the remaining five of us.” So after her debt was paid, they still wanted her there. Her eyes scanned over at him when she thought he wasn't looking to see if he'd really meant it. When she caught him furtively looking at her, then quickly looking away - so nonchalantly that one could almost think he hadn't been trying to gauge her reaction - she couldn't help but smile.

His heart sped up wildly at the relieved and happy smile on her face. It was so unlike the smile she gave to their clients. And he privately hoped that no one else ever got to see her smile of true happiness. Because if they did, they'd want her as badly as he did right now. Turning his back slightly in the act of putting a document away, he closed his eyes for a second and got his breathing under control.

 

Their filing continued in silence for the next few minutes. Then, Haruhi inquired, “So any ideas for the event so far?”

 

“Hm…” he replied, “Not really. At first I was thinking about their history - how Mori's family has always served Huni's. But how do we segue that into our remaining members?”

 

“Mmmm…” she agreed. Her brow furrowed and he saw her thinking hard. “What about if… what about if we did a brotherhood theme - with brotherhood encompassing the type of relationship Mori and Huni have, the kind of friendship you and Tamaki have, and of course, the whole twincest thing would play in well too.”

 

He smiled at her, “What about you?”

 

“Me? I'm the brother who gets picked on by all of you and has to do all the chores.”

 

Her words struck him. Is that how she saw their relationship? Still, he covered and jokingly replied, “Well, you are the runt of the litter.”

 

She joked back and said, “Only because I'm a girl. But it's okay. I don't mind.”

 

“Don't mind being a runt, or being a girl?”

 

“Both.” She smiled and said, “What on earth would any of you do without me to push around anyway? You've even forgotten how to make coffee.”

 

“That's because we've been poisoned by the instant you make us drink - it might be more affordable and increase our profits, but the flavor seems to be addling our brains.” His smile let her know he wasn't serious and she laughed out loud.

 

This was nice. He rarely talked this much to anyone. And because he usually acted only when he had something to gain…

 

When he had something to gain. What did he have to gain by helping her pay off her debt? He still wanted her in the club next year - was that it? No, that couldn't be it. Because if that was the case then he could have just kept her debt in place and gotten her labor for free. And now, she would have the option to not even be in the club - though his comment did make it clear that he hoped she would be.

 

And why did he want her to still be in the club? She wasn't that popular with the girls. Although he did seem to make a steady profit off selling her personal belongings - it did not match up to the incredible profits made off items belonging to Tamaki or the twins.

 

Kyoya couldn't help but smile. She was so much more than they'd imagined when she initially broke that vase. Smart beyond just book smarts. Practical. So practical. Her practicality was what he loved about her the most. She was not flaky or flighty. She was dependable and strong. And the thought of her looking up at him, smiling while she waited for him to bend down and kiss her…

 

Okay, this line of thinking was dangerous. After all, he was all alone with her in a back storeroom in an empty school after hours. Alone… With the one woman who was…

 

The silence turned contemplative. They continued to work, while two minds worked overtime.

 

Hers: He had nothing to gain, no real profit to be made through this. No profit. Without trying to, that phrase took her mind back, back to the last time she'd told him that there was no profit to be gained. He'd pushed her into his bed and was crawling over her, doing his best to be foreboding. At the time, she'd found it silly. So why did that memory now make her… What exactly did it make her? Twitchy? She didn't really know the word.

 

His: He needed to pace himself. This wish was supposed to be to make her relax. The next one was to tease her and gauge her interests. And then, if things went well... And if not, then he'd find another way. Another way to…

 

She reached for another paper without really looking. But as her hand reached into the box, she found her fingers stroking lightly over his own.

 

Two gasps. And their eyes caught each other. Neither hand moved away.

 

God, her eyes were beautiful. Sweet and kind and innocent. You could fall into them forever. He wanted to see them looking up at him, begging him to…

 

His eyes. His eyes were so clear. If she stared into them long enough she'd fall… She'd understand what that emotion was that she was seeing in them. Something… Somehow she felt…

 

The door opened to the store room and the two jumped back from the box, blushing, the paper falling to the ground between them.

 

“Sorry,” Mori stated.

 

Kyoya covered by quickly bending and picking up the fallen document. “Is it that time already?” He sighed. “Well, I have taken enough of Fujioka-san's time tonight. Thank you for the assistance.” He smiled at her and she noticed it was veiled as usual. Her own tightened a bit. He was back to the closed Kyoya.

 

She felt a bit disappointed at that. She nodded briefly at him and then turned to follow Mori out the door. She didn't hear him say, “Take care of her,” softly as they exited, but Mori didn't miss it. He nodded once and then they were gone.