Author's Note: Hello I'm Aurora! I recently just finished binge watching all of Ouran Host Club on Netflix & I fell absolutely in love (and admittedly a little obsessed) with the Hitachiin Twins. I started reading a bunch of Hikaru/Kaoru fanfics and was inspired to write my own with a little twist. Just so you have some backstory before you start reading, my personal opinion of the Twins is that their feelings for each other are definitely more than brotherly, but I don't think they have those feelings completely figured out yet, or that they're 100% gay either, as they've shown interest in girls. They had an interesting dynamic with Haruhi & seemed to both have a crush on her while also loving each other at the same time. However, Haruhi belongs with Tamaki, & is also way too innocent & doesn't have the right personality to be in a taboo relationship with two guys at once. Don't get me wrong, I like Haruhi, but she is completely wrong for the twins. Hikaru & Kaoru need a girl who they could keep as their toy & share with each other who would also be okay with sharing each of them with the other. So I created my OC, Dove, and decided to write her into Ouran. The story will start a little before the first episode & will loosely follow the plot of the show while of course adding in much more about Dove, the Hitachiin Twins, & their relationship (and the Twins will obviously be falling for Dove, rather than Haruhi). Bare with me through this first chapter, it's pretty long because I wanted to introduce Dove and set up the story. I hope you enjoy, & please let me know what you think about the story & about Dove & sorry for ranting!
Rating: This story is rated T, for mild language, mentions of alcohol & marijuana, and light adult themes. May be changed to M later, if necessary.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran Host Club, or any of the characters or plots from the show. The only thing I own is Dove & any plots of hers that I created.
If for some reason you were in the United States, on the east coast, in the state of Virginia and you were to look up at the sky on Saturday March 31st at 9am you would see a large plane, headed to the other side of the world. And on that plane, pressed up against the small window next to her watching the only world she ever knew get farther and farther away was a small fifteen year old girl named Dove. She took in a deep breath and sighed, watching the blue sky and the disappearing buildings as she wondered how this had become her life.
Okay so maybe she wasn't exactly clueless as to how this happened. It hadn't been a complete surprise to her when her mom had finally snapped and told her that her latest screw up had been the last straw and that she was being sent to Japan to live with her Aunt. In fact, each and every time Dove did something reckless or got herself into some kind of trouble that was exactly what her mom threatened her with. "One more time Dove," her mom would always say, "just one more time and I'm sending you straight to your Aunt's in Japan and that will be the end of this behavior". Of course, she threatened it so many times and never followed through that she didn't believe her. So she just kept on doing what she did best - partying and getting into all sorts of trouble.
Dove had fallen in with the wrong crowd in middle school, and by the time she reached high school, she was skipping school to go to the beach with her friends and getting into trouble for not paying attention or cracking jokes during class when she was there. And that was only the daytime. Once the sun went down that was when the real fun began. Dove and her friends would drive around into the early hours of morning, parking at random spots to drink, and smoke weed and every weekend she would be at random people's houses she barely knew going to house party after house party.
Sometimes though, she would end up leaving early, because whatever new boyfriend she had that month had tried to push her into doing things she didn't want to do, or it had all just become too much for her. She'd walk herself home because everyone was too drunk to drive, her head swimming from the intoxication, the whole time thinking about her life and if this was really who she wanted to be. She'd get home and her mom would yell at her and she'd think how hypocritical that was, then pass out in bed just to wake up the next morning to do the same thing all over again without consequence.
The final straw had been only two days ago, when one of Dove's friends had the brilliant idea to break into an old abandoned building and spend the night there because it was supposed to be haunted. She had known from the minute it was suggested that it was a bad idea but went along with it anyway, because she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it from her friends if she didn't go. Besides, what else was she supposed to do? So she'd gone, with a group of about ten other kids.
By the time she heard the sirens, she was already too far gone to fully register that the sound was getting louder and closer, and before she knew it she had handcuffs around her wrists and was being shoved into the back of a police car. And that was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.
Somehow she'd gotten back home, and she woke up the next morning to her mom ranting to herself in Japanese and shoving all of her belongings into suitcases. She had been too hungover at the time to fully comprehend what was going on but as she understood it, she was to be on a plane the next day to Japan to live with her Aunt and attend some prestigious school that her Aunt had managed to secure her a spot in because she taught there. And that was how she'd gotten herself here, sitting in an uncomfortable seat on a fourteen hour long plane ride to a foreign country she knew nothing about except the language.
Dove groaned, earning her a strange look from the old woman sitting next to her to which she just rolled her eyes. Really, she knew she had no one to blame for this but herself, but she still wanted to blame everyone else anyway. Her mom, for being a terrible example her entire life, her stupid friends with their stupid ideas, even her deadbeat dad whom she'd never even laid eyes on, not even in a picture. But however reckless she may be, that didn't mean she was stupid, and she knew that ultimately her decisions had been her own to make, and she'd made all the wrong ones.
Turning the music up in her headphones to block out the noise from the plane, she rested her head against the window and closed her eyes, not wanting to watch her world disappear anymore. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she thought that maybe, just maybe she could make the best of this bad situation. Maybe she could start fresh in a place where no one knew her name, or her reputation, and become a person she wouldn't hate to look at in the mirror.
Dove woke with a start as her head banged against the window when the plane landed. She rubbed the side of her head with her hand as she listened to the voice coming from the speakers of the plane. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to New Tokyo International airport. Local time is 12:14pm April 2nd and the temperature is 64 degrees. For your safety, please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened until..." Dove sighed, tuning out the pilot and putting her headphones that had fallen out back into her ears only to realize her phone was dead.
"Great." She groaned, shoving her dead phone into her jeans pocket and pushing her way into the aisle, grabbing her backpack and making her way off the plane into the unfamiliar airport. Once off, she followed the signs and made her way down to the baggage claim area where she had been told her Aunt would be waiting for her. She pulled a picture out of her backpack that her mom had given her of her Aunt, since she'd only met her twice before when she was much younger and scanned the crowd for the familiar face.
Her Aunt spotted her before she did and was already headed her way. "Konnichiwa, Dove," she said warmly, giving her a small smile and pulling her into a hug before quickly pulling back and looking her up and down, shaking her head slightly. "It's a good thing there's a uniform for your new school.
Dove had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying anything. Instead she glanced down at her clothes to inspect them herself. She had on a pair of faded jeans that were ripped open at the knee on one side, and had multiple rips down her thigh on the other side, a cream colored crop top with a pink and orange flower pattern and a pair of light orange converse. She saw nothing wrong with her clothes - this was how she always dressed. But she was guessing, with a sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought of a uniform, that was going to change very soon too whether she liked it or not.
Unconsciously, she shifted her hands nervously to her hair. She had very long, thick light brown hair that reach slightly past her hips when it was down but there was just so much of it that whenever it was down it became a huge tangled mess so she always wore it up in a high ponytail. She was very attached to her hair and she was determined that no matter how many other things in her life were changing, she wasn't letting anyone mess with it. That was out of the question.
"Dove, are you listening to me?" Her Aunt scolded, waving a hand in front of her face.
She blinked, letting her hand drop and grinned apologetically, "Sorry, what?"
Her Aunt sighed, handing Dove two large bags of luggage to carry and pulling one behind herself as she headed out the doors of the airport towards the parking lot. "I said, I have been made aware of what has been going on with you, and I want you to know right from the start that kind of behavior won't be tolerated here." Dove nodded, and tried to keep pace with her Aunt while balancing the heavy bags in her arms. "That being said, I'm not going to hold anything you've done in your past against you. Your mother and I both want you to have a fresh start, far away from everything and everyone that was influencing your behavior and that's exactly what you're going to get here."
Dove gasped, she hadn't been expecting that. Really, she assumed she would be getting an hour long lecture about everything she'd done wrong, and how she was ruining her life and so on, because that's what her mom always did. She couldn't help it, she found herself smiling, and she looked over at her Aunt gratefully, "H-hai. Thank you, Aunt Maiko." And as she opened the car door and squeezed into the seat beside her luggage, she couldn't help thinking for the second time now, that maybe this really could be a good thing after all.
Much to Dove's dismay, she had been woken early the next morning by her Aunt and told she had already missed the first day of school, and couldn't miss any more so she would be starting immediately. Even worse was the uniform that had been hung on the door for her. Dove shifted uncomfortably as she studied herself in the mirror. She had never worn anything like this before in her life and had it been up to her, she never would again.
She didn't care much for dresses in the first place, except the occasional sundress in the summer when it was too hot to wear anything else. And this dress in particular was way too wide at the bottom, had puffy shoulders and was a horrible pale yellow color that looked strange against her pink tinted skin tone. Not to mention the clingy white tights and uncomfortable black dress shoes. Dove scowled at her reflection - she missed her jeans and converse.
With the briefest thought of her friends back home, and what they would think of her in this ridiculous get up, she realized there was nothing to be done about it and pulled her hair up into its usual high ponytail, sticking to her resolve that her hair at the very least would remain under her control. She sighed, grabbing her backpack and making her way downstairs only to hear her Aunt squeal with delight.
"Kawaii! Dove you look adorable!" Maiko grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around in a little circle.
Dove couldn't help herself, she groaned, throwing herself down into one of the kitchen chairs and stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth. "I look like a cupcake." She mumbled in between bites, "A very unfashionable cupcake."
Maiko just shook her head, ignoring her protests for the most part. "Nonsense. Now, when we get to school, I'll introduce you to the Chairman's son who has graciously agreed to show you around the school. His name is Tamaki Suoh and he's one year above you." She paused for a minute, considering something as she looked and the scowl Dove still had on her face, "Be nice, he's my bosses son and I like my job. And please wipe that look off your face."
Dove sighed, plastering a huge fake grin on her face in place of the scowl, and considering for a moment how there would be no chance of her being able to skip school anymore even if she wanted to since her Aunt worked there, "I'll be good." She promised, like she even had a choice.
Maiko raised an eyebrow and looked at her for a minute as if considering whether or not this was a good idea after all but gave a small nod after a minute. "Right, well let's get going then!" She said cheerfully, clapping her hands together lightly. Grabbing another piece of toast, Dove nodded back and followed her Aunt out to her car, silently thanking whatever Gods that were listening that at least all the other girls would be in the same ridiculous outfit she was.
The drive to the school, which she had learned was called Ouran Academy, was relatively short and soon enough she found herself without her mouth gaping open at the huge school campus that was more the size of a college than a high school. Great, she thought, I'm going to be in a school with a bunch of stuck up rich kids. But she couldn't help but be at least slightly impressed with the school as she followed her Aunt inside and she realized the inside of the school was even larger and more impressive than the outside.
They had only walked a few steps into the school when Maiko beamed as she spotted a tall blonde haired boy in a blue blazer and black dress pants. "Tamaki-sama!" She greeted him, smiling, "This is my niece, Dove Kobayashi. Thank you for agreeing to show her around." She nudged Dove lightly with her elbow and pushed her forward slightly.
"Oh, yeah thanks!" Dove said quickly, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Before she even knew what had happened, the blonde boy - Tamaki - had grabbed Dove's hand and pulled her closer to him so that they were only inches apart and he lightly brushed his lips against her finger tips. "It's my pleasure, princess." He said, purple eyes sparkling.
Dove's own green eyes widened as she stared at this strange boy for a minute, unsure of what exactly had just happened. She was used to getting attention from guys, sure but not like this. Most guys back home usually just resorted to yelling out obscene things from across the room or trying to make out with her after a few drinks. Was this guy for real? She couldn't help it, after the initial shock wore off, Dove burst out laughing. "Trust me, I'm no princess." She grinned at him, tugging her hand out his grasp, considering for a second, "But I will be if it gets you to show me around, this building is huge, and there's no way I'm not getting lost."
Tamaki looked stricken - clearly he wasn't used to girls brushing off his charm like it was nothing. "R-right this way prin-" he paused, looking at Dove's smug grin and raised eyebrow, "Dove-chan." He flushed slightly but quickly recovered himself and flourished his hand forward to tell her to proceed ahead. Dove held back another laugh, shaking her head. With a quick wave to her Aunt, Dove walked ahead, deciding that this boy might be strange, but at least it was an improvement over the guys from her old school.
He turned out to be a pretty good tour guide, he seemed to know every inch of the school and took his time showing her around. She also noticed that seemingly every girl in the school that they passed greeted him in some way or another and without fail he greeted each and every one of them back referring to them all as "princess" and shamelessly flirting with them. He sure was popular. Though she didn't see the appeal he held with all the girls, he was nice enough and she could use a friend, so she tried her very best to hold back her laughter and eye rolls while he put on a show for the other girls.
When Dove thought there was no possible way there could be anymore to see in the school, Tamaki paused at a set of double doors, the sign above them read Music Room 3. Tamaki beamed at her, his grin wider than she'd seen it yet and pointed at the doors. "The final stop on our tour is my favorite place in the school. This is where my club meets every day after classes are over. You should stop by today, it's a very popular club."
Dove shrugged, not wanting to offend him but she didn't even want to be in school during class hours, let alone stay after, "Um, thanks but I don't really know much about playing music. I'm more of a dancer than a musician."
Tamaki laughed loudly, shaking his head, "No, this isn't a music club."
Dove raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to elaborate but he didn't. She couldn't help it, she was curious, "What kind of club is it then?"
Tamaki just grinned, "Come by after class and find out for yourself." He said, winking. "Come on," he started again, not giving her a chance to refuse, "I'll walk you to your second class, we've already missed first period."
Dove took a deep breath as she watched Tamaki walk away to his class and she stood in front of her classroom door, alone now. Her second class of the day was math - her absolute least favorite subject. She hated math, she found it extremely pointless and it was the class she skipped most often back home. For a minute, she almost turned around and walked away from the classroom, thinking that the school was big enough no one would find her anyway. But she thought better of it and let out the breath she'd been holding as she opened the doors and walked in.
Much to her relief, she wasn't late so no one was staring at her as she scanned the room for an empty seat, awkwardly tugging on the little red bow on her dress. She finally spotted one that was thankfully in the second row closest to the back of the room and she threw her bag down on the desk before sitting down, and tossing her big ponytail over the chair so that she didn't sit on her hair.
"Hey, watch it!" She heard a boy yell irritably and she spun around in her chair to see what she could possibly have done to piss someone off after only a few seconds of being in class. Her eyes widened and for once, she found herself at a loss for words. Even with a scowl on his face, the boy behind her might just have been the most attractive boy she'd ever seen - and she didn't exactly hang out with bad looking guys back home. He had messy auburn hair, with bangs parted to the right that fell just below his big golden eyes and though it was hard to tell because he was seated, he appeared to be fairly tall, with a lean frame.
Awestruck, she watched him as he detangled his hands from her hair and brushed a few loose strands out of his face, finally grabbing the bulk of it and tossing it back at her. As she was hit in the face with her own ponytail, Dove finally snapped out of her trance, "Um.. S-sorry," She stuttered, shaking her head slightly to clear it. This was ridiculous, since when did she ever let any guy have this kind of affect on her? He's just another guy, she reminded herself, clearing her throat and trying again. "My hair has a mind of it's own, I swear." She joked, and grinned at him apologetically, holding out her hand, "I'm Dove, it's my first day here."
The boy studied Dove's outstretched hand for a minute, as if trying to decide something while Dove watched him, still wide-eyed. Finally, a smile that was more of a smirk spread across his lips and he grasped Dove's hand in his own which she couldn't help but notice was extraordinarily soft for a boy's hand. "No harm done, I guess. I'm Hikaru." He glanced to his left and Dove followed his gaze as he gestured with his other hand to a boy in the seat next to him, "And this is my brother, Kaoru."
It took every ounce of self control Dove had to stop her jaw from dropping open. She took in the other boy's features and realized they looked exactly alike, except this other boy - Kaoru - had his auburn bangs parted to the left and wore a shy smile on his lips rather than his brother's smirk which made his features looked softer. He also had a tiny, barely noticeable freckle just under the outer corner of his right eye. Lost in her thoughts, she was vaguely aware of Kaoru grabbing her other hand and holding it gently between both of his. If it was possible, her eyes widened even more and she looked back and forth between the two identical boys. There's two of them... the thought kept running around in her head and she became flustered once more. "Pleased to meet you, little bird." Kaoru said softly, the musical tone in his voice causing her heart to skip a beat.
"N-nice to meet you too... K-Kaoru," she said shyly before glancing back over to the first boy, and nodding at him, her voice barely a whisper at this point as she said, "Hikaru.." she stared at him for a minute before coming to her senses and pulling both of her hands back from them simultaneously which helped to clear her head. "I um.. I think class is starting." She said quickly, spinning back around in her chair before either of the boys could say anything else to her. She took a deep breath, and put her head in her hands, embarrassed at herself. Usually, she talked to boys with ease, joking around and flirting with them like it was second nature. Never in her life had anyone had this affect on her, and she was determined to be in control of herself next time she spoke to the twins.
She had two more classes with them, fourth and fifth period, though she wasn't sure about first since she had missed that one. She was annoyed at how she had looked for them upon entering each class, and had deflated somewhat during third and sixth period when they weren't there. She hadn't spoken to anyone else in her classes, and no one else had spoken to her, she just got a few sideways glances here and there since she was new. The twins did both speak to her again though.
At the beginning of fourth period, which was literature, one of the twins - Kaoru, she decided, noting his left parted bangs and the slight musical tone to his voice when he spoke - had smiled at her and waved her over to the empty seat next to him in the front row. Normally, Dove would have been opposed to sitting in the front of the class, as the teacher would more likely be able to notice whether or not she was paying attention but she found her legs moving of their own accord towards the open seat, unable to resist Kaoru's charming smile as he said, "You can sit with me, if you want."
"Thanks, Kaoru." She said, softer than she would have liked but thankfully more composed than before as she returned his smile and glanced at Hikaru who was sitting behind him to give him a small smile as well. She noticed that for a brief second, they both looked slightly confused and she wondered if she had somehow managed to mix them up, "I'm so sorry, did I get that wrong?" She asked, horrified, looking back and forth between the two of them. She was usually very observant when it came to reading other people.
"No, you were... right." Hikaru said, a slight shock to his voice, and she could almost feel his eyes on the back of her head throughout the duration of class. When class was over she had gathered her stuff and almost gotten out the door when she bumped into someone and then felt an arm around her shoulders. Kaoru was blocking her exit, which meant it was Hikaru's arm around her. She flushed slightly red as she tilted her chin up slightly to look at Hikaru, noting the height difference. She was just barely five feet tall, and the twins towered over her by at least nine inches. "What's your next class? We have Chemistry."
"Me too, although I'm not too sure who's bright idea it was to put me in such an advanced class, I'm terrible at science." Dove admitted, happy at least that she was now better able to keep her composure around these two. After all, she kept repeating to herself in her head like a mantra, they were just boys. Just ordinary boys like any other. And she needed friends, which they wouldn't want to be if she kept acting like a star struck idiot.
"We'll walk you. You can sit with me, and I'll help you, I'm really good at Chemistry." Hikaru grinned and Dove couldn't help thinking she wouldn't mind chemistry so much if it was between her and Hikaru. Just a boy... She reminded herself and she nodded, not trusting herself to speak as Kaoru threw his arm around her shoulders as well and she walked down the hallway between the two.
She couldn't help but notice as they walked, that many of the same girls who had been waving and greeting Tamaki earlier were acting the same way around the twins, and she thought it was a little odd but chalked it up to girls here just being shamelessly flirty with attractive boys. She also noticed - and admittedly couldn't help but be a little happy about it - that Hikaru and Kaoru didn't pay as much attention to the girls as Tamaki did. They would wave or smile but that was about it, they were more focused on each other instead. They were laughing about something she hadn't caught because she was too busy observing everyone, and would steal glances at each other fairly often.
During fifth period, she sat with them again, this time in the second row between the two. Halfway through class, Hikaru had tossed a small piece of paper at her, which hit her head and fell onto her desk. She unfolded it to reveal a drawing of their teacher, with a frogs head as her face and she could help but laugh out loud (their teacher did have a very frog-like look to her), earning her a nasty glare from the teacher. She quickly hid the paper before it could be seen and apologized, glancing at Hikaru once the teacher had turned around and grinning.
So then he wasn't just a pretty face, she was getting the vibe that he may just be a little bit of a troublemaker like herself. Okay, maybe not exactly like she had been, he seemed way too well groomed and put together for all that, but she had a feeling they would get along just fine. She looked over to her other side at Kaoru, wondering about him for a minute. He was a little harder to read, because he was a little quieter than his brother, but that would just make it more fun to figure him out.
The rest of class passed quickly, and she parted ways with the twins reluctantly when she realized she didn't share last period with them. She didn't pay much attention during her last class, watching the clock in anticipation of the school day ending so that she could check out Tamaki's club. Sometime during third period, when she wasn't distracted by the twins, she had decided she was too curious not to at least find out what exactly it was. Besides, the twins might have been being nice to her in class today, but she had way too much experience with people to think their interest would really last once her new girl appeal wore off, and she wasn't the kind of person who liked to be on her own. She needed a new group of friends, and she guessed that this club was her best option of making some at the moment.
The last bell signaling the end of the school day finally rang, and Dove was the first person out of the classroom, rushing in the direction Tamaki had told her the middle school was to meet up with her Aunt in her classroom. She was supposed to be riding home with her, and realized she'd have to let her know about her plans to check out the club, and for a minute she was worried she would say no. Dove wasn't used to asking for permission and was mildly annoyed at having to do so, but she didn't want to risk not asking - she wasn't sure what would happen if she messed up here but she knew she didn't want to find out.
"Aunt Maiko?" Dove waved at her Aunt who was poured over a stack of papers.
Maiko smiled and gestured for Dove to come inside. "Dove! How was your first day? Did you like your classes? Make any friends?"
Dove smiled slightly at her Aunt's enthusiasm - she couldn't have been more different from her mom, even though they were sisters. "It wasn't bad," she admitted truthfully, she really hadn't hated it as much as she thought she would, "Classes were..." she paused, thinking not of the classwork but of the insanely attractive twins, "interesting." She flushed slightly, and quickly pulled her ponytail in front of her face pretending to be detangling her hair to hide her red face before her Aunt could notice, "And oh, about making friends... I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Yes, what's that?" Maiko asked, eyeing her curiously.
"Well, that Tamaki boy who showed me around the school this morning invited me to come to his club after school. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of clubs it is, he wouldn't tell me. But I was wondering if you'd mind if I went." At that, Maiko covered her mouth and giggled - actually giggled - like a school girl. Dove raised an eyebrow, "Um, Aunt Maiko? You okay?"
Maiko suppressed her laughter, and walked over to Dove, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Of course you can go, I know all about Tamaki-sama's little club. It's very popular, I think you'll definitely enjoy yourself."
Dove watched her Aunt, who was clearly still trying to stop herself from laughing, making her slightly concerned and a worried look crossed her face. "Right. Okay then well... thanks. I'll see you later tonight." Her Aunt waved at her and she could hear renewed giggles as she made her way out of the classroom, wondering if this was a good idea after all. Well, she supposed it was too late to turn back now, and besides her Aunt had said this was a popular club so if she wanted to make friends this would probably be a good place to start. Now all that was left was to somehow remember how to get back to Music Room 3.
[a/n: While Dove is talking to her Aunt and wandering the halls looking for the Host Club, this is when the beginning stuff with Haruhi meeting the club and breaking the vase is happening. So Dove is going to meet the club right after Haruhi does.]
After what felt like forever, but was really only a little more than a half hour, Dove finally arrived at Music Room 3. She really had been paying attention when Tamaki had shown her around earlier but it didn't make any difference - the school was just too big. She had a bad feeling it was going to take her a while before she really knew her way around. Standing in front of the door staring at it, Dove wished she hadn't gotten there so late, now everyone was going to stare at her when she walked in. Well, there was nothing to be done about it, and she made up her mind pushing the doors open.
As she entered the room, Dove had to blink her eyes a few times, it was so bright. She stood in the doorway somewhat awkwardly, her eyes darting around the room, not sure what to look at first because well... she wasn't quite sure what exactly she was looking at. It was a large room of course, everything in this school was large, and was decorated in a way that reminded her a little bit of a fancy coffee shop around Valentine's Day. There were many tables, and couches and everything was red and pink. There were more roses than she could count, and on every table there were an assortment of sandwiches, cakes, drinks and all kinds of sweets.
Taking in the strange, but beautiful surroundings she also noticed two more things. Firstly, that literally not one person in the room was looking at her like she had thought they would. In fact, she didn't think anyone had even noticed her come in. And second, the occupants of the room were predominantly female. There was at least thirty girls, dressed in identical outfits and indistinguishable from each other - and from her, she remembered, grimacing slightly at her tacky outfit - in the room and only a few boys.
Automatically, her eyes scanned each boy in the room, trying to figure out what was going on. She spotted Tamaki first, his bright blonde hair was hard to miss, and he was surrounded by a large group of girls and they appeared to be drinking some kind of coffee or tea. Next to him was a smaller boy, around her height who much to her surprise was dressed in an oversized sweatshirt rather than the blazer and dress pants uniform the rest of the boys wore to school. Taking a few more steps into the room towards Tamaki's group, she contemplated trying to catch his attention but decided against it - he was clearly preoccupied.
Sighing, she realized she was going to have to talk to people on her own, without introduction. However, she wasn't too concerned about that. What was bothering her more was that she still had yet to figure out what kind of club this was exactly. Getting more and more confused by the second, she wandered around the room, searching for anyone who didn't look too busy to explain to her what was going on. And that was when she spotted them. Hikaru and Kaoru. She briefly wondered if it was possible for your heart to actually drop down into your stomach because that was what it felt like when she laid eyes on them.
They were at a small round table in the corner, sitting with two unfamiliar girls who were clearly infatuated with them. Not that she could blame the girls, as she was very much fascinated with these boys herself. She was close enough to overhear what they were saying, but far enough away that hopefully no one would notice her, so despite her better judgement, she decided to observe the group for a minute.
She heard Hikaru laugh, and she hated the way she loved the sound, "So he had this nightmare that made him bolt up right out of bed." He said, all smiles for the girls listening to him.
"Hikaru, don't tell them that story." Kaoru said, looking away and blushing, "I asked you not to tell anyone that. Why are you so mean to me?" She watched as a few tears rolled down Kaoru's cheeks, and found herself as captivated by their little show as the other girls.
Hikaru's golden eyes widened, concern covering every inch of his face, "I'm sorry, Kaoru." He said softly, placing his hands on either side of Kaoru's cheeks and pulling him in close so that their faces were just inches apart, "I didn't mean to upset you. But you were so adorable when it happened I had to tell them."
Kaoru grasped Hikaru's arms with his hands and they held each other close, "I forgive you." Kaoru whispered, and they stayed like that, staring into each other eyes, looking like they were about to kiss at any moment. The girls at their table squealed, and Dove realized she'd been holding her breath.
Reminding herself how to breathe again, Dove tore her eyes away from the twins. That had been... intense. She couldn't think of any other way to describe it. She found herself feeling many conflicting emotions as she walked away from the twins towards the center of the room, not sure she could take much more at the moment and trying to understand what she was feeling.
The first most prevalent emotion was definitely jealousy, and it was completely irrational. She'd only known these boys for less than a day, she had no claim on either of them and absolutely no right to be jealous of them showing other girls attention. But regardless of whether or not it was rational, she couldn't help but be disappointed that their interest in her clearly hadn't meant anything - they were big flirts just like Tamaki was and knew exactly what to say and how to act in order to get girls to fall for them.
Pushing aside her jealous feelings and forgetting the other girls, she focused instead on how they were acting with each other. She was curious, and extremely confused. They were brothers, twins even, but the way they spoke to each other, held each other and looked deep into each other's eyes like that - they were acting more like lovers. She had noticed it earlier, in the hallway when they were stealing glances at each other and had their arms entwined while around her shoulders. She had dismissed it then as nothing but seeing them now, there was definitely something going on there. Granted, it could just be a show to make the girls like them more, but she suspected that wasn't all there was to it.
The way they looked at each other, she'd seen that look before. Never directed at her, but she'd known plenty of couples back home and that was definitely a look of real, deep love. She knew she should find that disturbing, after all they were brothers, and it was so wrong on so many levels. But surprisingly, she didn't seem to find it disturbing at all. In fact, she was fascinated by it, and that thought made her feel a little sick. The only thing that helped was that clearly, the other girls felt exactly the same way she did, so she supposed it must not be that bad if they felt that way too. At least, that's what she was telling herself.
Pushing the twins from her mind as best as she could she decided to try and do what she'd come here for in the the first place - make some friends. But first, she needed to find out what exactly was going on here. At that moment she noticed two new boys walking into the room, one tall with dark hair who looked rather unapproachable and the other slightly shorter than her with dirty blonde hair who looked like he belonged in middle school rather than high school. The taller one sat down with another group of girls on some couches, and the little one ran over to the boy in the big sweatshirt she had seen with Tamaki earlier and talked with him for a minute before heading to the couches himself and jumping onto one of the girl's laps.
Dove sighed, she figured it was now or never, she'd already been here long enough without even trying to talk to anyone and the little blonde boy seemed harmless enough. Twisting a loose strand of hair around her fingers, she walked over to the couches and tapped him on the shoulder. He blinked up at her curiously with big brown eyes and a few of the girls turned to look at her as well. "Um, hi..." she started, uncomfortable with everyone staring at her. Normally, talking to new people came naturally to her, but she wasn't sure of how to act around these rich high-society types and felt very out of place. She took in a breath, forcing herself to smile, "My name's Dove. I just started school here, and I was wondering if you could maybe explain what's going on here?"
The girls giggled, much in the way her Aunt had earlier and the small boy beamed at her, jumping into her arms and knocking her over in the process because she wasn't all that much taller than he was. She flushed slightly because he'd landed on top of her and the other girls squealed in delight but he just gave her a big innocent smile, "Dove-chan!" He laughed, standing up and offering her his hand to pull her up as well, "I'm Mitsukuni, but everyone just calls me Honey. That," he pointed to the tall dark-haired boy, "is Mori. This is Host Club!"
Honey grabbed Dove's hand again and lead her over to the couch to sit next to the girls already there, and sat himself back down on one of their laps. Now Dove was even more confused, "Host Club? What's a Host club?" She asked, looking from Honey to Mori, to each of the other girls, trying to find answers on any of their faces.
Suddenly Honey got very serious for a second, as if he'd been taught to recite what he was saying by heart, "The Ouran Host Club is where the school's handsomest boy's with too much time on their hands entertain young ladies who also have way too much time on their hands." He blinked and beamed up at Mori, "How was that, Mori-chan?" Mori nodded at him in approval and Dove fell quiet, pressing her elbow into her thigh and leaning her cheek into her hand, taking a minute to process this.
"So..." she looked up at Honey, then to Mori, then got a quick glimpse of the twins who were now running off somewhere with the boy in the sweatshirt, and then over at Tamaki who was talking with another dark haired boy with glasses. "Basically you're just a group of good looking guys who got bored and started a club where girls who you otherwise would never give the time of day to could come hang out with you?"
The girls sitting near her looked horrified at how she'd worded it, and Honey fell off the couch, "So blunt..." he mumbled before composing himself and climbing back onto the couch. "It's all so much fun, really! Here, have some cake!" He grabbed a big piece of chocolate cake off the table in front of them and shoved it towards Dove.
"Um... thanks." She couldn't help but smile at him, and she took the cake he offered and took a bite because he was staring at her and she was sure he wouldn't stop until she did. So this was it then, a Host club. She couldn't help but think it was a little egotistical. These boys basically stayed after school every day to get fawned over by adoring fan girls as if they were celebrities. In fact, remembering the way all the girls acted in the hallway with Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru she figured they basically were celebrities in the school. But for what reason? For being rich and attractive? Well, she supposed that's all the majority of celebrities were famous for nowadays anyway.
And really, could she blame these girls for being so enamored by all of this? She had been just as hooked the minute she'd first laid eyes on Hikaru and Kaoru, found Honey absolutely adorable, and was even starting to see the appeal Tamaki might have. Even the room itself was gorgeous, the whole atmosphere screamed romance novel. She supposed at the very least this couldn't be a worse way to spend her time then getting drunk and high all the time and going to house parties where no one even really cared about her or remembered her name. And maybe it would distract her and keep her out of trouble. Deciding, she looked over at Honey again and smiled, "Alright, I'm in. Sign me up, what do I have to do to join?"
"Nothing! Just show up after classes and request which host you want to see that day with Kyoya, the one with the glasses. Even if we're all busy, you can always come by anyway and eat some cake!" Honey nodded at the cake still in her hands and she took another bite to appease him.
Dove thought for a minute who she would even request. Of course her mind went right to Hikaru and Kaoru, but she knew as much as she might want to she wouldn't be requesting them. No, she would much rather get to know them during classes instead. The last thing she wanted was to be just another fangirl to them, or to share their attention with other girls. She could always request Tamaki, but he was too big of a flirt, and she wasn't really interested. "Honey, is it okay if I request you tomorrow? I'd like it if we could be friends, I don't really know too many people here yet."
Honey's face lit up and he threw his arms around her neck, "Of course, Dove-chan! We can eat lots of cake, and candy and I'll even introduce you to Usa-chan!"
Dove couldn't help but laugh. Honey was certainly completely different than anyone she was friends with back home, that was for sure. She figured he was her best option at the moment as far as requesting a host. He was cheerful, didn't seem like he would try and be flirty with her, and besides she really did like cake and sweets. She just couldn't help but wondering if Hikaru or Kaoru would notice her at the club tomorrow, because they certainly didn't today. Well, at least this would definitely be interesting.
Author's Note: Okay so I know there wasn't really any romance yet. I'd like Dove's relationship with Hikaru and Kaoru to develop over time rather than happen right away out of nowhere. And, just to clarify, Dove isn't like an alcoholic or anything, she just drank at parties & such. She's a bit of a bad girl, but she's also more innocent in certain ways than she seems. It will all be explained more in time. Hopefully no one acted out of character at all either, I did my best with them. Also, I know this whole chapter was told from Dove's perspective, but at some point I may write from Hikaru or Kaoru's perspective as well. :)