"That was actually kinda fun," Maemi said, referring to their earlier dance.
"Yeah, I like it," Hiro agreed.
"Kinda makes you tired, though." Her hand was pressed to her chest as she took in deep breaths.
"It's supposed to. It's an exercise as well as a dance."
"No kidding."
"Two bottles of water," Hiro said to the lady in the concession stand. She fished two out of the ice-filled cooler and set it on the counter.
"One dollar," she said.
Hiro dug a dollar bill out of her pocket and gave it to her, then picked up the bottles. The ice-cold water cooled his throat. He handed the second one to Maemi.
"Thanks." She twisted the lid off and drank deeply. They walked back to where Haku was sitting. "You sure Haku won't get jealous?" she asked, slightly smiling with one brow up.
"Oh, no. It's a dance. He won't care. Haku's not the jealous type," Hiro replied. "If anything, I'm the jealous one. I never like anyone near him. Like this one time, we were at a convenience store getting some soda..." He sat down next to Haku and Maemi sat on his other side. "Hey Haku, I'm telling Maemi the story of when we were at that convenience store."
"Oh God." Haku face-palmed.
Hiro went on, "So we were at the counter paying for the sodas. The cashier was a female. I think she assumed we were just friends and decided to start flirting with my Haku."
"What'd you do?" Maemi asked.
"I hit her with my bottle of soda and then shoved her head through the lottery ticket rack," Hiro replied.
"Then he grabbed me and screamed about how I was his property for several minutes," Haku added. "Then Hiro destroyed the security camera, hacked into the system to get the footage of us off, and we left before the police got there."
"Sounds like a lot of fun." Maemi took another long drink of water.
"Yeah, it was," Hiro agreed.
The current song ended and a familiar voice said, "All right, now this is something new."
"IT'S THE CHA-CHA SLIDE!" Haku shouted, jumping up. He grabbed Hiro's arm. "I love this song!"
"Oh, yeah, me too— let's go." Hiro ran with him to the front of the crowd of students that were now on the dance floor. Only a few people remained sitting down. Even Maemi decided to go out there.
"This time, we're gonna get FUNKY!" the song rapped. Everyone sang along, clapping lightly to the beat and swaying from side to side. "FUNKY! Everybody clap your hands! Clap, clap, clap your hands!"
This song was an all-time favorite at dances. Everyone's heard it since middle school. It told you exactly how to dance to it in the lyrics. And it was a lot of fun.
"You really like this song, don't you?" Hiro asked as Haku sang along to several of the lyrics.
"Cha-cha now, y'all!" Haku replied.
Soon, the song reached the part everybody always sings along with.
"FREEZE!" all the students roared. "EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS!" Fast, rhythmic clapping filled the gym.
When the song finally ended, everyone laughed and shouted, "Peace" along with the singer, many of them doing the peace sign with their hands. Then most of them sat down while some stayed on the floor to dance to the next song.
"That was fun," Haku said, looking around as others started dancing around them.
"Yeah, it always is. Come on, let's sit down." Hiro went to sit down on the nearby bleachers. Haku sat next to him and leaned in close, putting an arm around him. He played with the homecoming king banner crossing over one of Hiro's shoulders. Then he reached up to fix his crown. Hiro did the same, adjusting the crown that had started to slip sideways on Haku's head.
"Where's Maemi?" Haku asked in a surprisingly calm voice. He was very relaxed right now, watching everyone dance while cuddling with his boyfriend and listening to good music.
Hiro scanned the dark gym and located her. "There she is. Taking with Haruto and Tokagé."
"Huh. Unexpected, but good nonetheless. At least she's having fun." Haku rested his head against Hiro's chest. "Everyone is."
"Even us," Hiro said quietly.
Haku nodded. "Even us."
The rest of the night passed by quickly until it was time for the final song. The lights came up. Couples that were dancing a bit inappropriately quickly jumped apart and pretended to be innocent.
"Come on, we have to dance to this one," Haku said, standing up.
"Okay. Let's go." The two walked to the middle of the floor.
The song started playing.
"Wait, I know this..." Hiro said slowly.
Haku smiled. "I sent it in. In case we won, I wanted them to play it. I thought it was really good for us." Despite being shorter, he led the slow dance, hands resting gently on Hiro's waist.
"I got a funny feeling," Toby Keith's voice sang gently over the loudspeakers. "The moment that your lips touched mine, somethin' shot right through me... my heart skipped a beat in time..."
"Everyone's watching us," Hiro muttered, looking around a bit at the sight of everyone forming a wide circle around them, eyes on them.
"Let them watch," Haku replied, standing taller to kiss him briefly.
"There's a different feel about you tonight... it's got me thinking lots of crazy things... I even think I saw a flash of light... It felt like electricity..."
Haku shifted his arms up a little bit to the middle of Hiro's back, leaning in to rest his head under the boy's chin.
Hiro put an arm around Haku's waist. The other reached around his shoulder so he could rest his hand gently on his shoulders.
The watching crowd sighed quietly, enjoying the sweet interaction between the two as they swayed in time to the song. The chorus started.
"You shouldn't kiss me like this, unless you mean it like that... 'Cause I'll just close my eyes and I won't know where I'm at... We'll get lost on this dance floor spinning around. And around, and around, and around..."
The two almost were forgetting where they were. They didn't care that everyone else was watching them. They only cared about being together.
"That's real love," Tokagé whispered to Joiku, who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, being able to overlook such trivial boundaries as gender," Jooku mumbled just as quietly. "I can just see the love in the way they're holding each other and in their eyes..."
The song continued to play softly in the background. "They're all watching us now; they think we're falling in love. They'll never believe we're just friends..."
"Falling in love?" Hiro asked. "We're already in love."
"Yeah, but songs can't be perfect," Haku replied. His eyes had fallen into a half-lidded expression, but there seemed to be a fire smoldering in their depths. Even in this slow dance, his passion for his boyfriend was evident.
A few other couples also braved the floor, dancing near them. Ryuken and Tsushira were barely five yards away.
When the song ended, Haku raised a hand to cup Hiro's cheek, gazing at him warmly. Hiro leaned him back and kissed him gently, holding his head close. His other hand slipped from his waist and simply hung at his side, but he didn't bother fixing it. To keep his balance, Haku grabbed Hiro's back with the hand that wasn't resting on Hiro's cheek.
Everyone clapped lightly and cheered for them. Some of the girls even cried with joy.
The two separated and smiled at each other.
"Best dance of my life," Hiro said quietly.
"The best dance of your life so far," Haku corrected him, tapping his nose with a finger.
"Your homecoming kings, everyone!" Present Mic announced. Everyone cheered loudly.
Present Mic took the microphone. "See, this is what love's all about. I think you all can learn from these two. Haku? Hiro? Anything you'd like to say?"
"Yeah, I want to say something." Haku accepted the mic. He gave everyone a very serious look. "I have a piece of advice for all of you. If society ever tries to tell you that your love is wrong, don't listen to them. Get in their face and refuse to conform to their standards. You're free to love whoever you want! Look at us! We're not hurting anyone! Our love is not immoral! Hear the words of Haku!!" He held his arms up and loud claps came back to him.
"You are so good at giving speeches," Hiro said with a hint of jealousy.
"I just have a talent for it," Haku replied. He returned the mic to the principal and held Hiro close while the dance was officially ended. The strobe lights stopped and everything was turned off. The two of them stayed behind to help put equipment away and take down decorations.
When they finally finished, it was around midnight. Yawning, they said goodbye to the few remaining adults and left.
The two were happy, smiling as they walked back to the dorms. They met up with Tsushira and Ryuken on the way back and laughed together as they talked.
It was an eventful homecoming, to say the least. The best one Hiro and Haku ever had.