Chapter Text
It was Mina’s turn to host the New Year’s party.
Well, technically, it was Katsuki’s, but he and Kirishima hosted the year before in their apartment and argued that she was the one in charge now. The woman rolled her eyes, annoyed.
“Just because you live together doesn’t mean you can cheat!” She complained. “Jirou and Kaminari are going to cheat next year too!”
“Well, my last name will be ‘Jirou’ next year so technically it’s not cheating,” Denki replied with a smirk. “It’s a legal void.”
Mina crossed her arms, pretending to be angry. “The only void here it’s your brain.”
“Wow, Ashido, calm down, you’re spending too much time with Kats already,” Eijirou joked. His boyfriend punched his arm softly.
“Stupid.”
Hanta raised a curious eyebrow. “Mina, I thought you loved parties. There’s something wrong?”
She sighed, debating with herself if she should say the truth to her friends or stay silent. All of them looked so happy and peaceful lately that she almost felt guilty for being kind of sad.
“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to, Racoon Eyes.”
“Everything’s fine, why are you guys so dramatic?” She answered, rolling her eyes. “I’m just not in the mood for parties, to be honest. Especially since I’m going to be the only one without a date. I hate you a little, you know that?”
All her friends burst into laughter.
“No, you don’t,” Kyoka replied, posing her head over Mina’s shoulder.
Bakugou scoffed, pretending to be annoyed by the conversation. “Tape doesn’t have a date either, you’ll not be the only loser, you know?”
“I’d never said I was a loser.”
“I’m not a loser!” Sero exclaimed. “I could find a date in the blink of an eye if I wanted.”
“Yeah, I want to see you try,” Bakugou teased.
“Okay… How about this? Mina, be my date.”
Hanta winked in his friend’s direction, though Mina didn’t reply to the flirting gesture.
“I love you, but I’m tired of being a loser who only dates her loser friends.”
“Hey! I dated you! I’m not a loser!” Kirishima pouted while crossing his arms. His boyfriend let a soft kiss on his cheek immediately, laughing at his infant reaction.
“Uhh… Rejected,” Denki mocked Sero, making him roll his eyes.
“Well, you wouldn’t be a loser who dates his loser friends if you listen to me when I’m giving you advice.”
“Tch… I hate to say this, but Tape has a point.”
“Oh… So you all hate me?” She dramatized, a hand posed over her forehead. “I’m going to die alone and my friend hates me.”
“How did you get to that conclusion? I’m lost,” Kaminari said.
Jirou left out a laugh. “Who’s being dramatic now, huh?” She mocked her friend. “Look, we don’t need to have a party. What about this: the six of us, and no one else this year. It would be like any Saturday night, we will have fun and we don’t have to talk to anyone we don’t want to, and most of all, we don’t need to talk about anything we don’t want to. Does that work for you?”
The group of friends exchanged glazes.
“Thank God one of you said something not-stupid for once!” Katuski exclaimed. That meant ‘yeah, guys, that’s an amazing idea!’ in Bakugou’s language.
“You just hate parties, Bakubro,” Kirishima said.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “What did I tell you about the whole ‘bro’ thing? I’m your damn boyfriend.”
“Sorry, bro, it’s an old habit.” It was at first, but now everybody knew Eijirou was just mocking his boyfriend.
“Sounds good for me,” Denki said.
“Yeah, me too,” Hanta agreed. “The petition to be my date it’s out, by the way.”
“It wasn’t a petition, it was an order. And I rejected you anyway.” Mina stuck out her tongue at him.
“Okay, kids, then it’s decided. No party this year. It's going to be fun!” Jirou exclaimed.
“I’m starting to believe that you were the one who wasn’t in the right mood for this,” Mina noticed.
Denki dramatically jumped from the couch, running to hold his fiancé in a tight hug. “Why are you not in the mood? Are you unhappy?”
Jirou laughed, giving her future husband a soft kiss as an answer. She was happy.
“It’s ‘unhappy’ a real word?” Sero asked, playfully.
“I don’t know, but if you two don’t stop making out in front of me I’m going to make you both unhappy. You’re gross.”
“You and Kirishima are also gross,” Mina replied to Katsuki.
“Tch… You’re just jealous,” he mocked her.
She rolled her eyes, pretending he was wrong. But he wasn’t. She was just a little bit jealous.
Just a little bit.
Mina loved glitter. She didn’t care if the tiny particles of shine glued to her skin, clothes and hair for days after spreading them all over her and her friends.
“Raccoon Eyes! I’ll be cleaning this off my hair for weeks!” Bakugou complained.
Mina rolled her eyes, ignoring her friend’s words. “Oh, come on! Don’t be a party pooper! You look cute, doesn’t he, Kiri?”
“He always does.”
Katsuki’s cheeks flushed violently. “Tch… Whatever.”
“Guys! Look at this!” Denki pointed to his own cheek, showing to his friends a tiny ‘K’ draw on it, it was Jirou’s handwriting for sure. “Isn’t it cute?”
“You’re pathetic, man,” Hanta mocked him. “Ji, honey, you’re going to marry this lame guy who’s obsessed with you?”
“Better a guy obsessed with me than one who doesn’t know how to commit, don’t you think?” She replied with a smirk.
“Hey! I know how to commit!”
Kirishima decided he wanted to join the conversation, after all, his friend always enjoyed mocking him —and his boyfriend—, so he kind of deserved it. “Why are you so annoyed, then? It’s not like she said your name.”
“In Sero’s defense,” Mina started to say, “there’s only two single people in this room, and I’m not the one who doesn’t like commitment so, it was obvious for him.”
Hanta raised an eyebrow. His expression became more serious than before, almost like he didn’t feel offended about the topic of the conversation until she spoke. “You can’t say something like that when you’re the one who always picks guys who hate commitment.”
The room filled with silence instantly. Hanta felt the time stopped the second his friend looked at him with fury burning inside her —usually— kind golden eyes.
“Why are you always like this?” She growled. “You’re always mocking me about my failed relationships like you know everything about it, but you’re as lonely as I am.”
Sero didn’t expect his comment to annoy his friend that much, but certainly, he didn’t expect her response to bother him that much either.
“I’m single, not lonely. I think you’re talking about yourself.”
“Guys, come on, now it’s not the ti—”
Eijirou’s attempt to stop the imminent fight was interrupted by Mina’s voice.
“Well, you’re too angry about it for someone who doesn’t care.”
“I’m not angry about this, I’m angry about you trying to mess with me or calling me ‘lonely’.” He replied. “Maybe I am lonely, but at least I decided it. It’s not like I’m the one who’s allergic to finding a boyfriend who doesn’t dump me after saying ‘I love you’ for the first time.”
Silence.
“Dude… too far.” It was Katsuki’s voice murmuring those words. If Bakugou thought it was a lot, then certainly, Sero crossed a line.
“I’m sorry, Min, that was too—”
Before he could finish his apology, Mina jumped over him, —a couple of glasses of alcohol driving her decision— ready to fight with her friend, blinded by the feeling of anger. The scene would be funny in any other circumstances, after all, they were just pushing each other’s faces while Mina was tangled around Sero’s waist. They used to play like that since they were in high school. But this time, the fight seemed quite serious in their friend’s eyes, because they knew the topic of loneliness affected those two a little too much.
An explosion called everyone’s attention. “Okay, enough!” Bakugou growled. “Why the hell are you fighting like this on fucking new year’s day?”
Mina forgot about Sero instantly. “Kats! You blew up my new couch! You’ll pay for it!”
“Well, you’d been exploding my patience since high school for free so you owed me this!” He replied, smirking.
“Come on, this is a celebration,” Denki chimed in. “You guys shouldn’t take this too seriously, everyone was just joking.”
Hanta and Mina exchanged insecure glazes for a minute that felt like an eternity, and finally, he was the first one to talk. “I’m sorry, I was being cruel.”
She replied with a soft smile immediately, her eyes recovered to their usual kind of brightness. “It’s cool, I’m kind of sensitive, that’s all.”
“Well, can we have a toast for the new year now?” Bakugou asked, he looked bothered, but deep down, his friends knew he wasn’t really mad. “Or are you planning to have another fight before the next year starts?”
Jirou let out a soft laugh. “I don’t think we could fight in less than five minutes.”
“Oh, don’t push our luck, Ji,” Eijirou joked.
Mina looked at her clock and after that her attention was lost in the champagne glasses Kirishima was serving for the new year’s toast. She shook her head, trying to erase the last traces of the previous conversation, and most of all, the sad feeling that Sero’s words placed inside her heart.
“Min,” he murmured, his lips practically glued to her ears, making sure no one else heard him. “I’m really sorry.”
She smiled at him. “It’s okay, you were right anyway.”
The worst part of the response was that Mina was being absolutely honest with her smile and her words.
“No, I’m—”
“Ten!” Denki exclaimed. The countdown to the new year started.
Mina looked like herself again, but Hanta couldn’t shake the guilt he felt when he used something that he knew would hurt his friend against her. That was too low, even for him.
“Nine!”
Eijirou’s arm surrounded Katsuki’s shoulders, bringing him closer.
“Eight!”
Mina looked away when Denki touched Kyoka’s face softly, ready to break the distance between them.
“Seven!”
Hanta usually didn’t feel jealous of couples, but the previous discussion and the closeness between all his friends made him feel… alone.
“Six!”
Maybe he was as lonely as Mina said.
“Five!”
Maybe he always recognized that his friend picked bad guys because he was one of them.
“Four!”
Mina looked at Sero, realizing his look was…lost?
“Three!”
“Hey, you ‘kay?” She muttered.
“Two!”
He nodded, smiling at her.
“One!”
They both raised their glasses, getting ready for the toast.
“Happy New Year!”
The couples kissed while Mina sipped on her glass of champagne. “You think I might find someone who wants to kiss me in the new year someday?” She muttered.
“You know that’s a dumb question,” he answered after drinking. “Anyone would be lucky to kiss you, and not just on new year’s day.”
She rolled her eyes, hitting his arm softly. “I shouldn’t ask you this, you’re my friend, of course you would say that.”
“You know that’s not true, I wouldn't say something like that if I wouldn’t believe it.”
“Hey! You two didn’t kiss!” Denki scolded them.
Hanta raised an eyebrow, confused by his friend’s question. “Of course not, why would we kiss?”
“It’s a tradition,” Kyoka explained. “You always kiss someone, why didn’t you this time?”
Mina and Hanta shrugged, looking at their friends like they were absolutely insane.
“It’s just a dumb tradition,” Mina said before sipping on the drink again. “I’ll kiss someone next year.”
“It’s bad luck not to kiss anyone,” Eijirou said.
Katsuki let out a laugh. “That’s not true, I never kissed anyone on new year before we started dating.”
“Yeah, and you had the bad luck of not being my boyfriend!”
“Anyway, it’s nothing.” Sero’s attention quickly found the bottom of her glass. “But we need a big party next year so we can kiss someone.”
“You don’t need a big party, you might find your special someone before that and we can make a little celebration like we did tonight.” Kyoka enthusiastically proposed. “I love parties, but I enjoyed this better.”
“I like your idea, girl!” Mina exclaimed. “But I agree only if all of us find someone, ‘cause I’m not planning on watching all of you kissing someone while I drink my glass of champagne alone.”
“Amen, Min,” Sero replied with a smirk.
Hanta decided he would help clean Mina’s apartment even if he felt stressed the way his friend just throwed the bottles inside the bag without any care or the fact that she wanted to leave almost everything for the next day.
“You know, I’ll clean everything tomorrow, just go home,” she insisted.
“I know you, you’re going to sleep until the afternoon tomorrow and you’re going to complain because we made a mess,” Hanta replied. “We're almost finished, anyway.”
Mina let out a heavy sigh that she didn’t know she was holding before. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you’re lazy and kind of filthy sometimes, so you need supervision,” he joked, avoiding the question.
“Sero…”
“And because…” he continued. “I know I hurt you before, and I know you enough to know you’re going to avoid me now, and I’m going to feel awful until you stop doing it.”
“I don’t avoid you.”
“Mina, come on!” He replied while rolling his eyes. “You always do that with us, especially with me and Bakugou. Though, I’m pretty sure you don’t ignore him like you do with me anymore.”
“Well, maybe I shouldn’t do such a thing if you weren’t mean to me every time you have the chance!”
“I’m not mean, I’m honest.” Hanta frowned immediately after giving her that response, and after meditating for an eternal second, he decided he should correct himself. “Okay, today I was being just mean, but usually I’m honest.”
“I’m pretty sure you were honest today too.” Mina crossed her arms in a defensive posture.
“Mina…”
“But you know what? You were right!” She admitted. “And I get really mad at you because I hate that you’re right.”
“That’s the reason you avoid me?”
“Most of the time,” she replied, her cheeks turning a dark shade of red. “Look, I love you, and I appreciate your honesty, you know that, right?”
Hanta, who was cleaning the table, abandoned his task and walked in his friend’s direction immediately. “There’s a ‘but’, I can feel it.”
“But…” Mina smirked, agreeing with her friend. “But sometimes I hate to admit you’re right when you warn me about something, especially about the guys I date. I feel stupid and it’s quite humiliating because you’re always looking at me with that look.”
“Look? Which look?” He asked, clearly confused.
“That stupid look!” She exclaimed. “I don’t know how to explain it, but you look at me like I’m dumb, and sometimes you say ‘I told you’, but even if you don’t, I can read it in your eyes. And it annoys me, but it also… hurts me. It’s embarrassing.”
Hanta had no idea his friend felt that way about him. And certainly, he had no idea what kind of look Mina was talking about, because he was sure that she knew everything he ever said had the intention of taking care of her. Why did she never say this to him before?
“You’re not stupid, Mina, I don’t think that, and I’m not trying to make you feel that way either.”
“Deep down I know, but I feel better avoiding you anyway,” she replied, letting out a sigh. “And you’re right, I was planning on avoiding you after tonight, at least until the fact that my last boyfriend did leave me after I said ‘I love you’ doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Min…” he muttered softly. Hanta felt his body moving on his own when he hugged Mina. “I’m sorry, I know that was unnecessarily mean and—”
“It’s okay, for real,” she assured him. “I think that it annoyed me because I feel you were right, you know? Maybe I’m sabotaging myself by picking guys who are unavailable.”
“I don’t actually think you—”
“Or maybe…” she continued, though she seemed to regret her words before saying anything. “Nevermind.”
Mina’s face hidden on Hanta’s chest, and suddenly, his heartbeat raised. He felt like he used to do it when they started to act like heroes back in high school, those days when everything was exciting and new. Sero’s mind travelled to those days where his heart accelerated with the excitement of adventure and danger. He hadn't felt like that in years, but why did he feel that way just by hugging one of his best friends?
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Mina,” he called her, his lips touching her ear. “You’re never this honest with me, so, if you started to talk already, then say everything you’re thinking.”
Mina sighed in response. “Maybe… I’m not bad at picking guys, maybe I’m just impossible to love.”
Sero looked at her with confusion written all over his face. Mina’s golden eyes were filled with shame and glimpses of sadness that made him feel guiltier than before. Did she believe that because he made her think that with his words and his actions? Was it his fault one of his best friends said something that ridiculous?
Mina pouted. “Don’t look at me like I’m insane.”
“But you are,” he replied immediately. “You can’t actually believe you’re impossible to love, Mina. I could believe that from almost anyone, but not you.”
“Yeah? Well, then explain to me why every guy I like runs away from me. This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, I’m tired.”
“Well, men are stupid. Believe me, I’m a man, I know that!”
Mina couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m serious.”
“I’m serious too!” He reassured her. “Mina, you don’t have to take this too personal, some guys just don’t know how to deal with relationships, or feelings, or passionate people like you, and I’m telling you as a compliment.”
“Thank you, but—”
“Not ‘but’, just believe me!” He complained while rolling his eyes. “Mina, the only reason why I always detect that you’re dating dicks it’s because I’m one of them. You dated a hundred Hantas, and they are all stupid.”
Mina laughed, hugging her best friend again, trying to demonstrate to him she was grateful for his words. “Well, you probably dated a hundred Minas too, so I’m going to believe you.”
Sero shook his head. “No, I never dated a Mina,” he replied. “It would be impossible to find someone like you and not to fall for her.”
None of them knew where those words came from. Not Mina, who started to think the alcohol affected her friend enough to make him say incoherencies. Not Hanta, who never allowed himself to have those kinds of thoughts about any of his friends before.
But there was something in the way Mina opened to him that night that softened his heart enough to create a reaction inside him. Usually, he pictured her as an obnoxious, kind of annoyed, screaming little girl trapped inside a woman’s body, and though he never felt bothered by her, he never stopped to actually observe anything else about her either.
At least that’s what he said to himself.
But the truth is, Hanta paid way more attention than he thought to the way Mina’s golden eyes shrinked every time she smiled, and the way her voice raised two tones when she got excited, or the fact that she used to hide her face when something —or someone— pushed her to the corner of tears. But there was something he ignored every single time, and that was the urge to surround her with his arms and hold her tight until she stopped crying or started to giggled even loudly, filling the entire world with the sound of that laugh he could recognize anywhere.
But she was his friend, so that was normal.
“It’s funny,” she murmured. “You said that, but we have been best friends since high school, and you never fell for me. None of you did, so you’re wrong.”
“Would you like me to fall for you?” He asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.
“I didn’t say that!”
“Then why are you complaining?”
“I’m not complaining!” She assured him, even if deep down she knew it sounded like it. “I’m just… I don’t know what I’m saying, I think I’m just drunk and alone.”
Hanta let out all the air he was holding before looking at his friend right in the eyes again. “Maybe we both are.”
The silence filled the space between them. A space that was almost nonexistent, though they could feel it through each other’s breathings.
If there was something that years of friendship taught them, it was that they both hated to give the first step in those kinds of situations, and maybe that was the reason why they never confessed who was the first one to kiss the other. Hanta wanted to believe it was her. Mina convinced herself it was him. But the first step didn’t actually care, not like the second, and the third, and all of the steps that took them right to Mina’s room.
“What are we doing?” She asked, a soft smile drawn on her face while she attempted to catch her breath between kisses.
Hanta kissed her cheek. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “Does this count as New Year’s Kisses?”
“I don’t think so, you should give those at midnight.”
“Well, then give me all your midnights, Mina,” he replied before posing his lips softly over her forehead.
She kissed him again, savouring his words like she could discern if he was being honest that way.
Or maybe she just wanted to kiss him again.
“You’re going to regret it in the morning?”
“Not drunk enough for that,” Hanta replied with honesty. “Are you?”
“I’m not that drunk and alone,” she joked. “But I’m worried about this changing us, you know, as friends.”
Hanta looked into her eyes again, reading the concern and insecurity on them, looking for the right words before saying anything and ruining the moment —as usual.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen between us after this, and it would be a lie telling you I’m not worried about it,” he confessed. “But, if you want it to, I would like to hold onto you just a little more.”
“You can’t have all my midnights if you stay just a little more,” she mocked him.
“Should I go, then?”
The bright of Mina’s eyes answered his question before she did it.
“Don’t you dare.”
One year later.
“Okay! Everyone ready!” Kirishima exclaimed, serving the last glass of champagne. “All of you have your designated New Year’s Kiss?”
“Don’t be mean, dude,” Kaminari —oh, sorry, it’s not Kaminari anymore— Mr. Jirou said. “You know Sero’s date planted him.”
“She didn’t plant me! I just… didn’t invited her, that’s all”
“You’re pathetic,” Kyoka said, punching Hanta’s arm. “You’d been talking about this mysterious girl for almost a year and—”
“Really?” Mina chimed in, enthusiastically. “He never talked about her with me, how is she, Sero?”
Hanta’s cheeks blushed instantly. “It’s none of your business.”
“Oh, come on… just tell us! I want to know what you said about her.”
“And what about you, Raccoon Eyes?” Bakugou asked curiously. “Your mysterious man it’s not coming either?”
It was Mina’s turn to flush. “He couldn’t make it.”
“Tch… I told you to stop dating dicks.” Katsuki scoffed. “Tape, back me up in this one, she should leave the loser already.”
“I don’t think we should worry about this one, he sounds like he’s a nice guy,” Sero replied, though none of his friends understood why he looked so defensive while talking.
“Nah, Kat’s right. He’s kind of a dick sometimes,” Mina teased, though only Hanta was able to catch the joke.
“Okay, guys, enough talking, it’s going to be midnight soon!” Kirishima exclaimed right before the countdown started. “Ten!”
“Nine!”
“Eight!”
“Seven!”
You think I might find someone who wants to kiss me in the new year someday?
“Six!”
Anyone would be lucky to kiss you, and not just on new year’s day
“Five!”
It would be impossible to find someone like you and not to fall for her.
“Four!”
Does this count as New Year’s Kisses?
“Three!”
I don’t think so, you should give those at midnight.
“Two!”
Then give me all your midnights, Mina.
“One!”
Mina and Hanta hated to be the one who gives the first step, maybe that’s the reason why none of them was able to take the guilt after letting all their instincts take control of them when they kissed at midnight, almost forgetting the presence of their stunned friends.