Archive of Our Own

Hearing aids lay discarded haphazardly on the bed as Hizashi curled in on himself, thin arms hugging long legs. He must sound terrible , if the gross muffled noise of his sobs was any indication.

That was alright. It was just him home anyway. He'd have his little melt down and then he could go on with his day. Right?

Right!

No such luck. Too much weighed on his shoulders; three jobs to balance was hard enough, but the stress of keeping his public persona when he was out and about for even simple things drained him after a while. He was an extrovert, sure. But everyone had their limit.

Hizashi had reached his.

His nails dug in a little to the worn sweatpants that covered his legs. When was his last day off? He couldn't remember. It all blurred together sometimes and now that he had hit his wall, time shattered around him, displacing his security. Had he eaten today? Sometimes he forgot to with all his running around. Not out of distaste for food, but mental slips happened.

There were always classes to teach, lessons to plan, patrols to do and radio shows to host. Not to mention coming home at all different hours to his more than patient boyfriend Toshinori. It didn't leave much time for Hizashi . And who could say no to another autograph signing or interview? That would be rude, right? He wouldn't want to disappoint his fans.

Would they be disappointed now, seeing him crumpled on his shared bed, wallowing from exhaustion and the lack of time to just breath for himself? He had gotten home from his late night shift at the radio station, managed to get into something comfortable, and then he broke. It was Saturday morning; Toshinori must have been out getting groceries or running other errands. It was for the best. He didn't want him to see the wreck he currently was.

Hizashi didn’t realize Toshinori was home until he felt movement on the bed and whipped his head in, bloodshot eyes still leaking. The older man looked incredibly concerned, mouth downturned and eyebrows furrowed as he lifted his hands from his lap to sign, “What’s wrong, love?” Hizashi noticed that the other had moved his hearing aids to the bedside table so they wouldn’t get crushed.

It took a few shaky breaths and aggressive rubbing of his eyes before Hizashi signed back to Toshinori, face scrunched. “Too many things. I need a break.” That was hard to admit to himself, let alone to his boyfriend.

A look of understanding crossed Toshinori’s face. He knew that Hizashi pushed himself too much sometimes and didn’t take enough time to recover. It was a hero thing. And even more so a Hizashi thing. “Take tomorrow off.” He signed, a sympathetic smile on his lips. “You need to rest. I miss you.”

Perhaps, if Toshinori had left it just at “You need to rest”, Hizashi would have shook his head; would have forced himself to dry his tears and forget the breakdown even happened. But...the man missed him. That cracked the voice hero’s heart a little. He had neglected Toshinori lately especially; not by choice necessarily, but by the fact that juggling so many responsibilities had left him with very little home time. And by default, less time with Toshinori.

The older hero truly was a saint. He deserved better than the tired, wallowing man. But that was the best thing about Toshinori. He loved Hizashi for all of him, flaws and perfections. It was meant more than he could ever express to have such undying support.

Without signing back to Toshinori, Hizashi lunged forward, arms wrapping around his neck as he crawled onto his lap, heavy sobs wracking through his body again. It wasn’t even that he was sad. But the overwhelming anxiety and stress that had been looming had finally surfaced. He absently worried about hurting Toshinori’s ears, being so close and not being in good control of the instability of his quirk. But if he minded, Toshinori didn’t make it known. He felt warm arms around wrap his shuddering body. It grounded him and he buried his face against his boyfriend’s neck.

Toshinori rubbed Hizashi’s back and let him cry for as long as he needed. Until his sobs turned to soft hiccups and tears dried stickily to his face. He was sure he looked gross now, eyes red and snot dribbling from his nose. Slowly, when he felt stable enough to, he pulled back and rubbed his eyes tiredly, peeking between his fingers to study his boyfriend’s face. He looked worried but not in pain from the noise of his crying. That was a good sign at least.

“What do you need?” Toshinori signed to him, a little frown on his lips still. He was concerned still, it was clear, but a little less so then when he first arrived home.

Hizashi hiccuped a little, and without much thinking simply signed, “You.”

A warm, sunshiny smile bloomed across Toshinori’s lips and he pulled Hizashi into a tight hug for a moment. It was as though he was trying to radiant positive energy into the smaller blonde. Then, he let him go enough so he could sign back. “I’m getting you a snack and water. Get comfy.” Carefully, Toshinori extracted Hizashi from his lap and left the bedroom with one last soft look at his boyfriend.

Hizashi took a shaky breath, finally relaxing a little after such a taxing meltdown. He reached over to the bedside table, picking up his hearing aids and carefully put them back in his ears. Switching them on, he squinted and let himself re-adjust to hearing. Per Toshinori’s request, he tugged the blankets down and crawl into the bed.

Toshinori returned a few minutes later to a bundled up Hizashi, TV turned to a baking show. He smiled a little to himself, setting the water bottle on Hizashi’s bedside table and the plate holding a ridiculously large cinnamon roll on his boyfriends lap.

Hizashi grinned a little at the treat he was given, leaning over once Toshinori was settled next to him to pepper his cheek with warm, sappy kisses. “Thank you, Toshi…”

Toshinori reached over, tucking a stray strand of Hizashi’s soft hair behind his ear. “You know I’ll always take care of you, ‘Zashi.” He replied warmly, tugging off a small piece of the treat and popped it into his mouth with a soft hum. With his special dietary needs, he couldn’t handle many confections like that, but he sometimes he indulged himself a little; especially around a sweet tooth like Hizashi.

Thoroughly content, Hizashi snuggled up to Toshinori’s side. He was warm, as he always was, and it settled the remnants of the voice hero’s jitters. Once he was cozy enough, he dug right into the sticky treat, feeding his boyfriend a couple small bites here and there. When it was done, he set the plate aside and lapped at his sticky fingers until they were only mildly sticky. He took a swig of water before setting the bottle aside and crawling into Toshinori’s lap once more, stuffed with sweets and sleepy.

“That was much needed, thank you.”

Chuckling softly, Toshinori brought his arms around Hizashi’s waist and held him close to his chest, hands rubbing gently at the small of his back. “What you really need, in my personal opinion, is a weekend to relax and be pampered.”

Hizashi let out a noise of want; a weekend to relax sounded absolutely heavenly . When was the last time had he been able to have a whole weekend just to rest and spend with Toshinori? It was long enough ago he couldn’t easily remember. He nodded in agreement. “Next weekend. No plans. I promise.” He would even pass off his late friday radio show shift to another radio host if that meant he could get the extra time at home.

“Good, it will be worth it, I promise you.” Toshinori pressed a warm kiss to the top of Hizashi’s blonde head, smiling a little to himself as he relaxed back against the mountain of pillows behind his back. His eyes were drooping now.

“I’ll hold you to it, Toshi.” Hizashi beamed into his boyfriend’s neck as he leaned his weight against him and curled against his chest.

But there was no doubt in his mind; Toshinori always delivered on his promises.