Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Denki noticed Mezou was during a pep rally. Specifically the pep rally for ‘the busiest weekend in their school year’. The weekend in question has state championships for basketball, volleyball and wrestling. Their Drama Club puts on their winter show. The Jazz Band takes a trip to the country's capital to play for foreign dignitaries. So the student counsel decided a pep rally was in order. Attendance was mandatory. Denki hates it. He knows it’s /really/ just for the athletes. Everything else is just a happy coincidence. A rally for everyone to feed into the ego of the popular kids. Denki’s been part of the robotics team for three and a half years now. He founded the damn thing, and only now has the robotics team received any support outside of an academic advisor from the school. They had to do their own fundraising. They had to reach out to engineers for mentoring. They had to figure out how to transport their robot and themselves to and from competitions during the year. They had to create outreach programs to recruit incoming freshmen into the team. They worked hard. Harder than any musclehead at least. Not that Denki thinks the athletes take it easy. Denki respects the time it takes to build muscle and hone a sport. It’s just the support system is already in place. The team already has a coach, they have uniforms, they have courts, they have balls, and they have weights. Denki has had to do everything for himself. It’s just that, his hard work doesn’t result in a visual body that reflects the hard work. Denki’s scrawny for an eighteen year old. He’s blond and dyes a black lightning bolt into the side of his head. He’s on the robotics team. This is all to say that Denki isn’t exactly one of the ‘popular kids’. So forgive him for not being excited to go to the pep rally.

The pep rally goes exactly as Denki expected it until the guy at the center starts listing the non-sports teams and what they’re doing. This isn’t the protocol. Pep rallies aren’t to shout out the theater kids. Not to hype up the school’s jazz band.

“IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT BEING AN ATHLETE HERE AT U.A. THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO SHOW OFF OUR U.A. PRIDE!” Chikuchi, a cheerleader, and member of the school dance committees, shouts out. “WE’VE GOT A WONDERFUL ARTS DEPARTMENT! OUR JAZZ BAND PLAYS IN THE COUNTRY’S CAPITAL THIS WEEKEND!” The crowd cheers and pounds their feet on the bleachers. Everyone is sitting at this point of the rally. "WE'RE PUTTING ON A WONDERFUL SHOW! OUR DRAMA CLUB IS DOING THE WIZARD OF OZ, FIVE BUCKS A TICKET FOR STUDENTS!“ The crowd stomps their feet again. "OUR ROBOTICS TEAM WILL BE ENTERING INTO COMPETITION!” The crowd cheers and a few students around him clap him on the back and wish him luck. . .

Slowly

. . .

Denki realizes

. . .

What Chikuchi just said

. . .

The gears in his head turn and he puts the puzzle together on why he’s confused by this. The robotics team isn’t in competition this weekend. He furrows his brow. This is the recognition the school gives the seniors that set up this robotics team. Denki started from scratch. He recruited every single member of the initial team. He worked so hard for this, and his school doesn’t even know when they compete. He feels tears press at his eyes. No way is he going to cry like a bitch over this. Then he spots someone standing up. He recognizes the guy as a member of the wrestling team. Or he might not be a member, at the very least he hangs out with Rikido, who is on the wrestling team, a lot. He’s certainly big and athletic as well. Denki knows Rikido is in the top weight division, he suspects this guy is just one lower. He’s massive. He’s got shockingly white hair and a navy blue mask on. Denki watches the guy cup his hands to his masked face.

“NO THEY FUCKING AREN’T!” He shouts back at Chikuchi. The seats around the guy laugh and try to pull him back into his seat. Denki recognizes most of them as the wrestling team. “THE ROBOTICS TEAM HAS ONE COMPETITION IN THE FALL AND ONE COMPETITION IN THE SPRING!” the guy sits back down and the room erupts into a hushed ‘ooooooo’.

“Who cares? I tried to include everyone I could. The robotics team should be happy we mentioned them at all.” Chikuchi responds into the microphone. Yo grabs the mic from her.

“Yea, they’re just nerds. Getting a shout out in a pep rally is an honor. They /should/ just be happy we mentioned them. They’ll slink back into the basement after this anyways. It’s not like THEY’RE the ones that will cheer us on.” The crowd laughs. “CHEER US ON TO STATE TITLE, AFTER STATE TITLE, AFTER STATE TITLE!” Yo shouts and the moment is forgotten. When the pep rally clears nobody mentions the robotics team or the guy who shouted. Denki doesn’t give the event much thought, but he does appreciate somebody tried to stand up for the robotics team.

“So . . . state wrestling. . . Rikido’s got an event.” Hanta tries to casually mention.

“Great! Go support your boyfriend. I can work on the programming and then send it down to be reviewed by the underclassmen. We’ve got to find somebody who is going to take over programming after I leave.” Denki laughs a little. “I mean of course I trust Izuku. It’s just. . . He’s a bit accident prone. I mean other than us and him nobody has taken up interest in it. I want this team to survive after we graduate. And I mean further than just Izuku, cause he's out of here the year after us.”

“Shut up. I’m our team’s entire R&D department. Programming is at least interesting and people like it. Setting up courses and researching building materials and weights… Nobody wants in on that action.” Hanta replies. “BUT! That is not why I brought this up. I want to go cheer on my boyfriend and his entire team WITH all my friends.”

“Get Mina, and Eijirou to go. They’re more of the ‘ra ra ree’ kinda people you know?” Denki says. “Besides I don’t know the first thing about wrestling. It’ll all just be very confusing and boring to me.”

“Dude I don’t know shit about wrestling. But Eijirou, Mina, and Juzo, who is NOT a 'ra ra ree' kinda person, are coming along. Might relax with a bit of bud afterwards, if you know what I mean.” Hanta waggles his eyebrows at Denki. Denki just averts his gaze. Hanta huffs. “Come on Denki! Get outside for something other than robotics. Wrestling events are fun if you make them fun. And we?” Hanta gestures between himself and Denki, “can make it fun.” Denki rolls his eyes.

“Fine I’ll go. But I’m going in a hoodie and jeans and I’m whining the whole time we’re there.” Denki gives in. Hanta laughs but tells him when and where to be.

Denki buses in and has to walk five city blocks before he makes it to the line to get into the expo center. He didn’t really expect this many people to show up to watch this thing. He looks around. Oh. Hanta wasn’t kidding. Denki is the only high school student he can spot waiting in line. It’s only people’s parents here. He actually feels bad for the wrestling team, this is actually worse attendance than the robotics competitions. Most of the fans are still parents but little kids love the competitions. Tons of little tykes run around asking questions and visiting with the teams in the pits. Here. . . It’s just the parents. Well the parents, Denki’s friends and Denki at least. . . and apparently the school's shoe in valedictorian Momo Yaoyorozu. Denki pops his hood over his head. He really doesn’t want to be recognized. It’s one thing to go out and use your social energy hanging out with friends. But to get locked into using your social energy to hang out with a stranger? Not only a stranger but /popular/ stranger. That’s something Denki really doesn’t want to do.

He gets into the expo center with time to spare. He follows the directions Hanta gave him to the U.A. warmup area. Denki gets there and spots all six members that made it to state competition. Mezou, Setsuna, Kyouka, Rikido, Kosei and Istuka all sitting in a circle and stretching. Hanta stands behind RIkido massaging his boyfriend’s shoulders. Denki watches Hanta whisper something in Rikido’s ear that causes Rikido to turn blush. Denki moves to walk over but finds himself suddenly in the air with two small arms wrapped around his waist.

“Well what do we have here?” Mina asks. Her hands ride up as Denki slowly slides down her grip and back onto the floor. Mina huffs and tries to lift him back into the air. This time, Denki’s ready for it so he stays on the ground. “No fair! How come everyone else is tall enough to lift you into the air but I'm not.” Suddenly he finds much larger arms wrapped around him. He is brought into the air again.

“That’s because you guys are both so liftable” Eijirou says then puts them both back onto the ground. “Our little small fries. So cute!” Eijirou laughs. Juzo waves at Denki from behind the muscular redhead. “Ready to lose your wrestling event virginity Mr. Kaminari?” Eijirou asks. Denki can’t help but laugh. If there’s one person who knows about this sport it’s Eijirou. Eijirou has been practicing boxing and mixed martial arts since he got into high school. Well the boxing since he was a little kid but that’s less relevant to understanding wrestling. “Stick with me and I’ll show you how to have a good time! It’s a real manly sport. I can explain the scoring system to you if you want.”

“Or you could just watch the burly muscle men struggle to pin each other. That’s what Hanta and my fabulous, bisexual self will be doing.” Juzo jokes casually.

“Uhh yeah. Let’s go find seats?” Denki asks. The group laughs. Denki doesn’t know why.

“You kinda stand and watch if you want to actually see the matches and cheer. I’ve already got the floor plan for all the weight classes. The lighter weights start first so we need to split between people cheering for Kyouka and people that are going to cheer for Setsuna. Then we gotta meet back up and split for people cheering on Kosei and Itsuka. Then we set up for Rikido. Get ready for a day of action!” Eijirou explains. Denki can't help but notice that Eijirou didn't mention Mezou. Denki wonders when he plays? fights? wrestles? Denki isn't really certain of the correct nomenclature here. Hanta walks back over and the U.A. wrestling team huddles up.

“Also get ready for a ton of downtime while we wait for people to show up /and/ we wait for other rounds to finish /and/ we wait for mats to clear up.” Juzo stage whispers to Denki. Juzo straightens back up “We know Kyouka will have at least one person cheering for her.” Denki doesn’t know what Juzo means by that. “So I’ll go watch Setsuna’s match.” Denki figures if Juzo is warning him about the down time he might be his best ally here.

“Me too.” Denki gets in before all the slots are taken. In the end it’s decided that Hanta, Juzo and Denki will watch Setsuna’s match and the others will go watch Kyouka’s match.

Setsuna’s match isn’t anything like Denki expected. First the mats are not the raised canvase wrestling ring he was expecting; they're just blue rubber mats with yellow circles painted on them. Next Denki had no idea what ‘starting positions’ were. He doesn’t know any terms, he doesn’t understand the scoring system, he doesn’t understand why the ref breaks them up sometimes. He doesn’t understand why Setsuna won by decision. What he does understand is that Juzo and Hanta are total goons.

Early in the match Setsuna has broken down her opponent onto his belly. She’s got an arm under his right arm with her hand on the back of his neck. Her opponent tries to pry her fingers off with his own but it seems they’re deadlocked. Both coaches are laying down on the mat shouting directions to their wrestlers. ‘Don’t let her roll you!’ ‘watch for the reversal, don't give him an arm!’ etc. etc. That’s when Juzo strikes. He nudges Denki.

“It’s time.” He nudges Hanta. Hanta turns to him and Juzo smiles, “It’s time.” Hanta snickers, then nods. Time for what? Denki asks to himself. Then Juzo drops down to the mat. He’s almost in the coaches section but he’s just /barely/ on the mat. Security lets it slide. “GET HIM! PUT HIM IN THE SNICKERSNEE!” He shouts. Denki blinks in confusion. “HIS LEG IS IN THE RIGHT POSITION GET HIM IN THE SNICKERSNEE!” he tries again. Denki looks at their legs. He doesn’t know what the ‘right position is’; it looks like both their legs are tied up. Next Hanta drops down to the mat.

“THE SNICKERSNEE! THE SNICKERSNEE GET THE ARM! PUT HIM IN THE SNICKERSNEE!” Hanta shouts as well. He turns back to Denki with a grin and pats the mat next to him. Denki remains standing at the edge of the mat.

Denki is baffled at his friend’s behavior. Is this how sport cheering goes? Soon he hears the opposing coach shouting back.

“WATCH OUT FOR THE SNICKERSNEE. SHE’S SETTING UP FOR THE SNICKERSNEE!” Juzo and Hanta press their faces into their hands, muffling laughter, before shouting back something about putting the kid in the ‘snickersnee’. Setsuna wins the match easily. Juzo tries to explain why she got so many points but it all just goes over Denki’s head. He’s more interested in whatever the hell the ‘snickersnee is’.

“So what was that cheering?” Denki asks. Hanta and Juzo share a look, then burst out laughing.

“Ok. I’ve been going to these damn meets since I started going out with Rikido last year right?” Hanta says. Denki nods. “Well turns out cheering isn’t that exciting when it’s just like.” He enters into a falsetto, “come on baby you can do it! Believe in yourself! The power is yours!” his voice drops back into its regular pitch. “Know what I mean?” Denki nods. He does not know what he means, but he figures nodding will get him to the answer he actually wants.

“That’s where I came in. I heard coaches shouting out terms and shit that I’m sure are completely in the wrestling vernacular, but I had no idea what they meant. So I dropped down and just started shouting for them to put them into a hold that doesn’t exist. I just was yelling ‘eight hold’ over and over again. Then the other team’s coach started shouting to watch out for the ‘eight hold’. That’s when I knew I had something. So we’ve just been doing progressively sillier and stupider words. It’s not real at all. The ‘snickersnee’ doesn’t exist” Juzo and Hanta laugh. “Shit’s funny as fuck. Join us next time. It’s a hell of a lot more fun if you join in.”

Setsuna comes third in the State for her weight division. She joins Juzo, Hanta, and Denki. She thanks them for cheering and the group meets back up with the other half. Kyouka won her weight division. She’s being carried piggyback by Momo. Denki raises his eyebrows at that, but doesn’t say anything. Kyouka holds her trophy high above the crowd. She looks absolutely elated. Denki wonders how good their wrestling team actually is. A 3rd place finish at state and a first place finish from the first two entries is an outstanding achievement. It’ll be a really fun day if all of their team has podium finishes. He mentions that to the group. Everyone tells him that it’s really tough to place at State. He doesn’t really believe them though. Both the results he’s seen have been high finishes. They must just be humble.

Turns out. They are not just being humble. He watches as Itsuka scrapes into the top sixteen of her division before being eliminated. Kosei fares a little better with a top eight finish. These weight classes seem to rely more on strength than Setsuna’s did. Itsuka just got outmuscled in her losses. Denki thought they were pretty much the same in terms of technique. Kyouka told him that next year, when Itsuka’s a junior, she’ll put on enough muscle that she won’t lose like that again. The rest of the group seems to agree with that. Denki thinks a top sixteen finish as a sophomore is pretty good. When he sees how devastated Itsuka looks he rethinks that though. Itsuka recovers quickly and joins in with the rest of the group. Their cheering section keeps growing.

“Alright we’ve got two guys left out in combat, boys.” Mina starts.

“Men. And Women.” Eijirou corrects. Juzo rolls his eyes.

“Alright we’ve got two guys left out in combat, girls.” the group chuckles. “Let’s go watch RIkido.”

“Nobody is going to watch Mezou?” Denki asks.

“The last time I went to watch Mezou wrestle, he asked why I wasn’t watching Rikido.” Hanta replies with an easy smile. “He asked that during his fucking match. Had the dude broken down and just turned and asked me. Dude’s nuts.” The rest of the group chime in with similar stories of Mezou telling them not to watch him. Or that someone else needs the cheering more than he does.

“Well I’m going to go watch him anyways. He hasn’t told /me/ to fuck off yet. If he does I’ll go find you guys between matches.” Denki replies. Everyone except Juzo and Setsuna leave to watch Rikido’s match.

“I’ll watch too bro. Could be fun” Juzo says. He sticks his hands into his pockets and walks to the mat where Mezou will be wrestling.

“Alright, these are his last high school matches. I’m cheering for him whether he wants it or not.” Setsuna says as she slithers down and lays on the mat.

“Fuck yes.” Juzo says and lays down as well. Denki shrugs and figures he’ll get his money's worth, he follows suit. “What is the word we’re going to use?” Juzo asks. “I’m personally partial to cattywampus. That’d be funny to see one of these muscle headed coaches yell out.”

“I vote pineapple.” Denki says. “I want to yell ‘put him in the pineapple’. Or ‘pineapple him’. I think those would work best.”

“Going with Denks.” Denki shoots Setsuna a weird look. He’s never had a nickname before, “Bro. You’re at a wrestling meet. You’re in our crew. It doesn’t matter that we’ve never talked before we’re bros now.” She slugs his arm. Denki flinches away.

“That’s going to bruise.” Denki pouts.

“Don’t be a wimp.”

“Don’t hit him.” A deep baritone voice says. The group looks up to see Mezou standing there. He still wears his mask. Denki momentarily lets his eyes wander and really take in the man and his singlet. It looks good on him, and that’s a feat. Singlets NEVER look good. Denki thought that was just a rule of the universe. Ohm’s law, Newton’s law, Pascal’s law, Hooke’s law, Kepler’s law, the Law of the Conservation of Energy, and the law of '/nobody/ looks good in a singlet'. Those were supposed to be universal concepts. Now Denki sees that the ‘NOBODY looks good in a singlet law’ has been broken. Denki raises his hand, then let’s it plop down onto the mat with a thud. Gravity is still in play. At least the universe isn’t completely unraveling. “No shenanigans.” Mezou states again. Juzo raises his hands as does Setsuna.

“Ya caught us. No shenanigans, I promise dude.” Setsuna says with a wink.

“A little shenanigans?” Denki cheekily asks.

“Only you.” Mezou says while he’s walking away. Denki notes the singlet fits his broad shoulders and muscular ass well.

“Only you.” Setsuna mimics Mezou once he’s out of earshot. “Bleh. What a hardass.” Juzo huffs a laugh. “He’s going to crush these kids. Why not live a little? Have some fun with it?” Denki must look confused because Setsuna explains further. “Mezou is nationally ranked number one for his weight class. He really should move up a weight class, but Mezou doesn’t want Rikido to have to lose weight to compete. If there’s a single forgone conclusion here it’s that Mezou is going to win.”

Mezou’s opponent stands next to him. Mezou has a decent height advantage over this guy. He keeps looking at Mezou while he shakes out. “Is this guy trying to get in Mezou’s head? That’s fucking hilarious.” Juzo comments. Mezou’s opponent hops up and down and lets out a deep breath. Mezou just stands there waiting for the ref to initiate the handshake. They shake hands. The whistle blows. Mezou takes a step forward and feigns that he’s going to go low. His opponent drops slightly into a defensive stance. Mezou pops back straight up and reaches out quickly. He grabs the guys right armpit from over the guy’s own shoulder and pulls hard. His opponent momentarily loses balance and Mezou drags the guys head so his cheek is flush against Mezou’s ribs. Mezou drops his grab and pulls around so that he has his hand controlling his opponent's chin with his armpit on the back of the guys head. Mezou uses his other arm to reach out and grab the back of his knee. With a quick grunt Mezou surges forward. The guy can’t take a step back because Mezou has his leg. He plows him right onto his back. The guy kicks a couple times but can’t break Mezou’s grip. The match is over. The match clock says it’s over in eight seconds. The scorer was a bit late to hit the start of the clock, but that’s the official time.

Denki is stunned. All the other matches went at least a full round. He’s never seen anything like this. Just pure strength and domination. The other guy just sits on the floor staring at his feet.

“PUT HIM IN THE PINEAPPLE” Denki shouts out. Juzo and Setsuna burst out laughing. Denki even sees Mezou’s cheekbones rise in a smile underneath his mask.

Security kindly but firmly asks Denki to leave.

Chapter Text

Denki has never been thrown out of an event before. He thought he’d feel ashamed when security leads him out of the expo center. Instead he finds himself feeling kind of /cool/, he feels like a /rebel/. He feels pretty badass. The only downside is he doesn’t get to see Mezou deconstruct the competition. He got to see him in action for a grand total of twenty seconds. He kicks at the sidewalk once he’s outside. The bus isn’t scheduled to arrive for another half hour. He’s now in the middle of downtown without anything to do.

His anxiety spikes a bit. His mom always tells him to be careful about going downtown. He’s a simple suburban boy, he doesn’t know how to look out for danger in the big city. He takes out his phone and texts Hanta, Eijirou and Mina. He doesn’t have Juzo's or Setsuna's numbers. They’re friends of a friend not really /his/ friends. He stares at the clock of his phone while leaning up against the building. He tries to steady his breath but his breathing is still a bit ragged. He tries to find something to do. Anything to take his mind off his thoughts. Usually he’d just text Hanta. Or when he feels his anxiety get really bad he might smoke a bowl. He breaths out hot air. He notes that he can see his breath. He spends a few minutes calming himself down by just counting his breaths.

“There your bitch ass is!” He hears a woman’s voice sound out. “Big-tall-and-brutal told us to go find you. Anything to get out of us watching his matches, eh?” Denki spots Setsuna approaching him. She takes out her phone. “Anyway the team is just waiting for RIkido and Mezou now. We don’t have a team meeting or anything after this and club activities are pretty much done. So we’re going to go out and celebrate a little. You should come with.”

“Oh I don’t know about that. This is the first meet I’ve been to. I don’t want to intrude.” Denki says. He really hopes to get out of this. He’s feeling a bit worn out from his social interactions. He knows that his friends are going to tease him about everything. He can handle that when it’s just them but he doesn’t want them to roast him in front of the wrestling team.

“Relax bro. It’s just going to be the team. Well the team, and I think Mina said she was going," Setsuna pauses in thought, "Momo is going, Juzo and Hanta as well. So it’s the team and then plus ones I guess.” Setsuna must've texted Juzo directions to find them because he shows up as well.

“So if it’s plus ones. Whose plus one am I? I don’t know anyone on the team.” Denki grumbles. He has a feeling he might not have enough spine to tell someone as brazen as Setsuna ‘no’.

“Probs the big octopus. I don’t know. All I know is he asked specifically if you were going to be at the celebration even though you got kicked out. That dude never asks about anyone. Come on! Do it for the big fella!” Setsuna continues. Denki opens his mouth.

“Seriously though Denki. Mezou doesn’t ask for a whole lot and he seems interested in you. I don’t think he’d be disappointed if you weren’t there but I do think he’d really appreciate it if you did celebrate with the team.” Juzo takes out his cigs. He smacks the box a couple times then sets one in his mouth. He offers one to Setsuna, who takes one, then Denki who waves him off. Juzo lights his own up and then lights Setsuna’s for her. Setsuna takes a drag, closes her eyes and then blows the smoke up into the air.

“Fuuuck. I missed this. I'm never wrestling again, so I’m in the clear.” Setsuna sighs. Denki thinks her smile seems wistful. “Damn. If I get choked up I’m counting on you two to fucking cover for me. I have my reputation as a total badass at stake here.” She jokes. Her smile doesn't reach her eyes.

“You spent four years on this team! Let it out, like, bitch damn! You’ve got emotions. You aren’t the big fella.” Juzo chuckles. He sees her shiver. She's still in her warmups, without a coat on. He takes off his hoodie and puts it on her, helping with the arm sleeves. He pops the hood over her head as well. He fixes her hair so that it doesn’t stick out in odd directions. “Just relax. We’re moving on. It's bitter sweet. But it’s still sweet.” Setsuna smiles softly, she blows smoke away and lets Juzo fuss over her. She stands relaxed, her lit cigarette hanging limply between two fingers. Denki feels like he’s intruding. Then Juzo grabs the strings of the hoodie and tugs them so they're taut. The hoodie pulls tight and Setsuna's face disappears behind the hood, only her mouth and nose are visible. “Cause you look like a little BITCH when you cry.” He shouts, popping the 'B' in 'bitch' dramatically. Denki flinches. Juzo runs off.

“Oh you son of a bitch. You best run!” Setsuna shouts after him. She rips off the hood. She’s got a smile on her face. “What an asshole. I’m having a moment of emotional vulnerability and that little bitch goes and pulls this shit.” She laughs openly. Her phone buzzes and she pulls it from her pocket. “Alright I gotta finish this quick then we’re meeting up in the parking lot. Did you drive here?”

“Uh no. I don’t have a license.” Denki says. Setsuna drops her cigarette and steps on it. She looks over at him like he has two heads. Then shakes her head in apparent disbelief. “I don’t have a car. I can get around just fine on buses.”

“Whatever dude. Let’s roll.” Setsuna says.

When they get to the front of the expo center the gang's all there. Denki’s never been in a social group this large. Usually he hangs out with like four people at most. He’s a bit intimidated by the larger group. Juzo, Hanta, Rikido, and Setsuna stand by him. The rest talk among themselves.

“The robotics nerd of the hour!” Rikido says. “We’ve been waiting on your return. I heard you got kicked out. I’ve never heard of anyone getting kicked out of these. So congrats I guess.” Rikido laughs. Hanta is plastered to his side.

“Well it’s really Hanta’s fault. He turned him over to the dark side of cheering.” Juzo says, Hanta clutches at his chest and mocks taking offense.

“I did no such thing. I’m a good little bean. I’m just here to cheer on my boyfriend.” Hanta says with a grin on his face. Rikido nudges him, then shakes his head. “BABE! NO! Not you too!”

“Changing the subject. . . Did you see our secret admirer was here?” Rikido asks. Hanta beams up at him and nods. “It’s the last meet. I think we should invite him out with the team.”

“About time. We’ve been teasing the poor guy all year.” Hanta laughs and skips away.

“What was that?” Juzo asks. “Who’ve you been teasing?”

“There’s this guy that shows up to all our matches. Crazy split hair. Big burn scar on his face. He always stands next to Hanta but he never says anything, he never even reacts to anything. Well he reacts to Hanta’s jokes. But everyone reacts to Hanta’s jokes, he’s funny as fuck. Anyway, this guy just shows up to every single one of my matches.” As Rikido is speaking, Denki notices a large shadow block the sun from reaching him. He turns his head and finds Mezou standing just a foot behind him. Denki finds himself flustered. He mentally makes a note to pay more attention to Rikido so that he’s not distracted by Mezou. “Then when I’m done he just leaves. Hanta says he stares at my ass when I’m stretching. But I’ve caught him checking out Hanta as well. Anyway, long story short, when I qualified for State I kissed Hanta and the dude nearly imploded. I saw his face turn this bright red. So now we’re going to try to scoop him into our relationship. Or at least see if he’d be interested in giving it a shot.”

“Are we inviting not team members? Because then I’d have someone else I’d like to invite.” Mezou’s deep voice makes Denki shudder. “I've known him for a while. We aren't close but we plan to attend the same university.” Denki frowns. He wants Mezou to get to know him. Not some random guy he met. Sure they probably have similar interests, and they’re probably a pretty good match. But Denki, for the first time in his life, wants a shot at this romance thing. He looks at Mezou with new determination. Mezou blinks, then continues as if the last sentence was an afterthought “I’d like him to get used to my presence if possible.”

“Sure! You’re a social butterfly now eh ‘Zo?” Setsuna whirls around on their group. “Must be a really nice guy if you want him around.” Mezou snorts.

“He’s not a nice guy. I don’t even really enjoy being around him. But I’d like to befriend at least /somebody/ going into university.” Mezou takes out his phone. He taps it a few times and puts it back in his pocket. “Oh he’s actually really close to here.” Mina and Eijirou make their way over to the group. RIkido sees Hanta coming back with another guy. So he moves over to greet them.

“Which one is he?” Eijirou asks. Mezou startles. “Oh my bad. Just eavesdropping. Who's the big bad wrestling buddy that Mezou’s got?”

“The blond one there. Spiky hair, angry looking face, er, he’s the one that is stomping around rather than walking.” Mezou raises his hand in the air and waves the guy over. “Here he comes.” The guy stomps right up to Mezou and stands chest to chest with him. Well chest to stomach-ish. Mezou’s got over fifty pounds and a few inches on this guy. Mezou seems undisturbed by the clear aggression. “Guys this is Katsuki. We’re probably going to room together at university. I invited him to celebrate with us and he’s agreed. He’s got a temper so nobody be too mean to him.”

“FUCK you.” The guy snarls. “I don’t have a fucking temper. I just have idiots around me. And judging by the dye jobs around here, I feel like you’ve just invited me to join in a group of idiots.”

“Katsuki we both know you don’t have any friends. I’m just trying to be nice and share mine with you.” Mezou states. Denki’s jaw drops. He did not expect Mezou to escalate the situation. Except Katsuki just laughs. Full out shoulder shaking laugh. Weird way to diffuse the situation but Denki guesses Mezou knows the guy better than he let on. That doesn’t sit right with Denki.

“Alright so who do we have here. We’ve got shitty hair here. Fucking hell man. Is your hair straw at this point? That’s straight up abusive.” Eijirou lets out an indigent ‘hey’. Denki himself is thrown off by how brazen Katsuki is. “We’ve got raccoon eyes. Learn how to do your make up or don’t do it at all.” Mina huffs but checks her face in her phone. “Jeez I can tell by just looking at those two that they’re stoners. Really nailing the burnout look.” He says, gesturing to Juzo and Hanta while he does so. “There’s Rikido. I know that sweet tooth. And you.” he points at Denki. “Dunce face.” Mezou takes a step forward.

“That’s enough Katsuki.” He says. Mezou’s drawn himself to his full height and is looking down imperiously at Katsuki. “Oh ho ho. This is the one then, huh?” Mezou turns red underneath his mask. He’s grateful for his facial scarring for once. “Fine. Fine. Fine. This one’s mine then.” He says, while slinging an arm over Eijirou’s shoulders. “He’s at least built. So shitty hair. Tell me about yourself.” Katsuki’s grin is downright lethal. Eijirou ducks his head in and raises his shoulders. Trying to shrink himself and hide. Unfortunately for him, his attacker is pressed to his side and very amused at his embarrassment. “Tell me you bat for the right team.” Katsuki leans back and exaggerates checking out Eijirou’s ass. “Well actually I’m hoping you catch for the right team.” He mutters lowly, with a lethal grin. Eijirou squeaks. The group collectively backs off of the duo. “But I’m flexible.” That’s the last thing Denki hears from that duo.

“Well that made me feel unclean.” Denki jokes. Mina laughs. Mezou smirks under his mask.

“I hope Ei gets it.” Mina says. Denki looks over at her, bewilderment written on his face. “What? He’s a hot piece of ass. Jocks just got that bod ya know? Well most of ‘em do. Sorry ‘Zo and Rikido, you’re not really my type.”

“What? Look at Rikido!” Hanta shouts from where he’s standing. “Look at those arms. He’s got guns. He looks like a man. Katsuki looks like a twunk. Or at the very best a hunk-lite. I wouldn’t settle for someone with such a garbage personality. Maybe when Katsuki matures a bit he’d be worth pursuing.”

“Damn right.” Mezou raises his eyes at Denki’s interjection, “Angry boy needs to grow up.” Denki starts. But Mina cuts him off immediately.

“Oh? Mister Maturity: Denki Kaminari. In our first two year you struck out with literally every girl that moved. Now you want to talk about growing up, eh?” Mina teases.

“YEAH! Yea I do. That was totally just performative masculinity,” Denki huffs. “Now I know I’m gay. Even with that considered, I’m still in the right here.” Mezou hums. Setsuna starts clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright. We’re heading over to Fat Gum’s. We’ve got everyone here right?” She does a quick headcount. “We’ve got everyone we want and for some reason we also have Katsuki.” Katsuki flips her off.

“Need me to go down a division so I can kick your ass again?”

“As much as I’d love that blasty, I’m done with wrestling now. So even if you did drop a division.” She raises her hand to her face to mock whisper at him, “and you might want to. I can’t help but notice you’re looking a bit pudgy with those extra El-Bees.” She laughs then straightens up and resumes talking in her regular voice. “We wouldn’t compete. . ." Katsuki mutters something under his breath "Anyways. We’re figuring out transportation so who wants to drive who? I’m already taking Juzo and the attempted polycule,” Hanta and Rikido cheer. Their new prize doesn’t move, “so I have no spots in my car.”

“I can take one person. Momo will bring Kyouka there.” Mezou states.

“Alright but you need someone about Kyouka’s size for the jacket right?” Setsuna asks with a cheshire grin on her face, Mezou nods. “Well you’ve got Denks then. Itsuka's got her regular crew, and then how about Katsuki rides with Eijirou and Mina and we’re good right?” The group mumbles affirmatives. Everyone walks into the lot. Setsuna finds her car first. Then Itsuka finds her SUV and Mina finds her car.

Denki finally gets a good look at the guy Rikido and Hanta were interested in. He’s attractive, except he looks like he’s bored from just existing. He seems a bit awkward as well. Whatever. That’s their issue. He’s more concerned about riding solo with Mezou. He really doesn’t want to fuck this up. This is the first time he’s had a legit crush. Well a crush on a guy. Back in his freshman year he was really into Kyouka. Reflecting back on it he feels extremely stupid. All his porn search history was for boyish girls. Short hair, small breasts, etc. etc. Tomboys. He really should’ve figured that he was into the boy part of that more than anything. Once he swapped over to wank it to gay porn for the first time it’s like the universe clicked. Despite knowing and being confident he’s gay for multiple years now he finally has a guy that's available and in his strike zone. The more he looks at Mezou the more he likes him. He can’t keep his eyes off of just how strong Mezou looks and well how strong Mezou /is/. He knows he’s going to be replaying the one match he saw over and over again in his head. Just the pure strength and overwhelming confidence coming from Mezou. Maybe he could find more matches online. . .

Denki snaps out of his thoughts when he realizes they just walked up to a motorcycle. Mezou slips into a leather jacket. Mezou flips open a storage compartment on the motorcycle and pulls out another leather riding jacket. Denki looks down at Mezou’s legs. Oh he’s got a full outfit going on. /Shit./ Looking down was a big mistake. Denki can’t look back up. He’s too transfixed looking at Mezou’s ass now. Mezou’s so toned back there, just enough blubber for it to bubble out but enough muscle to give it definition and volume. Denki hums to himself. Denki startles when Mezou turns around. He quickly whips his head up so that he’s looking somewhere decent. Well he /would be looking somewhere decent on a regular sized person. He ends up looking straight into Mezou's broad chest. As Mezou zips up his jacket Denki notices Mezou has pretty thick black chest hair poking out of his undershirt. Denki wasn't aware that did anything for him before, but today is a day of surprises. Denki wonders if he’s going to survive being around Mezou long enough to make a move on him. When he went after and flirted with girls he didn’t really care when they rejected him. He didn’t /really/ want to be in a relationship with any of the girls. Now though. . . He feels his chest tightening up. He feels like it’s a bit harder to breath and he feels like his face is unnaturally warm. He wants this bad. Fuck dating he just wants to be in a relationship with this beast of a man already.

“If you’re uncomfortable with the motorcycle we can arrange for Momo to drive you. They’re going to follow us when we leave. Don’t feel bad. Lots of people fear the motorcycle. I wouldn’t blame you. Between riding with someone like me and being on a motorcycle well. . .” Mezou holds onto the last 'l' in well and looks down. Denki feels like he just kicked a puppy.

“I’ll ride. It’s not a problem really. This will be my first time on one of these though so I’m just a bit nervous.” Denki awkwardly chuckles, “These are supposed to be pretty dangerous right? Like if we get hit we’re pretty much dead?” Denki mentally kicks himself. That was probably not the right question to ask here.

“I’m a good driver.” Mezou answers. “I’ll protect you.” That goes straight to Denki’s stomach. He feels a warmth sit in his gut, like he just came outside from shoveling snow and had a hot cup of coco. He feels warm inside. He really wants to skip the first dates and courtship to just ask Mezou to be his boyfriend there on the spot. He can’t stop the smile from breaking out over his face.

“Man. What high schooler talks like that? What high schooler looks like such a sexy beefcake like you? What high schooler has a motorcycle? Goddamn you’re way too cool for me Mezou.” Denki says, even without looking at him Mezou can hear the smile in his voice. Denki realizes he sort of just rambled out his thoughts there. He has flashbacks to how he used to flirt with girls when he thought he was straight. Flirting like this never got him a date.

“My parents are both mechanics. They own their own shop. This motorcycle is the second most expensive thing I own. I take it to every wrestling meet. Riding always puts my mind at ease and calms my nerves before an event.” Mezou explains.

“Second most expensive?” Denki asks. He’s curious and he’s glad Mezou is opening up a little bit.

“Yea, this is a Honda Crossrunner. It’s a gas guzzler so I only ride it for certain events. It’s great day to day if you’ve got money. But I don’t got money. I lay sod in the summer and work odd jobs and help around the shop during the school year, so I have a little bit of cash, but I certainly don’t have enough money to take this out as much as I’d like. I’ve got my two-thousand-and-five dodge neon, that's what I use for my day to day drive. I hate it though. Terrible car and most of the things in it are busted. But my true prize possession is a nineteen-fifty Indian Chief Blackhawk. I’ve only ridden that a little bit. I look a bit absurd on it.” Mezou looks Denki in the eye. “I’m a very large person.” Mezou tacks on as if he needed to explain why he'd look absurd. Denki laughs at Mezou stating something so obvious. “BUT I’ve got a sidecar for it as well that’s never been used. Play your cards right and I might let you be the first.” Mezou thrusts the empty helmet into Denki’s chest, knocking Denki’s breath out. Denki grabs it. Mezou turns around and adjusts the side mirrors on the bike a little bit. Mezou gets on the bike and pulls on his helmet. When he pulls on his helmet he has to adjust his hair and Denki notices his ears are red. Well, well, well, maybe Denki just has a shot at this big softy.

Denki snaps his helmet into place, then climbs onto the back of the bike. Mezou tells him to hold on, he even pulls Denki so that his back is flush against Denki’s chest. The engine comes to life and Denki feels his entire body vibrating. Mezou slowly goes up and down the aisle, so that Denki can get used to riding. Once Denki gives him the go ahead Mezou pulls out into the street. Kyouka and Momo follow in a pristine BMW. The entire ride there Denki plasters himself to Mezou’s back. Mezou ends up being an extremely safe and conservative driver. Denki admits to himself that he feels safer on the back of Mezou’s motorcycle than he does when he’s in a car normally. Not as safe as he feels in a bus though. He could’ve done without the bitter cold. It just snowed a few days ago and Denki thinks Mezou’s crazy for taking out a motorcycle in this weather.

When they get to the diner the tables are already picked out. Mina waves Denki and Mezou over to her. They sit at a booth with Katsuki, Eijirou, and Mina. Katsuki wears the letterman jacket from his school and has one of his arms slung across Eijirou’s shoulders. Eijirou seems to lean into the contact. He wears his regular orange tee shirt. Denki is baffled that he’s not in warmer clothes. Eijirou’s hair is styled into spikes today. Mina has on a jacket with a fur lined hood. They’re all crammed on the same side of the table. Mezou gestures for Denki to get in first. Once Denki is in, Mezou climbs in. He nearly blocks out the ambient lighting with his body.

“We were waiting on your slow asses to fucking get here.” Katsuki grouses. “Figure out what you’re ordering so we can eat too. Everyone else has already fucking ordered.”

“My apologies.” Mezou says flatly. Katsuki shoves over two menus at Denki and Mezou. “Thanks Katsuki. You’re very thoughtful to hand us these menus.” Mina snorts.

“When did you develop a sense of humor big guy?” She asks. Denki peers over to see Mezou just flatly shrug. He then leans into Denki’s space a little.

“What are you getting?” He asks. Denki feels himself flush at the proximity. He feels like a little school kid. He reminds himself to get it together.

“Well I was hoping they’d have like paninis or something. But I’m probably just going to have the salsa skillet. Breakfast is the best meal after all.” Denki replies. He smiles brightly over at Mezou.

“Do you even know what a panini is Denki?” Mina asks. She’s got a grin on her face that let’s the whole world know that she’s ready to start some shit.

“Of course I do.” Denki falls for the bait immediately. Mina nudges Eijirou under the table. Eijirou jumps a bit at the elbow in his ribs.

“I don’t know man. What kind of panini would you have ordered?” Eijirou not so subtly removes Mina’s elbow from his guts.

“Well I just said breakfast is the best meal. So I’d get, like, a breakfast panini.” Denki replies easily.

“Yea? What’s in a breakfast panini?” Mina challenges.

“I don’t know like eggs and baco-” Denki starts but he’s cut off by Eijirou quickly.

“Nah bro. You’re just listing breakfast foods now.” He busts out his impression of Denki “I don’t know eggs, and bacon, and fruit loops, and orange juice.” Katsuki smiles. Mina giggles a little bit.

“Dude I know what a panini is.” Denki answers. He’s really not in the mood to be teased like this. He finally has a guy he wants to pursue, and what do his asshole friends do? They try to humiliate and make fun of him right in front of the guy. Denki reasonably knows that it's playful teasing. But with Mezou here it hurts more than is fun. Denki's always ready to be the butt of a joke but right now he really wants to seem cool and desirable.

“Yea right dunce face.” Katsuki’s caught on to what’s happening now. “I doubt you’ve ever eaten a panini in your life.” It’s Eijirou’s turn to giggle now.

“Dude. I’ve eaten a fucking panini before. It’s not like some esoteric sandwich or something.”

“Ooo ‘esoteric’ big word Denki. It’s just us, you don’t have to impress us.” That side of the table bursts out laughing at Mina’s jab. Denki stares down at the table. Denki looks over just in time to see Mezou’s fist slam into the table. The table hops up and all the silverware clatters a little bit. Itsuka’s table all look over at their table.

“That’s enough.” Mezou's deep booming voice rings out. Denki’s head whips over to look at Mezou. The restaurant falls silent. “What is Fun is fun, but we can move on now.”

“Woah easy there big fella. We’re done, we're done.” Mina says. She raises her hands in mock surrender. The table falls back into it’s good mood. The rest of dinner returns to their meals. The conversation falls back into it's natural flow. Denki finds out that both Mezou and Katsuki won State for their divisions. Rikido placed third. He finds out that Eijirou just implodes when someone attractive flirts with him. He learns that Mezou and Katsuki both have been wrestling since childhood and have been kind of, sort of, friends for a while. When the bill comes they split it evenly then say their goodbyes. Mezou promises to at least give Denki a ride to the bus stop.

Once they’re outside the large group splinters completely. Kyouka and Momo left the group earlier in the night to spend some time together. Juzo, Hanta, and Setsuna lean against the side of the building on a smoke break, chatting amicably. Eijirou and Katsuki lean on a car, flirting and smiling at each other. Denki’s going to have to tease Eijirou later for falling for such a dickhead. Or at least he’s going to tease him for giving Katsuki the time of day. Itsuka’s group pile into her car and leave right away. Denki accidentally spots Rikido and the awkward guy trying to eat each other’s faces. Denki’s never seen someone lead with their tongue in a kiss before, and now that he has seen it he wishes he hadn’t. Denki and Mezou make their way over to Mezou’s motorcycle. When Mezou moves to put on his helmet Denki notices the back of his neck is bleeding.

“Dude you’re bleeding!” Denki exclaims. He didn’t mean to sound so panicked but it just came out that way. He’s a bit shocked.

“Oh.” Mezou says. He touches the back of his neck and feels the sticky blood on his fingers. “That sucks. One of my opponents really needed to cut his nails. Here I’ve got bandages in here somewhere.” Mezou pops open the storage compartment on the back of his bike. Inside the compartment is a first aid kit, jumper cables, a small jerry can, a few lighters, a red pipe that’s shaped like a chilli pepper, and an assortment of phone chargers. Mezou pulls out the first aid kit and pulls out a bandage. “Mind sticking this on for me?” Denki nods. Mezou bows down.

“Uh. This isn’t going to work.” Denki still can’t properly see the back of Mezou’s neck. Mezou gives him a curious look but when he sees they’re practically eye to eye he smiles a little. He gets down on his knees and bows his head down again “Much better. Fuck, you’re a big dude.” Denki says. He looks down at Mezou’s neck. With Mezou’s hair out of the way Denki notices black ink peering out from under his shirt. Denki pulls Mezou's shirt up a little bit and sees that Mezou’s broad back is covered in a tattoo. From his angle he can’t see the design though. “Fuck dude you’ve got a tattoo? We literally just turned eighteen.”

“One of my sisters is an artist.” Mezou says. Denki scoffs.

“That doesn’t explain anything. You’re eighteen for fucks sake. What if it sucks and you have to live with this on your back for the rest of your life.” Mezou rolls his eyes. Denki finishes applying the bandage. “Right as rain.” He sing songs cheerily. Setsuna’s group finishes their smoke break. Hanta grabs Rikido and the awkward guy. They peel out of the lot like a bat out of hell. Mina’s group has left as well. Mezou and Denki are left in the lot alone.

“It couldn’t suck because my sister did it.” Mezou starts taking off his shirt. “I mean look at this thing. It’s really awesome. I got it for half price because she’s an apprentice right now. She works at Suneater’s. Ask for the Shouji there if you want piercings or tattoos. She’s pretty great.” Denki appreciates Mezou's shirtless self. Mezou's got a strong body. Denki wouldn't mind if Mezou snapped him in two. Mezou turns around. Denki’s jaw hits the floor. All across Mezou's back is an octopus. It’s jet black, no color in the piece except for a few yellow accents on its tentacles and its eyes are ruby red.

“Pretty great is an understatement.” Denki’s eyes wander over Mezou’s back. He notes that some of the tentacles are cut short. “Not done yet though, eh?” Mezou nods.

“Yea. It’s against the dress code to have visible tattoos. When it’s done two of the tentacles will spiral around my biceps and forearms. Then a couple more will wrap around my ribs and over to my front side. This is the only piece I ever plan on getting, so I don’t have to save space anywhere on my body. My sister says it’s her best piece and it’s in her art portfolio.” Mezou sounds proud. Mezou puts his shirt back on and zips up his riding jacket as well. “Anyways you probably want to get back.” Mezou’s voice almost sounds. . . disappointed to Denki. Denki feels the disappointment himself. He really wants to spend more time with Mezou. Baby steps, he reminds himself, don’t scare him off. Just exchange numbers and set up another time you want to meet up.

“Yea I don’t want my parents to worry about me. Good thing it’s not a school night or I’d already be getting phone call, after phone call.” Denki laughs nervously. “Hey we should swap-” Denki begins.

“Want to be my boyfriend?” Mezou huffs out. Then he slaps his forehead as if he blurted it out by accident. “Ack. Damn. This is exactly what Setsuna told me not to do. Sorry. I’m blunt sometimes. I just.” Mezou takes a deep breath and steels himself. “I’ve been impressed with how hard you work for a while now. Wrestling practice takes place in the basement like robotics practices do. I’ve seen you build up that team from scratch. It’s really admirable how dedicated you are. I’ve seen you teach the underclassmen things, it's awesome that you can simplify and explain things like that. I don't have a mind for most things. I’ve seen you tell off some of the mentors for being too harsh on the more sensitive kids. I've seen you," Mezou stops mid sentence, "I probably sound like a creepy stalker right now. At first it was just admiration but then last year.” Mezou chuckles. “Well last year you got really hot. You started wearing that black stud in your left ear and you dyed a lightning bolt in your hair. You filled out a bit and are basically my ideal partner right now. I’m no good at the whole dating thing, as my previous girlfriends could probably tell you.” Mezou sucks a breath in his teeth. “I’m sorry. Setsuna coached me up for like a year to do this confession. I promised her after my last high school meet I’d ask you out. This is really out of character for me. Fuck. I feel so nervous and exposed.” Mezou looks over at Denki. Denki still hasn’t recovered. He’s never heard Mezou say so many sentences unprompted. “Uh. Yea. I guess.” Mezou falters. “Yea. Do you want to be my boyfriend?” He asks again. The thin cool night air blows by them. They can hear a few people crunching the snow on the sidewalk as they go about their business. The silence hangs, but it doesn’t feel heavy. It feels like something important is going on and the moment needs to breath.

“Fuck yeah man.” Denki opens. “Yeah, I’ll be your boyfriend." The words sink in, "holy fucking shit.” Denki’s arms fly into the air. “Holy shit. I’m a hopeless romantic so I fall in love very easily. Nobody’s ever fallen for me though.” Denki wishes he could have his words back. He doesn’t want to be mousy right now. “Put it this way. If I could’ve scripted this night out to be perfect. I don’t think I’d have done better than this.” Denki laughs. He feels like the world was just lifted from his shoulders. “Man, I was just going to ask for your number and try to set up a one on one hang. Hold on, I'm overwhelmed. I've got to just scream for a second” Denki screams into the empty sky. “Sorry, I’m just so excited. You’re my first boyfriend. This is great!” Denki feels his smile go even wider. His face hurts from it but he doesn’t care. “Man I really wanted this. How are you so confident about this! I could never just throw that out there without knowing for sure if I had a shot or not."

"Well you did call me a 'sexy beefcake' earlier. So I had a good idea you might reciprocate my feelings." Mezou says with a laugh. Denki racks his brain to remember when he said that. He can't figure it out right now but he can't bring himself to care. This technically counts as flirting his way into a date. He's taking the victory while it's here.

"Fuck going home right now I just want to hang with you. The night can’t just end like this! Let me text my parents to tell them I’ll be home even later. I hope you don’t have any plans for the rest of the night. We’ve got a lot of getting to know each other to do.”

Chapter Text

Denki’s buzzing in his room with excitement. He’s been pinging between playing with his pinball machine and making sure he looks alright in the mirror. He video called in Mina and Eijirou to help finalize his outfit. His mom helped him pick it out. He’s got a yellow sweater on with a black undershirt, brown plaid pants, and a simple brown belt. His mom had to talk him down from a shirt and tie. Then she had to talk him back up from sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

He and Mezou had a blast hanging out after the State Wrestling Tournament but when Denki laid in bed, still tingling with nervous energy, he realized they hadn’t really talked about anything. He aims to correct this on their first actual date. He’s scoured the internet for conversation starters. He’s read every first date advice article front to back and back to front. He skimmed through his mother's magazines for dating tips. Denki knows that research is his best strength here so he’s prepared for anything.

He’s got a half hour before Mezou shows up. His skin is positively on fire. He runs through his note cards again. Making sure that he has answers to any question Mezou might ask. He wrote out his college plan (four years for a bachelor’s degree and then working at a job that will pay for his master’s degree), his dream job (working towards making more accessible robotics OR working in telecommunications), his hopes (marriage, kids, family, home ownership), his favorite weather (hot muggy days), his hobbies (video games), his favorite movies (Alien, Primer, Moon, basically anything sci-fi), and his favorite musicians (Daft Punk, Carl Cox, RATATAT and Big Gigantic). Reading his notes does nothing to calm his nerves. Denki checks the mirror again. He decides he needs some last minute changes to his outfit. He quickly takes out his contacts and picks up his yellow rimmed glasses. He goes back in front of the mirror. He winces. /Way/ too much yellow. He gently closes them and puts them back in his glasses case. He pulls out a second pair, his brown tortoise glasses, and hops back in front of the mirror. A no-go on these ones as well. He pulls out a third pair, a translucent white pair with black arms. He nods to himself in the mirror. Perfection.

He hears a knock at the door and takes off like a rocket. He tries putting his gray skater shoes on while moving towards the door. He shouts for his mom to not answer the door. He hops on one foot with one shoe on and one shoe half way on. He slams into the wall. He takes another hop but when he nearly faceplants from trying to walk and put shoes on at the same time he stops. He slowly puts his other shoe on and sprints the rest of the way to the door. He flings it open and sees Mezou. Denki takes in his boyfriend's appearance slowly. Mezou’s still wears his mask, but now he also has on a heavy black leather coat, and black combat boots.

“Hey there,” Denki says. Well more like shouts. He’s excited, sue him. “I’m ready if you are.” Denki steps forward into Mezou’s space and slams the door behind him. He hears the window fly open.

“I know you’re not slamming doors in my house Denki Kaminari. When you pay bills you can do what you damn please but when you’re under my roof you don’t pull that shit!” His mom yells at him from the second floor. Denki can’t be bothered, he waves his mother off.

“Hello, Miss Kaminari. I apologize for the door. Don’t worry about Denki. He’s safe with me.” Mezou says back. Denki’s mom blushes.

“Oh look how sweet you are.” She begins. “You can keep him out for as long as you’d like. I trust ya.” Denki walks to the car to avoid the embarrassment of having his mom talk to Mezou. The door is locked when Denki tries to open it. Mezou walks around to Denki’s side of the car and slides the key into the door. He stands over Denki’s shoulder, crowding Denki against the car when he opens the door. Denki can smell his bodywash. Denki thinks that he smells manly, then almost smacks himself for thinking like Eijirou does. Denki climbs into the car. He notes that the car is completely clean. No crumbs or loose trash anywhere. He peaks at the hood and notices that it too has been washed recently. Mezou walks over to his side and opens his door as well.

“Sorry about the car. I’d rather take my bike but it’s cold out.” Mezou explains. “Not that this will be much better. The heater doesn’t work. Hold on.” Mezou reaches into the back seat. He pulls out a thick blanket. “There’s a hole in the back door on your side. You’ll want this.” He flops it over Denki and tucks it under the seat. “I wish you’d dress warmer. It’s twice now that you’ve gone out in freezing temperatures in inadequate clothing.” Denki giggles a bit.

“I just need someone big and strong to warm me up.” Mezou rolls his eyes.

“Anyway the radio doesn’t work but there are CDs in the glove compartment if you want to listen to music.” Mezou starts the car. The engine whirs to life. He shifts and they’re off.

“So what are we doing for our first date?” Denki asks as he pops open the glove compartment. Mezou only told him to be ready at seven-thirty, and to dress warmly. Denki at least followed one of his directions. His warmer clothes don’t look as good on him though.

“First we’re eating food. Then we’re going ice skating. My brother works at a rink in the winter and he said nearly nobody shows up on Sundays. If everything goes right it’ll be like we rented the rink for ourselves.” Mezou says. “Except instead of costing us over a hundred bucks an hour it’ll just cost us the five bucks for admission. Pretty good deal, eh?” Denki smiles to himself. He’s glad Mezou was the one planning this. He would’ve probably taken them just out to eat or something. Ice skating sounds really fun. Denki talks the rest of the way there. Mezou can’t get a word in edgewise but he’s happy to sit and listen to Denki blabber on about robotics and annoying underclassmen. Denki doesn’t stop when they pull up. He looks around the area. It seems like a pretty hole in the wall restaurant.

“I apologize for the selfish pick. This place serves the best takoyaki. It’s one of my favorite foods.” Mezou explains.

“That’s fine by me. I’m not the biggest fan of octopus. Too muscly and chewy for me.” Denki pauses and scratches his chin. “Hey, you eating takoyaki. . . that’s sort of cannibalism for you isn’t it?” Denki jokes.

“I’d hope not.” Mezou responds. When they pull up Denki pops out of the car right away. He’s got so much energy. He wonders if they should’ve gone skating first and then come for dinner. He dismisses the thought. “I really hope you enjoy it here. This place is great. I come here often.” Mezou holds the door open for Denki. Once inside they’re greeted by a zen, stone-faced, man. The man wears a stained apron and has his hair tied up in a bun on top of his head. Mezou nods to him and the man just nods back. “I figure a booth in the back would be a good idea.” Mezou leads Denki to the back and sits across from him.

“Dope place.” Denki opens with. He smiles nervously at Mezou. “I hope the food is good.” Mezou nods but plays with his hands in his lap. Denki can tell he’s nervous but he doesn’t know why he would be. Before he can ask, a waitress, in an outfit that appears uncomfortably tight on her, walks up to the table.

“Takoyaki to start and what else?” She opens with, she stares down at Mezou before breaking out into a smirk. Mezou places his order and then nods for Denki to do the same. Before Denki can get a word in, she starts talking again. “Robotics kid?” She asks. Denki recoils a bit and furrows his brow. He peaks over at Mezou and finds him staring wide eyed at their waitress. Mezou quickly looks down at the table when he notices Denki peaking. Denki nods slowly. “Pft. Called it. Ken!” She shouts over her shoulder. “KEN!” the man with the top-bun peaks out from the back. “It’s the one!” Ken nods back at her. "Grats Kid"

“Be on your best behavior then Nemuri.” The man says and then goes back to the kitchen.

“What an old soul. Would ya believe me if I told you he was actually younger than I am?” The waitress asks.

“Wow, that’s crazy.” Denki says a bit dumbfounded. He’s got enough wits to know that he shouldn’t tell a woman that she looks old, /especially/ when she's clearly fishing for a compliment.

“I believe that very easily.” Mezou snarks. Denki’s jaw drops at the blunt comment. He guesses Mezou doesn’t have enough wits to know that he shouldn’t tell a woman that she looks old, /especially/ when she's clearly fishing for a compliment.

“Oho? Developing a sense of humor there? I thought you were as humorless as the stone man over there.” Nemuri teases right back. “I was going to take the takoyaki off the bill. But now? I don’t feel like it.”

“That’s ok.” Mezou says. “Figure out what you wanted to order Denki?” Denki nods. Denki places his order and Nemuri skips away. Mezou’s looking down at the table again.

“Are you shy?” Denki blurts out. “Er. I mean like you keep looking down. I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable.”

“No. I’m just nervous. I want you to like me.” Mezou sighs. “And I’m steeling my nerves for something that never goes well.

“What are you nervous for?” Denki asks but before Mezou can respond Nemuri comes back with the takoyaki, and their drinks.

“This.” Mezou says. He slides down his mask to reveal the rest of his face. “Unfortunately I’ve only got this mouth to eat with.” Denki’s eyes dart around Mezou’s face. Taking in how the man looks. Mezou has a deep scar running diagonally across his right cheek ending just at his chin. His skin puckers in alongside the scar. On his chin there are two more smaller white scars. His left cheek seems much thinner than his right one. Like the facial muscles on that side were completely removed. Mezou sighs. Denki cannot believe how defeated Mezou looks. He’s usually so blunt and strong willed. Denki really doesn’t like the look on Mezou’s face. It doesn’t suit him at all.

“You think that’s bad? Check this out.” Denki holds his wrist out. His arm looks completely fine. He flips his arm over, there’s a thin white scar running down his arm. Barely noticeable unless he were to point it out. “My cousin’s cat got me pretty bad. Now we’re even. Yea?” Mezou bursts out laughing. Denki notices that he’s got incredibly white teeth. His laugh is ugly and hoarse but Denki can only feel affection towards him. Denki’s stomach settles a bit and a nice soft warmth runs over his skin.

“I guess we’re even then.” Mezou says with a smile. Their dinner arrives and Denki realizes that they should probably have been talking and getting to know each other this whole time rather than awkwardly sitting there waiting for the food. He nearly slaps his forehead. He’s no good at this sort of thing. He’s never gotten this far.

“So what do you do for fun?” A safe question. Everyone has hobbies.

“I don’t have much free time.” Mezou says. Denki grimaces, well everyone has hobbies outside of Mezou apparently. Mezou quickly swallows the food in his mouth. Forgetting, for a moment, that his mouth was on display. “I have my hands full between helping around my parents’ shop, or working out, or working at my job. I guess my main hobby is reading. How about you?”

“Well.” Denki takes in a deep breath. “As you know I’m part of the robotics team. So I spend a lot of time doing both the coding and electrical work for our bot. But after that I spend a lot of time around Hanta so we do all the things that come with that. I watch basketball games when I can, which isn’t often during the school year, but whatever that’s another thing I do. I play lots of video games. I recently started getting into rogue-like games.” Denki scans Mezou’s face to see if he understands that. Denki decides he doesn’t. “Those are like procedurally generated maps that when you die it just resets completely. There can be some carryover like if you unlock a new weapon or something but for the most part you have to start over completely. It’s a very clever way of making the game not need a ton of content and still be replayable. But more recently I bought a record player so I’ve been playing records and just relaxing. It’s also cool because I picked up guitar in our sophomore year so I’ve been buying all my favorite guitar albums and playing along with them when I get the chance. I’m not all that good but it’s still fun to try and play along.”

“Uh. I don’t really play video games. You’ll have to teach me some time.” Mezou says.

“Haha, I can teach you whatever you want to know in that field. I’ve got that shit on lock.” Denki leans back in his seat. He feels smug, but that’s the power of studying beforehand. “How about music? You said you had CDs but I’ll be honest, I just flipped through them without really registering what they were.” Denki chuckles to himself. Not even fifteen minutes into their date he can feel a comfortable familiarity form between them.

“I’m the youngest in my family. So I tend to just have to listen to whatever everyone else plays. My oldest brother plays a lot of Jazz. He got that from my father I guess. I have two sisters that both play mostly pop and rap. Then I’ve got a brother who plays mostly Soul and Funk music. Then my other brother plays more electronic stuff. That electronic stuff I’m not the biggest fan of. And my mother listens to just mom stuff I guess, ABBA and bands like that.”

“Woah that’s a lot of siblings. They're all as big as you?” Denk asks. Genuinely taken back. Mezou gives off big brother vibes.

“No. They’re all small like you. My oldest brother used to tease me because by the time I was in the seventh grade I was bigger than all of them.”

“No shit.” Denki mumbles under his breath.

“No shit.” Mezou says flatly.

“So do they baby you?” Denki jokes.

“No. My sisters and the younger two of my brothers act like brats. I have to pick them up from parties when they get too drunk. The younger brothers get jobs through me and use me as a reference for job interviews.” Denki smiles up at Mezou. He’s probably making eyes at him but he’s just impressed at how mature Mezou is. “My brothers also get into fights all the time and drag me into them.” Mezou puts down his fork for a second. “I’m undefeated there too since you’re probably wondering.” Denki might be in love. “My oldest brother is alright though. He’s going to take over the shop so I figure once I’m done with my degree, I’ll work under him.”

“That’s great that you’ve got a plan.” Denki says. “How about your other siblings. You said your sister is a tattoo artist and a piercer right?”

“Amateur tattoo artist for now.” Mezou corrects. “She’s great. She spoils me more than anyone. I used to let her draw all over my body, since I’m the biggest canvas.” Mezou chuckles. Denki notes how fond he looks.

“She’s your favorite huh?” Denki teases.

“Yes.” Mezou says without missing a beat.

“Oh.” Denki is taken back a little bit. “I don’t think you’re supposed to just admit it.”

“Oh. My mistake then.” Mezou pauses for a moment. Finishing the last bite of his food. “Then no she is not my favorite one.” Mezou pauses then dramatically winks at Denki. “Anyway if you’re done, let’s get out of here.” Denki nods. They ate very quickly. Both are still filled with nervous energy despite relaxing into each other's presence a little bit.

Mezou picks up the bill and pays it quickly. Their waitress makes a comment about coming too fast and leaving too soon. Mezou just groans. So she tries a line about protection. Denki takes that as his queue to grab Mezou’s hand and pull him out of the restaurant as fast as possible. Once they’re outside Denki moves to let go of Mezou’s hand but Mezou doesn’t let him. Mezou squeezes Denki's hand to let him know it’s ok.

“Onto the next adventure!” Denki shouts gleefully. He lets Mezou open the car door for him then hops into his seat. He throws the blanket back over himself. Mezou gets in on the other side. He reaches over and repositions the blanket so it’s covering Denki entirely.

“Don’t want you to be cold at all.” Mezou mutters. Then shifts into reverse. Denki blushes at his over protectiveness.

“So how long have you driven stick?” Denki asks, primarily to keep himself from turning too red.

“Truthfully?” Mezou asks. Denki grins and nods. “I started driving, just around the block, when I was old enough to touch the pedals. I’ve got a lot more experience than most people driving.”

“Damn dude, you’re such a man.” Denki says in awe. Mezou just laughs. Denki feels his face flush, so much for changing the subject to avoid this.

“What does that even mean?” Mezou gets out between laughs. Denki can feel his face warming up. Seeing Mezou so relaxed and, frankly, jovial is making Denki bashful.

Denki chatters about whatever comes to mind for the rest of the trip. Mezou can’t wipe the fond smile off his face as he listens to Denki talk about nothing in particular. Mezou himself can’t believe how verbose he’s being. Just over the course of the car rides and dinner Mezou has talked more during their date than he normally would in a week. They pull up to the ice rink. Half the lights illuminating the rink seem to be busted out. Mezou hops out of the car and opens the door for Denki. He takes Denkis hand and doesn’t let go. They walk out into the parking lot. There are only two other cars in the lot.

“Recognize that car?” Mezou asks Denki as he points to one of the cars. Denki follows his finger and then shakes his head rapidly side to side. Mezou notes how cute Denki looks shaking his head so vigorously. “I think we might be interrupting Setsuna.” Once Mezou mentions her name, Denki realizes that it is her car. “Wonder what she’s doing out here. If she stole my date idea. . .” Before Mezou can finish the thought, Juzo and Setsuna walk out glued to each other’s sides. When Setsuna spots them her face busts out into a grin.

“Look at these two lovers Juzo. On their first date. Very cute.” She teases. “We won’t keep you. Have fun out there. Hopefully we didn’t carve up the ice too bad.” She tries to slip past Mezou but he stops her with his arm.

“Where’d you find out about this place?” He asks slyly.

“Oh just some guy I know.” Setsuna answers cheekily.

“And /our/ first date?” Mezou shakes his head. “If I’m not mistaken I believe this is your first date as well.” Setsuna’s grin falls of her face. She coughs into her hand and rubs the back of her neck.

“Date? What are you talking about? The only ones on a date here are you two.” She answers weekly.

“Sure thing.” Mezou says and walks past her. “Take care of her Juzo.” He pauses. “Or I’ll find you.” Juzo stiffens and both his and Setsuna’s pace quickens as they practically run to their car.

“YEAH, YOU CRAZY KIDS!” Denki shouts after them. He throws his head back and laughs. He puts his shoulder into Mezou. Mezou quickly moves from holding Denki’s hand to having his arm around Denki’s shoulder. “You’re such a big brother ‘Zo.”

“Huh? ‘Zo?” Mezou asks while rubbing his hand up and down Denki’s shoulder.

“It fits you. Sounds cute but still strong.” Now it’s Mezou’s turn to blush. “That might’ve been the shortest but most effective shovel talk I’ve ever seen.” Denki chuckles, replaying Juzo and Setsuna’s brisk walk to their car in his mind.

“I’ve had to give them before. My siblings don’t always pick the nicest partners.” Mezou says. Denki decides to leave that nerve alone.

The rink itself is pretty small. Just a frozen over pond with a railing added to it. Mezou takes out ten dollars and stuffs them into the envelope on the side of the rink. He takes two stickers from the roll as well. Denki is not sure exactly what Mezou’s brother’s job is. The payment system is an honor code and he doesn’t see anybody supervising the rink. Mezou takes the sticker and sticks it to Denki’s collar. Denki quickly grabs the other sticker. He pauses for a moment figuring out where to put it. He decides to slap it onto where he guesses Mezou’s nipple is. He sticks his tongue out. When Mezou reaches over to move the sticker, Denki grabs Mezou’s hand. Mezou rolls his eyes, but leaves the sticker where it is.

They make their way over to where the ice skate rentals are. Mezou knocks on the table.

“I hear ya, I hear ya. No need to be so loud.” A voice calls from the back end of the little shack. “OH! Little bro.” The man says. He doesn’t look much like Mezou. He stands at Denki’s height and has jet black hair. He’s got gauges and a black snapback with a green pot leaf as an emblem on. He has some sort of red collared uniform shirt on. “So this is your little date huh? Well little compared to you.” He sticks out his hand for Denki to shake. Denki grabs his hand. The guy squeezes hard and shakes it violently up and down twice. “Shovel talk.” He says. “Now that we’re done with that. What can I do for you?” He stops and puts a finger on his chin. “Wait I know. You need a skate that can fit your big ass feet huh?” Mezou nods. “And what size do you need little man?”

“Uh. I’m size seven.” Denki answers. Suddenly self-conscious about his foot size.

“Mens or womens.” Mezou’s brother jokes. The smile falls off his face when he sees Mezou’s murderous glare. “Woah, woah, woah. I’m kidding, big guy. Sheesh! Relax a little. You kiddies are supposed to be having fun here.” The guy disappears into the back for barely a second. “Alright. Here are the nice size sevens. And here are the only available size clown for you.” He winks at Mezou. “And here is ten bucks. Because no way in hell is my brother paying for this.” Mezou grumbles but takes the money from his brother. “Alright lean down here so I can ruffle your hair.” Mezou walks away.

“Nice meeting you I guess.” Denki says as he turns to follow Mezou.

“Yea, yea, take care of him. He’s sensitive for a big guy.” Mezou’s brother says softly.

Denki joins Mezou sitting at a bench. Mezou takes off his boots and slides the skates on with a practiced ease. He laces them up and ties them quickly. Before Denki has one skate on, Mezou has both on and tied. Mezou wraps his arm around Denki’s back and rests his hand on Denkis waist.

“You feel good in my arms.” Mezou says. Denki startles, not expecting Mezous voice to be so close. If Mezou wasn’t wearing a mask Denki would probably be able to feel his breath on his ear.

“I feel good with your arms around me ‘Zo” Denki says with a smile on his face. He feels Mezou lightly squeeze his side. Mezou waits patiently while Denki finishes putting on his skates. When he finishes he beams up at Mezou. “Took me a minute but I got them.” Mezou frowns at the loose bow that Denki tied.

“Weren’t you ever a boy scout?” He teases before reaching down and tightening Denki’s skates.

“Weren’t you ever a boy scout?” Denki says, pitching his voice up an octave and wiggling his shoulders as he says it. Mezou smiles down at him fondly.

“I don’t know how you’re so effortlessly cute.” Mezou says.

"HA! It takes a lot of effort to be this cute.” Denki falls into their banter easily. Mezou stands up and helps Denki to the edge of the ice.

“You can skate right?” Mezou asks, half serious, half teasing. Denki smiles at him before stepping onto the rink and skating backwards away from him.

“Everybody can skate. I’m low to the ground. Your big ass is at a disadvantage here.” Denki fires back before turning around and beginning to skate around the edge. His first lap is a little bit rough, but he shakes off his rustiness for the second lap. On the third lap he feels positively graceful. He loves the sounds of his skates sliding across the ice. He sees his breath out in front of him and can feel his ears and nose beginning to get cold. He may like the warm weather but some things about winter are just magical. After his third lap he realizes Mezou is still standing on the edge. “Come on big guy. /We’re/ supposed to be skating here.” Mezou blinks himself out of whatever thought he was in and joins Denki on the ice.

“Sorry. Sometimes I just like to watch you.” Mezou says.

“A likely excuse.” Denki smirks. Mezou looks a bit shaky on the ice. He’s balanced but his movements are mechanical. Denki can’t help but grin now that he knows that there’s something he’s better at. “Didja think that you’d be able to show me the ropes on this one? Be all smooth and hot when you’re teaching little ol’ me how to skate?” Denki teases.

“The opposite actually. I was really hoping that you’d excel at this.” Mezou replies. “It’s no good if everything we do is in my wheelhouse.” Mezou says. He picks up a little speed, using his long strides to his advantage. Denki slows down, and lets Mezou speed ahead. He sits back just gliding along slowly. Watching the muscles in Mezou’s back as he swings his arms from side to side to pick up speed. While he’s not great he looks pretty comfortable on the ice. Denki wonders what he did to get such a sweet man like Mezou to go out with him. Then his eyes snap to Mezous butt. Then he wonders what he did to get such a hot guy to go out with him. Instead of pondering those thoughts he starts swinging his own arms to catch back up to Mezou.

“Well I do excel at this.” Denki says as he passes Mezou. He moves until he’s a good distance ahead of Mezou. He peaks over his shoulder and notices Mezou is lazily chasing after him, or lazily doing laps at least. Denki does a hockey stop and waits for him. Mezou slowly slides up to him. “C’mon big boy.” Denki giggles. Then starts slowly skating off. Mezou slides alongside him and matches his pace. “I’m having a lot of fun tonight ‘Zo.” Denki says.

“Glad to hear it. I’ve wanted you for so long. Now that I have you, I’m going to do everything to make you happy.” Mezou says. Denki blinks then smiles.

“You’ve got a lot more passion than I would’ve thought.”

“Well, I’ve been pining for a long time now. It’s had a lot of time to build.” Mezou chuckles. Denki skates closer until they’re practically on top of each other. He grabs Mezou’s arm and slides it over his shoulders.

“Come closer. It’s cold and you’re hot.” Denki winks up at Mezou. Mezou rests his hand on Denki’s shoulder. “Has anyone ever told you how big you are?” Denki asks. He marvels at how his entire shoulder is engulfed by Mezou’s hand.

“Hmm.” Mezou brings his other hand up to his chin, as if he’s in deep thought. “Now that you mention it. I think one or two people may have brought it up.” Denki giggles and nuzzles closer to him. They lazily skate in comfortable silence around the ring. Every once in a while Denki will pipe up with a story about how an underclassmen fucked up something in robotics. But other than small stories they just bask in each other's company.

“HEY!” Mezou and Denki both startle. “It’s fifteen minutes passed close. I’ve got to close down for now, lovebirds!” Mezou’s brother yells from across the ice. Denki groans but leads Mezou off of the ice. They quickly get rid of their skates and let Mezou’s brother take them back to the skate shack.

“Thanks for staying open later for us.” Mezou says when his brother comes back.

“Yea. You owe me one little brother.” He chuckles. “Thanks for keeping it in your pants while you’re around me.” Mezou swats the back of his brother’s head. “Be nice to me! You don’t want your little date here to think you’re abusive or anything.”

“Hit him again.” Denki says. Mezou swats the back of his brother’s head again.

“Wow. Fuck you too. To think I helped you guys out here.” Mezou’s brother shakes his head. “This is how you repay me? That’s twisted.” His brother dodges another swipe and runs over to his car. “Don’t stay out too late! Use protection! Other good brotherly advice!” He shouts from a safe distance.

“Nemuri already told us to use protection!” Mezou shouts back. His brother laughs openly.

“She’s such a pervy old lady!”

Mezou opens the door for Denki. Denki slides in. He throws on the, now familiar, blanket. Mezou slides into the other side but decides that Denki did a good enough job covering himself this time. Denki, strangely, feels like he missed out on a moment of intimacy. He resolves to not cover himself properly the next time he gets into Mezou’s car. Mezou starts the car and they both look at the clock. It reads 11:30. Mezou and Denki both sigh.

“Too bad it’s a school night huh?” Mezou says softly.

“It’s a bit embarrassing but I’m usually in bed by 10:30” Denki replies just as softly.

“Can’t coax you to stay with me longer?” Mezou asks.

“Well.” Denki pauses. He knows what the answer he should give is. “If you took a scenic route back I don’t think I’d mind.” Denki can’t tell for sure. But he just knows that Mezou is grinning under his mask.

The ride back is much quieter. Mezou makes small talk about cars that he’s worked on. Denki continues with anecdotes about the mentors and other kids in his club. Denki keeps sneaking peeks at Mezou. He catches Mezou looking over at him a couple times as well. There’s an odd tension in the air. Denki feels so peaceful and calm, but at the same time the silence and long pauses hang heavily. Neither of them can really tell what the other is thinking. The roads are nearly empty and Mezou drives slow enough that Denki can hear the snow crunching beneath the tires. Before Denki can puzzle out why the air has so much weight, Mezou pulls into Denki’s driveway.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, eh?” Mezou asks. Denki smiles softly.

“Yea.” He gets out of the car himself and closes the door. To his surprise, Mezou also gets out of the car.

“Let me walk you to your door.” Mezou states. Denki looks at the five feet between him and the door but nods anyways.

“Alright, big guy.” Denki responds. When he gets to his door Denki turns to face Mezou. “Well this is it.” He sighs. “I had a lot of fun. We should do this again.” Mezou smiles under his mask. “I really, really, really like you ‘Zo.”

“I like you too Denki.” Mezou says and he pulls down his mask. Denki doesn’t miss a beat and grabs the collar of Mezou’s jacket. He pulls down hard but isn’t met with resistance. Mezou just leans in. Denki pauses after pulling Mezou ninety percent of the way in. Mezou makes quick work of the last ten percent and connects their lips. A spark runs their Denki’s system. He feels the electricity course through his veins. He feels Mezou’s surprisingly soft lips on his own. He feels a little bit of stubble on Mezou’s face. He feels Mezou’s arms snake around his back and lift him in the air a little bit, pressing their hips together. Denki pauses then stands on his tippy toes. He feels like he finally understands how Rikido and the awkward kid felt on the night of the State Championship. Then he feels a tongue press against his lips. A silent demand to enter. He opens his mouth. Mezou’s tongue moves inside. Denki is completely overwhelmed. He jumps up and wraps his legs around Mezou’s middle. Mezou moves forward with the added weight but catches himself with one step. He straightens back up. Denki moves to wrap his arms around Mezou’s shoulders but finds that he can’t reach all the way around. Mezou repositions his hands so one is on Denki’s back and the other reaches down and cups his ass. Denki moans, much to his embarrassment, then Mezou gives his ass a light squeeze. Denki's head feels light. Denki pulls back and Mezou moves his head lower to continue kissing Denki’s throat. He nips at Denki’s soft pale skin. Probably leaving a hickey but Denki doesn’t care. Denki can feel the bumps of Mezou’s scars on his neck.

“God Mezou.” Denki says breathlessly. Mezou slows down. He moves his hand from Denki’s back to the back of Denki’s head. Denki whimpers when he feels a slight tug on his long hair.

“I’ve got to stop now or I won’t stop at all.” Mezou warns. Denki snaps out of his lust for a second and leans back.

“You’re right.” Denki says. He slowly untangles himself from Mezou’s arms. “You’re right. You’re just. . . right.” Denki gets back to his feet. Mezou pecks his lips one last time.

“Tonight was perfect.” Mezou grins. “And so are you my sweet little Denki.” Denki squeaks a little bit and smiles shyly.

“Text me next time you want to do this.” Denki says. He turns and puts his key into the door. “If you don’t text me I might be pounding on your door tomorrow, so make sure you do it.”

“I’ll text you when I get home.” Mezou promises. Denki nods and then slips into his house. He shuts the door behind him and leans against it. He feels incredibly hot. Like his blood is boiling beneath his skin. He finally did it. He got a boyfriend and it’s his dream man. He slinks back upstairs to his room. When he flips on a light switch he sees his mom sitting there. She’s sarcastically fanning herself with a magazine. Denki didn’t think it was possible for him to get any redder but here he is.

“That wasn’t PG” She teases.

“Oh shut up!” He fires back.

“No, no, my sweet little Denki.” She coos. “If I had known that man was such a lustful beast I wouldn’t have let my baby boy go out with him.”

“/Mom/” Denki whines back.

“Oh, pobrecito, being teased by an old lady like me.” She mocks. “Now get to bed. School is in the morning. And relieve yourself. I promise I won’t knock on your door and interrupt Denki’s little special time.” Denki sputters but doesn’t actually say anything. “Hey! I’d be hot and bothered too, young man, if I had a date that ended like yours just did.”

“MOM!” Denki shouts back then slams his bedroom door.

Chapter Text

Here are the images.

Mezou Link

Denki Link