“I'm Tristan…” Tristan said softly, trying to smile back, only for a few itchy coughs to commit mutiny on his voice. He buried himself in his elbow, until the coughing fit passed by again. “Sorry.” He added rather sheepishly, trying to avoid Hibiki's gaze. Until he realised that was impossible: he couldn't read Hibiki's written reply, nor see his reactions if he didn't look.
The latter had lifted his hands at the sheepish sorry, telling him it was fine. After a bout of rapid typing, a question followed.

'Are you feeling any better?’

Tristan nodded, attempting another smile, with a bit more success this time around.
“I am, sorry if I caused you any trouble?” Already halfway through the sentence, Hibiki waved away his apologies.

'It's fine, it was good practise for psychology.’

He chuckled to ease the mood: it was a soft, rather restrained sound, but still more than he had done thus far.
“Isn't it difficult, when you're unable to talk?” Tristan asked, wondering how that would work, but Hibiki shook his head and smiled again.

'I don’t want to become a therapist, I'm studying law and psychology to go into criminology.’

Proud of his plan, Hibiki grinned widely.
“Should I commit a crime to make it interesting?”
Hibiki's grin turned into a slight chuckle, shaking his head.

‘Prison cells are more complicated to get into than bathrooms. But how about we get out of this dirty stall? If you think you can?’

“I'm fine with that.” Tristan said, even if he still vividly remembered the bout of dizziness from before. He took a few deep breaths, despite the unpleasant smell, while Hibiki stood up first. He followed a moment after, faring better than he had figured he would.

While he washed his hands and tried his best to use a few paper towels to get the floor dirt and grime off of his suit, Hibiki took off the ridiculous honours robes that he had sat on for that entire time. It left him in black slacks and a white dress shirt, but he appeared relieved if anything. With the robes slung over his shoulder and the phone in his other hand, he typed his next message with one hand.

'So, what are you studying?’

“Politics, mostly, although I'm starting to doubt that choice a bit…” Tristan's voice trailed off again as he was confronted with how his anxiety influenced his future, but he tried to keep his smile up nonetheless.

'Don't, you have a talent for public speaking. Mental ails can be managed, but giving up on your dreams won't help at all, even if it feels really frustrating and difficult at times. I've been through it as well, learning to cope with being unable to speak.’

As a gesture of sameness, Hibiki laid the robes on the sink, using his free hand to point at his mouth, then at Tristan's head to sign it wasn't such a different situation.
“I hope you don't mind if I ask a personal question?” Hibiki waved away Tristan's concerns, making a gesture with his hand as if to hand it to him. “Is your muteness physical? You can laugh, right?”
Hibiki smiled, but then shook his head. He tapped the side of his head and then made a spinning gesture with his finger, to give the quick answer before he typed his reply out.

'It's all “in my head”, I can't mentally handle speaking. A lot of doctors and psychologists looked at it, but brain wise there's nothing wrong. It feels a little like someone cut the wires in my mind to the speaking part: it's still all there and perfectly healthy, but the rest of my thoughts won't connect the words to any speech. I can laugh and cry, but I'll never talk. At least, I haven't been able to since I was a young child, so I don't think it will happen again.’

“It happened just like that?”

'More or less, there was one big event that set it in motion, and after that it all went downhill until I couldn't speak. I have to admit, psychology in Japan isn't the best, so it took a while before I got a good doctor that helped me with sign language and writing. Did you ever consider talking to a psychologist for your panic attacks?’

It took a few moments before Tristan got his answer, but he waited patiently. At the mention of a psychologist he shook his head.
“I haven't…”

'If you're worried, it doesn't make you bad or a faulty person to have these issues. In fact, I think it's pretty cool that you're good at debate.’

“I don't think anyone has ever called it cool, to be honest. It doesn't really have the same ring to it as criminology.”

'Alright, relatively cool.’

That caused Tristan to chuckle a little, and Hibiki smiled contently.

“Your English is really good by the way, I don't mind talking to you like this. You know what to, say? Or should I say write?”

‘I don't mind it being called either. And thank you, I spent three years in America in high school before now.’

“See, that is cool, I just had grammar school.” Tristan lamented. “Why did you decide to study at Oxford? Instead of in America?”

'I wanted to see Europe, and the British law system sounded more wacky than the American one. But mostly because I figured a few years in Europe would be fun.’

“Ah I see, that makes sense.”

'Does it?’

“Well, the few exchange students I talked to also mentioned prices? The tuition prices are madness, aren't they?”

‘There are scholarship programs, but those are strangely skewed towards athletes. I'm not very familiar with those issues though. Personally, I also chose Europe because I agree a little more to the values in the justice system, so I wanted to learn about them.’

Tristan had just opened his mouth to respond, when a loud knock echoed through the bathroom. It startled him so much he jumped up, and it caused Hibiki to pivot in place.
A loud, rather stern voice followed, speaking in Japanese.
「Yukimura-sama, your parents demand you come back. It's been too long already.」
"Is there an issue?” Tristan said, eyes wide and rather fearful. Hibiki immediately raised his hands to say it was nothing, afraid that he would see this fragile comfort unravel again in an instant.

‘No, that's just my cousin. I think my parents want me to come back. Your friends are waiting outside too, they were very worried about you.’

“Oh… well, we were supposed to go have a few drinks. If you could get permission, you can maybe come with?” Tristan said softly, afraid to draw the ire of whomever had knocked on the door if he spoke too loudly. Hibiki smiled, then typed as fast as he could.

'I'll ask, if you give me your number I can text you back, otherwise the big guy gets impatient.’

He showed the message, then handed his phone to Tristan. The latter got about halfway through typing his number when Kazuya burst through the door. He was followed by Killian, Liz and Sam who nearly tumbled over themselves.
「You must return right this instance Yukimura-sama.」Kazuya stated, making sure it could not be misconstrued as a question in any way.
"Sorry, we tried to tell him not to.” - “Are you alright Triss?” - “We really shouldn’t hold up the men’s bathroom with this.”
Tristan blinked twice at all the commotion, slightly overwhelmed. Still he smiled at his overly concerned friends and nodded, aware that he shouldn’t take such good friends for granted.
“Yes, I’m fine. Hibiki was very helpful.” He gestured at Hibiki, who was currently in the process of giving his cousin a death stare. Remembering what he initially set out to do, he quickly finished typing in his phone number and handed Hibiki’s phone back. Hibiki took his phone back with a grateful nod, and smiled, slightly offsetting his cousin’s intimidating stare as he did so.
“So you’re called Hibiki?” Hibiki nodded and smiled. “I’m Killian, and these are Liz and Sam, nice to meet you.” Killian pointed Liz and Sam out.
“Nice to meet you, thank you for helping out.” Liz smiled, reaching out her hand. Hibiki took it with a nod, shaking his head to say it was no issue.
“Pleasure to meet you Hibiki.” Sam said over her own handshake.
“I asked if he would like to join us? If that’s fine?” Tristan said, glancing over a little unsure at Hibiki’s cousin as the man was now just about tugging at him to go.
“Yeah of course, the more the merrier.” Killian grinned, prompting Hibiki to smile and quickly type his goodbye.

‘I have to go now, I’ll text you if I get permission.’

“Sure, and you can always pass by at debate next week.” Tristan said with a smile and a wave, as Hibiki got dragged out of the bathroom. Hibiki nodded and waved back at all of them.

A little while later, the four of them congregated outside the bathroom again.
“Are you sure you’re alright? You didn’t just say that to get rid of the weirdo?”
“ ‘An!” Liz scolded Killian.
“What? Don’t tell me he wasn’t strange.”
“Being mute doesn’t mean you’re strange.”
“No, not that. That ‘cousin’ just gave me a really odd vibe.”
“Maybe the cousin is strange.” Sam concluded their discussion. Meanwhile Tristan tried to interject himself into the conversation as well.
“He sounded really intelligent, actually.”
“Being intelligent doesn’t mean you can’t be weird.” Killian made a grand gesture at the entirety of him, as if it proved his point.
“Hey! You’re not much better.”
“Guys, can we just be friends? Because we’re okay, doesn’t mean we have to immediately make it not so.”
“Alright, I’ll try.” Killian sighed, as if he’d just been asked to do the impossible. “Where do we want to go anyway?”
“The usual?”
“Sounds good with me. You sure you want to go Tristan? It’s fine if you’re not up for it?” Liz added, still concerned about him.
“I’m fine, really. Unwinding for an hour or two at the pub may do me good.”
“You shouldn’t stress so much buddy, we got your back.” Killian said, as he laid an arm around Tristan’s shoulder. “Next time go bake a cake, sniff some flowers, lay face down in bed and face the dark abyss as you realise that you’re a blip of nothing in the eternity of space and time, like us normal people.”
“You’re half my stress, you overgrown muppet.”
“I love you too.” Killian grinned, but Tristan just groaned and rolled his eyes.
“I want a divorce.”
“You better pay alimony then.”
“I’ll get you a beer.”
“Done.” Killian said as he let Tristan go. Beside them Liz sighed and shook her head, unable to stop grinning while Sam sympathetically patted her on her back.

------

The moment Kazuya had dragged him out of the bathroom, Hibiki had furiously began to write his retort. Halfway down the stairs, he stopped and showed it to his impatient bodyguard.

「 Don’t you have a single shred of social awareness? That guy just had a huge panic attack, and you barge in like some freshly shaved gorilla on steroids because I took a few more minutes trying to calm him down. He could have had another panic attack, maybe even passed out. All because you have the patience of a rabid dog.」

Hibiki held the phone up at Kazuya’s face, unable to shout the words, but his expression said that if he could have he certainly would. Kazuya simply stared back, not impressed.
「Your parents pay me to guard you, not to deal with some random guy’s crazy episodes. Now walk.」Kazuya gestured down the stairs.

「 Well you’re a fucking dick.」

Hibiki defiantly showed his phone to Kazuya in passing.
「Yes. Keep walking until we’re back.」

The downstairs foyer was filled with students and their parents, sipping on a freely provided cup of tea, coffee or soda. A little bit removed from the busiest group his parents both stood, waiting on him. He felt his heart sink all the way down to his stomach as he realised he was probably going to get grounded before he’d even good and well started.
「Hibiki! It’s been half an hour.」His mother whisper-yelled at him, as he was brought before them like he was on some sort of crime tribunal.
「Explain yourself.」His father demanded, so he did with frustrated gestures.

'I went to hand back the cufflink, but when I got there, I found out he had a panic attack.'

「A panic attack?」His father crossed his arms and looked at Kazuya, who simply shrugged.
「Apparently. I just know he talked to that blond student in the bathroom.」

'It’s true, I talked to him until he calmed down, but then Kazuya basically kicked down the door.'

Near the end his gestures got more and more agitated, fast and big. Both his parents now looked at Kazuya for confirmation.
「You told me to get him back, so I did. He’d have chatted up that guy and his friends all night long.」

'Yes, yes I would have. This is why I have no fucking friends!'

Frustrated as he was, he didn’t even know what to do with his hands anymore. Instead he just lifted them, made clawed hands as if he wanted to strangle them all and then let out an angry groan.
「Now now, no need to be so dramatic. You just don’t know these people, so you have to be careful.」

'If I don’t get the chance to meet anyone, how can I get to know them?'

「You just have to give it some time.」

'Well… they did ask me to go with to a bar?’

His gestures got smaller as he realised that he was asking that to the same people who he’d mock strangled mere moments ago. He hoped that puppy eyes could mitigate the worst damage done.
「Hibiki…」His father let out a deep sigh and just shook his head.
Hibiki held up both his hands in a begging gesture.

‘Please? You told me that I should make friends, and now I can you won’t let me.’

「We did say that.」His mother added, and Hibiki smiled a bit wider now he had found some support.
「You will take Kazuya and Hideki with, and Kazuo will pick you up by twelve. If anything happens you won’t be going out until you’re thirty.」
Hibiki grinned and nodded enthusiastically at every rule, just about bouncing up and down from happiness. Unable to keep it all to himself he hugged his father tight, not even caring that it was a very public space. His father patted his back a little unsure.
「Just this once.」He let go and nodded again at his father's words, before following up with a hug for his mother. She took it far more graceful than his father, wrapping her arms lightly around him for a second before letting go again.
Still smiling, Hibiki made a grateful bow to say thank you, but was simply too bouncy to stay down long enough for it to resemble anything remotely serious. Instead he dug up his phone from his pocket and rapidly typed a text message to Tristan.

‘Hey, it’s Hibiki. I got permission from my parents, but my cousins want to come too, is that okay?’

It took a long, tense minute before he got his reply. He could only hope it wouldn’t be a problem.

‘Yeah, that’s fine. Do you want to meet up there?’

‘Sure :)’

‘I’ll send you the address’