Chapter Text
A celebration, Shouta thought lamely as he eyed the half-full glass of whiskey in his scarred hand. He tensed his fingers for a moment, his bones settled beneath his aging skin.
A celebration of what, he wondered watching the liquid swirl as he moved his hand around.
There was nothing to celebrate.
Not really.
He had turned 27, sure, but the days that passed hardly meant anything to him. All of them had blurred together. One day bled into the next—an endless 24 hour loop, with no beginning and no end. At least, not in sight
This day, the day he turned 27, was no different than any other day and yet-
Shouta sighed.
Here he was. Hidden behind the crowd of people Nemuri had gathered to celebrate. Shouta knew it was more an excuse to socialize than anything else.
Not that he minded. In fact, he liked it better that way.
His eyes moved from the swirling liquid to the crowd of people gathered nearby. Music played loudly over the speakers in the run-down old bar Nemuri had managed to snag at the last minute. She would have likely found somewhere… livelier had Shouta given in early.
Fine. He had agreed after Hizashi threatened to put something together if he didn’t allow Nemuri to. Something small.
Shouta’s lips curled up slightly as he watched the large crowd of bodies bumping into one another. It was his fault really. Nemuri didn’t do small.
It was past closing hours, but like many civilians, the bar owner had been eager to offer up the place to a pro-hero. Or maybe, the bar owner had only been eager because it was Nemuri who had asked. Her charm was infectious and her persistence knew no bounds.
Shouta gently placed the glass down on the bar counter. He had been counting down the minutes until he could leave without it appearing rude. His tired fingers pressed into his eyes as he took a small breath in.
It was weird.
Aging was weird.
He knew he was getting older--the aches in his bones after long patrols told him as much, the longer rest periods frustrated him—but sometimes, Shouta looked back up at the people Nemuri had gathered, his heart beat sped up slightly as he caught a glimpse of blonde hair—he still felt like a helpless teenager.
He watched as Hizashi made his way into the crowd, slipping into spaces left by lingering bodies with practiced ease.
Shouta looked away.
His fingers wrapped around the glass of alcohol he had no intention of finishing. He tapped the glass twice with his finger. 8 more minutes and then he could leave. 8 more minutes and he could slip out with no one noticing.
Well, Shouta countered in his mind, slightly annoyed, Hizashi would notice. Hizashi noticed everything.
Almost everything, Shouta corrected as his lips curled downwards.
Maybe he did notice.
Maybe he knew how Shouta felt.
Maybe he was being kind by not mentioning it, instead allowing Shouta to keep his dignity while they both waited for it to simmer out.
Shouta had never been a romantic and yet, somehow, he managed to be someone who fell in love with his best friend.
Did that make him a romantic, or just pitiful?
Shouta had a feeling it was the latter.
No one understood him like-
“Eraserhead!”
Shouta cringed inwardly at the shrill feminine voice that assaulted his ears.
Fuck.
He turned slowly, one eyebrow raised as he looked at the woman two years his junior.
“Ms. Joke,” Shouta muttered, refusing to use any more energy than necessary.
Ms. Joke, for her part, hardly seemed to mind. She moved right next to where Shouta was standing and leaned over, eyeing his drink.
“What are ya doing over here?”
Shouta rolled his eyes, but tilted the glass for her to see the brown liquid moving around.
“Nothing special,” he muttered with a shrug. “Not worth the price.”
Ms. Joke burst out laughing, her whole body rippled like a wave as laughter consumed her.
“You’re always such a downer-”
“There are others you can talk to.”
“I didn’t say that was a bad thing to be.”
“Doesn’t sound like a good thing to be,” Shouta countered.
He wasn’t Ms. Joke’s number 1 fan, but in some twisted way, he found her company enjoyable.
Ms. Joke let out another loud laugh, grabbing Shouta’s forearm to steady herself. Shouta’s downward curl turned into a frown as his eyes landed on her gloved hand.
Enjoyable was too strong of a word, he corrected in his head. Tolerable might be a stretch now as well.
“Hard to talk to as always,” Shouta said though he didn’t pull his arm away.
Ms. Joke straightened up, a large smile plastered on her face.
“Lets go out-”
“No.”
“It’ll be fun-”
“No.”
“Come on, Eraser. It’ll be a night filled with laughter and joy!” Ms. Joke pulled her hand away, using it to gesture widely about, emphasizing her words. “Could you imagine anything better than-”
“Yes,” Shouta cut in. “I can.”
Ms. Joke let out another boisterous laugh.
“Why not give it a go?” Ms. Joke asked. One eyebrow was raised as she tilted her head, watching Shouta more intensely than usual.
He knew she would leave him alone if he asked--if he confronted her directly rather than shrugging off her attempts to get him to go out with her--but Shouta never had much tact, and while he found Ms. Joke to be annoying, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
Shouta tapped the glass on the counter two more times and looked at her directly.
“I don’t think my partner would care much for it.”
Ms. Joke’s eyes widened and for the second time that night, Shouta’s lips curled upward. Her mouth dropped open slightly and she dramatically held her hand over her chest.
“You- you- someone-” she stammered for a moment. “YOU HAVE A PARTNER!?”
Shouta scrunched his face as the loud words slammed into him. He looked around, checking to see if anyone else heard, before turning back to Ms. Joke.
“I would prefer if you kept that between us.”
“What!?”
Ms. Joke took a minute to compose herself. She looked at Shouta then at the people around them and then back to Shouta.
“No one else knows?” She asked, her voice a near whisper.
Shouta shook his head.
Of course no one else knew, it was a lie he just made up.
“I- I thought you were single-”
“I don’t like my personal life dissected.”
“I mean, yeah, but-” Ms. Joke paused for a moment. Shouta had rarely seen her this serious. He watched as her eyes scanned the crowd once more, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. “I- mean- wow.”
She was silent for a moment and Shouta turned back to his glass, slowly bringing it up to his mouth. He drank the last bit that remained in the cup, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
“I’m-”
“Thank you!” Ms. Joke interjected. She must have seen the confusion on his face as she quickly added, “for trusting me.”
Her face broke out into another smile.
“I’ll keep your secret,” she said as she mimicked locking her lips and throwing the key behind her back. “Does no one else know, really? What about-”
“I thought you locked your lips.”
Ms. Joke laughed, her body rocking with the motion of vibration she emitted.
Shouta frowned.
It felt as though they had been talking for longer than 8 minutes, yet he was still standing in the same place as before, no closer to leaving and turning in for the night. Then again, maybe his perception of time had been warped as each second next to Ms. Joke seemed to drag by.
“Who is it?” She leaned in a bit, moving closer to Shouta. “Do I know them? Is it-” she gasped loudly. “Oh- OH!”
She slapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were like that of a bug--wide, huge, peering at Shouta.
Shouta raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue, but she simply stared at him. She looked shell-shocked, like whatever conclusion she came to was a bombardment of information for her to process.
“I mean- how did I not- how does no one else- the two of you- of course!”
Ms. Joke turned away from Shouta, her eyes moved about the crowd just as his had minutes before. They locked on a small group of people huddled together; Shouta followed her line of sight.
Nemuri and Hizashi blocked out the other figures of the make-shift huddle of bodies Ms. Joke was eyeing. Her eyes moved around it before she turned back to Shouta.
He knew the conclusion she had reached. A denial was lodged at the back of his throat, waiting.
“You and-” Ms. Joke cut herself off again as she turned back to the group of people.
Shouta sighed. It wasn’t the first time someone had came to that conclusion. He had half the mind to roll with it and deal with the consequences later, but knowing Nemuri, Shouta had a feeling the consequences would be… unique.
The denial moved from the back of his throat to the tip of his tongue as Ms. Joke turned back to face him once more.
“You’re dating Present Mic!” Her hand slapped her forehead. “Of course! Not sure how that slipped by me- or-” she laughed- “or anyone here!”
The words of denial wrapped around Shouta’s tongue.
Fuck.
He felt frozen--unable to think straight.
“Present Mic,” Shouta repeated, quieter.
“It’s so obvious,” Ms. Joke went on, paying no mind to the turmoil Shouta was going through, “How could I have missed that?”
She shook her head. Her green hair moved about. Shouta watched, still unable to speak.
He needed to correct her, but as she leaned in, placing her gloved hand on his forearm, the words of denial died once more, forever locked behind a cage of teeth.
“Your secret,” she whispered, leaning in as she lowered her voice even more, “is safe with me.”
She smiled and pulled back.
“It’s-” Shouta coughed, “It’s not a secret-”
“Not a secret! Who else knows!?”
Shouta opened his mouth--intent on correcting the misunderstanding, but before he could get the words out, someone else was yelling Ms. Joke’s name from across the bar.
“We’ll finish this later,” Ms. Joke said with a slight squeal. She paused before walking away. “It means a lot, Eraser, that you trusted me with this.”
Shouta, for his part, did not take the moment to throw in a quick correction. Instead, he gave her a small nod and turned back to face the wall of the bar.
Fuck.