A/N: Happy Birthday, Tamaki!
I already wrote this a while back and decided his birthday is the right occasion to post this.
Hope you enjoy!
Tamaki stood in front of the huge door with a big red 1-A, his new homeroom, one hand outstretched and lingering over the doorknob. He tried to convince himself to open the door, like he had done for the last ten minutes only to always chicken out at the last moment before his hand could make contact.
Come on, Tamaki. You're gonna have to get in there eventually, he tried to boost his confidence.
Or you could just go home, his traitorous mind whispered, forget you ever applied. God, this had been a stupid idea to begin with. How could I ever think I could be a hero if I can't even face my own classmates.
The dark-haired teen had managed to pass the UA entrance exam, if just barely. He could still remember it clearly. It had been so embarrassing...
Tamaki looked around the space before the large entrance gate to ground beta where one part of the practical exam would be held. Around him was an insufferably large amount of other applicants. They all looked so confident and excited while he stood off to side, tugged against the wall as far away from the crowd as he could manage.
He was sure he wouldn't stand a chance against any of those kids. They were probably great, definitely better than him by a lot, and UA had a very low acceptance rate anyway. He just wanted to go home. If it wasn't for Mirio, he wouldn't even be here in the first place. He would have never had the courage to apply to the best hero school in the country if not for his best friend's encouragement.
The pure ray of sunshine next to him was the only reason he hadn't yet turned on his heels and run away. Mirio was talking nonstop, pointing everywhere and generally being as relaxed and excited as always. Tamaki couldn't help the warm feeling in his chest and the happy smile that tugged at his lips at the sight of his friend's carefreeness.
"I'm so excited to see what we'll have to do for the practical test," Mirio beamed at him. "Maybe we'll have to save civilians. Or capture fake villains. What do you think, Tamaki?"
"Dunno. I just hope it isn't too difficult," the shy boy mumbled.
"I'm sure we'll both do great." His friend's voice sounded so certain that Tamaki immediately felt less anxious. Only Mirio was able to achieve that.
"Sure... We can do this." Probably...
I can not do this, Tamaki thought when he was faced with a giant robot. It was only a 1 point enemy, but he was fairly certain he didn't stand a chance. What had he eaten that morning? Salad, beans, and bread. How was any of that supposed to help him in this situation?
He decided to run rather than take any chances.
The next seven minutes he spent hiding away in a corner. He was certain he wouldn't manage to pass this test anyway. He was simply too weak, his quirk was too weak, he didn't have enough control over it – why had he thought coming her was a good idea again?
The time was almost up, only around two more minutes remaining, when something unexpected happened in front of his hiding place. Two other applicants, a girl with light blue hair and a boy with long brown curls, collided in the air when they went for the same robot. The boy fell to the ground with a grunt, but the girl's quirk must have somehow malfunctioned, as she was catapulted multiple more feet into the air before falling unhindered towards the ground.
She is going to get hurt if she falls from that height. That was the only thought Tamaki had, and his body moved before he even had the time to think about it. With both hands he produced large amounts of salad to cushion her fall.
The intense usage of his quirk left him dizzy, but he pushed the feeling away to check on the girl. He rushed over to her once she had landed in the pile to make sure that she was okay, but he got distracted by the robot – a three point one, he registered in the back of his mind – that was stomping towards the brown-haired boy, who still sat on the ground, looking slightly dazed from the crash.
The robot raised a giant arm to crush the defenceless boy, and Tamaki quickly sent a bean-vine out of his fingers. He had originally aimed to wrap the machine like with a lasso, but of course his plan failed. He missed the robot by a few inches and the line instead caused it to trip.
The giant fell. Slowly at first, luckily so, so that they still had time to scramble out of the way. Then it came down with a crash that made Tamaki flinch.
He was still recovering from the shock when a loud beep sounded, signalling the end of the practical exam. An announcement asked all applicants to gather back at the main entrance. As Tamaki turned to go, a loud voice calling out stopped him. "Hey!"
He turned around, shoulders hunched to his ears. It was the blue-haired girl.
"Thank you for saving me." She smiled brightly at him. "That could have been a nasty fall. Your leafs softened it by a lot. Kinda weird solution, but it worked, I guess. I'm Nejire Hado. I'm applying to UA, you too? Well, stupid question, of course you are. That why we're here after all. So, what's your name?"
Tamaki just blinked and tried to hide even further behind the collar of his shirt. She was talking so much and fast. It was too much for him to handle. She was clearly waiting for an answer, but for some reason he couldn't get his tongue to form words.
"You don't have to tell me, I guess," she said with a frown when he failed to say anything for almost a minute.
Tamaki's face grew even hotter than before – if that was even possible. Oh my god, this is so embarrassing. She must think I'm so rude. Could the ground please just open up and swallow him here and now.
Instead his saving came in the form of Mirio who came running towards them. "Tamaki, there you are! I've been looking for you. Hey there," he greeted the girl with a wave. A complete stranger. Like is was no problem at all. (For Mirio it wasn't.) Why couldn't Tamaki be this confident?
"Didn't you hear the announcement?" The blonde tugged at his arm. "The exam is over, let's head for the front gate." He waved goodbye to the girl, who clamed she had to go to look for a friend as well. Somehow Tamaki couldn't place the knowing look she gave the two of them.
"Man, this test was so much fun," Mirio said while they made their way to the entrance, "Not really suited for my quirk, but I did my best. It was good exercise at least." Mirio smiled his blinding smile.
Tamaki caught himself staring at his friend. He was so bright. Smiling even in the face of unfortunate circumstances. Tamaki himself was sure he had failed the exam, he had hid throughout most of it after all. But Mirio's happiness was nothing if not contagious, and so he found himself smiling along with his friend. As long as he had him by his side there would always be light in his life.
Some time later the results of the UA entrance exam came in per letter. Tamaki had been sure he had failed, but to his big surprise he had gotten accepted to the school. Seemingly, his written test results had made up for his lacking practical performance. To his even bigger surprise he had actually achieved a few practical points as well. It was revealed that there had been more than just the fighting category, and he had gotten some rescue points.
In short, he had been invited to attend the school of his dreams with the beginning of the next term.
Today was his first day at the new school, with new classmates, and Tamaki was incredibly anxious about meeting them. He had had an internal freak out in front of his homeroom for the past fifteen minutes now and still couldn't work up the courage to open the door.
What if the other students thought his quirk was weird? Well, he wouldn't blame them, it definitely was. But would they mock him for it?
Would he be able to find friends? Probably not with his social skills (or better lack of them).
Mirio would be there, meaning that he already had one friend and person to rely on, Tamaki tired to reassure himself. Only that this opened up a whole other can of anxieties.
What if Mirio and he weren't placed in the same class? Tamaki would be alone again. What was he supposed to do then?
Well, you won't find out if you don't open the damn door, he thought to himself.
He set a shaking hand onto the doorknob and hesitated yet again. How was he going to face his classmates? Should he just go in and introduce himself? (Yeah, because that sounded like something he could do.) Should he try to not be noticed, keep his heat down, and just silently slip into his seat? That seemed nice. (Should he just go home?)
Before he could dwell on it for longer the sudden ring of the bell, signalling for class to start at any moment, startled him. Tamaki quickly slid the door open and entered the room. No matter how bad facing his classmates sounded, doing so and being late was worse.
One short glace showed him that many of the students were still up and around the classroom, only few already sat in their seats. His appearance in the door had been quiet and only a few people even noticed him entering. Still, even the few stares made Tamaki's face heat up.
Is it to late to turn back? He asked himself. Probably. That would draw even more attention.
Keeping his head down, he made his way to his seat as quick as possible. He slumped down and wrung his hands in his lap nervously while he desperately waited for the teacher to arrive and start class.
He just hoped nobody was going to talk to him...
"Hey, I know you!" An exited voice loudly squealed uncomfortably close to his ear, making Tamaki jumped in surprise.
He knew that voice.
Slowly, he lifted his head, stealing a quick glance at the girl in front of him – Hado, right? - and quickly lowered his gaze back to the table. Maybe if he didn't look at her it would be okay.
"We met at the entrance exam, remember?" She said excitedly. Her loud voice drew the attention of more people and Tamaki wished he could vanish into thin air. Why couldn't that be his quirk?
"Um...hi," he managed to mumble.
"You never gave me your name. Mind telling me now?" She tilted her head curiously.
"T-tamaki...Amajiki..." the boy stuttered.
"Well Amajiki-kun, I didn't get to ask back at the exam, but I'm actually really curious: What exactly is your quirk? The way you made that salad and then that vine was pretty unique. Is it creation? Or something plant based? Also why does your hair stick up like this? Is that part of your quirk as well?"
Tamaki was beginning to feel overwhelmed by her quick stream of questions. He avoided her eyes as he answered, "Uhm...I...my quirk...it kinda... m-manifests what I eat...? Stupid, I know."
"Are you kidding?" He almost flinched at her loud tone. "That's so cool. Imagine all the crazy things you can do with that."
Tamaki honestly didn't think his quirk was all that cool. Or at least he didn't have a good enough handle on it to do cool things. He didn't know what to answer so he just continued to stare at the table, hoping he wouldn't come across as rude.
He felt the atmosphere turning awkward. Luckily, at that moment a middle-aged man with orange hair entered the room.
"All right class it's time to start. I'm your home room teacher Higari Maijima," the man introduced himself. "You might better know me by my hero name Power Loader."
Tamaki let out a quiet sigh of relieve when Hado's focus shifted off him and she had to take her seat along with the rest of the students. As everyone listened to their teacher, Tamaki was finally able to relax his tense shoulders a little.
The lesson was blissfully uneventful. They were given the general introduction and told about organisation as well as an overview of what awaited them during the next months.
When lunch rolled around, Tamaki made sure to slip out of his seat and leave the classroom as quickly as possible. He had already seen Hado turning towards him with an anticipating glint in her eyes. And he was not ready for another overly energetic conversation with her right now.
He entered the cafeteria and spotted Mirio waiting in line to get his foot. The blonde waved over to him cheerfully and Tamaki joined him.
"So, how was your first class?" Mirio asked with a bright smile.
"It was okay," Tamaki answered with a small smile of his own. "Didn't really do much besides orientation."
"Nah, we neither. But it was still lots of fun. Everyone in class is nice and they're all very ambitioned in becoming heroes. I love the spirit!" Mirio bumped a fist into the air in excitement. "I even think I already made some new friends. How about you, Tamaki? You think you'll get along with your classmates?"
Tamaki shrugged a little unsure while they moved forward in the line. "I think they're okay."
Mirio knew how much difficulty his friend had meeting new people. He frowned a little in thought. "Do you think you'll be able to find friends?" He asked in concern.
Tamaki's heart jumped a little at his friend's show of care. The warmth was enough to keep him from clenching his shirt in his hands at the question. Just thinking about it made him nervous.
He kept silent while they took their foot from the hero Lunch Rush and went to their seats. After they had sat down and begun eating, he quietly replied to the previous question, "I-I don't know. I'm not good at that stuff."
He saw Mirio open his mouth, likely to say some encouraging words, so he quickly continued talking before his friend could interrupt him.
"B-but there's that one girl from the entrance exam. She talked to me before class started. She seems nice and...she wasn't repelled by my...my awkwardness at all. I think," he took a deep breath to brace himself for the words he was about to say, "I think we could become friends. Maybe."
Mirio's eyes light up. "That's great!" He wrapped one arm around Tamaki's shoulder in an awkward angle from across the table and the dark-haired teen couldn't help but smile a little. "That's the confidence you need to talk to new people. Keep that up and you'll find lots of friends in a blink!" Mirio beamed.
Tamaki had to turn his head away from his friend's brightness. "Yeah, maybe," he mumbled, though he wasn't quite convinced. "I still wish we were in the same class, though."
It would make everything so much easier. Mirio was great at talking to people and all Tamaki would have needed to do would have been to tag along.
"Yeah, sucks that we got separated." Mirio sobered a little. But it took only a few moments in which they ate in silence, before the blonde's face brightened again, as he seemed to get an idea.
Somehow Tamaki got a bad feeling.
"I know, I'll come with you to your class and help you to get to know people! In fact, we are finished with eating, so lets go right now!"
"W-what?" Tamaki stuttered in shock as Mirio pulled him up and tugged him along to return their dished. "N-no! That's so strange. Stop, I'm fine with how it is. I don't want to talk to anyone."
Mirio just ignored his protest and before Tamaki knew it he was pushed into the 1-A classroom by his best friend and faced by dozens of faces. Just great. Almost everyone was already back from lunch. And they were all staring at them upon the blonde's loud entrance.
"Hi everyone, I'm Mirio from class B," Mirio introduced himself. "It's so nice to meet you all."
Upon the boy's open demeanour and bright smile, the stunned expression on the faces of the students melted away. Tamaki had no idea how Mirio manage to do that in such a natural way. A few students even returned the greeting.
"Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you to my friend. This is Tamaki Amajiki," Mirio pointed at the boy in question, who froze. "He is in your class, but you probably haven't talked to him yet. He's a little shy, but I promise he is great once you get to know him," Mirio introduced him loudly to all this people.
Suddenly, Tamaki was the centre of attention and everyone was looking at him, judging him. He wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out again. Instead he just turned around and faced the wall. It didn't help much, as he could still feel their stares at his back, but it prevented him from dying on the spot from embarrassment. "I wanna go home," he mumbled quietly.
"Come on, you need to talk to people if you want to make friends. If you're nervous just imagine them all naked." Mirio tugged at his shirt to get his friend to face him again. At least he had the mind to talk quietly for once.
"That's even weirder."
"Then think of them as potatoes. Potatoes can't hurt you."
Slowly, Tamaki turned back around. The mental image did help a little, and he managed to separate himself from the wall. With another encouraging nudge from Mirio he lifted his gaze and gave a quivering smile. To his relieve most students returned the smile. They didn't seem so bad all of the sudden.
The school bell sounded once again.
"Oh, gotta run. Next period's about to start. See you all!" Mirio gave a huge smile and wave to the class, before he stormed out of the room.
Most students went to their seats and Tamaki quickly hurried toward his as well. He was stopped when Hado stepped in his way with a cheerful expression. His heart fell and obviously his expression did as well, because she immediately turned her over the top demeanour down a tune.
"So, Togata-kun said you're shy?" she asked with a openly curious expression on her face. "Don't worry about it. I guess it can be stressful to met so many new people at once. And I know I can be pretty bubbly at times, so if I get too much just tell me, okay?"
She seemed to wait for some sort of reply, so Tamaki nodded awkwardly. She smiled again. "Take your time to get comfortable, then we can talk some more. I think we can become good friends."
With that she turned around and went back to her seat. When their homeroom teacher entered a few moments later, Tamaki was still stunned and had to hurry to take his seat. That...actually wasn't horrible. With some time, maybe he would feel more comfortable at UA than at any other school before.
