Sat waiting for the doctor to come and collect him was agonising. Hitoshi was almost vibrating his nerves were so bad.

The door opened but revealed someone he hadn't expected to see.

Kacchan.

Full to bursting with guilt he couldn't even look him in the eye.

His cousin's lip was split and his cheek was carrying a large black and green bruise, he also had a couple of stitches in his hairline.

"Toshi…" Kacchan spoke up softly.

Footsteps slowly approached before he was pulled into a hug.

"I hurt you…" His weak tone shamefully admitted. "And I can't… I'm so sorry."

"Hey, look at me."

Hitoshi's gaze rose to finally meet Kacchans'.

"It was a mistake, it wasn't you. I know you and you would never do that to me or Shouta, so don't feel bad about it, you were sick and it made you see shit, there was nothing you could have done."

"Why do you all forgive me so easily, I'm a bad person."

Kacchan scowled.

"You are not a bad person; I don't care if you've been told that before, that's bullshit! You're my friend and my cousin and family forgives each other for dumb shit like this." He smirked. "God that was cheesy."

Hitoshi giggled.

"It was a little cheesy."

Kacchan smiled.

"So are we good?"

He nodded.

"Well the doctor said he's ready for you so let's go."

His eyes widened a little.

"Wait, you're coming too?"

"Yeah, they said I could. If you don't want me there then I don't have to."

"No!" He blurted quickly. "No, I want you there. Just…" Hitoshi didn't know what to say. "Thank you, I really appreciate that."

"No problem, Tosh."


"Now first off, I have to ask, what happened that night on the balcony, did you try and kill yourself?"

The doctor's office they were sat in was fairly large with a stunning view of the city and the coast, Hitoshi wished he could just watch the waves crash against the shore rather than having to deal with the incredibly personal quiz he was about to receive from the doctor.

Kacchan volunteering to come in with him had almost brought him to tears. It was hard to put into words how much none of this made sense to him. The fact that he was free and loved and cared about to the point where he now had two sets of parents, Aunts, cousins, and friends was astonishing, and they all would drop everything at a seconds notice to be there for him, as proven by times like this.

Stupid fever fucking messing shit up.

Well… it was brought on because he hadn't eaten for a few days so it was actually his fault but whatever…

"No, of course not."

"Over the last year, how often have you been bothered by thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of killing yourself?"

Oh god.

"See that's not a fair question."

"And why's that, Hitoshi?"

"Because I've only been with Shouta and Hizashi for a few months; if you'd asked, 'since you were rescued and allowed to actually have a normal life how often have you been bothered by thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of killing yourself', I would say zero, and it is zero. My life is not the same as it was three months or so ago in any shape of form to the point where it's actually scary how much is different."

"So you have had those thoughts before."

"Well yeah because I was held by a gang of villains since before I was even two-years-old, you try being in that situation and see how your view of life is."

Hitoshi leant forward and looked at the list of questions on his notepad.

"'Did the patient lose a parent at an early age?', didn't know I had any. 'was there unusual or excessive separation anxiety during childhood or adolescence?', there was no one they could separate me from besides Touya so no, 'were there significant problems with sleep?'." Hitoshi smirked. "There still are. 'were there eating disturbances?', yep they starved me half the time. 'were there problems making or keeping friends?', I literally didn't have any contact with the outside world so, you know… 'was severe shyness a problem, including when interacting in peer groups?', same as previous answer. 'were there problems with being bullied or bullying?', they beat the shit out of us for fun. 'were there frequent disciplinary problems in school?', I literally didn't go to school until they sent me to spy at UA. 'were there serious difficulties with temper?', yes. 'were there many school absences for medical problems or any other problems?', I was too beat up sometimes so they didn't send me. 'were there any delays in learning to read, write, or do math?', yeah but Touya taught me pretty much everything I needed. 'were there serious problems paying attention, finishing school work, or completing homework?', do you really think I had a way of doing homework at the facility?... 'did the above problems lead to grade retention or special education intervention?', no one even fucking noticed something was wrong at UA so, yeah…"

Hitoshi slumped back in the chair.

The doctor was clearly a little stunned but was doing his best to stay professional and not show it.

He noticed Kacchan shuffle a little closer.

"Look, I really really want to go home, I don't like hospitals and I just want to curl up on the coach with the cats and watch dumb cartoons with my cousins. You can get all of this shit from the police which will paint you a lovely picture of my life."

"There are people you can talk to, a therapist might be ideal for you to work through some of the parts of your past that you might not want to talk so openly about."

Hitoshi sighed.

"I don't want a therapist."

"There's nothing to be ashamed or scared of, they're there to help you through these things and provide healthy solutions to combatting the effects these memories may have on you."

"But it was a fever!"

"You mentioned that you weren't sleeping properly, and that accompanied with the other answers you gave suggests to me that you might suffer from PTSD, a therapist could…"

Hitoshi sat forward.

"Am I discharged?"

"Well…"

"After what I have told you do you have any concerns that I would hurt myself, my family, or anyone at my school?"

"Well no, you…"

"So you're saying that I'm fine aside from potential PTSD and needing to eat more."

The doctor didn't look impressed.

"This isn't a joke Master Shinsou."

"I never said it was."

"Toshi…" Kacchan tried but to no use.

"Am I discharged?" He repeated.

The doctor exhaled deeply.

"Yes you are discharged."

"Thank you."

Hitoshi stood up from the seat with a stretch before turning to his cousin.

"Come on."

Kacchan gave a 'sorry' look to the doctor as they exited the room. When the door clicked closed he turned to Toshi.

"Nice act you had there."

Hitoshi simply continued on down the corridor.

"Look I don't want to argue but what was all that about? How can you talk about stuff like that so casually?"

"Because I knew nothing else for over thirteen-years, it is casual, I wish it wasn't, but it is. If I stopped and fucking let myself think about it I'd drown in that crap so no, I don't care if internalising it all is not healthy I'm sure as hell not going to put myself through it all again. I want to pretend like it never happened and be happy for once in my fucking life."

Hitoshi offered a soft smile.

"And I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to watch crappy cartoons, you think Zuku would come round?"

"If it's 'All Might Adventures' you're talking about then try stopping him." Kacchan smirked.

Shouta and Hizashi were quick to their feet as they walked into the waiting room."

"How did it g-."

Wordlessly Hitoshi rushed over and wrapped his arms around the pair, sandwiching himself between the two of them.

"I'm sorry."

"We've already been over this." Kacchan smirked.

"I still have to say sorry!"

Shouta shook his head.

"No you don't."

Hizashi ruffled his hair.

"Yeah little listener, everything's cool."

He looked up at the two of them.

"Is it okay if Zuku comes round?"

A smile came to both their faces.

"Sure thing." Shouta answered.

"Now, you need food mister, so where are we grabbing stuff from the on the way home?" The voice hero posed the all-important question.

"Kacchan, what was the name of the burger place you guys took me to?"

"The one ran by that hero Deku geeked out about getting an autograph from?"

"Yeah."

"Burgatory."

"YES! Their burgers are the best!" Hitoshi grinned.

"Burgatory it is." Hizashi grabbed his keys. "Come on then, let's go home."

And Hitoshi couldn't be more thankful to hear those words.


Author's Note: Therapists are amazing and they can help you with so much if you're struggling, or if you need someone to talk through some stuff with. Basically don't do what Hitoshi's doing, he's being dumb and unhealthy by internalising everything from growing up and them being kidnapped.

Gee it's almost like these two boys are going to continue refusing to talk about what happened in Kamino which will lead to, I don't know, a fight on the grounds of UA later on in the narrative, maybe involving their cousin...