Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club, nor do I own Pride and Prejudice. All characters and titles belong to the respective authors.

A/N: I got this idea awhile back, and wrote it out during my Creative Writing class... it's been sitting in my notebook for a month, and finally got around to typing it out. This is my first Ouran fanfiction, so I hope you like it. Sorry if this story is kinda uneventful - it is basically setting the stage for the story.

Also, I want to apologize to all of the wonderful people who follow my stories... I haven't had a ton of time to write lately. A lot of drama has been consuming my life, and exams are coming up in three weeks. I promise to all of you that after I get out of school for the summer, I'll work and finish the stories that I are still in limbo. None of my stories are dying, I promise. Just please be a little patient with me; I'm only one person, and can only handle so many deadlines and tasks at a time. Thank you! I love you all!

"You've got to be kidding me, Tamaki-senpai, I won't wear this."

"Oh, don't be cruel, Haruhi; Daddy wants to see you in that dress; you'll be so cute!"

"Forget it, Senpai, I'm not coming out in this ridiculous get-up."

A pout formed on Tamaki's lips; his daughter was always so rebellious… What was a father do? "Mommy, make our daughter come out; Daddy wants to see how she looks!" Tamaki whined.

Kyoya looked at Tamaki from his comfortable chair where he was entering in the previous day's profits on his laptop. Finally, he sighed, getting up and moving closer to where the host king was positioned.

"Very well, Tamaki," he said softly, "however, make yourself scarce. Your presence will not help your cause." When Tamaki only looked at him with dejected eyes, Kyoya prompted him again. "Go make sure the twins are not causing trouble again, or go make sure your stuffed bear hasn't been vandalized or something." The host king blinked, slithering away to perform the requested tasks from his vice president.

When Kyoya was sure that the blonde had wandered far enough out of ear-shot, he turned his attention to Haruhi and the situation at hand. "Haruhi…," he broached, "you don't really have a choice in the matter."

"Kyoya-senpai, I don't feel comfortable in this cosplay; can't I wear the men's costume instead? Why do I have to wear the dress?"

Kyoya almost felt the slightest impulse to chuckle. "Absolutely not, Haruhi, you must wear this costume. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of your current financial situation that you are in with the Host Club. Besides, there has been a large request to see you in crossplay; this is an excellent opportunity to increase e the profit of club activities.

Haruhi instantly scowled in Kyoya's direction, muttering, "Stupid rich people."

"What was that, Haruhi?" the shadow king asked, bemused with the muttering that Haruhi probably thought nobody could hear. "Now, come out of the changing room; the guests will begin to arrive soon."

Scowling once again, Haruhi reached timidly toward the door handle, cautiously pushing it open. To her surprise, there was nobody standing directly next to the door. It made absolutely no sense, since Kyoya had been there only a moment before; however, he was now back in his usual chair, typing God-knows-what into his laptop.

Haruhi was also surprised to find that Kyoya was the only other host in the music room. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, "Kyoya-senpai, why– "

"Oh, Haruhi, excellent timing. Would you mind preparing the tea? The guests should be here in just a few minutes." Haruhi frowned, loathing the way these rich people acted sometimes. Deciding that there was no point in arguing with Kyoya since everyone who tried always lost, Haruhi turned away, heading toward the tea station. "Oh, and Haruhi?" The girl turned toward the shadow king, her eyes expectant. "You do look nice in that dress." The smile on his face then bowed to his laptop again.

Haruhi rolled her eyes and smiled, "Thanks, Senpai." With that, she turned and made her way to the tea station to make preparations for the guests. It was funny to Haruhi, how odd Kyoya acted sometimes. He always put up that cold, greedy exterior, claiming to never do anything unless there was either money or merit to gain from it. However, Haruhi knew otherwise. There was a warmer, gentler man behind the mask, just waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, the shadow king worked so hard to conceal that part of him; it was a shame, really.

As far as Kyoya was concerned, Haruhi Fujioka was the only person who saw through his well-developed façade. He didn't know if he should appreciate that, or be frustrated with the fact that someone had slipped through the cracks. Kyoya was unsure of whether he should try to allow the one person perceptive enough to recognize that part of him the opportunity to see more of that side of him, or whether he should put even more effort into reinforcing that cold exterior.

The whole concept was intriguing to Kyoya, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind; he needed to get into "good-host" mindset. The Otohori son allowed himself one last glance to the peculiar girl before inclining his head in the direction of the music room door as it swung open, exposing the other hosts returning from God only knows where.

Tamaki was yelling at the twins, who held his precious evil-eyed bear. Hunny ran past them, his pink companion flailing in his arms as he ran toward the cake table. More, of course, watched the entire display with seemingly uninterested eyes. Suddenly, however, the racket died, as eyes turned one by one toward the girl in the dress. Kyoya once again found himself dragging his eyes to the girl finishing preparing the tea.

"Haru-chan, you look so cute!" Hunny exclaimed, a smile widening across his features while he clutched Usa-chan closer to himself. Mori nodded silently behind the other third year, blinking once.

The host king, however, could not subside with simply nodding or even rattling off some other compliment. "My daughter," he breathed, bringing his hand to his chest dramatically. "My daughter is too adorable!" There was a blur of blonde hair as Tamaki rushed across the room, grabbing Haruhi's hands, then pulling her into a lung-crushing hug.

Hikaru and Kaoru jumped to her rescue immediately; they were across the room as quickly as Tamaki had flashed across it. Within seconds, they were pulling at Tamaki's limbs, trying to free the maiden. "You're such a pervert Milord! Let Haruhi go; she doesn't like you like that, you pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert!" the host king exploded, "I'm her father! I need to tell her how adorable she is, so my lovely daughter doesn't become depressed and do something irresponsible like run away from home and join the circus…" he rambled on, explaining how tragic life would be for Haruhi in the circus.

Fortunately, during his spiel, he had let go of Haruhi, too lost in his own theatre of his mind. The girl had seized the opportunity to start inching her way away. Unfortunately, Tamaki's hallucination had to end eventually. "No! I must protect my daughter's self esteem, and therefore, her life!" He threw his arms back around Haruhi, crushing her once again.

Kyoya was watching quietly from his chair, analyzing the situation. This sort of thing wasn't all that uncommon around here; Haruhi really did get fawned over quite regularly. However, he was taken back at what happened next. Haruhi was facing him, Tamaki's back to the Otohori son. The girl reached her arm out, in Kyoya's direction, and Kyoya –though he couldn't hear, due to the noise in the room –swore he saw her lips form the name "Kyo…ya…" despite her struggle to breathe.

Kyoya's eyes immediately widened before coming back to the moment and situation at hand. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Enough." It was a single word; yet, it demanded all attention and the room fell silent, Tamaki removing his arms from Haruhi with a languid, melting motion. After the room had reached a dead-silence, and Haruhi had moved away from her harasser, the shadow king took another breath. "The guests will arrive soon; please compose yourselves with suitable behavior of the cosplays we will be wearing. The guests will be here soon; we need to change." Silence again met the Otohori son, but the hosts melted away, drifting toward the changing rooms to prepare for the upcoming guests. After the other s had left, Kyoya stood up and made his way to his own changing room to get ready as well.

This left Haruhi alone in Music Room 3, more than curious and confused about what had just happened. After giving it a few minutes of thought, she decided that she would save that pondering for home, when she'd get more than five minutes of quiet, thoughtful time. As if direct foreshadowing, the changing room doors began bursting open, exposing the other hosts in their cosplays.

Haruhi drew in the image with care and easy perception. Each of the hosts wore slight variations of a general style of suit. It was definitely old-fashioned, with the old-styled trousers, the puffed, white shirt, and the long coat-tails to tie it all together. Several of them wore top hats, but others ornamented the costume with nothing else.

Haruhi compared her costume to the others. She wore a simple, but elegant floor-length, straight dress. The short, puffed sleeves trailed to a conservative lace-traced necking to the dress, high enough to conceal her breasts, but low enough to tempt the over-active imaginations of the fangirl guests. From the bust, the dress fell elegantly to the floor, escorted by the matching white, elbow-length gloves, and white ballet flats. Her hair curled loosely as much as possible; it was amazing to think about what a professional stylist could do…

Seeing all of the costumes together, Haruhi could tell the costumes belonged to the same era; she just wasn't quite sure which once. The styles matched so well; it was impossible to think the costumes didn't go perfectly together. However, she just wished she hadn't had to wear the dress, as pretty as it was.

As if on cue, the door of the music room inched open, a timid head poking itself in. "Um… Haruhi, are you seeing guests yet, or am I early?"

"Huh?" Haruhi asked, turning around to face the first guest to arrive. After the question settled in her mind, a smile spread across her lips as she nodded. "Of course," Haruhi made her way over and took the girl by the arm, escorting her. "What would you like to do today?"

The guest pondered this for a moment, finally answering after her careful consideration, "How about we start off with some tea?"

"All right," Haruhi led her to a table, pulling her chair out for her.

"Oh, you look so good in crossplay, Haruhi!" the guest blushed. "What era are you cosplaying from? It must be ancient; nobody had dressed like that in ages!"

Haruhi smiled, "Thank you." The second part of her comment was a little more difficult to reply to. As subtly as possible, she glanced over at Kyoya, eyes pleading for his assistance.

Their eyes met for a second before Kyoya smiled and opened his mouth to speak. "We are actually cosplaying from the Regency Era, a time just before the Victorian Era in England. The style is most recognized in the well-known story Pride and Prejudice by Ms. Jane Austen. There have been several movies made of the story as well." The Otohori son pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, taking a breath to continue, but was interrupted by Haruhi's guest.

"Oh! I've seen that movie! Mr. Darcy is my favorite! Oh! Haruhi must be cosplaying as Lizzy, or Jane I suppose, but surely it's Lizzy, considering how much he likes to read and study. But who is cosplaying Mr. Darcy? Every Lizzy needs a Darcy.

Kyoya cleared his throat, answering the girl, "That would be me, my lady."

"Kyyyaaa!" the guest squealed, "that is so cool!"

Haruhi shot Kyoya a curious glance before panning out to see the rest of the host club observing with wide eyes and gaping mouths. After just a second, her gaze returned to the guest she was supposed to be entertaining. With a smile she reached for the tea pot, "Would you like some tea, Miss?" The girl returned Haruhi's smile, delving into miniscule conversation.

With Haruhi's attention returned to the task at hand, the other hosts enclosed their circle, gathering to speak in hushed whispers. The twins spoke up first, "Uh… Milord, Haruhi didn't seem to know what Pride and Prejudice was…"

Hunny interjected next, "I thought everyone had seen that movie, especially girls."

"Oh my God!" Tamaki dramatized in a whisper, "what if commoners can't afford to watch classic literature-based films! I cannot allow my daughter to –"

"Ah. Young ladies, welcome to the Host Club," the shadow king greeted with a smile. With the crowd that swarmed in, the topic was forgotten. Each host floated off with their guests, treating them to sweets and tea, pleasant conversation, and living up to their cosplays.

Haruhi sat with each of the ladies who requested her, almost enjoying the idle chit-chat, though the time really should have been being spent studying. Unfortunately, time was dragging by; it seemed as if it had been hours by time the Host Club was closing down at 4:30.

However, the time did eventually pass, and it came time for Haruhi to do her cleaning duties for the day. Earlier that day, Tamaki and both Hikaru and Kaoru had volunteered to stay after club activities and help her out. However, all three "coincidentally" had to bow out of that offer for one reason or another. Haruhi had given up trying to decipher the reasons they couldn't help. Mori and Hunny had martial arts training, so that left Haruhi. And Kyoya.

The shadow king typed away at his laptop while Haruhi removed tea cups from tables. She had long since changed out of her cosplay, seizing the opportunity as the last guest had left. Throughout her host activities and cleaning duties, however, her thoughts had remained in the conversation that was held earlier, despite the costume change. The first guest of the day kept mentioning that Mr. Darcy was absolutely wonderful, but she wouldn't say exactly why, just that he was amazing. Kyoya had said that he was cosplaying as him earlier… was Mr. Darcy like Kyoya? The curiosity had been nagging at her since the topic had been brought up.

Timidly, Haruhi glanced once again at the third Otohori son. Again, as if he knew she was looking at him, Kyoya glanced up at her, meeting her gaze. Just as suddenly, Haruhi lowered her eyes again, turning to take the last tea cup to the tea station.

With all of her tasks accomplished, she made her way toward the table that Kyoya was sitting at, seating herself across from him. After a few moments of nothing but the clicking of the laptop keyboard, Haruhi finally opened her mouth to speak. "Senpai? Can I ask you a question?"

Kyoya looked up from the computer screen, and to Haruhi's surprise, closed the laptop and gave her his full attention. "What can I do for you, Haruhi?"

"Earlier, you guys mentioned Mr. Darcy, that character from Pride and Prejudice… what's he like? What makes him so cool?"

Kyoya noticed the way Haruhi's eyes sparkled with curiosity, and he felt his lips twitch the slightest bit upward into a smile. "He's the everyday anti-hero turned hero by the force of love, plain and simple." Kyoya almost smirked when Haruhi's eyes reflected even more dark curiosity. Seeing that his explanation clearly didn't meet her expectations, he shook his head. "I'll tell you what, what if I had a copy of ht movies and novel sent to you? You can get your own…take… on Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy."

Haruhi's eyes turned from curious to searching and skeptical. "Movies? As in, more than one? I think I'll pass Senpai; I don't need more stuff added to my debt. Thanks anyway, Senpai."

"I'll have them sent over tomorrow, free of charge. It's on me this time." Kyoya half smirked, half smiled at the skeptical girl before him. "Does that sound all right?"

Haruhi cocked her head to the side, trying to judge whether or not he was being sincere or not. After a few moments of studying his features, she concluded with a smile that he was being sincere in his offer. "Sure, thanks Kyoya-senpai." Haruhi turned to leave, having finished all of her duties for club activities for the day.

"Haruhi?" Kyoya asked, causing the girl to turn once more to the shadow king. "Would you like a ride home? The news said it was supposed to rain today." Again, her eyes turned critical and skeptical. "Free of charge, I promise," Kyoya prompted with a small smile, guessing Haruhi's thoughts.

After a few moments of careful deliberation and finally glancing outside to take notice of the weather, she gave in. "Thank you, Kyoya-senpai, I'd appreciate that."

"You're welcome, Haruhi," the shadow king reassured her with a shadowed smile.

A/N : Tada! chapter one of my first host club fanfiction is finally complete! What do you think? I know it's kind of uneventful, but the story should pick up soon, I promise. Please review and let me know what you thought! Until next time, xoxo. -Rhea