Hizashi walked to the restaurant slowly. At first he was going to tell Nemuri that he wasn't going to join them for dinner, just so he could avoid more time with a certain person.
Unfortunately, he had a thing for hotpot and he wasn't going to miss the chance of enjoying it with the group.
He could see that they were already waiting for him in the building when he arrived. He was never early, always either late or right on time and he constantly felt guilty about having others wait.
He took out his phone and turned airplane mode on, but not before checking some of his social media.
Hizashi spotted the dark-haired, tired-looking man immediately out of the energetic, talkative group of people he sat next to. He stuck out like a sore thumb, wearing all black and dark gray while the rest wore normal clothes like normal people. His dark hair fell down the sides of his face as well, covering the uninterested look on his face.
Hizashi lowered his head and hoped he wouldn't recognize or remember him. To be fair, his hair was longer and in a bun and he had a mustache; slightly different from how he looked in high school when he had his hair gelled back in an attempt to look more fabulous than he already did. He hoped, again. He adjusted his glasses before walking closer.
"Hizashi!" Nemuri called, noticing him and waving him over. Maybe he won't remember my name either, Hizashi thought nervously.
He focused his attention on his friends, avoiding eye contact with the other man.
Toshinori, the other blond who looked rather skinny and frail, but Hizashi knew he was stronger than Hizashi on the inside. He looked stone cold but had a heart of gold.
He was sitting next to Tensei, the blue-haired man wearing glasses and giving the waiter their order that sounded more like instructions and demands. He was the most mature out of the group, most likely because he had a little brother to be an example for.
And Nemuri, the dark-haired woman whose confidence Hizashi had in high school but hadn't kept. Hizashi decided to sit next to her, as far away from the tired man as possible. He was staring at him, thinking.
"Toshinori!" Hizashi exclaimed anxiously, ignoring him as much as he could. "Long time no see, how've you been?"
"You." A gruff voice snapped before Toshinori could answer.
"Uh." Hizashi gulped, looking slowly towards the source of the voice. "Yeah, me. Hey, Shota. Long time as well...?"
Shota didn't answer. He must have recognized Hizashi's voice. He would have gotten up and left if it weren't for Toshinori grabbing his arm and pulling him back.
"Come on, Shota, it's been years," Toshinori said softly. "We're here to enjoy time together, not hold grudges."
"If you told me he was going to come I wouldn't be here," Shota muttered. He sat down and huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at Hizashi.
Hizashi uncomfortably cleared his throat under his gaze. The table was silent for a long time.
"You two never settled?" Tensei asked, ignoring the tension. "Toshinori told me you two were fine."
"I meant individually, not together," Toshinori murmured. He seemed like he regretted keeping Shota there, but he really didn't want to ruin the night.
Hizashi sighed. "Shota never spoke to me after that incident." He shrugged, glancing at the other man guiltily. He had messed up bad before. Really bad.
—<•>—
Hizashi had to admit, he had a crush on his polar opposite for a long time in high school.
At first, he found the tired teen to be interesting and just wanted to get to know him more.
Shota was always staring blankly into space during a boring class, then suddenly jotting something down in his notebook before staring again. Sometimes, Hizashi couldn't tell if he was just sleeping with his eyes open.
So, being the curious and hyperactive teen he was, he annoyed the hell out of Shota.
He asked questions about what he was writing down, what he was thinking instead of listening to the teacher, and other useless questions he didn't exactly remember the answers to.
"You're a writer?" Hizashi asked, peering over his glasses and at Shota's notebook. A rush of air blew into his face as Shota slammed his notebook shut. "Hey!"
"Yeah, I'm a writer. Like you and everyone else. We all write," Shota said sarcastically. "Go away."
"What are you writing?"
Hizashi would not stop asking him questions, and soon, Shota gave up and answered them in hopes he would run out.
That didn't happen.
"Can I read it?"
Shota immediately shook his head. He wouldn't let anyone read whatever was in his notebook except Toshinori, whom Hizashi has been friends with.
Eventually, Hizashi found out more about Shota through him. "You two were dating?"
It had been a bit too loud, apparently, as Toshinori shushed him. It was lunch time, and they were sitting alone, a few tables away from where Shota sat. "We were. It didn't work out well and we broke up but we still get along."
Hizashi could tell he was a bit uncomfortable, but to him, it made him excited and relieved. "Gee, that's one problem solved. I thought he might be straight!"
The befuddled expression Toshinori gave him would have made Hizashi embarrassed at the randomness of his words, but he could care less at that moment.
"Sounds like someone has a crush." Another voice interrupted their conversation. It was Nemuri, with a mischievous smile on her face as she sat down next to Hizashi.
"What? No, I was just wondering about him," Hizashi quickly denied. "What he writes and stuff."
"Sure," Nemuri teased. She nodded at Shota in the distance. "Shota's either gay or bisexual. I asked. You'd have a chance!"
"Nemuri!" Hizashi reddened. Shota would definitely despise someone who nonstops annoys him.
The next day, Nemuri made a proposal after school. Shota was packing up slowly, and the rest of the classroom was empty apart from him, Hizashi, Nemuri, and Toshinori.
"If I call him over you ask him out."
Nemuri started towards him before Hizashi could process her words. Toshinori chuckled. "You're screwed."
Hizashi stiffened as Shota walked over with Nemuri with a blank face. Fuck, he thought. He couldn't really like the lazy guy, could he?
He definitely could.
"What'd you want?" Shota asked nonchalantly to Hizashi, clueless.
Hizashi mumbled something under his breath, and all Shota heard was "out."
"I was going to." Shota shrugged up his backpack. "We were dismissed, after all."
"With me?" Hizashi added, face still blank but heat rising up his neck to his cheeks. "Date?"
"Study session with you? I'm free tomorrow."
The two onlookers never let that drop. Not even Toshinori.
Shota eventually got what they were getting at, to Hizashi's dismay and relief. The two gradually got along better after somewhat of a date at the library, though neither of them revealed any feelings for each other.
Being dense, Shota never found out until Nemuri outright told him. To Hizashi's surprise, Shota was actually relieved. Amazingly, they got around to first names, not that Shota cared much about it then. Hizashi finally got around to asking Shota on a date properly.
Shota learned that Hizashi was not as annoying as he thought. He just wanted to know what he was writing.
He even found that Hizashi did a similar thing, doodling on his classwork and seemingly not paying attention.
He has a big imagination, both Shota and Hizashi discovered about each other.
Shota was working on a fantasy and action story, making Hizashi amazed that the lazy-looking teen had an imagination.
"No wonder you're always staring out into space during class," Hizashi said. "Your fantasy world is definitely more interesting than class."
"Your doodling looks a lot more fun and a good way to pass time." Shota glanced over to Hizashi, who was biting the eraser end of his pencil. "You should stop that habit. It's bad for you."
"So is a lot of other things that you do."
After a few months in the school year, Shota trusted him enough to show him the story he'd been working on. He even agreed with the boyfriend title when Hizashi asked about it.
Hizashi had only asked a few times before Shota gave in and sent Hizashi the docs he wrote the story in, along with his Archive of Our Own account he had. He had a few short fan fiction stories, embarrassingly to him, but Hizashi didn't judge. They were in high school, after all.
Shota had Hizashi promise it would be a secret, with only them two and Toshinori knowing about the stories he wrote.
And that's where Hizashi messed up.
The story weren't bad, it was amazing, in fact. It was short and unfinished, but Shota's characters, world-building, grammar, plot, everything else made up for it and it was like it was an actual published book.
It was towards the end of the school year and Hizashi let it leak. Hizashi had asked Shota to share them on the Internet, make himself more popular and get the love he deserves for his work. Shota didn't want to, saying that he wrote for himself.
Hizashi made it his goal to get as much feedback from others to build up Shota's confidence to share it. Even Toshinori didn't oppose the idea as long as the author was anonymous.
However, Hizashi fucked up and the class somehow found out it was Shota's work and, though some didn't mean it, made fun of the fact that the quiet kid wrote such interesting stories. Some found his social media accounts and spread rumors out about Shota writing explicit stories.
It was all fun and games, Hizashi had thought, because the main story was receiving good feedback. Shota didn't think so. He was furious when he found out that Hizashi had leaked it.
"Come on, Sho, it can't be that bad!" Hizashi pleaded with Shota, an apologetic look on his face. "People liked it!"
"I asked for the story to be kept secret."
"Well, you remained secret."
"Not for long. How did they even find the Archive account?"
Shota's angry phase wasn't one Hizashi could handle. Shota wouldn't yell. He never did. Instead he glared down at Hizashi with such anger, mixed with disappointment and hatred. "You fucking told everyone in the class about the story. You didn't think no one would find out and spread rumors and jump on a bandwagon of them?"
"I know you don't like attention, but I tried my best to keep it anonymous! At least the attention wasn't toxic!"
"I care what people think." Shota's voice cracked in the middle of his sentence. If Hizashi didn't know any better, he'd guess that Shota was on the brink of breaking down. "I didn't want people to judge me! Even if it was good judgement!"
Shota was the last person Hizashi would guess to care about others' opinions on himself. "Shota—"
"Aizawa to you."
"Wha—"
"Yamada."