~*𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆: 𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒄*~

*~chapter one: afterparty shouta~*

“Hmm- hnn- a little party never killed nobody, right here, right now’s all we got!- whoo!”

Hizashi rhythmically drummed his fingers against the edge of his desk, only stopping long enough to let himself spin in his office chair, of which he had bought just to be able to spin in. His elated laughs and overkill singing echoed throughout the dead silent dorm room, and he had to refrain from throwing his deafening quirk into the boisterous mix. Sometimes, the excitement of a good song was enough to trigger it alone.

It was late, the only source of light over the blonde’s messy workspace being a dull lamp hanging overhead, and the faint glow of the half moon outside the open window. But due to the way things were looking now, Hizashi’s little pile of homework was as good as abandoned, now that he was lost in his music. There was no retrieving him now.

It was a little too quiet tonight, especially with his dormmate out and about. Normally it would be quiet with his roommate here, but it would at least give someone for him to talk to, despite the raven haired male’s reluctance. Now that he thought about it, it was almost always pretty quiet in here. Shouta always avoided any opportunity to converse with anyone, especially the loud blonde.

Plus, Shouta hated loud music.

So, taking his dormmate’s absence to mind, he decided to play a little feel-good music while he ‘worked’. His mini speaker sat on top of his scattered homework papers, blasting out music and taking up what used to be space for silence.

Hizashi closed his eyes as he leaned back into his chair, letting his head fall back as he jammed out, his fingers continuing to play air-drums as the song progressed.

“Glad that you made it, look around

You don’t see one person sitting down

They got drinks in their hands and the room’s a bust

At the end of the night maybe you’ll find l-”

SLAM

The loud sound almost made Hizashi tumble backwards in his leaned-back chair position, and the blonde let out a shocked yelp before grabbing onto the edge of the desk. He yanked himself back up, his heart almost leaping out of his chest.

He quickly moved to turn his music down, glancing at the open door of his room.

“Eh? Shouta? Izzat you?” Hizashi called, his voice echoing throughout the room and down the hall.

Sure enough, Shouta was a little ways down the hall, his back to the other as he kicked off his shoes. Hizashi grinned, then stood out of his chair to make his way to the doorway. He leaned against the frame, ready to greet his friend with a smile.

The ravenette whipped around, his head low and his hair over his face.

“Hey, Sho! Where’ve you been-?”

Shouta quickly shoved past the blonde without as much as a grunt in reply, making a beeline for his own room with his arms hugged around his own chest. As he passed, Hizashi caught the faint scent of alcohol lingering off the male. His eyes widened.

“Sho! Have you been-?!”

Before Hizashi could fully blurt out the question, Shouta slammed his door shut behind him.

Hizashi frowned, scratching his head.

“Huh. Weird,” he muttered to himself, his eyes narrowed.

He guessed that wherever his friend had been, it didn’t go so good. And thanks to his top notch detective skills, he determined that Shouta had probably consumed alcohol in the last 24 hours.

And now he was gonna attempt to figure out why.

Hizashi cautiously made his way down the hallway, stopping in his tracks at the others’ door. Pressing his ear against the wooden door, he fell silent, listening for the ravenette.

He heard a few muffled sniffles and a shaky sigh emit from the other side, and his brows furrowed.

Was Shouta crying?

The answer was, undoubtedly yes, little to Hizashi’s knowledge.

Shouta felt like shit. His head was pounding, and his eyes were sore. Mostly, from strain due to the blinding lights at that stupid frat party he had just returned from.

But also, from crying.

Tonight had been hell. There was really no simpler way to put it. Shouta didn’t think he had been more humiliated in his life. And he hadn’t, because normally, he wouldn’t allow for the opportunity of humiliation to come.

He couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to be tricked into going to that dumb frat party.

The ravenette sniffed, and wiped his eyes on his sleeve as fresh tears sprung in his eyes. He just wished the ground would swallow him up, so that he would be free from embarrassment.

Nobody would notice his absence, anyways.

Well, he guessed the blonde out in the hallway might.

But that didn’t matter to him. As far as he knew, this whole thing was his fault. He shouldn’t have listened to that babbling idiot, telling him to ‘get out’ and ‘socialize’. That it would make college ‘so much more fun’.

Bullshit.

Now, as if the universe had heard him or something, Shouta heard a gentle knock on his door.

Hizashi allowed a pause of silence after the knock, and pressed his forehead against the door.

“Hey, Shouta? Can I come in?”

Shouta huffed loudly, and grabbed his pillow, flopping it over his head.

“No,” he croaked, his voice muffled under the pillow, “Go away.”

Hizashi frowned, turning his head to press his cheek against the door now.

“Pleaaaase, Sho? Just for a second?” he kept a light, teasing tone of pleading in his voice, hoping it would bring some light to the others’ dreariness.

Shouta’s head pounded just hearing the other talk. He wanted to be alone. He didn’t want that boisterous maniac yelling up a storm anywhere near him.

“No. Leave me alone.” Shouta’s stilted response sounded from the other side.

Hizashi sighed quietly as he leaned against the door. He then fell silent for a moment.

He felt pretty helpless right then. He just wanted to help his friend, so badly. Hizashi hated seeing Shouta upset, even though the grouchy ravenette’s personality was usually mundane as is.

“Y’know, they say that people who say they wanna be left alone, actually don’t…” the blonde finally blurted, choosing his words slowly and carefully. “Sooo… do you maybe… wanna talk about what happened?” he grinned hopefully at nothing in particular, hoping this was enough to goad the moody ravenette into letting him in.

Hizashi heard a few more sniffs, then the creak of Shouta’s bed. After a few more moments, the door finally cracked open, revealing the other’s disheveled self. Shouta had a pillow hugged against his chest, and his black eyes locked dully onto Hizashi.

“What do you want?...” the shorter boys’ voice was hoarse, and cracked upon release of the gruff question.

The blonde’s eyes searched the other’s face, and his smile slowly melted into a frown. Shouta’s eyes were red and bloodshot, and his cheeks glistened with fresh tears.

“...Sho, have you been...crying?”

Shouta eyes suddenly sparkled with panic as Hizashi gently pushed the door open, a hand outstretched to him. The sight of the ravenette crying was a rare one to Hizashi, he didn’t think he had ever seen it before. Nonetheless, it still hurt to witness, especially with the high regard Hizashi held the other in.

But Shouta quickly took a step back, his body going tense. He pulled his pillow up to shield his face from the other’s view, and let his bangs fall over his eyes.

“No. Back up. I’m fine,” he blurted quickly, his tone laced with warning. This made Hizashi freeze, and he withdrew his hand back after a few beats of hesitation.

The two were silent for a minute as the tension slowly lifted. Hizashi was the first to break the awkward silence.

“Er… do you wanna… talk about it?” he offered gently, flashing Shouta a reassuring smile. Shouta just huffed in reply, whirling around to make his way back to his bed. “Tch… there’s nothing to talk about,” he grunted bluntly, sitting on the floor beside his bed with his back against the side.

Hizashi raised an eyebrow at the other from his spot by the door, then moved to join the ravenette on the floor. He made sure to keep a distance between them, in an attempt to help set Shouta at ease.

Shouta pulled his pillow back up to his chest, sandwiching it between his chest and his legs as he brought them up.

He didn’t need to say anything. There was nothing to talk about. As far as he was concerned, tonight’s party never happened. It was best that way, he thought. He didn’t need to tell Hizashi anything, it wasn’t any of his business anyways.

But the more he told himself that, the more it bothered him.

Hizashi allowed the silence, and the blonde waited patiently for the other to say something. He knew social interaction wasn’t really Sho’s forte, and that he would need some time to open up.

Hizashi might be a hyper mannered person, but he still paid close attention to how his friend responded to things.

Finally, after some moments of hesitation, Shouta finally spoke up in reluctance.

“I ended up going to that party,” he admitted sheepishly, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the wall in front of him.

Hizashi chuckled a little, pressing his back into the side of the beds’ mattress.

“Yeah. I could tell that already. You reek of booze, man.”

Shouta heaved a frustrated sigh, burying his face into the pillow as embarrassment slowly crept up his spine. Hizashi immediately bit back his laugh upon seeing this, and felt a pang of sympathy for the other.

“Hey, er… it’s all good, Sho! That’s normal! Even if you don’t drink anything, you’re bound to come back smelling like alcohol-”

“I did drink,” the gruff reply cut Hizashi off, and he shot the other a look of surprise.

“Damn, Shouta… how much did you drink?...” the blondes’ emerald eyes got wide. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it… the smell is strong.”

“I know, I know, okay…?” the other snapped sharply, lifting his head slightly to cast a warning glare at the other out of the corner of his eye. Hizashi frowned, but shut his mouth.

“I had 5 cans…” Shouta let his head fall back into his pillow, his reply muffling against it. “And I fucking regret it.”

“Jeez…” Hizashi blew a breath of surprise, running a hand through his hair as he thought. Shouta never touched alcohol, even during prom night at high school when some of the other seniors snuck a few cases of beer to hand out. Everyone took at least one can, except Shouta.

There had to be a good reason for him giving into it now.

“Why did-”

“You know that Meishu Reikoku guy?” Shouta blurted, his tone cold.

Hizashi stumbled over his response, before muttering a confirmation.

“Yeah. Isn’t he the one who hosted the party?”

“Mhm…” Shouta’s shoulders fell as he stifled another weary sigh. Hizashi eyed him curiously for a moment, his brain putting two and two together.

Reikoku was the definition of a popular guy. He fit all of the cliches perfectly, Hizashi thought. He was wealthy, good looking, and had perfect grades. He was known to hold the best parties on campus, and it was considered a huge honor to get invited to one.

Which is why Hizashi was surprised when he heard Shouta had gotten an invitation.

As far as he knew, Reikoku didn’t like Shouta. In fact, Hizashi didn’t think the guy appreciated him much, either. Then again, not many people liked Hizashi much anyways, due to his loud and enthusiastic personality. It was fate for him to be deemed ‘the weird guy’. But Shouta? Not as much.

No, there was a reason behind the brunette’s loathing for Shouta.

During both boys’ freshman year of college, Shouta had caught Reikoku outside a campus building with a couple of his buddies, one of them using their X-Ray quirk for some pretty dirty shit. They had another freshman, a girl, cornered, and all three were misusing their quirks against her.

Reikoku had the girl by her wrists as he used his Grip quirk, and he was uncomfortably close behind her. Another was standing off to the side, and he seemed to just be watching carelessly as the girl struggled, carefully using his fire breathing quirk to light a cigarette between his fingers.

Shouta had been passing by after just leaving the library, with it being late, it was just him out there, besides the three guys and the girl. All it took, however, was one quick glance exchange between him and Reikoku for Shouta to realize what he was doing.

His eyes caught on the girl, and she looked incredibly anxious, almost on the verge of silent tears.

It was then that Reikoku realized that a certain someone had erased his quirk, and upon realizing this, he whirled around to face Shouta with his hands already curled into fists.

He drew back to land a hit on Shouta’s jaw, but the ravenette had his scarf handy, and was able to quickly immobilize the other within a matter of seconds. He held him there just long enough for the girl to leave, and released him. His two buddies didn’t hesitate to escape either, leaving their friend behind.

Shouta had every opportunity to tell a dean what he saw. But he didn’t, and Hizashi never really understood why. He would honestly love to have some dirt on the brat, himself.

“Did, uh… something happen between you two at the party or something?”

The silence coming from Shouta after the question made Hizashi a little uneasy at first, and he shifted uncomfortably. “Ah, crap- was that a bad question?...” He bit his lip, emitting a nervous chuckle.

“Nah… it’s… fine,” Shouta finally muttered. He lifted his head, his hair falling over his eyes. He didn’t bother fixing it. Hizashi let his eyes scan the males’ face carefully again, and he noticed something was off. But he said nothing, yet.

Hizashi watched with anticipation as the ravenette took a shaky breath. He could have sworn he saw tears prick at the others’ eyes again.

“I only got invited to that party so Reikoku could get back at me.” Shouta’s voice was dripping with exhaustion, but Hizashi could tell it wasn’t just physical.

The statement alone made Hizashi’s heart plummet.

“What did he do?” he muttered, a sense of worried urgency in his voice.

Shouta’s hand twitched, and it slowly lifted to brush his hair back out of his face. He turned his head a little to face Hizashi, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

The skin around Shouta’s right eye was bruised black and purple. Hizashi bit back a gasp, his eyes getting wide.

“Sho- did he-”

“Yup,” Shouta grunted, and to Hizashi’s surprise, a smile hinted at the ravenette’s lips. But it was far from sincere, it was cold and bitter, and it sent a chill up the blondes’ spine.

“This isn’t even the worst thing he did.”

(Notes-

- Meishu means ‘leader’, and Reikoku means ‘ruthless’ in Japanese.

-Shouta never touched alcohol up till this point because he saw it as a roadblock, especially if he wanted to become a teacher. Little did he know, this event would be the start of his future alcohol consumption :’D

- Hizashi loves parties, don’t get me wrong. But even he knows that frat parties are a huge no-no. Espe