Chapter Text
Aoba watches horrified as his friend presses the blade to his grandmother's throat, the only family member he has left. And then he's running, sprinting, towards them. And then he's... in the tattoo parlor? Faceless figures hold conversations that are painfully loud. Then, after following the only figure he's seen with a face, he's here.
He glances anxiously at the hooded figure. Even though he knows who it is, he can't help but be nervous after everything that's happened.
"... Mizuki."
The man across from him slowly raises his head, causing his hood to slip off. Aoba's breath catches in his throat as he makes eye contact with his friend. Mizuki looks absolutely miserable, his eyes watery and his breaths ragged.
"Aoba... Help me, Aoba..."
Aoba finches as blood splatters over their surroundings. When he opens his eyes he notices that Dry Juice's tag art has turned to black. He quickly restores eye contact with Mizuki, and the look on his face breaks Aoba's heart. Before his brain fully recognizes what is happening he's running towards Mizuki once again, but instead of with the intent to save his Granny, it's to save the distraught tattoo artist himself. His arms are there just in time to stop Mizuki from crumbling to the ground, and he thoughtlessly pulls his friend into a tight hug.
"Mizuki..." Aoba fights the urge to pull away and look Mizuki in the eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Aoba... Oh god... Look what I've done..!"
"That doesn't matter right now!"
"... What..?"
"My god Mizuki! None of that matter's right now! You're what matters right now!"
"Do you even know what you're saying!?!" Mizuki pulls away from Aoba, taken aback by how easily Aoba can just ignore what he's done.
"Look what I've done! They're all walking puppets because of me! They'll hate me if they ever... I'm gonna lose the closest thing I've ever had to a family..." Mizuki takes a shuddery breath as he finishes his rant.
"And... And then you'll leave me too... I can't be alone again... I can't."
Aoba has to do a double take of Mizuki's words before he finds his response.
"Why would you think that I'm going to leave you?" He asks, his voice coming out more hurt than he expected. Mizuki looks at him like he's lost his mind.
"I tried to kill your grandmother!"
"That wasn't you!"
"STILL I-"
Aoba cuts Mizuki off by closing the distance that had grown between them as they argued. He wraps his arms around his panicking friend, who tenses at the initial contact, but then relaxes into Aoba's arms.
"I will never leave you." Aoba murmurs. Mizuki is quiet for a few moments before his quivering voice breaks the silence.
"You promise?" Aoba pulls away to look at his friend.
"I promise."
Mizuki pulls him back into their embrace and holds him almost painfully tight, before the world flashes white.
*****
Aoba shoots upright. His head is swimming, and everything is too damn bright. He lets out a groan before burying his head in his hands.
He hears garbled voices, but he stops trying to decipher what they're saying the moment that he remembers what had happened.
"Mizuki!" He jumps to his feet, a ferocious pain shoots though his head and the swimming feeling intensifies. He fights through the almost numbing pain as he stumbles towards his friend's blurry figure. He falls to his knees, and Mizuki finally comes into focus... but he's not moving. Aoba is barely able to repress the urge to scream, and luckily all that escapes is a small whimper as he brings a shaky hand under Mizuki's nose to check if he's breathing. Air blows gently on Aoba's fingers, and he lets out a faint sigh of relief. He lightly shakes his friend a few times, and his heart jumps when Mizuki lets out a faint groan. He slides an arm around Mizuki's shoulders and slowly raises him into a sitting position.
"Mizuki..?" Aoba's voice comes out shaky, nervous. His friend's eyes slowly open as he comes to. Aoba lets out a gentle sigh of relief as Mizuki turns to face him.
"Hey kid..." Mizuki says with an obviously forced smile, his voice rough and airy.
"Are you alright?"
"I'll live..."
Then he has his arms wrapped around Mizuki, his grip tight as he buries his head in the other man's shoulder.
"What were you thinking..." He murmurs as Mizuki returns the embrace.
"Honestly... I don't even know. I'm... sorry, Aoba."
Aoba tightens the hug, overwhelmed with relief at the fact that Mizuki is actually okay.
The sound of someone clearing their throat is what breaks the boys out of their embrace. The sound comes from Mink who, to Aoba, looks thoroughly annoyed. He glaces down the row of his companions. Koujaku looks just as relieved as Aoba feels. Clear looks as he usually does, his expression unreadable due to his gas mask, and Noiz just looks bored, staring off into space, not particularly interested in what's happening.
Aoba climbs to his feet before offering Mizuki a hand. Mizuki takes his hand and Aoba pulls him to his feet. Mizuki has a small smile on his face, but it falls the moment he makes eye contact with Granny. Aoba watches as his friend's entire body stiffens, Mizuki's face contouring into a look of absolute guilt. He looks like a dear in the headlights, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to find the words to express how awful he feels about everything that has happened.
Tae lets out a huff, seemingly unaffected by what had pretty much just happened.
"Come on, let's go home." She tells them, but it feels more like a command.
"B- but..." Mizuki glances nervously towards the building next to them, and Aoba knows immediately what he's thinking about.
"There's nothing we can do for them right now..." Aoba says gently. Mizuki gives him a pained look, before turning his gaze to the ground.
"Hey..." Aoba puts his hand on Mizuki's shoulder. "There's nothing we can do for them right now. We will save them, I promise."
A small smile flickers to Mizuki's face, and he nods gently.
"Okay, let's go."