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Shouta had not chosen his friends. Shouta’s friends had been thrust upon him in a bright burst of sound and enthusiasm, and stuck to him in such a way that he couldn’t break free from them.
If Shouta had chosen his friends, he’d probably have no friends. He’d like to say that it would be better that way, to not have the two loudest, most excitable people in their class hanging on him at all times but…
Shouta liked his friends, despite the odds. They were loud, they were obnoxious, but they were… well, they were his friends. They believed in him as a hero and also just wanted to hang out with Shouta. The three of them, until the end of time.
There were, however, times that Shouta desperately wished that he had other friends, or even no friends at all!
Times like when he was in bed at two in the morning and his phone started aggressively buzzing with the indication of a rapid-fire round of new texts.
hizashi: he’s literally so hot i’m going to die
hizashi: you don’t understand i want to MARRY him
hizashi: do you think if i just went to school tomorrow and asked him to marry me he would
hizashi: actually that’s a bad idea forget i said that
hizashi: but do you UNDERSTAND how HOT he is
Shouta could only assume, as he stared blearily at his phone, that Hizashi was talking about Oboro. While he hadn’t explicitly expressed interest in their friend before, he had been friends with Oboro longer than he had with Shouta, and Oboro was cute. They’d definitely make a good couple.
Shouta swallowed down his own crush on Hizashi before answering.
shouta: you should probably ask him out before you marry him. at least one date usually tends to be the requirement for those things.
Hizashi immediately started to type in response and Shouta sighed, not bothering to turn off his phone. Instead, he sat up, pulling his blanket over his head and leaning against his headboard. Knowing Hizashi, this conversation was going to take quite a bit of back and forth of him being annoying.
hizashi: i can’t just ask him out i’ll DIE
shouta: he’s not going to kill you for asking him out.
hizashi: but what if he DOES
hizashi: yamada hizashi, defeated not by a villain but by his unrequited crush on one of his best friends. he asked him out and got rejected and died of SADNESS and now they mourn him.
shouta: if you die, i’ll bring flowers to your funeral
shouta: he’s not going to reject you. just do it tomorrow and get it over with. if he’s an idiot and rejects you, then we can go out for ice cream. my treat.
hizashi: you’re the best!!!!! <3
Shouta rolled his eyes, setting his phone onto its charger once again and turning over in bed to fall asleep.
Hizashi was going to ask Oboro out tomorrow, and on the off chance that Oboro didn’t see what a fucking catch Hizashi was, Shouta owed him ice cream. It wasn’t like that was a date, and Shouta wouldn’t let himself go down that stupid illogical path of imagining that it was. Oboro was going to say yes to him anyway, and they were going to be just as obnoxious as normal.
While disappointing that his crush on Hizashi would be for naught if Oboro and Hizashi began to date, Shouta didn’t really care. He knew they wouldn’t stop hanging out with him, and maybe they’d waste some of their excess annoying energy on each other instead of on him.
Deep down, the illogical part of Shouta turned his stomach, wondering what Oboro would have done if he had been the one to get the texts. If Hizashi was that enamored with Shouta.
It felt like his alarm had gone off the second that he closed his eyes. He kept the blanket wrapped around his head as he pulled himself out of bed, running the brush haphazardly through the top layer of his hair and tossing on his uniform. He rubbed at his eyes as he grabbed his support items off of the table by the door, throwing on his shoes and slinging his backpack over his shoulders before rushing to UA.
Hizashi and Oboro were already there when Shouta came into the classroom. Oboro was sitting on Hizashi’s desk, waving his arms in some grand explanation of some story. Hizashi glanced up when Shouta walked into the room before his eyes immediately darted back to his desk, his cheeks flecked with red splotches.
So he hadn’t asked Oboro out yet, then.
“Shouta!” Oboro grinned, spinning around on the desk so he could see him too. “Good morning, energy saver! I thought you were going to be late.”
Shouta rolled his eyes, sinking into his desk and resting his head against his arms to stare at his friends. “I’m here at the same time I always am. We don’t need to get here as unreasonably early as you both seem to.”
“You wouldn’t know when we get here,” Oboro said, “you’re always rushing in after us.”
Shouta snorted in laughter. “I’m not late. Half the class still isn’t here.”
Hizashi was still avoiding eye contact with him and Shouta frowned. Had he said something wrong when he was trying to give him advice on what to do with Oboro? Or maybe he had already asked Oboro out, and Oboro had rejected him, and he was just trying to find the best way to tell Shouta. Except that he doubted that the two would have been talking so animatedly when he walked in if that were the case.
“Anyway, so I was telling Hizashi,” Oboro continued, kicking his feet onto Shouta’s desk so he was now precariously balanced between the two of them. “It’s supposed to storm all weekend, so we probably can’t hang out unless his parents will let us all hang at his place all weekend. I’d offer mine, but my parents are gonna be out of town, and you live further away.”
“I can ask them,” Hizashi spoke up for the first time since Shouta had gotten there. “They don’t usually care, and they’ve been asking about you guys, since you haven’t been over in a while.”
“Then it’s perfect!” Oboro exclaimed, jumping off the desks as the door opened again, their teacher walking in. He slid to his own desk quickly, and Shouta rolled his eyes.
He lifted his head off of his desk and grabbed his books out of his backpack, leaning his head against his hand as he took notes, occasionally glancing at Oboro and Hizashi. Oboro was being his normal self, taking messy notes and asking a thousand questions every time he had one. Every few times Shouta glanced to Hizashi, Hizashi was looking at him, and quickly turned back to his notes when he realized Shouta noticed.
Was he really that nervous about this? Why had he even bothered texting Shouta if he was going to act like this?
The three went up to the roof for lunch and Shouta leaned against the wall, taking his lunch from his box and starting to eat. Hizashi and Oboro were chatting loudly the whole walk up, and he was glad that Hizashi seemed to be settling back into a normal routine.
As Shouta finished eating, he saw Oboro elbow Hizashi and give him a look and Shouta raised his eyebrow. Hizashi swallowed his bite of food before twisting his chopsticks in his hands, looking up to Shouta. “Um, so,” he started, setting his chopsticks down. “I was wondering… It would be super cool if… Do you want to be my boyfriend?” he blurted.
Shouta blinked, looking at Oboro. Oboro had a wide grin on his face, holding onto Hizashi’s arm like he’d known this was going to happen. But Hizashi was supposed to ask Oboro…
But he was looking expectantly at Shouta, the grin on his face falling second by second. Oboro wasn’t saying a word. He was… talking to Shouta.
“Me?” Shouta said after a moment, kicking himself that that was the response he managed to come up with. It was becoming increasingly clear that Hizashi was talking to him.
“Yes?” Hizashi ran a hand through his hair, staring at Shouta with confusion bright in his eyes.
“Weren’t you going to ask out Oboro?” he blurted out, unable to process it. Hizashi asked him out? Why the fuck had he texted him the night before then, claiming to be about to die if he didn’t ask Oboro out soon.
“Why would he ask me out?” Oboro interrupted, raising his eyebrows. “Shouta, he’s been pining after you since before you were in our class.”
“But, last night,” Shouta said, trying to piece together what was going on. “Last night, you texted me about how hot Oboro was, and I told him if he rejected you I’d –“
“Oh no,” Hizashi whispered, looking down at his phone, his face bright red. He covered his face with his hands, sliding against the wall as if he hoped the roof would eat him. “Oboro, did I… not text you last night?”
It seemed to click for Oboro, if his wide eyes were anything to go by. “Oh my god, Hizashi!” he exclaimed. “Let me see your phone.”
Hizashi handed over his phone to Oboro, pulling his hands from his face to look at Shouta with an awkward grin. “I, uh, thought I was texting Oboro. I wanted to ask… you out. We still on for ice cream today?”
Shouta stared at him for a moment longer before his face broke into a grin, cracking up. “Just you and me?” he asked. “Oboro didn’t reject you though,” he mused, unable to quite wipe the smile off of his face.
“I guess he didn’t.” Hizashi shrugged. “So… guess that makes it my treat?”
“Fine.” Shouta had a date with Hizashi after school today. Just the two of them, on a date. He felt stupid with how hard he was smiling.
“You’ll date me?” Hizashi had a stupid look on his face, one that Shouta hated to admit how soft he was for. He ducked his head down, letting his hair fall into his face to hide it from Hizashi.
“I just said yes, Hizashi!” he muttered, sure that his embarrassment was bleeding into his voice.
“Thank god,” Oboro groaned, throwing his arms around Hizashi’s neck. “I thought you two were going to pine forever.” He handed Hizashi his phone back. “I can’t believe you accidentally texted Shouta he was so hot you wanted to marry him.”
“Oboro,” Hizashi hissed, groaning again.
Oh.
Oh.
All of those texts… had been about Shouta. Hizashi had been lying awake at two am, crying because he wanted to date Shouta. His fear of rejection suddenly made a lot more sense, except that Shouta had been pining just as aimlessly over him.
Burying his embarrassment, Shouta smirked, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t want to marry you,” he said. Hizashi looked up in confusion, and Shouta rolled his eyes. “I’d like to go on at least one date first.”
Oboro fell over laughing, tears welling up in his eyes as he gasped for breath.
Hizashi looked at Shouta with a bright smile, shining all the way through his eyes. “I guess I can make that happen.”
“Good,” Shouta said, leaning their foreheads together and marveling at how close he could be to Hizashi. Hizashi’s breath caught, and Shouta thought about how easy it would be to kiss him. Sure, Oboro was there, but it wasn’t like this would be the last time Oboro saw them kiss if they were to kiss right now. Instead, Shouta turned his head, brushing his lips against Hizashi’s cheek. “I also don’t kiss before the first date. I guess we have a lot to look forward to this afternoon.”
“We do,” Hizashi agreed, looking at Shouta with stars in his eyes.
Their first kiss tasted like strawberry ice cream. Hizashi stumbled to meet their lips and mashed his glasses clumsily against Shouta’s cheek, rubbing them aggressively against his shirt for the rest of the walk home.
Shouta would never admit it aloud, but he wouldn’t want it any other way.