Archive of Our Own ^beta

In hindsight, Hizashi definitely should have expected this.

In his defense, this was the first time he'd convinced Shouta to play with them so in previous games, Nemuri hadn't had much ammunition for Hizashi. This time though? Oh, she was out for blood.

She wanted to see him suffer.  

Actually, no, that's not quite right. It may have been easier if she had wanted to see it. As it stood, nobody could see anything. 

Nemuri and the others were all still in that hellscape of a room they were playing in and staring at nothing but an old door. An old door to a closet. 

The same closet that Hizashi was stuffed in, and he wasn't alone. 

Shouta sat next to him, certainly no more than 2 feet away considering how small this dark and stuffy closet was. 

They had seven minutes in here all alone and while most people would be thrilled to be doing this with their best friend instead of some other random kid, Hizashi couldn't share that enthusiasm for his situation. 

See, he just so happened to be absolutely in love with his best friend. The kind that was suffocating and made him feel light as air at the same time. The kind that fucked his quirk up sometimes when Shouta got too close. 

Like, ya know, right now. All of which, that traitor, Nemuri, knew. 

"So, uh, great party, huh?" Hizashi awkwardly croaked. 

"I'd rather be napping." Shouta replied. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Sho." Hizashi offered. Mostly, he was sorry that it had gotten him in this situation. Bad planning on his part. He really really should have expected Nemuri to be up to something. 

"It's okay." Shouta answered with a huff. Hizashi couldn't see much in here, but he could imagine Shouta over there with his knees pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on them, arms wrapped around them. The image made him blush a little. Why did Shouta have to be so damn cute?

"Pretty rude of Nemuri to put me in a closet after I just came out of one." HIzashi mumbled. It wasn't meant to be a joke, but it made Shouta laugh anyway. Hizashi loved making Shouta laugh. There was a stretch of silence that was starting to make Hizashi uncomfortable.

"Did you actually mean it?" Shouta wondered aloud. 

"Mean what?" Hizashi asked. 

"That you're... bisexual." Shouta hesitantly explained. 

"Oh, uh, yeah. It's true" Hizashi answered awkwardly. "That's not.. like, a problem, is it?" He asked, voice cracking. 

"No." 

The relief that flooded Hizashi was almost too much to handle at once. He nearly passed out. 

"How did you know?" Shouta chimed back in. 

"What? That I was bisexual?" 

"Yea." 

"Ah, well, I guess I just kinda noticed it? I'm not sure. I never doubted that I liked girls. There was just some part of me that also liked guys." Hizashi explained. 

"How are you supposed to know if you like someone?" Shouta asked.

"Well, I think you just think about it? Like, Nemuri is pretty, and I love her, but I don't think I'd like to kiss her or anything. I'm happy with having her just as a friend. I don't really want anything more, so it's pretty safe to assume I don't like her like that." Hizashi tried to break it down into something Shouta could understand. 

"Oh." Shouta blandly replied. Hizashi was at a loss for words. Why was Shouta asking him this? 

Also, how long could 7 minutes possibly last? Hadn't he been through enough? Was mercy too much to ask for?

"Hizashi, I think I'm gay." Shouta suddenly offered. Hizashi choked on his own tongue. 

"What?" 

"I know I don't like girls. So, I guess I'm probably gay." Shouta analyzed. 

"Is there.. a guy that you're into?" Hizashi hesitantly asked. 

"Maybe." Shouta sighed. Not a happy sigh, more of an annoyed sigh.

"Maybe?"

"Doesn't matter. He'd never be interested in me like that." Shouta explained. He sounded sad. Hizashi hated it when Shouta was sad. He also hated the relief he felt. It was stupid of him to be selfish with Shouta. 

"Oh. Is he straight then?" 

"No."

"What? Then how could he possibly not be into you too? That's crazy talk!" Hizashi exclaimed before he could stop himself. Upon realizing what his statement implied, he clamped his mouth shut and counted exactly 6 beats of silence before Shouta cautiously replied. 

"Why would he be?" It sounded small, and Hizashi was reminded that his friend had never thought very highly of himself. It was an easy thing to forget because Shouta was top of their class in every way. He moved like a pro already and was too smart for his own good. His only weaknesses were mutation quirks and dry eye, and neither was very serious. He was so good at evasion and so fast that it almost never mattered that his quirk was useless against a mutation. He was getting better and better at dealing with the dry eye. Before long, he'd be unstoppable. 

Hizashi lived in awe of Shouta. 

"Sho, he would be an idiot to reject you. You're so smart that sometimes I wonder why you even bother coming to class, and have you seen yourself fight? You even beat the teachers in last weeks practice. You're doing your work study with His Purple Highness. On top of all that, you're literally always helping stray kittens and putting out food in alleyways and helping me and Nemuri with literally everything and don't think I didn't see you volunteering at the homeless shelter over the summer. You're like the nicest person I've ever met." Hizashi supplied. The only response he got was a small hum sound, so in true Hizashi fashion, his mouth just kept moving. 

"And you're cute. Have you ever seen yourself sleeping?" Hizashi asked even though he knew the answer was no. He couldn't show Shouta those pictures or it might be weird. 

"Have you ever seen yourself when you hide in that awful scarf? When you sneeze? When you... just exist? Seriously, it isn't fair. You could leave some for the rest of us. Jeez." Hizashi trailed off. He'd said too much really, but Shouta was nothing if not oblivious. He was maybe still safe. 

"Says the one who got 20 boxes of chocolate on Valentines Day." Shouta mumbled. It was a hurtful blow. Mostly because it was true. Hizashi always got a lot of gifts on Valentines Day, but he didn't know that Shouta had noticed. He didn't think Shouta cared about that stuff. Plus, Hizashi was pretty sure that the only reason he got so many and Shouta didn't is because Shouta wasn't exactly approachable. Most of the students were just a little bit afraid of him. Which worked in Hizashi's favor usually, but right now it was pissing him off. 

"Shouta, that doesn't mean anything." Hizashi tried to argue.

"You could pick anyone in this entire school." The words were muffled. Hizashi knew he'd buried his face in his arms or something. 

More importantly, it sounded like there was a second part to that sentence. 

You could pick anyone in this entire school... so why would you ever pick me?

Hizashi didn't want to get his hopes up or assume anything, he really was terrible at reading between the lines usually and Shouta was blunt usually, but it made enough sense to him to warrant a small sort-of-confession. 

"Yeah, well, I'd still pick you. So, if this loser you like wouldn't then it's his own loss." Hizashi grumbled. Shouta was quiet for exactly 11 seconds. Hizashi counted. Mississippi's and everything included. 

"You would?" The question was almost hopeful, soft and quiet, though not muffled anymore. Shouta was probably looking in his direction now, even though he wouldn't be seeing anything. 

"Of course I would. You're a total catch, ya dig?" Hizashi answered, trying to make it sincere but still lighthearted. 

Hizashi had no idea what Shouta might have done or said next because unfortunately they were both rudely blinded when Nemuri yanked the closet door open and smirked at them. 

"The two of you are impossible. We waited 20 minutes for you to come out then went on with the game. Now it's time for us all to go home and you're lucky I'm not mean enough to let this continue past Shouta's curfew." She cocked an eyebrow and sauntered off. The rest of their friends were already dispersing. 

Had they really been in that closet for that long?

Hizashi and Shouta continued just like they normally would, walking together toward the apartment Shouta lived in with his dad. 

The lingering awkwardness faded pretty quickly as Hizashi got back into the groove of talking Shouta's ear off about whatever came to mind. Their walk wasn't far and when they reached the steps that would take Shouta up to his front door, Hizashi got ready to turn back and head home himself, but Shouta stopped him. 

"Hey 'Zashi?" He called. 

"Yeah?" Hizashi answered turning to look at him. 

"Why do you walk me home when you live in the opposite direction?" 

"Why wouldn't I?" Hizashi challenged. 

"It's illogical." Shouta defended. 

"Is not. I like doing it and that's all the logic I need." Hizashi shrugged. 

Shouta considered this for a moment before adjusting the backpack on his shoulder and closing the distance between the two of them. Hizashi nearly fell backwards because Shouta came so close. There was a serious lack of breathing space between them. It was making Hizashi sweat. 

Shouta seemed to be watching him very closely, which was tragic because Hizashi was pretty sure he was the same color as a stop sign at this point. 

Then, without any sort of warning whatsoever, Shouta kissed him right on the lips. 

Hizashi hardly felt it because his brain was busy rebooting, so naturally, when Shouta pulled back and Hizashi saw the fear on his face, only one thing made any sense. 

Hizashi dropped the messenger bag he was holding and grabbed Shouta, pulling him back in for another kiss. One he felt all the way down to his toes. 

It was only several months later, that Shouta admitted to having known that their time in the closet was over far before Nemuri opened the door, and that he'd wanted to kiss Hizashi then, but was afraid it would go wrong on account of it being so dark. 

Nemuri, of course, thought the entire thing was hilarious and never did let them live it down. 

She even mentioned it in her toast at their wedding.