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Senior year, winter break. Katsuki announced to class 3A that his family had rented a ski lodge in the mountains and everyone was invited to celebrate. It had been a particularly choice year for snowfall and the downhill conditions were perfect for skiing, snowboarding, and sledding. Katsuki mentioned there was even a frozen-over pond for ice skating.
Everyone was excited for the trip. Denki was especially thrilled that his best friend, Hitoshi, agreed to join them. Ever since joining the hero course he had really come out of his shell. He and Denki grew close quickly, mostly due to Denki’s endless pestering and late night visits to the lounge to check on the insomniatic brainwasher. Hitoshi enjoyed their quiet moments together, and gradually started having secret feelings for the spark plug. He took Denki on long bike rides in the countryside, and Denki managed to get him on a skateboard and taught him a few simple tricks.
“Hitoshi, my friend, it’s time for you to learn a new skill,” Denki announced as he was packing for the trip.
“And what skill is that?” Hitoshi asked flatly from Denki’s bed.
“Snowboarding! It’s similar to skiing—”
“I’ve never skied,” Hitoshi interrupted.
“Oh. Well, then, it’s kinda like skateboarding! I know you’ve done that before!”
“And we all know how amazing I was at that…” Hitoshi quipped, remembering how he rolled his ankle so bad he was out with a sprain for a month.
“Listen, you have better balance then you give yourself credit for. Plus there will be several of us there to give you pointers. We’ll start on the bunny hill and go from there.”
Hitoshi sighed. He could never say “no” to this blond-haired more-that-just-a-friend of his.
“I’ll give it a try,” he folded. A passing thought crossed his mind that maybe it would be a good time to…no. He shouldn’t ruin their friendship like that.
Two weeks later, soon after the students settled into their rooms at the lodge, a large group decided to hit the slopes. Members of the Bakusquad started gearing up when they noticed Denki looking around, searching for something.
“Tch, whadja forget, Dunceface?” Bakugo grumbled.
Denki looked over his shoulder. “Nothing! Just looking for Shinsou…” he trailed off, seeing the purple-haired mind manipulator shuffling through the snow. “And there he is! I’ll join up with you guys a bit later. I’ve got to give Hit—I mean Shinsou—a lesson, first.”
No one missed the name slip, nor were they surprised. Denki couldn’t hide his feelings about Hitoshi if he tried. And he tried. Hitoshi was just too oblivious to notice.
“Ooo..what are you going to teach him? Lessons on love?” Sero teased, wiggling his eyebrows.
Denki glared at him. “Bro, really? Go fuck yourself!”
As the group laughed, Denki huffed and made his way over to meet Hitoshi.
“Toshi! You made it!” Denki called out to him.
If Hitoshi was being honest, he had no desire to be out in the cold right now. Sure he was decked out in all the proper gear to keep him warm, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable. The only reason he was even out here was because Denki had asked him. And what Denki wanted from him, Denki got. It’s why he spent nearly a month last summer nursing a severely sprained ankle from the skateboarding accident.
“Uh, yeah. Everything look okay?” he asked, referring to his gear. “Momo helped me.”
Denki inspected his boots in particular and gave a thumbs up. “Looks perfect! Now, let’s talk about boarding. Basically, it’s all about being on the board’s edges and riding them down the mountain.”
“Edging and riding?” Hitoshi repeated, with a sly smirk.
Denki blushed at the innuendo. “Uh, yeah. Edging…across and down the mountain, that is. You’ve got three basic parts of the board for gliding: the two edges and the bottom…”
"Bottom," Hitoshi snickered under his breath.
For some reason, Denki never connected the terminology of snowboarding with sex until now. It felt like every word he spoke suddenly could be taken out of context, and Hitoshi just seemed to soak it up with that damn knowing smirk on his face. He tried to cover up his sudden awkwardness. “And, ah, you’ll be using the edges most of the time.”
He showed Hitoshi the basics: strapping the feet in, a good stance, leg bends, when and how to shift your weight, how to turn, how to stop, and how to fall so as to not injure yourself. After Hitoshi had some time to get comfortable practicing on a small slope, they headed to one of the main slopes. There was a lot of falling and starting over, but soon enough he was able to coast comfortably along the hillside.
“Dude, I knew you’d pick it up quickly!” Denki announced. “How about learning some advanced moves?”
“Maybe tomorrow. Let's head down a couple more times, then head in,” Hitoshi responded, despite Denki’s pout. He had to admit to himself he was enjoying this a lot more than he thought he would. It was freeing, in a sense, like coasting down a steep hill on his bike.
Denki started down before Hitoshi, aiming for an area with small mounds to get some air time. Hitoshi followed behind, moving steadily back and forth across the slope. As his confidence grew, he challenged himself to angle the board more downhill, picking up speed in the process. Before long, he realized he was travelling faster than he’d like but couldn’t straighten out enough to stop. The board somehow ended up pointing straight down the hill as his speed increased rapidly.
Waiting for him at the bottom was Denki, eyes growing wide as he realized what was about to happen. Hitoshi couldn’t stop and was aimed directly at him.
“Oh shit!” Denki yelled as Hitoshi plowed directly into him, pushing him to the ground on his back.
He looked up to see a pair of goggles inches from his face, their foggy breaths mingling together. Hitoshi quickly pulled his goggles up and looked down at Denki. It’s quite possible some snow melted around them as a result of the sudden heat emanating from their bodies.
Hitoshi scrambled away from Denki awkwardly as realization hit him. “Fuck, sorry! I’m so sorry, Denki!” he apologized, still struggling to move since he was still strapped onto the board.
“Hey, it’s okay, man,” Denki reassured, secretly missing the contact. “How about we head in for some hot cocoa?”
“Uh, yeah. Sounds like…um…a good idea,” Hitoshi agreed, finally removing his feet from the board.
Back at the ski lodge, as they were changing out of boarding gear in the locker room, Denki shoved a gift bag into Hitoshi’s hands. Hitoshi simply stared at him with a questioning look. “It’s an early Christmas present!” he exclaimed.
Crap. Hitoshi didn’t think about getting anything for Denki.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” the blond asked, looking slightly disappointed in Hitoshi’s lack of expression.
“Uh, yeah,” Hitoshi mumbled, realizing he was still staring at Denki.
Inside the bag was a purple fairisle sweater with yellow accents. Hitoshi held it out in front of him as if figuring out how to respond.
“My mom made it. I have one, too!” Denki said cheerfully, showing off his yellow one with purple accents. “We can match!”
Hitoshi smiled and shook his head. “It’s great, Denki. Thank you. I, um, I don’t have anything for you,” he muttered, eyes dropping down.
“That’s okay, Toshi. I’ll think of something you can give me later,” Denki replied, sounding innocent, while Hitoshi blushed and somewhat grinned. “Let’s get changed and grab that hot cocoa, yeah?”
Hitoshi nodded in agreement.
After several minutes, they emerged from the locker room donning their new sweaters and headed to the cafe. Hitoshi’s hot cocoa was plain—no marshmallows or whipped cream or any kind of topping. Denki’s, on the other hand, was topped with whipped cream sprinkled with tiny marshmallows and peppermint bits.
“I’m making up for your lack of adventure,” Denki replied when Hitoshi gave him a disgusted look about the cocoa.
“I just don’t want cavities,” Hitoshi simply deadpanned.
They spent a long time just sitting together, Denki talking endlessly about anything and everything while Hitoshi soaked it all up.
Later in the evening, everyone gathered around the fireplace in the great room, chatting about their adventures of the day and their plans for Christmas tomorrow. Several had cups of hot cocoa, spiked with one of the several bottles of alcohol strewn across the central table.
Still in his sweater from earlier, Denki proudly wore a festive headband topped with a wire holding a sprig of mistletoe. Hitoshi, also still wearing his sweater, sat comfortably near the fire, admiring Denki from a distance. As more alcohol was consumed, the group became louder, and Denki became bolder. He moved to sit closer to Hitoshi, flirting overtly with him. It wasn’t long before Hitoshi felt overwhelmed—the noise was too loud, the room was too hot, and Denki was too uninhibited.
Not wanting to ruin his friendship with Denki over some drunken mistake, Hitoshi rose to his feet, went to top off his mug, popped on a hat and gloves, and headed out to the deck. The air was crisp as he inhaled deeply, letting the chill clear his head. Leaning over the railing, he stared in awe at the endless number of stars staring down at him from the dark sky. As he exhaled his held breath, he watched its fog swirl away into the darkness. Sighing heavily, Hitoshi wondered why he couldn’t just let his feelings for Denki go. He felt certain that Denki didn’t return his feelings, that the flirting was just Denki being Denki. But he couldn’t help imagining them holding hands walking under this night sky, sharing a kiss as the aurora glowed above them. So what if there was no aurora out tonight. It was only a dream, after all.
He quickly downed the rest of his spiked cocoa and turned, ready to head back in to call it a night, when he saw Denki step outside. “There you are, Toshi!” he exclaimed at little too loudly. “Thought you might want a refill,” he smirked, handing Hitoshi another mug.
“Sure. Thanks Denki.”
Why did he freeze in place when Denki was around? He could have said no and gone back inside to his room.
“Why’d you disappear? I was lonely!” Denki whined.
“Mmm. Too loud,” Hitoshi confessed, sipping the warm drink. He coughed a little, tasting the alcohol immediately. “Holy shit, Denki, how much did you put in here?”
“It’s cold out here! Thought it would keep you warm,” Denki pouted.
“How considerate,” Hitoshi sighed, taking another sip and immediately regretting it.
“It’s really pretty out tonight,” Denki mused, staring at the sky.
“Mhm. It is,” Hitoshi whispered.
But he wasn’t looking at the sky anymore. He was staring at Denki, who didn’t notice.
“Oh! That’s Orion!” Denki shouted, pointing out a constellation. “And that’s Ursa Major. And there’s Perseus! There’s too much light pollution at home to see these. Oh! Is that the Milky Way?”
Hitoshi smiled as he watched Denki. It was moments like this that he loved most about him—geeking out over things that he usually kept hidden with the other students.
“TOSHI! LOOK!” Denki shouted suddenly, pointing at a star streaking through the sky. “A shooting star! In western culture they say if you make a wish on a shooting star, that wish will come true.”
Hitoshi closed his eyes and made his silent wish.
“What would you wish for, Tosh?”
“Isn’t it supposed to be a secret or it won’t come true?”
“Hmm, you’re right,” Denki frowned. “But we’re close friends. If we keep it a secret to each other, it could still come true.”
Hitoshi huffed a laugh. “You don’t have to keep yours a secret if you don’t want to, Denki.”
Denki hesitated, torn between keeping it to himself and telling Hitoshi.
“I wished…” he began, “I wished that I would have a partner…a romantic partner…for the new year.”
Hitoshi’s heart both fluttered and sank at the same time. He was afraid to pry deeper. “Is there…a specific person you had in mind?”
“Yes,” Denki answered, but didn’t elaborate.
“You gonna share or keep it a secret?” Hitoshi prodded, turning to look at Denki.
“I don’t know, Toshi. What if he…what if he doesn’t return the feelings. What if he just wants to be friends and nothing more.”
Denki faced Hitoshi and stared into his eyes. When Hitoshi’s eyes drifted to Denki’s lips, he stopped breathing momentarily. Hitoshi felt the tension between them. He knew who Denki was talking about and was suddenly very afraid. It was everything he could have hoped for, but it was the most risky thing he faced all day.
“And what if he does share those feelings?” Hitoshi whispered.
“Hitoshi, I…” Denki began, but before he could finish, Hitoshi leaned in and silenced him with a soft kiss.
Denki pulled back abruptly, covering his mouth. Oh gods. Hitoshi was wrong. It wasn’t him at all. Shit! He just ruined everything. “I’m sorry, Denki, I thought—”
Denki cupped his face and kissed him, slow and sure. “You thought right, Toshi.”
“Is this real? Are we really—”
“This is the greatest Christmas present I’ve ever received,” Denki giggled, as he took the ridiculous mistletoe headband off his head and placed it over Hitoshi’s purple locks. “Look, Toshi! Mistletoe. You know the tradition with mistletoe, right?”
“Yeah, Denki. I do.” Hitoshi blushed and grinned, then leaned in and captured Denki’s lips in a long, slow kiss.
