Work Text:
It’s not art school if you don’t have either a kick ass fashion sense, Dr Martens, or funky hair. Fortunately, Kaminari Denki possesses all three of these. Between the cuffed pants, tastefully scuffed boots, and lightning bolt dyed into his sunshine blonde hair, he’s the epitome of art student. All he’s missing is one of those cute hats. No, not a fedora. The round one, but not a bowler hat.
Yeah, he’s never been one for knowing fashion. He just copies the instagram models he finds. Actually, he tries really hard to fit the trendy fashion which is… hard, needless to say, on a college student’s budget. A college art student’s budget. Over half of his money goes to supplies. The rest? Food, games, or party “supplies”. He’s a second year, though, so don’t tell the authorities.
Today, though, is unlike most days. This is a day he’s been anxiously awaiting. The whole semester, his studio has been informed of the multi-subject life painting day. The students walk in and have the period to do as much as they can. Unfortunately, “as much as they can” was really open to interpretation. Even his friend Todoroki doesn’t truly understand the concept.
Winter walk, giant bags tucked under arms and backpacks carrying only a water bottle and art supplies, Todoroki meets Kaminari at the library. It’s a good halfway point between their dorms. They do this every week: meet up, grab a small coffee, and go to studio.
When they arrive, the room is set up with three chairs. Nice ones, too. Lounge chairs rather than ugly classroom metal or stools. Up against the cloth wall, too, so everybody gets a front view. Joy. They’re expected to arrive early to set up, and the model(s) usually come in to sit down five minutes before the start. The thing with life drawings is that it’s one extended period instead of several shorter ones like still lifes.
Kaminari and Todoroki enter, seeing they’re rather early this time and taking a place front and center. Actually, Kaminari is front and center. Todoroki goes further to one side saying he likes the lighting or something. Denki isn’t paying attention. Instead, the blonde is pulling out pencils and charcoals and erasers, lining them up on the easel table when suddenly, his eyes catch something else. The models off to the side with his instructor. Five of them; three boys and two girls. There’s a wide range of hair colors probably to assume further challenge, but he can’t see any faces. They’re all in neutral toned clothes.
The paint bottles and palette catch his eyes next. Vibrant primary hues spread out on the tray with several brush sizes in a cup. Before he can truly process what’s going on, his instructor is painting what he can only assume to be their faces. Oh. That’s interesting. Denki turns to see Todoroki also intrigued by the display. At least he’s not alone. A few of the other students are watching too, slowly setting up.
Then it’s time, and the models are taking their seats before he knows it. Two of the boys sit in one lounge chair, the girls in the other, and between them one lone guy with black hair. The two dudes are seated so the blonde is manspreading on an armrest, the second one, a redhead, truly sitting on the seat. They look cozy as Denki lazily traces out their figues.
Next, the girls. They’re neatly presented, red, blue and yellow paint elegantly on their faces. The purple haired girl has red triangles on her cheeks and and black ponytail girl has a blue stripe down her nose. Adorable, if he were honest, even though they both are pretty enough he would’ve hit on them given different circumstances. Then again… they look like a couple just like the two boys what not with how they’re sitting. The shorter girl is settled in the other’s lap. Their arms are wrapped around each other, looking in two different directions.
Finally, the lone boy. He’s not exactly what you would expect a star subject to be. He’s plain in a way. Black hair pulled back into a short ponytail and baggy turtleneck. He’s not painted, though. Maybe the blandness of the center figure is what draws Denki to him. His eyes are trained just to the left of his canvas with a simple smile and crossed legs. Poor guy’s gonna have to hold that smile for a long time. Still, Kaminari is drawn to him. Literally.
He’s spending more time sketching out the guy’s outfit, the lines of his bangs and the curve of his lips. Maybe if he completes one model, that’s considered doing as much as he can. That’s the track he’s going to take instead of overall progress. He finds himself focusing more on the ravenette the further progress he makes. The softest of charcoals would be too harsh on those locks, so he etches them in with a soft pencil instead.
His head moves to look around the canvas at the boy, and he immediately catches those eyes… A medium-soft charcoal would be perfect to match the dark pools. He reaches for the tool and then gently touches it to the canvas, afraid he’d ruin the man’s actual face by using too much pressure.
A firmer pencil draws in the weave of his turtleneck, the tiny bit of exposed skin left white to the canvas. Kaminari traces out lines, looking around the canvas to verify the shapes he thinks he recalls properly. Again, their eyes meet. He’s sure it’s just the way the model is glancing, but then he examines the portrait again and no. No. They’re making eye contact. His eyes are definitely more to the left on the portrait than when their contrasting hues meet.
For a second, Kaminari’s stomach does a kickflip. An ollie over an “omg”. Recover. Finish what you started, man. He’s hot, but he’s just a model. You’ve draw hotter models when they’re naked . This is nothing. And yet, he feels magnetized. Drawn in by the simplicity of the subject. His smooth skin and ear piercings. Kaminari finds his mind wandering, mindless swipes being made across the canvas. Is he a student? What’s his major? Does he live in the dorms? Oh, God, what if he’s a freshman…
The blonde snaps out of it when there’s a time reminder from his professor. One hour left. It makes Denki step back to examine his work. Well, true to his theory, he’s gotten pretty far on the dude. The other four blobs haven’t been touched since the initial sketch, though, so he figures to at least line their features. Head peaks around to look at the girls, studying them. After a moment, his eyes switch over to glance at the guy again. And a second after that, his eyes are on him again. Sure, Kaminari and him have been sharing flirty glances. Or, as flirty as you can get when you can’t really move anything except your eyes. Even then, the guy is probably messing up other people. But hey, nobody has said anything to him yet.
Kaminari studies him instead. The cupids bow in his upper lip and the thin bottom lip stretched into that lovely smile. It’s sweet, innocent, and makes his butterflies flutter. Instead of a typical flirty grin, Kaminari gives him a matching smile. Endearing, sincere. A smile that he usually makes when looking at couples being affectionate rather than at a single person. It makes his heart throb when he notices the guy’s smile stretches a little more and hits his eyes more. He’s cute. Good thing Kaminari figured out his bisexuality before today. Otherwise, he’d be having a gay crisis in studio.
They part ways, Kaminari going back to the girls. His pencil drags out the subtle curve of their jaws and the flow of their hair. They look happy together, too. Just being situated like so, he can feel the girl’s shared affection.
As he’s carving their clothes into the canvas, his professor calls time and all five models sigh in relief. So much for being professional. All five of them begin to talk to each other. Huh. They must be friends. And then the girl with the ponytail waves to Todoroki. He can tell because Shoto waves back. Does he know them? Did he know they were coming in?
Questions, questions, questions.
Speaking of questions, Kaminari needs to find the black haired male before he leaves. Hectic. That’s how the blonde packs all his supplies up. He’s never truly been organized about his tools but this is ridiculous. The five models are talking to the professor, though, so he has a bit of time.
Not much, though, as they all take their leave halfway through Denki jamming his box into his backpack.
Shit, shit, shit.
With a grunt from his throat and a push past some other students, he escapes the studio and sees the quintet walking down the hall. Before he can think to do otherwise, Denki calls out to them from the other side of the hall. “Hey!!” They don’t really stop. Instead, they turn their heads in confusion. Being the models, they probably don’t have his face as memorized as he does theirs, but it’s worth a shot. The blonde scoffs, turning back around. The other’s follow along, assuming he’s not asking for them. To be fair, he really isn’t wanting all of them. Just the guy .
His eyes deceived him, though. Right as Kaminari was going to give up on the cute guy, he noticed that the latter had stopped walking with the group and was looking at him expectantly.
Half jogging, mindful of his back, Kaminari rushed up to the guy and officially introduced himself. “Hey. I’m, uh, Kaminari.”
It earned a smile that once again reached black eyes. Damn was that smile nice. “Hey, I’m Sero Hanta. Couldn’t help but notice you givin’ me looks in there. Was kinda hopin’ I’d actually see you sometime on campus…” He’s really easy to talk to. It’s an instant vibe that radiates from tanned skin and, gosh, can Kaminari stop dreaming? Even if the guy isn’t into men, he’s determined to at least be friends.
“Really? I thought you were giving me looks, dude,” he laughs and Sero joins in, hand moving to pull the ponytail out. Kaminari swears his heart stopped when the black locks fell around his shoulders. “So you’re a student? How come you modeled today?”
Sero shrugs, snapping the hair tie around his wrist, sweater sleeves now pushed up as they stand in the entrance of the building. His friends are all long gone by now. Hopefully they didn’t just forget Sero behind. “Needed some cash. This stuff pays well, plus we knew Todoroki was in the class. He’s been friends with YaoMomo since they were kids or something. I dunno. You an art major or just a doodle enthusiast lookin’ for a challenge?”
“Art major.” The comment brings a laugh out of Kaminari. “How about you, man?”
“Marketing. Not really a fan of it, but I’ve switched my major already, so I feel like I’m gonna be in school forever if I don’t just stick with something, you know?”
Kaminari nods, “Not really, I mean, I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember, but I get what you’re saying. What do you like to do, then?”
Sero thinks for a second and then comes up with an answer. “I actually kinda like writing? I think that’s what drew me to marketing. Advertising. Coming up with slogans and shit. But creative writing doesn’t sound terrible. I took a course on it last semester and had a good time. That and English, but that’s my minor, so…” He trails off and Kaminari almost wishes he’d babble on forever. Then he sees why: it’s snowing out. Kinda hard. Damn. He did not dress for the weather. “Shit.” Guess Sero didn’t either.
“How close are you to here?”
“Pretty far, actually. 10 minute walk when it’s not snowing.” Kaminari nods in agreement. He’s about half the distance, but it’d still be Hell in this weather.
Then he gets an idea. The coffee stop next to the library. It’s a couple minute walk probably with the snow. “Wanna grab a hot cocoa and wait this out? Coffee place has board games.” It makes Sero snort.
“You really are an art major… Sure. Are you buying?”
“You think I’m askin’ you on a date, bro?”
Sero thinks on those words for a little too long. Long enough that it makes Kaminari slightly anxious as the dark eyes search the lobby for a response. Finally, though, it comes, and so does that smile he’s got going for him. “If you want it to be, I’d say yes.” This time, his teeth are showing and there’s a glimmer in his eyes. Mischievous and real. Kaminari concludes the word he’s actually been looking for this whole time was beautiful.
“Then it’s a date.”