"Wh- what? Why? You don't have to- I don't want to be a bother."
"Kid, you're not a bother. I want to do this because I know how unfair the exam is, and you deserve a spot."
"I don't."
"Yes, yes you do 'Toshi. Sho and I are both gonna help okay? But only if this is what you want."
Hitoshi didn't really have to think about it. "It- it is."
"Great! I can't wait to get started." Yamada was practically vibrating with excitement next to him, and he seemed to be mouthing something to Aizawa over his head.
Aizawa, in response, huffed a laugh. "Okay, sure. I've finished my questions so we can ask now."
Yamada squeezed Hitoshi's shoulders before moving to sit next to his husband and taking his hand.
"Sho lied, that wasn't the last question!"
Hitoshi was getting kinda nervous.
"How would you like-" Aizawa started at the same time Yamada said...
"Stay with us?"
Hitoshi was now very confused.
"What do you mean?"
Aizawa smiled gently at him, a genuine smile. "We'd like to foster you Hitoshi. It's up to you, but we'd like it if you stayed here."
It took Hitoshi a full minute to process the words.
"You really mean it?" Hitoshi whispered, the first question he'd spoken aloud in years.
"Yes 'Toshi, we promise! Sho and I talked about it and we both really care about you."
"What do you say kid? I know you don't know us very well and we only met you this morning so we don't really know you either but we'd really like to change that.You can have some time to think about it if you want, we'll be talking to social services and the police later but we have some time so—"
Hitoshi cut off his rambling by nodding furiously. "Yes I— I would really like to stay with you guys ...please."
Yamada promptly burst into tears, and Hitoshi could have sworn he saw Aizawa's eyes well up slightly, but it was hard to tell through the wateriness of his own vision.
He felt two pairs of arms encase him and he held on as though they were the only three people left on the planet.
He couldn't remember ever feeling so safe.
He decided it was his favourite feeling, and he was going to hold onto this with every ounce of his remaining strength.
He would make this work out if it was the last thing he ever did, because let's face it, he mused, if he fucked this up he'd probably try to kill himself again.
The yowl of a squished cat interrupted their moment and Grumpster jumped from his lap, affronted.
The three of them broke apart in various states of amusement and Aizawa handed him and Yamada the tissues.
"We can discuss the logistics of this later. We'll need to head to the police station at some point to make this official and pay your foster home a visit to grab your stuff. For now though, let's eat lunch."
"By which he means. 'Zashi my beloved, the light of my life, the greatest and most wonderful person I have ever met, would you please be a darling and make us some lunch."
Aizawa just shrugged. "I'm fine with a few jelly packets."
"No! Absolutely not! In this house we eat real food! If that's what you want you can jolly well go back the dank cave you spawned in you gremlin, set a good example!" Yamada scolded, throwing the tissue box at Aizawa who dodged it with practised ease.
"So you'll make us some then?"
"Why you-"
Hitoshi snorted and the voice hero gave up his halfhearted attack on his husband, choosing instead to pointedly ignore him and focus all his attention on the teen.
"What would you like for lunch kiddo?"
"Coffee." Hitoshi signed, expressionless, and Yamada looked positively scandalised whilst Aizawa gave another feral grin.
"A child after my own heart."
"I should have seen this coming," Mic wailed pitifully. "He even looks like you, I should have known."
Hitoshi ignored his lament as he moved to sit in the only spot on the sofa being lit by the sun and curled up into a ball with his tea.
Yamada gasped, pausing his dramatic monologue about betrayal and an unforeseen turn of events to stare at Hitoshi wide eyed. "You were wrong Sho, look!"
Aizawa turned to him curiously and shrugged at the confused look he got from the teen.
"We've just gained another cat."
YOU ARE READING
Running on Empty
Fiksi PenggemarHitoshi was running. He'd been running his whole life. From his foster parents, from bullies, from the future everyone claimed he was destined to have. He'd always run away from his problems, it was all he knew how to do. But he was getting so, so t...
