sam_storyteller: (Ouran High School Host Club)
sam_storyteller ([personal profile] sam_storyteller) wrote2005-07-01 04:10 pm
Entry tags:

Ouran Host Club: Taijitu; PG-13, Tamaki/Kyouya

Rating: Pg-13 (sexuality, profanity)
Summary: "Isn't it enough that you show me what the world is?"
Warnings: None.

Now available on AO3!
Also a podfic by ReadByAnalise010!

First Posted 9/21/06

***

Music wasn't often played in the Ohtori household. Kyouya's mother had played the piano, and so there was a piano in a distant sunroom that Kyouya's father never went to. Neither did his brothers or sister, who had much more vivid memories of her than Kyouya himself did. The only time anyone touched it was when Tamaki came to the house, but then the room filled up with music.

Kyouya would be there, of course, standing at the piano and watching Tamaki play. Slowly, as the sound drifted out, Kyouya's eldest brother would appear silently, sometimes with hospital records still tucked under one arm. His other brother was never far behind, as his study-room was nearby. If his sister was visiting, she would come too, and sometimes bring her husband to hear the music.

At first they would stand outside or in the doorway, suddenly shy in the presence of an Outsider, of someone who played their mother's piano. Then they would slip in, one by one, moving to the couch or the windows to hear better. Once in a while one of them would cry quietly, and the others would pretend not to see. Kyouya always faintly resented their presence, but he wouldn't have driven them off for all the world. Kyouya's father, never home in the afternoons, possibly didn't even know about the concerts his children attended in the distant sunroom, but they were the only time any of them understood that they were family.

Today, however, his brothers were out with his father and his sister was holidaying in Hokkaido. For a few hours, Kyouya was alone in the house with the servants and Tamaki and the music.

"I could teach you to play," Tamaki offered, fingers resting lightly on the keyboard. Kyouya was studying the music, well-educated enough to understand it even if he didn't play himself.

"I wouldn't enjoy it," Kyouya said absently, watching the way Tamaki's wrist arched just slightly, the barest protrusion of bone skewing the curve.

"How do you know?" Tamaki asked. Kyouya, remembering the world that had opened itself up to him with Tamaki's arrival in his life, considered this. Tamaki saw his thoughts and slid off the bench, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"This is Middle C," he said, lifting Kyouya's right hand and placing his thumb on one pale key. His left hand slipped over Kyouya's left shoulder, pointing to the music. "This note. Outside of the clef, with the line through it. Each note rises from Middle C."

His fingers pressed down on top of Kyouya's, playing up to G, one note at a time.

"The lower clef descends from Middle C," he continued, lifting Kyouya's left hand to place it next to his right. Kyouya took a sudden, sharp breath as Tamaki's hands slid around his wrists and supported them. "This is the proper way to hold your hands when you play."

Tamaki's thumb grazed the inside of Kyouya's wrist, rubbing gently below the heel of his palm. Their faces were next to each other, and Kyouya could smell the rose-soap Tamaki used. His finger twitched, and a stray note emerged.

"Head up," Tamaki continued, releasing his left wrist and raising his own left hand to tip up Kyouya's chin. "Don't look at the keys while you play, look at the music."

"It's too complicated," Kyouya mumbled. "I can't play this."

"Not yet," Tamaki agreed. "You have to start slow, like everything."

His hand slid down Kyouya's throat, drifting across the open collar of his shirt. He plucked one button open. Kyouya's hand twitched again, and his left hand slipped off the keys entirely. Tamaki's fingers spread across his chest, over his heart.

"This is where the music comes from," Tamaki said, as Kyouya lifted his left hand to curl his fingers in Tamaki's soft yellow hair. "That's why your brothers cry when I play. They miss this."

His fingers tapped on Kyouya's skin for emphasis.

"What about me?" Kyouya asked.

"Don't worry," Tamaki said. "I have yours."

Kyouya smiled a little. "Does that line work?"

"I don't know. I've never tried it before," Tamaki answered, laughing. "Does it?"

Kyouya turned his head and drifted his lips across Tamaki's cheek, searching for his mouth. Tamaki obligingly leaned in, still laughing, and caught Kyouya's lower lip between his teeth.

"Guess so," he said, grasping Kyouya's shirt and pulling him upright. The piano bench clattered over between them but Kyouya stepped over it gracefully, following Tamaki backwards until the other boy was pressed against one of the windows, both hands on Kyouya's shoulders. It was warm in the sunlight and the dust danced around them as they kissed. Kyouya couldn't breathe.

"It's always been you," Tamaki said, letting go of his shoulders only to wrap his arms around Kyouya and hold him firmly against him, firmly in the warm sunlight. "I knew it would be you."

"How?" Kyouya asked, kissing him again before he could answer. He bent his head slightly and nicked Tamaki's throat with his teeth.

"That tickles!" Tamaki laughed again. "Darkness shows where light is. You can't have music without silence to fill."

"What the hell does that mean?" Kyouya said, his forehead knocking against the glass as he sucked gently on the bite.

"I fill your silence," Tamaki said. "You show me my light."

"Fucking poet," Kyouya replied. Tamaki bit his earlobe, one hand sliding down to clutch his hip.

"Nihilist."

"Romantic idiot!"

"Pragmatic bastard!"

Kyouya raised his head and laughed, the way he only laughed (he knew this) when Tamaki was the cause.

"Isn't it enough that you show me what the world is?" Tamaki asked, and Kyouya almost flinched away. Tamaki's eyes clouded. "What is it?"

"I was going to say the same thing, that's all," Kyouya whispered.

"There you have it," Tamaki said. "Fate, then."

Kyouya felt lighter than air, suddenly, as though he were rising up out of his own body. Looking down, he saw himself kiss Tamaki, not some teenage boy's first kiss and not a passionate kiss at all but something a man did, the act of someone who was in love.

Tamaki's head bowed against his own and from his place slightly above either of them Kyouya saw their heads together, black hair and pale golden yellow, blending together in the sunlight until they formed a perfect circle, a taijitu.

"I can see your thoughts," Tamaki said, and Kyouya tumbled back into his body, not an unpleasant experience at all.

"Can you?" he asked, still finding it hard to breathe.

"Yes," Tamaki said gravely. "You're thinking you would like to go to a peasant's cheap-movie-palace with me tonight and have popcorn like the commoners do."

"King of idiots," Kyouya said. Tamaki grinned at him. Kyouya held tight to the taijitu and wondered, idly, what Tamaki's mouth would taste like when he'd been eating popcorn.

"I will teach you to play," Tamaki said to him as they left the sunroom and walked through the cold, echoing hallways of the Ohtori estate.

"I look forward to the lessons," Kyouya replied.

END



The taijitu is a traditional symbol representing the forces of Yin and Yang -- darkness and brightness -- in perfect balance.
ext_2023: (this little masochist)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyouya/Tamaki, they're like Seishiriou/Subaru in that way XDDD

Okay, that was gorgeous and so very romantic in a way that I usually hate but somehow loved there. Sweet dialogues, and the finguer-piano-play thing was sexy as hell.

[identity profile] lirren.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, my god. This is just stunning. And coming on the heels of episode 24, it just completely blows me away. You really manage to get these two, to get inside their heads and then tell the rest of us what's there. Even though I totally fangirl Tamaki/Haruhi, your stories make me really believe in Tamaki/Kyouya. *loves you*

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, 24 inspired it (obviously). I couldn't figure out why Kyouya's brothers would weep like that, unless it was some kind of link to a family tragedy.

[identity profile] aura218.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Pretty

[identity profile] elucreh.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, the ship-meta, that is so poetic and so slow-blossoming, and so achingly perfect--

It leaves me wordless.

[identity profile] elucreh.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
P. S. Tamaki's rose-soap makes me giggle.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you :)

[identity profile] ruisseau.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
*quiet squee* :)

[identity profile] erie-potter.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
*awed* That's just gorgeous...

[identity profile] jiapa.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Awwww!

[identity profile] frenzied.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
very nice Sam! very nice indeed.

and also YAY for more Kyouya/Tamaki love.

Bravo! Yahoo! as Tamaki would say.

[identity profile] te-non-sum.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
... As always, I fanboy anything you write. However, I wanted to say that this image:

they were the only time any of them understood that they were family.

struck me more than... probably anything else you've ever written. I don't know that I could even say why; it just... it's an incredibly vivid image for such a small collection of words. There's so much packed into it.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
You know what's really funny? I wrote the whole thing straight out, then went back and re-read it, and that's the only thing I added. That line.

[identity profile] te-non-sum.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
... well. Well, then. Clearly, it wanted to be in there.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
I guess so!

[identity profile] kannnichtfranz.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Lucky boys. Very, very lucky boys. *envies*

[identity profile] rudetuesday.livejournal.com 2006-09-21 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Lovely! I've always had a soft spot for fics where one character's teaching the other something physical (not *that*): to play a musical instrument, how to draw or paint, or how to play a game. They have to be in close physical proximity, there must be murmuring and hands must be held or stroked.

I wasn't expecting the taijitu, but I like it a lot. Thanks for putting that in.

[identity profile] stvincent.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
Is that "taijutsu"? Because there's no "tu" sound in Japanese, only "tsu". (Unless it's a Chinese word, then I have no idea.)

This is beautiful. I loved the sensuality of the two of them at the piano. Kyouya/Tamaki is definitely my favorite ship in this fandom, especially after episode 24!

[identity profile] stvincent.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, never mind, I found the word; it's Chinese. :D

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
ROFL, you know more about it than I do then, I just wikipedia'd it :D

[identity profile] enchantee.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
This isn't fair, I have a paper to write.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry! It's short at least :D

[identity profile] enchantee.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
I'm grateful for that, haha. It gives me good motivation to get my work done, too.
ext_13504: Kara Thrace, Starbuck, BSG (Default)

[identity profile] unicornvamp3z.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, Sam, that was so beautiful. *awed and speechless*
ext_9905: (OURAN - fresh! MORI)

[identity profile] soloproject.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
*dead from love* --and "nihilist" on Tamaki's part was brilliant.

[identity profile] svalar-unnir.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
What a lovely scene. I can picture it perfectly : )

[identity profile] kellygreen.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
That was really beautiful. Definitely the sexiest piano lessons I've ever read. :)

[identity profile] ninquelosse.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
I've read this through three times and each time has left me breathless. Beautiful and elegant, and so in-character. I love it when these boys laugh for joy, too; it doesn't happen enough.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 01:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! The laughter was important for me, especially Kyouya's laughter.
ext_39698: (Default)

[identity profile] coffeebased.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 08:01 am (UTC)(link)
oh, that's lovely.... *goo*

[identity profile] hidden-gems.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
I didn't need much persuation, but this time you've done it, Sam dear.

[identity profile] jazmin-firewing.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
*gapes* ................. *melts*
Dude, that was just beautiful.

[identity profile] maeritrae.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
So much love for you!

I can't believe this is the only Ouran icon I have.

[identity profile] ysabet.livejournal.com 2006-09-23 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Wooooo. Nice. I feel rather like I've just had a long drink of clear water. Good fic.

[identity profile] sodamnquirky.livejournal.com 2006-09-23 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
♥ that was... calming.

[identity profile] kaiserkuchen.livejournal.com 2007-03-21 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Sooo late to find this, but ohhhh this was positively lovely ♥ Ahhhh!

[identity profile] berseker.livejournal.com 2007-05-08 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
Sweet and deep. And the dialogues were very good.

I´m saving this on my favorites. ^^

[identity profile] aeternitasbeach.livejournal.com 2009-01-24 07:15 am (UTC)(link)
"What about me?" Kyouya asked.
"Don't worry," Tamaki said. "I have yours."
Kyouya smiled a little. "Does that line work?"


it sure as hell did :D

glad to see good fic with these two still exists somewhere.

[identity profile] euphonious-glow.livejournal.com 2009-05-16 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
This comment is coming four years too late, but I just have to express my love for this. It's gorgeous, and moving, and hot. I LOVE your portrayal of Tamaki here, it's such a rare glimpse of his more perceptive side. The insights into the Ohtori family are also really heartbreaking. The dialogue is just perfect, and captures the characters so well. This is what their relationships feels like to me. Uber love.

I'm writing a Kyouya/Tamaki manifesto for [livejournal.com profile] ship_manifesto, and I'll definitely rec this fic!

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2009-05-16 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it and pleased you'll be mentioning it in your manifesto! Kyouya and Tamaki's relationship fascinates me, and it was neat to explore a more serious side of it. :)

[identity profile] aura218.livejournal.com 2009-09-02 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
*poke* Been watching Ouran again so I looked your stories up. Having watched the entire series now several times, this still works so well. <3

(Anonymous) 2010-09-02 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
I became addicted to your writing through Rules of a Godson, so I knew you were an utterly fantastic harry potter fanfiction writer. But you write fanfiction for OURAN too? When I saw the tag, I literally gasped with sheer joy. Oh my goodness. I think I love you. =]

(Anonymous) 2012-06-02 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice story.
1sunfun