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Hinata’s hands were shaking before he even got his exam paper back. Please, please, please. His teacher set his graded exam face down on the lab bench in front of him, and Hinata held his breath as he flipped it over. Alright! 99%. Hinata smirked as he turned to face his lab partner (he used the term “partner” incredibly begrudgingly) and watched as a similar smirk appeared across Sakusa’s face.
“Bet you didn’t beat me, Sakusa,” Hinata spat out, smugly fanning himself with his paper. He fully expected his confidence to shake his rival, but Sakusa just continued to smirk.
“Oh, I bet you didn’t.” The guy’s tone was really rubbing Hinata the wrong way. What right did he have to claim that? Unless…
Sakusa flipped his exam paper around to show Hinata his shiny, triple-digit 100% marked in glittering red ink. God dammit.
Hinata’s entire mood flipped. He had studied for weeks for this exam. He had been so confident he could beat Sakusa this time. Only to be beaten by one measly percentage point. Ugh. What did he even get wrong?
Hinata raked over his paper, looking for the stray red mark that indicated his error. He found it near the top of a computation… he frowned. The steps he took had definitely been right. What was it then? Sakusa, meanwhile, had peered over his shoulder.
“Ha, looks like you should learn to read. The atomic mass of lithium is 6.9, not 5.9.”
Hinata furiously glanced between the periodic table of elements they were given as reference, and the number he wrote on his sheet. Seriously? Seriously?
“Agh, damn it!” Hinata shoved his paper into his bag before rounding on Sakusa. “Look here, Sakusa, I’m just as good as you. Why don’t we settle this for real?”
Sakusa casually slid off his stool, assuming his full height and towering over Hinata. Damn him.
“Fine. What do you propose?”
“Let’s meet at the abandoned chemistry lab. I challenge you to a—” Hinata stopped. Challenge him to a what, exactly?
Which is precisely what Sakusa just said as well. Damn him again.
“A… a…” Hinata snapped his fingers. “A chemistry-off!”
Sakusa snorted. “What the hell is a chemistry-off?”
To be perfectly honest, Hinata wasn’t sure what that was either. But he wasn’t about to admit that to Sakusa. “What, you don’t know? Scared are you?”
Sakusa narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Let’s have your chemistry-off. I’m sure I can beat you, whatever it is. Tonight, 12am.”
“Midnight?” Hinata barely managed to stop himself from wringing his hands together. The abandoned chemistry lab was pretty spooky even during the day.
“Yes, midnight. Unless you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared! You’d better come ready to get beaten.”
“I think it should be you preparing, Mr. 99%.”
Sakusa swept out of the room, leaving Hinata fuming at his empty stool.
Just before midnight, Hinata crept into the abandoned chemistry lab and shined his flashlight around the room. Empty. Where was the jerk, anyway?
Hinata checked the time on his phone. Well, guess he had a few minutes. Maybe he should run to the bathroom first.
It was right next to the lab, so perhaps he should have expected to bump into Sakusa there. The man was washing his hands carefully, taking care to scrub at each of his fingers and even under his nails. Maybe that’s what was taking him so long.
“Hinata,” Sakusa said curtly. “Ready to get trounced?”
“No—I mean—yes—I mean—agh.” Hinata ran his hands through his hair as Sakusa smirked, drying his hands with a hankie. Did he seriously just carry one of those in his pocket all the time?
Before Hinata could come up with an equally snarky remark though, an authoritative voice rang out from the hallway.
“Hey, is anyone here?”
Some footsteps passed by in front of the bathroom door.
Shit. Was that a security guard? They could get into some serious trouble if they were caught out of their dorms this late at night, and in this building, no less, which was permanently off-limits to students. Supposedly there were dangerous chemicals used in the building construction, and the school planned to renovate the entire section of the building sometime in the next semester.
Sakusa hastily pulled Hinata further into the bathroom, and (smartly, Hinata reluctantly admitted) slapped a hand over Hinata’s mouth before he could cry out at the sudden yank. Hinata felt Sakusa fumble behind him, and then a click of a switch plunged the bathroom into darkness.
“There’s a flashlight in here…” A muffled voice came from outside the door.
“You left your flashlight in there?” Sakusa hissed.
“Shut up, I needed some way to see, didn’t I?” Hinata whispered back.
The footsteps appeared to disappear down the hallway, and the two of them relaxed against the wall again.
“Maybe we should get out of here,” Hinata said.
“Oh, now who’s scared?” Sakusa said, although Hinata could detect a hint of fear in his words too.
Sakusa stepped around Hinata and fumbled for the light switch again. There was a quiet click, and the lights flashed on, only for there to be a small pop. Hinata had just enough time to see Sakusa’s face pull into a look of horror before the bathroom went dark once more.
“Well, that’s not good,” Hinata said.
“Stating the obvious again,” Sakusa said.
Hinata rolled his eyes before remembering Sakusa couldn’t see him. He settled for a short tch instead.
Sakusa made a small hmph and stepped around Hinata, sounding like he was fumbling his way to the door. He reached the handle and pulled. And pulled. And pulled.
“Uhh…” Sakusa said.
“What’s wrong? Not strong enough to open the door?”
“Oh shut up. I think it’s locked.”
“Locked?” Hinata felt panic race through him. Had the security guard locked it? He approached the door as well, banging his fist on the door. “Hello? Can anyone hear us?”
Sakusa’s voice joined him, as well as his fists. The two of them pounded on the door and shouted, but it seemed the security guard was no longer nearby.
“Well, shit. Now what?” Hinata said.
“I don’t know, this was your bright idea!”
“There’s usually construction people around in the morning, right? We’ll just have to wait till then.”
“Oh great. Eight hours locked in a bathroom with you of all people.”
“Okay, what is your problem? What did I ever do to you?”
“I don’t know, why the hell did you challenge me to your stupid ‘chemistry-off’? What the heck was that supposed to be, anyway?”
“Ugh! I don’t know, quizzing each other on chemistry?”
“Seriously? Why does that even matter?”
“It matters! I’ve never beaten you in a chemistry exam.”
“You mean this year. Last year you beat me on every one.”
“Wait, what?”
“You don’t remember? I guess we weren’t lab partners then.”
“I didn’t even realize we were in the same class.” Hinata’s eyes had adjusted enough to notice Sakusa wince at his remark.
“Right, I see.”
“Sorry,” Hinata said. Sakusa was pretty quiet, but Hinata still felt awful for not having realized.
“No, it’s okay. You aren’t expected to know everyone.”
“It’s not okay, I—” Hinata took a deep breath. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize someone as smart as you was in the same class as me. I’m sorry. I wish I had known you earlier.”
Sakusa stared at him, face unmoving, and Hinata felt more words tumble from his mouth before he could stop himself. “You motivated me to really study this year, and you’re actually the most reliable lab partner I’ve ever had, and I—” Hinata looked up at Sakusa, realizing for the first time: “I actually really admire you.”
“I—” Sakusa swept a hand through his curly locks. Hinata had never seen Sakusa looking so… frazzled. “I really admire you too, Hinata. Truly.”
Hinata exhaled. “Maybe it’s kind of silly that we’ve been competing then, huh.”
“Competing is fine. I think it’s motivating too,” Sakusa said. “But we don’t need to be enemies.”
Hinata nodded. “I think you’re right. We could be friends! Or more!”
“More than friends?” Sakusa seemed to think this over, a puzzled expression crossing his face. “Like this?”
Sakusa leaned down and pecked him on the lips, completely catching Hinata off-guard. With the simple action, Sakusa, who Hinata had considered mere moments ago to be a fierce rival, managed to render Hinata completely speechless.
Hinata stared wide-eyed back at his lab partner, mouth gaping as he tried to remember what he was going to say. “I—I—” What was he going to say? Hinata swallowed. “I was going to say good friends or even best friends,” Hinata squeaked.
But… but that was nice. He wouldn’t mind another kiss like that. Or more, even.
“Oh god.” Sakusa, meanwhile, was pressed back against the door, covering his face with his hands. “I’m sorry, I completely misunderstood.”
“N-no! Wait!” Hinata wrenched Sakusa’s hands away and tugged him back down, locking their lips together again. Sakusa stiffened for a second, and then Hinata felt Sakusa’s arms hug him close, and the kiss deepened.
Hinata sighed in his lab partner’s mouth. He wouldn’t have minded if they stayed like this forever, even if it meant they’d never leave the bathroom. Sparks of pleasure ran through his body, and Sakusa seemed to be into this too, given the little noises he was making as Hinata explored with his tongue.
Maybe rivalry was just intense passion, after all.
At some point during their awkward (but still lovely) first-time fumbling, Hinata felt his jacket sleeve hook onto the door handle. At first he just let it be, but eventually he wanted to run his hands along Sakusa’s back and through his hair, so he wiggled his arm to try and free it.
The handle turned downwards, and, fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately, for the sake of their make-out), Sakusa chose that same moment to kiss Hinata deeper still, causing Hinata to lean his entire weight against the door. The door pushed open, and the two of them tumbled out onto the dusty corridor outside, landing in a heap on top of each other.
Hinata peered down at Sakusa, who was gaping back up at him.
“Sakusa… don’t tell me…”
Sakusa blinked, at least having the decency to look a bit ashamed at his error. “Oh shut up,” he said, making sure of it by yanking Hinata down again into another kiss.
The next day of chemistry class, there were a few titters through the lab as they sat down holding hands, partners in more than just the “lab” sense this time.