A/N: Hey guys! This is my first oneshot ever so please do be gentle! I kind of thought of this idea with my sister and instead of making it a full-fledged fanfic, I decided it'd be easier to make it a oneshot. I openly accept constructive criticism (but no flames please)! I hope you guys enjoy my VERY FIRST oneshot!
Kietsu was known for one thing at the small restaurant she worked at. And that was being patient and understanding with all customers. In fact, she was so tolerant with her customers that many people around the city knew her name, or at least knew where she worked, which was at La Flor Brillante. It was modest Spanish restaurant that could easily become a household name, if it were to go overseas or expand a little. In any case, the restaurant was known for its authenticity to a real Spanish restaurant because for one, it was decked with Gazanias-a type of flower that was native to Spain-from the top of the walls to the very bottom of the floor. Gazanias were a beautiful orange-yellow color and their shape was similar to that of sunflowers, except they were not as tall. For two, the little restaurant only served Spanish cuisine. Because all the menus were written in Spanish, it called for all the employees to learn basic Spanish or speak the language a little. As for appearances, the Gazanias, along with the Iris Xiphiums, stood majestically erect from hanging flowerpots and gave the restaurant a bright and cheery atmosphere. Iris Xiphiums were simply a type of Spanish Iris flower, and each employee had to wear one. Kietsu decided she would wear hers as a bracelet.
Much to Kietsu's desires, the redhead was known as the "picture of La Flor Brillante" because she was always recommending and promoting the place. Not only that, but she was the most compliant waitress who worked there, so most all the kids who came there that were her age came to see their fellow classmate at work.
But today was different.
Today, the faces of the boys from the Ouran High School Host Club had graced the Spanish diner. This was a great honor to the people who worked in La Flor Brillante, because they weren't the biggest or most famous restaurant. To help increase their lovely image, they sent the compliant redheaded waitress to go take the boys' orders.
Kietsu was happy to fulfill her "duty" as the patient waitress. Dressed in her white blouse with frills at the collar, black faux leather mini-skirt, white thigh high socks, black Oxfords and of course her bracelet made of Iris Xiphiums, she strolled out of the kitchen with her pen and paper in her right skirt pocket, fixed her two low, curly red ponytails and pushed up her blue Coach glasses.
As soon as they sat down and got comfortable in their booth, Kyoya noticed that the girl who was walking toward them, most likely their waitress, was quite beautiful. Though he didn't take an interest in redheads, he was sure Tamaki would pounce on her if he got the chance.
"Hello there, boys! I'm Yorokobi, Kietsu and I'll be your waitress today! What can I get for you?" she purred.
The blonde boy with sparkling lavender eyes looked at Kietsu and then he spoke up. "Well my darling, are you on the menu?"
Kietsu looked at the boy, speechless and then laughed out loud. She cleared her throat and replied, "No sir, I am not. Now, anyone else?" The boy seemed disappointed in her reaction, and stopped speaking.
The two ginger twins spoke up. "We would like…" they stopped. The one on Kietsu's left spoke up, "I'm sorry miss. We have no clue how to pronounce this."
Kietsu walked over to the twins and noticed that the blonde boy was sulking. "He's probably not used to rejection since he is a sight for sore eyes…Ugh, but I hate being hit on at work, not to mention his pick up line was totally cheesy and unoriginal."
She shook it off anyway. "Ah! That dish is called paella. I highly recommend it. This particular dish contains rice as a main ingredient along with shrimp, peas, asparagus, tomatoes, and either beef or pork for meat. Traditionally, saffron, sweet red peppers, garlic or onions are used as flavoring for this dish."
The twins looked at Kietsu. "Sounds delicious. Can we have that?"
Kietsu smiled. "Of course you may!" she said, writing on her black pad. "And for everyone else?"
The brown haired boy with large doe-like eyes spoke. "May I have…cocido montaňés?"
Kietsu looked at the boy. He was looking at her for help on what exactly the dish was. Kietsu smiled and said, "That dish is a type of beef stew that originates from Cantabria. It usually contains carrots, potatoes, red peppers, beans and is served in a gravy-like substance."
The boy smiled at her. "Yes, that sounds delicious!"
She grinned back. "You got it."
A smaller blonde boy with wide hazelnut eyes spoke up. "May I have cuajada?"
Kietsu stared at the boy. "Um, that's a dessert."
The boy smiled. "I know. Can you explain it in more detail though? I only have this picture to go off of."
The redhead smiled but before she could start the other blonde boy butted in. "Now, Hunny-senpai, don't hinder our waitress!"
Kietsu turned back to the man. "It's no trouble at all. Now, let me see. Oh right! If I remember correctly, cuajada is a cake that is similar to flan. Flan is a custard served in a medium sized bowl that is usually topped with caramel. Cuajada on the other hand is topped with fresh fruit, jam, or berry sauce. You get to choose between the three and what kind of which topping you want."
The blonde boy, named Hunny-senpai, was delighted when he heard this and joyously replied, "That's what I want! I want strawberries on top please!"
As she was writing his order down, Hunny-senpai spoke up again. "Tsu-chan, Takeshi here wants the same thing as Haru-chan!"
Kietsu looked at him. "Um, if you don't mind telling me, which one of you is Haru-chan?"
The brown haired with doe eyes spoke up. "That would be me. I'm Fujioka, Haruhi."
She nodded. "So…Takeshi-san wants cocido montaňés. Got it. And for you two?" Kietsu asked, while turning to the vivacious blonde and eerily quiet man with glasses.
"Ah, wait, Tsu-chan!" Hunny-senpai said. "Let us introduce ourselves! I'm Haninozuka, Mitsukuni! But you can call me Hunny-senpai."
Kietsu smiled. "Okay, Hunny-senpai. But, are you actually my senpai? You're just so small…how old are you?"
"He's a third year." Replied the twin on the left. "I'm Hitachiin, Kaoru. This is my twin brother Hitachiin, Hikaru."
"Hunny-senpai doesn't look like a third year…so that makes him 2 years older than I am! But he's so short!"
"Okay, so the one with the his hair parted to the left is Kaoru and the one on the right is Hikaru? Okay, I think I can remember that."
Haruhi shook his head. "But sometimes they switch it around, to mess with people."
"But that's not nice! Okay, then both of you say 'hello'!"
They looked at each other and replied, "Why should we?"
"So, Kaoru has the higher voice. I think that's how I'll remember!" Kietsu deducted.
The exuberant blonde spoke up. "Suou, Tamaki, at your service my lady."
She turned to the other guys. "Does he always act like this?"
"Pretty much." The twins and Haruhi said in unison.
Kietsu sighed. "As flattered as I am that you speak to me as if I'm a…princess, I'm not into the princely type. Being showered with attention and compliments just isn't my thing. Sorry."
Tamaki lowered his head.
And he was sulking. Again.
The boy with the glasses sighed loudly. "May I please have salmorejo? That'd be for both this idiot prince and me."
Kietsu looked at the boy who hadn't spoken all evening. "That dish-"
"Yes I know what it is." He interrupted her rudely.
She scowled, but quickly shook it off. "So in all you want two plates of paella, two plates of salmorejo, two plates of cocido montaňés, and one bowl of cuajada, correct?"
Haruhi nodded. "That sounds about right."
"Okay, I'll have it ready for you ASAP!" she said, and scurried off to the kitchen.
Hunny smiled broadly. "I like Tsu-chan! She's super nice!"
"She even handled the Boss better than expected!" the twins replied.
Tamaki shot them dirty looks. "What do you mean 'handled'? I was just-"
"Trying to charm our waitress? Like she needed that." Haruhi butt in.
"I'm going to have to agree with Haruhi here, Tamaki. Miss Yorokobi did not need your silliness. As you can see, this place is a very busy restaurant, even if it's a small one. She seems to be the famous waitress you were so eager to meet, and while it's great that she came directly to us, please try not to disturb her on such a busy day." Kyoya responded as he gestured toward the other customers that filled the place.
"It seems we got the biggest booth." Kaoru said distantly, although he seemed to clearly enjoy that he was siting in an old-fashioned booth.
After about 15 minutes, Kietsu came out of the kitchen baring every single order they had placed. Somehow she had managed to carry all seven plates out to their table. Not to mention, as soon as she put their food down onto their table, she had to run to get them their pitcher of fruit juice-compliments of the chef-and then ran to usher in the other customers. Once more and more people began to come, three other waitresses came out. Once all the chaos had settled, she was called to the back by the chef. She walked into the kitchen and sat down, wiping her brow with a face cloth.
"Whew. That's hard work."
The chef laughed whole-heartedly. "Why don't you go talk to those Ouran boys?"
"Why? To keep up our image?"
He smiled. "You know me too well."
"If I'm going I might as well take the cups and a plate full of paella."
The chef's grin grew wider. "Help yourself."
Kietsu stood, and grabbed one of the restaurant's dark blue plates. Once she obtained her plate, she walked to the stove, where a very large pan of freshly fried paella sat, with a lid on the pan to keep the heat in. She removed the lid of the pan, only to have hot steam blow into her face, causing her glasses to blur. She stepped away from the pan and waited for her glasses to clear up. Once they did, she grabbed a serving spoon and scooped three hefty chunks of paella onto her plate. Once all of this was done, she retrieved her fork and eight cups and walked out of the kitchen and toward the Ouran boys' booth.
Once she reached the booth she set down the cups and looked at the boys.
"Enjoying your meals?" she asked.
They all nodded, pleased with the food that had been served to them.
She cleared her throat. "Mind if I join you?"
They all stopped eating. "Is that allowed?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru elbowed him in the rib and Kietsu thought she heard him almost inaudibly whisper something about being nice to her, since she was cute and capable. Kietsu beamed at the compliment, feeling more confident about her line of work than ever before.
She nodded in coherence with Hikaru's earlier question. "Of course it's allowed, silly! Listen…" she drastically lowered her voice. "The chef asked me to keep you guys company, since you are from Ouran Academy. He says he wants to 'keep our lovely Spanish image' or something like that. If you don't want me to-"
Hunny shook his head. "Please sit down! We'd love to eat with you!"
Kietsu smiled. "Why thank you, Hunny." And she sat down right next to Hunny, on the edge of the booth.
"Say, Senpai…you said you were a Haninozuka right?"
Hunny nodded. "Yup!"
"So that makes you like a martial arts master, right?"
"Hunny doesn't really like to do martial arts unless he's forced to." Haruhi explained.
"Ah, I see. Well, my family absolutely adores your family! I myself have always been fascinated by martial arts and such."
This seemed to pique everyone's interest, but especially Tamaki's. "What is your family's line of work?"
Before Kietsu could answer, the man with glasses spoke for her.
"You're a Yorokobi, correct? Your family is known for their restaurants overseas." he announced to everyone else in the booth.
Kietsu's eye twitched. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"He's the Demon Lord." Haruhi mumbled.
The man pushed up his glasses. "I beg your pardon, Haruhi?" he said in an insinuatingly evil tone.
The boy looked scared out of his mind. "I said nothing!"
The man with glasses sighed, but pressed on. "My name is Ootori, Kyoya."
"Ah yes, I know you and your family! You're the third son of the Ootori family, right?"
Silence. Seconds passed. Minutes soon followed.
Finally, Tamaki had snapped out of his daze and gave a huge sigh that he didn't try to conceal in any type of way.
"Tamaki-san if you have something to say, then say it. We can all see you."
Tamaki cleared his throat. "I wasn't going to say anything."
"Lies. Tamaki-san, you sighed loud enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear it."
Tamaki shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about! I was simply-"
"Please stop lying, Tamaki-san." Kietsu cut in.
Tamaki's cheeks flushed with anger. "Would you stop addressing me so informally? I'm your Senpai too, you know!"
"You are? So that means you're a third year too?"
"No, I'm a second year. But aren't you a first year?"
"No! What gave you that idea?"
"You certainly don't act like a second year…"
"And I could say the same to you, you blonde buffoon!" Kietsu said angrily, but quickly covered her mouth in shame. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"
Haruhi burst out laughing. "Blonde buffoon! That was good, Kietsu-senpai!"
"I'm your Senpai, Haruhi-san?"
He nodded. "Yeah! Hikaru, Kaoru, and I are all first years."
"You guys are so lucky to all be together! I have no friends in my class!"
"What school do you attend?" Takeshi asked.
"Ah! You spoke?" Kietsu said, in reaction to the quiet man's sudden burst of speech.
Takeshi nodded.
"Oh, I'm sorry! That was quite rude!"
He shook his head. "By the way, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Morinozuka, Takeshi."
"Nice to meet you, Takeshi-san!"
"No no no! Takeshi here is your Senpai too, Tsu-chan!" Hunny giggled.
"Oh, I wasn't aware! And to answer your question, Takeshi-senpai, I attend Amagiri's School for the Arts."
"That's a fabulous school!" Haruhi gushed.
"Oh, I adore the school! My uniform is even cute. But it's not the school. It's the people."
"Elaborate." The twins said in unison.
"Well, everyone considers it a slacker school because…well, it's an arts school and it's not a very conventional school. But since I'm student council president, all of the other neighboring schools think that I'm the one making it a 'slacker' school, even though it totally isn't one. Or wasn't one, until recently. But lately everyone is slacking off and doing exactly what the rumor says we're doing: which is absolutely nothing! I fear if it goes on like this, I'll be the only one who takes school seriously."
Tamaki retorted, "So why not hold a festival?"
"What does that have to do with-"
"Listen. Maybe the pressure is getting to everyone and that's why they are sinking into this habit of doing absolutely nothing. This could be the result of a large-scale domino effect. In order to relieve that stress and pressure, you could hold a school-wide festival of the sort with all the neighboring schools. Then when school starts back up again, everyone will be refreshed and focused."
Kietsu stared at Tamaki in absolute awe. "That's brilliant!"
"And maybe the Host Club could cameo at this festival!" the twins said excitedly.
Kyoya pushed up his glasses. "We'll see. It all depends on when it's happening. If it happens on a day where the Host Club is busy-"
"Then we can have that particular event of the Host Club's at the festival." Kietsu said triumphantly.
Kyoya sighed impatiently. "We'll see, Miss Yorokobi."
Kietsu giggled. "It's Kietsu, Kyoya-san."
"Who gave you permission to speak to me with such familiarity?" he said rather brusquely.
She smiled. "I did. After all, I am the one who didn't spit in your food right?"
"Miss Yorokobi, I suggest you not make such bold comments while the night is still young."
"I'd like you to step back and realize what you just said, Ootori. Then come back to reality and realize that I couldn't give a crap."
A low "ooooh" filled the space around the booth, as the six other Ouran boys waited to hear Kyoya's reply.
The Ootori boy smiled. "Miss Yorokobi, you are an interesting case. When I first saw you, I thought you would be the type to swoon over Tamaki and giggle like a helpless kitten. It seems you've proven me wrong."
"And is that a good thing? Or are you planning your vendetta as we speak?"
"It's an interesting notion, in its own way."
"What does that mean?" Kietsu asked in a perplexed tone.
"It means he's coming after you~!" the Hitachiin twins purred sinisterly in union.
Kietsu smiled devilishly. "I welcome the challenge. A challenge from an Ootori boy might be surprisingly fun."
"Oh if only you knew…" Haruhi sighed.
END.
OMAKE
It had been two weeks since Kietsu's encounter with the Ouran boys at La Flor Brillante. She decided-more like the chef decided-that she should personally deliver them a special thanks for eating at their shop.
So now she skipped merrily toward Ouran Academy, with 7 separate boxes of paella in her school uniform. This consisted of a cropped blue sailor top, with white stripes and a pale pink ribbon fastened around her neck. Her skirt was long, an inch past her knees to be exact, and it was a pristine white with pleats at the bottom. On the sides of her skirt, where her hips were, there were two medium sized bows that had hung all the way to the middle of the skirt. These bows were the same pale pink as her ribbon. As Kietsu walked, she couldn't help but feel…overjoyed that she was going to get to see the guys again.
"I understand why this Host Club is so popular now." She thought as she waved toward the boys in Music Room #3 and entered the room of bright red flowers.