"I clean, make copies and bring tea but don't get a single 'thank you,'
I check my mail, only advertisements; is this what it means to be an adult?
Love is vague, it's intangible and fragile;
But I don't mind. Just take me to a dream world.
Breakin' free now, stop pretending not to care;
FRiDAY FRiDAY-MA−MAGiC~
So let's party tonight. Selfish? I can't hide my true colors anymore.
I'm definitely crazy in love. I'm about to break.
FRiDAY FRiDAY-MA−MAGiC~
I can't do it, I can't be a good girl. Party, party! Oh! Friday night!"
...
Blinking her rather large [color] hued eyes, [Name] wrung her hands together above the small starched white apron she was forced to wear. The crisp white of the small apron contrasted greatly with the black silky material of the dress that she was forced into, no thanks to the so called "Shadow King."
"Che," [Name] scoffed, trying to tug the small skirt down and give her some more coverage at least. "It's not my fault René-frère didn't warn me that that… demon!... was lurking behind me!"
In all honesty, [Name] was speaking the truth.
[First Name] [Middle Name] Grantaine, the petite [hair color] woman that was currently standing in a changing room in Ouran High School, really had no clue that Ootori Kyouya was standing behind her that day. She was still new to Ouran, and hadn't seen her older cousin René (or Tamaki, as the Japanese students here knew him by) in a couple of years. He had always been able to draw out a more carefree and hyper side in her, one that could match his own on occasion; it was in their blood, after all. So when she twirled around to imitate one of the dance moves that she had previously performed in one of her more famous ballet shows, [Name] had no clue that the tall dark haired male was standing beside her, holding a cup of coffee. The poor girl didn't expect the coffee to spill all over the cosplay outfit that he was dressed in for the day.
Nor did she expect for him to make her pay for it.
Well, money wasn't an issue for [Name].
It was the fact that the "Shadow King" had something else in mind, other than money, to make her repay the debt.
Her dearest elder cousin, Tamaki, even agreed with that demons plan. He thought it was a good idea for [Name] to spend more time around him and his "family," or the group of people that made up the Host Club at Ouran High School. But she had been around them ever since she had shown up weeks before.
How was offering herself up as a "hostess," per say, supposed to help them with business? Really, it wasn't even that. Kyouya had just informed her that she was to wear the outfit in the garment bag and help Haruhi serve snacks and refreshments to the guests. Then, after the guest's time with their specified host was up, they could pay for one of [Name]'s lessons in the French language, since the girl was originally from the country and spoke French fluently, it being her native tongue.
But really, this could be done without the French maid costume.
Not just any French maid costume; no, this one was something even [Name], a native from France, considered risqué. Just what did that demon have in mind, making her dress in something like that?
"[N-Name]-Senpai...!"
Eyes widening in surprise, the short girl quickly turned to face the person who called her name, tugging down on the black skirt to try and look innocent.
"Haruhi-Chan?" [Name] questioned, blinking at the underclassman directly across from her. Haruhi was dressed in an English looking tuxedo, probably matching the whole 'Western Tea Time' theme the club was supposed to be having today. "Are you alright? You seem a bit shocked."
"Yeah… It's just… What are you wearing, Senpai?" The androgynous underclassmen blinked, tilting her head to the side.
Yes, her. [Name] was able to determine that Haruhi was indeed a female by spending time around the Host Club. Not to mention, her cousin Tamaki was literally head over heels for the poor girl. But both of them were really too dense to realize their feelings for the other.
"Blame Kyouya-Kun," The girl's voice gritted from behind clenched teeth as she tugged even more on the hem of the short maid outfit. "This is his idea."
"Kyouya-Senpai's idea?" Haruhi questioned, blinking in confusion.
"Oui," [Name] answered in French without thinking, nodding her head in confirmation. "Remember when I bumped into him and made him spill that commoner's coffee all over the cosplay that he was wearing a few days ago? This is how I'm expected to repay my debt."
"HARU~HI! "
Before either female could blink, the younger girl was engulfed in a tight hug by the blonde haired half French, half Japanese President of the Host Club: René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine Suoh, or as his fellow Japanese classmates and friends knew him as, Suoh Tamaki.
"Papa was worried about you, Haruhi! Haruhi was late, so I decided to go and search for you myself!" Tamaki exclaimed, spinning the poor girl around in a circle as his words flew from his mouth.
"Senpai, let go." Haruhi emotionlessly replied, eyes glazed over in boredom; this was beginning to seem like a normal habit to her, which was a scary thought.
"Mou~ René-frère, help me out a little bit here!" The only other half French person in the hallway pouted, jutting her lower lip out a bit as she tried making her eyes appear much larger and more innocent than usual as she forced her cousin's attention to herself. "Tell me I don't have to wear this while I help out today... René-frère is the leader of the Host Club, ne? What René-frère says, everyone has to listen to, ne?"
"[Nickname]-Chan looks so cute~!" Tamaki exclaimed, releasing Haruhi in an instant and glomping his cousin. "Kyouya has great taste, doesn't he?"
"No!" [Name] wailed, "René-frère agrees with that…that demon?!"
"Yes~" Tamaki cooed, grabbing her hand and gracefully spinning the ex-ballerina around in a circle. "[Nickname]-Chan does look cute, after all!"
"Yeah, maybe to guys I look cute… I don't think the Host Clubs female customers will appreciate it very much."
"Nonsense!" The blonde argued, quickly shaking his head back and forth. "Kyouya knows what he's doing~"
"…You trust that Shadow King too much…" [Name] muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her large [color] eyes.
Tamaki gasped, bringing a hand to rest on his chest. "But Mother always knows best, ne? And Kyouya is the Mother~"
Haruhi shook her head and sighed, closing her eyes. She'd heard enough of the so called 'family' that Tamaki spoke about. Sure, she knew why he insisted they were a family; they filled the empty space that a family should have in Tamaki's life.
"Che, Kyouya-Kun doesn't always know best…" [Name] scoffed, eyes cut to the side at nothing in particular as her [color] orbs hardened into a glare.
"Eh?" Tamaki blinked, pausing with a blank look on his face. The quiet moment didn't last long, because Tamaki's head tilted to the side as his brow scrunched up in confusion. "I thought [Nickname]-Chan liked the 'cool' type?"
Cheeks aflame, the only girl dressed in a French maid's uniforms jaw dropped in what one would assume to be mock horror. "René-frère..! W-What is this nonsense about?!"
"I remember, when we were younger and still in France, I asked [Nickname]-Chan what her type was. Clearly, [Nickname]-Chan was all about the 'cool' type! And Kyouya fits that role, doesn't he? Kyouya is our resident Cool Type host club member~"
"Kill me now…" [Name] weakly moaned, hiding her face behind her hands as she slowly sank to the floor. Before Tamaki or Haruhi could even blink, the female half French girl had quickly scooted herself into a nearby corner. Dark clouds seemed to billow above her head as she moped. "I had completely forgotten about that… How could I be so dense when I was smaller..? Stupid, stupid, stupid..!"
"Senpai..!" Haruhi spoke, caught in-between wanting to help her upperclassman and wanting to just go on ahead to the Third Music Room, where all Host activities were held. The meek brown haired girl didn't know what to do; [Name] had always been nice to her, but then again, she was Tamaki's cousin. Overreacting and crazy antics seemed to run in the family.
Tamaki just laughed, clapping a hand on Haruhi's shoulder as he saw the girl waver in her attempt to walk over to his sulking cousin. "Don't worry, Haruhi! [Nickname]-Chan is always like this! She just doesn't like admitting to her heart what she wants. Clearly my dearest cousin is living in denial~"
At her cousin's words, the poor girl let out an audible wail as she buried her face into her knees. [Name] wrapped her arms around her legs, slightly rocking back and forth under her cloud of depression. Her words were unidentifiable due to the hysterics she seemed to be in.
Haruhi sighed, placing a palm to her forehead. Overreacting did seem to run in the family. Shooting the blonde male next to her a glare, trying to communicate that this whole thing was his entire fault, the first year tried to comfort the wailing female. "C'mon, [Name]-Senpai… It's not that bad. Tamaki-Senpai doesn't know what he's talking about."
"How hurtful, my Haruhi..!" Tamaki wailed, running over to his cousin and copying her actions. The ominous cloud of depression above both of them seemed much more menacing. It was true; misery loved company.
Big brown doe eyes blinked as she took in the scene; how was Haruhi supposed to handle two of them sulking like that? She could hardly handle [Name], and she wasn't half as bad as Tamaki was.
The lights above Haruhi seemed to burn even brighter.
She had an idea.
She would just get the rest of the Host Club to help!
Spinning around, Haruhi blinked in surprise as she walked right into a firm chest. Blank brown eyes blinked as they traveled upwards, landing on a tall dark haired teen.
"Kyouya-Senpai..!"
"What's going on here?" Kyouya asked, dark gray orbs rolling behind his rimless glasses before landing on the two half French people sulking in a corner. Noticing the thickening clouds hanging above the two, he let out a sigh. "We open in five minutes and I noticed that it was too quiet; we were lacking three of our members."
"Oh, the world is so cruel to me! Comfort me, Mother~" Tamaki exclaimed, miraculously returning to his normal cheerful self. Standing up, the blonde male ran in a beeline straight towards the second in command; the (unwilling) Mother of the Host Club.
Kyouya didn't only have great looks.
He also had the brains.
Needless to say, Kyouya was used to Tamaki's antics by now (one should hope) and sidestepped the blonde's attempt at a large bear hug.
"What is it now, Daddy?" The Shadow King himself spoke, teasingly, bringing a hand up to push the side of his glasses up; in doing so, they glinted in the bright light of the hallway. "Hurry up. We can't leave our guests waiting, now can we?"
"Nope~" Tamaki beamed, seeming to forget all of his troubles as he looped his arm through Haruhi's. "C'mon, Haruhi~ Off we go!"
"But… [Name]-Senpai..?" Haruhi tried to reason.
"No need to worry," Kyouya smirked at the petite brunette trying to resist Tamaki, blatantly ignoring the big grin and thumbs up that the blonde beside Haruhi was sending his way. "I'll handle [Name]."
As the words left his lips, [Name] felt her muscles stiffen in surprise. What was he going to do to her? After all, she knew that he was the so called "Shadow King" and she even called him the "Shadow Demon," but that was always around others. She hadn't spent much time with him without other hosts being around. She had no clue how to react, especially since Tamaki's words recalled memories from the past of when she dreamed that she'd be swept off of her feet by a 'cool' guy. He'd be kind of detached from the world, cool and calculating, but he'd always warm up around her, and only her.
Tamaki had made [Name] realize that Kyouya was the 'cool' type.
Quickly, the woman pressed her right hand to her heart. Clearly it was overreacting, just like she normally did; why else would it be pounding so quickly and forcefully? It was so strange and new to her.
"You know, if you don't get to moving, we'll be late. We can't have that now, can we?" Kyouya asked, slowly walking towards the woman still curled into a ball. The shiny black dress shoes noisily pressed against the floors, a drastically slower tempo than the blonde's heart rate. A chuckle echoed throughout the empty hallway once Kyouya saw that [Name] still wasn't moving. She was stubborn, he'd give her that. "If we are late, I would think that your punishment would only increase. You wouldn't want that, would you [Name]?"
A high pitched squeal echoed, courtesy of Kyouya scaring [Name] by placing a hand on her shoulder.
The [hair colored] girl quickly stood up, turning around to face Kyouya the instant the squeal left her parted lips. "K-Kyouya-Kun… You scared me..!"
"The dress suits you," The dark haired male observed, deep gray eyes scanning over the dress that clung to [Name]'s figure. With a smirk he reached out to straighten the starched apron a bit, slowly moving his fingertips across the wrinkles to smooth them out. The girl's breath hitched in her throat, cheeks heating up in surprise. "On second thought, it'd be good if you were late. More time in this dress."
Butterflies exploded in [Name]'s stomach. Why was she so nervous alone with Kyouya? She was never this nervous performing in front of thousands of people. So why did just standing alone with Kyouya make her weak at the knees? Why did he make her heart pound in her chest, her breath come in sharp gasps? Why did her cheeks and ears feel like they were on fire?
All of this could only mean one thing to the poor girl:
She liked Kyouya.
"I should be going!" [Name] exclaimed, [color] eyes wide at her sudden discovery as she shakily dunked under Kyouya's arms and darted down the hallway towards the third music room.
Kyouya allowed a laugh to pass his lips as he stared at her running down the hallway. He wasn't going to let her escape a second time. Not after Tamaki had finally given him the thumbs up.
...
"What is it that you call Tamaki-Sama?"
"Ah?" [Name] blinked, refilling the last girls' cup of tea. "I call him René-frère."
A girl raised her hand, gaining the hostess's attention.
"Yes?" [Name] asked, head tilting to the side.
"What does René-frère mean?"
Grinning, [Name] set the tea kettle down and stood before the rather large group of curious girls. "René-frère is what I've always called Tamaki by. We grew up together in France, and in France he went by his French name: René. The frère that I add is 'brother' in French. So, I guess it would be the equivalent of Tamaki-Nii?"
"Grantaine-Chan," One of the girls surrounding [Name] began to ask, stars shining in her eyes, "How do you say, 'I like you!' in French?"
"Ah, that would be 'je vous aime.'"
The surrounding girls giggled, instantly trying to repeat the phrase with their best French accents.
"[Nickname]-Chan is really doing a good job as a hostess!" Honey smiled, gently rubbing his cheek against his stuffed rabbit as his large eyes continued to watch the [color] haired woman gracefully interacting with the large group of women.
"Ah~ It runs in the family, ne?" Tamaki gushed, dramatically dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief that he pulled out of Kyouya's pocket. "They grow up so fast~"
"Just like Haruhi," Hikaru spoke, only to have the sentence finished by Karou, "[Name] is a natural."
"She's actually doing better than I thought she would." Kyouya noted, his sharp eyes moving to observe the grace in which the new hostess completed her movements. "She fits in with the rest of the hosts, too."
"[Name]-Senpai made today fly by so fast." Haruhi noted, "She was the one scurrying around and filling everyone's drinks instead of me."
"Because of that, Haruhi was able to get more customers, ne?" Tamaki asked, slinging an arm around her shoulders as he grinned. "[Nickname]-Chan is an excellent addition! She should join full time!"
"Eh? How are you going to convince her, Tama-Chan?" Honey asked, crinkling his eyebrows in confusion. "Wasn't [Nickname]-Chan blackmailed into joining us today?"
"Ehehe," The blonde sheepishly laughed, "That's right."
Deep gray eyes continued to watch [Name] chatting and answering questions; she was doing better than he had imagined. "Leave that up to me."
"Kyouya-Senpai?" Haruhi asked, as everyone's eyebrows rose at the dark haired male's ambiguous response.
Tamaki blinked once before a huge grin split across his face. "I'll leave it to you, Kyouya~"
...
"Stupide, René-frère…" [Name] grumbled, tidying up the host club's room. Tamaki had quickly ushered everyone home, leaving her to clean up everyone's mess. There were countless soiled teacups, saucers, plates, forks, and spoons.
Heaving a heavy sigh, the maid placed the dirty dishes in the large basin that she carried on her hip; she felt like she was a waitress working the closing shift at a restaurant. Or better yet, she felt like the maid she was dressed up to be.
"Oh? Tamaki left you here alone?" A familiar voice whispered into the [color] haired woman's ear, causing her heart to skip a beat and her hands to fall limp at her sides from shock.
[Name] dropped the basin full of dirty china, only to cringe at the sound of all of the plates, teacups, and saucers breaking. She quickly whirled around, poking the male's shoulder with her pointer finger as she glared up at him.
"Kyouya! Look at what you did!"
"I did nothing; you were the one that dropped the china."
"You made me nervous!"
"Oh?"
The maid began to blush, close to matching a strawberry, as she stuttered a bit and started to twine her fingers together. "Y-You know..! Whispering in my ear like that..! S-Standing so close!"
"Ah, in that case I apologize." Kyouya smirked, "But you'll have to pay for the ruined china. You were the one that dropped it."
"You made me drop it!" [Name] screeched, poking her finger against the male's chest as she glared up at him. "So it's your fault!"
"It slipped from your hands," The tall male replied. "You know I won't actually make you pay for it."
Groaning, the woman removed her finger from Kyouya's chest. Bringing her hand to rest on the back of her neck, she sighed. "How long have you added to me working as a hostess, then?"
"Long enough."
"How long is that?" [Name] asked, feeling her eye begin to twitch from lack of definite answers.
"Long enough for me to keep you close." Kyouya answered.
"E-Eh?"
One step forward for Kyouya; one step backwards for [Name].
The woman gasped when her back hit the wall, Kyouya cornering her. Before her large [color] eyes could blink, his hands were on the wall on both sides of her head.
"Kyouya..?"
In the dimmed lightening of the third music room Kyouya's glasses glinted, obscuring his gaze.
"Je vous aime."
[Name] gasped at his words.
Kyouya wasn't in any of the French classes, but his accent was perfect. Goosebumps erupted across her skin from his voice alone.
"Do you really mean it?" She asked, trying to steady her already gasping breath. "Or is this just a ploy to get me to quickly agree to lengthening my blackmailed position in the Host Club?"
"You know me, [Name]." Kyouya said as he lowered his gaze, exposing his dark gray orbs. "I'm not that selfless; this is for my benefit."
"Y-Your benefit…huh?"
"Mm," Kyouya hummed, nodding his head before lowering it to [Name]'s level. When his nose skimmed across hers, he couldn't help but smirk at the audible intake of breath as she gasped. "I don't think it would benefit just me, of course."
The petite half French woman raised a thinly shaped eyebrow. Trying to keep her nerve, her large [color] eyes stared deep into the dark gray orbs before her. "So you're saying we'd both benefit?"
One of Kyouya's hands slid down the wall, coming to a stop at her hip. His fingers tightened around her as he slowly took a step closer. Dark gray eyes looked for any sign of reluctance; he found none.
[Name]'s eyes slowly slid shut. She could no longer take the tension between the two of them. Lightly biting her lower lip, she gasped when she felt Kyouya's warm breath over her own mouth.
Their lips met with no hesitance, perfectly molding together. [Name]'s hands were quick to grab onto the front of Kyouya's suit, tugging him down and closer to her own body. Kyouya's arm wound completely around her waist, his other hand moving to the base of her neck and intertwining in her hair. Both battled for dominance, neither one wanting to surrender.
Parting a few moments later, both teens were breathing ruggedly. Kyouya's lips moved to [Name]'s neck, toying with her flesh.
Breathlessly laughing, [Name] brought a hand up to run through Kyouya's dark locks. "I guess you're right this time, Kyouya."
"I'm always right."
"Heh," [Name] laughed. "La mère sait le meilleur."
The dark haired male merely nipped the skin of her neck, "And what does that mean?"
"Mother knows best~"
...
Authoress' Note: Thank you so very much for reading! This was an old request from an old friend from Quizilla, lovedaweasleytwins. I've never read or seen the manga or anime for this series... Just the live action series! So I hope I didn't mess anything up too badly! I do not own OHSCH, and the lyrics above are from Miwa's "FRiDAY-MA-MAGiC," which was the theme song for the live action.