LAWL. This party is such a plot device. Also I can't believe I completed eight chapters of a Nekozawa fanfiction without writing in Kirimi. I'm a genius. Or an idiot.
Also I apologize for how late this came out. I'm an employed full time college student with a webcomic, and all of these things take priority.
Thanks a million to my beta Leafygirl.
To the delight of every Host Club member who actually possessed a Y chromosome (and the regret of the one who did not), Haruhi's dress fit almost perfectly. Only minor adjustments needed to be made- taking in the hem, as the twins had given her too much credit as far as her height was concerned, and, shockingly, letting out the bust, where they had somehow managed to give her too little credit (apparently forgetting that she wore an unflattering sports bra every day at school, and at all club functions). Those aside, the fit was gorgeous, and seeing Haruhi in that beautiful white satin dress was like a dream come true for Tamaki and the twins, especially.
For Haruhi herself, it was nothing short of a nightmare.
She was willing to concede that the gown was indeed lovely- it covered her appropriately and wasn't too flashy or ostentatious- but it wasn't really in her style to wear such an expensive looking thing, and more irritatingly, she couldn't get her club mates to stop fussing over her. It was like they thought it was a miracle to get her to a non-school related party in a dress. Haruhi thought it would be a miracle if they shut up about it.
For the next few days, after club activities had ended and the guests had all left, the unfortunate girl was abducted by her friends and dragged all across town in an effort to complete the ensemble. They took her shopping for shoes, hair clips, jewelry, gloves, anything they thought would look complimentary on her, and while she insisted that she really didn't need all this, and they really didn't have to go to all the trouble, and she really needed to get back home early tonight to study for that test next week, it was no use, as there didn't seem to be any way to talk them down.
After finally managing to at least convince everyone that she just couldn't accept anything so expensive as a gift, the club came to the general consensus that the shoes and gloves would be written off as club related purchases, and the jewelry would be returned or kept by the Host Club members to do with as they wished, so that Haruhi didn't have to feel awkward about owning them. So, with no real choice in the matter and little grounds for further argument, she admitted defeat and just sighed quietly as Kaoru and Hikaru argued with Tamaki over the aesthetic appeal of pearls versus opals, and valiantly attempted to read her book from the back of the store. It was difficult to concentrate, though, when her internal dialogue was being constantly interrupted with somebody shouting about how opals were too bright and would detract from the quality of the dress, or about how pearls weren't bright enough and they weren't even really stones, they were oyster spit. Finally Kyouya decided on diamonds just to shut them up and Haruhi had to stop reading to make them promise there would be as FEW diamonds as humanly possible, because the last thing she needed was to owe more money to the Host Club. She never did want to be one of those girls who would try to out sparkle the stars themselves.
She didn't see Nekozawa at all that week. For one thing, her friends were dragging her around every afternoon, and in her precious time off she was studying so it was simply a matter of time constraints. For another thing, she wasn't even completely sure she wanted to face him, bedraggled and vaguely under slept, all in preparation for his sister's party. But, cementing her desire to not see him was the reoccurring thought that she did want to see him- that he had a calming effect on her, that she could relax in his presence- which of course were thoughts that simply would not do, and so she ignored them as hard as she could, and allowed herself to be run continuously haggard by the others for the entirety of the week.
Unfortunately, the torment she faced every afternoon following club was nothing compared to what she would endure the day of the party.
Despite the fact that Umehito Nekozawa had a rather bizarre reputation around Ouran, his family name was an old one that generally commanded some respect, and he really was descended from Russian royalty on his mother's side. Therefore, it could be generally assumed that being invited to a Nekozawa party would be a formal affair, with an impressive number of big names attending. And, with Tamaki acting as her chaperone, the Host Club was decidedly not shy about bringing out as much of a lady in Haruhi as they could achieve. Although some members were still a little wary about Umehito Nekozawa being in on their club secret- especially since he had apparently known for a while- their desire to beautify Haruhi was much more overwhelming than their caution.
Because Kirimi had a bed time and most of the party's guests wanted to at least greet the birthday girl before she was forced to retire, the event was scheduled to begin in the late afternoon. To that end, the Host Club decided to begin Haruhi's glorious transformation early in the morning.
They of course failed to mention this to Haruhi. Therefore it came as a complete surprise when there was a knock at the door at the Fujioka residence at six o'clock in the morning on a weekend, and a gruff and irritated Ryoji damn near slammed the door in their sickeningly cheerful faces. In fact, the only reason he allowed them in was because Tamaki was not there. The Host King had his own preparations to take care of, and all though he wanted to be there to witness the transformation, the twins were able to convince him it would be better if he waited for the "finished product".
And so, it was with no small amount of confused frustration that Haruhi opened her bleary eyes to the bright, smiling faces of Hikaru and Kaoru standing over her. In her room. At six A.M. On a Sunday.
Haruhi pulled the covers over her head.
"Wakey wakey. Haruhi!" The twins exclaimed in unison, smiling far too broadly for her mood.
"Go away," Came the muffled reply from under the bed sheets.
"It's time to get ready!" Hikaru announced as the twins both began shaking the mattress to rouse her. He then added, "Oh my God, is this what you sleep on? This mattress is terrible!"
"I can feel the springs!" Kaoru concurred, pushing down on the furniture. Finally, Haruhi was irritated into waking, and threw the blankets off her head, sitting up violently.
"Okay, okay!" She agreed. "Just leave my room so I can get dressed!"
This was good enough for them, and they finally left. Haruhi dressed quickly in a very foul mood. They sure as Hell didn't have any manners.
When she opened the door, to her mild surprise she found that Hunny, Mori, and Kyouya were also waiting for her, apparently having had no other plans for the day. But on the other hand, they did bring breakfast for her, so she was much quicker to forgive them, and soon her bad mood melted away.
However, she wasn't in a good mood, either. Because after breakfast and a quick shower, her torture began.
The hair salon was all right. She got a crick in her neck from leaning back over the sink but as the stylist cleaned her hair it felt sort of nice, like a scalp massage. It only got a little irritating after it had been blown dry and the stylist huffed and clicked her tongue, muttering about how Haruhi's hair was just so short and she didn't know what to do with it. But finally, with the help of more gel and product than she probably had hair, it was upswept against the back of her head in an adorable twist and wound together with a thin white ribbon, held in place with a dozen pins and four very pretty white barrettes clipped above her temples. When it was finished, her friends oohed and aahed, pleased with the result. Hunny told her that she looked like a princess, and Haruhi wished she could turn her head without fear of popping a pin our or tearing out her hair.
The manicure was so boring, she could have fallen asleep. Soaking her fingers in lukewarm water for ten minutes and being sawed at with a nail file was not Haruhi's idea of a great afternoon. So that she wouldn't feel too awkward, Hunny decided to get one too, and chatted at her pleasantly about how they can both have pretty hands; Haruhi still wished she'd brought a book. In the end, both of them ended up wearing the same clear nail polish, which made Hunny giggle. Haruhi was mildly amused.
After that it was noon, and they decided to stop for lunch at a place of Kyouya's choosing. They managed to reserve the entire outdoor patio with a majestic scenic view over a lake, which of course Haruhi thought was ridiculously excessive, but the service was impeccable and the sandwich she ordered was heavenly so she didn't complain.
Soon the twins were engaged in hushed conversation, causing Haruhi to pray she wasn't somehow involved in whatever conspiracy they were planning- and Hunny was busy trying to decide what to order for dessert, the girl turned to Kyouya.
"Kyouya-Senpai," she began, catching his attention, "just how long have you known that Nekozawa-Senpai knew I was a girl?..."
"Hmmm," he replied thoughtfully with his chin in his hand, but she could see his concealed smile. "Longer than you've known, I assume."
"Oh?" She said with only some surprise. After all, she only found out a week ago. "But you told the twins that it 'recently came to your attention'."
"That was half true," he responded smoothly, and took a sip of his tea before continuing. "Nekozawa-Senpai came to me in private the next morning after he found out our secret and offered a trade. He wouldn't reveal your gender if we wouldn't reveal that he wasn't Japanese. Of course, I had no intention of telling anyone his origin as it did not interest me, so the bargain was in my favor and I accepted. What 'recently came to my attention'…" Kyouya paused with an almost imperceptible smirk as he looked at her over his glasses, "…is that he cared you were a girl."
Haruhi's face coloured slightly and she took an awkward sip of her tea.
"Ah." He smiled slyly. "But you knew that, too, didn't you?"
She turned swiftly to face him, shocked, her cheeks even redder than before. Haruhi tried to say something in her defense, but only a sort of strangled noise came out.
"I wonder…" Kyouya continued, ignoring and perhaps even enjoying her humiliation, "exactly how well do you know...?"
Haruhi turned wordlessly to her empty plate, feeling embarrassed and exposed. She had suspected that Kyouya knew that she and Nekozawa were friends, but how much more did he know? Did he know about that night, in the Black Magic clubroom? How would he? He seemed to imply that he was on to her, but was he just trying to get her to give something away? Was he bluffing?
Haruhi decided she liked it so much better when she thought Kyouya knew that she and Nekozawa were friends. She didn't want him to think that they were lovers!
"Haruhi, why is your face so red? Did you eat something spicy?" Kaoru asked suddenly, surprising her out of her thoughts.
"Or did Kyouya say something lewd to you?" Hikaru added jokingly.
"No, I just…" Haruhi put her hand to her forehead, feeling overwhelmed. "There's just a lot happening today."
"Haru-Chan is feeling tired because we woke her up!" Hunny offered. "Try some cake, Haru-Chan! You'll feel better!"
"I think I'd like to go home," she sighed.
Kyouya's eerily accurate musings on the depth of Haruhi and Nekozawa's relationship unsettled Haruhi, and she was distant and distracted for a while afterwards. She couldn't stop thinking that she wanted to correct Kyouya, to explain that he had had it all wrong and that she and Nekozawa were just friends, but at the same time, Kyouya wasn't entirely wrong either. If he suspected- or knew- that Nekozawa had kissed her, well, she really couldn't argue that. It also occurred to her that she ought to tell everybody about her acquaintanceship with the gloomy upperclassmen, before they all got the same idea as Kyouya. She decided finally that she would tell Tamaki tonight. If she could convince him that Nekozawa was harmless- said person's presence may even be of help in that regard at the party- then it would probably be easier to convince the others, particularly the twins.
Her silent and contemplative demeanor over the next hour or so worked in her favor, because she was barely aware of having her face worked over at the beauty parlor later on after lunch. She just closed her eyes and let the beautician perform their art, which seemed moderately suspicious to the others, who had been expecting her to protest or complain about having her makeup done. With a shrug, they decided that she was probably just becoming accustomed to the treatment- or finally understood the futility of resisting and accepted her behavior with a small sense of relief.
Except of course for Kyouya, who smiled knowingly behind his glasses.
Following her makeover, there was only one step left to complete Haruhi's look. So, sporting her fresh coat of paint, her wound up hair and neat new nails, the group poured back into the cars and headed towards the Hitachiin's place, where Haruhi's dress was waiting for her, complete with all its recent alterations for a perfect fit.
Hikaru and Kaoru's mother was thrilled to see Haruhi, and more than happy to help the girl into the dress her sons had made for her, though she lamented some during the fitting that they hadn't decided to go with one of her own designs, which not only would have looked "fabulous", but also would have been free advertisement for her clothing label. Haruhi was secretly glad the twins didn't decide on any of their mother's designs, because they were a little too outrageous for her tastes. Of course, she didn't say this out loud.
As she and the Lady Hitachiin smoothed out her dress, Haruhi was lead to a mirror where she could finally get a full look at all the work she'd been going through all morning. There, she observed her changed appearance from top to bottom.
It sort of felt like she was looking at somebody else through that mirror, somebody who looked a little bit like her, but much prettier. It was hard to believe the real Haruhi was under all the glamour. It was a little uncomfortable, but she vowed to put on a brave face. After all, her club mates had gone to a lot of trouble for her to look like a princess, and it was very sweet of them, since in the end, they weren't getting anything out of the ordeal except the chance to see Haruhi in a gown. She knew they would be pleased. That at least made her a little happy. Besides, thinking of how Tamaki was going to react later when he met her at the party was a sort of amusing thought as well, and she suppressed a grin.
As the lady Hitachiin lead her back out to where the others were waiting, Haruhi wondered a little what Nekozawa would think, too.
After getting past the oohs and ahhs and other looks of astonishment from her friends, it was decided at last that Haruhi's look was complete. Finally, it was time to go to the party. Haruhi groaned inwardly. It already felt like a day's worth of activity, and that was just the preparation.
"I feel a little bit ridiculous," she muttered as the others nodded their approval. "Isn't this just a kid's birthday party? Why am I wearing all this make-up? Its like I'm going to a wedding or something."
"As was mentioned previously," Kyouya began in response, "Child or adult, a birthday is an occasion worthy of celebration, and the upper class prefers to celebrate in style. A certain standard is more or less expected, and all guests are measured by it."
"Yeah, if you showed up in what you were wearing today, they might not even let you in as a servant," Hikaru added. "You probably didn't do any less to prepare than anyone else."
"Except it probably took her longer," Kaoru thought, "because she's never had a manicure or a bunch of that stuff before, so there was more to do."
"It pains me to say that I have no choice but to trust you on this," Haruhi sighed. "But if I'm the only one who's overdressed, I'm leaving."
Just then, she remembered something, and cursed under her breath.
"I hate to be a bother," she began, "but can we stop at my place again? I forgot Kirimi's birthday gift."
"Ooh! What did you get her?" Hunny excitedly asked.
"Just a manga," she replied with a shrug. "I didn't know what she already had, though, so I sat in the bookstore for an hour trying to remember which ones I had read to her. In the end I ended up with… I don't know, something with a talking cat."
"That sounds about her style!" Hikaru laughed. "Sure, we can swing by your house. You should probably drop off the clothes you were wearing around today anyhow."
Madame Hitachiin saw them to the door and the crew departed. They made a stop back at Haruhi's place, and were delayed by Ranka's delighted squeals and violently affectionate hugs for joy of seeing his tomboyish daughter in a gorgeous dress. He immediately forgave her club mates for waking them both up so early in the morning, agreeing that the effort was very much worth it. Haruhi was finally able to extricate herself from her father to duck into her room and grab Kirimi's gift, and one other thing, which was shoved into a small handbag with her keys and wallet. With one last final look around to see if she missed anything, she emerged.
"All right, I think its time," Kyouya began. He took his cell phone out of his pocket. "Everyone, you may turn your phones on."
Haruhi watched with some confusion then as all of her club mates proceeded to take out their cells and switch them on, where all of them immediately began beeping "missed call" and "new voice mail".
Every single call on every boy's phone was from Tamaki, frantically demanding updates on Haruhi's progress. Her face fell.
"We told him he can't call you because he'll be interrupting," Hikaru began as Haruhi checked her own phone, as she hadn't turned it off at all. "But we knew he'd be bugging us all day so we turned our phones off."
"I guess we'd better tell him she's ready," Kaoru sighed, scrolling down to 'Tono' on his contact list."
"There's no need!" replied Hunny excitedly from the window. "His car is pulling up!"
The Host Club scrambled to the tiny windows facing the street where they saw that Tamaki's limousine was, in fact, stopping just outside the Fujioka residence, to Haruhi's baffled but no longer surprised neighbors' wide-eyed stares. Hikaru and Kaoru raced outside to shout at him from the balcony.
"You're too impatient, Tono!"
"I've been ready for hours!" Tamaki shouted back as he emerged from the vehicle. "You all took too long on purpose so that you could spend more time with Haruhi!"
Tamaki was wearing a handsome dark purple suit that seemed almost black in the shadows, but was just bright enough to bring out his eyes magnificently. He practically dazzled in the sunlight, and Haruhi's female neighbors swooned.
Haruhi groaned. "I've changed my mind. I'm backing out."
"Oh no you don't!" the twins insisted, ducking inside to grab her arms. Haruhi struggled, beginning to feel anxiously she wasn't in control of her own life.
"Let me go! I can change my mind if I want to!"
"Not today!" They grinned, and pulled her out onto the balcony.
Her neighbors gasped. Tamaki looked astounded. Haruhi turned red from embarrassment.
"Isn't she pretty?" Hunny leaned over the railing and shouted down to Tamaki. "Haruhi looks like a princess! Come on, Haruhi!" He took her hand and began pulling her down the stairs.
"Have fun today, Sweetie!" Ryoji called after her from the doorway, smiling broadly. "Daddy loves you!"
"Haruhi!" Her landlady looked shocked. "You're so lovely! Are you going to a prom?"
"Nope! A birthday party!" Hunny replied for her. Haruhi covered her face with her hands.
"I wish I could die."
At the landing, Haruhi tromped gracelessly over to Tamaki, hoping to get in the car as fast as possible and escape all the prying eyes. Tamaki stared wordlessly at her, thunderstruck. His face was bright red.
"Well," she huffed, "let's go if we're going to."
He continued to stare. Haruhi became impatient.
"Tono, if you're going to get a nosebleed, you'd better not ruin her dress," Hikaru warned, which seemed to snap Tamaki out of his reverie enough for him to yell back.
"I'm not going to ruin the dress!"
"Let's please get in the car, Senpai," she muttered. "Everyone is staring."
In a flash, she found herself wrapped in his arms, his slender fingers gently lifting her chin to meet his radiant gaze.
"Let them stare," he whispered seductively.
A flower pot connected with his skull, and Tamaki crashed to the ground in a shower of dirt and a yelp of pain. Haruhi looked up at the landing, but both of the twins were acting so innocent it was hard to tell which one was actually guilty. But it was one of them.
Tamaki stood up angrily, brushing dirt out of his blond hair, and was about to retaliate against the twins when Kyouya put a hand on his shoulder.
"You'll be late, Tamaki," he advised with a cool smile.
"Ah! Of course! Come, my lady!" He stretched out his hand to Haruhi, who decided to humor him and took it. He pulled her over to the car with a dramatic swirl, and without a word, she climbed in, embarrassed. He waved at their friends before joining her, and the car pulled out.
"Well," Kaoru began when the car turned a corner out of sight, "I guess we'd better get ready, too."
The two brothers smiled mischievously at one another.