Work Text:
Shouta Aizawa sat on the floor with his pile of homework, over at Hizashi Yamada’s, his best friend's house. They were originally supposed to do them together with Oboro Shirakumo, but apparently he had other stuff to do.
“Ah , sorry, I promised my dad to look over my sis. Maybe some other time?” He had said.
It bugged Shouta slightly, having to not be able to have fun as a trio. Hizashi was nice, for sure, and Shouta liked him, maybe even a bit too much. But Oboro’s snarky comments made them have even more fun. Shouta had started a thought that Oboro had been avoiding them, for a few weeks already, which, in his mind, made a lot of sense. Unfortunately, when he had tried to tell Hizashi about it, he had just brushed it off and told Shouta that he shouldn't worry.
Speaking of Hizashi, Shouta looked up, furrowing his brows. Hizashi was sitting at his desk, bobbing his head lightly to the music he was listening through his headphones. He hadn't realized how loud his volume was, and Shouta could basically hear every single lyric. Having to listen to Hizashi’s annoying music after a long overwhelming day, he couldn't even handle trying to focus on the exercises in front of him.
His best friend's music was way too noisy, even for a loud person himself.
“Zashi”, Shouta spoke up, trying to reach the other from his own little world.
It obviously didn't work. Hizashi continued scribbling into his book like nothing had happened.
Shouta tried again, now more forcefully. “Hizashi!”
Hizashi flinched in his seat, startled by the sudden yell. He turned down the music, taking off his headphones as he turned to face Shouta.
“Yeah?” he questioned, blinking stupidly.
“Your music’s too loud. I can't focus”, Shouta answered, crossing his arms.
“...Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that”, Hizashi apologized, a sheepish smile on his face. Shouta watched him turn his back at him, returning to his notes.
Shouta sighed, his face softening. He uncrossed his arms before also continuing on his homework. He was glad the extra noise was out of the picture.
They worked in complete silence after the interaction, the only noise being the wall clock ticking quietly and the small rustles of pages being touched. This continued for a while until Hizashi couldn't bear the silence anymore.
“Which problem are you on now?” He glanced at Shouta.
“Eight”, he didn't even bother to look up.
“Huh, I’m still on four…” Hizashi took another quick stare at the other, before adding a question: “Sho, could you help a poor old me figure this out?”
Shouta glanced at Hizashi's puppy eyes from the corner of his eye. “Sure, I guess.” He stood up and took a few steps to the desk, standing next to Hizashi. He quickly cleared out the task, as the other listened carefully, or at least tried.
Hizashi had started to find himself uneasy around Shouta for about a while now, especially when he came in close proximity. He could feel his heartbeat increase to some degree, but he tried to ignore it as best he could, just to focus on his friend’s explanation. He felt the urge to lean his head over Shouta’s shoulder, and it felt quite welcome, so he started to lean to the side, until his plan was backfired by Shouta’s question.
“So, do you understand now?”
Hizashi froze back, before quickly nodding, which he didn't even mean, since he had no idea what Shouta had just told him. He watched his friend go sit back on the floor, wishing his face didn't look too red to an outsider. He got back over his books, resting his chin over his fist while forming random thoughts.
It was quiet again, the only thing that had changed was the weather, as the cloudy afternoon sky had turned into a heavy rain. Shouta stared at the window across Hizashi’s room, wondering if he could get back home without getting his clothes wet. He had forgotten about his homework for a moment, until he got back to finish the last exercise. He wrote the last word like a reward, closing his book afterwards with a small thud. He looked at the time from the boring wall clock that Hizashi had had for years, or so he guessed, considering that the exact same clock was in the background of an old family picture.
He took a gander around the room, even though he had been in there hundreds of times.
The room wasn’t small, but neither too big. Hizashi’s blanket was stuffed up at the end of his single-sized bed, and multiple comic books and manga were laying on the floor next to a bookshelf, which looked like it could use some dusting. In the middle of the room, where Shouta was placed to sit at, was a big orange rug that was incredibly soft and fluffy. Hizashi’s desk was placed next to the door, and the window was on the wall next to the bookshelf. A few posters of pro heroes and Hizashi's favorite bands covered the white walls. His gaming console was set in front of an old screen on the floor.
Shouta laid on the carpet, looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling as he listened to the raindrops beating the roof. He rested his hands over his stomach before speaking up.
“Zashi?”
Hizashi turned to look at him. “Yeah?”
“Can I stay over tonight?” he moved his face up so he could look at his best friend being upside down.
“Yes!” Hizashi exclaimed, jumping from his seat, before sitting back down, forcing on a dismissive attitude as he added: “I mean, yeah, sure,” nod, “definitely.”
Shouta showed him the tiniest smile, turning to face the ceiling again. He grabbed his phone across the rug, sending his mom a text that said he'll be staying over the night.
He glanced out the window again. The weather was still the same, which wasn’t much of a surprise.
Suddenly Hizashi slammed his book on the desk, implying that he had finally finished the homework. He turned in his chair and sat on it the wrong way, focusing on Shouta. “Hey, Sho, you wanna play something? I got a new game for my birthday, and I haven't tried it out yet.”
“I'd like to”, Shouta replied, rolling around to lay on his stomach as his gaze moved from the stars to Hizashi, but they were basically the same thing in his mind anyway. He got up from the floor as Hizashi followed, sitting back down in front of the tv screen. Hizashi picked up the said game, put the DVD in the player and started up the console. He settled next to Shouta, legs crossed, just so slightly their knees touched. He tried to make it seem fine, but on the inside he felt like an oven.
Shouta on the other hand, didn’t even notice the smallest gesture, since he was too concentrated on the cover of the game. He was intrigued by the description of it, remarking the 4 stars.
“It’s one-on-one fighting and running, if you haven't read that off yet”, Hizashi mentioned, picking up a controller, along with Shouta taking the other.
“I did”, but I liked it when you repeated it, Shouta said, not stating the rest out loud.
They started the game, and got into a more comfortable position. Hizashi selected the stage. A pop-up introduction came on screen, which explained the controls and how to play the game. Hizashi was really tempted to just skip the whole thing, but resisted it after seeing that he definitely wouldn’t know how to play it otherwise.
Shouta won the first round. As well as the second. When he reached his third win, Hizashi whined and fell backwards on the ground, seeing another “you lost” on his side of the display.
“Three wins in a row, how good are you at this game?!” he shouted in despair, throwing his hands off into the air.
“I maybe forgot to mention that I’ve played this game before”, Shouta muttered from the corner of his mouth, and was about to do something else, but got interrupted by a knock on the door.
Hizashi’s older sister, Natsumi, came in, carrying a bag of groceries. The two of them hadn’t heard her come home, so it was a slight surprise.
“Hey, I’m home- oh, hi, Sho”, she gave Shouta a small wave with a smile, which he mirrored, waving back. “I’m making curry. Mom and dad are staying late at work, again. ”
“You always make curry. Will there ever be a day you won’t make curry?” Hizashi asked sarcastically, rising back up.
“Ha ha, it’s the only food I know how to cook as a decent meal. Make something else if it’s flowing out of your ears already.” Natsumi crossed her arms, glaring at her brother. Then she shot another short smile at Shouta, before going back downstairs.
“Ugh, why can’t she even order pizza”, Hizashi grumbled, crossing his arms and frowning in a child-like manner. Shouta snorted at his friend’s words.
“Are we going to continue playing?” Shouta asked, which Hizashi answered with an even deeper glare.
“What, just so you could beat me again? You’re unfair”, he said, pushing his shoulders over his ears with a silly pout. Shouta just shrugged, he didn’t care about the game that much anyway.
He stood up and went to look out the window. He looked around the street for some entertainment. It wasn’t long until his attention got catched by an orange cat under the cover of a bus stop. He squinted his eyes, looking for a collar around the cat’s neck. It was kind of hard to see as the raindrops kept pouring on the glass, but eventually he came to the conclusion that the cat was indeed owned by someone. He sighed, put an elbow on the small platform of the window and leaned his head’s weight over his hand.
Hizashi had turned off the console and was now staring at Shouta from the ground, not forgetting to look out the window at random times to not seem too suspicious. He watched Shouta’s black hair lay on his shoulders, how it moved along when he turned his head more or less.
Hizashi found himself wanting to move closer to him, touch his hair and hold his hand, kiss him- He blushed, therefore realizing he had imagined too far again, thinking like that. He didn’t want to kiss Shirakumo, for sure, so why Shouta? They were both his best friends, what was so special about the other? Yeah, he was cute, quiet and basically the opposite of him. But things still didn’t make sense to him, even though he had been crushing on Shouta already for a few months now. He hadn’t told anyone, since he didn’t know how they would take it, and telling Shouta was a big no-no.
Shouta moved away from the window, starting to get bored. Hizashi acknowledged this and quickly looked away. He aimlessly grabbed a comic book, acting like he had been reading it the whole time.
Shouta walked across the room to sit on Hizashi’s bed.
“Do you know when the food’s going to be ready?”
Hizashi got a grip of reality as he saw the book was turned upside-down, tossing it aside after realization. He looked at Shouta, wondering the same thing. “Nope, I dunno.”
They were shut in silence momentarily, until Hizashi threw himself off onto the floor again. “Man, I am so boredd…. There’s nothing to do.”
“Too bad”, Shouta replied, “I’m gonna nap till dinner”, he fell on his side on the bed. Just a second after, they heard Natsumi yell downstairs for them to come on and eat. Shouta’s face went immediately deadpan as he had to get back up, “I guess not then”, and his frown just got deeper as Hizashi started to laugh.
When Hizashi had finished his laughter, they went downstairs. Natsumi was in the kitchen, setting the island table for three. Hizashi and Shouta sat next to each other. Natsumi brang the meal to the table, and they started eating, finishing it quite slowly.
“So, how’s Oboro? I haven’t seen him in a while”, Natsumi questioned, trying to start a conversation.
“He’s avoiding us”, Shouta answered emptily.
“No he isn’t! He’s just busy with other stuff!” Hizashi tried, defending Oboro’s reasons. Natsumi looked between them, confused. She quickly decided to just continue chewing on her food, dropping the subject. So did Shouta and Hizashi.
“By the way, I’m staying over tonight”, Shouta broke the awkward silence, which Natsumi raised her head to.
“Oh, yeah, sure, you want me to get you another mattress, orrr…?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Hizashi choked on his drink.
“ Yes , obviously!” He shouted, red painted all over his face as he slammed his hands to the table. Shouta couldn’t stop himself from lightly blushing as well.
Natsumi’s eyes widened. She had thought they already had something going on, but she understood it quickly, setting a blank expression on her face. “Right, sorry, of course you need another one.” She stood up, picking up the dishes automatically. Then she moved upstairs to find a bed for Shouta.
Y
Shouta peeked into Hizashi’s direction, seeing he had covered his face with his hands. He was sure his stomach made a small flip. Hizashi’s ears were still burning red, and it wasn’t hard to notice. He looked like an idiot, but Shouta thought he was adorable.
*
They were reading comics on the floor of Hizashi’s room. It was already dark outside, and the rain still hadn’t stopped. Natsumi had set Shouta’s bed neatly on the floor next to his best friend’s. They had been quiet for a while, which was unusual for Hizashi. Until he finally spoke up, with a poor mumble.
“Can I braid your hair?” he didn’t even flash his eyes on Shouta.
“Huh?” Of course he didn’t hear.
“I asked if I could braid your hair”, Hizashi repeated, louder this time. His eyes switched on Shouta, but he didn’t raise his head.
“Um, okay”, Shouta said, putting away the comic he was reading.
Hizashi grinned happily, went to take a few hair ties, before he stood on his knees behind Shouta’s back. He first separated Shouta’s hair into two parts, then started braiding the right side. His finger brushed Shouta’s neck a couple times, making the spot tingle from touch. It felt somewhat intimate, in a way.
Shouta’s phone buzzed a notification, and he checked it immediately so he could get distracted from the butterflies in his stomach. It was from Oboro, asking how they were doing.
Eh, fine. Zashi’s braiding my hair. He texted back, sending it without a doubt in his mind.
JUST fine? Nothing INTERESTING happening?
Shouta questioned the choice of his friend’s words: What do you mean?
Oboro kept writing longer than usual. Eventually he gave an answer: Doesn’t matter.
Shouta was even more confused now. What was his friend implying?
“Done! Awh, you look so cute!” Hizashi said, stepping back to look at his creation. Shouta looked back at him, but didn't comment, since he didn't want to ruin it. He brushed one of the braids with his hand. It wasn't perfect, but he liked it.
“Huh, you're texting Oboro? What's he saying?” Hizashi asked, recognizing Shirakumo's name on Shouta's phone.
“He asked how we're doing.”
“Typical boring conversation topic”, Hizashi scoffed lazily. He yawned and stretched his arms.
“It's getting late”, he mentioned while looking at the time from the clock.
Shouta yawned as well, until nodding. He borrowed Hizashi's pyjamas and went into the bathroom next door to change into them.
When he came back, Hizashi was already in bed, with the big light off. Shouta sat onto his mattress in the warm dim light. He laid back, pulling the blanket over himself as he watched the stars on the ceiling. Then he glanced at the star next to him on the higher ground bed.
Hizashi was lying on his side, facing Shouta. He squinted his eyes a bit. Shouta smiled, finding it funny. Hizashi chuckled as well.
“Do I turn the light off?” he asked, pointing out the light on his bedside table.
“Uh”, Shouta thought, “yeah, sure.”
Hizashi hummed, before pressing the light switch, and it got dark in a second. Shouta could hear his friend move around lightly for a better position. He waited until he got used to the dark, and started watching the now glowing stars. He wasn't that tired to try and sleep yet.
They laid in the dark quietly for several minutes. The rain danced on the roof nicely, relieving a peaceful atmosphere.
“Hey, Sho?” He could hear Hizashi ask, “I've got a question.”
“Mhm?”
Short pause. “Do you believe in soulmates?” Shouta could hear a small nervousness in his words.
“I don’t know”, He said, feeling the need to whisper, “It seems kind of silly to know that there’s someone meant exactly for you.”
“... So no?”
“I guess.”
“Well, um, I do believe in them.” He started brabbling, getting passionate about the subject. “I like the idea of knowing that you’re destined to find your other half, even if your whole life goes to waste while finding them. I know it sounds kinda obsessive, but having the feeling that there’s someone that’ll make you the happiest ever comforts me.”
“You make me happy”, Shouta suddenly blurted out.
A long pause filled the room. Hizashi could feel the blood rush into his head. Was that supposed to be a confession?! He thought of hundreds of possible outcomes in only a few seconds, and finally came up with a worthy response.
“W-well, you make me happy too!” He tried to prevent the uneasiness in his voice, failing miserably.
Again, it was dead of noise. Shouta felt a big lump in his throat, trying to get out as fast as possible. He didn’t know if Hizashi felt the same way, and his answer didn’t help much since that’s what you would usually say to a friend. His heart was beating like a million times, and he could hear it in his ears. Frustrating. He just wanted to let it all out. He sat up, the blanket dropping off from his chest.
“I like you!” they revealed in unison. Both blushed furiously and covered their faces with their hands. Hizashi had sat up on his bed as well, but now he fell back down. Shouta inhaled air through his nose, in advantage of gaining more confidence.
He took his hands off his face. “And have for a while now.”
Hizashi peeked through his fingers at Shouta. “... How long, exactly?”
“...About a few months?”
“Ha! I’ve been for a whole year! In your face!” Hizashi exclaimed, pointing a finger at the other that he had raised as soon as he had got back up. They stared into each others’ eyes, trying to compete between the glare. Eventually Hizashi’s concentrated face started to crack, and soon they both broke out in laughter. They laughed until their stomachs hurt. Shouta stopped first, almost hypnotized how good it felt to speak it all out. His gaze was locked on Hizashi, whose arms were clutched around himself as he tried to stop chuckling. He opened an eye, but got cut off by lips being pressed against his own.
Shouta had raised to stand on his knees and cupped Hizashi’s face just to land a kiss on his lips. He held it for a few seconds, before pulling back, seeing how surprised Hizashi was.
Hizashi was speechless, eyes wide open like some idiot. Then he chuckled, and his face became more natural. “Okay, that was smooth”, he said with a smile.
They could barely see each other, but they knew each of them was smiling and blushing. Shouta's hands were still on Hizashi's cheeks, holding them gently.
“Jerk”, Hizashi murmured before pulling Shouta along with him on the bed, wrapping his arms around him. Shouta's heart skipped a beat, but quickly recovered, setting his own hands close to his chest while changing into a fetal position.
Hizashi tucked the blanket over themselves. He felt a bit hot still, but acknowledging that he didn't have to hide his feelings anymore, at least from Shouta, he accepted it as just a feeling of happiness.