Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Rubbing The Lamp ❯ Ch 14 Finding out who your friends are ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: Ouran Host Club belongs to Bisco Hatori. I make no profit off this story. If Bisco Hatori-san wishes, I will remove this from the web upon her personal request.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

Haruhi woke up to a still empty apartment and a buzz on her cell phone.

 

She couldn't afford the cell rates, but the twins had insisted. She wasn't paying for it, so she never opted to use the thing on her own. But they'd told her father, and now he used it to text her, frequently.

 

“Stayd at bar last nite. Erly invntry 2day. Hom l8r. luv u.”

 

Sighing, she got up to get a glass of water and fix herself some rice for breakfast. She'd just put the rice in the steamer when a soft knocking on the door could be heard.

 

She was surprised when she opened it to see Tamaki standing there.

 

It was a bit embarrassing - opening the door still in her cotton jersey pajama pants and tank top - but she'd been worrying about how to react to them all so much the night before that she was done with it. No more. They'd just have to take her as she was. Besides, she didn't ASK him to come to her house at 8:30 on a Sunday morning.

 

“Tamaki-senpai,” she stated in her usual nonchalant voice. “What are you doing here so early on a Sunday.”

 

Quietly, he held up her bag, with all her schoolbooks, offering it up to her.

 

“You left this behind. I knew you'd want to study today.”

 

Well, that was unexpected. No gushing. No glowing. No praising himself for his efforts. She took the bag from his hand and said, “Thanks.”

 

“It's the least I could do,” he said softly and turned away to leave.

 

For some reason, she felt compelled to stop him. “Tamaki-senpai, don't you want to come in?” she asked. He was acting beaten and she didn't like it.

 

He turned and lifted his head to look at her, startled. “You… want me to?”

 

“Well, not particularly, but you usually want to come in when you visit me unexpectedly,” she stated bluntly. Oddly enough, she felt like she wasn't being entirely truthful. But he wasn't acting like himself. Did everything have to change entirely because of this thing? Could they no longer even be themselves? “I was just wondering why today would be different.”

 

“Yeah. Why would today be different?” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. Then shook his head and gave a half-smile of wonderment. She was Haruhi. The same as always. But now he knew how unworthy he was of her.

 

She shrugged. “Okay. If you don't want to come in, you don't. Go home then.”

 

But she held the door open for him to come in. He paused as he realized it. Her words said one thing, but her actions were saying something else. Normally he would have scurried away to pout at her words, but because he wasn't stuck in his own inner theatre, he could see it now. How many other chances had he lost before due to his preference to dream rather than live in the moment?

 

Bemusedly, he entered the apartment.

 

She closed the door behind him and said, “I'll go make some tea,” leaving him alone in the main room.

 

Taking off his shoes, he then turned to the shrine of her mother, kneeled in front of it. He couldn't help but stare at the picture of the woman that had given birth to the woman who never failed to change his life. Haruhi really did look like her mother. Her face held a stoic expression, but her eyes were kind.

 

Bowing, he began to speak. “Thank you, Fujioka-sama. Thank you for Haruhi. She will probably never love me like I love her, but for her to forgive me enough to allow me to remain in her life is a gift I will always cherish. And I know that it is because of you and Ranka-san - the way you raised her - that she is able to forgive me. I can never thank you enough. I let her down, I know that. But I will do my best to never let her down again. She is my most precious friend and as long as I can remain her friend, I will be the luckiest man alive. As you continue to watch over her, please know that I will be doing the same down here. I will earn her forgiveness.”

 

“You know, if you earn it, it's not really forgiveness.”

 

The sound of her voice made him jump. “Haruhi!” he gasped, spinning to face her.

 

She was carrying a small tray with a tea set and some onigiri and looked amused as she sat the tea set down on the table.

 

It had surprised her when she walked in to see him talking to her mother. At the time, she still hadn't decided what to do or even why she'd let him in. But as she stood there listening, it became clear. He was her friend. No matter what stupid thing he'd done. After all, how many other stupid things had he done in the time she'd known him? Countless. If she had held it against him, he'd owe her the amount of her debt multiple times over.

 

And because he was her friend, they'd work through this. Just so long as he was prepared to BE her friend and let her be the one to decide if anything progressed beyond that. And based on what she'd overheard, that should not be a problem.

 

With the level of self-condemnation he was emanating, she knew he needed reassurance and care. After all, he was one of her broken boys. And taking care of them was what she seemed to do best.

 

So she entered the room and made her comment. As he gasped, she set the tea down and kneeled to serve. Seizing the opportune moment, she continued, “Besides, maybe I like having all of you owe *me* for a change.” She gestured for him to join her. “Come have some tea.”

 

Quietly, he kneeled across from her and she poured him a cup.

 

“You… I…” He had no idea what to say to her. How much had she heard? How did she feel about him? And the dream from the night before made him even more hesitant.

 

“You are my friend, Tamaki. Right?”

 

With a dazed smile, he nodded.

 

“So get back to your usual idiotic self, okay? This quiet Tamaki is too weird.” She popped the last bite of her riceball into her mouth and gave him a close-mouthed smile as she chewed.

 

For the first time in days, he smiled from the heart. Even if it was small and shy.

 

X

 

Tamaki had stayed only long enough to share her breakfast. Then he left her to get on with her studies.

 

Shaking her head, she still couldn't believe that seeing Tamaki was what helped her to calm down so that she could figure out what she wanted to do.

 

They were all attractive, handsome lovely friends with basically good hearts. It really wasn't their fault that they were brought up with everything at ease and at hand. They really didn't know better - and they tried to do right.

 

Seeing Tamaki so upset with himself had struck her. The whole time he was there, he was more reserved than she'd ever seen him. She had the feeling it might take some time before he recovered enough to go into one of his full blown Tamaki-rants. But that was okay, would be a bit of a mental vacation. He now knew they were still friends - he'd be fine. Tamaki was nothing if not resilient.

 

Additionally, she felt some relief that she'd had this encounter. It gave her hope that they'd be willing to give her space to work it out. It could be okay.

 

But part of her was a bit concerned for the rest of their emotional well-being. Tamaki was usually too self-absorbed to feel guilt and look how hard this had hit him. How were the rest of them faring?

 

She considered calling them. But she still wasn't sure how to handle them. Reacting to the moment seemed to be the best plan she could come up with, so she decided to leave it alone - for now at least. Leave it alone and get some studying done.

 

 

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 )