Tamaki was having a bad day.
That in itself wasn't such a big deal. His days were usually bad, what with all his constant anxiety and such. But today was particularly bad for a multitude of different reasons. One, he was alone. He normally had at least his sister with him back home, but now he was totally on his own, and it was terrifying. Two, he was lost, utterly and hopelessly lost. It was only his first day in Musutafu, Japan, and he was already lost. Just great.
He stood in front of the large map on the wall of the bus stop, repeatedly comparing that map to the map he held in his hands and trying to figured out where exactly he was. He supposed the smartest decision would've been to just ask someone on the street for help, but he couldn't bring himself to approach anyone. They all looked so busy; there was no way he could bother them with his problems.
"Come on, Tamaki." He took a deep breath, gripping the map in his hands tighter. "You can do this. All you have to do is find which bus route goes to Musutafu Apartments. You can do this." He forced himself to focus back on the maps, comparing routes and district numbers, but it was still useless. None of it made any sense to him; it was all so confusing.
He missed the simplicity of his hometown, where everything was confined into one tiny space and it was easy to find your way around. Besides, all the people bustling around behind him were making him nervous. This was a bad idea. Tamaki thought to himself. I should never have come here, what was I even thinking? I'm so stupid...I should just go home--
"Excuse me!"
Tamaki jumped nearly a foot in the air when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud exclamation. He looked over, trying to keep himself from trembling as he saw who had called out to him. It was a man, easily twice his size, with blond hair styled up, and oval shaped, bright blue eyes. He was wearing a blue varsity jacket over a white T-shirt and jeans. He would have looked like a typical high school jock, if not for the goofy grin he had plastered across his face.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" Tamaki bowed in apology as the man stopped next to him. "I-I was just t-trying to figure out how to g-get to my ap-apartment."
"Oh no, you weren't in my way or anything." The man smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "I was just going to ask if you needed some directions. You look pretty lost to me."
"U-Uh...yeah...I-I am...but you don't have to--"
"It's fine! I wasn't doing anything anyway. I don't mind helping you out! So, where are you trying to go?"
"M-Musutafu Apartments," he finally gave in. "A-Actually, I'm kinda late meeting the movers who have my stuff."
"Musutafu Apartments? Oh, that's easy. I live there too, actually. Come on, we can go together." The man spun around and headed for the waiting area before turning around again. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Mirio. Mirio Togata."
"O-Oh! Uh...m-my name is Tamaki...A-Amajiki. I-I really appreciate the help."
"Of course! It's not a problem at all!" Mirio broke out into yet another grin and pointed to the train. "Come on, that's the one that we have to take. Follow me!" He turned and started for the bus that had just arrived. Tamaki folded the map and stuck it in his pocket before following him. When he got inside, Mirio was already standing in place, waving him towards him. Tamaki came to stand beside him just as the bus began pulling away from the stop.
"So, what brought you to Musutafu?" Mirio asked.
"Um...well, I decided to move to a bigger city to look for better job offers. I'm a photographer, so it's kind of hard to find offers in a small town."
Mirio nodded. "I see. Are you going to work freelance, or do you plan to work with a company or something?"
"I-I want to do freelance, but I'll have to start out with a company and go from there." Tamaki tried hard not to hunch his shoulders instinctively as he spoke. He hadn't talked this much since leaving home. "I r-really like doing landscape photography."
"That's amazing!" He suddenly exclaimed. "I'll bet you have some really gorgeous pictures on that camera, then. Do you mind if I see?"
Tamaki had nearly forgotten about the camera he still had slung around his neck. It was always there, so he wasn't sure how he'd forgotten. Maybe Mirio was just that distracting. Slowly, he lifted it up and over his head, turning it on and opening up his camera roll. There were hundreds and hundreds of pictures on this camera, seeing as he'd had it since middle school. Most of them were just of things in the town he'd found pretty, but there were some pictures of his family too.
He opened to the last picture he'd taken; a sunset shot he'd taken just before leaving the house he'd grown up in. Mirio leaned over his shoulder to look at the photos and Tamaki scrolled through them, trying not to get nervous by his close proximity. Mirio's soft breath kept tickling his ear.
"These are awesome." Mirio said after a few minutes had passed and they'd went through a couple dozen of photos. "You're really talented, Tamaki."
His face started to burn, and he fumbled with the power button before putting the camera strap back around his neck. "U-Um, th-thank you, but I-I'm really not that good, they're just--"
"Nonsense!" Mirio chuckled. "You don't have to be so modest. You have a real talent there."
That was it, Tamaki couldn't take any more talk about himself. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat to hide the trembling. "Ah, y-yeah, I guess...s-so what about you?"
"Oh, I just started working at the Musutafu Police Department a few weeks ago!" He made the statement with such pride in his voice. He stood up straight and pointed his thumb to his chest with a huge grin. "I haven't been able to do much yet since I'm still a rookie, but I'll be saving people in no time!"
Tamaki felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards at the sight of him. Mirio just looked so proud and happy while talking about his job, it was almost blinding. He obviously loved what he did with a passion, and Tamaki found that he really liked seeing that look on his face.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the crackling of the bus loudspeakers announcing they were nearing the next stop. Mirio looked back at Tamaki, the remnants of his smile still lingering on his face. "That's our stop. Just remember route number four, second stop."
"Oh, uh...right. Got it. Route four, second stop." Tamaki nodded, filing the information away in the back of his mind. He didn't want to have to trouble anybody for directions again.
The train squealed to a stop and Mirio grabbed ahold of Tamaki's wrist to lead him through the sudden influx of people hurrying off of the train. The crowd was all one huge blur to Tamaki, who had never been good in crowds, but eventually they ended up outside, away from the other people and waiting for all of them to pass. Once the crowd was gone and the bus had pulled away, Mirio pointed to a huge building on the opposite side of the street. "There it is! Home sweet home!" They waited for the crosswalk light to turn green before crossing the street to reach the apartment building.
Parked along the curb was a moving van, and an incredibly annoyed looking man leaning up against the door. When he saw Tamaki, he pushed away from the van and came towards him with a scowl. Tamaki flinched, sure the worker was about to tell at him for being so late. He opened his mouth to apologize, but stopped when the man just shook his head.
"It's fine. I've had worse before. Let's just get all your things in the apartment."
"Uh, right." The moving van worker spun around to open the back of the van, and Tamaki turned to thank Mirio and tell him he was okay to leave now. But instead he turned around only to see Mirio following the worker with a big smile on his face.
"Y-You don't have to help carry things," Tamaki tried as he moved to stand next to him while they waited on the worker to unlock the van. "You already helped a lot by showing me the way here."
"I don't mind helping. And you can't possibly do all of this by yourself." Tamaki sighed as the worker pulled open the doors and hopped inside the van. He started piling boxes at the edge of the van and Tamaki and Mirio grabbed them and began carrying them inside the entranceway to the building.
He didn't have very much stuff, only five or six boxes, so it didn't take that long to get everything out of the van. Tamaki paid the worker and they headed inside the building. In the lobby, the landlord was waiting for them so Tamaki could sign the deed and get his keys before officially moving into his new apartment. It was on the third floor, so they had to make a few trips up and down the stairs to get all of Tamaki's boxes to his place. By the time they were done, both of them were panting and slightly sweaty.
Mirio swiped a hand across his forehead and grinned, breathing hard. "Well, that's everything! I could help you unpack too if you want."
"N-No, really it's fine. You've done so much already. Y-You should just go home. I'll be okay."
Mirio shrugged. "If you're sure. Anyways, I live on the floor below you. Don't be a stranger, alright?"
"I won't. Thanks again for all the help."
"No problem!" Mirio waved before heading for the door. "It was nice meeting you, Tamaki!"
"You too." Tamaki replied as the door was closed behind him. Once he was gone, he let out a sigh and took out his phone to check his messages. As expected, he already had five unread texts from his mom, and at least ten from his sister. He had one missed call from his mom too. He was just about to call her back when the soft sound of paper rustling pulled his attention away from the screen and to the floor in front of the doorway where the sound had come from.
A small sheet of white notebook paper had been shoved underneath the door, folded in half. Frowning, Tamaki bent to pick it up. Had Mirio left it for him? It had to have been him because who else would have? He carefully unfolded the paper, revealing two sets of numbers with a tiny drawing of a star next to it. It took a solid thirty seconds of staring at the note before Tamaki realized Mirio had given him his phone number and the number of his apartment on the second floor.
He felt his face start to hear up again and was grateful Mirio wasn't there to see him get so flustered. He'd never really had any good friends before, if he was being honest. There were people he knew just from growing up together in such a small town, but he wouldn't have called those people his friends. He didn't know how to feel now that someone was actually going out of their way to communicate with him when they didn't have to. It felt nice.
It took another few minutes before he could switch focus again. He set the paper on the kitchen counter before taking out his phone again and calling his mom. He decided to out the call on speaker so he could get started on unpacking while he talked. Once the phone started ringing, he set it on the counter on speaker and grabbed the first box, labelled kicthen.
She picked up on the second ring. "Tamaki, honey, you finally called! Did you make it okay? You didn't get lost, did you? Did all your stuff arrive on time?"
"I-I'm fine, Mom." Tamaki assured her. "I got a little lost, but I made it to the apartment, and all my stuff is here. Thanks for sending it."
"Oh, of course, honey. I'm glad you're alright. And you're sure you don't need me and your sister to come help you settle in?"
"No, Mom, I'll be fine. Cho has school and you have work, s-so there's no need for you to come all the way out here just for me. I can handle myself."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, Mom, I'm sure."
There was a small pause before his mom audibly sighed. "Alright. But only if you're certain you don't need any help."
"I am. But thank you."
"Of course, honey." There was a shuffling sound, like she had moved the phone. "Oh, honey, your sister is here, she wants to talk to you." Seconds later, he heard the phone being switched from Mom's hands to Cho's and the faint sound of Mom calling something after her.
"Hey, Big Bro!" Cho's voice automatically made Tamaki smile. He'd only been gone a day, and he already missed his little sister. "Life treating you well out there in the big city?"
"I've only been here for a day, and I spent practically the whole time lost." Tamaki finished putting away all of the kitchen things and moved onto the next box, labelled bedroom. He carried the box and phone into the bedroom. The room was pretty much completely bare. The only things inside were a built in closet along the back wall and a bare mattress on the bed frame shoved into the far corner of the room. A single window overlooked the busy street below.
"How's the apartment?" Cho continued. "Is it big?"
"No, it's actually pretty small." Tamaki told her, setting the phone atop The dressed and the box on the mattress. "I'm unpacking my things now."
"Oh. Well, how about the city? Is it big?"
Tamaki nodded and then smacked himself on the head when he realized she couldn't see him. "Y-Yeah, the city is huge. I never would have found my way here if not for Mirio's help." Too late, he realized what he'd said. His face heated again for the third time that day.
"Mirio?" Cho's voice went up at least three octaves. "Who's Mirio? Oh my God, did you make a friend? Tamaki, this is huge! Why didn't you say anything? Mom! Mom, did he tell you he made a friend? Mom! Mom!"
"U-Um, you know what, I-I'm p-pretty busy with unpacking things, I-I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" Tamaki panicked and hung up before Cho could get his mom on the line too to freak out about this new information. He sighed in relief as Cho's voice cut off, turning the phone completely off in case they called back right away. He hadn't intended to mention anything about Mirio to them because he knew this was how they would react.
He plopped face down on the bare mattress and sighed heavily. The coolness of the material felt amazing against his flushed face, and before he knew it the long day started to catch up to him, and he felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy. He gave in, allowing his eyes to fall closed and falling into unconsciousness almost immediately.