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“Hozumin!”
Bantarou Chiyomatsu is screaming… again. Louder than the entire crowd. Every Honan runner finds it offputting and a little scary, every time he seemingly materializes out of thin air, yelling at the top of his lungs and announcing the arrival of Saisei - everyone, that is, excluding Kohinata Hozumi himself.
No, Hozumi is always prepared to yell back, “Ban-chan!” in a slightly lighter, slightly less loud voice, ready to receive a hug or a noogie, always ready for Bantarou in every way, shape, and form conceivable.
After the End of Summer, Saisei was first in line to greet the winners. Asuma congratulated Riku, basking in Tomoe’s glory; Reiji joked with Takeru about losing his anchor spot; Kaede smiled at Kyosuke, drowning him in compliments; Tasuku mumbled something snarky about whether Heath was going all out or not; Shizuma was commending Sakurai on her improvements -
And Ban was screaming, wrapping Hozumi in a hug, pushing the air out of his lungs, lifting him off the ground as the shorter boy laughed.
“Ban-chan, quit it! I can’t breathe!” Hozumi giggled out.
Bantarou set him down gently and loosened his hug, but still wouldn’t part from him. “Hm? So what! My hugs are more important than breathing.”
Hozumi grinned reaching his arms around Bantarou’s neck and hugging him again - but not with the intent to kill. “You’re right, you’re right.”
“Hmm…” The third year’s pondering was audible as he mumbled into Hozumi’s ear. “Hozumin?”
Hozumi removed his arms from Bantarou, leaning back to look him in the eyes. “Hm? What’s up?”
“We should…” Ban stared at Hozumi, looking uncertain before he averted his gaze. Suddenly nervous, he released him from the hug, and rubbed at his neck.
“Huh? What were you saying?”
Ban nodded then, looking back at Hozumi with a sudden determination. “We should get ice cream! We should go out and get ice cream!”
“Ice cream?”
“Yeah!”
Hozumi hesitated, then nodded quickly. “Mn! I love ice cream! Let’s do it.”
Bantarou’s sudden discomfort lifted immediately. He grabbed Hozumi’s hand, positively giddy, and started to drag him away from the others. “Really? Yay! Perfect! I know a really cute ice cream place - it’s a family business, and it’s really small but they make their own ice cream, and they -”
“B-Ban-chan, wait a second.” Hozumi quickly pulled his hand away, stuttering to a stop. Bantarou turned to look at him, confused and looking more than a little disheartened.
“Huh? I thought you wanted…”
“I do want to get ice cream with you!” Hozumi smiled softly. “Not right this second though! The team and I are going out for dinner after all this.”
“Oh.”
Hozumi looked down at himself. “And I’m dressed like this.”
“I think you look fine!”
He crossed his arms in front of himself, eyes still on the ground. “And plus, I’m all sweaty, and I smell bad, and I don’t want to go on a date like -”
Bantarou’s eyes widened, and he realized that Hozumi’s had done the same when he looked up at him, stunned at his own words. After a moment of gaping at each other, Bantarou grinned.
“Is tomorrow better?”
Hozumi covered his face, flaring red with embarrassment. “Tomorrow is better.”
“Okay!” Bantarou laughed then walked closer to Hozumi, ruffling his hair. “You’re so cute, Hozumin!”
Hozumi grabbed Bantarou’s hand, still too awkward to look at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“It’s a date.”
The blond looked up at Bantarou. He was mortified, and his face felt like it was on fire. He was going to die.
Although, it did comfort him a little when he noticed a light pink dusting Bantarou’s cheeks as well. Hozumi was gripping his hand for dear life. He opened his mouth to speak.
“I’m -”
“Oi! Hozumi!” Heath’s gruff voice broke in from a few feet away. “Aren’t you coming with us? Or are you spending Honan’s big day with that guy?”
Hozumi dropped Bantarou’s hand and turned on a dime, yelling back. “I’m coming! I’ll be there in a second!”
“We’ll leave without you!”
He turned back to Ban for just a second, just long enough to cover his mouth and blush a little harder before whispering, “Bye!” and dashing away from him, yelling “Don’t leave without me!”
Bantarou stared after him, charmed, embarrassed, and slightly dizzy. He sat down in the middle of the blocked off street.
Ah.
It worked.
They had a date.
Kaede turned away from his overzealous waving at the departing Kyosuke as a shout rang through the air. An unnecessarily long “WAHOO!!” rang through the air, louder than the entire crowd… again.
Reiji smiled, turning his attention to his teammate who was now laying down flat in the middle of the road. “Bantarou is screaming… again.”
Tasuku sighed. “What else is new?”
“Asuma, could you -” Shizuma was interrupted by his brother.
“I’m already on it.” Asuma muttered, shaking his head and walking to collect the runner.
He was still yelling at the air when his teammate came and sat next to him.
“So, Ban-chan, what is it this time?” Asuma asked.
Bantarou stopped screaming, took a gulp of air, and then just exhaled, pressing every inch of his body into the asphalt as it burned a bit against any exposed skin. He looked over at Asuma, a grin completely overtaking his face.
“I love ice cream.”