Tamaki had never been great with words, and the fact that he was supposed to teach you—someone new, someone from outside UA, someone so cute—felt like the universe playing some cruel joke on him. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the narrow streets as the two of you walked side by side, patrolling the quiet neighborhood as part of your work study.

You were an exchange student, a transfer from some ordinary high school. You weren’t part of UA’s hero course, not originally. Participating in the UA festival certainly helped with the transfer. Tamaki is supposed to be showing you the basics of everything, but you were making it pretty hard for him to even focus properly. You also stood way too close for comfort. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Well, no—that wasn’t entirely true.

He liked you. That much he was sure of, and it made everything worse.

The first time he saw you, standing awkwardly near the lockers with your UA-issued uniform just slightly too big, he’d thought you were lost. It wasn’t until Mirio had enthusiastically introduced you that Tamaki realized you were the new transfer student in the next class over. He'd heard about you before, but he didn't expect you to be so… so cute.

“You… um, you should stay close,” he mumbled, glancing at you from the corner of his eye. “In case something happens. Patrols can be unpredictable.”

Not that anything was happening. The streets were calm. Still, Tamaki couldn’t shake the tension coiled in his chest.

“You’re doing… um, really well so far,” he said, forcing himself to speak again. He tried to sound confident, tried to sound like Mirio or Nejire might in his place, but his voice cracked on the last word. He winced, his eyes darting back to the cracked pavement beneath his feet. “I mean, not that I thought you wouldn’t. You’re, uh… you’re a natural at this.”