Tamaki found himself in a not so rare position laid in his bed and staring at the ceiling waiting rather restlessly for sleep to take hold of him.
His anxiety caused him problems sleeping time to time and normally Tamaki wouldn't even be so bothered by it and just went to bed early because of it but as he rolled over to grab his watch, he saw it was now approaching midnight and whined in his head about it.
Tamaki let his eyes slide over to the other side of the room where Mirio was peacefully sleeping in his bed bar the snoring.
A small smile formed when he saw Mirio's hair splayed around him in a big mess from how Mirio tossed and turned every night.
The barber Midoriya-San recommended had been a very nice lady and grew out Mirio's hair for plenty of clothes to be made and his friend still had enough left for it to be its originally length once again, Mirio had returned from the appointment much happier than he had since his break down.
Mirio always hated having short hair, he usually claiming he felt naked without it, which Tamaki figured was less of a joke than he previously thought it was.
Tamaki's stomach curled at the thought.
They'd likely tell him it wasn't his fault but Tamaki couldn't help feeling he was in part responsible for Mirio's break down.
As the one who'd known Mirio the longest and slept in the same room as him for a year now it was hard not to dog himself for not noticing how distressed Mirio must of been over the past year.
Sure he was overwhelmed by just about everything but that wasn't a good excuse for why he didn't even notice, four more people to pay attention to or not, and they spent almost all day together outside of class so he couldn't even put it on that he wasn't around to notice.
Tamaki really should've realized something was wrong when Mirio never introduced them to anyone from his class or even talk about them much, he and Mirio have been in separate classes a couple of times and Mirio still tried to help him befriend the nicer ones.
Getting frustrated and guilty, Tamaki smothered himself with his pillow to keep his small groan unheard, Mirio wasn't quite a light sleeper, but he was close enough to one that Tamaki didn't want to risk waking him by being too loud on accident.
*Maybe I should take a walk to clear my mind? It can't be worse than laying here.* Tamaki thought carefully he pushed off his covers and slipped on his shoes.
He wouldn't go far, merely around the building a couple of times, something he's done before when he can't sleep.
It was something he used to do more often but he didn't feel as safe to do so in the city compared to the shrine, and he didn't want Mirio or his dad to wake up and find him missing either.
Grabbing his flashlight Tamaki only paused to double check that he was mostly dressed appropriately and decided to take the baggie of mice from the mini-fridge Mirio insisted on adding to the room for his perishable snacks.
Tamaki would feel more guilty if Mirio didn't keep his bottles of strawberry milk in there too.
All set Tamaki turned on his flashlight and placed it in his mouth so both of his hands would be free then moved to leave by opening the bedroom window as quietly as possible, Mirio might not be a light sleeper but his father definitely was and would wake up if he heard Tamaki leave the bedroom via the door.
And Tamaki pushed aside the curtains only to jump when there was a flash of pink and green, realizing a second too late that it was Oswald on the other side of the glass and about to knock on the glass.
Tamaki's mouth opened to ask what he was doing here at midnight of all times but remembered his flashlight and scrambled to grab it before it hit the floor and woke Mirio and Togata-San.
Calming down from his first heart attack Tamaki timidly turned back towards the window and Oswald looked guilty for causing it "Sorry-" Oswald said but Tamaki cut him off by waving his arms like a demented windmill for him to stop, even if it was slightly muffed by the glass it was long enough to cause Mirio to stir before ultimately flipping over to his other side.
Tamaki quietly exhaled and turned back to the window, and he shakily fumbled the lock then opened the window, Oswald helping him to climb out and Tamaki closed it almost all the way afterwards.
"Uh-" Oswald was going to speak and he was much quieter, but Tamaki shook his head and waved his arms again, though not as frantically as the first time and Oswald promptly shut his mouth.
Gulping, Tamaki looked left and right and saw it was relatively quiet, Tamaki took a deep breath to calm his nerves and with a trembling hand motioned for Oswald to follow him, Oswald nodded quietly.
Together the two of them walked over to the stairs and Tamaki lead him up the stairs making for the roof instead of the loops around the building Tamaki originally planned to take, the fire-escape helped them when the real stairs ended and the two of them ended up on the roof together in minutes.
Now that they were there Tamaki had lost a good deal of his confidence since on the way up, he had time to process what Oswald being here could mean, people do not after all travel who knows how long at night to friend's houses without a good reason.
Especially people like Oswald.
Feeling lost and concerned Tamaki couldn't help fiddling with the trim of his night shirt, a soft material with glow in the dark stars all over it that he absentmindedly notes was part of a set from Hado he got as a Christmas present.
"Can I uh, speak now?" Oswald asked, jolting Tamaki out of his mind's attempt to distract him, flustered he nodded.
Oswald looked away rubbed the back of his neck with exhale "Didn't mean to cause you guys any trouble but I, can't be home right now and I figured strip- Mirio wouldn't mind letting me crash for a night or two." Oswald told him.
Tamaki felt his chest constrict at that, Miyake had vaguely hinted at it before, so Tamaki and the others knew Oswald wasn't on the best terms with his dad and step-mom and in the wake of what happened with Mirio this fact was a lot more unsettling.
Looking back at him Oswald scoffed almost instantly "Oh calm down, I just have some crap on my mind and didn't want to put up with the bitchy hag on top of it." Oswald said dismissively and bumped his shoulder with Tamaki's own.
And maybe if Tamaki wasn't looking at just the right time to catch the twitching of his hair underneath the hoodie he'd believe Oswald, the fact that Oswald still wasn't acting completely like himself either since Monday didn't help either, if anything it only spotlight the issue from before the Mall attack and brought it back to his mind.
Biting his lip Tamaki closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Tamaki tried his hardest to scrap up his courage and gripped his shirt to keep them from trembling as he turned to Oswald.
"A- are you not okay?" Tamaki said only to flush immediately after and shamefully bury his face in his hands as he understood that he was so socially inept that he couldn't even ask someone if they were okay right.
Tamaki only lifted his head from his hands when he heard a muffled snicker, Oswald had a fist tightly pressed against his mouth clearly trying to keep from chuckling or something similar but only seemed to get worse for him.
"O-oz?" Tamaki whimpered when Oswald's shoulders hunched up.
"S-sorry, I'm didn't mean to laugh, it's not even funny b-but I can't... " Oswald muttered as he was forced to chuckle, and tears built in his eyes as he hugged himself.
Tamaki felt his stomach twist at the sight and his hand moved on its own to grab near the shoulder of Oswald's hoodie, Oswald's eyes went to him, and Tamaki didn't know when he got close enough to do it, but he apparently was.
Oswald's eyes softened and he let his head fall forward and hit Tamaki's shoulder making the boy jump once again and let out a choked squeak.
"I must be a real mess huh Jiki?" Oswald asked, voice somewhat hollow and Tamaki fumbled for what he was supposed to do now.
"I um, don't know?" Tamaki croaked wondering if there were any 'how to help an emotional friend for dummies' book because he could really use one right now.
He must not be doing that horribly because Oswald was chuckling again which felt kind of weird since Oswald's mouth was right on his shoulder, but it was probably a good sign... hopefully.
Oswald sighed and pulled back to rub at his eyes, subsequently causing his hoodie to fall back and reveal his curls, and with another huff he stepped back moving over to the edge and sat slummed against the waist high barrier wall, unsure what to do Tamaki moved to sit beside Oswald hugging his legs to his chest.
Oswald moved to grab something from his pocket only to wince when he realized that Tamaki was watching him having forgotten for a moment apparently "You won't rat me would you Jiki?" Oswald inquired, slowly pulling out a pack of cigarettes.
Tamaki's eyes widened upon seeing them, mainly because he didn't know Oswald smoked and an answer fumbled its way out of his mouth "N-no?"
Oswald huffed bemused and pulled out one and lit it up only to begin hacking and coughing after he breathed in and threw it away "O-okay fuck that, the hell does that bitch stand these things?" Oswald exclaimed, staring at the pack as if it kicked someone's puppy.
"Those are you're step-mom's?" Tamaki said confused, his eyes fluttering.
Oswald grinned back at him "I may or may not make a habit of 'misplacing' her shit when she really gets on my nerves." Oswald told him before tossing the pack behind them and likely it fell to the street "Though I might be doing her a favor getting rid of those cancer sticks of hers." Oswald commented with a shrug.
After that Oswald let his head lull back against the guard wall "So um, guess you'd want me to start from the beginning, right?" Oswald asked, letting his eyes slid over to Tamaki.
"Uh, I-I guess, um the thing from before the mall?" Tamaki suggested nervously.
"Yeah, yeah," Oswald said nodding his head "I guess that's as good as any place, so you know that I ain't on good terms with my dad?" Oswald brought up running a hand through his hair and Tamaki nodded.
"Well the reason for that is because he completely fucked my mom over, he was cheating on her and when she get fused with my aunt Trinity he somehow divorced her and got everything, which is super fucked on its own mind you, and hated his guts because he finally screwed us all over... and it was my kid brain saying it but I always wished he didn't and we could go back to before his stupid affair." Oswald told him.
"But then that whole thing with Ren happened during Miyake's internship and I thought about what him not divorcing her could've been like. Like... it wouldn't surprise me if the two of them would've locked her up in house and treat her like Cinderella or some shit, harassing the two of them for looking like a fucked-up creature." Oswald explained irritability.
"And that was a real fucked up thought, that while shit was bad at home but hey at least my mom and aunt Trinity aren't stuck in the basement licking their wounds, right?" Oswald hollowly joked turning back to Tamaki.
"Oswald," Tamaki said moving his hand out to place on his shoulder but stopped halfway when Oswald turned away again, and Tamaki cursed himself for being so stupid and buried his head in his knees.
So when something wrapped around his hand he was rightful surprised and his head shot up to see up, he was less surprised to see that it was one of Oswald's locks of hair and looked back over to his friend who was stubbornly not looking at him and looking quite a bit more morose.
Tamaki opened his mouth to say something, but his brain wasn't helping him put any together, so he chose to squeeze the lock in his hand, Oswald's eyes fluttered closed and softly exhaled "Hey Jiki? Does, the stuff you grow ever feel... like there's more of it in you than you in your hands after you use your quirk?" he asked wearily.
Tamaki's eyes widened and his mouth fell open *What?* Tamaki's mind sputtered as he unconsciously rolled the thought over in his mind "N-no? I mean, I've never noticed anything l-like that." he answered.
Oswald scoffed "Lucky bitch... " he muttered with none of the venom from when he was talking about his dad "It's kind of hard to forget that most of your body wasn't what you were born with." Oswald commented making Tamaki's heart leap up into his throat as he suddenly remembered the festival.
It, hadn't seemed like a big deal at the time, but Oswald had lost his arm.
Something that should've been horrifying but the lack of panic from anyone at the time combined with him growing a new one an hour after the festival ended had left it as if it just a footnote of the hectic day.
One that left him feeling far colder after he thought of it and stared at the tendril of hair wrapped around his hand, grimly wondering just how many times he'd eaten that specific curl of hair only for it to be replaced with store bought candy.
"Hey Jiki, can you close your eyes for a second?" Oswald requested quietly bringing Tamaki out of his spiraling thoughts, Tamaki hesitated but ultimately gulped and tentatively put his trust in Oswald since his friend had trusted him to be so vulnerable and closed his eyes.
Oswald shuffled around that much Tamaki could hear, then he felt Oswald turn his hands over and into a cupped position making Tamaki's stomach flip and he wasn't sure if it was from unease or because his stupid teenage hormones were flaring up again at the worst possible moment.
The next thing he heard was quiet and even with his sharper than average hearing that he couldn't make out what it was that sound was and the only thing his brain could come up with was... rippling? Maybe but it wasn't liquid so it couldn't be, but it was the closest thing it sounded like, or a moist crinkling.
Then he felt... something pulsing in his hands, it made his heart skip as he realized exactly what he was holding, and his mind started racing in circles yelling *What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck.* in his head trying very hard to not freak out and drop what was in his hands.
Unable to keep himself from doing so Tamaki's eyes snapped open and in his hands was indeed a heart made up of the same light pink taffy as Oswald's hair beating away in his hands, his wide eyes followed the four stretched out pink veins connected to the organ to Oswald's chest and sharply inhaled at what he saw.
Oswald's skin had been pulled back looking like it had been ripped apart leaving a gaping hole that revealed his upper chest cavity full of similar looking pink organs and the only non-pink thing being ribcage that somehow wasn't tinted the slightest bit pink, subsequently making his mental chant of *What the fuck!* has graduated to wordless screaming in his head.
Oswald apparently understanding he needed a few minutes to freak out and he was right because it felt like an eternity before Tamaki could pick his jaw up and meekly croaked "O- O-Oswald?"
Oswald gave a soft hum "Other than my bones, that's the only part of me I was born with." Oswald softly said just staring at the organ as it sat unperturbed in Tamaki's hands and Tamaki's eyes went back to it as well "... Sometimes on the shitter days I just, take it out and hold it... I don't know, it just... feels right." Oswald explained trailing off.
Tamaki swallows thickly, an odd indescribable feeling squirming in his own chest as he doomingly realized that he was wildly out of his depth in this situation and was half considering fainting on the spot, instead a shaky "C-cool." left his trembling mouth.
Oswald laughed breathlessly "Yeah, it's kind of cool Jiki." Oswald said smiling at him and it subsequently felt like a shot directly to Tamaki's heart.
Since a couple people have asked, Oswald does have a form of 'blood' in his body.
However his 'blood' is in a closed system much like most arachnids, with the blood almost entirely in just his torso and head as that is where his organs are.
Because while they are taffy made the organs work and function just like flesh ones with the exceptions of color and ability to be stretched and regrown.