Chapter Text
Tamaki swung his legs down, wincing as the cold tiles came into contact with his socks.
His hospital room was bright, sun pouring in from the windowsill. Tamaki stretched his arms wide, popping his back as he pulled on a sweater. The hospital was always a few degrees colder than it really should be, but with thick socks and a sweater it was manageable.
As Tamaki prepared to walk out the door, he took one last look in the mirror. He scrunched his nose at his rumpled appearance, tucking his sweatpant strings in and running a hand through his hair until it looked somewhat presentable.
There he was.
His remaining azure eye stared back at him, uncertain; however, most of his face was covered with thick white bandages still. Tamaki raised a hand slowly, toying with the edges of the gauze covering his right eye. Or, what’s left of it.
‘A lot has changed. Am I willing to change with it?’
Chimes echoed down the hallway, ten clangs to signal the time. Tamaki was startled into action, shaking his head to rid the last of his thoughts from his head as he walked down the hallway. It was time for him to go to physical therapy, his last in-hospital appointment before he was allowed to go home. By now, he was approaching his second month in the hospital post-surgery, but his recovery has been steady. He had a few issues here and there, including a case of sepsis that almost killed him, but they were all easily treated under Dr. Ootori’s care. As the months grew colder and the leaves were changing, Tamaki was steadily making his way back to full health.
“Good morning Mr. Suoh!” Two nurses called out, waving at him from inside another patient’s room.
“Good morning ladies! And good morning Shinji! Glad to see you’re up and about,” Tamaki smiled pleasantly, poking his head in to greet the little boy. Shinji grinned, proudly showing off his gapped teeth.
“I lost another tooth!” He said cheerfully. He opened his mouth wide and pointed to a specific gap between his front teeth.
“Oh my, it seems you have!”
“See! That’s three now!”
“Wow, three teeth? You’re becoming quite the grownup!” Tamaki smiled.
“Yeah! Did you know sharks get their teeth back right after they lose them? They have like, so many teeth,” Shinji said seriously, eyes wide.
“Oh, really? Where’d you hear that?” Tamaki asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“Kaoru told me. He said that sharks have a lot of teeth so they can bite, and they get their teeth back right away when they lose them because they need their teeth to eat.”
"Wow, Kaoru told you all that?”
“Yeah! And then Haruhi said that some sharks have no teeth, and some sharks have so many teeth that they can’t close their lips!” Shinji said, mushing his lips together to demonstrate. “But I think that the coolest shark is the bear shark!”
Tamaki barked out a laugh, hiding his mouth behind his hand. “The bear shark?”
“Yeah! The bear shark!” Hitomu cheered, waving a plush shark around in his fist.
“Why is it called the ‘bear’ shark?” Tamaki laughed again, already prepared to tease his boyfriend endlessly. Though he thought he was quite original in his choice of pet names for his boyfriend, it seems like his boyfriend disagreed. Kyoya made sure to make fun of the pet name, ‘mon ours’ or ‘my bear’, whenever he could. Tamaki had a sneaky suspicion that he secretly liked the name, though, as any attempt to change it was met with stony glare and a firm veto.
“Because Kyoya-senpai made them up! He’s really smart you know. He said they are the biggest sharks in the world! They can grow to be 200 feet long and they eat monsters. That’s why there’s no more monsters here. Not in the closet, or the bathroom, or in the hallway. It’s because of bear sharks, but he said that they sleep during the day and we can’t interrupt their sleep.” Shinji continued to swish his plush shark around. His nurses chucked as they maneuvered around the young boy, adjusting the technology behind his bed as needed.
“Of course. I heard bear sharks need at least 18 hours of sleep.” Tamaki nodded seriously, before looking down the hallway. He saw his doctor waiting, and regretfully the blonde stood up proper and turned back to the young boy. “But alas Sensei Shinji, my shark lessons will have to wait until after physical therapy. Au revoir!”
“Arh - re-vwah!” Shinji sounded out excitedly. “Another French word! What does it mean?”
“It means ‘goodbye’, my young pupil. And remember, speaking French is sort of like talking with cotton balls in your mouth, so it would make an ‘awh’ sound, not ‘arh.” Tamaki said with a smile, before waving goodbye.
“Bye Tama-senpai! Au revoir!” Shinji called out merrily as Tamaki walked down the hallway once more.
Today was going to be a good day. And it was going to get better in the afternoon, when the hosts could come visit.
Now that Tamaki was in recovery the rest of the hosts were forced to return to school full time. The twins especially had complained, but there was no use fighting back. Though school was required once more, club activities were put on hold for the time being with the exception of private counseling. The hosts’ separate participation with other clubs had also been waived. Most of the time, the hosts opted to spend the night at Haruhi’s or the hospital instead of going home. Tamaki didn’t blame them. Honey-senpai almost never stayed home if he could help it, and the twins just did whatever they felt like outside of school. Tamaki was shocked that Kyoya could stay by his side as frequently as he was, but since it’s his family’s hospital it made sense in a way.
Dr. Ootori was not pleased with the persistent guests in his patient’s room, but he relented and allowed the hosts in Tamaki’s hospital room on the condition that they clean up after themselves.
“Hello, Mr. Suoh,” His physical therapist said as Tamaki walked in, “Please, sit down.”
“What, we aren’t getting started right away?” Tamaki said, stretching his arms to the side in mock exercise. “I brought my a-game today Doctor.”
Dr. Itto smiled, clasping her hands together. “As always Tamaki, I love the enthusiasm! However, since it’s your last meeting we have some paperwork to get through. Now, is your father...?”
“He couldn’t come today,” Tamaki said pleasantly, “He had several meetings with the board of directors.”
Dr. Itto frowned, but did not press further. “Well, I’m sorry to say I can’t fully sign off on your in-patient care until you have a legal guardian sign, since you’re not 18 years old as of yet.”
“I have a guardian coming in,” Tamaki finally sat down, crossing his legs and resting his chin on his hands. “But it seems they are running a little late.”
Dr. Itto signed, tossing the paperwork on her desk. “Alright then. I’ll have you fill out this chart and we can get started with your exercises. Are any of your friends going to be helping us today?”
Tamaki shrugged, filling out the chart as best as he could before handing it back to her. “Not that I know of, but the twins are prone to popping in unexpectedly.”
Dr. Itto nodded, smiling once more as she led Tamaki into the rec room next to her office. Since Tamaki’s surgery, his depth perception and equilibrium have both suffered greatly. Now that he was recovering, it was time to get accustomed to life with one eye. They got started on some simple warm ups, passing small weights between each other. Then, Tamaki had to pour water back and forth from one cup to another. He spilled a few times, but Dr. Itto was convinced he was still making progress. That is, until he had to maneuver through a maze of chairs. He knocked several over in the process, stumbling to the floor and angrily shoving the chairs back in their spots. Of course, he couldn’t even walk correctly now. He definitely needed another reason to be pathetic. Physical therapy was so much harder than Tamaki imagined. He expected the worst of his problems would be tied to the illness itself, after all. Now that he was in remission with no current sign of his infection coming back, he thought things would be better. It made him feel sick to know he wasn’t better yet. He was angry, and vulnerable now and he hated it. He hated having to learn things he already knew how to do all over again, he felt like a child. And between the other patients in therapy, his doctor, and the occasional host sitting in to help, Tamaki felt like all eyes were on him. He was the poster-child of pity. He felt broken, useless.
“Tamaki, you need to focus or you’ll get hit in the face again,” Dr. Itto warned, tossing the ball back at him. Tamaki blinked, extending his hand at the last moment in an attempt to catch the ball, but he misjudged the distance and it flew harmlessly past him.
Catching and throwing things was especially hard with only one eye, so it was the last part of his therapy. He’s gotten better than when he started; but, it still made him frustrated. Gritting his teeth, Tamaki bent down and picked up the ball. He rubbed his thumb gently over the blue surface. Thinking back on it, he wasn’t getting better, not really. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get back to who he was. He couldn’t be the Tamaki Suoh, the idol of Ouran Academy. He was just -
“Tamaki! I’m here!” Ranka said, bursting through the doors. Their long maroon hair flowed behind them, accented by their yellow floral sundress and round straw hat. The drag queen seemed to almost exude beauty. Haruhi followed more subduedly in a faded sweatshirt and jeans, waving her hand in an exasperated greeting.
“Dad, don’t make a scene. There are patients here trying to focus,” Haruhi scolded, placing a warning hand on her father’s shoulder. “They’ll kick you out if you break anything.”
“Hello… uhh,” Dr. Itto said, clearing her throat. “Haruhi, it’s nice to see you as well.”
“How did the photoshoot go, Ranka?” Tamaki said cheerfully, setting the ball on the table next to his file.
“Oh, it was fine. I’m not overly fond of beach shoots but the Okama needed a new calendar and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a slut for a floral print,” Ranka said candidly, sitting down at the table.
“Aren’t we all?” Tamaki wiggled his eyebrow, plopping down next to the drag queen. Ranka laughed and flicked strands of their hair behind them.
“I’m sorry Tamaki, who is this?” Dr. Itto asked, eyes wide in shock.
“My other legal guardian,” Tamaki said, turning to look at his physical therapist with a crooked grin. “Ryoji Fujioka. But they go by Ranka, they/them pronouns.”
“Yep,” Ranka said, popping the ‘p’ for emphasis as they flipped through Tamaki’s files. They winced in sympathy when seeing the price listed on the bill, but got to the end nevertheless. “Well, everything seems to be in order. Tamaki’s father will receive the charge straight to his account, yes? Or do you need me to set you up with his banker for transfer.”
“Um, well yes Mr. Suoh's account is already on file so he will receive the charge. Could I ask how you are related to Tamaki..?”
“Oh, Ranka is Haruhi’s dad,” Tamaki said. “My father needed a second guardian on my insurance to claim dependence, since I am at a higher risk of kidnapping or illness due to his status. My mother is not legally or physically able to be a fit guardian, and my grandmother has cut all ties with me. My father has no siblings, nor does my mother, so he let me choose who my second guardian could be. I trusted Ranka, and the rest is history.”
Ranka nodded, signing the forms with a flourish. “WIll that be all, Doctor?”
“Yes, I believe so,” Dr. Itto said with a smile. “Thank you for coming in today Mr. Fujioka, it was lovely to meet you. I’m sorry if I seemed caught off guard, I had never met Tamaki’s father so I didn’t know what to expect.”
“Oh, don’t even worry about it, love. It was my pleasure! So we can take Tamaki home tonight then?” Ranka stood up, smoothing down her dress.
“Yeah, the rest of the club is waiting,” Haruhi said, sitting up as well. “The twins had a whole rave planned for his release, but we convinced them to scale it down to just the hosts throwing a small welcome-back party. You’re certainly invited Dr. Itto.”
“I’m honored,” Dr. Itto laughed, “It has been a delight getting to know you all. Sadly, I’m covering the night shift so I can’t. I certainly see no problem with Tamaki leaving tonight, though,” Dr. Ito grinned, patting Tamaki on the back. “He would just have to check in with Dr. Otoori one more time beforehand.”
Tamaki nodded, standing up. Ranka twirled out of the room with a final goodbye, saying that she would go ahead to pick up some more supplies for the party, but Haruhi stayed behind to walk Tamaki to his room. As they walked, Haruhi made small talk about things he had missed at school. His heart hurt to hear all the stories he had missed, and it reminded him of just how much had changed. How…fractured things had become.
“-and then Hikaru switched Benio’s lipstick with glue, which I thought was a little much. That’s when Mori-senpai had to step in and stop it from escalating further, but then Honey-senpai ‘accidentally’ put salt in the cream-puffs instead of sugar so that just riled up the Ruka Club even more than before. In the end Kyoya convinced Hikaru to knock it off, which was good because it prevented Kaoru from doing something worse.” Haruhi said with a smile.
“I’m glad to hear things are still as wild as ever,” Tamaki laughed, distracting himself from his thoughts as he opened the door to his room.
“Oh please, nothing’s the same without you.”
Tamaki stilled, shocked.
“I mean, just look at Kyoya-senpai. He can’t go two minutes without mentioning you. Isn’t he just the sweetest boyfriend?” She said.
Instantly a blush bloomed across the blonde’s face, and he quickly turned away. He didn’t know Kyoya had been so open about his affection. It looked like his grumpy bear was full of surprises. “Yeah, he really is.”
“Ahah! So you two are dating!” Haruhi smirked. “I knew there was something going on between you guys!”
“WHAT!?” Tamaki gasped, mouth open in shock. “Haruhi, you tricked me? That’s downright evil of you!”
“What can I say, the twins have really rubbed off on me.” Haruhi said with a shrug.
“Oh, I’m sure they have,” Tamaki quipped back, cheeks still red. Haruhi smacked him upside the head, but she was laughing.
“So Tamaki, spill it! Tell me how you two got together,” his best friend said excitedly, sitting down on the side of his bed and patting the spot next to her. Tamaki looked away, unsure where the hosts stood on everything now. He still sat down all the same.
“Well, uhh… After you all left the room when I woke up, Kyoya and I… had a talk. When I fell ill I had apparently confessed my feelings, and when I woke up he said that he felt the same way. I guess… it just worked. Simple as that,” Tamaki smiled to himself, touching his cheek softly. He remembered how happy Kyoya had looked, and it made his skin tingle with warmth. He had done that, he had made Kyoya smile.
“Oh, I see,” She smirked, elbowing him. Her words were teasing but the tone of her voice betrayed her genuine happiness. “I’m glad you two are communicating, even if it took forever to get there.”
Tamaki beamed, rubbing his hand over his face a few times as if shy. “I still can't believe it’s real if I’m being honest.”
“Well, that’s understandable, but just know that -”
"It seems that you’re all set, Suoh," Dr. Otoori said, strolling in with a thick stack of papers. Kyoya and the rest of the hosts walked in as well, discussing some sort of new gossip at school.
"Sounds good. Are you coming to the party Yuuichi?'" Haruhi asked.
"I guess I’ll stop by for a bit.” Yuuichi huffed in mock exasperation. Kyoya rolled his eyes at his brother’s seemingly indifferent behavior, and tossed the bundle of clothes into Tamaki’s lap. It seems Kyoya was not in a very good mood, which was probably due in part to what he had left in Tamaki’s hospital room over night.
“Come on Tamaki, it’s time for you to go home.”
Tamaki faked a smile, but an emptiness settled into his bones.
‘I can do this, I can. Nothing bad will happen to me. It’ll be okay.’ Tamaki thought with fear, fingers playing with one of the loose threads in the shirt that had been handed to him. 'In the end, this was inevitable, right? They’d have to leave anyway, it's better this way.' Now at least he could spare them the gruesome details of his injuries. Tamaki sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. It would be fine, he could deal with whatever issues that plagued him. This didn’t change the bile that rose up in his throat, or the bitter sting of tears forming.
As a distraction, Tamaki started to look through the clothes; a pale green button-up that belonged to Kyoya, worn black jeans from Kaoru, boxers that thankfully seemed to be his own, one of Kyoya’s black socks, and one sock with little bunnies on them from Honey-senpai.
“Kyo, these aren’t my clothes,” Tamaki said, confused.
“I am aware,” Kyoya said swiftly, pulling out his phone and sending a quick message. “I didn’t have the time to stop by your house after school so I made due with what little extras we had in the music room. I’m sorry if they're not satisfactory.”
Tamaki smiled, holding the clothes to his chest. “It’s no problem, I appreciate the effort.”
“Hurry up and change Boss!” Hikaru grumbled, slinging an arm around the blonde. “We wanna get back to your house so we can unpack!”
What?
“Yeah, we have a lot of party supplies to get settled too,” Kaoru said, flopping down on the bed next to Haruhi. “And unlike Kyoya, some of us have homework to do. I’d like to get back to your house soon so I can finish before we celebrate tonight.”
At this point all of the hosts were making plans about staying at Tamaki’s house, and wasn’t that a shock.
“Wait, you guys aren't seriously staying at my house, are you? I assumed by now you guys would get tired of me. At the very least I figured you’d want to spend some time with your families.”
"Tamaki, the last time we left you alone, you almost died," Mori-senpai said bluntly. The room fell silent for a moment as the weight of the words settled around them, but Haruhi quickly stepped in to change the tone.
“Yeah Tamaki-senpai, we want to make sure your transition home is as smooth as possible,” she added. “And knowing you, you’d find some way to turn a simple few weeks of recovery into some sort of wild shenanigan. Call us your ‘impulse control’ team.”
“You’re sure you'll all be okay staying with me?” Tamaki mumbled after a moment of thought.
"Someone has to make sure you take your medicine properly," Kyoya said softly.
"And you have enough guest-rooms -" "- for all of us to sleep soundly," The twins added together.
"Plus, we need to keep you company and feed you lots of cake," Honey-senpai added with a grin, patting him on the head, "And you get all the strawberries, okay?"
"Don't worry Tamaki," Haruhi winked. "You can't get rid of us that easily."
Tamaki was touched. Truly, down to the bottom of his heart, he had never imagined that the hosts would care this much. But… and he hated himself for thinking this….he didn't want them to come. He was prepared to be alone, it had brought him comfort to know that he could fully shatter in private and then build himself back up without prying eyes. And what’s more, the hosts being with him meant they'd have to take care of him; they’d see his weakness, his loneliness, his fear. They’d be forced to walk the empty halls of his home like he does. Most terrifyingly, they’d have to deal with his father. Tamaki would be a burden, another chore, just like how he was to his mother.
But then another thought struck him.
‘They'd see my eyes. Both of them.’
"I know what you're thinking, and there is no way in hell that you'd convince us to leave you Tamaki. You’re still recovering. At this point, you’re not fit enough to be on your own, nevertheless face your father by yourself. You don’t have to be alone. Let us take care of you for a bit, dummy," Kyoya whispered, leaving no room for argument. "Plus, your dad left for the weekend, so you'll have a little bit of time to get...adjusted to everything."
Tamaki gave up, sighing loudly through his nose. After a brief internal debate he could not find a flaw in his boyfriend’s argument, so he nodded reluctantly. Kyoya smiled, and turned to his brother. He muttered something to the older Ootori before walking out the room again. Meanwhile, the other hosts were packing up the trash, blankets, and other assorted stuff they had brought into the room to entertain themselves. Tamaki laughed as Hikaru and Kaoru started to throw wadded up papers at each other, Honey-senpai joining in with a squeal.
Suddenly Tamaki couldn't contain his happiness. He was leaving. He would be okay.
No matter how scared Tamaki was, he had to admit. Things were looking up.
But to say the drive home was uncomfortable would be an understatement.
Tamaki was squashed between Hikaru and Kaoru, the former drowning under his discharge papers and the latter holding his prescriptions. Kyoya was up front, sat next to Mori-senpai who was driving. Honey-senpai and Haruhi were wedged in the very back, sitting with all the luggage that the hosts had brought with them. On top of that, no one had spoken since they had all piled in the car. The awkward silence festered for a bit before Kaoru finally spoke up.
"So...how’s everyone’s day so far?" Kaoru asked tentatively.
Kyoya sighed, giving the brunette a hard stare. "Respectfully Kaoru, if I wanted to be asked dumb fucking questions I would have stayed home with my sister."
“That was mean, Kyoya,” Tamaki frowned, leaning forward to flick the black-haired boy on the nose. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."
"I didn't get a chance to 'wake up', I haven't gotten a chance to go to bed yet. Because I had to leave your room early for a meeting, I didn't have anything I needed when I got home. And what's worse, I could not find my black book. Of course, when I wanted to look for my shit, Fuyumi was adamant that we should check every inch of my room for her missing contact case even though they were right there on the fucking coffee table. And on top of that I still haven't found my black book yet! So, yes Tamaki, I guess you could say I'm in a mean mood." Kyoya huffed, swatting the hand away.
"That's not very fair Kyoya-senpai, I-" Tamaki cut Haruhi off with a wave of his hand, and instead pulled Kyoya’s black book out of his bag.
“You mean this?” Tamaki grinned, eye trained on Kyoya in a silent challenge.
Kyoya sputtered, twisting around to better see his semi-secret boyfriend.
"You have my diary? Wh-what possessed you to- I mean, I don’t have a diary, why would you rea- why do you have my black book?” Kyoya was rambling, and all the host club members were frozen in shock.
"Kyoya-senpai has.... a diary?" Hikaru's mind was zeroed in on the potential mischief before him. “I thought it was just his sketchbook.”
“Well, diary isn't the right word, it’s got all sorts of things in it. Art, statistics, homework, journal entries, and even little annotations,” By now Kyoya was waving his arms wildly, twisting his back in a feeble attempt to recapture his black book. A light dusting of pink colored his cheeks.
“If you apologize for being so snarky, I'll give your book back,” Tamaki called out teasingly, muffling his laugh.
"If you don't give it back, I'll be more than snarky," Kyoya growled, but he was holding back a grin of his own.
“I'm willing to take that risk,” Tamaki smirked, before snapping shut the black book and promptly sitting on it.
"You're so childish sometimes, Tamaki-senpai," Haruhi scolded, but she had a big grin on her face, and her eyes were soft.
“I prefer the term ‘young-at-heart’” Tamaki smiled, ruffling his boyfriend’s hair. Kyoya snarled, but leaned into the touch none-the-less. Mori-senpai laughed as he turned onto Tamaki’s street.
"Yeah, and I prefer exiting the car with all my limbs intact. I'd give him back the book, Boss," Kaoru nudged the blonde gently, an easy smile on his face.
“But why?”
"Because Mommy asked for it," Kyoya said in a sing-song voice.
Tamaki blushed, but crossed his arms and turned his head away in defiance, resembling a stubborn two-year-old.
"Oh, for heaven's sake-"
"We're here!" Honey-senpai cheered from the back.
"THANK GOD!" The twins chorused, as they shrunk back from the scary Shadow King. Tamaki, who was quite used to Kyoya's scary face, merely rolled his eye and gave the black book back.
"Thank you," Kyoya said cooly.
"Hurry up guys! I want some cake!" Honey-senpai interjected.
“I could go for some cake,” Tamaki said, but faltered. His stomach seemed to disagree with him, spiking in pain. Because of his medication, food did not always seem appealing, and the thought of putting anything in his mouth had his stomach preemptively heaving. Honey-senpai seemed to realize Tamaki’s discomfort too, because his smile faltered.
"Or, we could take a nap." Honey-senpai added. "I don't know about you guys but I'm super sleepy."
“A nap sounds good, too,” The blonde said quickly, trying to avoid making everyone upset. Plus he was fairly tired. He yawned, wincing as his stomach rumbled in pain again.
The rest of the hosts just looked sad.
"Okay Tamaki, whatever you want," Hikaru patted the top of Tamaki's head before sliding out of the car. He reached back and helped Tamaki stand, Kaoru scooting out last to keep Tamaki steady from behind. The three boys then reached back in to start pulling out all the papers and luggage that was brought over. Haruhi and Honey-senpai jumped out as well, popping open the trunk. Mori-senpai waited until everyone was out of the car before driving forward to the garage to park. Honey-senpai, Haruhi, and Kyoya started to carry in the luggage, while the twins helped Tamaki inside. Tamaki was still unsteady on his feet in the new surroundings, but he managed to make it to the music room - where he spent most of his time - without any incident.
"This is a beautiful room, Bpss, but why'd you lead us here?" Hikaru said gently. "I thought you wanted to take a nap?"
"I want to play. Really quick, I promise,” Tamaki said gently, reaching for one of his many sheets of music. He paused to see he had no compositions left in his folder. As if pulling the memory through fog, he realized that he had destroyed them all when he had got his diagnosis. Ah, it seems he would have to play something from memory then.
"You want.... Oh..." Kaoru looked at his brother in concern, but Hikaru shrugged. They didn’t get it, no matter what he had to play. He had to… He had to have this.
"What'cha doin' in here, Tama-chan?" Honey-senpai bounced in, followed by the other hosts.
"Tamaki's gonna play a song for us," Hikaru said quietly. Instantly the room was tense, anxiety pooling as the hosts tried to find a way to comfort Tamaki.
Instead of explaining himself, Tamaki turned fully to the piano. It was odd, Tamaki mused, to only see half of the keys. Or not exactly half of the keys, but he couldn’t see the full piano at his disposal. Then again, after all that’s happened, it wasn’t the strangest thing the blond had to deal with.
"Tamaki, you don't have to yet," Haruhi placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, but Kyoya shook his head. He knew, of course he did.
Tamaki had to play at least once.
He placed his hands on the keys, and without even thinking they fell into the positions that had been ingrained in him since childhood. Unconsciously, he sat straighter, adjusting his posture and wrists until he was in the correct playing form. He could feel his lower back start to twinge as it was forced into a position he hadn’t had to take for the past few months. With a deep breath, Tamaki started his warm-up, a slow Traumerei.
At first, it was rough. Really rough. Tamaki couldn't see all of the keys, and there were gaps in the melodies where he missed notes. He flinched as he hit several sharp notes in a row. But, as the blonde got warmed up, it started to flow. The music dipped, bleeding into a more complete melody. Belatedly, Tamaki realized it was the song he had heard as he lay dying in the hospital. Kyoya’s song. He still missed some notes, but it sounded much better out loud then it ever had in his head. Tamaki smiled as he released the tension that had been festering in him since he had lost his eye.
‘Thank god I still have my piano,’ Tamaki thought. ‘At least that wasn't taken away from me.’
He must have played for at least a half-hour, maybe even more, before he looked up. All eyes were on him, teared up as the hosts watched him in awe.
"Tamaki... that was..." Hikaru swallowed thickly, “You…”
“It felt nice. What did you think?” Tamaki asked with a hum.
"I didn't know you could ever play that good," Haruhi's eyes widened. "Even before I... considering the circumstances....I mean..."
"It was your best piece by far," Kyoya interrupted, a watery smile on his lips.
“Thank you,” Tamaki smiled, giving a slight bow.
“It was original?” Mori-senpai asked, running a hand over the glossy black paint of the piano.
“Yes, it was.” Tamaki nodded, “I call it ‘En son beauté gît ma mort et ma vie.’”
Kyoya twitched his jaw, eyes unreadable as he watched Tamaki. The blonde smiled even brighter, and he hoped that the song could give Kyoya a glimpse of his thoughts. It seemed it had.
“Well, as beautiful as it was, you can continue to play for us all you want after you nap. It’s been a long day,” Kyoya said, looking back at the luggage piled in the hallway. “And besides, the rest of us should unpack.”