One-shots

Fingernails- Tamaki Amajiki

Sorry, I love him, and SO many ideas that I have fit him well.  Oops.

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  Y/N always had their fingernails painted, and Tamaki sometimes wondered why they were so religious about it. If Y/N noticed their nail polish was chipped, they would pull a polish seemingly out of nowhere and paint a coat on, and he would see them the next day with all of their nails painted a fresh new color. It fascinated him to no end. He always wanted to ask Y/N about them, but he could never find an appropriate time to ask even though they sat with him, Mirio, and Nejire every day at lunch and they walked back the dorms together all the time. Fine, if he was being completely honest with himself, he just wasn't sure if it was a sensitive subject because they were so adamant about having their nails painted at all times.

It certainly didn't help that he had developed a crush on Y/N. They was always very bright and happy, with a bit of a sarcastic sense of humor. Y/N had a lot of people interested in them because of this, but rejected everyone who approached them, always elbowing him and snickering at their own humor if the person was annoying about asking them out. They were an extremely confident individual, and while they were actually close friends, Y/N was still intimidating sometimes, and he knew that if anyone brought up anything that they were uncomfortable talking about, they would shut down and refuse to answer, or get intensely serious, so he felt like he had to sometimes be careful about the things he asked them. He knew they wouldn't get mad at him, but he was still afraid of ruining their friendship, even over a question as small as why they keep their fingernails painted.

Luckily for Tamaki, Mirio was equally curious and decided to ask them in his stead. When Mirio asked, however, they laughed it off and made a joke about there being poison in the polish as a quick defense, snickering and elbowing Tamaki like they always did when they were telling a joke. But when he looked at them, they refused to meet his gaze, instead seeming to stare through him rather than at him. He wasn't sure Mirio noticed, but he didn't say anything to them, and so Tamaki didn't either, even though he knew their explanation wasn't the whole truth. Instead they went through their day as normal. Today Tamaki and Y/N stayed at school for a couple hours after to study while Mirio and Nejire went to prepare their weekly movie night, leaving Tamaki and Y/N to walk home together. Y/N had been acting weird all day, and the walk back to the dorms began in uncomfortable silence.

"There is a reason for my nails, you know." Tamaki looked at Y/N, and then looked quickly at his feet, waiting for them to continue. "The poison thing is a great idea, but I'm sure you knew that's not why I do it." He nodded.

"Then why do you?" They sighed quietly.

"I have really bad anxiety. Like, probably your level around strangers bad. No offense." He looked at them with wide eyes, unable to believe that. Ever since he had known them, they had always been confident. While not outgoing, they had no problems speaking in front of people and making friends. It was hard to believe that they had anxiety at any point in their life. Seeing his disbelief, Y/N chuckled. "I promise, I did. Except instead of going to the wall when I was overwhelmed, I would bite my nails, often until they bled. My mom bought me nail polish and painted my nails with this polish that tasted really bad to get me to quit. Eventually she replaced that with regular polish, and that was enough. I stopped biting my nails and I had to face my fears. And I am so proud of myself for doing that, and I started to associate the polish with my confidence. So I think it's a superstition for me. As long as I have my nails painted, I can keep facing my fear." They smiled at him bashfully. "Stupid, I know." He shook his head quickly.

"No, not at all. I'm glad you told me. That's a good way to overcome. I mean, it's not like it's something that gets in your way." Their smile eased into a more natural, relieved grin.
"You know, you should come with me sometime and pick out a color. I can paint my nails with it, and then I can be strong for you to." He felt his face erupt in warmth and looked away from them.

"I would like that." They were standing outside the dorms now, and he started to reach for the door handle so he could go hide his burning face until Y/N put their hand over his.

"Can you look at me a sec?" He took a deep breath and looked at them, feeling his face darken even more the moment his eyes met theirs. They kissed his cheek, and his eyes grew wide as he fought with his instinct to go hide his face in the wall. "You're the only person I would tell that to, Tamaki. I was planning to confess to you sooner or later, but I think now is a good time." His head snapped back to them and his mind whirled. Confess about what? About the nail polish thing? No, they already did that, that can't be it, they...

His mind was overthinking so badly that he completely missed what else they said until he heard them sigh.

"It's ok if you don't feel the same way, but I really don't want this to affect our friendship, so can we just act like I never said anything?"

"Wait. I'm so sorry to do this to you Y/N, but can you repeat what you said? I just want to make sure I understand before I say anything."

"I said that I like you as more than a friend, and would really love it if when we go pick out a color together we can get dinner or something as a date afterwards." Tamaki became suddenly very aware that they were still holding his hand, but when they went to pull their hand back he squeezed it tighter.

"I would like that. Let's do that." Y/N smiled widely and stood on their tiptoes to kiss him gently. Before he had time to react they had opened the door and was dragging him to the couch in the common room for their weekend movie night. He felt a smile spread across his own face.

He wouldn't paint his nails, but being with Y/N was more than enough to motivate him to better than ever so that he could stand proudly by their side.