Tamaki was panting. Covering his mouth with a towel, he tried to cover the fact that he was exhausted from the rest of the third-year classmates. He looked over at the others, who were too busy chatting about the results of the battle training session that just ended. Tamaki sighed as he decided it was safe to lower the towel, and he bent over to put his hands on his knees to gather his breath. There was no disputing that the famous Suneater of the Big Three had progressed in his manifesting abilities, but he did his best not to let others know about any weak spots like low stamina.

Truthfully, Tamaki never has issues with keeping up the fight in these sessions, but as they were nearing the last semester of their final year, he continuously pushed himself and his abilities, rendering him quite spent after training. I can't do this in the real world, he thought, noting that this kind of fighting would leave him vulnerable in battle. I just need to keep pushing myself in training, and then just save my energy for the real-

"Wow. You look pretty beat!"

"Eh-?" Tamaki shot his eyes open to see Mirio's face sticking out of the ground, peering directly up at him. His face was positioned right at Tamaki's feet, with that same stubborn smile the blonde was famous for. "Wha- Mirio!" the shaken boy exclaimed, stumbling back while trying to avoid stepping on his friend's face in the process. Tamaki caught himself from falling by grabbing the edge of a table holding a watercooler, and he watched as Mirio slowly rose up from the ground.

"Haha! I gotta say, Tamaki, you really gave today's training session your all! Like, more than usual." Mirio chuckled as he watched his friend recover from both a hard session and now a jump scare.

"Mirio…" Tamaki looked down at his shoes, "I told you not to surprise me like when there's people around." Tamaki looked over his shoulders to the others, thinking of all the ways they could be judging him.

Mirio grinned while he rolled his eyes, "Awww, don't be like that!" He slung his arm across the back of this friend, unintentionally embarrassing Tamaki more as he pulled him in for a side hug. "You gotta stop thinking people don't like you! I mean, look, you just swept the board with training. I bet all those people are either jealous or talking about how amazing you are."

Tamaki moved his eyesight from his laces to his classmates, who were all still chatting and going about their business. "I guess," he looked back down. "But, Mirio, you make it sound like I got the highest grade for that session." He looked up at Mirio's face, something he is incapable of doing to anyone else this close. "You know that in the last five minutes you managed to hit more targets than me," Tamaki said, referring to their range attack reps.

Mirio chuckled as he took his arm back. "Well, that's true. I mean, I have been pretty proud I've found a way to launch my body through the ground as a way of projectile attacks. Ha! Gotta say though," he placed his hands on his own arms and torso, "it really does a number on your body when you're the projectile." Mirio felt around for places he knew bruises would form. He knew he would have to be more careful for attacks like this…

"Mirio how do you manage to do reckless things like that and still have enough energy for other training and lectures?" Tamaki asked. He noticed how the other was feeling around. Tamaki watched Mirio's hands, scarred from missions and fights, trace up and down this muscular form. I guess I shouldn't even ask, I mean look at him. He's built for this and I'm… Tamaki looked down at his smaller hands. He started to feel his own arms and abs. The smaller fighter had trained just as much as his friend, but over the years, Mirio just seemed to beef up more than Tamaki.

Mirio looked over and noticed Tamaki's mood swing back to angst and immediately stopped him. "Don't worry about that stuff!" he said, grabbing Tamaki's hand. "I know that you're a great fighter, and it doesn't matter how much you get hurt or tired. Because I've seen you, and you always get back up and keep going."

"O-oh," Tamaki was slightly flustered by this sudden gesture. Mirio was always good about boosting his friend's confidence, but grabbing his hand was a first. Granted, Tamaki understood it was merely to stop himself from judging his own body, but he couldn't help bushing just a bit by this interaction.

Mirio watched as the other blushed, noticing how his eyes darted from their hands, to Mirio's face, then back down to their hands. Mirio smiled; Tamaki is so cute when he doesn't know what to say. Mirio had noticed this since childhood, but he'd recently found this side of Tamaki… enticing. He had tried little things over the past few weeks; things like complimenting his body, the way he talks, or once just playing with his hair in the dorms. Each left the smaller male simply flustered, and every time it stirred something within Mirio. "I think you did great," the blonde said in a hushed tone, softening his smile a bit.

Tamaki blushed deeper just a shade before quickly whipping his head around to face the wall. "Erm… thanks," the raven-haired boy muttered while shaking in embarrassment. He didn't know how much more of this he could take from Mirio. Was it all in his head? Was he over-thinking the scenario every time? He has been acting… warm lately. Warmer… than usual. Tamaki shut his eyes and shook his head. There's no way that Mirio could be hitting on him. Tamaki thought over all the girls waiting at Mirio's feet. He could easily choose one of them, so there's no way… right?

Mirio grinned as he watched the dilemma unfold in Tamaki's head. Unlike Tamaki, Mirio didn't overthink things or develop shame for them. He was always good about recognizing exactly what he wanted and going after it. And right now, seeing how Tamaki was flustered by just their closeness and innocent intimacy, he wanted Tamaki.

"Yeah! No problem," Mirio chuckled. "Anyways, it is getting late. I'm gonna head back to the dorms, wanna come over to my place? I'm making ramen... with extra pork~" He noticed the cowering boy stop shaking and turn his head slightly over his shoulders. Mirio swore he could see Tamaki's pointed ears perk up at the sound of his favorite meal. God. What would it be like to just softly bite the tips of those… Mirio smiled to himself as he put the thought to rest. All good things to those who wait. "Haha, is that a 'yes?' I see you thinking over there," Mirio said slyly.

Tamaki's stomach growled. He put a hand to it as he thought over how hard he pushed himself. Now that the adrenaline was leaving him, he truly grasped how much he exerted himself this past day. His legs felt weak, and his arms were over stretched from the number of manifestations he put himself through. On top of that, he didn't even recall eating lunch, so maybe ramen at Mirio's was just what he needed. "Well, seeing as we live right next door to each other, and if you don't mind the intrusion…"

"Don't mind at all!" Mirio smiled as he marched off to the door of the training grounds. He looked back and called, "I'm gonna hit the showers so I can get started on that. See you there!"

Tamaki watched his friend leave in a hurry, no doubt happy about the company for dinner. After the door shut behind him, the dark-haired teen turned away from the wall and headed to his stuff. As he was gathering up his things, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to Mirio's kind actions, his voice, his hands running through his hair...

"Mmm!" Tamaki shook his head and tried to just think about the ramen waiting for him. I'm just going over for dinner. We did this a lot as kids so this is no different! He took a couple deep breaths as he tried to clear the blush from his face and started heading out towards the dorms.