@merrysband / don’t be shy, go on and kiss the boy.
( 1/5 ) — accidental seroroki kiss.
it’s somewhat weird, getting to know Hanta this way. they’d been rooming next to each other for so long, and yet, they hadn’t started talking this regularly until a couple weeks ago. there’d been a lot of things Shouto noticed since then, like how tall Hanta really stood or how he was so constantly checking up on him that they may as well just agree to eat every meal together.
the thing Shouto had noticed the most, though, was that he was falling and falling hard.
Hanta had become a new constant in his life that Shouto couldn’t — and more importantly, didn’t want to — get rid of. they’d settled into this relaxed, friendly routine. Shouto swore on his life, almost every day, Hanta checked on him, made sure he ate, and if he didn’t, they ended up getting food together. more often than not, Shouto simply stole bites from Hanta’s plate, because his stomach felt too jittery to eat anything.
Shouto’s not stupid. he knows what a crush is. he knows this fluttering feeling in his chest is something gentle and new, and it grew faster than he could control, spiraling out of control like a raging fire.
there were two options for him: he could swallow his feelings, lock them behind an ice lock until the embers of attraction fizzled out, or he could suck it the hell up and do something about it.
frankly, he’d been perfectly content with the first option at first.
but the more he tries to stifle the burning embers, the more they spark, the more the fire burns and he should’ve known from the start that fire is not stopped by ice, and he cannot hide behind a mask of indifference when his whole body trembles every time his classmate smiles.
the thing is, Shouto has absolutely no experience with love. movies aren’t reliable, and it’s not like he’s had any sort of role models throughout his life. so he sucks it up, does his research, and finds a fairly foolproof way to handle this situation ( he tells himself it’s a good plan, but he knows deep down he’s about to make a gigantic fool of himself ).
he’s sitting across from Hanta in his room — a really bad idea, he now realizes — and no amount of wanting to pass this test is going to make him want to study. he wants to figure this out, figure out where they stand, where they could stand, because he’s still not sure Hanta looks at him like that. sure, the guy calls him pretty, but so does everyone else.
in the end, Shouto chickens out. he can’t ask, can’t handle the idea that he would shatter this fragile serenity that made his chest so warm. no, he’d definitely rather die than make anything change for the worst. he’d already frozen the guy in a glacier, plus put him through unimaginable amounts of his own self-loathing, so what right does he have to just reach out and kiss him?
❝ I’m going to get some tea, ❞ he says, because he can’t focus even as he stands, hands trembling from his own failure. ❝ do you want anyth—? ❞
what Shouto doesn’t expect is taking a blind step forward, despite knowing their books are laid out between them, and finding that his foot doesn’t find purchase with the glossy pages of Hanta’s English textbook. he’s teetering before he can stop himself, and even though he flings his right arm out for purchase, he grabs Hanta instead of making ice to stop his fall.
he collapses quite unceremoniously onto the other, and his knees protest at the impact. limbs tangle and he doesn’t even register it until they’re too close. call him cliche, but this was literally a scene from a manga and he didn’t care, savoring for just a moment how warm Hanta’s lips are against him.
he almost doesn’t pull away, but he feels heat rising in his chest and knows what’s about to happen, know he’s so worked up he can’t control himself, so he scrambles to put a bit of distance between their faces before flames spread to life across the left side of his face, licking at his hair mockingly.
great. he can’t speak, he’s so red, he’s accidentally kissed his newest friend and he was on fire. nimble fingers rise to touch his lips, to savor the tingling against his skin for just another moment before he sticks his foot in his mouth.
❝ I am so fucking sorry. ❞
he’s not. maybe that’s not how he wanted it to go, but if he was possibly only going to kiss Hanta once, he supposes this was as good a kiss as any.
