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Hanta has lived in a cul-de-sac his whole life. He doesn’t hate it. He knows all his neighbors. He’s friends with all of their kids. Well, the kids are his neighbors. His parents are friends with all of his friend’s parents.
His house is the first one on the left. Next to him is Denki’s. Next to Denki is Mina. Next to Mina is Eijirou. Next to Eijirou is Katsuki. There’s a new family that moved in last month, but they don’t have a kid, so Hanta and his friends don’t really pay them much mind.
They live in an almost absurdly hot state, where snow is a foreign concept and heat waves can hit them at any time of the year. Hanta is jealous of Mina, who sometimes goes up north to visit her parents’ college friends and comes back with pictures of her building snowmen with a girl who Hanta swears gets prettier each and every year she goes to visit. This year, the pictures Mina brought back show Cami has grown out her hair and braided it with holly to match the holiday season.
Hanta is outside. There’s only a few cars in their families’ driveways. He’s on his skateboard, lazily doing loops around the sidewalk. It’s January but it doesn’t feel much different than any other month.
The Kirishima parents have decorations outside of their house, including a blow-up Santa in Hawaiian shorts underneath a palm tree. They always put it up. Every year Hanta and his friends will take turns taking selfies drinking “margaritas” with him. Their “margaritas” are made with lemonade and Kiwi-Melon syrup Denki yoinked from a grocery store because Eijirou bet him five bucks he didn’t have the guts to do it. Hanta and his friends have named their vacationing Santa after Steve Buccemi. Eijirou’s moms get an absolute kick out of it.
Hanta hears one of the doors to the houses open and turns his body, watching as Denki emerges from the Kaminari house.
“Hanta, man!” He says, “I saw you out here! Finish your homework yet?”
“Yuh. It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t even cheat off of Katsuki this time!”
“He lets you cheat off of him?!”
“Well, no, but when I asked him to look over the answers I randomly picked he just pointed out all the right ones.” Hanta shrugs his shoulders. He’s wearing a black tee shirt with white outline. He’s got a myriad of bracelets and silly bands littered all up his arms. He loves them. He’s never seen without them. “So, I was like, thanks man! And just changed all my answers.”
“You know, that’s pretty sneaky.”
“Yeah, but I can’t do it too often, or he’ll catch on.” Hanta comes to a stop in front of Denki, and keeps one foot on his board while he looks down at his friend. He’s got a smile that could put the sun to shame, a bright yellow shirt on, and a pair of jeans ripped and covered in chains. Hanta bought Denki that chain belt for his birthday last year, and he doesn’t think he’s seen an outfit Denki wore that didn’t include them since.
“Man I’m so jealous of Eijirou. He practically lives with Katsuki; he can just look over at him and copy his notes. Have you seen the notes Katsuki takes in class?”
“He puts Momo to shame!” Hanta says. “And she actually runs a study group.”
Denki clasps his hands behind his back. He looks down Hanta’s body really quickly, and it takes all of Hanta’s self-control to not shift on his feet and cause himself to slip on his board.
“So I see you have Ole’ Reliable out today.”
“You’re correct.” Hanta grins. He knows exactly what Denki is going to ask.
“So I was thinking,” Denki trails off, like he’s expecting Hanta to fill in the dots. A noble effort, but Hanta can’t let him get away with it that easy. It's a matter of pride now.
“Thinking about the hot picture Mina brought back of Cami?” Hanta offers.
Denki bursts out laughing. “Well yeah but no, I was thinking about that time you stole my lunchable.”
“I apologized for that.” Hanta says.
“You did, and do you remember what else you said?”
“Hnn…” Hanta brings a hand to his jaw and taps it. He stares at the sky. It’s a brilliant blue, with white, fluffy clouds drifting like wanderers in the sky. “I don’t remember.”
“Hanta,” Denki says, and he reaches up to throw an affectionate arm around Hanta’s shoulders. The motion makes him stumble, and have to lean down, but Hanta is extremely conscious of the pressure of Denki’s arm against the back of his neck. Not in a bad way. He grins and looks over at his friend. This close, he can see the light-brown freckles on his pale skin. He could count them, if he wanted to. “Come on, bro. Don’t make me spell it out for you.”
“I-T. See? I spelled it out for you.”
Denki snorts like a pig and ruffles Hanta’s hair. Hanta makes a noise of protest and shoves Denki to the side. His skateboard is kicked towards the center of the road, stopping and staying still because their cul-de-sac is so boring it doesn’t even have a slope.
“You’re attacking me!” Hanta says.
“I want you to teach me how to board, bro.”
There it is. Hanta grins. He loves skateboarding. Hearing his best friend say he wants to learn how to do it sends a pleasant warmth throughout his body.
“Kay, man. You got a helmet?”
“I don’t need a helmet. You don’t need one.”
There Hanta pouts. He’s putting on an act, but he really won’t let Denki ride his skateboard without one. “But I bought you that cute pikachu helmet for christmas, bro. You can’t just not wear it.”
“Oh. Oh YEAH!” Denki’s face positively lights up . Hanta feels very warm, almost like Denki’s emitting a heat to rival the sunlight ahead. “Let me go grab that!”
Denki bursts towards the Kaminari garage. All of the houses look the exact same, sans the Kirishima house, that has Steve Buccemi lounging on the lawn. Denki opens the door to the garage and Hanta walks back towards the center of the cul-de-sac to step onto his board one more time.
He decides to do a lap while he waits for Denki to come out in the helmet. He kicks the ground and feels the air tickle his cheeks. It’s warm, but the motion of being on his board is stimulating. He lets out a deep breath and increases his speed, aiming for the one little slope their cul-de-sac has (it’s the road that leads out of the cul-de-sac) and timing a flip.
He lands smoothly back on his board, and skates back up, only to see Denki watching him with a wide grin on his face.
“Sick, bro.” Denki says. He has the pikachu helmet on. The straps aren’t tight, they’re loose. Hanta steps off of his board smoothly. He’s too distracted by the loose straps to notice Denki watching his foot movements with his eyes.
“Bro, you gotta teach me how to be so smooth.”
“You’ll learn.” Hanta says, reaching forward. He unclasps the straps and then re-fastens them, more securely, so he can rest assured he won’t be responsible for any concussions his best friend might acquire.
Hanta pulls his board over with his foot, and then looks at Denki. “You know the basics, right?”
“Uh. I played Tony Hawk Pro Skater when I was 9?”
“I showed you that game,” Hanta punches Denki in the arm, playfully. Denki just laughs.
“Yeah and? You have good taste.”
Hanta feels that same warmness throughout his body; it’s a comfortable feeling. It’s why he hangs out with Denki so much. He loves all their friends, but when he’s alone with Denki, he just feels warm. Like he doesn’t have even the slightest worry of coming across as weird or lame. Denki always thinks he’s cool, and he returns the gesture.
“Right. So you’re gonna want to keep your feet on the board like this to start,” Hanta says, demonstrating the proper foot stance. “I know I don’t always do this but that’s because I have a good sense of balance. You’re not gonna be able to get it right away. It’s really about finding your core, and being able to distribute your weight evenly.”
He does an experimental wiggle, showing Denki how sturdy his position is. “And when you kick off, you’re gonna go like this,” he steps one foot dow, carefully, showing Denki the bend of his knee. “You don’t want to go down too low, because you’re not, like, proposing to the cul-de-sac.”
Denki snorts again. “Yeah, like I wanna live here for the rest of my life.”
“LA is waiting for us, baby!” Hanta says.
“You’re damn right it is!” Denki says. “So, no proposing to our parents’ houses? Check and check.”
“So, you want to be about here. I don’t remember the exact percentage but just look at my foot okay?” Hnata demonstrates going up and down a few times. “Now, you’re gonna kick off, but not too quick, otherwise you’ll just fling yourself into the Ashido mailbox.”
“DING! You’ve got mail, Mina!”
Hanta snorts himself, now. “Can you imagine her face if she opened her mailbox and it was you stuffed inside, ass-out?”
“Oh yeah, best present ever.” Denki says.
“Anyways,” Hanta says, “Like this.”
He kicks off, gently, and he’s gliding around the cul. He keeps his eyes on Denki, who’s just watching him move. “And keep your eyes forward, blah blah blah. You get it from here?”
Hanta guides his board back to stop in front of Denki. He steps off. “Kay. Your turn.”
“Woah, already?” Denki says.
“I thought you wanted to learn.”
“Well yeah,” Denki hesitantly puts a foot on the board to test it and his eyes widen. “Shit! You make it look so easy to stand on! It’s like a fish, the way it’s just wobbling.”
Hanta snorts. “Try one foot at a time, and keep most of your weight on the one on the ground.”
Denki listens to him. Their friends tease Denki about being an airhead, but he’s actually a quick learner. He’s just not a booksmart kind of person. Denki learns best visually, and by practice, which is why Hanta would rather demonstrate and let Denki practice himself than show him a video online or something.
Denki gets the hang of it, and is standing with one foot securely on the ground and the other on the board.
“Kay. Step one down.” Denki says. He looks a bit panicked at the board.
“Okay. Are you confident enough to kick off from here?”
“What? But I thought I had to get both my feet up.”
“Well you could, but it’d probably be easier if you were just moving.” Hanta says.
“Okay. Yolo, I guess?” Denki says, and he kicks himself off, and his eyes are squeezed shut, and he probably used way too much momentum.
Hanta watches as Denki flails, his one foot on the side of the board, unable to bring it up.
“Lift your foot!” Hanta calls.
“Trying -- !” Denki says, and his arms are starting to flail and he’s losing balance. Hanta is grateful for his long, lanky legs in that moment because he’s easily able to run up the road and reach out to slow Denki down. He grabs his friend’s hips, running with the board, using his strength to slow it to a halt at a steady pace.
“Wooooah,” Denki catches his breath. “Sorry dude.”
“No problem-o, dude.” Hanta says.
Hanta doesn’t realize he’s far too close to him, that he’s dangerously close , until when Denki’s eyes flutter open he’s staring directly into them. He’s so close he can see golden flecks from the sun reflecting in them. They’re a warm, comforting brown. In this light, they look golden. They put the sun to shame, really.
Time stops. Maybe it doesn’t, really, but it feels like it stopped, at least for Hanta. He feels the warmth, which is normally comforting, starting to suffocate him. His hands are still locked on his friend’s waist, holding him steady, so he can’t roll off on the board towards the road that leads to town.
Hanta opens his mouth to speak but he’s cut off when Denki leans down and suddenly he’s got the warm press of lips on his.
The only other person Hanta has kissed was Mina, and that was because they played truth or dare two Halloweens ago and he was dared to kiss her. That kiss hadn’t been bad.
It hadn’t driven Hanta crazy. It had been okay. He didn’t have the same dryness of his throat that he had now, he didn’t have the same racing in his chest, he didn’t have a shocked and dumbfounded expression on his face when Mina had pulled away.
Denki is staring at him, his cheeks flushed, his eyes panicked now. “Oh shit -- oh no. I’m sorry bro, I -- “
Hanta doesn’t let Denki finish his sentence and leans up to kiss him. With Denki on the board he’s taller than Hanta -- just a little bit -- and for some reason that gets his heart racing. His hands tighten on Denki’s waist, sliding around, so that he’s wrapped them completely around him.
They pull away again, this time, Hanta’s the one who feels like he stepped out of line.
“Sorry. Is this ok -- “
It’s a game of interrupting one another, and honestly, Hanta has no complaints. He feels Denki’s arms wrap around his neck, he feels his friend’s fingers combing through his hair, and he grins against his lips.
Hanta feels his mouth open of its own accord, and he feels himself deepen the kiss. He hears Denki’s breath hitch, and he feels Denki’s body wobbling and suddenly their mouths are no longer connected. “Shit I’m gonna fall, this angle is weird, I’m sorry I -- “
“I got you, man.” Hanta says, and his voice is lower than he remembers it being. “Don’t worry about it, just cling onto me.”
Denki swallows, and they’re so close Hanta can practically feel the motion as he tightens his grip around Hanta’s shoulders and leaps .
Hanta is strong; he’s always been naturally strong, so it’s easy for him to slide his hands down and grip Denki around his thighs to hoist him up. He can hear the skateboard whoosing along, doing it’s own thing. It lands somewhere by Steve the Santa, but Hanta’s so distracted it could have rolled all the way out of the cul and he wouldn’t have noticed.
He hoists Denki up, and then he hears Denki laugh, loud and jovial, and it’s his favorite sound. He likes Denki’s little snorts, but he loves that loud laughter that other people say is obnoxious. They’ve all got shit taste, because it’s music to Hanta’s ears.
Denki leans down and cups Hanta’s cheeks with his hands. Hanta stares up at him, half-aware that they’re in the middle of the cul de sac and that Katsuki or Mina could look out their windows at any moment, but mostly aware of the soft smile lighting Denki’s face. The declining sun is haloing him, encasing him in a brilliant outline of gold.
Hanta searches his face for some kind of a sign that this was a carefully constructed prank, or some kind of indication that he’s not hallucinating right now. Denki just smiles at him and gently runs his thumbs across the skin of Hanta’s cheeks. “I wanted to do that for a while.”
Hanta blinks rapidly -- once, twice, three times -- before tilting his head to the side. “Really?”
Denki laughs. “Yeah. Sorry for not admitting it sooner, man.”
People tease Denki for being oblivious but now Hanta feels kind of like he’s been blindsighted. It’s not that this is unwelcome. It’s not that these feelings he has for Denki aren’t romantic. Because they probably are. It’s not so much that Hanta hadn’t realized it, but it’s more like he buried it, because friendship was more important, because he wasn’t going to ruin his relationship with his best friend by adding attraction to the equation.
Hanta could say something to that. But he’s struggling to find words to describe how he feels without it coming out a rambling mess that might offend Denki in the end. So he decides to just lean up and kiss him, which is welcomed by Denki, who grins against his lips. Hanta spins them around, their lips still connected, until he gets so dizzy he has to stop. Hanta just laughs, and stops moving, and slowly puts Denki back down.
He spends the rest of the evening teaching his Denki how to skateboard and stealing kisses in the sun. It’s pretty fun -- Denki is a quick learner, and by the time the sun’s gone down, they’re exhausted.
Hanta looks over at Denki. He can see his friend’s profile as he unclasps the helmet and shakes out his hair. It’s messy, and almost in a bowl shape. It makes Hanta grin and reach over, ruffling his friend’s hair.
“Hey! What am I, a dog?”
“Maybe.” Hanta says, continuing to mess with Denki’s hair. Now he’s just doing it because he likes it; his helmet hair has mostly faded. Denki gives him a look when he doesn’t stop, and Hanta pauses, pulling his hand away.
“Hey. Denki?” Hanta says, as they’re both getting ready to go back inside. Denki turns to look at him, tilting his head to the side. “This, like, changes things, right?”
“Like what?”
“Like, between us.” Hanta gestures between them. “We’re not friends anymore, right?”
Denki licks his lips. He grins a bit. “Yeah. We’re upgraded friends.”
Hanta smirks. “Friends with benefits?”
Denki scrunches his nose. “No, more exclusive than that? I guess?”
“Like best friends?”
“Hanta, you know what I mean.”
“ Super best friends.”
Denki gives him a look, but there’s no fire behind it. He walks up to Hanta and leans up, arm wrapping around his neck.
“Oh! Wait no, I got it. Extreme Friendship: Battle Royale Edition.” Hanta sounds extremely proud of himself.
Denki snickers, pressing their lips together. “More like boyfriends, Hanta.”
“Right. Perfect.” Hanta says, and he’s grinning. “We’re boyfriends.”
“But we can keep the Battle Royale Edition if you want.” Denki teases.
“Sweet, dude. I’ll fight you. With my lips. On your lips. Repeatedly.” After he says that, Hanta leans down, to demonstrate. “Getting a headstart, here.”
“Bro, you’re on , like Donkey Kong -- “
Around them, the streetlights suddenly flick on. Hanta winces at the sudden onslaught of light, though he should have figured they’d be turning on at some point. He looks at the houses across the way, and sees Mina’s head poking out her window, waving towards them.
He waves back, and Denki returns the gesture. Hanta scoops up his skateboard and watches as Denki heads towards his own house. Once Denki safely inside, he heads home.