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Hanta was ready for tonight. He was so ready.
A few weeks ago, class 2-A had all been chatting together about doing something fun together on their weekend off. Usually, they would be too busy with their studies, internships for some of them, and hero training overall, to spend any time together. This meant if they wanted to actually do something together outside school, they had to plan ahead. And finally, the day had arrived.
Momo had been the one to make it all happen. Through her first year and the start of the second year, she had become more comfortable with taking the lead and getting things done. Also, combined with the fact Momo genuinely loved any kind of events she could establish for the class, she had excitedly volunteered to pull a horror night together on its feet.
Hanta was especially excited this time around. Well, sure, he loved hanging out with the whole class, but this time around it would be different. Because this time, they would do a horror night, which meant the chance tonight of establishing physical contact with Shoto was a possibility. Something he had wanted to do for so long. Ever since Shoto had accidentally brushed his knee against Hanta’s thigh a few months ago while they were hanging out in Hanta’s room, reading their separate manga books, Hanta had not been able to think about anything else. His stupid hormone-infested brain had been wrapped up in the vortex of what he had thought was only a shallow, quick, crush, but what seemed to pull him deeper whenever they spend time together, or whenever they got to know each other just a little bit better. And before Hanta knew it, he had completely fallen for the completely oblivious Shoto. And all Hanta could think of, was the second of brief accidental contact those months back.
This was a golden opportunity, and Hanta didn’t want to blow it. He had used most of the afternoon to look for the best casual clothes he could find. Good enough so he would look nice, but still casual enough so it looked like he didn’t put any effort into his looks. He put his hair up in a quick ponytail - Shoto had commented once that he liked Hanta’s hair getting longer, and he had let it grow ever since.
The class had agreed to start it all off in the common room of the dormitory. They would all sit together in the dim lighting, listening to a horror story, before they would be sent out in pairs to either solve or collect a horror mystery. Hanta was quite impressed with how much Momo had done and how much effort she had put into the night.
When Hanta walked down the stairs, the light was already gone in the dormitory; only some candles scattered around the open area were making it possible for Hanta to see where he was going. He ignored the ‘thump’ in his chest when his eyes scanned his classmates until his eyes landed on Shoto. His heterochromia eyes were shining in the dim lightening and they almost made him hope that there was something more than friendship between them. But he knew he shouldn’t be fooling himself, so he shoved the thoughts far away as he went toward his friend as casually as he could.
“Hi,” Shoto said with that small, almost impossible-to-detect smile on his lips. A smile that Hanta had become so familiar with that he would be able to notice it within a mile. Apart from the smile, Hanta noticed the dark circles under Shoto’s eyes; they had grown slightly darker since they hang out a few days ago.
“Hey,” Hanta replied, as he put his hands in his pockets slowly, “are you sure you should participate tonight? Seems like Endeavor keeps pushing you pretty hard these days,” Hanta didn’t want Shoto to leave. But he also knew that Shoto hadn’t been able to get much sleep for the last month because of his internship. He was close to falling asleep when they had been reading manga together a few nights ago, but he had insisted on showing up and staying for the usual two hours.
“I’m fine, I think I can handle this much,” wait, did Shoto just smirk? “I’ll just go to bed when we’re done with the event.”
“Hmmm, if you say so,” Hanta finally muttered, not fully convinced. He would have to keep an eye open to make sure Shoto would be alright.
Hanta looked around them, “seem like we still need a few.”
“Yeah, Hagakure and Ojiro are still not coming down yet, and neither are Tokoyami and Asui,” Shoto said with a furrowed brow in worry, “do you think they got sick from the food they had for dinner?”
Hanta swallowed a chuckle, “Naah, I don’t think that’s why they’re not here on time.”
Shoto nodded slowly, “you’re right, we all had the same to eat, if they had been sick, so would we have been.”
“No, I don’t mean it that way, just ... they’re two couples,” Hanta smiled knowingly.
“Couples cannot participate in the horror night?”
“Nah I mean, you know, couples sometimes want to spend some time alone together.”
“Like when we read manga together in your room?”
“Yeah kind of, just not completely, I mean we’re no-”
“Okay! Looks like we have some last-minute cancellations. As we all know, Aoyama went home to be with his family this weekend in France. Tokoyama canceled because of his quirk, while Tsuyu wanted to spend time together with him. Aaaand, I just got a text from Hagakure that she and Ojiro aren’t going to attend, and neither is Koda,” Momo announced in a full breath before the room erupted in murmur all around.
The same comments could be heard around Hanta, some of them more common than others. And Hanta had the same thoughts as his classmates;
“They’re probably busy getting it on now that they’re finally a couple.”
“Poor Koda, I bet he was too scared to participate tonight”
And, “It’s great that Tokoyami has Tsuyu to watch over him in times like this, a shame they couldn’t participate, though.”
Momo let her classmates talk it out before they all grew silent again and waited patiently for her to continue.
“We’ll begin with the horror story. Tokoyami has been so kind to help me write something quite … Impactful, so please take a seat by the couches, and let us begin The Horror Night.” Momo finished politely before she herself sat in the armchair that were facing the couches, placed in a circle around it.
Hanta tried to remain calm when he could feel the soft heat emanating from Shoto as they sat down next to each other.
“It’s a bit chilly here, I bet Momo cracked open a few windows for effect. I hope it’s okay I thought of using my left side a little,” Shoto whispered lowly as the rest of the class was sitting down on the couches, letting themselves get comfortable.
“Yeah, thank you,” Hanta whispered befuddled. He wanted to drape his body over Shoto’s left side to feel the gentle warmth lick his body, letting every inch of his skin tingle.
Keep your head in the game Hanta! He’s just being thoughtful, there’s nothing more to it than that! Keep your cool and relax, just pretend it’s like a usual evening where you’re reading manga together. You managed to calm down after the first couple of times then, you can do it again.
Sounds started to come in the background, the sounds of wind, and scratching against hardwood. It made Hanta’s hair stand on the back of his neck.
Momo cleared her throat as she pulled out a small book from one of her pockets, crossed her legs and looked around the class, an almost sinister look was shining through her eyes with mirth before she started reading from the book out loud.
“Something was going on when Jenny was walking home from school one day. Everything was the same, the trimmed bushes Mrs. Tilly so neatly cut every few months. The sound of the lawnmower of Mr. Smith cutting the grass. The dog from the neighbor’s house was barking happily as it was zooming around in their backyard. Everything was the same, and yet, something wasn’t. Because Jenny could feel eyes watching her ever since she left the house this morning. Someone was watching her; she was sure of it.” Momo paused as she turned the page for dramatic effect.
Hanta swallowed deeply as he was listening to the story. His breathing became slightly more shallow and he was almost forgetting that he was sitting next to Shoto or that this was the moment he was supposed to make sure Shoto wasn’t scared. The silent sounds of the gentle scratching in the background were starting to flip him out, and he almost flinched when he heard the occasional creepy giggle from some little girl as well.
Hanta didn’t know for how long he had been zoning out, but when he came back to it, Momo was still reading.
“- and when she turned around she could have sworn she saw someone behind her, standing at the other end of the hallway, but when she looked again, nothing was there.”
Momo closed the book with a silent ‘whump’ and let the silence overtake the room as some of Hanta’s classmates sat at the edge of their seat, holding their breath.
“Was that it?” Denki finally asked with a slightly shaky voice, breaking the otherwise heavy silence that was in the room.
Honestly, Hanta was just glad that those scratch noises and the little girl giggles had finally stopped, those things were freaking him out.
“For now at least,” Momo said with a smirk Hanta had never seen on her before. She was truly enjoying this, and it showed a completely different side to her that he would never have guessed existed.
“Pft, this was nothing,” Katsuki muttered under his breath with a scowl. Kirishima laughed talking about how manly not being afraid was.
Momo stood up from the chair and signaled for the rest of the class to do the same, and so they did. Hanta could almost not feel his legs and it was first then, that he noticed how cold the room actually had been if it hadn’t been for Shoto’s fire side.
“Now, I want you all to group up in pairs for the second part of the evening. Come up to me when you have found a partner, and I’ll give you a group number along with some materials required for the second part of this evening, The Horror Run.”
Hanta was looking over at Shoto at the corner of his eyes, unsure if he should be able to ask to pair up with him, only to be surprised that Shoto was already facing him.
“Should we pair up then?” Shoto asked even more casual than Hanta could ever be.
“Yeah, yeah let’s team up,” Hanta said, relieved that the lights were almost gone so nobody could see how he was slowly starting to blush down to his neck and over his ears as well.
It didn’t take long before the class found someone to pair up with. Ashido and Eijiro gave each other sideways glances, while they shoved their friends, Ochako and Katsuki towards one another, telling them that there were no other available partners for the two, as they themselves had wanted to participate together. Katsuki had grown silent, barely looking Ochako in the eyes as he had huffed out a ‘fine’, and Ochako had smiled brightly at him with that, holding her hands between her back, inching closer to him ever so slightly before they went up to Momo together. They received a group number, a small notebook with a pen, and what seemed like a piece of paper with the given route.
Eijiro and Mina high-fived as they slowly went up to Momo afterward, also receiving a group number, a flashlight, and a piece of paper with their route.
So the pairs receive different items required for the individual route. Hanta noted to himself.
“Oh hey, Todoroki, do you want to pair up together?” Izuku came up with his bright smile and freckles.
Hanta could feel a small knot in his stomach building up. Izuku and Shoto had always been rather close after their first year of the sports festival, at some point Hanta could even have sworn he heard them flirt together. Was this it? Just like that? Would Shoto swap Hanta out with someone better, someone much cuter than him? Not that cuteness mattered in their totally plato- okay hell to everything! It fucking mattered!
“I’ve actually planned to pair up with Hanta,” Shoto said with his lopsided smile, and then he held his hand on Hanta’s shoulder and it was one of the best feelings Hanta had experienced in his life so far. The knot had already evaporated in his stomach, and he felt kind of silly with the insecurity that had taken control.
“Oh, that’s great. I’m sorry. Ahh, I see Ida hasn’t found a partner yet. Well, have a great time,” Izuku rambled with an awkward wave as he walked over to their class representative for the second year in a row.
“Maybe we should go get our number before someone else tries to headhunt one of us,” Shoto said with a lazy smile.
“Sounds like a great plan,” Hanta said as he could hear Mineta whine behind him how it wasn’t fair that Kyoka and Momo had planned to pair up together, so he wouldn’t be able to cling to Momo’s breasts through the whole event, only to be attacked by Kyoka’s headphone jacks.
“Oh, so you’re gonna pair up tonight?” Momo asked as she eyed Hanta and Shoto in front of her.
“Yup!” Hanta grinned. He couldn’t help himself anymore, and he had never been one who was very good at containing his emotions.
Momo paused slowly, “good, I have the perfect route for you two,” she shuffled around in her bag until she pulled up a folded piece of paper.
“You’ll be group 4, see you later tonight when you get back,” she smiled.
When Hanta and Shoto were leaving the common room and headed outside — the same way the others had gone, Shoto was almost walking into Rikido, and Mezo and Hanta hurried to grab his wrist to pull him out of the way — and towards him.
“Ah, thank you,” Shoto said surprised in a low voice.
“No, no problem at all,” Hanta tried to chuckle lightheartedly as he quickly let go of Shoto’s wrists, trying to ignore the feel of his skin in his hand. Damn, how did he usually act around Shoto? And how did he normally walk? It felt like everything in his body was starting to feel mechanic. He was too conscious of himself.
“Okay, let’s see what she gave you first of all,” Shoto said as he stopped by the wall that led to the next dorm, B-class. He was blinking more than usual as he did so.
Hanta stopped as well and pulled out the map of the route they had gotten on the folded piece of paper.
“Okay, so what, three stops before we head back to our dorm and meet up with everyone else. First, we're headed toward the Teacher Center, then the Library, and then Gym Gamma, apparently each post had a special way of retrieving a part of the story of Daisy, one of the local ghosts, on how she died and why she haunts the area,” Shoto read.
“So it’s about getting the whole story of why some creepy little girl ghost haunts this area?” Hanta asked as he looked around them in the dark. A rustle in the nearest bushed made him flinch and the cold air of the night gave him the chills.
“Well, yeah, basically,” Shoto confirmed. He looked up at Hanta, “are you okay, though?”
“Wha- what do you mean? I’m totally fine!” Hanta tried to act as if the ghost story Momo had read out loud with the creepy background sounds hadn’t gotten to him. Or the fact they now had to hunt for pieces of a story of a little girl ghost on campus in the middle of the night.
“Oh yeah? If you say so,” Shoto said with a raised eyebrow.
They started to walk toward the Teacher’s Center. It was around the main building and then partly towards the street from the campus.
“I just hate those little girl ghosts, creep me out,” Hanta said quietly under his breath, hoping that Shoto didn’t hear him. Luckily for him, it didn’t seem like he did.
Sure, Hanta and Shoto knew the campus like the back of their hand after all this time. So of course they knew when they were about to arrive at the Teacher Center, even if they had been blindfolded. But that was not the reason why they knew they had come to the right place already. They knew because the same background noises that had been playing while Momo read the horror story before they got outside, started to play around them and it instantly made Hanta’s hair at the back of his neck stand up. The lights outside the entrance were flickering as well.
Without thinking Hanta grabbed Shoto’s arm for comfort.
“Oh shit, dude, I’m sorry!” Hanta exclaimed shortly after, pulling his hands to himself in a flash. His face was heating up, hoping it wasn’t visible under the flickering light.
“Don’t worry about it,” Shoto said shortly before he went toward the door to the teacher center.
Ah stupid Hanta, stupid! You obviously went too far, and you cannot even control yourself, what is the matter with you? Hanta mentally slapped himself, feeling embarrassed even more than before as he followed Shoto to the door.
Candlelights were lit all over the area inside as the only light in the building. Someone must have let a window stay open, the low whistle of the wind was still clear, and the occasional chill wind would give Hanta goosebumps easily. He almost worried that his nipples might cut through his shirt at this point. The wind was flickering the candlelight every so often, making the shadows dance against every surface as if they came to life.
“Let’s find the clue to get that story and get out of here,” Hanta said as he slowly wrapped his arms around himself for comfort and warmth.
“It’s most likely in the office,” Shoto mumbled, unaffected by the atmosphere or the chilly wind.
Hanta was envious of Shoto’s quirk right about now, he must have it easy when it came to the shift of temperatures.
Hanta followed after Shoto, and sure enough, when they came inside the office, an envelope was placed on top of the desk, surrounded by candles.
Shoto didn’t hesitate, he walked over to the desk, took the envelope, and opened it in one swell swoop.
A tan piece of paper was inside, with a task written at the center of it in neatly written words.
¤ ~~~~ ¤
A quest to thee, you shall complete, to get the beginning of the end.
Find it, where feet do not touch
The spot you wouldn’t be
(No quirks allowed, and if so, a sensor will detect this and destruct what must be found)
¤ ~~~~ ¤
“No quirk usage, huh,” Hanta mused as he read the note over Shoto’s shoulder.
“Do you think the same as I do?” Shoto asked, turning around slowly, suddenly standing way closer than Hanta was ready for.
“What?” He could hardly get his voice out when he replied. He could feel his skin growing warmer by the close proximity.
“Where feet do not touch, it’s gotta be the ceiling, right?” Shoto looked at the piece of paper hard, completely unaffected by how close they stood next to each other.
Hanta took a deep inhale to pull himself together. Shoto was taking this seriously, and so should he.
“Yeah, that would make the most sense but then …” Hanta paused as he read the note again, “what would ‘the spot you wouldn’t be’ mean?”
Shoto looked around them before he left the room, only to come back in to grab Hanta’s arm and pulled him along with him.
“I have an idea,” he said as an explanation when he saw the confused look on Hanta’s face.
Even though Hanta had decided to take this seriously, he hadn’t anticipated that Shoto would grab his arm all of a sudden, and it threw his mind off the rails. All he could think of was those hands of his; it almost felt like his warm touch was burning through his clothes, firm yet soft.
Hanta got out of his daze when Shoto finally let go again, having led them to the teacher’s Hero Briefing room.
They stood there in front of the closed door in silence for a while, until Hanta blinked and looked at Shoto.
“This might actually very well be the right spot, great thinking,” Hanta said in a half-daze.
“Yeah? I thought so too,” Shoto said with a small smile.
Wait, is he blushing? Nah, that cannot be, it must be the flickering lights playing a trick on me. But shit he’s so cute smiling like that.
Shoto carefully opened the door to the teacher’s Hero Briefing room. Revealing a large room with a big round table in the middle and chairs scattered all around it. In the middle of the table was a hologram cube, for transmitting.
“The ceiling is pretty high up in this room,” Shoto noticed. “We won’t even be able to reach it by standing on the tables, and our quirks cannot be used either.”
“Then we only have one choice, don’t we?” Hanta said, not even realizing how hard his heart was pumping in his chest as he said so.
Hanta was pretty sure Shoto already knew what he was going to suggest, yet he still waited for him to actually say it.
“One has to be on top of the other’s shoulder while standing on the table so we can reach the ceiling,”
“My thoughts exactly,” Shoto said, as he started to gently push Hanta toward the round table. His hands felt warm and calm against Hanta’s body, and he could feel himself tense up from the contact.
“Wha-what are you doing?”
“Moving you to the table so I can climb up on your shoulder,” Shoto said as matter-of-factly.
Hanta didn’t protest; he simply let Shoto move him around as if he was a life-sized ragdoll. And he would be the very best ragdoll he could ever be, for Shoto.
“Maybe we’ll have to get a chair on the table first, so I can climb up on you, on the table,” Shoto said, already moving a chair to use as a step to the table and a new chair to stand on the table as well.
“Yeah,” Hanta said, while all he could think was; climb up on me, climb up on me, climb up on me, climb up on me.
It didn’t take long before Hanta had Shoto on his shoulders while standing on the table. The feeling of his thighs pressed against his shoulders and neck was enough for him to lose focus right then and there. All Hanta was able to think about, was how he wasn’t going to pop a boner at this very second. It was like a dream and torture at the same time.
“You found something yet?” Hanta asked, making the mistake of looking up. Shoto’s hoodie was gaping as his arms reached over his head, making it possible for Hanta to look up under the hoodie. Hanta instantly looked down again, blushing like a madman.
He was not going to think about any of what he just saw, not for a second.
“I found it,” Shoto said, pulling Hanta away from his thoughts.
“Great, nice work,” Hanta said, letting Shoto get down from his shoulders. He already missed the close contact when Shoto was down on stabile ground, yet he pretended as if nothing had happened.
“Alright, let’s see what it says,” Shoto said with a short yawn, opening the envelope. It looked like the other piece of paper from earlier, it was tan, with the first part of the story written at the center, in the same, neatly written words.
¤ ~~~~ ¤
Daisy was a little girl, loved by many. Maybe too many. One day, as she was trying to leave school, she got kidnapped into the home of one of her school’s teachers. She had seen him around the school grounds, so she wasn’t alarmed when he approached her. Something the little girl would end up regretting.
Daisy had pneumonia, which left her in a weakened state, while she was locked up in the teacher’s basement.
¤ ~~~~ ¤
After they read the first chunk of the story, they stood silently. Suddenly the small giggles that could be heard in the background became clearer, and it started to freak Hanta out again.
Before Hanta was ready to move out of the room and out of the building, he felt something warm wrap around his cold hand. He was instantly comforted by the contact, yet he almost didn’t dare to look at Shoto, scared that it was some kind of mistake. Scared that Shoto was pulling a prank or would just simply regret the action the second their eyes would meet.
But Hanta met with Shoto’s subtle smile, only noticeable because of the flickering lights that were around them.
“You seemed like you’ve been uncomfortable ever since the beginning. I thought this could maybe help you,” he said in a low voice, to explain his action.
Hanta had never been happier to be a scaredy-cat than at this very second. He squeezed the hand slightly just to make sure that this was real, and he could barely contain the smile that was blooming on his lips, though he was trying his very best to keep his cool.
“Thank you,” he whispered, with a pounding heart.
Walking across campus toward the library was amazing. Shoto kept holding Hanta’s hand even when they were walking outside. Hanta was sure he would have let go by now, but he didn't. Shoto kept holding hands with Hanta as if it was second nature to him. As if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. And Hanta just wanted this evening to continue on forever. Because he was sure that somehow he was dreaming or swooped into a fantasy realm or something like that. Could this be real somehow?
Finding the second letter in the Library was much easier than finding the first one. It was placed right in the middle of the librarian’s desk.
Hanta and Shoto looked at each other with raised eyebrows before they looked at the envelope again. Finally, Hanta reached out to take it, and the second he did so, something that could only be described as a zombie came up from underneath the desk, reaching out to grab Hanta’s arm. He screamed in surprise, quickly taking the envelope and turning around to run out of the library, and out of the building, with Shoto behind him, still connected by their hands.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” was the only thing Hanta could say under his breath until they finally reach the entrance of the Library, and they stopped, breathing heavily.
“Shit, that surprised me, what was that thing?” Hanta asked, looking behind them to make sure it hadn’t followed them from the library.
“I’m pretty sure that was Hoenuki Juzo from class B, dressed as a zombie,” Shoto said in between heavy breathing as he was trying to get under control again.
“Oh,” Hanta said, blushing a bit. This was embarrassing, to act like that in front of Shoto, this was so-
All of a sudden, Hanta could hear Shoto slowly starting to chuckle, and even though it confused Hanta, it was one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard.
“I’m sorry,” Shoto said in between laughs as he started to laugh harder, “but you should have seen your face when Hoenuki popped up, the way you ran away, it was so adorable,” Shoto said was a smile on his lips.
Hanta could feel Shoto’s laughter becoming infectious, and he also started to laugh ever so lightly, until he actually registered what he had said.
“Adorable?” Hanta asked, hopefully.
“Yeah, very much so.”
Hanta was suddenly very much aware of the warm hand in his, and it felt like his hands were sweating abnormally much. And was his heart always beating so loudly?
“Maybe we should check what is written in the envelope,” Shoto finally said, probably to break the silence.
“Oh yeah, right, the envelope,” Hanta said, almost having forgotten about the reason they were there in the first place.
Without letting go of Shoto’s hand, Hanta opened the envelope - counting his blessings the envelope wasn’t sealed in any way, making it easier to take out the tan piece of paper without any further assistance.
¤ ~~~~ ¤
At first, she tried to get out, but she resisted whenever the teacher came down to give her a small slice of bread and some water. But as she got weaker due to her illness, she couldn't fight as much in the end.
The teacher would always stroke her hair as he combed it, saying she was his little doll and that she would never leave him. Never leave him.
¤ ~~~~ ¤
Hanta could almost hear the faint giggles from earlier again and he could feel the uncomfortable shiver running down his spine.
“Are you okay?” Shoto asked, looking at Hanta worried.
“Yeah, it’s just, really creepy, right? With the dead little girl story and everything, right?”
Shoto squeezed Hanta’s hand gently, “don’t worry, I’ll be here and protect you when you’re scared,” he said in a voice Hanta had never heard Shoto use before, it was a voice that made Hanta almost swoon. It was no wonder Shoto was one of the most popular students on campus. And it was no wonder Hanta had fallen so hard in love with him, several times already.
“Thanks, I’m okay now,” he smiled, squeezing Shoto’s hand back reassuringly. “We better get going to the final post.”
Shoto opened the map and looked it over again, confirming the last post was at Gym Gamma.
They walked towards Gym Gamma, although when they were almost halfway there, they saw Tenya and Izuku up ahead, walking towards them. Izuku had already noticed them and was waving at them.
Hanta looked at Shoto in panic. They were still holding hands. Was he supposed to let go? Were they a thing? But was Shoto even out of the closet if he ever... Was in the closet, to begin with? Hanta could feel the panic rise as they got closer and closer to Tenya and Izuku. Although when he at the last minute tried to slide his hand out of Shoto’s, Shoto grasped Hanta’s and changed position, interlocking their fingers instead.
Hanta looked at Shoto and was met with a look that said ‘let them see.’
“Hey, guys! How’s it going? Are you close to finishing already?” Izuku said with a smile.
“Yeah, we just need the last piece, and we’re done, what about you?” Shoto stood with his other hand in his pocket, while he was gently tracing Hanta’s hand with his thumb in a soothing manner.
“Oh, it’s the same with us,” Izuku said.
“Yeah, it better be. Momo did a splendid job of making this evening scary. A splendid job indeed,” Tenya said while his slightly trembling hand pushed his glasses up.
“So what kind of items did you get for this Horror Run?” Hanta asked, nervous about putting attention to himself while holding Shoto’s hand, he still wasn’t sure how to act and what it really meant. But at the same time, he had noticed the teams before Shoto and he had gotten different items for the Horror Run, and he was curious.
“Uhm we got a crowbar,” Izuku said while holding up the crowbar with a confused look on his face, “and then we got a map, which seems like all the others got as well.”
“We just got the map,” Shoto interjected.
“Seems like we’ve all got very different assignments to retrieve the different ghost stories,” Tenya mused.
“I think I heard we were supposed to read the final stories together,” Shoto said with another yawn.
“Oh, that’ll be fun, and to hear about what kind of problems the others went through as well!” Izuku said with his excited voice he usually had when discussing the different heroes and their quirks, as well as their fighting style.
“I guess we’ll talk when we get back then, have fun for the last part of the quest,” Shoto said to cut off the conversation.
Hanta could have sworn that especially Izuku was eyeing the way Shoto was holding his hand, as Izuku and Tenya were walking towards what Hanta could only guess was Gama Hall.
“I’m sorry I did that, I shouldn’t have forced you to hold hands like that in front of them,” Shoto said when he judged Izuku and Tenya to be far enough away so they wouldn’t be able to hear them. “You were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed too far.”
“No that’s not it!” Hanta blurted out, worried that Shoto would misunderstand the situation.”I really like holding your hand, no, in fact, I love it! I love holding your hand. And I want to continue to do so,” Hanta could feel his heart jump in his chest and his hands getting sweatier, but neither one of them let go of the other. “I just didn’t know if you wanted others to see, or if it … was anything at all,” Hanta trailed off and almost mumbled the last words.
“It’s definitely something,” Shoto said with a low voice, and for a moment, Hanta wanted nothing else but to kiss those lips. But he didn’t, instead, he squeezed Shoto’s hand, blushed a smile, and said; “We better go and finish this thing.”
Opening the blue doors to Gym Gamma, made a loud creak throughout the empty space. Just as it had been at the previous locations, candles were lit all around the space, circling around the center of the room, with an opening for Hanta and Shoto to enter. The envelope was placed in the middle.
With the first step they took, a giggle was heard in the background, accompanied by the sound of small children’s feet.
Hanta squeezed Shoto’s hand reassuringly, making sure he was still with him before they walked up to the envelope surrounded by candles. This time, Shoto took the envelope, and when they looked around to see that nothing happened, they opened it to read the last piece of the story of Daisy.
¤ ~~~~ ¤
One day the little girl saw the door to the basement had been left open. And without thinking, the little girl rushed out of there as fast as her weak little legs could carry her. She wanted to get home, away from her teacher.
But she fell over the train tracks that were not too far away from the teacher's house, and her legs and body were severed by an oncoming train, dying instantly.
Now she haunts the area, looking for her legs, while whispering, "I won't leave you."
¤ ~~~~ ¤
As soon as they read the last word from the tan piece of paper, all the candles were blown out and the tapping of small footsteps got closer until Hanta could feel something tucking at his shirt and when he looked down, a little girl with long hair and a frilly dress looked up at him and said; “I won’t leave you,” in a monotone voice.
“Holy fucking shit!,” Hanta blurted out, almost tumbling backward, only able to keep himself on his feet thanks to Shoto’s grip that was grounding him.
They hurried back to the blue doors, opening them with a creak, leaving the little girl and the small giggles behind them.
It was only when they closed the doors behind them and they felt the cool evening air, that Hanta dared to properly breathe again.
“I gotta say, I did not see that little girl actually coming,” Hanta said.
“It was a nice touch to use Eri as a stand-in,” Shoto said, calm as ever.
“Ehh, that was Eri!?” Hanta whipped his head to look at Shoto’s heterochromia eyes.
“Yeah, she did a fine job as well,” Shoto said with a chuckle.
“She sure did. Maybe I should give her some candy tomorrow and apologize for running off like that,” Hanta laughed with a relieved sigh.
“I think she would really like that.”
Even when Hanta and Shoto reached back to the dorm where about half of their classmates had returned, hanging out in the lounge area, obviously talking about what they had gone through in the Horror Run, Shoto never let go of Hanta’s hand. Not even when they received a few looks of surprise and curiosity and wiggling eyebrows from Denki.
They walked up to where Momo stood to hand her the map, although when they wanted to hand over the envelopes with the corresponding pieces of paper, she said they should keep them.
“We need them for the last part of the evening if you’d like to participate, we’re all going through the stories that have been collected tonight, when everyone has arrived, that is,” Momo said with a satisfied smile.
Shoto and Hanta shared a look between them as they’d already talked about it earlier when they ran into Tenya and Izuku.
“Seems like you two had a great evening after all,” Momo said with a smile as she looked at their intertwined hands after a while.
“Cannot complain,” Shoto said with a smile before they left the place.
“So, uhm,” Hanta said, trying to get Shoto’s attention and they both stopped up. He was waiting for Hanta to continue.
Damn, he was getting nervous all over again.
“Hey, Sero! Come over and tell us what things you went through! We’re making a round of what happened tonight, Kirishima and Mina actually had to go through a maze to find the pieces,” Denki called out from the couches, and Hanta whipped his head around to see how the others were sitting together in their pairs, taking turns, talking about tonight.
“Sure, I’ll be coming over in a minute,” Hanta called out.
“I think I’ll go to bed,” Shoto said, and for the first time tonight, he let go of Hanta’s hand, already leaving an emptiness from the lack of touch.
“Wai-”
“Sero, are you coming or not?” Denki called out again in between laughters.
“I-” Hanta saw Shoto was already leaving, close to the stairs and Hanta could feel panic in his chest. He didn’t want Shoto to leave so suddenly.
“You know what, just carry on without me; I have something important to do!” Hanta called out, not caring about the response from the others. He took the envelopes with the story and laid them on the table where Momo was waiting for the rest of the class, before he almost ran after Shoto, catching him in the middle of the staircase, by grabbing his arm.
“Why are you-” Shoto was about to say with slurred words when he turned around to see Hanta.
“I’m sorry, I…” Hanta paused when he looked up at Shoto, who stood on a few steps up the stairs. He slowly let go of Shoto’s wrist as if he got burned. He took a sharp intake of breath, “I didn’t want to let go of your hand just yet. And I know you’re exhausted, and this might be extremely selfish of me.”
Shoto turned around completely, “I assumed you wanted to hang out with the others,” Shoto said simply without blinking.
“I did, but I would much rather stay with you. I thought you would be joining as well, which is why I said yes, I wanted,” Hanta paused, chewing his lip to gain the last drop of courage,“ I wanted to hold your hand for longer if I could.” You’re crossing the line Hanta.
Shoto blinked a few times before he chuckled slightly awkwardly “I thought you would have been tired of me holding your hand by now. I guess I wanted to give you an out.”
“I thought you wanted to sleep?” Hanta added. A slight pang of guilt in the pit of his stomach for keeping Shoto away from that.
“Oh I do,” Shoto said clearly, “but a guy can get uncertain and insecure as well.”
Hanta wasn’t imagining things right now. The light gave no uncertainties this time around. Shoto was blushing, and Hanta thought it was the most adorable thing he had seen. And it made him brave, braver than he had thought he would be when it came to Shoto.
“I could never get tired of holding your hand. I really meant what I said earlier, that I want to continue to hold your hand, cause I really love it. I … I’ve had this huge crush on you since forever and this has been like a dream, actually, it’s been more than what I could dream of, and yet I still want more as well. I want to kiss you so badly,” Hanta wasn’t sure if he had said too much. It all just blurted out of him, and he couldn’t stop anymore. He wasn’t sure he would want to stop either.
Shoto stepped closer to Hanta, almost pressing him up against the wall at the staircase. His blushing cheeks hadn’t faded in the slightest, it had practically spread down his neck and chest, and up his ears as well.
“I want to kiss you too,” he whispered, making Hanta swallow.
Shoto gently took Hanta’s hand in his and leaned closer, almost hesitant with nerves before he lightly pressed his lips against Hanta’s. It was a soft kiss at first, and the blood was rushing to Hanta’s ears, making it all impossible to hear anything but the breath of Shoto. He could feel his stomach flip with happiness and he pressed into the kiss, wanting to feel more. His free hand grabbed Shoto by the waist, and he ran his fingers under the fabric to feel the soft skin underneath. He felt Shoto almost gasp in surprise but instead of ending the kiss with that as Hanta could have feared, Shoto pressed his hips and a careful tongue slipped into his mouth, wanting more. Awkwardly their tongues clashed before they broke off the kiss slowly, pecking each other a few times before stopping completely. Shoto leaned his forehead against Hanta’s while they let their hearts settle down again.
“That what amazing, you’re amazing,” Hanta said, not being able to hide the smile that was forming on his lips.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it was amazing,” Shoto said, almost in a whisper. “also relieved I’m not the only one who’s had a crush.”
“Really?” Hanta blinked in surprise. So Shoto had a crush on him as well? He could feel his heart almost doubling in size.
“Yeah. Every time we were reading manga in your room I was hoping that either one of us was brave enough to make a move,” Shoto almost chuckled.
Hanta grabbed Shoto’s face and kissed him again, “I could kiss you forever,” he said before he went back to attend to Shoto’s soft lips.
“So, you’re not going back to the others tonight?” Shoto asked with a raised brow and a smile in between kisses.
“They can wait until tomorrow, I want you all to myself right now,” Hanta said, slowly leading Shoto up the stairs, while never breaking contact.
The rest of the evening, Hanta and Shoto were intertwined into each other, kissing the life out of one another, only taking a few breaks to get some water or a breath of fresh air before they went back at it.
Eventually, Shoto curled himself up against Hanta’s chest, falling asleep with his leg wrapped around him. Hanta stroked Shoto’s red and white hair affectionately fore he gently kissed his forehead and fell asleep to the deep breathing of the sleeping Shoto, with a content smile on his swollen lips.
It had been a crazy night, like a roller-coaster ride, and Hanta boldly looked forward to other days and nights filled with kisses from Shoto. And someday, when they were ready for more, he was sure that was going to be amazing as well.
The next day their lips were so red and swollen, they didn’t need to announce their blooming relationship to the rest of the class.