Chapter Text
Shouta breathed a frustrated growl through his mouth as he was rudely pulled from an already troubled sleep, as a loud alarming noise assaulted his eardrums. Rubbing bloodshot eyes and raising his heavy head, the exhausted pro frantically searched around to find the culprit in the form of his phone ringing. The vibrations of his ringtone followed by the now blinding light of his phone screen forced him into wakefulness as he snatched it from the bedside table.
It was as he saw the time displayed on the lockscreen that he cursed the name that appeared from his contacts for waking him up before 7AM on his day off. It was true that aside from a certain few people, it was rare that Shouta would receive calls from anyone unless it was an emergency that required his aid. Given the time and the fact that he had only gotten two hours of restless sleep the night before, Shouta knew which of the two he would rather be faced with. This only made the initial concern he had felt quickly become smothered with growing irritation as he recognised the name of the caller.
It was as his phone continued to blare that he was able to come to a realisation: it told him that whatever the urgency was, it didn't involve his students at least. That thought alone brought him the slightest spark of relief, though ultimately it did nothing to quell the still growing annoyance stirring in his chest as he prepared to give the unfortunate caller an earful for disturbing his much-needed rest.
I swear to God, if this isn't important...
"What do you want, Kayama?" Shouta grumbled with enough bite to tell even the most dense of people that it was a bad time. He heard a scoff on the other end of the line.
"Well, good morning to you too, grumpy. I see someone got out of the wrong side of bed today."
Shouta couldn't have sighed any louder if he tried. He really didn't have the energy to deal with this.
"Tell me what you want or I'm hanging up."
Pulling the phone away, he was about to do just that.
"Aizawa, wait! hold on!"
Shouta wasn't sure if it was the panic that filled her voice that made him tense up as her mock offended tone suddenly switched to urgent and pleading. But he placed the phone back to his ear. He didn't say anything, finally able to muster up some patience as he merely waited for her to explain her reason for calling.
"Are you okay?" She finally asked in a hushed voice after several beats of silence.
Confusion clouded his irritation as he sat up in his bed.
"What?"
He could hear her tripping over her words as she continued to speak, her voice still sounding on edge.
"Well...Hizashi came to see me yesterday."
Realisation set in at what she was getting at.
"He told me what happened." She continued.
Of course Yamada had told her what had happened. That fact alone wasn't surprising. Those two told eachother practically every detail of their lives as it happened.
Still...it's the last thing I want to think about right now.
The ride back from Tartarus yesterday had been completely silent, with Shouta internally counting down the minutes until they would be back at the school and he could shut himself out from the world for as long as it would let him. It was strange and somewhat disturbing to see his loud, over eccentric friend so quiet. But circumstance gave him more than enough to think about before he could worry about that on top of everything else.
"So why are you calling me?" He asked, that sliver of patience that had begun to build becoming crushed under the mess of emotions that threatened to resurface after they left the prison.
Nemuri took a deep breath on the other end, "I just want you to know that I'm really sorry, for both of you. If there's anything I can do, anything at all..." her voice trailed off.
Shouta sighed, longing for nothing more than to turn over and submerge himself in the comforting darkness of sleep. But despite everything, he knew her offer was genuine.
"Yeah. Thanks."
There was a long pause between them that wasn't awkward, but it would've been a stretch to call it comfortable. Shouta was surprised when out of the two of them, he was the one to break the silence.
"So, is Hizashi still with you then?"
If Yamada had gone to visit Nemuri after everything that had happened yesterday, it was a pretty safe bet to assume that they'd been drinking too. If that were the case, it was unlikely Nemuri would let Hizashi drive anywhere in that state.
"No. He left by the time it got dark. I tried to tell him he could stay, but you know how he is,"
Apparently not as well as he'd thought....
"Actually, I kinda hoped he was with you." Worry laced her tone, "Or at least given you a call. He did say that he wanted to talk to you before he left here last night. Haven't heard anything from him since."
Shouta sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. Of course leave it to Yamada of all people to cause him even more trouble.
"I haven't seen him since yesterday." Shit... "How did he seem before he left your place last night?" He asked.
There was another brief pause before she responded,
"He seemed like he was in a world of his own. Though given the circumstances, I can't really blame him. After he told me what happened, I was barely able to get a word out of him."
"Was he drinking?"
The ensuing silence that followed the innocent question set off several red flags in Shouta's head as he waited with sudden tension for her to answer the question.
"Not much. I poured him plenty but ended up tossing back most of them myself. It's the only reason I didn't force him to stay here. All he said before he left was that he wanted to see you. He was gone before I could stop him."
Shouta didn't miss the way her voice shifted from thoughtful to slightly guilty as he stretched his aching arms.
"He's probably at home. Don't worry so much. If there was an emergency then he would have called."
Unless of course, he was in a position where he wasn't able to. Kayama just told him that Hizashi was going to see him after he left her apartment, but he hadn't heard a word from the loud blonde since yesterday afternoon. Was it possible that he could have run into some trouble on his way here? The question quelled his former irritation into a mild form of unease.
"Aizawa, I've been calling him all morning. He isn't answering his phone."
Maybe because it's only 7am.... He thought to himself with a deadpan expression on his face.
"It's still early. He's probably asleep." Alright for some of us...
"I don't know, Aizawa. I just have this feeling that something's wrong. I've seen him upset before but it isn't like him to just up and leave without saying a word."
Shouta knew what was coming next but even so, he was barely able to stifle the overexaggerated groan of exhaustion and frustration when her next question hit him.
"I know it's early and you probably have alot on your plate, but will you please go to his apartment and see if he's there?"
Aizawa wanted to smother himself with his own pillow.
"Why can't you do it?" He said, albeit harsher than he'd meant to.
"I would but I'm on duty this morning. Why else would I be awake this early on a Saturday?" Her voice rose in response to his own.
"Aside from disturbing me from my own sleep with your needless fretting?" He had meant to say that internally, cursing under his breath when he realised he had spoken out loud.
"Fine! Be that way! I'll be late for work and go by myself! Thanks alot, Eraser." She yelled down the phone causing him to wince, though it was less because of her increase in volume and more due to the fact that as his own words relayed in his head, he realised her anger was perfectly justified.
He heard her voice trail away as she pulled the phone away from her ear, alerting him to the fact that she was about to hang up on him.
"Hold on!" He exclaimed before he could stop himself, waiting several seconds to see if she would end the call anyway. Even though there was only silence on the other end, the fact that the call continued told him that she was listening.
Breathing a deep sigh through his nose, Shouta pulled back the covers and and pushed himself to the edge of the bed. "I'll go."
"Give me a few minutes and I'll head over to his apartment." He said while brushing his hair out of his eyes and untangling it with his fingers.
He swore he could hear her smiling on the other end of the phone.
"And you'll call me if he's there?" She asked causing Shota to let out an amused huff. It was truly astonishing how the same woman who lived under the title of the R-rated hero could still be such a mom.
"Yes. It's only a slight possibility but if he isn't at home then I'll contact you immediately so we can go and look for him." He assured her.
"Do you have a key?" She asked.
"No, but I know where he keeps the spare one. It'll be fine." He heard her sigh with what sounded like relief.
"Thanks, Shouta. I knew I could count on you."
Shouta rolled his eyes fondly before she finally ended the call. Putting the phone down, Aizawa buried his face into his hands rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
This was completely irrational. Chances are Yamada was fine. He would probably go over there now, only to find that the blonde had simply gone home after leaving Nemuri's and would probably ask him what the hell he was doing standing outside his apartment at 7am on a Saturday morning. Now that was something he wasn't looking forward to explaining to his long time friend: that he had driven all the way over there, waking him up in the process just so he could confirm to the overprotective mother hen that he hadn't been kidnapped on his way home from her house last night.
And even if he had run into trouble, Yamada was strong. There wasn't a single doubt in Shouta's mind that the guy could handle himself in a fight. He had seen him in action more than enough times to confirm that with or without his quirk, Hizashi was more than capable enough on his own. Of course, not that he would ever tell him that.
Grumbling under his breath as he quickly dressed himself, Shota headed for the door. Turning around to grab
his car keys, he paused before snatching his capture weapon from the hook. While it was unlikely he would encounter any danger, the logical part of his mind told him it would be even more irrational to leave it behind as he wound the scarf around his neck and exited the building.
...............
A small mercy in all of this was that Hizashi's place was only a five minute drive away from the dorms. He wasn't assigned to a specific class so there had been no need for him to move to the dorms with the handful of the teachers who did. Still, he remained close enough to the campus that he would be able to arrive quickly in case of an emergency.
As Shouta entered the building nothing seemed amiss. There were no signs of a break in at least, so that was one worry put out of his mind. The door was locked, though that didn't really confirm to Aizawa that Hizashi had actually made it home last night.
He knocked once, "Mic!"
There was no response. He reminded himself once again of what time it was and winced as he remembered Yamada still had neighbours.
He knocked again, calling out more quietly, "Yamada! You home?" Only to be met with no response for the second time.
His patience was wearing thinner by the second. Lifting the doormat with his boot and retrieving the key kept underneath, Shouta unlocked the door. It swung open. The chain was left unlocked and there was no bolt on the door locking it from the inside. The feeling of unease he had felt before began to stir once again. While the door had been locked, it wouldn't take much for a petty criminal with enough strength to break the door down without bolting it from the inside for added protection.
With that in mind, Shouta remained on the side of caution as he slowly entered the apartment and quickly shutting the door behind him. He instinctively reached for his capture weapon, keeping his fingers wrapped around the material as he wandered about the living space.
From what he could tell, nothing appeared out of place or damaged, though that wouldn't be enough to satisfy him until he was able to find his friend.
It was as he continued forth down the hallway into the living room that the smell hit him. It was only faint, but the aroma of alcohol and smoke was prominent enough to make him feel slightly nauseous. Eyes wandering around the room, Shouta was able to track down the cause almost immediately. He caught sight of the now empty bottle of hard liquor tipped over on the coffee table surrounded by countless empty beer bottles. It was as he noticed that barely any liquid had spilled out across the table that he came to a disturbing conclusion that the larger bottle was probably already empty before it had been knocked over.
As his eyes continued to roam that they landed on the glass that had been left half full of the hard liquor on the floor next to the couch. However it was somehow what he found lying next to it that stirred his nerves. Beside the half drunk glass was a poorly put out cigarette, the combination of the two making Shouta think that Nemuri may have been right to be worried. Since when did Yamada smoke? Why did he never know about this?
Quickly striding over to the couch, he picked up the glass, placing it on the table before he stubbed the cigarette out with the toe of his boot. Pushing his feelings of concern to the back of his mind, Shouta was able to confirm two things: 1) Given that Nemuri had told him that Yamada had been pretty much sober before he left her place, it was safe to say he was definitely here somewhere. 2) If the numerous empty bottles told him anything, wherever he was he was most likely passed out. Well that would explain why he hadn't been answering Nemuri's calls. But that was the least of his worries right now.
Where the hell was he?
Leaving the living room and continuing on straight through the kitchen, Shouta paused when he came across the bedroom located at the end of the hallway. The door had been left slightly adjar, though probably not on purpose, drawing Shouta immediately towards it.
Gently pushing against the door enough so that he could see inside, what he saw was certainly not what he was expecting to find.
Perched at the edge of the bed, a small ginger cat was sitting on the pristine white sheets staring at him with it's big green eyes. Her tail swished from side to side as her irises continued to bore into him making Shouta halt in his footsteps before he looked behind the feline to see the bump protruding from the covers on the left side of the bed. It was Matcha. Hizashi had adopted her a couple of months ago after finding her injured in a dumpster behind the studio.
The cat remained sitting at the end of the bed, watching him as he stepped closer as if she was guarding whatever those covers were hiding, though Shouta already had a pretty good idea of what that was.
There were strands of long blonde hair laying across the pillows where they peeked out from under the covers. Shouta had found what he was looking for. He stepped closer to where the man's head was laying while trying to remain as quiet as possible. The only sounds he could hear from the other came in the form of his heavy rhythmic breathing, which for some reason came as a surprise to Shouta. In all the years he had known the man, he never would've taken Yamada for a quiet sleeper. Though he supposed on the one hand, that could be a result of the heavy drinking.
In a sudden spark of boldness, Shouta reached forward, ever so carefully pulling back the sheets away to reveal the face underneath.
An unexpected wave of pity washed over the other man as he noticed several things right off the bat that raised several red flags in Shouta's mind. The most noticeable of which being the dark circles forming around closed eyes that were enough to rival even his own. Hizashi without his glasses was a rare occurrence both in and out of work, even when they were kids. He used to tell him that people bullied him because of his eyes so it was easier to keep them hidden from sight. Shouta never even considered a possibility like this. Yamada always seemed endlessly energetic, it was an impression everybody got from him when they were still in school together. Even now with more of a distance placed between them since becoming coworkers, Shouta just automatically assumed that to still be the case.
But if he hadn't been sleeping well or rather avoiding sleep altogether, why didn't he say anything?
The second thing that caught his attention was the tear tracks drying against his reddened cheeks. A nightmare, maybe? No. He knew better than to believe that. Or maybe he just didn't want to think about the truth. A part of him found himself wanting to reach forward and wipe the drying tears away, looking so out of place on the face of the hero who always managed to smile.
Lifting the covers back even further, Shouta was able to confirm another suspicion he had as he saw Yamada was still wearing the same shirt he had on yesterday, telling him that he had started drinking the moment he got home and didn't stop to change out of his clothes. It couldn't have been comfortable sleeping in tight clothes and leather while under a pile of sheets. He felt uncomfortable just looking at it.
God dammit, Yamada.....
If Nemuri had never called him, he never would have known that something like this would happen. He had seen the blonde drink enough on a night out to the point where he let loose but he always seemed to know when to stop. Hell, until a few minutes ago, he wasn't even sure Hizashi even liked the hard stuff, always seeming to favour beer or whatever homemade concoctions Nemuri would put in front of him.
Brought back to the present when Yamada began to stir in his sleep, Shouta quickly let go of the handful of sheets and stepped away from the bed. He froze on the spot as Hizashi turned over so his back was facing him before settling back down. When his breathing evened out once again, Shouta released a breath he didn't even realise he had been holding in.
Momentarily forgetting his promise to Kayama as his concern was too much to ignore with everything he had seen in the last few minutes, a strong feeling of determination blossomed within him as he stared at the sleeping form of his friend with hard eyes. The irritation he had felt upon being forced into coming here was long forgotten. Nem was right to have been worried about their friend and Shouta wanted to kick himself for not realising it sooner. She was right to have called him for help too, because now that he was here, there was no way he was going to leave him like this.
He turned to leave the room, walking next door into the bathroom. He returned seconds later with a trashcan in his hands, which he then placed on the floor besides Hizashi's head. It wasn't much, but he had no doubt that the blonde would appreciate it when he woke up. Until that moment arrived, Shouta figured it was the least he could do in the meantime to clean the smell of alcohol out of the air. A gentle purring sound caught his attention, causing him to look down when Matcha was rubbing against his legs. Crouching down to lift the cat into his arms, Shouta decided he would see to it that she was fed before he did anything else.
Making to leave the room again, Shouta took one last glance over his shoulder to Hizashi, absentmindedly scratching the cat's head as she nuzzled into the attention with a trill.
I don't know where your head's at right now. But I'm not going to leave you until I do. When you wake up, hungover or not, you've got alot of explaining to do, Yamada.