Sorry it's not the best chapter and things might seem a little confusing right now, but I promise that it'll all make sense later!

CHAPTER 3: Thunder

Haruhi sat frozen in her chair, shaking as a second clap of thunder resounded outside. She had always been terrified of thunder, even though she was in high school now. Tamaki watched her from his corner, unsure if he should help, or if he would just be in the way, over reacting like he "usually was".

"Haruhi?" Kyoya questioned. "Are you alright?" Though it was obvious to the Shadow King that she wasn't alright in the least way. A flash of lightening suddenly lit up the room, causing the poor girl to dive under the table, covering her ears and scrunching her eyes shut tightly. "Haruhi, come on, now. It's just a storm; no reason to be afraid." But Haruhi just looked at him, staring right through him, tears in her eyes. She whimpered as more thunder rumbled. Kyoya sighed. Getting down on his hands and knees, he crawled under the table to try and find some way to comfort the terrified freshman.

Tamaki's muscles tensed with embarrassment. How could he not think of helping her? How could he sit there and let her suffer? Surely she must hate him now!

He forced himself to look at her; there she was, leaning against a very unsure-looking Kyoya. This was his only chance to help her and make up for waiting and allowing Kyoya to get to her first! In one quick second, Tamaki was under the table as well, holding Haruhi to his chest, covering her ears as best he could.

Think quickly, Tamaki. Quickly!

"Kyoya, let's get her into the prep room. It's quieter in there." Maneuvering so they could easily keep her eyes and ears covered, the two men moved her into the back room and shut the door. Tamaki scooped her up and carried her into the corner. When he tried to put her down on the floor, she clung to his shirt. "Shh…it's ok, Haruhi…we're right here with you; we're not going anywhere until this storm passes." He backed up until he was against the wall and then slid to the floor, Haruhi still in his arms.

Minutes felt like hours as they ticked by, marked by the flashes of light that lit up the crack under the door. The thunder could barely be heard, however, from where they were in the prep room.

For once, Haruhi was quite thankful to have the Host Club. Kyoya rubbed her back while Tamaki cradled her tightly, rocking her ever so gently. She never had expected her Senpai to look out for her like this, let alone remember that she's terrified of storms. Maybe he wasn't the biggest idiot on the planet after all.

Tamaki's heart was pounding. This was a moment he'd been awaiting for the longest time; being able to hold her like this without her protesting. If she heard a clap of thunder, she would bury her face in his shoulder a little more, much to Tamaki's delight.

At long last, when they hadn't seen or heard any bit of the storm for a while, Kyoya stood and said softly, "I'll go check to see what the weather's doing right now…" And he left the room, being careful not to open the door too wide. He slipped out and closed it quickly, leaving the Host Club King alone with his "princess". Reluctantly, he peered down at her.

"You doing alright, there, Haruhi?" She nodded, not looking up. He placed his hand on the back of her head. "It's almost over…you're doing just fine…"

Kyoya walked back into the room. "Well the storm has seemed to have passed over, but there might be more later on. I suggest we get Haruhi home now, unless we want to be stuck here all night."

Tamaki knew that it was getting late, but he wasn't so focused on getting home, as much as he was on making sure Haruhi would be ok. "Haruhi, how about you come over to me house and have dinner there?" The girl picked up her head and looked at him.

"Senpai, it's nice of you to offer, but, I need to make sure my dad has his dinner as well, and-"

"And besides that, Ranka hates you…" The Shadow King interjected. His friend winced at the reminder of that fact; a reaction that didn't go unnoticed. "Fine…we'll bring her to my place for dinner. I'll let her father know."

There was a moment of silence before the overly-excited Tamaki leapt into Kyoya's arms. "Mon ami! Mon ami! Thank you! I promise you won't regret this, Kyoya!"

About half an hour later, they arrived at the Otori mansion. Thankfully, any rain that was coming held off until they got there.

Kyoya led the other two hosts into the dining room. In there stood an exquisite table, large enough to hold about 20 people at minimum. Already on it was a marvelous and delicious looking dinner. However, there were only two table settings.

Haruhi immediatly knew who wasn't sitting there. "Kyoya-Senpai? Aren't you going to eat with us?" He smiled warmly and shook his head.

"You know, I would like to, Haruhi, but seeing as how I have quite a full scedule tonight, it's out of the question. For you two, I've had the cooks whip up all their finest dishes, a lot of the recipes and ingridents are imported from different countries, so you'll definetly leave on a full stomach." He walked toward the door. "Oh and try not to make a mess...Tamaki..."

Even though Tamaki knew deep down he was making a joke, the words stung.

Why do they even hurt? I know he was joking!

Then again, it's true; I am an absolute klutz and it's nice of him to risk his beautiful home around me!

Oh, get it together, Suoh! You're his friend, it's damn JOKE! get it through your HEAD already!

Without realizing it, Tamaki began to push back his sleeve and scratch at his wrist...

"Senpai? Don't you want to sit down?" Haruhi asked, bringing him back to reality. She was already sitting at the grand table, staring at him. His cheeks turned bright red as he sat down. For the first 20 minutes, the two of them sat in silence. The table was big, but they were still sitting in seats that were close enough that if they spoke they'd hear each other. Haruhi had already begun eating, savoring each bite of foods that she never got to try before.

Should I say something?

Tamaki played with his food nervously as he watched her eat. The silence was killing him! He had to say something; anything!

"Um…those children in the uniforms we saw on the ride home were pretty cute!" he suddenly blurted out. Immediately, he felt dumber than he ever had. What a stupid thing to say! Ashamed of himself, he put his hands under the table and began to scratch inconspicuously at that same spot as earlier.

She put down her fork and looked up at her Senpai. "You mean those girl scouts?" Her mouth was half full. She swallowed before flashing her beautiful smile. "Yeah, I guess they were pretty cute, huh?" When Tamaki didn't answer she simply went back to eating.

Well at least, she answered and didn't say that it was stupid a stupid thing to say…but even so, I've gotta watch what I say…I can't have people laughing at me anymore than I already do…

"You know, I was a Girl Scout once." she suddenly continued, disturbing Tamaki's thoughts. "It was kind of fun, I guess. The older girls weren't very nice, and our troupe leader was very…oh, how can I put this…incompetent. We did a lot of crafts and I did enjoy a lot of the trips we took! And I had a lot of the girls from my class in the same troupe, making the obnoxious girls tolerable!"

"So…why'd you give it up?" He was truly intrigued by this story; more so by the fact that Haruhi was actually sharing it with him.

"Well, as you know, when my mom passed away, I began cooking for my dad every night. Even though he told me he could manage on take out and simple meals, I still preferred making sure he got proper home-cooked meals every now and again. So, much to his objection, I didn't sign up when I entered my third year of grade school.

"Later on, I found out from Ori that Boy Scouts was a lot more exciting. They got to go camping, and were a lot more serious than us girls. We sold cookies. That was our thing."

Tamaki couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't help picturing Haruhi in one of those cute uniforms. The evening continued quite well from there. It got easier and easier for them to get deep into conversations and really enjoy them.

Tamaki was actually a deeper person than Haruhi expected; when he wasn't going crazy over the small things, you could actually have a nice conversation with him.

For the next few hours, they talked endlessly about memories, obnoxious and stupid classmates, and just about anything else they could think of.

Thankfully, Kyoya's weather prediction was wrong and there weren't any more storms that evening. Their conversations went longer than planned and eventually they realized it was time to go home. At the end of the evening, Tamaki gave Haruhi a ride home in his limo. Like a gentleman, he walked her up to her apartment. Just before she went inside, he took the chance and asked, "If you're not doing anything tomorrow, Haruhi…." He looked at his feet nervously. "You want to…hang out or something?"

Haruhi smiled as she unlocked her door. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon?"

He nodded, too happy to speak. It's a date! he couldn't help but think.

In the limo ride back home, all he could think about was her. For the first time in months, he had hope. If she really did want to go out with him after all, then maybe he'd finally be able to pull up out of this dark depression. Maybe he'd be able to stop cutting once and for all!

Later that night, as he got ready for bed, he noticed the knife peeking out from underneath the bed. With a smile on his face, he kicked it fully underneath. "Not tonight!" he muttered out loud. Tamaki then got into bed, feeling so excited and wound up, yet so tired and worn out all at once.

There was a change; that was for sure. There had been for a week!

But the question was….what was it?

Kyoya tried hard, but just couldn't put his finger on it. Tamaki was his usual cheerful and overly dramatic self, yes, but there was a peculiar twinkle in his eye; there had been all week. Ever since eating dinner at his house, Tamaki's mood perked up a lot more when they weren't doing club activities.

Then it finally clicked; the answer had been there all along. Why didn't he see it in the first place?

Now he knew what was really making his friend so happy. But how to get him to confess? The gears in his head turned as his eyes flickered to the twins, sitting on a couch, pulling their "Brotherly love" routine. He smiled as he made his way over to the twins, a plan fully in his head.

Uh-oh, what's Kyoya up to now?

And Like I said, it's gonna all make sense later! and sorry this chapter is so short!