Resisting the urge to look over at the group of guys snickering and talking loudly about him, Hinata forces his attention back to his boyfriend, who's clearly waiting for an answer for something he just said.

"Sorry, what was that?" Hinata asks, wincing as a fresh outburst of mean laughter comes from behind him. It's the first time he's visited Souda in the machine shop, and he's already regretting coming; no one else had given them problems for being together until now.

"I asked if you wanted to come over this weekend," Souda says. He motions for Hinata to pass him a wrench from his open toolbox and turns back to the speaker he's working on. "We could go see a movie or somethin', my dad's lettin' me borrow the truck. Just lemme know if you got plans already or not."

Hinata scowls at the mention of Souda's dad; he's guessed a lot of things about how Souda is treated at home, but he doesn't mention anything, and Souda's never brought it up. Either way, he can't stand his boyfriend's dad. He has the feeling Souda's dad can't stand him, either. But being allowed to take the truck means they can go anywhere, so he's at least happy about that.

The group of guy is still staring at them and smirking. Hinata shifts on top of the desk on which he's sitting. All he wants is for them to go back to working on their projects; he and Souda aren't even doing anything interesting, they're just talking. He doesn't want the situation to escalate into something worse. Souda doesn't even seem to notice the guys' loud comments and hoots of laughter, he's entirely focused on his work and conversation.

"Yeah, that would be fun, it's been a while since I saw a movie in theatres. I don't think I have anything going on. Want me to just go home with you on Friday?" Hinata says, but he's not really thinking about the plans being made.

"Sure thing, that'll be easiest," Souda replies in an easy tone. He waves his hand again and Hinata passes him his welding mask – custom designed with pink flames painted on it – and he starts up a flame, melting the metal of the speaker in neat lines. Hinata enjoys watching Souda work; his hands are capable when he's holding tools, and he knows exactly how to make everything work. The muscles of his arms shift and flex and Hinata admits that he stares; it's more adoration than anything else. The flame of the welding torch is reflected on the glass of his mask. Hinata can just barely make out Souda's eyes, brown hidden behind both his mask and glasses (he's not allowed to wear his striking pink contacts in the shop in case they melt – an image that makes Hinata shudder to think about).

Finished, Souda pulls off his mask and adjusts his glasses. He examines his welding work, running a gloved finger over the area; Hinata can hear him humming a nonsense song to himself. Souda stands up and stretches. He turns around, welding torch still in hand, and grins at his boyfriend.

"You're hot stuff," Hinata says, and Souda laughs and flicks the flame of the torch for a second.

Unfortunately for them, the group of guys had heard Hinata's comment and takes the opportunity to start yelling over at them, wolf-whistling and making inappropriate gestures.

"Which one's the chick?"

"Hope's Peak's fairies are here!"

"Fags!"

The two freeze, Souda clutching the welding torch, Hinata on the desk, staring at his hands. He can feel his face going red; can't unclench his hands; can't feel his legs; can feel his eyes burning. The jeers and yells from the guys are ringing in his ears. Hinata hopes against hope that it won't escalate, that it'll only be harsh words and nothing more. Just as he's preparing to get up and leave, he sees Souda move out of the corner of his eye and he jerks his head up –

– only to come face to face with Souda. Startled, Hinata moves away out of reflex but Souda gently puts his hand on his boyfriend's shoulder to hold him steady.

"Hey," Souda whispers, and kisses Hinata softly on the mouth.

Hinata pauses at the contact; his eyes are still open when Souda pulls away. The guys are even louder in the background as Hinata stares at his boyfriend, perplexed.

"Might as well give 'em somethin' to actually yell about," Souda says. Hinata blinks, and then grins.

"You bastard," he says, before tangling his hands in Souda's pink hair and pulling him down for another kiss. He's still painfully aware of the rude comments and loud assholery coming from behind them, but since they don't have any other plan, he goes along with it.

The kiss isn't anything special, just plain and closed-mouth, both uncomfortable by the continued shouts from the group. Hinata can feel Souda's skin burning against his own, but he doesn't want to back down, doesn't want the guys to know he's bothered. After about a minute of kissing, the taunting lowers in volume; confusion is radiating from the group. The two keep giving each other small playful kisses, and the laughter and yelling in the background starts to die out quickly, leaving a tense silence. Hinata laughs and smacks Souda lightly on the head when Souda goes to kiss him on the nose but licks him instead. He ducks away from the next one, catching Souda around his waist and pulling him close. Sneaking a glance at the guys, he catches them all staring; some look disgusted, others just look dumbfounded, but all of them look awkward and uncomfortable. Seeing Hinata looking at them, they all turn around and start working on their projects. There's one last audible mutter of "fuckin' gays" before silence settles in the shop.

Souda looks smug through the pink flush on his face. Readjusting his hat, he sticks his tongue out at Hinata and grins.

"I've had better plans, but I s'pose that wasn't too bad," Souda says cheekily. Hinata rolls his eyes and rubs the back of his neck. He hopes that'll be the worst encounter they'll have to face.

The first bell rings to signal the end of class, and the group of guys pack up as fast as possible and scoot out of the room, giving a wide berth to where Hinata and Souda are sitting. Alone in the room, Souda shifts a bit closer to Hinata, still standing between his legs with Hinata's hand on his waist; his eyes glance quickly down at his boyfriend's lips.

"So, where's my thank you for getting rid of those dudes?" Souda says under his breath.

"Oh, Kazuichi, thank you for saving me. My kingdom couldn't have done it without you," Hinata's voice is monotone. "How do I love thee, let me count the ways."

"One," Souda finishes, and leans in to kiss his boyfriend. It's different from before, now that they're not putting on a reluctant show for anyone; there's a bit more pressure, more pushing back and forth, less awareness of surroundings.

Hinata's lips are chapped and slightly bumpy from all the healing bite marks – Souda still hasn't gotten the hang of not cutting everything his teeth get near. When Souda touches his boyfriend's lips with his tongue, he can taste the slightest hint of blood and realises he must've cut Hinata's lip again, but Hinata either doesn't know or care.

Hinata opens his mouth and curls his hand around Souda's waist protectively; his jumpsuit fabric is thick and kind of scratchy, and he smells like motor oil, but these are things that Hinata loves about Souda. They're unique to him.

Just as things are starting to heat up – Hinata's hand is creeping ever lower, Souda moving closer between Hinata's legs – the warning bell rings, slamming them unceremoniously back to the present. They move away from each other out of surprise, flushing red at the realisation of what they had been doing inside the school. And then flushing even deeper when loud footsteps make their way out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

"So did one of them just -"

"Seems like it, yeah."

"There the whole time?"

"Guess so."

Hinata makes a noise of embarrassment and hides his face in his hands, wishing he could melt off the desk and disappear through the floor. Apparently they had given more of a show than they had thought. But he's encouraged just the tiniest bit by the fact that the lone person hadn't made any remarks or rude comments, and seemed more embarrassed than them about it; for that, he's grateful.

"Shit, okay, we're definitely late now," Souda says, looking at the clock. "Wanna just skip?"

"It's only like, 5 minutes into class, dude," Hinata says. He laughs thinking about how Souda takes any opportunity to skip classes that aren't machine shop. Since Hinata's a reserve student, he can't miss too many days, but he still does now and then for the hell of it.

"Yeah, but it's not like we can just show up lookin' like this anyway," Souda says, and gestures at both of them. His hair is tangled and hat off-kilter, and Hinata can imagine how dishevelled he is as well. "C'mon, Hajime, let's just go back to the dorm or somethin'."

"Why don't we stay here so you can work on your project more? There doesn't seem to be another class coming in."

"I'm already finished it. But there's somethin' I didn't finish here," Souda says and smirks, putting his hand on one of Hinata's thighs. Hinata looks at his boyfriend and smiles slowly.

"Oh, Kazuichi, my saviour," he says, in the same monotone from before. Hinata just hopes there are no more secret watchers this time.