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Shouta's hands keep shaking as he tries to hold Hizashi's throat together. There's blood pouring between his fingers, leaving red traces all over the place and Shouta can't think. His ears are still ringing and he's pretty sure he has a bleeding headwound himself but all he's aware of is the red, hot blood leaving Hizashi's body.
His stupid directional speaker is supposed to protect his throat, not shatter on impact and slice Hizashi's throat open and Shouta distantly thinks that they'll have to talk to the support department to get something new developed for Hizashi.
Hizashi, who keeps bleeding out, who keeps moving, who keeps making desperate sounds and Shouta moves his eyes from his throat to his face.
"Hizashi, stop. Stop. Don't move. Don't talk."
Shouta is no doctor but he has seen enough injuries to know that this is serious. Before he wrapped his hands around his throat he's certain he caught a glimpse of Hizashi's aorta; unhurt and whole for now but being exposed like this raises the risk of it bursting too and should that happen, Hizashi's life will slip right through Shouta's fingers.
It's already bad enough as it is, mostly because there was a whole lot of other damage that Shouta doesn't want to think about, like his exposed trachea and possibly even some damage to his vocal cords and it would be a great help if Hizashi would stop moving and trying to talk.
"Hizashi," Shouta hisses out, desperate to get him to calm down, but Hizashi stares up at him with huge, panicked eyes and his hands keep scrabbling at Shouta's arm and he keeps making these noises and Shouta is certain they are going to haunt his nightmares for months to come.
"Please, please, just stop," Shouta whispers, and he thinks he's going to be sick when another wave of blood spills over his fingers.
"Sensei," Hitoshi suddenly croaks out from the side and Shouta startles badly enough to almost lose the grip he has on Hizashi's destroyed throat because he completely forgot about Hitoshi for a moment.
"Don't look," he says, and forces himself to tear his eyes away from Hizashi to settle on his student. "Don't look. It will be okay," he says, even though he's not entirely sure if he's lying.
"I can help," Hitoshi says and Shouta hears him shuffling closer.
Shouta roams his eyes over him but apart from a few scraps Hitoshi doesn't seem to have any injuries at all. He got lucky then.
Shouta's fragmented memories finally piece themselves back together now and Shouta remembers what happened. He and Hizashi were trying to do something nice for Hitoshi because they've been working hard on his hand-to-hand combat and Hitoshi has been working even harder and he finally managed to beat Hizashi and land three solid hits on Shouta and today was supposed to be for celebrating.
Not for being caught in an explosion and getting trapped under the rubble and having a throat sliced open.
"It's okay, it will be okay," Shouta says again, though he doesn't even believe it himself and Hitoshi kneels down next to him.
"I can help," he repeats and stares at Shouta.
Hitoshi is pale, his eyes are wide, and there's a cut on his cheek that left a faint trail of blood on his skin.
Shouta just blinks at him because he doesn't see how Hitoshi could help but he's also too occupied by the feeling of Hizashi's too fast breathing under his hands.
"Aizawa, I can make him stop. If I brainwash him, I can tell him to be still, to not move, not talk. I can make it so he doesn't feel any pain," Hitoshi whispers and Shouta trembles.
Hizashi lets out another horrible sound and Shouta's eyes snap down to him again. There's so much blood already and Shouta isn't sure if anything can help right about now, but he forces himself to take a deep breath.
"Okay."
To his credit, Hitoshi doesn't hesitate for a second before he turns to Hizashi.
"Yamada, I need one tiny verbal response, okay? Do you think you can do that?" he asks and Shouta holds his breath when Hizashi whines out a response.
It's not really verbal, not quite, but it seems to be enough because Hizashi's eyes cloud over in the by now so familiar milky white and he grows still under Shouta's hands.
"Breath evenly but not too deeply. Do not talk or make any noises. Don't move. Don't feel any pain," Hitoshi rushes out as soon as he has control over Hizashi and Hizashi's breathing immediately evens out as he continues to lay still.
Shouta almost doesn't dare to trust it, even though he knows how Hitoshi's quirk works, but when Hizashi stays still and continues to breathe evenly he allows himself a moment of relief.
"Thank you," he then whispers out and looks over at Hitoshi.
He doesn't want Hitoshi to see this, it's still too early to be confronted with situations like this, to have situations like this happen to him, he's not even in his third year yet, but like always Shouta's wishes go unheard and Hitoshi's eyes are on Hizashi before he looks back up at Shouta.
"I can take over," he says and Shouta's immediate instinct is to refuse.
If Hitoshi shouldn't have to see this then he definitely shouldn't have to hold Hizashi's throat together.
"I don't know what else to do. I don't know if anything here is stable or not and I don't know how to act in a situation like this. You do. You know what to look for, how to best get help and I can put pressure on his wound. I can take over."
For a moment, Shouta is frozen with indecision. Everything about this situation is so fundamentally wrong that he struggles to wrap his head around it, despite the years he's already been active and Hizashi's blood on his hands makes it hard to think as well.
"Sensei," Hitoshi says, pleads almost, and Shouta snaps himself back together.
"Okay. Okay, you're right, come here," he says and moves to the side, careful to not move his hands. "See how I'm holding the wound?" he asks and waits until Hitoshi nods. "I need you to hold him exactly like that. Don't put too much pressure on or you could rupture his aorta; too little and you can't stem the blood flow."
It's unhelpful, as far as instructions go, but there's no way for Shouta to convey to Hitoshi what the right pressure is. He'll just have to trust him. At least Hizashi won't feel any pain when they switch places.
"I can do that," Hitoshi says, more confident than he clearly feels because now that Shouta is looking for it, he sees Hitoshi's hands shaking.
"Yeah, you can," Shouta encourages him and Hitoshi moves into position. "On three. One, two, three," Shouta counts and then moves away, Hitoshi seamlessly moving in and replacing Shouta's hands with his own.
Shouta can practically see him stumbling over the feeling of flesh and blood on his hands but to his credit, Hitoshi takes it in stride and doesn't flinch away. Shouta tries to check the pressure he's using on the wound and it seems to be alright, because Hizashi's breath doesn't get laboured and the blood doesn't start pouring again.
"Good, good," Shouta says and forces himself to his feet. "I'll go check our surroundings," he says and for the first time takes a look around them.
It seems they have been caved in by the rubble, which is a miracle in itself but it will be hard to find a way out like this. Help is definitely already on the way, though, so they just have to hold out until then.
They just have to hold out.
"I'll go take a look around. If something happens, yell for me. And just—keep talking to him, okay? Don't let him—" die in silence, Shouta thinks but he can't even say the words.
His entire being revolts against the mere possibility that Hizashi could die here and so the words die on his tongue, but judging by how Hitoshi presses his lips together, he heard Shouta loud and clear.
"I won't," Hitoshi says. "I'll keep talking to him."
Shouta nods at him, once and sharply, and then he turns away. It feels a little bit like leaving his heart behind but he knows that Hitoshi is right. He has no experience with situations like this and it's on Shouta to take control here and get them out.
With Hitoshi’s muttering as the background noise Shouta takes a tour around the area he can access and he realises there's very little he can actually do. When he gets his phone out in a desperate attempt to at least do something he sees that he miraculously still has a signal, so he doesn't hesitate to call Tsukauchi.
"If this isn't important, I'll have to call you back," Tsukauchi greets him with, because of course he's be busy with this incident.
"I'm in the building that came down," Shouta says and he can practically feel how Tsukauchi's attention snaps to him.
"Where?"
"We were on the ground floor in the hallway leading to the restaurant. There is no one else around, I can't find a way out and Hizashi is—"
Dying is what he should say, injured is what he needs to say, but all that comes out is a helpless sound.
"How bad?" Tsukauchi immediately wants to know and Shouta can hear him snap his fingers at someone.
"Bad," Shouta croaks out. "His throat is basically sliced open. Hitoshi is holding him together for now but—"
There's no telling how long Hitoshi will be able to do what he's doing, especially not with the strain he's soon going to experience.
"I have your location. Ground floor means we're going to get to you quicker, anyway. I'll have them concentrate on that area for now. We'll get you out, Eraser."
Tsukauchi hangs up before Shouta can say something else and he's not sure what he would have said anyway. Promises like that are nice, but they could still be too late.
Shouta tries to push that thought away, because right now he needs to concentrate on the now, and for now Hizashi is still alive and Hitoshi still needs him, so he makes his way back.
"No way out but I managed to contact Tsukauchi, they have our position and they will come for us," Shouta says as he kneels down next to Hizashi, who is still and pale and bloody, and Shouta can't help the way his hand wraps around Hizashi's wrist, desperately searching for a pulse.
"He's still alive," Hitoshi quietly says. "And he's not fighting my quirk. He knows we're helping."
"You are helping," Shouta gives back. "How are you holding up? Any strain?"
"Not yet," Hitoshi gives back with a careful shrug and they both know that that answer is going to change sooner rather than later.
Shouta prays that they get rescued before that but with how today has been going, he's not holding his breath.
Twenty minutes is the longest Hitoshi has ever gone without strain and that was just holding one person, not while also giving orders he has to hold on to. Shouta mentally calculates for a moment and comes to the conclusion that Hitoshi maybe has two to three minutes left before the first strain sets in.
"Tell me the moment that changes," Shouta orders and holds Hitoshi's gaze until he nods.
It's exactly two and a half minutes later when Hitoshi says "I'm starting to have a headache."
Shouta bites back a curse because it's not going to help, but Hitoshi must still know because he turns towards him, a stubborn set to his mouth.
"I'm not going to drop it," he says, a warning more than anything else and Shouta presses his lips together.
He would love to tell Hitoshi to not be stupid, that of course he's going to drop it, right now, but he can't form the words. If he says it, it means Hizashi is going to die, Shouta is certain of that and even though he hates the way he mentally weighs their lives against each other, he knows that Hitoshi can still hold out for a while longer before the strain gets really bad.
Before he comes anywhere close to dying.
Shouta stays devastatingly quiet while Hitoshi stares him down and it seems Hitoshi seems to understand him even without words because he nods once.
"I have much more time left than him," he almost quietly says and looks back down at Hizashi. "And they will find us before that."
"They will," Shouta nods, even though there is no way for him to know it and he could end up losing them both.
Shouta can't even comprehend that thought, so he pushes it away.
"Still, keep me updated," he adds, as if it's going to help when he knows how bad Hitoshi feels but there is not much else he can do.
The only thing to do for them right now is wait and pray to all the gods out there that they will pull through, all of them.
Shouta hasn't prayed in years but he thinks he makes up for lost time right now.
He's so lost in his desperate pleas that he startles when Hitoshi speaks up again.
"It's turning into a migraine now," he says and Shouta can see the pain etched into his face already, so it has probably been a migraine for a few minutes before he decided to speak up.
Shouta simply nods because there's nothing else he can do and then he has to watch how Hitoshi holds and holds and holds his quirk, how the tension around his eyes and mouth grows bigger and bigger and then, finally, how he gets a nosebleed.
"Hitoshi—"
"No," Hitoshi cuts him off, licking off the blood he can reach. "I can hold it. I can."
Shouta should tell him to stop, just tell him to let go but Hizashi is calm and still under Hitoshi's hands and if Shouta tells him to drop his quirk then Hizashi will be calm and still because he'll be dead.
Shouta stays quiet.
He stays quiet and quiet and quiet and watches how the blood continues to trickle down Hitoshi's face, watches him grow pale and sweaty, until he has to close his eyes against the pain and still, Shouta stays quiet.
He manages another five minutes, another five minutes where he watches Hitoshi be in pain, watches Hizashi continue to bleed out before he says "I'm sorry."
It's clearly enough to get through to Hitoshi, because he blinks his eyes open and Shouta doesn't dare think about the time it takes him to focus on Shouta.
"Don't be," he rasps out. "Not your fault."
The explosion, maybe. The situation they are in, definitely. But what Hitoshi is going through right now is definitely Shouta's fault and he's not sure he can ever make it up to his student.
Shouta wants to argue, despite how irrational it is, but he's interrupted by a noise, before a part of a wall simply disappears and light streams in.
"Eraser?" someone calls out and Shouta pushes himself to his feet.
"Over here!" he calls back and his heart stumbles in relief when paramedics spill into the hallway.
"Situation?"
"Present Mic's speaker exploded and sliced open his throat, the damage is severe," Shouta forces himself to say. "Shinsou Hitoshi has him under his quirk and is experiencing severe strain."
"What's the quirk?" one of them asks as he kneels beside Hizashi to take in the situation.
"Brainwash. The orders are to breathe evenly, to not move or speak and to not feel any pain."
"Can you hold your quirk until we're in the ambulance?"
It takes Hitoshi a beat too long to answer, but in the end he nods.
"Can hold it until the hospital," he gets out, though his words come out slurred and Shouta watches how worry flits over the paramedic's face.
"Ambulance is enough," he decides and then there's a flurry of activity around Shouta that leaves him reeling.
By the time his mind can catch up to everything, he's sitting to the side of the building, sheltered from the buzz around the collapsed building and Tsukauchi is kneeling next to him.
"Eraser?" he asks and Shouta fears that it's not the first time he tried.
"Yeah?" he croaks out and Tsukauchi lets out a rough breath.
"The paramedics cleared you but—are you okay?"
"Hizashi, he's—" Shouta can't even finish the sentence before panic sets in. "I have to get to the hospital."
"Sansa is going to drive you, that's why I'm here," Tsukauchi says and puts a hand to Shouta's shoulder. "Are you good to be on your own?"
"My family's at the hospital," Shouta gives back and he doesn't even realise that, technically, Hitoshi is not his family.
Tsukauchi musters him for a moment longer before he nods and waves at Sansa. "Alright. Sansa, he's in your care now."
Sansa salutes before he guides Shouta to the car and Shouta loses himself in all the bad news he could receive when they reach the hospital. It's not just Hizashi he could lose; that much strain in someone with a mental quirk could lead to brain damage or straight up death and Shouta is not ready to receive either of those news.
Still, he'll have to get through this somehow and so when a doctor walks up to him he meets them halfway.
"You're here for Yamada and Shinsou?" the doctor asks for clarification and Shouta nods, following along as the doctor leads him to a room.
Hitoshi is already in there, asleep or knocked out, hooked up to an EEG and several other machines and while the picture is horrible, it at least means there's something left to monitor.
"The strain he experienced was severe and there's some swelling in his brain, which is why we're monitoring him like this. We won't know the extend of the damage, or even if there is one, until he wakes up, but for now, he's stable."
Shouta lets out a shuddering breath as he stumbles over to the bed and takes Hitoshi's hand in his.
"He also undoubtedly saved Yamada's life, because without him and his quirk, things would have ended badly. Yamada is in surgery right now, and while complications can still arise, things are looking promising. I can't say if he'll have any lasting damage to his throat or even his voice yet, but from what I heard his life is no longer in danger."
Shouta feels as if someone cut his strings, and he's glad for the chair that's right next to Hitoshi's bed because he gracelessly falls into it.
"Thank you," he mutters and he's not even sure if he's saying it to the doctor or Hitoshi.
"You're listed as Yamada's emergency contact, but we couldn't find any for Shinsou. Is there someone we can call?"
"No, he's in foster care. CPS needs to be informed, but—I'm here," Shouta says as he reaches out and pushes some hair out of Hitoshi's face.
"Alright," the doctor says as he makes a note. "Once he's out of surgery Yamada will have to stay in the ICU for tonight, so we can adequately monitor him but if he's stable, we'll move him in here. I'll keep you updated on his condition."
Shouta simply nods, and then he's being left alone. He loses himself in this thoughts and the steady beeping of the monitors around him and he only startles back into awareness when Hitoshi squeezes his hand.
"Sensei?" he croaks out, his eyes still closed and Shouta immediately moves closer.
"I'm here," he reassures him and squeezes Hitoshi's hand back.
"Yamada?"
"Still in surgery," Shouta guesses because no one came to update him yet. He tries not to let that worry him, because if things went wrong or took a turn for the worse, he would have been informed. "You saved his life, kid," Shouta softly admits and pats Hitoshi's head as carefully as he can.
"He'll be alright?"
Shouta doesn't want to lie to Hitoshi but he also doesn't want to upset him, so he redirects his thoughts.
"How are you feeling?"
"Head hurts," Hitoshi mumbles and Shouta nods, because that was to be expected but the fact that he can form coherent sentences is probably a good sign.
"Sleep some more," Shouta urges him, feeling exhaustion tugging on himself as well and if he's already feeling bad, Hitoshi must feel so much worse.
Hitoshi apparently drifts off again, because his breath evens out and Shouta lets out a shuddering breath.
He's not proud of how he handled the situation today, reprimands himself for having to rely too much on Hitoshi, for panicking and being unable to help in any meaningful way but he also recognises how insanely well Hitoshi handled the situation.
Shouta promises himself to let him know, once he wakes up again, to tell him just how proud he is of him and that is the thought he finally falls asleep over.
(Shouta is startled awake an hour later when the doctor comes by to let him know that Hizashi is out of danger and out of surgery. Hitoshi is being released the very next day, with a clean bill of health, though the lingering headache persists for three days. Hizashi is moved into Hitoshi's room the next morning and while he has to stay in the hospital for much longer, things turn out alright. He'll forever wear the scars and his voice is raspier than before and using his quirk too much leaves him with a sore throat much faster, but he's alive and well and can still do what he loves, all thanks to Hitoshi. Shouta never tires to thank him for it.)