Work Text:
When Amajiki wakes up, he’s immediately confused. Light is streaming into his room. He looks around until he sees his alarm clock, and it says it’s almost ten o’ clock. He sits up quickly.
How did my alarm not go off? Luckily it’s Saturday, so there’s no school, but I did say that I would come into work early.
He races through getting ready, but his phone starts ringing while he’s in the shower. Once he gets dressed, he starts drying his hair. He picks up his phone, seeing that Fatgum was the one that called him. He redials, already feeling anxiety spike in his chest.
As much as I hate talking over the phone, I can’t wait until I get to work, he thinks, trying to hype himself up.
Much to his relief, Fatgum doesn’t answer. He leaves his phone's ringer on, and continues to get ready. It’s not long before he’s ready to go, and starts his walk to the Fatgum agency. Once he gets there, he sees a kid. He immediately slumps his shoulders and buries his face in his hood, not wanting to talk to the kid. This is the first person he’s seen on his walk, as weird as that is. The kid is blonde, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Amajiki feels like he’s seen the kid before recently, but he can’t remember when. He’s also stomping, which means he’s probably looking for someone to take his anger out on. Despite his best efforts to avoid conflict, the kid seems to be walking towards the agency too. He gets to the door right before Amajiki does.
He stops with his hand on the door, then turns towards Amajiki. “What are you doing here?”
Amajiki, surprised by the question, just starts stuttering. “I- um.. I-”
“Oh, you’re Amajiki, I’m guessing. Well, Fatgum tried to call you, but the agency is closed. The Hero Commission is checking the agency over, and he’s the only pro that works here who’s allowed to be here right now.”
“What?” Amajiki whispers, clenching his cloak in his hands.
“I said what I said,” he announces.
Amajiki, who’s not great with faces, tries to place where he’s seen this kid before. “Who?” he stutters out before falling quiet again.
“Who am I? I work for the Hero Commission.”
Amajiki frowns at him, ultimately more confused than when this started. The kid pulls out his phone.
“I’m just gonna text Fatgum and he’ll clear all of this up.”
It’s only a minute before Fatgum appears in the doorway. “Ah, you’re finally here. Come on in. Hey, Amajiki. I tried to call you to say that I wouldn’t need you in until later, but you didn’t answer. I was going to leave a message, but your inbox is full. You should really clear that out. Anyway, you should come in," he says to the kid before continuing to talk to Amajiki," and you should go back to the dorms and relax until the agency is cleared.”
“He works for the Hero Commission?” Amajiki mumbles.
“Yeah, he’s a little young, but he’s a lot older than he looks.”
Fatgum and the blonde… man, apparently, walk inside. The door slides shut behind them. Amajiki turns around, and heads back towards the school. After only clearing a few streets, he hesitates, then turns to the right instead of heading towards the school. His childhood home is only a few blocks from here, and he knows his mother would like to see him.
No one answers the door when he knocks, so he just uses his key to open the door. The house is quiet. None of the lights are on, and all of the windows are blocked by blackout curtains. Amajiki sighs, the house smells like alcohol again. He walks inside, and pulls the curtains open. Sunlight floods in, and his mother hisses from the couch.
“Come on, get up. How long have you been lying there?” he asks quietly.
“Shut up, Tamaki. You talk too much. How did you even get in here?”
“I used my key. How long have you been sitting here?”
His mother is the only one that he can normally talk to, and even that took until he turned fifteen.
“I don’t know, what day is it?”
“Saturday.”
“Ugh, I crashed on Thursday night.”
“You haven’t drank any water since Thursday?”
Amajiki shakes his head disappointedly. He walks into the kitchen to fill a glass with water. There’s vomit on the floor, and vodka bottles on the counter. He bypasses all of that, he can clean everything up later. Instead, he gets his mom a glass of water, and walks back into the living room.
“Alright, Mom, get off of the couch. You’re going to walk around the living room while you drink this glass of water. I’m going to clean up the kitchen, and look around. Do you have anyone over that I should worry about?”
“No, not this time.”
Amajiki nods, and pulls her off of the couch, onto her feet. “There,” he mutters, placing the glass of water in her hand. “Walk some.”
He goes back into the kitchen, but he can still hear his mother moving around the living room. After the vomit is cleaned up, he pokes his head into the living room. His mother is walking around with her glass of water, although her eyes still look a little foggy.
“Why did you come home from the club on Thursday night and not Friday morning?”
“I got tired, and realized that I’m old.”
“Hmm.” He goes back into the kitchen to throw away the bottles of vodka. Two of them still have vodka in them, but he just dumps it out and throws those away too.
She must have found someone else to fund her alcohol addiction, because I pay all of the bills myself, and only give her enough money for food and some gas. Unless she got a job, he muses.
Sighing, he walks up the stairs to look around. His room is trashed; all of his stuff is thrown on the floor, or broken.
Guess she missed me.
Shutting the door, he moves on to her room. Everything looks fine, and nothing’s out of place.
She hasn’t been in here since I visited last Sunday.
He walks back down the stairs, and his mom is back on the couch.
“You need to drink another cup of water, and then go get a shower. I’ll stay down here until you’re done. I want you to get a shower in the bathroom in the hall though. Don’t go into your room, I won't be able to hear if you fall from there.”
She nods, and shuffles away. Then he goes through the rooms, checking the downstairs for damages. The bathroom is a mess, vomit everywhere and some blood in the sink. Amajiki starts cleaning, listening to make sure that his mom doesn’t fall upstairs. He doesn’t hear anything, and he’s just finishing up as she walks down. Her hair is dripping, but she has a towel draped over the shoulders of her shirt to catch the water.
“Did your gums start bleeding again?” She nods before lowering herself onto the couch. “I’m going to schedule you a dentist appointment, and I’ll pay for it. I am coming with you though.”
“Alright, but that sore on my back hasn’t gone away,” she complains.
“It’s ok, I’ll set up a doctor’s appointment too. I probably won’t have time to have them in the same week. Can you get yourself ready?” She shrugs. “I’ll take that as a no. I’ll have to make sure that you stay sober before the doctor’s appointment.”
“I don’t need you to tell me what to do.”
Amajiki hums agreeably, already planning out how the week of the appointment will go. Fatgum insists on taking me to all of my appointments, so I’ll have to be honest about where I'm going. Fatgum might ask a few questions, but most of them have easy answers. It’ll have to be on the weekends.
“Tamaki, what are you wearing? Go change clothes, you look ridiculous.”
Amajiki sighs, and treks up the stairs. He changes clothes in his room. Luckily he has a pair of jeans and a indigo hoodie still in his closet. The jeans are white washed, and his mom bought the hoodie because it matches his eyes. He drops his keys into one of the back pockets, and then reaches for his phone. The only problem is, it’s not in the same pocket that he left it in. So, he starts checking all of them, and then storms down the stairs.
“Mom, why do you have my phone?” he demands.
She looks up from his phone, cocking her head. “I wanted to know what you’ve been up to. How about this, we put both of our phones in the middle of the table and just talk for a while?”
“You couldn’t get in could you?”
She shakes her head. He sighs, sitting down on the couch. As soon as he does, his phone starts ringing. Mirio is calling.
He takes it from her, and answers,” Hey, Mirio. What’s up?”
“Could you come down to the Fatgum agency? I was patrolling near here, and I saw the agency. I thought I would come see you, so I went to talk to the receptionist. Then Fatgum said he was just about to call you, and he asked me if I wanted to call you and of course I said yes.”
“I’m busy, Mirio. Tell Fatgum that I’ll be in later,” he mumbles.
“Aw, why? I was hoping to see you before I have to go back to work.”
“I’m with my mom.”
“Oh, I can see why you went to go see her today, especially with your time off and all.”
“I just thought I’d come over,” he says, sounding a little more confused now.
“Oh, gotcha. Well, I’ll see you later. Remember, we’re supposed to go apartment hunting tomorrow. Also, I may have let it slip to Nejire that we were going. So, she’s coming with us to make sure that she approves of wherever we pick. The good news is that we’re going to graduate soon. We should definitely focus on that instead of what we’re going to have to endure tomorrow.”
“K, bye, Mirio.”
“Bye, Tamaki. See you later.” Amajiki hangs up. He turns back to his mother. “Alright, I’m ready for our conversation.”
Mirio turns back towards everyone else at the surprise party for Amajiki’s birthday. “He’s not coming.”
“Well, we got that,” Bakugo pipes up sarcastically.
“Not now, Bakugo. You know, you’re not making a very good first impression,” Kirishima reminds him.
“I don’t even know why I’m here.”
“Because we’re friends, and Amajiki is my friend. Also, I needed your help. No one here can properly blow up or tie off a balloon.”
“Why not? They’re adults! They should be able to blow up balloons.”
“Don’t start blowing things up,” Kirishima pleads.
Bakugo folds his arms almost poutingly.
“If it helps, I really like your friend. I don’t know where the lie about the Hero Commission came from, but it wasn’t the worst lie.”
“Well, you told me to say that the Hero Commission was here. I had to improvise, because by the time I saw him, I was already walking in. I can guarantee you he didn’t remember the few times we’ve passed each other. After all, I missed your apparent little show. By the way, I doubt you’re really that great,” he says to Mirio. “They’re a bunch of weaklings, and you probably threw everyone off by flashing them.”
Mirio blushes bright red.
“Bakugo!” Bakugo leans back, sighing.
“Why isn’t he coming? Is he mad at me?” Fatgum asks anxiously.
“No, he’s with his mom right now. The issue is, I don’t think he remembers that today is his birthday.”
“How could he forget that?” Kirishima asks.
“Birthdays weren’t really a thing for Tamaki. I didn’t even know when his birthday was until we got into UA. He just said it was never important. Not that he doesn’t like birthdays, he always came to my birthday parties. Even though it was just the two of us after I turned ten.”
Bakugo huffs. “He probably hated going to your parties. He’s your friend, of course he’d come anyway, but have you met that guy. I don’t even know why we’re here. He’d probably like a few quiet happy birthdays, and maybe a gift. Dinner with you and that other extra.”
“Is he talking about Nejire?” Mirio asks Kirishima.
“Hard to tell considering he calls everyone an extra with very few exceptions, but that is likely.”
Mirio nods. “Tamaki has been talking about having a birthday party all year. He’s been talking about it with Nejire. I always pretend like I didn’t hear them talking about it, but I heard him saying he wanted one. Anyway, I will go over to Tamaki’s house, and we’ll come by when we can. If you can’t stay, that’s ok, just go home… or wherever else you need to be.”
Bakugo stands up, but Kirishima drags him back into his chair. “We’re staying here.”
“Fine, but I have training with Deku at five.”
“Yeah, I know. You guys train for hours until Aizawa has to go get you at one am. Then make you eat dinner, or early first breakfast. Whatever it is you’re eating.”
“Will not.”
“Yes, you will. That’s what you guys always do.”
Bakugo turns his chin up, but leans back comfortably in his chair. Mirio walks out, striding to Amajiki’s house. It’s quiet outside when he gets there, which is good. That means his mom is sober, and she probably hasn’t hit him. He knocks on the door, rocking on his heels. Amajiki’s mother opens the door, and a smile immediately spreads across her face.
“Mirio, sweetheart. It’s been a little while. Come in. Come on, sit down with me and Tamaki. We were just discussing what he’s been working on recently.”
“Ok, thanks for the offer, Mrs. Amajiki.”
“Of course. Tamaki, you didn’t tell me you invited Mirio.”
“I didn’t, but I’m glad he’s here.”
Mirio smiles, and sits down on one of the armchairs. They sit and talk about their lives, and trivial things for almost half of an hour before Mirio stands back up.
“This has been great.”
I haven’t seen her in this good of a mood for years.
“But Tamaki and I have to get going. Fatgum is expecting Tamaki. He has some paperwork that he really needs done by the end of the day.”
“I’ll go get changed.”
“No need, just some paperwork. We’ll stop by and pick up your costume later.”
Amajiki just nods complacently. While they’re walking back towards the agency, Mirio grins at Amajiki.
“So, what’s up?”
“Thanks for coming over.”
“Was she drunk again?” He shakes his head. “Hungover?” Another shake. “Oh, so she passed out for days again?”
A nod this time. Mirio puts an arm around Amajiki’s shoulders. They’re quiet for the rest of the walk.
“I’ll walk you inside,” Mirio says as they approach the building.
Amajiki nods, hunching his shoulders slightly. Mirio leads the way up towards the surprise party. Everyone is just sitting around, because Mirio forgot to text that they were on their way.
When they see Amajiki, who’s still staring at the ground, they all shout,” Happy Birthday!”
His head snaps up, his eyes wide. Bakugo, who didn’t feel like joining in on the festivities, looks towards Amajiki, his eyes calculating. Amajiki looks between Mirio and the group gathered in front of him. His eyes are still wide, then he squeaks and flees down the stairs. Bakugo clicks his tongue.
“Told you.”
“Bakugo!” Kirishima reprimands.
“Where’s Nejire?” Mirio asks, turning back around.
“You know how she said that she was going to be late? Well, she still hasn’t showed up,” Kirishima replies.
“Both of his friends knew about a surprise party and didn’t think it was a bad idea?” Bakugo asks, his tone softer.
“Nejire didn’t know what we were doing, or she wouldn’t be so late. I was just hoping that she could help me do damage control. I thought he wanted this. I thought things were changing now that he’s working with you, Fatgum.”
Mirio sighs before walking down the stairs. He searches around for Amajiki, but doesn’t find him. So, he races out of the agency, not really knowing if he would have left or not. After looking around near the agency, Mirio goes back to his mom’s house. He knocks and she opens the door with a big smile on her face.
“Hey, can I come in?”
“Yeah, did you come to pick up Tamaki’s hero costume for him?”
Mirio nods. He grabs the costume from upstairs and starts walking back towards the school. That’s the only other place that he can think of where Amajiki could have gone. When he gets back though, Amajiki’s door is locked. He can hear the shower running, even though Amajiki always gets a shower before work. Mirio bangs on the door.
“Tamaki, come out… come on, open the door.”
After a full minute of trying to break the door down with his fist, Amajiki opens the door. Mirio almost hits him in the face, but barely pulls back fast enough.
“Tamaki, I’m sorry. I thought you wanted a party. You were talking about it.”
“What? No I wasn’t.”
“You were talking to Nejire. I didn’t mean to upset you or be overwhelming.”
“We were talking about hosting a surprise party for your birthday. You haven’t had one in so long, and you used to love them.”
Mirio just stares at him. Then hugs him tightly. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m alright,” he whispers, lightly putting his arms around Mirio.
“We should go over to Nejire’s dorm. I texted her to meet us there when she had a chance.”
Amajiki nods. They spend the next fifteen minutes sitting in the hallway outside of Nejire’s dorm. After she gets there, they go inside and have dinner together, just the three of them. Amajiki texts Fatgum to tell him that everyone can go home. After dinner, they turn on the TV in Nejire’s room, and watch a few movies. They all fall asleep on the couch together, and Amajiki knows that he’s never had a better birthday.