day one: komahina

Hajime Hinata was never a big fan of parties. He'd go to them if he felt it was necessary, but would mostly stay back and watch instead of joining in. Normally he'd stay home and try to study after giving some excuse as to why he couldn't go.
Until Ibuki Mioda showed up.

Ibuki, unlike Hajime, loved going to parties. She'd hold her own and was usually invited to every party anyone else would hold. She was an entertainer, after all. She knew how to get people excited. And she knew how to convince people.

She was good at convincing people.

"Hajime!" Ibuki's voice suddenly rang from outside Hajime's door, startling the boy inside. Ibuki was nice to have around, but she showed up uninvited often...
He opened the door anyway, watching as the girl wormed her way inside and collapsed on his couch. Hajime turned to look at her, blinking confusedly. "Uh... How are you?" He asked awkwardly.
Ibuki then jumped up from the couch, rushing over to Hajime and grabbing his shoulders. "You need to come to my house tonight."

"Huh? Why?" Hajime said quickly, looking at the girl confusedly. She glared back at him, her expression unusually serious. "Because. You just have to."

"...Explain more, please."

"Everyone else is gonna be there. You HAVE to be there."

"You're throwing a party, aren't you?"

Ibuki grinned, letting go of Hajime and clasping her hands in front of her. "Please? I know you hate parties but this one's gonna be fun! I promise!"

"The last time you told me a party would be fun, I had to help Kazuichi out of a flower bed after you guys got him drunk and threw him out of a window."

"Okay, okay. So that party got a little crazy. But this one won't be as crazy as that one, okay? C'mon, Hajime, you have to let loose sometime!"

Hajime stared at Ibuki as she blinked at him with her head tilted, a grin appearing on her face. Something stirred in him, something that usually started up when Ibuki was trying to convince him to do something. Something that forced him to speak.

"Okay, fine," he said somewhat subconsciously, "I'll go. Only if you come and get me."

"Deal!" Ibuki said cheerfully, holding her hand out to Hajime. He reluctantly took it and rolled his eyes. "I'll see you tonight!" She waved as she rushed back out of the door, leaving only a slight sense of dread in the pit of Hajime's stomach. Why did he agree to this..?

As Hajime sat on his couch in a decent outfit that he had scrounged up - it was just jeans and an old band t-shirt - a knock erupted at the door. Hajime pulled himself off the couch and sighed, trudging to the door and opening it fully knowing what to expect.

Ibuki, dressed in something she'd probably wear on stage, grabbed Hajime by his shirt collar and dragged him outside, smiling widely at him. "Can't change your mind now!" She announced as she slammed the door shut and dragged him over to her car. Hajime let himself be thrown around like a ragdoll. If he tried to resist, he'd just end up getting hurt.
He learned that the hard way once.

"Alright! Let's do this!" She cheered after she had forced Hajime down into her passenger seat like a police officer forcing a criminal into a police car. Without warning, she backed out of Hajime's driveway quite haphazardly and raced down the road, scaring Hajime enough for him to grip onto his seatbelt for dear life.

"Ibuki... Did you ever pass your driver's test?"
"Nope!"

Surprisingly enough, both Ibuki and Hajime lived the drive to her house. Even from outside, Hajime could hear music and yelling from inside. He stopped, his hand still on the door of Ibuki's car.

"...You said it wouldn't be as crazy as last time."

"It won't! Everything's louder outside! Besides... that's Kazuichi you hear. He's a lightweight. And loud-"

"You got him drunk again?!"

"He did it on free will! C'mon, let's go inside!" Ibuki ran over and grabbed Hajime's arm, closing the door to her car and dragging him inside. Once they were in, she slammed the door behind him and pushed him further into the house. "Go! Have fun! I gotta perform!"

Ibuki ran off, leaving Hajime confused and somewhat lost. He knew everyone around him, but... didn't like the setting. As he tried to get himself turned around, a hand reached out and grabbed onto his arm, making Hajime jump.

"Hajime! What's up, man?! I didn't expect to see you here!"

As Hajime looked towards the voice, he immediately recognized who it was. Pink hair rested wildly on the person's shoulders. A bright yellow jumpsuit was tied at their waist, revealing a bright white t-shirt underneath. When they grinned at Hajime, he could see the sharp, shark-like teeth they had.

"Kazuichi," Hajime sighed, trying to calm down. "I didn't expect to see me here either."

"Well, you're here now! C'mon, I wanna show you something!"

Kazuichi tightened his grip on Hajime's arm, dragging him through the crowded hallway and into the kitchen. It was emptier here, save for Fuyuhiko and Peko in the corner. Hajime tried to ignore them.

"Look!" Turning his attention back to Kazuichi, Hajime noticed that he was holding a red cup filled with a clear liquid in it. He carefully held it out to Hajime, grinning as usual.

"What's in that?" Hajime asked, reluctant to take the cup from him.
"Beats me! But it's good!" Kazuichi answered, only putting Hajime more on edge.

"Kazuichi... I don't think you should be drinking that if you don't know what's in it."

"It's just vodka," Fuyuhiko yelled from across the room. "Dumbass is just too drunk to remember it."

As much as Hajime didn't want to take the alcohol from Kazuichi, something inside him compelled him to do it. He felt himself move his arm to take the cup, but he didn't do it himself. It was almost as if he was being controlled.

Hajime had downed three full cups of vodka in ten minutes. Once he got his hands on the first one, everything spiraled. He was now in the crowd of people, yelling along with them as Ibuki used wooden pallets as a stage in her garage. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he felt better than he had in weeks. He didn't have to worry about school, or his friends, or anything. He could just let himself go. Let himself have fun for once.

He loved every second of it.

After Ibuki finished performing and resumed the music from her computer, she found Hajime again and convinced him to do yet another activity that he usually wouldn't.

"Hajime!" She called out to him from the crowd. Hajime turned, dropping the cup he currently had in his hand on a table nearby. "Yeah?" He asked.

"We're about to play spin the bottle in the living room, you should join us!" She gestured to the room behind her, grabbing his wrist and smiling up at him.

Now that he was almost completely out of it, Hajime agreed pretty easily. "Yeah, okay. What's the worst that could happen?"

Ibuki led Hajime back into the living room where almost everyone was sitting in a circle around an unlabeled brown bottle. Ibuki reclaimed her spot between Togami and Mahiru, announcing to everyone that the game was about to start. Hajime found a spot between Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi and cautiously sat next to the two. Kazuichi flashed a shark-toothed grin at Hajime as Ibuki grabbed the bottle to begin.

Hajime cheered along with everyone, laughing as people fearlessly took their turns. He was next after Kazuichi, so he started to pay attention now. As Kazuichi grabbed the bottle, Hajime could hear him whispering to himself.

"Please be Sonia, please be Sonia..." He muttered under his breath, crossing his fingers after he released the bottle.

Hajime followed the neck of the bottle as it traveled around the group, getting dangerously close to stopping on Sonia. It just passed her, however, and landed on the person sitting next to her.

It was Gundham.

Everyone in the group either cheered like a bunch of kindergarteners or burst out laughing. Hajime could see the moment the color drained from both Kazuichi and Gundham's faces.

Kazuichi protested along with Gundham, but Hajime could see Kazuichi's face start to redden out of either embarrassment or anger. After Ibuki borderline reprimanded them, Kazuichi quickly ended his turn and returned to his spot, pulling his black beanie down over his eyes. Hajime laughed along with everyone else, nudging Kazuichi with his elbow and teasing him. He just sunk lower into his seat.

Now that Kazuichi was sulking and Gundham was thoroughly embarrassed, it was Hajime's turn. He leaned in and pinched the bottle between his fingers, spinning it as fast as he could. He watched it carefully, his heart starting to race in his chest. As the bottle slowed to a stop, everyone fell silent. Hajime jolted upward, redirecting his gaze to whomever the bottle was pointing at.

The person who sat there wasn't there before.

Normally, the bottle would've pointed at Ibuki. It was facing right where she sat before, but the bottle wasn't pointed at her.

Nagito Komaeda looked down at the bottle facing him, then up to Hajime, blinking slowly.

"Huh, that's odd..." He mused, his green jacket sliding off his shoulders. "Some luck I have."

Hajime's heart stopped. He froze as his face quickly became hot, every muscle in his body tensing as if he was bracing for an attack.

"When did he sit there..?" He could faintly hear others whispering amongst themselves. "I've barely seen him here the whole time. Did anyone see him sit down?"

"Well, Hajime?" Nagito broke the rumbling silence, forcing Hajime to hold eye contact with him. Hajime's head was already fuzzy, but just looking at the pale boy in front of him made him feel even more disoriented. Nagito leaned closer to him, a smirk appearing on his lips. "It's just a little kiss. What's got you so worked up?" His voice was almost hypnotic. Everyone else watched as that same force that had been controlling Hajime all night brought him closer to Nagito, leaning up to him on his knees. Nagito silently moved up to him and sat on his knees, holding Hajime in place by snaking his hand up to the back of his neck.

"It doesn't mean anything. It's just a game," He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself instead of Hajime. The brown-haired boy reached up and set his hands on Nagito's shoulders, quickly pulling him in and pressing their lips together. The room became silent as the boys sat there. Nagito seemed almost surprised, jolting as Hajime pulled him in. After what felt like ages, they separated, staring at each other as if they had forgotten where they were.
Hajime didn't want to admit that he did forget.

"Maybe it does mean something," Hajime whispered to Nagito before sitting back down, leaving Nagito dumbfounded for a moment before he backed out of the circle, his pale skin gradually becoming pink. He pulled his jacket back up to his shoulders and flipped his hood up, walking out of the room. After a moment of confusion, the game resumed as normal, the noise returning to the room.

Ibuki had been right this time. This party was much better than the last one.