application for realityshifted
Player Name: Mel
Player LJ: melissa_228
Email and/or AIM: melinelly228
Timezone: EST
Other Characters:
handysparehand
mouthyplonk
shewalks_away
measureslunacy
Character: Suou Tamaki
Series/Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Deviance: 1
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Species: Attractive Rich Bastard from France - which is still somehow human
Canon Used: a mixture of anime and manga
Appearance: Some weird, attractive, rich bastard kid from France! He's also taller than Kyouya.
Psychology: I'll quote Haruhi to open Tamaki's psychology, since it sums him up pretty nicely.
"He's already overcome everything. He holds no grudges against anyone. He doesn't curse his circumstances. He has an overwhelming power. He accept everything that happens and transforms it with his own energy. In other words he has a frighteningly positive mind. But if he didn't...I bet he wouldn't have been able to overcome this. I now find it fortunate that he has a frighteningly positive mind and surplus of energy. It's good that Tamaki is who he is."
But that makes him sound a bit more tragic and profound - and maybe he can be those things from time to time. But really there is only one thing a person needs to remember about Suou Tamaki - he is basically a hybrid of a puppy dog, a five year old boy and a silly French teenage boy with keen insight into anything that doesn’t directly relate to himself.
One important aspect of his psychology is that Tamaki needs to be surrounded by others. He can be a bit clingy and craves having other people around. Like any puppy, he needs company, man. What puppy wants to be left home alone? It’s why he creates a pseudo-family out of the Host Club, it’s why he was drawn to something like Hosting in the first place. He does get lonely if he’s on his own for too long, so he will seek to socialize with anyone that is around. Fellow students, adults, servants, strangers, whomever, he will seek out others, engage them in conversation, whatever. He might lack the appropriate filter and be rude at times, but not out of any genuine malice. He just doesn’t realize what he is saying is rude, and he has a genuine curiosity about others. And by the same respect being alone is a horrifying thought to him, in every possible way.
And that leads into his family in a way, specifically his attitude about families. Tamaki grew up thinking that family bonds were the most important things. Not only that, but he grew up thinking that romantic entanglements were the things that destroyed and broke up families. This is very important in shaping who Tamaki is. He is loyal to the idea of family to a fault. Tamaki’s limits are few, but mess with what he considers family (whether it is the one he was born to or the one he created) and well…those are the things that are unforgivable. In a way, this is why he can’t admit any romantic feelings he has towards Haruhi. The Club is his family, and romance destroys families. Romantic feelings towards Haruhi would ruin the club. It would no longer be the same. He would be the one destroying his family unit. It would be he himself doing that unforgivable thing - and that, well that is just too much for him. So it’s easier for him to live in denial, and pretend that things can stay the way they are forever. If he tells himself Haruhi is his daughter he can explain away his feelings as nothing more than a protective father, and then they can all stay a family. Not to say these feelings don’t confuse him, they do, extremely. But he continuously reasons it away as the feelings of a father, even when he feels compassion and things for boys Haruhi has rejected. When questioned on this, he will usually dismiss it a minute later, and be all right again.
And really, this is a bit selfish on Tamaki’s part. He needs the Club for this, to fulfill this need for him. Ask Kyouya once said, they are all their for their own reasons for being in the club, they all get some merit from it. Not that Tamaki is there completely selfishly, he’s not. He does love the other hosts and does want very good things for them, but he also needs them to create a family with a sense of stability for him. He wants them to stay in these roles, he doesn’t want anything to destroy it, even as he encourages all of them to expand their worlds. It’s contradictory, but as Tamaki told Hikaru and Kaoru that’s not necessarily a bad thing or a nonsensical thing - it just indicates character and personality.
And then of course is just Tamaki’s whimsical selfishness. Often he doesn’t think to ask others what they want to do in a certain situation or stop to think of the consequences. He is impulsive and what he wants to do he does. It’s really not a malicious selfishness - it’s just like a child in a way, he just fails to think things out before he acts, fails to see there might be consequences. He acts and just expects for things to fall into place - possibly because despite circumstances that weren’t always best, Tamaki has been able to transform them to the point where he is happy and doesn’t hold any grudges or pity himself. He is optimistic to the point where he sometimes doesn’t see the negative consequences his actions might have.
Tamaki isn’t anything if not optimistic. This is a kid, who when locked pretty much in house arrest (much later, after our canon point), looks out the window at the guard dogs snarling up at him and thinks if he crawls out the window they won’t hurt him, because “dogs love me.” He honestly always thinks the best of others - not to say that he can’t see others faults, because he can (which is another paragraph, I’m sure), but he expects for people to always be decent and have some redeeming quality and always worthy of help. Which isn’t so great all the time, really, because the things that happen when good people show bad people kindness are sometimes far worse than what happens when bad people hurt good people (paraphrasing Farrah there). He also expects for things to be okay, even when they seem pretty terrible. He has had some really really really horrible things happen to him, but he honestly believes he’s had a great life, and he is happy with his life, no matter the hardships.
Now, saying he’s optimistic and positive doesn’t mean he’s always smiling. He is...well he’s pretty dramatic. BUT the things he’s dramatic about - well, he bounces back very quickly and is smiling once again. The things that really deserve a good dose of emo - well, he is pretty much a Stepford Smiler> as far as those things are concerned. He doesn’t exactly lie about them, but he doesn’t feel like burdening others with those things either, because seeing everyone smiling and happy is really very important to him. BUT with a good dose of teasing or mockery he can be brought to tears, sitting in his corner of woe, or indeed growing mushrooms. As the Twins once said, he is the kind of pure you can tease though, because his recovery time is AMAZING. His time for being sad about those types of things….well, within a minute or two he’ll be bouncing back and smiling again as if nothing happened. Unless of course he’s refused something that he feels very strongly about and really wants. Then he’ll sit in his corner and begin the assault of the PUPPY DOG EYES OF DOOM. It is canon that no one can resist them - at least no one with at least a shred of a soul. And then again, real, actual valid points of sadness and things, he doesn’t want to burden anyone with them. He won’t lie about them, and he will be honest with someone about them if he feels that he should be telling them, but he doesn’t want pity or sadness from those around him. The person who usually hears these things, unrestricted, is Kyouya, although he does seem to be opening up a little more to Haruhi. But again, there is that desire to want everyone to smile.
And even that of course has some canonical psychological reason. WHY WOULDN’T it, it just forces me to write more and more. SIIIIGH. BUT Tamaki’s mother was very ill when he was growing up and there were days when he was sad and refused to do anything, play or eat or go outside, insisting he needed to be with his mother. His mother then told him that’s not what she wanted. She wanted him to go out and enjoy every day and smile and be happy, and then she could be happy. That stuck with him, and that has been how he has lived his life, trying to smile and be happy and enjoy life to the fullest for his mother. And that extended then to him wanting everyone around him to feel the same. It is probably the major reason for his sometimes extreme altruism - helping people even when they don’t always deserve it. Also, it’s important to note that Tamaki being happy isn’t an act, isn’t something just to please his mother or make others happy. He really is genuinely and extremely happy and thinks life is amazing and fun, despite everything.
Wanting to see others happy, well it means he’s a sucker for a sob story. When he sees someone needs help, he has to help them. He can’t just walk away from someone in need. Usually this goes well, but there are times when the person he wants to help genuinely isn’t looking for help and is just taking advantage of this nature of his (see: the Newspaper storyline). It’s hard for Tamaki to understand this, so even if this does happen, he will continue to try to help anyone who asks for it or seems to need it. (Also, a lot of times he fails to see this bad side of people because the other members of the Club protect him from this.)
And while Tamaki may fail at self-realization A LOT, he is good at seeing other people and understanding motives and things holding them back. One of his super powers is ~expanding worlds~ and the reason he can do this is that he can see what is holding people back, what they’re trying to hide from the world, what they need to push them and to make them step outside of their frames. Which also pushes the altruism a huge amount. Now, you might ask then, how do bad people take advantage of these things if he is so good at reading people. Well, he’s good at that, as long as it’s not concerning himself. The Newspaper editor wanted to hurt Tamaki directly. Tamaki really couldn’t see that, or see how he was directly wrapped up in what was driving the Newspaper Editor, so...
Altruism is all well and good though, but this doesn't really cover up the fact that Tamaki has an ego of epic proportions. He is Narcissus incarnate. If he sees a mirror, well he'll have to stop for a minute to check himself out. This is a guy who's instructions on how to properly place a glass on a table include important details on how to place it so best to see your own reflection. He's smart and he knows it, he's good looking and he knows it, and everything else he assumes he's amazing at as a matter of fact. This isn't to say that he can't admit when he's at fault, because he can, or even at times when something is beyond his understanding, BUT he will nine times out of ten he assume he is amazing at everything, and he completely lacks the humbleness to keep this fact to himself.
He's also extremely charming, and it's been shown that he can woo both males and females - not even in a sort of romantic way. Really, the thing is, he has a great amount of self confidence and that along with his drive to make people happy, his ability to read people and his sincerity, it means people want to follow him. He is great at rallying up people and motivating them, he is good at pushing people and inspiring them to want to get a goal done, he allows others around him to play to their strength, and with a snap of his finger or a well placed smile, he can get others around him to move mountains. In other words he's a born leader and he gets people around him to WANT him to be their leader.
He also plays the piano amazingly. You may wonder why this is in a psychology. I could go back and say it is something he shared with his mother, blah, blah, blah, deep connection with the instrument and the skill…. BUT I am really just adding it, because it has to be noted whenever possible when writing about Tamaki. It’s amazingly magical, okay? It brings grown men to TEARS.
*cough*
And no psychology about Tamaki would be complete without talking about the ladies. Now, Tamaki may be all NOOOO about romantic relationships, but that doesn’t really effect flirting. This can all be traced back to his childhood (and seriously, at this point, what CANNOT be traced back that far?). He had a super awesome teacher who taught him how to flirt, telling him it was the duty of any gentleman (and also, having great grades and being smart is necessary to properly woo a lady, which explains how Tamaki is second in his class). So, the club in a way is like playing at romance. He can woo and flirt and kiss and sometimes more (really, what the hell is “forbidden date play”), but it isn’t really a relationship and at the end of the day he can still be friends with all the girls and all the boys, and family with his Host Club. This isn’t to say he doesn’t have genuine feelings for these girls, because he does. He may tell all of them they are beautiful and lovely and sweet and all those things - but it’s not a line. He genuinely thinks they are all wonderful and amazing.
AND NOW A GENERAL DISCLAIMER: IGNORE ALL NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL THINGS YOU HAVE READ. It’s what Tamaki does everyday. He doesn’t know how to really properly be emo because he thinks life is too awesome and fun to really be genuinely emo (for the expected and proper reasons) over anything. HE IS PUPPY AND A FIVE YEAR OLD. He can pout and be sad about things, but then he recovers amazingly well and is ready to move on to happier things.
Other Skills/Abilities: Oh his abilities, they are maaaaaaany. At least that is what he thinks. First of all his piano playing, it really is practically magic. It can move grown men to tears. Cool, rational, self controlled men. It is powerful and things and his skill can prove to be a weakness for many. No one can resist it.
Tamaki is also very persuasive and inspirational and things and ~expands peoples worlds~ He's a pretty good leader and is able to rally people with little trouble. It helps that he is pretty charming and knows how to flatter and do so sincerely and honestly. Also he has killer puppy dog eyes. Really. They are almost impossible to refuse. (And that takes a good deal of exposure to be able to refuse them.)
He's also got the ability to lean against walls that are not there, grow mushrooms when sitting in a corner of woe. Oh and the starlight kick. That is super powerful, man. SUPER POWERFUL. (And completely lacking control.)
He also has an unnatural amount of enthusiasm and energy at times. He is like a puppy. He is also incredibly optimistic - except when he goes into dramatics - but he is also super resilient and will bounce back very quickly.
Other Weaknesses: Tamaki would say he has no weakness, and that is a weakness right there. He's very lacking in modesty and he really does think he's amazing in almost every way. Get him around a mirror and he turns into Narcissus. It will be hard to pull him away.
He's also a sucker for any sad story, particularly those involving anything at all even close to a family unit. He's easily moved and trusting and open, to the point where it is VERY easy to take advantage of him - and even then he'll probably thank you and say it was fun.
He's prone to overreacting at times and he seems to come up with ridiculous names for plans.
Also he has an overactive imagination which manifests itself as his Inner Mind Theater. He can get caught up in these fantasies quite often.
Beyond that he's human, no matter how much of a rich and pretty bastard from France he is. He's fit and has been known to be able to get aggressive when he feels the situation calls for it - which is EXTREMELY RARE. He is in good shape and is about the average strength of a physically fit 17 year old. Still though, he is prone to all the common human weaknesses (plus he has a bleeding heart).
History:Once upon a time a long time ago (twenty years, give or take) a wealthy Japanese businessman name Suou Yuzuru was forced to take over his family company. His mother insisted that he enter into an arranged marriage to further the families power, and Yuzuru agreed. The marriage was loveless but served its purpose.
A couple years passed, Yuzuru had given up on finding love, content in the life that was arranged for him. Then one day while traveling in France, Yuzuru met a beautiful young French aristocrat named Anne-Sophie Grantaine. He fell madly in love and began an affair. He told his mother this, and that he planned to divorce his wife and marry the Frenchwoman. His mother refused to allow this. He informed his mother that the woman was pregnant. His mother was furious. Yuzuru divorced his wife and brought Anne-Sophie to Japan. Unfortunately, she had always been frail, and the conditions in Japan proved poor for her health. She returned to France and gave birth to a son, Rene Tamaki Richard Grantaine (see, he enters the story eventually!).
Yuzuru's mother - Tamaki's grandmother - refused to acknowledge the child as part of her family, thinking of him as nothing more than the son of a French mistress. Tamaki was raised by his mother and her parents. He had a happy childhood, despite a lot of circumstances. His mother taught him piano and his grandparents cared for them. He had an awesome teacher that taught him that flirting with women is ultra important, and the only way to suitably flirt with them is if you have a great education. His father visited and told him stories about Japan and ninjas and Kyoto and geishas and many many other things that proved to be untrue. His father also told him that the bonds between family are stronger than anything else, an idea that stuck with him and shaped him in a big way.
Sadly, over time his mother's illness progressed, and fearful for her health he didn't have much time to go out and play with other kids his age. He didn't feel badly for himself or begrudge his circumstances. To the contrary, he tried to make the best of them, always trying to be happy and find fun in whatever he could, because he knew that was the one thing his mother wanted for him. This was another idea that stuck with him, despite everything. He played the piano for her and took care of her and even when things weren't great, he was still happy with his life.
Fourteen years after Tamaki was born, Yuzuru had failed to ever remarry or have another child. The Suou matriarch realized that there likely might not be another heir apart from Tamaki. Around the same time, the Grantain family was plunged into a financial crisis, at risk of losing all their money and assets. Tamaki's grandmother took this opportunity to present Anne-Sophie with a deal - hand over Tamaki to be raised by the Suou family to become the next heir and she would make sure the Grantains had enough money to live more than comfortably. Anne-Sophie was hesitant, but Tamaki insisted, both of them knowing they needed the money due to Anne-Sophie's poor health. Without that financial support, they would not be able to afford her care and she would most likely die. So Tamaki told his mother not to worry and that he would go to Japan. The grandmother had one other condition: mother and son could never contact each other again.
So Tamaki left France and his mother and arrived in Japan as Suou Tamaki. Upon arriving he was sad to learn that the stories his father told him were not true. There were no ninjas waiting at the gates, Mt. Fiji can't be seen from everywhere in Japan, everyone doesn't put Shachihoko on their rooftops, there were no winding soba and sushi shops. Long story short, his dad enjoys making things up. But he arrived at the Suou second mansion and found a staff that was handpicked for him and received a gift in the form of a dog named Antoinette, who was related to his mother's dog in France. Despite bringing him there his grandmother still refused to acknowledge him and wouldn't let him live in the main house with her and Yuzuru.
Shortly after arriving in Japan, he entered Ouran Private Academy, starting his last year of middle school in class 3A. There he met his BFF Kyouya. His first question of course was whether or not Kyouya had a kotatsu. This is very important because they are Tamaki's favourite thing and an important symbol of family unity and stuff apparently. Tamaki was shocked to learn Kyouya did not have one. This was a very sad revelation indeed, but then Kyouya said he would totally get one - which cemented Kyouya's place as Tamaki's BFFL.
Almost as sad as not having a kotatsu, Tamaki quickly discovered that his dad was a big fat liar about everything, and Kyoto really wasn't Japan's Wonderland, and doesn't hold ever national attraction ever. But he did get Kyouya to show him around. That was awesome. They had lots of fun. Until Kyouya wanted to go to Hokkaido. Tamaki was all like "we should study, we can have fun later" (forgetting of course that it was his idea the weekend before). During that weekend for studying, Tamaki stopped by Kyouya's house to see if he had gotten that kotatsu yet. While waiting for Kyouya to come home he played some piano and made everyone cry with how awesome his skills are. Even Kyouya cried when he came in. Then he flipped a table and pinned Tamaki. Kyouya couldn't understand how Tamaki could give up so easily when he has the future Kyouya would give anything for. Tamaki helpfully pointed out that Kyouy was the only one giving up and he ~opened Kyouya's world~. He then asked about the kotatsu and got hit on the head. He saw Kyouya's real face then, it was scary - SCARY AWESOME! That winter they totally chilled at the kotatsu and started hatching a plan for a host club for when they entered high school.
And so with Tamaki as President and King, and Kyouya as vice-president they were destined for great things. Tamaki laid out the people he wanted to be hosts in his club. His targets - I mean candidates - were: highs school students Haninozuka Mitsukuni (aka Honey) and Morinozuka Takashi (aka Mori) who were in 1A and the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, who were in middle school class 2A.
He first began his recruiting drive with Honey, who was at the time the President of the Judo Club and a National Champion, and Honey's cousin Mori, President of the Kendo Club, and himself a national champion. Despite Honey's strength, he was always attracted to cute things and sweet foods, and he himself was very small and cute. His family insisted that he needed to present a much more fierce exterior to gain the respect and fear necessary to one day become the leader of his family. Honey was unhappy to do this, but set about trying to become more manly and tough, setting aside cute things. Mori as always stood by Honey and followed his lead. Then one day Tamaki introduced himself to Honey via a rabbit puppet. He asked Honey to join his club and told him they would have lots of cute things and cakes. Honey tried to resist, set on being more manly and less cute, so he would be strong enough to lead his family. Finally Tamaki suggested that true strength comes from doing the things we enjoy even if other people don't like them, and it's better to be true to yourself. If Honey likes cute things he should embrace it, and Tamaki's club would present the perfect opportunity for that. After thinking this over, Honey agreed and started to embrace his cute nature, and Mori followed Honey and agreed to join the Host Club in the beginning of the next school year as well. And so Tamaki once again practiced his skills at ~opening worlds~
Two down and two more to go. He next approached the Hitachiin twins. They lived in a world, isolated only to themselves. They wanted others to be able to tell them apart, yet they didn't want that as well. They couldn't let outsiders into their world, often being cruel in order to keep people away. Tamaki saw potential in the two and began to try to convince them to join his club. They were hesitant, and finally agreed that if he could win at the "Which one is Hikaru" game, they would think about joining. And so over the next month Tamaki became a constant presence in the twins' life, using different methods (including tickling for some reason) to try to point out which is which. Finally, after nearly a month the twins called a stop to the game. Although they had been enjoying it, they decided it would be best to stop it now before they were disappointed again. They told Tamaki they had been doing research on his family and if he didn't stop they would tell the entire school that he was an illegitimate child. They left him there and went to go test a girl who had left a lovenote for one of the twins. After rejecting the girl, after she failed their test by saying it would be okay to date one of the other twins, Tamaki appeared again (stopping the twins from tearing the note and giving it back to the girl). Again he identified the twins, this time correctly. His reason was gut instinct, which they rejected immediately. Finally Tamaki told them that yes, they wanted to be told apart, but they also didn't want to be told apart. When the twins countered that this was crazy and contrary and all that, Tamaki told them that know it wasn't, it just meant that they had character and they should stop isolating themselves and come join his club. He made them take a map to the third music room (the area he had spotted and claimed for his club in the high school) and predicted that in the beginning of next school year they would be opening those doors. His prediction came true, they opened the doors and ~their worlds became larger and more open~
(If you haven't noticed a theme yet with Tamaki....well....)
So the next year came, Tamaki and Kyouya started high school, the other four moved up a year, and the Host Club began to GREAT SUCCESS. Tamaki embraced it and viewed it as his family. He also began catching up on the childhood he never really had, the Club members his first real friends. He made friends easily in school and was at the top of his class. Both the male and female population of the school seemed to think highly of him. (Except perhaps for Ayame, but we can get to her later)
Two years later and the club was still a huge success. Then one day at the beginning of the school year a first year commoner scholarship student named Fujioka Haruhi entered the club. The twins were all like 'wtf it's a guy' and Tamaki was all like 'chill, a customer is a customer, so guy who is totally a guy, what's your type :D?" When he found out who Haruhi was, he was impressed, thinking this person was a commoner hero. Haruhi proceeded to try to back away and in the process broke an 8 million yen vase. The only thing to do, make the kid work off the debt. Haruhi started the process as the club dog, running errands and all that kind of thing. Then the first year introduced Tamaki to the wonders of instant coffee, where Tamaki proved his bravery by having Haruhi do a demonstration of how it's made and then Tamaki DRANK IT. Everyone was amazed. Except of course for one of his regulars, Princess Ayanokoji, who was growing quite jealous of the attention Tamaki was giving to Haruhi. During all of this however, Tamaki saw promise in Haruhi, despite the students general appearance (a large ugly oversized sweater, a horrible haircut, even larger uglier glasses, the kids was a MESS). BUT once Haruhi's glasses were removed, well it turned out that their errand boy was a looker and Tamaki ordered a makeover and decided Haruhi could pay off the debt by being a Host! So makeover over, Haruhi started life as a host. Princess Ayanokoji was less than pleased with Tamaki's new interest. So she dumped Haruhi's books in the fountain, harrassed Haruhi, and was generally awful. Finally she suggested that Haruhi tried to attack her - and even Tamaki has his limits of how much he can let pass, and when you threaten his family - I mean club - well then that's enough. After the twins poured water on her, Tamaki told her he could no longer allow her to be a client and she ran off in tears. In the process of pouring the water on Ayanokoji, they got some on Haruhi, too. So Haruhi went to get changed into some dry clothes. Tamaki came in to check on Haruhi and came in while she was changing. Yup, Haruhi was a girl. Of course Tamaki was the last to figure it out. He's an idiot at times.
And so Haruhi became a member of the club. Tamaki was totally fascinated by Haruhi's commoner ways and learning about commoners and embracing the culture became his new pet hobby. At first when she joined there was also a hint at him possibly being romantically interested in her, insisting that they were the leads in a romantic comedy and the other were the side characters. This also meant him flip flopping a bit on whether or not he wanted her to be revealed as a girl. The first time this happened was after she stole one of his most recent regulars Kasugazaki Kanako (who happened to be a Host Hopper). Any sort of jealousy at that went out the window when he realized that Kanako was doing that because she was unhappy over her fiance Suzushima Toru leaving to study overseas. So Tamaki taught Haruhi what the Host Club was about - making girls happy. They set about reuniting the two and making them see they were still in love. He also accidentally pushed Haruhi to have her first kiss - with another girl. He flailed in his way that he flails.
The flip flopping on whether or not he wanted Haruhi to be revealed as a girl came to an end during the school physical exam. Kyouya helpfully pointed out that if Haruhi was revealed as a girl, he would barely get to see her since she would no longer be able to be a Host. So Tamaki and the others schemed to find a way to hide Haruhi's gender. (Somehow for Tamaki this means putting on a wig and pretending to be Haruhi. No one was convinced. There was generally more confusion, some of the girls thinking he might possibly be cosplaying Haruhi.) Apparently Kyouya had a plan the entire time and the others knew Tamaki's idea would never work and they just wanted to see him make a fool of himself. He has amazing friends. During the course of this they also found a man posing as a doctor. He was really looking for his daughter. Kyouya realizes that he must be looking for his daughter from the local high school and mistook Ouran for his daughter's school. Tamaki, being a sucker for broken families, ordered Kyouya to draw a map for the man to find his daughter.
Around this time Tamaki's opinion of the roles of those in the club became more concrete. He seemed to have forgotten about any romantic inclinations he had towards Haruhi, instead assigning her as his daughter. (The rest of the family roles: Tamaki is Father, Kyouya is Mother, the Twins are the sons, and Honey and Mori are the neighbors).
Next enters the Host Club's manager in the form of a crazy French otaku named Renge. She flew to Japan after her father showed her a picture of Kyouya, who resembled a character from her favourite video game. She entered the club, declaring Tamaki a phoney and insisting Kyouya was her fiance. Tamaki was terrified of her, but Kyouya insisted that they should let her hang around. Then she suggested they take on new roles, and Tamaki's should be the lonely prince. He embraced it and was excited to get to play at acting. Renge seemed impressed with his acting skills. His fear of her (more or less - it's always good to fear Renge a bit) seemed to go away at that, plus he was excited at Haruhi possibly having a chance at having a girl in her life. So he got to film a scene as the lonely prince! That was awesome fun, he got to stand in the rain. Unfortunately later a scuffle ensued, and thinking some kids had hurt Haruhi, Tamaki attacked them, thinking to defend Haruhi. Renge thought she had the perfect ending for her film, but Kyouya couldn't let a violent display by one of the club members be caught on video, so he broke the camera. Not before he grabbed the film and edited it to cut out that scene.
Of course next thing you know the Twins have to start fighting. It's a disaster all around, that resulted in a food fight (when a certain amount of food and sharp objects were heading his way in the course of this Tamaki ducked and it all ended up on the Vice Principle instead. The Vice Principle wasn't pleased.) Despite the trouble the fighting caused, Tamaki thought it might be good for twins and it might mean that they will ~expand their worlds~ Then of course it turned out they were fighting just to get Haruhi to invite them to her house. Yeah.
BUT NEXT an elementary student named Takaoji Shiro comes to Tamaki saying he wants to learn to be a Host so he can please the ladies. Tamaki can't turn down a person in need, so he agrees. Tamaki also knows how to pool his resources, and recruits Renge to help in the task. So Renge gives him a makeover - but like most people who seem to latch onto Tamaki - well he sort of is a bit of a jerk and makes life in the Club difficult, ruining a lot of their Hosting techniques. BUT THEN they realize that Shiro is just trying to please one girl, who he takes piano lessons with. Tamaki ever the sap decides his role as this kids mentor is still intact, and with his wicked awesome piano skills, he teaches Shiro to play a song that he can play with the girl he loves and once again proves the Host club is there for ~happiness and world expanding~
So to follow all this up, Kyouya suggested that the club members come test out his family's new indoor beach. They were lab rats pretty much. There were alligators. Yeah. Kyouya is a good friend.
BUT to make up for this they visited Umehito Nekozawa (president of the Black Magic Club)'s beach. Now, Nekozawa has a pretty strange fascination with Tamaki, truth be told. (Although Tamaki seems to attract his fair amount of people with weird fascinations) He and the Twins get into a competition to prove who can find out Haruhi's fear. In the middle of all this though, Haruhi decides she can take on a group of teenage boys and nearly dies! Tamaki has to jump off a cliff into the water to save her. He's fairly pissed that she would try to take on those guys all by herself. Haruhi doesn't see what she did wrong, and Tamaki decides he can't talk to her until she apologizes. So dinner goes poorly and Tamaki has Kyouya walk him to bed (because like hell he is going to his room alone in Nekozawa's place). He's still fairly annoyed and he has sunburn so he goes into Kyouya's room to get some lotion. When he walks in he finds the lights dimmed, the sheets a mess, Haruhi on the bed and Kyouya with his shirt off. Tamaki is rational and always willing to list - sorry. Wrong story. Tamaki assumes the worst, Kyouya pushes the lotion on Tamaki and leaves the room. Tamaki can't even talk to Haruhi at this point and is ready to leave, when a storm starts, thunder crashes, and Haruhi grabs onto him as he is trying to leave. When he tries to find out what's going on, she crawls into a wardrobe and shuts the door. That's when Tamaki realizes what Haruhi's fear is - thunder - and that she's always been used to dealing with her fears on her own and doesn't think or know or expect anyone to help her. Tamaki tells her that she doesn't have to feel that way anymore, he'll be there for her and in the way this show is incredibly adorable and sweet, Haruhi bursts out of the wardrobe, huggging Tamaki. It's adorable and sweet, okay. Then Tamaki comes up with ways for Haruhi to deal with her fear, involving a blindfold and ear plugs to block out the sights and sounds of the storm. Of course the others burst in at this point and decide this is all some weird S&M thing. They proceed to tease him mercilessly about this, but he still doesn't say a word, keeping Haruhi's fear secret. His friends are wonderful and drive off without him, leaving him alone in the house with the creeper Black Magic Club President who enjoys stalking Tamaki around school. Again, he has GREAT FRIENDS.
Then the Zuka Club comes along. Tamaki is properly traumatized and convinced that they will lure Haruhi away with their lesbian ways. After careful thought and consideration he decides that the way to prevent this is for all the Hosts to dress up as girls - because commoner's love two-for-one bargains, and that is what guys dressed as girls is apparently. Haruhi stays with the Host Club despite this.
Following this Tamaki has a nightmare about Haruhi being thrust into poverty and has an urge to visit her to make sure he's okay. He calls Kyouya to come with him. Kyouya being the awesome friend he is invites everyone else, too. Tamaki is relieved to see that Haruhi isn't as horribly poor as he imagined. Then he meets Haruhi's dad Ranka. Ranka doesn't like Tamaki at all. This sends Tamaki into a corner to grow mushrooms. But then he gets to go food shopping with Haruhi. He is amazed by the supermarket. They even have samples (although Kyouya's bodyguard - Tachibana, Hotta and Aijima - won't allow Tamaki to sample anything until they test it to make sure it isn't poisounous)! And the day ends with a meal under the kotatsu! Tamaki loves the kotatsu! So it's a happy ending!
And now they are back to school when in wanders a lost kitten - I mean a shojo loving blonde haired blue eyed three year old. She instantly labels the entire club, calls them a reverse harem, and finally decides Tamaki is her long lost white prince brother. Tamaki, despite Haruhi's warnings that saying anything would be irresponsible, is instantly suckered in by the cuteness and declares he will adopt this little girl and take her home with him. Soon he discovers however this lost little girl is actually Nekozawa Kirimi, Nekozawa-sempai's sister. Just as he loves the dark and fears the light, she does just the opposite. She is terrified of Nekozawa-sempai, clinging to Tamaki and insisting he must be her real brother. Nekozawa, heartbroken goes to leave, telling Tamaki to be a good brother to Kirimi. Kyouya points out that this might be the reason for Nekozawa's weird fascination with Tamaki - that he views Tamaki as the brother that Kirimi desires. Tamaki can't have a family broken up, and he feels bad for Nekozawa so he hatches a family reunion plan. He's also too scared of Nekozawa to do the actual training and things to turn him into a light loving white prince, so he enlists Renge instead. After a lot of trial and error, Nekozawa ran into the light to save Kirimi from a stray cat. It was a traumatic thing for him, since the light makes him ill - but afterwards Kirimi finally saw her brother as the prince character, even if it was a darker prince, and she came to like the darkness for him.
And then Valentine's Day was around the corner, but Honey got a cavity. Mori punished himself by forbidding Honey to have sweets, and Tamaki announced that all sweets were offlimits in the Club for the time being - including Valentine's Day. Honey attempted to con himself some sweets to no avail, and finally blew up at Mori - declaring he hated him, and then ran out of the room. Tamaki followed after, while Mori confessed to the others that he was being so harsh with Honey by forbidding treats because he blamed himself for not making Honey brush his teeth after eating cake. Tamaki makes Honey listen to this, and then pushes him back into the room, where Honey apologizes and says he still loves Mori. It was a Happy Valentine's Day for all - but really, is there any other kind as far as the Host Club is concerned?
Next we get the Newspaper Club. All because Tamaki has to demonstrate his starlight kick - powerful with no control - so Tamaki pretty much. The ball crashes through a window, injuring the Newspaper Club president. The Newspaper Club president explains that due to low sales, his club will probably end soon. Tamaki - all ready feeling guilty about hurting the president - is compelled to help, because clubs are like families and a club breaking up is like a family breaking up. Tamaki insists that they help the Newspaper Club, but the rest of the club refuses - uncertain about the Newspaper Club since they have a reputation of spreading rumours and causing scandal to sell papers. Tamaki won't let it go though - clubs are like families and things, and he assaults them with PUPPY DOG EYES. So of course they come around and agree to help out the Newspaper Club and grant them an interview. Tamaki's idea to the Newspaper Club is to promote friendliness and fun, and so he has a day full of commoner's games (they don't even cost money, you know!). In the course of this, he and Haruhi run off to play hide and seek, getting lost in a hedge maze. While there Tamaki tells Haruhi that he never had much of a chance to play games as a child and didn't have friends his own age, so he really enjoys the chance to do all that now. After that, the others find Tamaki and Haruhi and explain the Newspaper Club had urgent business, but they decided to no longer run scandalous pieces so their club can stay together. Tamaki seems all right with this, and then they have cake!
(Meanwhile, unknown to Tamaki behind the scenes the Newspaper Club president had some strange vendetta against Tamaki - thinking he was secretly evil - and was plotting to spread lies about Tamaki to destroy him. Kyouya, the Hitachiins, Honey & Mori confronted the Newspaper Club about this, and because they totally love their king, they told the Newspaper Club that not only had they been recording everything said in the last day regarding their plot, but also had the power to ruin the Newspaper Club Chairman's fathers newspaper. But unlike him, they were striving for something fundamentally different. After ensuring the Newspaper Club wouldn't run any sort of story like that, they found Tamaki and Haruhi, never telling them a word about any of this, although Kyouya did inform Haruhi that Tamaki's dad was Chairman of Ouran.)
But then what comes next is TRULY horrible. Kuma-chan - Tamaki's teddy bear - is kidnapped!!! It is terrible. And Haruhi is receiving tutoring from Junochi Ayame, third ranking in class 2A (after Kyouya at first and Tamaki at second) so she can stay in Ouran. However Ayame seems to have some grudge against Tamaki for some reason. So on top of Kuma-chan being missing Tamaki is also fretting over Haruhi's academic future and Ayame's attitude towards him. BUT then it all comes together. Ayame had a bit of a crush on Tamaki after his first day at Ouran where he told her that her straight hair was lovely and her heart must be as straight and true as her hair. Ayame was crushing on him after that - but then she realized he flirted with EVERY girl. And then on top of that he outranked her in class. So crushing plus grade envy - not a nice mix. Tamaki figured it out though, following Ayame to her locker where Kuma-chan and a couple missing items had disappeared to. Ayame had collected them after class when Tamaki accidentally left them behind. Tamaki goes to find her, remembering the thing he said to her on her first day, telling her he really did think it was true. After she explains how she hates the rain and her hair is really curly Tamaki spins some more words and by the end he has a new regular client in Ayame. Oh, and Haruhi did awesome on her test. No one is surprised, because Haruhi is awesome that way.
And now it is time for a school break. Tamaki panics when he can't get through to Haruhi, thinking she has gone missing. Instead she is working at a pension in Karuizawa run by her father's friend Misuzu, who works at the okama bar with Ranka-san. So the thing to do? Get everyone in a helicopter to go visit Haruhi of course. After some angsting over the twins being in Haruhi's friends group on her cell phone and him not being included on her cell phone, Tamaki and the others get into a REFRESHING BATTLE to see who gets to stay at the pension where Haruhi is working and thus get closer to her. Tamaki -- he fails. BIG TIME. He's so stressed about winning that he does a terrible job. But Kyouya - being the awesome BFF he is - suggests playing some piano. (Kyouya just wanted an excuse to hear Tamaki play, really.) And he would have won too, except for those pesky twins. Kaoru got hurt, Hikaru got upset, brotherly love is amazing, they win!
So Tamaki and the others stay at Honey's house in Karuizawa while the twins and Haruhi stay at the pension. But because Tamaki is an early riser he gets to the pension early, hangs out with Misuzu, learns all about the foods, and plans out ways to spend their break. Everything is going as usual, until a delivery boy arrives who happens to be a boy named Arai who was a friend of Haruhi's in middle school and had a crush on her. Tamaki is a little uncertain at first but then is all like "awesome a friend of my daughter's" *proud papa* :D. Hikaru on the other side, he has a little bit of a melt down, not used to sharing friends. This makes Tamaki sad, thinking the twins' world isn't expanding as much as he had hoped. But then Kaoru plans a date for Hikaru and Haruhi, hoping it will teach his brother how to be a good non-selfish friend. Of course the others have to stalk the couple on their date, Tamaki freaking out about what a fail date Hikaru is. Finally they all go home to leave the two to finish their date. BUT THEN THERE IS A STORM! And Tamaki is in ultra-worried mode, knowing Haruhi's fear of lightning and thunder. Then a call comes through, and Hikaru says he's not sure where Haruhi is, having abandoned her when Arai showed up and began talking to Haruhi. Tamaki takes the phone and bitches Hikaru out for being selfish and abandoning a girl and finally tells him that Haruhi is afraid of thunder, so Hikaru better find her or else :|. They find Hikaru and Haruhi in the morning, everything is okay, a watermelon is consumed, and Misuzu finds Tamaki's anger and outrage surprisingly refreshing as the group leaves to return home.
Finally the last day of break. Time for a shopping adventure. Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru, Honey and Mori go to Kyouya's place to collect him to go on a commoner's shopping adventure. Kyouya is all like 'gtfo and do whatever you like.' Tamaki and the others think this equates to them dressing Kyouya and dragging him out completely asleep to the mall. Tamaki gets so distracted by the shininess and stores and mass production, he accidentally drops Kyouya off on a bench. Asleep. Without phone or money. Tamaki is an amazing friend! Eventually Tamaki and the others remember Kyouya (after watching a show Renge put on about the Ouran Host Rangers. The Shadow Host Ranger reminded the others of Kyouya.). So of course, Tamaki, awesome guy he is has an announcement made over the loudspeakers, looking for Kyouya as if he were a lost child. Kyouya was less than pleased. But on the plus side Tamaki had a new experience to add to his repertoire - hanging tied up in a commoner's store overnight!
Canon Point: Based on anime placement it is after Episode 17 - Kyouya's Reluctant Day Out - and before Episode 18/Ch 29-30 - Chika's Down With Honey Campaign (which also gets anime placemement.)
Reality Description: Reality finds us in the magical world of early 21st Century Tokyo, Japan, Earth, The Milky Way, The Universe, blah blah blah. This Japan is magical (although Tamaki is still disappointed that Kyoto isn't Japan's wonderland. Maybe one day he will find a universe where this is true.). Well not magical really. BUT there is a very large amount of pinks and powder blues...and ROSES. You can't forget the roses. Roses grow all over the campus of Ouran Academy (where you will find the hosts most days), and open any door and rose petals will be flying through the air. Rose petals also have a way of emerging when Tamaki plays his piano. Roses are very important, okay?
The campus itself has a very European feel, with a very pretty pink clock tower. The Host Club's headquarters are in the Third Music Room. The room is HUGE. It somehow housed a grand piano without anyone noticing. (Possibly two). It also has chandaliers and tables and couches and changing rooms and...it's big, okay? They are rich bastards though soooo....it works.
Tamaki himself lives in the second Suou mansion. Despite the fact that it's not the main house, it is HUGE. He has an entire household of awesome staff and his room is huge. In his room he has a collection of prizes he has found in commoners snacks and he has a collection of books he's put together about commoners' foods. He also has portraits of Kyouya, Honey, Mori and Hikaru & Kaoru hanging in his hallway.
Sadly, his house doesn't have a kotatsu.
But that's okay, he just goes over to Kyouya's house to use his kotatsu! He also spends a lot of time at Kyouya's house which has a modern feel. It also has a very nice piano.
Haruhi lives in a commoners' apartment. Tamaki has a bit of worry over her living conditions. He once thought of a plan to replace all of the things in Haruhi's apartment with super expensive things that looked exactly the same but cost hundreds of thousands of yen. The plan was to have Haruhi surrounded by wealth by not hurting her pride and just giving it to her. She would feel things are slightly nicer and not know why. Unfortunately Ranka-san caught them mid-remodel and kicked them out, but they did give Haruhi a 100,000 yen bathroom door! She thought the knob might be different, but failed to notice.
Haruhi also has a kotatsu. That automatically makes her home very nice and convinces Tamaki of great family bonds that exist there.