Divorce

ii

Let's got for a drink, forget it from now,

Put it behind you, I think it's your round.

Shouta knew that it wasn't the best look to get drunk right after he had that episode on live TV. It seemed to be the worst decision he could have made. But once again it had been Hizashi's idea and he trusted Hizashi to know what was best for him, because Shouta was almost certain that he wasn't able to judge for himself anymore what was good for him and what wasn't. He hadn't thought that the divorce would be so rough on him, but it had been. And all this mess afterwards didn't help whatsoever. Shouta felt like he had lost control over his life.

And now here he was with his best friend since high school, Hizashi Yamada, who was working three jobs successfully and was happy and accomplished and an outgoing person and very much the opposite of Shouta. Maybe getting drunk wasn't such a horrible idea right now. Maybe it was just what he needed right now. Shouta didn't know. But if Hizashi said that he needed a drink, he wasn't going to say no. Especially not since the new waitress at their regular bar was pretty cute.

Not that he had in any way the time to be dating. He had only been divorced for... about a year. Well, maybe it kind of was time to get back into the game, but he wasn't too sure about it. He had enough on his plate as it was and he wasn't particularly in the mood to try and get along with someone else enough to be able to live with them. Plus, flirting with the waitress while she was working was probably pretty creepy. No fucking way was he going to do that. Or so he hoped.

The truth was that when he was getting drunk, he just kind of blacked out and didn't really know what he was doing anymore. He wasn't very obviously drunk, but people that knew him well would see the signs immediately. He wasn't one to stumble around and slur his words, but what he said rarely made sense when he was blackout drunk. Superficially, it would seem like something that made sense, but if anyone really bothered to listen, they'd know it was complete and utter bullshit. Shouta wasn't sure why he acted like that whenever he got drunk, but it was just the way things were. And he didn't really intend to get drunk tonight, but he also knew that look on Hizashi's face and he knew that Hizashi was going to buy him drinks until he passed out. And maybe it was better this way, because Shouta really needed it.

Maybe he should have learned from all those years of being Hizashi's friend. Maybe he should have known better than to go out with him after that. He had told himself he wouldn't get drunk, but he knew exactly how this night was going to end. He had tried before not to get drunk with Hizashi when he wasn't feeling great or when he had been fighting with his then wife, but it never worked. For some reason Hizashi had a strange way about him that just made Shouta chug drinks until he could barely remember his own name. It was kind of embarrassing.

Then again, the really embarrassing thing was the way this interview had gone. Why did Kyoko do that? Why did she use every opportunity she got to make him look like some sort of idiot? Didn't she care that it all just made her look awful, too? Had she always been like this or had she changed? Shouta didn't remember her being this vengeful and spiteful when he had married her, because he probably wouldn't have married her if he had known this was going to happen. But maybe he had just been in love and not seen it all those years... but he couldn't imagine that. After all, he usually acted very rational and he liked to think that he had made a rational decision all those years back as well, when it came to his marriage to Kyoko.

"Still can't believe she did that. What a terrible woman." Hizashi muttered before taking a big gulp of his drink. Shouta nodded wearily. He honestly didn't know what to tell Hizashi. They had been over most of this before, because this wasn't the first time that Kyoko had pulled a stunt like this, so most things had already been said at some point before. Still, he was glad that Hizashi was there for him. And that he was a much more reliable friend than Shouta had ever been.

"This is why I hate things like live interviews. I honestly didn't think she'd still be after me like this. Honestly, it's just embarrassing at this point. Thank God I'm not some really popular hero or something. Imagine All Might getting a fucking divorce." Shouta commented, which made Hizashi snort and almost spit out his drink laughing. Shouta smiled a little - thinking about the mudslinging that would come with the number one pro hero getting a divorce was pretty funny.

"If you were that successful, you could probably organise enough security to ban Kyoko from any place you'll ever be at. Can't believe she'd even get that far. Anyway, she's acting like a total bitch."

"Has she always been like that? Or did she change? I'm honestly not sure anymore whether marrying her was rational or not..." Shouta muttered and finished his drink in one go. Thinking about this really made him want to get drunk. He hated the thought that he had wasted so much time on a mistake. Was the time wasted, though? Had he not been happy with her before the divorce? He honestly couldn't remember. He was still so confused about it all.

"I don't know... she never struck me as someone who'd do something like that, honestly. She seemed nice. And you seemed really happy in the beginning." Hizashi answered with a shrug, before gesturing to the bartender to get them more drinks. Shouta groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"I don't know what happened, Hizashi. Everything was fine and then it wasn't." he said. Hizashi pushed the drink closer to him.

"Hey, it happens, man. Sometimes people just aren't really compatible in the long run, I guess. I mean, I never even had a long-term girlfriend or anything, so I can't say much on that topic."

Shouta nodded and took a big gulp from the drink that Hizashi had pushed towards him. He honestly didn't get why Hizashi was still his friend, because most of the time he was treating him absolutely awful. Shouta didn't mean it whenever he was awful to him, but why Hizashi still put up with him was beyond him.

"Zashi, why are you doing this for me? You're always there for me when I'm down in the dumps and I'm kind of a shitty friend, to be honest..." he muttered. Hizashi's eyes widened, but then he laughed at what Shouta had said and shook his head. He put his hand on Shouta's back.

"Yeah, maybe you are a shitty friend, but you're still my friend. My best friend, to be exact. I'm not just going to leave you alone in a situation like this." he told him with a big grin on his face.

"You get me drunk instead?"

"Exactly."

"You know that's not a healthy way of dealing with things?"

"Of course I know that. But you're too emotionally involved to deal with anything right now. Better to forget it for the moment until the next day and then figure it all out. Might not seem as bad in the morning."

"Yeah, because the hangover will be worse, right?"

"Maybe."

Shouta laughed and shook his head, before quickly downing the rest of his drink. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Hizashi giving him a concerned look. Well, Shouta honestly didn't really care whether Hizashi was worrying right now or not. It had been his idea to get him drunk in the first place, so he might as well get on with it. The sooner it happened, the better.

"Dude, if you pass out at the bar and I can't wake you up I'm not carrying you out, just so you know. I'm not that good of a friend." Hizashi told him. Shouta just grinned and gestured for the next drink. If he passed out at the bar, he'd figure it all out in the morning or whenever he'd wake up.

"I know. But I'm willing to take that risk, to be honest. If I'm going to get drunk I'd rather do it fast." he muttered. Hizashi nodded and then just shrugged, which Shouta was grateful for. Sometimes it took a long time to remind Hizashi that Shouta was in fact a fully grown man and didn't need a babysitter.

"Alright, suit yourself."