Commoners are Interesting
The Host Club started discussing their next theme for the host Club as they awaited their food to arrive.
"A theme!" Tamaki exclaimed. "Think theme guys! What would pull in our lovely charming girls even more?"
"Bunbun!" Hunny cried happily.
"No Hunny-sempai. We can't all be bunny." Tamaki said, then rethought it. "Come to think of it we would all look creepy in a BunBun costume, cept you Hunny sempai." Hunny just pouted but nodded. Aww this makes the hundredth time his idea was shot down. Mori patted Hunny's head who immediately cheered up.
Kimiko just said there humming a tune, while she half heartedly listened to their conversation. So far they weren't making much progress. Well, only Tamaki was being enthusiastic about it. Everyone else was kind of in their own conversation or playing around. Kimiko's face light up when she thought of an idea.
"How about a waiter? Like my dear brother!" she exclaimed. Tamaki thought about it. Kyouya shook his head. Wow. He was listening? Well he was second in command of the host club.
"We did that last time Kimiko-chan." He said. Tamaki shot up from his seat.
"Wait! We can do it differently this year!" he exclaimed. Everyone turned their head to the Prince of the club.
"Hah?" the twins said in disbelief. "Differently how so?" they asked. Tamaki just laughed smugly.
"Waiters featuring 2 guest!" he exclaimed. Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Featuring…" Haruhi started…
"Two guest?" Hunny asked. Tamaki nodded.
"Our very own Kimiko-chan and Ayagi-kun as guest!" he proclaimed happily. The group dispersed to talk about this.
"Hmm. Sounds intriguing." Kyouya declared, fixing his glasses to hold the shine everyone knew to fear. When things got Kyouya thinking, it was usually bad. Kimiko laughed.
"Fufufu. This sounds fun. I'll see if I can get Ayagi to get a day off." She said.
"Day off?" asked a monotonous voice. Mori thought this voice was dangerously close. Everyone turned around and found two passive brown eyes staring back at them balancing quite a few trays on his tiny arms, next to Mori. How he manages to do that, the Host Club would never figure out. Kimiko smiled at her older brother.
"Ayagi ni~!" she exclaimed as Ayagi proceeded to set the plates down. Ayagi gave her a sideways glance, showing that he was listening.
"Do you think you could take a day off tomorrow?" she asked sweetly. Ayagi's emotionless facial expression didn't melt away, but he did quirk an eyebrow.
"Huh?" he asked. Kimiko smiled at him.
"We're going to help the Host Club and their afterschool activities!" she proclaimed. Ayagi shot the hostclub a glance, silently asking them to explain the situation to him. Kyouya coughed and fixed his glasses.
"Well you see Ayagi-kun. We've set tomorrow's theme for Waiters and we thought it would be a good idea to try something new and have two guest host, which would be you and Kimiko-chan here." He explained. Ayagi blinked. He shrugged.
"I guess I need to ask the manager about this." He said dully, as he turned around and started walking away. Suddenly Ayagi realized only too late that he was about to collide with another worker holding a tray of plates. He couldn't move away in time. Suddenly his arm was grabbed and tugged on, sending Ayagi tumbling slight back, and falling into a firm lap.
The other waiter flailed as he attempted to balance the plates before they crashed onto the floor. As soon as the plates showed no signs of tipping over to meet their doom he sighed in relief. The waiter then looked at Ayagi wildly.
"Aya-aya!" he cried. "You almost killed us both!" Ayagi blinked at him indifferently.
"But we didn't die." He spoke. The other waiter pouted.
"Well lucky for you that tall guy pulled you out of the way. But I nearly had a heart attack! What if I had to pay for all these plates? The manager would have my head over this matter!" he whined.
"Ah. Sorry Kaidou." He said. Kory pouted but soon bounced back with a smile.
"Well at least nothing bad happened to either of us." He said happily as he walked away. Ayagi felt the grip of whoever had saved him's hand loosen and he proceeded to get up and turn around to properly express his thanks the Host member whom had saved him. He met Mori's eyes. Ayagi bowed at him.
"Thanks for saving me Mori-sama." He said out of respect as he showed Mori his appreciation. Mori nodded at him, at a loss of words. Mori wouldn't admit it but, he liked it when Ayagi fell into his lap. It was kind of nice. Mori noticed Kimiko looking at him smugly again. The look then melted into a smile that Mori instinctively knew as scheming. Just how inwardly perceptive and evil was this little girl?
"Thank you for saving my big brother Mori-san!" she cried. Mori blinked and nodded.
"You're welcome." He said. Then he noticed Ayagi had maneuvered himself from Mori and the group and was heading back towards the kitchen to fetch more orders for the other costumers. Before he entered the kitchen, he stopped and proceeded in having a small chat with the waiter he almost crashed into. Out of curiosity, Tamaki called for Kimiko's attention.
"Hey Kimiko-Chan! Who's that Ayagi's talking to?" he inquired. Kimiko smiled.
"That's Kaidou-nii! He and Ayagi had been friends ever since they were babies!" she stated. Tamaki sobbed.
"Such a long lasting relationship those two have! It brings tears to my eyes!" he said dramatically. "I can see it now! Those two have had such a strong bond since they were kids that they do everything together! Take baths together! Tell secrets to each other! Go on adventures together! And one day, they will both meet a fair maiden of their dreams and they will both help each other win the hearts of their respective maidens! Such a beautiful friendship!" he finished. The twins applauded him.
"That was very deep, my lord." They said with halfassed enthusiasm. Haruhi sighed.
"That's the last time I let you guys watch a drama." She concluded as she continued to eat her food. Kimiko looked over at the tallest of the group. Discreetly she leaned over and proceeded at try and make him fidget.
"Aren't you jealous of Kaidou-nii and Ayagi-nii's bond?" she teased. Mori looked at her questioningly. She smiled.
"They're really really close you know." She teased. "And they still bathe together." She teased. Well it was half right, if you count times at the spa as bathing together. Mori was still inanimate much to Kimiko's dismay. Aww. She wanted someone to tease.
"What if I told you that they were together?" she said. Mori shrugged. To be honest, he WAS a little unsettled. But this was Ayagi's life. He could be with whoever he wanted. Mori, as an outsider, had no right to interfere with this. But those two did seem friendly. Mori frowned a little. Kimiko didn't notice this and just frowned, thinking Mori lost interest in her brother. She plopped down on her chair and started to eat her dessert. A few moments later, the Host Club proceeded to eat their dessert.
As they got up to exit the café, Ayagi was there to see them out. He waved at each other them as they were leaving. When he got to Mori, Ayagi called for his attention.
"Ah Mori-kun?" he asked. Mori looked at him, showing Ayagi he had his full attention. Ayagi gave a small smile.
"Can I talk to you for a bit?" he asked. Kimiko started giggling, and Mori tried his hardest to ignore her as he followed Ayagi a bit, as Ayagi headed towards the kitchen. Once outside the kitchen door Ayagi bowed a little.
"Thank you again for saving me today Mori-kun." He said sincerely. Mori smied a little, but it wasn't so noticeable. At least that's what he thought, he didn't know that Ayagi saw his tiny smile.
"Ah! To show you my deepest gratitude I made you something." He said as he walked into the kitchen.
"Don't move for a second please!" Ayagi called from in the kitchen. Mori stood there for an awkward few minutes before Ayagi walled out holding something. It was a dessert on a plate, wrapped in plastic foil. From what Mori could tell, it was yellow in the shape of an… upsidedown cup? It had a syrup decorating the top and surrounding it. It looked delicious. Ayagi went up to Mori and pushed it to Mori's chest silently asking Mori to accept it.
"Thank you." Mori thanked as he took the sweet from Ayagi's dainty hands. Something in Ayagi's eyes flashed as Mori accepted it, but it quickly faded away before Mori could figure out what it was. Ayagi's momentary expressive, more expressive then he had ever been in the mere 3 days Mori had known him, soon melted back into his usual passive demeanor as he swiftly walked past Mori and rejoined the group bidding them farewell again in his usual dull way as Mori silently followed suit.
"I asked Kory-san. He said I could join as soon as I finish a morning shift." He told them. The rest of the Host Club cheered, excluding Kyouya, Haruhi and Hunny of course. Kimiko smiled as they started walking off.
"Just make sure you don't show up late as usual!" she cried. Ayagi just waved as he went back to work. Kimiko smiled at Mori.
"Neh neh! Ayagi seems to like you Mori!" she exclaimed. Haruhi laughed a little.
"It seems so. " She said. Tamaki tilted his head inquisitively.
"How so?" he asked. Kimiko giggled.
"That is Ayagi's favorite dessert. Ayagi-boo's is secretly selfish when it comes to desserts. So the fact that he spent some time, AT WORK, making Mori a dessert that he loves, means something." She declared happily. Mori was a little happy about this, but it can't be true right? It was a gift of gratitude nothing more.
Soon the next day arrived, and like he had halfheartedly promised the Host club, he showed up, well more was dragged by his little sister, into the Host Club. Kimiko put her hands on her hips and smiled.
"I have retrieved Ayagi-boo from the café!" she affirmed, giving herself a pat in the back for her hard work. Ayagi yawned tiredly.
"I wasn't done with the shift." He stated dull with dull interest of what the Host Club was currently doing, which was running around getting their costumes and the room ready. Ayagi puffed her cheeks out.
"So? I just stole you away. Besides you only had 5-"
"15." Ayagi interrupted patting his sister in the head, much to Kimiko's annoyance.
"Okay 15 minutes left. I'm sure Kory doesn't mind at all!" she said. Ayagi exhale inaudibly. Seeing that she won the tiny argument she started to drag Ayagi to Haruhi and the others.
"Do we get costumes?" she inquired eagerly. Haruhi handed Kimiko her outfit.
"We weren't sure if it was the right size for you Kimiko-chan." Haruhi said, but it was unheard as Kimiko raced towards the changing room, who knows how she knew it was there. Haruhi and Ayagi just stood there in silence as they waited for Kimiko to finish.
"I figured that she would drag you here before your shift ended, so I didn't think you would need a costume." She said out of the blue as she eyed Ayagi's attire, which happened to be his work outfit. Ayagi shrugged.
"I don't think Kory likes the uniform to be taken out of the store but I'm sure he doesn't mind." Haruhi heard Ayagi mumble the word 'much' under his breath but she let it slide. Ayagi was always like this. So expressionless and passive about things. It was something about Ayagi that she liked. When they were kids, Haruhi was found crying one day because the stray cat she took care of one day, stopped visiting her.
Haruhi sniffed. Ayagi just stood next to her and patted her head.
"One day even strays will learn to be more dependant." He said to her as he crouched down next to her and rubbed her back in a soothing manner. Haruhi pouted.
"But that means Mr. Whisky forgot all about me. I thought it liked me because I took care of it very well!" She cried. Ayagi looked at the sky, Haruhi knew he did that whenever he was thinking of something to say.
"Who took care of you?" he asked out of the blue. Haruhi was takened back.
"Huh?" she asked.
"Who takes care of you?" he asked again. Haruhi puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"That's a dumb question. Obviously my dad." She said. Ayagi nodded and fell back, lying on the cool cement. Haruhi thought he was being weird today.
"Hey Ayagi-kun. I don't think it's a good idea to ly-"
"Will you ever forget him?" Again with questions out of the blue. What a weird friend.
"Eh?" Haruhi asked. Ayagi turned his head towards Haruhi, behind those inexpressive eyes, Haruhi could detect tenderness and care. Something that was hard to detect when it came to Ayagi, unless you knew him long enough. He was like the wind. He came and went as he pleased, but with him came a tingly feeling. Haruhi could spill out all her secrets without caring if Ayagi would betray her or not. That was just how Ayagi was. She realized that she had spaced out for a long time.
"Well how can I forget my dad if I live with him?" she questioned. Ayagi smiled for once.
"Silly. I meant when you grow up one day and own your own house."
"Of course I'll never forget my daddy. He takes care of me well and loves me."
"Wouldn't it also be the same for Mr. Whisky?" he asked. Haruhi stared at him in shock.
"You took care of Mr. Whisky like he was family. I knew Mr. Whisky likes you because you take care of him." Haruhi looked at him with a vacant expression.
"I still don't get what you are saying." She said. It was a lie. She knew what he was trying to say but wanted to hear him say it himself, for personal comfort. Ayagi smiled as he got up from the sidewalk and dusted himself off. He held his hand out for Haruhi, who gingerly took it and got up.
"We never forget the ones who take care of us. I'm sure Mr. Whisky will always remember you." He said as he walked onward, towards Haruhi's house.
"Now let's hurry up and get back. Kimiko wants to play hide and seek." He said looking back at Haruhi. Haruhi just smiled and ran after Ayagi.
Haruhi jumped a little as a face was very close to hers. Ayagi blinked at her.
"You were spacing out again." He stated. Haruhi sighed and smiled.
"Just thinking about some things." She said. Ayagi nodded a little and started to walk around the room, admiring the decorations. That was another thing about Ayagi. He didn't press the matter if the person wasn't willing to talk about it. But just one look at his eyes, would make anyone want to share what they thought to him. He was paitent and understanding. Haruhi remembered that that trait of Ayagi was also what made him popular back when they were in middle school, to both guys and the girls.
Tamaki smiled at the handiwork.
"Club starts in 15 minutes! Everyone get into their designated areas!" he shouted. Kimiko exited the changing room in her little waiter outfit. She looked at him dumbfounded.
"Designated Areas? Where are me and Ayagi-boo?" she asked. Tamaki laughed.
"That I have planned out!" he pointed at Kimiko.
"Kimiko-chan!"
"Hai!" she saluted happily.
"You will be stationed with Hunny and Mori. You and Hunny can woo the girls with your moe!" he declared. Then he pointed to Ayagi.
"Ayagi! You can work with can work with Haruhi and show them your deep friendship!" he declared. Ayagi's eyes lit up with fire and he nodded. But everyone in the room, excluding Tamaki, knew that he was just humoring Tamaki. But they were surprised at how well he could fake emotions.
"And then Haruhi and I will fall in love as we are reminiscing our childhood together!" he said. Haruhi sighed at the act Ayagi was putting on. Even Kimiko laughed. Great he found Tamaki's weakness already. The prince gasped dramatically.
"No! I trust you won't do that to me Ayagi, my son!" Tamaki cried as he pounced on Ayagi with a bearhug. Then he let go of Ayagi and tried to hug Haruhi.
"Promise me that you won't fall in love with your childhood friend!" he bawled. Haruhi took a step to the side to avoid his hug. This brought him to the emo corner. Ayagi's expressionless eyes met Haruhi's, silently asked her if this was normal. Haruhi nodded.
The day pretty much went by without any trouble. Kimiko noticed how every so often Mori would look over at Haruhi and Ayagi's side of the room, and she knew very well that mori wasn't staring at Haruhi. She smiled to herself. One of the girls squealed at Kimiko's adorableness. Well of course 12 year old girls were adorable.
"How well are you acquainted with the Host club?" one of the girls asked sweetly. Kimiko grinned.
"I just met them a few days ago, but I'm very well aquainted with Haruhi!" she said proudly. The girls thought that the two most be good friends, for Kimiko to drop the formalities. But technically Kimiko WAS 12.
"I understand that the person talking with Haruhi is somewhat related to you, am I correct?" one of the girls asked. Kimiko nodded.
"Yup! He's the reason why me and Haruhi are also friends." She said. The girls squealed at the moeness.
"Are all three of you childhood friends?" they asked. Kimiko nodded.
"It sucks that they are older then me." She said pouting. The girls gasped and started to coo her.
"Oh you're so young and cute though!" one of them said.
"Haruhi is 2 years older then me! But Ayagi-boo is 4 years older." She said. One of them gasped.
"He's 18? Oh my. I thought he was the same age as Haruhi." Kimiko smiled at her.
"He hasn't changed a bit either." She said. Mori could tell Kimiko liked talking about her brother. Hunny was also listening intently to Kimiko.
"Is he always like he is now?" Hunny asked. Kimiko nodded.
"For as long as I remember, Ayagi-boo's personality has always been one with little emotions. Except there's that…" Kimiko trailed off. The girls and Hunny stared at Kimiko, listening for her next words. Kimiko stood up abruptly. She looked at the girls innocently.
" Would you mind if I served you some tea?" she asked with big eyes. The girls squealed and nodded. Mori raised a brow slightly. Now he was curious about what Kimiko was about to say.
On Haruhi's side of the room, things weren't much different. The girls were gushing about how cute Ayagi looked and asked him personal questions. Ayagi was able to divert some of the attention to Haruhi, to make sure that his personal life would remain personal. It was mystifying really. Ayagi rarely spoke about himself. Even Haruhi didn't know what he was thinking sometimes. Heck even Kimiko didn't know. It was another one of Ayagi's traits that naturally drew attention to him. He was like a mystery, a puzzle rather. Once you get a piece of the puzzle in the right place you still had to figure out the rest of it. One of the girls smiled.
"So how long have you two known each other?" she asked. Ayagi leaned back a little, relaxing his back.
"Haruhi and I have known each other since we were in our second year of elementary school." He informed them passively. The girls thought his rare signs of emotion on his face were what made him cool and attractive.
"Kimiko is also the same case." Haruhi added. "I met her when Ayagi was tutoring me over a course a few weeks after we knew each other." She added. The girls squealed.
"Wow Ayagi-kun! You must be very smart!" one of them said. Ayagi shrugged.
"I wouldn't say smart, persay. Afterall I am a drop out." This earned a gasp from the girls.
"You don't go to school?" one of them asked, shocked by the fact that someone doesn't' go to school.
"This is my first time hearing about someone having to drop out of school!" another one added to the conversation. Haruhi inwardly thought 'rich bastards' as they asked him about it. Ayagi shrugged.
"Our parents are overseas right now, so I thought I could try being independent by getting a job." He said.
"Are you a business owner?" one of them asked. Haruhi sighed. Rich people these days. The corner of Ayagi's lip lifted upwards as he smiled a little.
"You would think that huh?" he mumbled to himself. He straightened up and shook his head.
"Nah I do something more microscopic to that." He said.
"Oh? What would that be?" one asked.
"I'm a waiter at this one café." He said. The girls gasped.
"A commoner job?" they exclaimed.
"Your mannerism is not that of a commoner!" they exclaimed. Haruhi's eye brow twitched. Rich bastards. Even Ayagi's finger twitched, that meant he took it really personally. Haruhi decided to change the topic.
"Ah! His and Kimiko's parents are extremely successful overseas though!" It wasn't a lie. From the letters she received before they stopped coming, Kimiko had bragged to Haruhi once how their parents were now rich. Successful entrepreneurs Ayagi had said once. The girls titled their head in confusion.
"Then why are you living such a commoner's way of life?" she asked. Ayagi shrugged.
"Sometimes you lose yourself to money. So thus, I limited the monthly allowance our parents send us. You have to learn the values of money." He said. One of the girls frowned.
"I do not understand." She said. Haruhi smiled at her. Rich people!
"Money starts losing its value when people have too much of it. Think inflation. Back in America, one dollar, or 100yen as we see it, could by people a bag of chips, soda, or even a cup of coffee. Now the worth of a dollar has decreased and it takes 2 dollars, or 200 yen as we see it, to buy the same items."
"It's not that big of a different though." One of them said. Rich bastards!
"Naturally one would think that." He said in his usual monotonous tone. "But let's say you buy them everyday of the year. Back in old times, it would be $365, or 36,500yen. Now in American it would be $730, or 73,000Yen." He concluded. The girls looked at him like he was the most intriguing thing in the world.
"Wow now that you put it that way, it does seem like you're losing a lot." One of them said.
"But we're rich so we shouldn't worry about that." One pouted. Ayagi looked at them passively.
"But me and Haruhi are simply commoners. So we have to take money into consideration when we use it." He said. The Host Club clapped at his little lecture. How long have they been listening? Haruhi thought.
"I see! So that's how commoners think when they use their money!" the Twins echoed each other.
Freakin rich bastards!
At the end of the day the host club was proud. They attracted more customers then usual. Haruhi sighed and looked at Ayagi.
"Sorry if they bugged you today Ayagi." She said apologetically. Ayagi shrugged.
"Rich children are different from 'common' children. They don't need to work hard for it, and can pull money out from thin air if they wished. It's not their fault if our 'commoners way of life' was different from them. We just simply grew up in two different worlds." The always so understanding Ayagi. But Haruhi could tell from the way Ayagi used the word 'commoner' that Ayagi was too friendly with the usage of that term. Haruhi herself hated it too.
The sound of footsteps coming their way turned Haruhi and Ayagi's attention to the person, who turned out to be Mori, Hunny and Kimiko. Kimiko skipped to her brother's side.
"Today was fun wasn't it?" she asked them. Haruhi smiled.
"It was."
"Although I think of lecture was really uncalled for." Ayagi said absentmindly. Hunny shook his head.
"No no! We learned more about the common ways! Even Mori was interested!" Hunny shouted. Haruhi raised an eyebrow. It sure was saying something if Mori was also intrigued.
"Well I'm glad I could educate you guys on us commoners." Ayagi said to himself. Tamaki appeared out of nowhere.
"You should teach us more about the ways of commoners! They are very interesting people!" he said enthusiastically. Ayagi stared at Tamaki blankly.
"Eh? Ah sure." He said tiredly.
"Kimiko, let's go home. I think im going to take a nap." He said as he yawned, showing everyone how sleepy he was. Kimiko pouted.
"You're always either sleeping or working." She said as she proceeded in dragged him out of the club room.
"Bye guys! I'll come again tomorrow!" she said as they walked out of the room. Hunny looked at Mori and smiled.
"I hope Ayagi also comes tomorrow, neh Mori?" he asked. Mori just nodded. He hoped so himself.
=To be Continued=
Ah I realized how long ago I updated this story and decided to upload it. Sorry for the wait, to those who still read this story. It's been a long time. Forgive me. OTL
Read and Review? Reviews help make the world go round o;