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Annoyance. That’s all Hizashi could feel emanating from Shouta. He had no idea what was wrong! They were changing into their hero costumes for the afternoon training and all Shouta did was glare at him. Hizashi really had no idea what he had done to earn the ire of his bestie!
Shouta was in a good mood today! Well, relatively. As good as he could be, Hizashi supposed. Which meant he even leaned into Hizashi’s side when he threw an arm over Shouta’s shoulders on their way to the rooftop for lunch. He even smiled at Hizashi’s joke! The sight alone made his stomach flutter; God, Shouta’s smile was so pretty. Not that Shouta wasn’t pretty when he was glaring or scowling, or had an impassive face, gods no. Just his smile… yeah, it was so pretty and rare. Even prettier for its rarity.
Did Hizashi mention he loved Shouta’s glares? Well, correction, he did not love them when they were directed at him! What happened?!
Hizashi paused pulling on his pleather pants and took a deep breath. Think. Think logically, like Shouta would.
The change in demeanor happened during lunch. On their way to the rooftop, Hizashi was stopped by their kouhai, a first year kid from 1-A. Uchiyama was his last name. He asked Hizashi if they could go somewhere private and Hizashi agreed, of course. He wasn’t about to disappoint a listener! Besides, today was 1-A vs 2-A during class and he thought the kid wanted some pointers from his senpai. So he shot the kid fingers guns and told Shouta and Oboro to go to the rooftop without him and followed his fellow student.
As it turned out, that wasn’t what Uchiyama wanted. No, the moment they got to an empty corridor, Uchiyama got super nervous as he turned to Hizashi; he thrust an envelope in Hizashi’s face and bowed so deeply his longish black hair shielded him from Hizashi’s gaze.
“I’d be grateful if you’d read it, senpai,” Uchiyama said with a tremor in his voice. Yet there was conviction. Dumbfounded, Hizashi took the envelope and Uchiyama bowed again before bolting towards the cafeteria.
Hizashi stood in that corridor for a good thirty seconds, not computing in the slightest, until it finally clicked that he just received a love letter.
A real love letter. His lips spread in a wide smile, excited at experiencing such a typical high school event, but he immediately frowned, remembering that he’d have to turn Uchiyama down, as his heart already belonged to another.
He ran his fingers over the envelope. It’d be rude not to read though, right?
He gently opened the letter – the envelope was off-white, leaning towards pink – and he slipped the paper out. It was filled with neat kanji that spoke to the author’s responsible personality.
Hizashi couldn’t help but think how much he preferred Shouta’s slightly sloppy but still readable handwriting.
Yamada-senpai
I wish I could confess to you in person – though I guess I did hand it to you personally? I know that I would get tongue-tied if I were to tell you how I feel.
I really like you, Yamada-senpai. You are an amazing hero – your performance during both sports festivals was so amazing. Seeing your quirk up close from the stands during this year’s festival was an honour and a privilege.
Your voice in your podcast? I could listen for hours. I had listened for hours. You have such a way with words that one cannot help but be captivated.
I like you, Yamada-senpai. I’d like to ask you on a date. I’ll be waiting by the sakura tree by the front gate after classes.
Yours,
Your kouhai,
Uchiyama-kun
Hizashi’s heart beat faster and he knew he had blush on his cheeks. He’d never received a love letter and nobody ever said so many nice things about him. He smiled dreamily as his eyes ran over the symbols but he couldn’t help the pang in his chest. He couldn’t accept, not when his heart belonged to another. Didn’t matter that Shouta didn’t know or wouldn’t care. It’d be unfair to Uchiyama. Now the question was, should he go and turn him down or… just not go at all? That seemed like a dick move.
He gently put the letter inside the envelope and went to the rooftop to try eating his lunch before end of the break.
“There’s our man~!” Oboro exclaimed when Hizashi was barely through the rooftop door. “What kept you, him? An admirer~?”
Hizashi’s cheeks flushed again and Oboro wolf-whistled.
“Nice! Getting that ass!” Oboro yelled, so loud it almost rivalled Hizashi’s regular volume and Hizashi looked to the floor embarrassed as he sat down in front of Shouta and Oboro.
“Yeah, um…” He showed them the letter, which Oboro took without hesitation. Hizashi watched him open the envelope and take the letter out, only to start reading it out loud. Hizashi regretted everything.
“Damn! Nice, bro. Gonna go meet him?” Oboro winked and Hizashi nodded.
“Yeah, I…”
A bell signaling the end of the break interrupted him. Shouta, who kept quiet, the entire time, shoved his bento box into his backpack forcefully and stood up rapidly.
“We gotta go,” he said briskly and started walking towards the door without waiting for Oboro and Hizashi.
They both exchanged concerned glances before jumping to their feet and following their friend. Hizashi tried to put his arm around Shouta’s shoulders, as per usual, but Shouta sped up just slightly but it was enough Hizashi missed him.
That was the beginning of Shouta being annoyed for no apparent reason. He kept glaring at Hizashi from the side as they sat next to each other in the classroom, his lips were pressed into a thin line when they walked to the locker room. Hizashi tried joking, poking and ribbing but Shouta skillfully avoided any attempt at physical contact.
It hurt.
Now they were on the Ground Omega, sitting on the benches as their sensei and Class 1-A’s were showing them match ups. Hizashi frowned when he saw that Shouta was facing off against Uchiyama. Not that he was worried about Shouta, of course not, but he was still getting used to his capture weapon and his combat skills were sometimes not enough. They were standing against each other now, Shouta being up first alphabetically, and Hizashi just noticed that Uchiyama was slightly taller than Shouta. His outfit, sleeveless tank top and shorts, proved that he was also bulkier, Shouta’s lean frame small in comparison.
So yeah, Hizashi was a little worried about Shouta.
Both teachers stood on either side of the field and their sensei gave a signal to start. Immediately, Shouta activated Erasure and rushed forward, without keeping distance until he learned his opponent’s quirk. Which, granted, he tended to do that but this time his posture was all rigid and his moves were somehow much more precise than just two days before.
He quickly got within a distance he could safely use the capture weapon floating around him (they had no idea why it happened. Hizashi thought it was so cool) and he fisted it, his knuckles going white. He tugged on it and the scarf moved like it had a will on its own, stretching and tensing in Uchiyama’s direction. Shouta flicked his wrist and the scarf was sent flying toward the kid, who seemed to be paralysed until this point.
Now, though, he skillfully dodged Shouta’s attempted attack, who had to blink; from his seat on the stands Hizashi could see Uchiyama’s hands started dripping with something and there was steam coming from the ground where it dropped.
Acid.
Hizashi’s stomach dropped. Ok, so Uchiyama’s quirk was acid. Pretty harsh, if he were to go by the small hole he could see forming in the floor of the battlefield. He distantly wondered how such quirk could be used in pro-hero work and if Uchiyama could make it less toxic; mostly, he was concerned for Shouta, who activated Erasure again. If Uchiyama wasn’t able to manipulate the acid to be moving on its own or couldn’t throw it far, Shouta should be safe if he kept his distance. Advantage of the capture weapon. Except Shouta wasn’t great at using it yet and he probably would have to get close at some point if he wanted to progress the fight…
Hizashi yelped, terrified, as Uchiyama shook his hands wildly in Shouta’s direction, some splatter landing on the scarf and making it steam and sizzle. Shouta grimaced in pain and Hizashi only then realised that some of the acid landed on his hand that was still gripping the capture weapon.
Shouta released the scarf and scrunched his eyes, clearly suffering, his injured hand clutched to his chest. Hizashi wanted to get up, to run towards him and help. He knew Shouta would hate that. Also, their sensei.
He clenched his fists and ground his teeth, praying internally that Shouta would recover.
He did. He opened his eyes, just slits as he tried to recover from the shock from pain. There was a telltale float of the ends of his hair as Erasure was coming to life but Uchiyama got so close Hizashi nearly bolted from his seat.
Before he managed to move a single muscle, Shouta opened his eyes wide, Erasure active and hands fisted. He managed to dodge Uchiyama’s hand, which was spreading droplets of acid, rounded him and kicked him on his lower back before Uchiyama managed to turn around. He fell forward and Shouta jumped on him. He couldn’t grab arms; Uchiyama was trying to flail his hands behind himself to hit Shouta.
Then Shouta had to blink again and Uchiyama’s hands started producing acid again, forcing Shouta to cover his eyes with his forearms crossed over his face. Uchiyama used the opportunity to turn around and reached towards Shouta.
Hizashi, who was watching it all with a bathed breath, Oboro vibrating with nerves next to him, couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Watch out!” He yelled, putting in just a tiniest amount of Voice into it.
Shouta peeked over his arms and managed to activate Erasure at the last moment, since Uchiyama got distracted by Hizashi’s scream.
Uchiyama grimaced, this much was obvious even from a distance. He clenched his fists and tried to land a hit on Shouta’s jaw but he was blocked.
From there, the match turned from a friendly spar to a brutal fist fight. Neither was pulling any punches and anger started rising in Hizashi’s chest. What was going on? Why was Shouta being so brutal? He managed to hit Uchiyama multiple times, and each seemed stronger than the previous one, despite obvious exhaustion in Shouta’s movements.
Finally, both teachers stepped in and forced them apart, turning to scold their respective students. Hizashi pushed past his classmates and started to run to Shouta, who was just turning to go to the stands.
Hizashi stopped, shocked; Shouta’s expression wasn’t one of regret.
No, it was pure anger and hatred.
Something snapped in Hizashi and he grabbed Shouta’s uninjured hand, dragging him away from their classmates, just as Chiako was being called for the next match.
“The fuck, Shouta!” Hizashi whisper-yelled as he turned around when they were far enough from the stands and their teachers. “What was that”
Shouta was looking to the side, petulant pout on his lips.
“Shouta.”
He obnoxiously turned his head even further away from Hizashi.
Anger was coursing through Hizashi’s veins. He grabbed Shouta and shook him, desperation suffocating him, tears gathering in his eyes.
“Shouta. It wasn’t like you. Tell me what’s wrong!” He sniffled, angry tears streaming down his face. Fuck, he hated being an angry crier. “Why did you beat him up like tha-”
“Because you’re cheating with him,” Shouta hissed, interrupting Hizashi and stepping closer to glare at him. If Hizashi wasn’t so shocked by Shouta’s words, he’d find it adorable as there were still a good five centimeters of a difference between them. Like an angry kitten. “Right in front of my face!”
Ok. Something was not computing.
“Cheating? On you?” Hizashi asked quietly, and suddenly he felt something entirely different.
Fragile hope.
Shouta pursed his lips and glared at Hizashi.
“You like me?” Hizashi asked, feeling almost giddy. If Shouta thought they were dating… if he was ready to beat a potential suitor to a pulp…
He had to like like Hizashi!
Shouta looked at Hizashi like he grew a second head. “Well, yeah? We wouldn’t be dating if I didn’t.”
This was officially the best news ever. He threw himself at Shouta, squeezing the breath out of him.
“I like you too!!” He screamed, loud enough that their classmates, and teachers, and kouhais must’ve heard.
“Hizashi?” Shouta sounded hella confused and Hizashi unglued himself enough to look at him with a dopey grin. He wouldn’t let go, though.
“I didn’t know we were dating! When did we…?”
Shouta’s cheeks were suddenly very, very, very red…
“W-what…” He stammered. “L-last week… the ice cream…”
Hizashi frowned as he thought back to the previous week. Shouta asked him on Thursday if he wanted to get ice cream together. He agreed, of course, wanted to spend as much time as possible with his friend and a crush.
He thought they’d go for convenience store ice cream but Shouta took him to a nice ice cream parlor and ordered them both a parfait to share. Hizashi found this hella confusing, and his heart was beating out of his chest as their spoons brushed accidentally. Later, back at home, he sighed wistfully for an unknown amount of time, occasionally squealing into the pillow.
Needless to say, it was fueling his daydreams for the past week.
“Oh my God. Shouta, I’m sorry, I didn’t… Let me take you out today. As a date.”
Shouta looked at him suspiciously. “So… you do like me?” He confirmed and Hizashi knew his cheeks were crimson, too.
“I just said that,” he whined and Shoua laughed, bright and beautiful. “Just making sure,” he said with a teasing smile and Hizashi wanted to kiss him so bad.
On second thought…
He did just that.