Pairing: SKZ & Felix (more or less implied HyunLix, for those who know the show)

Genre: Ouran High School Host Club AU

!!TW!! : I mean, it's OHSHC, enough said, low self-esteem I guess, basically the 1st episode

(requested by @felixmylove!!!!)

.

.

.

Felix had no clue of where he was.

It was almost a full month into the school year, and Felix still somehow managed to get lost every single day. It wasn't his fault that the school was so ridiculously big, of course, but he wished he'd have at least been given a map or something.

Contrarily to all of the other students who had been studying in that school ever since kindergarten, Felix had only just transferred this year, thanks to a rare scholarship he'd been given by a very generous sponsor who intended on supporting his career in dance – if he managed to finish his studies at JYP High, or as many people call it, the "School for the Elite of Seoul".

Unfortunately, being a new student already made him stand out a lot – but a new student on a scholarship? Yeah, compared to those prissy rich kids who'd known each other since their diaper days, he really wasn't up to the general standards of the place. Everyone kept their distances from him and, not wanting to add fuel to a potential bullying fire, Felix had taken to hiding under a face mask and his oversized black hoodie. No one had tried picking on him so far, for which he was thankful, but people ignoring him definitely made it harder to find his way around, since they refused to help him out.

So, he was alone – had been for an entire month, now.

And he was still lost.

It was Music Room 7, right?

Why the hell are there so many fricking music rooms!?

There had been a last-minute change in his schedule, their teacher telling them to go find him at a different music room than usual, and Felix would have already given up had he not needed a perfect attendance as per according to one of the numerous clauses of his scholarship.

There it is!

He was late, but better late than never. Heaving out a sigh of relief, he grabbed the handle – and was that real gold? – and pushed the door open, walking in without a second thought.

Which he soon regretted as he was literally blinded by a waterfall of rose petals.

"Welcome!!!"

"What- what the hell...?" he muttered, glancing around with wide eyes.

The room looked nothing like a music room. It was so big, Felix could have easily mistaken it for a gymnasium. And, for some reason, seven other students were already there, all wearing their pristine, expensive uniforms and admittedly quite handsome, the lot of them.

"Wait, isn't that the new guy?"

Felix glanced over at the one who'd just spoken. He vaguely remembered him as being in his class, but he couldn't remember his name.

"Jisung, Minho, Seungmin, isn't he in your class?" another guy asked.

Oh, Felix recognized those names. Jisung and Minho were two boys in his class and, though they weren't related, they practically acted like twins and were inseparable. He'd never spoken to them, though. As for Seungmin, he was the bespectacled boy who'd spoken first.

"Is he?" wondered Jisung, peering at him in confusion.

"He stays in the back, and we've never had a reason to interact," shrugged Minho, unbothered.

"Well, it's no reason to be rude," mused the second guy who'd spoken. He offered Felix a smile, showing off his dimples. "Welcome to the Host Club, dearest Honor Student."

"I'm sorry, the what?"

There was a moment of heavy silence, before a boy with long blond hair tied in a low ponytail let out a dramatic wail, jumping to his feet.

"The Honor Student doesn't know about the Host Club!? Unconceivable!"

"Listen, I'm really sorry for intruding," cut Felix, growing a tad exasperated. He pulled out his phone, checking his teacher's message again. "I was told to go to Music Room 7, but it looks like I got the wrong one—hey!"

Without warning, Seungmin grabbed his phone and started reading the message. Felix could only gawk at him, taken aback by his rudeness, but the bespectacled boy scoffed and returned his phone before he could say a word about it.

"It's Music Room 7 in the East Wing. You're in the West Wing right now."

Why are there so many fricking music rooms!? Once again thought Felix, now on the verge of crying. This school is ridiculous!

"I- I'm sorry for the intrusion," he reiterated, backing away. "I have to go—whoa!"

The blond-haired guy was suddenly by his side, holding his waist and looking at him with an intensity that had really no reason to be there.

"Your appearance here can be nothing other than the work of Fate. You were meant to come to us today!"

"What the hell kind of nonsense are you spouting?" protested Felix in disbelief.

"The purpose of the Host Club is to make everyone happy," then stated the guy with the dimples, his grin widening. "Surely there's something we can do for you that would brighten your day, hm?"

That sounds so sketchy!!!

"N- no, I'm good. Thanks for the directions and the... warm welcome, but I really have to go—"

"We have all types here!" assured the blond-haired guy, who was still holding him for some reason. "Jisung and Minho, the devilish soulmates! Seungmin, the cool nerd! Changbin, the bad boy! Jeongin, the cute one! Chan, the nice guy!" He suddenly loomed in closer, barely a few inches between their faces. "Or maybe... you'd rather have me, hm?"

"Let me guess: the obnoxious one," deadpanned Felix, struggling a bit to try and free himself from the other boy's unexpectedly strong grasp.

"What? No, I'm the handsome one!" he pouted, tightening his hold.

"Look, I really don't get any of this, so please just let me go!"

His slightly louder outburst managed to startle the blond enough to make him loosen his grip and, using his chance, Felix pulled himself out of his hold. However, he found himself stumbling back and, in trying to catch his fall, he latched onto the nearest thing he could find – a painting.

Which ripped the moment Felix tried to hold onto it.

The masked boy stared in horror at the piece of the painting now hanging loosely in his hand as a heavy silence fell upon the entire room once more.

"... well, that's not good," finally said Jisung in a slightly deadpanned tone.

"Whew, you've certainly done it," snorted Minho. "The biding was going to start at eight million wons for that old thing."

The blood instantly drained from Felix's face as he stared up at them with horror. Had he just accidentally indebted himself with eight million wons?

"Is there- is there any way I can pay you back...?" he asked, feeling like he was going to throw up.

"With what money?" scoffed the 'Bad Boy' Changbin. "You can't even afford the school's uniform. What's with that grubby outfit, anyway?"

Felix found himself lowering his eyes at that, hating the shame pooling in his guts. He knew he wasn't as rich at the other kids around, but they didn't need to rub it in his face that harshly. If he could afford better clothes, he would!

"Well, there is a solution to our little dilemma," mused the 'Nice Guy' Chan, the one with the dimples. "How about you simply pay back your debt by working for us?"

"For you...?"

"Hmm. The Host Club is in dire need of an errand boy, since the rest of us are buys with our Hosts duties," he explained. "If you take up that job, we'll consider your debt repaid by the end of the school year. Sounds fair, doesn't it?"

It's not like Felix had any room to argue, considering how much the painting costed. He was already lucky they weren't kicking him out of the school or taking back his scholarship. Surely working part-time at this... Host Club, wouldn't be too bad, right?

But then he saw Jisung and Minho engaging in some sort of weird staring contest with way too much sexual tension, Jeongin jumping from one couch to the other while Changbin complained about Seungmin giving him coffee on purpose, Hyunjin reenacting some sort of Renaissance play (or maybe he was just talking? Felix couldn't really tell the difference), and Chan smiling in the middle of the unfolding chaos as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

And here I thought the year couldn't get any harder...

.

"Hyunjin-hyung, what's your favorite music?"

"That one tune that reminds me of you, of course."

Felix refrained the urge to facepalm as he went to put away the bag of groceries he'd just bought with the money Seungmin had given him earlier – apparently, while Chan was officially the one in charge of the Club, it was Seungmin who handled the finances.

Unfortunately, his attempts to go unnoticed didn't work.

"Thanks for shopping for us, little chick!" beamed Hyunjin, the dumb flirt because of whom Felix was in this mess in the first place. "Did you get everything you needed to buy?"

"Yeah, there you go," sighed Felix, placing a box of instant coffee on his table.

(He'd quickly found out what, exactly, a Host Club was. He'd been quite surprised to find girls and boys alike rushing to the room after school hours to basically sit at a table with one of the Hosts and chat – he really didn't understand the appeal, but he figured it was a rich people's thing.)

"What's that?" blinked Hyunjin, confused.

"You asked me to buy coffee," replied Felix, just as confused.

"Yes. Where is it?"

Felix gestured to the box. "There. Instant coffee."

Hyunjin's face crumbled with a strange mix of horror and fascination, and Felix belatedly realized that his journey in the world of obnoxious rich people had only just started – and possibly on the wrong foot, at that.

.

"Alright, let the tasting begin!"

"I'm a little scared to drink this..." admitted a girl, staring down at the cup of instant coffee as if it was about to come to life.

"If I drink this, my father will be mad," added a boy, looking uneasy.

Instantly, Hyunjin leaned down, grasping the boy's chin so their eyes could meet. "What if you drank it from my mouth?"

The poor guy practically swooned, and Felix slowly backed away, genuinely creeped out by the entire ordeal. How could people actually fall for that kind of stunt? It was so painfully cheesy and cliché, he simply didn't get it.

All of the Hosts seemingly had "their thing" that attracted the other students. Hyunjin and Chan were the most popular, but the others were still very sought after, and Felix couldn't understand if the other students were doing this in the hopes of building potential business relationships with them, or if they were just dumb enough to think they had the Hosts' undivided attention for any reason other than their money.

"Our club's policy is to utilize everyone's individual characteristics to respond to the needs of our guests." Felix jumped as Seungmin appeared out of nowhere, seemingly reading his mind. "According to our numbers, Hyunjin is number one – his request rate is over eighty percent."

"That's... nice."

"Considering the amount of debt you have to repay, and the sole, measly year you have to do it, we'll have to take a look at your schedule to maximize your usefulness," continued Seungmin, pushing up his glasses.

"Yeah, be sure to work hard, little chick~."

Felix flinched away as none other than Hyunjin appeared beside them, slinging an arm around his shoulders. He pulled a bit on his hood to it wouldn't accidentally fall off – he hadn't washed his hair in a few days, and he wasn't too keen on giving away anything that might give them more fuel to bully him.

(Minho and Jisung were already being jerks about his monetary situation – not voluntarily, Felix supposed, but it didn't change the fact that they were rude.)

"You know, you're not going to attract anyone when looking like a slob," then remarked Hyunjin, tsking as he took in Felix's appearance.

"I'm not interested in that—"

"His voice is deep, he probably looks really scary under it all!"

"Yeah, with all sorts of nasty scars or maybe a crooked nose!"

Felix held back a sigh as Minho and Jisung joined them. Glancing around, he realized that the club was apparently closing for the day, with Chan and Jeongin waving off the last students and biding them a good day.

"I know! I'm so generous, I have no choice but to share my magnificence once more! Lee Felix, I shall teach you the ropes of being a host!"

"I really don't need that," sweatdroped Felix.

"Hyunjin, you can try and teach the basics of hosting as much as you want—"

Jisung was cut off by Minho, who snorted. "—but in his case, he hasn't even passed he first, most basic visual test. I mean, we can't even see his face!"

Felix's eyes widened as he noticed, too late, Minho's finger hooking under his mask. He tried to back away, but it only resulted with Minho accidentally pulling it off, and there was a moment of silence as all of the boys around openly gawked at Felix. Embarrassed, he instantly lowered his head and pulled down his hood even lower, wishing he could disappear.

I seriously don't want to hear what these rich, handsome boys have to say about my face, of all things...

"Minho, Jisung! To the changing room!"

"Yes, sir!" chorused the pair.

"Seungmin, contact the hair designer! Chan, find a uniform! Changbin, makeup!"

It took a moment for Hyunjin's words to sink in but, as soon as they did, Felix found himself practically hauled to a backroom and shoved into a changing stall – and why did they have those in a music room!?

What the hell is happening now!?

.

Felix didn't have much of a choice in the weird events that unfolded soon after. He was given a brand-new school uniform which, for some reason, was perfectly fitted for him, and then a few random people had entered the changing stall one after the other to style his hair, apply some makeup, and finish up the whole look.

Felix decided to let it happen, figuring running away wouldn't serve much purpose when he had to go back the next day, anyway. Once the onslaught of pampering was over with, however, Felix found himself forced to step out into the open, without his hood or his face mask to protect himself this time around.

He stepped out of the changing stall with his head down. He couldn't help but feel like this was taking the joke too far. So what if he didn't have the money they did? What if he didn't actually belong in their stupid elite school? They didn't need to humiliate him like that—

"A fairy."

Hyunjin's breathless statement made him jolt, and the freckled boy found himself looking up, instantly meeting his fellow blond's intense stare. Hyunjin's mouth was agape as he stared at him, and Felix tensed as he felt the others' stares also digging into him from all sides.

"Wow," blurted out Chan, eyes wide.

"How can his voice be so deep when he looks like that!?" cried out Jisung.

"So, the beast hid a beauty, huh?" mused Seungmin.

"Why would you hide when you look like that?" wondered Minho. "You might even be able to draw in a few customers looking like that!"

"The errand boy has graduated!" suddenly exclaimed Hyunjin, clapping his hands excitedly. "Starting today, you are an official member of the Host Club! I will personally train you to be a first-rate Host! And, if you can get a hundred customers to request you, we will forgive your eight million on debt!"

"M- me? A Host!? No way!" protested Felix, backing away a bit. His head was spinning with just how much nonsense he'd had to endure so far, he wouldn't be able to take any more. "I can't do that! I- I'm not like the rest of you!"

"So, you'd rather keep working off your eight million won debt like a dog, then?" cut Seungmin, merciless.

Felix's protests died on his tongue at that. It was true that working as an errand boy wouldn't do anything to help his self-esteem or his grades, and he had been requested to join a club during the school year...

With a sigh of defeat, he slowly nodded in agreement, groaning as the others around started cheering and whooping in victory.

This is going to be such a messed-up school year...

He startled a bit when fingers gently pressed under his chin, forcing him to look up again, and finding Hyunjin now right in front of him. The moment their eyes met, the older boy smiled – and, for some reason, Felix's heart stuttered in his chest.

"Chin up, little chick. You're most assuredly one of the prettiest beings in this entire school – don't be afraid to show it."

Felix instantly flushed a deep red, not having expected that, and he only now understood all those girls and boys that had been swooning over Hyunjin earlier.

In Hyunjin's eyes... there were no lies. They could all fall for his words because he meant every single one of them.

Oh fuck, Felix thought with a gulp, his heart beating too fast for his liking. I'm screwed.