Work Text:
The first years weren't exactly what Tamaki had expected.
He expected their obvious enthusiasm and eagerness to learn, their ultimate defeat and confusion after their battle with Mirio.
But he didn't expect their determination.
When most of those sulking faces lit up at the explanation of Mirio's hard work, Tamaki instantly looked off to the side. Such brightness, familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It ran a small shiver down his spine. Maybe he should've expected this after all, from the first Aizawa class that still has 20 students.
As he looks away, he notices a face that didn't bright up instantly. An expression too familiar.
To the kid's credit, he recovers himself pretty quickly after noticing his classmates brightened up, the explanation now finished. Tamaki looks at the boy a little longer, taking note of his spiked up red hair, and noticing the little black spots at the roots. A detail so small, it seemed to disappear as soon as the kid smiled, taking in the faces of his classmates.
"We gotta prepare ourselves for that!" A bulky boy next to the redhead exclaims. The boy quickly nods in agreement. "It's just what I wanted!" He smashes his fist into his palm as he says it.
The kid's smile was very bright, like Mirio's, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Tamaki takes note of it quickly Hm.
Aizawa dismisses the 3 of them, and Tamaki hurries to follow Mirio and Hado out of the training hall.
"You think we got the point across? Maybe not?" Hado asks, turning to look at him. Tamaki gives her a small smile. "I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything, let's be grateful to Mirio." He responds, looking back to the ground, hurrying his walk back to the school and tuning out the conversation Mirio and Hado started.
He thought back to the kid, to his little happy facade. It held a genuine affection, but it was definitely put up for the sake of his classmates. Tamaki thought back to the face he made before Mirio's expanation ended, and while he only took it in for a second, he recognised it quickly. So many emotions in one look. The shame, the failure, the eagerness.
The acknowledgement of your own weakness.
It took less than a second for Tamaki to recognise himself in the kid, who's obviously very different from him. The boy, who just hyped up his classmates with just some words. The boy, who had a smile just as bright as Mirio (even though it didn't reach his eyes, his brain annoyingly adds). The boy, obviously very aware of his own failure. So different from himself, but still, it felt like a quick look in the mirror.
"And what about you Amajiki? Anyone spiked your interest? I'm sure you weren't only looking at the ground!" Hado's quick questions snaps him out of his trance, and he notices they're closing in on their classrooms. He shrugs. "Maybe a little, I'm just glad we're out of there." He brings out quietly, trying to divert the topic.
Of course that doesn't work, not with these two. He realised it as a palm on his shoulder makes him stop his steps, and look up at his boyfriend. He melts into the hold as the usual bright smile greets him, and he squints his eyes a little. "You actually noticed someone! That's great news Tamaki, I'm sure Fatgum would love your recommendations!" Mirio says, shaking him a little. He smiles at the mention of Fatgum.
"Oh! Who is it? Asui? I noticed her too! Or is it the mask guy? He's very quiet, just like you! Or is it Tokoyami, the one with the bird head?" Hado grabs his other shoulder as she questions him more, shaking him as well. "Hey, hey! Amajiki, tell us!" Tamaki sighs as he gives another small smile.
''Do you know the name of the red haired boy? The one with the hardened arms?" He asks her, looking up at her. She pauses her shaking, making a thinking face. Mirio copies her face, putting a hand under his chin.
"The kid who wanted to go first, before the problem child interrupted?" The permeation wielder asks, and Tamaki nods, smile brightening. "I didn't really notice him, and didn't catch his name, I'm sorry Tamaki." Mirio then says. Hado nodded in agreement, showing she didn't know too. Tamaki's smile faltered.
"It's okay, I just noticed him a little." He says as he looks back to the ground. He he let out a small whine at his own tone. So much for finally showing interest in others. Hado starts shaking him again. "I'll figure out his name, don't you worry Amajiki! We'll get you that kouhai you can teach and show off to everyone!" She exclaims loudly, her other hand moving to shake Mirio too. "Right Togata? Right?" Mirio laughs at her, nodding. "Of course! If someone was noticed by the great Suneater, we've got to get his name!" Mirio says, brightly smiling again, and Tamaki lets out a chuckle at that.
As they reached class and waved bye to Mirio, Hado already had her phone pulled out scrolling on it. They give their excuse notes to Snipe, and hurry to their seats. Apparently, it's self study hours, and that means he'll just look over his books while listening to Haya and Hado ramble for the remaining minutes.
"Yuyu, Yuyu! You know some kids from Class 1-A, right? Wasn't your nephew in that class? I think I saw him!" Hado asks excitedly, brightly smiling at her girlfriend. Haya nods a bit, blushing at her. "Denki yes, how did he do today?" Haya responds, smiling too. "Togata stomped their whole class! It was done in a few seconds! You know how he is." Hado explains, going back to scrolling through her phone. Haya laughs. "Togata will never not hold back, will he?" Hado nodded at that. Tamaki smiled fondly at the mention of the strength of his boyfriend.
"There!" Hado exclaims after a minute. Tamaki looked up from his book as she held out her phone into his face. A picture of the red haired kid, seemingly taken from the Sports Festival. "That's your kid, right Amajiki? I couldn't find any other red haired boy, besides Todoroki, but everyone knows him already!" She waves her phone a little.
Tamaki gave out a little nod, putting his thumb up as he quickly looked back into his book. He hadn't expected her to instantly look for the kid's face, but it's Hado Nejire, maybe he should've. His mouth twitched a little upwards at Hado's enthousiasm.
"Yuyu! Do you know this kid's name? Amajiki says he's interested in taking him to Fat's!" Tamaki's eyes widened and he began stuttering objections as Hado now shoves her phone into Haya's face. Haya takes a second to look, and nods. "He's pretty close with Denki! Hardening right? I think his name is Kirishima?" She responds, blushing again as Hado flashes her another big grin.
Hado starts typing on her phone again, and Tamaki wonders how far she will look into the kid. Taking the kid to Fatgums hadn't completely settled in his mind yet, but it wouldn't be a bad idea. As much as he feels like his mentor and dad-but-not-really-dad tends to torment and pick on him, Fatgum did have a knack at pushing out one's strengths. If the kid is really what he looked like, it would be a good offer. Plus, Fatgum likes the rowdy types, especially when he can boost their confidence.
He looks up again as Hado now shoves his shoulder. "Alright, get your notes out, Amajiki Tamaki! I'll tell you everything I can find about this kid and you will make a plan to ask him!" She says, eyes still trained on her phone as he shoves him again. He sighs again, picking up his notebook from his baf and flipping to an empty page, and takes out a pen. "You really don't have to go this far, with just his name I could just ask Aiza-" "None of that!'' She interupts him. ''Now, start writing!"
"His name is Kirishima Eijirou, a student of Class 1-A. He is 15, almost 16, years old, and was born in Chiba Prefecture. His quirk is Hardening, he can harden up any part of his body. With it, he specialises in melee combat. He placed second on the general entrance exam, and ranked top 8 in the finals of the Sports Festival. He's the only person in his class that has a transformation type quirk." She finished, looking up at him again. As he writes down the last sentence, he starts to compare the kid to himself again. Transformation quirks are usually quickly overlooked during training, he had a lot of trouble accommodating his own.
He can still feel Hado's expectant eyes on him, and he looks up to give her a timid smile. She smiles brighter at that. "Go get him, tiger! I'm sure he'll be very excited to learn from the one and only Suneater from The Big 3!" She encourages him as she finally puts down her phone, patting his shoulder. Without waiting for his response, she turns to talk to Haya again. Tamaki looks after her for 2 more seconds, then turns back to his notes.
Was he really ready for a personal kouhai ? He never looked into tutoring others or even being an example, he was more focused on his own feelings and training. Being an example was Mirio's thing. And while Fatgum might be a great mentor, what would say he himself would be one? He reads over his notes again, thinking back to the brief second of sadness on Kirishima's face. The way it switched back to his bright personality as soon as he realised his classmates were there.
He then thinks back to when-
Yeah, that kid deserved a chance.
He took one more glance at his notes, then he stood up from his seat at rapid speed, alerting some of his other classmates. One quick glance at Hado's encouraging smile has him rushing to Snipe, who already looked up at him from his paperwork. He shook a little with the quick movements.
“I'd like to request if you could ask Eraserhead for an opportunity to speak with me. I want to invite one of his homeroom students for the work study program.” He rushed out the words in one breath before he could second guess himself, hoping he sounded confident enough. Snipe tilted his head to the side a little, his expression unreadable through the mask. His mannerism seemed curious though, and Tamaki instantly looked back down his feet, feeling all the pairs of eyes on his back sting.
Was it too fast? It has barely been an hour since he returned from the first years, was he rushing things? Stupid, of course he was, heck, he didn't even know Kirishima's name until-
Snipe seemed to sense that his mind was spiralling, and nodded quickly. “The faculty still has to discuss some details about the work study program for the first years, but I'll message you when the details are laid out and he has some free time, Amajiki.” Snipe says, and Tamaki could hear the smile on his face. He nodded and mumbled out a quick ‘thank you sir’, quickly walking back to his seat.
The notes stare at him as he sits down, and he briefly reads for a final time. Kirishima Eijirou. He closes his notebook, picking his book back up with a small smile on his face.
He hopes the kid will be as excited as he expects him to be.