October 1
The sky was barely beginning to darken, streaks of purple and orange were beginning to settle behind the clouds, and Tamaki, Kyoya, and Kaoru had found a comfortable place to sit under a tree, but little did Kyoya know that it had all been a scheme so that they had a perfect view into the music room, where Hanae Sasaki happened to be practicing.
"Kyoya just go, she's literally just sitting there alone." Tamaki huffed.
Kyoya rolled his eyes as he continued working on his assignment, "No, then Sasaki's going to think I'm interested in her."
"But you said you liked her!"
"No, I told you that I thought she was attractive." Kyoya paused to look up at his friend's intense eyes. "Do you understand what that means?"
Tamaki's lips formed a flat line, so Kaoru took his silence as an opportunity to answer. "He wants to fuck her."
"Aren't you sick of it?" Tamaki wrinkled his nose.
"Sick of what?" Kyoya mumbled, not even bothering to look up from his laptop this time.
"Of sleeping around."
Suddenly the atmosphere grew thick, and Kaoru looked down at his book awkwardly as his two friends stared at each other with a certain animosity in their eyes. The seconds felt like solid minutes, until Kaoru's girlfriend threw herself onto his lap, effectively breaking the glass, but even she could feel how heavy the air felt.
Mary quickly sat up, "Woah, what's up with you guys?"
"Tamaki's trying to play wingman for Kyoya." Kaoru answered.
"Oh, who's the lucky girl?" Mary continued.
There was a slight pause as Kaoru weighed out his options, but in the end, he decided to come clean, Mary hated being kept in the dark. "Your friend... Sasaki."
Mary blinked, she finally had a chance.
A chance to drag Hanae away from her cursed 'fiance'.
Hanae hadn't played the piano for a couple of weeks, but she needed to think of something other than Hideo leaving or her brother's threats, and she decided to use the school piano instead of staying at home because Akise was always lingering around ready to bother her.
"Hey Hanae, mind if we come in?" Mary asked as she slammed the door to the music room open, the group of boys trailing behind her.
Hanae jerked her head up and saw her friend walking into the room with Suoh, Hitachiin, and Ootori tagging along behind them.
"Of course not," Hanae lied and her eyes locked with Kyoya's for a moment and she felt her stomach flip slightly.
She didn't want to be rude and tell them to leave, but she wasn't expecting a group of people to come in while she was trying to play the piano, it had been a couple of years since she'd played in front of an audience.
She only ever played for Hideo over the phone nowadays.
"So what are you playing today, Sasaki?" Tamaki asked walking over, so he could get a look at the sheet music.
"I was going to try Summertime in Paris, by Jaden," She said cautiously, hoping he would leave, but he only smiled, his expecting eyes waiting for her to start. She bit the inside of her cheek as she looked down at the keys. "I–I actually haven't played in front of people in a really long time..."
Again he only offered a reassuring smile, his eyes warmly scanning her over, before he spoke.
"Would you like me to help? I'm actually pretty good at playing the piano if I do say so myself." The blonde man said, flipping through the sheet music.
"I'd hate to be a bother," Hanae shook her head, trying her best to smile.
"Nonsense, I'm always here to help a damsel in distress!" Tamaki said, sliding into the bench next to her.
Hanae awkwardly scooted over to the other side of the bench giving Tamaki Suoh more space to sit down as he got settled, his delicate hands settling on top of the keys.
Hanae could instantly tell by his straight posture and the way that his arms stayed relaxed yet perfectly positioned above the instrument, that Tamaki was a very experienced pianist.
If she was nervous before, she was practically shaking now.
What if she made a complete fool out of herself?
Tamaki could sense her apprehensiveness, and he nudged her gently.
"It's alright this is a tricky piece, but I'll be here to guide you, you'll be primo and I'll be secondo."
Hanae nodded and took a deep breath and she started playing, her fingers moving gracefully yet a bit fearfully at first.
Tamaki smiled as he joined in his hands gliding across the keys more confidently than hers.
Her nerves quickly faded away as soon as she forced herself to focus on the melody instead of the audience, but she had never played a duet with anyone aside from Akise before, and Tamaki Suoh was a thousand times more experienced than her lazy brother.
She could feel his raw talent next to her, his passion and natural endowment literally spilling out of him, and she got so caught up in his performance that her finger slipped and she missed a key.
She missed a key.
Tamaki of course noticed instantly, and Hanae was about to take her hands off the keys before he gave her a stern look, and he too began to play the wrong notes taking the song and making it his own, momentarily stealing her side of the piano to make her mistake unnoticeable.
Hanae blinked at first, but she quickly caught on and didn't let the opportunity he'd given her slip through her fingers, and she continued to play the high notes to match his harmony instead.
The music they were making sounded nothing like the original song anymore, but she couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips, and Tamaki's focus broke for a second as well to join her as they completed their beautiful mess together with the post-chorus.
Their friends around them clapped, and she looked up from the instrument, her eyes locking with Kyoya Ootori, bursting the small bubble of comradeship that she and Suoh had created.
"Oh my God, that was so good!" Mary said eagerly, breaking Hanae's gaze away from Kyoya.
Kyoya was taken by surprise, how could someone like Hanae Sasaki play that well?
He had never seen anyone mend with Tamaki's style the way she had just managed to do so, this girl only seemed to keep surpassing his expectations.
"That was a lot of fun, we should do it again sometime!" Tamaki said happily, and she nodded smiling.
She knew they probably wouldn't though.
"I don't know why you're so shy about playing!" Mary squealed hugging Hanae from behind. "You're so good at it!"
"Mary get off her," Kaoru said jokingly, but he was actually trying to save Hanae from being choked to death.
"What? She is, she even plays Doja Cat when I beg!" Mary shook her friend from behind, before looking down at her. "Right, babes?"
Hanae nodded and the pink-haired girl squeezed her checks roughly, "Ugh you're so cute!"
"You're so gay." Hanae laughed.
"I'm bi, don't erase my sexuality, twink." Mary snickered squeezing in between Hanae and Tamaki on the bench. "Anyways you were amazing as always... but Tamaki, I saw you fuck up you need to practice more."
After the initial commotion had died down, she slipped out of the room, and she thought she'd gone unnoticed until Kyoya Ootori caught her outside.
"No cigarettes tonight?" He asked playfully, one hand inside his pocket.
She raised both her hands up in defeat, a small smile tugging at her lips for the second time since Hideo left, "Not a single one."
"You're a remarkable pianist, Sasaki." He offered her a warm smile, "How come I hadn't heard you play before?"
She leaned herself against the brick wall, "I don't know, I'm not really good enough to play in front of an audience."
"I'd beg to differ."
"Mhm... kiss-ass." She teased.
Again he stepped closer to her, and she bit the inside of her cheek, averting her eyes from his lingering gaze.
"I'm not the type to lie, you're shockingly good at what you do."
"Shockingly?" She raised her eyebrows but her smile didn't waver. "I've got to admit I'm a little hurt."
"You shouldn't be... you're full of surprises that's all I meant." He closed the distance between them, he was close enough now, that his nose nearly brushed past hers, and she got a whiff of his cologne; cedar with a hint of citrus, and it nearly made her mouth water.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head down, what was she doing?
"I should get going." She began to step away from him desperate for her face to cool down again. "Goodnight, Ootori."
His voice stopped her. "Call me Kyoya."
She frowned, "I'm not going to call you by your first name, we hardly know each other."
That's when he stuck out his hand, "Your phone."
"My phone?"
He nodded and she pulled it out of her pocket, handing it over to him, and she watched as he placed his number on the screen and added it to her contacts.
She frowned as he stepped forward once more, and stuck the phone into her pocket himself, "Now we can get to know each other... Hanae."
And with that he was gone, walking back into the room with his friends.
Hanae blinked and when she was sure he wasn't coming back she pulled out her phone and found his contact number.
Then she hit the delete button.