Chapter Text
To say Shoto was nervous would be an understatement.
He was the type of guy to keep his cool on the outside no matter the situation. Social situations didn’t bother him as much as they bothered other people because he simply did not care enough. But this? This was a big deal. This was something he planned last minute, and that only lit every single one of his nerve endings on fire. This was something he refused to mess up. He might never recover if he does.
This was a date. A real one. One where he didn’t have to pretend that Hanta’s arms around him didn’t dizzy his head or blur the lines he drew for his own unattainable fantasy. This was a real date that Hanta agreed to and Shoto was so nervous he was sweating.
It was a foreign concept to him. Nerves. He had always walked into life knowing what he was and was not capable of. If he felt nervous about anything, he didn’t show it. He wouldn’t. But this time, something in him told him it was alright. This, he could be nervous about. This, as aforementioned, was a big deal. He got the hiccups, of course, while planning the thing. There was a point where it got so bad that he had to pause to gulp down a cup of water.
His hiccups came back moments later.
He checked over his list of things so many times that the paper in his hands began to wrinkle from the abuse of being pulled in and out of his stuffy pocket.
Blankets. (Shoto snagged them from Hanta’s room. He learned that day he slept in Hanta’s bed that his blankets were far superior to his.)
Food. (He has no idea what Hanta’s favorite food is. Oh my god, he has no idea—)
Candles. (because Hanta seems to have an affinity for those.)
Music. (Because what is a date without music? All the movies have them, right?)
For the first time in a while, Hanta wasn’t hanging around him and Shoto wasn’t seeking him out. He had to do this stealthily. Of course, Hanta knew of the date but the location was still a surprise. A surprise Shoto could only pray that Hanta would enjoy.
He took his lunch break to set everything up. Slipping away from his friends not so inconspicuously without a second thought. (Izuku, Iida, and Ochako got an ear full of Shoto’s last encounter with Hanta the morning after. Needless to say, they know exactly where he’s off too).
And when everything was in order, at the end of the day he found Hanta, nerves still screaming, and hands still sweating.
“Please close your eyes,” he says after finding Hanta waiting for him all bundled up in the common room. His scarf was wrapped up to his chin and his coat sleeves flopped down at his sides. For someone so tall, he looked small in his warm clothes.
Hanta laughs. Loud, boisterous, and unapologetic. “You were serious about it being a surprise, Sho?”
“Yes,” Shoto says, nodding firmly. The surprise was more of an excuse to figure out what he wanted to do, but Hanta didn’t need to know that. “That and if anything is messed up, I need to be able to fix it before you can see.”
Hanta laughs again, throwing his head back. His adam’s apple bobs with the movement and Shoto swallows, trying to remind himself that it was okay to look. They’re together. He doesn’t have to stop himself anymore. For their entire friendship, he tried to keep his eyes to himself. He was aware of Hanta’s stares, but Shoto was oblivious that it was for the same reasons that he had.
Hanta covers his eyes with his hands, his long sleeves doing most of the work, and Shoto flicks him when he catches him peeking underneath them.
“I’ll lead you,” Shoto says, falling behind Hanta and pushing him forward by the shoulders. Hanta’s shoulders are firm, and Shoto wants nothing more than to squeeze and feel up the muscle for himself. “Do not peek. Or I’ll… Or I’ll be upset.” He hiccups.
“You got it, Sho! Let’s rock and roll.”
Shoto snorts despite himself. “Whatever that means.”
Hanta’s long legs scramble in a comical mess to walk straight, and Shoto can’t help but smile to himself when he reaches back to grab his arm for support. His smaller hand grips him warmly (the other covering his eyes, just as Shoto instructed) and Shoto fears he’ll never tire of the touch. He’ll crave it for as long as he lives and gets high off the buzzing feeling of touching skin.
He squeezes Hanta's shoulder. “We’re stepping out of the building. Watch your step.”
Hants nods. “You got me if I fall, don't cha?”
“Of course,” Shoto says without thinking.
Hanta grin. “Oh, good, ‘cause I've already fallen for you.” He laughs at his own joke before Shoto could figure out how that was funny.
He laughs along away and leads Hanta around a corner. The closer they get, the weaker Shoto’s knees get. He mindlessly swerves them around to crush the autumn leaves in their pathway and fumbles with Hanta’s scarf.
“You really did love the leaves, didn't you?” Hanta asks.
Shoto nods, then foolishly remembers that Hanta can't see him. “Yes. That day means a lot to me.”
“Yeah?” Hanta grins again and God , Shoto would do anything to kiss that smile. Or maybe have it pressed against his neck. To wake up next to it and smile back over their morning coffee. To drink in every crooked or chipped tooth he can see and appreciate every perfect one. “That day means a lot to me too. I’ll never forget the feeling of your hand in mine.”
Shoto’s face steams at this. It rises in the air and he’s glad Hanta can't see. He’d been poking fun at Shoto for it since their first kiss, begging to see it again. Embarrassed, Shoto refused and used most of his focus to regulate his body temperature.
Hanta insists on making it his life goal to make it happen again. Too bad he succeeded in ignorance.
“What's so funny?” Hanna asks and more and more leaves crunch under his feet.
Shoto hadn't even realized he laughed at the thought. “Nothing. I'm just happy.”
When they finally got there, Shoto's hiccups had subsided, and his knees no longer felt like jello. Everything was perfect, just the way he left it.
"You can open your eyes now, Hanta."
When Hanta does, he's met with a sea of trees. The orange and yellow leaves are painted in golden light from the setting sun. It's so familiar, yet surprising because there was something else there among the beautiful nature.
In the middle of a circle of trees sat a blanket decorated with all sorts of things. Unlit candles weighed it down, keeping it away from the clutches of the windy autumn day.
An older radio sat off to the side, a stack of CDs and borrowed manga volumes finding a home right next to it. And right in the center were containers of food, a picnic basket, soda cans submerged in ice water, and a lot and a lot of snacks.
"Sho!" Hanta shouted. "You did all this?!"
"Yes," Shoto nods. "It's all I could do last minute... Er. I mean, under the circumstances of being unable to leave campus. Yes. Um. This is our date."
Hanta laughs, ecstatic, and crushes Shoto into a hug. It was similar to their last hug. Shoto learns, with glee, that Hanta hugs as if he never wanted to let go. Just like everything else he does, it was done with his entire heart and soul. It was heavy and soft and warm, and there was a small part in Shoto's chest that almost felt like sobbing. His bones turn to putty in Hanta's hands and before he was ready, Hanta lets go.
"This is great! Anything you planned would have been great but this is... Wow!"
Hanta loves nature. Shoto knew the fact distantly in the back of his head, but it took Izuku asking Katsuki (who was able to find peace without Hanta's ranting. Shoto hadn't known about that until Izuku slipped up when Shoto finally told his friends the great news.) what Hanta would like to do. He kicked himself. After the day at the cliff, he should have known Hanta would love something like this.
It wasn't until they sit down that Shoto realizes he has no idea what to do now. He pops one of the CDs (again, stolen from Hanta's room) into the radio. The only thing keeping his head screwed on was Hanta's face bursting with joy.
"I've never been on a date before," Shoto says. "Is this okay? Should I be doing more?"
"No! I mean, yes! I mean, this is great! You're so great! This is great. Good. Amazing." Hanta snaps his mouth shut, his ears turning red.
Shoto smiles. "Okay. I've been worried all day. I thought maybe I should take you somewhere nice. Somewhere expensive like Natsuo does for his girlfriends or buy you something like Fuyumi's boyfriends do for her. I just want you to... stay. With me."
Hanta's face softens. "I don't care about any of that stuff. I like being with you. You could take me to the worst place on earth and I'd still have fun because you were there."
Shoto's bottom lip wobbles. He was the type of guy to keep his cool on the outside no matter the situation. But there was always an exception. Hanta Sero. Hanta made him crazy in the head. He gave him the hiccups more than anything, he made his hands sweat and his face steam with embarrassment. He flustered him to no end and made him want to do things he had never thought of before.
"Oh, Sho, c'mere." Hanta pulls him into another devastating hug and Shoto buries his face in his neck. His citrus smell overpowers everything else around them, and Shoto clings to him as if he were his lifeline. "I've never been on a date either, you know?"
Shoto pulls away. "Really? You?"
Hanta laughs and it rings through the trees. "What do you mean? Of course, I haven't."
"You're very nice and kind and I can't imagine how anyone wouldn't want you. You're tall and smell like oranges and your room is warm and your clothes are comfortable and your smile is... it makes my chest hurt. In a good way. Hanta, I think if I had a life with you, it might kill me."
Hanta grins at him, his hands still on the nape of his neck. "Oh? Is that a good thing?"
"I wouldn't want to die any other way."
"I feel the same."
Shoto smiles, soft and only for Hanta to see. He only wants Hanta to see him like this. All of him is for him. "Shall we eat?"
"We shall. Thank you for the meal, my good sir. Might I say, this setup is just exquisite? Absolutely amazing. You are a god among men, my love."
When Shoto laughs, Hanta looks as if he were the luckiest man in the world. Oddly enough, Shoto feels the same way. Being with Hanta felt like lucky strikes, and he can't think of one thing he did to deserve this.
When the sun sets low enough and the winds snuck away, Shoto lights the candles. They eat their food and talk about many useless things that will always mean something to them. Shoto uses every excuse he can to touch Hanta until he realizes he doesn't need excuses. Hanta was his as was he Hanta's.
They sit in the candlelight, eat their food, and pop soda cans. When Shoto is hesitant to finish his meal, Hanta smiles, takes his hand, and tells him it’s alright. That he can take his time and nobody was here to judge him, so he shouldn't judge himself. That’s enough for Shoto to feel comfortable again and they finish their snacks.
Hanta rambles on about the manga he is reading, and Shoto hangs on his every word. He speaks quickly and passionately, and Shoto follows along as if nothing else in the world had ever been so interesting.
When the night grows too dark, and they have no more food to snack on and their CDs have looped numerous times, Hanta blows out the candles, and Shoto packs everything up with a heart so full he feels fuzzy.
Hanta carries him back to the dorms on his back with the excuse “I just think my love deserves a break after setting up our date, don’t you think?” Shoto was too happy to touch him to question that logic.
Turning in for the night, they both stumble into Hanta’s room. Shoto has always favored it. With the smell of Hanta all around him, he settles into Hanta’s bed. He looks around as if he does have the place committed to memory. He looks at all the little nicknacks that just scream Hanta Sero. He eyes the closet full of clothes he plans to steal one of these days and then finally he looks at Hanta, who looks back at him as if he hung the stars in the night sky.
"I'm getting an odd sense of deja vu," Hanta says, smiling as Shoto snuggles into his bed sheets.
"Your bed is better than mine."
"I doubt that's true. I'm pretty sure all the dorms have the same mattress."
"Yours smells like you."
Hanta laughs in that way Shoto has grown to love. He wants to swallow it. "I guess I can't argue with that. You like me that much, Sho?"
Shoto nods, making room for Hanta under the covers. "I like you more than I've ever liked anyone." His skin buzzes as Hanta slides in next to him. The natural warmth that radiates from him seeps into Shoto's bones and it's like a campfire in his chest. Warm, all-consuming, and comforting like a summer night.
"Hey, Sho?"
"Yes?"
"Is this how it'll be? Are you going to stay with me until we're old and grey?"
Shoto smiles at the thought. An older Hanta Sero retired from hero work with that same bright grin of his. Maybe his hair would be longer, long enough to fit into a ponytail that would drive Shoto mad . Their shared home would smell like the both of them and they'll light their favorite candles and recreate their first date of many every once and a while and--
"Yes, I hope so."
He does. He truly does, because being with Hanta felt like lucky strikes and he never wanted to let that go.