Work Text:
At around 2 am Nagito received a text from his favorite Reserve Course student, Hajime Hinata.
- Do ypu drjve?
Nagito rolled over in bed to check his phone and was confused at the question. He hadn't been sleeping, just laying in bed waiting to fall asleep, so it wasn't a half-asleep haze that confused him. It was just... strange to him. Why had Hajime texted him so late? Why was he asking that out of nowhere? Why was the usually put-together boy making multiple typos? Nagito drafts out a quick response.
- I have a license but no car, why?
He sees the ellipsis meaning Hajime is typing and then a new message quite quickly, followed by a few others
- At a psrty at Kazuichi's
- drank a bunch
- cant drive drunj
Nagito sighs. Of course he hadn't been invited to whatever party he's talking about. Not that he would've attended, it just hurt to be left unincluded. But... Hajime drank alcohol? He felt dissapointed in his friend. Instead of focusing on that, he sends a follow up question.
- Why me? Surely there'd be better people for you to ride home with
There's a pause, then Hajime types again for a while
- Youre my only frirnd who's not qlso here amd that wont scold mw. Fuyuhiki will yell at me. My parenys cant know I drank either.
Nagito frowns. Not only was he underage drinking, he was hiding it from his family? No, that was probably a normal teenager thing. Nagito didn't have much perspective on teenager/parent relationships. He bites the inside of his cheek.
- What's the address? I can get there on public transport and drive your car home.
He quickly realizes the assumptiveness of his words
- Given that you drove there in the first place and you're comfortable with me driving it, of course
He sends a smiley emoji and sees Hajime instantly respond
- yes 100%
- hwre
He sends the address. Huh, Kazuichi lives pretty close to a train stop. That must be why he never sees how he gets to school, he must ride the train. Convenient. He pulls up his map app and it makes a generated path there going on a bus and then the train. He smiles at the short time it'll take if he leaves quickly. Good for him he always sleeps in his day clothes and not nightwear.
- Alright, I'll be there in under 20 minutes
He sends another smiley and gathers his things to head off. When he leaves the door he hears a notification ping and sees Hajime sent him a thumbs up emoji. He smiles in real life again.
There were quite possibly over 100 people at this party. Kazuichi's family were well off but not super rich, so a good number of the guests were outside, either in front or out back. Scanning the crowd outside of the house Nagito sees a lot of ultimates, a lot of reserve course students, and a small amount of other folk probably invited by those in Hope's Peak who were already invited. It was significantly cold out, even in a jacket Nagito was shaking a little, but still many of these guests wore very little clothes. He saw a surprising amount of people with great reputations mulling about. He supposed parties like this worked on a theory of mutual destruction, you can't call out an important heir for being at a hedonistic bender without outting yourself for also being at said bender.
As Nagito approaches Kazuichi spots him and looks as if he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to (which yes he was but Nagito wasn't an authority figure so why was he worried?)
"Oh, uh... heeyyy Nagito! What are you doing here?" he asks, very awkward in his tone. Oh, he was just embarrassed to be caught having a party by someone who wasn't invited. Nagito gives a false smile.
"Hello Kazuichi. Don't worry, I'm not going to be here for long, I just came so I could pick Hajime up. He texted me." he explains. Kazuichi relaxes a bit and nods.
"Oh, cool. He should be inside." Kazuichi tells him, pointing a thumb backwards towards his house. Nagito gives him a small nod back and continues toward the door. He can't help but grimace as he smells alcohol in the air. Not only was it a trauma response from childhood (no adult that smelled like beer was safe) it just disgusted him to see ultimates stoop to the level of underage drinking.
Opening the door Nagito's hit with another scent: sweat. Outside was cold but inside was uncomfortably warm with the amount of bodies in one space. Not to help that alcohol raises body temperature. There was loud music everywhere and it was very overwhelming. A grimace stays locked on Nagito's face until he feels an arm around his shoulder and he startles.
"Nagi-chan!!!" Ibuki screams, way too loud for being so close to his ear. "I didn't think I'd see you here! Why are you being such a debby downer? You need some water? It's important to stay hydrated!" she speaks quickly. Nagito doesn't smell any alcohol on her and with the mentioning of hydration Nagito puts together that Ibuki, along with likely providing music, is playing the role of 'rave mom' and keeping people safe. That makes him genuinely smile. Ibuki is a very good example of what an ultimate should be.
"Ah, I'm fine. I'm just here to drive Hajime home. Do you know where he is?" Nagito asks, having to speak a bit louder than he's comfortable with because of the blaring music. Ibuki thinks for a second.
"Probably upstairs in the game room with Chiaki! You can't miss it, you can hear the wailing of fools losing at Mario Kart from a mile away" she jokes. Nagito forces his smile not to fall. Even Chiaki is here? He's proud of her for coming out of her shell but he hopes she hasn't touched the alcohol either.
"Thank you Ibuki, I'll head up there then." Nagito says and pushes forward out of her side hug. She waves before hopping to the next person to chat with. Nagito eyes the stairs distrustfully before heading up.
"Aw, come on! How'd a girl get so good at games anyway?" Nagito hears from some random partier in said game room.
"How misogynistic..." he sighs to himself before entering. Chiaki smiles at Nagito.
"Hey hey, didn't know you were invited. You want a turn? Maybe your luck will help make things more interesting. It's been real easy to win even when I'm not fully paying attention." she offers, voice quiet and calm as ever. If they were on the first floor she'd be inaudible with the volume of the music (which is still annoyingly in the background but is bareable now). Nagito lifts a hand in a wave.
"Don't be silly, someone like me would never be invited to a party! I'm just here to pick up Hajime." Nagito explains.
"Oh yeah, he mentioned he found a ride. He said he needed to go to the bathroom real quick but he'll be back." Chiaki informs. Nagito holds back a sigh. While the game room didn't have as many drunks it still stunk of liquor.
"Gotcha, I'll just wait here. And I'll have to take a raincheck on the game." Nagito says.
"Thank god, I was gonna get real pissed if another main course got to skip the line!" some tispy angry reserve course student comments. Nagito shoots them a glare and they ignore it.
The luckster spends his time waiting by idly picking up litter around the room and putting it into the trash. Don't any of these people have any respect for the home of an ultimate?
"Oh thank fuck" a drunk Hajime mumbles when he spots his ride. Nagito takes a breath, turns, and fakes a patient smile.
"Hello, Hajime. Are you ready to leave?" he asks.
"Why else would I have texted you psecifically aksing you to pick me up?" Hajime sasses, slurring his words a bit. Hajime's face was flushed from the alcohol, red on tan skin and brown hair tossled as if he'd just gotten out of bed. He was wearing a white buttoned shirt, which seemed to be all he ever wore, with the top two buttons undone and a cool green tie that was mostly undone and he just looked so-
'No. Stop thinking about that. Now is not the time' Nagito's brain intervenes.
Before either side could embarrass themselves, they make their way down the stairs. Hajime waves at a few people on his way out and Nagito just clenches his teeth and keeps moving forward. He very much did not like the sensory experience of this party.
"Really, thank you for doing this. I get that this isn't your crowd and all-" Hajime starts as they approach his car.
"And this IS yours?" Nagito asks judementally, replusled by the smell of booze on someone he respected. Hajime stops and blinks.
"I-I mean... NO, but... it's fun, right? I've never done this before! I once sneaked a bit of wine at my friend's house at a sleepover when we were like 14, but this is in a whole 'nother league! I got to party with ultimates! You get why that's a big deal to me, right?" Hajime rambles. Nagito looks down and to the side.
"I... suppose so, yes... I'm just a bit disappointed in all of you, I guess." Nagito explains. Hajime gives an exaggerated groan and dramatically places his head on Nagito's shoulder.
"I thought you wouldn't scold meeeeee!" he whines, being childish for the hell of it. Nagito wondered if this playful side of Hajime was always there.
"Okay, I won't scold you. Could you give me your keys now? That is assuming you haven't changed your mind on letting the one person who's been in too many disasters to count drive your car." Hajime reaches into his pockets and hands his unlucky friend his Hope's Peak themed keychain with, among other things, his car fob on it. Nagito was actually a little surprised his car used a fob like that and not just a key, it looked old. Not vintage, just old. He wondered if it was a hand-me-down and prayed it didn't drive with a stick-shift.
Without another word, Nagito and Hajime loaded into the car and carefully drove off. Nagito uses all of his brain power when he drives. It wasn't a common occurrence, but Nagito knows just how much can go wrong when piloting a motor vehicle. He pays very close attention to all his surroundings as he drives, eyebrows slightly furrowed in concentration. That concentration is broken when he hears Hajime giggle from beside him. He startles and turns to look at him before remembering the importance of keeping his eyes on the road.
"What is it?" Nagito asks, trying hard to pay attention to both his driving and Hajime at the same time.
"You're so adorable when you're focused" Hajime chuckles. Nagito flusters and almost misses a stoplight. "Woah-" Hajime vocalises at the quick stop.
"Ah, I-I apologize, I'm not a very experienced driver-" Nagito excuses. "So, um, where do you live again?" he asks, quickly changing topic. Hajime groans.
"I forgot to ask you... my parents would be able to tell in a second I've been drinking... can I stay at your place tonight?" he sheepishly asks. Nagito turns to him with a blank expression.
"You want to stay the night at my house?" he repeats, making sure he understood him right.
"Yeah, I mean, it's better than trying to sneak in through my bedroom window at home. Light's green by the way" he points forward and Nagito returns focus to the road.
"Oh, right. And um... sure, if you're comfortable with it." he answers. Unsurprisingly, Nagito's never had a friend sleep over before.
Thankfully there's no more distractions for the rest of the ride but Nagito blushes a bit at Hajime seemingly staring at him the whole time, especially with his complement before.
He pulls in the driveway of his large empty house. It was already too big for a family of three when his parents were still alive so it's comically lonely now living alone. He was glad one of the guest rooms was finally getting use.
"Um... We're here." Nagito announces and unbuckles his seatbelt. He looks over at Hajime when he makes no move to leave the car, just keeping on staring at him. "Hajime..?" he questions.
"You're gay, right?" Hajime asks out of nowhere. Nagito's eyebrows shoot up. Why would he ask that all of sudden? Where had his thought process lead him during the drive..? Nagito searches the other's face, unreadable and still flushed from alcohol, for any sign of where this was going.
"Um... Yes, I am." He confirms.
"Good." Hajime smirks, then grabs Nagito by the jacket to pull him into a messy kiss. Nagito gasps and Hajime uses that as a chance to stick his tounge in. Nagito could instantly taste the gross yeasty flavor of beer but was frozen in place from shock. Hajime was kissing him. Hajime was kissing him. He liked Hajime, that much he was sure about, but he hadn't let himself even dream Hajime felt the same way. He still probably doesn't, he's drunk and doesn't know what he's doing... right?
Right. He needed to stop this. Nagito pushes Hajime back down into his seat and stares at him for a moment. A small whine escapes Hajime's mouth at the disconnection.
"We can't do this." Nagito starts.
"Why not? We're our own people! Just because our friends think you're psycho doesn't mean I can't wanna kiss you!" Hajime retaliates, not understanding the actual problem Nagito's toiling with. His phrasing hurts a little bit, but that's more fuel to the fire. A sober Hajime wouldn't have said that.
"You're drunk." Nagito sighs. "You aren't thinking straight. I'm sure that in the morning you'll regret this and you'll regret it a whole bunch more if I let this go any farther." he explains. Hajime searches for his words for a moment.
"But... I won't! I really really like you, Nagito! I have for a while now. I- freaking ask Chiaki, she'll tell you how much I've rambled on about you and your dumb stupid cute face and how you make me so annoyed I just wanna kiss you and shut you up all the time-" Hajime talks with his hands, but Nagito catches them to interrupt him.
"I don't think I can believe you. And... even if I choose to, you can't consent drunk. To kissing or..." Nagito looks away, blushing at the mere thought of reenacting his fantasies. "...other things." He lets go of Hajime's hands and they fall to his lap. "I mean, the whole reason you texted me in the first place tonight is that you couldn't trust yourself drunk to make your way home, so no. We can't do this."
Hajime frowns and after a pause, moves to unbuckle his seatbelt.
"If you don't like me like that you could've just said it..." he mumbles. Nagito hears it clear as day, though, and instinctively reaches out when Hajime exits the car. The words catch in his throat and he exits the car from his side so he can rush to follow him.
"Wait! I-I do though! That's why it matters so much to me that you don't make this mistake!" He yells as he runs over to Hajime, who was slowly making it towards Nagito's front door.
"...what?" he asks blankly.
"I do 'like you like that'!" Nagito uses air quotes for the phrase. "I didn't want a confession to go like this, so I hope you forget this by the morning, but I really do. Don't think I'm rejecting you because I don't like you, I'm rejecting you because you're drunk and aren't thinking!" He scolds. Hajime stares wide-eyed, then sighs.
"Maybe you're right about the not thinking thing cuz this is making no sense to me. Can we just... go inside and talk about this in the morning?" he asks. Nagito looks between Hajime and his house. He nods and takes the lead to unlock his door.
The rest of the night is uneventful. Nagito shows Hajime to the guest room closest to his own room (purely for safety purposes). Hajime crashes. Nagito lays awake for hours, switching between racing thoughts and slow emptiness. That was what a typical night for him when he doesn't take melatonin usually looked like. All he could do was hope Hajime didn't remember the kiss in the morning... and maybe a part of him hoped the opposite. That a sober Hajime liked him just as much as he claimed. It was likely an empty hope, though. Not enough to wish too strongly for.