Running on Empty

A tearful goodbye

"Come onnnnnn 'Toshi, we'll come back I promise!" Yamada was laughing at him, but Hitoshi was not amused.

"We literally come back all the time! You'll see her in like a couple of days max!"

Hitoshi pouted, looking down at Luna who was asleep on his lap. "But she's so cute!"

"And she'll still be cute in a week."

"Yamada-san said a couple of days!"

"I'm— he— yeah, that's not the point, put the cat away."

"Also, you live with us now, you can call me Hizashi, or at least drop the san." Mic grinned at him, ruffling his hair and Hitoshi smiled back.

"Same goes for me, whatever you're comfortable with."

"Now release the cat!"

Hitoshi huffed, but carefully picked the sleepy ball of fur up and put her in her bed, placing a gentle kiss on her soft head before letting Hizashi take his hand and pull him from the room.

"Alright! Final shop before we go home, let's get some stuff for your room!"

Hitoshi noticed Shouta giving him an assessing look as his husband pranced ahead so he nodded and gave a small smile. The break and delicious food had helped him calm down and he felt alright to do a little more shopping now, as long as he didn't listen to the price when they reached the till.

They already had all the furniture he could need, so they focussed on getting decorations and other details.

The first stop they made was to get some new bedding. Hitoshi chose a grey and white teddy bear fleece duvet set because it was one of the softest things he'd ever laid hands on and he got cold easily.

Shouta picked out a cat themed set and Hitoshi laughed, there was a definite theme to the day.

Not that he minded, he loves cats.

Hizashi also picked out some random cushions for him, one of them said 'don't talk to me before I've had my coffee' and the other just 'tired'. He thought they were fitting and Hitoshi was glad to add them to the trolley.

They grabbed a blanket, a beanbag for the corner of his room and a bunch of fairy lights for added decoration.

The pros offered to buy him more plushies, but Hitoshi was perfectly content with the two he had.

After that they had a look at posters, and Hizashi was devastated that there weren't any Present Mic ones offered.

"I can get you some through my agency, you'll just have to wait a day or so."

He looked so sad that Hitoshi felt he had to try and cheer him up, "That's okay, I get the real you anyway."

Hizashi's eyes welled up with tears and for a moment Hitoshi thought he'd done the opposite of what he intended, but then the pro's face split into a wide grin and he pulled Hitoshi into his arms.

"You're right! You get to see my face all the time; there's something more important we want to get you now anyway."

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at that, his interest piqued.

They paid for the items in that shop and headed down the street, the heroes led him through a couple of back alleys until they emerged on a different road and they pulled him into the first shop on his left before he could read the sign.

As soon as he entered his jaw dropped... the whole place was packed with art supplies.

"We figured you wouldn't want a ton of posters because you can put your own art on the walls." Shouta smiled at him, "So take a look around, decide what you want."

Hitoshi nodded, unable to form words he just hugged the two pros one by one and hoped they understood how grateful he was. No one had ever cared enough to even notice his interest in art, and they'd seen one drawing and were already so supportive.

From the looks in their eyes, he could tell they got the message.

They searched the shelves, and picked up a lot of different supplies. A proper sketchbook for starters, and a good set of pencils. But also some watercolour paints for him to try out and a couple of small canvases.

They wanted to get more for him but Hitoshi reasoned that he didn't even know how to use half the stuff so he should expand his knowledge slowly and then work from there.

For now, he had some better equipment to work with and some paints to try out. That'd occupy him for a while.

With everything paid for they headed back to the car and returned home, all a little worn out from the trip.

When they finally managed to get all the bags into Hitoshi's room he flopped face first on the bed and sighed. His feet hurt from all that walking and he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right then and there. But there was a bunch of unpacking to do and it was barely mid-afternoon.

He sat up and Grumpster jumped into his lap, eager to say hello after he'd been gone so long, but as soon as the cat took one sniff of him he hissed and stalked off to sulk in a corner somewhere.

Oh yeah, that was something Hitoshi hadn't considered, he reeked of other cats.