Lighter Than Air


I was never really much of social butterfly when I was kid, it wasn't out of any kind of intention or distain for other kids my age, I just wasn't…hell I'm still not comfortable with being around people all that well. I get tense, nervous, and very shy even at the best of times, to this day I'm still surprised Mirio even talked to me, but I was always glad he did, he made this social outcast and mess of a kid feel wanted.

Accepted.

Liked.

I owe him almost everything, but if I had to pick probably the best thing he ever did for me, hands down it be the day he introduced me to Nejire Hado, well kind of introduced me, oh boy I'm really botching this introduction, let's just backtrack to the beginning.

Fourth grade was where the bullying began, I was quite the easy target due to my own timid nature and shy exterior, didn't help that my confidence wasn't exactly in large quantity, not that I didn't try to stand up for myself, I did, but it never made it stop.

It never makes it stop, not for good anyway, I didn't always have a rough time with it though, Mirio was usually around to stick up for me, or even oddly enough turn those bullies into friends, it was a sort of power he had. It wasn't fool proof however, sometimes we did have to fight back and push them off of us.

It happened every couple of weeks, but it was always more frequent when I was on my own, Mirio or any one of my other friends were out sick. Like I said before…easy target, and one day on a field trip, they took advantage of that.

I remember I was sitting under this tree off to the side of this playground we stopped at, it was mostly to let us all have fun after the museum and eat before we went back to school. All the other kids were playing on the jungle gyms, the swings, and ridiculously tall slides, I decided to just sit on my own, don't get me wrong I liked playing on that stuff to, but I was always really awkward when trying to make friends on my own so I decided to save myself some trouble and just enjoy the day.

"Hey chicken legs."

Right. On. Cue.

"Hey Taiki," I mumbled, I really don't think him or his posse heard me, Taiki was a reoccurring bully, jealous of how likeable and popular Mirio was over him, he wouldn't learn this until middle school where he chilled out a bit after meeting Misami, a girl in our grade who straightened him out a bit, but that wasn't exactly relevant right now, now he was just a bully.

"Your boyfriend not here to stick up for you," that was always a favorite phrase of his when it was just me, would've been really insensitive if I did swing that way but not like he cared.

"He's sick."

"Awwww I'm sorry to hear that," a false sentiment if you couldn't tell, if his snarky tone wasn't enough to prove it the following act of kicking dirt at me would've done the trick, I was quicker though pulling down the hood of my jacket to shield my face, my pants weren't so lucky.

"Give him that message for me when he gets back," he laughed along with his two cronies, pretty sure I heard them high five, dicks, "So which do you prefer this time, thrown in the trashcan or the trashcan thrown on you."

"Neither," I wouldn't call myself clever with my comebacks either, but at least I was honest.

"Okay then, both I guess," he tried to sound menacing, but it never intimidated me, and today I planned on using my quirk to get back at them, I pulled my hand up my sleeve to disguise it so they wouldn't expect it, I would catch them off guard, a hero wouldn't let this kind of thing happen to themselves so neither would I.

I heard them starting to close in, having kept my hood down still so they wouldn't kick any in my eyes to distract me, Taiki was about to grip my collar, and I was about to use my octopus tentacles to make sure it didn't get farther than that.

Luckily though, I didn't have to.

"Hey hey hey you're Taiki right."

"U-u-uh yeah, and who're you," he asked the girl that I would later know as my savior.

"Don't you have the quirk that lets you manipulate dirt? Does that help if you would work on a farm, I bet it would! Ooooo does it ever blow back on you depending on the wind when you use it? What about sand can you do it to sand, sand's kinda like dirt?"

"S-s-stop asking questions jeez you're being annoying," to this day im not sure if he was flustered because it was a girl, or because he had no idea what to say in response, didn't matter though, in her usual fashion she droned on anyway.

"Awww but come on answer my questions, I really wanna know, but real quick a couple of the girl's keep saying this mark on my hand is cooties but I think its dirt is it dirt?"

"C-c-c-cooties."

"Yeah cooties but it only has one C."

"Oh please don't you know," Katashi spoke up, Taiki's second in command, not sure where he ended up…juvey if I had to take a stab, like he did with one bus driver in middle school, but that's beside the point, "Taiki doesn't believe in that kind of crap, right Taiki?"

"…"

"Dude, come on."

"Sh-shut up!"

"So is it cooties or what," she asked him, shoving her hand in his face, getting a small smear of the dirt on it, I would've paid to see his reaction.

"Ah-AGHGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH," he screamed out as he ran the opposite way, I heard another pair of footsteps follow behind him, but just to confirm I lifted up my hood just barely above my eyes, and yeah I saw them running away. Feeling very satisfied.

But that was nothing compared to the euphoria i felt when my eyes drifted to the back of the girl who saved me, I saw her blue coat, black skirt, and her absurdly long and beautiful blue hair that dropped all the way to the back of her ankles.

"Well that should take care of them for now," she said as she bent down to wipe the dirt off on her bare legs, I saw her start to turn around before my anxiety flared up again, pulling my hood back down.

"You okay?"

"…"

"Hey, aren't you that one nervous kid who can turn into whatever he eats?"

"…" A true wordsmith I know.

"Hmmm, I wonder," she stepped toward me, im pretty sure she was only a couple inches infront of me, "Is it only animals? What happens when you eat inanimate objects like toys or coins? Have you ever tried that?"

"…N-no."

"*Gasp* you can actually talk, I was a bit scared there that you couldn't wouldn't that suck if you couldn't talk?"

"M-m-m-maybe I d-d-d-don't know some people g-g-g-get b-b-b-by just fine."

"Yeah you're right, my mommy knows a few people who can't, do you know anybody like that?"

"N-n-n-no."

"Oh, well I guess I'll have to introduce you sometime, if you wanna be my friend that is."

"…"

"Do you wanna be my friend?"

"I-I-I-I uh, I dunno."

"Hehehe, well lift up your hood and decide silly," I don't know how she did it without me noticing, but I'm happy I didn't, when she lifted up my hood for me with both hands, our eyes met instantaneously, her adorable round face on full display as I kept my gaze on the baby blue iris' that stayed on my violet ones, she looked curious, and…even back then, really really cute. Which that, coupled with my own social anxiety was why my face turned as red as a tomato, I remember that and my lips becoming jagged as my body shook all over, perfectly contrasting how calm she was.

She blinked a couple times before smiling, "Yep, you are Tamaki Amajiki."

"H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-how do you know?"

"Mirio was talking about you a couple days ago, he actually told me to check on you today in case anybody tried to start trouble, he also said you and I would be really good buddies. Mentioning the telltale signs would be the pointy ears, you would probably be off by yourself, the dark blue hair hey we both have blue hair isn't that crazy?"

"U-u-u-u-uh I dunno. Maybe?"

"Oh, that to, you stutter a lot because you are nervous and you wear a super cool white hoodie!"

"Y-y-y-y-y-yeah I g-g-g-g-guess that's me," a little obvious but I dare you to keep your cool when a pretty girl gets in your face in fourth grade.

"Great! You wouldn't believe how many kids had white hoodies today, I had to go eeeeeverywhere just to find you," she let go of my hood, and unlike usual I didn't put it back down, I actually felt very at ease, yeah I was nervous but if her earlier actions didn't vouch for her, Mirio certainly did. She sat down beside me and continued her bombardment of questions, "So back to what I asked earlier, does your quirk work on inanimate objects?"

"Uh, n-no I don't think it does, I haven't tried," I did later…didn't work out too well, and I was also down five yen coins and got my stomach pumped, go figure.

"Well if you do make sure its something smooth or you could choke to death and that would suck."

"Y-yes it would," reaaaaaaaal smooth little me.

"Glad to see you agree," she smiled at me again, my immediate reaction of course, being to turn my head away from her, mostly to hide the blush more, "Awww, you're like a shy kitten!"

"Eep," yeah, Nejire had a habit of being too cute…not that I minded.

"Come on, no need to be nervous."

"B-b-b-because we're friends r-r-right?"

"*Gasp* you wanna be my friend?!"

"…Y-y-y-yeah, well at least, a-a-after I learn your name anyway."

"Oh my gosh I haven't told you my name yet? That's a little embarrassing," she giggled, rubbing the back of her head with both of her hands, unnecessary, but sweet.

"N-n-n-n-no, i-i-i-it's okay, since you saved me and all, thank you by the way," I tried my best to turn my head back around, but my body wouldn't exactly listen despite my efforts. She accommodated this weakness though, having used her quirk to float around and face me, making me a little more embarrassed than I even thought possible.

"No problem, I hate bullies to, also," she extended her hand to me, closing her eyes companied with a smile, to this day I've almost never seen her frown, it was contagious whenever I was around her, starting from the very second I learned her name.

"I'm Nejire Hado, nice to meet you!"

I relaxed, a first for me whenever I meet new people, then I took her hand, and smiled back.

"I-I-I-I'm T-Tamaki Amajiki, n-nice to meet you to."

That was the day, the day I met Nejire Hado.

The girl, I fell in love with.

END OF PART 1


Author's Note: Whew, sometimes I really surprise myself with how much I can get done once I put my mind to it, I've been wanting to do this story for a long time now and i'm really glad that i've finally got the first chapter out for it.

Also yes, most of if not all of this story will be from Tamaki's POV, if its anyone else it would probably end up being Nejire at some point but I cant promise i'll do that at this stage of development.

This isn't exactly a popular ship, but i think these two would just be so cute together and I can't wait to write more on it as this story progresses onwards, it won't be super long, I think it'll just be four chapters at most or three at least, and I really hope you guys enjoyed this one as always, and stay safe and be kind.

-T.L.C