Amajiki x Reader: Blossoming Romance

Chapter 5: An Unrecognized Hero

Clothes lay sprawled on the floor outside the boys' locker room. 'That's a good sign. That means Mirio is there to help him...'  You passed by the doorway, eyes and mind distracted before you were bombarded with attention.

"Hi mom..."

"Oh honey!" She had obviously been informed of the situation and threw her arms around you in a gesture of comfort. Against your will, you were swept away from it all. However, all you could think about was the state of mind the poor victim boy must be in. Rejection and public humiliation all in one day. Not only that, to have them both orchestrated by the same person... and that person be someone who he once felt affection for... You couldn't fathom the things Tamaki was feeling right about now.

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"Please leave me alone." Amajiki hollered meekly to an audible knock on the bathroom door.

"It's me, Tamaki." Mirio's familiar comforting voice rang out. "Please let me in." But Tamaki didn't answer. It's not as if he didn't want his friend's presence, but he didn't feel as though he deserved it right now. He felt despicable, abject and unworthy of friendship. But, as he expected, Mirio's face appeared through the wall, followed by the rest of his naked body. "Tamaki?" He asked delicately, grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist. The thinner boy tried to keep it together, but couldn't hold back the sheer bombardment of emotion swelling within him.

"She tried to warn me..." He sobbed. "But I didn't listen..." The guilt flowed like a river from his heart. "It's MY fault this happened! That prank was meant for me, not her!"

Mirio was speechless. To his surprise, he wasn't as distraught by the betrayal of his crush as he expected. His conscience was burdened instead by the public humiliation he subjected his classmate to. Even Togata, in this moment, was in awe of the selflessness of his best friend.

"She's going to be ridiculed forever because of me, then she'll have to transfer schools and she'll hate me forever. I ruined everything!" Tamaki felt two reassuring hands on his quaking shoulders. "Everybody else already hated me, then I made the only other girl who was nice to me hate me too..." Mirio had learned to recognize his friend's downward spiraling behavior and geared himself to circumvent it.

"That's not true, Tamaki. Everybody doesn't hate you. It was just a handful of immature people in the class playing a prank." He paused, realizing that he was sort of downplaying a horrible cruel act that resulted in tremendous emotional turmoil for his friend. "But I'm sure she doesn't hate you." Mirio didn't know you very well, but he was certain someone who made such a clear-cut sacrifice for someone wouldn't put the blame on that person for the misfortune they went through. "I bet she's just glad you didn't both get pelted with fish." Tamaki cringed at the memory of you getting knocked down by the force of the nasty projectile. He put a large comforting hand on Tamaki's hair.

"I bet this will all blow over by Monday. You'll see..."

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"Ugh! This is like the fourth shower today! Why wont this smell come out?!" You groaned the next day as you dried your skin, which was red from all of the scrubbing. You wrung your hair out and wrapped it in a towel, grimacing when you smelled the leftover hint of fish lingering on your wet locks. During this process you heard a knock at the door. You opened it, towel still twirled up in your wet hair. You were surprised to see the face of:

"...Togata..."

"Call me Mirio."

The two of you stood in your living room as you waited for him to explain his reason for the impromptu visit.

"H-how's Tamaki?" You asked, but you weren't sure you wanted to hear how broken up he was about this.

"He'll get better..." That was the nicest way of conveying that his best friend was becoming unglued.

"Oh." You frowned.

"That's actually why I came by." Mirio had no idea what to say, but he refused to leave until he convinced you to not be mad at Tamaki, and that he was just a victim in all of this just like you.

"I know... I should have done more. I feel terrible!"

"Huh?" The blonde boy fell speechless.

"I should have stopped it. I should have done everything in my power to keep that thing from firing- oof!" Mirio had cut you off by pulling you into a big bear hug.

"You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that."

"Wha?!"

"I was worried that you might be mad."

"I am mad. Those brats are gonna pay for doing this to him."

"No. I meant that I was worried you'd be mad at Tamaki."

"Why on earth would I be mad at him? Do you get mad at an old lady when a villain steals her purse?!" You were appalled at such a stupid idea. He laughed aloud at that, draining your oxygen when his powerful arms squeezed you tighter.

"I knew you'd feel that way." He put you down, wrinkling his nose a bit. "...You still smell like fish, you know..." You rolled your eyes at his honesty, putting your hands on your hips.

"Rub it in, bro..."

"You ought to wear that smell like a badge of honor." He beamed. "Your self sacrifice is the mark of a true hero." Your eyes sparkled at his words. "You do want to become a hero, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then think of this stench as your first step!" His smile was brighter than the sun. "Nobody else will probably ever recognize you for it, but you'll always be a hero to me. You saved Tamaki from a bombardment of verbal abuse, and I don't know how to thank you enough."

"You could buy me something to get this smell out..." You suggested with a jesting smirk, to which he laughed again.

"I doubt anything will get rid of that besides time and a lot of showers." You elbowed him playfully for that, at least grateful to have made a new friend out of this ordeal... hopefully two, but you'd have to wait until the weekend ended to find out for sure. "Just remember..." Mirio added on his way out the door. "Every time you get teased, you are enduring it in place of someone else. Keep being a hero."

You took Mirio's inspiring words to heart, actually grateful that the more sensitive person between you and Tamaki was spared. You smiled at the thought that you were able to do some good in the face of middle school evil.

Monday rolled around, and you mentally prepared yourself for the mockery to begin...