Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Title: Unexpected Impressions
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Eclair/Kyouya
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: end of the anime (loosely)
Notes: Written for the "Weakness" theme at
ouran_contest.
Word Count: 498
Summary: Kyouya makes Eclair an offer.
Ootori Kyouya is the master of tying up loose ends. After his dance with Haruhi, he politely excuses himself from the dance and orders a car to the airport. When he arrives, he finds Eclair Tonnerre, waiting for him with an exasperated scowl.
“This isn’t necessary,” she says. Kyouya only smiles.
“I want to make sure this business is over,” he says. He hands her an ornate envelope, and she frowns while taking it. When he leaves, she opens it tentatively and finds two unexpected items inside: a note that says “Stay.”
And a hotel key. She grips the key in her palm and her throat turns dry.
--
Eclair curses under her breath. She shouldn’t even be giving Kyouya the satisfaction of her attention. She should have just ignored him and flew back to France.
But she can’t. She’s shown a weakness, even it is to Tamaki, and she must settle this and recover her name. More than anything, she needs to find out what Ootori Kyouya is really planning.
She hears a knock at the front. She lets him wait a moment as she glares at the door in the dim yellow light. When she opens it, Kyouya is out of his school uniform and wearing a dark gray suit. His smile is the same, cryptic and ominous.
“I was impressed by you,” he says. She lets him inside, but doesn’t respond. Their eyes meet, and Eclair searches for softness. She wonders what Tamaki sees in this boy as a friend, or if there’s a scarier unknown that Kyouya hasn’t revealed yet. She knows his type though; they are alike, and she assumes that Kyouya has realized this too.
“So, is this an invitation or bribery?” she asks, and she watches one of his eyebrows rise. “I won’t fight for him. The girl can have him.”
“Tamaki isn’t the issue here,” Kyouya says, and he walks to the edge of the bed, sitting down to the spot nearest the lamp. “As I said, I was impressed.” He tilts his head. “This isn’t bribery.” He pats the spot next to him on the bed, and she looks angrily at the comforter, anxious and fearful of why he wants her to sit so close. She complies, but only because his staring is so annoying. She sits down, crosses her legs, and huffs.
“Well, what is your offer?” Her eyes meet his gaze, and she tries to look past the intrigue. Instead, she is surprised, letting a cry escape her lips as he grips her wrist hard. She gasps, and she watches him turn off the lamp.
His voice drops, barely a whisper. “I’m making an offer of marriage, Tonnerre, a union that will benefit us both, in family and in consequence.”
Her breath escapes her lips, and she searches for his expression in the dark room. His words sink within, holding more meaning than she’s ever seen past the shadows and grit.
Then, Eclair Tonnerre actually considers him.