Chapter Text
“Where’s Togata? Wasn’t he at school today?”
Tamaki glances up from his textbook, to meet Nejire’s curious gaze. She’s in his class, but they haven’t spoken much. He looks over at the empty seat next to him, saying, simply: “I’m not sure.”
“Really?” And Nejire isn’t that loud, but she’s a lot louder than he is, “but you guys are always going around together-- It’s so weird that you’re here studying after school without him, you guys are like, joined at the hip I thought! Right, like, aren’t you two basically best friends?”
“Uh…” Tamaki can feel his heart beating a little harder. He had felt certain that she was just looking for Mirio. But now it seems like she’s trying to start a conversation with him. He swallows. It’s his first year of high school and he’s so used to having Mirio around. He really feels defenseless without him. But he tries to put on a brave tone of voice, “Yeah. Basically.” It’s not much of an answer but it’s all he can muster for the moment. He hopes she doesn’t think he’s being cold.
“That’s neat,” Nejire sits in the open seat next to him, smiling, “I bet it’s nice going to the same school as your best friend, huh?”
“Yeah…”
“Did you guys go to middle school together?”
“Uh-huh, and elementary…”
“WHOAH so you’ve known each other for, like, FOREVER?-- I literally just met everyone in our grade a couple weeks ago!-- Man you guys are lucky!”
And somehow, a hint of a smile brightens Tamaki’s face-- still a little flushed from nerves at speaking to his classmate. “I guess so…”
***
The weather was lovely and the sun was getting low in the sky. Class had let out over an hour ago but they were still near the campus, by the little park with the big shady trees, sitting on the grass with each other, in the quiet early evening.
“So yesterday I watched this movie-- and there was this guy, he was a hero, and he had this crazy plan…”
Tamaki was listening, really, but at the time he was a little more focused on looking at Mirio. At his animated expression and his hair waving in the breeze. And he found himself, very at peace there, watching and listening to him. After all the years they had been friends he couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be. Nobody’s company felt more, comfortable, than Mirio’s.
“So then he was able to win back her heart even after all the war crimes he committed. And I was like-- wow! Love is such a weird and crazy thing, don’t you think?”
“I dunno…” Tamaki shrugged. “It was a movie… they always come up with crazy scenarios.”
“Yeah but love is crazy in real life too,” Mirio explained, sure of himself, but not the least bit patronizing, “Like you know the old couple that own the bakery down the road from my house? They were good friends in college, but then they fell out of touch for, like, thirty years, before they met up again and reconnected and fell in love and started a bakery together! Isn’t that crazy??”
It got a big smile out of Tamaki. “That’s…” searching for the right word, “sweet…”
“I know right!” Mirio leaned across the grass, closing some of the space between them, “And that’s not all--! There’s Water Hose, two heroes one name, I mean you must really love someone to be two heroes one name! And also, whenever I take the trash out I always see these two stray dogs laying together near the dumpsters, keeping each other warm, and I think-- wow! Even dogs can find love. Isn’t that crazy?”
There was something odd, in the way Mirio asked it. Almost like his confidence had slipped at the end, and he was really asking-- really looking for reassurance.
Tamaki nodded. “It’s amazing.”
Mirio’s eyes got a little brighter. He laid down in the grass, and looked up at the sky, beaming. “Yeah. That’s what I was thinking…!”
Tamaki’s insides felt warm, at the way Mirio seemed at ease. For a minute or so he watched him laying there, until, eventually, his eyes drifted upwards.
And for a while, they both watched the pinkish, early evening sky together.
“Tamaki…”
“Yeah?”
“What do you think our crazy love story is gonna be like?”
They both kept looking towards the sky.
The breeze rattled the leaves above them, but besides that, the space was quiet for a long moment.
Tamaki blinked. He cast his eyes down, trying to keep an even exterior. Trying not to show how his heart was starting to pound. Trying not to blush. He was used to dealing with anxiety, but not this bad. Not with Mirio. Definitely not.
And as he sat there trying to calm down, it occured to Tamaki, that it makes sense Mirio is thinking about this sort of thing. It was the final year of middle school and their class was full of young teens eager to find something called love.
And it calmed Tamaki down some to think Mirio must be talking about ‘their stories’ as two stories-- respectively. Only connected in the sense that they were being spoken about in one breath. Of course Mirio was thinking about how his own love story might turn out. He had included Tamaki in the question out of a gesture of kindness. Nothing more.
They were just friends, after all.
Mirio turned away from the sky, glancing at Tamaki instead, prompting him with a kind and curious gaze, not a word.
“Uh…” Tamaki shrugged. “I dunno.”
Mirio tilted his head, some of the light in his eyes fading at that.
Tamaki managed a small, apologetic smile. “Seriously, I’ve got no clue what’s in store for either of us when it comes to…” he tried, briefly, to work up the nerve to say it, “to… romantic stuff… But,” suddenly feeling a sense of certainty, as he often does when it comes to Mirio, “In any case, I’m sure for you it’ll be something amazing.”
Brightening again, Mirio asked, “You think so?”
“Sure, I mean, you’re still in middle school-- so you shouldn’t be in a big hurry… but… I bet, if you want, you’ll find the craziest, most amazing romantic adventure…” Tamaki couldn’t help but blush a little because it felt weird to talk about this subject, but at the same time he was smiling big.
And he felt certain in that moment that Mirio had always meant two different stories. And he just felt so lucky to play some small part in Mirio’s.
And he felt calm.
Mirio smiled back at him. He sat up straight, and turned away, scratching his head uncertainly. “Huh, wow…” Something dejected in his voice.
Tamaki’s eyes got wider-- concerned, and confused. “Mirio…”
“Yeah, but,” Mirio looked right at Tamaki, that uncertainty he had just felt replaced with eagerness. And hope. “Don’t you think you’ll be there with me?”
There’s a pause.
Tamaki tried to hold his gaze. But he couldn’t. He swallowed, glancing away, his face getting warm all of a sudden.
“Don’t you think,” Mirio scooted closer across the grass, sliding his hand right next to Tamaki’s, “that we’ll go on that big crazy romantic adventure together?”
“Mirio…” Tamaki shook his head.
“Tamaki,” Mirio shrugged big, smiling bigger, leaning even closer. “I guess, what I’m saying is…” And it felt silly, to say it. But he said it anyways: “I wanna fall in love with you.”
Tamaki kept shaking his head.
“Or, maybe I already am…!” Mirio added with a sense of delight. “I think, I might be like, really in love with you actually!”
Tamaki’s hands started shaking too. His face was red.
A pause.
Mirio kept watching him, closely.
And Tamaki was well aware that Mirio wanted him to say something. But all he could manage was a small, uncertain, “Oh…”
Mirio backed away some, concerned, “So… This must seem like it’s coming out of nowhere, huh…? But, the truth is I’ve been thinking about it for a long time… I just couldn’t figure out how to tell you…”
Tamaki covered his face with his hands for a second, taking a shaky breath that gave away the fact that tears weren’t far off.
“Ah--Sorry…!” Mirio reached towards Tamaki, but stopped himself short, “I... I totally didn’t wanna freak you out-- I guess I came on too strong, huh?”
“Mirio…”
“Just pretend that I didn’t say any of that.”
“Good idea.”
“That way I can try again!”
“Hang on--”
“Don’t worry don’t worry-- I’ll be really straightforward this time.”
“Mirio…”
“Tamaki.” He took his hand, “I have to tell you something,” Beaming, ecstatic to get it off his chest... again, “I like you. So, do you wanna, like, be my boyfriend?”
After holding Mirio’s gaze, and his hand, for a moment, Tamaki slowly pulled his hand away, and covered his face-- just about glowing from how flustered he was. He fell back against the grass with a sigh that turned into a groan. Confused, and completely frustrated with himself.
Mirio watched him, frowning a big worried frown. It really wasn’t the kinda reaction he had been hoping for.
It’s not the kinda reaction Tamaki wanted to have either, but he couldn’t think straight and he didn’t have much say in the matter. His hands slide off his face. He looked up at the sky through the trees and then through blurry eyes. He figured he wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears much longer.
After allowing a minute of silence to pass between them, Mirio scooted a little closer. “Tamaki…?”
His voice was so gentle. So sweetly asking for something. Some kind of response.
Anything.
Guilt welled up in Tamaki’s chest.
“I’m sorry…” he said it under his breath as he climbed to his feet, grabbing his backpack and rushing off as fast as he could.
Mirio watched him leave, a heavy sense of uncertainty and concern inside of him. And right underneath that, something even heavier. He held his hand over his heart, --over that heavy, aching part of him-- watching after in the direction where Tamaki had run off.
After a minute or so of just looking off, Mirio’s eyes drifted over to a nearby bed of flowers.
He tilted his head, intrigued.