Author's note: Just a note about updates, updates are inconsistent with this fanfic because I have a lot going on at the moment, university, work, health, driving lessons (dear god let's try and keep the hit and runs to a bare minimum) and just general life shenanigans. That being said I will try my best to get them up either every Friday, or every other Friday at least. (Reviews DO happen to be good motivators)
But onwards to the chapter!
The first five minutes were spent with Jun sitting on the windowsill, staring down at a fresh new page on one of her notebooks, with her fountain nib pen firmly placed in her left hand. Waiting, waiting for the looks to stop, waiting for the chatter to begin again and waiting to become invisible. She didn't want to be noticed, didn't want to be looked at she simply wanted to clear her head, regain her composure and take some notes.
Her hand was trembling slightly but Jun simply breathed, inhale and exhale. She thought about her glossophobia and when she first started to show signs of it. It was all traced back to her childhood, with her father meeting new and upcoming business entrepreneurs, c.e.o.'s and executives it was important at that stage that Jun and her mother were also present to meet them. She remembered holding onto her mother's hand, tugging at it to try and tell her she didn't want to be there, how she wanted to go home. She remembered all the older women and men looking at her, talking about her like she wasn't there, how she was introduced but too hesitant to speak a word to them...
She supposed that's when it all started... funny she thought with an ever so slight crease in her brow, it wasn't all that long after when her mother left.
Jun was brought out of her thoughts by the idle chatter and giggles which had once again started to fill the room. She smiled slightly in relief, her stiff composure starting to relax little by little. As soon as she had settled she craned her head to observe the happenings of the room.
Suoh san caught her attention right away, 'no surprise there' she thought with a quirk of her lips as she thought of his antics during class. She noted how her blond classmate had by far the largest group of girls surrounding him; and by the look of the nearby flock of girls sitting near his table, he was frequently requested. She wrote down his name, and a few details that caught her attention upon first glance, blond hair, charismatic presence and seemingly has a 'Casanova' type of act around his guests. She let out a soft hum as she brought the pen up to her lips. She had always thought of Suoh san as the 'naive' type; surely he conducted himself that way in class but was it simply an act? She wouldn't have thought so at first glance, nor in the years she had been in class with him. But she wouldn't rule it out just yet.
Next her eyes wandered over to her other classmate Ootori san, she swallowed slightly, recalling their little 'chat' in the storage room. Glancing over at the glasses wearing boy, her brows furrowed slightly. There was definitely more to him than meets the eye... he was talking to a small group of girls, his body language was inviting and courteous. However there was another aspect to him, if she had to describe it she would compare him to a shark. She looked down to her notebook once more, earlier she had compared him to the 'foil' she still think he resembled that, however he now had some more 'character points' He seemed to be like a puppet master, even though he was the vice president of the club, he was the one who invited her to join the club and, upon glancing over at him again discovered that he was also into merchandising the club. 'Are those magazines he's handing to those girls?' she thought with bewilderment. Shaking her head she made a note to inquire what sort of merchandise they sell, if they are apparently reluctant to give out certain personal information. It could be interesting to evaluate.
Ootori san and Suoh san were the only two hosts that she knew, so evaluating the others would be a much less biased process.
Not too far from Suoh san sat the smaller brunette boy who was easily the second most popular out of the group. His table was also full but there were much less exuberant declarations of love, or loud squealing. In fact, out of all the tables in the room this one seemed to be the most calm. Huh, 'interesting' she thought to herself before taking down some notes. She then glanced up once more to take in any other notes of the host's appearance; he was young looking, a first year perhaps? he was pouring out tea for his guests and making light conversation. 'Very different from Suoh san' she thought, making some extra added notes.
Her spectacled eyes wandered over across the room to find the pair of twins who... who.. She felt an uncomfortable lump rise within her throat as her increased drastically in temperature. They were identical down to the very last speckle of skin, and they were currently standing in a very intimate way, one was cupping the other's face, his own bare INCHES away.
The pen was slowly slipping from her grasp.
Girls were squealing, clearly obsessing over this obscene display (for lack of better terms). Her eye twitched as several of the young ladies swooned; Jun let out a slight cough taking hold of her pen and making some very hasty notes 'twins, red hair, INNAPPROPRIATE' By far the most prominent impression. She took on a puzzled expression, staring over at the boys; trying to ignore their demonstration and instead try and apply what sort of characters they would be. For the moment she had them as 'stock' characters. She had a suspicion that they have been doing this... activity for a while and it didn't seem as though it would be stopping anytime soon, if the screaming and flailing guests were anything to go by.
Taking a minute to regain her composure Jun sighed, removing her glasses and rubbing her temples, that was very... unexpected.
Sighing for a second time Jun put her glasses back on again, one more table and two more hosts. 'Hopefully these last two are more composed than those twins' she thought to herself as she craned her head to look at the last table. The two boys were sitting beside each other on the sofa, the tallest of the hosts and the shortest, and youngest. They seemed to create quite a contrast. She continued to stare over at them; noting to herself that along with the brunette host they seemed to be more reserved and even their guests had a calm atmosphere around them. It was interesting to witness. Jun thought that this strange club had quite the range of dynamic characters, all with a lot of potential. She instantly had a character in mind for the young blond boy the 'flat' he was innocent looking and, although she didn't want to be subjected to one of those 'fangirl' guests; completely adorable. A slight smile tugged slightly at the corner of her lip, before she forcibly put on a serious expression once more, staring at the final host.
The tallest one, he was challenging. His posture was giving nothing away; back straight, hands resting on his lap and his attention solely on the younger child beside him. His expression was also completely stoic which caused her to frown slightly. Suddenly, as if feeling as though he was being looked at, the boy's head snapped up and eyes locked right onto hers. Jun started from the abrupt movement, letting out a slight squeak and dropping her pen. Flushing redder than a cherry she quickly averted her eyes, scrambled down for her fountain pen and hid behind her notebook.
'Nothing happened, nothing happened, please don't look, please don't let anyone notice oh lord please don't let anyone notice' she desperately thought to herself. Face still flaming and hands shaking slightly as they held the book over her face with a white knuckle grip. She may not have a character type for the last host, but she did have one specific trait for him.
'Perceptive'.
The afternoon seemed to drag by for the hosts, they kept their guests entertained of course but all of them kept sneaking glances to the new girl situated in the far corner of the room; away from any sort of fun activity. They also shot optimistic looks to their 'cool' member who chose to ignore them, giving them no hidden clues as to who the new girl was and why she was not being treated like their other guests.
Closing time for the club eventually came and the girls slowly started to clear the room, giggling and waving at their beloved boys; and of course promising Honey sempai that they will bring him cake tomorrow. The blonde boy let out a giggle, cuddling his bunny to his chest which of course caused another chorus of "SO CUTE!". Haruhi thought to herself that sometimes Honey sempai can be more cunning than Kyouya sempai...
Once the room was cleared the boys turned to look at the girl who was perched by the windowsill apparently unaware that the club's session was over as she was reading over some notes all the while chewing on the end of a pen. They watched her for a moment before their 'secret princess' broke the silence "Kyouya sempai, why were you in the supply room with that girl?". "Mama have you been keeping secrets from daddy!?" Tamaki wailed, his hands fisting themselves frantically through his blonde hair "Mommy's having an affair" Hikaru remarked with a smirk, causing Tamaki to fall on all fours in despair.
Kyoya sighed, adjusting his glasses with his forefinger "Mishima Jun is a classmate of Tamaki and I" he started in a relatively calm tone "she will be writing a published paper on the host club and market it to bring in new customers". THAT caught the attention of everyone "but... Kyouya sempai didn't the newspaper club try and do a paper on the club?" Haruhi prompted, confusion on her features. Hikaru, Kaoru, Mori and Honey all shared side glances at her remark "this will be done in the perception of a young lady and will be more viable" Kyouya smoothly replied leaving no room for further comment.
"Gentleman!" The king was back on his feet with his hands planted on his hips "this is a golden opportunity we have!" his tone was inspiring, his gaze determined "don't you see! We can give Jun the opportunity to experience the full impression on what the family life of the host club is truly like! She can then write an inspirational message of hope to all the princesses everywhere what our club aspires to do! To make every lady happy!" his hand pointed in the air as the club members (save for Kyouya and Haruhi) clapped in awe.
"as inspirational as your speech was Tamaki" Kyouya interrupted with a rather pointed tone "I do think that introductions are in order"
Jun was reading through some of her observations, trying to pattern links between certain key words and other meanings they could have. For the past half hour she had zoned out completely from what was happening in the room. It was one of the ways she liked to work, spend half an hour critically studying or reading; taking information in, and then spend the second half of the hour working with it. Making notes, writing essays etc. She had even found herself relaxing ever so slightly into the unfamiliar environment. That is until a looming shadow cast itself over her head...
Stiffening instantly, Juns grip tightened on her notebook as her head very timidly arched to see what, or who was standing in front of her. The twins were staring down at her with identical expressions of curiosity, she swallowed, bristling slightly as recollections of their earlier 'display' came flooding back to her. Her face reddened.
After several seconds of silence passed, clear that neither wanted to break the silence, Kyouya opted to do it himself "Jun, allow me to introduce Hitachiin Kaoru and Hikaru". The young girl jostled slightly, head snapping over to the sound of his voice, only to widen her eyes at the realisation that she was left alone with the members of the host club and all of them were currently staring at her.
'oh god'
Her mouth gaped slightly however not even air was able to come out of it. "oh now look Kyouya sempai you broke her before we could play with her" the twins pouted, leaning in closer to the girl. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head "p...p-p.. play?" she stammered, trying to shift herself back, away from the twins. They both smirked, apparently enjoying the effect they had on her, their fun was short lived however as the brunette boy came to her aid "Kaoru, Hikaru! Cut it out" he stepped forward frowning at the pair and, by some form of magic they backed off, pouting slightly "we were only introducing ourselves" one of them cited whilst the other crossed his arms. "You were creeping her out" however his frown became a friendly smile once he looked at her "sorry about them sempai", his voice was soft and it managed to sooth her; if only a little bit. "my name's Fujioka Haruhi" he held out his hand.
Jun could only stare at it, not managing to loosen her vice like grip on her book, she did however managed to nod rigidly "nice... to meet you" she spoke quietly, her glasses sliding down her nose. If Fujioka was put off by her lack of wanting to engage in physical contact, he didn't show it. He simply retracted his hand, still smiling politely.
The small blonde boy bounced in front of her, waving a... stuffed bunny... a bright pink one no less "Juni chan! you can call me Honey!" he giggled before taking on a serious expression "Do you like cake?" Jun's glasses skewed slightly 'Juni chan!?' she thought with a slow blink "actually... I.. um... it... Jun... please" she was feeling slightly dazed at this point, all of this new information, social interactions at such a close range. She wasn't sure how to correctly respond. She stared down at the small boy as he tilted his head in an almost confused manner before giggling "and this is Usa Chan!" he gestured to the bunny, continuing as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
She slowly nodded just as the tallest, unnamed host came up to stand behind the small boy. For his part he giggled and climbed up his body, as if he was some sort of human jungle gym. If the tall host was shocked by this he didn't show it, if... anything he acted as though this behaviour was perfectly normal. "Oh! And this is Takashi, my little cousin" he giggled once more "but you can call him Mori"
"hn." The tall host grunted.
Jun nodded once more before catching herself. Blinking several times "... Little?" she blurted, staring up at the pair. Honey giggled, as though this was some sort of inside joke.
At the end of the day she had discovered several things.
The Hitachiin brothers, were impossible to tell apart, but apparently Fujioka seemed to be the only one able to do so. How he was able to she had no idea, perhaps she would ask him at some point.
MITSUKUNI Haninozuka, was actually the eldest host club member, an actual third year and with an excessive love for cake and 'Usa chan'.
This group of boys were, to put it simply; Strange, however as strange as their antics were and how they were able to put her out of her comfort zone with so much ease. There was definitely a story to be told here, she could only hope however that it would come together easily and she wouldn't get hurt in the process.