[A/N] I own none of these characters. They belong to Ravenfire2023, and they requested a oneshot for them. Warning, this is hurt/comfort with a happy ending, so prepare for some initial angst. Additionally, TW for near-drowning and discussion of parental neglect.

It was a rare occurrence for Tadashi Danhai to be angry. Rare and frightening. He'd gone out into the yard and systematically kicked every single tree out there before starting over, too emotional to be still and yet too civil to damage anything in the house.

Even though Hisoka wasn't the target of his fury, it was overwhelming and startlingly similar to that woman, and yet, he couldn't let himself think like that. That's his love, that's his angel, that's his very own Dashi, and he needs him, so pull it together Hisoka. After nodding resolutely, he took a small handful of steps toward his lover, on his knees and yanking at his hair and trembling. "We'll make posters. We'll search till dark. We'll do whatever it takes. I'll be with you every single minute of it."

"I can't FUCKING believe--" Tadashi seethed, "that they'd be so goddamn careless as to-- It was ONE NIGHT! I entrust her to my shitstain parents for ONE. FUCKING. NIGHT, and they LOSE her! I know they're awful about taking care of ME, but I figured they could've at least managed a dog, something so much less... emotionally needy!" His hands were entirely tensed in both rage and panic. "They are so lucky that I do not live with them, otherwise I-- fuck, I don't want to be a violent person, this isn't like me."

"It is okay for you to be feeling the way you do, okay? Remember, if we've learned anything from therapy, it's that we are not our feelings, and our feelings do not make us bad people. May I touch you, darling?"

Silence, but a slight nod, and so Hisoka closed the rest of the gap and crouched down beside him, wrapping him both with a hand-knit blanket and an arm. "I'll make missing posters. I'll go to the copy shop and make dozens, no, hundreds, and plaster them all along the whole damn city. If you'd like, you can go asking around the neighborhood while I'm gone, or you could come with me so that you don't have to be alone. We WILL find Mooni, or my name isn't Hisoka Shouhei."

"Th-Thanks, Oki." His voice is fragile, quiet, and the roaring fire he'd just been faded to a trail of smoke; still truly, irrevocably in pain, but settling into a less destructive but instead powerless state.

The hunt lasted till sunrise, but after all that time finding nothing, they were forced to relent and retire for the night. They were up within a few short hours continuing to search, but the results were the same, and the dark bags under his lover's eyes were even more pronounced than usual. He said surprisingly little the whole time, but by the wild state his hair was in and the fact that he'd somehow managed to pull out a fistfull, to the horror of both of them, it was clear that the situation was wearing on him heavily. Hisoka had decided that it was just too much stress and they needed to stop for Dashi's sake. The posters were still up, and the reward money was lofty. If anyone saw hide or hair of her, they'd call immediately. 

So Hisoka set up AirBNB arrangements at a quaint little lake house for a few days. Normally, his own taste was inclined toward something a bit more extravagant in terms of vacation spots, but Tadashi was always a little more on the rustic side, and this was about calming HIM down. They'd spent the first night lounging on the pier before having a sunset picnic. Though the creases in his forehead from worry were evident, Tadashi kept himself distracted by listening to his boyfriend chatter like a chipper little lark. He knew that Oki meant only the best for him, and that's why he had dragged him away from the search, that's why he continued to chirp on about this fabric and that one like nothing was even wrong at all. He needed the diversion, and he knew it, or he'd just hear Mooni's sounds, her barks and yips and pants, which had all been ingrained in his brain for years. But geez, why did Oki need to be so uncharacteristically happy now of all times?

The next morning found them both in rather similar spirits. Breakfast had been prepared by the time Tadashi woke up, and Hisoka was whistling to himself softly, sketching designs in his pad. "Best of mornings, my love!" he greeted, popping over to bestow a kiss upon his forehead.

"Morning, dear," he answered tiredly.

"Would you want to go swimming today? I know yesterday was all about R&R, but you do like exercise quite a bit, so I can't be a spoilsport by not indulging you."

"Yeah, sure." Hisoka tried not to note the slight dismissiveness with which the words were shared.

After they had properly woken up and the sun had been out long enough to warm the water, they made their way down to enjoy the fresh, clean lake. Tadashi, a strong swimmer, took to it easily, stroking with a vengeance as though he was performing a triathlon. "Look at you! How marvelous! I feel lucky I get to watch this," Hisoka cheered with pride. Tadashi's eye twitched lightly but he gave a quick nod before swimming further in. Hisoka followed close by, not quite being as fast or efficient, but faring decently. This pattern went on for a while, Tadashi's efforts being spurred on by his exuberant partner, resulting in both the two of them progressing deeper into the lake and also somehow getting further apart, little by little. "Dashi? Dashi, could you slow down? You're mighty impressive, darling, but--"

It sounded like something snapped right next to Tadashi's ear. "Oh my God, would you just stop?!"

Hisoka made a slight distressed noise between light pants. "I-- Love, what did I do?"

"Stop acting like everything is okay! Nothing is okay! Mooni is gone, probably forever, and she was one of the only things in this world keeping me alive, for YEARS!"

"Yes, love, but I--"

"No buts! There's nothing you can do that will make this better, so for ten damn minutes can you please just LEAVE ME ALONE?! Just go home, Hisoka! Or maybe I'll go home! It's better that I'm there anyway, that way I can keep looking, with or without you!"

"Dashi-- please don't-- I-- I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't-- please don't leave me! Don't leave me here!" his cries sounded frantic, needy, and then suddenly he could feel the weight of the water clawing at him, dragging him somewhere cold, and he knew he was never a strong swimmer but now his eyes were blurred from stress and his motions were becoming more frantic, unsteady.

Tadashi turned to try and give Hisoka a withering scowl but was met with the terrifying sight of the lake swallowing him. Bubbles from a yell. This snapped Tadashi out of his not-fully deliberate explosion and he suddenly felt intensely panicked. He immediately dove under and bridged the distance to snatch his waist and pull his head above water. A swirl of blue hair could be seen in that moment, which seemed to last a lifetime, when they were both fully submerged. It was as morbidly beautiful as it was absolutely awful, and Tadashi had to struggle all the way back to the littoral zone with his boyfriend wrapped around his shoulders and tears filling his eyes.

As soon as they were safely on dry land, Tadashi frantically attempted to perform first aid, but fortunately, Hisoka had been caught far before he would have been in dire need of it. Even so, when he at last felt brave enough to open his eyes again, it was to find Tadashi's anguished expression looming over him. Oh how beautiful he looked, the sun behind his head yet framing him like a halo.

"I'm sorry," he whispered weakly. "I just wanted you to be able to smile, just a little. I just wanted that pretty hair to stay on that pretty head of yours. I'm sorry for rushing you."

"That doesn't matter! Why are you trying to make any of that your fault?! Oh my God, oh my God, Oki, I'M sorry! I never intended to take any of that out on you! You're my rock. You're my guiding star. I-- I was so caught up in losing Mooni. I CAN'T lose you too, my life would be such shit without you! Please, stay! Please don't wade that far out, please don't scare me ever again!"

And there was the resolve. They both knew that they needed to stay alive for one another, for the scrap of world they had built up as a couple. Hisoka wrapped his arms around Tadashi, the both of them still soaking wet, desperately clutching to one another like to lose hold of each other meant the end of the world. "I don't know how, darling, but someday you will be okay. It won't be on my timeline, but that is perfectly fine. My promise to stay with you every minute stands firm even now. You aren't alone."

"Thank you. She is so, so important to me, but you're just as important. You two are the ones who cared, back when I didn't think anyone would bother with me. My parents being so neglectful as to extend that to my dog... why was I never enough to earn their love?!" The tears still streamed messily down his face, and as Hisoka rubbed his back, reassuring him it was not his fault, that he was perfect and so extraordinarily worthy of care, he noted how it felt so vivid and surreal, like this was all some sort of nightmare that they'd inevitably wake up from closer than ever.

Dashi carried Hisoka back to the lakehouse, dried him with a towel despite his light protests that he was well enough to do so on his own, tended to him with such massive amounts of attentiveness and tenderness. After doing so, he finally had the chance to check his phone, and then crumpled to the ground once again. "Dashi?! Dashi, what happened?!"

"Voicemail. They found her. Thank God, they found her, Oki! I can't wait to hug her! She's gonna get the highest quality food they make today, I swear."

"That's amazing!" Hisoka cried out, feeling all of his worry evaporate. He once again embraced his lover, leaning in close enough to whisper, "You will never be alone again."

He could feel the tension drain from Tadashi's body. "Let's go home, Oki. Let's go get my girl."