jeongin heaved a deep sigh, full and loud, once again. he slowly shut the large door of the fifth, and last library in the enormous school. he shook his head and continued down the hallway.

“seriously, with this huge school you’d think at least one library would be quiet, but no, rich kids only come to school for the fun of it,” jeongin whispered to himself, holding onto his astronomy book tighter. he dragged his feet up the staircase to the third floor and watched the birds fly outside of the window before continuing on. he looked up at the label for one ornate door. music room three, the abandoned music room.

“huh, maybe i can get some peace and quiet here.” jeongin twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

 

it felt like he’d stepped into a new world, eight beautiful boys sat in the room, looking like they stepped straight out of a manga.

“welcome to the host club!” they all said in unison. jeongin would come to realize that opening that door was the best and worst decision he’d ever make, but right now in the present, the honor student was extremely confused. jeongin backed up into the now closed door.

“what?! a host club?” he questioned. jeongin held his book close to his chest. 

“oh wow, it's a boy, we don’t get those often,” one of them pointed out. the one sitting in the middle lightly slapped his hand.

“well, we don’t care about the gender here in the host club,” he scolded the boy. another one crosses the room over to jeongin. he held a pale yellow bunny in his arms.

“well, he’s cute.” the deep voice caught him off guard. the boy in the middle, he seemed to be the leader, walked up to him and held his hand.

“well regardless of your gender, we will still serve you!”

 

“huh?” jeongin flinched. he smiled at him.

“i’m chris, or chan, whichever is comfortable, this is felix.” chan motioned at the boy with the bunny and felix waved.

“the two sitting on the armrests are changbin and seungmin, say hi you two.” they didn’t say anything but seungmin gave a small salute and changbin nodded.

“the boy with the clipboard is woojin, he handles our finances,”

 

“greetings,” woojin gave a slight bow at jeongin. 

“the boy who stated the obvious, that you were a boy, is jisung.” chan jabbed a thumb at him. jisung crossed his arms.

“i’d rather not be known for that.” chan chose to ignore him and continued the introduction.

“and finally, the two actually on the couch are hyunjin and minho.” they both sent a polite wave, which jeongin returned. chan beamed at him.

“we welcome you to the host club! so, what’s your type?” jeongin blinked rapidly and scooted away.

“my..my type..?” he asked, not sure if he’d heard right. chan nodded and followed him.

“we have many to choose from! don’t be shy!”

 

“no, i’m fine, i-” jeongin backed into a pillar, that seemed strategically placed when jeongin thought back to that moment, which had an expensive, and very fragile, vase on it. it tilted just enough to let the vase loose and crash to the floor. jeongin turned around and looked horrified. 

“oh look, it’s broken now,” seungmin said crouching down next to it.

“this cost a lot of money you know, eighty-one million won,” changbin followed up mirroring seungmin’s position. jeongin gulped at the sound of that.

“eight, eighty-one million?” felix nodded to confirmed woojin strolled over tapping his pen on the clipboard. 

“well chan, what will we do now?” chan crossed arms and shook his head with a look of pity. jeongin blinked at the 180 turn chan’s personality had done.

“well jeongin-”

 

“how do you know my name?”

 

“you’re the only honor student in this school, and also the only one not wearing a uniform, of course we’d know who you are from one look. now let chan finish,” woojin informed him.

“now as i was saying, do you know the phrase ‘when in rome, do as the romans do’?” jeongin nodded having heard this many times before, and he did not like the sound of it. “well, when in the host club do as the host club does, if you cannot pay with money you can pay with your body. so from this day forward you will become the host club’s errand boy!” chan finished his little speech with an exaggerated point at jeongin. the younger was extremely confused, this reminded him of the plot of an anime he’d seen a while ago, but regardless here he was, about to serve as the host club’s dog.

 

chan laughed along with the guests he was currently serving. one lone girl sipped her cup of tea with dignity.

“so chan, i heard you adopted a new member of the club, is that so?” chan blinked at the sudden question but smiled once again.

“well, he’s not really an official member, he’s really our-oh speak of the devil here he comes!” jeongin entered the room, his arms full of grocery bags from his recent trip to the store. all eyes turned to the honor student as chan called him out.

“hello little piglet! did you get everything on the list?” jeongin frowned at chan.

“piglet?” he questioned as changbin and seungmin rushed to remove the bags from his loaded arms. seungmin plucked a container out the bag and looked at it with confusion.

“hey chan, look at this,” he showed the container to chan with a confused face. jeongin raised an eyebrow at their gathered confusion.

“what’s wrong? it’s coffee like you asked,” jeongin clarified. chan took the coffee from seungmin’s hand and inspected it, the rest of the host club and guests crowding around, making jeongin very claustrophobic. 

“is this that coffee that’s already ground?”

 

“what are you talking about, it’s instant,”

 

“it’s instant?” the girls across from them on the couch asked, genuinely curious. now jeongin was sure of it, rich people don’t know what life is.

“oh i think i’ve heard of this! it’s where you just put it in hot water!” chan exclaimed, clearly just reading the directions. jeongin felt the urge to slap someone.

“so the rumor is true?” one girl commented.

“commoners really don’t have enough free time to grind their own coffee beans?” another girl supplied. jeongin knitted his eyebrows together.

“commoners..” he whispered quietly to himself, “you know, i can just get some different, more expensive coffee if you want, sorry for not getting the brand you wanted,” jeongin suggested with a sarcastic tone behind it. 

“wait!” chan stood up so fast the honor student was sure all the blood had left his head. “i’ll drink it! i’ll try the commoner coffee!” everyone seemed amazed, well save for a certain someone who had bought the “commoner coffee”. our lone tea drinker set her cup down neatly and carefully.

“now now chan, you don’t have to go that far. i’m sure it’s not to your taste,”

 

“huh?” everyone had left to try the instant coffee and jeongin wasn’t sure if he heard the girl right.

“oh it’s nothing,” she turned and gave him a smile “i was just talking to myself.” jeongin nodded, still not really believing her.

“jeongin! come over here and make this commoner coffee!” chan called. jeongin frowned again.

“yeah yeah, i’m coming,” and a bit quieter “these damn rich people..” jeongin dragged his feet over to the coffee “exhibit”. he demonstrated the makings of instant coffee by scooping out the perfect amount of the powder, gently tapping it against the side of the cup. he then went down the row and poured the freshly boiled water into the cups, and voila! the instant coffee was finished.

“now, let the tasting, begin!” chan passed three cups to three of the girls.

“i don’t know if this is edible..”

 

“i think my father will be mad at me if i drink this..”

 

“i don’t think i can drink this..” the girls all tried to come up with their individual excuses. chan walked up to the last girl and tilted her head up, bringing their faces impossibly close together making jeongin wonder if the girl was claustrophobic.

“would you drink it, from my mouth?” jeongin truly wished he had a trashcan to barf into after that line. the girls seemed to think otherwise as they squealed their little hearts out. jeongin left the situation to prevent himself from harming anyone in a two feet radius, and opted to stand near the door.

 

he leaned against the doorframe and sighed.

“let me out of this club..” he whispered to himself.

“once you pay your debt, gladly.” jeongin jumped, seeing as woojin just appeared from nowhere. jeongin avoided eye contact.

“chan is our best host, taking about fifty percent of our customers,” woojin said, as if reading jeongin’s mind, which the latter found quite unnerving. yet jeongin pondered on this and looked around at the host club.

“girls really like this stuff? this so cheesy, if a guy came up to me and did this i’d leave him.” woojin just smiled and nodded, then seemed to remember something.

“oh, and if you want to try and escape your debt somehow, i hope you have a passport.” which jeongin cleverly interpreted as ‘you can’t stay in korea’. 

 

felix ran up to him brandishing a piece of cake.

“hey jeongin! you want to share this cake with me?” he asked sweetly. jeongin jumped back at the sudden appearance.

“no..i think i’m good..” felix looked down, a bit upset but quickly regained his happy atmosphere.

“well, you wanna play with youngie?” he held out his bunny to  jeongin and got progressively closer till the point where their chests were almost touching. jeongin’s face felt hot, he just knew that the beginnings of blush were starting to form, he took the bunny from felix and nodded while moving away.

“yeah, i can play with youngie,” he replied while holding the bunny quite tight, if that bunny were alive, it would be suffocating in his hold. felix smiled and went back to his guests, he noticed the blush and how jeongin moved away so quickly, it was cute, extremely cute.

 

chan caught jeongin in his quick escape and decided to see how it was going with their newest “member”.

“so jeongin, how are you feeling in the club?” jeongin hated it. that’s what he wanted to say, but seeing as he had a huge debt weighing over his head, he decided to play nice.

“i don’t understand how you guys can get girls so easily, this stuff is all way too cheesy,” he voiced his opinion. chan seemed positively excited. ‘oh no’ jeongin thought, he knew there was an explanation coming by the sparkle the leader had in his eyes.

“well jeongin, let me tell you!” there it was. jeongin zoned him out for the most part. he was some kind of word, overzealous? that’s not it, overbearing? not that..what was it? jeongin caught a couple things from his explanation, that had gone from how they got girls to fawn over them to rules of a gentleman. hyunjin and seungmin walked by and saw chan in his own zone once again and decided to watch what the newbie would do. chan seemed to be finishing up as he walked back to jeongin, who was still deep in thought.

“..and never underestimate the power of a look from the side,”

 

“i got it!” jeongin exclaimed, finally figuring out the word.

“did i strike a nerve in you jeongin?”

 

“obnoxious!” chan froze at that. hyunjin was dying. chan went to sulk in the corner, his pride was in critical condition. hyunjin wiped a tear from his eye, he and seungmin clapped the youngest on the shoulder.

“i like the new kid!” hyunjin said excitedly looking at chan who was currently questioning his existence in the corner. seungmin shook his head. jeongin realized the leader was upset and scratched the back of his head.

“well hyung, i guess you did strike a small nerve in me..” chan snapped back like a rubber band.

“oh really?” he asked regaining his happy composure.

seungmin pulled on the honor student’s ear.

“there’s no use in teaching him how to be a gentleman, he’s so small, the only thing he’d have going for him is cuteness, and he doesn’t even smile.” seungmin walked around to face jeongin’s front as hyunjin followed.

“hey kid, just try smiling.” hyunjin mimicked showing a child his smile. jeongin was confused, so he complied.

 

and then the angels started singing. it was like you had opened the doors to heaven. jeongin looked like a baby. hyunjin looked head over heels in love and seungmin was turned away, trying to hide the blush that was slowly creeping its way across his face. chan pushed past them both and grabbed jeongin’s shoulders, confusing jeongin once more.

“why have you never smiled?” jeongin looked away.

“i mean, i just got my braces off recently, i’m not really used to smiling with them off..” chan snapped his fingers immediately.

“woojin, get this boy a uniform! minho, my hair stylist! changbin, some light makeup!”

 

“what about us?” seungmin asked gesturing to himself, jisung, hyunjin and felix.

“you four..share some cake with jeongin here.” he pushed jeongin toward the four boys and left them to do whatever with him.

 

jisung and hyunjin brandished the uniform woojin had just acquired. jeongin backed into the dressing room. jisung and hyunjin followed him. jisung snuck up behind jeongin and pulled off his sweater, exposing his wrinkled dress shirt.

“come on we’re all guys jeongin,” hyunjin whispered and reached for a button. jeongin slapped his hand away and pushed them both out the dressing room.

“okay i’ll change, but you don’t need to help me.” jeongin closed the curtains back quite quickly. jisung and hyunjin gave each other a look but shrugged and left it alone.

 

the host club stood outside the dressing room.

jeongin pulled back the curtains in the full uniform. purple blazer, black pants and shoes, a freshly ironed shirt and a black tie to pull it all together. jeongin adjusted the tie and everyone stared.

“hey hyung, is it really okay if i keep this?” nobody knew who he was talking to, but nobody cared. chan decided to answer him.

“of course you can! we’ll teach you the ins and outs of being a host!” jeongin froze. a host? what was he getting into? chan pointed at him.

“if you can get one hundred requests, then you will be free of your debt!” one hundred requests? impossible, but to be free of debt, he might as well try.

 

“so, what are your hobbies?” jeongin was right, this was impossible. here he was, three girls sitting right in front of him, and he had nothing to say. chan watched him worriedly, no, he wasn’t worried, he was just checked on the new boy. chan watched jeongin fiddle with the tea cup handle, yep, he was definitely worried. 

“so jeongin, why did you join the host club?” jeongin was snapped back into reality with that question. ‘i have the perfect story’ he thought to himself. jeongin sat up straight and answered.

 

“i see, so your mother passed away when you were young..” one of the girls relayed. jeongin nodded remembering it. one of the other girls spoke up.

“so who does the chores?” she asked. jeongin gave a shy smile.

“i do, my mom gave me a big book of recipes too, so i like to make things from that. when things turn out good my dad is really happy!” jeongin finished it off by flashing a big smile. chan swears he could hear ‘heart attack’ playing in the background as an arrow came and pierced his heart from that smile. the girls were red as tomatoes.

“c-can we request you tomorrow as well?” they asked. jeongin gave a surprised smile.

“yes, i’m really thankful for that!” he replied. three down, ninety-seven to go.

 

the tea drinker tapped chan’s shoulder and he seemed to realize he had his own guests to attend to.

“i’m sorry my princess, i was just worried about our newest member.” she sipped her tea.

“wow, you seem very fond of that boy,” a bit of venom sat behind her voice. chan nodded and beckoned jeongin over.

“jeongin, meet one of my regulars, miss jung eunbi.” he gestured to the tea drinking girl. ‘it’s her’ jeongin remembered from the instant coffee incident. he just smiled.

“it’s a pleasure to meet you!” another arrow through the heart for chan. he jumped up and hugged the honor student in a hold that rivaled the hold jeongin had on youngie.

“oh that was so cute!” he cooed over the younger boy. even eunbi seemed worried for jeongin's safety as she asked chan to calm down a bit. jeongin struggled to escape chan’s record breaking hug.

“minho hyung! help me!” he called out for help. minho stood and leaped into action. he pulled jeongin from chan grasp in an instant and held him away, though it was bridal style. jeongin held on for dear life, not paying attention to the look minho was giving him. chan reached out to jeongin.

“come on minho, just let me hug him a little more!” chan cooed as minho held jeongin even farther away. eunbi eyed jeongin, she didn’t like him one bit.

 

“where is my stuff?” jeongin questioned looking through his locker. he turned around to the window and there it was. his books and bag, all thrown into the pond. jeongin ran to the window.

“aw man,” he whispered “i thought there was no bullying at this school.” he ran down the hall to the pond and passed eunbi, who just smiled to herself. they both stopped, backs to each other.

“you know jeongin, you really don’t belong here,” she said in a mocking tone before walking off.

 

he searched the pond his things, pulling them out when he found them. but one was still missing. his wallet. he searched all over, but couldn't find it. chan walked up beside the pond.

“you’ve got a lot of nerve newbie, skipping out on club activities,” chan looked over at jeongin’s pile of belongings “why’s your stuff all wet?” he asked, a bit concerned. jeongin shook his head and kept looking for his wallet.

“i, uh, dropped them from the window,” jeongin internally cursed himself, he was sure chan knew damn well the windows facing the pond didn’t open in the first place. 

“i just need to find my wallet though, or else i won’t have food for the week…” jeongin whispered. chan blinked, he hadn’t thought about that fact. commoners had to provide for themselves, and the food from the cafeteria was much too expensive for the honor student to afford, after all he couldn’t even afford a uniform. he took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants and sleeves and stepped into the shallow pond water. jeongin heard to small splash and turned to him.

“hey hyung, you don’t have to help me, you’ll get yourself all wet,” jeongin pleaded with him, but chan paid no mind.

“what? a bit of water’s not going to hurt me, plus people always said i’m dripping with good looks.” jeongin was paralyzed. not in fear, not with embarrassment, but with something else. chan pulled the now found, and drenched, wallet, out of the pond.

“is this what you were looking for?” chan winked at him, completely unnecessary. he was staring, so hard. chan dangled the wallet in front of the younger boy's face.

"aw come on, you're not falling for me are you?" chan asked cheekily. jeongin regained his senses and snatched the wallet from chan.

“thanks..” he whispered. chan blinked but smiled again.

“so how’d you even drop your stuff from the window, they don’t even open.” there it was. he figured out something was wrong with his story. jeongin froze, he was sure it was eunbi, but jeongin definitely wasn’t about to snitch.

“oh well would you look at that, we really should be getting to the club.” jeongin bailed on the question and pulled chan along with him to the music room.

 

why did she request him? by all jeongin knew, eunbi positively hated him. eunbi rested her cheek against her palm and kept a consistent stare at jeongin.

“can i ask, why did you request me?” jeongin asked carefully. eunbi gave him a smile.

“you know, chan is only fawning over you to make sure you don’t bring down the reputation of the club.” jeongin took a sharp intake of air, he knew there was a catch.

“this is only temporary, and plus you’re a commoner, why should he pay attention to you?” jeongin nodded slowly.

“i get it now..” eunbi smirked.

“so you finally see-”

 

“you’re jealous of me, aren’t you?” it was like time stopped at that moment. eunbi lost the confident smile she had resting on her face. then in an instant they both stood up, knocking the table over. jeongin shielded eunbi from the now shattered vase and eunbi screamed.

“help me! jeongin is harassing me!” she screamed. jeongin’s face form a confused and surprised look. then water was poured on them.

 

jeongin looked up to see hyunjin and seungmin standing over them. jeongin climbed off of eunbi as chan and woojin arrived to the scene. every eye was on the new situation as chan helped eunbi up and pushed her now drenched hair from her face.

"chan, help me! jeongin forced himself onto me.." she pleaded. chan shook his head at her.

"i'm disappointed with you miss eunbi," he started. eunbi tried to look shocked.

"what, what do you mean?"

 

"you were the one who threw jeongin's bag in the pond." jeongin's eyes widened, he didn't tell anyone but chan what happened, and even then he didn't say who did it. jeongin himself didn't even completely know who did it.

"well, where's your proof that i did?" she sounded frantic at this point, jeongin almost felt bad for her. woojin stepped up to home plate, tablet in hand.

"never underestimate our sources miss eunbi." he flipped the tablet around to show video recordings of eunbi tossing jeongin's bag into the water. eunbi was done for. the rest of the host club gathered around, some seeming closer to jeongin, as if acting as bodyguards. there were tears in her eyes as she pushed chan away and ran from the host club.

"you'll regret this chan!" she screamed, though everyone knew she wouldn't do anything. jeongin blinked at this whole mess of a situation. chan sighed deeply.

"well, what will we do about this?" jeongin turned to chan, deeply scared for his well-being around these people.

"i've got it, your quota will be raised to one thousand!"

 

"one-one thousand..?" jeongin choked out, why did have to walk into this room? chan held out a hand to help him up.

"I expect good news from you rookie!" chan winked at the younger boy as he pulled him up off the floor. hyunjin handed jeongin a dry uniform.

"gee thanks guys, i'm gonna go change."

 

chan walked into the changing area with towels in hand.

"jeongin i brought you some-" he started when he heard jeongin's personal dialog.

"jesus christ how did i get pulled into this mess, i'm too gay to try and be flirting with girls. one thousand? impossible." his monologue continued. chan blinked quickly.

"jeongin?" he said a bit louder to get jeongin's attention. the talking stopped immediately.

"you heard me?" it was barely above a whisper.

"i just came to bring you some towels, i'll leave then here," chan replied not answering the question.

"okay," jeongin answered as chan left the room.

 

"so you're actually gay, not bi not pan, complete gay?"

 

"yes." the whole club had gathered around to witness chan's stupidity. they had all figured it out long before that, when woojin had a conversation with jeongin, when felix tried to get him to play, when changbin locked eyes with jeongin for a while, when seungmin tried to feed jeongin cake, when jisung and hyunjin tried to help him change, when minho picked him up, they all had their own moments, now chan finally had his.

"but you're such a natural at this," chan said still not believing his ears, though some part of him was overjoyed to hear it.

"that just means i know how to talk to people," jeongin gave him an answer for his question. chan was still questioning this discovery.

 

"don't worry i won't try and make a move on any of you." they all look at him "don't get me wrong y'all are all hot as i don't know what, but-" chan cut him off.

"gay or not, you are still a member of this club! and you have a quota you know!" he tried to sound all cool like he had hoped, but jisung just couldn't miss an opportunity.

"chan, your ears are red,"

 

"shut up!" chan yelled, ears very obviously red. woojin turned to look at the imaginary camera behind him.

"this is going to be interesting."