Benefits || Kyoya Ootori x Reader

Chapter 15: Lessons In Life

You and Kyoya spend close to an hour on the beach like something right out of a romantic movie. You head back to the villa hand-in-hand because of the darkening sky dawning upon Okinawa with an imminent rainstorm approaching. It appears that everyone has went to bed, but it's still early, so you and Kyoya go to his room to hangout.

"I'm going to take a shower," Kyoya says.

A loud clap of thunder rings out and you're struck with realization.

"Okay, I need to check on Haruhi," you reply, then continue when he gives you a questioning look. "She's scared of thunder."

"That's not what I was expecting it to be. Very mundane." Kyoya sighs and enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

You leave his room and saunter down the hallway and into another corridor, seeing from your spot already that Haruhi's door is open. You cautiously approach it as yet another blast of thunder strikes the quaint night. Poking your head into the room, a gentle smile shapes your mouth at the sight of Tamaki cradling Haruhi into his body as he comforts her through this harsh time.

You feel a pinch of guilt that you weren't here to make sure she was okay sooner because you're always the one to look after her, but you had hope that she and Tamaki would make up and he would take care of her.

You slide away and quietly shut the door with a soft click, then proceed back to Kyoya's room. You noticed long ago the attraction Tamaki and Haruhi share for each other, but as you demonstrated with Haruhi before, you're letting their relationship run its course.

You trail your hand across the wallpaper as you walk down the corridor and back into Kyoya's room, then run over and jump on his bed in child-like joy. You let your legs dangle off the side of the bed as your body sinks into the soft mattress and you stare up at the tall ceiling.

About five minutes later, you hear the bathroom door open and bounce to your feet to see Kyoya in a fresh pair of pants towel-drying his hair with the absence of a shirt. You tilt your head to the side with a smile of admiration for your boyfriend as he strides over to set his glasses onto the small table next to the bed and looks at you with those frameless grey eyes.

You fall into an unfamiliar trance as the wet strands of hair shape his features and until now you didn't think he could be anymore good-looking, but without his glasses and right after a shower, Kyoya has this aura of enhanced hotness.

"If you're going to space out when looking at me, you can join the other girls at the hotel," Kyoya says.

You take personal offense at being compared to those
air-heads and instinctively avert your vision.

"I was just noticing how different you look without your glasses," you defend.

"Different how?" he inquires, laying the towel on the back of a chair.

"With your glasses, you pull off the cool-type, cute persona, but without them, you're more rugged and handsome," you nonchalantly explain.

"I would get contacts, but that would be bad for business."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want girls to be even more obsessed over you than they already are, now would I?" you ask rhetorically.

"I suppose not," he answers anyway and changes the subject to something of more interest. "Was Haruhi okay? You got back rather fast."

You let out an involuntary yawn before responding. "When I got to her room, I saw Tamaki doing the comforting for me."

"Really?" Kyoya says, walking over and grabbing a bottle of water from a cabinet. "That idiot finally made a move."

"Seems so. At least they're not fighting anymore."

"Haruhi's actions were unjustified. She shouldn't have tried to stand up to those boys in the first place," Kyoya remarks, taking a drink of water.

"Unjustified?" you repeat calculatingly. "She had a right to defend those girls and she doesn't have to wait for some guy to come along to save her."

Kyoya, still shirtless, sets down his water bottle. "Do you actually think she could have in any way won against them?"

"No, of course not, but Tamaki saying that it's because she's a girl is sexist and completely out of line," you state.

"He has a point."

Before you know it, Kyoya grabs your forearm and flips you onto the bed underneath his tall figure with his arms on either side of your head and legs in a position to where you're effectively trapped. You don't have much time to react, so you end up like this, gazing up into the barely visible features of Kyoya's face.

"You're smart enough to not be deceived by the notion that sex doesn't matter," he says lowly. "You've left yourself completely defenseless against me."

You fight back a laugh. "And you're an idiot if you think I would fall for something like this because--" you pause to rapidly put your hand on his shoulder, wrap your leg around his to heave his weight to the side, and flip him over to make yourself be on top and straddling his body the way he did to you "--I know you're not that much of an asshole to believe anatomy effects ability. I know what Tamaki meant, but as I've just proved, your words are meaningless. It's about the actions one takes to ensure their defense, not the gender, sexuality, race, or any other bullshit stereotype people label on others. Judging a book by its cover only defines who you are as a person, not who that person is."

You spin off the bed as Kyoya, slightly put off by your response, sits on the edge. He reaches over to retrieve his glasses and slides them onto his face.

"I thought it was worth a try to see if you were susceptible to the idea of roles in society in a different form. Just a curiosity. I'm sorry if I offended you," he says, rising to his feet and walking over to the wardrobe to pick out a shirt.

You're confused by his true intentions, but you're too tired to question him about them and you understand the baseline of what he was trying to convey.

"It's fine. As long as Tamaki and Haruhi made up and nobody is arguing, I'm happy because it's less drama and annoyance for me," you reply.

"So, in a sense, you're looking out for your own benefits?" Kyoya inquires, pulling on a tan shirt.

You ponder for a moment as you sneakily watch the fabric cover his muscles inch by inch.

"In a way. But I don't like seeing the ones I care for in distress or sorrow. It effects me as much as it does them, and in that instance, it's not good for anyone. With that said, I also think I could be content knowing my friends are at their best, even if I am still at my worst."

The words of truth aren't what Kyoya expects; not something so meaningful and honest because his perception has already been altered so many times from the sentences you speak, and here you are, for the thousandth time, doing it again.