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The wedding invitation—
Holding the invitation in his hands, the entire thing seemed so unlike his older brother, with butterflies and a floral perfume scent that felt absolutely out of place, along with the fond done in gold ink, with pinks and purples mixed in with the cool blue Tamaki always associated with the first hero he ’d ever come to idolize.
“And never live up to,” Tamaki thought, setting the card on the table, leaning back, and looking at the ceiling. “I can’t show my face back in Kimetsu. What about this Quirk, which isn’t like everyone else there, including him?”
A knock came on the door, and Mirio stuck his head through. Quickly, Tamaki hid the invitation under the table, and Mirio started …
“Hey!” Tamaki said, his facial features heating up before flopping down.
“Then come out for dinner in the common room,” Mirio said, winking and giving him a thumbs up. “Nejire is waiting.”
“Uh, yeah,” he said, watching his friend disappear, quickly tucking the invitation under the pillow he sat on before following Mirio, knowing his best friend would drag him out of the room himself.
Only—
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?” Nejire said, turning her head to look at one of her female classmates as he took a seat.
“It’s going to be one of the major weddings this year,” the girl said, clutching her hands beside her face in excitement, something he caught out of the corner of his eye.
“Oh, no.” He looked away, listening to a few of their female classmates bring up the wedding, gossiping about his brother’s wedding.
The girls—they were excited about the news regarding the Insect Hashira getting married.
“Certainly explains the butterflies on the invitation.”
Mirio nudged him, laughing, slapping him on the back. “Don’t worry. It’s not that any of this has anything to do with us!”
Except—
The Insect Hashira that the girls in his class admired was marrying him , the Water Hashira, the one who ’d become a Hashira for the Oni Kari group at such a young age, but when one of the male students noted this, one of the girls, or perhaps more, voiced their disappointment because—
He felt the tips of his ears turn red, hearing the girls voice their disappointment that a hero they crushed on was getting married even though they also admired the Insect Hashira.
It was—
“Disconcerting…”
And then some of the guys were laughing, having caught sight of his ears turning red at the tips, none of them the wiser of his connections to Kimetsu—
“Why would anybody, when Kimetsu utilizes a different system—outsiders don’t become heroes there no matter how much some of these guys want to, nor does—I’m certainly the exception to the rule, right?”
“I’m going to bed,” Tamaki muttered. “Not feeling well.”
“Eh?” Mirio got up, following him. “Your Quirk. It uses food, remember?”
“Make up for it tomorrow,” Tamaki muttered.
…
Tomorrow—
Tomorrow was—
Tomorrow proved complicated.
He did, in fact, consume more to make up for what he missed the night before heading to his work-study, and he found himself having to deal with his overly exuberant kohai , yet he ’d thought himself used to that.
And he thought he could push aside thoughts of the wedding invitation he ’d gotten weeks before, that he didn’t know—
—there were social customs there that he couldn’t wrap his head around, which was a pain.
Worries were pushed aside, so …
“I still can’t believe the girls are all talking about it,” Red Riot said.
“Your class as well? Gossiping about this hero wedding?” Real Steel said.
“Ergh,” Tamaki said, teeth gritting together.
“And it sounds like Sempai’s class is as well, right?”
Tamaki waved his hand, pulling his hood down, feeling nauseous. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, when the door to the agency entered, and someone said, “Hello. I’m looking for…”
“Welcome to Fat Gum Agency!” Fat Gum chirped. “How can I help you?”
“Well, I’m actually looking for…” the person said, and then, “Konchu no akachan!”
Tamaki tensed, knowing only one person ever called him that—
He cringed.
And then he disappeared, heading to the bathroom rather than just hiding behind his hood, but worse—
His Quirk relied on his food intake and came up.
He slid down, burying his head in his arms, hearing through the door, “He’s not happy to see me.”
“No. Suneater’s just adorably shy!” Fat Gum said.
He let out another sound of frustration, his fingers reaching up to twist into his hair.
“And tends to get into his head a bit much. He’ll be fine.”
“Yes, well…” And then, she had to say. “He is adorable, isn’t he?”
“Why her?” Tamaki thought. “Of course, she’d be the Insect Hashira,” He could hear from the other side his two kohais suddenly running their mouths about how amazing he was to her. “No, no, I’m not. And…”
“Bug transformations?”
He wasn ’t sure which of the two said that, but he knew they ’d never seen any of his bug transformations, although …
Fingers in his hair again, he took deep breaths, trying to think, remember, only to shake his head. “ It ’s my fault I was gross to most people, right? At least she, his fiance… ”
Taking a deep breath, he stood up, unlocking the door, realizing he locked the door, before moving out.
“Got to try and speak to her if…” He paused, seeing only Fat Gum.
“I sent Red Riot and Real Steal on patrol.”
“Uh?” Tamaki wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“Did you really want them overhearing the conversation between me and your older brother’s fiance?”
“Ergh.” He then choked. “Sorry.”
“Hmm,” Fat Gum said. “Shouldn’t…” And then, he sighed. “Oh, never mind. That’s not, I mean, you’re you.”
“I know. Sorry!” He pulled the hood down.
“Hey? Don’t do that. She came because you’d not sent an RSVP.”
“Mmmm.”
“You do know you’re supposed to respond with whether you’re going to these things?”
“Don’t know, don’t.”
“Ah. I was afraid it was that,” Fat Gum said. “You want to go,” to which he shook his head. “Because it’s your older brother.”
“I—um. That. But…”
“You’re not wanting to go because of all that’s going on in your head?” Fat Gum pointed to his head.
“Ergh.” He pulled on the hood again.
“You do realize that not sending makes them think you don’t want anything to do with them?”
“Ugh—that, no!” Suneater shook his head. “Ergh. That’s not—I’m not. Just—ruin it. Stuff.”
“Sorry. I know that’s not what you’re thinking. Being in your head like this isn’t good for you.”Fat Gum tilted his head. “Your brother wants to see you.”
“Sure he doesn’t,” Tamaki said, looking away.
“Uh-huh. Sure,” Fat Gum said. “Sure, that isn’t the case.”
“Hero stuff, anyways.”
“And I expected you to say that!”
“That cheerfulness—oh no.”
“So I’m coming up with a plan!”
“Urgh.”
“Anyways, I’m going to retrieve Red Riot and Real Steal. Hopefully, they’ve not yet found any trouble.”
“I’ll go…”
“No. You stay. Your Quirk depends on your food consumption, and you just spewed.” Fat Gum stood at the door, pausing and turning to look right at Tamaki. “And about Kimetsu?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Tamaki closed his eyes.
“Don’t worry about that either.”
Takami ’s eyes flickered open.
“It will work out ‘cause I say so.”
He couldn ’t argue with which, but there was still that dread. “What plan is he coming up with?”