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The longer Shouta hangs out with him, watching him carefully (or not so carefully) weave spells together from scratch, the more he picks up.
Like Hizashi had said the first time they met, there are rules for magic – it's not all words spoken and hand-waving. There's a lot of math involved, and to Shouta's amusement occasionally the blonde does, in fact, buy a pineapple to complete a spell. Over the months he learns a lot, probably more than his college classes have been teaching him. He won't be doing any magic any time soon of course, but he knows enough to be able to check over the witch's work.
("You got this wrong," Shouta says at one point, a few months later as he raids Hizashi's pantry. Hizashi groans dramatically from the couch, where he lays dizzy and miserable.
"Yes, thank you. I couldn't tell." He grumbles back. When he rolls over he's hit by such a severe dizzy spell that Shouta nudges his garbage can closer.
That one wears off quickly much to Hizashi's relief.)
It gets to the point where Shouta can tell pretty quickly which spells Hizashi screwed up, and how badly. Honestly, so long as he can tell that it won't hurt the other boy then he lets him try it out. Partially because it does Hizashi good to figure things out by himself. Mostly because it's funny when Hizashi freaks out over a bad spell.
All through these months, Hizashi begs Shouta to go riding on his broom with him. “It's so much easier than any other traveling method!” He claims excitedly, flailing his hands. “All you city-slickers walking everywhere and using the train – you gotta give it a try, Shouta! I promise it's fun, too!”
"No."
"But it's fuuuuun!" Hizashi whines. "Come on, you'll like it!"
"It doesn't look very safe," Shouta argues.
"Since when have you cared about safe?" Hizashi scoffs, grinning. "You jump off of my balcony instead of using the front door sometimes. Besides! When I fly I tether myself to the broom and I can totally tether you, too!"
Shouta squints at him. "... You're talking about magic tethering, right?"
"Duh."
"You can't tether more than one thing at a time," Shouta points out bluntly. "Remember when you tried last time? With the solar system mobile you were trying to set up for the little kids down the street?"
"Hey, hey, I've been practicing!"
“My answer is no, Hizashi,” Shouta grumbles, crossing his arms and giving the witch a look. “Until you figure out how to tether multiple things at once and can do it reliably, I'm not getting on that broom of yours. You know, the one that some kids broke without even trying.”
Hizashi pouts for days after that conversation. But soon after, he's right back into crafting spells, trying harder than ever to get the hang of tethering. Practicing all of his magic equally is important to perfecting one type of magic, so, to Shouta's amusement, that means several new spells get tried out several times a day.
Thing is, practicing magic in his small apartment is hard. It's at least a quarter of the reason he messes up.
"I just don't have the space to do things." Hizashi once explained to Shouta, frustration in his voice as he pulled at locks as red as the polish Nemuri had painted his nails with. His spell had screwed up and given him mood indicating hair for weeks. “My magic doesn't have the space to spread out, and it just ends up – ends up bouncing all over the place and it backfires and now my hair is ruined!”
"What if you practiced at my place?" Shouta finds himself asking before he even knows what the hell is coming out of his mouth.
Hizashi's hair relaxes from it's blazing red and into something more of a pale yellow - something Shouta has come to know as surprise.
"... Really?" The paleness of his hair turns more vibrant, even as streaks of orange and pink run through his natural blonde. "Wait – why? Do you live somewhere big? It's not like, in the middle of nowhere, right? No, wait, that doesn't make sense, then you'd never come by this area if you wanted to get coffee."
Shouta laughs. It's a small thing (that lights up the pink in Hizashi's hair to a brighter shade), and he shakes his head. "I live a few train stops away. With my parents, still - we've got a big house and plenty of room, since my sisters moved out."
"Sisters?" Hizashi blinks. "Train? Wait, you do live in the middle of nowhere?"
"Not the train train – the metro train," Shouta explains. "It's still in the city, but walking there from here would take about an hour. Maybe longer." He shrugs, a little subconsciously. "You don't have to come over. It was just a thought."
"N-no! I'd love to!" Hizashi's hair turns fully pink, brighter than the dusting of the same color on his cheeks as he jumps up with hands clenched excitedly. "Really! Just – just tell me which place is yours and I can fly over!"
Shouta furrows his brow with a frown. "I... Haven't ever seen my place from above, Hizashi."
"Oh, have you never been on a plane before?"
"... How about you just ride the train with me and I can show you where I live instead."
Man though, meeting Shouta's parents for the first time is so emotional for Hizashi even if he tries to hide it. They're just so warm and welcoming! Even if he was raised by a whole village, it's still something else entirely to have a parental figure look at him and seem to care from the moment they meet. They're so happy to meet the guy their son has befriended, telling Hizashi that Shouta has told them so much about him.
(Hizashi beams wide at them, tears welling up in his eyes as he listens to them tell him how much Shouta likes and appreciates him. Shouta groans and retreats in embarrassment into the kitchen to get them drinks, although he's barely emerged again when Hizashi catches him up in an enthusiastic hug.)
It doesn't take Shouhime very long to start acting motherly towards Hizashi. Maybe she notices how happy he gets when she fusses over him. Maybe she notices how he leans into her touch. It doesn't matter what tips her off, because she takes him under her wing shortly after they get there. Haruto also likes him, although Hizashi notices that Shouta takes after his father with his quiet personality. It doesn't make the man any less warm – in many ways he's a lot more open than Shouta is. He's very welcoming, and isn't shy about showing affection to his son's new friend.
Hizashi's hair remains pink through the whole visit.
The small, very irrational part of his brain that Shouta can never seem to silence had worried that they wouldn't like or approve of the witch. Seeing them treat him like he's part of the family settles that worry, allowing him to sit back and enjoy watching Hizashi interact with his parents. He watches them with a small but longing smile on his face. (When he realizes he's longing he can't put his finger on what it is exactly that he wants though.)
"You're free to come by whenever you'd like, Hizashi," Shouhime says to him as Hazashi is putting on his shoes next to the front door. "It was such a joy having you here."
"I do have a lot of spells I'd like to work on," Hizashi says shyly, finishing up tying one shoe. "And you and Haruto-san are very nice and welcoming and I really like it here."
"Did you even get a good look at the space, Hizashi?" Shouta asks dubiously, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "You spent more time visiting than anything else."
"Oh, totally!" Hizashi turns his head to beam at Shouta, hair a blend between a bright yellow and pale pink. "I mean, yeah, we did spend a lot of time talking and stuff, but I can feel the whole property with my magic and it feels so comfortable here! There's space and it's open and my magic doesn't feel like it's gonna just bounce off the walls and back into my face."
"You can feel things with your magic?" Shouta asks, curious.
"It's just another sense that I have," Hizashi explains with a shrug and a smile. "Just like you can see with your eyes and feel with your fingers, I can sense things with my magic."
Shouhime smiles, leaning down to brush some of Hizashi's hair back. "Next time you come over, I would love to hear more about how your magic works," she invites. "My son has told me about some of the magical theory he learned from you, but hearing it from you would be great."
(When Hizashi leaves – on the broom he'd brought with him, hopping up onto it and up into the air – Haruto and Shouhime shoot Shouta knowing looks. "Since when do you offer to have your friends study things over here, Shouta?"
He ducks his head, hiding behind his hair. "He's been having trouble in his tiny apartment, that's all.")
* ~ _ ~ * ~ _ ~ *
The day that Hizashi proves that he can anchor multiple things is on Shouta's birthday. Hizashi shows up at his house with his broom – or rather, he shows up at Shouta's window, astride his broom and beaming proudly. There's a large picnic basket hanging off the front of his broom that Shouta blinks stupidly at for a moment before it clicks.
"I finally got it, Shou!" Hizashi exclaims, uncaring of the early time. Shouhime and Haruto sleep on the other side of the house anyway. He won't wake them up any time soon. "Come on, get dressed. I want to show you something!"
So Shouta gets dressed, grabbing his phone off his nightstand and sending off a quick text to his parents before he goes back to his window. He's not even entirely sure what the hell he's putting on, really, tired from the late night working and being woken so early, but Hizashi's exuding such excitement that he doesn't care.
"Climb on!" Hizashi encourages.
Shouta frowns, leaning out the window to stare doubtfully at the broom. "From here?" He asks, uncertain despite himself. He has excellent balance, and even does free running as a hobby and exercise, but...
"I won't let you fall." Hizashi assures him, holding his hand out with an encouraging smile. And well... How can Shouta say no when Hizashi looks at him like that? It's awkward to climb out of his window and onto the broom more than it is hard. But Hizashi keeps it steady, and close to the house, and before he knows it Shouta is straddling the broom, some other force keeping him from falling to the ground below.
"I would have gone side-saddle, but that's just me." Hizashi laughs as he finishes anchoring Shouta to the wood. (And then Shouta's arms wrap around his waist and he suddenly doesn't have anything to say about how Shouta's sitting anymore.)
"I'm ready." Shouta tells him, and –
Suddenly they're flying.
Hizashi starts off slowly to get Shouta used to the motion, only speeding up when Shouta squeezes his waist encouragingly. And Shouta finds he loves it. They increase speed until Shouta is holding onto Hizashi so he doesn't get blown backwards, the wind tangling in his hair and stealing the delighted laughter from his lips.
When Hizashi touches down, Shouta stumbles off with breathless laughter, helpless against it as he flings an arm around Hizashi's middle and holds on. The back-fired spell on the blonde's hair wore off ages ago but that doesn't mean that Hizashi's face doesn't turn a brilliant pink in surprise.
"That was - !" Shouta buries his laughter in Hizashi's shoulder for a moment, squeezing tight.
"Y-yeah?" Hizashi's thin arms wind over Shouta's shoulders, a giddy giggle of his own escaping.
"That was..." After taking a deep, centering breath, Shouta pulls back and touches his forehead to Hizashi's. A grin splits his face from ear to ear, and in that moment Hizashi can't look away from the flecks of gray in his eyes, highlighted by the blaze of the sunrise. "That was great, Hizashi."
Hizashi giggles again, eyes crinkling. "Happy birthday, Shouta," he says, digging his fingers into the fabric of Shouta's shirt. "Happy birthday."
The picnic breakfast Hizashi managed to put together is a little burnt on the edges, but it tastes delicious as they eat next to the river in a secluded place Shouta has never seen in his life. Hizashi explains that he'd found it when he first moved to the city, flying around on his broom and hoping to find a place to live. "The sun hits the water just right in the morning, and I - I wanted to share it with you."
"It's perfect, Hizashi," Shouta says. And so is the person next to him.