Work Text:
Home
Shouto scrubbed his hand across his face and adjusted his position on the sofa. He pulled his knees up and propped the manga he'd been reading on top of them. His fingers traced the edge of the pages, which were rippled with water damage. The artwork and the words of the manga were still clear, just very slightly bent with the distortion of their pages.
Technically Shouto had a pristine copy of this particular manga—it felt important to support the artist—but he never read that one. It was hard to stay away from this copy, and the memory of why he'd accidentally dropped it into a puddle all those years ago.
The note Hanta had tucked between the pages of the manga, his confession, had survived unscathed and was quietly framed and hung on the wall by Shouto's bookshelf in the living room. Sometimes Hanta would look over at it and smile. Both the framed confession and the smile that softened the corner of Hanta's eyes melted something deep and warm in Shouto's chest.
The muffled tramp of feet preceded the tiniest jingle of keys, and then the door handle began to turn. Hanta's laughter tumbled into the room.
"Alright guys, you have a good night!" Hanta was backing into the room so that his front half leaned out into the night, waiving after whichever contingent of the Bakusquad had dropped him off. "Get home safe!"
Hanta eased back into their entryway with a happy sigh and closed the door. He slipped off his shoes and turned around. Shouto felt a surge of electric tingles when their eyes met. "Hey, Sho." Hanta smiled in a way that made his eyes sparkle. "You look like a cat, peeking at me over the back of the sofa like that."
Maybe Shouto shouldn't have taken Hanta's words as a compliment, but it felt like one. He reached for Hanta and smiled when Hanta's hands lifted moments before his feet began to carry him into the living room. Smiling had become an unforeseen habit since he'd let Hanta into his heart.
"How are you, baby?" Hanta's voice slipped into the lower octaves of his range.
Shouto's hands slid around the edges of Hanta's waist. Fingers slipped between strands of Shouto's hair and started rubbing soothing circles into his scalp. Shouto closed his eyes and sighed his pleasure into the fabric of the sofa. "Good. I was just reading."
Hanta leaned over the back of the sofa, presumably to get a better look at the manga in Shouto's lap. Heat and pressure formed a bulwark that wrapped around Shouto like a blanket fort. "Hmm, an old favorite?"
"You know it is."
Hanta was attempting to pull back now, and he didn't seem deterred in the slightest by Shouto's unhappy grumble. "I mean, I was thinking of walking around the sofa so I could hold you, but if you'd rather I stay here, I'm good with that." He leaned down further and pressed a kiss into the crown of Shouto's head.
Over the sofa cuddles were good, but on the sofa cuddles would be better. Shouto sighed and stretched. "Being held sounds nice."
A slow flurry of kisses trailed through Shouto's hair to his brow, down the curve of his cheeks, and ended in a soft, lingering kiss to his lips. "You got it."
Shouto placed the manga he'd been reading on the coffee table. Hanta rounded the sofa and squeezed himself into the corner where the arm met the back of the sofa. Shouto had previously occupied the same space, so this required close contact and a bit of shuffling. Hanta situated Shouto between his legs and wrapped his arms around Shouto like a living blanket. Shouto nestled against Hanta's chest with a satisfied rumble.
Hanta chuckled. "You're making the cat references too easy, babe."
"A long as you keep petting me like that, I won't complain." Shouto pressed himself into the long, slow strokes of Hanta's hands along his back, and side.
"Are you still feeling overstimulated?"
Shouto pressed his face into the warmth of Hanta's chest and grumbled. "…Maybe."
Hanta's arms and legs tightened around Shouto, surrounding his body with consistent pressure that eased the knots of tension Shouto usually carried around inside him.
"Will you tell me about your day?" Shouto's voice was a little breathy from the constriction of Hanta's limbs, but he didn't ask him to stop. He loved that Hanta knew him well enough to offer comfort that worked for him. Hanta wasn't assuming, they'd talked about what helped, but vulnerability, even around Hanta was never a comfortable experience for Shouto. Hanta made it easier because he listened, and he remembered. He would stop without question if Shouto asked him too, and he knew he had permission to initiate any approved coping gesture. He never tried to make Shouto feel guilty for being the way he was, and that made communicating feel safe, even when it was challenging.
Shouto curled his fingers around the fabric of Hanta's shirt. "You might… Shouto licked his lips and pressed his head more firmly into Hanta's shoulder. "You might need to repeat yourself. …I'm not tracking very well today. I don't think I'm disassociating, but my attention keeps … shifting."
"I can keep my stories short, and check in with you as I go." Hanta squeezed his limbs just a little bit tighter before slowly releasing. His arms briefly lifted from Shouto's body to remove the weighted blanket from the back of the sofa. He settled the heavy fabric around them with slow, careful movements that made Shouto feel cherished. "Would that be okay?"
Shouto nodded, then shivered when the fingers of Hanta's hands massaged up the back of his neck and into his scalp.
"Well, Mina-san and Kiri-san convinced us to stop at a new café in town for lunch." Shouto could hear Hanta's smile in his voice. "Kiri-san and Mina-san are so stupid cute together, it's ridiculous."
"They're very affectionate," Shouto agreed. He adjusted his head on Hanta's shoulder so he could see his favorite smile as well as hear it.
"Right? And it's not performative or even very flashy. They're just them." Hanta's fingers drifted slowly over Shouto's brow, and across the lines of his face. "Of course, Bakugou-san takes everything as a challenge. He put his arm around Midoriya-san's shoulders, ruffled his hair, and shared his food with Midoriya-san."
"I'm not sure it's the challenge you think it is." Shouto let his fingers drift across Hanta's collarbone and the column of his neck.
"Oh?"
Shouto nodded. "Midoriya-san mentioned that Bakugou-san's been working on his anxiety. This could have been an exercise stretching his comfort zone. It would make sense to lean into his natural competitive streak. He might have even asked Kirishima-san to sit closer to him or be slightly more affectionate to Mina-san than usual."
Hanta nodded, and the motion of his chin nuzzled their faces closer together. "I could see that. Smart thinking."
Shouto moved his hand closer to his face to obscure his smile. It was a reflexive gesture he still hadn't been able to eradicate. "All my conspiracy theories can't be wrong."
Hanta's rumbling chuckle reverberated against Shouto, grounding him in their physical proximity. "I guess you're right."
Shouto's eyes fluttered when Hanta's fingers crept up into his hair again. "What happened after brunch?"
"We went for a walk around the park to digest." They were nestled so closely together that Shouto felt Hanta's grin widen. "We fed the ducks." Hanta's fingers tapped a hypnotic rhythm against Shouto's scalp. "Do you remember how many nests we counted last year?"
"hhmmm… Five, but those were only the ones we could easily see."
"That's what I thought." Hanta pressed a kiss into Shouto's hair and it tingled all the way down to his toes. "Tsu-san kept insisting there were 15."
Shouto stretched, reveling in the feel of Hanta's arms around him, and the press of Hanta's body against him. "She and Tokoyami-san go the parks all the time. Between her amphibious quirk and his relatively airborne one they probably see more. I'm pretty sure Tsu-san uses every excuse she can to go swimming."
"Maybe," Hanta allowed. His fingers were back to rubbing those little circles against Shouto's skin. Shouto let his own fingers brush across the curve of Hanta's cheek and creep up into his hair. "After the park Bakugou-san convinced everyone to play laser tag."
"I imagine that went well."
Shouto smiled into the warmth of Hanta's shoulder when Hanta's laughter rippled them both. "Oh, it was a complete shit show. Bakugou-san insisted on dividing up the teams, Deku squad v.s. Bakusquad, but then he kept trying to get Midoriya-san to defect. Midoriya wasn't really protesting; I think he liked the attention. Kaminari-san short-circuited one of the guns. Tsu-san and Tokoyami-san racked up most of the points; they were taking things seriously. Kirishima-san kept trying to use his hardening quirk to adjust the pads on the armor to make people's shots miss. Mina kept trying to leave traps, so little puddles of acid everywhere. Iida-san went into full class rep mode."
Laughter bubbled up in Shouto's chest and he marveled at how easy it was to lean into it instead of trying to push it away. He hadn't needed to hide his natural reactions in years, and it felt so good. "We haven't been at UA in…eight years?"
"Has it been that long?" Sero's fingers tapped along Shouto's spine as he counted. "Damn, you're right."
Shouto lifted his head. They were so close he could feel the heat of Hanta's lips against his own, even though they weren't actually touching. "I usually am."
Soft, warm lips covered his own and Shouto felt Hanta's next words more than he heard them. "I love you."
The free, easy way those words left Hanta's mouth still caused a rush of adrenaline that made Shouto feel like he was falling all over again. "I love you, too." Another kiss, this one just a bit longer, and then Shouto settled his head back on Hanta's chest. "What happened next?"
"We stopped by a karaoke place Kaminari-san recommended. We stayed there until they closed."
"hm." Shouto stared at the fabric of Hanta's shirt, running his fingers back and forth over the pattern.
"Are you still with me, babe?"
"Mhhm."
Hanta's fingers swept a path through the longest part of Shouto's hair. "What are you thinking about?"
Shouto bunched his fingers, plucking at Hanta's shirt. "…Would you like to go to those places again? With me?"
Arms tightened around Shouto's ribs, stealing his breath in the most reassuring way. "Of course, Sho. That sounds wonderful." Lips brushed Shouto's temple in a series of feathered kisses. "Do you want to go just us two?" Hanta's fingers swept Shouto's hair back, behind his ear. "Or with Midoriya-san and Bakugou-san?" Shouto smiled into the thumb caressing his cheek. "Both?"
"That wouldn't be boring? Going back twice?"
"No." Hanta pressed a firmer kiss to the top of Shouto's head. "I'd love to hear you sing, and watch you feed the ducks. We could make a date of it." The head of Hanta's palm across his spine soothed Shouto, even through the layer of cloth separating their skin. "I've never done one-on-one laser tag, but that could be fun, less distractions. And it wouldn't be boring to go back with Midoriya-san and Bakugou-san." Hanta chuckled low, and the sound reverberated against Shouto's ear. "Watching you antagonize Bakugou-san is never going to be boring. You two could create your own comedy act."
Shouto smiled and closed his eyes. "His bluster is mostly for show now, but yes, it is fun."
Hanta hummed his agreement.
"…I'm sorry I didn't go today."
A line of tension snaked through Hanta's body; Shouto winced when he felt it. "Why?"
"It sounds like you had a lot of fun and if I had gone I wouldn't need to ask you to go again."
"Sho… Babe, will you look at me? Please?"
Shouto stared longingly at the edge of the weighted blanket. He was more than a little tempted to pull it over his head, but he managed to resist the urge. Hanta's warm brown eyes were waiting for him with a welcome Shouto didn't feel like he deserved.
Hanta's smile softened and something deep inside Shouto quivered in response. He loved all of Hanta's smiles.
"I don't need to be an introvert to understand that having time to yourself is important." Hanta traced the edges of Shouto's eyebrows. "I've seen how relaxed you can be when you're taking care of yourself properly, and I've seen you crawl inside your own head and lock the door behind you when you're overstimulated in the middle of a crowd." Hanta cupped Shouto's face and Shouto leaned his cheek against the familiar palm. "I know how hard it can be for you to ask for what you need instead of trying to push those needs away. I'm honored that you feel safe enough with me to ask for space when you need the quiet. Every time you do it reminds me that you trust me."
Hanta lifted one of Shouto's hands and brushed a kiss across the knuckles. "And then I feel special." Affection and joy sparkled in Hanta's rich brown eyes. "I know you don't give your trust to just anyone."
Wriggling closer through the pressure of the weighted blanket around them wasn't the most graceful thing Shouto had ever done, but he didn't need to move far to capture Hanta's lips with his own. It was a little slippery and jumbled—they were slightly misaligned and Hanta kept smiling—but it pulled at something poignant and aching deep in Shouto's chest. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Hanta's voice was soft and just a bit questioning.
"I do trust you, Hanta." Shouto leaned into the fingers that were once again framing his face. "You listen without waiting for your turn to talk, you're kind, you remember what's important." Shouto traced the edges of Hanta's smiling lips with his fingertips. "You've given me a home."
Home.
Shouto hadn't believed in that concept for many years, and as much as Midoriya had been the first one to see through him, Hanta was the first to comment on the fact that Shouto only ever referred to houses, and which of his family lived there. Home was something safe and sacred where one didn't have to fight for survival, or for love. Shouto had utterly given up on the concept of home being anything more than a fairytale, and then he got to know Hanta.
Hanta's lovely brown eyes glistened and Shouto smoothed away excess moisture with the pad of his thumb. The kiss Hanta pressed into Shouto's forehead sent tingles and warmth all the way through him. Words followed next, partially muffled into the skin of Shouto's forehead.
"Welcome, home."