Disclaimer

This is a boys love story. It will follow the anime up to a certain point, and then continue from the manga.

Aside from my original characters, the characters in this story were created by Bisco Hatori.

Ouran High School Host Club also known as Ouran KouKou Host Club is copyright owned by Bisco Hatori.

At the sound of the bell, Susumu stood up from his seat instantly and headed for the door, wading through the desk rows. He started to slow down when he overheard some girls chatting.

Aki stared at Nozomi with an incredulous expression, as Nozomi snapped a photo of Tamaki and Kyoya walking away from their desks together.

Nozomi grinned happily staring at the photo on her phone, and clutched it to her chest.

Nozomi quickly darted her brown eyes at Aki. "Did you see the way Ootori-san looked at Suoh-san when he tried to look at his answers?"

"So that's a sign of a budding romance like in manga?" Aki questioned.

"They're bound to end up together! We have to make it happen!"

"Nozomi," Aki alerted as she looked away, covering her eyes with her hand as students started to stare at them, "you don't seem to care that everyone can hear you."

"Hey, I'm not the only girl at school who loves BL," Nozomi defended as she sat back down, before suddenly noticing a boy staring at them. She sent a friendly smile at the honor student, but he looked away with his eyes on the ground and hurried towards the door.

Without keeping an eye on where he was going, Susumu bumped into Kyoya's backside, which was a stroke of bad luck for him. He looked up with a nervous expression and while Kyoya held a neutral expression on his face, his unrelenting stare made Susumu feel small.

Susumu scurried out of the classroom like a frightened mouse.

The library in the Ouran Academy South Building is supposed to be quiet and serene, a place for studious students to gain more knowledge from books and learn different subjects outside of the classroom, but it became a personal hang out spot for students to chat and have a good time.

Haruhi lifted her eyes off her textbook, peering at her older brother indulged in a book with a curious look.

"Onii-chan," Haruhi called through the chatter in the library, trying to get his attention, "Is it always like this?"

Susumu glanced at his sister for a second and then continued reading. A frown came to her face.

"I'm beginning to think that rich kids only come to school to have a good time," Haruhi sighed. When the noise in the library became too much for her, she set her pencil down and organized her things.

"There's got to be somewhere quiet," Haruhi pondered as she got out of her chair. "Let's go."

Susumu pushed in his chair and followed her as he read his book.

"You know," Haruhi said in a concerned tone as she peered at her brother, "if you keep your nose in that book, you're going to knock into something."

Susumu said nothing, reading the next paragraph.

"This place has four library rooms. You'd think one of them would be quiet," Haruhi sighed as they started to walk up a grand staircase.

They eventually came to a door at the end of the north hallway. Susumu turned down the hallway to his right and walked away, assuming that Haruhi was following him.

Haruhi gazed up at the sign and read it. "An abandoned music room." She reached for the door handle.

"Guess this is the only place I'll be able to study in peace and quiet," She said as she twisted the handle and opened the door, then headed inside.

He was already halfway down the hall when Susumu suddenly stopped walking, lowered his book, and scoped around for Haruhi.

Seeing that she wasn't with him, he had to fight back his anxiety in order to rush back to the door.

He approached the closed door cautiously and slowly reached out to grab the handle with a shaky hand. He shook off the small beads of sweat forming on his right hand before finally grabbing and turning the door handle.

Susumu immediately spotted Haruhi with her back pressed against a wall as if she was trying to phase through it. Unfortunately, he had caught the attention of each host in the room, especially since he had flung open the door, barging into their club room.

Kyoya seemingly found it curious to see the quiet art student standing in the Host Club though it took no time at all for a smirk to appear on his face.

"Welcome to the Ouran Host Club, Honor Student-san and Fujioka-san," Kyoya greeted.

"You must be Susumu's little brother, Haruhi-kun!" Tamaki said, popping up in front of Haruhi. "You're the exceptional Honor Student we've heard about!"

Susumu looked confused. Ever since Haruhi borrowed his baggy clothes on her first day at school, she surprisingly chose to keep wearing his old clothes. Now that he thought about it, there is no doubt that she could mistaken for a boy with her messily-styled hair and large glasses. He ruffled his own untidy hair when he realized that Tamaki had addressed him by his first name.

"How did you know our names?" Haruhi asked, looking over her shoulder.

Susumu suddenly cringed out of anxiousness when Tamaki placed his hand on his shoulder. "Susumu is in our class, you see! He's quiet, but that's fine, introverts can be hosts, too." Susumu's eyes widened as Tamaki smiled down at him. "I knew you were interesting in our club! You couldn't hide it for long, my friend!"

"We're outta here," Haruhi said quickly as she took her brother by the wrist and then dragged him toward the door.

"Hey! Come back here, Haru-chan!" The short, blonde boy grabbed her arm, pulling her down to his height. "You guys must be like superheroes or something! That's so cool!"

"We're just ordinary honor students," Haruhi corrected before she realized what she had been called, "and who do you think you're calling Haru-chan?!"

"I never would have imagined the famous scholars were so openly gay," Tamaki said, holding his chin.

Susumu feared that if his grip on his book kept tightening he would wreck the precious pages.

Tamaki snapped his fingers. "Let's start with you, Susumu!"

Susumu shut his eyes, unable to block them all out.

"Do you like the strong, silent type?" Tamaki referred to a tough-looking third year student.

"The boy lolita?" He referred to the young blonde boy.

"How about the mischievous type," Tamaki gestured to the twins who linked arms.

"Or the cool type?"

His eyes shot wide and then brown met with gray, and while Susumu could have sworn Kyoya narrowed his eyes at him, he denied it, averting the fixed gaze of his classmate.

"Or maybe," Tamaki suggested, inching closer to Susumu and then took a hold of his chin, lifting his gaze off the floor to meet his violet eyes, "you're into a guy like me? What do you say?"

Susumu squirmed and stumbled back into the pedestal behind him. The book slipped out of his hand as he reached out for the vase, though it slipped out of his fingers.

He watched the vase fly off the pedestal. The crash echoed in the room. It shattered into several shards, the remains of a beautiful vase scattered across floor like a ruined work of art.

The twins poked their heads from behind him.

"We were going to feature that Renaissance vase in an upcoming school auction."

"Oh, now you've done it, commoner. The bidding on that vase was supposed to start at eight million yen!"

Susumu noticed Haruhi was anxiously making calculations. "How many thousand yen is that? How many thousands are in eight million?" She turned to the twins and said nervously, "We're gonna have to pay you back."

"With what money?"

"You two can't even afford school uniforms."

Kyoya bent down, snatching a shard off the floor before rising back up, all the while holding a smirk. "Well, what do you think we should do, Tamaki?"

Tamaki sat down in a chair, crossing one leg over the other. "There's a famous saying you may have heard, Fujiokas. When in Rome, you should do as the romans do."

"Since you have no money, you can both pay with your bodies. That means starting today," Tamaki said as he pointed at them as a dark shadow suddenly cast over his face, "you're the Host Club's dogs."

Susumu dropped his head, his bangs partly covering his eyes. His mind desperately tried to piece together a solution. Although no sound had come out before, he had a choice until now.

He shot his head up and conjured his voice to him. "I was the one who broke the vase, so it's only my responsibility!"

Haruhi's big brown orbs widened, completely taken by surprise. "Onii-chan, why are you doing this?"

"I will pay it off," Susumu stated as he bowed in front of the boys. "Haruhi shouldn't be involved in this."

Haruhi smiled at her older brother.

"Sorry, Fujiokas, but you won't be splitting up," Tamaki denied as he placed his elbow on the chair arm and held his cheek in his palm. "You're both going to pay off the debt, and that's final."

"Speak of the devil." Tamaki waved at the siblings with a smile across his face as they passed under the archway. "Thanks for doing the shopping, little piglets."

"Piglets?" Haruhi repeated and Susumu shrugged.

"Did you get everything on our list?"

"It's all in there," Haruhi said after she handed her bag to Tamaki. As much as she was trying to hide it, she was very irritated from having to run the Host Club's errands.

Tamaki stared at the coffee container in his hand. "Hey, wait a minute? What is this?"

"Just what it looks like-it's coffee."

Tamaki read the label on the frontside. "I've never heard of this brand before, is this the kind that's already ground?"

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked, raising her brow. "It's instant."

"It's instant?" Two guests repeated, tilting their heads.

"I've heard of this before, it's commoner's coffee!" Tamaki gasped. "You just add hot water!"

By now, more guests started to gather.

"I didn't know there was such a thing," a guest said.

"So it's true, then. Poor people don't have enough time to grind their own coffee beans," a dark haired girl stated and the guests nodded their heads in agreement.

"Commoners are pretty smart," Kyoya commented.

"100 gm for 300 yen," Hikaru read.

"That's a lot less than we normally pay," Koaru said.

"We'll go back and get something else," Haruhi snapped, "excuse us for not buying you guys expensive coffee."

"No," Tamaki protested, raising his arm, "I'll keep it."

The guests gasped.

"I'm going to give it a try," Tamaki said as he stood up. He raised the container up high and declared, "I will drink this coffee!"

Susumu had watched Tamaki's dramatic display with a questioning look on his face.

"All right, Haruhi, Susumu, come over here and make some of this commoner's coffee," he ordered.

"Damn, these rich people," Haruhi sighed.

"Oh, Tamaki, now you're taking the joke too far."

Susumu glanced at the red haired girl that previously sat beside Tamaki.

She set her teacup back onto its saucer. "You're palate won't be able to stomach that crap. You don't have to drink it just because they bought it," The redhead said, then she turned to Haruhi. "I'm sorry, I was talking to myself."

Haruhi was going to say something when Tamaki called for her again.

"We're coming."

"How are you holding up?" Haruhi asked.

"I'm all right," Susumu replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "Despite what Suoh-san believes, I never intended to join the Host Club. Actually, I tried to avoid making contact with members of the club."

"I can see why you'd want to avoid associating with these guys," Haruhi said as she looked around the club room, noticing a pair of third-years that came into the room and sat with their guests.

"Is that boy really a third year?" Haruhi wondered.

"Honey-senpai may seem young and childish, but he's a prodigy," Kyoya explained, "and then Mori-senpai's allure is his strong and silent disposition."

"Susu-chan! Haru-chan!"

Honey latched onto Susumu's arm and spun him. "Hey, do you want to have some cake with me?"

Susumu got dizzy from the spin. Haruhi put her hands on his shoulders to steady him.

"Thanks, but I don't really like cake," she declined.

"Then, how would you like to hold my bunny Usa-chan?" Honey asked, showing said pink bunny in front of them.

Haruhi stared at the bunny. "He is kinda cute, huh."

"Take good care of him, okay?" He told her, pushing the bunny into her arms, before running off.

"You'll notice that our club utilizes each man's unique characteristics to cater to the desires of our guests," Kyoya explained, eyeying the two of them. "Just so you know, Tamaki is number one around here-he is the king. His request rate is seventy percent."

"What is this world coming to?"

"And in order for you to pay off your eight million yen debt with us, you both will act as the Ouran Host Club's dogs until you graduate," Kyoya said before correcting himself, "I'm sorry, I meant our errand boys."

"You can try to run away if you want to, Haruhi, Susumu, but just so you know, my family employs a private police force of one hundred officers." Kyoya pushed up his glasses with two fingers and asked, "By the way, do you both have passports?"

"Meaning we can't get out of this," Haruhi whispered to Susumu.

"I should have tried harder to get you out of this." Susumu sighed, looking at the ground. "You deserve to have a good time here, and I ruined it for you."

Haruhi put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to look at her. She gave her brother a smile. "I wouldn't have let you handle it all on your own."

Susumu chose not to hide his smile.

"Aren't you done changing yet?" Tamaki asked from the other side of the curtain.

Susumu fixed his tie.

He and Haruhi were each given an Ouran Academy male uniform and a makeover, which had been ordered by Tamaki. Although Haruhi had gotten into a heated battle with the twins in the changing room. Susumu snuck out of the changing room when the twins had left.

Haruhi pushed the curtain aside. "You sure it's really okay for me to keep this uniform?"

"You're as pretty as a girl! Adorable!" Tamaki gushed.

"Haru-chan, you look so cute!" Honey admired.

The twins gazed at Haruhi, amazed.

"If we had known that's how you really look-"

"-we would've helped you out sooner."

Susumu put a fist to his mouth as he studied Haruhi. "You look good."

"Your hair looks nice," Haruhi complimented him.

Susumu turned his eyes away bashfully as he touched the back of his hair. "Thank you."

"Who knows, maybe they'll draw in some customers," Kyoya said.

"You know, that's just what I was thinking!" Tamaki agreed. "Our errand boys are moving up the ranks! Starting today, you two are official members of the Host Club!"

Tamaki pointed at Haruhi. "Haruhi, I will personally train you to be a first-rate host!" He had a contemplative look on his face when he turned to Susumu. "Now, what to do with you? You're a blank slate." Tamaki clicked his fingers after much thought. "You'll be under Kyoya's tutelage! Kyoya's cool influence is exactly what you need to get noticed!"

Susumu glanced at Kyoya, who was writing something in his notebook. His stare did not go unnoticed.

Kyoya took his eyes off his work and met with the brown eyes of the nervous young man, sending a smirk to Susumu, causing him to get a chill like someone shoved a cold handful of snow down his uniform.

A sketchbook on his lap, Susumu fiddled with his pencil, spinning the sharpened tool around his middle finger. He sat by the table, cozily on the floor.

Haruhi was in the kitchen, collecting a textbook that she'd forgotten in her bag.

It annoyed her that she had to get up in the middle of her study session to get the material. After a whole day of learning the ropes, Haruhi wanted to sit down and study. She didn't get much of a chance to these past two days.

First the library, then the Host Club.

Haruhi continued to rummage through her bag, but she couldn't find her textbook. She refused the believe that she misplaced it and kept searching.

She carried a lot of books with her, a few less than her brother does. She liked that he always had a book with him. He would be kind and offer his book to her when he was done reading it, and if she wasn't busy, she'd sit down and immerse herself in a completely different world.

Haruhi looked over her shoulder, and saw her brother sketching again, his pencil moving in gentle strokes.

'What is he drawing now,' Haruhi wondered. 'He might let me see it if I ask him.'

Haruhi got back to her task at hand. Even if she rummaged some more, the textbook wouldn't just appear.

"Haruhi."

"Huh?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Are you looking for this?" Susumu asked, holding her textbook in his hand. Haruhi's fingers brushed his as she took it.

She flipped the book to its cover, checking for her name on the inside.

"Where did you find it?" She asked as she looked up at him.

"I put it in my bag after your stuff got wet," He replied.

Haruhi grabbed the counter to lift herself up. "I didn't think you had it," She said as she walked with him back to the table. "It was nice of you to hold onto this for me."

Susumu gave her half a smile. "It was the least I could do," Susumu said, sitting back down. "How did your bag get into the pond?"

"Somebody must've tossed it out the window," Haruhi explained, taking a new pencil from the bookshelf. "I didn't think there were bullies at that school."

She turned to face him. "It didn't make sense until I found a suspect."

"Who do you suspect?" Susumu asked.

"Ayanokoji," Haruhi answered.

"Is there any reason you suspect her?" He asked as he rested his elbows on the table.

"Elbows off the table," Haruhi ordered.

Susumu did as he was told, putting his hands on his closed sketchbook. "Do you need advice?"

"I know what you're going to say. You'll just tell me to not confront her." Haruhi paused, her lips straightening into a line. "She said some things about you that I can't get out of my head."

"Hearing you want to defend me, I'm a little worried." Susumu stared down at his sketchbook, hands forming into fists. "I should pay for the debt myself. You don't have to take that burden on your shoulders."

Haruhi reached over the table and draped her hand over his, causing Susumu to lift his eyes, staring into her affectionate brown eyes. "You've always helped me out, so it's only fair I return your kindness. We'll see this through together."

Susumu put his other hand over top hers, brushing his fingers on her soft skin. "Thank you, Haruhi. I love you for that."

Haruhi returned the smile. "I love you, too, Onii-chan."

"I get it now." Haruhi lifted her head up, straightening her posture. "You're jealous of me."

Haruhi noticed a behavioral change in the female opposite her. She had grit her teeth and squinted her eyes at Haruhi.

There is anger in her own eyes. "You were too blinded by your own jealousy to think carefully about your moves."

"You can call me whatever the hell you want, but don't ever insult my brother," Haruhi "He isn't a nobody. He actually has a kind heart, that's something you'll never have."

"Ah!"

Susumu was sweeping the floor when he heard Ayanokoji cry.

Ayanokoji was pinned underneath Haruhi. She cried out to be rescued from the "unruly commoner".

Susumu gripped the broom handle tightly as he watched. The twins stood on either side of them, with overturned water pitchers in their hands. When they had dumped the water on Ayanokoji's head, they also soaked Haruhi.

Ayanokoji, completely drenched, stared at them. "Why did you do that?" Tamaki helped Ayanokoji up.

"Do something, Tamaki, Haruhi just assaulted me," Ayanokoji pleaded.

Tamaki brushed her bangs away from her eye and cupped her face. "I'm disappointing in you. You threw his bag into the pond, didn't you?"

Ayanokoji gasped. "Do you have any proof that I did?"

"You know, you're a beautiful girl, but you aren't classy enough to be our guest, dear," Tamaki said. "If there's one thing I know, Haruhi is not that kind of man."

Haruhi gazed upwards at Susumu. "I had to help you," it slipped out of her mouth.

"Now let me help you." Susumu smiled. He extended the handle out to her, and Haruhi wrapped both her hands around the wooden handle. While Susumu tried to pull her up, he almost slipped on the water.

"Careful," she warned him.

"I know." Susumu got her back up on her feet.

"Hmm." Tamaki put a hand to his mouth in thought. "Now how am I going to punish you both?" He pointed at Haruhi and Susumu. "Your quotas are now one thousand!"

"One thousand?!"

Susumu stood in front of Haruhi, blocking her from the boys. "Haruhi wasn't at fault, and I wasn't a part of it!"

"Careful Susumu or I'll add more to your quota!" Tamaki threatened.

Susumu lowered his head. He couldn't quite breath easy knowing that one slip up meant the quota would be raised.

Kyoya approached without being noticed. "Keep it up and you might surpass my expectations."

Startled, Susumu shot his head up, seeing Kyoya next to him.

Kyoya pointed at the wet floor. "You should clean that up."

Susumu eyed the floor and groaned.

"Haruhi, you're a girl?" Tamaki asked.

"Biologically speaking, yeah," she answered.

"Listen, Senpai, I don't really care if you guys recognize me as a boy or a girl." Haruhi fixed the bow on the girl's uniform, then folded her arms. "In my opinion, it's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are, rather than what sex they are."

"Well, isn't this an interesting development," Kyoya knew it all along.

"Oh, yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tamaki asked Susumu.

Susumu only shrugged.

"Well, why did you lie and call her Otouto?!" Tamaki cried.

"You know, I have to say, Senpai, I thought you were pretty cool earlier," Haruhi complimented, causing a blush to creep up on Tamaki.

"Now I could be wrong, but I think we're witnessing the beginnings of love here," Kyoya said.

Kyoya looked down at Susumu, who stood beside him. He silently watched the situation unfold, causing Kyoya to put a hand under his chin. From what Kyoya has gathered, Susumu prefers to observe and refuses to make eye-contact with others. When spoken to, he does not say a word. Kyoya only heard Susumu's voice for the first time after he broke the vase.

"Onii-chan!" Haruhi called.

Kyoya looked up, catching the young man darting off towards his sister.

The right corner of Kyoya's mouth turned up. 'What could Susumu be hiding?'