Chapter Text
Hitoshi liked to think that four- almost five months was a very long time for a teenager. Especially in context; the amount of time he has been working at The Musical Chair, and the amount of time he’s known Kaminari.
In that amount of time, he’s been over to his house four times, watched all the high school musical movies with him, got to know him so well he could predict when he was going to do something stupid and get himself hurt, and was in exactly three of his Tik tok videos.
The first time was pretty uneventful.
At the point in which it happened, he would consider himself and Kaminari best friends. At least, Kaminari was Hitoshi’s best friend. Kaminari seemed to be pretty close with everyone. Hitoshi on the other hand, seemed to scare people off and only had a handful of people who he considered friends. Kamianri being at the top of that handful.
He had begun seeing Kaminari outside of work; in the school hallways and hanging out in both groups and individually. He totally wasn’t panicking about it. Like Jirou said; it’s just Kaminari. Nothing to freak out about.
What he should be freaking out about was that he still hadn’t managed to tell Kaminari they were soulmates. That was pretty important. And the fact that his stupid crush on Kaminari was getting harder and harder to hide. Also pretty important.
Anyway, back to the Tik Tok thing. Kaminari had been doing a bunch of videos where he would record snippets of his friends throughout work and strung them together, comment on them, and title it “rating my friends throughout the day on a scale of one to ten”. Which was supposed to be funny. Hitoshi personally didn’t understand the humor. But because he’s perpetually weak for Kamimari, when he had asked to do a video of Hitoshi, he had agreed.
It was a weird day. He would be sitting in the break room or behind the counter or waiting tables and look up to suddenly see Kaminari smiling and filming him. When he got home at the end of the day, he checked the app to see if Kaminari posted (no of course he didn’t do this everyday, because that would be obsessive behavior and no, he was not obsessed. He had a very specific reason to be checking it today, that was all. Fuck off) and found the video.
It was just clips of him doing various things with Mario sound tracks in the background. The first was upbeat, with a clip of Hitoshi scrubbing down a table before noticing Kaminari filming, then laughing. The text read: “being helpful so I don’t have to. 9/10”.
The next was a clip on him standing behind the bar, head resting on his hand, looking tired. The music was calmer, and the text read; “dozing off behind the counter because he’s not allowed to steal coffee anymore. Get some sleep eyebag man. Very cute, 10/10”.
Hitoshi snorted, he had only been caught doing that once, and he paid afterwards!
The next clip was of him and Bakugo yelling at one another over what he recalled was some lady’s weird order being off-menu. The music was quicker and darker and the text read; “in a screaming match with Lord explosion murder. I have never been more afraid, -300/10”.
Last was a small clip of him trying to change the tv channel to fast paced music. He remembered this, they had lost the remote somewhere in the break room and Hitoshi had been attempting to change the channel (which had been stuck on the news) manually with the tiny buttons in the tiny tv. The text read; “cannot figure out the tv, but at least he’s trying. The rest of us gave up. 7/10”.
…
The second time he was featured in a Tik Tok, he had been looking forward to his break after a particularly difficult customer who ordered boba tea without the boba and got mad when they charged her the regular price.
He walked in on the band warming up. Whenever his break lined up with the band practicing or warming up, he would usually sit on the couch quietly and scroll through his phone. And that was exactly what he had been planning to do when he walked in.
He could hear Jirou’s voice and soft guitar playing when he opened the door,
She’s the tear in my heart
I’m alive
She’s the tear in my heart
I’m on fire
She’s the tear in my heart
Take me higher
Then I’ve ever been
And Yao-Momo talking. “... don’t feel comfortable hitting you on the head, Kamimari. You could get hurt!”
“Hitting Kaminari in the head? What?” Hitoshi asked.
“It’s a Tik Tok trend!” said Kaminari at the same time Tokoyami said; “He wants someone to hit him in the head for that music app again.”
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow.
The song on the radio are okay
But my taste in music is your face
“Okay so,” Kaminari began, “it’s like, this new trend, right? You sing ‘Hey ya’ on the guitar- you know that song?”
“Yeah, I know it.” Hitoshi confirmed.
“Okay. And whenever the- I’ll be wearing a bowl in my head. And whenever people clap in the song, someone hits my head- the bowl- with a flyswatter.”
“It’s supposed to make the clapping noise.” said Tokoyami.
“I’m still not doing it.” said Yao-Momo.
“I’ll do it!” said Bakugo from behind the drums.
“I don’t trust you.” said Kaminari. Then he turned to Hitoshi. “And Tokoyami and Jirou say they won’t ‘indulge my antics’. Do you see the predicament?”
“I see the predicament.” said Hitoshi, walking farther into the room. “Do you want me to do it?”
Kaminari beamed at him. “Yes alright! Shinso comes in with the clutch!”
He hands Hitoshi a fly swatter from the coffee table and sets everything up; putting the bowl in his head, setting up his phone, and sitting down with the guitar.
You fell asleep in my
Car I drove the whole time
But that’s okay I’ll just avoid the holes so you sleep fine
I’m driving here I sit
Cursing my government
For not using my taxes to fill holes with more cement
“Kyoka?” Kaminari said, looking at her with pleading eyes. “It’ll only take a minute.”
Jirou stopped playing the guitar, setting it on the ground. “If this song sounds like shit because none of you are actually practicing, it’s your funeral.”
“You’re the best!” said Kaminari. He reached over to his phone and just before he hit the record button, he looked over to Hitoshi. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Kaminari press record and bagan strumming his guitar.
One, two, three!
My baby don't mess around
Because she loves me so
This I know fo sho!
Hitoshi slapped the flyswatter against Kaminari’s head twice.
But does she really wanna
But can't stand to see me walk out the door
Again, Hitoshi hit Kaminari with the flyswatter.
Don't try to fight the feeling
Because the thought alone is killin' me right now
Hitoshi hit the bowl again.
Thank God for Mom and Dad
For sticking to together
Like we don't know how
He hit the bowl once more.
Hey ya! Hey ya!
And again he hit Kaminari on the head.
Hey ya! Hey ya!
Hitting the bowl for the last time, Kamimari laughed and stopped recording. “See, Yao-Momo? It didn’t hurt.”
Bakugo laughed. “That’s going to be my favorite one! I still could’ve done it better.”
Kaminari and Hitoshi groaned at the same time.
…
The third time he was featured on Kaminari’s Tik Tok was actually really important and there were several events that led up to it.
The first being that Monday when Hitoshi was waiting tables. Earlier, Jirou had asked when he was planning on telling Kaminari about the soulmate thing and was only a little disappointed when Hitoshi had to tell her he wasn’t sure.
She was working with Kirishima and Kaminari behind the counter. When Hitoshi looked over, he noticed Jirou and Kaminari in deep conversation. Which- he noted- was odd. Specificity so, because Kaminari looked very serious, while Jirou looked like she was joking around.
She leaned in close to whisper something in his ear and Kirishima looked away politely. Kaminari pulled back, flushed, and loudly reported his disdain for whatever Jirou had just said, saying “something something bad idea something.”
Jirou rolled her eyes and added something teasingly, and Kaminari looked away, still flushed, almost insecure. And Hitoshi thought- that’s odd. Kaminari is one of the most confident people he knows, he doesn’t exactly fluster easily. Hitoshi probably gets more second hand embarrassment from Kaminari than Kaminari actually gets embarrassed, if anything.
What could Jirou have possibly said? Some sort of idea? A plan? For what? Hitoshi replayed the scene over in his head. Jirou leaned in close, whispered something in his ear, and then Kaminari pulled away, flushed and-
The realization hit him like a freight train. Kaminari and Jirou dated a while back. When they talked about it, they made it seem like it was decades ago, but it was only a year or so. Jirou obviously didn’t like Kaminari anymore, she was dating Yaoyarozu and they were very happy together. That didn’t mean Kaminari didn’t still like Jirou . You can still like someone even when you know they won’t like you back. Knowing that doesn’t make you randomly stop liking them.
Hitoshi sighed inwardly. He knew that. And of course Kaminari liked Jirou. What was there not to like? She was cool without being untouchable like Hitoshi was. She didn’t scare people away. And unlike Hitoshi, she was like, actually attractive. Not a mess of crazy hair and eye bags like Hitoshi was.
He didn’t know why everything suddenly ached so badly. He should have seen this coming. If it wasn’t Jirou, it would have been someone else. Why would Kaminari like Hitoshi? Kaminari was smart and pretty and talented and sweet, he was kind of like… the perfect guy (Hitoshi was NOT biased). Why would someone like him settle for someone like Hitoshi? It was weird that Kaminari was friends with him at all.
And he wished it didn’t hurt so bad. He should know this, he should already know this. But it made his stomach squirm in a way that made him want to throw up and go be anywhere but here.
But he had to walk past the coffee bar to get his orders into the kitchen. So he sped walked to the door as fast as he could and-
“Hey Shinso!” said Kamimari, ever happy to see him. Hitoshi halted, frozen to the spot.
“Hey,” he said.
“You know how Kyoka and I have vocal practice on Saturdays?”
“Yeah?”
“Well we were thinking of going for ice cream after, and inviting a few friends along. You game?”
Hitoshi’s stomach squirmed. That sounded like a bad idea for multiple reasons. One, Jirou was the only person who knew he liked Kaminari. Two; if Kaminari actually liked Jirou and Hitoshi wasn’t jumping to conclusions, that would be super awkward because Jirou probably didn’t know.
“Who else is coming?” Hitoshi asked tentatively.
“Me!” said Kirishima, “And probably Midoriya. We haven’t asked him yet.”
“Yao-Momo is busy.” said Jirou forlornly.
Hitoshi’s insides settled. That was a good group of people. A fairly large group of people. There wouldn’t need to be too much one on one interactions with either Jirou or Kaminari. Perfect. “Sure, what time?”
…
The rest of the week was fairly easy. He kept a safe distance (physical and emotional) from Kaminari. It was safer this way, until Hitoshi moved on from him or he managed to actually verbalize they were soulmates. (If Kaminari and everyone else knew they were soulmates, then he could blame any unnecessary closeness on that). He attempted to say it several times this week, to no avail. He got interrupted once and lost confidence the other two times.
He wondered if he should just lie and tell him he just found out that day or something. But Kaminari knew Hitoshi knew what he sounded like. He sang all the time, there was literally no reason Hitoshi wouldn’t have put two and two together by now. He could just not tell him, and just start singing more often, and make Kaminari put two and two together. But then Kaminari would still ask why Hitoshi didn’t say anything (because again, there’s literally no way he couldn’t have figured it out), and he would have to tell him that he gets so anxious about telling him about it that sometimes he felt like he might actually throw up because he’s that afraid Kaminari will reject him. And then Hitoshi would have to explain that he’s so afraid of Kaminari rejecting him because he cares about him that much and just the thought of him not wanting to be his friend anymore was enough to make him sick to his stomach. And then Kaminari would have to be the dumbest person alive to not realize Hitoshi liked him.
And he may be a bit dim when it came to social stuff sometimes, but no one was that stupid.
The worst part? It was getting really stupid hard to keep this a secret. He felt like he was walking around with his feelings written in his forehead and hoping no one looked at him directly. He kept catching himself staring when he shouldn’t be, and flushing and moving away when he stood too close- despite achingly wanting to be closer.
There would be specific instances where Hitoshi would make a fool of himself because of Kaminari and he would just think that he had finally done it. He had given himself away. There was no way to come back from this. Everyone knew.
But no one ever did.
And maybe that was a bit paranoid, but Hitoshi tended to be a bit paranoid when he didn’t get enough sleep. And he hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep lately.
It was kind of sad that he was losing sleep over this. It was just a crush. A big stupid fat crush that he couldn’t get under control. It was made worse by the fact that he literally couldn’t stop thinking about him. Literally. Because he was literally in his head.
You know I talk too much
Honey come put your lips on mine and
Shut me up
And we can blame it all on human nature
While he was trying to sleep, while he was in class, at work, in the shower, randomly hearing Kaminari’s voice all day long used to be a nuisance. Now it was more of a distraction.
Stay cool it’s just a kiss
So why you gotta be so talkative
I talk too much
You talk too much
…
As Hitoshi sat in his car and turned if they ignition, he felt the same way he did the first time he visited Kaminari’s house almost a month ago. His stomach churned as he opened the door and forced himself to walk up to the ice cream shop.
In his head he repeated what Jirou had told him back when he first approached her with the soulmate thing. It’s just Kaminari, it’s just Kaminari, it’s just Kaminari…
He walked through the swinging doors and saw his friends immediately. Uraraka was talking loudly, while Midoriya and Kirishima listened intently from opposing sides of the table they sat at. Jirou looked vaguely like she was paying attention, and Tokoyami was the one who noticed him and waved him over. When Kaminari noticed Hitoshi, he smiled warmly at him, and he could feel butterfly wings flapping in his gut.
“We’re debating on what to order.” Kaminari explained as Hitoshi sat down.
“I know what I’m getting.” said Tokoyami.
“How am I supposed to choose one flavor of mochi?” said Uraraka.
“Just get multiple mochi!” suggested Midoriya.
“No you don’t understand, I’m on a budget!”
“I can help pay if you need it?”
“No, I wanna pay for myself.”
Midoriya threw his hands out uselessly. “Then I don’t know what you want from me!”
“Just get the strawberry.” Kirishima sighed.
“I want to order.” said Jirou.
“But Shinso hasn’t made a decision yet.” said Kaminari.
Hitoshi swallowed. It’s just Kaminari, he reminded himself. “I was just going to get a milkshake.”
“Okay, then let’s go .” said Jirou.
They stood up and walked over to the counter. Hitoshi positioned himself at the end of the group so he’d be the last one to order. Kaminari was first, so they wouldn’t be standing together in line.
Instead he decided to repeat his order in his head over and over so he wouldn’t mess it up when it was his turn to order.
Medium chocolate milkshake, medium chocolate milkshake…
He heard Midoriya mumbling to himself from where he stood in front of him in the line. Hitoshi couldn’t specifically hear what he was saying, but could tell he was staring at Kirishima, who was currently ordering vanilla ice cream on a waffle cone.
“Everything okay in there?” He asked, knocking his knuckles against the top in Midoriya’s head like he was knocking on a door.
Midoriya flinched and turned to face him. “What?”
“You were talking to yourself again. And you were staring at Kirishima? You good?” he asked again, a little more concerned this time.
“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, I’m fine. I wasn’t- I wasn’t staring, not at him, I mean. I was staring. But I was staring into space, not at anyone.” He scratched the back of his head like he did when he was nervous. “I’m fine.”
“You said that already.”
“Right.”
“Next!” said the lady at the counter.
Midoriya yelped and hurried forward to make his order. Hitoshi was next. He said his order without messing it up, thank God. Then he sat down with his friends again.
“... not at all realistic.” Kaminari was saying.
“What isn’t realistic?” Hitoshi asked, sitting down in the only empty chair, between him and Tokoyami.
Jirou smiled devilishly. “We were talking about how you’d ask out someone you like.”
Hitoshi flinched. Of course.
Kirishima laughed, his ice cream threatening to melt to the side.
“Oh yeah? How would you do it, if you’re so smart?” said Kaminari.
Kirishima ran a hand through his hair, like he was giving his question some serious thought. “I dunno, that’s a tricky one. I guess I would make it as obvious as I could that I liked him, so that if I wanted to ask him out, it wouldn’t be a surprise, Y’know?” Jirou and Kaminari nodded. Midoriya picked at his fingers. “That way, if he doesn’t mind the way I’m acting, I’ll know if he likes me back or not, and whether it’s safe to ask him out.”
“And if it isn’t safe?” Jirou asked.
Kirishima, with his free hand, made finger guns at her. “Suppress your emotions until they go away.”
“ No. ” said Jirou.
“Well what would you do?” said Kirishima.
“No no, don’t ask her, I don’t want to hear this story again.” Kaminari interjected.
Ignoring him, Jirou smiled. “I wrote a song for Yao-Momo and played it in front of the entire store after closing.”
“Aww, that’s so manly!” said Kirishima, leaning his forearms on the table. “That must’ve happened before I worked here.”
“Just a month or so, yeah.” Jirou confirmed.
Kaminari groaned. Hitoshi slurped his milkshake. If Kaminari did like Jirou still, it must be tough to keep hearing that story.
“I remembered that. It was so sweet.” Midoriya agreed.
“What about you?” Jirou asked. “How would you ask out someone you like?”
Midoriya set down his small cup of mint chocolate chip. “Oh, uh…”
“No don’t ask him, he’s terrible at asking people out.” said Uraraka.
“Don’t do this.” Midoriya said warningly.
“He asked me out in a Chick Fil A bathroom.”
“And you said yes?” Hitoshi said, crinkling his nose.
“He was so nervous it was almost cute.” Uraraka confirmed.
Midoriya flushed violently. “That was two years ago, why won’t you let me live that down?”
“Because it was adorable!”
“I wouldn’t do it in a Chick fil a bathroom- any bathroom- now. I’ve grown past it.” said Midoriya.
“Oh yeah?” said Uraraka, “How would you do it then?”
“Show us the darkest parts of your heart, child.” Tokoyami added.
“Um, I don’t…” he stabbed his ice cream with his spoon. “I dunno. I’d probably do something stupid, and be really really nervous before hand.”
“Mood.” said Kaminari.
“I would write them a long, heartfelt poem.” said Tokoyami, “Entailing all my feelings for them.”
“That’s cute.” said Uraraka.
“What about you, Shinso?” Jirou asked out of nowhere.
Shinso tapped his finger against his plastic cup. “Oof, I’d probably suck at it.” he said. “Honestly, if I actually wanted to ask someone out, I’d wait until he caught on and hope he does it.”
“Fair enough.” said Jirou.
“I should’ve gotten vanilla.” said Uraraka mournfully.
As the conversation switched gears, Hitoshi thought about mentioning how Kaminari hadn’t gotten a chance to share, but decided against it. This wasn’t a thirteen year old girl’s sleepover, it was just polite conversation with friends.
After about an hour and a half, Tokoyami had to take off, then Uraraka had to leave. Then Kirishima offered to take Midoriya home because his mom couldn’t pick him up (baby boy didn’t have a license). Then it was just Hitoshi, Kaminari, and Jirou.
“Hey,” said Kaminari after a bit. “Kyoka is going to Yaoyarozu’s house after this, and she was my ride here. Do you think you can drive me home? I don’t want to bother my mom.”
And because Hitoshi hadn’t slept in two days and made bad decisions when he was sleep deprived (and made bad decisions when Kaminari asked him to) he said; “Yeah, sure.”
He was ninety percent sure Kaminari had only asked because he didn’t want to be third wheeling Jirou and Yaoyarozu for obvious reasons Hitoshi didn’t want to think about. But they waved goodbye to Jirou, and Kaminari got comfortable in the front seat of his car.
Hitoshi cranked up whatever song was on the radio. He didn’t recognize it, but Kaminari seemed to.
Maybe I'm just too good
Maybe I'll run away
Maybe I'm over you
Maybe I shouldn't stay
Maybe I just don't care
Maybe I talk too much
But baby I'll be there
Yeah, baby I'll be there
It's been a little hard
I've been a little tough
But maybe all along
I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid
I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid
He bobbed his head along and hummed to himself. Had they not been soulmates, Hitoshi doubted he would have even heard Kaminari.
Kaminari started talking in a comfortable one sided conversation, rambling about whatever while Hitoshi turned down the music to listen. First he talked about how he made Mina laugh so hard the other day, she snorted water through her nose. Which led into Kaminari ranting about how if Bakugo and Midoriya just sat down and held an actual verbal conversation with one another, they’d start dating. (Hitoshi disagreed, saying that clearly, Bakugo liked Kirishima. They’ve had this argument so many times it seemed of ill point to talk about it anymore). Then he talked about the injustice of having his ds taken away for trying to beat his Nintendogs game. (Kaminari wouldn’t believe him when he said “you can’t beat that game, there’s nothing to beat” and “Nintendo didn’t have an ulterior motive for creating that game, it’s just dogs”).
Finally, after what seemed like way too soon, Hitoshi pulled into Kaminari’s driveway and unlocked the car doors.
“Wait,” said Kamimari. “I wanna ask you something.”
Hitoshi raised his eyebrow in suspicion. “What?”
Kaminari squirmed in his seat. “Well you see, there’s this Tik Tok trend that-“
“ Oh my god .”
“No wait- listen!”
“How many people refused to do this before you asked me?” Hitoshi asked.
“None!” said Kaminari. “I didn’t even ask anyone else! It’s nothing weird, I promise!”
Hitoshi sighed, “What do I have to do for this one?”
“Nothing!” Kaminari promised. “Just sit there and look pretty.”
Hitoshi shrugged uselessly. “Alright, fine.”
Kaminari smiled, opening the app and placed his phone on the dashboard.
Hitoshi noticed the sun was dipping in the sky, making it orange and pink. Soft music began to play from Kaminari’s phone.
Baby you’re like lighting in a bottle
Hitoshi involuntarily stiffened, thinking of the first time he ever saw Kaminari. Standing on stage, guitar in hand, covered in sweat.
I can’t let you go now that I’ve got it
Kaminari shifted in his seat so that he was facing Hitoshi. For a few seconds, they just stared at one another.
And all I need-
“Are we supposed to be just staring at each other?” Hitoshi asked.
“Shut uuuup.”
-is to be struck-
And for just a second, Kaminari’s smile wobbled and his confidence wavered. He suddenly looked nervous.
-by-
Then his face settled, determined.
-your electric-
The rest of the words were lost on him. All noise blurred in his ears. Kaminari reached over the clutch and pressed a kiss to his lips.
Hitoshi didn’t mean to freeze, he just did. There were a million things he thought Kaminari was going to do. This was not one of them. Was this just a Tik Tok thing? Did famous Tik Tok people just kiss their friends on camera? Was Hitoshi a joke to him? But he had said he didn’t ask anyone else… he wanted Hitoshi to do it. He had looked nervous. For a moment, a stupid moment, Hitoshi froze.
Kaminari must have noticed Hitoshi wasn’t kissing back and pulled away. Before he had even made it an inch away, Hitoshi missed the warmth. Not thinking- something he should never do- he leaned back in.
His lips tasted like strawberry ice cream and the warmth of it was all he could feel. He felt like worms were wriggling around in his gut and his head felt light.
Eventually they did break apart. Hitoshi didn’t process anything for a couple moments. He just hovered there, just a breath away from Kaminari’s face. His cheeks burned. Then he realized what he just did.
First, he thought he was going to blame this all of his sleep deprivation. He needed to get more sleep. He needed to make good decisions.
Then he began overthinking.
Oh no, there’s no platonic explanation for what I just did. He’s gonna figure out that I like him. But he kissed me first. Does that mean he already knows I like him? Does that mean he likes me? But wait, this was for a Tik Tok. It could all be a joke. But Kaminari wouldn’t be that cruel. Did that mean Kaminari knew I liked him? He was more observant than most people gave him credit for. Did that mean he had figured out I was his soulmate? Oh god oh god…
“Hey,” Kamimari began, his voice low and husky, “did you-“
“You figured out we were soulmates?!” Hitoshi said, his voice shrill and panicky.
Kaminari stared at him blankly. “We. We’re what?”
Hitoshi stiffened and pulled back, more lost now then he had ever been. Kaminari didn’t know they were soulmates. (Then why did he kiss him?) Hitoshi just told him they were soulmates. What. What? What?
He had imagined this conversation many times over in his head, and this was not how he pictured it happening. He was aware he was probably twelve seconds away from having a panic attack, but couldn’t quite see a way out of it.
“Shinso, we’re what ?” Kaminari asked again.
He’s ruined everything. Now he’s going to have to explain himself and Kaminari isn’t going to understand why it took him this long to finally tell him and he’s going to hate him.
“I, it-“ he began. “You… I was going to tell you. I wanted to tell you. But every time I got close I panicked and chickened out and… and it feels weird to mention it now since we’ve known each other for so long and I was worried you’d think I was weird for not saying anything but I didn’t want to get it wrong and-“
Hitoshi cut himself off, taking a deep breath. He was not going to have a panic attack in front of Kaminari and scare him off, he was not.
Kaminari sat back in his seat, looking stunned. “Wow.” He said. “I just… I didn’t… I had no idea.”
“I know,” said Hitoshi, trying to keep his voice at a reasonable level, “I’m sorry, I really- I’m sorry.”
Hitoshi’s hands trembled. Was Kaminari going to hate him now? Would anything between them ever be the same?
“Yeah,” said Kaminari, staring into space, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “Sorry, I’m trying to connect the dots here. Because I sing all the time, and I’ve never heard you sing before. But I’ve heard my soulmate sing. Not often, but I’ve heard them. And I hear you talk all the time. Shouldn’t I have recognized your voice? You don’t sing that infrequently, right? No, wait, you kinda do. So, but wait- the first time we met, I was singing. Did you know then?”
Hitoshi nodded, not trusting his mouth to speak.
Kaminari spoke almost to himself, “That’s a long ass time.”
“I know, I really did try to tell you. I just… I was so scared. I didn’t want you- I thought you’d hate me-“
“Hate you?” said Kaminari. “Why would I hate you?”
Hitoshi squirmed in his seat, realizing this made way more sense in his head when he was overthinking it. “It, well, it had been so long, I thought you’d be upset that I hadn’t told you sooner.”
Kaminari shrugged, his face going soft. “I mean, yeah, I’m a bit upset, sure. I do wish I had known sooner. But like, I get it. I have friends with anxiety.”
Hitoshi blinked. “What?”
“Y’know. Anxiety. That thing you have. Where you get anxious in social situations and overthink stuff so that even the simplest of social tasks seems insurmountable? That thing?”
Hitoshi brought a hand to his face. “Oh my god that makes so much sense.”
“You didn’t know?” Kaminari barked.
“I thought everyone was like that!”
“ Dude !”
Hitoshi waved his hands vaguely. Kaminari laughed.
“Stop laughing at me, I’m having a crisis!”
“I’m sorry,” said Kaminari, calming down. “I’m sorry.” He let out an exhale. “So, you knew I was your soulmate this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve heard everything I’ve ever sung?”
“Yep.”
“Even the weird stuff?”
“You’re going to have to specify.”
Kaminari barked with laughter. Hitoshi really hoped that counted as music, because he wanted to hear it more often.
“Okay, so everything everything.”
“Everything everything.” Hitoshi confirmed.
“I’ve always wanted to ask you, why don’t you sing more often? Or even hum?”
Hitoshi shrugged. “I dunno, I don’t really have a good voice. Not like you do.”
Kaminari grinned wide, like he struck gold. “So you like my voice?” Hitoshi flushed. “What else do you like about me?”
“Don’t push it.”
Kaminari waved him off. “Only kidding, only kidding.” Then he leaned in close, “You do like me though, right?” He asked it seriously, but still smiled, trying to make it seem like he didn’t care either way.
Hitoshi swallowed. It’s just Kaminari, he reminded himself. “Yes.”
Kaminari leaned in closer. “Good. Because it was gonna be really weird having to explain why I kissed you if you didn’t.”
“Yeah, what was that?” asked Hitoshi.
“It was a Tik Tok trend, I wasn’t lying.” He said. “It’s like, you’re supposed to kiss your friend in the bass drop of the song, and if they don’t like you back, you can say you were just doing it for the meme.”
“Smart.”
“Right?” Kaminari agreed, “Way better than Jirou’s dumb idea of just talking to you about it. That could go so wrong in so many ways.”
“Wait.” said Hitoshi, “Jirou told you to talk to me?”
“Yeah, why?”
“She told me to talk to you.”
Kaminari squinted. “We’re so fucking stupid.”
“We kinda are though.” Hitoshi tapped his fingers in the dashboard. “You do like me though, right?”
“Do I...? Yes? How was that not clear?”
“I was just making sure! I was just checking.” He said. “And you’re not upset with me?”
“No.”
Their faces were so close together, Hitoshi cast his gaze downward, trying not to make things awkward again. Kaminari leaned forward and bonked their foreheads together, and Hitoshi smiled. And they stayed like that.
It was dark outside now, the sun disappeared completely.
“Now what?” Hitoshi asked.
“Dunno, didn’t think I’d make it this far.”
Hitoshi laughed, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t anxious at all.
“Would it have made a difference if I wasn’t your soulmate?” he asked.
“I kissed you because I like you, dude. I would have done it either way. I’ve been planning this for like, a week.”
Hitoshi sighed, content. He had never felt like he was the kind of person people got crushes on. He was just Hitoshi. Just Shinso. Kinda tall and tired looking and weirdly scary. But maybe…
Kaminari liked him. That was good. Maybe things… were going to be good now. Hitoshi smiled. Yeah, things were going to be good now.