A/N: Hey, I took so long to update, I apologize. Though, that's how it usually goes ('''). I've been doing writing challenges like National Novel Editing Month and Script Frenzy (which I kind of failed at) lately so I had no time to really give time to my fanfictions between that and school. Though, summer has started (yesss) and I will probably update more on this story! Also, I have the whole story figured out after all these months so it should run more smoothly~!Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or its characters (because if I did it would be HikaxHaru forever).
Though, I do own the original characters created in this story be me that have not appeared in the series (ie. Satomi, Shannon, Ethan...).
Chapter 3
"Hey, it's Hikaru!"
A group of guys and a couple of girls seated in the theater's seats all the way in the back called out to him and gestured for him to join them in the back. Hikaru held up a hand in greeting and started heading up the slope to the back. He could already spot a few guys he didn't like to be around and they didn't like to be around him, but they seemed to be welcoming him regardless for their dislike for each other. He hated acting fake around other and he hated people who acted fake, but it was hard not to find someone who didn't at his new school.
Hikaru could also spot another group of (former) freshmen sitting in the front right of the theater talking and laughing amongst themselves.
When he finally got close enough to them, he could see there was total of seven people in the group at the back. Three were two guys and a girl he never imagined even being interested in theater-like himself. The other four were regular theater kids who he had seen in school plays already or who he talked to regularly. One of them was the friend who convinced him to do the workshop.
They all had smiles on their face, except one of the guys he didn't expect to see there, as they all greeted him. He sat in one of the chairs in front of the row most of them sat in and next to one of the girls who he had seen do a mean part of a nun in the school play.
"What's up, Asian boy?" one of the theater guys, Crash, jutted his chin at him in acknowledgment, grinning wildly.
"I see you made it."
Hikaru looked over at his friend, John, as he slid down further in his seat with a cheesy grin plastered on his face. Hikaru could tell John thought this was funny that he actually showed up. The brunette thought every time Hikaru attempted to join a club or get interested in something, it was hilarious.
"I doubt I'm going to enjoy it," Hikaru mumbled, as he turned half way in his seat to talk to those behind him. He could see the whole group was staring at him now that he had entered into the group.
"Why are you wasting your time here, then? Got nothing else better to do?"
Hikaru looked over to Ethan-one of the guys he hadn't expected to see and who was one of the guys he definitely didn't like-who had asked the smart ass questions.
"In matter of fact, I don't." Hikaru said, frowning in the blond's direction. He wasn't ashamed that he didn't have anything better to do. It was already a hobby of his to jump from one activity to the next in his life.
"Shoot," a guy everyone called Moore said, kicking up his legs on one of the chairs in front of him, "Neither do I, that's why I'm here. Just occupying time."
Hikaru knew him as a theater kid but he always seemed on the edge of just not exactly being dedicated to theater and it being nothing but his life.
"I don't know, it might be fun. I heard we have Ms. Kremer, though." the girl sitting next to Hikaru commented, making a face as if she squinted out of pain. The group let out a chorus of groans and comments about Ms. Kremer. Hikaru stayed quiet though, only having seen the woman once when she was chastising some kid in the hallway about not having his tie straight or something and his shirt not being tucked in.
"Man…I was hoping they had Jack for this workshop." Crash commented, frowning.
"Mr. O? Ah, man, now then this workshop would actually be interesting." Arman complained scratching the back of his head. He was the second guy Hikaru hadn't expected to see and was a close friend of Ethan.
"I think they had him before, but he had to back out at the last minute. You guys could always leave, though, baby," Amy-a regular theater girl-said to Ethan smiling sweetly, "The workshop didn't cost that much."
"Nah, I'm trapped anyway. It's either this or being grounded and stuck in my room for a month." Ethan said, winking at Amy, "Besides I'd rather be with you."
Hikaru wanted to gag and he could see several other people in the group wanted to, too.
The theater door opened and Ms. Kremer, an old and stingy looking woman, walked in looking up at the group at the top with a strong glare.
"Looks like we're about to get started," John mumbled, waving at Ms. Kremer with a strained smile. The old lady only frowned more deeply and commanded them in a booming, raspy voice for all of them to get down to the stage and quickly.
"Eight long hours," Crash stood up and stretched before clapping his hands together in front of himself, "Just…fuck."
-scenechangescenechange-
Hikaru handed John's book bag to him as they walked out the theater and into the hallway towards the exit. John held open the door as Crash followed closely behind, mumbling about a crazy old lady attitudes. They all headed towards the exit, exhausted and irritated after the second day of the workshop.
It was mostly Crash's fault.
"She's a bitch." Crash spit out, sticking his hand into the pockets of his khaki shorts.
"I agree," John mumbled, hefting his back bag on only one shoulder. Hikaru didn't comment on the subject, because it had been both of their faults that this had even happened. You see, they had been split into groups of three for some sort of exercise, but Crash immediately complained that he ended up with Ethan and a freshman. After a while, John suggested to the frustrated Ms. Kremer that maybe she should change the group because Crash and Ethan didn't exactly get along well. Ms. Kremer then went on a angry rant about being able cooperate in the real world. In the middle of it, Hikaru mumbled something along the lines how stupid this was. The usually deaf old woman heard him, and then went on a rant about respect.
They ended up having to stay up and clean to be disciplined.
The fact that day had involved torn up, small pieces of paper being thrown everywhere didn't help the situation. Nor did the fact that the group that came for the workshop was horrible at cleaning up after themselves.
"One more day, man, one more day of this workshop. She said Jack is gonna be here tomorrow, too." Crash said, pushing open the exit with his back, frowning at the two.
"I'm actually glad tomorrow's the last day. The only reason I'm coming tomorrow is because Mr. O is gonna be there. And..well my parents would be pissed if I didn't come because they paid for it."
"I don't know how you talked me into this," Hikaru mumbled. John patted Hikaru on the shoulder, grinning apologetically as they all stepped out onto a small parking lot on the side of the school. The heat from outside immediately hit them as they stepped out of the air conditioned school, making goosebumps pop up on Hikaru's arm.
"If I knew Ms. Kremer was doing this workshop for most of the days, I wouldn't have let you come."
Crash cleared his throat, nudging Hikaru's arm as the school's door closed behind him, "Um…is there a limo sitting next to my beat up piece of junk called a car or am I already hallucinating in this heat?" Crash jerked his thumb over his shoulder to the far corner of the parking lot where sure enough sat a black limo in the nearly empty parking lot across several parking spaces.
The first thing that came to Hikaru's mind was that maybe his mom had decided to pick him up that day, but that couldn't be one of her limos since she only had white ones. Nowhere in sight could he see the usual car that picked him up along with John and that was pretty easy to spot since it was red and humongous. As the limo door started to open, for some reason Hikaru had the urge to duck back into the school as quickly possible, but his legs locked and cemented him there as he squinted against the sun at the figure that started to rise out of the car.
A split second later, before the person was even fully standing out the car, he recognized her and goosebumps spread across his skin again as a chill passed over him. His knees actually buckled, but he caught himself thinking how humiliating-just how unbelievably embarrassing-it would have been if he had fainted right then and there. His stomach turned and twisted in knots as this sickening feeling rested there and he felt the need to throw up. Honestly, he wouldn't have had this reaction if he expected to see her, but the sudden appearance brought back a wave of emotions and memories that it was frightening.
In the first five seconds he already felt like shit.
"Whoa." Hikaru heard Crash whistle. He wasn't sure if it was toward Haruhi or the limo but he felt a sudden protectiveness over her and made a mental note to strangle Crash later.
"Hika-chan!" Hikaru looked up to the other side of the limo where a short, familiar blonde, hung over the roof of the car waving and smiling brightly . A tall and imposing figure stood behind him staring in Hikaru's direction giving him a look of "long time no see".
Still in slight shock, Hikaru slowly brought up his hand and waved slowly, dazed and caught off guard.
"Um, you know them?" John asked looking back at Hikaru, squinting in the bright sunlight.
"They're…yeah…I do." Hikaru replied, still standing in his spot his eyes drifting back to the other side of the car. He couldn't believe she was standing there, they weren't supposed to arrive for another five days.
John studied Hikaru's face, seeing his Japanese friend was in some sort of shock ,his face was pale and he stood as still as a statue. John looked forward again to see Crash already walking toward the limo with wide steps.
"Nice ride, dude!"
"What the hell are you doing, Crash?" John called after him, walking quickly to catch up with him. Crash turned around toward John, grinning wildly and opening up his arms and shrugging.
"If Asian boy doesn't want to ride in it, I'll just take his place."
John kept his voice low as he came up to Crash, glancing up at the people standing next to the limo, "I don't think Hikaru exactly likes these guys. You might want to cool it for a moment." Out of the corner of his eye, a figure moved past him and Crash and toward the limo. John blinked up in surprise as he watched Hikaru start to walk toward the limo.
As soon as Hikaru got close, another familiar face popped out of the limo on the side Haruhi had come out. The only thing Hikaru glimpsed was red hair before the girl tackled into him and almost knocked him over. She squeezed him into a tight hug and squealed before giggling.
"C-Crap," he gasped, before he hugged back, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had been heading over to sweep Haruhi into his arms and never let her go. It was a good thing that Satomi stopped him. He would have only embarrassed himself if he had hugged Haruhi while he was still overwhelmed at her appearance. Unlike the last time they had met up after a long period of time, Satomi had on Satomi-like clothes meaning no skirt or dress and just jeans and a t-shirt.
"Oh, man, I've missed you, man! You haven't been keeping in contact like I told you to!" she stood up on her toes leaning forward and for a moment Hikaru thought she was about to kiss him, but then she moved to the side toward his ear and whispered, "If you're wondering where he is, he's back at your house resting. He claimed he was a bit jet lagged."
Hikaru already knew who she was talking about and nodded silently to show that he understood. She pulled away giving him a reassuring smile and then took a quick glance over his shoulder at who she assumed to be Hikaru's friends slowly making their way over.
"I didn't know you were coming here, too, Satomi." Hikaru mumbled, still surprised to see the host club was there. He saw the Kyoya was now out of the limo, too, looking tired and slightly irritated himself.
She shrugged, "I wanted to surprise you." Hikaru finally looked up at all the club members and felt some sort of pressure on how he appeared in front of them. He wondered if he looked changed to them, if he talked or acted differently to them. He wondered how much they had changed without him for a whole year.
"Speaking of surprises…" he smiled a little at the sight of them all there (excluding one of course). They were a family that he and Karou together had held dear to their hearts. He suddenly felt an overwhelming guilt of keeping such loose ties with them over the course of the school year, but then he remembered why he had hesitated to call them or email them at times and he decided not to think about it so much anymore. Because here they were standing right in front of him.
"Sorry for being so sudden," Hikaru glanced at the giant who had finally spoken.
"We decided it would be a good thing to come earlier anyway since we were all ready to head over." Hunny chipped in.
"Also, Shannon insisted we head over today if not yesterday." Kyoya finally spoke, his glasses glinting in the sun. Hikaru frowned, it had been Shannon's suggestion. She knew something was up for the three days he told her to leave him alone and she knew the only way to find out was to send the Host Club over earlier than expected. Damnit.
"Oh," Hikaru said with not much excitement, looking away in now sudden agitation.
"It's good to see you again, Hikaru."
Hikaru blood turned cold as he stared at the ground and he stuffed his hands into his pockets, suddenly feeling like a little kid. He told himself to stop it, but the fact the she was only a few feet from him made him nervous.
"Really…?" he chocked out, hoping that it wasn't completely obvious that he was getting like this because of Haruhi. It most likely was.
"Yeah, we haven't seen you in forever, Hika-chan!" Hunny answered instead of Haruhi. Hikaru felt a slight twinge of annoyance but told himself to calm down.
"So, are you going to introduce us, man?" Crash announced loudly, slapping Hikaru on the back. Hikaru glared at Crash with irritation and then felt suddenly embarrassed that he had acknowledged that they knew each other. Compared to the friends at his new school and his old Host Club friends, he knew there was a big difference in comparison. John came up beside him and smiled apologetically at Hikaru before shrugging.
Hikaru made quick introductions of the two guys at his side as the Host Club and Satomi introduced themselves. Hikaru recognized Crash looking Satomi over and felt a twinge of annoyance, but caught fire in Kyoya's eyes before he could glare at Crash himself. When Crash glanced at Kyoya, he immediately frowned and looked down at the ground. What the hell was that about?
They all stood around and talked for a moment, before Crash mumbled something about having to get home. He glanced at Kyoya suspiciously before jumping in his own "piece of junk that he called a car" and speeding away. They all slid into the limo and John came along since Hikaru was his ride. Satomi and Kyoya sat next to each other and John unfortunately sat between Hunny and Mori.
And somehow, just somehow, Hikaru ended up sitting next to Haruhi.
As the limo pulled off, Hunny started to ask John questions at rapid fire speed and John stammered over the answers as he nervously glanced up at Mori occasionally. Satomi and Kyoya sat close and before long Satomi leaned against Kyoya's shoulders asleep. Kyoya had his eyes closed, too, but wasn't asleep because occasionally he would peek one eye open to glance at his phone. They were also holding hands .
Hikaru shifted uncomfortable next to Haruhi as she sat in her seat silently, too. She had her boyish clothes on, but she still looked so…beautiful. Hikaru made a note to himself to get Haruhi better clothes because the Host Club wasn't dressing her properly. He realized that Crash probably thought Haruhi had been a boy so he hadn't been whistling at her.
"They got together over the school year," her voice made Hikaru tense, but he soon relaxed as he realized what she was explaining, "Satomi got really interested in being a physical therapist and since it's related to the medical field she looked to Kyoya for a lot of advice. They got pretty close and I'm not sure when it happened, but…" she made some sort of gesture, but Hikaru dared not look at her directly. He had glanced at her, looked at her from the corner of his eyes, but nothing that would tempt him to blurt out a confession of love.
The rest of the ride between Haruhi and him was silent, but Hikaru sighed half-way through the ride as he realized he had lied to Shannon. He really wasn't over her after all. Though, what bothered him the most was the voice in the back of his head, every time he thought about not being over Haruhi Shannon's voice came to his head saying one thing.
"Um, Duh."
Hikaru hated when Shannon was right. He really hated it.
A/N: Sooooo, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know, I know there's a lot of original new character people popping up out of nowhere (it might be because I'm more focused on my making my own character lately), but over half of them won't be in the story as much as the host club members (and Hikaru and Haruhi) will be. Plus, would you expect Hikaru to be by himself after a whole year of school? -shrug-
Okay, talking too much again -shuts up-
