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It's been a month since Hizashi had confessed to Shouta that he was progressively losing his hearing due to the exposure to his own quirk.
It hurt that Hizashi hadn't told him earlier. They've been friends for over a year by now, and a couple for the past three months but Hizashi still was afraid to admit it. He confessed that it wasn't his lack of trust in Shouta, rather his own fear of admitting a weakness when they were trying to go Plus Ultra and honestly, it was something Shouta could relate to. He still wished Hizashi felt more comfortable earlier but at the same time, he was grateful for the trust the boy had in him.
Given the circumstances, Shouta took the next logical step and started learning sign language as soon as possible. Even if Hizashi could still hear without issues, there was a likely chance it wouldn't always be the case and Shouta wanted to be prepared. Hizashi already knew JSL as both of his mums were hard of hearing.
He started practicing it with a single-minded drive but hadn't told Hizashi yet. He wanted to make sure he was sufficiently fluent before he would show his boyfriend his new skill.
And then, the training with Ketsubutsu happened.
Ketsubutsu students came with a visit and they had joined training. Something about challenging themselves and not getting comfortable fighting only the people whose quirks you know. Shouta, Hizashi and Oboro grouped together and they were managing just fine when one of the students sneaked up on Hizashi and used their quirk on the boy, while another student immediately attacked him from his right. Both Shouta and Oboro tried to warn him, being too far to react but Hizashi just furrowed his brow and suddenly he was slammed into the concrete.
Shouta ran up to him with heart in his throat, and kneeled by Hizashi, who was sitting up, looking around with panicked eyes.
“Hizashi, are you hurt?” He asked terrified. It didn't look like he was hurt but…
Hizashi put hands on his ears, tears gathering in his peridot eyes.
Shouta frowned and lifted his hands. You can't hear? He signed clumsily and Hizashi stared at him shocked before nodding. Shouta instantly turned to the girl who attacked Hizashi first and activated Erasure. Immediately, he heard a faint sigh of relief coming from the blond.
“Come on, let's get you to Recovery Girl, you still hit your head pretty hard.”
He helped Hizashi stand up and took him to the infirmary, Oboro trailing behind them. The heroine was quick to assess the boy and soon they were back in the observation room.
Hizashi tugged on Shouta's uniform and led him to the corner of the room. His green eyes welled up again and Shouta looked at him concerned.
“Songbird, are you ok?”
Hizashi's bottom lip trembled and he swallowed thickly. He brought up his hands and signed You learned JSL for me?
Shouta nodded, still not understanding the reaction. His confusion only increased when Hizashi threw himself at him sobbing.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he whispered, shaking hands weaving in the black locks. “I was so afraid of what would happen, and you… You…”
“Of course I did, Hizashi,” he replied quietly. “I love you and I want to be able to tell you this however I can.”
It did little to calm Hizashi, on the contrary, the boy sobbed even harder. But Shouta knew that they'd be ok.