Running on Empty

And so the list grows

Hizashi was losing his mind, this kid was just too darn adorable.

First he'd fallen asleep on him, for like the third time now what the heck, how was he supposed to keep it together when the child just looked so utterly precious with his head on Hizashi's shoulder and no frown in sight. Even with bruises and cuts that made Hizashi's blood boil, his anger was overpowered by the sheer warmth in his heart he felt every time he thought about the fact that Hitoshi felt safe enough with him to fall asleep.

And then, they'd gotten back from Recovery Girl, placed him in his bed and Hizashi had been faced with the skilfully drawn sketch of himself that Hitoshi had placed on his wall, right next to the Eraserhead one. He'd felt himself tearing up immediately and Shouta took one look at his watery grin and laughed.

"Yeah, he did that last night when he couldn't sleep. He wanted to show you himself though."

Hizashi nodded, "I won't mention it," he choked out, "not until he does."

He took a moment to recover, forcing himself to look away from the drawing until Hitoshi wanted him to see it, and tucked the cockatoo under the kid's arm. "I wanna keep him Sho."

His husband raised his eyebrows at the sudden confession but then gave him a soft smile, "Me too."

Hizashi took his hand and kissed it. "I just hope what I did today doesn't mess it up," he admitted. "I don't know what I'll do if he gets taken away and it's my fault. The guy was just being such an ass."

Shouta hummed, wiping the wetness from his cheeks, "I'm sure it'll be fine, it was justified. Considering everything he's done I doubt anyone'll bother investigating. Plus, Tsukauchi's on the case, he'll understand."

"Besides," he smirked, "I've never been more attracted to you in my life."

Hizashi smacked his arm, "SHO NO!"

They burst into muffled laughter as he turned bright red, clutching at each other for support as they wheezed.

It wasn't long after that that Shouta convinced him to adopt Luna.

Well, convinced wasn't really the right word, he was pretty sure promising not to tell Joke and Nemuri about him decking the guy counted as either blackmail or bribery.

Either way, he knew it would cheer Hitoshi up, and that was their top priority, so he caved faster than he'd ever admit.

And now, she was curled up on his lap as he laughed at the film, fully burritoed finally, finally looking more like the Hitoshi they'd gotten a glimpse of at the cat cafe.

The smiling, teasing, happy kid.

Of course, there was a lot going on beneath the surface. His tense reaction to the scissors earlier had raised his and Shouta's suspicions. Hitoshi had mentioned a woman who could make her hands into scissors when they'd first discussed his abuse, but they hadn't thought much more of it at the time, too distracted by their anger. However it was becoming more and more clear, that although he seemed a lot happier on the surface, there was a lot of trauma that hadn't been dealt with properly.

In fact, Shouta and Hizashi had been discussing their concerns earlier; they'd only had the kid a few days, and he seemed so much better already. It was a little... odd.

They'd both agreed to talk to Hound Dog about it, as he'd know much more and could give them some guidance. Plus, they were hoping they could get Hitoshi to agree to talk to him to. Kami knows the kid needs some therapy.

He was drawn from his thoughts by the film ending and he realised he hadn't been paying attention to half of it, too lost in his own head. Ah well, he knew it inside out anyway.

Hitoshi turned to him and butted his head against his shoulder since his arms were still wrapped tight in the burrito.

"I want to show you something." He said shyly, and Hizashi was fairly certain he knew where this was going.

"Lead the way."

Hitoshi just stared at him, unimpressed. "I can't move," he whined, "you've trapped me."

Hizashi silently added the kid's disgruntled pout and distinctly cat-like head butting to his rapidly growing list of things the kid did that were just too darn adorable.

He laughed and told him to stand up, pulling the end of the blanket so that he spun, tripping over what was gathered at his feet and falling right onto Shouta's lap.

There was an 'oof' and then they sent identical scowls his way. Hizashi took a quick picture, sending it to Nemuri immediately.

Shouta's frown deepened when he realised what he'd done, whereas Hitoshi's vanished as he remembered what they were on their way to do.

He stood up and grabbed Hizashi's hand, dragging him to his bedroom where he flung his arm out to point at the wall.

"I know you said you'd get some posters but I wanted to draw you anyway." He refused to meet Hizashi's eyes, messing with the hem of his hoodie nervously. "I can do a different one if you don't like it, or not! If you don't uh—"

He finally looked up and his eyes widened as he saw the tears streaming down Hizashi's face.

"It's wonderful kiddo!" He wrapped his arms around Hitoshi, "I absolutely love it!"

Hitoshi blushed and returned the hug, "Really?"

"Yeah! It's amazing, you totally nailed it! Especially the hair, you're really good at drawing hair." He complimented and Hitoshi turned an even darker shade of red.

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it," he said earnestly and Hizashi smiled softly.

"You should be proud."

"I am."

And oh... now they were both crying.