Mute

Chapter 4

Hizashi slumped over the table, shaking slightly. It had been a few hours at this point, and Shouta still hadn't woken up. Once he passed out, Hizashi had ordered harder things. A few shots of whiskey, gin, liquor, and more beer. Fuyuko had put a stop to him, setting down some water on the table instead. At this point, he didn't notice the difference.

She politely woke Shouta up with a soft nudge to his shoulder, handing Hizashi's card to him.

"It's best that he gets home soon, please take care of him. Make sure he gets a lot of water, okay?"

Shouta nodded, looking over to Hizashi. He was still awake, but, for seemingly the first time ever, quiet.

"You ready to get going?"

Hizashi looked in Shouta's general direction, eyes unfocused and disoriented.

"Whhy? Shooouta, I don' wanna yet, man!"

"You look like shit, and you'll feel even worse sleeping in a car. We're going home, come on."

He stood up, holding out a hand to Hizashi to help him stand. He started laughing, taking his friend's hand.

"Awww dude! I looove ya, soosweet!"

Hizashi stumbled up with the help of Shouta, falling into him with a hug and holding on as tight as he could muster. He tripped on his own legs repeatedly as he was practically dragged to the van. Shouta looked at the time before adjusting the seat and mirrors. 11:53. They had been there a little over 4 hours by now. He buckled himself and Hizashi in, starting up the van, faint music playing in the background.

"Shouuuta!"

"What, Hizashi."

Hizashi looked at him dazily, before tears pricked his eyes, eventually pouring out without a stop. He latched on tightly to Shouta's arm across from the glovebox of the van.

Jesus christ, dude.

"I miss'im, man. I... I ain't got nobody anymore. They.. they allup and left-" He wiped his eyes on Shouta's shirt sleeve, trying to catch his breath. "I fuckin, I hate this, shit!" Squeezing his sleeve fabric more, he shrunk down further in the seat, speaking between sobs. "Shittt, shiiit, shitt!!"

Shouta turned to him, face relaxing a little bit. He knew how bad it hurt for Hizashi to lose Oboro. It had broken Shouta, too. That image of his old friend in a bloody body bag would be forever burnt into his mind. He even blamed himself partially. If he had run to him fast enough, been there on time, he'd be alive. It was likely that Hizashi had felt the same. After their promise of always sticking together, being there for eachother, being heroes together, was whisked away by that falling building that took Oboro from them. Shouta knew that Hizashi blamed himself for this too, even if he didn't say it outright. He was the cause of the building falling. That kind of torture, knowing it was because of his actions, was something Hizashi never deserved to feel.

After that day, Shouta had distanced himself away from everyone. You can't get hurt worse if you don't get close to anyone. If you stay apathetic. But he never considered the pain it would bring the only other person in the world who suffered that same exact thing.

The person who was rejected by everyone else for being annoying, obnoxious, and too excitable.

"I should have been there more. I apologise." He put his free arm on Hizashi's shoulder, pulling him as close as the van would allow. "I'm here now, you aren't alone."

Hizashi sighed, still shaking from how hard he was clutching his friend.

"I'mmso fuckin' tired."

Shouta shut the music all the way off, letting go of him and turning to the steering wheel

"Pass out or something then. I need to drive. Let go."

"Noononono! Y'can't leave me Shouu, don't go, don't.. noo.. please-"

"I'm not going anywhere. Give me my arm. I need it to drive."

After a minute or so of Hizashi refusing to let go, Shouta did his best to pry him off. There was a dramatic objection, but he managed.

The drive was quiet, Hizashi had fallen asleep within a few minutes and by the look of it, he wasn't waking up for a while. It was peaceful, but seeing him like that and knowing that it was almost daily? It hurt. Shouta cursed himself for allowing his friend to fall this far, allowing him to be miserable after every night.

He parked the van in the closest space he could find, unbuckling Hizashi.

I have to carry him the whole way, don't I.

Carrying his limp weight was a pain, but not the worst he had done. His room was on the second floor of the complex from what Shouta remembered. Looking through the key ring Hizashi had given to him, he walked to one of the rooms.

This should be it...

He tried each of the keys on the ring until one of them clicked open the door. Locking it back up behind him, he searched the apartment for Hizashi's room, setting him down on the bed and cracking open the window above it. He dragged the trashcan to the edge Hizashi was closest to, as well as filling a cup of water and placing it on the nightstand. Shouta spread a blanket over him, shutting off the light before leaving the room.

I hate leaving him like this, but I still need to work. I can't neglect my job.

At that thought, he set Hizashi's keys on the counter and left the apartment, making sure that the door was still locked after he closed it. He went around back, using ledges, poles and pipes to scale the building for a higher perspective of the location. He kept a brisk pace, keeping to the rooftops and staying mostly in the shadows as he searched around for trouble.

All that went on was a few petty criminals and a mugging that Shouta quickly dealt with, leaving them for the police to find. Tonight was calmer than most, although he expected as such with the higher-quality location he was patrolling.

There were only two seemingly difficult fights he got into, both of which being against mutation villains whose quirks he couldn't erase. Fighting them was simple though. They go all out at first, tiring themselves too far to put up a fight for long. All Shouta had to do was wear them down and not get hit until then.

At the end of it he had a few scratches and bruises, but nothing too serious. He went at this for a few hours, eventually heading to his own apartment as 4:00 AM rolled around.

He entered his own room through the window, forcing himself to stay awake long enough to clean the wounds. Directly after doing that, Shouta crawled into his sleeping bag and fell into a deep sleep, snoring loudly. One of his cats, Bastard, crawled on top of him, sleeping just as soundly as he was.