Love Like You

Learn How to Love

A/N: hi. this took forever for me to finish. enjoy. oh, and tw for mentions of suicidal tendencies, panic attacks & depression.

"Here."

Shouto's tired gaze flickers up to meet his colleague from where he's perched only to be greeted by an ice cold beer instead. A kind gesture, he realizes, but he still declines with a shake of his head as he turns his attention back to the afternoon traffic below his dangling feet. He's unsure of how long he's been sitting there along the rooftop's edge but he's mildly impressed by the fact that he hadn't somehow managed to go tumbling to the sidewalk; he must've been spaced out like that for ages.

The can bumps against his shoulder insistently and Shouto sighs, mildly annoyed.

"I really shouldn't, Tetsu. I'm still on my shift and I'm kind of exhausted. Last thing I need is to be drunk should a villain actually decide to show up."

Though, Shouto suspects that his shift will remain uneventful until the very end. He supposes that he should consider that a good thing, as Shouto isn't quite in the mood to be a hero today. He knows that his superiors gave him this patrol route with every intention of keeping him out of the fray. They mean well---hell, he's grateful that they allowed him to continue working at all but they were all very aware that hero work was the only semblance of normalcy that Shouto had left. Was it out of pity that they hadn't simply snatched it from him and sent him to wallow at home instead? He doubts that he'll ever know for sure.

Tetsutetsu, however, disagreed with their decision wholeheartedly. He believes that putting Shouto back in the action-packed part of hero work would do him some good. Help to bring back some long forgotten part of himself. Shouto supposes that this could also be true.

He's managed to inadvertently build some sort of friendship with Tetsutetsu over the last couple of years, the tin-man stopping by Shouto's route after his shift was over to offer him some company. The first time he'd seen Shouto up there, he panicked because he thought that Shouto was going to jump. Shouto joked that he could think of less painful ways to end it all but Tetsu, of course, didn't quite find the humor in his joke and volunteered to check in on him during his otherwise long and boring patrol shifts.

In the end, they'd always end up sitting there together on that ledge.

Sometimes Tetsu would talk, if only to fill the void of loneliness between Shouto and himself.

Sometimes he'd say nothing at all, sitting there in complete silence to watch the sunset with the half-and-half hero.

It's nice to have his company most days, Shouto decided. He's the only one that doesn't treat Shouto like he's made of glass.

Even when he's being a pushy pain in the ass.

Tetsu sits next to him with a sigh and the cold, wet can is firmly pressed against Shouto's palm. "Don't bullshit me; you know that I know better than that. Just take the beer. You look like you need it." He says, waiting for Shouto to inevitably cave and accept his offering. It comes a few moments later, Shouto's fingers wrapping around the can until Tetsutetsu releases it. "I'm here with you. If anything happens, I can take care of it. Take a nap if you need to. I mean, not on the fucking ledge, obviously, but yeah." He assures him and, just as he thought he would, Shouto does crack the can open with a heavy sigh of his own.

"...thank you."

Tetsutetsu smiles.

"Yeah. O'course."

Silence.

It isn't heavy or awkward like most people would expect. Shouto is quite grateful to simply just be instead of having to force a conversation that he wasn't interested in having. One thing that he definitely has learned to appreciate about Tetsutetsu is that he can read the room.