Chapter Text
The host club had been abuzz with activity, as usual, but something felt different this time. There was an undercurrent of tension, a palpable sense of unease that hung heavy in the air. Suoh Tamaki in particular was seemingly in a more anxious mood, pacing nervously, his usual confident demeanour replaced by an air of worry.
It was the day of club inspections.
In general, Tamaki would feel indifferent about club inspections, although there was one factor that made him undoubtedly nervous. The person inspecting the club, L/N Y/N, the current Ouran Academy student council president. Tamaki's stomach churned at the thought, what if she disapproved of his precious club, would she cast a curse on him, or even worse, place a curse on his precious Haruhi. Just the idea of confronting her feared him.
The clock on the wall ticked ominously, each second nearing the dreaded inspection period. All Tamaki could do now was wait for her to arrive with her clipboard and menacing aura. Tumbling dramatically onto a nearby sofa Tamaki stared up at the clock on the wall, watching it tick at an agonizing pace.
"Senpai?" a gentle voice calls from behind. "Is something troubling you?" Haruhi leans forward from her place behind the sofa Tamaki currently resides in.
"Yeah boss, are you feeling alright?" another voice inquired, Kaoru who stood on the left side of the sofa holding his hands on his hips. Hikaru on the other hand took it upon himself to further agitate the president and poked him on the cheek, which provided no reaction much to his dismay. Something was definitely wrong.
"Tama-chan's only ever this nervous for one thing," Honey innocently lifted his pointer finger to his chin, striking a 'thinking' pose. The first-year host club members all looked at him in anticipation. Mori in turn speaks up.
"Club inspections”
Silence filled the room as the younger hosts all deadpanned. Was that really the reason why their usually egotistical, flamboyant boss was in a mood? It was ridiculous. This club was ridiculous. "Mm-hm! That's why Tama-chan is acting this way."
Honey waddled over to a nearby table, reaching up to grab a piece of cake. "Takashi, do you think N/N-chan would share this cake with me?" His eyes twinkled in excitement. Mori gave a simple nod in response.
Haruhi glanced down at the blonde. "Senpai with all due respect, aren't you the son of the chairman or something? I doubt you'd get shut down." Her expression softened to try and comfort the boy.
"It's not about the inspection itself per se, it's more about the person conducting the inspection." Kyoya adjusted his glasses. "L/N Y/N, a cousin of Nekozawa Umehito, although they do not share the same last name they grew up quite close, not much is known about her except for her being the highest achieving student in Ouran."
"So what you're saying is the boss—"
"Is scared of a girl"
The twins peered back at their boss before bursting into laughter.
Tamaki sprung up in defence but was interrupted by a light knock at the door. Given the circumstances, this knock had an ominous feeling attached to it. The door creaked open in minuscule increments, and the hosts quickly filed into position.
The slightly ajar door revealed a short girl in the classic Ouran dress. Half of her hair was portioned into pigtails, and her large round eyes displayed uncertainty and shyness. All that contributed to her child-like appearance which was much too cute to be this menacing council president.
"Welcome!"
The girl blushed at their greeting, shyly covering her face with her clipboard. Tamaki took this opportunity to slide his way closer to the girl, grabbing a strand of her hair, before putting on a dreamy act. "Welcome princess, to the Ouran host club."
An even brighter blush took the poor girl's face as her body stiffened, obviously not used to this much attention. Haruhi couldn't help but feel as though she recognized her from somewhere, maybe she was a girl in her class. She could have sworn she had a vague memory of baking cookies with her — which she did in fact do with Renge when they were making cookies for Kyoya.
Her dark brown eyes darted anxiously around the room searching for something to focus on. The unknown girl quickly stepped back, creating distance between her and the blond host.
"Ah! I'm sorry for not introducing myself sooner," she said in a panic, making a 90 degree bow. "My name is Shiratori Miyuki, a first-year student at Ouran Academy, class 1-A–" So she was a part of their class. "–and newly appointed s-student council member." her voice was comparably much quieter now, her nerves seemed to grow stronger as she continued her speech.
"I-I was accompanying L/N-senpai in the club i-inspections today when we started r-running behind schedule and she told me to go on ahead." Miyuki's delivery was inconsistent and turbulent as she descended into her own sense of awkwardness. Her voice was barely heard in the space between her and the hosts.
Miyuki was no seer but she could already predict that this was going to be a long and painful few minutes as she conducted her assessment. All the poor girl could do was pray you would magically show up and save her from her self-annihilation.
***
The echoing footsteps of your loafers reverberate through the empty hallways. In your haste you quickly check the clock on the wall, you’re still 15 minutes behind. You had never been one for tardiness, although today it seemed like fate was against you. While running your usual beginning of the year club inspections you had run into some troublesome students which caused you to be behind schedule. There was not much that could be done with the current situation, which led you to the decision to send the newly appointed member of the student council to proceed with the next club assessment as you desperately tried to redeem your lost time. If people thought you were frightening before they would most definitely not want to speak to you right now.
One thing that kept you from slowing your pace was the thought of your new subordinate fumbling shyly with the hosts. Essentially you had given her the worst club to monitor by herself. You could only imagine what those boys were doing to her, not that you thought they would do anything too crazy, you did trust your fellow classmates to keep their juniors in check. One could say that you did have a generally disapproving view on the club itself. You never understood why women would want to spend their free time fawning over men that they could never have? Especially if they were already promised to someone else. It never made sense in your mind, although you weren't really the romantic type either.
Albeit you couldn’t say that you weren’t at all a bit excited to see Honey. He was one of the few classmates that you shared common interests with — that being your love for sweets–and it didn't help that he was irresistibly cute. Additionally being the social butterfly that he is, you two quickly hit it off and often share afternoon tea when you aren’t swarmed with council work. You saw him as a precious little brother that you could take care of. Sequentially this also caused you to befriend Morinozuka Takashi, who you had less in common with–due to you both being quite reserved in nature–you did respect his close bond with his cousin, which reminded you of your own familial relations.
You now stood awkwardly in front of the door to the music room. It’s not that you were nervous, you were preparing yourself for what was to come. For some reason — unbeknownst to you — the president of the club, Suoh Tamaki, did not like you. You could not say why though, was it your intimidating atmosphere? Or perhaps was it that you had wronged him in the past and you had just forgotten. Even though you were namely one of the brightest students at Ouran Academy, you weren't the most self-aware.
With one swift motion you opened the door. The club room door creaks open, and you find your newly appointed subordinate already in a conversation with the new hosts. As you creep into the room you make eye contact with the new female host, you think her name was Fujioka Haruhi. She was one of the reasons you needed to see this club, having a girl work as a male host to pay her debt was not deemed acceptable by club standards.
You slowly approach the other hosts. Tamaki had been nervously watching them from afar as Miyuki conducted her interviews, while the rest of the older hosts continued their usual routines.
“Suoh would you mind if I speak to your newest host in private please?”
You could've sworn you saw the poor boy's soul leave his body as he heard your voice from behind his shoulder. He slowly turned his head around to look at you, his body erupting in shudders. “S-sure thing L/N-senpai, I’ll get him right away!”
You watched as he quickly ran towards the first-years who were busy in chatter. Tamaki nervously tapped on Haruhi’s shoulder and pointed towards you mumbling something about not being scared and did he just call himself her father? Even so you weren't all too surprised because Suoh Tamaki had always been an interesting character.
Haruhi couldn’t say that she wasn’t a little scared of you. Of course you were just another stuck up rich kid, but you had this menacing aura around you. One would say it was one fit for a student council president — or dare say a killer. Your face was completely blank as you seemingly stared into Haruhi’s soul. You stood completely straight and poised almost like a robot waiting for its next command.
“Hello Ms. Fujioka, I’ve heard many things about you.”
Silence. Everyone in the room stood there looking at you — it was like you had just threatened to bomb this whole place — no one dared to speak or move as you innocently blinked in the centre of the room.
You cleared your throat, trying to ease the awkwardness. “My name is L/N Y/N, student council president of Ouran Academy.” you try to give her a warm smile, which unbeknownst to you was translated across as a chilling grin. “I must say it's quite interesting to see a girl posing as a host to try and pay off her debt.” No one had said a word, staring at you as if you were a ghost.
“I’ve come to make a deal with you Fujioka, join the student council and I’ll pay off your debt.” You stretched out your hand — similarly to how the hosts usually do — while F/C roses and sparkles surrounded your figure. Maybe it was the air in the room that spawned these roses.
Your reason for having Haruhi on the council was quite simple. Diversity. It would look quite good to see that Ouran Academy was not insensitive to poorer students. It also didn’t help that Haruhi was the top of her class.
Tamaki — who had been watching intently from the sidelines — seemed to have a worried look on his face, almost like a father watching his daughter leave home for the first time.
“Uh I appreciate the offer L/N-senpai but I’m quite comfortable in my current situation,” Haruhi says awkwardly not completely enjoying all this attention.
“Ah~ Haruhi I knew you would never leave us!” Tamaki says as he leaps forward, clinging onto the poor girl.
You let out a soft sigh in response, although the whole “paying back with your body” predicament was less than idle, at least Haruhi was satisfied with it. You turn to look at Miyuki, who still sat anxiously at a table with the two twins, although they had stopped their chatter—their focus being Haruhi as she desperately tried to get Tamaki off of her. Miyuki meets your gaze as you beckon her to your side.
“Miyuki, you're free to leave, thank you for your work.” You say with a stern voice.
“B-but F/N-senpai I haven’t even gotten the host club’s monthly profit report.” Miyuki stammers out, nervous about disappointing you with her lack of production.
You pat her shoulder stiffly, “don’t worry, Ootori already forwarded me the report this morning.” Your attempt at reassurance ends in everyone looking at you blankly. You mean this whole inspection could have been skipped. Well it could have but you did want to personally speak with Haruhi — which could have been done not during club hours, diminishing Tamaki’s stress — and also you wanted some free time to spend with Honey.
“N/N-chan!”
On que Honey came running towards you with Mori trailing behind him. You smile down at the older boy, “hello Mitsukuni it’s been too long”
“N/N-chan we have so much to catch up on! Come here, I already set up a table with all your favourite desserts!” Honey gleams with excitement, grabbing your hand and leasing you to a nearby table.
Honey too did have a fondness for you. He appreciated how you also held an adoration for all things cute and sweet — although you didn’t show it. Another thing he enjoyed, was how you were always there for him sort of like an older sister — which was quite refreshing as he normally acted like an older brother or mentor to the other hosts at times. Essentially you were like a female Mori in his eyes.
The rest of the hosts watched as Honey dragged you away — Tamaki ceasing his attack on Haruhi when he heard Honey call your name. It was a surprise to them all — maybe not Kyoya — that the two of you were friends. Well it’s safe to assume that the 3rd year students would know each other, especially if they were in the same class, but being close friends was a shock. Maybe everyone didn’t know you as well as they thought they did.
***
Extra
“N/N-chan you know everyone’s scared of you right?” Honey says as he takes a bite of his cake.
Your eyes widen slightly at his statement, you place your tea cup back down onto the table before you speak. “They are?” You tilt your head slightly, your hair flowing with the movement of your head.
“Before you came into the room Tama-chan was about to cry, that’s how scared he was.” He turns his head to face Mori, “right Takashi?” Mori nods in response.
“Hm, maybe I should write an apology for causing him such anxiety.” You say looking out the window as you ponder what you could write.
The next morning Tamaki found a letter sitting on his desk. Assuming it was another love letter he confidently tore it open, although it wasn’t what he expected. He opened the envelope only to be met with a poorly drawn picture of what he can only assume is himself lying face down in an unidentifiable puddle. Above the illustration the letter reads
“Forgive me —
I never meant to bring such unrest to your mind.
The stress I’ve caused was never the intention…
but some bindings tighten on their own.”
And just below the illustration were the words
“Your pain is noted.
The circle is broken.
The toll is paid… in part.”
After receiving this letter Tamaki had to take a week-long break, fearing that if he stepped outside of his room he would be killed.