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Without bothering to knock, Suzuya lets himself into Hide’s apartment.
“I’m home!”
“This isn’t your home. You’re supposed to say ‘sorry for the intrusion,’” Hide corrects him without much care in his tone. “Although you would be lying. You’re never sorry for anything.”
Suzuya smiles wide at him as he sees Hide on his usual spot on the floor chewing on a pencil.
“But I live here! I sleep in the bed, I eat the food from the fridge, I use the toilet when I need to pee-” he counts holding up his fingers for each and every thing he does in this apartment.
“Without permission! Pay the rent if you’re going to move in,” Hide grumbles. He spits out a splinter that breaks off from his pencil and looks at it in disgust. Suzuya laughs at the face he makes and plops down next to him with his ankles crossed. He leans in and asks with great curiosity:
“Have you thought about taking the test?”
As soon as his brains registers the question, Hide falls on his back, groaning deeply. He has wanted to become a Hero for a whole year now, but he still hasn’t taken the test. Suzuya doesn’t understand why Hide keeps on postponing it. That’s why he pesters him about it whenever he can.
From the corner of his eye he can see Suzuya ignoring his agonised groan and helping himself to the cookies on the table with an excited smile. Hide considers them a donation to the Hero Association, although Suzuya’s the only one who benefits from this donation.
“ I don’t think I would even pass. I need something… Some kind of superpower. An edge.”
“Edge, edge, you fall off a ledge,” Suzuya sings. “And where do you get edges? Edge shop?”
“Hot Topic…” Hide mutters and scratches his stomach. “Maybe a meteor will fall and spread some kind of new bacteria… Or a nuclear plant blows up and the radiation gives me super strength.”
“Or you’re kidnapped by a mad scientist, and they give you the ability to fly,” Suzuya adds.
Hide sits up and crosses his arms, puzzled.
“All of these scenarios are out of a TV series. It’s not even certain I’d get a power! It’d be a miracle if I didn’t get killed. Or simply develop a… Third ear.” He stays silent for a moment. “What if I got short-distance teleportation?”
He groans long and hard at the thought of such power. Suzuya is getting bored of his monologuing and stands up to ransack the rest of Hide’s cupboards for more food.
“Your power has to be really cool! That’s what your name is gonna be based on! I don’t want to be known as the 20 Cent Teleport."
He looks at Suzuya’s retreating back and his face falls into a soft grin. Suzuya opens the fridge, stick his head in and hums happily.
“Maybe not in your case… Sweets.”
“Hm?” Suzuya looks back, the corners of his mouth in cake crumbs. The smile on Hide’s face falters and he sends a longing look at the empty plate sitting in the fridge. He had really wanted to eat that cake.
Suzuya swallows and licks the corners of his lips clean.
“If you have such a problem with a name, I can think of one for you. How about Joker?”
Hide sighs, and shrugs. It doesn’t sound bad but...
“It’d suit your outfit too! You’d look be a real clown!” Suzuya laughs, looking towards the drawings lying next to Hide, where he had forgotten them. Hide curses and moves to cover them with his body, trying to gather them into a pile, away from prying eyes.
“A work in progress,” he mutters, shuffling the messy pile under his table. “Who are you to judge? You wear slippers outside.”
“But red suits me, don’t you think?” Suzuya extends his leg and shows off his slipper from various angles. Hide narrows his eyes, but doesn’t bother saying anything. He’s tried to tell him to take his slippers off at the door, but once Shinohara had given Suzuya brand new ones, it had been impossible to get him to take them off. He counted his victories where he could, and was grateful Suzuya had agreed to take them off before going to bed.
A day later Hide stands outside the institute’s main door. It’s not exactly menacing or looming over him threateningly. It’s very similar to all the other institute’s he's seen in his life. A glass door, a metal bar handle, a receptionist looking at him through the glass obviously trying to hurry his movements along with his gaze.
He steps in and tells the receptionist he's there for an appointment. He’s shown down the hallway, to the last door on the left. A friendly looking old man is waiting for him.
“You must be Nagachika. My name is Doctor Kanou and I am in charge of this experiment.”
Hide bows his head and puts great effort into keeping his words clear and voice steady:
“Please let me become one of your subjects.”
The doctor sits down in his chair and folds his hands in his lap. It looks like he had expected this.
“It brings me joy that you find my experiment interesting and want to take part… But I must warn you that it is not something you should decide without carefully considering the consequences. Our experiment would not only place great stress on your body, but also on your mind. Receiving a power will mean there is no turning back.”
Hide lifts his head up.
“I am prepared, doctor. Your experiment is ─ not my only ─ but my best hope,” he says, his expression serious.
Doctor Kanou smiles and nods. It isn’t the first time he’s met someone like Hide. He had expected him to say that.
“Hey! Get out of there!”
The creature raises its head and black eyes stare at someone behind Suzuya. What Suzuya doesn’t think about the fact that someone just tried to save his life by shouting at him while he’s right next to a monster, that isn’t aware of his existence, and thus alerting said monster. No, he’s thinking of Hide’s rough and brittle hair and how it’s drenched in blood.
The black eyes turn to him, and the red veins intensify as the pupil dilates.
Jason’s blade swings down, no longer shielding his body.
“Hide?”
Hide’s breath hitches in his throat and he feels his hands wrapping tighter around the ribcage, snapping the bones in pieces. He cannot think of anything to say. He can’t even call Suzuya’s name, because he hasn’t swallowed the last of the liver in his mouth and it would come out muffled, and Suzuya’s always made fun of him for trying to speak with his mouth full when he can’t be understood, and-.
The sirens warning the citizens to evacuate the area are blaring around the square. There is a danger. A monster is on the loose.
Suzuya looks down at him with an odd expression. The longer his gaze rests at him, the more violently Hide’s body shakes.
Gaining power doesn’t always make you the hero. Sometimes it makes you the villain.