Chapter Text
Shouta woke up one day and realized he hadn’t been back to his apartment in a week.
It wasn’t a particularly surprising realization. Shouta wasn’t attached to his closet of an apartment or anything in it, and he’d been storing supplies in Hizashi’s apartment since graduation. It had been simple convenience. Some days, Hizashi’s apartment was closer, and Hizashi was handy with a first aid kit. It was supposed to end there, except Hizashi kept inviting him over, and Shouta could never refuse.
Hizashi was already awake. Shouta could hear him in the kitchen, singing to himself as he cooked breakfast. Shouta shuffled into the kitchen and was met with a beaming smile and cup of coffee. Shouta accepted the coffee with a nod and small smile of his own, and he made a decision
“I’m going to cancel my lease,” he said.
Hizashi glanced over, mildly curious. “It’s about time you got out of that dump! I know it’s convenient, but I swear that one patch of mold gained sentience and started wandering around. Do you need help apartment hunting? I’d be the best helper. I think I have my old notes somewhere around here…”
“I’m not going apartment hunting”
Hizashi stopped fiddling with breakfast long enough to shoot Shouta a disappointed look.
“Don’t tell me you’re doing some sketchy roommate thing off Craigslist. After the Nori debacle, we both agreed never to room with sketchy internet strangers again. I made you pinky promise, Shouta! You can’t break the pinky promise!”
Shouta glared at him. He’d made Hizashi swear not to mention Nori again after the asshole had stolen his sleeping bag.
“I’m not planning on living with anyone strange.”
“But how can you really know?”
Shouta tilted his head and looked at Hizashi. “Maybe you can’t. Would you call yourself strange?”
Hizashi sputtered, and Shouta allowed himself a small smile at the sight.
“I’m over here enough that having two rents is wasting money. It would be more logical if I officially moved in. Unless you’d rather keep your guest room open.”
Shouta would understand if Hizashi wanted some space. Shouta knew he could be a difficult person to be around, and he wouldn’t blame Hizashi if he’d rather maintain their current relationship. Hizashi was completely ignoring breakfast to stare at Shouta. He broke into one of his smiles, which were significantly brighter than Shouta’s.
“No, that sounds perfect,” he said in a voice that was a touch too loud.
Shouta shrugged and looked back down at his coffee. Breakfast was slightly burnt, but Hizashi’s smile made up for it. He was beaming the entire meal as they worked out logistics for the move, and Shouta found himself smiling back more often than not.
Honestly, he should’ve agreed to move in right after graduation, when Hizashi had first suggested it. He’d still been in denial back then, when he thought some distance would help him get over his entirely unwanted crush. It hadn’t, of course, and by now said crush felt like part of him. A warmth, tucked deep inside, and Shouta wasn’t sure he even wanted to give it up anymore
…
Canceling his lease was exactly as anticlimactic as Shouta expected. He notified the sketchy landlord, moved the last few bags of clothes and personal items, and tossed his half-broken appliances and stained furniture. His coffee maker was the only indulgence he’d stocked the place with, and it was easy enough to bring with him.
He left the apartment for the last time without looking back, and walking into Hizashi’s apartment —theirs, now—felt no different than any other day. It’d been home long before Hizashi officially added his name to the lease. Now, he didn’t have to worry about the long trek back to an empty apartment or the mess of a place he barely bothered to clean.
Shouta settled into the apartment without a hitch. Hizashi was the one acting weird. He helped Shouta move in then disappeared. Shouta ignored it at first, but by the fifth day without Hizashi, Shouta had to admit something was wrong. Hizashi had always been busy with his agency and the radio station, but they’d always carved out time together before, even during the first, chaotic years after graduation. He’d seen Hizashi less now than before moving in, and all of Shouta’s excuses were starting to ring hollow.
So, Shouta grabbed his paperwork, camped out on the sofa with an obscenely large mug of coffee, and waited for Hizashi to come home. Several hours passed before he heard someone at the door, an hour after he’d normally be asleep.
Hizashi entered quietly. He crept halfway through the living room before noticing Shouta, and then he jumped so hard he banged his shin against the end table.
“Shit!” he shouted, fumbling to keep his balance. “Shouta? How long have you been there?”
“About a week. Not that you’ve been here to notice,” Shouta said without moving a muscle to help.
Hizashi froze, and the embarrassed smile dropped from his face. He eyed the empty chair across from Shouta then fell into it with a sigh, shedding his gear as he went.
“Yeah. I probably should’ve been here to help you settle in. Sorry about that.”
“That’s not the problem and you know it. You’ve been avoiding me.”
A strange look passed over Hizashi’s face. Shouta waited, but he didn’t say anything. For once in his life, Hizashi was speechless, and Shouta had put that look on his face. Something unpleasant churned in his gut, and Shouta looked away.
“Do you want me to move back out?”
Hizashi jerked to attention, and he nearly toppled over for the second time in five minutes.
“No! Of course not!” Hizashi said, looking horrified at the idea, and some of the tension in Shouta’s stomach eased.
He’d have found a new closet of an apartment without complaint if that was what it took to stop this nonsense, and he’d fight tooth and nail to hold onto Hizashi’s friendship. But he didn’t know what he’d have done if something between them had broken so badly without him noticing.
Hizashi kept flailing his hands about in nervousness, and Shouta waited for him to keep talking. He obviously had something else to say, and Shouta was willing to wait as long as he needed for an explanation.
“I just… I had some things I needed to figure out, and I needed some space. I swear it wasn’t your fault at all!”
“Things?”
“Personal things. Sorry,” Hizashi said.
Shouta didn’t let his annoyance show. He prided himself on not invading other people’s privacy, though he couldn’t imagine what kind of secret Hizashi would be hiding from Shouta. Or why. He wouldn’t pry though, which left one last question.
“Will figuring out these ‘things’ take much longer?”
Hizashi hesitated, but a moment later he smiled at Shouta. An honest smile. Shouta hadn’t realized how much he’d missed them.
“Nah, I think I’m good. Feel free to smack me around if I start doing something stupid like that again, yeah?”
“Noted.”
Shouta downed the rest of his coffee and stood, rubbing at his eyes. He was already wasting valuable sleeping time, and Hizashi had promised he’d still be here tomorrow. Shouta trusted him to keep his word.
He nudged Hizashi’s shoulder on his walk past—a light touch, just enough to remind himself of the feeling. He should’ve expected Hizashi to stand and pull him into a proper hug.
“Goodnight, Shouta,” Hizashi said as he let go.
“Yeah. Night.”
Shouta walked to his room feeling lighter than he had in days. He still didn’t know what had been bothering Hizashi so much but, so long as it didn’t cause more problems, he didn’t care.
…
Another week passed before Shouta accepted that Hizashi would keep his word. It wasn’t that he doubted Hizashi, but things happened. People left. Having Hizashi there again--making breakfast and chatting after work and a dozen mundane things—helped him relax. Occasionally, Shouta still noticed episodes of strangeness, but they passed quickly enough.
Unfortunately, Shouta’s time with Hizashi was still limited. The police were trying to bust a minor crime ring, and they were pulling in Underground heroes to help with the big ambush. In Shouta’s mind, that meant altogether too much paperwork, slow-paced strategy meetings, and coordinating with other people. As a relatively new Underground hero, Shouta wasn’t qualified to work independently yet. He was looking forward to getting properly certified and avoiding all this inconvenience.
The raid was scheduled for that Friday. Shouta was just grateful to be finished with the preparations.
Getting inside was easy. They’d gone over the security until Shouta was thoroughly sick of it, and the organization wasn’t competent enough to pull anything clever. Perched above the main cargo bay, Shouta waited for the rest of the team. Time trickled by, and Shouta kept his annoyance to a low simmer. He was good at waiting, but he didn’t particularly enjoy it.
The signal came with a rumbling explosion deeper in the compound. More people poured into the central room below, shouting and confused. A moment later, something shimmering and pink crept along the ground. In the chaos, none of the criminals noticed until the first man collapsed. Shouta stayed in the raptors, watching over the chaos as they tried to run or fight against an ephemeral enemy. Few were fast enough to leave the room in time, and those that did would only find the rest of the ambush.
Shouta used Erasure in rapid succession, cancelling out whatever Quirk looked the most dangerous as the men steadily collapsed. The female criminals clumped together, shouting and searching for the culprit. Shouta waited until the pink mist was entirely, undeniably gone before jumping down to join the fight. He’d already noted the remaining criminal with the most powerful Quirk, and he landed behind her. Surprised, she went down easily, and Shouta turned to the next opponent.
He fell into the familiar rhythm of battle, and he wasn’t alone. Nemuri abandoned her hiding spot to join him, and she was a good Hero to have at his back. Even if she was a chatty one too, despite the ongoing fight.
“So, drinks afterwards? It’s your turn to host!”
Shouta made a noncommittal noise and tossed another criminal over his shoulder. She hit a barrel hard and stayed down, groaning. Laughing, Nemuri swept forward to stop a Mutant-type woman’s charge.
“Come ooooon, Shouta! I know where you live, and I will show up at your place with booze and a blowhorn.”
She punctuated the threat with a crack of her whip that sent a line of fighters crashing into each other. Shouta tried to ignore her, which was a difficult task while fighting together. He couldn’t just walk away either. Damn.
“I moved,” Shouta said.
“You what?”
Shouta didn’t’ bother repeating himself. He Erased one woman’s Quirk and slammed another into the ground, and soon enough he and Nemuri were the only ones standing. He pulled out his phone to let the others know the path was clear and reached for some rope to secure the prisoners. Nemuri huffed and did the same, but she didn’t let work distract her from needling him.
“Oh no, you’re going to tell me aaaaaall about this. You found a new place? Finally! I’ve been telling you to abandon that dumpster fire of an apartment since we met, and you finally did it without telling me? The betrayal!”
“The location was convenient.”
Shouta frequently requested patrols in the worst areas of town, where crime was highest and Heroes’ presence, unfortunately, low. The most convenient apartments were nearby and of correspondingly poor quality. Hizashi’s place was somewhat further away, but not unmanageably so.
“Spill! What finally made you change your mind? Do you have a roommate now? Is the apartment better? Please tell me it’s better; if it’s somehow wore than your first place I will personally break in and set everything on fire.”
“That would be arson.”
“Bah, it would be fine.”
One of the criminals on the ground stirred, and Shouta felt the temperature tick upwards. He Erased her Quirk before it could become a problem and tied her bindings particularly tight.
“I’m staying with Hizashi. It’s working well.”
Nemuri straight up squealed and abandoned the criminal she’d been restraining to dive at Shouta. Shouta, unfortunately, was used to random acts of physical contact, so he patted Nemuri awkwardly as she hugged him. He endured the contact a few moments before pushing lightly on Nemuri’s shoulder until she pulled away.
“You and Hizashi moved in together? It’s about time! I’m so proud; this is such a big step in your relationship!”
Shouta gave her a strange look, but then their police backup arrived. The next several minutes was busy with transferring everyone and making sure protocol was properly followed. Nemuri was pulled away to give a full report to the officer in charge. Almost an hour passed before they were done, and Nemuri cornered him again before he could make his escape.
“Wait right there, mister!” Nemuri said as she tried to put him in a headlock. Shouta, who’d been expecting something like this, easily dodged.
“You can’t drop a bombshell like that on me and then leave! Give me the details! I wanna know everything!”
“There’s nothing interesting to share. I was spending most nights at Hizashi’s place anyway, so it made more sense to officially move into his spare bedroom.”
Nemuri gave him a flat look. “His spare bedroom. Right. We’re friends, right? You know you can trust me with anything?”
“Sure.”
Shouta didn’t like the tone of her voice. It was too nice. Saccharine sweet. Shouta had heard that voice come out far too often when Nemuri was trying to swindle information or favors out of a target. It didn’t work on him, obviously, but Shouta didn’t like her turning it on him, especially when he wasn’t sure what, exactly, she was trying to sweettalk from him.
“And? Isn’t there something you want to tell me? About a certain noisy Hero, perhaps?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Nemuri huffed. It was a dramatic thing, complete with sound effects and hair flipping.
“Alright, keep your secrets! I’ll be over here, wishing you and Hizashi the best. You two better invite me over and have some nice booze to make up for it!”
Shouta still wasn’t sure what was happening, but he could provide alcohol. He’d known Nemuri for almost a year now, and Hizashi kept bothering him about meeting his “mysterious work friend,” as Hizashi called her. Shouta had been halfheartedly hoping for Nemuri to leave him alone, but it seemed like she was firmly entrenched as one of Shouta’s friends now. It was time to accept his fate and let the two meet.
…
Of course, the first meeting between Nemuri and Hizashi involved alcohol. That was fine. Expected, even. Unfortunately, it also included karaoke, and Hizashi was the only one of the three with a remotely tolerable singing voice. Nemuri made up for her lack of skill with enthusiasm, and Shouta found himself stuck between two people enthusiastically competing to be the loudest in the room. Hizashi won, of course, but Nemuri put up a respectable effort.
Shouta mourned his hearing and ordered another drink. Nemuri and Hizashi were laughing with Hizashi’s arm slung over her shoulder, and Shouta forced himself not to be jealous. Hizashi was a friendly, tactile guy. He touched everyone; it didn’t mean anything. Even if it did, it wasn’t Shouta’s place to be jealous.
He jumped when he felt Hizashi’s hand on his shoulder. Hizashi wobbled as he leaned forward, and Shouta found himself with Hizashi’s face far too close to his own. Hizashi’s eyes were almost blindingly green, and Shouta belatedly realized that, somewhere along the line, he’d soared past tipsy and towards being properly drunk.
This is just the way he is, Shouta reminded himself. It doesn’t mean anything.
Yet, he could feel a flush creeping down his neck, especially when Hizashi shifted and brushed some hair away from Shouta’s face.
“You look unhappy,” Hizashi said, frowning. “Is something wrong?’
Embarrassed, Shouta glanced away. He hadn’t meant to interrupt the outing, especially with something as petty as jealousy.
“It’s loud,” Shouta said instead, and it was true. Karaoke bars were always loud, and Shouta was rapidly approaching his tolerance for the day. It wasn’t the entire truth, exactly, but it was enough to convince a tipsy Hizashi.
Hizashi frowned, and Shouta only had a moment to feel regret before Hizashi was pulling him to his feet. He kept his arm around Shouta’s shoulder, and Shouta found himself supporting some of the other man’s weight. Hizashi might not be drunk, but he was getting unsteady on his feet. Hizashi pointed a finger dramatically at Nemuri, who was hiding a smile in the lip of her drink.
“Finish that!” he said.
Nemuri winked and downed the entire glass in one long pull. “Done. Now what?”
“We abscond!”
Hizashi finished the dregs of his own drink and, with some encouragement, Shouta did the same.
“Abscond?” Shouta repeated, letting his amusement leak into his voice. “Are you sure you’re up for something that dramatic?”
It would be dramatic too, because this was Hizashi. He made everything dramatic, especially when he was tipsy and feeling playful. So Shouta relaxed and didn’t resist when Hizashi’s arm tightened on his shoulder. He regretted it when his world flipped and Shouta found himself thrown over Hizashi’s shoulder.
“Abscond!” Hizashi shouted again, and he turned to walk out of the bar. People were staring and laughing. Shouta could feel a blush rising. He had a good view of Nemuri as she followed, and she didn’t react to Shouta’s glare or silent request for help.
“What’s the fun in absconding if you don’t take some plunder? You’re clearly the best booty in the room too.”
She winked at him, and Shouta kept glaring. He didn’t struggle against Hizashi, though he could’ve easily forced the other man to release him. Hizashi was laughing and happy, and Shouta didn’t mind too much. He didn’t have to walk this way either, which was a bonus.
Hizashi set him down after they leave the building. Shouta was sure he could carry him longer—he was a Hero, after all—but Hizashi was also good at telling when Shouta’s patience was running out. Hizashi grinned and offered an apology he definitely didn’t mean, and Shouta pretended to be annoyed.
They picked up another pack of beer on the walk back to their place. The quiet and fresh air helped him unwind, and Shouta was in a much better mood by the time they arrive. He grabbed a beer and claimed the couch, and he was entirely unsurprised when Hizashi claimed the spot next to him. They often end up like that, with their sides pressed together and legs bumping. Nemuri took the chair, and she hid a grin behind her newest beer bottle.
“You two are so cute,” Nemuri said. Shouta frowned at her.
“Nothing about me is cute,” he said, vaguely insulting. He took pride in his reputation for being unsettling. Hizashi though… Shouta stole a look at him and had to agree.
…
The next morning, Shouta woke up in Hizashi’s bed with a massive hangover. Shouta groaned and grappled at the bedstand for some water. He kicked Hizashi’s legs away; the blonde always sprawled out while asleep. It wasn’t the first time they’d shared a bed, though Shouta was vaguely annoyed with his drunken self for forgetting he had his own room across the hall now. Or had they offered that to Nemuri? Shouta couldn’t remember.
He was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, but Shouta didn’t have the motivation to change. Especially since he could hear Nemuri moving in the other room and smell something cooking. He shuffled over.
Nemuri was flipping pancakes in the kitchen. She looked annoyingly put-together, like always, even though Shouta knew for a fact she’d consumed more alcohol than either of them. He was sure she had a hangover too, buried somewhere under her flawless hair and cheerful disposition. She was even whistling.
“Welcome back to the land of the living! How was your night, sleeping beauty?” Nemuri said, flipping a pancake onto a plate and sliding it in front of him
Shouta glared at her but accepted the peace offering. Nemuri made amazing pancakes, even if Shouta would prefer tackling her to the ground until she looked as bad as Shouta felt. Revenge could wait, he supposed.