Whumptober 2021

Summary: Whumptober Day 2: Gagging/Choking: Mihawk/Shanks. At a frat party, freshman Shanks ends up drugged and dragged to another part of the house. When hope seems lost, Mihawk shows up just in time.

Warnings: Gags, Choking, Physical Abuse/Harm, Date Rape Drugs, Attempted Sexual Assault, Modern AU, College AU

Author's Note: I just want to put a big trigger warning on this oneshot. There is use of date rape drugs and attempted sexual assault. So please take caution and if you get triggered by these topics, please turn away. Mental health is always a top priority for me. So, please, turn back and close out if those topics will affect you.

Whumptober Day Two: Gagging/Choking (Mihawk/Shanks)

The music was loud. Pounding against the walls and echoing back into Shanks' ears to the point that even it was causing his head to hurt. Which was odd in its own right. Normally, it never affected him. He had lost sight of Buggy almost as soon as they arrived. His friend getting swept away by another freshman girl named Alvida. Most of the friends Shanks had weren't at the party. Benn had already graduated ahead of them and was now an acting assistant at the school. Yasopp had a baby now, so he was at home with his fiancé. Lucky had to study for an exam. Shanks had been bored out of his mind, so he decided to accept the invite from Thatch to come to the fraternity house. He didn't have anything better to do.

Shanks did not like being left alone. Being alone was strange to him. He was usually always surrounded by someone. He stood with his back to a wall, staring straight ahead of him with a red cup in hand that was full of a mixture of spiked lemonade. The smell of the vodka reaching his nose even with the cup away from his nose. He was on his third one and already thinking of just turning around and going home. It was always better and more fun for him to drink with his friends.

Even Mihawk was busy.

He placed his cup down, turning to move towards the door when he felt a hand on his bicep. He turned his head, a smile coming to his face to see Izou standing there. The upperclassmen smiling down at him with his painted lips. "Hey, Red-Hair." Izou stated, the slight slur to his voice to signify that he was already tipsy.

"Hey, Izou." Shanks replied, a grin coming to his face. Izou was always enjoyable to be around. He was much like Shanks at these parties. Loving to dance and drink until he was black out drunk.

"Leaving already?" Izou questioned, dropping his hand, and putting it on his hip. In his other hand was his own drink that Shanks could smell the tequila coming off of.

Shanks shrugged. "I was going too. I have to get up early tomorrow for Marco-san's class." He stated. It technically wasn't a lie. He did have class with Marco tomorrow, but not early enough that he had to worry about how late he stayed out. Even if he was hungover, Marco expected as much whenever the fraternity house that his brothers were in threw a party.

Izou gave him a look, grinning as he wrapped his arm around Shanks' shoulders. "Red-Haired Shanks leaving a party early? For my brother's class? That's a good one." Izou said. "C'mon, come dance with me for a while." Shanks smiled, turning, and grabbing his drink. Downing the rest of the contents before letting Izou drag him towards where the partiers were dancing together.

Izou started off, pulling Shanks along and twisting his arm so Shanks would twirl around. Pulling a laugh from the younger before they were dancing together in the swarm of bodies. Shanks felt like the world around him was swimming. His mind foggy as he laughed along with the music.

When Izou was distracted, talking to another student within his grade level, Shanks stumbled off in another direction, pulling his phone from his pocket. He blinked as the screen blurred before his eyes. He barely caught Mihawk's name on his screen, clicking onto it.

Where are you?

At least that's what he thought the message said. He made a quick reply, not exactly sure what was actually inputted before he put his phone back into his pocket and stumbled into another direction. Groaning as he accidentally rammed his shoulder into a wall.

Now, this was unusual.

He only had three cups and he knew the alcohol content wasn't enough to make him drunk off his ass. He had been drunk enough in his life, having a reputation in high school for enjoying partying and getting drunk, but this was different.

He paused as he felt hands on his biceps. He mumbled, attempting to push the person away only to get quietly shushed before he was being all but manhandled away from where he was. Shanks tripped over his own feet as he was being guided upstairs. The spinning sensation not once leaving.

He felt oddly tired.

He really wanted to go to sleep.

By the time they made it to wherever he was being led, he slumped to the floor. Breathing heavily, blinking as he tried to get the fatigue out of his eyes. A hand moved over his shoulder, almost caressing, moving down to his side and eventually landing on his hip.

His eyes snapped open as he threw out his leg, a futile attempt as he kicked at whoever was above him. He heard a curse follow. Shanks let out a loud, "Get the fuck off of me!" To which a hand promptly covered his mouth.

He wiggled as the weight landed on his back, trying to pin him into place as he mustered it within him to bite down on the hand covering his mouth, letting out another shout to try and catch the attention of anyone.

His attempts didn't last long before he felt fabric forcing its way into his mouth before it was being twisted into his hair. A hand on the back of his head trying to pin him into place. He screamed into the fabric, still attempting to make as much noise as possible. Kicking his feet and jerking his arms in an effort to try and get the man off of him.

A string of profanities left the man as Shanks felt his body being flipped. His back hitting the floor and through blurry eyes he could see the man. He couldn't make out his face through the haze, but he could see how much larger this man was to him. He punched at the man's chest, his body feeling even more exhausted than it was before. He heard the laughing filling his ears before hands wrapped around his throat. Squeezing on both sides and cutting off his airway completely.

His eyes widened, gasping around the gag in his mouth. Attempting to suck in any air that he could into his screaming lungs. He clawed at the man's hands, trying to tear them away from his throat so he could breathe. His vision covering in black dots as he started to lose even more oxygen. His movements turned even more sluggish as his eyes started to slip shut.

The hands started to loosen as his struggle stopped, his hands slipping off of the man's hands and falling to the floor.

It felt like it was all happening suddenly when he felt the body on top of him get thrown to the side and arms were wrapping around him. A gasp leaving him as air started to enter his lungs again. He started to jerk, letting out a cry of fear, trying to get out of the hold as he heard, "Hey, hey, Shanks… it's just me. It's okay." It sounded like Izou's voice.

"Get the fuck out of here." Another voice, that sounded awfully like Thatch, came next.

"Get out of my sight before I kill you." A growl came next. Shanks cracked his eyes open to see Mihawk standing there. Looking absolutely furious. Hands were working on getting the gag out of his mouth, pulling on where it was twisted in his hair in an almost gentle touch as the man scrambled from the room leaving the three of them. No – four – Marco was standing at the door looking just as angry as Mihawk.

Shanks let out another sob, as Izou's fingers ran through his hair, soft shushing sounds leaving the man as Mihawk turned to kneel down in front of Shanks. Marco kneeling down on Mihawk's other side, reaching out to examine Shanks' neck.

Shanks' head was still swimming, the exhaustion still going through him. He could barely hear Marco mutter, "He's been drugged. On top of the asphyxiation, he needs to go see a doctor."

Mihawk reached out, guiding Shanks to him as the red head fell into his chest with wide eyes. Hands landing on the toned chest as he balled his fists into the fabric. "Let's go, Shanks." Mihawk muttered.

Shanks allowed himself to be pulled off of the ground and Mihawk supported his weight as they walked down the stairs and towards the entrance of the building. He barely caught Marco stating that the man who attacked Shanks will be dealt with as Mihawk started off towards Shanks' dorm.

Shanks mumbled, letting his head lean against Mihawk's shoulder, his eyes slipping shut.

X

When he woke up again, he was in the nurse's office of the University. The doctor, Crocus, who knew Shanks' adoptive father quite well and had treated his illness in the past, was sitting there. A file open on the table before the man noticed that Shanks was awake. Crocus smiled at him as he turned in his chair. "Good morning, Shanks."

"Hey, Crocus." Shanks mumbled, his head pounding as he blinked to let his eyes adjust to the light.

"Do you remember anything?" Crocus questioned.

Shanks blinked. He remembered dancing with Izou then nothing.

Crocus seemed to pick up on this and sighed. "Shanks, you were drugged with a drug known as flunitrazepam. You may know this as rohypnol."

Shanks blanched at Crocus. His mind began to race of all the possibilities. He didn't remember anything. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment, trying to recall anything on the night before. He barely recalled the feeling of hands on his throat and the lack of air that followed.

His breathing started to pick up that had Crocus having him sit up and place his head between his legs. Instructing him through a breathing exercise before he was settled down once more.

"What… what happened to me?" Shanks questioned.

Crocus sat back down in his chair, sighing as he said, "You were brought here by the fourth year Dracule Mihawk." He started. "You had clear signs of being drugged by flunitrazepam as well as what we were able to find. You were attacked by another student, that we do believe was trying to sexually assault you. You have signs of strangulation on your neck and DNA under your fingernails."

"Who?" Shanks asked, eyes wide.

"Marshal D. Teach."

Shanks nodded, looking back down to his lap. Teach had always been what Shanks could only call as creepy. He hung around the Newgate family, referring to their adoptive father as Oyaji just as the others did. He had always gotten a strange feeling coming from the man whenever they came into contact, so now he wasn't surprised that his own attacker would be him.

"Where's Mihawk?" Shanks chose to ask instead of anything else he could possibly say.

"He's outside. He's been here all night." Crocus replied, standing up and going to the door. Opening it and making a motion. Mihawk popped in a second later, going straight to Shanks' side.

"Red-Hair."

Shanks gave a soft smile. "Hawkeyes."

Mihawk gave him a gentle smile, sitting on the edge of the bed. Shanks leaned forward, letting it fall against Mihawk's shoulder. Just letting them sit in silence.

He didn't want to think about what happened. Just wait for a moment in silence.

He'll deal with it later. He just wanted to forget for the time being.