Work Text:
The night air was cool and thin, the humidity being lower than usual. Sixteen students sat upon the grassy hills of the Hopes Peak courtyard, arranged on picnic blankets and pillows. Among them, two boys were lying down on the grass.
"I wish we could see the stars," Xander spoke, staring wistfully into the cloudy sky. Somewhere far away from them, they could hear the bickering of Ace and Nico. They heard Hu chide them, grabbing onto Ace's ear.
"We can rarely see the stars from here. The moon looks pretty tonight, though." David glanced over, checking for his reaction. However, Xander's expression never changed. He sighed. Why should he have expected him to know Japanese love confessions? "The fireworks are starting soon." This time, the rebel winced. "Oh. Cool." Eventually, yellow flashed through the sky, a burst of color filling the blank space between the moon and the clouds. As the firework exploded and remnants of it rained down, Xander covered his ears with his gloved hands. The noise had been louder than either of them had expected. But it wasn't that loud.
"Are you alright?" David asked. While saying this, another firework exploded near them, louder and bigger. The red-haired man dug his nails into the hair above his ears. His eyes were blown wide and his breathing was getting heavier. "Xander." He grabbed his chin and forced him to make eye contact.
"Do you wanna leave?" David asked. Xander nodded desperately.
David pulled him up, ignoring the way Veronika giggled and Whit whistled at them while they walked over to the school. The halls were dark and gloomy, a dark aura cast over the place. "Jeez. Do they not keep any lights on at night?" David sat Xander down on one of the benches, taking a seat next to him.
"You should have told me."
Xander screwed his eyes shut. His fingers gripped the bench. Finally, he glanced over at the other man. "I didn't want you to see me as a coward. What kind of a revolutionist is afraid of loud noises?" His eyebrows turned upwards along with a crazed smile across his face. David frowned. "Is it all loud noises? Or just sudden ones? Or maybe only stuff like fireworks and cannons?"
"I hoped only gunshots triggered it. I was wrong." He sniffled. The speaker hesitantly set his hand on Xander's knee. The boy seemed to stiffen at first but relaxed after a few seconds.
"I'm sorry about all of this. You should go back out and enjoy the show." Faintly, he could hear fireworks blasting off outside. David noticed that his eyes had faded from yellow to gray. He looked... sad. That was when he made his decision. Xander didn't deserve sadness. So he would make it go away. His heart was beating faster than it ever had. For the first time in a while, he was nervous.
"Can I... do something?" He scooted closer. The red-haired boy looked up with an eyebrow raised. He nodded.
And with that, David hugged him. They hadn't hugged before. Xander's body went frozen in shock but he hugged back nonetheless. They continued to embrace each other until the speaker could hear the rebel's sobs into his shoulder. Wet tears stained his uniform. Xander was shaking hard.
Outside, he could listen closely to the sounds of Teruko telling Veronika to go away and Charles arguing (having sexual tension) with Whit.
He pulled back. With a shaky breath, he sat up and swept Xander's bangs to the right, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
"Why don't we go back to the dorms? I'll make you some tea. What kind would you like?" David pulled him up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Do you have cinnamon?"