Work Text:
"Hijita, can you help me with something?"
Hijita watched his friend who stood in front of him, holding a shopping bag. Sano's face was red and he couldn't look Hijita in his eye. Hijita slowly nodded and moved out of the way for him. The shorter boy shuffled into the dorm. Hijita shut the door and walked over to him.
"Ha.... well, Ren's out today. I guess he and Kuniko probably have a date..."
"You didn't go to harass them?"
"He threated to take my face off if I did, so that stopped me... what do you need help with?"
Sano held up the bag. "Um... can you... uh, help me bleach my hair?"
Hijita watched him and slowly cocked his head. Sano had been bleaching his hair all by himself for this long, why was he asking him now? Hijita nodded, however, and led him to the bathroom. He pulled a chair into the bathroom and sat Sano down.
"Alrighty! I remember when Ren had me do this when I dyed his hair for the first time!"
"You dye his hair?"
"Not anymore, but when he started, yeah, he had me dye his hair all the time."
Sano hummed and felt the towel droop over his shoulders. He watched Hijita expertly mix the chemicals together. It was so silent, and he wanted to say something... but nothing was in his mind to talk about.
"...Um..."
Hijita looked down at him, pausing in his actions. Sano jolted slightly, not expecting him to actually notice. His cheeks heated up and he looked away again.
"Uh- ...nothing."
"...You sure, man?"
Sano nodded quickly and Hijita's gaze lingered on his for a moment before turning back to the bowl. Internally, Sano kicked himself. Looking at the mirror, he saw just how red his cheeks were and he huffed quietly at it.
"Alright, let's get this on."
Hijita slowly and methodically applied the bleach, careful to make sure he didn't add too much, or drip it anywhere. It was... shocking, to be honest. Sano didn't know Hijita could be so careful with his work.
"Mmn... you're good at this, hm?"
"Yeah, when we were in middle school, Beniko and I would dye our hair a ton, and then I helped Ren, so that gave me even more practice..." He hummed. "Watched a lot of videos on how to do it too."
Hijita looked down, watching Sano. Sano always looked so angry, glaring at everyone, didn't really like making friends with anyone. And yet, he let Hijita and Beniko and Mame get close to him. That had to mean something.
"...Thought you might've spilled some bleach on the rug."
"Huh?" Hijita looked down, but didn't see any stains.
"You know... cause you're kinda messy and stuff." He chuckled. "But, there's like none. Despite you having done this quite a few times."
"Oh... yeah." He smiled and laughed along with him.
They sat in silence for a moment before Hijita pulled out his phone.
"Y'know, Yanagida pulled a chemical on the twins the other day?"
Sano snorted and looked up at him. "Oh yeah? What happened?"
"Well, they pulled the chemical on those two, but I guess the twins weren't keen on getting caught in it, so Rin used his wind to blow it away, but it got blown to Fuji and Ogoso. Fuji was turned into a puddle, and according to Beniko, Ogoso actually got mad at them."
"Makes sense... but damn, I can't imagine Ogoso mad..."
"I know right?"
After some minutes, Hijita washed the excess bleach out and allowed Sano to admire the work.
"...You're really good at this."
"Hehe, thanks, Sano."
Sano looked at him before turning away and gathering up all the materials into his bag.
"Thanks... for this."
"...Yeah, 'course."
They walked back to the main room, Hijita dragging the chair after him. When he returned it to the desk, he led Sano to the front door, and they stood there for a moment. Hijita sometimes forgot how... short Sano was. He slowly raised his hand and played with a few strands of Sano's hair.
"...Do you wanna stay until your hair dries?"
Sano watched his hand, slightly tilting his head towards it. "Dunno... Mame might upset if I'm out too long... Nyuudou-kun might come back..."
Hijita stepped closer to him, with Sano pressing himself against the wall.
"Hijita... I thought you didn't like guys?" Sano looked up at him.
"Yeah..." He huffed out a laugh. "I thought I didn't either."
He leaned down and pressed his lips onto Sano's. Sano slowly wrapped his arms around Hijita's shoulders and pulled him closer. Hijita's arms fell around his waist and they kissed even deeper. When they finally pulled away, Sano held his face gently.
"You taste like mud."
"And you taste like mint..."
Their lips met each other once more, pulling each other closer. In this moment, there was just them. No one else. No assignments, no weird-ass teachers, no roommates that walked in with their girlfriends, yelling out when they saw-
"WOAH!"
The two pulled away at the same time the door slammed. After a moment, Hijita opened the front door again, seeing Rensuke and Kuniko standing there, their backs facing the door.
"I didn't see anything!"
"I didn't either!"
Sano rolled his eyes and turned to Hijita. "I'll... uh, text you later. I really should get back." He left the dorm, waving at the couple on his way out.
"...Sorry I didn't hear you two."
"No, it's fine... see you tomorrow, Kuniko."
The couple parted with a kiss and Rensuke walked in, closing the door after him. The roommates stood there for a second before Rensuke cleared his throat.
"In all honesty... I thought you had a thing for Beniko."
"I did... but I guess along the way... I got a thing for Sano."
"Well, the heart works in mysterious ways..."
"...I thought you were into Tama before you got with Kuniko."
Rensuke turned to him, his eye wide. "You thought I was into Tama?!"
"Well, you two hung out all the time and it was super hard to become friends with you! Especially with your guys' closeness! So, for like half of first-year, I thought you and Tama had a crush on each other!"
Rensuke started laughing and shook his head. They each retreated to their room and Hijita picked up his phone on his way there, seeing he had a text from Sano.
Sano: I like you. A lot.
He read the text. He read it again. He read it over and over again until the words were etched into his brain.
Me: I like you a lot too.