Chapter Text
31 March, 2015
About ten years since it all began...
"Haarruuuuhhiiiiiiii~ " his voice rang through the entire house, as always. Whether it be for a simple loving gesture or for an important message, he always seemed to sing her name. And oddly enough, it usually came from the same place, the kitchen.
"What is it now Tamaki?" she replied, as annoyed as ever. " This better be important. I was in the middle of doing some research for this new case I just got."
The blond turned to his girlfriend, who had just walked into their kitchen, and started pouting. "Haruhi darling, we've been together for about nine years now. Do you always have to be so cruel? It's not a crime to want to see my darling girlfriend's beautiful face and hear her amazingly melodic voice."
Haruhi scoffed and rolled here eyes, trying hard not to show how amused she was at her boyfriend's adorable antics. Even after all these years he still knew how to flatter anyone he came across, and while she found him incredibly insufferable for being an overt flirt, Haruhi found Tamaki's dramatic flare for the romantic honestly endearing. It was annoying when she knew it was all hyped up in the host club, but something about the way he smiled at her and called her beautiful made her heart flutter. Pushing these painfully sappy thoughts aside, Haruhi sat on one of the island bar-stools and let out a small laugh. "My voice is hardly melodic, Tamaki. Now you're just making stuff up. And I know for a fact that you didn't call me down here just to see me. If that were the case you would've just come up to the office instead. So, Tamaki. Why did you call me down here again? And don't tell me you cooked again. We just ate like twenty minutes ago."
"No, it's not about food this time. And even if it was, you I would be able to manage on my own. I've picked up some skills here and there from watching you." He chuckled and turned to the counter behind him. He then picked up a card and held it in front of his face.
"It seems like we've gotten another postcard from Kaoru!" Tamaki sang happily. "He looks to still be very happy with Natalia in this picture. And this time they are in her home country! Look Haruhi, they're in Milan, Italy! It wouldn't surprise me if they're there for fashion week, of course. But fashion week already happened right?" Tamaki mumbled to himself about the schedule of the different fashion weeks around the world and the probability of his friends attending one at the current moment. It was obvious that there was some kind of code Tamaki was trying to crack, though he probably dreamed up said code himself.
Haruhi, becoming slightly irritated at the fact that something as trivial as a postcard from Kaoru was reason enough to call her from her work, sighed and put her head in her hands. "Is that really all you called me away from my work? Tamaki, we get postcards from Kaoru all the time. We've been getting them from him ever since he and Nat started traveling the world." Haruhi said the last part with a bit of a condescending tone. "I mean, why would someone do something like that. Can't he do something more practical? He did take over for his mother in the fashion business after all. Doesn't he have a fashion line to run?"
Tamaki ever-so-slightly gasped and pouted again, his glass heart shattered into a million pieces (but only for about thirty seconds). "Haruhi, how could you be so cruel to your longtime lover? I would never be so inconsiderate as to pull you from such arduous work. I called you down for a much more important reason than just another silly postcard from the more tolerable of those devilish twins. There is something different about this one. Here, read it." He handed her the card and she began to read it aloud.
"Ciao, from Milan! Tamaki and Haruhi, just writing to say hi! Everything is still going great just as I hope it is with you two. I know I could just as easily call you guys, but postcards are more fun, and Nat loves to take pictures! Anyways, miss you guys. Hope to see you soon!
Sincerely, Kaoru Hitachiin"
Haruhi looked up from the card. "What's wrong with this? It's just another letter. I don't know why you always get so worked up over nothing. You should really try and relax more-"
"HAARRRUUUUHHHIIIIIII~!" He cut her off. Now it was time to reveal the secret code he's been working hard to crack.
"Oh God. Here we go again. He's gonna start whining until he gets his way..."
"I'm not getting worked up over nothing, I swear! This letter is different than the others. The card never says 'Hope to see you soon!' and also did you notice that Natalia didn't sign it. Usually she writes them because her handwriting is exquisite!"
She sighed hopelessly. "But what does any of that matter? Maybe Kaoru wanted to write the card this time. What's wrong with that? What exactly are you getting at?"
Tamaki took a deep breath and stated as matter-of-factly as he could, "Kaoru is planning to propose to Natalia soon!"
Internally groaning, Haruhi did her best not to walk out of the kitchen without saying a word. Tamaki was being absolutely ridiculous, drawing such incredibly insane conclusions from a single post card. Kaoru was never the most cryptic person. Of the twins, he was the one who was always more honest with his emotions. So why would now be any different. Haruhi wanted to scream. ". . . Do you even know that for su-"
Haruhi was quickly interrupted when her cell-phone began to ring. She recognized the ringtone. It was Kaoru.
She shrugged it off as nothing more than a coincidence and answered the call. "Hey Kaoru. What's up? Tamaki and I were just talking about you. We just got your Milan postcard in the mail."
"Hey Haruhi! Oh you did? That's great because I kinda wanna talk about that. I'm guessing you noticed that I wrote it this time instead of Nat.-"
An "ah-ha! I was right" was heard coming from Tamaki in the background as the blond began to pace the kitchen in anticipation.
Haruhi did her best to ignore the urge to chuck her phone at Tamaki as he became a mumbling idiot in front of her. "Actually yeah we did. Tamaki was freaking out about it. I don't know why though. It's not like it's some hidden message, right?"
"I knew Tamaki was smarter than he let on. Actually, Natalia didn't even know that I sent that postcard. The picture was just one I used off of my phone. And so far I've only sent this one to you two and Hikaru. I tried calling Hikaru but . . . Anyways, I was hoping you guys could help me out. I've been with Nat for about five years now, and I really love her. I knew Hikaru wasn't so happy when I started dating her after we met in Boston, but that surprisingly didn't matter much to me. Well. . What I'm trying to say is. . . She is the one. And I want to ask her to marry me but I don't know how."
"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU HARUHI! I WASN'T FREAKING OUT FOR NO REASON AGAIN! I WAS RIGHT!" Tamaki shouted as he ran all around the house jumping for joy.
"CALM DOWN , WILL YOU! I GET IT OKAY! NOW LET ME FINISH TALKING TO KAORU!" Haruhi, extremely irritated at Tamaki's obnoxious behavior, screamed as she pulled the phone away from her face.
"Sorry about that Kaoru. It seems Tamaki already knew you were going to tell us this. And that's great! I'm really happy that you want to spend the rest of your life with her, but what does that have to do with us?"
"Well I just thought that since you and Tamaki have been together for so long now, you'd be able to help me ask her. And plus he has always been the charmer, right? So he can at least give me a few things to say so I don't sound completely terrified."
Haruhi laughed and shook her head as she heard Tamaki continue shouting excitedly upstairs. "Well yeah, he has always had his obnoxious charm to live by. . . But he sure as hell isn't any good when it comes to confessing things."
Tamaki had taken his giddiness upstairs to let Haruhi have some quiet. Peeking out of the kitchen entryway, Haruhi made sure Tamaki had no intention of returning until the phone call was over. She decided to take this opportunity to ask one of her best friends for advice as he asked her for some as well.
"Kaoru, can I ask you something?"
"What is it Haruhi? Is Tamaki pissing you off again? Do I have to come and kick his ass into another dimension?"
She laughed and quickly reassured Kaoru that nothing of the sort needed to happen. "No, that's not it. Well kind of. But there is no need for ass-kicking. You just mentioned how Tamaki and I have been together for a while now, right?"
"Unless I completely imagined what I said not even five minutes ago."
"Well don't you think we shouldn't be dating anymore? I mean- Not like we should have broken up by now, but. . . Like more than dating."
Kaoru took a moment to reply, fully knowing what Haruhi was getting at. He sighed and spoke softly on the other line knowing what Haruhi's answer would be. "You mean you think he should have asked you to marry him by now?"
"Well. . . Yeah. Is that wrong?" She, very uncharacteristically, played with her hair as she continued to speak. She felt bad and confused for thinking like this. She even felt a little selfish, because I mean if they were meant to get married then they would. Why rush things if they were destined to happen eventually. But sometimes fate needs to be taken into one's own hands and . . . She sighed and continued her thoughts out loud. "I mean we have been together since the end of my first year of high school. And that was almost a decade ago. Isn't it a bit uncharacteristic of him to not have proposed yet?"
"Now that I think about it, yeah. I always thought that you two would be the first to get married, but Honey-sempai beat all of us there. Now it seems like you two will be the last to get married. Well, other than Hikaru. . . But yeah, the way Tamaki dotes on you, you would think he would've popped the question years ago just to make sure no one else can even think about taking you from him. It's strange that he hasn't yet." He paused and took a moment to think before adding a bit of advice on the tail end of his thoughts. " But who knows . . . Maybe he's waiting for the right moment. I know it seems delayed as hell, but I doubt he's going to pass up the opportunity to marry you, Haruhi. Everyone know's how much he's in love with you."
Tamaki finally calmed down and decided to join his love in the kitchen once more to continue the conversation with the younger Hitachiin. But he stopped when he reached the kitchen, overhearing something he wasn't quite sure how to feel about.
"I mean I really do love him. If I didn't, I wouldn't have stayed with him this long. But this is starting to really bother me. It's starting to make me wonder if he really wants to stay in this relationship. . ."
His heart dropped at that last statement. "Of course I want to be in this relationship. I love my Haruhi more than anything. What on Earth could make her think otherwise?"
The blond hear some chatter come from the cell phone and then he heard the brunette speak once more.
"Thanks Kaoru. I hope you're right. And sorry for making this conversation about Tamaki and me. I am really happy for you and I'm absolutely positive that no matter how you ask her, Natalia will say yes. Just be yourself and tell her what you just told me. You'll be fine. And don't hesitate to text me if you need some last minute reassurance. I'm sure she'll say yes. Alright, see ya Kaoru. Good luck."
He stood in the doorway still shocked from what he had just heard. "It's starting to make me wonder if he really wants to stay in this relationship. . ."
Haruhi put her phone away and turned around to see her love standing in the doorway, looking like he'd just seen a ghost.
She smiled at him and laughed a bit, "So I guess you were right about the letter. He was just calling to ask some advice on how to propose. I did the best I could since you ran upstairs for the time being. But- What's with that crazy look on your face? It looks like you just saw someone's ghost or something."
He looked up from the floor and into Haruhi's full, chestnut eyes that he loved so much. Even though his heart was momentarily broken again, he could feel it swell with love and adoration for Haruhi and her beauty. Nothing could make him feel more at home and comfortable than the brilliant sparkle of determination in his love's eyes. He was so distracted by his heartbreak and love for Haruhi that he didn't notice his own violet eyes begin to swell with tears. "Haruhi. Do you really think . . . that- that I don't want to stay in this relationship?"