I couldn't resist- I've always felt Ranka is just a jerk to Tamaki because he knows it annoys him. I've had this idea for a while, but I've just now typed it up. Enjoy, and review if you want a happy writer!

~Grey's Princess

Disclaimer: In the event I somehow miraculously gain the rights to Ouran, I will throw a gigantic party and invite you all to it. In the meantime, I'm stuck with fanfiction.

In truth, he really only pestered Tamaki because he knew it was just a matter of time.

Sure, he'd been genuinely angry when he'd walked in on them in the apartment that day, but wasn't every father supposed to feel murderous if he thought his daughter was being sexually abused? But that had only lasted until the rest of the host club had come back in and he'd had a chance to see his darling Haruhi interact with the young men Kyouya had been telling him so much about. Until he'd heard Tamaki apologize with all his might for something as minor as tripping, and promise he only had Haruhi's best interests at heart.

Until he'd seen Haruhi look at the boy.

It was a shame, really- as intellectually smart as she was, Haruhi was lacking majorly in perception. It had been obvious to him from that first time he'd seen her look at him like that that Haruhi was utterly in love with the boy. Judging by her words, though (and Haruhi was always so straightforward he had no doubt he was right), she hadn't realized it yet. It was as if reality had struck her on the nose, and she'd ignored it.

Tamaki was no better, though. The poor idiot was exactly the same- looking at Haruhi with those violet eyes of his filled with love, but too stupid to realize his own feelings. He was always going on about "father and daughter" or some such nonsense when Ranka saw him, as if he saw Haruhi as a family member. It made Ranka wonder how anyone could delude themselves so well for so long.

Even so, Ranka knew eventually Haruhi would realize what she felt, and surely even Tamaki couldn't delude himself forever, and someday, he knew the idiot would show up at his door to ask for her hand in marriage. And that fact raised his hackles.

It wasn't like it was exactly a surprise. Haruhi was so much like her mother that it was inevitable she would fall fully and wholly in love with someone someday. But he wasn't ready to let go of her yet. So he did the only thing he could- he annoyed the heck out of the boy while he still had the chance.

It was surprisingly easy- it seemed Tamaki could be set off by the simplest of things. The one time he'd gotten Haruhi to talk to him about the boy, she'd said he was infamous for it- that he pulled some "Corner Of Woe" trick nearly every five minutes. It was a wonder she'd fallen for anyone so idiotic when she was so intelligent. Nonetheless, it was obvious she loved him, and just because he approved didn't mean Ranka wasn't obligated to be a nuisance.

What he'd never understood was how he managed to constantly run into the boy. Ranka had always been under the impression that the students at Ouran were all stuck-up rich snobs that would never be caught anywhere near a normal supermarket. But nearly every weekend, there Tamaki would be, usually with a rather angry-looking Kyouya in tow, going on about some new "commoner's product" he absolutely had to try. Kyouya would always see Ranka first, and excuse himself. While no one would have ever guessed it, the young man had a vengeful streak, and was fully aware of Ranka's agenda. You'd think the idiot would try another supermarket, considering Ranka had started doing the grocery shopping expressly to seek out Tamaki, but he still showed up week after week. Maybe the boy was subconsciously drawn to Haruhi, or something.

But there was one time when he couldn't bring himself to be condescending toward the boy, and that was when it was storming. Because whenever the thunder and lightning started, whether it was in the dead of the night or the middle of the day or early morning, Tamaki would invariably show up at the door of their apartment.

Ranka never said a word to him those days- he knew as well as anyone that Haruhi was terrified of thunderstorms. He also knew she'd never accept help from him- she was terribly embarrassed by her fear, and having her father comfort her would presumably make things even worse. She would only accept comfort from one person those days, so Ranka had no choice but to silently step aside for the boy.

It was the stormy nights that always gave Ranka a glimpse of just how deeply the boy cared for his daughter. Haruhi was a very light sleeper- the second thunder sounded she would be fully awake and hiding under her bed- and it seemed Tamaki was no different, judging by his swift arrivals. Scarcely five minutes after the thunder began to sound, there would be a knock at the Fujioka door, and there he would be, panting for breath and with his shirt buttoned crooked, wanting to make sure Haruhi was all right. And then he'd go straight back to her bedroom, and at the slightest sound of his voice she'd fling the door open and cling to him like he was her last lifeline. It upset Ranka a bit that Haruhi had never been this open about her fears to him. But then again, she was in love with the boy. To Ranka, that seemed to make all the difference.

Whether because they knew of his situation or just didn't care what he was doing at a young lady's house at odd hours of the night was a mystery, but it was obvious that the maids and servants at the Suou mansion considered Tamaki's treks to the Fujioka residence as commonplace as Ranka did, as no one had ever bothered to track him down. He never left until the next morning- for one thing, Haruhi usually fell asleep in his arms as the thunder died down those nights, making it impossible to leave even if he'd wanted to. For another, the boy seemed extremely averse to leaving her in case another storm rolled through.

So every night it stormed, Tamaki would place Haruhi's comfort above his own, falling asleep sitting up so he wouldn't have to move her. And every morning, a limousine would arrive with a fresh uniform for him, and he and Haruhi would be off to school. Ranka had to wonder what the other students thought of that.

By the next weekend, Ranka would be back to annoying the idiot at the supermarket. But he cherished those thunderstorms.