#imine

i needed a warmup before I started working on a fic of mine so I was like “HEY MAYBE I SHOULD FINISH UP THAT OURAN DRAFT I’VE HAD FOREVER”

Kyoya notices her first as he rides the train with Tamaki to go out shopping one day - when they’d made the plans, Tamaki had insisted they take the train, and Kyoya, stressed and without sleep, had relented. 

He’s almost surprised at himself for noticing her at all, because his focus is usually so filled with work and business and school, that frivolous matters of the heart tend to get filed away, if not ignored altogether. 

She’s very pretty, he allows himself, and she’s reading a book he’d read for a a lit comp class in his junior year of undergrad. There, he thinks, a talking point already. The only problem is that she’s seated on the other side of the train car, and Tamaki is jabbering away in his ear. He sends a quick text to Haruhi, begging for assistance, and Tamaki’s phone rings not a second later. Kyoya hears him gasp excitedly and exclaim, “Haruhi, my love! What can I do for you?”

Thank god for that girl. He thinks, and makes his way over to sit next to the newfound object of his attentions.

“Are you enjoying it, may I ask?” 

She looks up at him and blinks and smiles, holding it up. “I am, actually! Are you a fan of poetry?”

“Well,” he admits, smiling himself, “I’ll admit that I was aware of its practical uses, but it wasn’t until a professor added this book to this reading list that I came to actually enjoy it.” He taps the spine and shrugs. 

“Well, if you’d like, I would love to recommend a few of my favorites to you sometime. Perhaps over coffee?” She flutters her lashes at him and he finds that his cheeks are hot but he nods. 

“Here, take - oh. Well, perhaps I shouldn’t.” She bites her lip suddenly and her brows draw together. “My father has a marriage arranged for me. I’ll be meeting the man’s parents tomorrow, actually.”

“Oh.” Kyoya sighs. “Well, I would hate to cause you any trouble in that regard. But perhaps, and I’ll try not to sound too hopeful, but perhaps if things don’t work out you can keep me in mind.”

She laughs. “I most certainly will. It was nice meeting you.”

“And you.” He smiles, bids her goodbye and rejoins Tamaki, who was thankfully too entranced in his conversation with his wife to notice Kyoya had been gone.

“Kyoya, I’d like you to meet the heiress to one of our medical associates. Her father owns several pharmaceutical companies throughout Japan.”

Kyoya sits across from the loveliest girl he’s ever seen, more beautiful now than the first time he’d laid his eyes on her. Her hair is braided and she’s wearing makeup this time, but that isn’t what’s different. 

She looks so incredibly happy to see him, smile taking up her entire face, she’s practically glowing. 

“I guess we’ll be getting that coffee together after all, won’t we?” She says, barely containing her joy.

“I guess we will.” Kyoya smiles softly, but already she can tell that he’s as happy as she is.

moldboard for @parksxo

My art is not how I heal but rather, how I find the bravery to stare at the wound. -Rafael Casal