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When Hanta starts his third year of U.A., it comes with a whole new set of changes. He's taller for one. He can now rest an arm comfortably on Bakugou's head, much to his amusement and Bakugou's chagrin. He's also far more agile which may or may not be a direct effect of the first thing. And another change: his main friend group has seamlessly expanded to include Uraraka.
It starts, as many things do, with Kirishima. During second year, Uraraka and Kirishima had started working out together and along the way became good friends. And Kirishima, much like a lot of people, was determined to make his friends friends.
The first step was, of course, inviting her to hang out with them. Movie nights, game nights, shopping trips: she was there laughing and joking alongside the rest of the squad. It wasn't long before their hangouts were including Uraraka more often than not.
Mina was, of course, delighted to finally have another girl in the group but more importantly, someone to side with her in her playful fights with Kaminari. And Kaminari was on board the minute she beat him in a burping contest. Even Bakugou had only grumbled about it for a hot minute which, from Bakugou, is practically the equivalent of making a friendship bracelet.
At some point it had become a solid law of the universe: Uraraka was a member of the Bakusquad and was there to stay.
And that wouldn't be a problem--it really wouldn't--Hanta likes Uraraka. He thinks she's fun and strong and lively. She makes him laugh and can kick his ass at Mario Kart six ways to Sunday. It really wouldn't be any problem at all if it weren't for the whole gamer fuel situation .
See, Mina is the type of girl whose school bag is an abyss. Reach down, and you'll get a handful of snap bracelets, lollipops, shaped erasers, bendy pencils, and--most importantly--every flavor of chapstick you can imagine. From cherry to root beer to bacon, Mina is an avid collector. And she's not shy about sharing.
So whenever Mina would pull one of her notorious chapsticks out of her bag, her friends tended to keep an eye out for the label. Hanta has tried Orange Fanta and fried chicken, lychee and lavender--pretty much any flavor you can imagine. Kaminari has tried even more than him.
One day, after a grueling round of Smash, Mina had reached into her bag and pulled out one of her flavored chapsticks, applying it to her lips.
"Is that Mountain Dew Code Red?" Kaminari exclaimed.
Mina passed it over, and Kaminari, after some cursory sniffing, had applied it to his lips. "This is my new favourite," he declared.
"Let me try," Hanta exclaimed.
"Hold on," Kaminari said, giving it another sniff. Hanta rolled his eyes.
"C'mon bro just give me a little gamer fuel," Hanta whined, and Kaminari had responded, not by handing over the chapstick, but by launching himself across the couch and pecking him on the lips with a resounding smack.
After a moment of surprised silence, Hanta burst out laughing. He laughed so hard he cried. Mina, Kaminari, and Kirishima soon followed. Hanta swears they laughed for 5 minutes straight until Bakugou yelled at them to knock it off. It was no big deal really. After all, what's a little friendly kissing between bros?
This, of course, became the start of something terrible, and now they all carry Mountain Dew Code Red chapstick on their person at all times for whenever a bro asks for gamer fuel. It's a fact that they could barely go through a hangout without the inevitable bro kiss.
Which of course meant that, after a few hangouts, Uraraka finally witnessed her first true gamer moment. They'd been playing Mario Kart and Kirishima was losing badly. He was so far in last place that Bakugou, the player in first, used a mushroom to run him over as he lapped him.
"Aww man I really blew that one, didn't I?" Kirishima complained, "I guess I need some divine influence. Gamer fuel me up!"
And before he was even done speaking, Mina had the tube out and was applying it generously to her lips. She planted one on him loudly, "Mwah!"
"Excuse me but what the fuck?" a soft voice from behind Bakugou asked, and the whole squad realized in one swift moment that there was no good way to explain this.
Kaminari--bless his heart--tried, but it came out something like "They're just no homo gamer kisses, bro," which was met with more than a few groans and confused murmurs.
After that, Kirishima, clearly channeling one of the all powerful gaming gods after his gamer fuel moment, somehow managed to give an actually decent explanation that miraculously didn't make them all seem insane. But they still had no idea how Uraraka would react, and she wasn't giving them any clues as to what she was thinking.
The Bakusquad all watched intently as Uraraka seemed to ponder it for a moment.
She finally spoke, "Well then hit me up with some gamer fuel I guess."
Mina cheered and immediately launched across the table to kiss some chapstick onto her.
Uraraka giggled, "It really does taste like mountain dew."
"Code Red," Hanta said, "The Code Red is important."
"Gamer fuel!" Kaminari and Kirishima shouted, high fiving.
And that was that.
See the problem wasn't that Uraraka was weirded out by the whole gamer fuel thing. In fact, she's adapted to it like a queen. Since learning about their little tradition, she's kissed everyone in the Bakusquad multiple times, Bakugou included. Everyone except Hanta that is. And his fellow squadmates are starting to notice.
He knows they don't think he's noticed the glances after she kisses someone, the slight frowns exchanged between each other. It makes his skin crawl. Can't they just leave him alone?
But it seems they're not willing to leave it alone. After Uraraka leaves one night, yawning cutely and telling them all she's got to go to sleep now or she'll crash on their floor, Kirishima corners him with an uncomfortably serious expression on his face.
Hanta's never done well with serious talks. He'd much rather stick to his comfort zone, cracking bad, possibly ill-timed jokes and trying not to get blasted with Bakugou's quirk. But it seems he's the only one in this clown car tonight. Kirishima opens his mouth.
"Bro, if you're uncomfortable with her, I can stop inviting her to our hangouts. I'm sorry dude. I never meant to throw you off."
Hanta jumps, feeling an unpleasant shiver run down his spine, "Why do you think she makes me uncomfortable?! I never said I was."
"I don't know bro--it's just, we've all been hanging for over two months now, and you haven't given her a single pro gamer kiss."
Hanta scrambles to come up with a good excuse when Kaminari thankfully provides him more time by butting into the conversation.
"Oh my gosh my man I didn't even realize! I must be a bad friend. Me and Uraraka are buddies, but I don't have to invite her to stuff if it bothers you."
Hanta frowns. He opens his mouth to speak, but he can't seem to get any words out.
"Y'all are idiots," Mina says walking up, "Sero isn't uncomfortable with Uraraka because he doesn't like her."
A wave of relief crashes over Hanta. He's glad Mina cleared it up. He'd hate for them to stop inviting Uraraka to things just because of his little issue. "Thank you, I--"
"He's uncomfortable with her because he likes her."
Friendship with Mina over. Blocked. Mina who? Suddenly, Hanta can't even remember knowing a Mina. Funny how that works.
Kaminari and Kirishima blink at Mina owlishly before twin looks of recognition flash across their faces. They grin almost maliciously.
"Now you get it, dum dums."
"Now wait a minute--" Hanta interjects loudly, trying to save face, and is unpleasantly surprised when no one interrupts him. He hasn't had time to think of a defense yet, and the resulting silence is far more condemning than anything else.
"We're waiting," Mina says in her mock innocent voice, and Hanta kind of wants to wring her neck. But like in a painless friendship way.
"Wow did you idiots really not know soy sauce face liked round face?" Bakugou sneers.
Hanta blushes a little, irritated at being called out. So what if he likes her? That's his own business.
"Awww I didn't know you cared so much about my love life, blasty" Hanta retorts, feeling the comfortable familiarity teasing restores and then smiling apologetically as Bakugou raises a hand, sparks flying.
***
It's past midnight, and Kaminari has fallen asleep on the lounge couch...again. It's the world's worst kept secret: Kaminari can't stay awake during a movie for the life of him. They've tried everything: loading him up with caffeine, keeping him from using any blankets, making him stand up the entire time. No matter what they do, he always ends up curled up on the couch or floor, asleep.
Tonight Hanta is using that to his advantage. The minute Kaminari's eyes close, he's there beside him constructing a stretcher-like concoction out of tape. He adds another strip, sticking out his tongue a little in concentration.
"Whatcha doing," a voice whispers in his ear.
He jumps, accidentally whacking his head against the person behind him. Was he really that unaware? Oof that's kind of embarrassing that with all his hero training he still let someone get the jump on him. Maybe he should practice his situational awareness more.
He glances back to where Uraraka is standing, rubbing her forehead. Hanta lifts a hand to the matching sore spot on his own head before realizing what he's doing. He lowers his hand.
"Sorry," he apologizes.
"No I guess I deserved that," she replies. "But what are you doing?"
"Oh. I'm making a stretcher to carry Kaminari on. That way I can carry him over to the wall and tape him there. You don't fall asleep during Pacific Rim, my man. Some crimes can never be forgiven."
"Why tape him to the wall," she whispers with a glint in her eye, "when you could tape him to the ceiling." She wiggles her hands, prominently displaying the pink pads on her fingertips. Hanta grins maniacally. "Offer accepted."
The truth is, Uraraka's been helping him out with pranks long before joining the Bakusquad. At first it was a small thing. Every once in a while she'd join him in freezing Bakugou's toothpaste, mixing in hard boiled eggs with the raw eggs in the communal carton in the kitchen, filling the hallway with water cups. But lately it seems like every time he gets in a mischievous mood, she just appears like the beautiful muse of all things chaos. They work together to cause a little commotion and have a little fun along the way.
Hanta always gets blamed. But they never suspect Uraraka.
One time they were taping the sink sprayers in the communal kitchen so they'd spray when their classmates turned on the faucet when Uraraka accidently knocked over a pan with a resounding clunk.
"Shhh, we'll get caught," Hanta laughed.
"You'll get caught. You think they'd suspect innocent me?"
"You're not so innocent," he snorted.
"Yeah, I'm not so innocent," she said, smirking as she pulled out a powder and started sprinkling it into the nozzle.
"What's that?" Hanta asked.
"Fake blood. When they turn on the faucet, the kitchen will look like a murder scene."
"Diabolical," Hanta whispered and stared at her in a whole new light. That's probably when it started. This insufferable, wonderful crush.
It went off without a hitch. Poor Ojiro went to get a glass of water and screamed bloody murder, running back into the room covered in fake blood.
"The--the sink!" he spluttered as his classmates proceeded to freak out.
"We're haunted!" Mina screamed.
During the commotion, Uraraka had stepped next to Hanta, so close their hands brushed. She subtly waggled her fingertips against his palm in amusement. No one noticed, but his face may have turned a shade pinker than usual.
They make fast work of taping Kaminari, two partners in crime. He doesn't know how they manage it, but they never seem to get in the way of each other. He thinks maybe she's more observant than she lets on. Either that or they're soulmates or something. He quashes that notion straightaway. It's sappy and self-indulgent and honestly? A little gross.
Finishing, they stand back and survey their work. Kaminari is artfully taped to the ceiling above the bed, his head completely exposed. A drop of drool trickles down from the ceiling as he mutters to himself. Uraraka crinkles her nose, "ew gross."
Hanta runs to the kitchen and returns holding a handful of napkins. He shakes them at her playfully and starts to lay them down in the prime drip zone, making sure to keep an eye on the looming drool raincloud that is his friend. "So what are you doing up?" Hanta whispers.
Uraraka tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. Hanta tries to focus on his task. "Looking for some fun," she whispers back with a grin.
"Oh? Why are you looking here then,?" he teases. She blushes, "Actually I did have a bit of an ulterior motive."
"Oh?" Hanta says, and his attention is fully captured. Unfortunate as Kaminari takes that moment to let out another stream of drool. Hanta freezes as he feels a wet drop hit his face.
Uraraka's laughter startles him out of his momentary paralysis. She's laughing into her hand, clearly trying not to make too much sound, but he can see her ribs rattle. He's hit with a sudden rush of fondness, but he steels his expression into a stern frown.
"What do you think you're laughing at?" he accuses.
"Nothing, nothing" she says, waving her hands. She wheezes, "I'm gonna grab you some more napkins."
She bounds to the kitchen, her footsteps almost silent. Hanta wonders if the reason he couldn't hear her was because she was using her quirk. So unfair.
In a few seconds, she's back with a wet napkin. She motions him over. "I can get it myself," he mumbles, but he's not actually sure he can, and he would like every inch of Kaminari spit off his face thank you very much.
He scoots over to her, and they both sit down, knees touching. She reaches for his face, and she's so close he can see each individual eyelash.
"So this ulterior motive..." he starts.
"Oh right--"
"Does it have anything to do with why you've been avoiding me the past few days?"
"What?!" she squeaks, "I wasn't avoiding you!"
He glares at her.
"Well maybe a little," she mumbles apologetically. Hanta crosses his arms.
"It isn't anything bad, " she clarifies, wiping up the last of the drool and hurling the napkins into the nearest trash can. The crumpled ball bounces neatly in, and she smirks. She looks back at Hanta.
Her grin fades, replaced by a look Hanta thinks is almost sheepish. She rubs the back of her neck while her face reddens. After a moment her expression shifts to one of resolve, and she leans forward, "why you haven't told me you like me."
"What?!" Hanta yelps, bolting up from where he was sitting. He smacks a hand over his mouth. Uraraka stands up with him. Still as statues, they both shift their eyes up to the ceiling where Kaminari appears blissfully asleep and unaware of his current predicament. "No Mom I wanted to befriend the zombie hoard," Kaminari mutters blearily before lapsing into silence again.
"How did you know?" Hanta whispers more quietly.
"Kaminari talks in his sleep," Uraraka replies.
Hanta glances at the aforementioned boy in irritation, making a just-about-mouth-sized piece of tape issue from his elbow and stares at Kaminari's mouth in contemplation. He starts to raise the piece of tape.
Uraraka holds his hand down with a grin. "So why didn't you tell me?" she asks, glancing over curiously.
Hanta sighs, defeated.
"When we first started hanging out way back when, you told us you weren't going to date in school. I figured that's why you didn't ask out Midoriya."
"Was my crush that obvious?!" she squeaks.
"I think even the teachers knew," Hanta ponders.
"How embarrassing," she wails and puts her head in her hands. After a few seconds, she looks up at Hanta.
She blushes and rubs her thumb against her wrist like Hanta's noticed she does when she's stressed.. "I guess I did say that didn't I? I forgot I told you. But...I don't feel that way anymore"
"Yeah?" Hanta asks and tries to not let hope color his voice. Desperation is so last year, and he's promised Mina he's going to try and stay more on trend.
"Yeah," she replies, "after seeing how well Mirio and Tamaki handle their relationship alongside being heros, well," she looks away, a grin tugging at her lips, "Let's just say I'm trying to be open to a few more possibilities."
"Possibilities like--"
"Like you giving me some gamer fuel," she says, a mischievous smirk flashing across her face. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her chapstick, waggling it playfully.
"Wait--so--I'm sorry I know it's probably like completely a dumb thing to ask but you like me?"
"Yeah I do," Uraraka answers, smiling.
"Well I can't very well deny a gamer their fuel," Hanta says, leaning in and trying not to show how nervous he was. Oh no--what if their noses bump? Or he misses her lips? Or--
"No homie," she whispers as she leans in.
"Oh my gosh, you are the WORST," he laughs, pushing her back onto the couch where she falls very ungracefully, thankfully on the non-droolpapered side. She's laughing so hard she snorts. It's adorable.
"You like it. Admit it," she giggles. Hanta pretends to think about it a minute.
"Nah doesn't sound like me," he replies.
"I guess this gamer fuel will go to waste then."
"Well, we can't have that," Hanta replies and leans in.
Their lips meet. It's not smooth, and it's not perfect. But it's every bit the pro gamer moment they deserve.