Tamaki turned to look at me but kept Katsuki pinned on the floor. "Y/n?" Tamaki called over to me.
Katsuki tried to lift his head up. "Y/n's here?" But another tentacle smacked his head back onto the floor. "What the hell, man?" he yelled from the floor.
I gave a little wave.
"I'm sorry, y/n," Tamaki said, "I didn't think this exercise would take this long. Give me just a minute. And... I'm glad you came."
I smiled at him and ran up the bleachers to sit down next to Kirishima.
"Hey?" Kirishima asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. Tamaki said I could come watch him train some new people. I didn't realize that he meant you two."
"I'm not sure I would call this training. It's been more like a beat down."
I nodded in agreement. "I saw."
We watched Tamaki reel Katsuki toward him, dragging him across the gym floor as he thrashed and yelled.
"So about this morning..." I said.
Kirishima grimaced. "It was totally my fault. I promise I didn't want to see you naked and I am so -"
"You didn't? What's wrong with me?" I said, pretending to be offended.
"No! I mean, not because you didn't look good, you looked hot, like really hot. Oh no I don't mean that, I mean, ugh!" He buried his head in his hands.
It was all I could do to not laugh. "It's okay. Embarrassing but okay. Honestly."
"I'm so sorry. Anyway. Just a heads up. Mina said the girls were talking about the uh...marks."
"On his neck?"
"Yeah."
I shrugged. "And?"
Tamaki had pulled Katsuki all the way to him now and appeared to be lecturing Katsuki on something, but we were too far away to hear.
"I didn't know you and Suneater were friends," Kirishima said.
"Only recently," I said. "We hung out at his house the other night for a little bit and then he said I could come here tonight."
"Gotcha," Kirishima nodded, appearing to be thinking about something.
Tamaki was unraveling the tentacles now.
"Y/n...Bakugo's my best friend. And he's going to be an awesome hero... "
"I know."
"And you saw him lose just now. Bakugo doesn't lose. Something's changed, his focus has changed, and I'm worried that he's going to make a big mistake because his priorities are all messed up."
"What are you saying, Kiri?"
"Nothing. I'm rambling. Forget I said anything."
"Hm. Okay."
From the gym floor, Tamaki called out: "Red Riot, your turn." Kirishima started down the bleachers towards them.
"Like hell it is," Katsuki said. "We're doing this again. I want a rematch."
But the rematch ended much like the first one, only this time Tamaki was also able to wrap the tentacles around his ankles to bring him down.
Next, Kirishima and Katsuki tried to take him on together, but Kirishima couldn't get close enough to get a hit in. And even though that combination forced Tamaki to dodge around a little bit, it ended with the same result.
By the end, Tamaki didn't seem phased by the fighting, while the other two were across the gym on the floor panting.
Since it looked like they were finished, I went down to the floor, stopping to stand by Tamaki since he was closest to me.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"I am speechless," I said. "You were incredible."
Tamaki adjusted his hood and looked everywhere but at me.
My shoes squeaked on the gym floor.
"I just hope they learned something," he said.
I glanced across the gym to where the other two were. Both looked tired and angry.
"I have a feeling they did," I said.
"I think we're done for today," Tamaki called out to them. "You can go or whatever."
I could see Katsuki's eyes. He was not happy.
"You guys did great!" I yelled toward them, doing my best to smile.
Katsuki scoffed and then stood up, stomping off to the locker room, Kirishima close behind.
We watched them walk away from where we stood.
"So...do you want this back?" I said, pulling on the scarf around my neck.
Tamaki glanced at me quickly. "No," he said. "Keep it. You look... pretty."
"Thank you." I reached out and touched his cloak, feeling the fabric in my fingers. "You look like a badass."
"I should go change."
"Why? With this white coat, you're like a badass angel. This costume is so cool," I said, circling him to see the costume better.
"Um..."
"And what are these pouches?" I asked, lifting up one of the purple bags secured around his waist. There were several, some heavier than others, I realized as I held them in my hands.
"Um..."
My eyes went up to his and I suddenly realized how inappropriate this probably was, to be in his personal space like this, touching these items on his belt.
"I'm sorry," I said, removing my hands. "I shouldn't have..."
"No. It's okay," Tamaki said. He didn't back up or move away as I'd been expecting. Instead he stayed right there next to me and opened one of them. "See?"
"Whoa! You get to carry around snacks? This is awesome."
"I guess. And what about you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Can I see your costume sometime?"
"Oh. I don't have one."
"Why not?"
"It's a long story," I said.
"I wouldn't mind hearing your story. I mean, what you want to share...We could take a walk?"
"Right now?"
"Yeah? I'll change and then we can go."
As Tamaki went in to the locker room, the boys were coming out, and I saw the look Katsuki gave Tamaki as the two crossed paths.
As I watched those two gather their gym bags, I gave them a minute before walking over.
I had to remember that I just watched Katsuki lose. And not just lose, he lost bad.
I wasn't sure how he was going to react.
"Hey," I finally said.
"There has to be something wrong with these damn things," Katsuki said, sitting down on the gym floor to mess with his gauntlets, apparently trying to fix some part of them.
"I want to tell you about what happened this afternoon."
He continued messing with his gauntlets, grumbling and cursing under his breath.
"Shinso and I talked," I said. "A long talk. It was good though. I think we both got to say what needed to be said."
He slammed one of them on the floor a few times, the noise echoing through the gym.
"He and I are officially not together anymore."
More slamming.
"Piece of shit technology," he muttered. "I'll have to get it fixed."
He was obviously not paying any attention to what I was saying.
"And then Mineta kissed me."
He finally stopped and stared up at me.
"Wait, what?"
"I knew you weren't listening to me! That part isn't true, obviously."
"Y/n, are you coming?" I heard Tamaki ask. Looking over at him, I saw that he had finished changing and was now waiting for me by the door.
"Oh, um," I turned back to Katsuki. He stood up, his eyes narrowing and darting back and forth between me and Tamaki. "Yeah, I'll be there in a sec," I said.
"What did you say a minute ago?"
"Shinso and I agreed that we're not an official couple anymore."
I noticed that Katsuki glanced over toward Kirishima, who was standing off to the side but definitely watching us.
"And?" he asked.
"Oh, well...I thought you would want to know."
"Shitty hair," he called over to him. "Let's go."
"Oh." What as his deal? "Okay then."
I turned around to leave and felt him smack me on the ass.
"I'll leave my door unlocked," he muttered, walking right past me.
If he thought it was that easy as that...
The gym was silent after they left.
"Okay, let's go," Tamaki said. "I haven't walked around this school in a long time. It will be nice to see it all again, even in the dark."
Both of us reached to push the door open at the same time, his hand landing on top of mine.
"Oh, sorry," I said.
His hand wrapped around mine.
"Don't be."
I decided right then that I would not let his hand go.
We walked around the campus on the sidewalk. We talked about growing up, his family, school, pretty much everything. Now that it was just the two of us, I was surprised at how open he was.
We were near the back of the main building when he said, "Come here. I want to show you something."
My hand still in his, Tamaki led us around the corner to a side door that had a small stair case in front of it.
"I used to come here to hide from everyone during lunch," he said. "No one uses this door."
We sat on the stairs in the darkness, the lamp posts casting shadows on the sidewalk.
"I'm glad you got home safe from the League," he said quietly.
"Me too."
He held my hand in his lap and met my eyes.
"Were you afraid?"
"There were moments," I said.
Tamaki touched my scarf, his scarf, toying with the end in his fingers.
"Did they make you go with them on missions?" he asked.
"Only once, sort of."
I remembered the one time Dabi and I broke into Endeavor's house.
But then my mind went back to this boy in front of me.
This boy with indigo hair and perfect little elf ears.
This boy who was looking at me like... like that.
"And that's when you met Overhaul?"
"No, that was later."
Wait.
WAIT.