Title: It's Not a Mask
Summary: Jack doesn't wear a mask, who he is at school is the real him. He's not hiding his gender, nor is he in the Host Club because of a debt or blackmail of any kind. He thought his life was pretty good when he was with the host club, but when his secret is revealed Jack will unwillingly become who he's not. This fanfiction is not about a girl pretending to be a boy. This is a story with a transgender protagonist, Jack is a female to male trans guy.
Warnings: This fanfiction heavily involves transphobia and homophobia in the later chapters. If you're uncomfortable with either or are triggered by said things, then continue at your own risk.
Chapter Length: 3189 | Total Length: 9291
Chapter IV
A Trip to Haruhi's?
"W-what are you two doing in the same bed?!" Tamaki shrieked making Jack bolt upright on the bed in panic. He opened his eyes and saw the blond, his panic quickly morphing into annoyance. "And why is Danny completely naked?!"
"Why are you here, Tamaki-senpai?" Jack grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.
"Have you two had sex?!" Tamaki once again shrieked, horror laced his voice. Panic plastered on his face as he voiced his thought.
Danny looked at Jack with furrowed brows. Jack also turned to stare at his best friend. The two stared at each other intensely, seemingly having a silent conversation before they burst out laughing.
"PFFFFT! Sex? With him? In his dreams!" Danny howled.
Jack felt his face burning with embarrassment. "I wouldn't dare! He's such a damn loser."
"Also, dude keep your voice down. I have a little sister in the house." Danny reprimanded Tamaki after he calmed down from his laughing fit.
"Big bro! Why is there lots of cute boys downstairs and why is there someone in here yelling about having sex?" A girl called as she appeared in Danny's open door.
"Oh, Karlie. Those must be the people in my club. And that's an idiot who thought me and Jack were more than best friends." Danny laughed slightly. Completely recovered when speaking with Karlie. It didn't surprise Jack, his best friend doted on his little sister every chance he got. Whether it was appreciated or not didn't matter.
Tamaki looked to his right and saw a girl who must have been in middle school. She looked completely unrelated to Danny, what with her near bone white skin and platinum blonde hair. She wasn't dressed for the day, but had one headphone in her ear that Tamaki noticed was playing a song from some foreign pop boy band. She wore a pink shirt with "I (heart) One Direction" on it – possibly the band Tamaki could here – and some pajama bottoms with little bunny white slippers.
She rolled her eyes. "You're in a club with weird people, big brother. Cute, but weird people." She left chuckling as she thought of her brother and his best friend as closer than best friends.
Danny sighed before looking at Tamaki. "So is breaking and entering a hobby of yours?"
Tamaki looked as if he didn't understand the question. Danny rolled his eyes and rephrased his question, realising that the blond was actually severely oblivious. "What're you doing over at my place?"
"Well, the club and I were curious to what your house looked like, so we came over!" Tamaki grinned.
"Urgh." Jack groaned before falling back onto the bed. He pulled the covers over his head, still slightly dying of embarrassment over the mere suggestion of sleeping with his best friend. Regardless of whether it was a simple misunderstanding or not.
"Then call me and ask?" Danny said with a raised eyebrow. "Who invited you in anyway?!"
"We caught your parents on their way out. They let us in."
Danny sighed. Of course they did. They were the type of people to do that after all, the kind of parents that someone could run up to and say that they were friends with their kid and his parents would help him out no problem.
He moved to get out of bed and for a moment Tamaki started to panic thinking that he would be getting to know his new club member a little bit more than he would like. He sighed in relief when he realised that Danny was wearing shorts.
"Alright then, shoo whilst we change." Danny said, pushing Tamaki out of the room and locking the door when he was out.
"Is he gone?" Jack asked, peeking out from under the covers.
"Yup, you can get out and change now." Danny said, walking over to his wardrobe and pulling out a blue long sleeve t-shirt and skinny jeans. "You want to borrow some of my stuff?"
"Nah, thanks though. Yukio gave me some new threads." Jack smiled, pulling out a beige plaid shirt that he chose to wear over a white t-shirt. He too donned a pair of skinny jeans before leaving the room with a fully changed Danny. The two traversed the stairs down to the living room where they found every member but Haruhi sitting.
"Is this a regular thing you guys like to do? Like, come over to people's homes unannounced?" Danny asked as he reached the bottom step. "Because it's incredibly rude."
"Well, pretty much." Kaoru shrugged.
"We do it to Haruhi all the time." Hikaru commented. "It's not as interesting this time because you're not a commoner."
"I am. Just not the garden variety of commoner – a well of one." Danny shrugged. "My family can afford to send me and my sister to Ouran and still have quite a bit of money to splurge out."
"Yeah, like we said. Not really a commoner." Kaoru sighed.
Danny rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Whatever, I guess I should offer you stuff. Want any drinks? I assume you've already had breakfast before coming, so I'm gonna fix up me and Jack's food."
"Tea would be lovely!" Tamaki grinned.
Danny shrugged once again, the rest of the club would most likely wanting tea also. He then went to go prepare beverages before starting on making several slices of French Toast.
Jack decided to sit with the club to make sure they didn't be too nosy.
"This place is so cozy! It's a lot bigger than Haruhi's apartment but not nearly as big as the Suoh estate." He commented, looking around the room in its entirety.
"These Chinese ceramics are certainly impressive. They seem to be of high quality despite their age, truly a thing to be envious of." Kyoya commented, admiring Danny's parent's collection that was in an display case.
"How come Danny looks nothing like the rest of his family?" Hikaru wondered aloud as he observed the photo collection on the wall.
"Oh..." Jack spoke up, putting his hand over the back of his neck out of nervous habit. The club's attention was grasped as they heard Hikaru's remark get a response, as Jack hadn't responded to anyone else's comments. "That's because he's not biologically related to them, he's adopted."
"Oh." Hikaru muttered, his question had halted all conversation in the room.
There was silence for a moment. The others just couldn't think of what to fill the air, what could you possibly say to that without coming off as rude? It was completely silent until Danny spoke up.
"It doesn't bother me." He said placing a tray on the coffee table before pouring the tea. "I think of Kairi and Arthur as my real parents. They've always loved me like I was their own, they treat Karlie the same way. We were without a family before they took us in, but now together we're like a normal family. And we all love each other the same anyway."
Tamaki was clinging to the ashen haired teen in an instant. "Hey! I have tea in my hands!" He warned as his grip jostled slightly. He squirmed as he tried to get out of the blond's suffocating grip. Danny sighed as he put the tea down and walked back into the kitchen, walking around as he hoped Tamaki would just let go eventually.
Jack – having already dealt with the awkward conversation years ago – bit into the toast without thinking he needed to speak up. There wasn't really anything to say.
"So how did your family afford the tuition for Ouran Danny-chan?" Hani asked, swiftly changing the subject when Danny returned now Tamaki-less. He went to start pouring the tea into the available cups.
"You mean because my parents aren't business people? Well, Kairi's parents were well off, as were Arthur's parents. A little over two years after I adopted they got extremely lucky. Both won first prize in two huge lotteries. And we've just been living on that ever since." Danny shrugged taking a sip of his tea. "I mean, I know it won't last, but they're careful with their savings. We're not frivolous and waste our money like actual rich people."
Jack half listened to the story, he had heard it many a time. He liked being around Kairi and Arthur, they were very loving and accepting people, always jumping to include Jack in everything. He absent-mindedly wondered what time his father would be returning today from his business trip and almost choked on his French toast. He probably had around six hours to prepare and tip the maids so they wouldn't rat him out to his father that he hadn't been home in three days. He swiftly hurried to finish his breakfast with a few more bites before running his plate into the kitchen.
"Unfortunately, as much as I would love to stay here with you guys. I have to go. My father's holding this thing and I need to get back to prep for it." Jack partially lied.
"That's unfortunate. Perhaps tomorrow we should visit your house?" Kyoya suggested, sliding up his glasses with a gentle smile on his face. Something Jack had already come to know as the 'I know something and you should be scared' look. It made him gulp with great unease.
"Uhh! That would not be good. We're currently renovating and everything is all over the place! You'll have to come round when it's done, however." Jack said, slightly hurried. Danny looked over at Jack with a slight look of pity.
"I'll see you at the club on Monday then." Jack smiled, after he returned back down the stairs with the backpack on his back. The club then bid him a farewell, as he hopped onto the bicycle he had unchained from Danny's fence. He then started to pedal down the street, if he didn't tire himself out too early in the ride then it would take him just under twenty minutes for him to get back.
All was going well, and it didn't take long for Jack to hit his pace with him enjoying the wind run through his hair and against his face. He beamed with happiness, also, because he was making record time.
That was until some idiot pulled out of his driveway without looking where he was going. He just appeared in front of Jack's front wheel, thus launching Jack clear over the handle bars. The idiot braked in shock before hurriedly exiting the car. "Oh my god! Kid, are you alright?" He asked, worried he'd have to go to court or something.
"Jack?!" A familiar voice called. Jack lifted his head to see Haruhi rushing towards him. He put the grocery bags he was carrying down before placing a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder as he carefully looked over his friend. "You're not seriously hurt are you?"
"Urgh." Jack groaned slightly. "No not really – I don't think so." He turned over and sat up, looking at his knees. Badly grazed. And his elbows weren't any different. "Father's going to kill me..." He muttered.
"Need a hand getting up?" Haruhi asked the boy, who looked to be in pain.
"Nah, thanks though." Jack said with a smile, he stood and turned to inspect the damage his bike had endured. "Aw man! The front wheel is completely bent. There's no way I can ride this back now."
Jack turned back to the man who hit him. "Bastard, you wrecked my bike!"
"Hey, you were the one who rode right into it!" The man yelled back.
"You didn't look before reversing! Not my fault you hit me!" Jack argued back, picking his bike up and moving out of the way grumbling all the way.
"You're welcome to come and rest a bit at my place if need be." Haruhi offered, picking up the groceries at his feet. "I mean until you can get a different way back."
"Thanks man. I'll have to give my bro a call. He should be coming back from a business trip in an hour." Jack adjusted his bike pulling it up to move on its rear wheel making it easier for him to push.
As it turned out Jack didn't have to push the bike that far, it would seem that Haruhi's apartment was just around the corner. Chaining the wrecked bike to the railing outside Haruhi's door, said guy started to make tea whilst Jack called his brother and fully inspected the damage the fall had done with a small mirror.
"Aw man, there's another on my cheek." Jack whined, staring at the graze that covered his left cheekbone. "This isn't going to help me at the club, even though I doubt my looks were my main selling point." He sighed.
Haruhi chuckled slightly. "It doesn't look too bad. Don't worry, it'll heal in a week or two." Haruhi placed the tea cups on the table before disappearing once again, he then placed a box in front of Jack before sitting down.
Jack looked at the box with interest before Haruhi opened it up to reveal a medical kit. Jack nodded in understanding as he reached for some disinfectant wipes. "Thanks again dude."
He smiled at his friend before he wiped at his scrapes wincing slightly as he went. He then pulled out a skin coloured plaster – or band-aids as he learned the Americans called them – before placing multiple over his grazes.
"No problem," Haruhi smiled back. He was glad he took the slightly longer route back from the supermarket today, had he have taken the usual route he wouldn't have come across Jack when he needed the help.
"Oh, who's this?" Jack asked as a portrait picture claimed his attention.
"Oh. That's my mom, she passed away when I was young." Haruhi said, taking a sip of his tea.
"I'm sorry." Jack responded, sadness tinted his voice. He paid his respects before continuing. "I know what that feels like. My mom also passed away when I was young."
"I'm sorry, also." Haruhi nodded, understanding in his eyes.
"So you live in this place with your dad?"
"Yeah, it's just me and him. It may not be anything you might be used to, but it's home."
"Oh no, it's wonderful actually." Jack smiled. "If I'm honest one day, I'd like to get an apartment of my own. Similar to this one actually, and just live life as it comes. I'm not interest in staying rich like everyone else in Ouran. If I was rich, then I'd probably blow it all on helping other or some other sob story." Jack chuckled slightly.
"Though I suppose, I would miss living with my brothers. Having five older brothers always makes the house rather lively and entertaining."
Haruhi smiled and was about to reply, but was suddenly interrupted with the door opening. "Haruhiii~ I'm home!"
"Oh hey dad." Haruhi replied. Jack turned in curiosity to greet his friend's father. He wasn't expecting to see what appeared to be a woman. It completely threw him off actually. "This is a friend from school. His name is Jack."
"Uh, hi!" Jack grinned at the newcomer, quickly finding his senses. He extended his hand out for a handshake before speaking once again. "It's really nice to meet you."
"Oh how lovely, I can meet another one of Haruhi's school friends! I'm Ranka, Haruhi's father. Now listen here, don't be putting the moves on my Haruhi you hear!" Ranka laughed after shaking Jack's hand.
Jack went slightly red at the suggest, and muttered out a response similar to "I didn't even think about it" but Haruhi spoke up first.
"Daaad." He groaned.
Ranka just giggled, before he skipped off to his room.
If Haruhi's dad is...then maybe I could tell Haruhi?...No. What if that happens again anyway? This...is hard. Jack thought with a silent sigh as he stared down at his tea.
It didn't take long for Jack's brother to arrive, and Haruhi breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't appeared in a limo, but something that stood out less. Like a normal – but still fairly expensive – black car.
"You seem like a magnet for bad luck recently, eh little runt?" the tall man chuckled lightly as he stood in front of Jack.
Haruhi could easily understand the nickname, Jack was little over four inches taller than thin, but Jack's brother easily stood at six foot. With run meaning the smallest of a litter, Haruhi guessed that the rest of his family were probably a lot taller than him.
"Don't even tell me about it. I'm worried that I destroyed a whole mirror shop in my past life." Jack sighed, starting to shove the bike into the trunk of the car. He then turned back to Haruhi. "Thanks for letting me stay at your place for a bit. It was nice talking, especially outside the club. It was fun, she should hang out more." He grinned.
Jack then moved his gaze up to the balcony above them. "It was nice to meet you as well, Ranka!" he called up to the red-head who had been peeking out the door at them, apparently unknown to Haruhi. Ranka grinned and waved back.
Then with smiles all around, they parted their separate ways.
"So...who was your friend?" Jack's brother asked with a large grin on his face, his eyebrows raising and lowering at a quick pace. Jack's face burnt scarlet as he realised what he was implying.
"Oh my god, Taro. I do not want to bang him."
Taro laughed. It was a deep and husky laugh, and Jack side-eyed his brother with a scowl. Sometimes he couldn't believe how blunt and childish his full grown twenty-five year old brother was. If it wouldn't slaughter his hand he would love to punch that cocky grin off his face. Jack sighed, Taro was the most mature of his brothers and even then he was as childish as a five year old! Jack huffed with brief annoyance.
It was silent in the car for a few minutes until Taro spoke up. "So...does he know?"
Jack released a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, before he spoke. "No...but I am considering telling him. I'm just...terrified. I don't exactly want a repeat of last time..."
Taro glanced at his brother with slight sorry. "Well, there's no need to rush things. You just met this guy like a week ago, right? Get to know him more, and then when the time is right tell him."
Jack was silent as he took in his brother's words. "Yeah..." he mumbled. "Yeah. I'll tell him when the time is right." Jack said with new found optimism.