Two Weeks Later

"What should you do against a villain whose quirk you have yet to identify?"

Kacchan noticed Shinsou's head pop up.

"Hey, Shou-, uhh, Sir; Purple Hair wants to answer."

That intrigued Shouta and terrified poor Shinsou whose eyes immediately shot to Kacchan in both anger and horror.

"Well sign then, moron."

Shinsou cautiously signed.

"He says keep space between you and the villain and don't attack until you know what the quirk is."

Shouta smiled as he turned to face in the direction of Shinsou.

"Exactly; at least I know someone's listening in my lectures."

The rest of the class were as braindead as usual when it came to hero ethics and so didn't even have much of a response to the dig but Kacchan couldn't ignore the fact that Shinsou actually smiled before returning back to taking notes.

"And thank you Bakugou for the translation."

He brushed it off.

It wasn't hard to notice how Hitoshi had made a habit of waiting for everyone to leave before going himself and he wanted to know why.

"Hey."

Hitoshi gave a wave.

"Do you wanna' talk?"

Hitoshi furrowed an eyebrow.

'YOU NOT SEEM LIKE TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL TYPE'

"Shut up!" Kacchan smirked. "Do you want to or not?"

Hitoshi nodded.

"So... how are you doing?"

'FINE'

"Anyone giving you shit?"

He doesn't answer.

"I told you to tell me and I'll sort them out!"

'NOTHING I NOT DESERVE'

"That's bullshit, it wasn't your fault."

'YOU SURE BECAUSE IT FEEL LIKE IT WAS. I HURT SO MANY PEOPLE BUT WHAT I DID. ASUI HAS NIGHTMARES, DEKU BROKE HIS LEGS, I HURT UA REPUTATION, NEARLY GOT AIZAWA AND THIRTEEN KILLED, AND COULD HAVE KILLED ALL MIGHT'

Hitoshi's breathing was heavy as he nervously ran a shaking hand through his hair.

'ALL THAT MY FAULT' He signed. 'BECAUSE... BECAUSE I SELFISH AND JUMP AT OPPORTUNITY TO GO HERE AND BE AROUND OTHER PEOPLE'

"You were a kid."

'WE SAME AGE!'

"I've heard Shouza and Hizashi talking. Those fuckers kept you locked up and only fed you if you fed them information about UA; it was survival and you know it!" Kacchan emphasised. "You did what you had to do so don't apologise. If you asked Shouza, Zuku and All Might I guarantee they wouldn't have an ounce of regret about what happened to them."

'THEY SHOULD'

"They saved you, idiot, do you really think they cared about having to get a few kisses off Recovery Girl?"

"Hey!"

Both boys jumped at zuku's call from the doorway.

"Deku!" Kacchan growled.

"Sorry." He apologised. "You're gonna' be late though."

Hitoshi walked off towards the door.

"We ain't finished this conversation, we'll come back to it." Kacchan stated quietly to him.

'WHATEVER YOU WANT'

In bed Hizashi was sat in front of Shouta. He gently swept aside the hair hanging in front of his eyes.

"You shouldn't hide them like that."

Shouta tried to shove the hair back.

"Don't, they look horrible."

"How would you know?"

"I didn't go fully blind straight away; I lost sight in one immediately so I had a few months of knowing what it looked like. Then they couldn't save it in the other."

"That must have been awful."

"Ehh I don't know, it was sorta' nice in the end."

Hizashi sounded very confused.

"Wait, what?!"

"Only being blind in one threw me off balance real bad, and the damage from the accident left me with these migraines that stemmed from my eyes. All of that went away when I went blind in my other eye too."

"Well I think they look beautiful." Hizashi leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Shouta smiled as he reached out to find his husband's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I don't deserve you."

Hizashi slumped against his side, leaning back against the headboard.

"You excited for the sports festival?"

Shouta nodded.

"The first years are amazing, this might be the best all round group we've ever had."

"They're definitely talented." He agreed.

"Remember our first sports festival? That was back when you still hated me."

"I hated everyone back then; well, a part from Oboro but even then we spent most of that first year fighting, as you probably noticed, so don't take it personally, things were a lot different for me." Shouta looked to his husband and offered a smile. "Not that you gave me any choice on the whole friends front anyway, and I seem to remember a certain someone pretty much professing their love for me there and then after that final match."

"I did not! I was admiring your performance for someone who wasn't even in the Hero Course, that's all."

"Sure babe." Shouta smirked. "'Wow, you're so amazing! You need to teach me how to do that. You're so cool! Wow!'" He impersonated.

"I did not sound like that!" Hizashi gasped in offence.

"Whatever, you still beat me."

"You came real close though, I'd never had to think about not having my quirk so when you took it away I was sure I was screwed."

"Don't give yourself so little credit, kicking that dust up into my face was clever and quick thinking on your part."

"You know when I brought this up it wasn't to just get praised, I meant it more along the lines of 'can you believe your little brothers are in this thing' in a 'fuck we're old' kind of way."

"I'm a little worried, I won't lie."

"About Hitoshi?"

"And Zuku too. He practically went from being quirkless to having some power that he has absolutely no control over which leaves him hospitalised overnight. He's going to want to beat Kacchan because the two of them are far too competitive for their own good, and the way he'll beat him is through doing something stupid with this new quirk thing."

"Speaking of his quirk, have you got any leads on that by the way?"

Shouta exhaled.

"I may have one but I'm not sure I believe it myself."

"What's gonna' happen with Hitoshi? I mean that stupid fucking bracelet basically means he can't do anything, right?"

"It's going to be a challenge, and the other kids aren't exactly gonna' be much help, but if anyone's gonna' pull something unexpectedly out of the bag it's Hitoshi, I think he's got more to him then he lets on."

"I hope you're right."

The next morning Shouta made his way down to the kitchen to find Hitoshi already awake and at the island.

"Fifteen-year-old's aren't supposed to drink coffee." He stated with a quipped smile.

"I- I knew who you were."

Shouta furrowed an eyebrow.

"What was that?"

"I already knew who you were back at the police station… I remember you."

"You remember me?"

"Yeah."

"From where?"

"When I was little I saw you on TV once. You were in the background while they were interviewing Present Mic about his radio show. You had a villainous quirk like mine but you still became a hero."

Shouta made no mention of the villainous comment so Hitoshi wouldn't shy away from continuing. He was internally beaming with pride at the confirmation that the kid could talk when he wasn't feeling stressed.

"And…" Hitoshi seemed nervous. "…you tried to help me once."

He inhaled sharply.

"When was this?"

"I got scared one night and managed to run from the facility. I wanted to get away from them so bad and I saw you on patrol. I remember they told us when we were little to always go to a hero if you're scared or in trouble, so I did. Anyway, I was shy because I was a fan of yours but also I thought it was so cool that I would be able to meet you. Back then I still thought I could be a hero someday."

"The sweater."

"What?"

"I gave you my sweater because you were shivering so badly."

"Yeah and it was huge on me. You were so nice and it made me really happy because it felt like I was free, just for a moment at least."

"Why can't I remember anything else?"

"Well… you tried to convince me to come with you but I knew the League would be looking for me. You were on your own and would've been outnumbered. I wouldn't let you get hurt because of me so, I uhhh, I used my quirk on you before the League dragged me back. You were long gone by time they found me." Hitoshi exhaled. "And then I nearly got you killed anyway by telling them about UA so, you know…"

"The USJ wasn't your fault."

"Why does everyone keep saying that!"

"Because it's true; the League would've attacked with or without the intel you gave them, it was only a matter of time." Shouta took a breath. "Are you sure you're going to okay at the sports festival?"

"I want to participate, even if I can't use my quirk."

"Okay, then we'll be in the commentary booth if you need us, don't hesitate to come up there."

"Thank you."