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They keep moving, after that. Hirayama claims it's because they haven't yet found the perfect place where they can live together as a family and Hitoshi tilts his head into her hand in acceptance when she says it.
He thinks all the places they have been to where nice but she just wants the very best for them and he understands that so he talks to landlord after landlord, allowing them to stay for a day, before they move on and he has to do it all over again.
Hirayama is sweet and doting with him during the day, dishes out physical contact as if it's nothing and Hitoshi is so pleased when he can do things for her that he honestly doesn't even mind the muzzle at night so much.
He gets fed, he doesn't get beaten, Hirayama calls him sweetheart and pats his cheek; the least he can do is wear the muzzle to put her and his uncle at ease.
Hitoshi rarely gets to see his uncle, he mostly stays out during the day and comes back late so Hitoshi doesn't get to talk to him much, but Hirayama tells him how much they have missed him and he believes her, because they came for him.
They came for him and took him in and made sure Aizawa and Yamada could have their normal lives back.
Hitoshi doesn't like to think about them, doesn't like to remember what he did to the people he cares for so much, but he knows it's something he must accept. At least now he's doing everything he can to keep them safe and sound by staying as far away from them as he can, by not trying to contact them and even though it still hurts, he practically glows when Hirayama cups his cheek and tells him how proud of him she is.
Sometimes he misses U.A., misses the almost-friends he made there, but Hirayama reminds him that at least like this he gets to train every aspect of his quirk, gets to flex a muscle he had let atrophied and he should be thankful for that, he knows. If he ever went back to school, he’d be thrown into jail immediately.
It still feels strange to use his quirk like he does now, after shying away from its power for so long, but with every smile Hirayama gives him, with every encouraging nudge, with every "I'm proud of you, Hitoshi," it becomes a little bit easier.
With her there he doesn't have to worry about using it wrong, about accidentally doing what he did to Aizawa and Yamada because she tells him what to use it for and when and he trusts her completely.
How can he do anything else when she cards her fingers through his hair and tells him he did a good job?
Hitoshi isn't aware of a lot of other things besides the requests for him to use his quirk. He's tired all the time and plagued by constant headaches but when he tells this to Hirayama she reassures him that it's normal, that it's a side effect of him not using his quirk in so long and he squeezes her hand in understanding because words are hard sometimes with the raging pounding behind his eyes, and he’d rather save his words for when he can use them to make Hirayama proud.
It goes like this for a week, or maybe two, Hitoshi can't be sure with the days bleeding together like they do, he just knows that one day everything is fine and then in the next moment Aizawa barges into their apartment.
Hitoshi locks up immediately, because he is supposed to be free from Hitoshi's influence, is supposed to live his life happily with Yamada and without the nuisance that forced Aizawa to take him in and yet he's right there instead of far away and safe.
"Step away from Shinsou," Aizawa says and he sounds beyond angry which makes Hitoshi flinch, even though his eyes are on Hirayama.
Hirayama didn't yet put the muzzle on Hitoshi and she's at his side a moment later, her hand sliding into Hitoshi's.
"Tell him to leave us alone," she sweetly says, not taking her eyes off Aizawa for even a second and Hitoshi opens his mouth because she asked him to do something for her but no words make it out.
Hitoshi doesn't know what's going on, because Aizawa isn't even using his quirk yet but Hitoshi can't speak, can't find his words with the panic gripping at his throat because he used his quirk on Aizawa in the past and he can't do it again, he won't and Hirayama seems to understand what's going on because her face twists with anger.
"You're so useless," she hisses at him and Hitoshi flinches at her tone before she moves towards Aizawa, leaving Hitoshi’s hand cold and bereft and he stumbles where he stands, unmoored by her sudden departure.
"No, don't," he weakly gets out and he doesn't know who he's talking to, Hirayama or Aizawa, who finally activates his quirk just as Hirayama manages to grab his hand.
"Leave us alone," she presses out but Aizawa stares her down, completely unimpressed.
"That's not going to work on me," he icily says and then knocks her out cold and Hitoshi staggers away from him.
"I'm so sorry," Hitoshi gets out and flinches when red eyes slide over to him.
He ruined Aizawa's life and now Hirayama's too because Hitoshi's hold on Aizawa seems to be stronger than either of them expected and before that he ruined his father and his mother and why does this never end? Hitoshi can’t help the pained sound that moves past his lips and he clutches a hand in his hair as he bows over with sudden horror.
"Hitoshi?" Aizawa carefully asks and blinks, turning his quirk off but that only serves to make Hitoshi panic more.
"No, you can't, you can't, I'm going to do it again, please," he brokenly whispers and then clasps a hand over his mouth.
His head is killing him and briefly he wonders why he's trying so hard to get Aizawa to leave him alone, but then he remembers the muzzle in his room and it will keep Aizawa safe, it will make it so that Hitoshi doesn't accidentally use his quirk on him and so he dashes off.
Aizawa is right behind him, Hitoshi can hear him, but he doesn't stop until he has the muzzle in his hands, until he can press it to his face and even though Hirayama has the lock and it won't stay on like that without someone holding it in place it's better than nothing. It’s better than being in danger of forcing Aizawa to do anything against his will again.
Hitoshi would ask Aizawa to use his quirk on him, but he knows how draining it is on him, so that's not an option and this is the only other thing he can do.
This is all he can do to protect Aizawa.
"Hitoshi," Aizawa breathes out when he steps into the room and Hitoshi turns towards him, his eyes wide and nothing makes sense anymore.
Hirayama is out cold back in the kitchen and Hitoshi can't remember why it's so important that he helps her, doesn't know why he's craving her hand on his skin again so badly, doesn’t quite understand why his ears are rushing like that and why his pulse is reverberating through his skull but before he can even think about doing anything he collapses where he stands.
~*~*~
Hitoshi doesn't wake up, because that would require him to have been asleep before and he doesn't quite think that's true, but he comes to. Slowly.
He blinks up at a ceiling that is vaguely familiar for reasons he can't pinpoint and he finds himself in a bed that is not his but also is and for a moment his head is still killing him before the pain fades away into nothing.
His mind is a mess, flashes of memories assaulting him and he groans with the onslaught. Everything is painfully hazy and for a brief moment Hitoshi wonders if it all was just a dream but then someone shuffles next to his bed.
"Hitoshi?" Yamada asks carefully and just like that Hitoshi clams up, pressing his mouth shut so hard his jaw cramps. "Kiddo, are you with me?" Yamada wants to know and Hitoshi fights the childish urge to shake his head.
He isn't with him, can never be with him again after what he did and suddenly it all comes crashing back, everything he did; to Yamada, to Aizawa, for Hirayama and his uncle and Hitoshi's eyes burn.
Hitoshi wonders if Yamada is going to lash out at him like his mother did and his scar throbs painfully.
"Hey, say something," Yamada gently prods and Hitoshi shakes his head so hard that new pain stabs into his brain.
He wishes Aizawa was here with them, so he could make him use his quirk, at least for long enough to tell them why he can't talk to them ever again but nothing in Hitoshi's life is ever easy.
So Hitoshi falls back on the sing language his mother made him learn after he killed his father and even though he's rusty with it, and he has no clue if Yamada can understand him like that, it's at least something to try.
'I can't talk to you. I don't want to talk to you,' he signs and looks over at Yamada for the first time to see if he understands.
The frown on his face can mean anything though and Hitoshi rushes to make a writing motion, hoping that Yamada will get him pen and paper but a warm, large hand covers his.
"I understand you," Yamada tells him and then points towards his wrist.
There are bracelets there, ones Hitoshi has never seen before and before he can so much as frown, Yamada explains.
"Those are quirk suppression cuffs," he says and Hitoshi can't help it, but he flinches.
It's something that's usually used on villains, but he can understand why they would put them on Hitoshi. He did use his quirk against them after all. He guesses he should be happy they didn’t cuff him to the bed as well, even though it would be well in their right to do so.
"I don't know how much you remember but you kept freaking out the first day, saying something about your quirk and how it needed to be shut down, and you wouldn't calm down until we put these on you."
Hitoshi nods, because this is right, this is something he needs, something he deserves after everything he did and he relaxes back into the bed.
"Can you talk to me now?" Yamada asks and sits down on a chair next to Hitoshi's bed.
"Where am I?" Hitoshi asks and is surprised when his voice comes out as nothing more than a rough whisper.
"In the hospital," Aizawa says from the door and Hitoshi flinches again. "How are you feeling?" Aizawa asks, coming to a stop next to the bed and crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Hitoshi tries to sink into the mattress, doesn't even know how he's supposed to look at Aizawa now after everything he's done and so he opts to look at the ceiling again.
"Head hurts," he rasps out because moving has brought the pain back and then lifts his hands to show how they are shaking. He doesn’t mention that he feels unstable and fluttery all over but Aizawa nods, anyway.
"Still in withdrawal then," Aizawa mutters and Yamada lets out a harsh breath.
"How much longer until her quirk wears off?" he asks, looking up at Aizawa, who shrugs.
"He's been with her for almost three weeks, it might take a while yet," he says, and Hitoshi feels as if he isn't even in the room with the way they are talking about him.
Which is also right, because as long as they are talking about him, they are not talking to him, which is no longer something he deserves anyway, quirk suppressing cuffs or not.
"Do you remember what happened?" Aizawa asks at just that moment, turning his attention back to Hitoshi and he shrinks back with the sudden scrutiny on him.
"Hirayama—where is she?" Hitoshi mutters instead of answering that question and isn't sure why he's so desperate to see her.
He doesn't know her, not really, not even after the time they spent together, even though she’s his aunt and she was proud of him and called him her good boy and why is his head so fuzzy?
"In prison, where she belongs," Yamada spits out and Hitoshi recoils from the anger in his voice but he knows that it's inevitable. He deserves the same anger and he’s going to end up there as well. It can only be a matter of time.
"When—when are you sending me there?" he forces himself to ask because with everything he's done—starting with his father all the way back when he was five—it's the only place he deserves to be at and he distantly wonders why he isn’t there yet.
Surely that would have made things easier for everyone, shipping him off while he’s still not quite conscious, while he’s not able to hurt either of them any more.
"Never," Aizawa almost immediately says and then sits down at the edge of Hitoshi's bed with a sigh. "Hitoshi, do you know what Hirayama's quirk is?" he asks and Hitoshi doesn't understand why that's important when it's his quirk who is ruining everyone's life.
"Does it matter?" he dares to ask and fiddles with the cuffs around his wrists while he hopes that he gets to keep them forever. It’s better than the alternative, of always living in fear or having to go back to pretending he is mute.
"Sweetheart, of course it matters," Yamada says and Hitoshi flinches so violently the entire bed rattles.
"Don't call me that," he gets out, and doesn't understand where that reaction comes from but something about hearing that pet name makes him sick to his stomach even as warmth spreads through him and he feels like throwing up. "Don't call me that," he repeats, much more desperate this time and both Yamada and Aizawa nod.
"Alright, sorry," Yamada says and that, too, is fundamentally wrong.
It's Hitoshi who needs to apologise, not Yamada.
"No, I'm sorry, I'm—" Hitoshi almost chokes on his breath. "I'm sorry."
"What for?" Aizawa wants to know and Hitoshi doesn't even know where to start, there's so much to choose from, but he knows there's one thing he desperately needs to apologise for even though he can never make it right again.
"For making you tutor me and then making you take me in," he gets out, his hands gripping the bedsheet so tightly they turn white. "I never meant to—I'm so sorry."
Yamada opens his mouth as if he wants to say something but Aizawa cuts him off.
"Okay, we all need to slow down here," he says and waits until everyone has taken at least three deep breaths. "Now explain to us why you think you made us do anything."
And just like that, Hitoshi freezes up completely. He can't say it, can't get the words out and admit to the true extend of his powers, even now, can't admit to how fundamentally rotten to the core he is and he doesn't know what's going on when everything goes fuzzy around the edges.
It takes a while for things to come back into focus and when they finally do Yamada has one hand on his chest, while Hitoshi mirrors him with a hand on Yamada's chest and Hitoshi snatches that hand back as if he's been burned.
"You okay, kiddo?" Yamada quietly asks and Hitoshi feels too weak to even shake his head.
"'m tired," he slurs out, his eyes already dropping shut and he doesn't fight it when darkness takes him. It's better than this, anyway.
~*~*~
Hitoshi doesn't know how much time has passed when he wakes up, but both Yamada and Aizawa are still there. Or maybe again, Hitoshi can’t be sure.
"Welcome back, kiddo," Yamada says with a small smile but he seems sad and Hitoshi can't look at him for too long.
It makes his eyes burn and he doesn't deserve to cry over what he did. It's his fault, after all.
Hitoshi is afraid they are going to ask after his quirk again, and he needs to distract them from that so he says "Before, you said something about being in withdrawal. From what?"
"Hirayama's quirk," Aizawa answers, which only confuses Hitoshi more.
"She never used her quirk on me."
"Her quirk is a touch-based persuasion quirk," Yamada says when Aizawa's eyes blaze red in anger. "She makes you want to do the things she says when she touches you."
"It works like a drug," Aizawa adds. "It's slow to start, so it doesn't work very well during first encounters, but it builds up over time and with a lot of exposure. You've been with her for three weeks and going by your symptoms she touched you a lot."
Hitoshi's mind flashes back to their first encounter, to the way she immediately cupped his cheek and then never really stopped touching him that day until she put the muzzle on him and everything after that blends together.
"Why?" he gets out, because she's his aunt, why would she do that to him?
"Hitoshi, have you not been informed about why your family wasn't allowed to take you in after your mother was admitted to a psychiatric clinic?" Aizawa asks him and Hitoshi flinches.
"Your caseworker told us you knew," Yamada mutters before Hitoshi can even shake his head and Aizawa sighs.
"I'm sorry this is how you had to learn, but your aunt and uncle are involved with a fairly big crime syndicate. When your mother was admitted they were already on trial for several crimes, so they were deemed unfit to take you in. Your aunt was only released from prison a few days prior to your meeting."
"Why—why did she come for me?" Hitoshi asks but as soon as the words leave his mouth he knows.
She needed his quirk; she never made a secret out of that, even had him do her bidding on that very first day.
She only came for him because of his quirk.
"That's what we can't figure out," Yamada says and it makes Hitoshi frown. "We thought she came for you because of your quirk but none of the perps we arrested mentioned being brainwashed. They said they felt compelled, never controlled."
Hitoshi freezes up completely, doesn't even so much as breathe, because they don't know. They still don't know and at least that explains why they are still willing to talk to him.
He checks if he's still wearing the quirk suppression cuffs, clutching them tightly against his skin to ensure that they work and only then does he speak.
"She did come for me because of my quirk," he tonelessly says and immediately he has Aizawa's and Yamada's undivided attention.
"But—" Yamada starts and Hitoshi simply decides to bite the bullet.
He's not going to go home with them after all this anyway; what does it matter if he admits to every last crime he has ever committed? He might as well earn his prison cell. It might put things into perspective for Aizawa and Yamada, too, and then they can finally leave him instead of staying by his side as if it’s their choice that they care.
"I lied to you. I lied to everyone. My quirk—it's not just brainwashing. I can—compel people to do what I say and I don't even need any skin contact."
He still remembers his parents and his aunt and uncle talking about it before his quirk manifested, how excited they were to see what kind of evolved power he would have; his mother had a quirk that made people want to do anything when she sang and his father—Hitoshi doesn't quite remember what his father's quirk was, but it must have been something voice based, too. The compelling side ran in his mother's side of the family, Hitoshi remembers that now and in all honesty, he's the perfect evolution of all of them.
"Compel them how?" Yamada asks with a frown and Hitoshi shrugs.
"I just—do. I can lace my voice with power and then you want to do what I said."
"You can. It's something you have to chose, just like you have to chose to brainwash someone," Aizawa muses and Hitoshi lets out a bitter laugh because clearly that's not true.
"You said my mother is in a clinic. Do you know why?" he asks instead, dragging every last bit of his dark past to the front and Aizawa and Yamada share a look.
"Your caseworker told us she's struggling mentally and that she could no longer take care of you. She also told us your father is dead."
"She failed to mention that I killed him," Hitoshi flatly says and sees how Yamada jerks at his words. It stabs him right in the chest but Hitoshi deserves that so he revels in the pain. "I told him I wanted to see him fly and he dived off our roof. My mom she—" His hand goes up to the scar that starts at the base of his neck and goes down to his collarbone, knowing that he has their complete attention.
It's where the knife eventually got stuck in the bone and probably the only reason he's still alive and not cleaved cleanly in two.
Aizawa and Yamada have asked after that scar in the past, but Hitoshi refused to answer them; now he gets to see their faces drain of colour when they realise what happened. Hitoshi wonders if they’ll wish his mother succeeded once they understand how rotten Hitoshi is and he drops his hand as if he’s been burned.
"She tried to look past that, but she could only manage so much," Hitoshi mutters and forces himself to look out the window. "It's understandable why she came after me."
"She should be in prison," Yamada hisses out, his eyes on that part of the scar that's visible and Hitoshi frowns.
"I hadn't spoken since that incident with my dad and everyone thought she was mad when she told them why she attacked me, so she was admitted to the clinic instead," Hitoshi finishes his explanation, because with what he did it’s him who should be in prison.
"Is that why you learned sign-language?" Aizawa asks and Hitoshi signs a quick 'Yes'.
"How old where you, Hitoshi?" Yamada gently asks and Hitoshi lets out a shuddering breath, wondering why it matters but unable to ignore the question.
"Not yet six when I killed my dad. Mom managed for two years after that."
Yamada sucks in a breath and Hitoshi was not prepared for the crestfallen look on Aizawa's face so he pushes right on.
"My quirk, it's—yes, I have to chose to activate it, but who can say what I can do subconsciously? Hirayama—she was right of being wary of me, to muzzle me. I probably shouldn't take these off," Hitoshi says with a nod towards the cuffs.
He'll have to wear them in prison anyway, but it's best to remind them not to take them off until then.
“Or, if they have to stay here, then you need to get me a muzzle,” he adds belatedly, because maybe the cuffs are property of the hospital but then he’ll need the muzzle because Hitoshi cannot be trusted with his own voice ever again.
"Hitoshi, she wasn't right," Aizawa firmly says. "You never compelled us."
Hitoshi lets out a bitter laugh.
"How would you know?"
"Remember those perps we apprehended? They all knew they were compelled, even in that moment. It wasn't a subtle thing, not like Hirayama's quirk at all. The moment you told them what to do they knew they didn't want to do it but were powerless to resist. You said you made us take you in, made me want to train you. That's just not right," Aizawa says with a shake of his head. "If you remember correctly, I was the one who approached you about training you and we never once felt compelled to take you in."
"You don't know that, you can't know that, what if my quirk builds up over time, too?" Hitoshi rushes out, panic setting in again because why won’t they understand that he’s just bad?
"Hitoshi," Yamada sighs out and reaches out to take Hitoshi's hand in his.
Hitoshi doesn't quite manage to hide his flinch before he remembers that Yamada's quirk is very much not touch based but by then Yamada has already taken his hand back with an apologetic smile.
"Kiddo, let's just pretend for a moment that your quirk worked anything like your aunts," he says and Hitoshi feels light-headed with panic at even the mere suggestion. "We would be in withdrawal right now, too," Yamada goes on and holds out his perfectly steady hands. "But we're not. Tell me, do you still want to do what Hirayama tells you to?"
"No," Hitoshi rushes out because he feels sick when he remembers what he did for her, how easily he folded under her sweet words.
"We still want to take you back home with us," Aizawa cuts in. "You're still our kid. Nothing about that changed."
Hitoshi's eyes burn because it can't be, they can't mean that, not after everything he did.
"You don't know that," Hitoshi chokes out. "I could be—"
"Hitoshi, no offense, but we do know. You haven't done anything to us. How's your head?" Aizawa asks apropos of nothing and Hitoshi frowns in confusion.
"Fine?" he gives back, not knowing where this is going, but now that his attention has been drawn to it, he notices that he’s not in pain anymore. There’s barely even any discomfort left.
"How was your head when you were with Hirayama?"
"I—was having frequent headaches and migraines. I was exhausted all the time, too," he remembers and Aizawa nods.
"That's because mental quirks don't work well together. Those are common side-effects when a mental quirk is used against or on someone with another mental quirk. I suffer from migraines when I use my quirk too much and all the worry the hell class puts me through doesn't help either, but not once have I suffered a headache in your presence."
"I—" Hitoshi no longer knows what he can say to make them understand so he brings up his worst crime again, even though it makes him shake. "I killed my dad. I told him to jump off a roof and he had no choice but to do it. You don’t want to be anywhere near me."
"Kiddo, you were a child," Yamada says and leans forward. "You probably didn't even have full control over your quirk. There was no way for you to know how that would end."
Hitoshi opens his mouth to argue, but the words die on his tongue. Maybe Yamada is right; his quirk had manifested mere days before that and Hitoshi used to brainwash his parents frequently in those days, because he was an inquisitive kid and his parents never hesitated to answer him. He didn't know about his compelling power until he used it on his dad and he was not even six. It might not excuse what he did, but it might absolve him of at least some of the guilt.
"I didn't mean to," Hitoshi sobs out and when Yamada pulls him into his arms he allows it, clinging to him almost painfully as he sheds tears over his father for the first time since his mother blamed him for it. "I didn't want to kill him, I didn't want to do that, I'm so sorry," Hitoshi cries, his body wrecked with sobs and Yamada moves them from side to side, while Aizawa cards his fingers through his hair.
"We know that, kid, we know," he softly says and they let Hitoshi cry until he feels raw and empty and he has run out of tears.
"What happens now?" he asks when he's all cried out, because he needs to know where he’s going to go next and Yamada reluctantly releases him. "I was complicit in so many crimes."
"Kiddo, you were abducted and basically drugged up on a quirk. No judge in the entire world is going to hold you accountable for that. You're a victim. There are no charges brought up against you."
"I used my quirk." Hitoshi doesn't know why he even argues for a punishment but he thinks it would be easier like that.
If they would just tell him what's going to happen to him now, then that would be so much easier.
"Because you were forced to," Aizawa says with a sigh. "You didn't do anything wrong because none of this was done out of your own free will."
"And—you?" Hitoshi hesitantly asks and he knows he barely makes sense but Aizawa's face softens anyway.
"And we're going to take you back home with us. We weren't forced to take you in, either, and you're still very much a part of our family."
"I could have—"
"Let's put it to the test," Yamada interrupts him and Hitoshi immediately clams up. "We're going to take those cuffs off, you're going to tell me to do fifty push-ups and Shouta is going to erase your quirk. Let's see how it plays out," he says with a shrug as if it's a completely normal thing to suggest and Hitoshi turns panicked eyes on Aizawa.
Who stabs him right in the back when he nods and says "Sounds like a plan" and then reaches out to take the cuffs from Hitoshi.
"Come on, kiddo, fifty push-ups. I've done worse during training with Shouta," Yamada says and gets up, shaking out his limbs.
Hitoshi is still in a staring contest with Aizawa, who nods again and who is holding the cuffs out of Hitoshi's reach and who isn't activating his quirk and Hitoshi can feel tears gather in his eyes.
Why would you do this to me? He signs out, his hands shaking so hard he can hardly form the signs but he’s so desperate to keep his mouth shut that he feels his teeth grinding against each other.
“Because we trust you,” Aizawa says, immediately, steady, completely assured as if it’s the single most logical thing in the world to trust Hitoshi after everything he did and the tears spill over.
You can’t, I’m going to ruin you, he tells them and startles when Yamada leans down to look him in the eyes.
“You are not going to ruin us, Hitoshi. Look at you, kiddo, you’re scared to death that you’re going to do something to us. You think a subconscious part of you wants to hurt us? That’s bullshit and you know it. You’re so good, you would never do anything to hurt us.”
Hitoshi lets out another sob at that and when he looks over to Aizawa he finds him nodding, seemingly just as certain as Yamada is about this and in face of that unwavering trust what else is Hitoshi supposed to do but comply with what they are saying.
"Yamada, do fifty push-ups," he says, allowing his trembling, choked up voice to hold some power and Yamada immediately drops down and starts.
Aizawa reaches out to squeeze Hitoshi’s hand once and lets Yamada go for ten reps before he activates his quirk and just like that, Yamada stops.
"So that works," Yamada muses and gets back up, dropping a kiss to the top of Hitoshi’s head.
"How does it feel?" Aizawa asks as he slips the cuffs back over Hitoshi's wrists when he impatiently holds them out, because they might trust him but he doesn’t trust himself, not with this, not yet. Maybe never.
"I can't quite describe it. It certainly made me want to do what he said, but I knew I was compelled. I don't wanna do physical stuff ever, so I knew that wasn't my own will. Would it have worn off if I completed the fifty reps?"
"Yeah," Hitoshi meekly nods and Aizawa shrugs.
"Then you have your answer right there. One: we would have noticed if you made us do something we don’t want to do. Two: your order is cancelled when I use my quirk. Three: it wears off once the task you gave is completed.” Aizawa catches Hitoshi’s eyes with his and forces him to listen. “So in the off-chance that you ever told us to take you in, your compulsion would have ended the moment we did and nothing would have stopped us from throwing you out again. You never told us to love you, so you can't have compelled us to do that, which means that must all be on us. Your worries are all unfounded, Hitoshi."
"You—" love me? he wants to ask but his voice doesn't hold for long enough to get the words out.
It seems Yamada knows exactly what he wants though because his expression goes completely soft.
"Of course we love you, kiddo. The last three weeks were hell for us. We were worried out of our minds."
"Hitoshi, you're our son. The adoption is going to go through any day now and we applied for that because we wanted to," Aizawa adds. "We were barely functional with you gone because we do love you. Not once in those days did we think we were better off without you."
"Yeah, we we're pretty hot messes, all around," Yamada adds with a little chuckle and holds his hand out for Hitoshi to take which he does after a long moment. "We were very scared, kiddo."
"Because I was gone," Hitoshi mutters, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that none of what Hirayama said was right.
"Yes." Aizawa offers his hand as well and Hitoshi takes that one, too.
"I—I didn't want to go with her," Hitoshi mutters, because he fears they think he might have, but like before, like always with them, his fears are unfounded.
"We know. We saw the surveillance video outside U.A.. She had her hands on you immediately. We know you didn't want any of that," Aizawa reassures him and Yamada squeezes his hand.
"Now the only real question is if you want to come home with us."
"Of course I do," he blurts out immediately because there is nothing he wants more and his answer is met with two identical smiles.
"Then you'll do just that."
"Welcome home, son," Aizawa says and this time when Hitoshi starts to cry again, he's the first to pull him into his arms.
(Hitoshi insists on keeping the cuffs for the first few weeks. They get him checked in with a quirk counsellor to get the entire scope of his quirk figured out and even with a specialists’ reassurance that his quirk needs to be consciously activated it takes Hitoshi a while to believe it. It helps that Aizawa and Yamada allow him to regularly test it with them, and it helps even more when they get him a therapist. Hitoshi gets through his second year of U.A. on his mastery of the capture weapon and his physical fitness alone but by the time he makes it to his third year he's no longer afraid to use the full power of his quirk and Aizawa and Yamada have never been prouder of him.)