The very last day of summer vacation was when all of Jasmine and Kaoru's planning finally came through and they made their first step towards getting Tamaki and Haruhi married. Jasmine squealed with delight at her computer screen. She called up Kaoru.

"Guess what's going to happen tonight?" she asked.

"What?" Kaoru asked, getting excited by the tone of her voice. He liked seeing her excited about things.

"Thunder storm."

The two smirked almost evilly.

Tamaki walked into the third music room and turned on the lights. Things were dusty. Soon after he arrived, Kaoru walked through the door.

"Hello, boss," he said and proceeded to help him clean up and prepare the room for tomorrow, like Kaoru had suggested over the phone. Tamaki didn't even think about the school having maids to do this job.

"Hello, Kaoru," Tamaki said, finding a broom from a little closet.

"You want to do the floors last," Jasmine said as she entered carrying rags. "Here. You can work over there, I'll work here—"

"I can work over here," Haruhi said as she too entered the room. Jasmine and Kaoru smirked. Perfect.

"Kaoru, help me get some more rags," Jasmine said.

"Okay," Kaoru said and followed Jasmine out of the room. They closed the doors quietly behind them. Jasmine pulled out the chain that normally locked her bike to the bike racks, and they proceeded to lock the two door handles together so the doors wouldn't open.

Haruhi glanced out the window and stopped in her tracks. A large cloud was heading their way, and fast.

"S—senpai," she said hesitantly. Tamaki followed her gaze.

"Uh-oh," he whispered. He knew Haruhi was terrified of thunder and lightning. He quickly closed the drapes, making the room slightly dimmer. "Do you have headphones or anything?"

"No," Haruhi said and peeked through the curtains. It was here.

There was a bright flash of lightning and the thunder cracked. Haruhi gave an involuntary squeal, jumping back from the window and covering her ears.

"Let's try to get to the center of the building," Tamaki said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "The thunder should be harder to hear." Haruhi beat him to the door.

"It won't open," she said, getting nervous. Tamaki grabbed the handles and turned them, but the doors would not budge.

"Kaoru! Jasmine!" he yelled, but there was no reply. "They'll be back soon. They should be able to get the doors open from the outside. It looked like the handles had been bound together with a cable or something."

It dawned on him. Jasmine knew he loved Haruhi and Kaoru was able to read people well, so he could know. Was this a setup? To try to get him to tell her how he felt? He began to sweat.

Thunder rumbled through the room again and Haruhi dropped to the floor, clamping her hands over her ears. Tamaki knelt next to her. He placed one hand on the back of her head and the other on her back, resting her forehead on his chest.

Thunder crashed again, and she began to shake.

"It's okay," he whispered into her ear. He rubbed her back, trying to calm her down and just let her know he was there. He could feel her move her hands because one of them brushed his jaw, and she clenched her fingers around his shirt.

"I'm scared," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. She sniffed and when another crash of thunder echoed in the room, she pulled down on his shirt simply to have something to hold.

Tamaki leaned back a little and put his hands over hers. After a moment, he pried her hands off his shirt and just held her hands.

The next flash of lightning could be seen through the curtains and the floor shook with the thunder. The power went out.

Haruhi froze, her eyes wide.

"Tamaki…" she whimpered.

"I'm right here," he answered and gave her hands a light squeeze. "You're all right."

Lightning flashed and Haruhi used the temporary light to move. She wound her arms around Tamaki's waist and buried her face in his chest again. Tamaki held her again, running his fingers through her short hair. It was getting longer. She'd be able to put it up in so many cute styles soon. He kissed the top of her head without realizing it. Thunder crashed again and she whimpered and squeezed him tighter. He hated seeing her scared like this. What helped him calm down when he was scared?

He began to hum quietly as he played with her hair. It took a few moments, but Tamaki's voice was so soothing and the melody he was humming was pretty. She tried to focus only on his voice, shutting out the thunder. She could still feel it vibrating the floor and she shook a little, but didn't want to make any noise to interrupt the song.

She tried to think logically. The only ways of her knowing about the thunder was the sound and the vibration. She already blocked out the sound by focusing on Tamaki's voice. She needed to get off the floor.

Tamaki stopped humming. More thunder rumbled.

"Tamaki?" Haruhi asked.

"What is it, Haruhi?" Tamaki said soothingly, still playing with her hair.

"That's a pretty song," she said. "It helps when you sing. I can focus on that and block out the thund—" Thunder cut her off and she gasped. "Um, can we move?" She went and sat on a couch, folding her feet underneath her. Tamaki followed slowly.

"Do you want me to sing more?" Tamaki asked. "Does it really help?" Haruhi nodded.

"Yes," she whispered. So he hummed his song again. Haruhi closed her eyes and rested her head against the couch. They were both sitting sideways, backs against an armrest and feet on the couch. It was one of the smaller couches, so their shoes were almost touching. She still flinched a little when the thunder sounded, but at least she didn't seem as scared. Tamaki took her hands and held them, rubbing the backs of them with his thumbs as he hummed his song over and over.

"Does that song not have words?" Haruhi asked. "Or is it one of your classical ones that you play?"

"It has words," Tamaki said. "I'm kind of saving the words for a more special occasion. I don't want you to hear them yet."

"Senpai, you know how I feel about surprises," she said. Tamaki thought a moment. He loved her. Why not tell her?

"Are you sure you want to know the words?" he asked. "I wrote it for you."

"You wrote it?" Haruhi asked, sitting up straight. Tamaki nodded.

"Jasmine helped me a little bit," he admitted. "I kind of want you to hear it with the piano and guitar too, so I'll just sing the chorus, okay?" Haruhi nodded. Tamaki couldn't believe he was about to do this. He blew air through his lips and cleared his throat.

He found her eyes in the darkness, some light finding its way through the window.

"I love, love, love you," he sang. "I need, need, need you. I long, long, long to hold you in my arms again. I'm so, so sad to ever hurt, hurt, hurt you. I'm more afraid of losing you than anything before…." He trailed off and let her think about it for a while. "It sounds better with the piano and guitar, I promise—"

"You love me?"

"Well… yes," he said. There was no point in beating around the bush. "I love you… with all of my heart." Haruhi was picking at her nails when the power came back on. They both blinked at the light and sat up straight on the couch. Tamaki cleared his throat quietly. She was taking a long time to say anything.

"Tamaki?"

He looked at her.

"Haruhi?"

"Can you…" she trailed off, wondering if she would sound too forward.

"What?"

"Will you kiss me?" she asked, her face turning bright red. Tamaki blinked once.

"Oh," he said. "Uh… I…"

"Because," Haruhi interrupted his stuttering. "Because I love you too." Tamaki stared at her for a while, not daring to believe his ears. "I love you, and I want you to…."

"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice squeaking a little. He cleared his throat and asked again. "Are you sure?" Haruhi's eyebrows knit together a little.

"Tamaki," she said sternly.

"Okay," he said and leaned in, slowing down the closer he got. "Haruhi…" he whispered, his breath tickling her nose. She smiled a little. He traced his fingers along her jaw lightly and touched his lips to hers so gently she almost didn't feel it. He pulled back enough to look into her eyes. He smiled and she leaned in this time.

"You can do better than that, Tamaki," she said, bringing their lips together again. She held his face close, running both hands through his hair. It was so silky and smooth. And he smelled amazing, too. The sources of the good hair and smell were most likely expensive and foreign.

Tamaki didn't really know what to do. He was all talk and no game when it came to girls. He placed a hesitant hand on her waist and just went with it. Her lips were so soft it surprised him.

They both pulled back for air. They took a minute to catch their breath.

"So you're my boyfriend now?" Haruhi asked. "Is that what this means?" Tamaki chuckled.

"If you'd like," he said. "Would that make you my girlfriend?" he teased. She laughed.

"Yes, it would," she said and stood. She peeked through the curtain. "Looks like the storm is over."

Tamaki went to the door. There was a slip of paper on the floor just inside the room, folded in half. It had his name on it. He opened it and smiled.

"You're welcome. Jasmine and Kaoru."

He pocketed the note, and turned to Haruhi.

"The door's open," he said.

"Oh, good," she said. "I still have to run to the grocery store and get bread and milk."

Tamaki smiled as she slipped past him out into the hallway. Things hadn't changed all that much after all. And yet, he would never be the same.