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Today was the worst day of Tamaki’s life.
He’d thought he’d already had one of those, many times over. Starting a new school, making a fool out of himself in front of everyone at the sports festival his second year…public speaking.
But today. Today was definitely the worst.
He lay on his bed in his dorm room, curled up in a miserable ball with the blanket drawn up over his head. Today had been awful to begin with—Fat Gum was busy with other work at the agency, so he’d left Tamaki to supervise Red Riot and Real Steel on patrol for their work study.
Disaster struck almost immediately. They wanted to talk. They had so many questions. And they kept shouting every time he answered them, praising him for knowing so much about hero work. It was awful.
He’d just wanted to go home.
Then, even worse luck. There’d been a villain attack. Nothing the three of them couldn’t handle, and since Fat Gum always kept a fridge stocked especially for him he’d had plenty of manifestations to draw on. Red Riot and Real Steel had done great, and their exuberant personalities had been just what the people needed after such a harrowing encounter.
But as for Suneater?
“The guy with the dark hair was kinda cute, but did you see his quirk? That was totally creepy.”
Tamaki curled up a little tighter. He hadn’t meant to overhear the girls talking about him. He’d just taken refuge in the shadow of a dumpster, where he could supervise his juniors without being the center of attention. He’d have to venture out to double-check the report they were giving the police officer, but he was confident enough in their abilities to let them handle it on their own.
“I know, right? Misako thinks tentacles are hot, but those were just gross!”
“Ew! She’d probably think he was hot. She’s always had a thing for weirdos.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could block out the memory of their words. He’d had to talk to the police a few minutes later, and he’d been so humiliated by what he’d overheard that he could barely speak. He’d had to repeat himself over and over just to get the report finished.
They hadn’t even been halfway through their patrol.
“Do you think his ears are part of his quirk, or are they always like that?”
Covering his ears, he ducked further under the blanket. Maybe if he just stayed here, no one would find him again. Nobody would look for someone with a quirk as weird as his. He could just be alone and safe, away from the prying eyes of the world.
There were footsteps outside his door now, as his classmates returned from classes or their own work studies. He could hear muffled voices and laughter but had no desire to join them. His stomach was too tied up in knots for him to think of eating, and the thought of so many eyes—even familiar eyes—on him was making his skin crawl.
Someone knocked on his door and he buried his face in his pillow. “Go away,” he mumbled, praying they couldn’t hear him.
“I’m coming in!” a cheerful voice announced as the door was flung open. “Ah-ha! I thought I’d find you here!”
Tamaki twisted around just enough to stare blearily at his best friend. “Mirio?”
Mirio winked at him as he closed the door behind himself. “My Tamaki-sense was going haywire. And here you are!”
He slumped into his bed. Mirio was making fun of him. “That’s not a real thing,” he said miserably.
“Sure it is,” Mirio insisted. He strode across the room and gently pushed Tamaki to one side of the bed so he could lay down facing him. “I had a feeling you needed me, and it looks like I was right.”
Nothing could have made him feel worse. Mirio was still taking extra classes to make up for the loss of his quirk. He was learning different support items and techniques and studying up on hero law. He was determined to make something of himself even if he couldn’t be a hero. And when he wasn’t in class, he was helping Mr. Aizawa look after Eri, or tutoring younger students, or doing a thousand other things that were more important than this.
“I’m okay.”
“If you say so.”
He blinked at that, craning his head up to meet Mirio’s stare. Mirio was smiling, of course, and when he met Tamaki’s eyes he held his arms out. “Can I have a hug?”
Huh. That was unexpected.
Tamaki shuffled forward, gingerly wrapping his arms around his friend’s chest only to be pulled tightly against him, face pressed into Mirio’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry you had such a bad day,” Mirio whispered.
His hands tightened in the back of his friend’s shirt. “How did you know?”
“It’s written all over your face.”
Tamaki shook his head. “My face always looks like this.”
“No, it’s different,” Mirio argued. He shifted around enough to rest a hand on the back of Tamaki’s head. “I could tell something was wrong the moment I saw you, up here suffering in silence all by your lonesome.”
He sniffed. “I’m okay.”
“I know. But maybe you can be more okay, right?”
He shrugged. Mirio didn’t always make sense, but he always felt better when he was around. At times like this, he could just disappear. With Mirio shining so brightly, no one would pay attention to the sad little boy with the creepy quirk and pointy ears.
“Wanna sneak out to the first years’ dorms? There’s a kid in class A who’s supposed to be a master chef.”
1-A was Red Riot’s class. Tamaki cringed at the thought of facing him after today and shook his head. Besides, the others would just have more questions.
“Yeah, they probably wouldn’t want us hanging around anyway.”
That wasn’t true. They wouldn’t want someone like Tamaki hanging around. They’d probably love to have Mirio. “You can go if you want.”
“Nah. I’d rather stay here.”
“You shouldn’t waste your time on me.”
“I’m not wasting anything!”
Tamaki sighed. Mirio probably hadn’t noticed how long they’d been hugging, and he hoped it would last a little longer. Hiding like this, shutting the world out, was the most comfortable he’d been in a long time. “You have another appointment in an hour,” he finally said, voice still muffled in Mirio’s shoulder.
“No, I don’t.”
“I know your schedule, Mirio.”
“Ah, but do you know my extra secret schedule?”
Now he did pull away, staring blandly at his friend’s smiling face. “What are you talking about?”
“I have an extra special secret schedule,” Mirio repeated. He held a finger up between their faces, his expression serious but his eyes sparkling. “Every block of it is marked ‘Tamaki’. So you’re not keeping me from my schedule. You’re helping me fulfill my extra special super-secret mission.”
Sometimes Mirio made no sense, but this was just ridiculous enough that Tamaki felt a reluctant smile tugging at his mouth. “You can’t be serious.”
“Maybe.” Mirio rolled onto his back, interlocking his fingers behind his head. Tamaki laid down beside him, his head pillowed on Mirio’s elbow. “Who knows?”
They lay in silence for a while, and Tamaki slowly felt the knot of tension in his stomach begin to unwind. Here, at least, it was safe and quiet.
“You sure you don’t want to check out the 1-A dorm?” Mirio asked after a few minutes. “Midoriya told me his classmate is teaching them how to make crepes tonight. We could just watch—I bet they wouldn’t even notice you.”
Kirishima would…but maybe that was okay.
“There goes my Tamaki-sense!” Mirio announced. He rolled out of the bed, dislodging Tamaki’s head from his elbow, and flung open his closet. “Let me find you something to wear.”
Tamaki shoved himself up to his elbows. “I didn’t say I would go,” he protested feebly.
“But you were going to,” Mirio replied. “Come on…it’ll be fun.”
And…okay. Maybe today wasn’t the worst after all.
It was a close second at best.