Fiddling While Rome Burns, 1 of 20 (OHSHC fanfiction)
Title: Fiddling While Rome Burns (1 of 20)
Author: Paola
Disclaimer: Fiddling While Rome Burns is based on characters and situations that belong to Bisco Hatori (and other production affiliates that have the right of ownership). No money is being made, and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Considerations: Similarities to other stories/events/passages are purely coincidental unless otherwise cited, and beliefs and points of view found in the story do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s.
Every entry is not necessarily connected to each other. There is no order in which each is written, and each entry is based on the theme displayed before the start of each story.
Author’s note: I accept REQUESTS for this collection (Fiddling While Rome Burns). Just jump over to my Sticky Post to see how to request a fic.
Theme # 1: Illogicality
Rating: T
Genre: Romance/Humour
Entry summary: Haruhi doesn’t do illogical, but Tamaki practically breathes and lives it.
Entry title:
To Nail One’s Colours To The Mast
When he presented the idea to her, her mind went completely blank because it was just so preposterous that her intellect simply refused to wrap itself around it. The very thought went against everything she stood for, not because she particularly found it distasteful, but because it was absurd. Absurd and completely nuts. And if anything, she wasn’t predisposed to absurd ideas, just prone to being caught in the middle of absurd situations, but that was probably because of her chosen company…or the company she was forced to be in since her first day at that damnable academy.
Let’s get married, he said, as if it were the most natural thing to pop out of his mouth. Of course, the first thing she asked him was if he had lost his marbles, to which he promptly replied that only commoners referred to one’s sound mind as “marbles.” The second thing she asked was what brought this up? And being the drama…queen that he was, cherry blossoms bloomed and petals whirled around them, together with his answer that it was only logical for a man and a woman to get married if they loved each other. Logical, he said.
Suffice it to say, that stumped her good.
First off, they had never dated…well, because this was actually the first time he admitted his feelings for her…seriously.
Second off, she had just entered college…and he wasn’t too far ahead in that area either.
Third off, she hadn’t exactly named what it was she felt for him.
Fourth off, his grandmother ala second Hitler would probably raise fire and brimstone against them and disown him.
Fifth off, it was too dammitwhatthehell unreasonable, it stung! Damn rich bastards.
And sixth off, her heart was pounding so loud and so fast that it alarmed her to no end. Her indifference wasn’t merely a façade, but a practice so ingrained in her that there were very few things that made her heart hammer in her chest - thunder and lightning being two of them - so it stood to reason that she reacted as such - eyes wide and mouth gaping.
No was at the tip of her tongue, but the dull ache in her chest kept her from verbalizing the thought. Again, she was confused. It should be as easy as one, two, three to say no to him - she’d done it a hundred - er - a thousand times before - but when he looked at her like that, she forgot how cliché their situation was, and…ohkamisama, how the hell can I say no? She should know by now that when it came to him, things were as easy as one, three, nine thousand, seven, fifteen hundred…he was as predictable as miracles in daily life.
For some unknown reason, she, for the first time in her life, acted way way way out of bleeping character and said yes. Ooh boy, did she say yes. When she did give her approval, the rational part of her told her that she might regret it, and when he hugged her - squished her, was more like it - she nearly regretted giving him the affirmative…air! Air! I can’t breathe!
She shook her head, bluntly telling him after he let go that this arrangement just wouldn’t work and that she must be out of her mind to agree. He was silent for the whole of a second, then he mused aloud that yes, it might not work because I don’t have a ring right now, but do commoners give engagement rings right away or do they save first? Again, his reasoning was as painfully illogical as wearing sunglasses at night. They had graduated, but some things would never change.
Just as she was about to bop him on the head for his stupid thought, he brightened up like the bipolar Host Club King that he was and assured them both that it would work out because everything always works out in the end…believe it!
After that, things went by in a blur of colours because annoying time skips did not happen in real life, but fast-forwarding was acceptable in telling her life story.
Looking back, there had been many hardships in their path. Hitler - er - the Suoh matriarch declared World War III, rich-bastards style, when she learnt of their engagement. That ditzy okama - er - she meant, her loving and doting father - and not some ditzy okama! - almost asked for blood from her fiancé when they broke the news. It was very taxing to get him to stop calling her my precious daughter and making him understand that it would be very weird if he continued to do so. Of course, the whole Host Club was very supportive, if not very meddlesome, but then, they had always been like that, so it was a losing battle to change their ways, and she was smart enough to not try.
As she gazed across the living room at the boy who she had come to love, she couldn’t help but voice out, it was really ridiculous, stupid even…how did it work out?
He smiled that megawatt smile that never faltered to brighten up the dimmest of rooms and melt the most hardened of hearts. The one that sealed his friendship with Kyoya-sempai. The one that evoked such loyalty from Hikaru and Kaoru. The one that made Hunni-sempai understand that he could have both cake and family honour…and the one that put a solid foundation for the claim we all love Tama-chan. The one that…well, uhm, whatever it did to Mori-sempai, then aa, that one. The one that broke her heart when he directed it at his grandmother who promptly addressed him as filthy child. The one that made her heart beat twice as fast when he directed it so innocently at Eclair. The one that promised more absurdity in their future. The one that would remain constant in their lives for as long as he was who he was and she was who she was supposed to be.
The one that promised to love her forever because that was the only way the owner knew how to love.
“If it’s stupid but works, then it’s not stupid.”
She rolled her eyes. She could swear he had read that from some commoner comics, but somehow, it made sense. Only he could make sense of something so unreasonable.
“But aren’t you glad things worked out so well?”
Perhaps she would never find out how he got the grand scheme of things to work in his favour. From the first day they met, he had displayed every characteristic of a spoiled child, demanding things that the commoner mind couldn’t possibly fathom, but in spite of everything, she fell for him. In spite of their different points of view, she came to harbour strong feelings for him.
He walked towards her and dropped a kiss on her brow. “Wanna go eat some commoner noodles?”
This time, she whacked him on the head, but the smile that blossomed on her lips was real. “All right.”
Fujioka Haruhi was a sensible woman. She didn’t do illogical, but Suoh Tamaki practically breathed and lived it. Whenever she got time to herself to sit down and enjoy the quiet - which happened every time Tamaki wasn’t with her…meaning, it didn’t always happen…sigh - she reflected that a little illogicality in her life wasn’t as bad as she first thought it would be…
“Hey, Haruhi, do you want to go to the beach tomorrow?”
It was the middle of winter.
…Sometimes, Haruhi talked too soon.
-fin-
To Nail One’s Colours To The Mast - to display one's opinions and beliefs
Citation/s:
“Believe it!” - Naruto, English dub