Part one- In which things need to be normal to be okay

"Hey, Aoba, teach me how to sign old man."
"Noiz! No, that's mean, now come on, show him what I taught you."

"I don't think he wants to see it, he looks like he's going to cry," he, for once, wasn't being mean, Koujaku was staring between them with a blank expression, completely unable to hear them, or that was how Aoba assumed it worked anyway, maybe he could hear a little but extremely badly.

His hands raised the moment he realised he was right, his crimson eyes a little too watery, eyebrows crinkling in concentration as he watched Aoba signing at him, trying to remember what it all meant, recognising his name.

'Koujaku, Koujaku, what's-' His hands lowered, face falling and clearly straining hard to recall something, failing and raising his hands to try and prompt muscle memory, frowning and raising a single finger, not sign language, just the universal gesture to give him a minute. "Paper, I'll get paper, Noiz be fucking nice."

Koujaku just blinked after him silently, lowering his head and not tilting it back up, not noticing the German reaching for his coil, voice the same as always even if he couldn't hear it now, "thought Aoba was teaching you how to sign?"
He had to hook a finger under his chin to make him look up, grip firm as he tilted the coil screen towards him, message neatly typed out and surprise, appreciation crossing his expression for the second before he read and snorted, 'yeah, but I'm shit at it'

"Makes sense."

Noiz just smiled then, but it had lost its bite and maybe it was little things like that which made the hairdresser so sad, not being able to have his usual snappy banter with people, missing the way they used to treat him, even Noiz admitting it was hard to act the way he used to around him.

"Just because I'm going deaf doesn't mean you have to be nice to me."

'I know that, old man'

"Nobody does. Even Aoba's being too nice," something in his voice was hurt and it was a total contrast to the way he and Noiz usually spoke, German wondering why on earth he'd be the person Koujaku would open up to.


He was somehow Aoba's lackey, he always managed to catch him in the street and something about his earnest smile and genuine concern for him always made him agree to whatever it was he wanted, which increasingly lately was to deliver something to Koujaku. It was bizarre to him why Koujaku going deaf would mean he needed a pot roast to be hand delivered, but he never questioned it and he enjoyed tormenting the other man enough to agree every time.

After the first time walking into his apartment, where he'd caught him by surprise and he'd ended up being threatened with scissors and almost giving the old man a heart attack, he'd come up with a novel idea to alert him to his presence that wasn't just yelling and hoping he could hear a little that day. So he'd whip out a small pocket torch and flash the light a couple times, Koujaku seeing it and turning to investigate only for it to always be Noiz, offering whatever Aoba had asked him to deliver.

But he was so used to it by now that when he arrived with the doughnuts he'd been tasked with, Koujaku didn't even turn when he saw the light, continuing to study the book he was reading, hands moving absently into letters and words Noiz didn't understand yet.

"Come in, Noiz," he did as he was told, mildly concerned at how easily they'd slipped into this routine, even more so at how easily they were still able to banter back and forth, often finding himself at home searching how to say one of his favourite insults in sign language. "Did Aoba get you to bring something again?"
He didn't turn to see him either gesture or to try and lip read his response, so Noiz assumed he could hear okay today, just speaking way louder than he normally would, almost shouting in fact, Koujaku just nodding in understanding and finally turning.

"Doughnuts, huh? She does realise that being a bit deaf doesn't mean I can't cook, right?"

"You can tell her that yourself," once again with the shouting, but his forehead crinkled this time and he shrugged, having not caught it all, Noiz removing his coil from his pocket and neatly typing it out so he could read it.

"Hm, she is a little scary I suppose. But um, I know you normally leave pretty quickly, I wanted to ask you something." Noiz didn't respond but he cocked an eyebrow, encouraging Koujaku to continue silently, figuring he was probably getting pretty used to silence by now. "I- I have a hospital appointment tomorrow, to see how my hearing is, what's going to happen with it. I asked Aoba to come but he's at work."
"So, you want me to go with you?" That had to be what he meant, why else would he seem so uncomfortable, Noiz raising his voice to an almost yell to be certain he'd hear, thinking he must be nervous about it, and of course he would be, they might tell him he'd be fully deaf within a month.
"I guess," he shrugged then, glancing around nervously and chewing at his lip, cheeks a little pink and looking utterly unlike himself.

"Alright, what time at?"

He only looked surprised he'd agreed for a moment, then his face softened so much Noiz felt a little unnerved, shifting awkwardly as he told him and leaving the second he could, questioning all his recent acts of charity.


"I don't understand what that means."
"Okay, so basically you aren't going to go completely deaf, there's been some significant hearing loss in both ears, but with a set of personal tailored hearing aids, we should be able to restore most of your hearing for you."
"Really?"
"Yes, we can book you in for your first appointment next week, but it might be a couple of months yet until you're able to actually have them fitted and use them."

"Well, that's great! Thank you so much."
"My pleasure, so feel free to continue learning sign language if you like, it's always a helpful skill to have, but it's not really going to be necessary in the long run."

"Okay, well thank you."
"Somebody will contact you about a fitting appointment in due course." They left then, walking out of the clinical hospital and into the street beyond, walking along in silence, Noiz not sure why he'd been there since he was hardly the hand holding or comforting type.

"Good news, old man?"

"Really good news, oh wow, I'll be able to hear the sound of hair being cut again!"
"You're really creepy sometimes."

"Oh fuck off, brat."


Part two- In which sometimes its better just to ask

"Koujaku-san."

"Mm?" What Clear was doing there he honestly had no idea, but he supposed he didn't mind the company, just allowing him to fall into step beside him, sure he could see overly large pink eyes staring at his bare ear and trying not to feel self-conscious.

"What's that in your ear?"

"It's er, a hearing aid."

"Oh. What does it do?" Koujaku felt it was more than a little obvious what a hearing aid did, but Clear was often very childlike and he never minded indulging him, there was something about his innocence that he liked.

"Well my hearing was going, some days I couldn't hear at all, but I wear these and it means I can hear like everybody else," he explained it simply partly so as not to confuse him, and also because he didn't really understand how they worked either.

"Waah! That's so clever, Koujaku-san!" He looked so impressed he was a little unnerved, peering closer now as if he'd gotten permission, tilting his head a second later and voice smaller as he spoke. "Do they work if you're completely deaf?"
"I don't think so, why?"

"My left ear is deaf, Aoba-san said it happened when I stabbed myself with that knife," now Koujaku was definitely alarmed, glancing at Clear's face and completely unable to see any mark that would imply he'd done something like that, just nodding as if he understood. "But I'm glad you can hear now!"

"Yeah, me too Clear, and at least you have one ear that works."
"It's my favourite one." That was cute, he thought to himself absently as he suddenly waved goodbye and disappeared off somewhere else, just walking through the streets to his home and considering that maybe he should stop focusing on the aesthetics of the aids and realise how lucky he was not to be completely deaf. Of all people to make him feel ungrateful, he never expected it to be Clear, lighting a cigarette and able to hear the paper burn down, meditating on good luck and deciding to ask Aoba exactly when Clear had stabbed himself the next time he saw him.