Title: dark horse
Characters/Pairings: Mirio, Tamaki, Nejire, Kirishima
A/N: For the All You Can Eat Tamaki Zine, which sadly got cancelled. I couldn't resist putting in some Big Three Friendship, and a bit of Tamaki being a senpai
Summary: Tamaki wasn't ready to be a mentor. He could barely handle himself, let alone someone else. Yet, for some reason, Nejire and Mirio were convinced otherwise and nothing he could say would change their minds.
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"Hey, hey, you have a junior too?" Nejire asked, pulling the lollipop out of her mouth. Sitting on the school steps with Tamaki in between her and Mirio, she was enjoying a brief bit of respite. It was an odd, rare moment, where they didn't have to rush to class, their internships, or their dorms to finish homework. In fact, they didn't have to go anywhere at all.
Tamaki half-wished that weren't the case, because at least while he was in class he didn't have to fight the butterflies in his stomach. He was a senior. He had an underclassman in his hero internship. Given what Mirio was doing with Izuku, he'd have to mentor him. Like, actually talk to him and teach him stuff.
Gods, he was not ready for that. He would never be ready—weren't there other, better heroes that could do it? Anything Tamaki thought would be useless. Nejire was still looking at him questioningly, her finger poking his arm to grab his attention once more, and his ears flushed in embarrassment. "Y-yes."
"Neat!" Popping the lollipop back in her mouth, she stretched her arms above her. Excitement rolled off her in waves, and Tamaki wished he had her energy. Even the most ordinary things felt extraordinary with her. "I got one too. So Mirio has one and I have one and you have one—I bet mine will beat yours in next year's race."
"It's not a competition," Mirio chided. Despite his tone, he was grinning as broadly as she was, his fingers drumming the steps as he considered it. After a pause, he added, "And Izuku has Sir and me, so he'd win."
"I thought it wasn't a competition," Tamaki asked dryly, not really surprised. Nejire had a way of pulling others into her orbit, whether they wanted to or not. Then again, Mirio was the same and really, he was never sure which one was dragging him along at any given time. Sometimes it was both.
"Not a competition," Mirio agreed brightly. "Just a prediction."
There was no malice in his words and maybe that was what made it worse. An honest belief that he would teach Izuku better than Tamaki or Nejire would teach their juniors. Well, it wasn't like Tamaki thought otherwise. Even Nejire, for all her flighty behaviour, would do a better job than him. Their juniors would do great and Kirishima wouldn't change at all because Tamaki wouldn't be able to do anything. His stomach grumbled, upset at the thought.
"Don't worry, we'll beat him." Nejire hooked her arm around his, pulling him close. "Yours and mine will team up."
It was entirely contradictory to her earlier stance. "That's not how a competition works," Tamaki argued feebly.
"Maybe I'll team up with Tamaki?" Mirio countered, looping his arm through Tamaki's other arm.
They were both close, too close, and Tamaki quickly disentangled himself. "How are you teaching them?" he mumbled, trying to change the topic. It was a question that had plagued him for days, ever since Kirishima had ambushed him in the hallways, overeager to start working with him.
"How…" Nejire repeated, her voice trailing off as she considered it. Tapping her lip, she frowned seriously. "I'll…Hmm…" She crossed her arms, cocked her head, and twisted her mouth. "What should I do?"
An awkward beat passed as Tamaki stared, not sure if she was joking or not. It was hard to tell with her. When her expression didn't change, he hesitantly asked, "You're asking us?"
"Sorta?" Nejire rested her chin on her hands, chewing on a strand of her hair. "She controls gravity. I control my own energy. Our powers are different," she muttered slowly, as though realizing it for the first time.
Tamaki felt a brief pang of pity for her junior. "Very different." Except for flying, maybe, but Uraraka seemed to float more than fly and that was a very tiny part of her powers.
"Lots of mentors and mentees are like that," Mirio added reassuringly, gently tugging the hair out of her mouth.
"Right. Then…then…" Nejire tilted her head back, craning her neck left and right as she stared up at the sky. After a few minutes, she shrugged and slipped back to her usual easy-going smile. "I'll wing it."
"That's it?" Tamaki gawked at her, not sure which was worse: how quickly she decided this or what she'd decided.
"Yeah." Nejire leaned back, kicking her feet up and down in front of her. "I'll figure it out as I go. Experience is the best way to learn, she can pick it up on the job as she watches me."
"That's a good point." Mirio nodded, crossing his arms. "I learned a lot on my first day."
"That's because Sir almost killed you." Tamaki couldn't refute the point, though, there were some things that could only be learned hands on. Maybe he could just take Kirishima on patrol with them—they were bound to face one villain or the other. And then he could—wait, no, almost all of their patrols involved them eating. Fatgum taking them to a restaurant. Tamaki eating at a stall. Due to the base of their powers, of course, but still, the only thing he'd teach Kirishima was how to eat different things. Kirishima's mom would be happy, if no one else.
"It taught me a lot of things. I'm sure it'll help Izuku too." Mirio's body was vibrating, as though he was ready to leap out of today and into tomorrow. "I've even made a few exercises based on Sir's teaching—we can do those together."
"He's going to die," Nejire predicted, laughing.
"Nah, his powers are like mine." Mirio puffed his chest proudly. "The more he gets hit, the harder he'll hit back. He's that kinda guy."
That was a lot of confidence in a boy that Mirio had only met a handful of times, but he'd always been optimistic. Believing in the best of people. It was part of the reason they became friends in the first place. Tamaki glanced at him. "You're both strong, right?"
"Well…" Mirio trailed off for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I guess you can say that."
Lucky. That made it easy. Mirio could just train Izuku the way he'd been, no effort required. The only thing Tamaki and Kirishima had in common was transformation. His shoulders slumped. He was entirely useless.
"I guess I lucked out," Mirio chuckled, unknowingly echoing Tamaki's thoughts. He rubbed the back of his neck shyly, as though this were a big thing.
"Maybe you can arm-wrestle." Nejire clapped her hands, looking like a child who'd found a new toy. "Hey, hey, what about just wrestling."
"With masks and stuff?" Mirio asked dubiously. When Nejire nodded enthusiastically, he blanched. "Uh…I'll think about." Quickly changing the topic, he turned to Tamaki. "What about you? Any secret training?"
"I'll…" The million-dollar question. Tamaki didn't have an answer for it at all. God, his stomach hurt. Maybe he could quit being a hero. That could solve the problem. "I…"
"Don't think too hard about it." Sensing his fears, Mirio cut in kindly, gripping his shoulder comfortingly. "You'll figure it out, I know it."
"Yeah." Nejire bumped her arm against his. "It'll be great, whatever you do. And then Mirio and I will have to team up to beat you."
"We're back to that again?" Tamaki couldn't stop the words as they rushed out him, incredulous.
"You think he's a dark horse." Mirio stroked his chin sagely, closing his eyes. "That is a possibility. He might just surprise us all and stab us in the back."
"Or even stab us in the front," Nejire added sadly, wiping an imaginary tear from her eyes. "You never know these days."
Before he could refute their claims, Tamaki heard the sound of a door banging open. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a shock of red hair. He knew those jagged edges. Slowly, Tamaki turned, just in time to catch Kirishima's eyes as he left the school. "Oh."
"Hey!" Kirishima waved once he spotted him. Slinging his backpack over a shoulder, he quickly made a beeline straight to Tamaki before he could escape.
"Ohhh." Nejire leaped off the steps. Hands interlaced behind her, she turned around and faced Tamaki. "I'll leave you to your secret planning."
"What—"
"Don't worry! I'll plan on my own." She walked backwards as she spoke, her expression entirely teasing. At least, Tamaki hoped it was teasing. He wasn't sure he could handle it if she was serious.
"Me too." Mirio got up, dusting his pants. When Tamaki shot him a panicked expression, he gave him a thumbs up. "You can handle Kirishima."
"But—" Tamaki stared at them in horror as they ran away, not giving him a moment to protest. Sure, maybe he could figure out training Kirishima later. It was debatable, but still possible. That was one thing. Dealing with Kirishima right now, when he hadn't had time to ready himself?
Entirely impossible. No way. No chance.
"I'm glad you're here!" Kirishma called out, closer now.
Tamaki wondered if he could learn invisibility.