My phone rung loudly slowly bringing my out of my slumber. Tadeo licked my hand, probably wanting me to shut it off. I grabbed my phone and pressed the answer button.
"Bonjour," I said tiredly.
"Mathieu! I haven't heard from you in days! Where are you! Are you okay? You haven't been kidnapped by Gypsy's have you?" Tamaki yelled into the phone, making me hold it away from my ear.
"No Tamaki, I'm fine, I'm just on vacation," I said tiredly, slowly dozing back to sleep.
"Oh, okay. I'll talk to you later," Tamaki chimed.
"Kay, bye," I murmured as he hung up.
There was a knock at my door so I sat up and stretched. I was thrilled to be away from home. Especially since both my Father and Uncle were home. I was thankful to Haruhi's father for going to talk to mine in person. There was no way My Father was going to say no to her.
"Hey, Mathieu? Are you awake?" Haruhi asked, walking in.
"Yeah," I sighed, grabbing my glasses. Tadeo went downstairs for his breakfast while I got dressed for the day.
I was clipping on some sheets to the clothesline with Haruhi when the wind picked up, tugging on the sheets violently. I looked up seeing a helicopter slowly descending onto the open field.
"Haruhi! Despair not! Daddy's come to save you!" Tamaki yelled into a microphone from the helicopter.
"Wouldn't he be your daddy?" Haruhi asked me slyly, not taking her eyes off of him.
I covered my mouth with a small gasp and looked at her. "Haruhi," I laughed in shock, not expecting those words to come out of her mouth. She only grinned.
"I guess you're right, Tadeo, go get daddy," I said, letting go of my wiggling dog's leash as the helicopter landed.
Tadeo sprinted towards Tamaki and started barking and whining, stomping his feet with joy. He then jumped up to give Tamaki kisses, knocking him over.
"Yes, hello Tadeo! Who's a good boy!" Tamaki laughed as he hugged my wild dog.
Tamaki sat up and Tadeo ran back to me. "Mathieu! I didn't know you were here!" He said excitedly, running up to me. I gasped when he suddenly planted his lips onto mine.
"Get a room," Haruhi murmured, rolling her eyes.
I rolled my eyes and kissed Tamaki back gently. Haruhi threw a clothespin at me, making Tamaki pull away with a noticeably red face while I shook my head in amusement.
The others exited the helicopter and they went to meet Misuzu.
"Mattie-Senpai!" Two identical voices called. I turned only to get glomped by two redheads. I stumbled slightly but wrapped my arms around them as they hugged by tightly.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" I greeted.
"We missed you! We thought something bad had happened to you!" They exclaimed.
I chuckled. "I'm fine, besides, I told you guys I was going on vacation. I came here with Haruhi to help her dad keep an eye on her," I explained.
They let out a hum of understanding.
"So, what're you guys doing?" I asked.
"We're competing in a refreshment battle to see who can stay in the spare bedroom," They chimed.
"Oh good grief," I chuckled. They let go of me and ran off.
I noticed Tamaki and Honey were sitting at the fence, trying to figure out how to put it together. I saw Misuzu start walking over there. I set my basket full of clean linens down as I watched Tamaki and Misuzu's interaction. Tamaki accidentally hit his thumb with the hammer and started to whine in pain. I fought the urge to laugh when Misuzu gave him a point deduction, walking off. Honey left the scene so I went over to do damage control.
I sighed and walked over to him.
"Do you think it's broken?" Tamaki asked tearfully.
"No, just bruised," I replied as I took out some bandages in my back pocket and wrapped his thumb to keep the swelling down. I gave it a soft kiss.
"All better," I smiled. Tamaki's face flushed slightly and I brushed his bangs out of his face.
Misuzu beamed, "Such care! Ten refresher points!" She exclaimed.
"But I'm already staying here," I stated.
She chuckled, "Oh right, of course."
Tamaki wrapped his arms around me. "I can't do it! I'm going to die here!" He said dramatically.
"Don't worry. I have one of the bigger rooms with a king-sized bed. You could probably stay with me if you wanted," I suggested, patting his arm as his forehead rested on my shoulder.
"Really?" He asked excitedly.
"Of course, I wouldn't offer if I wasn't going to let you stay with me," I replied.
"You're the best!" Tamaki squealed, peppering my face in kisses.
"Yes, I know," I laughed, prying him off, "Now go play."
Tamaki ran off to get his luggage while I continued my chores.
The twins were escorting two guests upstairs and Mori carried a table out to the backyard. Tadeo ran around, playing with the guest's children. I still kept his service vest on, just in case.
I looked over to see Haruhi chatting with Misuzu. It was unnerving how much Misuzu reminded me of Renge. I shuddered at the thought of them in the same room. What a disaster that would be.
I went outside onto the patio to do some cleaning. Kyoya sat there silently, drinking some tea. Tadeo laid under his table, panting slightly as he rested in the shade. I still wasn't too very fond of Kyoya but we were on better terms.
"Are you hiding Tadeo?" I asked, crouching down and petting him. He licked my hand.
"You should have seen how fast he ran out here when Mori-Senpai opened the door," Kyoya hummed as I refilled his pitcher of iced tea.
"He's not bothering you, is he?" I asked.
Kyoya shook his head. "No, he's fine," He said. I nodded and went to change the flowers.
"Who's your favorite to win?" Kyoya asked.
I shrugged. "I don't really care who wins," I stated.
"Surely you'd want Tamaki to stay, wouldn't you?" He questioned.
"He already is. You should've seen his face when I asked, he lit up like fireworks," I grinned with a small laugh.
Kyoya smirked. "He really is clueless, isn't he?" Kyoya said with amusement as he adjusted his glasses.
"He is," I chuckled.
"Tamaki must think you have something in mind if he went that red," Kyoya commented with an evil smirk. I opened my mouth to reply but closed it, too astonished to say anything as I felt my face flush.
"No, that's, that's not what I had in mind. I, I was just inviting him to stay with me," I stuttered. Kyoya raised his eyebrow with a smug look.
"Whatever, I don't have to explain anything to you," I growled. I turned on my heel and Tadeo suddenly lunged out from under the table to alert. Before I knew it, my knees gave out from under me and I felt to the ground.
I let out an agitated huff as I struggled to push myself up. Tadeo let out a whine and squeeze himself under me. My head spun slightly, having used a lot of energy to sit up. Why did this have to happen now? God this is so embarrassing.
Kyoya was by my side, trying to sit me up. "My apologies," He said softly.
"You're fine," I mumbled. I noticed he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
"T'es un bâtard," I growled under my breath. (You're a bastard.) He rolled his eyes.
"Are you okay Mathieu?" Kaoru asked worriedly. I nodded and stood up slowly, Kyoya had a hand in mine and his other rested on my back. My shirt and jeans were soaked from the pitcher of water I dropped.
"Peachy," I sighed, subtly pulling away from Kyoya.
Tamaki rushed over. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? Nothing's broken or sprained is it?" He asked, checking me over.
"No, I'm okay, I just fell," I reassured. He hooked his arm with mine and he took me up to my room, making sure I didn't fall again, even though I reassured him that I could walk on my own. Tadeo followed close behind.
Tamaki sat me down on the edge of my bed. He grabbed a towel and a set of clean clothes. He slipped my shirts off of me and went to hang them up in the bathroom. His eyes widened when they landed on my bruised chest. I averted my eyes to the ground. Tadeo laid down on the floor by the bed.
Tamaki ran the towel gently across my chest, drying me off. His lips landed on mine softly. I was caught off guard a little but I kissed him back gently.
"Mathieu," He breathed, pulling away, "What's going on? Why do you keep getting all these bruises?" He asked meekly, his forehead on mine.
I took a deep breath. "Usually it's my uncle, but this is from my father," I murmured.
"Move in with me," He demanded, catching me off guard. I pulled away and looked up at him.
"Tamaki-"
"I know my grandmother would approve. She adores you. She keeps saying how you're the spitting image of your mother and how much you take after her. She's been saying how it's been tearing her up inside to know you've been living with a monster," He rushed out like I was considering saying no.
"If you really want me to," I said softly, gently caressing the side of his face. His arms wrapped around me.
"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" He asked softly, sounding like he was about to cry.
"I didn't want you to worry," I whispered, rubbing his back.
"Of course I'm going to worry! I love you! I'm supposed to worry about you!" He exclaimed. The sudden raise of his voice made my heart quicken and my chest tighten. Not to mention he just dropped the 'L' word.
He took a deep breath. I willed the tears that were trying to well in my eyes to stay down.
Tamaki took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. Let's just get you dressed," He said calmly. I only nodded, not trusting myself to say anything.
He helped me into some dry clothes. He went to leave but I reached out and wrapped my arms around him from behind, hiding my face in the back of his shoulder. Tamaki slowly turned and wrapped his arms around my my shoulders. He petted my hair and kissed my forehead.
"I'm sorry for making you worry," I apologized.
"It's okay," He replied. "Come on, let's get back to work," He said.
I nodded in agreement and we left the room.
Tamaki went back to working on the fence with Honey. I couldn't help but feel like I was stressing him out. He got really worked up about these things. Maybe if I just don't say anything about my bruises he'll forget about it.
I took a deep breath. Tadeo ran up with a ball in his mouth. I sat down on one of the chairs and threw his ball, letting him run after it.
"Did you two get into a fight?" Kaoru asked softly.
"Kind of, he's just worried," I murmured.
Tadeo came back with the ball and I threw it again.
"You told him, didn't you?" Kaoru asked. I nodded.
"It'll be okay," he reassured, before getting up and going to go help Hikaru chill the watermelon. I sighed and threw the ball again for Tadeo.
I noticed Tamaki was dramatically on all fours, having one of his personal monologue moments. Kyoya walked up to him and said something. It must have been something good because Tamaki walked into the hotel determined.
Tadep ran off with the ball over to Honey. I knew where Tamaki had gone off to when the clear notes of the piano started to fill my ears. I went inside and helped clear empty tables and served a few guests some tea.
"A hundred refresher points for refreshing brotherly love! A perfect score! And the victory goes to the Hitachiin brothers!" Misuzu announced from outside, making me jump.
After the guests retired for bed we all had dinner. I led Tamaki back up to my room after. Tadeo went with Haruhi for the night.
Tamaki silently got ready for bed. I let out a soft sigh and changed into my pajamas.
"Are you mad at me?" I asked softly.
"No, I'm not mad," Tamaki stated. It didn't convince me though. He didn't say anything else as we crawled into bed. He kept his back turned to me.
Did he not want to be here?
I clenched my jaw. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I got up and went to the bathroom, locking the door. I went out the other door that went into Haruhi's room. She was sitting on her bed with Tadeo.
"Mathieu what's wrong?" She asked worriedly as I went over to her opened arms.
"I, I told Tamaki and, and he got mad because, because I didn't tell him. I, I asked him if he was mad at me and he said no. But, but he won't talk to me or even look at me. We, we got into bed and he won't hold me like he usually does. He didn't even say good night. I, I don't know why it made him so upset," I trembled, sniffling as I cried softly. She held me tightly and smoothed my hair. Tadeo rested his head in my lap.
After about five minutes Haruhi started to fall asleep. I let her and went back to my room. I made sure it didn't look like I had been crying before I crawled back into bed. Tamaki rolled onto his stomach and I kept my back to him.
I was so tired, yet I couldn't fall asleep. Tamaki's breathing slowed, indicating he had fallen asleep. I stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours but was probably just a few minutes.
I jumped when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my torso from behind me. Tamaki let out a soft sigh.
"You're still awake?" He asked.
"Yeah," I said softly.
"What's the matter?" He questioned quietly.
"It's nothing, it's just hard for me to fall asleep is all," I murmured, turning and curling up in his arms.
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