Hitorijime My Hero

"Mom"

The small apartment was filled with trash and my mom had left for work. She had called me about 10 minutes ago to clean up the place because she was running late. The bottles of wine, beer cans, and cigarettes cover our coffee table and cause the living room to smell like a bar. This always happens when it comes to my mother; she'll get drunk, make a mess, then ask me to fix the place just for her to repeat the same actions. We've been getting into arguments recently, well it's more like she's been getting upset and I stand there as she takes her anger out on me. This has happened before, but it's been more physical lately.

I make my way to my bedroom after cleaning the place as instructed. The glass sliding door has a piece of cardboard taped to it from when Kousuke gave busting in the one day. It was a quarter after five when there was a knock on the glass door, it was Kousuke. I jumped when I first heard it, then opened the door to let him in; he was a bit wet from the rain that had just started.
"Kousuke? What're you doing here?"

"You weren't at my place nor at work, so I figured you'd be at home"

"Well, here I am"

"Yeah, can we talk"

"Oh um y-yeah"

"Don't worry, I'm not breaking up with you. I just wanted you to know that one of my students acted inappropriately towards me after school, and because I don't want there to be any secrets between us I'm telling you" his voice was honest and gentle.

I didn't need to question him, or worry about him leaving. I thanked him for telling me and we stayed at my place, talking, watching movies, and we had dinner together; it felt as if time didn't exist to us and before we knew it the clock read 9:15 at night. The two of us were talking in my room when the front door opened and I could hear the sound of my mother's heels against the floor. I held my breath as if that would make a difference. Kousuke looked confused and tighter his grip ever so slightly around me, protecting me. The sound of a glass bottle shattering made me jump as my face became draped in fear.

"Masahiro! Where are you?!" My mother yelled.

Against Kou's attempts to hold me back I went out into the living room which was now trashed all over again.

"I thought I told you to clean this place up"

"I did"

"Then why does it look like a pigs den in here"

"I'm sorry"

"Damn right you are!"

Crash, a bottle hit my head and I was now bleeding. Kousuke came running out and the last thing I remember is falling back into his arms.

The next morning I woke up in the hospital, I was there for a couple of days before I was allowed to leave. My memory of the event is hazy, but Kensuke and Kousuke told me what had happened and that I'd be living with their family from now on. I tried to protest, but their mom already set up the guest room for me (not knowing that Kousuke and I are together) and the fact that Kousuke went back to my place to gather some necessities didn't help. Reluctantly, I agreed, that began my life there.