Chapter 1: Medias Res
The Host Club thought that Momo Fujioka was in love with their boy Lolita, Mitsukuni Haninozuka. After all, her cheeks were always blazing red whenever she was with him and, on more than one occasion, they saw her sneaking glances at him whenever she could. Hani seemed to be taken with the young Fujioka as well, always clinging to her arm and asking her to sit with him and his cousin. The two of them were a perfect match, in their opinion. Though they were clearly on opposite sides of Japan's social hierarchy, with him being the heir of the Haninozuka family and she the youngest daughter of the Fujioka family – mere commoners, they got a long like two peas in a pod.
When the Host Club first visited the Fujioka residence, much to Haruhi's chagrin, Momo and Hani seemed to be drawn to each other. She talked to him the most out of everyone in the club, except, of course, her older sister. Momo and Hani were always sitting together eating sweets (most of the time cakes bought from a well known, and expensive, bakery and other times cookies that the girl baked herself) and playing with the stuffed rabbit, Usa-chan. When there were no club activities scheduled, Momo and Hani would take naps together.
The Host Club thought that it was only a matter of time before one of them confessed their feelings. Imagine the shock they had when they found Hani eating a two-tier cake with his loyal rabbit, alone.
"What's the deal, Haruhi? Hikaru whispered from behind the sofa, his eyes focused on the young blond, swinging his legs as he took another bite out of his cake.
"What are you talking about?" Haruhi asked, disinterested. She was studying a particularly difficult lesson that was discussed earlier that day when the Hitachiin brothers dragged her behind one of the many sofas in the Music Room to watch their senpai.
"I thought you said Momo-chan was going to confess her feelings to Hani-senpai today?" Kaoru said in an equally soft voice.
Haruhi frowned. "I said that?"
"Yes. You did," the twins said in unison. "You said Momo-chan made the decision to confess last night."
"Oh yeah..." Haruhi trailed off, the memory of Momo's flushed cheeks entering her mind. She had made the announcement during dinner, surprising her and nearly sending their father into cardiac arrest. "That explains why she isn't here..."
"But that doesn't explain–" Hikaru began.
"–Why Hani-senpai is here." Kaoru continued. "If she's confessing to Hani-senpai–"
"–Shouldn't she be with Hani-senpai?" Hikaru ended.
Haruhi pondered on what her classmates said. "Well, maybe she changed her mind about confessing." She paused. "Or she's not confessing to Hani-senpai."
"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
The first-year trio turned to see that Tamaki was suddenly behind them, his face aghast.
"Oh, since when did you get here, boss?" The twins asked in unison.
Tamaki frowned, restraining himself from going into his corner. How dare his subjects not notice his kingly presence?
"I was just about to save my darling Haruhi from you devils when I overheard your conversation," the blonde said, his tone regal. "It's impossible for Momo-chan to confess to someone other than Hani-senpai." Tamaki pinched his chin in thought. "It's so obvious that those two are smitten with each other. They get along so well–"
"It's not like Hani-senpai is her only friend, you know." Haruhi reminded the twins and Tamaki. "For all we know, she could have had a crush on Chika-kun or Satoshi-kun."
Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru all looked at Haruhi and thought about the young Haninozuka and Morinozuka. It was likely that Momo would like either of them but they only ever pictured her with their senpai. Thinking about her with someone else, though more age appropriate (maybe), felt a bit off. It didn't make sense to them.
"You've got it wrong, Haru-chan," Hani laughed, looking at his kohais over his shoulder. The cake he was eating was long gone and his stuffed animal was now cradled in his arms as opposed to sitting in front of him. "Momo-chan doesn't like Chika-chan or Satoshi-chan."
"What about you, Hani-senpai?" Tamaki asked.
Hani shook his head, a small smile on his lips. "She doesn't like me that way either, Tama-chan."
"Then who–" Hikaru tilted his head to the left
"–Does she like?" Kaoru tilted his head to the right.
The door to the music room opened and Momo Fujioka walked in, her face a deep red and her eyes slightly watery. She was out of breath and her hair was windswept. She was panting when the Host Club turned their attention to her. She quickly wiped her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she apologized, her voice wavering. "I shouldn't have barged in like that."
Haruhi was the first to approach her. "Are you okay, Momo?"
Momo smiled. "Of course, sis." No one else was in the room. She did not need to pretend that Haruhi was her brother. "I'm just... I'm just a little overwhelmed."
"Don't tell us," Hikaru stood to her left.
"You got rejected?" Kaoru stood to her right.
"W-what?" If it was possible, Momo's face turned even redder. "How–"
"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki scolded. "Don't be so insensitive! Princess Momo's heart has been shattered and you shouldn't treat this situation so callously!"
"You're being insensitive, senpai." Haruhi muttered, leading Momo to an empty table. "You're the one yelling about it."
Tamaki gasped. "How can you say such a thing, Haruhi!?" He whined. "I was only–"
Momo blocked out Tamaki's voice and looked down on her lap. She hung out with the Host Club enough times to know what would happen next. Tamaki would rant about how he was only looking after his daughter (Momo was adopted by him against her will, just like her sister), Haruhi would point out that he wasn't doing that at all, Tamaki would be offended, the twins would rub it in, Haruhi would sigh and mumble about how troublesome the man was. It was a tiresome routine, for everyone involved whether they took entertainment out of it (the twins) or not (everyone else).
"Momo-chan, what happened?" Hani took Momo's hands in his and peered into her eyes. "Did he really turn you down?"
"Hani-senpai..." Momo said softly, her heart pounding erratically against her chest. "I... It's... I don't know..."
Hani smiled. "Come, let's eat some cake and you can tell Usa-chan and I all about it, okay?"
In all the commotion, it was only Kyoya, who was quietly minding his own business, who noticed Mori entering the room, hands in his pockets and expression blank. Kyoya watched the taller man take in what was happening in the Music Room, Tamaki in his corner, Haruhi and the twins just a few feet away from him, and his cousin and Momo having cake. Momo's back was to him so she was unaware of his presence. Mori walked over to Kyoya and sat across from him. Kyoya smirked and turned his attention back to his computer, typing.
"You're lucky Tamaki and the others are occupied otherwise they would have pieced two and two together," the third son said casually. "I take it that's why you took your time coming up here?"
"Hm," Mori hummed in affirmation, his eyes glancing to the table where his cousin sat. He knew that Hani saw him and why he didn't acknowledge him.
"Momo is still just a child," Kyoya mused. "She'll get over it. She'll move on."
Mori smiled, accepting the Shadow King's rare offer of comfort. Though it was not what he wanted to hear, per se. "Yeah."
"But, Mori-senpai," Kyoya continued, surprisingly, looking up from his laptop. "Is that what you really want?"
In true Mori fashion, he stayed quiet.
Hello, readers! I'm sorry if this first chapter is a bit confusing but, true to the title, this chapter is in medias res (in the middle of things). I really thought long and hard about how I was going to start this fanfic and, in the end, this is is what I decided to do. I wanted you guys to have a clear image of who is going to be the couple of this story (if it wasn't obvious, it's supposed to be Mori and Momo). I thought about making you guys go through the same things as the Host Club, in other words, make you guys think that Momo was in love with Hani but I thought that would be tiring and difficult to explain. I didn't want Momo and Mori's relationship to be THAT out of the blue so yeah. I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter and would swing by again for the next and the next and the next!
Thank you for taking the time to read my work and I hope to see a review by you! I would to know what you all think.
I apologize for any typos and grammatical errors this chapter may have.
I only own what I own.
PS Please excuse my spelling of Hani's name. I know that most of you spell it as Hunny or Honey (which is how it is spelled in the manga) but I feel more comfortable spelling it as Hani seeing as it comes from his last name Haninozuka. I don't know. It's just preference, I guess.
PPS. I don't know how to phrase this question exactly but how do you guys read fanfic? Like, do you change the format? Personally, I like making the font bigger and reading the paragraphs when they're 1/2. It makes the chapter seem longer. I don't know if you understood my explanation haha... Apologies.
