Kyoya was calm. So far everything was going as it should be. The previous two weeks of intense preparation for the new term and for the reopening of the host club had been managed with success. Dissuading Tamaki from opening the first day in 17th century French formal court dress had been a challenge that he'd won by scheduling the cosplay for later in the month. Cakes and tea sets had arrived on time; class schedules had been coordinated for the members' individual needs. Now after a glittering pep talk from the founder (which got Honey-senpai more excited, and made the twins roll their eyes), the doors were unlocked for business. "Welcome!" Six voices chimed in unison.
As the rose petals cleared, a rumpled, bookish, male-looking student stared, and then shrank back against the doors. "It's a guy." The twins were completely unimpressed.
"Now, now, men are valuable customers as well." Tamaki corrected them.
Kyoya mentally retrieved the latest data on the school population. Clothing like that eliminated 99.9% of the attending families; even students in D class dressed better if they didn't wear the uniform. "Hikaru, Kaoru, I believe this student is in your class."
"Well, yeah, but he's shy. He doesn't act very sociably so we don't know much about him." Translation: they couldn't be bothered with getting to know their new classmate, which explained why they referred to 'him' as they did. They didn't know.
Kyoya smiled. "Well, that wasn't very polite. Welcome to the Ouran Host Club, Mr. Honours Student." The messy figure was struggling with the door handle; Kyoya made a mental note to file a complaint at the school office about the handle not working properly.
Tamaki gasped, "You mean you're Fujioka, the scholarship student?"
At the sound of 'his' name, 'he' froze. "How...how do you know my name?"
"It's not every day that a commoner gains entrance into our academy," Kyoya enlightened. "You must have an audacious nerve to get into Ouran as an honour student."
"Thank you, I guess."
"You're welcome!" As Tamaki greeted the increasingly nervous first-year, Kyoya wondered how long it would take the other club members to realize that Fujioka Haruhi was a girl. He watched her as she edged away from the chairman's son. "Welcome, poor man, to our world of beauty!"
"I'm out of here." It was a rare thing to find a girl in Ouran so unaffected by Tamaki's charms.
Honey-senpai rushed forward. He tugged Haruhi away from the door. "You must be like a hero or something, Haru-chan!" Honey-senpai could be remarkably astute.
"I'm not a hero; I'm an honours student. Who are you calling Haru-chan?" 'He' added in a burst of anger. Honey-senpai rushed back to Mori-senpai very upset.
"Though I am surprised that the famous scholar would be so openly gay."
"Openly what?" Both Kyoya and Haruhi looked at Tamaki. Haruhi was incredulous; Kyoya was amused.
Tamaki plunged ahead. "So tell me what kind of guys you're into: the wild type? Lolita? Little devil? The cool type?" Kyoya gave her the trademark "hint of a smile" that Tamaki had insisted characterized him.
"Really, I'm only looking for a place to study." 'He' backed away quickly; Kyoya noticed she was in direct line with a Renaissance vase.
Tamaki was in full prince mode. "Perhaps you would prefer me." Fujioka leapt away, right into the vase. Three seconds later, there was a pale honours student staring at a debris field of broken painted glass.
The twins were immediately on the scene. "Now you've done it. That vase was worth eight million yen."
"Eight million yen!?" The student immediately started muttering to 'himself', turning to look over his shoulder. "I'm gonna have to pay you back," 'he' said in a very small voice.
Kyoya stepped up to inspect the damages as the twins scoffed. "With what? You can't even afford the school uniform." That was true, and the broken vase would be a rather annoying negative in their budget.
He picked up one of the larger pieces and examined its concave surface. "What do you think we should do, Tamaki?" Kyoya threw her on Tamaki's mercy; the girl was unlikely to ever use the host club services, and she was equally unable to repay eight million yen.
"Well, Fujioka, there is a famous saying: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you have no money, pay with your body." Of course, the blonde idiot didn't know that the mess in front of him was a girl. "That means starting today, you are the host club's dog!"
Well, they might recover some portion of the vase's cost that way.
*****Author's Note*****
I will be honest; this was hard to write because there is such a short space of time between meeting Haruhi and finding out that Kyoya knows all about her. That's why this tends to reach a little farther into the episode and covers the whole first scene. It just couldn't be confined to the moment of discovery!
