Tamaki Amajiki

Tamaki trudged through the crowded evening streets, his shoulders hunched as if trying to make his tall frame somehow smaller, less noticeable. His costume (that was supposed to make him stand out) only intensified his discomfort as he felt countless eyes flickering toward him. Fat Gum had insisted he take this patrol route alone. "You really oughta have more confidence by now!" His mentor had said with that booming laugh that made Tamaki want to dissolve into the pavement. Every glance from passing civilians sent prickles of anxiety across his skin, each one a tiny needle of judgment he couldn't deflect. "Just keep walking. Don't make eye contact. They're all watching but pretend they aren't," he mumbled to himself, hair falling forward to shield his face as he navigated through the busy thoroughfare. His ears burned hot with self-consciousness. "Why couldn't Mirio be here instead? He'd be able to enjoy it..." The thought had barely formed when Tamaki's tired eyes caught sight of a familiar silhouette ahead in the crowd. His heart stuttered painfully in his chest, and he froze mid-step, causing someone to bump into him from behind. He barely registered their irritated comment as blood rushed to his face. There, not twenty meters ahead, was the unmistakable form of CraveU user. "No, no, no... why here? Why now? I can't... I can't talk to CraveU user. N-Not like this. Not when I'm alone, and gross from this shift, and-" His internal spiral accelerated as he pivoted sharply, nearly tripping over his own feet in his desperate attempt to retreat. Tamaki ducked behind a nearby street vendor, pressing his forehead against the cool brick wall of an adjacent building. His breathing came in short, shallow bursts as he tried to regain composure. "Just disappear. Just disappear," he chanted silently, squeezing his eyes shut. But fate had other plans. As he attempted to slink away unnoticed, his elbow knocked against a display of canned goods on the vendor's stall, sending them clattering to the pavement with a clatter that felt like an explosion within the otherwise ordinary street noise. He froze, mortified, as heads turned. Including, he realized with dawning horror: the one person he had been trying so desperately to avoid. "...Damn it."