Teenage Haze

正月 • The New Year

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By December 31st  Christmas was a distant memory.

The week after that holiday, the two had been nearly inseparable, always laughing or smiling waking about one of their homes.

New Year's Eve day, they sat in the Bakugo's kitchen, plating four little kagami mochi on a pretty pedestal, taking care to make them each perfect for the year's turning that evening. Of course their mothers had put them up to it, but nonetheless they were determined to make the display as nice as possible.

When it was finished, the setting sun poured through windows and they hurried upstairs to get dressed for the night's festivities.

They were headed to a small overnight party with a few friends at Yaomomo's family beach house. Though the location seemed odd, that beach was one of the best fireworks viewing places in town, as they shot the display right over the ocean.

Neither had much to do in the way of getting ready, Kirishima wanted to spike his hair a bit and Katsuki just put on an old varsity jacket— a jacket Eijiro had always liked on him.

They grabbed a tray of snacks and waved goodbye to Mistuki and her husband, heading out to Katsuki's parked car. The snow had cleared for a few days, leaving a miraculous bout of clear skies and chilly drafts.

Nice weather aside, the beach was a decent drive from their neighborhood but it seemed the time passed quickly in their ceaseless conversation. When they did arrive, parking was easy to find on the lengthy driveway, and a short walk to the front door allowed them to fully admire the home.

The house sprawled over the dune's edges, comparatively small to the Yaoyorozu's regular home, the modern place glowed with light from inside. Murmuring still rather impressed, the two knocked on the large french doors.

Answering the knocks stood Mina, one of their closer friends. She smiled brightly and ushered them in taking their tray of snacks to a table of many others, her iridescent jacket shimmering beneath the fancy light fixtures.

The home's kitchen and living room brimmed with teenagers, all cheery classmates enjoying themselves with plates of food and chatter.

They wove through the crowd, blurting hellos and generic small-talk as the moon rose steadily in the inky sky, rising tensions alongside it.

An hour to midnight, the fireworks began. All around the city, suburbs, and that stretch of beach, fireworks exploded in a blaze of glittering light.

Gathering at the porch and windows, the class admired the brilliant spectacle. There was some small hullabaloo but while Kirishima went to investigate, Bakugo stayed on the deck step where he'd been sitting, fiddling with a bottle cap he'd discovered on the railing.

It was truly pretty that night, his hair ruffling gently in the chilled wind as waves lapped atop the shore, reflecting the colorful explosions decorating the night sky. A crackle danced his palm like a fizzled out sparkler, gasping it's last breath as it's fire died.

Dissatisfied he tucked the hand back in warm pocket and gazed at a whistling golden plume splattering glamorously over his head. And abruptly, Kirishima returned, plopping down beside him, holding a bottle.

"Root beer?" The blond guessed, not bothering to look.

"Nah, not quite..."