Tamaki was content to people watch from the bar while the others danced. After all he had never been in a place like this before, or around so many people in various stages of drunkenness.

A few seats down at the bar there was a girl making not-so-subtle attempts at eye contact with the stranger sitting next to her. Across the room directly in front of him was a dancing couple who only seemed to know two moves between them, but it was hard not to be impressed with the energy they were putting into it.

Every once in a while Nejire and her herd would run back to the bar, each round of "birthday shots" making them more wild in the eyes. Tamaki joined in each time, feeling increasingly warm and fuzzy. Even Mirio's composure started to loosen, his gestures larger-than-life, his laughter higher and more frequent. The sight of this new Mirio was almost enough to make Tamaki brave venturing into the midst of it all with them, just to see what he could look like dancing with everyone else.

But each time he found himself rooted to his seat as they disappeared.

Eventually he had to pee.

He slid off the barstool, stepped out… and stumbled, straight into someone's back. Tamaki uttered a startled apology, He started making his way towards the corner of the room, but each step seemed less steady than the one before it. He had felt a little warm and a little dizzy before, but he had just been sitting still then. Now that his blood was pumping and his body moving, his coordination was giving way.

He was way more drunk than he planned.

When he finally found his way to the bathroom he splashed his face with water and braced himself against the sink. His own reflection seemed strange in the mirror, his face too pale and his eyes too wide. The first night he drank he had felt a little warm, a little fuzzy, a little unbalanced.

This was far beyond that. This was vertigo.

"Shit," he said to his reflection, and then wondered why he had.

When he stepped out of the bathroom he heard the murmur of familiar voices around the corner.

Mayuri and Rize were stranded in a lengthy line for the women's bathroom.

"They look so cute dancing together, though! Are you sure?"

"I've asked her, they're not a thing. She's just known him since freshman year."

"So is he single?"

"If he is, I'll fight you for him."

"That's not fair, aren't you seeing that underclassmen?"

"It's not a big thing. Have you seen Togata? He has shoulders for days…" she trailed off and suddenly locked eyes with Tamaki, who was frozen mid-step around the corner. Rize looked elated and stumbled over, her friend following her line of sight.

"Hiiii!" she slurred, her smile so wide her eyes were scrunched closed. "You were just in there, right?"

She pointed her finger to the guy's room behind Tamaki.

"Uh, yeah?" he replied, bewildered.

"Oh thank god! Just stand guard, okay?"

Rize dragged him back towards the bathroom before he had time to react, her friend chasing close behind. They deposited him in front of the door and disappeared inside with a slam. Tamaki could still hear them talking even if he wasn't really trying to listen.

"You know what his quirk is, right?"

"Doesn't he just go through stuff?"

"Well, yeah, but my friend went to the same high school as him. Apparently he used to be really bad at using his quirk and his clothes would just fall off."

Tamaki's stomach turned as the girls erupted in shrieks and giggles. Suddenly another guy loomed into view, giving him an apprehensive look as Tamaki suddenly remembered he was body-blocking the entrance to the bathroom.

"Ah, um…" he stammered. "There's some girls in there."

Right on cue, the two burst into audible giggling.

"Every fuckin' time," the guy growled, slouching against the wall beside Tamaki to wait.

"Wait wait wait, that's not even the good part," The girl's voice had dropped low and Tamaki had to strain to hear it over the sink running. "She said he's hung."

The girls both squealed as the color drained from Tamaki's expression.

"I'd show him a good time."

One shushed the other, followed by the rustling of crumbled paper towels.

The door flew open so fast Tamaki and the waiting stranger both jumped.

"Heeyyyyy, Tamaki!" Mayuri flashed him an angelic smile. "You and Mirio are close, right? Does he have a girlfriend?"

The stranger groaned and brushed past them, pushing both girls out of the doorway as he slammed it closed behind him.

"I…" Tamaki's voice wavered, their expectant faces looming large in his fuzzy vision.

He could lie. He should lie. But they would ask who it was and then what would he say?

They were hovering like vultures, waiting on bated breath as he opened his mouth and closed it again. The wall at his back seemed to move closer, and the girls pressed him towards it. His mouth went dry.

"No."

His voice shook but they didn't seem to notice, their faces contorting in glee.

They vanished into the crowd again and Tamaki felt his unsteady feet following after them, weaving through bodies, getting lost and searching before finally spotting a flash of pale blue hair flouncing in the dim lighting.

When he broke through into the group he was standing behind Mira, looking over her shoulder at the place where Mirio stood.

Mirio was leaning down to listen to whatever Rize was whispering into his ear, and his hand suddenly came up to the back of his neck as an embarrassed blush settled over his features. Rize seized on his arm, leaning into him.

Tamaki felt the room spin around him, bright lights streaking across his vision. The bass line faded away into a dull drone at the back of his skull.

Mira suddenly seemed to sense Tamaki's breath at her back and turned. She smiled when she saw him, then frowned as she took in his expression.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Tamaki wheeled on his heels and stumbled back into the crowd.

"Tamaki? Hey!"

The sound of the other's name got Mirio's attention even over the pounding music. He looked up from the place where Rize was death-squeezing his arm to Mira, who was looking back into the crowd behind her. He saw Tamaki stumble, then move out of sight.

Mirio's heart leapt into his throat.

Tamaki hadn't seemed that drunk before.

"Hey, I gotta go check on someone…" Mirio muttered, slipping out of Rize's grasp without waiting for her response.

He took off through the crowd in the direction he had last seen him.

His own coordination was wanting. He shouldn't have had so much to drink.

He should have been watching Tamaki.

Walking straight through the crowd led him to the window by the front door. People were sitting on the windowsill, their legs dangling, swaying precariously back and forth. He caught a blur of movement on the other side of the glass, a familiar shock of dark hair he would have missed if he blinked.

Mirio pushed outside into the cold night's air and glanced both ways up the sidewalk.

Tamaki was crouched against the shadowed side of the building, his knees hugged to his chest.

"You got him?"

Mirio glanced back to see the bouncer looking between the two.

"Yeah, yeah he's with me."

Mirio began jogging down the sidewalk before realizing it made his head spin a little and slowing his pace. He stopped next to Tamaki, who buried his face between his knees as he neared.

Mirio crouched next to him and rested his hand on the top of his head.

"Hey…" he began hesitantly.

"Can we go back?" Tamaki's voice trembled a little.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. Did something happen?"

Tamaki stayed silent but made to get up. Mirio brought his hand down on his shoulder right away.

"Stay put. I'm gonna get us a ride," Mirio fumbled for his phone in his back pocket. Tamaki peeked up at him through a curtain of bangs, watching Mirio squint at his phone screen. His expression was a little too focused, and his tapping unusually deliberate.

"You're drunk too." Tamaki noted.

Mirio glanced down at him over his screen, the blue light illuminating his worried expression.

"Pretty much. Hey, you know nothing was going on with that girl, right?"

"I know," Tamaki slipped his arms inside the gap between his chest and tucked thighs.

Mirio looked visibly relieved. He clicked his phone screen off and slipped it back into his pocket.

"It says they're five minutes away."

Mirio crouched down next to him, giving him a sidelong look.

"Is everything alright?"

"Just dizzy."

"How much did you drink?"

"Whatever Nejire gave me."

Mirio muttered something rude about the blue-haired girl under his breath.

The two boys were halfway down the hall to Mirio's room when he popped the question, although he had been mulling it around on his tongue the whole ride back to the dorm.

"What did Rize say to you?"

"What? Oh. She just-" Mirio glanced back at Tamaki's brooding expression and thought better of what he was about to say. "It was nothing."

"I heard them talking about you in the bathroom."

"In the bathroom? How-" Mirio sighed in surrender. "She just asked if I wanted to dance and then started talking about my shoulders or something." He seized the handle of the door and began fighting with the lock. "She was just really drunk. People get like that when they drink."

"Do you?" Tamaki said abruptly. Mirio's expression went blank. Tamaki moved closer to him, his dark eyes swimming with an unfamiliar look.

It was the closest thing to jealousy he had seen paint the other boy's expression.

Jealousy and something more familiar.

Mirio glanced nervously down the hall before grabbing Tamaki's wrist and bringing him into the room. As soon as the door closed behind them Mirio turned, ready to defuse the situation.

"Tamaki, you're no-"

The other boy pounced with surprising speed, and Mirio rocked backwards against the door with a thud as Tamaki seized on him and pressed his lips to his.

Mirio watched wide-eyed, too stunned to move until Tamaki pulled back. His eyes fluttered open, looking up at Mirio with an expression so bare his mouth went dry.

Tamaki stretched his arms up and wrapped them over Mirio's shoulders, dragging him down before Mirio could stop him. Thin hands came up under his shirt and traced Mirio's bare chest. The pads of his fingers pressed into his hips.

"Stop." Mirio broke them apart, holding Tamaki at a distance by his wrists. The other boy's expression crinkled.

"What?"

Mirio hesitated, glancing over Tamaki's head into his room. His hand moved back against the door and fumbled until he found the lock, clicking it closed.

Tamaki made to surge forward again, but Mirio suddenly dropped his grip to Tamaki's waist and waddled the disoriented boy backwards into the room.

He deposited Tamaki on his unmade bed with a plop and immediately crossed the room to sit at his desk.

There was a moment of silence as Mirio watched him from a distance with a look of intense weariness.

"What?" Tamaki repeated, looking increasingly confused as he perched at the edge of the bed. Mirio let out a long, loud sigh.

"Tamaki, you're drunk."

Tamaki blinked back at him.

"And? You are too."

"I know, that makes it even worse," he snapped. Mirio began to anxiously swivel in his desk chair.

"I don't want you to try something you don't really want to do."

"I do want to."

When Mirio didn't reply fast enough Tamaki followed up with a tremulous:

"…you don't want to?"

Mirio groaned and threw his head back against the chair, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

"Of course I do."

"Then what's wrong?"

It was hard to argue with Tamaki, mainly because he had never really had to do it before. The shy boy's voice was brimming with a determination Mirio wasn't used to hearing.

"I just want to do something for you," Tamaki blurted out. "Just once. You're always doing things for me."

Mirio rolled his head around to watch Tamaki with a newly worried expression.

"You've been worrying about this a lot, haven't you?"

Tamaki chewed his lip in the silence between them. His jaw was clenched, his hands balled-up fists at his sides.

"Those girls would do stuff like this in a heartbeat."

Mirio sat up in his seat, leaning into the distance between them.

"Tamaki, I don't care about those girls. And I don't need those things from you to be happy."

"But do you want them?"

"Tamaki…" Mirio's tone was pleading, his gaze directed down at his folded hands.

"Do you want me that way or not?" Tamaki's tone was sharp, insistent.

It was a question with only one right answer.

A sober Mirio might have been able to bluff his way out, might have managed to say something that would put Tamaki off for the night without hurting his feelings. They could talk about it in the morning in a clearer state of mind, and Tamaki would understand.

But Mirio wasn't sober.

His head felt fuzzy and half-absorbed with the phantom sensation of Tamaki's lips on his.

"Of course I do."

Tamaki's whole body perked up, as if he could sense his victory approaching.

Tamaki got up off the bed and quickly closed the distance between them, Mirio rolling backwards in his chair to stay away. He hit the edge of the desk and came to a stop with a thump.

"Then let me do this."

Tamaki's knee came down on the seat of the chair between Mirio's thighs, his face looming just inches away with that sultry expression Mirio had seen once before.

"Do what, exactly?" Mirio managed to whisper.

"You?"

The softness had returned to Tamaki's voice, along with those familiarly anxious eyes. Tamaki surged forward and kissed him, snatching the breath out of Mirio's lungs.

"This isn't fair…" Mirio managed to utter, but the words died in his throat as Tamaki pressed closer and Mirio's senses became too overwhelmed to resist.

This Tamaki was foreign to him. The Tamaki that said what he wanted, that made the first move.

Mirio was in no state of mind to keep protesting once their kisses deepened. Tamaki wrestled his shirt up over his arms and ran his hands reverently over Mirio's chest.

Mirio marveled at the expression on his face, the focused smolder in his eyes.

Tamaki had been so face-shy before, always scared to show what he was feeling. Even that other night he had buried his face into Mirio's chest in embarrassment, unable to look him in the eyes.

But now, now he hardly seemed bothered that Mirio was soaking in his expression. His knee slid forward on the seat to rest against Mirio's crotch, and he made an involuntary noise just loud enough to make Tamaki pause.

His hand began to trace slowly from where it rested on Mirio's chest down the center line of his stomach. His fingers fumbled with the button of Mirio's pants and tugged down the zipper. Mirio's breath shuddered between their tangled lips as Tamaki's slender fingers ran down, down to the straining bulge in his pants.

"Yeah?" he breathed, his fingers stilling as he searched Mirio's face for permission.

"Yeah," Mirio murmured.

What else could he say when Tamaki seemed so certain, and when Mirio was so certain he wanted him to?

Tamaki gazed down the strong lines of Mirio's chest to the place where he felt his hand reaching inside the seam of Mirio's boxers and gripping his… his...

Tamaki had seen the other boy naked more times than he could count given the unfortunate side effects of his quirk. But once they had gotten older and his feelings more complicated, Mirio's naked figure was quickly accompanied by thoughts he was too ashamed to admit to himself.

At least not until now, now that his fingers were wrapped around Mirio's length as he gazed at the broad, sculpted body before him. Mirio tilted Tamaki's chin up into his face, bringing them back into a kiss, bringing Tamaki back from his own thoughts. Tamaki willed his wrist to move, slowly at first, then more deliberately. Their kisses began to dissolve as Mirio's breathing became labored, shallow pants that ghosted across Tamaki's face.

Tamaki had never seen- heard, Mirio like this.

He wanted more.

Tamaki trailed his mouth down Mirio's throat and over his chest.

Down, down farther still until Mirio was greeted with the sight of the other boy crouched between his legs, looking up at him with a focused intensity that Mirio's drunken state took a moment to piece together.

It wasn't until his gaze flickered to Mirio's length, still firmly grasped in his hand, that Mirio understood where this was going.

"Tamaki…" there was worry in his tone, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. But it only seemed to make the other boy more determined, eyes narrowing over his drunkenly dilated pupils.

"Just don't look," Tamaki's voice wavered, a glimpse of that familiar shyness breaking through his hungry expression.

Mirio closed his eyes without thinking, Tamaki's expression dancing on the backs of his eyelids.

He felt the warmth of Tamaki's breath before the moisture of his mouth, and his muscles twinged at the sensation as he inhaled shakily.

Tamaki had reached that feeling again, that state of drunkenness where he was present in his body without feeling entirely in control of it. That first night it had felt more like his hands were just moving out of sync, a little before he thought about what he wanted them to do. Now the feeling was more intense. It felt like a separation of body and mind. As if he were watching his own actions from the outside, detached from his anxious mind.

"Ah… that, do that…"

Tamaki didn't know what he was doing, only what he had seen other people do so confidently in videos. But it didn't matter because being drunk was emboldening him to move on some unearthed instinct beyond thought.

And movement was rewarded by Mirio's low, honeyed voice.

"Tamaki… that feels- ah…"

Mirio had always been the more talkative of the two, but Tamaki had no idea that would hold true in situations like these. Nor did he know that Mirio's voice would drop so low or so… rough.

Tamaki pulled away with a gasp, desperate to see what Mirio looked like.

His heart wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Mirio's eyes were still obediently closed but his face - his blissed out expression was like nothing Tamaki had seen before. His chest was hardened, muscles straining to define the V below his waist that Tamaki always found his gaze drawn to. One hand was clutched at the back of his own neck, the other arm still resting against the chair. Tamaki could see his fingers curling towards him, as if he wanted to reach for Tamaki.

He wondered what he would do if he did.

Tamaki's thin fingers sought after Mirio's, encouraging his hand to drift to Tamaki's face. He felt blindly for Tamaki, fingers seizing at the dark strands of his hair with a gentle pressure that sent tingles down Tamaki's spine.

Tamaki guided himself back down. The sound of Mirio's voice was a growl that went straight to Tamaki's gut like a sucker punch.

He was doing that. He was.

He was so intoxicated by the sound of Mirio's bliss that he didn't realize how far he had gone, not until he gagged and rocked back on his heels with a shuddering gasp.

"Are you okay?" Mirio murmured.

He had opened his eyes and caught sight of Tamaki for the first time, the way his eyes were damp and his face and neck flushed crimson. His lips were shining with saliva, which he quickly swiped away with his forearm when he saw Mirio's eyes open.

"You're looki-" Tamaki cut off with a squeak of surprise as Mirio leaned down out of his chair and kissed Tamaki with such force their teeth clacked together. His hands swooped down and grabbed Tamaki under his thighs, lifting him up off the floor.

Tamaki gave an indignant yelp but Mirio was already across the room and to the bed where he let Tamaki's body lay flat on the mattress. His dark hair fanned out across the sheets, framing his startled expression as he blinked up at Mirio in wide-eyed surprise.

Mirio's face was haloed in the room's dim lighting. He was looking down at Tamaki with his blue eyes stormy. Hix expression was ravenous, and Tamaki trembled.

"You look so good like this."

He swooped in, twining his fingers in Tamaki's and pinning his hands to the bed above his head. Mirio leaned into the helpless boy, pressing between Tamaki's legs where they dangled off the edge of the bed. He swallowed Tamaki's startled noises in messy, open-mouthed kisses.

When Mirio pulled away it was to murmur sweet nothings into his ear, things that made Tamaki's pulse pound and his ears ring.

This felt different.

That feeling of control was slipping away, that thoughtless bravery that drunkenness had afforded him began to fade. In its place was a feeling much more familiar to Tamaki: worry.

"Miri- ah!"

Mirio's mouth had been trailing over Tamaki's chest, pressing gentle kisses until it had found purchase on the tender skin around Tamaki's nipple. The dark-haired boy's head snapped up off the bed to see Mirio's lips hovering playfully over the spot. Tamaki's fingers flexed against Mirio's where they were still ensnared above his head. Squirming turned to gasps as Mirio's licks turned to teeth, tiny nibbles that provoked a sharp whine Tamaki couldn't bite down.

He had never felt anything like that before, a sensation so sharp that somehow still felt good. His nerves were straining against his pleasure, threatening to break through.

Mirio was in control now, and his lustful expression was as exciting as it was terrifying.

Tamaki's brain was so laser-focused on the pinpoint movement of Mirio's mouth that he didn't comprehend Mirio's hands traveling down, down until his fingers were fumbling fast with Tamaki's pants. By the time Tamaki's focus snapped back he was being stripped down to his boxers.

His breathing was labored before, but now his chest was beginning to feel impossibly heavy. Panic was making each breath, each expansion of his ribcage feel like lifting an immeasurable weight.

"Mirio…" Tamaki gasped, sitting up shakily on his hands as Mirio shifted to the edge of the bed, his hands at Tamaki's hips.

"Let me make you feel good…"

His lips moved to Tamaki's hipbones, and Tamaki flinched at the sensation of his breath.

"Ngh. M-Mirio..."

His teeth grazed skin, and in that sharp sensation Tamaki felt his composure crumble

"St- ah!"

His hands shot out and grabbed Mirio's wrists. Mirio froze, his lusty expression fading into surprise.

Tamaki swallowed in the silence between them.

His head was ringing, that familiar feeling of nausea pooling in his stomach.

But Mirio was looking at him with such bittersweet confusion, his hands still hovering at the line of Tamaki's boxers, itching to undress him.

"Tamaki?"

He wanted Tamaki, it was written all over his face.

That's what he was doing this for, right? To give Mirio what he wanted?

He was this close already.

It was fine.

"I'm fine…" Tamaki's voice came out in a cracked whisper. "Don't stop."

His skull was pounding, but it was okay.

Seeing Mirio like this was worth it.

Seeing Mirio wanting him so badly, more than anything.

Mirio was hesitating now but Tamaki didn't want him to say anything else, to question him. He closed the distance between them again in a kiss.

Mirio's fingers hooked in the fabric of his boxers, grazing bare skin.

Whatever he did would feel good, right?

Once Mirio started doing… whatever he was thinking… it would start to feel good.

Tamaki scrunched his eyes closed. tighter and tighter until the backs of his eyelids were pitch black.

His head was pounding.

He felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Tamaki."

Mirio's voice had changed entirely. Tamaki felt Mirio's hands leave his skin, the bed shift as Mirio pulled away from him.

"Look at me."

He peered at Mirio through nervous slits, but his eyes widened fully when he saw his expression.

Mirio's brows were drawn down over narrowed eyes.

"You're shaking."

His tone was dangerously flat.

Tamaki glanced down to where his legs were still spread open against the bed. He was shaking, not only his legs but his chest trembling with each uneven breath.

"I'm okay," Tamaki tried to say, but his voice was hoarse.

"You're not," Mirio snapped, and Tamaki flinched back.

Mirio was glaring at him, shoulders hunched. Glaring. He had never seen that gaze directed at him.

It made him feel sick.

"You're not, Tamaki. I know what it looks like when you're shutting down on me."

"I'm-"

"You're having a panic attack," It wasn't until those words were spoken that Tamaki could no longer protest. Mirio stepped back from the bed looking shaken, raking his fingers aggressively through his hair until it was swept up in his familiar quiff. He sat down on the floor, head drooping.

"I can't believe you didn't stop me. Why would you do that?"

Tamaki couldn't see his face, but he could hear the distress in it.

"I…" Tamaki fumbled, sitting upright. "I thought it was what you wanted."

"You thought I wanted to get drunk and take advantage of you?" Mirio's tone was black.

"That's not what… this is." Tamaki had begun to twist his hands together, heart pounding.

"I wanted to make you happy."

Tamaki felt moisture beginning to well in his eyes.

"I'm not happy, I'm scared. I- I'm scared you would go that far." When he looked back up at Tamaki his gaze was so sharp Tamaki had to avoid it, staring down at his hands.

"Tamaki, how could I forgive myself if I woke up tomorrow morning and found out I did something you didn't want to?"

"It's not your fault," Tamaki quickly tried to defuse the situation. He couldn't bear seeing him in distress. "I… I really wanted to do this."

"And that's why you went out drinking with us."

The tears that had been pooling in Tamaki's lower lashes finally began to spill over.

"I…" His vision was spinning along with his head now, and his nausea had risen from his gut into the back of his throat. "I don't know."

The silence between them was deafening. It felt like ages passed before Mirio got to his feet.

"The drinking has to stop, Tamaki. If you can't do this sober then… then, we'll figure it out." Mirio's face briefly flashed that familiar determination before crumbling again.

"I don't want to be like this, Mirio..." Tamaki's voice was thick with self-loathing. "I just want to do things with you without... feeling like this." He held up his shaking hands as evidence.

"Can you leave?" Mirio's voice was so soft Tamaki almost missed it.

"What?"

"Please, Tamaki, just…" Mirio sighed, hands clawing at his hair. "I can't do this right now."

Tamaki got to his feet on wobbly legs, face burning crimson as he worked to pull his pants back up. Mirio kept his gaze trained on the floor as Tamaki made for the door, but he couldn't help but glance up one last time as Tamaki reached for the door.

Tamaki didn't have any parting words to give him. He left without a backwards glance.